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His Royal Highness Sirius Orion Black stood at the window, staring into the bitter cold. Frost had weaved its way into the palace, seeping into floors and tapestries and souls. It was almost as if the war hadn’t just ended; the city of Veil was silent and dark, the only light coming from candles burning low in the homes that could afford them.
He sighed and watched his breath cloud before him before turning his back on the glass. There was no use looking upon his people when they wanted nothing to do with him.
A knock sounded upon the heavy wooden door. Sirius made a humming sound loud enough to be heard through his door and a servant responded with, “The Queen has requested the presence of you in the Grand Hall, Your Highness.”
Sirius padded to the door, his bare feet making little sound on the thin carpet, and slid it open. “Please inform my mother that I have little interest in seeing her, at the moment,” he said before closing it again.
“I’ve been told that this is a mandatory request, Your Highness,” the servant squeaked out. Sirius ground his teeth. It isn’t much of a request if it’s required, now, is it?
He pulled on a fur-lined coat and shoes and followed the servant down the darkened corridors of the palace. The portraits on the walls seemed to be watching him. This was a far cry from what it used to be when he had been younger before his brother turned up dead. Back then there had been balls, festivals, dinners…
They arrived at the large doors to the Great Hall, inlaid with enough gold to afford food for their whole nation, and the servant stepped aside, bowing profusely as two women pushed the doors open for him.
“Mother,” he greeted coldly, dragging himself to the base of the queen’s throne which was, again, worth more than most commoners had accumulated in their lives. “You summoned me?”
His mother shifted in her seat, adjusting the folds of her voluminous dress. “Son,” she acknowledged, short and stiff as always. “It’s come to the attention of the King and I that you’ve disobeyed us again.”
Sirius stilled. “I’m sure I don’t understand,” he began, but his father coughed loudly.
“You’ll do well to be honest with us,” he said. Sirius swallowed harshly and said nothing. What could he possibly say? That yes, he had disobeyed them and gone into the city many times recently, but that he had no need to “mingle with the peasants” anymore now that the boy he’d been seeing had left him? They’d lock him in the dungeons for certain.
“Sirius,” his mother said, softer this time, “we put these rules in place for your own protection, you understand this? Those people out there-”
“Those people are our people,” said Sirius darkly. “You can’t judge them all based off one incident-”
“An incident that cost your brother his life!”
All the fight bled out of Sirius at those words. He remembered the events of last year, soon after he’d begun venturing out into the city in disguise. The look in the eyes of the people who’d surrounded him and Regulus burned brightly in his mind. They’d wanted death, and they’d gotten it. He took a stuttering breath.
“Fine,” he said quietly, giving in. “I understand. I apologise.”
His parents nodded, eyes sharp. They’d be watching him closely now, he supposed. He was the sole heir to the throne, it was extremely important to them that he survived to be king one day.
He was pacing. His boots clicked against hard stone and he muttered to himself: “ I shouldn’t, but I want to, but I can’t -” Gods, this was impossible. There would be no point in attempting to sneak into the city, his guards would catch him before he even had both feet out the door, and even if he did manage to make it, what would he do? Remus had specifically told Sirius that he never wanted to see him again.
But really, he was weak when it came to Remus. It had been two weeks since they’d last spoken and Sirius was going insane. This palace felt like a prison, even more than it had before.
He groaned and pulled at his dark hair. It had grown much since Remus’s friend Dorcas had cut it last, and now fell to his shoulders.
Remus had always liked his hair long. He’d liked pulling it in bed, and braiding it as Sirius read aloud to him from (no one had ever taught Remus to read).
All those memories came rushing back, suddenly, and he couldn’t help himself. Sirius flung his closet doors wide and rummaged around until he found his “peasant clothes”, as Remus had dubbed them. Dark pants and a white tunic, under a black cloak, with brown boots to pull it together. He really did just look like a more refined lower-class citizen, which had been exactly his goal when he’d first picked out the clothes. Many people didn’t know what he looked like anyways, as they’d only seen him from a distance, but he couldn’t take any chances.
He took a deep breath, tucking his hair beneath the hood of the cloak, and then headed out of his rooms and to the servants quarters.
“Peter,” he whispered as he pushed open a small wooden door on the first floor of the palace. He’d made it down without anyone seeing him, thankfully, as it was quite late out.
A stour boy popped his head up from the corner of the dark, hot room. Peter was one of the only servants who had gotten his own quarters, which made it very easy for him to help Sirius get into the city. “Prince Sirius?” he said from his pile of (uncomfortable looking) blankets. “What is it?”
Sirius glanced behind him before turning back to his friend. “I need your help again.”
Peter stood up, sluggish from sleep but always ready to assist, and nodded. “Of course, Your Highness,” he said, bowing his head. Sirius followed him out of the room and down a set of narrow stairs, and through stone tunnel after stone tunnel. Peter somehow had every twist and turn memorised, something Sirius would never be able to accomplish.
They eventually made it to a drainpipe, where Peter let Sirius go off by himself. “Careful, Your Highness. There are more guards in the city than usual these days,” he warned.
Sirius nodded. “It’s my mothers doing. Thank you, Pete. Sorry I had to wake you. And thank you, also, for keeping this a secret from my mother. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Peter bowed. “Of course, Your Highness.”
Sirius took a deep breath as he stood in the alley of the city’s central pub. It hadn’t been hard to get here from the drainpipe exit, even with the excess guards, but it felt impossible now for him to work up the courage to see Remus. Every weekend you could find him here, helping out at the bar, but Sirius worried that maybe he’d moved to another city, or another kingdom altogether. Or, worse, he was inside the pub right now flirting with some handsome man that wasn’t Sirius.
He shook his head and, before he could doubt himself, he made his way into the building. The worst-case scenario was he’d return home without speaking to Remus.
Remus was, in fact, behind the counter, and Sirius took a moment to breathe before walking towards him. He had to skirt around the crowds of raucous people--it was the weekend, and therefore the perfect time to get drunk with some friends--to make it to the back of the room.
He took a seat at the counter and tapped his hand on the wood to get Remus to notice him, as if that were necessary. The moment he’d sat down he’d felt Remus’s gaze on him.
“What can I get for you, sir?”
Sirius frowned, his mouth thinning. “Nothing, obviously,” he said. Remus shook his head. Idiot , thought Sirius, rather affectionately. Remus was an awful actor, even Sirius could see the emotions hidden behind his bland smile.
“I’m not sure why you’re here, then, if not for a drink,” Remus said in response, putting down the glass he’d been cleaning. “We serve food over there-” he pointed across the room “-if you’d like-”
“Remus, please,” interrupted Sirius. “Could you not pretend as if we’ve never met? It’s demeaning.”
Remus, face still pointedly blank, leaned across the bar. “I haven’t the slightest clue what you’re referring to, sir.” A muscle in Sirius’s jaw twitched and he shook his head.
“Meet me outside in ten minutes. And don’t tell me that’s not when your shift ends,” he said quietly at Remus’s expression, “I’ve memorised the times.” He got up from the bar and headed towards the side exit without looking back.
Honestly, he had no idea if Remus would actually meet him outside in this alleyway. They hadn’t seen each other in weeks. But he had to believe, because if he didn’t believe in Remus then what was there left to believe in at all?
Well, that had taken a melancholy turn. Sirius leaned against the dark stone wall behind him and shut his eyes, wishing he were anywhere else. This was a mistake. For all he knew Remus had moved on, why would he pine over Sirius when he could have anyone he wanted-
“You’re bound to get mugged looking like that,” came a dry voice from somewhere close by. “You look rich and drunk, never a good combination.”
Sirius opened his eyes to see Remus standing only a few feet away, arms crossed over his chest. He wore a simple white tunic and brown trousers, and practically glowed in the pale moonlight. “Remus,” he began, pushing his hood from his head, but stopped when the other man frowned.
“What in heaven's name are you doing here, Sirius?” he asked quietly, shaking his head. “Do you not understand how dangerous this is for you? Have you any idea the amount of anti-royal sentiment there is in this district? Gods, Sirius-”
“Of course I do, but I miss you more than life, Remus, I-”
Remus scoffed. “So you’re risking your life to, what, come tell me you miss me?”
“I’m risking my life to tell you that I’m still in love with you ,” Sirius practically shouted, but he barely got all the words out because Remus lunged forward and clamped a hand over his mouth.
“Shut the fuck up,” he hissed. Sirius reached up and ripped his hand away.
“What the hell?”
“You can’t say things like that. Didn’t you hear anything I just said?”
Sirius frowned. “That everyone hates me, because we ended a war but kept prices high?”
“...That’s one way of seeing it, but yes. So you can’t keep waltzing into the most anti-monarchy pub in town and expect to come out of it unscathed. Especially if you start shouting about your love for another man .”
“I just wanted to-”
Remus groaned and threw his hands up in an I’m so done gesture. “You can’t have everything you want!”
“I… I know that,” began Sirius, “but-”
“No.”
“Remus-”
“It’s safer this way, alright? And it wasn’t like what we had could ever amount to anything, anyways, not with me being me and you being… you.”
Sirius gaped at him. This conversation wasn’t much different than the one they’d had a few weeks ago, but it still hurt to hear out loud. Even if it was true. Sirius was the Crown Prince. Being with a commoner was out of the question, according to his parents. Being with a commoner who was also a man would be considered treason.
Remus looked miserable. He kept running his fingers through his curly hair, eying up and down the street. “You need to understand that this can’t happen. It’s just not possible anymore.”
Looking at the ground, Sirius nodded haltingly. “I… okay. I’m sorry.” Remus nodded, and Sirius turned around to head back towards the castle, resigned.
“Wait.”
Sirius stopped immediately at the sound of Remus’s voice, and whirled around. He opened his mouth to say something, though he didn’t know what, when Remus stepped forward into his space, leaving mere inches between them.
“Wait,” he repeated, softer this time. His breath warmed Sirius’s face, hazel eyes drifting to his lips. “Maybe just… just one last time.”
Remus’s eyes were wide, pupils dark, and he looked scared. Sirius tilted his head to look down the alley and out onto the street--because Remus was right, it was dangerous for them to be together like this--but saw no one. The only sounds he heard were coming from inside the pub.
His hands drifted to Remus’s waist, pulling him forward. Their bodies were pressed against each other then, closer than they’d been in weeks. If Sirius leaned forward just a bit, their lips would touch (though he would have to look up as well, since Remus was infuriatingly taller than him).
Never one to ignore an urge, Sirius moved toward Remus. He knew they were both scared, they both were aware that this was an absolutely terrible idea, but Remus did nothing to stop him. His arms came up around Sirius’s neck, one hand burying itself in his hair as their lips met.
It was like coming home, Sirius thought as their lips moved against one another. They fit perfectly; like two halves of a whole, like their souls were meant to find each other. Sirius knew, and had known for a while, that he would never find someone as incredible as this man.
Remus took charge as he always did, pushing Sirius back against the grimy outside wall of the pub. He let out a small moan, hands tightening on his lover’s waist. “Gods, Remus…” he breathed between kisses, letting his head fall back as Remus mouthed down his neck.
Remus moved his hands then, going to unbutton his shirt. Sirius chuckled as his hands got stuck on the top button, and reached up to do it for him. “Honestly, Remus, you’d think you’ve never done this before-”
He broke off as a door slammed open--the door that led from the pub to the alley. They both flinched, Remus turning a vicious red.
“Oh,” came a voice from the door. Sirius sighed in relief.
Lily Evans, a good friend of Remus’s and the daughter of the pub owner, was shaking her head at them from the doorway. “Really? Right here?”
“Where would you prefer?” asked Remus flatly.
“Somewhere private and with walls? ” said Lily, closing the door behind her and going to stand beside Remus. She frowned at Sirius, looking him up and down. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“ Lily ,” hissed Remus. Sirius watched in mild interest. Remus had introduced Sirius to his friends over the months that they’d been together, but he still disliked it when they talked to Sirius like he was just another civilian. Sirius, of course, didn’t mind at all. It wasn’t like he’d asked to be a prince; that had always been Regulus’s calling.
“What?” asked Lily. “If you’re going to act stupid, I’ll talk to you however I want.”
“I know I shouldn’t be here,” said Sirius. “I know it’s risking you all. But-”
“Oh, no, no, Sirius,” Lily interrupted. “I’m glad you’re here. Remus has been moping for ages. Ow!” She leapt to the side as Remus poked her in the ribs. “Well, it’s true, isn’t it?”
“That’s not meant to be public information,” grumbled Remus.
Sirius snorted. Yeah, he loved Remus.
“Anyways,” Lily continued, “could you please think a little bit about your safety before something bad happens?”
He sobered instantly. She was right. “Yes. Yeah.” Though the moment was definitely ruined, now.
“Good.” A loud roar came from the pub, and Sirius jumped embarrassingly. Lily snickered. “Don’t worry, it’s just Tom holding another one of his strongarm contests.”
“Fucking Tom,” swore Remus. “We should’ve banned him ages ago.”
Sirius nodded. Tom Riddle was the ringleader of all the fights that had been going on between the wealthy and the poor. Not that he was poor himself (he was quite well-off, unlike Remus), but he enjoyed starting things. It was his own damn fault that Regulus had been killed, and for that Sirius would always despise him.
The roar of the crowd got louder, concerningly loud, and then there was the sound of smashing glass from inside.
“Shit.” Remus turned and opened the door, peering through into what looked like a raving mob. A man - Tom - was standing on a table yelling words Sirius couldn’t make out, punching a fist into the air. “Shit, shit, shit-”
The bargoers suddenly began streaming out towards the front exit, chanting incoherently (they were presumably very drunk). Remus slammed the door and spun towards Sirius. “You have to get out of here, now.” Lily and Remus began pushing him towards the main street as he sputtered.
“No one will recognise me-”
“I’m not taking that chance,” said Remus firmly. He turned to Lily. “You’d better go find your father, make sure nothing bad happened to your family during whatever the hell happened in there.” She nodded, and after a quick nod at Sirius re-entered the bar through the alleyway door.
Remus met Sirius’s gaze, his eyebrows pinched. “Can you make it back to the palace?” he asked softly (or as softly as one can be with a mob twenty feet away).
Sirius peered out onto the main street, where the hoard was travelling down it away from them. “They’re walking towards where I would need to be going,” he said, shaking his head. “I’d have to go through them.”
“Well, that’s not happening.” Remus squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, the expression on his face clearing showing how much he hated the next sentence that came out of his mouth, “come back to mine, then, you’ll be safe ‘till morning.” Remus lived with five other people, who all pooled their earnings in order to afford the dingy apartment residing above a harbour warehouse. The people he lived with didn’t recognise Sirius as the Crown Prince, and the harbour was in the opposite direction of the palace, which made it a suitable place for him to lay low. He nodded, and followed Remus’s lead down the cobbled street while trying in vain to ignore the chanting behind him.
They entered the warehouse quietly, Sirius stepping only where Remus stepped. This was one of the more dangerous parts of the city.
“I doubt they’re all asleep, but on the off-chance they are, please don’t make any noise,” whispered Remus as they stopped outside the shabby apartment door on the second floor of the warehouse. Sirius nodded in affirmation, and Remus unlocked the door.
It was dark and shadowy, but looked otherwise the same as the last time Sirius had seen the place. There were only three rooms in the apartment itself, a main room, bathroom, and single bedroom, but there were other abandoned parts of the warehouse that connected to it which Remus and his roommates had branched out into. Remus had a bedroom in the corner of the building near a large window, which let in cold when it snowed but had a beautiful view of the city. They encountered no one as they went through another door and down a gloomy hallway towards Remus’s room.
It was small but cosy, with a mattress piled with blankets and a small table in the corner. Sirius’s eyes snagged on the drawings littering the table. His drawings, given to Remus over the months they’d known each other. He hadn’t thrown them away, even after they’d broken up…
“You can sleep on the bed, I can take the floor-”
“Honestly, Remus?” asked Sirius exasperatedly. “We’ve slept together before. We were just kissing.” Remus shrugged, scratching his neck. Could he be nervous?
Sirius removed his thick cloak from around his neck and dropped it on the floor unceremoniously, then toed off his boots. He flopped back onto the mass of blankets and watched Remus. “Are you coming?”
Remus frowned but took off his own shoes and joined Sirius in his bed. They lay facing each other, Sirius propping his head up with an arm.
“We still aren’t-” Remus began, then paused. He shook his head and tried again, “we aren’t together, Sirius. What just happened proves exactly why it’s too dangerous.”
Sighing, Sirius rolled onto his back. “I know,” he said quietly. And he did. Neither one of them was brave enough to go up against the norms of their society. And neither one of them was willing to put the other in harm's way.
That night, Sirius dreamed. He dreamed about him sitting all alone on the throne one day, dismissing girl after girl because none of them would ever measure up to Remus Lupin. He dreamed about spending each night in his soft, warm bed, but never feeling fullfilled because there would be something missing .
He dreamed about Remus. About the nights they would spend together in this very apartment, about the mornings they would wake up beside one another. He dreamt about what it would be like to wake up to Remus every day for the rest of his life.
When he woke up, there was a smile on his face. He wanted that. He wanted Remus. He wanted to share a bed and a home and a family with him. There would never be anyone else like him.
“Remus,” he whispered into the semi-darkness (the sun was just about to rise).
He felt the body beside him shift under the blankets, felt a hand slide under his shirt. “Mmm.”
“Remus, I think we should do it,” Sirius said, turning his head. Their legs were tangled together beneath the covers, and he felt Remus’s hair brush his chin. “We should be together.”
“It’s too early for this,” was the response from the pile of blankets.
“Remus.”
Remus sighed and unearthed himself, not moving his warm hand from Sirius’s chest. “What?”
“We should be together,” repeated Sirius.
“No.”
“Listen, we could just leave-”
Remus sat up, no longer touching Sirius, and stared at him. “Leave?” he asked incredulously. “And go where?”
“Anywhere. Everywhere.”
“You would leave,” began Remus, “everything you’ve ever known? This kingdom? Your kingdom? Gods, Sirius, you’re a prince. You’ll be king one day. How could you just leave-”
“There shouldn’t be kings at all.” Sirius took Remus’s hand and held it tight. “You know I don’t care where or who I am as long as I’m with you.”
“But I’m just…” Remus trailed off, avoiding Sirius’s eyes.
“You’re not ‘just’ anything. You’re Remus Lupin. You’re the man I’m in love with.” Sirius kissed Remus’s hand lightly. “I understand if you’d rather stay here in Veil and not have to start all over again. But I want you to know that I would do anything to be with you.”
Remus took a deep breath, his eyes shutting. Sirius waited patiently.
“Okay,” Remus finally replied, opening his eyes to look at Sirius.
“Okay?”
“Yes, okay. You know I’d do anything to be with you too.”
Sirius grinned, then pulled Remus towards him into a searing kiss. Remus gave as good as he got, and their tunics were removed and tossed onto the floor in quick succession.
Remus flipped them so he was straddling Sirius, hands on his bare chest. “Can I-”
“Yes, yes,” panted Sirius, moving his hands up Remus’s thighs and grabbing his ass. “Anything, love, anything.”
Sirius woke again much later to a knock on the door, the sun shining directly into his eyes and with Remus wrapped around his body. Before he could respond to whomever was on the other side it opened, and Dorcas Meadows walked in. She didn’t seem at all surprised to find a wide-eyed Sirius lying completely naked in her friend's bed, and instead walked right towards the bed and sat down.
“Sirius,” she greeted, nodding.
“Dorcas,” he returned cautiously. Dorcas was one of the people that did know he was the Crown Prince, since her mother was a baker and sometimes went to the palace during larger festivals to help in the kitchens.
“I thought you two were done,” she said, looking between him and his lover. “You know it’s not safe-”
“We’re going to leave,” he said, sitting up carefully so he didn’t wake Remus. “Go find somewhere where no one knows me as a prince, and we can live however we wish.”
Dorcas nodded. “Good for you,” she said, smiling sadly. “I hope you can make each other happy.” Sirius bowed his head.
“Are you trying to look at him naked again, Dorcas?” Remus said raspily, poking his head up from beneath the covers. Dorcas laughed.
“Yes, I definitely want to see naked men. You know me so well, Remus.”
“Anyone would want to see this naked man, trust me, even if they aren’t attracted to him.” Sirius snorted and pushed Remus back beneath the blankets.
Dorcas sighed and shook her head. “ Boys ,” she said in false annoyance. Sirius smiled broadly.
Suddenly another knock sounded out, but from further away. Dorcas frowned, and Remus shot up. “Shit,” he said, and Dorcas quickly ran out of the room and down the hall.
“Open up!” a gruff voice called out. That voice…
“Shit,” Sirius repeated heavily. He knew that voice. It was Antonin Dolohov, a young prodigy in the kingdom's army. “Shit, shit, shit.” They both scrambled out of bed and into their clothes as the pounding continued.
“Open up in the name of the Queen!”
“Do not open that door!” Sirius called out into the apartment. He heard the shatter of glass in another room.
“Sirius, is that-”
“Dolohov, yeah.”
Remus balled his hands into fists. He had heard more than enough stories about Dolohov to understand how awful he was.
“Fabian, get the bookcase against the door!” Sirius heard a man shout. It sounded like Gideon Prewitt, Fabian’s twin brother.
“I know, Gid, we’re trying! What are the bastards even here for!”
Sirius barreled down the hall and into the main room, surveying the damage. Two redheaded men, Fabian and Gideon, were in the process of attempting to slide an enormous bookcase across the room and in front of the door, which only had a simple beam across it for now.
“Sirius, who did you tell?” asked Dorcas, who was trying to break open an ancient window. “Who knows?”
“No one, I swear!” he replied hastily, heart beating much faster than any heart should. Remus ran over to help Dorcas, and together they broke down the frame. There was an old roof just below the window, which they would presumably climb down to.
“Where are Greta and Davey?” asked Remus from the window.
“Davey’s at his girl’s house and Greta worked the night,” grunted Gideon from the bookcase. “Can someone tell me why the fuck the Queen’s guard is here?”
“We won’t harm whomever is inside if you give us His Royal Highness!”
Sirius groaned and turned to Remus. “Just let me go talk them down, I don’t want anyone getting hurt-”
“Absolutely not.” They both turned in shock to Dorcas, who was shaking her head aggressively. “We’re not letting you go back to them just when you’ve gotten away.”
“Dorcas-”
“ No ,” she said firmly, just as a loud bang echoed through the room. “We have to go, now!”
Remus, Sirius, and the others ran towards the window and clambered out, Sirius gasping in pain as his hand snagged on a jagged edge of glass. The roof below the window wasn’t far from the ground, and they all jumped and ran just as Sirius heard the apartment door break down.
“Who did you tell, Sirius?” Remus asked, fighting for breath. Sirius shook his head again as his feet pounded against the stone.
“No one, I promise! Just James, but you know him!” He saw Remus nod out of the corner of his eye. “He’d never tell a soul.”
They rounded a corner, heading towards the border forest. The guards would never find them there.
“You’re sure that you told no one else?” They were slowing down now, sure there was no one following them. Gideon and Fabian kept glancing behind them all, Dorcas striding between them.
“I…” Sirius thought carefully. “Yes. Just James and Peter.”
Remus faltered, then stopped altogether. “Peter,” he repeated.
“Yes, he helps me get… out… No.” He shook his head. “No, Peter would never, he wouldn’t-”
But wouldn’t he? Peter was a good friend, sure, but that could be just because Sirius was the Crown Prince. And lately, Peter had been eying that promotion from servant to guard…
Remus was looking at him, but with pity rather than anger in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Sirius,” he said softly.
Gideon and Fabian had stayed in Veil, not wanting to leave their sister Molly behind, but Dorcas stayed with Remus and Sirius until the border.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” she asked, hugging Remus and then Sirius. “I can come-”
“Thank you, Dorcas, but we could never ask that of you,” Remus replied, shaking his head. Sirius held out his hand, where a pile of coins lay.
Eying it suspiciously, Dorcas frowned. “I won’t take your money,” she said.
“I literally just caused your house to be seized by the state,” Sirius said flatly. “You will take it. Please.” Dorcas sighed and scooped the money into her pocket.
“I hate you sometimes,” she said.
“I don’t think you’re allowed to say that to a prince,” replied Sirius.
Shrugged, Dorcas said, “you’re not a prince anymore, are you?”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Dorcas hugged them both again - she looked close to tears - and waved goodbye as Remus and Sirius began walking through the small trail in the border forest. It would eventually take them to the neighbouring kingdom (emphasise on eventually) where they could catch a train to somewhere far away.
After some time, Remus turned to Sirius. “You aren’t regretting this, are you?”
Sirius frowned and took his lover’s hand. “No. Of course not. You heard me this morning, right? I’d do anything to be with you.” He paused. “Of course, destroying your house wasn’t exactly in the plan, but you know what I mean.”
Remus nodded. “I know.” Squeezing Siriur’s hand, he sighed. “This just isn’t how I pictured this week going.”
“What, you didn’t think we’d get back together, have sex immediately, and then get woken up by armed forces the next morning?”
“I wanted those first two things to happen, obviously , but no, I didn’t expect it.” Sirius laughed.
“I love you, you know that?” he said, catching Remus’s eyes. Sometimes he thought Remus forgot that there were people out there who cared about him.
“I know,” Remus responded. “I love you too.” Sirius smiled softly and leaned his head against the man’s shoulder for a moment.
It would be hard, going forward. Buying a train ticket without being recognised, finding a place to live and a job, getting used to not living in a palace… but they’d do it. Together.