“This Christmas is going to be rubbish,” Sirius mumbled under his breath as he half-heartedly began icing another sugar cookie that Lily had just pulled from the oven.
“It’s only because Moony isn’t here,” Peter said, batting his eyelashes at Sirius, to which Sirius responded by swiping a nice, red line of icing right over the top of Pete’s nose.
“Piss off,” he grumbled as he iced a tiny, little broken heart on the Santa Claus shaped cookie before covering it, icing a red coat and hat instead.
“He still hasn’t told him?” Lily asked James, as softly as possible, but it was still very audible in their little kitchen. With a roll of his eyes, James shook his head.
“Tell me how you think I should go about telling my best friend of ten years that I’ve suddenly realized I’m in love with him,” Sirius scoffed, irritation in his voice. A tiny squeak escaped from Lily’s throat and Sirius looked at her out of the sides of his eyes, grinding his teeth.
“I didn’t know it was that serious,” she said, her eyes going soft.
“I’m nothing if not Sirius,” he said, plastering on a wide smile, and the softness in her gaze melted, leaving her eyes as they rolled dramatically. Just as she was about to speak again, Sirius’ mobile began ringing on the counter and he practically dove across Lily to answer it.
“Moony?” he said breathlessly. The airy laugh on the other end sent a flutter into Sirius’ heart that was becoming more commonplace every time Remus Lupin opened his mouth to speak.
“You sound like you miss me, Pads,” Remus said, his voice deep and smooth despite the static on the line. There was an immediate shiver in Sirius’ spine at the sound of it.
“More than you know,” he said in an outward breath. Over the last several months, he’d gotten worse and worse at hiding how he felt about Remus. It was just so difficult when Remus shamelessly indulged him. If Sirius outright flirted with him, Remus flirted right back. If Sirius got a little too forward in the way that he touched Remus, Remus would touch Sirius just as brazenly.
“Tell me how badly you miss me,” Remus said, and Sirius could hear the smile in his voice. He could see the bright golden color of Remus’ eyes. He could feel the soft slip of Remus’ hair between his fingers, like that time Remus had laid with his head in Sirius’ lap on Sirius’ couch.
“I miss you so terribly that I may jump into your arms the moment I see you,” Sirius said, glaring at the doe-eyed expressions James and Peter and Lily were casting in his direction. He gave them all the finger as he slipped out into the living room, away from all the listening ears.
Remus laughed, a tender and carefree laugh that sent a terrible ache into Sirius’ chest. “Oh, is that all? I thought you missed me much more than that.”
“Don’t test me, Moony,” Sirius said, falling into that easy pattern of conversation that he only had with Remus. “You won’t want to see how pathetic I’ve been since you’ve been gone.”
“Have you been pining for me, love?” Remus asked, his voice slipping down into that dangerous rhythm it developed when he was flirting back with Sirius.
“Pining doesn’t even begin to describe it. I’m a wreck without you,” Sirius hummed into the line, wishing he had this much bravado when Remus was in front of him. It was so much easier to be honest when he could hide behind the confidence of pretend. “Be warned, I may smother you in kisses.”
“What kind of kisses?” Remus stirred and there was something in his voice that Sirius had never heard before, a cadence that made Sirius’ knees go weak and his heart rate spike.
“Right on the mouth. Full and deep,” Sirius responded in kind, dropping his voice low, and he wondered if he imagined that hitch in Remus’ breath from the other end of the line.
“Prove it.” A sudden knock at the door sent the phone falling from Sirius’ hand in surprise as he found himself instantly standing in front of the door. He hesitated, until he heard a soft, airy laugh from the other side of the door, followed by a pleading, “Sirius, let me in.”
His movement uncontrolled, Sirius flung open James’ front door to find Remus standing on the stoop, with snow in his tousled, wet hair and mistletoe hanging above him in the threshold. Before Sirius could even speak, Remus grabbed him by the sweater and pulled him down, their mouths meeting in a warm frenzy. And Remus kissed him. He kissed him full and deep. Within the kiss, Remus whispered.
“Merry Christmas, Padfoot.” And Sirius whispered back, sated and rich and blissful.
“Welcome home, Moony.”