What I Meant- Prompt 31 (Farewell!)
Title: What I Meant
Author: lupinsmoon12391
Format & Word Count: Fic; 1020
Rating: PG
Prompts: Prompt 31- Movie Ending
Warning: Edible sap
Summary: What everyone really means.
Author's Note: My final post in this ficathon, and I’m so happy I participated and got feedback! All my stories are somehow connected, but this one is the only straight-out sequel, and it follows Reply ,but in a good, sappy contrast to the weird feeling of its predecessor. Please read, comment, and tell me to read some of your stuff if I haven't (I've been a bit lazy about going through and reading, I'll admit)!
“I love you, you know that?”
Remus didn’t even bat an eyelash at Tonks’s comment. Sirius knew better than to push him, and took his question of, “You’re going to finish that?” followed immediately by the stealing of Sirius’s unfinished sausage to mean,‘I’ll talk about it when I so desire.’
Sirius was patient for the whole of three minutes.
“So?” he asked, after it appeared that Remus was nearing the end of his meal. “Shame Tonksey had to run off, no?”
“Shame,” Remus said, then continued eating with fervor. In Remus Speak that meant, ‘Not yet, Sirius; cool it.’
“Yes, yes, yes. Shame she has to go to work so early. It gets awfully boring when she’s not here. You like to spend time with her too, right?”
Remus gave him an aggravated glance which of course meant that he knew what Sirius was actually saying, which was, ‘Let’s talk about it now, Moony. I don’t want to wait. It’s boring.’
“Very boring. But then again, there’s always a certain relief when she leaves.”
“You mean when you don’t have to worry about being ostentatious any longer?”
“I actually meant that I liked alone, quiet time, but that hits the nail on the head, too, I suppose.”
“So you heard what she said?”
“What did she say?” Remus downed a glass of juice in one gulp.
“You’re joking.”
“No, no. I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about, but she did say she loved me. Did you hear that? I haven’t been dwelling on that at all.”
“Sarcastic bastard. Oh, she saw you this morning, by the way.”
“I was afraid of that.” Remus sighed. “I knew a door wouldn’t keep her away for long.”
“In more ways than one, eh?”
“What the hell are you on about?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I know, and that’s the scary part.” Remus stood, not even bothering to excuse himself, and hastily made his way back to his room.
“Where you off to?” Sirius followed him.
“I’m tired and sore, and I want to sleep. Is that a crime?” Remus asked, waving his wand and opening his door.
“Not a crime, but Tonks just said she loved you.”
“We’ve covered that.”
“I kind of wanted to hear what you thought of that.”
“What do you think of it, Sirius?”
“Does it really matter? My opinion?”
“Has that ever stopped you from expressing it before?”
“I think it’s wonderful. You need sex; you need to be happy, Moony.”
“And those two are equivalents in your head?”
“I was celibate for many years, Remus.”
“Ah. Yes.” Remus went to lie down on his bed.
Sirius stood above him.
“Wouldn’t you rather see Tonksey here, fixing you up, than me?” Sirius laughed, scanning Remus’s nightstand for ointments to apply to his friend’s various wounds, though many had already partially self-healed.
“You don’t even know what Nymphadora meant by saying that she loved me. She could mean like a father. She’s close to Ted, you know.”
“I’ll ask her when she comes back around just what she meant, you cynical old bastard. You know what she meant.”
Remus just closed his eyes and smiled, drifting off to sleep. He imagined Nymphadora doctoring him up instead of Sirius, her warm soft small hands instead of Sirius’s manly calloused ones, and indeed, it was a nice thought.
---
The worst day ever had just passed for Tonks.
She almost didn’t want to go back to Headquarters, but that would be out of the norm, and she didn’t want Remus to think that his lack of response had gotten to her.
She was a strong, independent Auror, and the youngest member of the Order.
She was also a complete wreck.
When she got there after work, she actually hoped for a moment that no one would be around.
The place seemed silent.
“Hello?” she called as loudly as she dared (Mrs. Black was asleep, and as Tonks hadn’t fallen over the umbrella stand for once, she wasn’t willing to chance much) and was met with no answer.
But Remus, damn him, was in the parlor and only just looked up when Tonks entered. He was reading a book as usual, and smiled at her coyly.
“Hello, Nymphadora.”
“Wotcher, Remus.”
Tonks took the couch next to Remus’s chair, and stretched out as she did routinely, and felt rather proud of herself for not running away, sobbing and flailing her arms (as was her first instinct).
“What are you reading?” she asked him, looking at the book upside down from her spot on the couch.
“I’ll show you,” Remus said, standing and walking over to the couch. He motioned Tonks to sit up and give him room, so she did. She was shocked when he sat next to her. He never did that.
He put the book in her lap.
Tonks looked at the cover, nodded her head, but read none of the squiggly lines on the cover that she assumed were supposed to be letters. With Remus so close that she could feel his warmth, how was she supposed to achieve reading and comprehending?
He pulled the book back and smiled. “We’ve talked about this one before, remember?”
She nodded.
She didn’t remember.
“I know you saw me this morning, Nymphadora.”
She still felt light-headed.
“You don’t-you don’t pity me, do you?”
She was supposed to say something, she was almost positive.
“Because if you did, I would understand, I guess.”
“I don’t.”
“You said something this morning.”
“Right before I left the kitchen?”
“Yes. Why did you say that? What did you mean?”
Tonks knew that she needed to convey the exact feeling that had overwhelmed her that morning, and that meant that it had to be articulated perfectly.
“I dunno.”
Remus laughed, and seemed content with that answer.
“Okay, Nymphadora.” He grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with her own. He seemed to think about this action afterwards and coughed, blushing.
“This is what you meant, right?”
Tonks felt giddy, and just sighed, laying her head on Remus’s shoulder.
“Yes, this is what I meant.”