Remus was sitting on his favorite armchair in the Gryffindor common room trying to finish his transfiguration essay that was due in a few days, the day after the full moon. He was so close to being done, if only the group of third years in the corner would stop being so loud. He wasn’t usually so distracted by the loudness of others, five years around the other marauders will do that to you, but he just couldn’t seem to find his focus today. He kept working, knowing how good it will feel to have it finished so he won’t have to be stressed about it before or after the full and can rest. It was only a few minutes after when Sirius came down from their shared dormitory, wearing too big sweatpants and an oversized jumper, both Remus’s. It wasn’t unusual for him to wear Remus’s clothes, especially in the wintertime, but it did raise a slight red flag when coupled with his current shy demeanor.
“Moony” he spoke quietly as he approached, unfamiliar for such a typically rambunctious boy. “Yea Pads” Remus responded, frowning slightly and searching the boys face with concern
“Can you come upstairs with me please?” He said. It was then that Remus noticed that his eyes were slightly red-rimmed and there was no trace of that famous grin, causing him to become even more worried as to what might’ve happened to make his boyfriend look so unlike himself.
“What’s wrong love?” Remus inquired as he started replaying the day’s events, looking for anything that could’ve caused his love’s mood and sad look. He didn’t remember any letter from his parents, fight with Regulus, or really anything that might have caused this. “S’nothing” Sirius responded looking shy and uncomfortable, fiddling with the long sleeves of his jumper.
At that, Remus frowned, seeing as it was clearly not nothing, until he seemed to remember what day it was and his eyes softened, suddenly understanding just how sucky his boyfriend must’ve been feeling as he always did during this time of the month. Sirius didn’t much like talking about his period and always pretended he was fine, even though he always had bad cramps the first few days, which no potion or muggle aspirin seemed to help with, and experienced a lot of dysphoria during that same week each month.
“C’mere baby” Remus said, moving his essay over and opening his arms up for Sirius to climb into his lap. He walked over and immediately wrapped himself around Remus, straddling his lap, wrapping his arms around his neck, and resting his head in the crook of Remus’s neck. “I just have to finish this essay then I can come upstairs with you. 15 minutes, not even.” Remus explained, rubbing Sirius’s back with one hand, while Sirius played with the other, as he often did when he was sad or anxious.
“Mkay” Sirius responded, voice already thick with tears. As he continued to rub Sirius’s back, Remus quickly finished the last of his essay, knowing the rest was good enough to get him a passing grade, even with a subpar ending, and his boyfriend needed him now, so it would just have to do.
Once he was finished, he cleaned up with a wave of his wand and turned to face Sirius, who had resorted to playing with the hair at the nape of Remus’s neck when he needed his hand back to finish his work.
Remus kissed his cheek and said “I love you” not expecting a response, just needing him to know he was loved for exactly who he was. He did get a sniffle back, though, along with a cold nose nuzzling his neck. Tightening his arms around Sirius’s waist, he got up in one swift motion, enticing a small yelp from the boy in his arms as he was carried up to their room.
Remus plopped him onto his bed, as Sirius always swears it was far more comfortable than his own, and quickly changed into his pajamas before settling against the headboard and pulling Sirius to sit between his legs, back flush to his chest. “Want me to read to you?” he asked, knowing the smaller boy wouldn’t want to talk much. He hesitated, but eventually nodded, settling in a bit more. So, the taller boy started to read a muggle novel that he thought Sirius might actually enjoy, even though he wasn’t sure if his boyfriend was paying much attention.
He stopped, though, when he heard a small, barely perceptible, whimper and a sniffle from the head laying on his shoulder and asked “okay baby?” to which Sirius responded “hurts”. Frowning, Remus inquired “anything I can do?” His boyfriend blushed a bit before asking “can you rub my stomach? I just… I heard it’s supposed to help” “Anything love” the younger boy responded, moving his hand underneath Sirius’s (his) jumper to feel warm, puffy skin, asking “this okay?” and receiving a nod before placing his hand just under the waistband of his pants, rubbing gentle, small circles into his skin. He let out a small sigh in response and turned to place his head in the crook of Remus’s neck and wrap his arms around his waist while his boyfriend continued to read to him.
At some point a little later, Remus noticed Sirius’s eyes beginning to droop, his body becoming heavier with sleep with each passing moment. Now normally this would be fine, as it occurred rather regularly when Remus would read to him, but Sirius would usually already have taken his binder off before they had settled in. Remus knew that Sirius’s dysphoria would have prompted him to leave on the binder, meaning he had certainly been wearing it for too long already and he was about to fall asleep in it, which Remus simply couldn’t allow. Of course he didn’t want to add to his boyfriend’s dysphoria, but he knew that if he slept in it, he wouldn’t be able to breathe properly and he would likely be too sore to wear it the next day in classes, simply adding to his general discomfort.
Remus turned to the older boy, kissed his forehead, and whispered “love… don’t fall asleep yet.” When he only received a sleepy “mmh” in response, he sat them both up further and softly spoke “you need to take your binder of love” to which earned him a few grumbles before a whimper and sniffle combo. “C’mon I’ll help you, then you can sleep okay?”
With that, Sirius relented. He sat up and put his arms over his head so his boyfriend could pull his jumper off. When Remus started to reach for his binder though, Sirius crossed his arms over his chest, frowning with tears in his eyes and whispered thickly, “do I have to?” Remus, running a hand through the smaller boy’s hair, cupping his cheek, responded with “you know you do if you want to be able to wear it tomorrow baby,” his heart breaking as he watches tears start to pool in his beautiful boy’s gray eyes. Sirius leaned into his touch, closing his eyes as a few tears spilled down his face, ultimately allowing his boyfriend to take the material of his well-worn binder in hand and pull it over his head, letting out a small breath as he did so. “Okay?” Remus asked, receiving a slight nod in response as Sirius started to pull the jumper over his head once more and bury his face in Remus’s chest.
Doing his best to comfort his love, Remus laid down, bringing Sirius with him, and resumed rubbing his back and running a hand through his hair while Sirius let out shaky breaths and a few stray tears ran down his cheeks and onto the soft material of Remus’s jumper. After a few minutes, Remus just barely heard a muffled whimper from the boy in his arms, causing him to tighten his hold on him and ask once more, “Anything I can do?” This time though, Sirius simply shook his head and buried his face deeper into Remus’s chest, almost like he was trying to fuse their two bodies together.
Feeling a little helpless, he tried to think of something more he could do to help him feel even a tiny bit better. He knew he couldn’t do much for his dysphoria while Sirius could feel the effects of his period, but at least he could help relieve some of the pain/soreness/pressure he knew his boyfriend was feeling. So, he asked, “do you want a massage? It might help with some of the pain/soreness…” Sirius hesitated, before lifting his head and whispering his agreement.
Remus laid him down and asked “is it okay if I touch your chest? I know it’s usually sore the first few days.” When he received a small nod, he pushed on saying, “I’m just going to lift the jumper up, so if you want me to stop at any point just tell me or pull it back down okay?” “Mkay” was all the smaller boy murmured in response, knowing he was always safe with his Moony.
With that, Remus reached into the drawer of his bedside table and took out the lavender oil salve Madame Pomfrey gave him to soothe his aching joints after full moons, thinking, at the very least it couldn’t hurt and it smelt nice, while not leaving a gross or sticky feeling after you put it on. He lifted his boyfriend’s jumper, kissed his forehead once more, got some salve on his hands, and set to work on his tender breasts, working in small gentle circles, earning him a small, relieved sigh, from the boy under him. He worked his way down the boy’s body, feeling him relax under his touch and letting the smell of lavender fill the room.
Once he was done, and Sirius was relaxed and pliant under his touch, he kissed his way back up Sirius’s body, ending with a sweet one on the lips, and laid down next to him. “Feel any better baby?” Remus asked, hoping he provided even the slightest bit of relief. “Yeah, you take good care of me” Sirius replied, nuzzling into Remus’s neck.
“I love you. So much.” Remus said, kissing the head of inky black hair. “I love you too, Moons” Sirius responded, pressing featherlight kisses to his pulse point.
They settled in, tangling their limbs together, Sirius’s head on Remus’s chest, and shared one last goodnight kiss, feeling so, so loved.