Warning: Mutual wanking, some mild cursing... Surprisingly tame.
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. They belong to JKRowling. But, damn, I wish they were mine!
The Art of Subtlety
"I don't know why she's so upset," James protested.
Sirius sighed heavily and smacked the back of his head against the headboard of the bed. "Merlin's balls, James. How many times are we going to have to go over this?"
"As many times as it takes until one of you gits tells me why Lily is up in her dorm and I'm stuck here looking at you!"
Next to Sirius, but laying the other way, Remus suddenly sighed and stretched. His bare toes curled into the pillow that Sirius was leaning against. "I think, Prongs, that the fair Lily would merely like for you to be a little less obvious about your—ahem—desires."
Sirius' eyes went to the strip of skin that had been revealed when Remus had stretched. The werewolf had grown several inches over the past few months but he refused to set the outgrown T-shirt, which happened to be his favourite, aside. The skin beneath the shirt was pale ivory and Sirius wondered if it was as soft as it looked...
"What else was I supposed to say?" James asked. "We were snogging, I had my hands—well, never mind where I had my hands. I don't know what else I could have said, other than what I did."
"But surely you could have found a better way of saying, 'Let's shag' than to say it that bluntly!" Remus said with a touch of exasperation.
"What do you know about it anyway?" James snapped. "You've had more experience with grindylows than girls."
"Ah, true," Remus admitted, pushing his shirt up even further to scratch at a healing scar that nearly bisected his torso. "But I know the Art of Subtlety."
"Gods, I can hear the bloody capital letters," Sirius mumbled, letting his eyes travel over the new expanse of skin that had been revealed.
Remus, with his hypersensitive werewolf hearing, smiled at him and then rolled over onto his side. "You can't always be so blunt with girls, James. How is it that you've gotten this far in your relationship with Lily and haven't discovered this?"
"Hell, James, even I know that," Sirius said. "Even Peter knows that."
"Sad to say, but he's right," Peter agreed. "You could have said something like, 'Lily, why don't we go somewhere more private?'"
"Or, 'Why don't we go up to the Astronomy Tower to look at the stars?'" Sirius added.
"It's freezing out there! She wouldn't—"
"Then pick another bloody place," Sirius said impatiently. "The point is, you suggest a place and a romantic reason for going there—you want to talk, you want to be alone, you don't want us finding you—the list is endless."
"James, sometimes saying exactly what you're thinking isn't the best thing," Remus said, reaching over to pluck a piece of lint from Sirius' corduroy trousers. "Sometimes you have to apply Marauder tactics to romance. Think sneaky."
James sighed. "That's just not me, though. Shouldn't Lily just learn to deal with me as I am?"
"Who would want that?" Sirius wanted to know. "Most of the time, we can just barely stand dealing with you as you are."
James snapped, "Git!" at his friend and then fired off a Stinging Hex.
Sirius waved it away with a casual Protego.
"Learn some subtlety," Remus suggested. "It will help your relationship with Lily immensely."
James snorted.
"At the very least, it'll help you to get laid," Sirius said.
Remus slapped him on the leg and the dark-haired boy yelped.
"If you can prove to me that subtlety works, maybe I'd be more likely to try," James said, looking at Remus.
The werewolf's blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully and then he grinned crookedly, scratching again at the scar.
Sirius found himself strangely worried about the calculating gleam in the other boy's eyes.
Sirius awoke later that night and listened intently, wondering what had brought him to awareness. A moment later, he heard a gasp from the direction of Remus' bed.
"Moony?" he whispered, peering through the darkness.
The werewolf groaned and shifted uneasily.
Reckoning it was a nightmare, Sirius slipped out of his bed, hissing as his bare feet hit the cold stone floor. "Moony?" He reached out to touch his friend's shoulder.
"Sirius... What?" Remus sat up quickly, making Sirius jump back.
"You were having a nightmare," Sirius told him. He had the sudden urge to wrap his arms around his friend and hold him tightly until the last pieces of the dream disappeared.
"No, I—Oh." Remus' eyebrows lowered. "Did I say anything?"
"Nooo..."
Remus fell back against his pillows, obviously relieved. "Sorry I disturbed you, Padfoot."
"That's alright. Would you like some company?"
"I couldn't—We've got Runes first thing in the morning. I might keep you up."
Sirius shrugged the comment aside. "I usually sleep through that class anyhow. You know that."
Remus smiled. "Well, if you don't mind, I'd be glad for the company."
Sirius grinned and, without another word, transformed into a big, black dog and jumped up on the bed. Remus wrapped his arms around the dog's neck, letting his fingers tangle in the thick fur.
"You're such a comfort to me, Padfoot," Remus whispered in the fuzzy ears.
Sirius licked him on the cheek and they snuggled together to sleep.
"There they are!" James said with an evil grin as Remus and Sirius found their places next to the Gryffindor table the next morning.
"You could have awakened us," Sirius spat, reaching out to pinch off a piece of toast and flicking it at James.
"But you were so cute, lying there together," James said, completely unrepentant. "Honestly, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear you two were poofs."
"I could think of worse things," Remus said with a shrug.
They all looked at him with varying degrees of shock.
"Would you rather we be Death Eaters instead?" the werewolf asked, reaching for the plate of eggs that Sirius was handing him.
"He's got a point," Sirius conceded.
The arrival of the owl post distracted them for a bit. But during the rest of breakfast, James watched Sirius and Remus closely, noticing things he'd never noticed before.
"You two are so obvious, it's sickening," he said.
The two young men stared at him, confusion written all over their features.
"So much for subtlety, Remus," James smirked.
"What are you talking about?" Sirius demanded before Remus could open his mouth.
"The fact that you two are more like an old married couple every day. You hand him the jam, he fills your glass with pumpkin juice. He gets a piece of toast for himself and then hands you a piece too. And neither one of you even asks for any of it! He keeps the sausage close to you, you hand him the eggs before he even asks for them. Sickening, I tell you."
Remus and Sirius exchanged glances.
"Well, that explains the great blow jobs," Sirius smirked.
He and Remus started laughing. James sighed and shook his head. "I'll see you two in class."
Sirius sat in class, his quill moving to copy the notes from the board, but he wasn't paying any attention to what he was writing. Do we act like a married couple? We're just handing each other what we know we like, right? After all, there's no point in me handing him the orange marmalade if he doesn't like it. And if he refills my glass, it's just because he's being nice, right?
He glanced at Remus, who was sitting to his right. The other boy had his chin cupped in his hand and was staring out the window.
"Remus," he hissed, poking Remus in the side.
The werewolf turned his head quickly. "What?"
"Mr Lupin, Mr Black, is there a problem?"
"No, sir," both boys replied in unison.
"Please keep your attention on the lesson, if you please."
As they bent over their books, Sirius took another glance at Remus. The werewolf caught him looking and grinned conspiratorially.
As Sirius turned his attention to his books, he felt Remus' leg brush up against his. Heat radiated out from the spot of contact.
A day or two later, as they walked through the hallway to one of their classes, someone called for Remus. Sirius paused along with his friend, but Remus smiled.
"Go on, Padfoot. I'll be there in a moment." He put his hand on the small of Sirius' back to push him on. Again, heat flared from where their bodies touched, making Sirius gasp softly.
Why is this happening?
And then Remus looked over at him. Grey eyes met blue and Remus' lips curled into a smile before looking away. But not before something swirled in the pit of Sirius' stomach and then moved lower, making him shift uncomfortably from one foot to another.
Over the next few days, Sirius noticed even more instances when Remus' touches lingered or when their eyes connected meaningfully.
Is he gay? Does he have—feelings—for me?
He couldn't deny his own responses to Remus' touches and his glances. He couldn't deny the arousal.
Am I gay, too? Maybe I should go shag something—someone—without a cock to prove I'm not.
But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't stop thinking about a broad strip of pale ivory skin and wondering how the scars would feel beneath his fingers and his lips.
And then the touching stopped. It was as if it had never happened.
There were no more covert glances.
He had to ask Remus for the strawberry jam and for the pumpkin juice at breakfast. Three days in a row, at that!
It wasn't right! They knew each other. They knew what they liked and didn't like. They might touch or look at one another, but it wasn't unpleasant. In fact, it was quite nice.
So what had happened?
"Hey, Moony!" Sirius called.
The werewolf halted and turned, smiling pleasantly. "Yes, Padfoot?"
"I just wondered if we could talk..."
"Certainly. We can sit together in—"
"No. I mean, can we talk somewhere... private? Somewhere that we won't be interrupted?"
Remus' eyebrows lowered in confusion and concern. "Is there a problem, Padfoot?"
"No, it's not—look, I just need to talk to you. Can we meet in the dorm after class?"
Remus regarded him for a long moment, obviously puzzled. Then he shrugged. "After class then."
Class seemed to last forever. The moment that the professor had dismissed them, Sirius and Remus made a rather ridiculous excuse to James and Peter and took themselves up to their dorm.
As both Sirius and Remus stripped off their robes and tossed them onto Remus' bed, Sirius noticed for the first time that the werewolf was wearing that same damned T-shirt that had started this a few weeks ago. He stepped closer to Remus' bed involuntarily, his eyes drawn to the place where he knew he'd see skin if Remus would just stretch.
Ever so obligingly, as if he'd read Sirius' mind, Remus did exactly what Sirius had hoped he'd do. He stretched, raising his arms over his head, revealing that strip of ivory...
Sirius didn't think. He was incapable of thought at that moment. He reached out and gently stroked his fingers across the soft skin of Remus' belly.
The werewolf inhaled deeply and froze, arms over his head, his blue eyes searching Sirius' for an explanation.
"I... just... had to... touch you," Sirius whispered haltingly, wondering if the words made any kind of sense in Remus' head.
They stared at each other for a long moment and then finally Remus moved, slipping his fingers beneath the bottom of the shirt and yanking it over his head. He balled it up and tossed it on the bed and then reached over to touch Sirius' jaw with his long, graceful fingers.
Sirius swallowed, though it didn't help because his mouth was completely dry.
"Touch me again," Remus ordered quietly.
With an uncertain look at his friend, Sirius did, the very tips of his fingers trailing down Remus' chest, over his belly, then back up, over the broad shoulders and down the thin but muscular arms.
"You're so beautiful," he said quietly.
"No," Remus shook his head ruefully. "I'm not." He whispered something, waved his hand, and Sirius suddenly found himself without a shirt. He gasped and then moaned as Remus ran his hand gently over his pectorals. "You're the beautiful one, Sirius. So perfect." And his lips touched the side of Sirius' neck.
Fire jumped from one neuron to another, spreading throughout Sirius' body and weakening his legs. He stumbled backward until he felt the backs of his legs hit the side of a bed and then fell, losing his grip on Remus.
They both used the opportunity to divest themselves of everything on their lower extremities. They'd seen each other naked before, but not while aroused. There was an awkward moment as they looked, studied, and then gently touched, before their mouths crashed together. The caresses became firm grips and then unsubtle tugs as they both panted and moaned their pleasure into each other's skin and hair.
And then, Sirius stiffened and cried out wordlessly as hot semen poured out of the tip of his cock and down over Remus' hand. The werewolf groaned at the sticky wetness, finding it too much for his own overwhelmed senses to handle and immediately came in Sirius' grip, gasping the grey-eyed boy's name.
They collapsed onto their backs, staring at the canopy above them with glassy eyes.
"Well, that was a pleasant talk," Remus finally mumbled.
"Yes. Must do that again sometime," Sirius agreed.
"Sometime soon."
"Oh, gods, yes."
Quiet settled over them and they turned to face each other, letting their arms curl around one another.
"I guess you can tell James that subtlety worked," Sirius commented. "All those times you've touched me and the breakfast thing... I didn't notice any of it until about three weeks ago—when you wore that same T-shirt you were wearing today and you and James had that stupid conversation."
"Padfoot, you didn't start responding until I stopped being subtle."
"But, wasn't that your subtle way of reminding me what I'd be missing?" Sirius asked, his eyes dancing mischievously.
Remus got him to stop talking by kissing him. Subtly, of course.
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