James liked to believe he was very observant — not to toot his own horn or anything.
He had been the first one to notice the pattern in Remus’s monthly disappearances and put the pieces together. He had also been the first one to notice the way Sirius would hide behind long sleeves after every break. When Peter told them he had started dating Sybill Trelawney, he had to fake a surprised reaction. Of course he had known something was brewing months in advance but he didn’t want to steal his friend’s spotlight. And anyway, it was entertaining to let Peter believe he had finally managed to hide something from the omniscient James Potter.
So the fact that James had started noticing the difference in Sirius’s and Remus’s behaviour wasn’t weird by any means. It was, however, quite unusual for him to dwell on the topic for months and be nowhere nearer being able to place his finger on it than he was at the beginning of their seventh year.
—
It started off simple enough, with hushed whispers when they thought no one was watching — honestly they should’ve known better than that; James was always watching — or disappearances right after dinner only to reappear in the dorm minutes before curfew, together.
On a chilly September afternoon, the Marauders were sitting near the Black Lake, enjoying the Sun before it would disappear for the season. James watched the water ripple, each gust of wind disturbing it more. Peter was going off about some Ravenclaw that had been hitting on Sybill and how he didn’t get how she didn’t realise someone’s affection towards her.
“I mean, isn’t that absolutely ridiculous?” he asked exasperatedly. “And I told her so, too. No one is that oblivious.”
James only chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose and looking at his friend. “You sure about that?”
Peter looked confused for a second before James motioned over to their other two friends with his head. Remus was sitting with his back against the tree and Sirius’s head in his lap, desperately trying to finish his book but to no avail — it looked like Sirius was talking his ear off, though both James and Peter could notice the lack of annoyance on Remus’s face.
“Weird,” Peter finally said, making James face him again. “If that was me talking to him while he was reading, I would’ve been fed to the Giant Squid a long time ago.”
James clapped his hands and then flinched, looking back over at the two to make sure they hadn’t been alerted by the sudden sound; which, of course, they hadn’t been, still deep inside their lovesick bubble. “Exactly. They have been acting weird.”
Peter pondered on it for a second, brows knitted in confusion. “You don’t think…” he trailed off, unsure of whether his suspicions were even valid.
“Don’t think what?”
He sighed, resigned to the fact that now that he started the sentence he’d also have to finish it; James wasn’t someone who gave up easily. “You don’t think they’re dating, do you?”
The question caught James off guard and he had to take a few seconds to think before answering. Sure, Sirius had had a crush on Remus for what felt like centuries by that point and James had been telling him to just come clean, having noticed the way Remus’s eyes would linger on the dark-haired boy when he wasn’t looking. But he also knew Sirius; he thought of him like a brother he never had. He knew that Sirius wouldn’t hide something like that from him. Besides, he was sure Sirius would be too ecstatic to hide his relationship with Remus from anyone, for that matter.
“No,” he finally concluded, shaking his head with certainty. “They’d tell us. It’s not that. This feels… different. It has more weight to it. I just can’t figure it out.”
“You will. You always do.”
—
And maybe Peter was right, James did always manage to figure out his friends’ secrets, but this one was taking particularly long to unravel.
He spent three months following every move Sirius and Remus made in order to bring him closer to the answer — which it didn’t. The hushed whispers were always just a notch too low for him to hear and the boys were always just a second too early out of the Great Hall after dinner, making it impossible for James to follow them, especially considering the fact that the Map seemed to have found its forever home in Remus’s pocket.
Peter and Lily kept claiming that he had enough proof to conclude the boys were, in fact, dating and keeping it a secret but he stood behind his theory that it wasn’t that simple. What they were hiding was, in James’s eyes, larger than life. Sirius didn’t know how to keep anything from James, which is what made the whole situation that much more bewildering — whatever their secret was, it ran deeper than James could’ve ever imagined.
All this soon made him start realising that he was unwittingly crossing an invisible line between considerate and clingy and he decided to take a step back, settling on letting them come clean in their own time.
He, however, didn’t need to wait long because their own time proved to be sooner than he had expected. It was the middle of December, barely two weeks after James’s resignation. The fire was cracking in the almost empty Common Room, casting a soft, orange glow over the group of friends sprawled in front of it. Besides Lily, Mary and Marlene at the other end of the room, they were the only ones still awake.
This had become a routine; they would stay up as long as the exhaustion from the endless assignments let them, just laying around and enjoying their last year, taking mental pictures to keep in their hearts for years to come. It was Remus’s idea, as most good ones are. Ever the sentimental one, he suggested they really use their last moments at Hogwarts to its fullest, already knowing how much they would miss these days. Some nights were loud and lively, filled with drunk shenanigans and party games — though the party usually consisted of only four. And then there were other nights; those serene ones, with them just enjoying the silence — unusual for such a busy school — together.
At first, James had thought this one was going to be the latter kind. That was until Marlene sighed, again, and Lily had finally decided she had enough of the girl’s dramatics.
“Okay, enough.” She gathered their parchment and books freely due to the lack of protest from either of the two. “We are taking a break.”
“Thank Merlin,” said Mary, standing up and stretching her limbs with a loud groan. “I’m so exhausted. I’ve been rereading the same passage for the past ten minutes and I still don’t know what it’s about.”
“Tell me about it.” Marlene had to pause to yawn before continuing. “I can’t even read anymore, the words keep dancing on the paper.”
Lily rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t help but silently agree with them. Seventh year was taking a toll on them all, despite the fact that exams were still months away, and she knew they had to remember to take a break every once in a while, if only to spare their sanity.
“Let’s play a game to relax,” she suggested.
At this, Sirius sat up, eyes wide and expectant. “Did someone mention a game?”
“Yeah.” She crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the boy daringly. “A game for us. Who invited you?”
“Oh, come off it, Red.” He had to duck away from a lemon sherbet James threw his way, ignoring his protests of don’t talk to her like that, dimwit. “You know you love our company.”
And even though the toothy grin he shot her could never have the effect on her that it did on others, she couldn’t argue with that. For the first couple of years at Hogwarts, she could barely tolerate them — with the exception of Remus, who she’d befriended on the very first day and had only grown closer to since. However, somewhere during sixth year, she noticed a shift in James’s behaviour and soon enough she started finding herself in their vicinity more often, though she always claimed it was purely because they were joined at the hip and she couldn’t get Remus alone.
“Fine,” she scoffed. The glint in Sirius’s eyes let her know she wasn’t as good of a liar as she thought she was.
They sat down between the boys, gratefully accepting the snacks they offered them. Lily pretended not to notice Remus’s smirk when he saw her voluntarily sitting down next to James.
“Okay, so,” James finally started, cutting off all small talks between the friends. “What are we playing?”
“How about truth or dare?” Peter suggested, popping another sweet into his mouth.
Remus groaned from his place next to Sirius, throwing his head back onto the couch. “Aren’t we a tad old for that?”
With his eyes closed, he couldn’t prepare for an elbow Sirius drove into his ribs. He let out a pained oomph, looking at the boy offendedly. “What the hell was that for?”
“We are never too old for anything, Moonshine.”
“I thought you would’ve matured considering—“ He cut himself off abruptly, eyes widening before he relaxed into a faux nonchalant expression.
Still, James managed to notice a moment of panic, of course. “Considering what?”
Remus and Sirius shared a worried look before Remus turned back towards his friends, clearing his throat as if that would erase his words. “Nothing. Let’s just play.”
The girls didn’t have to be told twice with Marlene already halfway up the stairs, on her way to retrieve her carefully curated collection of different kinds of alcohol. While she was gone, James took his time to remind himself not to prod his friends even if he was left more curious than he had ever been before. It seemed like the revelation had been just out of his grasp and he couldn’t help but resent Remus a little for the way his brain worked faster than his mouth.
His thoughts were quickly cut off when Marlene strolled over, hands filled with bottles of firewhiskey, buttlebeer and sherry. It was calm for a few minutes while they worked to empty a bottle of firewhiskey and then placed it in the middle of the quasi-circle they had made.
Lily, being the one who had suggested playing a game, took it upon herself to give the bottle the first spin. All eyes were glued to its neck until it stopped and pointed directly at Mary.
The girl blushed under the watchful gaze of everyone, looking at her friend for any sort of comfort. “Truth,” she murmured, not waiting for Lily to ask and instead doing everything in her power to take the attention off of her.
Lily hummed in thought before her eyes widened and a smirk stretched across her lips. Mary took a gulp of her drink, both to have something to do with her hands and because that mischievous look that crossed Lily’s face — the one often saw on the Marauders — didn’t particularly excite her.
She regretted it, however, when the redhead finally posed her question that caused Mary to choke on said drink. “Which one of the professors would you sleep with if you had to?”
Sirius whistled; a low, teasing sound. “Starting off strong, Red.”
At the sound of that stupid nickname that he insisted on using, Lily narrowed her eyes at the boy but kept quiet, waiting for Mary’s answer.
The girl debated her answer for a moment, before saying, “McGonagall, probably.”
The unexpected force with which Marlene hit her across her back almost sent her flying across the Common Room but the blonde was blissfully unaware, too busy chuckling and stating her agreement.
When the laughter settled down after a few too many complaints from Mary, she spun the bottle and watched as it landed on Peter. “Petey, truth or dare?”
He looked unsure for a moment, eyes glancing around the circle as if searching for an answer. “Dare,” he replied after a few seconds, deciding to use all his Gryffindor — and liquid — courage.
“I dare you to…” she started, giving herself a few seconds to think of something. “To ride a broom indoors!”
The answers to this were mixed; a frustrated groan from Peter, a scolding from Lily about the potential dangers of such actions and wholehearted laughter from James.
Presented with the perfect opportunity, Sirius grinned and turned to look at Remus. The boy barely had a second to prepare himself for the menace that was Sirius Black before he was saying, “I could ride your broom indoors.”
This sent James into another fit of laughter, not giving much thought to Sirius’s blatant flirting or Remus’s lack of objection. This wasn’t new for them anyway, the playful teasing had been in game for as long as James could remember, which is why he didn’t think it important to connect to their unusual behaviour.
He watched Peter’s crestfallen expressions when McKinnon came back into the room — when had she even managed to escape? — a broom in hand and a smirk on her lips.
“This is a terrible idea,” he muttered, standing up and taking the poor thing from the girl. She made sure to send a silent prayer to whoever was listening that her broom will survive this. “Truly terrible.”
“Oh, it’ll be fine. Just give it a few spins around the room, nothing much. Easy peasy,” James laughed but there was no real malice behind it.
“Easy peasy my arse,” Peter rolled his eyes, placing his feet on either side of the broom. “You lot are aware I can’t even fly this thing in normal conditions? Much less with this little space.”
“If you’re really that scared you don’t need to—“
Sirius cut Lily off before she could even finish with a wave of his hand. “No wimping out.”
Lily sent him a glare and Peter looked about two second away from flying right into him but thought better of it and sat down carefully. He did a few jumps, not strong enough to kick him off the ground but just enough to remind him of the feeling of flying.
And then, before someone could voice another complaint, he was up in the air.
This, however, didn’t last long, as he soon started to wobble on the unstable thin wood, zooming around the room and nearly connecting with the wall a few times before he tumbled off. The broom continued for several seconds, flying on autopilot until Marlene directed it towards herself with a quick cast of Leviosa.
Peter trudged over with a scowl on his face. “It’s so on, MacDonald,” his voice was way softer than he’d anticipated and he made sure to mentally curse Mary for being so likeable; people could never stay mad at her for too long.
“You did just fine, Wormtail,” Sirius teased, eyes glinting with mirth.
“Yeah,” Remus agreed, his mouth curling upwards. Peter wanted to wipe the stupid grin off his face. “I particularly liked the part where you almost broke the chandelier.”
Peter rolled his eyes, aiming a pillow at Remus but it ended up hitting Sirius who let out an offended Oi, watch it! Honestly, not his fault that those two were almost sitting in each other’s laps; it was hard to tell where one of them ended and the other began. “The key word here is almost,” he noted proudly. “I didn’t actually break anything.”
“Except for a few bones when you plummeted so gracefully.”
The glare from Peter did nothing to stop Sirius’s chuckles. He crossed his arms, ignoring his head telling him that he probably looked like a child throwing a tantrum. “I could break your bones, then we’d be matching.”
That shut the boy up, his eyes widening in faux fear. “So aggressive, Wormtail. I’d like to see you try.”
He didn’t, of course, only nudging his foot against Sirius’s who in return leaned over and ruffled his hair before Peter could move out of the way.
The game continued with no other near-death experiences. As the night went on, the bottles grew emptier and minds foggier. Upon realising that sleep was crawling over all of them, they agreed to one more spin — mostly because James wasn’t the most eager to finish the game and it was his turn to ask — before they would turn in for the night.
“Marlene,” he said in a sing-song voice, snapping Lily and Peter out of their sleep from where they were leaning against each other. “Truth or dare?”
“Going to finish strong with a dare. Give me your best,” she said but then thought about it again and added. “But no going out of the Common Room, I don’t have the energy right now.”
“I dare you,” he started, eyes glinting in the light of the dying fire, “to kiss the prettiest boy in the room.”
She groaned, rubbing a hand over her eyes to will the sleep away from them. “You’re aware that I’m—“
“A raging homosexual?” he asked with a smirk, leaning back on his elbows. “That’s what makes it funnier, no?”
“Funnier to who?” she rolled her eyes, shaking her head in an unamused fashion.
“To me, of course. I’ll have the time of my life watching you squirm.”
Ignoring James’s comment, Marlene proceeded with scanning the four boys, trying to decide who her target will be. “Fine. Sirius, then,” she finally said. “It’ll be the easiest to pretend he’s a girl.”
James was already enjoying the show before it had even began while Sirius only looked slightly offended with brows knitted in bewilderment. “Now what in Merlin’s name is that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” she started defensively, wishing for the whole thing to be over soon and regretting her decision to pick dare. “That with the long hair and all I can just pretend it’s not you and make it less awkward for both of us.”
“Well I’ll take that compliment towards my luscious hair,” he emphasised the statement with a flick of said hair over his shoulder, either not hearing or ignoring Remus’s choking when some of it ended in his mouth. “But no can do. Sorry to disappoint.”
This snapped James out of his stupor. “Oh, come on, Pads,” he groaned. “Don’t be a wet blanket.”
“No, James,” he said decidedly, eyes boring into James’s. “I’m not kissing her.”
“And why is that?” James’s brow arched as the boy sat up and crossed his arms over his chest.
Peter, who had done his best to stay out of this debate, finally made himself known again. “Just do it so we can all go to sleep, please.”
“No.”
“Why not?” James asked again, voice laced with irritation that was growing inside of him. He couldn’t understand what the big deal was. They were all drunk off their asses and it would just be so uncomfortable for both parties they would at least have something to laugh about in the future. “Is it because you’re bent? ‘Cause you know she is, too. That’s what makes it—“
“For fuck’s sake, James,” Sirius snapped. “No, it’s not because I’m gay.”
“Then what? Because from where I’m standing you’re just being unnecessarily difficult about this whole—“
Sirius cut him off again, too agitated to sit through another one of his speeches.
“It’s because I’m married.”
Silence spread over Common Room like a wildfire, impossible to tame and even harder to understand. For a few seconds it seemed like time had stopped, this theory only proven wrong by the occasional cracks of burning wood. And then, like nothing had happened, James’s laughter filled the room, successfully bringing everyone back from their dazes.
“Good one.” He continued laughing, feeling the tears roll down his cheeks faster than he could wipe them off.
“James.” He didn’t know if it was the volume of Sirius’s voice or the sternness of it but something about it made James’s mouth snap shut, his eyes raising to meet Sirius’s. He said the next words ever so slowly, pausing after each one to make sure James heard and processed all of them. “I am married.”
Growing up together meant that they knew every single thing about each other — even those things they wished would stay a secret. They knew the way each of them liked their coffee — Sirius black, like his name, as he would joke, James with milk, Remus with both milk and sugar and Peter opted for tea on most days. They knew each other’s favourite bands, most embarrassing secrets, strongest fears, biggest dreams, and they most definitely knew those little tells that others would deem invisible. Those little tells that let James know that Sirius was, with no pun intended, completely serious.
“What?” he breathed out if only for the lack of other words while his mind was still reeling. “B-but, you can’t. I- I mean you’ve- you’ve never even dated anyone,” he stumbled over his words but couldn’t bring himself to care about that right now, or ever. “And besides, it wouldn’t make any sense. You’re head over heels in love with—“
And, as if the last missing piece had just been discovered and placed where it belonged, James’s mind finally cleared of the fog that had wrapped itself around it for the past months and he could see what had been hiding in plain sight.
“Moony.”
His eyes trailed over to the taller boy and the pink that painted his cheeks only proved James right. He felt nauseous and ecstatic at the same time and while both emotions battled for dominance, he was left to sit in silence and stare at his best friends with a ringing in his ears.
“What’s going on?” Lily’s sleepy voice filled the silence.
“Fuck if I know,” Mary replied, eyes snapping between James, Remus and Sirius in a desperate attempt to fill in the blanks in her brain.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Marlene seemed to be the only one out of the three of them with enough mind power to fight the alcohol and make sense of the whole situation. “Those two got married,” she pointed towards a blushing mess that were Remus and Sirius before her finger moved in James’s direction. “And he didn’t know shit about it.”
James seemed to find the carpet much more interesting in that moment, eyes burning holes in the old, rugged material. “I don’t get it,” his voice was barely above whisper and if it hadn’t been as tranquil as it was, it wouldn’t have been heard. “I didn’t even know you were dating. And then…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence, as if saying it out loud would make it true. He almost chuckled at this, the rational part of his brain aware that his words wouldn’t change a thing; it was true either way.
“And then you got married?” Peter finished for him, suddenly looking more awake than he ever had. “And you didn’t even tell us.”
Sirius put his hands up defensively before the two could go on. “We can explain.”
“Go on, then.” James’s voice sounded tired and spent, like all the day’s activities suddenly slammed down on his shoulders, draining all colour from his eyes.
Sirius ran a shaky hand through his hair, tugging slightly in order to compose himself. His eyes snapped towards Remus, begging him to take over and, seeing the boy’s distress, he could only sigh before sitting up straight and looking at James with what he hoped was an air of calmness.
“We wanted to tell you. It’s been killing us hiding something this big from you,” he explained. His hand came to absentmindedly rub Sirius’s back and James took note of this casual domestic show of affection. It was so unlike their usual flirting and nagging. It was soft and loving and it had been in front of him for months; he silently cursed himself for being so blind. “But we had to figure it out first, before we could tell anyone.”
James met his gaze, brows furrowed in confusion. “What’s there to figure out?”
Deciding that he’d calmed down enough to be sure he wouldn’t melt down mid-speech, Sirius continued. “Remember when you went to India with Effie and Monty? I decided to use that time to go to Gringotts and withdraw the money that Walburga and Orion put into my vault when they still had some hope I’d turn into one of them.”
“But why would you do that?” James asked bemusedly. “You know my parents will give you as much as you need, you just have to ask.”
“That’s the problem,” said Sirius pointedly, now more confident in the power of his voice than he had been only mere minutes ago. “I don’t want to be a burden. They never planned on having two children and it’s already more than I can ask for that they let me stay with you. It would be too much. Besides, I knew that my parents left enough money there to feed a small village for decades to come and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.”
“You’re not a burden, though,” James whispered softly, scared that any sudden movement or loudness would burst the bubble around them and make Sirius realise that he actually didn’t want to explain anything about this situation. “But go on,” he added after the boy shot him a disapproving look.
“As I was saying,” he began again, successfully driving everyone’s attention back to himself. “I went to Gringotts, all jolly to finally have all that money when they told me they couldn’t give it to me. Apparently being burned off the Black family tree did have some downsides after all. I spent days on end researching their law in hopes of finding a loophole, something that would lead me to what’s rightfully mine. And then I saw it. If I got married, they couldn’t use me not being a part of the Black family as an argument not to give me money. If I was married, I could use that as an excuse for why I wasn’t legally a Black. Of course both me and the poor goblin that worked with me that day knew the real reason but he had no solid proof to back it up so he was forced to give me the money.”
The more he spoke, the more did pieces in James’s brain start to connect into a sensible whole. However, even after the speech was done, James still found himself with a few missing bits.
“So how exactly did you persuade Moony to marry you?” James heard Peter ask before he could find his voice again and realised he was immensely grateful not to be the only one hit with these life-altering news.
“Well,” Sirius drew the word out, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips when he noticed the faint blush crawl up Remus’s neck and onto his face. “Didn’t take much persuasion, honestly. I sent him a letter talking about my predicament and the next thing I knew he was offering to marry me.”
Remus hit him across the back of his head. “Wanker,” he retorted but could do little to fight off his own smile. “I only did it because I was promised a lifelong supply of chocolate. Which I’m still waiting for, by the way.”
“Lifelong means you’ll be getting it throughout your life,” Sirius explained, sticking his tongue out playfully. “Which means you’ll have to stick around for it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of having it any other way.”
The moment was cut short when James cleared his throat, reminding them of their audience, most of which was fighting a battle against sleep and — in Lily’s case — losing it.
“I still don’t get it.” Mary’s voice was hushed and her movements slow and steady, trying not to wake up the redhead on her shoulder. “What, you just decided to skip the whole dating part and get married?”
“Oh, no,” Remus chuckled, eyes crinkling in the corners. “It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience and we were supposed to annul it soon after. But then we kept putting it off and soon realised that neither of us much minded it and that we were both painfully in love with each other—“
“Only took you years.”
He ignored Peter’s comment. “And painfully oblivious about it. Sure, it’s unusual that we went straight to marriage and that’s why we’ve been so closed off since the beginning of the year,” he directed the last comment towards James and Peter, shooting them what he hoped was an apologetic smile. “We were trying to work it out, to see how it would go and where it left us and if it was even a good idea. And then we realised it was because who cares, honestly. I know I don’t and this way at least we won’t ever have to stress about proposals and whatnot.”
Mary felt Lily’s lips curl against her shoulder and looked down, only to find the girl who had supposedly been sleeping now grinning like a madman. “I hope you know we’re still throwing you a wedding as soon as we’re out of school.”
”You’re awake?” Mary nudged her off her shoulder.
”Wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Her grin only seemed to stretch impossibly further.
Remus looked just as surprised to hear the girl’s voice but quickly replaced his shock with awkwardness. “There’s really no need—“
“Nonsense,” James cut him off, seemingly finally having finished the puzzle in his head. “You deserve it. And I won’t accept not being at my best friends’ wedding. Honestly, I don’t know how I’ll forgive you for that.”
Sirius could sense the teasing tone in James’s voice. “Sorry, Jamie boy. How about I buy you a lifelong supply of chocolate, too?”
“I’m not as easily persuaded as Moony,” James scoffed, looking away from Sirius to punctuate his fake offence.
Sirius hummed, now fully leaning back against Remus’s chest with the newfound knowledge that he simply could. “How about a lifelong subscription to that Quidditch magazine you’re always reading?”
James paused. “You’ve got yourself a deal.” He shook Sirius’s hand before using it to tug the boy upwards, giving him a bruising hug. “I really am happy for you two,” he muttered into Sirius’s shoulder before crawling over and wrapping his arms around Remus.
Marlene, who had finally exhausted herself into oblivion, used this as a queue to throw herself over them, wrapping them both in a hug and ignoring Remus’s grunt when he was hit with the weight of two teenagers on top of him. Mary followed after her, then Lily and finally Peter before Remus was left gasping for air under them.
“Okay, okay,” Sirius was tugging each of them off one by one, chuckling at their childish antics. “Try not to kill my husband, yeah?”
Despite being legally married for months at that point, the boys hadn’t had many opportunities to actually enjoy it. Most of their alone time had been spent trying to navigate their lives under these new circumstances and they were left with almost none of it to spend relishing in each other’s company in this new light.
All of this considered, it was really no surprise that Remus felt as if someone had set him on fire and he had no doubt he looked liked it, too. His eyes darted across Sirius’s face in search of any regret for his words. “Husband?” This time he didn’t even try to fight off the goofy grin.
“You are, are you not?”
“I guess I am,” he replied but seeing Sirius’s dissatisfied look opted for correcting himself. “I am.”
One second he was looking into Sirius’s eyes, those eyes that knew all his secrets, wishes and turmoils, and the next he wasn’t seeing anything but instead tasting firewhiskey, his wildest dreams and his whole future. Remus swore he could’ve drowned right there and then in those lips and he would’ve died a fulfilled man.
It was uncommon, kissing in front of people. But he found that this was the type of uncommon that didn’t scare him, the type of uncommon he wanted to get used to. For someone who was so afraid of change, he was rather excited for this one, knowing that it held the promise of many sleepy mornings, dates and dancing in the rain until their feet hurt and teeth chattered.
Ever the thoughtful one, Sirius pulled away all too quickly, knowing that Remus didn’t care much for public displays of affection. This love is our own, it’s for you and me, he would tell Sirius when the boy grew anxious over keeping their friends in the dark.
However, this time, Remus refused to let go so easily and instead stole another kiss before Sirius could pull too far away. Because maybe he didn’t care for publicity, but to him this was much more than just showing off his new relationship; it was the reassurance that he could now do that, whenever, wherever, just because. He could love Sirius freely without any fears or shadows looming over them, promising to tear them apart. In that moment, he knew it was impossible; that whatever came in the future, whatever bridge there was to cross, they would do it hand in hand and they would have their friends’ full support.