James was half asleep when the two heard a knock on the door. When the dark-haired boy attempted to get off the couch, he ended up falling onto the floor, where he knocked over his long-since discarded glass of water. Remus let out a snicker and left James spitting out drowsy curse words at the water as he trudged his way down the hallway to the door.
Opening the door, he started a default: “hello, how are you?” that he always used when answering a door, but he was cut off halfway through the ‘hello’. Standing on the steps was Sirius Black, drenched by rain, exhausted, and in need of a warm meal. The long-haired boy’s eyes lit up as he saw Remus, the tiredness still there but much less important than the relief rushing through his veins.
“Moony?” Sirius took one long look at the taller boy and fell into his welcoming embrace, letting his shaky hands cling to Remus’ back as he buried his head into his chest. “Oh, Moony. Thank Merlin you’re here.” Sirius’ tension instantly eased and he found peaceful solace in the comforting hold and he was overrun with an immense feeling of gratitude about how the world had been in his favour tonight. Tonight and always; because Sirius Black was endlessly grateful for Remus Lupin and he swore he would be until the day he died.
Remus slowly adjusted to the hug, letting his arms wrap around Sirius’ lower back as he breathed in softly. He was painfully aware of how alarmingly cold Sirius’ skin was, and he couldn’t help but wonder how long he had been outside in the crisp night air for. “What are you doing here, Pads?”
“Had to get out of that house. That fucking house.”
Remus took note of the bitterness in his tone and the bags in his hands and knew exactly what was going on. “Alright, let’s get you inside. You’re going to catch a cold.”
“I’d say you’re being like my mother but I don’t want to compare the two of you.” Sirius muttered, shivering in Remus’ arms. Remus wondered whether his mother would even care if he got sick from standing outside at night for hours—he certainly had his doubts, considering that she was half the reason Sirius had been outside just past midnight, almost catching his death. Merlin, he hated that woman.
Remus led Sirius inside with a hand on his lower back to keep him steady, finding James in almost exactly the same position he had been sat in earlier, eyes drooping and empty glass in his hands.
“James!”
The boy jolted awake in alarm and his eyes widened at the sight of his best friend in his rain-soaked clothes with his curls sticking to his forehead, “Pads? Merlin, you look like shit.”
Sirius took one look at James’ eye bags and messy hair and chuckled softly from where he stood leaning against Remus, “you don’t look so great yourself, Prongsie. Up too late thinking about my brother again, I assume?”
James mumbled something inaudible under his breath, blushing deeply as he looked away in embarrassment.
“James?” At Remus’s words, he looked up.
“Yeah?”
“Go get some sleep. I’ll take care of Pads.”
James looked like he was about to protest when he let out an exhausted yawn and he sighed in surrender, ‘yeah, okay. I’ll see you two lovebirds in the morning.”
As he turned and plodded slowly up the stairs, Sirius called out to him with a teasing yawn, “and don’t think too much about my brother!”
James flipped him off.
Sirius let out a quiet yawn and Remus sat him down on the couch, grabbing two blankets from the cupboard before returning to see Sirius staring at him. Remus sat down next to him and pulled a blanket over both of their shoulders, sending him a slightly wonky grin as he watched Sirius attempt to fix his hair.
Sirius looked at him with a smile before sighing softly, “I’ve missed you so much. I didn’t even know it was possible to miss someone this badly. The nightmares get worse when you’re not with me. Everything gets worse when you’re not with me.”
Remus’ heart sank. “Oh, love. I’m sorry, I’m here with you now. I’m here now and I’m not leaving.”
Sirius looked up at him and slowly brought their lips together in a kiss that spoke a thousand words; a kiss that made up for the weeks on end the two had had to spend apart. The kiss was soft and unhurried, giving the two boys a sweet reminder of how it felt to be close again. Sirius sat on Remus’ lap, arms around his neck as Remus’ hands found their rightful place in Sirius’ long curls.
Pulling away, Sirius grinned at Remus through the dark curls that had fallen into his eyes while they were kissing, and Remus laughed softly at the sight, softly brushing the hair behind his ear and pressing a kiss to his forehead.
Gradually, as the night went on, the two ended up lying sprawled out on the couch, Sirius resting his head on Remus’ chest while Remus stroked his hair with a look of soft yearning on his face. Sirius looked up suddenly, taking one of Remus’ hands in his own and causing the brown haired-boy to glance down at him with a look that held more love than he had ever received in his life.
“Moony?”
“Mhm?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“But Moony?”
“Yeah?”
“We had the perfect opportunity to experience an iconic rain kiss and we blew it.”
“Well, can you hear that?” Remus asked with a soft smirk on his face, and Sirius grinned. “It seems like we still have a chance to cross that off the bucket list.”