Flashback
The Burger King was overfilled with light. It was already quite late at night but children were screaming and laughing all around them. Remus had his head propped up on his knee and was eating carrots. ‘What kind of person orders carrots at Burger King?’ James had once asked him. He did. He liked carrots.
In front of him sat Sirius Black. He was ranting about a Man U athlete who was accused of frankly terrible things. ‘Which club could really still employ him proudly? Sure, he is a good player, but being a decent human being surely is more important, right?’ He went on and on and Remus just listened to him. Growing up, he had been quiet. Then, once teenagehood kicked in, he had started talking and talking, taking more space. His family gave him shit for it but he stood his ground. He was quite outspoken now. Except when he was with Sirius. He could listen to him talk for hours without uttering a sound. He loved how passionate Sirius was. And he really ought to do something about his crush.
‘By the way, Remus, I learnt this really cool linguistic fact, I thought you would like it.’
Remus was doomed.
He had been doing better, really. Not seeing the guy over the summer made it seem like this had just been a fleeting feeling of closeness with a dear friend. When they had met again the day before, it had felt like it was finally over. Until bedtime came along, that is.
But they did not talk about it. They could not talk about it.
‘Did you know I used to sleepwalk?’ Sirius asked. ‘Scared the shit out of my parents like that once, I just stood at the side of their bed and watched them sleep.’
‘You must have been such a creepy kid.’ Remus teased him.
‘Of course not. I was adorable. A bit grumpy, perhaps, but adorable. But I was talking about that sleepwalking habit of mine. It stopped all of a sudden the first time I shared a bed with someone. ’
‘That’s weird,’ Remus said, noncommittally.
‘Isn’t it? Fortunately, I don’t do it anymore.’
This was bad. Remus should not go there. He did. ‘You whimpered last night. Like a sad little puppy.’
‘Did I?’ Sirius smiled. ‘You should have punched me.’
Remus looked at him weirdly. ‘I’m not going to punch you in your sleep. Though you almost did last night.’ He stopped himself before saying that he woke up multiple times feeling the weight of Sirius’ hand just above his waist over the covers.
‘Oh, that’s probably because I usually sleep with my arm under the pillow. You still could have punched me though. Regulus does when we share a bed and I move too much.’
Remus let it slip, even though Sirius’ hands never came near his head and the pillow.
‘I am not Regulus,’ Remus answered. ‘But at least, you won’t be the worst bed partner I had.’
Sirius perked up. ‘Please tell me all about it.’
‘It’s nothing exciting,’ Remus warned. ‘I shared a bed with Marlene during a trip once, and everytime I woke up during the night, she was getting closer and closer to my face. I almost fell out of bed because I did not want to wake her up, but I really thought she was going to kiss me.’
Sirius laughed so hard he almost fell of his chair and Remus’ heart did not skip a beat.
‘Come on, surely it was not all bad,’ Sirius finally said, still grinning. ‘If you had to choose, would you rather be kicked or kissed during the night?’
And that is why they should not talk about what happened when they were together. Because they ended up having discussions like that. And Remus was just a man, and Sirius was Sirius Black.
‘The second one,’ he answered, not looking Sirius in the eyes.
Sirius hummed. ‘Well, we will see about it next time.’
A blush. A beat. Nothing.
Sirius started talking about football again.
Remus kept on being a coward.