Chapter 14
Present Day:
Warm and tangled together in the bath after acting on his most basal urges in what Remus couldn’t decide was either one of the best decisions he had ever made or a tragic and really quite idiotic dalliance that he would surely pay for later, Remus tried his best to push his thoughts away for the moment and sink into the depths of Sirius and his closeness, the heat of the water so as not to disturb his very at ease star, who was currently cuddled into Remus like it was the most natural thing in the world to him. Like they hadn’t been separated for years by Sirius’s misguided doing. But Remus had forgiven him for that, he had to remind himself. He cursed himself internally for getting caught up in things he had sworn to put to the side and decided to refocus solely on the sanctity of holding Sirius in his arms.
The easy silence that fell over them and left Remus slipping in and out of a peace that he had been absent for so long that he had nearly forgotten it existed.
“Moons?” Sirius’s soft voice made its way out of the crook of Remus’s neck after a while, the two of them still lingering in the bathtub as Remus seized the opportunity to have his hands all over his cozy and naked star, in no rush to put an end to it.
“Yeah, love?” He responded rather leisurely, Sirius swirling his hand through the bubbles in a way that Remus found completely and utterly charming.
“Who was your first kiss?” His star pondered almost bashfully, placing a small dollop of bubbles on Remus’s nose that Remus didn’t bother wiping off, kissing Sirius and smearing the soap on him too instead.
“What makes you ask that?” Remus smiled at how Sirius scrunched his face up and rubbed the bubbles off, went to lick the bubbles off Remus’s face too until Remus went to stop him. “Don’t eat the soap, baby,” he chuckled fondly. Sirius pouted a little but didn’t protest, opting to answer Remus’s original question instead.
“I dunno, really,” Sirius cuddled against Remus’s shoulder naturally, wrapped his arms around Remus’s torso and Remus held him the same in return. “Just thinking about how I don’t know if you know who mine was with and realized I don’t know yours.”
Remus hummed, wondered if he should play coy for Sirius, let him have the fun of telling him who his first kiss had been with even though Remus already knew.
“Mine was Lily, oddly enough,” Remus ran his fingers through the wet tendrils of Sirius’s hair and decided that he wanted to wash them for him. “We were both one of the few people either of us could stand at school, and, well, we figured out pretty quickly that it didn’t do anything much for either of us. She was into Mary, and I was interested in a certain leather jacket wearing twink that kept crawling into my bed at night.”
“Lily… I never would’ve guessed that. I always thought hers was Mary?”
“Mm, she lies and says hers was Mary. I’m her dirty little secret. Care to enlighten me on who yours was, darling?” Remus pondered as he placed a kiss on Sirius's forehead, despite already knowing who it was. Sirius was having such fun with his question and Remus figured there wasn’t any harm in indulging him.
“I wanted it to be you, Moons,” Sirius explained somewhat shyly and Remus nodded along. “But that was before I knew you liked me, and-” Sirius frowned like he wasn’t sure if he should say but it passed quickly. “And one night Jamie and I- I didn’t think you would ever go for me, Re, but James said he would and then we kissed, but it wasn’t as good as you do. After you kissed me for the first time I told Jamie that he’s a crappy kisser compared to you.”
“Is that so, love?” Remus chuckled in amusement, hoisting Sirius up by the thighs to sit more directly on his lap—Sirius’s pretty pink prick becoming visible for a moment before it was submerged again in the water and pressed up against Remus’s stomach. Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus’s shoulders and hummed in confirmation. Sweet, soft, and so honest in the warmth that wrapped around them.
“Best kisser ever,” Sirius breathed and Remus kissed him in response, listened to him sigh into it, felt his star relax as Remus brushed his lips against his own. Slow and loving because he did love Sirius, cherished him really, but now wasn’t the time to say it. Not when he was using all his power to keep the wolf at bay so he could enjoy this special moment with his star, when every time Sirius adjusted against him he was reminded of his nakedness, which for both of their sakes Remus needed to ignore. Needed to distract himself from.
“Turn around for me, let me wash your hair,” Remus pressed his forehead up against Sirius’s as he pulled away, gave Sirius one more delicate kiss on the lips before he set his mind to his designated task. Attempting to shove the wolf down even further as he did.
“Really Moons?!” Sirius beamed, absolutely radiant as his smile overtook his entire face. The very definition of starlight. “Will you braid it too? Please, Re?” He pleaded and Remus nodded and smiled right back, impossible not to whilst in the presence of such joy. Such a little thing that made Sirius so unbelievably happy, so of course Remus would. It wasn’t even a question.
“Sure, baby. I’ll brush it out just how you like and get it nice and dry first too. Just turn for me so I can get started.”
Obediently, Sirius turned, facing the other way in Remus’s lap and making soft sounds of contentment as Remus wet his hair and worked his fingers through it—took his time with Sirius because he knew how much his star enjoyed the ritual. It was quiet for a while, the only noises being Sirius’s happy hums as Remus worked in the shampoo and water sloshing around as Remus gently washed it out, a smooth and simple relaxation overtaking them. Things between them being just as easy and familiar as Remus had always remembered them. Remus felt warm again, his star’s light radiating into him too, his own worries almost completely soothed by the sight of Sirius so at ease.
He leaned back against Remus’s chest after Remus put in the conditioner—which had to sit for a while anyway—and Remus allowed himself the indulgence of wrapping his arms around Sirius’s slender waist, pulling his star closer and holding him tight while he reveled in the fact that he still smelled like him.
“Re?” Sirius nearly whispered, hesitant to disturb the peace. Remus hummed and kissed the side of his star’s neck in response. Sirius was quiet for a beat or two, played with Remus’s fingers between his own for a while before he continued. Remus kissed him on the temple to try to assuage his worries. Then, warily, “I know how much I hurt you Moons, and you don’t ever have to forgive me, but-” Sirius took a break to nervously chew on his lip, and Remus patiently waited for him to finish on his own, thinking it best not to interject and risk Sirius losing his seemingly fragile train of thought. “But do you think you could- that you could want me anyway?”
His voice wavered, sounded curious, innocuously hopeful, but so blatantly unsure underneath it all. So delicate and Remus just wanted to wrap Sirius up in blankets and bubble wrap and keep him safe there forever. But Remus didn’t know how to respond to the question his star had posed. So raw, so vulnerable, so wanting, and Remus wanted to reassure him, to protect him, but he also didn’t want to say something reckless then have to go back on it.
Which left him rinsing the conditioner out of Sirius’s hair as he thought over the million ways he could say the wrong thing and tried to find the right one, then eventually Remus settled on something that would have to be good enough. Even if it didn’t answer the real question Sirius was asking.
“I’ve wanted you for as long as I can remember Pads. Since we first met on the train. I thought you were some posh pureblood prick and I was trying to hate you, but even then- Sirius I can’t imagine a day when I wouldn’t want you,” Remus assured Sirius as he went back to resting in his arms, part of Remus floating back to remember the scared and confused boy Sirius used to be and finding himself amazed at how far his star had come. Almost feeling the scratchy material of the train seats against the back of his thighs once again, feeling the intensity of Sirius’s ever lingering stare on him as his mind engulfed him in his memories.
. . .
The Train to Hogwarts, First Year:
Remus didn’t know anyone at his new school, besides his friend Lily who lived down the street from him and a boy he didn’t like very much named Severus. He had never actually been to a real school before either, his parents having homeschooled him ever since he’d gotten bitten, let alone been so far away from home before.
As he pulled his oversized luggage along with him, past Lily’s compartment, which she had invited him to sit in with her (Remus having politely declined because Severus kept making jokes about his scars—he really had no idea why Lily was friends with him), Remus felt nervous and exponentially out of place. He figured he would try to find an empty compartment and just hoped that he would be left alone in it, putting off making friends until he actually got to the school. It felt far too imposing for right now.
Remus was even lucky enough to find one, having it all to himself for a few minutes and pulling out a book to read to try to calm his nerves, until a pudgy blonde boy bursted in with two others in tow. Shouted,
“This one’s open Jamie!” Only to be followed by a boy with caramel skin, brown hair, brown eyes, and the brightest smile Remus had ever seen carrying a broomstick who was dragging a pale boy with gray eyes and sleek black hair who was far too overdressed for a train ride and froze up completely when he saw Remus. The other two still hadn’t seen him, as Remus was sitting in the corner least visible from the door and making no attempt to alert them of his presence—still a bit thrown off by the sudden intrusion—but the black haired boy continued to stare at him with an unusual sort of amazement. Remus figured it was probably because of his scars. Severus had stared at him like that too before he’d started making fun of him. And this guy looked like he’d be the sort to do just that.
He was stunningly beautiful too, which made it worse. Remus put his book back in his trunk, preparing to move somewhere else when the boy with the brown hair and the smile became aware of his presence, marching over and sticking his hand out to introduce himself, although Remus wasn’t really in the mood to make friends.
“I was sitting here,” Remus began saltily, but slowly remembered his manners. His mother would want him to be nice. “But you can have it,” Remus continued somewhat begrudgingly, “I’ll just… find another one. Um, have a nice day.” He made to go for the door, bringing his luggage with him, but the boy who had been trying to introduce himself cut in before he could.
“You don’t have to leave,” the boy shot him a smile, and Remus warily gave him one back. “I’m James, and this is Peter and Sirius.” James pointed to the blonde boy first so Remus assumed that one was Peter, and the blonde smiled and waved at him amiably. The second one, the black haired boy who he assumed to be Sirius, greeted him only with a curt and somewhat uppity nod, along with a blush that didn’t seem to match. It annoyed Remus, but the other two seemed nice enough so he introduced himself in turn.
“Remus, and thanks. I don’t really know all that many people here yet.” He found himself admitting to James as he set his things back down and resettled into his former spot on the bench. James smiled and sat across from him, Sirius sitting beside James and Peter going to sit next to Remus on his right.
“You know us.” James decided optimistically and Peter gasped in awe as he noticed Remus’s chess set that was poking out of his still partially open trunk from when he had put his book back in there. It was old and missing a few pieces but it seemed to be incredibly interesting to Peter regardless.
“Is that muggle chess?!” Peter questioned in excitement and Remus had no idea why he thought it was as enthralling as he did—Remus found it rather ordinary, in fact, but a good way to pass time—but Remus nodded in confirmation and pulled it out of his trunk, handing it to the boy beside him.
“The pieces don’t move on their own or anything like that, but I like it.” Remus rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, already having exposed himself for not being as familiar with magic as the other three probably were. And Remus found Sirius’s eyes once again locked on him, staring at him owlishly as Peter ogled his chess set, and Remus really didn’t know what about him could be so interesting. Besides the obvious. Which Remus didn’t find nearly as interesting as his new admirer clearly did.
“Petey here’s a bit of a chess fan,” James explained for his friend, but Remus was hardly paying attention to it, nodding once in acknowledgment before raising an eyebrow at Sirius, who was gaping at him in a way Remus found rather irritating. He got enough odd looks as it was, he didn’t need some stuck up prat who wore a suit and tie to school ogling him like he was the weird one.
“I- um-” Sirius stuttered when he realized he’d been caught. “I’m Sirius.”
“I know.” Remus stated neutrally, finding himself glad that he had thrown the prick off his rhythm. The pretty prick. Why’d he have to be pretty?
“Oh, right, sorry.” Sirius immediately apologized, instinctively almost, like if he didn’t something bad would happen. And Remus didn’t know why, but he felt a little bad for him. The boy sounded so sad and deflated, looked like he was cursing himself for the slip up already and it was just a simple mistake.
“I’m Remus,” he offered, hoping to make Sirius feel at least a little bit better, putting his hand out and was glad when Sirius took it, hesitant when he did, but taking it nonetheless. He placed his soft and aristocratic fingers along Remus’s and repeated Remus’s name to himself in what was just above a whisper. A soft and nearly silent,
“Remus,” to which Remus nodded and even managed a slight smile as he pulled his hand away, and Sirius seemed disappointed to give it up, biting into his lip like he was trying to withhold a pout before pulling his own hand away.
Remus still found Sirius irritating, couldn’t get over the incessant staring and somewhat snooty greeting, but also felt himself developing a soft spot for him, for the shy smile Sirius shot at him and the owlish eyes that he realized might not be staring at him in a vicious way. That the boy across from him may be a little harder to dislike than he would have preferred. And then there was an unwilling kindness that seeped into Remus’s words when he next spoke. Warm, and merciful when he said,
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” And Remus could see in Sirius’s eyes how grateful he was for it, in the smile that spread across his face like the most spectacular ray of light, in how Sirius leaned forward with a nervous and stiff sort of grace. A deep blush of embarrassment across his face like no one had ever been nice to him before and this was the first time he was experiencing it.
Sirius stuttered a bit, found himself lost for words, then after a while turned to James and started going on about quidditch, which Remus had absolutely no interest in, but continued staring at Remus nearly the entire time. His gaze was heavy and unshakable, but slightly better than Snape’s. Remus still didn’t feel fond of the posh little prick, but he found a part of himself was glad to have Sirius’s eyes on him. Thinking, rather oddly, to himself that he wouldn’t want them on anyone else.
. . .
Hogwarts, Seventh Year:
Sirius’s eyes, his beautiful adoration filled eyes always seemed to be trained on Remus. Bashful and broadening when Remus read him like a book. Transfixed and attentive whenever Remus spoke, inquisitive and eager as they surveyed the rest of the world around him but always returned to what seemed to be Sirius’s favorite place to fix them upon. Sweet and brighter than anything Remus had ever seen, Sirius’s eyes sparkled brilliantly despite their theoretically dull color. Sirius sparkled brilliantly, and always had.
Shone gorgeously in a pair of black lace panties next to Remus in bed, glowing as he ran his hand lazily through Remus’s hair and smiled at him like Remus had hung the moon for him. If only Remus could… he found himself sappily thinking.
Sirius’s hair was messy and he had a small streak of drool drying across his cheek from when he had fallen asleep on Remus after their first round—in which Remus had gotten Sirius a little too overstimulated and tired him out to the point of needing a nap. (Remus had gotten distracted by his star’s sweet gasps and whines, how Sirius leaned into every one of Remus’s touches and yearned for more of them, even as he realized it was too much.)
But up from his nap now, still flushed with pleasure and clearly seeking more if his wandering hands were anything to go by, Remus found no qualms in smiling back at his brilliantly shining star before moving his hand over Sirius’s hip to remove those now very much in the way panties. Fingers slipping under the darkly colored lace as he slid the fabric down, and Remus couldn’t help but wonder why Sirius even had them back on in the first place.
“This time let’s keep those pretty panties off,” Remus found himself mindlessly murmuring his thoughts aloud to Sirius in between a handful of lazy kisses, pulling Sirius more closely into him and lifting his leg up for easier access.
Sirius whined lightly in what sounded like approval or agreement and Remus took that as his cue to continue kissing him, slipping his tongue in between Sirius’s lips and exploring his star’s mouth while beginning to slip his finger in between Sirius’s cheeks to gently circle at his hole. Leaving Sirius gasping in anticipation.
“M-Moons…” he trailed off and Remus chuckled fondly before rejoining their lips, pulling away only enough to speak whilst pressing teasingly against Sirius' wet and fluttering hole, almost dipping in, but not quite.
“Still a little too sensitive there, baby?” He tried to gauge how much Sirius could handle in his slightly overworked state while working his free hand up the smooth curve of Sirius’s ass, kissing up his neck to give him time to answer the question.
“No, feels- feels good,” Sirius shook his head insistently, yanked at Remus’s hair like he was looking for some kind of purchase as Remus entered him with two of his fingers, and hummed in acknowledgment.
“W-want it to be too much again Moons,” Sirius moaned at the intrusion and tilted his head back in pleasure as Remus began to move, mouth hanging open in a silent cry. “Please- felt so good.” Sirius stared pleadingly at Remus, pupils blown wide in lust, already so worked over and just recovered enough to be worked over again, and Remus wouldn’t be in his right mind if he didn’t leap at the opportunity to give Sirius exactly what he wanted.
“You want to come again, pretty thing?” Remus offered, but really he didn’t even have to ask, Sirius was already so eager, grinding down on his—admittedly somewhat stalled fingers—and nodding rapidly. Fleetingly, Remus thought that he never wanted Sirius to leave his bed, his arms even.
“Merlin, yes.”
And then Remus was on top of him, removing his stagnating fingers in favor of spearing Sirius nicely on his cock, then running his mouth off like he very likely shouldn’t be, but ended up doing regardless.
“Thinkin’ of keeping you here,” Remus muttered carelessly into Sirius’s ear, “all warm on my dick. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, darling? Being such a perfect little toy for me, and nothing else…”
And Sirius absolutely keened at that, and Remus found it incredible how his dirtiest, most unreasonably possessive thoughts—ones that likely should have stayed thoughts, gone unspoken—made his star melt and want him so much more, almost whine,
“Please, please lemme be your toy Moons. Love it s’much, Love you so much.” Made Sirius beg for it, and made Remus wonder how he had ever gotten lucky enough to be so loved. Then made him wonder how many more orgasms he could milk out of his star, seeing as he was so blatantly desperate for them.
. . .
Sixth Year, Hogwarts:
It was late September and Remus’s day started not with breakfast or an early morning study session, but a slightly whiny plea coming from the direction of the bathroom. One he knew could only be Sirius. A very put out and hopeful,
“Moons, will you do my makeup?” From the other room.
Remus hadn’t even had his coffee yet, nor had he changed for class, and had to rub his barely open eyes fully awake before answering Sirius with a groan.
“Your makeup? You know I’m no good at that stuff, Pads,” Remus contested, partially due to the early hour and partially because he really did have no clue what he was doing with any of the countless concoctions Sirius liked to put on his face. Couldn’t tell the ‘skincare products’ from the makeup ones and sure as hell didn’t know what to do with that pokey lash stick that came with the mascara bottles. All Remus knew was that it made Sirius happy and he figured he didn’t need to educate himself much more past that.
“But I wanna look pretty and I keep messing it up and having to start over. Please Re,” Sirius came out from the bathroom donning his best pout and puppy eyes, and Remus really didn’t think that he could do a much better job than Sirius could, but he also couldn’t say no to him when his star wielded those weapons against him.
“You already look pretty, love. You don’t need makeup for that.” Remus still insisted, because Sirius was prettier than all the stars combined and a little lipstick wasn’t going to change that, but inevitably gave in, gesturing for Sirius to come sit across from him on his bed. Grinning, Sirius darted into the bathroom to grab his supplies then sprang into position, dumping all the products on the bed beside them as he practically buzzed in anticipation.
“Thank you, thank you so much Moons!” Sirius smiled widely as he flung his arms around Remus and pressed fluttery kisses all across Remus’s face before sitting himself down, still smiling. Handed Remus what looked like a black colored pencil before asking,
“Can you do my eyeliner?” Remus furrowed his brows in confusion. “It’s really easy, just do a line from here to here and make it pointy at the end,” Sirius amended, pointing to two places on his face that Remus had seen outlined a few times before. That didn’t sound too difficult to Remus, though he still felt the need to warn,
“Pads, I could very easily stab you in the eye.” But Sirius just shook his head and leaned closer to him, giving Remus easier access.
“I trust you,” Sirius spoke softly before closing his eyes for him. Such a freely given affirmation that meant more to Remus than Sirius could possibly imagine. Sirius, who trusted so few and so infrequently, trusted him. Even if it was with something as small as eyeliner, it was an indicator of something more. Of the trust that really extended far past that, and Remus found himself freezing up for a moment while he processed that. The miracle of Sirius really truly trusting him, of how easily Sirius did so. As easily as breathing. And Remus hadn’t realized how long he had been spacing out for until Sirius cleared his throat and blinked his eyes back open.
“Eyeliner, Moons,” he reminded him somewhat shyly, “you won’t stab me, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Remus made something between a scoff and a laugh as he shook himself out of his thoughts, looked at the simple black eye pencil he had in his hand and decided that he wanted something less boring for his star. Sirius had put him in charge of his makeup after all.
“You got anything sparkly?” Remus twirled the eye pencil around between his fingers as he scanned the messy pile of makeup spread across his bed. Sirius nodded instantaneously and rummaged through the pile until he picked up a few different products that looked very similar to the one in Remus’s hand.
“What color do you want?” Sirius eagerly displayed the different options for him and Remus couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Sirius was like this. Just doing day to day things—happy, attentively engaged in whatever they were doing, absolutely radiant with joy in the most casual and contented way, and Remus knew he was gone for him when he almost forgot why he had wanted a different eye pencil in the first place.
“Whichever one will bring out your eyes, love. Make you look even more like my prettiest star.” Remus cradled the side of Sirius’s face and planned out his makeup look on Sirius. Pressed a soft kiss onto Sirius’s lips in the meantime then pulled away to further focus on it.
It wouldn’t be much, Sirius was already stunning enough without all the fuss and feathers, but just enough to accentuate what was already there as well as he could, to add a bit of glitter. Remus may not know shit about makeup, but he wanted to turn his already celestial looking star into the star he was so aptly named after. He thought the sparkly liner and some of that shimmery stuff he saw Sirius put on his cheekbones should do the trick. Sirius was blushing profusely as he fumbled through his options and Remus thought he might like to bring that out too. Keep the pretty pink stain visible there for the rest of the day.
“Um,” Sirius pulled out an orangey gold eye pencil that had plenty of sparkle. “This one should work,” he handed the pencil over and Remus hummed approvingly, uncapped it and got right to work with his liner, Sirius obediently closing his eyes again so Remus could. Halfway through, Remus realized how much he liked the color, how perfectly it matched what he had begun to envision, and thought he should let Sirius know just that.
“Good job picking out the color, darling. It looks perfect on you,” he praised just to make Sirius blush, loving how reliably his star did so. The immediate pinking of Sirius’s cheeks every time Remus complimented him, loved it even more that Remus was the only one who could make Sirius do so. Sirius hardly ever blushed like that otherwise but did so easily for Remus. And yeah, Remus was definitely doing all he could to keep those pretty cheeks of Sirius’s blushing with whateverfancy powder or concoction Sirius had that would replicate it.
Sirius muttered a bashful,
“Thank you, Moons,” just as Remus miraculously managed to finish his first wing, even making it pointy at the end like Sirius had advised and he planted a short kiss on Sirius’s forehead after briefly celebrating his victory before starting the next one. But Sirius was squirming and smiling the second Remus did so and he couldn’t very well replicate his miracle on the first eye if Sirius was wiggling about and all over the place.
“Thank me by stayingstill, Pads,” Remus gently instructed, placing a firm hand over Sirius’s hip to get him to stop moving that way too. “I’m glad you’re happy love but I really will end up stabbing you with this thing if you keep this up.”
Sirius sighed softly in defeat and mild disappointment before he got a certain spark in his eyes that Remus knew could only mean trouble.
“I’ll stay still better if I’m on your lap.” Sirius determined, already going to swing a leg over Remus’s thighs. Remus raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief and went to open his mouth to dispute it, but by that time Sirius was already comfortably seated on top of him and Remus had to admit that the closeness would give him better control over Sirius’s movements. Only half reluctantly, (because he really did enjoy having Sirius secured to him in this way, though he couldn’t quite admit that yet), Remus gave in and indulged him.
“Mm, we’ll see about that theory,” Remus tapped his thumb beside the corner of Sirius’s unlined eye to get him to close his eyes again and was pleasantly surprised when it worked. Sirius wasn’t always good at interpreting non-verbal signals.“Good job, love,” Remus made sure to reward when Sirius did. Made Sirius blush yet again and smiled sappily to himself about it, tried to shake off the smile but found that he couldn’t.
Remus messed up once on the liner and cursed a bit to himself about it, unintentionally prompting Sirius to ask,
“Did I move?” A little warily, and Remus’s heart sank as he yearned to reassure him.
“No, baby, you’re doing so well,” Remus winced as soon as the words left his mouth. Because fuck, he had not meant to call Sirius ‘baby’ out loud. Had been calling him that fairly recklessly in his head since the second Sirius had expressed clear interest in him. Along with ‘his star’ and plenty of other mushy shit that should definitely not be said out loud. But it was too late and Remus didn’t currently possess a time turner so there was nothing that he could really do about it.
“Baby?” Sirius peered one eye open, grinned mischievously and Remus internally facepalmed because what the fuck had he been thinking letting that slip out?
“If you don’t like it- I mean, I didn’t mean to-” Remus fumbled rushedly, only belatedly realizing that he was making a bit of a fool of himself. But Sirius’s grin became much more genuine as he failingly bit his lips to contain it, his smile only spreading.
“I love it, Moons. Maybe next time you can mean to,” Sirius started and at first Remus thought he was going to leave it at that, but alas, Sirius went back to mischievous in under a second, a phenomenon Remus personally thought should be studied and analyzed in labs somewhere. “Call me baby and be all gushy and gross and kiss me under the mistletoe cuz you like me so much-” Sirius continued teasingly but Remus interrupted him with a groan and a slightly irritated squeeze at his waist.
“Merlin, you’re going to be horrible about this aren’t you?” Remus rolled his eyes preemptively.
“Don’t you mean ‘aren’t you baby?’ Because I’m your baby now? Cuz you want to take me on dates and give me kisses and presents and make me your valentine, Re?” Sirius prodded, shit eating grin still firmly in place as he dramatically wrapped his arms around Remus’s neck and pushed himself all the more closer to Remus.
“Oh, fuck off and shut your damn eyes so I can finish your makeup,” Remus grumbled and Sirius shook his pretty head with a gleeful laugh.
“Only if you call me baby again,” he insisted and fuck, Sirius was gorgeous, but not gorgeous enough to get away with this, Remus determined.
“I’ll never call you baby again unless you drop it, love,” he warned, though he knew that he’d likely end up calling Sirius that again regardless of if Sirius dropped his tirade. It was amazing how quickly Sirius adjusted to follow Remus’s informally phrased instructions, making a gesture of zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key with owlish and eager to please eyes. Remus chuckled fondly at it and found himself smiling in amusement.
“Thanks, baby,” Remus hummed in approval when Sirius automatically closed his eyes afterwards without having to be asked and another smile lit up Sirius’s face, this time unaccompanied by teasing. The blushing that followed was the cherry on top.
“See how behaving gets you rewarded?” Remus went ahead and finished his liner without any further errors, Sirius humming happily in acknowledgment. He added a few dots and tiny stars around the ends on creative license before he absentmindedly instructed, “You can open your eyes now,” and was surprised by how well the orange-gold color really did make Sirius’s eyes pop. He was starting to see why Sirius liked doing his makeup so much.
Sirius must have noticed how Remus’s jaw dropped slightly because he smiled yet again, shone even more radiantly with the liner, Remus noticed (although he was still adamant that Sirius needed no help in that regard), and immediately had something to say about it.
“Do I look good, Moons?” Sirius poked in a slight singsong voice and Remus rolled his eyes but was swift to affirm it.
“Fucking stunning, don’t get a big head about it,” Remus couldn’t tell if he had much shame in admitting. He thought he probably should, but at that point Remus was pathetically whipped for Sirius whether he liked it or not. “What’s the stuff that makes your cheeks all colorful and rosy?” Remus was quick to change the subject.
“Blush, but- you think I’m stunning, Moons?” Sirius breathed almost disbelievingly, not a trace of mockery in his voice as he gazed at Remus, transfixed with something, although Remus couldn’t know what. Perhaps it was Remus himself that Sirius found so infatuating.
“Blush then, darling, mind picking some out for me?” Remus didn’t answer him verbally, but did nod sincerely at Sirius to affirm that he absolutely did. That Sirius was the most stunning person he had ever laid eyes on, brilliantly impressive in so many other ways too, but he didn’t need to say all of that right then.
“Oh! I have a new one, Lily recommended it!” Sirius perked up at the task and excitedly sorted through his supplies for the blush in question, Remus allowing himself the indulgence of enjoying the show. “Wait no, that’s the wrong one- oh, but you could mix these two! No, that’s too advanced- maybe this one! Okay found it, Moons!” Sirius cheerily deposited a pink ovalish container in Remus’s hand, replacing it with the pen he had previously been holding.
“I already did concealer so you don’t have to, but this one’s a cream blush so you can either use a brush or your fingers to blend it out. And it’s really pigmented so you only have to use a little,” Sirius explained and Remus was grateful for the instruction, otherwise he’d likely have little to no clue what he was doing.
Remus opened the container to reveal a mauve-pink shade of what Sirius had described as a cream blush and Remus figured it was best to simplify it and just use his fingers to put it on. Tapping some of the product on the apple of Sirius’s cheeks, he quickly realized that Sirius was right about the pigmentation or whatever and that he had used too much, but Remus figured he could power through it if he used what was left on his finger for the other side before ‘blending it out’. It took a while but he managed to save it, having to blend over Sirius’s nose too, which he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to do, but he had accidentally smeared some there and now had to make it look intentional.
Remus pulled away to admire his work, but Sirius pouted slightly at him and furrowed his brows a bit.
“You’re not gonna put any on my cheekbones?” He complained.
“I’m gonna put the uh- highlighter on your cheekbones,” Remus explained, newly confident from his multiple successes and apparently now an expert in makeup and how to apply it.
“You can put blush there too, or blend it up that way. You might want to too, Moons, I can tell you used too much cuz it’s still all over your fingers,” Sirius advised and Remus scoffed as if the accusation was preposterous.
“I did not use- Are you doing your makeup or am I?” Remus raised an eyebrow as if he did indeed know what he was doing.
“Would you just blend it out? You know I’m right and it’ll look so much better if you do. C’mon, please Moons?” Sirius whined and Remus sighed but did what he was asked and made sure to keep to himself that Sirius actually had been right and it looked much better now that he had. It looked like it did when Sirius blushed naturally, which was what he’d wanted.
“There,” Remus huffed but soon realized that he wasn’t really all that irritated anymore. “Now I can do highlighter,”
“You put it on the high points of the face; cheekbones, nose, etcetera,” Sirius changed Remus's blush for a shimmery champagne gold liquid in a remarkably small bottle, opening it to show Remus how to put it on beforehand. Sirius showed him how to use the cap, which was connected to an applicator then blended the product out with his fingers on his hand. “This one’s less pigmented than the last one so you won’t have to use it as sparingly,” Sirius noted as he finally handed the product over, and Remus took it with perhaps a little too much confidence before insisting,
“I know what I’m doing,” and getting started on the one step that he was pretty sure he actually knew how to do well, (seeing as he had watched Sirius do it so many times and practically had it memorized at this point). He got a semi sarcastic,
“Whatever you say, Moons…” in response but Remus chose to ignore it.
After applying the highlighter expertly (in Remus’s not so humble opinion) Remus decided that he was ready to pick out a product of his own to use, having proved his skills sufficiently.
“You want lipgloss, baby?” Remus asked partially rhetorically when he chose a product labeled just that. Sirius nodded eagerly and happily welcomed the kiss that Remus gave him just afterwards, rich, warm, and indulgent like Remus felt in the moment, not explorative necessarily, but sweet because Sirius was sweet and he adored him with all of his being. Maybe even loved him, or at least the way Sirius gasped in awe when he pulled away, his star at a complete loss for words.
Lips kissed red and bitten a bit, Remus was glad that the gloss he had chosen was clear enough not to cover it. He wanted the color he had so carefully given Sirius to stay and be seen by anyone who looked his way, like the flush that he and only he could give Sirius naturally.
Remus took his time in applying the gloss, not wanting Sirius to move off of his lap quite yet, and somehow not all too eager to put an end to a ritual that he thought he’d be disastrous at. He kissed Sirius once again when he was done, uncaring of the fact that there was now gloss there and only when Sirius began whining and moaning lightly into it did he pull away, leaving Sirius dazed as he went to chase Remus’s lips.
“All done, love,” Remus muttered as he brought Sirius to the nearest mirror, keeping his voice soft and low as he found himself in a similar state of amazement, his star so unbelievably lovely and Remus determined to do everything he could to keep him such. Couldn’t bear ruining the moment that Sirius had been so generous to include him in, the easy sweetness that made Sirius up so wholly and leaked out in moments such as these.
Sirius gasped in amazement as he caught sight of himself in the mirror and smiled ear to ear before throwing his arms around Remus and nearly knocking Remus over in the process.
“Thank you so much Moons- I-” Sirius tightened his grip around him and Remus made sure to tighten his right back, planting a short kiss on Sirius’s conveniently placed shoulder. “I look- you made me look so pretty.” Sirius choked out emotionally.
“No prettier than you always look,” Remus stated matter of factly, but Sirius shook his head against where it was tucked near Remus’s shoulder.
“No- you- you made me look as pretty as I feel when I’m with you.” Sirius pulled away only enough to look Remus in the eye with additional emphasis. He spoke more softly then, more rawly. “I always feel prettiest when I’m with you, Moons. Happiest, too. Like I’m so much better than I really am cuz you always see the best in me, and now- now I look that way too.”