Lily is completely failing to take in a word of her Transfiguration textbook. She tries not to feel creepy as she watches Remus scribble away at his own homework and attempt to fend off Sirius (dropping things down the back of his neck, sticking his tongue in his ear, the usual). But she wants to be sure.

No, there it is again. Sirius, in one of those glorious moods where he drops any and all pretence of being a mature nearly-adult and instead becomes Annoyance Personified, is now giving Remus a lap dance, scraping the chair and, by extension, its resident spluttering Remus, further away from his homework with each gyration. At the very least, this gives her an excuse to stare- more or less the whole common room has abandoned whatever they were doing and are cheering them on. But now she's noticed it, she can't believe it never crossed her mind before. Remus is going purple in the face with a combination of embarrassment and what Lily suspects is asphyxiation, given the force with which Sirius is pressing his arse into Remus' midriff. She can hardly blame him for this, but the way he's biting his lip, screwing up his eyes… there's looking uncomfortable, and then there's looking like you're about to cry. He sneaks a glimpse at Sirius in his lap through a cracked-open eye and then jerks his head backwards with an intake of breath.

'Sirius, please…'

He hisses it through gritted teeth, sounding as though it's a strain to keep his voice steady. Lily feels desperately sorry for him. She turns on the giggling onlookers and yells,

'Oi, give them some peace and quiet, why don't you?'

It was a patently stupid thing to do, something she realises instantly as the common room erupts into a fresh wave of wolf-whistles and lewd comments. Remus shoots her a miserable smile, as if to say, thanks for trying. Sirius seems to have calmed down slightly, or in any case he turns round to kiss Remus on the nose, sees his expression and immediately climbs off him with only a half-hearted tug of Remus' hair, looking vaguely guilty. He retreats to an armchair, where he shoots Remus periodic worried looks and fiddles with his fingernails. Remus, staring at his homework as though he's trying to burn holes in it and shifting uncomfortably in his chair, crossing and uncrossing his legs (Ah. Oh, the poor boy), doesn't seem to notice this, but it makes Lily wonder if this…thing is as one-sided as she thought. Even if it isn't, she doubts Sirius has processed it. They'll probably waste the rest of their lives dancing around each other with sexually charged punches on the arm and awkward innuendos. Idiots.

It takes Remus forever to finish his homework after that. Whenever he thinks of something to write about the territorial behaviour of puffskeins he will remember Sirius' arse grinding against him, the friction and the slide of fabric against fabric and the weight of him. By the time he's made himself think about Slughorn in lacy knickers or waking up covered in splinters and bits of dead woodland creature and similarly un-sexy things, he's lost his train of thought. By the time he's finally done, the common room is empty except for him and Sirius. He folds up his work and shoves it into his bag with unnecessary force, then heads towards the stairs to the dorm.

'Night, Sirius.'

'Moony, wait-'

He turns. Sirius is hovering behind him, shifting from foot to foot and looking shamefaced. 'I, er, about before, ah…'

'Honestly, Sirius, I've got used to it over the years.' Not true. If anything, he's got less used to it. Or it affects him in much more embarrassing ways, anyhow.

'No, but…sorry. I was being a twat.'

'True.' They share a grin. Sirius runs his hands through his hair, as though trying to tear it out. 'I…'

There is an awful lot unspoken. Remus knows, although he wishes he didn't, that Sirius must have, well, noticed. His arse was right- well. It's probably best not to think about it. Sirius takes several breaths, as though he's about to speak, but stops himself each time. The way he's looking at Remus is difficult to read and makes him horribly nervous- is he disgusted? Embarrassed? Remus bites his lip. Just another way he can't control his own body.

'I think I'll go to bed, then.' He starts to turn, but Sirius grabs his arm in a grip like a vice and drags him back, yelping 'Wait!'

'What?'

Sirius gulps and pulls at his arm again so that he stumbles forward. Their faces are far too close. He can feel Sirius' breath on his skin; see every pore, every blackhead, on his nose. Both of them shift slightly, one way then the other. Remus fiddles with the sleeve of his jumper so ferociously he nearly rubs a new hole in it. Sirius raises his hand several times and then drops it again. It seems to go on forever, this standoff, but Remus doesn't think the things he normally would, like awkward, this is awkward and it's all YOUR fault, Remus Lupin, for being so AWKWARD or the weather, talk about the weather, JUST SAY SOMETHING because his thoughts seem to have been entirely replaced by white noise. Finally, Sirius extends a shaking hand and moves it, unbelievably tentatively, up Remus' arm. Remus shivers at every second of it; even though Sirius has touched far more inappropriate places than this even in the last half-hour, even though he indeed seems to spend most of his life touching everyone within reach as inappropriately as possible, it's never like this. His fingers run over Remus' collar and then there are rough fingertips sliding over his neck and his jawbone and his stomach lurches. Sirius is getting closer and closer in agonisingly slow motion and everything is frozen, Remus is frozen.

When Sirius' lips touch his, the word kissing takes a very long time to enter his head. The feeling of damp, soft flesh compressing, pressing against his lips, sharp edges of chapped patches, Sirius' fingers tight on his jaw, the sound of breathing- these are all things he notices before he realises that this is what they are doing. He pulls Sirius closer, heart pounding, moving slowly as if a sudden movement might shatter it all. Sirius' tongue presses at his lips, hot and wet and alien, and he opens his mouth with a groan. It is only now that it really dawns on him, and his breath comes faster and he keeps on kissing Sirius because he knows that this will vanish as soon as he lets go; it'll turn out to be an elaborate joke, or someone will jump out with a camera, or Sirius will be distracting him so someone else can put jelly slugs down his trousers. His arms slide round Sirius' shoulders, pulling him as close as he can, winding his fingers into Sirius' hair as tightly as he dares and Sirius pushes harder into him, pressing his body along the length of Remus', grabbing his hips and pulling them against his and oh, okay, oh my God, so there's that, then. He can feel him through his trousers and they are both breathing a lot harder now and the erection he's been fending off for a good half-hour has come back with a vengeance. Sirius yanks him backwards and they stumble onto one of the sofas, Remus half in Sirius' lap, and Sirius's hand drags across his thigh and over the front of his trousers as the shock shoots through Remus' whole body, lighting up every nerve. Sirius seems just as shocked as him by this development. He pulls away (no, no, no) and stares at Remus, lips red and shiny and eyes wide.

'Merlin- Moony-'

'Please don't stop.' Remus babbles. 'I think I might die if you stop. I don't care if this is a stupid prank or you mistook me for Farrah Fawcett or you've gone temporarily more insane than usual, just please-'

Sirius cuts him off. This kiss is sloppy and there's a clunk of teeth but Remus doesn't care because Sirius' hand (his freezing hand) slides up Remus' shirt and his fingers scrape over Remus' nipple and Remus makes an embarrassingly needy whining sound and digs his nails into the back of Sirius' neck. Sirius' other hand scrabbles at his fly and somehow gets it open, runs over the front of his boxers and then over the waistband and then Jesus Christ, his hand is actually on Remus' cock and curling around it and Remus shudders all over because he is more turned on than he has ever been in his entire life and his brain seems to have short-circuited. With shaking fingers he unzips Sirius' fly and slides his hand into Sirius' pants before he has a chance to do something stupid, like panic and accidentally castrate him. Sirius' cock is a strange, unfamiliar weight in his hand, hard and already slippery. He still can't process that this is happening, he's had too many dreams like this but they always end about now, and this, this isn't ending. Sirius slides his fingers up the underside of his shaft and Remus pants into his mouth and moves his hand over Sirius' length. He has no real idea what he's doing- he hardly ever even does this to himself- but Sirius' breath catches and he runs his thumb over Remus' head and it's agonising. They speed up, desperate, the angle is awkward and his wrist aches but he barely notices, and then Sirius moans 'Remus-' and his mouth drops open and he shakes as wet warmth spills over Remus' hand. Sirius' hand twists on his cock as he comes and his thumb catches on Remus' head again and Remus' vision whites out and he buries his face in Sirius' shoulder as he comes so hard it feels as though his brain might melt out of his ears.

He still feels dizzy when he raises his head a few seconds later. Sirius is grinning his most manic grin at him, looking like the Cheshire Cat. Remus' boxers are sticky and uncomfortable when he moves. 'Er…'

Sirius is still grinning at him. It's making him feel slightly nervous. Does he have the world's most unattractive orgasm face or something? Is Sirius going to tell everyone?

'What are you grinning at? Did I pull a stupid face or something? Yours wasn't so very dignified-'

'You daft wanker.'

He splutters. 'Excuse me?'

'Moony, for such a very brainy person you are being astonishingly dim.' Sirius pauses. 'That wasn't just… me being…or working off steam or something. I've wanted to-' He bites his lip. He is spread out under Remus in a ridiculously distracting way, his shirt riding up over his stomach, his lips red and swollen and his pupils dark. He looks debauched. Remus tries to marshal his thoughts.

'So we can…do that again?'

'Right this second? You are insatiable. Who would have thought?'

'Sirius! I don't- I mean I do- I'm-' Sirius is cackling. Remus feels suddenly light-headed.

'I know I want to. Again. I mean, I'm not- fuck, Moony. It's just you.'

Remus smiles, beatific. 'Good.' He leans down to kiss Sirius, slowly, savouring it. 'It's always been you.'