Remus was not a morning person. Not in the slightest.
So when he was shaken awake by quite eager hands, he was decidedly not a happy camper.
He was ready to curse, and quite possibly hit, whomever dared interrupt his sleep, till he heard a familiar voice whisper-yell right next to his ear. “Moony! Moons? Moonbeam? Wake up!”
Remus slowly pried his eyes open, only to meet the gaze of a bright pair of grey eyes hovering above him.
He groaned and rubbed his face, “What the hell Sirius, it’s too fucking early.”
His disgruntled tone did nothing to deter Sirius, his smile only grew as he gave Remus another shake. “C’mon! Waaake up!”
Remus pushed him off and sat up on his elbows, his view of Sirius finally clear. He sat at the foot of his bed, (right on Remus’s ankles, mind you) hair mussed with sleep, and a big grin stretching across his face. A small traitorous part of his brain thought that he could get used to this being the first thing he saw in the morning.
But not even the beautiful boy at the bottom of his bed’s smile could make up for the fact that it was, “Four thirty!?” he nearly screeched as he glanced at his watch sitting on the bedside table.
Sirius clamped his hand over Remus’s mouth, “Shh! You’ll wake up Pete and James!”
Remus scrunched his eyebrows and took Sirius’ wrist in his hand, removing it from his mouth. “You care about them not waking up, but wake me up at the ass crack of dawn?!” His sleep riddled brain caused his words to slur together.
Sirius was now sitting on his knees, he didn’t even have the decency to look abashed. “Well I wanted to wake you up.”
He flopped back onto his pillow with a sigh, “Why?”
Sirius leaned forward so his face was only a few feet above Remus’s, his hair inches away from tickling his forehead. “Guess what day it is?”
Oh. Oh. He smiled at the boy above him. “Happy birthday Pads.” he said softly.
Sirius beamed in return, throwing his hands in the air, “I’m seventeen, the big one-seven! Oh the possibilities, did you know that I can now—”
Remus cut him off by pulling him into a hug, resting his chin on his shoulder. Sirius let out a quiet oomph in surprise, but quickly burrowed into Remus’s chest. Sirius was practically sitting in his lap at this point, virtually no space in between them. Remus’s stomach swooped, and his cheeks reddened against his will.
He gave Sirius one last squeeze and pulled away. He coughed quickly into his elbow to hide his face, then reached into the drawer of his bedside table. Sirius’s eyes widened at the small package in his hand, “You didn’t have to get me anything.” he assured quickly.
“Maybe not,” Remus shrugged, “But I wanted to.” He couldn’t help but feel a little satisfied by the dusting of pink across Sirius’s cheeks. He held out the small box wrapped in dark blue paper, (which took him an embarrassingly long amount of time to accomplish), and Sirius took it gently from his hands.
He eyed it warily as he picked apart the wrapping paper—it was always amusing to Remus how he would insist on keeping the paper intact. From beneath the paper came a small black box, with gold cursive writing so loopy Remus couldn’t even pretend to read it.
Sirius furrowed his eyebrows as he ran his finger over the lettering, “You really didn’t have to get me anything.”
Remus lightly shoved his shoulder, though kept his smile as kind as he could, “Sirius, I want to give you this gift.”
He still looked a little apprehensive, though some tension from his face faded. He gingerly opened the box, and let out a soft gasp as he saw what was inside.
Remus quickly became nervous, “I wasn’t sure—it’s totally ok if you don’t like it,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t know—“
“Remus.”
“—I just saw it and thought of you—“
“Remus.”
“—it’s quite stupid really, maybe, I don’t know, I—“
He was cut off abruptly by two soft hands cupping his face. He forced himself to look Sirius in the eyes, the amount of sincerity in his gaze causing his heart to stutter. “Remus, I love it. They’re…perfect.”
“Yeah?” He smiled nervously.
“Yeah.” He confirmed, “Now help me put it on.” He took the necklace out of the box, silver chain and teal stone dangling in between them. Sirius shifted so his back was facing Remus and held up his hair, and Remus clasped the necklace around his neck.
He turned back around, happily smiling at Remus as he reached back into the box. “I’m going to wear these today, they’re beautiful.” he said while holding the matching set of earrings. They were long and dangly, etched silver enclosing the colorful stone.
“I’m glad you like them.”
“I love them. Thank you”
Something about the way Sirius was looking at him was making Remus feel jittery. Not a bad feeling, quite the opposite really, with just one look into Sirius’ eyes he could tell something had changed.
“Hey Sirius?” he asked, summoning all the Gryffindor bravery he had in him.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, “Yes, Remus?”
“Can I give you another present?” This was it, there was no going back now.
Sirius looked confused, but nonetheless nodded, “...Yeah.”
Remus shuffled a little closer on the bed, close enough to hear a hitch in his breath. He reached his hand out, resting it on his cheek, “Is this okay?”
Sirius cleared his throat. “Yes,” he answered, barely above a whisper.
At this point Remus was positive that he could hear his heart beating heavily against his ribcage, about to burst from his chest. He moved infinitely closer and leaned his upper body forward, Sirius mirroring him. “Is this okay?” he asked again.
“More than okay.”
Remus wasn’t sure who moved first, maybe it was him, but before he knew it his lips were on Sirius’. It was nothing more than a chaste peck really, but he still felt like he was floating. His whole body felt warm, and his head a little foggy, the boy in front of him the only thing on his mind.
Sirius reached a hand out to hold onto the front of Remus’ shirt as they pulled apart. His bright eyes were open wide, lips still parted—he looked absolutely beautiful.
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality probably only a few seconds. The corner of Sirius’ lip turned up slowly, and he started grinning. Remus couldn't help himself from smiling too.
“Happy birthday.” he said again.
Sirius laughed, probably too loud for there were still two others sleeping in the room, but then he closed the distance between them once again, and Remus couldn’t find it in himself to care.
Kissing Sirius was like a moment of clarity. Everything stopped around him, all that mattered were the gentle fingers on his neck, and the slightly chapped lips on his. The whole world could have imploded, and Remus wouldn't have noticed.
He slowly pulled back, resting their foreheads together, meeting Sirius’ eyes mere inches away from his own.
Whatever moment was going on was broken when Sirius suddenly let out a very long yawn. Remus snickered, “That’s what happens when you wake up this early.”
“I think it was worth it.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
Remus pulled back the covers, making room beside him for Sirius to join him. It took a few minutes, after lots of fumbling and giggling, and some rather colorful words on Remus’ part, they settled down. Sirius’ head rested on his chest, his leg slung over Remus’ own.
“Best birthday ever.” he muttered.
Remus chuckled, “The actual day hasn’t even begun.”
“Still, best birthday ever.”