I got my act together and finished! Kudos to me! Unfortunately it means I haven't done any uni preps this evening. Not to worry. So anyway, this is it. I feel i should quit while I'm ahead but I so love seventeen year old Sirius and Remus that I might not be able to. Let me know what you reckon.

'What do you mean, what's going on?'

'What do you think I mean, Re?' Sirius waved his hands impatiently and shook his head. 'You've been crying. It doesn't take a genius to see that. I want to know why. Please.'

'S'nothing.'

'Stop it! Stop your dissembling! I want to find out what the hell's going on and I will!'

Remus's tears, not far from the surface, pricked at his eyes again. He blinked a few times and then sniffed, and immediately Sirius turned towards him.

'Re, I'm sorry! Don't be upset with me!' he cried, and put an arm round Remus's trembling back. 'I'm just worried,' he said in a quieter voice. 'I just want to know why you were crying.'

Remus swallowed hard and looked down at his feet on the step below. 'I was talking to a man...'

'WHAT!? What did he do to you!?'

'Nothing, nothing, don't get angry Sirius! We just talked. He was – nice. He listened. And he was asking me questions, and then I just got upset.'

'Questions? What about?'

'...You remember what I told you on the train?'

Sirius's eyes were unreadable in the gloom. 'Yes,' he said softly.

'Well, then, about that.'

'Right.'

'Are you happy now?' Remus asked in a way that was meant to be playful but just came out bitter and sad.

'No, Remus, I'm not happy now. I'm not happy at all.' Sirius retorted angrily, and Remus felt afraid. He hated rows with anyone, but had never fought with Sirius and couldn't bear to think of it.

'Why not?' Remus asked him in a barely audible voice.

'I – oh, I, well – I just hate to think of you having to discuss this stuff with some stranger in a club instead of with one of your friends!' Sirius choked. "Maybe not entirely true, but it will do," he thought despairingly to himself. 'We care about you Re and any one of us would help you, but you don't tell anyone anything, you just bottle all this stuff up. Why?' He sounded angry and looked angry, but he didn't feel it. He just felt dreadfully cold and alone inside, so unhappy that he couldn't just cry and let it out like that, and so worried about his friend, 'friend', that it had to force its way out in furious words.

But Remus didn't realise this. He was too wrapped up in his own misery and for once he just lost his temper. 'Does being your friend mean I have to tell you every little thing that happens, Sirius? Does it? Does it mean I have no privacy, that I'm not allowed to keep any of my thoughts or feelings to myself?'

'Don't – don't,' Sirius muttered frantically. Now he was scared. Remus was sitting next to him, still glaring down at his feet and shaking with emotion.

'Don't what, Sirius? Are you afraid? Don't you want to hear what I have to say now?' Remus snapped, finally looking round at Sirius. 'But didn't you know all along – isn't that why you've been trying so hard in this ridiculous project, 'get Remus a man', yes, offload poor lonely weird Remus onto someone else just so I don't feel guilty and he's not on his own even though I don't want him. But then why would I want to even be friends with a queer werewolf? It's -'

'Remus?' Sirius interrupted his furious flow timidly. 'What are you talking about?'

He had thought his friend was angry before, but now he found out how wrong he was.

'WHAT THE FUCK?' Remus yelled, absolutely livid, and jumped to his feet. 'Do you think I don't know you know?'

'Know what?' Sirius shouted, getting angry in turn and also standing up, the boys facing each other on the narrow stairs and the bouncers below gawking up at them, assuming it was a lovers' tiff and secretly quite enjoying the spectacle, but hoping there would be an equally blistering making-up scene at the end.

'Don't play games with me, Sirius,' Remus said, his voice quieter and sounding slightly unsure.

'I'm NOT playing games!' Sirius said, exasperated. 'I want to know what on earth you were talking about. What is it you think I know you know – or whatever it was?'

His wide grey eyes were completely honest and open – as always. Finally, Remus believed him.

'I'm sorry for shouting,' he said, his voice trembling as it hit him just how sorry he was. He had yelled at Sirius, Sirius! 'I didn't mean to get angry... and there was no reason to shout at you at all. I'm sorry. I'm just a bit – confused.'

'Join the club,' Sirius smiled wryly at him and held out a hand. 'Shake. Let's never ever do that again.'

Remus grasped his warm brown hand with his own cold white one. The pressure and contact made his tears start again, and Sirius grabbed him and gave him a hug. Then he let go and sat down again.

'Please, Re, sit down. Tell me what's going on, please,' he said persuasively, and Remus sat down next to him, wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands. Sirius put an arm round his shoulders again before consolingly wiping away a tear hanging on Remus's pointed chin with his other hand. Remus pulled away a little sharply and began to speak.

'I – I – you remember I told you... I was in love?' he asked abruptly. 'I told Felix, that man, about it. He told me I should tell the person, but I said that I'm too afraid. And then – I suddenly thought – what happens when we leave school? I might never see that person again... I think I'd be disgusted with myself if I let it slide, if I never ever let that person know – if I didn't take the chance that they might feel something the same.'

'And you thought I knew who it was, and wasn't telling you that I knew?'

'Yes.'

'But why would I do that? Why would I pretend about something that important to you?' Sirius asked, bemused.

'I – I don't know,' Remus stammered. Then he appeared to pull himself together. 'No,' he said, 'I do. I thought it because I still don't like who I am, what I am, and I thought you would feel the same, you'd be sickened, you'd hate me...'

'Shit, Remus, why on earth would I hate you?' Sirius asked frankly. A sudden flash of hope hit him but he suppressed it.

'Oh, gods, I always imagined this would be difficult but I never even dreamed how difficult,' Remus said, trying to laugh lightly and failing.

The hope sparked in Sirius again, and this time it was impossible to ignore. He lifted his free hand and gently took hold of Remus's chin, turning his head to look him in the eye. He stared into his amber eyes for ages, neither of them speaking, both feeling their heartbeat thudding in their throat.

'Sirius,' Remus said softly. 'You know now... don't you?'

A few seconds passed. Then Sirius's mouth curved up irresistibly at the edges and in a second he was absolutely beaming.

'I love you Remus Lupin!' he yelled at the top of his voice.

'I love you Sirius Black!' Remus yelled back before they collapsed into each other laughing.

The laughter went on for a few moments before they both pulled back slightly. They stared silently at each other before they finally succumbed and leaned in for the desperately long-awaited kiss.

Time flew by and neither boy noticed it at all; they were too wrapped up in each other, no talking, just kissing. People brushed past them going up and down the stairs but they just moved closer to the wall and each other and ignored them. Ignored them, that is, until a very familiar voice asked:

'Is that Remus? And Sirius?!'

As they sprang apart, James and Peter bore down on them, absolutely buzzing with alcohol and adrenaline. They stood over them and stared down with their mouths open whilst Remus took Sirius's hand defensively.

'What is going on?' James demanded. Then he dissolved into giggles. 'Oh Merlin your faces! Took your time, didn't you? Come on, let's go and you can tell us all about how you finally got together, okay?' And ignoring Peter's confused and slightly resentful look at James for obviously anticipating this but not telling him, he dragged them all off to the street to find a taxi, talking all the while in a maddeningly knowledgeable tone about how long it had taken them to get together and how he'd known all along. Peter hung breathless onto every word but Sirius and Remus ignored them both, entirely content in their own little world of two.