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"You see, it's not so bad up here, is it?"
A thin pair of arms tightened around Sirius's chest, but he also heard laughter in his ear, so he could tell the grip wasn't out of any true fear.
"I have flown before. Lots of times!"
Sirius tutted, a sound surely lost to the wind that whipped past his head. "You've never flown proper , though!" He licked his lips, feeling them chap instantly against the cold air, and he considered taking them lower to warm up, but it was likely to still be busy around the pitch. "Ever done a dragon roll, Moony?"
"Is that a new type of spliff?"
Laughing loudly, Sirius responded by yelling, "Hang on!" Once he felt Remus's fingers grip his robes, he leaned them to the right just so, letting the broom dive and start to spin.
"Fucking hell!" Remus shouted, pressing his face into Sirius's neck and shoulders as he gripped even more tightly. "You're mad!" At least that's what Sirius assumed the muffled scream was on about—if it wasn't the exact wording, it was surely the spirit.
They rolled a half-dozen times before Sirius pulled up to level them off. "There, now you've done a dragon roll, and I imagine that's gotten you far more fucked up than anything you've ever smoked."
He could feel Remus's breath coming hard against the nape of his neck, and the reminder of some of his fantasies of Remus panting like that had some immediate consequences. Riding a broomstick in this situation was less than ideal.
"You're a menace, Black."
"Said the werewolf who's got me in his clutches."
"Won't the team be looking to celebrate?" By which he meant James, and at that Sirius swallowed and slowed the broom so the wind was more of a brisk breeze.
"He's busy, I'm sure, you know. All his adoring fans and whatnot." Since being kicked off the Quidditch team as punishment for the incident in Fifth, Sirius had generally done well with accepting that he couldn't play the last two years. This year, though, watching James playing a record-setting year in scoring and being able to run to Evans's arms after each victory... it was a little harder to handle.
"Ah, so this lesson in broomstick danger is just a distraction." Remus's voice had a note of teasing, but beneath that was a warm embrace of understanding. "He'll still want to celebrate with you , you know."
Sirius nodded and aimed the broomstick towards the forest, which coincidentally was in the opposite direction of the Quidditch pitch. "Yeah, of course he will. But I don't know if you know this, but I share a dorm with him." He heard a snorty laugh and couldn't help but grin at the eyeroll he pictured accompanying it.
"Oh, I'm quite aware. I haven't slept in seven years, have I? My only peace and quiet was turning into a werewolf, and then the pair of you just had to find a way to disrupt that, too!"
Though they were far lower to the ground and going at a very reasonable speed, Remus's arms were still secure around Sirius's chest, and Sirius realized that Remus's cheek was still pressed against his shoulders. He smiled softly, and his retort came back more fondly than he'd meant. "I'm always wiggling my way into your life, aye."
"Sappy ponce."
"Cranky swot."
One hand let go of Sirius long enough to point to the edge of the lake by the forest. "Land us, Pads. There's no cushioning charm back here, you know."
Sirius chuckled and took them down, landing easily and managing not to knock Remus off-balance like he used to the first few times he had Remus fly with him. A four-legged landing was tricky when you could only feel two of the legs.
"Ahhh, blessed ground!" Remus fell to his knees, kissing the rocky shore in a delightful display of dramatics. Sirius just shook his head and let Moony have the moment; he knew his mate really did love flying, even if he only pretended to do it as a favor to Sirius.
As he ignored the other boy, Sirius stepped down to the water's edge, leaning over to run his fingers into it to test the temperature. It was only April, so the water was still chilled, too much so for a spontaneous dip, anyway. Perhaps if it had been a sunnier day.
A sharp object hit his backside, and he stood and spun around to see Moony with a shite-eating grin and a few pebbles held loose in his hand. "Not even going to try and act innocent?"
Remus shrugged. "Didn't think I could blame it on centaurs this time." He set another stone flying at Sirius's knee.
"Ow, you knob, what the fuck." Sirius huffed and put his hands on his hips, the haughty aristocratic pose fitting him more naturally than he'd ever care to admit.
"You stopped paying attention to me." There was the slightest hint of a pout, and Sirius felt all his insides go soft. His hands dropped to his sides.
"Well. You were, er, making time with the ground, weren't you? I didn't really think I should intrude on the private moment."
Remus dropped the remaining pebbles from his hand, apparently satisfied that he had Sirius's attention back. Sirius's heart raced a little, and he licked his lips again, glad that this time the moisture wasn't immediately wicked away into the air.
"I'm sorry you can't play Quidditch," Remus said, his voice gentle and kind, and mercifully lacking some of the guilt that he'd used to have when saying this.
Sirius shrugged and took a couple steps towards Remus. "Gives me more free time during the week, don't have to practice." He gave Moony a little grin. "Didn't have to miss the moon the night before the last match."
Remus chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, that's true."
"Plus, I get to be here right now, rather than fending off some Sixth year who imagines herself just who I'm looking to celebrate with."
At that, Remus's smile widened, and his eyes grew larger. Sirius swallowed.
"You wouldn't rather be the center of Nellie Parker's attentions right now?"
Sirius shook his head, and his heart rate kicked up again. "I certainly would not." He held up a hand as Remus looked about to speak again. "Not anyone else you're going to mention, either." Remus shifted on his feet, his head cocking to the side as he chewed the inside corner of his mouth. Sirius felt those big eyes Remus had burning into him, and for some reason that heat made him shiver.
"None of the Sixth years, anyway," he allowed. There was, of course, the chance that maybe this time... maybe this time Remus wouldn't play daft.
"No. You wouldn't." Sirius could see Remus swallow. "You'd rather be here."
He almost wanted to laugh, because hadn't he said that? He'd never been known for subtlety, and Moony knew that better than most. But he didn't dare laugh, because he sometimes knew when keeping quiet was the better way to be heard.
Remus looked down and stepped over a larger rock, closer to Sirius, then looked back up to meet Sirius's gaze. Usually they were about even in height, but right now on the uneven ground Remus had the edge, and Sirius found that the sensation of tipping his chin up slightly to look at Moony was far from unpleasant. He could better see the scar on his chin from one of the more difficult moons in—what was it? Third year? Pomfrey had been a bit tight-lipped the morning after it, almost hadn't let the boys come to visit their friend as he healed. Sirius had told her off and ended up in a detention for it, though she didn't make him serve it until after Remus had been released and allowed him to visit without further hesitance.
That, Sirius mused with a small smile touching his lips, was probably the first time he'd noticed a difference in how he was friends with Remus compared to James or Peter. Still, it had been another few years before he'd had a name to describe that difference.
Remus's head tilted down, almost imperceptibly closer to Sirius's face. "What are you thinking?"
Sirius just lifted a hand, letting two fingers brush against that same scar, feeling where Moony's stubble didn't grow from it.
"Oh," Remus whispered. "All right, then."
Under a threat of veritaserum, Sirius could have said honestly that he hadn't gotten up the nerve quite yet, and he hadn't been angling for more than keeping Remus close in the moment, but he also wasn't looking to not do what Remus did next.
His fingers slid up Moony's jaw as the momentarily taller man leaned down and kissed him, and it was utterly without thought that those same fingers found their way to tangle in Moony's hair while Sirius's other hand found a hip to hold onto for balance. Sirius lost all sense of the world around them, as everything collapsed to the points where some part of him was touching some part of Remus, though mainly the part where their lips were gently moving against each other.
Remus's lips, oh. They were a bit chapped from the flight, too, but not too badly, and right now they were warm and unafraid. They lightly pulled Sirius's bottom lip between them, then let go with the softest wet sound. Remus leaned back, just enough to put some space between them to speak.
"Pads?" he asked, his voice quiet with a hint of trepidation. Sirius opened his eyes and looked up, moving his hand from Remus's hip to press his palm against Remus's chest.
"Moony." It was said with a sigh, more affection than he normally let himself put into the name. "I... you're braver than I." Not that this was a revelation to Sirius. He'd known since the first time he watched Remus leave for the Shack—after he knew what was happening—that Remus Lupin was the bravest of the brave Gryffindors in the school.
"Don't tell me I've managed to be stupider than you are, too." They both laughed, but Sirius could see that the other boy needed some specific reassurance.
"Never been, haven't started now."
"I don't know. I'm the one stood here kissing you, you've never done something as daft as that."
Sirius smirked. "Actually, you're just talking to me, which you do on a constant basis anyway, so I think you'd do well to get back to the kissing part."
And that must have been the bit Moony needed to hear, because he grinned wider and gave a little nod. "I see. Well, you're quite used to getting what you want—"
"And you don't get it quite enough, so would you just shut th—"
Remus kissed him again, harder now, hands coming up to cup Sirius's face. Sirius stumbled forward and had to move his hand around to Remus's back when their chests bumped together. He realized he was up on his toes, and not likely to keep his balance long. He took a step, trying to swing himself and turn Remus at the same time, but the unexpected movement knocked them both off their centers, and they gripped at each other as they shifted apart.
"Rocks," Remus said as they laughed nervously. "Probably not the best foundation for, ah, this."
"No, probably not." Sirius looked down, reaching for Remus's hand and smiling when he felt the fingers curl into his. "Greenhouses?" he asked, and was rewarded with a more confident laugh, the Moony laugh where he was ready to get into some trouble, even if Sirius's exact plan was perhaps a bit much.
"Actually, I bet the pitch shed is going to stay empty a while yet. No one gets their equipment back there until the next day."
"Think the party's moved inside, then?"
Remus nodded, then pulled his wand from his robe and murmured, "Accio broom." Without even looking, he caught the broom as it came to his hand, and then offered it to Sirius. "You want to do the honors?"
Sirius almost agreed, but then he thought again about how it had felt to have Remus at his back, and he decided he should be more generous with someone who had kissed him twice. "I'll let you fly it, I know you're better than you pretend to be. Plus, then I can wrap my arms around you." He punctuated that with a gentle kiss to Remus's cheek and then stood back, ready to mount the broom and let Moony take them to new heights.