Remus leaned against the wall, his breath catching in his throat. The broom closet that they were inhabiting was thoroughly fussed up: buckets of cleaning supplies knocked over in the rush, a sticky steam surrounding them.
Sirius had sunk to the floor in a pleasured haze, his lips swollen and grinning.
“Fucking hell.” He groaned.
“I’d second that,” Remus breathed. There was a trail of purple kisses trailing down Sirius’s neck that Remus could barely see through his gleaming, black hair.
Remus smiled at his own work. He adored being able to leave marks on Sirius - the meaning of which was kept only between them. It was an elusive way of telling the world, “this boy is mine, forever.”
He checked his watch and gathered up all his things: a difficult feat, being that his books had tumbled out of his bag when Sirius yanked him into their small haven.
“Sirius. It’s 12:17.”
“Oh, great! We have three minutes more!” Sirius exclaimed, pouncing on Remus once more, who had to push him off, laughing.
“We have three minutes to get to class, you big oaf.”
Sirius smirked at him. “I love it when you insult me.”
Remus rolled his eyes and grabbed Sirius’s hand. He loved that he could do that, now. “Come on.”
The hallways were empty, because most of the students at Hogwarts had the academic integrity to actually be on time for class. Sirius took this as an opportunity to pepper Remus with more kisses as they walked, shoulders as close as humanly possible. Remus pretended to be displeased, but the blossoming red in his cheeks gave him away every time.
“Okay,” Remus said, when they got to their classroom. It was Ancient Runes, which Sirius had suggested they skip altogether, but Remus had turned him down immediately. The professor, though not intransigent, was a stickler about attendance. Plus - how suspicious would that look?
“I’ll go in first, make some excuse.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “Then I’ll come in 15 minutes later, blah, blah, blah…”
Remus gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. “You’ve got the routine down.”
“So I have,” Sirius said spiritlessly. Remus knew how he felt about keeping this a secret - Sirius hated keeping anything from James, much less the most important part of his life.
But it was necessary. Sirius had never been properly exposed to the real world as Remus had. He hadn’t lost the last morsels of his father’s trust by telling him he was gay, he didn’t understand the prejudices they would have to face.
Remus did. And he was just trying to protect them.
“I’ll see you in 15.”
“Save me a seat?” Sirius pouted his lip.
Remus kissed the frown off his stupid, handsome face. “Of course.”
He shut the door behind him, and his classmates all stared momentarily before looking back to their textbooks, bored. If there was one thing in Remus’s life he had accomplished, it was the ability to blend into the background.
“Moony!” James whisper-shouted, waving him over to where he and Peter sat.
Remus walked over, waving a quick “sorry, hello,” to Professor Babbling as he sat down.
“Kind of you to join us, Mr. Lupin.” She smiled, dryly. “Let's continue.”
“Mate, where were you?” James leaned in. “You’re never late to class.”
Remus - a gay, half-blood, werewolf - was nothing if not a good liar.
He smiled. “Oh, you know me. Fell asleep in the library after lunch.”
Peter snorted. “Remus, you spend more time in that nerd-hell than you do in your own dorm!”
Remus shrugged. “Guilty.”
The three of them quieted, and Remus pulled out a notebook to follow along with Professor Babbling’s notes on the board. She wrote like a maniac, that woman. Peter and James started a game of tic-tac-toe on Peter’s hand.
Though it seemed Sirius was always late to something, he was rather timely with his 15-minute arrival. Remus had been counting the minutes on the clock without realizing, and almost precisely as the second hand met 12, Sirius marched through the door.
Once again, the whole class turned to look. But this time, they didn’t look away. Everyone was staring, murmuring to their friends. The girls were glaring, looking around at each other as to say, “Which one of you bitches got to him before I did?”
Remus almost smiled.
Professor Babbling greeted him courteously, though shakily - the deep purple running down Sirius’s neck was enough to make anyone stutter. She looked as if she was trying to find a reason to send him out of the class, but couldn’t think of a rule Sirius had technically broken.
“Hello, Prongs.” Sirius grinned smugly. “Wormy, Moons,” he added as an afterthought, inclining his head.
Both James and Peter’s jaws were on the floor. Remus was staring intently at the table, trying not to give anything away.
“WHO DID THAT ?” James gaped, pointing at his neck.
Sirius shrugged. “Just some bird.”
“But who ?”
“Ah, I don’t know if you would know her or not. A bit older than us, spends most of her time studying. Great kisser, though.” Sirius smirked.
He was trying to get a rise out of him, and Remus knew it. He wouldn’t let Sirius have the satisfaction.
Peter was sulking. “Why does Sirius get all the older girls?”
Sirius still hadn’t had enough. “Oh, the older ones are definitely the ones you should go for. You boys won’t believe what she did to me in the broom closet.” He pushed his tongue against his cheek to exaggerate the innuendo.
Remus cleared his throat, loudly. “Black, if you’re quite done.” He snapped. “Some of us are trying to pay attention.”
Sirius leaned back in his chair, content. “Anything you say, Moony.”
***
The rest of the day went by with no larger incident, and soon the Marauders found themselves back in the common room, surrounded by homework and chatter. Remus was practicing for Charms, Peter was frantically drawing Herbology diagrams, and James and Sirius were… well, they were playing exploding snap, per usual.
(“Everyone has different ways of being productive,” James would chastise Remus if he tried to tell them off. “Our’s just happen to affiliate with unproductivity.”)
This was a more polite way of saying, “Remus, we’re going to need your History of Magic notes at 1 a.m. on a Thursday.”
Sirius kept glancing over at him. He could feel his gaze like a thousand razor blades sticking directly into one part of his body. Like a very elaborate and well-played game of darts. It was distracting.
“Pete,” he finally sighed. “I can’t focus.”
Peter looked up at him, frowning. “Are you feeling okay, Moony? Is it…?”
Remus knew he meant the Moon, which was about a week away at this point. He shook his head, which was mostly the truth. “Nah. It’s just loud in here.”
“We could go to the library,” Peter offered.
Remus smiled at his friend’s earnesty. Peter often suggested they all four go to the library, so Remus wouldn’t have to be alone in his Conquests Of Knowledge (COK, as Sirius loved to call it), but James would have none of it. Remus wasn’t sure the pair of them had ever even stepped foot in the library.
“That’s okay, mate. I think I’ll just turn in for the night.”
“Alright.” Peter nodded distractedly.
“That looks great, by the way,” Remus nodded at his plant diagrams. Despite Sirius’s constant mocking of the smallest boy, Peter was truly a fantastic artist. Remus thought, privately, that this was criminally overlooked.
Peter smiled at him. “Thanks. Night, Moony.”
“Night, Pete.”
Remus headed up the stairs, sighing to himself. He didn’t dare look behind him, dare Sirius be staring after him. While the whole thing was all Remus had ever wanted, he hadn’t predicted the complication of Sirius being such a bad bloody actor.
Remus felt like they stepped closer to the precipice of being caught every day.
He flung himself into bed gratefully. His warm, red quilt welcomed his presence. To be honest, Remus hadn’t been in his own bed for a while. Most nights were spent either with Sirius or in the library.
This was nice.
Nice - but something was missing. Ever since Sirius, Remus couldn’t sleep without the other boy tucked into his embrace, or the other way around. It was like they were two halves of the same whole: without him, Remus felt incomplete. Like his lungs were missing, and he couldn’t breathe.
“Moony?”
Remus grinned sleepily. “Pads.”
He heard the door close, and the sound of Sirius’s quiet footsteps advancing towards his bed. Sirius peeked into the curtain, looking endearingly shy for someone with so much confidence.
“C’mere,” Remus muttered, and Sirius happily, slotting himself in the space next to Remus. He wove his arms around the other boy, taking in the warm smell of smoke and leather that always lingered around Sirius.
“I missed you,” Sirius whispered, kissing the scars on his cheeks.
Remus tried not to sigh at his touch. “I was only gone a few minutes.”
“It felt like hours,” Sirius pouted.
“What a difficult life you lead, Mr. Black.”Remus chuckled. “How are you going to face tomorrow? We have two whole classes without each other.”
“I’ll just die,” Sirius said, putting a dramatic hand to his head.
Remus grinned, leaving a trail of kisses down Sirius’s jaw. The other boy groaned, gravitating to his embrace. “Remus…”
Remus stroked his face, tucking the loose strands of hair behind Sirius’s ears.
“This is what I imagine heaven to be,” Remus whispered into his ear.
Sirius leaned over to kiss him. “Just you and me,” he said. “For the rest of our lives.”
“With books,” Remus added, as an afterthought.
Sirius snorted. “You adorable swot.”
“Hey! Who’s calling me a swot, Sirius Orion Black?” Remus protested.
“Shut up,” Sirius rolled on top of him, bombarding his face with kisses. Remus laughed, half-heartedly trying to get him off.
The two boys wrestled there for a while more, laughing and talking and tracing constellations on each other's skin. Remus loved moments like these.
“Remus? You up here?” A soft, distinctly feminine voice came from the stairwell.
“Shit!” Remus de-tangled himself from Sirius, his face red and trousers only half on. “One second, Lils!”
“What poor soul have you been deflowering?” Lily gaped at him, once he stumbled out of his bed. She was leaning against the door, craning her neck to try and see who was in there.
Remus stood forcefully in front of the curtains. “No one. Just myself.”
He realized, after, that answer wasn’t a lot better.
“I don’t believe you,” Lily sang. “Your lips are swollen.”
“….New chapstick.”
Lily raised one, suspicious brow. She reminded Remus uncannily of Mcgonagall in moments like these. “Oh. Looks good, can I try?”
She tried to get past him and to his bed, but Remus flung himself in front of the curtains. “No!”
“Why?” Lily said innocently. “I don’t suppose your “chapstick” is shaped like Sirius Black, is it?”
Remus gaped at her. “No! What? Sirius? Black? Him? Me? No!”
An unmistakable cackle came from inside his bed. “Moony, let me out, you buffoon!”
Lily looked very proud of herself.
“Ha!”
“Jesus Christ,” Remus swore.
Sirius stuck his smug head out of the curtains. “Just Sirius Black will do.”
***
“So… you two.” Lily said, once she had been sat on the bed and thoroughly talked to by Remus.
“Us two.” Remus nodded solemnly.
Lily turned to Sirius. “And you’re not just having him on? I know you and your conquests, Black.”
“Hey!” Remus and Sirius said, in synchrony.
“No, I’m not just having him on,” Sirius said irritably. “I plan on marrying this man, I’ll have you know!”
Remus blushed a deep shade of red. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he smiled.
“Fall wedding,” Sirius muttered under his breath.
“I’m so happy for you,” Lily grinned, taking them both in her arms.
“We’re not engaged!” Remus yelped.
Lily kissed his cheek. “Tell that to your boyfriend, Lupin.”
***
Remus felt a great sense of relief to have told at least one of his best friends their secret, even if he had made her swear on her life not to tell anyone.
Especially James.
The good thing about James Potter, however, was that he was about as observant as a stack of bricks.
So, when Remus came down to breakfast the morning after Lily’s discovery with hickeys covering his pale neck, James had only gawked at him.
“Moony!”
“Bloody hell!” Peter added.
Remus shifted his turtleneck, which was doing an abysmal job covering him up. He cursed Sirius to all hell for the unfortunately-placed marks on his jawline.
“Hello,” he swallowed. He knew how this looked.
Sirius was already eating breakfast, dragged by James to an early-morning quidditch practice, and glanced up from his eggs. He winked at Remus.
“You look fetching, Moons. Wonder who did that.”
Remus sat down, shrugging. He poured coffee into his mug.
“Oh, come on, Moony!” James pleaded. “You can’t show up like that and not tell us who it was. Was it Marlene Mckinnon? I reckoned she had a thing for you a while back.”
Sirius was scowling. “Marlene couldn’t do that. I dated her, I would know.”
Remus rolled his eyes. “If you very well must know, it was some Hufflepuff girl that goes to my study group. A bit younger than us, I think. Very short.” (Sirius glared.) “I don’t remember her name. You boys should have seen what she let me do to her in the prefect bathroom, though-“
Sirius choked on his eggs, coughing violently.
“Alright, Sirius?” Remus smirked.
“Don’t- objectify- m- wo men-“ Sirius said in between heaves.
James, Peter, and Remus burst into helpless laughter.
“Merlin, Remus, you scoundrel.” James cackled. “Both of you, honestly. The Casanovas of Gryffindor tower.”
“They should start a club,” Peter chortled.
“Oh, sure, The Casanova Lunch Club,” Remus chuckled, at a very displeased Sirius. “Think people would pay us to teach them our erotic ways?”
“5 dollars a blow,” James said, tears in his eyes. “People would line up at the door.”
Remus and Peter found this much more funny than Sirius. He was glaring at them like they had killed everyone he loved.
James nudged Sirius, “Cmon, Padfoot. You love this stuff.”
“Maybe some of us have matured.” Sirius huffed. “And are capable of real relationships.”
Peter raised his eyebrows. “Things are serious with you and that girl, then, the older one?”
Sirius shrugged impassively.
Remus could sense the stiffness that was collecting in Sirius’s shoulders, and kicked his foot under the table. They locked eyes, and Remus shook his head pointedly.
James was looking nervously between the two. “Are you two okay?”
“Just fine.” Sirius sniffed, his fork clattering onto the plate. “I’m going to class.” He stalked away, black hair flying.
“What’s got his wand in a knot?” Peter frowned after him.
Remus chewed on his lip. “Dunno. Should I follow him?”
“That’s okay, I’ll do it.” James got up.
“No!” Remus exclaimed. The other two looked at him like he was crazy. As guilty as he felt, Sirius could not talk to James right now. Remus knew that when Sirius felt vulnerable, truths came spilling out. And that could be the end of them.
“Just- erm- I started it. I’ll go apologize.”
James sighed. “You two are so odd. Are you fighting about a girl, is that it?"
Poor, clueless James.
Remus ignored this. “I’ll meet you in Defense, okay?”
He got up and ran out after Sirius. Luckily, he hadn’t gotten far. Remus found him leaning against a pillar, sulking with a cigarette between his teeth. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Remus found the whole ordeal very sexy.
He sat down next to Sirius, who ignored him in favor of the window.
“Hi, you.”
“Hmph.”
Remus took the cigarette out of his hand and wove their fingers together. He took a draw, pensively. “James doesn’t mean anything by it, love.”
“The Casanova Lunch Club.” Sirius scowled. “That was you. ”
“Alright, fine, if you want a row.” Remus pursed his lips.
“I don’t!”
“Jesus, neither do I! But we agreed this was for the best!” Remus groaned.
“You said it was for the best, not me! I agreed with it because I always do whatever you say, Moony! I’d walk off the edge of the earth if you told me to!” Sirius looked pleadingly at him. “But it’s so hard. ”
Remus kissed his palm. “I know.”
“I don’t want to think about you and some Hufflepuff girl in a bathroom.” He said despondently.
Remus snorted. “Sirius, trust me when I say I am deeply homosexual. Now, if David Bowie were to show up at Hogwarts and ask for my hand, we would have to have a talk.”
Sirius laughed and kicked his foot. “Rascal.”
Remus kissed his cheek. “Forgive me?”
Sirius nodded timidly. “Only if I never have to hear about this stupid club ever again.”
Remus mocked offense. “But I had just finished handing out flyers!”
Sirius knocked their shoulders together.
“Shut it, you.”