Remus first realized that he was attracted to Sirius when he caught himself staring at the other boy's shoulder. Well, it wasn't just the shoulder, but that's where it started. Sirius had taken off his black school robes and was sitting in front of Remus in Charms with just a crisp white shirt hiding what Remus knew were sculpted muscles. Not the kind that looked inhumanly bulky but the kind that you could see ripple a bit when he moved.

Remus's gaze moved from there to the base of the neck and up a little to where it caught on…Merlin, was that a, a dog collar? He wondered if dog collars were even cool, if they ever had been, and decided they hadn't, really. Was he strange, therefore, to feel like touching it, just to see what the leather felt like against warm skin? And maybe even slip his fingers underneath it for just a few seconds? He found he didn't really care. He was suddenly finding himself entranced by not just the collar, but the whole neck: the dip running down the middle and the supple, soft-looking hair that ended in a smooth point a bit above the line of leather. An overwhelming urge came to him to lean forward I just a few inches and bury his face in the nape of that neck, wrap his arms around those perfect shoulders. He felt the heat rise in his face just as it was rising in another place that he really didn't want to have to deal with just then.

Just when it was becoming physically difficult to restrain himself from moving, Sirius's head was turning slowly and panic was rising in Remus's chest. While desperately trying to decide what to do with his eyes, he was suddenly looking straight into his mate's. He must have looked blank, because the other boy grinned and jerked his head slightly in the direction of the front of the room. Which was when Remus noticed that he was being spoken to by Flitwick.

"Mr. Lupin?" The little man looked concerned. "Are you feeling quite all right?"

After a few seconds of epic inner struggle to keep calm, Remus was able to say, "No, actually, I…I think I need to go to the hospital wing."

Down the hall from the classroom, Sirius caught up with him and grabbed his arm. Remus turned sharply.

"Wha? How did you-?"

"I told Flitwick that you might need some…help." He grinned again, making Remus feel somehow uncomfortable.

"Well, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, so if you'd you please let me go, I have a bad headache."

The argument sounded weak to his own ears. Sirius chuckled.

"The only thing that could keep Remus Lupin from answering a teacher three times in a row would be coma. Or death." Suddenly, he yanked the arm he was holding toward a broom closet that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, dragging the attached person with him and slamming the door.

"Sirius, what are you-"

"Or me. I know you were looking at the collar."

Remus's mouth dropped open but no sound came out.

"I hoped you'd notice it." He lifted the arm he was still holding and placed Remus's hand on the subject of the conversation. Remus felt his knees go weak. And suddenly his friend, who had a minute ago been just that and nothing more, was leaning forward and kissing him, uncharacteristically gently, with just a soft ghost of warm tongue on his lips before pulling back. The move had forced Remus's hand to the back of Sirius's head, where it had intertwined with the hair there, the same hair that he'd been fantasizing about just minutes before.

Remus couldn't move; he could only stare at the face that was smiling knowingly at him from among the shadows and the swirling dust motes of the closet.

"Well. I would help you take care of your…headache," Sirius grinned. Remus blushed. "But I really should get back to class. See you at dinner, Moony." And he left Remus to the comforting darkness of the closet.