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Remus hated only one thing about being a prefect: rounds. He spent most of the time trying to multitask, reading while walking or reciting his notes in his head. More often than not he would return to the dorm, mind racing with assignments he still had to do and guilt about wasted time when he could have been revising. He also hated catching his friends. When he first became a prefect, his friends took advantage of his shifts, working on new pranks and acheming when they knew they were safe. Since James started dating Lily and Peter started taking his studies more seriously after getting a stern talking to from McGonagall, Sirius would scheme on his own, wrecking havoc that Remus would occasionally catch him doing and look the other way.
He and Sirius were… something. He didn’t know one-hundred percent what they were, but they had certainly crossed beyond friendship. There were lingering touches and secret snogs in alcoves or empty classrooms, furtive touches and whispered promises in the heat of the moment. No one knew about this shift in their friendship and they didn’t talk about it. Well, until recently.
Last week, when they were wrapped up in each other’s arms tucked away in the empty Muggle Studies classroom, Sirius told him, I don’t want to hide anymore. Remus was frozen, confused, speechless. He didn’t know what to say because he didn’t know what that meant. Before either of them could clarify, they had to make a speedy exit when they heard the door knob jostle and so Remus never got to talk to him about it.
Perhaps Remus had been avoiding a moment alone with Sirius because he was terrified for the end of that conversation. He assumed this meant the end of their arrangement or whatever was going on. Sirius was sick of hiding, so that meant they were done. Sirius could wipe his hands of him and go back to the revolving door of women, who were still trailing after him like lovesick puppies. Remus excelled at avoidance and he would cling to that to avoid the not-quite breakup for as long as possible.
Even so, with exams coming up, they spent less and less time together. Most of Remus’ free time was spent studying and revising and moments alone together were few and far between.
Remus missed him.
He walked down the hall, heading back to the grand staircase when he walked straight into Sirius. He reached out immediately to steady his friend, who broke out into a relieved grin.
“Moony,” he breathed in relief. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Remus echoed, not letting go of him. They were alone in the hall and Merlin, he didn’t even care if they were caught.
Sirius glanced over his shoulder and down the hall. His eyes widened and he grabbed Remus’ hand, dragging him off into a broom cupboard. As soon as the door was shut, Sirius pulled out the map and Remus could see Filch heading toward them. Remus cast silencing and notice-me-not charms.
“You’re in trouble,” Remus whispered and couldn’t help a smile.
“Yeah,” Sirius said with an air of duh. “There may have been an accident in the potions lab.”
“Accident?” Remus wasn’t sure why he asked when he knew the answer. Filch’s footsteps lingered in the hall outside the broom cupboard, but he was just pacing back and forth, not getting closer.
“Semantics,” replied Sirius with a wink. He folded the map back up and looked at Remus. The closet was small and cramped. One wrong move and all of the cleaning supplies would tumble off the shelves and cause a mess. They were forced to be pressed against each other and Remus really didn’t mind.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he continued. “Why are you here?”
“I’m on rounds,” Remus explained. “Just finishing up, actually. Before I ran into you.”
They both froze when they heard loud shouting coming from Filch and Slughorn out in the hallway. Even with the silencing charm, it was just a habit to keep quiet when caught in a broom cupboard after a prank. Although they normally had better hiding spots than this.
“This is a broom cupboard, Sirius,” began Remus in a whisper. “This is the most cliched hiding place you could have chosen.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t take you to the fucking Paris of hiding places, Remus,” Sirius hissed.
“This is the stupidest hiding place,” Remus continued and Sirius just huffed in annoyance, looking back at the map. “Listen, listen,” he put his hand over Sirius’ and pushed the map down. “I have to talk to you about last week.”
Remus wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him in and Sirius’ eyes widened in surprise. He pressed their lips together sweetly, taking his time to hopefully show Sirius how much he missed him. Sirius rested his hands on Remus’ chest, fingertips running along the lining of his robes. He nipped at his lower lip and pulled back, breath shallow.
“You kissed me,” Sirius breathed, eyes scanning Remus’ face in confusion.
“Mm, how was it?” Remus asked with a smile, pushing Sirius’ hair back.
“It felt a little bit rushed,” confessed Sirius with a narrowed gaze.
“I know,” whispered Remus solemnly. “I know, I know.”
“You’ve been distant,” Sirius murmured, leaning forward to peck his lips again. “I thought-”
“No,” he interrupted. “No, I’ve just been busy revising.”
“I don’t want to keep hiding.”
“Yes,” Remus sighed, putting a bit more distance between them. He assumed this meant they were finished. Sirius was finally sick of hiding and found someone he didn’t have to hide with. Well, it was fun while it lasted.
“I’m mad for you, Moony,” Sirius confessed, cheeks reddened and warm. “I don’t want to hide from our friends anymore. I want to tell people. Not everyone, just– Prongs at least.”
Remus blinked. “What?”
“What?” Sirius echoed, brow furrowed.
“You want to… tell Prongs?”
“Yes?” Sirius replied, again with an air of duh.
“Okay,” Remus nodded. “Yeah, you uh– Merlin, that’s not what I thought you were going to say.”
“What did you think I...?”
Remus shook his head. “Can we talk about this when we’re not hiding from Filch in a broom cupboard?” Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but Remus grabbed the map from his hands and began to plot an escape, now desperate to continue the conversation elsewhere. “Look, you make it to the stairs here and I’ll distract them, alright?”
He handed him back the map and Sirius gave it a tap, concealing the magic beneath. Remus opened the door and Sirius hurried off down the hall to the large doorway leading to the grand staircase. He turned around just once to toss a wink over his shoulder at Remus who rolled his eyes.
Remus looked up to see Slughorn had gone and just Filch was bumbling around the other end of the hall helplessly. He bit back a smile. He hugged the wall as he slipped further down the hallway. He took out his wand and cast a quick and temporary impediment jinx. Immediately, Filch’s movements slowed down as if he were wading through water or encased in jello. Before he could turn around to see who cast the jinx, Remus was off hurrying down the same way Sirius left, racing up the stairs after him.