Bubble Baths
The time for the special interviews with Sirius and the selected women for the Illéa Capital Repport arrived a week after everything that happened with Alice and Frank. It was a cold evening, and Sirius found himself making his way towards the Great Hall.
The interviews were the last thing his mind was focusing on, though, as the elimination from a few hours earlier still filled his thoughts. Sirius had been trying his hardest to keep The Selection going for as much time as he could, since he had absolutely no clue about what he was going to do when the time for his choice arrived.
However, Walburga’s complaints about how he was taking way too long to send them home had been impossible to beat, so he had eliminated five more girls in the morning. Since Alice was no longer in the competition, there were now only 15.
Sirius shook his head to clear it from his worries and took a deep calming breath before entering the Great Hall. As soon as he stepped into the room, he was caught by surprise by the decoration. Golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling, shedding a beautiful light to the room, and big red curtains covered the windows.
‘I guess mother really wants to impress the country,’ Sirius thought for a moment, ‘Or just rub our richness on everyone’s faces.’
A voice calling for him soon gained his attention, though, and he almost winced as he recognized who’s voice it was. Rita Skitter. She has been the program’s host since Sirius could remember, and he despised her with everything he had. Distorting informations and spreading fake gossip were her specialties.
Sirius turned his head and spotted her sitting on a ridiculously pompous chair in the middle of the room, with a camera man standing besides her. He fought to suppress a sigh and walked towards her.
“Hello, Rita,” he greeted her politely, “How are you today?”
“I am wonderful, dear,” she answered excitedly and pointed to one of the chairs right across from hers, “You can sit here and we will get started soon.”
Sirius did as he was told and diverted his eyes to the corner of the room where the selected women were sitting in a line, probably following the order of the interviews, all of them wearing fancy fussy dresses and carefully prepared makeup.
Not even five minutes later, the man that had been standing next to Rita returned to his spot next to the camera, a few feet from them, and announced they were on air.
“Good evening, Illéa,” Rita’s voice echoed through the now silent room as she talked to the population, “Today we are here with Prince Sirius Black and all of the fifteen women left on this exciting competition, The Selection. You are all going to have the chance to get to know each one of them and decide your favorite. One of these young ladies is going to be the future Queen of Illéa.”
Everyone applauded and cheered for a moment until Rita called the first woman. It was Dorcas Meadowes, and she quickly claimed the chair next to him, smiling brightly to the camera. Rita’s questions for Sirius and the girls were mostly about what they used to do together, on how many dates they had been and what they thought about each other.
Time passed quickly and, sooner than Sirius had expected, Rita thanked and dismissed the last girl and turned to look at him again. He quickly glanced at the clock and saw that an hour had passed.
“The interviews were all lovely, Your Highness,” Rita spoke in a cheerful voice, “I dare to say you are very lucky to have these women here competing for your hand.”
“Indeed, Rita, I am,” he answered her with a smile, although the last thing he considered himself was ‘lucky’.
“Before we finish, though, I have two more questions for you, Your Highness, if you allow me.”
Sirius had to suppress a defeated sigh at that. If he knew that woman well, which he believed he did, her questions were going to be extremely personal and direct, and Sirius wasn’t sure if he was ready for that. However, he covered his discomfort with a very convincing smile and nodded.
“Excellent! Tell me, Sirius...Can I call you Sirius?”
“Of course.”
“Great! So tell me, Sirius...Have you kissed any of the girls?”
There it was. Sirius could see clearly in her expression that she knew that was a delicate question to ask, since it would definitely upset a lot of the girls, but she didn’t care the tiniest bit. Sirius took a deep breath and opened his mouth, bracing himself for the impact of his answer.
“Yes.”
Whispers could immediately be heard coming from where the women sat, almost all of them desperate to know who the prince had kissed and when that had happened. Sirius risked a glance at Marlene and saw that she had tensed on her seat and was carefully avoiding the gossip.
“Ah, I see,” Rita gave him a tiny smirk, but didn’t press on the matter, which Sirius thanked the heavens for, “Well, that leaves us with only one question left.”
All noise subsided and the tension and expectation irradiating from everyone were palpable in the air. Rita remained quiet for a moment, just staring at Sirius with those big blue eyes, and he was about to die from nerves when she finally talked.
“What I want to ask, Sirius, is: do you think you will find the love you were looking for?”
Sirius didn’t really know if he believed in coincidences, but at that exact moment, he saw a sandy haired figure from the corner of his vision. He instantly turned his head slightly to the left, and that was when he saw him.
Remus was cleaning the tables on the other side of the room alongside three other servants, where the cameras didn’t capture. As if sensing Sirius’ stare, the other man lifted his head and their eyes met.
Silver locked with amber and, for a moment, Sirius forgot about everything else. His surroundings disappeared, and those eyes were the only things that remained.
All of that happened during no more than two seconds, though, and Sirius quickly looked back to where Rita Skitter was expectedly waiting for his answer.
“I believe there is a really good chance.”
But the truth was, he had already found it.
~
It was about 8 PM when Sirius returned to his chambers and prepared himself a bubble bath. He stripped out of his clothes and slipped into the water, letting out a sigh at the immediate effect.
The whole day had been extremely exhausting and Sirius wanted nothing more than his daily alone time with Remus. He let his eyes flutter shut and just enjoyed the calming feeling of the hot water relaxing his muscles.
A serie of low knocks startled Sirius and he immediately opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings, trying to situate himself. A quick look at the clock had him jumping out of the water and reaching for the towel in a rush. He had been asleep for two hours.
Three more knocks echoed through the bedroom while Sirius finished putting his pants on and he rushed to the door. As soon as he opened it, Sirius was greeted with the sight of a tall figure with soft sandy hair, scarred pale skin and a beautiful smile.
With a quick look at the corridor to make sure no one had followed him, Sirius grabbed the front of Remus’ jumper, dragged him inside the room and pulled him in for a breathtaking kiss.
“I missed you,” Sirius told him as soon as they parted, mesmerized by the dazed look on Remus’ face.
The other man laughed happily and grabbed his hand, pressing a small kiss to the palm, “You saw me yesterday, dummy.”
“I still missed you.”
Remus’ smile grew even more and he rolled his eyes affectionately, “I missed you too.”
Sirius grinned at him and led them towards the bed, where they both laid down comfortably, side by side.
“Sorry about the wait, by the way,” Sirius turned on his side to face Remus, “I kind of feel asleep in the tub.”
Silence. He saw Remus blink once. Twice. Then Remus raised one of his eyebrows and... started laughing hysterically.
“You...you feel asleep... in the bath?” Remus asked him between sharp intakes of breath as his body shook from laughter, “That is why you took so long to open the door?”
Sirius could feel the heat traveling to his face and he knew without a doubt that he was blushing.
“Stop laughing at me,” he shoved Remus slightly, but couldn’t help but join in on the laughter as well, “You can’t blame me, though, that bath was doing miracles.”
“I can imagine,” Remus shook his head jokingly, still grinning, and pecked him softly on the lips, “You are adorable.”
Before Sirius could even open his mouth to answer, though, the grin on Remus’ face disappeared and was replaced by a worried look, “You’re okay, though, right?”
Sirius’ heart melted a little at the other’s concern, and he was quick to tranquilize him, “I’m okay, love, I promise. Just had a long, stressful day.”
A small frown appeared between Remus’ eyebrows and he reached one of his hands to run his long fingers through Sirius’ hair, who instantly closed his eyes and hummed in satisfaction.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“There is not much to tell, really. The interviews were just kind of exhausting, I guess, as well as today’s elimination. It’s never easy, you know?”
Remus just nodded, seeming to understand, and continued gently petting Sirius’ long hair in an effort to help taking the stress away. Sirius stayed quiet for a few more moments, just enjoying the sensation, but he eventually took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
“Rem?”
“Yes, love?”
“There is something else I wanted to talk to you about, though.”
Remus’ expression didn’t change at all, but he diverted his eyes from Sirius’ hair to his silver eyes, “Of course, love. What is it?”
“You see...,” Sirius trailed off and cleared his throat audibly, which certainly betrayed his nerves, “I have been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now, and I wanted to know what you think.”
Without even waiting to see Remus’ response, Sirius got up from the bed and walked over to his writing desk, grabbing the small notebook that was placed on top of it. Once he got back on the bed, he handed the notebook to Remus and studied the other man cautiously, as if waiting for his reaction.
Written in big letters on the top of the first page were the words: THE PROBLEMS WITH THE CASTES SYSTEM AND THE MONARCHY.
Sirius watched as Remus’ face gained a confused frown, and the other man looked up at him again, head slightly tilted to the side.
“I should explain what this is,” Sirius laughed nervously and avoided Remus’ curious eyes, settling for staring at his notes on the paper, “So, as I said, I have been thinking about this for a couple of weeks. Before I met you, Remus, I had no clue about how the outside world worked. I had never realized how much people suffer until you told me what you went through in life, and it pained me so much.”
Sirius took a moment to take another breath because he was talking too fast, and then continued from where he left of, still not looking at Remus.
“So, I began to study the subject, how society is organized in other countries and stuff like that. What I mean with all of this is...I want to keep learning and working on new ideas so one day, hopefully not too distant from now, we can replace the castes system with a more effective and equal one.”
Sirius finally dared to look up from the notebook and meet Remus’ eyes, but the completely shocked look on his face did not help calming Sirius’ nerves. He felt his hand starting to sweat and continued talking, waving them around in the air.
“I-I also thought about how all the power belongs exclusively to the royal family. I did some research on other governments and I though that, in the future, it would probably be beneficial if we had someone outside of royalty to share some of the power, you know? People can vote and stuff, so they would also feel like a part of the system. Things like that worked on other countries. But these are all just ideas, and of course it would take time, and it’s also okay if you think they suck and—“
Sirius was suddenly interrupted by a weight pushing him down on the bed and a pair of arms hugging him tightly. He was so surprised that he took a few seconds to react and wrap his arms around Remus’ waist.
“Fuck, Sirius, I...I don’t know what to say,” Remus’ voice was muffled by Sirius’ neck, and when the boy lifted his head to look at him, Sirius saw that his eyes were filled with tears, “This is incredible. You are incredible, I love you so much.”
Relief filled him immediately and he tightened his hold on Remus, a soft smile appearing on his face, “I love you too. So much.”
Remus hid his face in the crook of Sirius’ neck again and they stayed like that for a few minutes until Sirius felt the weird sensation of wetness on his collarbone. Worry filled him as he realized it was from Remus’ tears.
“Remus? What happened?” he backed away a bit to look at the other man, “Why are you crying, love?”
“It’s just,” Remus’ breath was ragged and he lifted his hand to wipe his face, “What is going to happen to us, Sirius? What happens when it’s time for you to choose a woman?”
The question caught Sirius off guard and his heart twitched painfully. He asked that same thing to himself all the time, but he didn’t have an answer. He was terrified of the future, terrified of the thought of being forced to marry someone else.
“I don’t want to lose you, Sirius.”
Sirius couldn’t take the distraught look on Remus’ face anymore, so he urged forward and embraced the boy again, almost desperately, “You will not lose me, Remus, do you understand me? I promised you I would not give up, didn’t I? We will find a way.”
Remus still seemed nervous and pained, but he nodded rather frantically and rested his forehead against Sirius’ as he tried to calm down.
“We will find a way,” Sirius repeated once, as if trying to convince himself of what he was saying, before pressing their lips together. He heard Remus let out a sigh and pulled him even closer.
The kiss was gentle and tender at first, but it didn’t take long for it to became more heated as their tongues explored their mouths and their bodies moved against each other. Not even a minute later, their shirts were already discarded on the floor, and Sirius let out a gasp at the feeling of Remus’ finger tracing one of his nipples.
Just as he was about to reach for Remus’ pants, the other man suddenly broke the kiss, panting heavily, and locked eyes with Sirius.
“Sirius?”
“Yes?” he replied, trying to catch his breath.
Remus kept staring intensely at him for a moment, in a mixture of love, hunger and also fear, before finally opening his mouth again, “I want to make love to you.”
All of the air left Sirius’ lungs at once, it was like he forgot how to breathe, and he felt blood rush straight to his already hard cock.
“Then do it.”
Sirius saw as all traces of insecurity left Remus’ eyes at that and his pupils dilated even more, and within a second they were kissing passionately again. Then suddenly a thought occurred to Sirius, something that he had been wanting to do for a while now.
“Rem, I want to try something. Can I?”
Remus looked at him with curiosity for a second, but didn’t hesitate to nod, “Of course.”
Sirius took a breath and flipped them over so he was on top of Remus and carefully made his way down the other man’s body until his head was on the level of his groin, and then proceeded to get rid of his pants. Once Remus was only in his underwear, Sirius gave a small kiss to his hard cock through the fabric, earning a soft moan from the man.
Encouraged by that reaction, Sirius quickly got rid of that last piece of clothing and, after taking a few seconds to look at it, engulfed Remus’ dick in his mouth.
“Fuck! Sirius!” Remus immediately moaned loudly and threw his head back into the pillow, his hands grabbing the sheets tightly as Sirius sucked him eagerly.
Sirius placed his hands on Remus’ hips to hold him still and delighted himself in his taste and the sounds he was making until, about two minutes later, he felt a hand grabbing his hair and trying to pull him up.
He let go of Remus with a low ‘pop’ and lifted his head to look at him. Remus looked completely disheveled, his face was flushed, his eyes were wide and he was bitting firmly on his bottom lip.
“I wasn’t going to last much longer,” he explained in a whisper, and Sirius didn’t know how someone could look so hot and cute at the same time.
Sirius smiled brightly at him and moved so they kissed again, and Remus immediately reached his hands to take off Sirius’ pants. Once they were both naked, Remus placed himself above Sirius and stopped for a minute.
“Are you sure you want to do this? It will probably hurt a little.”
“I am sure. I want this, Rem. I want you.”
That confirmation was all Remus needed and he moved to spread Sirius’ legs while stroking his cock slowly. Sirius felt a wave of embarrassment hit him for a second because he was completely exposed, and in an entirely different way, but it quickly went away as he looked at Remus again.
He almost fainted as Remus began to suck on his middle finger, but then he remembered, “I almost forgot. I have lube, and a few boxes of condoms too.”
The other man raised his eyebrows questionably and smirked teasingly at him, and Sirius felt his face grow warm again, “My father seems to think I am some kind of sexual predator that can’t keep it in his pants around women, so he gave me those when The Selection started. Little does he know, right?”
Remus let out a full laugh at that and asked him where they were.
“Top drawer of the nightstand.”
The other man quickly opened it and found what he was looking for. He put some lube on his finger and carefully placed it on Sirius’ entrance.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
Remus pushed his finger slowly and Sirius immediately hissed at the uncomfortable and painful sensation, but Remus’ soothing whispers in his ear helped a lot. The pain was beginning to subside when Remus’ finger found something inside of Sirius and a jolt of pleasure ran through him.
“AH!”
“Oh my God, sorry! Did I hurt you?” Remus panicked instantly and went to remove his finger, but Sirius just shook his head frantically.
“No, no. You didn’t hurt me. Do it again, please.”
Remus stayed still for a moment, as if to make sure Sirius was indeed alright, before pressing at the same spot again.
“OH! Fucking Christ! Remus!” Sirius started moaning and cursing loudly, which only encouraged Remus even more.
After two more fingers and some more minutes, Sirius grabbed Remus’ arm to stop him, “I am ready.”
“Are you sure?” Remus worriedly asked him, but Sirius nodded.
“I am sure. Please, Remus, fuck me.”
Sirius heard a low growl coming out of Remus’s throat and a shiver ran down his body. They held eye contact as Remus put the condom on him and spread some lube on it.
It was painful at first, and Sirius had to close his eyes tightly. He could hear Remus breathing deeply on top of him, as if to control himself. A few moments passed until the pain subsided and Sirius nodded at Remus to keep going.
Remus began thrusting inside of him and soon they were both moaning loudly. Sirius wrapped his legs around Remus’ waist, making him reach even deeper and slam against the spot inside of Sirius at every thrust.
Sirius knew he wouldn’t last long after that, and he could see in Remus’ face that he was almost getting there too, “Remus, I-nghh-I’m close!”
Then he felt slim fingers close around his cock and that was it. He came with a shout, Remus following him only a second later with a loud cry. They both stayed there until the world regained focus and turned to look at each other, with matching smiles on their faces.
And as Sirius laid there with Remus, both naked and sweaty, he realized he had never felt so in peace.
“I love you so damn much, Remus Lupin.”
“I love you with all my heart, Sirius Black.”
Sirius was almost drifting to sleep when he felt Remus shake him gently and whisper in his ear, “We should go clean ourselves.”
“Hmm, how would you like a hot bubble bath, then?”
Remus smiled at him and chuckled, “After you made it seem so tempting, how can I resist? Especially since it’s with you.”
They both laughed, jumped out of the bed and walked towards the bathroom, where Sirius quickly filled the tub with hot water and applied the bubble product in it, Remus’ arms circling him the entire time.
Once he was done, they slipped into the tub together, and Sirius placed himself between Remus’ open legs, almost sitting on his lap.
“Jesus Christ,” Remus whispered as he closed his eyes and let his head fall on Sirius’ shoulder, “You were right. This is indeed doing miracles.”
Sirius chucked softly and leaned back into the other man, wishing they could just stay there forever and never have to worry about anything else. However, his wish was suddenly ruined when he felt Remus stiff behind him, about half an hour later.
“Did you hear that?”
But Sirius didn’t have time to move or answer him, as the bathroom door was suddenly bursted open.
“Sirius, get your lazy ass out of the bath, I wanted to talk to you about—-OH MY GOD!”