Sirius watched silently from his four-poster as Remus pulled on a white cotton shirt. He didn't think that Remus knew that he was awake and watching him, and if he did he gave no sign. Remus put on his favorite blue pyjama pants to go with his favorite white shirt. He took his favorite book off the shelf; the same book Sirius had seen him reading on the train on their first day of school. Lastly, Remus picked up his favorite soft blanket and draped it over his arms. He left for the common room to read in silence.
For three long weeks Remus had been on edge. He was bitter and snapped at everyone, including first years and professors. He hadn't smiled in the longest time and insults were flying out of his mouth faster than compliments. And God help the student who came across him during his prefect rounds. His shoulders were the real sign of how tense he was. Sirius had put his arm around Remus' shoulders a few weeks ago and had withdrawn it from the stone-hard muscles quickly. Dumbledore had told Remus that he needed to relax more, to take a break from his problems. If he didn't soon, someone else would have to take over his prefect responsibilities.
Lily was the first to try and help Remus.
She was a master at giving massages so she volunteered her services to Remus. She couldn't get anywhere and Remus' back was no closer to being loosened.
Peter was the second to try to help him.
Remus' favorite band was Queen, and he could always forget his troubles by singing along to the verses of their songs. Peter found a track of a new song 'Play the Game,' but Remus ended up throwing it across the room. It shattered and Peter ran for cover.
James decided he had the answer to Remus' problem; they were all making such a fuss over his problem that it was all Remus was thinking about. If you focus on the problem, it doesn't get better. James told Remus to read a good book, and forget about everything. Sirius remembered how that conversation went;
"James I don't need your help!" Remus had shouted.
"Yes you do! Now listen. You need to read a book," James was now scanning his book collection.
"I read plenty of books,"
"Yeah James, he always has his nose in a book," Remus glared at Sirius, who promptly shut up.
James turned back to them, "I mean a good book, something enjoyable. No school books," he grabbed a book without looking and tossed it to Remus. "Something like that."
Sirius looked at the title over Remus' shoulder, "'The Art of Kama Sutra'?"
James blushed, "Er, that's not supposed to be up here," he took it from Remus' hands.
"James, I wanna read it!" Sirius said.
"Oh yeah Sirius, that's just what you need," Remus said sarcastically. He sighed and lay on his back on the bed as Sirius and James started fighting over the book.
"Sirius can you help me?" Peter asked as he came in the room. Remus sat up and James and Sirius stopped fighting.
"With what?"
"I can't find the Marauder's Map,"
"You what!" James shouted. Remus glared at Peter and Sirius sighed.
"Where did we put it last?"
"I don't know!"
"Come on Wormtail, it's probably under your bed again," Sirius turned his back on James, who hid the book.
Sirius had yet to find the book, but they had found the Marauder's Map; it was in one of James' shoes. Sirius decided that he should try his technique to help Remus relax now, instead of looking for the book. Since everyone was afraid to go near Remus now, Sirius decided to do just that. Remus had gone down to the common room to try another attempt at relaxing.
When Sirius got downstairs, he realized that Remus wasn't going to unwind anytime soon. Remus hadn't even gotten to his book yet; he was still fidgeting with the blanket and the pillows on the scarlet loveseat. Sirius stopped in front of him, and Remus stopped moving to glare at him.
"Yes?" he snapped. Sirius no longer flinched at the tone in his voice.
"Can I sit down?" he asked. Remus was obviously taken by surprise. Sirius tried very hard not to laugh at the expression on his face.
"Um, sure," he moved his legs off of the second seat. Sirius sat down next to him, and after a moment he shivered (on purpose?). "Are you cold?" Remus asked.
"A little bit, yeah," Remus stood up and tried to untangle his blanket, but ended up tangling himself in it. He swore loudly and gave a frustrated sigh.
"Here," Sirius stood and started to help Remus.
"I don't want you to baby me," Remus said coldly.
"I'm not babying you," Sirius said in a patient but stern voice. "I'm helping a friend untangle himself from a blanket so that we can sit under it on a couch." Remus was silent and continued to glare at the blanket. It had gotten him into this mess; it should be the one getting him out.
"Thank you," he mumbled. Sirius held up a completely untangled blanket in front of Remus.
"Don't mention it," Remus was shocked again that night. The Sirius he knew would be rubbing even that little victory in his face. Something had to be up.
They settled under the blanket on the couch. But they soon realized the blanket wasn't big enough to stretch over the loveseat. They sat crammed together and Remus, who normally hated people touching him, didn't mind. He rested his head on Sirius' shoulder and sighed. Sirius moved his arm around Remus' shoulders and rested his head against the brown head next to him.
Sirius didn't know how long they sat there, but he did realize that he was, in fact, cuddling with Remus. With his best friend, of all people. He noted that Remus hadn't moved since they had gotten comfortable and he thought that Remus may have gone to sleep.
"Remus?" Sirius whispered.
"Yeah?" Another calm remark. This was getting somewhere.
"I thought you may have gone to sleep,"
"No, I'm just... comfortable,"
"Oh, all right..." An awkward silence followed.
"I've been unbearable haven't I?" Remus asked.
"Only a little,"
Remus swatted his chest, "You can't be 'a little' unbearable. You either are, or you aren't,"
"Then you have been," Sirius said after a moment's hesitation. It's usually not a smart thing to say something like that to an angry werewolf who threw a chair at you last week.
"I haven't been able to relax Sirius, no matter what I do. And now I'm snapping at everyone," Remus sounded like he was about to cry and he had a tone of helplessness in his voice. Sirius picked up his head, but Remus kept his head on Sirius' shoulder.
Sirius rubbed his hand comfortingly against Remus' forearm, "Shh, I know. We've been putting up with your lunar PMS for a long time Remus. We're used to getting snapped at. Hell, half the time we're such idiots we deserve it."
"This isn't like that though. This time it just isn't a reaction to the moon... I don't know what's causing it... I made a first year Hufflepuff cry the other day Sirius!" he finished in a self-pitying voice.
"Remus, if you so much as look at a first year Hufflepuff the wrong way they burst into tears. Your case isn't anything special,"
Remus simply nodded. His hand had rested on Sirius' chest from when he had swatted him earlier. He curled into Sirius more and rubbed his hand over Sirius' chest. He could feel the muscles under his shirt and the warmth of Sirius' skin. He decided that it wasn't good enough; he needed to feel skin. Remus moved his hand under Sirius' shirt and rubbed the tanned skin until he felt Sirius' hand on his cheek.
In one fluid movement he had moved into Sirius' lap and was straddling his legs. Sirius was running his fingers through Remus' perfect honey gold hair. Neither boy spoke, but their eyes did the speaking for them. Sirius buried his face in Remus' neck and paused long enough to take in his scent before lightly kissing his neck. He ran his lips softly over his neck, jaw, and lips, taking in the scent that is purely Remus all the while.
Sirius pulled back from Remus' lips and looked at him carefully. Remus let a small whimper escape his lips at the loss of Sirius' lips on him. He wrapped a hand in Sirius' hair and pulled him into a passionate kiss. He forgot about the agitated demeanor he had picked up in the last month. He forgot to be snappish and mean. The muscles in his back loosened (which he didn't notice until much later) and the constant headache he had before was now gone. All that mattered was Sirius' hand in his hair, Sirius' tongue in his mouth and his hands up Sirius' shirt. If he could only have Sirius like this forever, he could stay relaxed.
A/n– I'm not happy with the ending... but who in their right mind likes to end a fic?
Note: Edited on 12/02/04 for grammar, spelling and punctuation. A few things may be different from the original version, but nothing drastic.
Please Review!
:-:silver-sunn101:-: