pjs and blazers
Sirius dragged Remus by the hand up the flights of stairs that lead to the dormitories and pulled him into the room belonging to them. He threw their bags at the foot of his own bed and gave Remus a quick spin as if they were dancing. Remus just laughed and shook his head at the other boy. Sirius would never get tired of hearing that laugh.
“As much as I love our room Pads, I don’t recall us having a kitchen up here.”
“Oh, dear Moony.” Sirius proceeded to make his voice sound as posh as possible. “How you misunderstand, we aren’t eating up here. We do have to change for dinner, don’t we?”
Remus rolled his eyes so hard, Sirius feared he might get them permanently stuck.
“God, you’re obnoxious.”
“You love it.”
Remus slowly detangled his hand from Sirius’, still chuckling slightly, and started towards the bathroom to wash the remains of crying from his face. Sirius watched him go, already missing the feeling of their hands clasped together.
Get it together, Sirius. Merlin.
He shook his head, attempting to clear his thoughts of the other boy, and began to rummage through his trunk for something to wear. He decided on one of the old band shirts Remus had given him, a pair of black jeans, and a black blazer. The blazer was one of the few things he kept around from his days at Grimmauld Place. Too many good memories at Hogwarts associated with it for him to burn it as he had done with most everything else from his family.
Remus stepped out of the bathroom, and his eyes immediately widened at the sight of his companion, leaning against one of the posts at the bottom of his bed.
“Alright, Sirius,” He sighed. “what do you expect me to wear then?”
“No need to worry, I’ve got you covered Moons,” Sirius pointed to a stack of clothes he had left on the edge of Remus’ bed.
He watched Remus make his way over to the clothes, a skeptical look on his face.
“My sweater, I remember how familiar smells comfort you, and your plaid pajama pants cause, once again, comfort is important, and those big fluffy socks you like.”
“No way, Sirius. No way, you look ready to go out to some classy event and expect me to look like I just crawled out of bed?”
Shit.
Sirius hadn’t even thought about that. He had just wanted Remus to be happy, and he figured, comfy clothes plus Sirius in his ‘these would be my date clothes,but we aren’t on a date, unless you want to be? But we haven’t talked about that really, and I’m sure you don’t share my feelings’ outfit would equate to happiness.
“We can’t all be as fancy as me, now can we Remus?”
Wow, Sirius, good going. That’s exactly what to say here. Being annoying is always going to go well.
He just raised an eyebrow giving Sirius another skeptical look.
“Fine, fine!” Sirius threw up his hands in the air, being extra dramatic. Well, extra dramatic for a normal person. For Sirius Black, it was the typical amount of drama. “I’ll wear my pajama pants too if it will make you happy, but I’m keeping the blazer!”
Remus laughed again, throwing his head back just a bit. All signs of the breakdown he had just experienced were gone. Sirius felt something warm flutter inside of his stomach. He had done that.
“You’re going to look ridiculous. I hope you know that.”
Sirius just lazily saluted at him with two fingers and winked, a wide smile spreading across his face. He didn’t care. It was making Remus forget about whatever had been hurting him, and that’s all that was important.
Once they had both changed, Sirius grabbed Remus’ hand once again and pulled him out of their dorm. They dashed through the common room and into the hallways. As they got farther away from the tower, they began to speed up until they were running. They ran past empty classrooms, through passageways, up and down staircases, laughter escaping their tired lungs and filling the vast silence of the castle.
That warm, fluttery feeling returned in Sirius' stomach, but this time spread its way through his whole body. It moved up his spine, into his head, and through his lungs, making his breathing rate increase even more. It moved down his arms and fingers, leaving them feeling numb and tingly but alive all the same. It shot quickly through his legs. He was almost certain that if he had jumped, he would have just hovered there in mid-air like he was on a broom flying through the sky. Sirius closed his eyes, just for a second, letting the moment wash over him. He wanted to remember everything about this.
Then he almost broke his neck.
Remus had abruptly stopped running and pulled on Sirius’ arm. His legs continued to run forward, but his torso was pulled back, causing him to slip and fall backward, limbs flailing about. Luckily, Remus grabbed his waist from the side, catching him just in time before he hit the ground. Sirius’ eyes shot back open.
“Remus! What the fu-”
Remus clasped a hand over Sirius' mouth and looked around frantically. Before Sirius could tug Remus’ hand off of his mouth and say anything else, the werewolf pulled him into a nearby classroom and quickly shut the door behind them. He pressed them against the door and used the hand that wasn’t covering Sirius' mouth to cover his own, forcing his eyes shut. That's when Sirius finally heard it, the quiet clicking of keys banging against each other.
Filch.
Although most people couldn’t hear the sound of Filch’s keys until it was too late to hide, Remus and Sirius both were lucky enough to have heightened hearing abilities due to their...well, let’s call them moonlight excursions. Plus, the two had trained themselves to pick up on the sound from night after night, working on the map and sneaking around the corridors.
Sirius froze, trying to make as little sound as possible. Remus did the same, both trying to silence their panting breaths and pounding hearts. They waited silently as the sound of the keys became louder. Eventually, they could hear the man's footsteps walk up to the door. Remus became tenser as Filch approached, tightening his whole body and, in turn, pulling Sirius closer, so their chests were pushed against one another. Sirius closed his eyes too. They listened carefully, waiting for all noise to be completely gone. Eventually, the sounds faded away, and there was just the returned silence of the castle, undisturbed by two laughing teen boys or a grumpy caretaker.
Sirius opened his eyes just in time to see Remus’ eyes flutter open, silently communicating with the shorter boy standing against him.
Do you think he’s gone?
Should be, I can’t hear him anymore, can you?
No, nothing.
Even then, they refused to move for a few moments, just to make sure he was really gone. That was definitely the reason. The reason wasn’t that Sirius couldn’t bring himself to pull away, now realizing how close the two really were. No. Never. It’s not like he realized that if Moony had removed his hands from each of their mouths, he would be able to feel Remus’ breath against his face. Nope. And he wasn’t thinking at all about how if that had happened, all Sirius would have to do, is lean forward an inch or two, and they would be kissing. Definitely not. They stayed that way purely for safety reasons, nothing else.
“I think it’s safe,” Remus whispered, finally pulling his hands away from both his own and Sirius’ mouth.
Sirius took a step back, freeing Remus from being squashed against the door as well as preventing himself from doing something stupid. They both stood catching their breaths, Sirius running a hand through his hair. He then removed his blazer, allowing his upper body to cool down a bit, hoping not to be completely drenched in sweat by the end of the night. He lazily swung it over his shoulder and leaned against a table stationed near him in the room. When he looked back over at the other boy, he was smiling. Sirius smiled back, and suddenly they were laughing again, a much quieter and tired laugh than before, but laughing all the same.
Remus leaned his head back against the door, exposing his entire neck. Sirius watched as the silky moonlight, coming through a large arched window behind him, lit two of his silver scars. One twisted around from the back of his neck, near the base of his hair, and around to the bottom, stopping a bit before his collarbone. The other ran down the right side of his throat, starting at the corner of his jaw and stopping about halfway down. As he moved slightly, so did the light bouncing off of the scars, shifting their appearance just slightly, making both them and the werewolf they adorned appear to be glowing. It was a shame Moony hated the moonlight so much. He always looked the most beautiful in it.
“Okay Sirius,” He started, pushing himself off of the door. Sirius quickly looked away, hoping Remus hadn’t noticed his obvious staring. “Let’s go...wherever you’re taking me.”
“Let’s.” Sirius pushed himself away from his table, the same way Remus had done, and began to walk towards him “But no running this time? I don’t think I can risk falling again. I almost cracked my skull open last time.”
“Sure Pads” Remus chuckled and pulled the door open, beginning to walk through it. At the last second, before leaving, he turned his head back around to look at the animagus. “I’d be there to catch you though, don’t worry.”
Merlin.