remus settles on his couch, blanket pulled tight around his shoulders; it’s mid november and he doesn’t fancy catching a cold. by that logic, he should probably put some clothes on… well, he’s sat down now, so there’s really no point.
magnus jumps up on the couch next to him, his tag jingling on his collar. he lays next to remus, feet pulled underneath his body so he looks like a loaf of bread — a very fat loaf of bread. magnus certainly wasn’t the skinniest cat in the world, but that doesn’t much matter to remus; magnus was as sweet as he was chubby.
remus sighs, idly running his fingers through magnus’ ginger hair. he’d been forbidden to go to work by his manager, who’d insisted he stay at home, rather than busy himself with the singular bus he has to take to get to the waterstones he works at. remus thinks it’s all utterly ridiculous, but he wasn’t going to argue with minerva.
unfortunately, without the distraction of work, remus has no clue what to do with himself. he’d lent his copy of the picture of dorian gray to lily, and he doesn’t feel like reading anything else. he doesn’t have a television, either; if he ever wants to watch anything, which he rarely does, he goes round to sirius’.
ultimately, it doesn’t matter if remus wants to entertain himself or not, because he refuses to move from the couch.
although he is getting thirsty. and hungry. he’ll just sleep it off, hopefully that’ll get rid of the cramps, as well.
remus shifts, laying his head down on the couch pillow, closing his eyes. he feels magnus stand, mewling quietly, before he jumps off the couch. remus stretches his legs out before promptly curling into a ball as he feels that awful, familiar pain in his abdomen. he groans, pressing his face to the pillow.
he does manage to fall asleep eventually, but it’s only for a few minutes. he’s woken by the sound of the door opening and shoes being taken off. remus instinctively tenses, squeezing his eyes closed.
”alright, mags? where’s my darling moonpie?”
remus relaxes when he hears that voice, his voice. he can hear sirius moving around, taking his coat off, walking into the kitchen and flicking the kettle on. his footsteps get louder as he walks out of the kitchen, into the living room. remus smiles weakly when he sees sirius’ head looming over him, dark hair hanging down in front of his silver eyes.
”hiya, love,” sirius smiles brightly, moving round to sit by remus’ feet. ”went to see you at work but minnie said you were off sick.”
he frowns, resting the back of his hand against remus’ forehead. sirius shifts closer, cupping his face. remus sighs, pushing himself up and pulling sirius close to his chest, letting him press his face to him. remus had gotten over his body dysphoria a long time ago and had now reached a point where he felt comfortable enough to let sirius see his body, let him kiss the scars on his chest with nothing but adoration. he was happy in his own skin now — if a being as ethereal as sirius loved his body, then there must be some level of beauty to him.
sirius sits up, smiling as he presses a firm, closed-mouthed kiss to remus’ lips. he pulls back, cheeks a light shade of pink. remus smiles, tucking a long strand of dark hair behind his pierced ears. he finds it completely adorable how flustered sirius gets whenever they’re ever physically affectionate. sirius will never be comfortable with sex, remus knows that, but he doesn’t mind one bit. he just loves the little moments like this, when sirius will make an effort to be physical and then blush like a tomato.
unfortunately, the moment is short-lived. remus winces as the cramps return with a vengeance.
”oh no— it’s that time of the month, isn’t it?” sirius asks, frown deepening. remus nods, watching him stand up and walk into the kitchen with a fleeting kiss to the forehead. he comes back a few minutes later holding a hot water bottle, a large bar of chocolate, and a mug of what remus assumes is lemon tea. remus gladly takes the chocolate and the water bottle, but sirius lightly slaps his hand away when he tries to take the tea.
”it’s hot,” sirius says, placing the mug on the coffee table, next to remus’ piles of books, candles, and assorted pens. he stands up, walking over to the bookshelf in the corner, fiddling with the record player. he picks up the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars, sliding the record out of its sleeve and popping it on. he fiddles a bit more before the song starts playing.
”can’t believe you skipped lady stardust,” remus mumbles, fidgeting slightly as he listens to the opening lines of ziggy stardust. ”and star.”
”ziggy stardust is my favourite on this album,” sirius grins, dancing slightly, moves graceful and rhythmless. remus chuckles as he watches him; sirius seems to take this as encouragement, because he wiggles, spinning on his toes and shaking his head like a dog, hair flying everywhere.
”you’re awful!” remus laughs, and sirius dances towards him, grinning widely, cheeks dimpling. magnus looks on from his scruffy armchair in the corner, tail flicking.
”dance with me, moonpie,” sirius says, offering his hand to him. remus sighs but takes it anyway, letting himself be pulled off the couch. sirius holds him close to his chest and remus can’t help but smile down at him as they waltz clumsily. goosebumps prick his skin as the cold nips at him, but he ignores it, content to just dance with his boyfriend. he can’t ignore the shiver that runs through him though.
”cold?” sirius asks, attempting to twirl remus. he laughs, nodding slightly, and sirius grabs the blanket from the couch, wrapping remus up in it. ”there’s my burrito!”
remus rolls his eyes, nudging sirius, who only grins and squishes remus’ cheeks together. ”a very cute burrito!”
they dance for a few minutes more until they’re both laying on the couch, both panting and nursing their cramps. sirius curls into remus’ side, tracing shapes on his bare chest, fingers brushing his scars. he’d been there when remus had gotten the surgery, had refused to leave his side when he was in st mungos hospital. he’d brought him books and chocolate, had read him poems and told him about his day, had laughed at his puns and jokes and had even told his own; even before they started dating, sirius had been the one person remus loved most in his life.
”am i allowed to have my tea now, or are you gonna slap me again?” remus asks, running his fingers through sirius’ hair — it’s soft and silky, unlike remus’ own curly, tangled hair. sirius looks up at him, smiling lazily.
”i won’t slap you, moony,” he says, ”i swear on james’ parents’ lives.”
remus snorts, picking up the mug and sipping at it, sighing. sirius made the best lemon tea, always had. he holds the mug to his chest, watching sirius open the bar of chocolate, breaking off a square and holding it to remus’ mouth. he smiles, eating it and pressing a kiss to sirius’ hand. he blushes, digging his face into remus’ chest.
they sit in silence, listening to suffragette city play from the record player, remus still running his fingers through sirius’ hair. it starts to rain outside, beating against the window rhythmically, only making the room colder. magnus stands, jumping off the armchair and instead making himself comfy on remus’ legs.
it takes remus a few minutes to realise that sirius is asleep, soft snores barely audible. he smiles down at the boy he’s in love with, setting the mug on the coffee table and closing his eyes. the tea will be cold when he wakes up, but he can’t find it in himself to care; he’s getting tired now and the couch really is very comfortable…