An Impossible World

Remus used to love his job. That was before he had people to protect, people who can't protect themselves, people like Regulus. Now, Remus is terrified that no matter how hard he tries, work will spill over like ink dripping on a canvas and take over every spot of light he has left.

Sirius thinks he's a researcher for the government, and there's some truth to that, but really, he's like a glorified detective that risks his life internationally on a weekly basis. He finds people, then hunts them down and turns them over to the English government. Dead or alive is up to the person he's hunting. He's good at his job, has been since he was a kid helping his dad.

He doesn't know how anyone could look at their kid and then shove them into this world. Remus would sooner shoot himself in the foot than let Regulus even look at some of these files. 

Part of this newfound hatred for his job is James Fleamont Potter. Remus's new partner is one of the most arrogant, insufferable people to ever exist. Remus hates him.

"C'mon- we're basically work husbands, I feel like I should meet the other man." James teases from across the desk and Remus sends him a withering glare.

"There is no other man." Remus says, trying to keep his tone professional. "There is only my actual husband, and my child."

James laughs. That's another thing Remus doesn't like about him, James is always laughing when Remus is mean, like he's joking. Remus is not joking.

"I love that about you." James says. "But seriously, I have like really strong vibes you should invite me and Lily over tonight. I don't know why-"

"No, thank you." Remus says, not caring at all about what James has to say. "My kid is still adjusting to everything, and I don't want to overwhelm him."

James hums and tilts his head letting thick black curls tumble around, Remus hopes he's finally using that tiny brain of his to catch a hint.

"Sí, está bien. (Yeah, alright.)" James says, waving his hand. "Your loss though, I was gonna make guacamole. Lily says it's to die for."

Remus rolls his eyes and looks back at his computer, then down at his phone when it vibrates, Sirius' picture popping up and the name too. Remus checks the time and mumbles some curses under his breath. He was supposed to be at home thirty minutes ago, but McGonagall wanted him and James to follow a new lead.

Someone who goes by The Dark Lord has been hacking into systems and selling coveted information, when a police team was sent to handle it, twenty-seven people came back in body bags which landed the file on Remus's desk and James was assigned to work it with him because he specializes in tracking hacker trails. Both of them are coming up very empty handed lately.

Remus slides the answer button and holds the phone to his ear as he powers down his computer.

"Hey which one of my loves am I talking to?" Remus asks. In the four months Regulus has been living with them he's gotten into a habit of stealing Sirius' phone and calling Remus at work.

"You probably won't talk to either again." The voice on the other end is unfamiliar and Remus halts all movement. "I have... 1223 East Park Place, a three-year-old boy is sitting on the counter while your husband attempts to cook some kind of pasta. It smells quite good."

Remus turns to James with wide eyes and can feel the blood draining out of his face. When James looks over his eyebrows furrow.

"Please don't... What do you want?" Remus asks, powering back on his computer, fully prepared to do anything to keep whoever this is from hurting his family.

"Well," The voice starts. "I think I want you to come home for dinner. There's a little boy who misses you very much, and it would be a shame if he never got to say goodbye to his Daddy. Fifteen minutes."

The line disconnects and Remus shoots out of his chair, throwing half his papers to the ground in search of his keys.

"Woah- ¿qué pasa?- what the hell was that calling?" James stands too, and walks with Remus when the taller man grabs his keys and shoots off to the elevator.

"Someone called. I think they're connected to The Dark Lord, they're in my house." Remus is panicking, it's like he can feel cold fingers gripping his heart, with every second that passes they grow tighter. Remus is based twenty minutes away and there's almost no chance he gets there in time.

"Oh that's..." James follows him onto the elevator which would normally piss Remus off but his mind is swimming with possibilities, trying to figure out a way to warn Sirius and get the two of them out of there. "Fuck- I can call-"

"Don't call anyone until I have them safe with me do you understand?" Remus turns on James quickly, shoving a finger into the broad chest until James is pushed against the elevator wall. "If they die because you decided to try and play hero I will kill you. I will tear your fucking skin from your bones, James."

James, to his credit, doesn't even flinch. He just gently pushes Remus's fingers away and gives him a reassuring smile.

"Alright, Moony. It's okay. We'll get them out, I'm here to help." Remus works his jaw and flies out of the elevator as soon as he can, James jumps in the passenger seat and rummages in the back where an ammo bag sits pushed under the seats.

It's the longest twenty minutes of Remus's life, every second pushes him closer to the edge and when fifteen minutes passes and no phone call comes in, he pushes the gas pedal down harder, forcing people out of his way on the road. James grips the handle above the window and keeps muttering Spanish swears that Remus only catches some of.

The house is eerily silent when Remus pulls into the driveway with a screech and throws open the front door. The first thing that hits him is the smell of iron, it assaults Remus's senses and makes the panic in his chest grow larger.

"Sirius? Regulus?" He calls through the house, the kitchen has a lump on the floor, red, sticky blood pooling around the head and a kitchen knife stuck out of the shoulder. Flowers litter the ground and Remus kicks over the body to display a pale face with blonde hair clinging to his forehead, blood covering half his face, the other half is caved in. The vase from the kitchen table rolls away and James whistles lowly from the door. 

Sirius sits with his back pressed against the oven, holding Regulus tightly with dripping red hands, staring at the body with empty grey eyes.

"Sirius." Remus breathes out and drops to his knees in front of the two, reaching out and pulling them both into a crushing hug.

"Remus." Sirius swallows harshly and pushes his face into the crook of Remus's neck.

"Daddy?" Regulus's voice sounds wrecked, like he's trying to talk around pebbles in his throat. The little boy flings himself at Remus and James sucks in a sharp gasp. Remus just squeezes his eyes shut and holds the back of Regulus's head protectively, pressing kisses into the side of his head and falling back on his heels.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry Reggie, Sirius. I'm sorry. We can't- you can't stay here. We have to go." Remus pulls Sirius into a standing position and hands Regulus back to him, letting fingers stall over the thick red stripe on the small boys throat.

"James." Remus swallows thickly and shakes his head. "James I need you to get them into the car. Now, go."

"Remus-" Sirius protests but Remus grabs his face and presses a harsh kiss to his lips. 

"I need you to get out of here. I'm going to grab some of our things and we're going to go to a safe house-"

"Remus!" Sirius interrupts, then shifts Regulus and gestures to the little boy with tears streaming down his face. Sirius' hands are red, there's splatters all over his shirt and handprints along the kitchen cabinets  and Regulus's clothes. "He missed you. He's scared. I- I'm scared. We both need you right now. I don't know what going on-" Sirius takes a shuddering breath and looks up, squeezing Regulus closer. He's crying, Remus realizes. Remus has never seen Sirius cry before. 

Remus has picked up every piece Walburga and Orion shattered and put Sirius back together, Remus has seen screaming and throwing things, has seen violent fits of rage, has seen blank numbness take over Sirius, but not once has he seen tears. It breaks something in Remus's chest, to know that his mistakes are what led them to this.

"Okay- yeah." Remus whispers and pushes gentle fingers through long dark strands and tugs Sirius to his chest. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He wraps his arms around the two of them and holds them tight as both body's tremble and jerk with silent sobs.

James makes eye contact with Remus and gestures to the hallway. Remus shakes his head and points to the front door. Remus will just have to buy Regulus and Sirius all new things to use until it's safe to come back home.

James bites his lip and gestures to his wrist, their window to get out safely is closing fast. Remus waves him off and presses his mouth to Sirius' ear.

"My love, we have to go." He whispers gently, rubbing a hand up Sirius' thin waist, the other arm wrapped protectively over Regulus.

Sirius nods and lets Remus pull him close, let's him open the car door and fit them both inside. James gets into the back with them and gently starts to clean Sirius's hands with wet wipes. He talks to the pale boys in low tones, mixes of Spanish verbiage and accent an homage to his first language that seems to calm them all.

McGonagall is waiting for them at the entrance and sweeps the four of them inside quickly, not even pausing to ask what happened. She leaves once they've been contained to one room, probably to get her boss. Remus hopes it's not Dumbledore. They all sit around a table in the break room, Remus with a hand on Sirius's back and helping him get Regulus to drink some tea.

"Come on, baby please. It'll make your throat feel better." Sirius tries to encourage but Regulus shakes his head and puts a hand to his throat.

"Here." James says with a gentle smile, holding out a spoon with golden liquid shining on it. "It's meil- honey. My mom used it for me when I was little."

He leans closer to Regulus and holds the spoon out with a gentle smile. James is sweeter, Remus can admit to himself, when he's around a kid. Not as loud and boisterous, not as ready to start a fight or be a hero. Remus almost likes this calm and soothing side of James.

It could just be that Regulus is still especially fragile looking. He's so small, and his skin looks stretched over his bones in most areas, you can still count every single one of his ribs and that's not even mentioning the red stripe quickly bruising on his throat.

"It's really sweet- like candy." James says, offering the spoon to Regulus, who opens his mouth enough for the spoon to fit in and Regulus to swallow the honey down. "A little better?"

Regulus just opens his mouth again and James chuckles, filling another spoon with honey and sticking it in his mouth.

McGonagall steps into the room, she's the second oldest of this operation, and wrinkles pull at her face in a way that shows she was effortlessly beautiful in her youth. McGonagall holds herself tall, like she has the biggest dick in the room as Sirius would say. She does.

Dumbledore follows behind her and Remus has to suppress a groan. Dumbledore is like the boss of the boss of Remus's boss. He's insanely cryptic and a stickler for the rules, but only for other people- in his mind, he can do whatever he wants because he's very important to the movement. 

"Oh dear." He says, clapping his hands together. "Well then, I'll need the two civilians to please leave the room."

Remus sucks in a breath through his teeth and leans back in his seat, anticipating a fight. Sirius let himself be vulnerable, and that always leads to some outburst of a different emotion. Even if not, those were some fighting words. 

"Excuse the fuck outta me?" Sirius asks, rage coloring his tone and head tilting to the side.

James and Remus share a look and James scoots out of the way, feeding Regulus a third spoon of honey then backing off entirely.

"Well, you aren't authorized to access his information-" Dumbledore says.

"Fuck that- Reggie, baby, catch a bubble please-" Regulus blinks and then pushes both hands over his ears and sets his feet in Remus's hands. "I had to fucking kill a man in my kitchen. I beat his goddamn skull in with a metal vase. He tried to kill my baby- wrapped one of my own kitchen rags around his throat- you seriously think I'm not authorized to know what the fuck is going on?"

"Well there's a lot to it-"

"Shut the fuck up, Remus."

"Okay."

James blinks at the two of them, probably surprised this is the kind of person Remus is married to. He knows it looks strange on the outside, Remus wears cardigans and likes dumb dad jokes on coffee mugs. He feeds the stray cats and is very mindful of what goes in recycle, Remus has always been the picture of responsibility and calm. Sirius is an extrovert on chill days and an absolute spitfire on crazy ones. Sirius wears leather jackets and knows motorcycles like the back of his hand. When people picture an FBI agent, it's usually Sirius they picture, not Remus.

Remus loves Sirius with everything he has though, loves the smell of peppermint shampoo and vanilla body wash. Loves the cigarette buds that have gone non existent since Regulus started living with them. Loves the deep frown set on his pale face and loves the vulgar words coming out of those pretty lips as he yells at Dumbledore in a steady stream of insults.

Maybe it's just because someone told Remus to shut up and he listened. That doesn't happen much.

"Mr. Lupin." Dumbledore cuts Sirius off midsentence. "If you don't escort your husband out of here, I'll be forced to remove you from the case." Remus is about to tell him to shove his case up the ass. "And I'll be revoking any safe house privileges along with it."

Remus stares at Dumbledore for a long moment. This is what he means about bending the rules but only for personal gain. Safe houses are supposed to be administered to anyone who's affected by an oncoming case, it's not supposed to matter if you're actively working on it or not. That rule is okay to break, but Sirius can't listen in on why he's going to be moved halfway across the country. It makes Remus's blood boil, but as always, nothing matters more to him than his family being safe, so he stands with a sigh and rubs his face with both hands before offering one to Sirius.

"Come on. I think we should get Regulus some water."

Sirius stares at the hand in betrayal. 

"Please baby, I don't- I know you want to know but it's confidential-" Remus knows immediately that's the wrong thing to say as anger hardens over in Sirius's eyes and the pale boy stands up, cradling Regulus close. The little boy is off in his own world, wiggling his bare toes and pressing his hands to his ears.

"Oh well that just makes everything fine then." Sirius says, chipper and grinning happily while the anger grows behind his eyes. "Of course, I'm just totally okay with being left out of the loop again because it's all confidential. My bad. I didn't understand." Sirius walks to the door and opens it before turning and staring Remus down. "Wherever we end up tonight, you'll be sleeping alone. If you have to sleep on the floor like a dog I don't care, you will."

The raven-haired boy slams the door hard enough for things to rattle on the shelves and Remus winces.

"Wow," James says, shaking his head. "We like, married the same person, but mines a girl- and a redhead, and like way more chill about this job."

"Well, he didn't exactly know what he was signing up for so why don't you shut your mouth, James." Remus sighs and flops back down into his chair.

"Hey- Lily doesn't really know everything either. I get it." James smiles at Remus and Remus thinks maybe James isn't an asshole. "You just have to go down on him, it'll fix everything. He won't care about knowing anymore."

Remus retracts that statement; James is an asshole and an idiot.

"Alright. Tell me everything." Dumbledore sits down at the head of the table and McGonagall stands to the side of him. 

Remus is able to recount the phone call and describe about half of the guys face, then advocates to get Sirius in there so that he can describe everything in more detail. Dumbledore asks if Sirius is the kind of person to withhold that information until he's told what he wants and it makes Remus stop in his tracks because yeah, Sirius would set out an ultimatum like that.

"I want you to get it out of him on your own and report it back to us." Dumbledore says with a wave of his hand, like it's not the dumbest shit ever.

"So you'd rather play telephone than tell my husband why he had to kill somebody? Do you have any idea how harshly that weighs on the mind? I saw him cry today, I've known him for five years and I've never seen him cry." Remus shakes his head and rubs at his eyes with his forefingers and thumb. "Look, I get that that's a rule, no civilians can sir on meeting or whatever it is, but Sirius isn't just a random civilian-"

"It doesn't matter whether or not they are random, dear boy." Dumbledore strokes his long, white beard. It's a running joke to call him the Wizard because of it. "He is a civilian and he's far too close already. We need to rectify this by keeping him, your son as well, out of these things. They don't need to be dragged in."

"Pardon me, sir." James says, laying a hand on the table palm up. "But they both were already dragged in, and I think you noticed what I noticed too- whoever it was went for the children, uh, the child first. That was probably their target yeah?"

"Exactly-" Remus agrees, gesturing to James. "If even he can see it then obviously you did too. Look, Reggie came from a shit home, and we've done a lot of work to make sure he feels safe in our home and around us. Not telling him what's going on is going to set him back multiple steps-"

"With all due respect, Mr. Lupin," McGonagall starts, turning cold eyes on him. "That's not our concern. The Dark Lord is a threat not only to England but to most of the world. We have evidence suggesting he works for the Russian government and is trying to get American nuclear codes. If that happens, it won't just be your child's well-being at stake, it'll be the lives of every child on this planet."

Remus sits back in his chair and stares at the table. He knows it's bigger than him, bigger than Regulus and Sirius and James and whoever else is involved, but to Remus, the whole world is Sirius and Regulus. He's worried he's in an impossible situation, destined to lose the world one way or another.

"What about Lily?" James asks. "If they started targeting Remus's family, could they do that for mine? Is Lily safe?"

"Mr. Potter, no one is safe right now." Dumbledore smiles despite the chilling words that just spilt from his mouth. "We'll set you and her up with a safe house in Wales alongside Remus'. You're alright with sharing a house yes?"

"Woah- uh, no." Remus says

"I don't think-" James says at the same time. "Yeah, I don't think everyone would be on board with that."

"Well, if it's a problem you're always welcome to find your own safe house." Dumbledore looks at an angry Remus with a twinkle in his eye. "Safety in numbers I always say. Now, let's get back to discussing what we've found and how to proceed."

----

Regulus isn't able to speak without crying and an angry bruise wraps around his throat like a snake squeezing its prey to death. Remus feels guilt claw at his insides every time he watches Regulus hesitate to reach out and ask for a hug, or for help with something. They had started to get him comfortable with asking- demanding- for attention, and the accident seems to have set him back.

It's like they're building him back up from square one. Regulus will only ask Sirius for food and will only crawl into bed with Sirius after they've all gone to sleep, Remus hears the step creak as Regulus makes his way to the room. Sirius thinks it's partly because they've moved to a place he's unfamiliar with and living alongside unfamiliar people.

Lily turned out to be the head nurse who was in charge of Regulus's care at the hospital. Sirius called her the bitchy nurse right to her face and she called him the douche bag brother in response. Lily doesn't like Sirius and Sirius seems to return to sentiment. It doesn't seem very personal, the only person Sirius seems to be able to stand these days is Regulus. 

Remus has been sleeping on the couch. Some nights Regulus will crawl onto the couch instead and burrow close to Remus's chest.

James seems to be the most normal out of everyone, always making coffee in the morning and reading the paper. Regulus will sit next to the older boy on the couch and let James read the funnies to him.

It's only been two weeks, and no one has called on them to help with the case, which means there are no new leads, and nothing to go on.

"What are you so silently brooding on over here?" Lily asks quietly. Remus likes her, she's quiet but firm.

"Nothing important." Remus replies and takes a sip of bland coffee. Sirius used to make his every morning and Remus can't quite get it right.

Lily follows Remus's stare to the window where Sirius is pulling weeds out of the garden. It's become his little project, to get the garden up and running, James helps sometimes. Remus is not allowed.

"Ah." She says with a fond smile. "You're thinking about him."

"Always." Remus responds, dumps his coffee into the sink and rinses his mug.

"You should talk to him. He's confused and scared that one lie means every other thing you've promised is a lie too." Lily smiles at him and gestures to the wall separating them from James and Regulus, on the couch reading the newspaper. "Regulus too. The only reason me and James have made it this far is effort, and communication. He can't tell me everything, I get that, but he lets me be angry that it's changed our lives so drastically. I can be mad without blaming him, and he can keep things private without keeping them secret."

Remus look back out the window. Sirius is in a black cut off tank top, strong arms and tattoos on display, sweat shines on his pale skin and Remus wants to lick it off.

"And don't ever count out hate sex." Lily winks and Remus scrunches his nose up. Idiots, all of them.

"Thank you, but if I tried to talk to him right now, he'd probably hit me. I'll wait for him." Remus smiles gently and watches Sirius throw weeds in an old trash bin. "I'll always wait for him."

Lily scoff and pats Remus on the back. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Remus rolls his eyes as Lily walks away. No one has an understanding of the workings of Sirius Black quite like Remus does. Remus knows that Sirius burns as brightly on the inside as the star in the sky his name copies, and that it eats him up inside until everything explodes like a supernova, the aftereffects sucking everything down with him in a swirling pit of darkness. Sirius Black is a star, and a blackhole in the same breath. Remus knows better than to get close right now, the star burned, and exploded. Right now Sirius will grab onto anything and drag everyone down into a pool of misery.

Except Regulus. Remus will admit he was worried about them being around each other too much right now, but Sirius seems to find joy in making Regulus laugh. Seems to want it enough to seek out that joy. It's beautiful, truly, to watch.

Remus sighs, gives Sirius one last longing look before turning his back the window and pushing the door open to the living room. The safehouse is in the heart of Wales, which bring some nostalgia. It's a two story and Regulus is terrified to go up the steps so they're little family has claimed the downstairs bedroom and loft area, James and Lily content to the top floor. 

The house is built kind of strange, the kitchen is separated not just by a wall but a door as well, the back door isn't made of glass and is a copy of the front door, everything is narrow and small. Narrow hallways and rectangle rooms. Everything is blue, also. Blue, white or grey. It's going to give Remus an aneurysm if someone doesn't rectify this.

Regulus is sat next to James on the grey sectional, holding onto a tan arm and peering at the newspaper, he looks up when the door to the kitchen swings shut and grins, reaching out a tiny hand until Remus walks over and takes it gently.

"Is James reading you the paper this morning?" Remus asks as he sits down close to Regulus, wrapping the little boy up and kissing his shaking head. "No? Why not?"

"There is going to be a lot of violence." James waves his hand, gestures to the burning house on the page he's reading. "I don't want to scare him. I think we should get some children's books; he likes it when we read to him."

"We?" Remus tilts his head, to his knowledge it's really only James who reads anything to him.

"Uh... yes? Me and Sirius." James shrugs. "Huh little man? Papa makes all those silly voices yeah?"

Regulus smiles and nods, cuddling into Remus's chest and gripping the soft jumper with tiny fingers.

"I see. Should I order you some books then sweetheart?" Remus smiles when Regulus nods enthusiastically and promises to do that later, along with ordering something for the little boys throat. It's breaking his heart, not hearing Regulus talking, even if it's babble about nothing important, Remus misses it.

"Reggie?" Sirius's voice singsongs from the back door. "Guess what I found love?"

Remus looks up as Sirius walks in, makes eye contact and isn't at all surprised about the way Sirius looks away and knees down in front of Regulus. The little boy leans forward to look at Sirius's cupped hands with wide, curious eyes.

Sirius smiles up at him and opens his hands slowly, revealing a small yellow butterfly crawling around his gloved fingers. Regulus gasps happily and bounces forward a little, which makes Remus smile wide and James chuckles from where he's folded the paper down.

"This little thing is a Southern Dogface." Sirius says, taking Regulus's hand and slowly putting a finger in front of the butterfly and blowing gently so it crawls onto a pale finger. "She can normally be found in North America, and she's probably very tired from her journey."

Regulus nods seriously and carefully lifts the butterfly up so close to his face that his eyes cross and Sirius laughs brightly.

Remus can't help but stare at the older Black brother. He's breathtaking every time, his laugh is like summer rain, his hair always falls perfectly despite it being sweaty and too long, his piercings enhancing his already stunning features.

"You're so beautiful." Remus whispers, unable to tear his eyes away, even when his fond stare is met with ice cold. "So beautiful."

Sirius holds Remus's gaze for a long time before it softens and a small smile forms on his face.

"You too, Moony." Sirius says. "You too."

Remus is about to say something probably downright filthy, but James clears his throat and gives Remus another reason to hate him.

"So, breakfast anyone? I'll cook some breakfast burritos. You like those right Reggie?"

Regulus nods happily and slowly leans back into Remus, holding the butterfly carefully. James stands and stretches, setting the paper down where he was sitting. 

"Alright, let me take her back outside-" Sirius reaches for the butterfly and Regulus whimpers, pouting at him, eyes tearing up fast. "Oh shit- no, Reggie don't cry-"

"Hey, little man." James grins and leans down to catch Regulus's eyes. "Why don't you come help me make breakfast? Let Papa take the butterfly cariño and I'll make you some fry bread pancakes."

James offers his hand and Regulus sniffles before letting Sirius take the butterfly and James scoops him quickly, spinning him around and getting little giggles out of him. Sirius mouths a thank you to James and James shakes his head with a bright smile, chatting to Regulus as he makes his way to the kitchen.

Remus follows Sirius out to the garden and watches the butterfly flutter away in silence.

"You're supposed to always have my back, Remus." Sirius says softly, still staring out at the sky. "I always have yours. No matter what."

"I know." Remus takes a step closer, but doesn't reach out to touch. He'll wait for Sirius to do that first. "I know you do. I love that about you, and I wish that I could put you above everything like that." Sirius looks at him then, pierced lips turned down in a frown. "That's not the way I do it though. To me, having you alive, safe, bundled up next to Reg on a couch watching TV is my first priority. I don't think further than that, I don't know how to. Especially in the moment."

Sirius sighs and turns to Remus, tilting his head then stepping closer.

"I get that. I do. I just want you to understand that I grew up with people not telling me things. I can't handle... you told me there was no way your work would create an unsafe environment. I told you, four years ago that if I had to live in a high stress environment around you because of your job you either needed to quit or I was going to leave." Sirius rubs a hand over his face and adjusts his silver septum piercing. "I was already so in love with you, and I meant it. I can't live a stressful life. I can't do safe houses and dead people in my kitchen. I've moved enough, I've seen enough dead bodies to last me a lifetime. I can't let Regulus grow up like this either, always scared to death wondering if Daddy's going to come home tonight."

Remus winces and looks down, he doesn't want that either.

"I love you." Sirius says, biting his lip. Remus can see tears building in the corners of grey eyes. "Like so fucking much, and I need you to be happy like I need air to breath, but I won't live like this. I really won't. I don't want to make you chose anything-"

"No I-" Remus licks his lips and looks up before looking back at Sirius. "I will. I'll choose. It's an easy choice do you know why?"

"Why?" Sirius asks and Remus reaches up to tuck a strand of pitch-black hair behind his ear then cup his cheek.

"Because I always choose you."

Sirius is the one to close the distance, and like every kiss before, butterflies bloom in Remus's stomach, his head swims with giddiness and his hands can't keep to himself. Sirius is shorter than him and has broad shoulders, but his waist is straight up slutty. Remus loves every part of Sirius's body, and hasn't gotten a chance to show it since Regulus came into their lives. Now though, Remus runs his hands down Sirius's side, pinches his ass teasingly and pulls his and back up and under the tank top. Long fingers tangle in Remus's hair and a soft tongue licks along his lips. Remus is just about to slam Sirius into the wall and ravage him there when a tapping noise has them pulling apart quickly and Remus looks at the window.

"Little early yeah?" James calls, holding a spatula with one hand and covering Regulus's eyes with the other.

Sirius laughs loudly and reaches out to flick the window. "Not early enough apparently!"

James laughs and takes his hand off Regulus's face, the little boy grins, always one to join in on laughter even if he doesn't know what's so funny.

When James turns back to the stovetop and Sirius presses a soft kiss to his lips Remus understands why him and Sirius are made for each other. They fit perfectly, every limb lines up, their noses don't bump, every press of lips feels like fireworks.

"Always." Sirius whispers.

"Always." Remus repeats and means it.