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The first rays of morning streamed through the window directly to the right of Remus’s bed. At first he flopped over on his side to ignore the light until he recalled what today was. His eyes snapped open as he threw the covers back from his body and sat up. He arched his back in a massive stretch, still tight from his transformation a week ago. It was beginning to catch up on him more and more these days, even with the rest of the Marauders keeping him safe when he prowled. That wasn’t about to sour his mood, not when he had the best date planned with one Sirius Black.
Speaking of Sirius Black, where was he? If anyone was going to be up and ready for a date, it would be him. Remus had seen him get ready for plenty of dates with numerous girls, and now it was finally him. He had stood by and watched, being the best friend that he could when all he wanted was to be one of those people that Sirius asked out. After they had confessed their love for each other one morning after a full moon, they couldn’t get enough of each other. It had started hot and heavy and just went from there, to which had continued with regular dates or just hanging out. Today was special as it was a Hogsmeade day, and Remus couldn’t wait to get there.
He tried to wait for a couple more minutes, but his excitement won out as he slipped out of bed and walked around to Sirius’s. He could hear the other boy snoring rather noisily, curtains drawn. It hadn’t been overly cold the night before, which was when Sirius usually drew his blinds. More often than not he slept with them open no matter what, yet now here he was with the curtains drawn.
“Sirius,” Remus whispered as he pulled the curtain back lightly. He slipped next to Sirius’s bed and reached out to shake his shoulder. “Sirius, wake up. The sun’s already out. If we want to get to Hogsmeade and then the Shrieking Shack, we have to do it when everyone else is distracted.”
Sirius only hummed before rolling over onto his side away from Remus. His body gave a violent shiver as he drew his knees up to his chest in an almost fetal position, a liquid sniffle sounding when he tried to breathe.
“Sirius?”
Remus crawled onto the edge of Sirius’s bed and tried to wake him again. This time he was a little more forceful, shaking both Sirius’s shoulders.
“Remus, knock it off,” Sirius hissed as he lifted his elbow to jab it into Remus’s side. Remus yelped in surprise and stepped away from the bed, head tilted in surprise. Sirius was never that harsh with him, no matter what. To James and Peter, sure, but never him.
Remus thought hard before reaching out and rested a hand on top of Sirius’s forehead. There he felt heat, far too strong for normal temperature. Judging by the way that Sirius continued to shiver, and pull the blanket even tighter around himself gave Remus all the information Remus needed.
“Siri, are you sick,” Remus asked softly.
Sirius immediately changed his tone as he rolled back over to face Remus, head shaking vigorously. “No, no, of course not. Just want a little more shuteye is all.”
“Sirius.” Remus shot Sirius a stern look, not falling for what he said for a moment. He had dealt with enough illness himself to detect it in others, and he wasn’t about to let Sirius wriggle out of this, not when he clearly had a temperature. Remus could also hear the catch in his lungs as he breathed, deep and wheezing no matter how many times Sirius cleared his sore throat. Sirius lifted a hand to rub at the undersides of his nose, grimacing at the squelch it made.
“Okay, okay, but it’s just a sniffle, nothing more! I’m fine to go to Hogsmeade.” Sirius suddenly trailed off as his breath started to hitch madly, face screwed up in anticipation. He didn’t have time to reach into his drawer for a handkerchief, instead force to sneeze helplessly into the blankets in front of him. “HEsth’Shoo! HetSH’Shoo! HetSH’Shoo!”
“Bless you,” Remus exclaimed.
Sirius surfaced, nose dripping to find that Remus had found a handkerchief for him. Blushing profusely, Sirius took the offered handkerchief and blew his nose softly. The sound was louder than he anticipated, and he hurried to clean up the evidence as he looked back to Remus. “Thanks.”
“You sound awful.”
“Damn, Remus, you really know how to comfort a lad when he’s done, don’t you,” Sirius shot back with a laugh that turned into a harsh cough.
Remus wasn’t soothed for a second. He reached out and rested a hand on his chest, feeling how difficult it seemed for Sirius to take in a breath. Whatever was going on had been brewing for a while, and Sirius hadn’t said anything. Remus didn’t blame him in the slightest as he was prone to the same thing. Neither of them liked to admit when they were sick, though Remus certainly came down sick more than the rest. In fact, he had almost never seen Sirius sick, which concerned Remus even more.
“Do you want me to grab you some Pepper-Up? Madam Pomfrey has plenty this time of year,” Remus offered with a nod to the door.
Sirus shook his head. “That’s not necessary. There is one thing I’d like.”
“Anything,” Remus blurted. “You take care of me all the time. What can I do for you?”
“Stay with me?”
Remus blinked his eyes in surprise. He gnawed on his bottom lip. “You mean in bed with you? Like right now?”
Horror showed on Sirius’s face as he looked to Remus. His hands worked against his legs as he struggled to form words. “It’s too soon…..bloody hell why did I say that? Just forget it and I’ll see you later.” He flipped over back to his other side, covers thrown over his head as he coughed raggedly, willing Remus to leave him in peace.
It all happened so fast that Remus wasn’t even sure what had happened. He reached back out and set a hand on Sirius’s flank. “Siri, that’s not what I meant. Scoot over.”
Sirius reluctantly did as Remus asked, a little surprised when Remus slid in behind him and pulled the covers around them both. He threaded his fingers through Sirius’s hair until the other boy rolled over to face him, eyes watery and nose beginning to redden. He looked so sick already that Remus mentally cursed himself for not noticing earlier. He had been so focused on his Magical History paper that he barely had time to eat, let alone to know if anything was up with Sirius.
“You don’t have to do this if you’re not ready,” Sirius argued with another painful swallow. “I know we haven’t exactly come out to everyone about us.”
“They’re going to find out eventually,” Remus pointed out. “They need to learn to be okay with it or leave us alone, because now that I’ve got you, Sirius Black, I’m not letting you go.”
Sirius lifted his eyebrows seductively, a wicked smile gracing his lips. “You know when we graduate this year and leave Hogwarts we can go wherever we want and be whoever we want. We can surround ourselves with only people that support us.”
“I take it that means none of your family?”
“Hell no! Being sorted in Gryffindor nearly killed them. How do you think they would react when they find out I’m into cock?”
Remus hit Sirius’s shoulder lightly. “I wouldn’t put it like that!”
“Doesn’t matter, doesn’t change the fact on how they’d feel about it. Once I’m out of school they won’t have control over me anymore.” Sirius rubbed his nose with the corner of the blanket until Remus cleared his throat noisily and handed over the handkerchief that Sirius had dropped when he rolled over. Sirius blushed as he took it, rubbing at his runny nose fiercely. “This sucks bollocks. I don’t know how you deal with this so often. It feels like my nose is going to fall off!”
“What happened to your phenomenal immune system, huh?”
“Budge off, you git!” Sirius reached to ruffle Remus’s hair when he was forced to reel back, the handkerchief clamped over the lower half of his face. “Hitsh’Shoo! Hish’Shoo! Hish’Shoo! HitSH’Shoo!”
“Bless you!”
Sirius blew his nose in the aftermath. It did little good, and he was forced to breathe through his mouth as his nose was too clogged to do so. He looked at Remus with a clear pout, the same look he gave to Remus when he wanted nearly anything. Remus couldn’t say no to that look, no matter what, and now was no different.
Remus let out a loud sigh as he scooted closer to Sirius, pulling the other man closer until Sirius’s head was propped up on his chest. “That’ll help you breathe easier,” Remus whispered into Sirius’s ear as he rubbed his back. “Do you need any water? Another blanket?”
“Just you.” Sirius clutched Remus for dear life, barely letting the werewolf move. He breathed noisily in Remus’s ear, though Remus didn’t care. While this wasn’t quite the date that Remus had planned, but this was a pretty good substitute.