AN: Just a little one-shot written for the 101 Kisses challenge #33, who?
Special thanks to Nissie-chan for betaing :D She is uber cool.
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue
"Psst… Hey Sirius! Pads, hey! Guess what?" James was grinning like a maniac.
Did he ever have something to tell Sirius, something good and gossipy. About Remus, no less. Oh, it was good. Sirius was going to freak. He poked the sleeping boy sitting at the table beside him, hair splayed neatly across a book. He was snoring. Damn it all, this wasn't a time for sleep. This was a time to act like little giggly school girls. Remus had a crush.
"Remus has a crush, Sirius! Remus! C'mon, wake up!" with an unattractive snort Sirius shot up from his book and nearly toppled over in his chair.
"Wha? Remus WHAT?"
James' grin got wider, "I knew you were awake."
"So you were tricking me?" Sirius looked a tad too hopeful for his own good.
Not that he didn't want Remus to have a crush. A crush was a good thing. It meant he was a healthy young man, just like the rest of them. Except maybe Peter, but Peter didn't count for very much anyway. The point, however, was that Remus might possibly have a crush on a girl (or guy, if he was so choosing) that obviously didn't deserve him. In fact, Sirius couldn't think of a single girl or guy in all of Hogwarts that would be deserving of him, and certainly none that would accept him if they ever found out.
And what was a relationship without trust? Nothing, that's what. A good partner would be willing to go to the ends of the earth for someone they cared about, and Remus deserved just that. Someone who would be willing to risk their life for him, someone who would be willing to help him through hard times. Someone who would be willing and strong enough to keep the wolf in check. None of the Hogwarts bimbos could possibly be what Remus needed. No, so it was probably best if Remus didn't have a crush.
Anyhow, Sirius would hate to be the one to have to console Remus when it didn't work out.
"Who said I was kidding?" James snickered, Sirius was way too easy.
"WHAT? Who the hell does he like? It's that bloody Ravenclaw wench, isn't it? That girl from herbology, what's her name, Carrie something. Well she's all wrong for him, you know that? He's just going to go and get himself-"
"Pads, calm down, it's not like that," the messy-haired boy was actually a bit frightened now, Sirius was taking this all wrong.
"THE HELL IT'S NOT. He's going to ruin his life, and you're just sitting there giggling like a third year. No, I'm not going to let him do that. Unlike you, I care about Remus, and unlike you I know that he's just getting himself into trouble, and I'm going to damn well stop it."
He stood up, stalked over to Remus, who was just entering the portrait hole and staring in utter confusion at the site before him. He quirked an eyebrow at Sirius, who was now standing a few feet away, and made a move to say something, but was interrupted by Padfoot himself.
"You can't date that Carrie chick. You don't want her," The sentence was punctuated by a little snarl as Sirius continued to glare.
Remus tilted his head in annoyance, "Why would I want to date Carrie?"
"You don't?"
Remus shook his head, "No, I don't. She's nice enough, I suppose, but she's not really… my type."
"Then what is your type, Moony? Blonde, bubbly? Listen, I've tried them, they're not worth it, alright? They're not worth you, you know?" He was calming down now, and slowly realizing what exactly he was getting himself into.
"And who, pray tell, my dear Padfoot, is worthy of me?" Remus' expression could only be described as mischievous as he grinned at Sirius.
"Well, I- someone who, you know…"
"Someone who would do anything for me?" his grin was still there.
Sirius swallowed, "Yeah, someone who'd do anything for you."
"Someone who'd be willing to risk their neck for me?"
He nodded jerkily. Were they moving backwards, or was he going crazy?
"But they'd have to have a sense of humor, too, I suppose. After all, I'm sure you and James wouldn't approve if they didn't"
Bumping into the table he had previously been asleep at, Sirius chanced a look over to James, who was now sitting in a chair at another table, watching with interest.
"But who could possibly fit all of those requirements?"
Sirius shrugged, slightly afraid. James raised his hand lazily into the air, "Pick me Professor, I bet I can think of someone."
Remus looked over, chuckling a little, "And who might that be, Prongs?"
He looked thoroughly proud of himself, "Peter."
"WHAT?"
They both stared at Sirius, who was growling at James, "No, not Peter."
"Well then, Pads, enlighten us. Who exactly is worth Moony's attention? Certainly not you."
"And why not me? Wasn't I the one who suggested becoming Animagi so we could run with Remus every full moon? Wasn't I the one who covered up for him that time he almost got caught wanking in the Astronomy tower-"
"Yes, but you were the one who dared me to do it," Remus threw in hastily.
"Not the point, I got the detention!" Sirius looked utterly furious.
"So you should be the one dating Remus?" the stupid little grin on James' face was back.
"Yes! I mean- I, well… Oh hell, stop laughing at me, you idiots, it's not funny," Sirius let himself fall angrily back into the chair now behind him.
It took a few minutes before both Remus and James stopped laughing, and when they finally did James got up and stretched. "I'm off to bed. You two behave yourselves, alright?" He shot Remus a knowing smirk before sauntering off to the boy's dorms.
"That was mean, you know," Sirius lifted his chin a little, glaring at Remus.
"All in good fun, Pads. You're the one who got all worked up over nothing,"
Nothing? Sirius didn't think it was nothing. All he wanted was the best for his friend, and so what if that included Sirius himself? Honestly, who could Remus trust as much as him? James, maybe, but he was always after Lily, and Remus was smart enough not to get in the way of that. Peter, perhaps, but Sirius put more faith in the prefect than that. And all of that was assuming Remus was gay.
"What did you mean by she's not your type?" there was one way of finding out, at least, without coming off as odd.
"Oh, I don't really like red-heads,"
Or he could have meant something more reasonable, like that. The distress on Sirius' face must have been obvious, as Remus quickly added on, "Don't like girls that much, either."
"So you fancy guys, then?" There was that hope again, as childish as it seemed.
So he liked Remus, what was the big deal? It was just one step beyond the brotherhood they had all formed; it wasn't wrong as far as Sirius could see it.
"Mm," Remus made a little noise in his throat, "Just the one, really."
He could feel a funny knot in his stomach. So Remus liked one guy. Was that one guy Sirius? Probably not after he made such an ass of himself.
"Just the one, huh?" make idle conversation until he could get away, that was the plan, because honestly, he didn't like where this was going.
"Mmhmm. You'd like him, don't worry," He was acting as if it was the most casual thing in the world.
Sirius coughed a little, "Well, hey, I'm happy for you Moony. I think I'll head to bed myself, though, it's getting kind of late and all,"
"Oh c'mon Pads, it's winter holiday. You never go to bed early, not this close to Christmas," he looked as if a realization had suddenly dawned on him, "It's not that this is freaking you out, is it? I'd figure after something like finding out where I spend my full moons you'd be pretty accepting."
Remus narrowed his eyes at Sirius, who looked momentarily appalled. "What? Of course not. Be whatever the hell you want to be, I don't care."
"But not be with whoever I want to be?"
"Aww, Moony, that's not what I meant earlier. I just don't want to see you get hurt or anything," Sirius mussed his hair nervously; things were getting a bit too intimate for his taste.
Remus grinned. "So, you wanna know who he is?"
"No."
"C'mon, Padfoot, you're supposed to be begging me to tell you!"
"What am I now, a girl?" He managed to look hurt before grinning lightly.
Whoever made Moony happy, he'd deal with it, he supposed. Remus was his friend, after all, it wasn't right to try and hold him back. "Alright, tell me. Who is he?"
Lazily, Remus pulled a chair up next to Sirius, sat down and threw and arm around the slightly taller boy. "You."
"Me! What?" Sirius stood up, glare once more directed at Remus.
The tawny haired youth, on the other hand, looked slightly taken aback. "Well, yeah, you. I figured that was what you wanted, right? I wouldn't have told you, honestly, but James said-"
"James said? JAMES said? James said what? That I'm hopelessly in love with you? That I'm madly, freakishly in love with you and that you should come up and tell me right away that you felt the same?" Remus looked hurt.
"Well, yeah, kind of. Look Sirius, I'm sorry, alright? You don't have to get so upset if it's not true," he looked scared, too.
"Not true? Of course it's bloody well true, you dolt! And you've been up here this whole time leading me on like some fool, and laughing at me when all the time you felt the bloody same?"
Remus, personally, felt the situation had gotten rather out of hand. That was the second time in the same hour, much less night, that Sirius had yelled at him for something stupid, and the third time he had yelled for something stupid altogether.
"Sirius." Remus stood up to face his friend
"What?" came the sharp reply, and Sirius narrowed his eyes even more.
"Shut up already, please. People are trying to sleep and I'd hate to give you detention over the holidays,"
"Moony, can you honestly expect me to-"
Sirius felt that the complaint was best left unfinished, and he felt that Remus' mouth over his was a much better way to let out his frustrations for the rest of the night. The other boy was inclined to agree, and as he pushed Sirius over towards the fireplace and onto a couch, he couldn't help but think how delightfully easy it was to rile up Sirius Black.
AN: Review pretty please?