Title: Forgiven
Author/Artist:
mindabblesRecipient:
kingzgurl Rating: PG-13
Contents or warnings (highlight to view): none
Word count: 1,400
Summary: Having Sirius owe him an apology may have some benefits, but making up is nicer.
Author's Notes:
kingzgurl, thank you so much for stepping up to help with a pinch hit! Here's a little thank you to you for being so awesome. I checked out your sign up from last year for some prompts and went with 1) Sirius sticking his foot in his mouth and figuring how to make it up to Remus; with a side of, 2) Cuddling by the fire; and a hint of 3) Christmas apart. Hope you enjoy and thanks again!
"Don't look at me like that," Remus says. Padfoot cocks his head and whines. Remus shakes his head and Padfoot's tail thumps against the floor. "You can hang it up. It won't work. I'm not nearly finished being angry with you."
Peter makes a loud huffing sound from his side of the room. "We all know you'll forgive him, so can you please get on with it? He'll be a miserable bastard until you do."
"He's a miserable bastard full stop," Remus says. He's not in the mood to forgive him. Even if he knows just as well as Peter that he will.
"Good on you, Moony," James says. "Stick to your guns."
Padfoot turns to snarl and snap at James. James just laughs and rolls over on his bed. Padfoot's shape shifts and Sirius is kneeling by Remus' bed, looking up at him with that stupidly beautiful face.
"Tell me what I need to do," Sirius says.
He's clearly working to muster every bit of earnestness he can, which is a fair amount. Remus is tempted to tell him to get up and forget it, but he likes that pleading look on his face, and he really likes seeing Sirius kneeling by his bed.
*
Remus leans closer to his Arithmancy notes. They look like hieroglyphics.
"Can't read your writing there, Moony?" James asks.
James is not revising. Neither is Sirius. Instead of wallowing in guilt, that bastard's gone off to Hogsmeade.
"Sod off," Remus grumbles.
"I'm about to do just that," James says, sounding altogether too cheerful. "Lily's waiting to go for a walk in the snow. Romantic, eh?"
James walks out, with an irritating spring in his step, leaving Remus to revising on the first sunny day in a week, when there's a blanket of freshly fallen snow outside.
"Maybe that's a sixteen," he says, squinting.
He doesn't hear the footsteps, but a packet with Honeyduke's label lands on his bed. "I've got good notes, if you want them. I'll go over it with you," Sirius says, flashing a blinding smile.
"Sweets and offering to work on a Saturday? You are feeling guilty," Remus says. Sirius' face lights briefly. "Well, you should," Remus says. He's not finished with Sirius yet. He wants him to learn something from this, not to mention that it's nearly the end of term and Remus gets a great deal more done when he's not sneaking off with Sirius at every opportunity.
"I'm an idiot," Sirius says, a little frown line appearing between his eyebrows. "You know that."
"I do."
"Look, when I made that crack about dark creatures, I wasn't thinking of you," Sirius says. "I don't think of you that way. You know that. Please, Moony."
"Because you know me and like me doesn't make me any less what I am," Remus says. "Because you didn't mean me, it's all right? Do you hear yourself? And you said it in front of Snape, of all people." Sirius looks so pained that Remus is tempted to forgive him. He glances down at the fat packet of sweets and decides he can bide his time a bit more.
*
On Sunday, Sirius helps Remus to finish his Transfiguration essay.
On Monday, he brings him breakfast in bed.
On Tuesday, he takes Remus' turn cleaning out Greenhouse Number 5.
On Wednesday, Sirius gives Remus the last bit of bacon at breakfast.
*
On Thursday, Sirius catches Remus alone, on the squashy sofa in front of the common room fire, reading a novel for Muggle Studies.
"'Lo," he says. He sinks onto the floor between the sofa and the fire. The fire lights him from behind, gold dancing on his black hair. Remus' fingers itch to touch it.
"Hello," Remus answers. He turns his attention back to his book.
"I really am sorry," Sirius says. He shrugs and picks dejectedly at a loose thread on his trousers.
Remus' eyes fix on one word on the page. It's impossible, unfathomable, that Sirius has given up. Sirius never, ever gives up.
"All right," Remus says slowly. This is unchartered territory, and he's not sure where to tread.
"It's only that I thought," Sirius says, trailing off. He resumes picking at the thread.
"You're going to unravel them," Remus says.
"Doesn't matter," says Sirius. He sounds as if he's about to burst into tears.
Remus slides onto the floor and next to Sirius. He touches Sirius' knee tentatively. "Padfoot." He wraps an arm around Sirius' shoulder and nearly melts at how good it feels to touch him again. "I'm sorry." The words slip from his lips before he realises what he's saying.
Sirius keeps his eyes on the floor, twining the thread around and around his index finger. Remus scoots closer so their legs are touching. Sirius is warm and solid and Remus is having trouble remembering why teaching him a lesson seemed so important.
"Come off it," Remus says. He can feel Sirius' shoulders shake and he thinks for an awful moment that Sirius is crying. He smoothes Sirius' hair back from his face and Sirius leans a little into his touch. "You've learnt your lesson. Hell, I forgave your miserable arse days ago. Stop it."
"I know you did," Sirius says. He looks up and the bastard is laughing. "Peter told me what you were up to this afternoon."
"You complete and utter prick," Remus says. He crosses his arms and sits back. "I don't know why I bother with you."
Sirius disregards Remus' attempts to put distance between them completely, shifting closer and closer to Remus until Remus has nowhere to go unless he wants his arse toasted in the fire. He traces a finger back and forth over Remus' knee. The touch tingles all along Remus' leg and his resolve begins to crumble.
"Yes. You do," Sirius murmurs. He slides his hand up from Remus' knee and onto his thigh. Remus feels the touch through his body.
"I hate you so much," Remus says as he leans to kiss Sirius' grinning mouth.
Sirius wraps his arms around Remus and pulls him closer, deepening the kiss and curling their tongues together. Remus' pulse races and he can't remember what it is that Sirius has done.
Sirius sighs contentedly and Remus leans back against his chest. Sirius' arms come around him and Remus stares at the waning flames, the heat from the fire adding to the heat in his cheeks.
"I hate it when you're hacked off at me," Sirius says quietly. "I really am sorry."
"You should stop doing things to annoy me then," Remus says. He closes his eyes and sinks into the feel of Sirius' warm, hard body behind him and the fire in front of him. He could drift off in about five minutes like this-that is if Sirius' hands weren't drawing small circles on his stomach, inching to slip under his jumper.
"There's something I meant to ask you last week, but then you were being completely unreasonable," Sirius says. He kisses the back of Remus' neck and a chill runs through him despite how he's surrounded by heat.
"I wasn't being-"
"Hush, Moony. I've forgiven you." Sirius' hand slips up Remus' stomach and to his chest. Sirius puts his chin on Remus' shoulder, pressing their cheeks together. "You sure you can't come to Prongs for the hols?" Sirius sinks his teeth gently into the curve of Remus' ear. "I'll make sure you have a happy Christmas."
Remus turns so he can look at Sirius. He's smiling in a way that makes Remus' stomach slip to his toes, but his grey eyes are serious.
Remus bites back excuses that he has to be with his family, that his mum's heart would break if he asked to leave at Christmas. While this has the benefit of being the truth, the last thing he wants to do is mention family and give Sirius the chance to say he's being insensitive, making comments about family when Sirius has none. It's not that Sirius cares any more than Remus honestly cared about the dark creature comment, but why hand him such a chance for revenge?
What he wants to tell him is that he'd like nothing more than to sit by a fire with Sirius, trading kisses, in between games of Exploding Snap and snowball fights with him and James. He wants to tell him that he wants to be with him more than anything. He wants to tell Sirius that he's falling in love with him.
"I'll see if I can get away for a bit. Maybe Boxing Day," Remus says.
Sirius smiles. It reaches his eyes. "I'll take it."