Dog Days
Title: Dog Days of Summer
Author: The Philosopher Fool
Rating: probably R
Pairing: Remus/ Sirius (+ ice cube)
Summary: Heat Wave. It’s too damn hot. Sirius is seasonally depressed. Remus brings the ice.
Summer was entering the dog days. London was hot and muggy. There seemed to be a haze, a bleak sort of dust that hung stagnant in the air. A heat that threatened to suffocate, to swallow the city whole. The tar on the London streets might begin to bubble and melt any moment now. Only those who needed to venture outside did so with caution and with plenty of hydration. Children, the elderly and pregnant or nursing mothers must remain indoors. Those outside scurried for shelter and air conditioning. The weatherman with his handlebar moustache, clad in a neatly-pressed, sweat-stained shirt calmly reported that the heat wave wasn’t expected to break for another three days.
It was simply too hot. Too damn hot.
Dusty, dusty July was turning into August and a heat wave had hit the city with full force, right in the middle of the dangerous lethargy of midsummer. Sirius had always found this sort of weather positively unbearable. He preferred the cold, the cool and the more manageable seasons. He preferred blizzards to heat waves any day.
Sirius’ wardrobe was not equipped for summer. He liked his leather and velvet and silk. On a good day, he managed to work all three into an outfit. Regardless, none of these materials were particularly appropriate for extreme, record-setting temperatures. To deal with this problem of unsuitable climate, Sirius choose to longue about near naked, rather than attempt to rethink his attire. Remus on the other hand always dressed like he had just escaped a library or a museum, or perhaps a very dull lecture. His wardrobe was always awkwardly tweed, rain or shine. Summertime was not the time for thick velvets or heavy tweed. But they never seemed to be a proper time or place for Remus Lupin or Sirius Black.
Sirius woke up sweating before the sun had risen. Their spring comforter and the thin white sheets had been tangled and forgotten at the bottom of the bed days ago. It was far too hot to do anything but try to go back to sleep. “Why are you going to work?” Sirius asked, pulling his long black hair into a pony tail. “How can you possible deal with this weather rationally?”
Remus replied as he tied his tie, “I think I like it…feels like the whole world might explode.” He decided to leave the tweed jacket in the closet today. It was early in the morning and already hot.
Sirius was crawling out of his skin-Remus could tell. When Remus left for work at quarter-to-nine, Sirius had been lying in bed, face down in his underwear. When Remus arrived back home, sweat-soaked and weary, at half-past five, Sirius had not moved much. Possible evidence of movement included the new addition of Chinese take-away containers and their oscillating fan had been repositioned. At 5:45. Sirius had yet to put on pants. Remus loosened his tie and sat down on the bed next to his partner, “I am concerned.”
“As am I,” Sirius confessed. “This weather is unnaturally hot. Papers say nearly record breaking.”
“I’m concerned about you,” Remus clarified patiently. “Although I agree this weather is really getting beastly.”
“What are you worried about me for?”
“You’ve been in bed for days now. Even this is beyond your usual laziness.”
“It’s seasonal depression.”
“Excuse me?”
“Summer depresses me, Remus. And no one is around,” Sirius whined. “No one! James is on Very Secret Order Business. Peter’s in Albania. Again. Frank is busy planning to sell his soul and most of his free time to that wedding planner for years and years of bloody marital bliss. Kingsley’s isn’t even around for a game for quidditch! Not that I would want to play quidditch! Honestly…Moony, it’s too hot. It’s taking everything out of me. Look, I’ve even developed a heat rash!” he pointed at a small red patch on his arm.
Remus looked closer, “No, it just looks like you’ve been laying on it for a while.”
“It’s a heat rash.”
“You need to get out of this flat, Mr. Black. Let’s go out and get something for dinner.”
Sirius just looked at him crookedly, “I’m not hungry; the heat has taken my appetite. There is some lettuce in the fridge and some left over Chinese. You could make a salad.”
“A Chinese take-away salad?”
Sirius shrugged, “It’s what I had for breakfast….and lunch. It wasn’t terrible. Could you bring me some ice?” Remus sighed and got up to go to the bathroom, leaving his tie and wrinkled white shirt on the bed. “You are very sexy when you are frustrated with me, you know,” Sirius called out, repositioning the fan with his feet.
Remus emerged a few minutes later in a pair of old exercise shorts and a gray t-shirt, bearing a small cup of ice cubes, “Budge over, you have taken over the entire bed.”
“Oh?”
“It’s supposed to be our bed, you sloth.”
Sirius repositioned himself, but only slightly. With minimal movement, he reached behind him and took an ice cube out of the cup and rewarded Remus with a brilliant smile. “You know, they say you crave ice if you are anemic,” Remus supplied. “How is your iron count?”
“I crave ice because it’s a bloody heat wave, Moony,” Sirius said patiently. “And my iron count is brilliant.”
“I’ve also heard those who crunch ice are sexually frustrated,” Remus offered.
Sirius sighed, “That is a really lame come-on, mate. Besides, we both know no one in this room is sexually frustrated. As much as I appreciate your sexual advances, it’s far too sticky to touch right now,” Sirius declared and put his head back down. “Should we have a go at another cooling charm? Get another fan maybe?”
Remus was more concerned than offended, “There is clearly something very wrong with you right now, Sirius Black.”
“I am aware,” Sirius said into the pillow, playing with the ice cube on his tongue. “I am too hot for sex. Merlin, I am too tired for sex...”
Remus shut him up with a kiss, “Do stop complaining.”
“Too hot…” Sirius began to protest, but eventually gave up. He reached back to his partner and deepened the kiss. The ice cube had left Sirius’ mouth incredibly cold and Remus was surprised to find the smallest sliver of the cube still on Sirius’ tongue. They lay there for a few moments, passing the ice cube back and forth until it had melted somewhere as between their lips but became long forgotten, instead replaced with playful tongues and knocking teeth. “Do you think you can find the energy to continue to kiss me?” Remus teased.
“That will be difficult.” Sirius reached for another cube from the glass. “You should probably lose the shirt…probably the dorky exercise trousers as well,” He ran the ice cube over his lover’s lips, then down Remus’ neck, and finally drawing lazy patterns with the remaining cube on Remus’ broad chest. His fingers and lips greedily followed the cold path. “As you may or may not have noticed, it is been rather warm today.”
The cube circled and finally stopped over Remus’ nipple, causing him to shudder at the new sensation. “I had noticed, actually. Very hot indeed.”
A/N: Oy, loves. I’ve just returned from my South American hiatus with no job in sight for the month of August. I’ve a sort of sketchy plan to dedicate myself to writing about Remus and Sirius for the rest of the summer. Check back in for much more (if I get my act together)
As always, no beta but desperately looking to improve my writing... suggestions regarding content, style, spelling, grammar or structure are welcomed and appreciated! Always looking for new conversations and new friends! Drop me a line, darlings.