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BANG!
Sirius’ eyes immediately shoot upward to see Remus panting desperately against the door of their dorm room. The same door the tall blond had just slammed closed with such a force that the entire room had rattled. Remus continues to breathe heavily, staring at him with eyes wide as saucers. Well, stares at them really. They probably even look a bit strange, in fact.
He, Peter, and James, all huddled around a strange-looking lump. It used to be a chinchilla that they were going to transfigure into one of those muggle gumball machines. It was all part of a very elaborate prank, of course, but now there seemed to be little hope for the used-to-be small creature. Sirius had been casting the charm when the door banged shut, so his concentration had been broken. Looking down, he can see that the poor animal is now mostly just a brownish blob of fur, oozing pink goo.
Ignoring the aberration, he looks back up at the welsh boy. Remus’ eyes are blown wide and panicked, sweat running down the side of his face, and his heaving chest shaking the skinny body.
“Er- Alright there, Moony?” asks James, somewhere between light-hearted and worried.
“No.”
“And what appears to be the problem then?” Sirius inquires politely.
“Severus Snape spiked my tea with Veritaserum.”
“WHAT?!” The three boys jump up in shock and anger.
“How did he even manage to do that?!” asks Peter, slightly blanched.
“He knew that Lily and I study together on Tuesdays and that we always have tea when we do that, so he ‘came to talk to her’ and managed to slip some of the potion into my mug while I was distracted.”
“Fuck! He wanted to make you confess to being a werewolf in front of her, so she’d stop being your friend!” realizes James, pulling at his already messy hair. “That bleeding arsehole!”
“Told you hanging out with that red-haired she-devil was a bad idea,” Sirius mutters angrily.
“Don’t you slite my Lilibeth!” James shouts indignant “She had nothing to do with this!”
“She, in fact, had a lot to do with this,” comes Remus’ even voice, probably against his own volition. “If it weren’t for her, Snape would’ve had a way harder time distracting me and it would’ve been considerably less likely that this situation could happen,” he finishes, pulling himself off the door and dropping tiredly onto his bed.
“See!” Sirius shouts, gesturing to the taller boy with a victorious grin.
James sends him a dirty look before taking a deep breath and turning back to the prefect. “Okay. Remus, get this straight for-”
“Can’t do that.”
Sirius’ head snaps towards the werewolf. As soon as Remus realises the words that have left his lips, he groans loudly, dropping backwards onto the mattress. He pulls the pillow over his face and lets the silence ring.
Sirius can only stare, trying to process the possible meaning of those words.
“Err… Moony?” James asks tentatively.
“Yes, Prongs.”
“Are you - And you don’t have to answer! But are you by any chance… queer?”
“Yes, Prongs.”
James looks to Peter, who looks distinctly uncomfortable and then to Sirius, still slack-jawed and wide-eyed, before deciding that he’s clearly the one who’ll need to take control of this situation.
“We…We don’t mind. You know that, right?”
“I know now. Thank you, Prongs.”
They stay in awkward silence for several moments. James desperately tries to find something to diffuse the tension, until finally being given respite by Peter’s suddenly grumbling stomach.
“Wonderful idea, Wormy!” shouts James, “Pete and I will go down to the kitchen and get us some snacks. Then we can all eat without Rem being in danger of Snivellus coming after him at dinner. How about that?”
“I’m currently feeling too embarrassed and empty inside to actually want to eat but I deeply appreciate your effort to make me feel better. Therefore, I will eat whatever you bring me so I can convince you that I am fine and so you stop wasting your time looking after me.”
Sirius can’t help but choke out a laugh at the painfully truthful answer and at James’ sharp and awkward blinks of surprise. He always did understand Remus’ self-deprecating humour better than the other two. They are the same in that way.
Remus, in turn, just groans loudly and turns on his stomach, burying his face in the mattress.
“Maybe you two should just go,” Sirius says, shoving the two other boys through the door, “I’ll take care of Moony. We’ll be fine. Go on then.”
As soon as the others are gone Sirius walks back to the tall Welsh boy and pats him on the shoulder.
“It’s okay, Moons. You can relax with me. I won’t ask you anything.”
Remus merely grunts into the pillow as answer.
“Though you should remember that we really do enjoy looking after you. It’s never a waste of time.”
This time the werewolf doesn’t even dignify him with a grumbled answer, leaving the overly sentimental words hanging in the air. Sirius picks at his nails, trying to find something to do until the question in the back of his brain becomes too much and he breaks.
“Okay, can I ask one thing, though?”
The following grunt seems to be slightly more positive, so Sirius takes it as a ‘yes’.
“How did you realise that the tea had been spiked?”
Suddenly, Sirius hears a muffled laugh echo through the room. Fuck, do I love that laugh.
Remus turns his face to the black-haired boy, leaving it still slightly smooshed against the fluffy red covers. Sirius tries his best to not audibly sigh because Remus is giving him that smile. That small private, mischievous smile. The one that is just for him .
“I made a face when I drank my tea” Remus starts, “and Lily asked if I was alright. But instead of lying and saying ‘yes’ like I normally would, I replied ‘Of course not. It’s incredibly difficult to pay attention to any of my studies with the sun reflecting so perfectly off of Snivellus hair grease’.”
“You didn’t?!” Sirius baulks, in awe.
“I bloody well did. She was most likely furious, though she will probably understand once I explain the situation. But regardless, the fact that he knows that was my most honest answer? One of the best feelings ever.”
They stare at each other, faces growing red as they try to hold in the laughter until it bursts out of them.
Minutes later, after finally calming down and whipping away the tears from their outburst, the silence starts to sink in. Sirius thinks of striking up a conversation, but most of his ideas started with ‘Hey, Moony, what do you think of-’ or ‘Moons, did you know that-’, so those were a no go. Plus, even if he manages to start a topic without directly asking the werewolf any questions, there is always the possibility that the Veritasserum will compel him to say something true that he doesn’t want to tell Sirius. Like him being queer, which Sirius is currently trying very, very hard not to think about.
Suddenly, his eyes widen with a wonderful idea. “I know what we can do that is very entertaining and doesn’t involve any possible awkward questions!”
With his statement, Sirius jumps off the bed with a twirl. Remus on the other hand simply sits back up slowly, with a small smile on his face at the scene. The raven-haired boy saunters cheerily to the record player on the opposite side of the room and smiles widely at the werewolf.
Remus raises an unamused eyebrow, as if to say ‘you have to be joking’ but Sirius is having none of that.
“C’mon. I know you love dancing with me, don’t you?”
Remus makes his most unimpressed expression to deny it but the opposite words end up tumbling out once he opens his mouth. “Of course I do, Padfoot. Some of my favourite memories are us dancing together.”
They stare at each other until Remus groans loudly and buries his face in his hands.
“Er… Right,” Sirius says awkwardly, “Sorry I asked. Reflex and all. I’ll try and stop now”
The only reply comes as a slight trembling of the blond curls in the movement of a gentle nod.
“I’m glad you like it, though. They’re some of my favourites, too,” Sirius tries with a smile.
Remus looks up slightly. “Thanks, Pads.”
“Okay! So, Andy just sent me a new record. Well, technically it’s not new- new but it’s new to me so whatever. Never heard it either, so consider yourself lucky, Moonikins.”
“I already do,” Remus states unwillingly, cheeks burning red.
“And I’m just going to breeze past any outbursts like that,” he continues with cheeks burning “and we can pretend like this is all perfectly ordinary.”
Disregarding the awkwardness, he takes the record from its hidden spot under his bed and places it gently on the player. As the first notes start to reverberate, he stretches his hand out to the werewolf, who is still watching him warily.
“Oh, c’mon, Moons. Now I know you like it. Come dance with me.”
With a shy smile, Remus takes the hand and finds himself immediately being spun around the room while drums play in the background.
“Is this American?” the taller boy asks, smiling.
I walked 47 miles on barb wire
Cobra snake for a necktie
“Reckon so. You know I’m not usually their biggest fan but Andy says I need to ‘broaden my horizons’. And honestly, this one is pretty groovy,” Sirius replies, smiling and pulling Remus closer.
“Yeah, it is.”
Built a house by the roadside
Made of rattlesnake hide
“See. Knew I could make you have some fun in the face of adversity.”
Remus just laughs, holding Sirius’ hand over his head and letting the shorter boy spin wildly.
Brand new chimney up on top
Made out of human skulls
Sirius smiles brightly at the beautiful sound as he pulls back to Remus, holding him tightly by the waist and lets the laughing werewolf fall back in a dip.
Come on baby take a walk with me
Tell me, who do you love?
“Sirius,” Remus replies smiling, before realising what he said and pulling back in a brisk shock.
Of course, the problem with pulling back when you are in a ballroom dance dip is that your partner is the one actually holding your weight. This is how a very flustered 6’3’’ werewolf is found on the floor of his dorm room, with a slack-jawed Sirius Black hovering above him.
The record player, however, is unperturbed by the scene and just keeps on playing.
Who do you love, now
Who do you love, now
Remus clasps his hands over his mouth, stopping any sound from coming out and skittering backwards until his back hits the stone wall of the room.
Who do you love, babe
I say who now, who do you love
Sirius carefully inches closer to the terrified boy. His cheeks are red, eyes are watery, and it’s clear that he’s trying with everything in him not to speak. Sirius gently wraps his hands around the boy’s wrists, pulling them away from the mouth that immediately shouts, “SIRIUS!”
Remus is shaking in fear as he looks up at the long-haired boy.
Sirius, however, breaks into a wide smile and a loud laugh bubbles out of him. Fuck, this is the best day of my life. Remus just stares in confused shock.
“Godric’s tits, Remus! Do you have any idea what that means?!”
“Probably that you hate me and are disgusted by me and will tell James and Peter and none of you will ever talk to me ever again and-”
The rattling is abruptly cut by Sirius pressing his lips firmly against the other boy’s. Chapped and chaste, but every bit as exhilarating as Sirius had imagined. Remus doesn’t respond to the kiss at all though, and when the black-haired boy finally pulls back, several moments later, the blond is still staring up in shock. Sirius wonders if Remus ever actually closed his eyes.
The werewolf opens and closes his mouth several times as he tries to process what just happens. He looks a bit like an out of water fish but is adorable nevertheless.
“You…” he manages, eventually, “You… Does this mean…”
“That I like you, too? Yes.” Sirius replies with a smile.
“Technically I said I love you but-”
“Okay, fine!! I am desperately in love with you, you technically-correct-berk! Happy?!”
“Possibly the happiest I’ve ever been, actually.” This time, Remus shows no qualms about his frankness. A huge smile blooms on his face and he lurches himself forward, wrapping his arms around Sirius and kissing him square on the mouth.
They desperately pull each other closer, moving shyly from inexperienced, but letting the exhilaration of finally being able to do it urge them forward.
Finally, the music comes to an end, leaving the last words of the singer hanging in the air.
We're gonna have some fun tonight, right?
Remus pulls back, bright amber orbs glimmering at Sirius. His eyes make it clear that this is not the saintly prefect the rest of the school believe Remus Lupin to be. Oh no. This is the Marauder that comes up with their most terrible pranks. The werewolf who can throw you over his shoulder and carry you away if you’ve annoyed him. The man who always makes the sweetest and crudest sex jokes of the group, leaving even Sirius a blushing, sputtering mess.
Yes. This is his Moony. Who gives him a wicked smile and murmurs mischievously, “Yes. Yes, we are.”