Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Remus liked the ocean.

He liked the beach, and France, and all their friends under one roof, but he liked being in Sirius’s bath tub much more. 

He couldn’t have known it when he agreed to come over, but Sirius’s house was maybe the most comforting place in the world. It had floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping views of the city, and a couch fluffier than the average bed, and heated tiles in the ensuite bathroom. It was luxurious, but so terribly homey that Remus couldn’t even consider feeling out of place there. How could he, when there were dirty paintbrushes on the windowsill, and a pair of worn slippers by the door?

It was an extension of Sirius, his fingerprint on everything, and Remus slid into his home like he was always meant to be there. 

“I’ll get you your own,” Sirius promised as he offered up the fluffiest robe he’d ever seen. “You can use mine for now.”

It was just as they’d arrived from the airport, late into the evening, after he’d been given the tour of all three floors of the ridiculously quaint townhouse. Sirius was drawing a bath, an idea he determined essential once he caught Remus staring longingly at the shining porcelain of the obscenely large soaking tub. 

He loved his apartment and all of its quirks, but it didn’t have a bath tub, a fact that haunted him any time his joints acted up. 

“I don’t want to take your robe,” Remus insisted, even as the softest fabric he’d ever felt was pushed into his open palms. “Besides, what will you use?”

“What do you mean?”

“Aren’t you…” he trailed off, gesturing vaguely to where Sirius already had the tub filling with hot water. It was rare to find a tub that could fit him, let alone leave plenty of room for another, and he didn’t plan on wasting the opportunity.

It was so cute, the look of genuine surprise on the man’s face. 

“Unless you don’t want to,” Remus quickly added. 

“I want to,” Sirius confirmed immediately, smiling faintly to himself as he returned to the task of perfecting a balance of fragrant oils and bubbles and salts. 

By the time it was complete, his grass ring was set aside for safe keeping and Remus was nestled in a mountain of foam that smelled of lavender and honey, every inch of his long limbs completely submerged in the steaming hot water. Sirius was hidden behind his curtain of dark hair, leaning over the tub to light what seemed like dozens of candles of all sizes that illuminated the grand bathroom with a warm, amber glow. 

“I think it’s good, baby,” Remus murmured from where he rested, melted into the water, his head tilted back against the porcelain. 

“Are you sure?”

“Get in here, please.”

Like he’d been waiting for a formal invitation, it was the only thing to stop him from fussing, and Remus had the absolute delight of watching Sirius strip down. Not a show by any means, nothing like the first night they spent together, but much better. It was casual, easy, a practical removal of clothes that made Remus feel terribly domestic, like how it might feel when they actually lived together, when their lives together began. Maybe they already had. 

The casual ease of it certainly didn’t stop his heartbeat from racing as more and more skin was revealed, as his favorite tattoos became apparent. He just barely held himself back from reaching out with eager hands as the man stepped carefully into the tub.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Sirius slipped into his arms with a lazy smile, letting out a sigh of contentment as the scalding hot water lapped over his skin, drenching the ends of his hair. 

“Like what?”

“This is supposed to be a relaxing bath, Moony.”

He settled comfortably between his legs, chest to chest amidst the bubbles.

“I’m very relaxed,” Remus defended with a serene smile, his hand already trailing up the man’s spine with a hum. 

“Mm, well your hands are very active.”

“Is that bad?”

“It’s very, very good, but you’re supposed to be resting.”

“There are many types of rest, baby.”

Sirius laughed at that, something sweet that echoed against the mosaic tile of the counter and opaque stained glass of the small window.

They talked for a long time, nestled in the tub together, unpacking and discussing every moment of the weekend they just shared. Sirius immediately told him everything about his conversation with Alphard, every bit of congratulations, and how excited the man was to host their small guest list in his home, however that ended up working. Then Sirius wanted to know what Lily thought of everyone, if she felt included and welcomed.

“I was a little distracted,” he acknowledged, worried, apparently, that he hadn’t taken enough time to integrate her into the group as a good host should. 

“Oh, I think she felt very included,” Remus assured him, opting to sidestep any further details about the two men who made sure she didn’t lift a finger all weekend.

“What did you think of everyone?” Sirius questioned from where he’d waded to the opposite side of the tub over the course of their conversation. He was watching him with eager eyes, as if Remus would have any hot takes to offer. 

He was only slightly worried to disappoint as he shrugged and said, “I liked them.”

“…Really.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“My brother, who threatened your life on several separate occasions…”

“Yeah, he’s alright,” Remus decided, unable to hide the little smile curling up at the corner of his mouth at the sight of Sirius narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“Marlene, who called you the cardigan-clad gentle giant…”

“She called me that?”

“Peter?” Sirius prodded with raised eyebrows. “Pete who was high out of his mind for ninety percent of the weekend?”

“I liked Peter,” Remus shrugged. “He’s fun.”

“Dorcas, Pandora? Surely…”

“We had a nice walk on the beach.”

“Evan, Barty, James…” Sirius trailed off, expression lighting up with mischief as he raised a hand out of the water to point. “Ah ah… what was that?”

“What was what?”

“Your face,” he circled his finger in his direction. “Evan?”

Remus shook his head.

“James?”

He shook his head.

“Barty.”

He didn’t even need to say anything, just maintained a mild-mannered neutral expression and Sirius saw through him immediately. 

“I love that we hate the same people,” he grinned.

“I do not hate him,” Remus amended with a furrowed brow. 

“Ah, that’s right, my apologies, Teach,” Sirius raised his hands in surrender. “You’re too pure of heart to hate, I’d imagine.”

“He’s just…”

“You don’t have to explain it to me, Moons, I get it.”

“Mm,” Remus murmured, watching Sirius twist around to let some of the water out. He did this periodically, releasing some of the stale water and replacing it with fresh, steaming water instead. It kept the bath the perfect temperature, and Remus felt himself relax infinitesimally at the new addition. Sirius raised himself up to scoop more salts in, following it with a heaping capful of the bubble bath, some recipe in his head that made for the softest bath water Remus had ever felt. 

“Think it’s related to all that stuff we talked about.”

“Hm?”

“I feel sort of protective about you, I guess.”

Sirius smiled faintly at that, leaning back against his side of the tub. 

“Territorial, I think, was the word,” he murmured. 

Remus flushed a bit at that, hoping the heat of the water was enough to cover it up. 

“Yeah, something like that.”

They were quiet for a while. 

“You’re not… threatened by…?”

“Barty?” 

Sirius nodded. 

“No, it’s not…” He thought for a moment, trying to find the right words. “I’m not worried about Barty.” He couldn’t help it, he smiled a little. The idea of being threatened by Barty, of all people. He was annoying, if anything, but not a threat. “I just don’t like the way he looks at you.”

“How’s that?”

Remus tilted his head, considering his words.

“Like he could get you, if he wanted to.”

Sirius’s eyebrows rose at that. 

“Like he could touch you, if he felt like it,” he further clarified, trying to relax his jaw from where it’d tightened a bit. 

“Hm,” Sirius grazed his fingertips across the water. “But you’re not worried.”

“No.”

“Because you know…”

It was really unfair of him to speak when he was doing that thing again — that thing where he seemed to absorb all the light in any given room and glow from within. He didn’t change anything, and yet, suddenly it was difficult for Remus to focus on anything other than the droplet of water drifting down from Sirius’s collarbone, beading slowly until it joined the bathwater cradling his chest. 

“Yeah, I know…” He swallowed roughly, unable to find the rest of his words. Was that bead of moisture bathwater or sweat? 

“What, Moons?”

He was taunting him, he could tell, and yet there was nothing for it. Sirius, even when teasing him, was the most magnetic force he’d ever encountered. Maybe even more so, when he was being playful. When he was gathering up the hair from the back of his neck, water dripping off his arms, showing off the muscles that shined a bit in the candlelight with the effort. And all the while, silver eyes watching every change in Remus’s expression, the very dilation of his pupils. 

“Know you can take care of yourself,” Remus finished with effort, diverting his eyes to the ceiling just to clear his head enough to speak. 

“Hm.”

“Hm,” Remus repeated, raising his eyebrows with a faint smile.  “What?”

It clearly wasn’t the answer he was looking for. 

Sirius let down his hair and watched him mercilessly, resting his arms against the porcelain edge of the tub, relaxing further down. 

“Just thought you were going to say something else.”

“Like what?” 

Maybe it was the feverish temperature of the room, the fog of the mirrored vanity, but he couldn’t properly participate in a conversation right now, couldn’t possibly imagine what came next. He was too locked in on the perfect blush to Sirius’s cheeks from the heat, the way his lips looked a little misted from the water. 

“You know I’m yours.”

That felt good.

Hearing it so simply from Sirius’s lips. It was so obvious, now more than ever, that they belonged to one another. But still… he liked hearing him say it. 

“Say it again,” he requested. He meant it gently, but something about the quiet of his voice came across low, gravelly even. 

“I’m yours,” Sirius acquiesced immediately. 

There was something so entrancing about the man when he was like this, open and wanting. Always the loudest person in the room, so confident and interested and vibrant, and Remus got to see him like this — at his most malleable, soft and melted and warm. 

“C’mere,” he murmured, and it was all it took for Sirius to cross the tub, a simple rearrangement of limbs until he was settled on his lap, and God, that felt good, too. 

“Mine,” Remus mused softly, bringing a hand up to brush back some of the hair that threatened to obscure his silver gaze. 

Sweat. 

The moisture on his collarbone, it was definitely sweat.

Remus could tell because of the taste, salty and earthy and sweet when he licked a devoted line up the man’s chest, landing heavy kisses just behind his ear. 

“You like being reminded, don’t you?”

Sirius nodded, his breath fractured and shallow in his ear. 

Remus let his hands wander, first to the strong back where the very ends of his dripping wet hair coasted down broad shoulder blades. Then, slowly, beneath the water. The generous crest of Sirius’s perfect ass, just as glorious as it always was. The perfect handful, so soft under the water, his thumbs able to rest easily where his hips met his thighs. 

“Don’t like going this long,” Remus murmured. 

“Hm?” Sirius was all flushed cheeks and half mast eyes, his hands doing their own exploring of Remus’s shoulders, his biceps, the back of his neck. 

“Been too long since I saw you come.”

Sirius huffed a short exhale against his neck at that.

“It’s been two days, Moons.”

“Too long.”

He captured those misted pink lips, finally, nearly moaning at the first taste of him. 

God, this man was addicting. It didn’t matter how often he got the privilege, how frequently his lips met his own, it always came with a deep flood of something alchemical to his bloodstream. 

He licked into his mouth like a man starved, tilting his head the way he needed him, cradling the side of his neck, his jaw with a warm hand. The man in his arms followed every direction, every movement, matching him kiss for kiss with feverish enthusiasm until his lips were buzzing with the contact. It was just Sirius, his entire focus. All other worries drifted from his mind like the sun beating away the clouds.  

“Mine, right?” Remus muttered between kisses.

He nodded, humming from deep within his chest.

“Mine to take care of, then.”

He felt the undeniable swelling of Sirius getting hard against his torso and wasted no time bringing a hand down to brush along the length of him. 

Sirius practically shivered in his arms. 

“Talk more, please,” he requested. More of an exhale into his ear than anything else. 

Remus faltered at that, roaming hands still massaging the flesh of his thighs under the water, his ass, his lower back. 

“You want me to talk?”

Sirius pulled back just slightly so he could look him in the eye, gray gaze intent as he nodded. “I like your voice.”

He’d never thought much about his voice before, never terribly fond of it nor concerned about it. It just was. But now, Sirius was looking at him like he needed something, and if there was one thing he’d learned since meeting the man, it was that he was incapable of leaving him wanting for anything at all. 

“I can talk,” he nodded, only slightly bluffing as his mind raced, briefly, to figure out what on earth he was going to say. 

He was relieved of the worry when Sirius kissed him again, and all thoughts went out the window. Like a flame reignited, he narrowed his focus to the only important thing - Sirius, in his arms. Sirius, desperate for something he needed.

It was relief, he realized, coursing through his chest. Relief to return to this simpler mode of communication, to meet through touch and taste, the very feel of Sirius’s lips beneath his own a great homecoming.

He soon took him in hand, a gravitational pull that brought his palm to where he needed him most, and he watched with fascinated eyes as the man wilted against him with a whine, a near immediate reaction. 

“See that?” he murmured with wonder. “You’re desperate for it.”

Sirius nodded fervently, angling himself up higher on his knees as if to push his cock further into Remus’s grip. He wasn’t taking the direction, stilling the motion entirely and just holding him there. 

“I kept you waiting and now look at you.”

It was a cacophony of panted breaths, a long pause in which Remus held him in every sense of the word, leaning forward just to leave a lingering peck on his lips. Sirius followed immediately, chasing him into another kiss he was quick to return, licking into his mouth without once moving his hand. 

“So needy.”

He stroked lazily, more feeling the soft skin of him than anything else, and Sirius bit his bottom lip, brows furrowed. A soft whine escaped his perfect lips.

“You’re so pretty like this,” Remus said honestly, nosing along the sharp angle of his jaw, pressing a lingering kiss to his skin. “Pretty, always.”

Sirius smiled faintly at that.

“But like this…”

He returned to him with a firm grip, finding a consistent rhythm slowly but surely, “Wonder how long I can make this last…”

He only managed a few more strokes before Sirius shuddered, so sensitive that Remus had to release him entirely, returning his hands to his thighs, rubbing back and forth soothingly. 

“Alright?” he checked in gently.

“Good,” Sirius nodded, swallowing roughly as his eyes cleared a bit and he straightened up. 

“How are your knees?”

His hands drifted to where the man on top of him was resting most of his weight, gently brushing his thighs as he went. 

“A little sore.”

“Here, put more weight on me,” he suggested, urging Sirius to rest more fully on his lap, rearranging a bit until they found a more suitable position, water sloshing all the while. 

“Okay?” Sirius asked softly. 

“Good, actually,” Remus’s brows furrowed as he became thoroughly distracted by the new sensation of Sirius’s erection brushing inconsistently against his own. “Really good.”

Sirius liked that response, clearly, because he started moving his hips, just barely, in these intoxicating little rotations that had him seeing stars. 

It got him distracted. 

Distracted by the feel of him, yes, but also the way the water looked catching the candlelight as it lapped eagerly at Sirius’s torso, the firm muscle underneath those tattoos.

“I’m not coming first,” Remus warned through the heavy breaths that seemed harder to come by now. 

“Are you sure?” Sirius teased, back arching.

“I want to see you, first,” he answered honestly, and the man in his arms paused immediately. 

He brought his hand back to Sirius’s cock, the perfect weight of it, and watched as he let out a little moan, a sigh that gained momentum against his chest as he leaned into it. 

It was slow, at first, the way he tightened his grip just enough to get the man in his arms to stare at him with dilated pupils, lips just parted. And then it was faster, just enough to get him to curse under his breath, to tilt his hips up again desperately. Hopefully.

“That’s it, love,” he encouraged, rocking him closer. 

Sirius gripped the back of his neck. 

“Wanna take my time with you,” Remus murmured against his ear, remembering vaguely that the man wanted him to talk. He wasn’t sure if he was doing it right by just saying every thought that came into his head, but it was better than nothing.

“Not sure how much time I have, Moons,” Sirius grimaced softly, hands gripping the porcelain.

Remus slid his hand away and watched with amazed eyes as Sirius breathed in and out deeply, trying to control his reaction as he did his best to still all motion. Even the water’s movement seemed to tantalize him.

“You’re perfect,” he murmured reverently, kissing the man’s shoulder and giving him a second before he returned his hands to his torso, sliding up to graze his nipples where they shined a deep blushed pink from the heat of the water.

“Fuck.”

“Hm?”

“Feels really good.”

He meant to give him more time — more than just a minute of breaths back and forth, gentle hands exploring wet skin unhurriedly — but it was like an internal instinct, something deep in his chest that couldn’t leave good enough alone. 

“Tell me when you get close again,” he requested, gently returning his hand to where the man needed him most.

Sirius sighed roughly at the contact. 

“I won’t be able to stop,” he warned, almost apologetic as he leaned his head back. It left the perfect column of his neck available for Remus to cover in devoted kisses. 

“You will,” he promised. “I’ve got you.”

Sirius nodded.

He meant to go slow. Really, he did, but he didn’t anticipate how intoxicating it would be to feel the man’s pulse in his palm, to watch the same rhythm dancing against the hollow of his throat. 

He set a steady pace, eyes never leaving his favorite face as his features contorted in intrigue and then sweet agony.

“Moons…”

He grazed his teeth along his collarbone and Sirius whined again. 

“Fuck, I love the sounds you make,” he admitted in a growl, almost a complaint. His grip tightened, just barely, and the man groaned. “Like you can’t help it.”

“Can’t,” he panted into his ear. “You…”

He went faster, taking his signals off of Sirius’s heightened breaths.

“What?”

The answer was only a whimper, something so fragile it went straight to Remus’s head. That same something that blossomed in his chest came roaring back now, the deep desire to take care of him, to quench whatever thirst he had, to provide something he needed.

“Close, close, close, I’m close,” Sirius confessed in a hushed ramble.

Remus released him immediately, letting the water rush around him in his absence, and watched with fascinated eyes as Sirius gasped, an involuntary intake of air. 

“Shit…” he winced, once again gripping onto the porcelain with strong hands, tendons flexing over his knuckles.

Remus brought a hand up to his dark hair, pushing it gently back behind his ear, kissing the corner of his jaw gently. 

“Alright?” he checked softly, scanning every inch of the man’s face in the limited light of the low-burning candles.

“Good,” he confirmed with a short nod, taking another deep breath. 

“You’re doing so well,” Remus murmured, giving him another long moment before he pressed a loving kiss to his wrist, his flexed forearm, the tensed muscle of his bicep. 

“I can get closer,” Sirius decided determinedly, rolling his shoulders and relaxing his posture a bit, eyes still fluttered shut.

“You don’t have to,” Remus assured him, waiting until those silver eyes were open and on him again before he continued. “We can stop whenever you want.”

“I know,” he nodded fervently. “I want to keep going.”

Remus attempted to keep his mind focused and ignore the primal wave of attraction that rolled over him as he watched Sirius, practically panting, saying he wanted to continue like this. 

“How long?”

“Until you think I’ve had enough.”

He said it so quickly, so easily, it took Remus a moment to register it in his lust-addled brain. His body, however, reacted immediately, his own cock practically jolting where it throbbed between them. 

“You sure you don’t want me to take care of that?” Sirius mused through a lazy smile. So unbearably cute, regardless of the circumstance.

“I’m sure,” Remus smiled back, unable to help it.

“You like making me go first.”

Remus only nodded at that, hands finding his thighs again, thumbs rubbing absentminded circles against his skin under the water. 

“Can I kiss you?” Sirius asked more earnestly, something hesitant in the question that made his heart melt. 

“Always,” Remus responded immediately, already halfway through the lean it took to bring their lips together. Something soft, and sweet, and completely at odds with the way their bodies were still practically vibrating with anticipation under the water. 

They parted only to refresh the water again, more bubbles dutifully returning to full bloom as Sirius’s diligent hands tended to the temperature. He paused to relax his body further into the tub, allowing the warm water to lap over his shoulders, the goosebumps on his flesh dissolving at its touch. 

Remus could do nothing but admire him, heart thundering damningly loud in his chest as he watched the man run a hand through his own hair, his fingertips trailing down his neck, grazing over his collarbone, his chest, the dark hair across his abdomen, drifting down until he had himself in hand, stroking almost absentmindedly. 

“Baby.”

“Hm?” Sirius hummed, gray eyes fluttering open. 

“Mine.”

It was all he had to say for Sirius’s hand to still, for him to release his cock entirely with a smile that said he knew exactly what he was doing. 

Remus pulled him back onto his lap, a little rough in the way he hoped aligned with what Sirius said before. He liked that, right? He’d said that… 

He had no time to second guess himself, the answer clear before his eyes as Sirius grinned something brilliant at being dragged back on top of him. 

“Did I do something wrong, Moons?” he murmured teasingly, letting out a laugh at the strong hands that pulled him over until, quite suddenly, he wasn’t laughing anymore. Because Remus had his cock in his hand and he was stroking at a relentless pace. Soon the man in his arms could barely get a breath in, let alone a laugh.

“Moons,” Sirius panted, and it sounded entirely different from the last time he said it. 

“What, love?”

“Can’t…”

He twisted on every pull, the water sloshing in obscene rhythm as he grazed Sirius’s neck with his teeth, a light touch that had the man’s back arching immediately. 

He brought his other hand there, supporting him, pulling him closer.

“Mine,” he repeated against the shell of his ear, something feral pumping through his veins as he watched the man writhe in his arms.

“Yours…”

It was a symphony of sounds, making him dizzy. Sirius’s voice echoing off the walls of the room, pitching up with every little gasp, hands slipping against the porcelain as he tried to ground himself with something. And Remus, all the while, relentless, devoted, consistent. 

“C-Close…” 

It barely sounded like a word, mixed in so thoroughly with the other sounds, but it was the only thing to stop him. Remus released him immediately, pulling his hand back as if burned, and watched as Sirius whined at the loss, folding forward with a groan of what sounded like genuine anguish. 

“So good, baby,” he murmured, brushing back the curtain of dark hair that separated them as Sirius’s chest heaved. “So perfect.”

“Fuck.”

“You’re doing so well.”

He peppered kisses up his shoulder, across his chest, light little things to ground him as he regulated his breathing. 

“You alright?”

“So fucking good,” Sirius mumbled, looking up from under his lashes with an exhilarated smile that nearly made his heart burst. 

He kissed him lazily, head buzzing from the thrill of having him so close again and again. It was like an electric current between them, something invisible but deeply felt. Maybe it was the inconsistent but crucial contact he himself was getting — against the warm water, Sirius’s soft skin — but there was also something else there. Something he was certain would get him off even if his own body was isolated, out of the equation. Just watching Sirius like this, feeling the trust in his own hands, knowing he needed him, in some way. 

It was beyond what he expected. 

“Are you good?” Sirius hummed as he pulled back from their kiss, biting his lip in a way that made him immediately want to devour him. 

“I’m really good,” he confirmed, unable to hold back his smile at the pleased look the man in his arms afforded him. 

“I see you thinking.”

He paused at that, scanning the silver eyes that evaluated him curiously. 

“Care to share?” Sirius mused. 

Fuck, if he wasn’t the cutest person on the planet.

“Care to share?” Remus repeated with a huff of a laugh, pressing a kiss to the underside of his jaw with a bemused sigh. Words, Sirius needed words. What could he offer him, when his head was full of buzzing bees and clouded fluff? “Surely you know.”

Sirius only blinked at him, mercilessly. 

Waiting him out.

“Watching you get off is the single hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” Remus finally admitted, finding no better way to say it than just saying it. 

Sirius froze at the statement, eyes scanning his features rapidly as his smile flickered before returning at twice the brightness. “Yeah?”

He nodded, entranced, pecking his lips again and again until the truth came easy, “Can’t believe how long it’s been…”

“Two days, Moons,” Sirius laughed again, but it faltered as Remus trailed his fingertips up his ribcage, reverent. 

“Want you to feel good all the time,” he admitted.

Sirius pecked his lips again and he returned it eagerly. 

“You make me feel good all the time.”

“Well, you deserve it,” Remus said, not even thinking about it. He was just acknowledging a simple truth, but the man in his arms looked at him like he’d solved world peace, silver eyes alight with something new, fragile, even. 

He’d asked him to talk more, so he was trying. 

“It’s gonna sound strange…”

“Say it,” Sirius requested in a warm murmur, one of his hands tracing up the side of his neck, his ear, dripping water between them. 

“Feel like…” he trailed off, distracted again by the feel of him under his hands as he continued exploring his skin beneath the water. Nothing intentional, just an absentminded sweep over his thighs, his hips. Still, Sirius was so sensitive he let out the occasional little sigh that kept his head buzzing, kept his mouth loose enough to keep talking. “Feel like I want to take care of you…”

“Not strange.”

“But it’s like I want to… tend to you?” Remus caught his eye with a squint, trying to find the right words and failing. 

“Tend?”

“Like…” he kneaded the warm skin under his fingertips absentmindedly, “I don’t know, like you’re a garden or something, I want to…” 

“Tend to me?” Sirius repeated with a light laugh, and he would’ve felt embarrassed by it if it weren’t for the undiluted affection he could see behind those silver eyes. 

“Fuck off,” he grumbled but there was no heat in it, appeased easily by Sirius’s fingers weaving through the hair at the back of his neck. “Like I can feel it, when you need me.”

The smile faltered just a bit, the fingers slowing in their ministrations. 

“And I want to…” he trailed off, hands sliding back to the perfect swell of his ass, propping him up a bit so he had better access. “…give you… what you need…”

Sirius hummed at that, a sound that would’ve been nonchalant if it weren’t for the parting of his lips that followed, the slightest shakiness to his breath. 

“Feel it even more now,” he murmured into his neck, hands spreading him apart until he could dip down further with wandering fingertips. He circled his entrance lightly, no pressure in it, but Sirius folded forward like he’d been punched, leaning his forehead against him as if for support. 

“Remus...”

It was all Moons and Moony, all fun and games, until suddenly it was Remus. Then he knew he was close. 

“You feel tight, baby,” he murmured. “Wound up.”

“I…” Sirius started, but quickly stopped speaking once he gently pushed past that tight ring of muscle, massaging in and out slowly. He took his time, peppering absentminded kisses on the side of the man’s face, moving in and out and in again. 

“You’re so full…” 

Sirius nodded.

“Pent up...”

Sirius arched his back.

“Need to release it.”

What was he even saying? It made sense, to him, somewhere deep in his gut, but he had no idea if it was doing anything for Sirius until the man whined a fevered, “Please,” into his ear. 

“Think you’ve waited long enough.”

Sirius nodded, delirious, and it was all he needed to add a second finger. 

He winced, just barely, and Remus froze. 

“Good, good, it’s good,” Sirius released on a sigh before he could even ask, encouraging him to continue with a roll of his hips. “Fuck, like that…”

He was getting himself off on his fingers, he realized, watching in awe as he gripped onto his shoulders and started finding his own rhythm. Remus helped support him, sighing roughly as the pressure of his movement brushed up against his own hard length again and again in the process. 

“Please…”

It was all it took for him to take over, sliding his fingers devotedly in and out of him with an intentional angle, aiming for that bundle of nerves he knew would have him seeing stars. 

“Look how badly you need it…” he murmured reverently, realizing suddenly that his own breath was hard to find. 

“Need,” Sirius echoed on a whine. 

“Need me to…?”

“Please, please, please…”

It was a frantic exchange, and he wasn’t sure who was more desperate at the end. Sirius, on the brink, or Remus, dying to deliver it to him. Either way, they worked in tandem. Sirius, practically vibrating on top of him, writhing up and down in stilted jolts. Remus, massaging devotedly until he finally heard the man’s breath stutter with a gasp, his entire body tensing as he leaned his weight forward against him. 

“Just like that, baby,” Remus whispered through the effort, one hand still sliding in and out on a determined rhythm while the other slipped between them to wrap around his cock. 

Sirius groaned, something deep from within his chest, and the rumble of it set something off in Remus. He moaned back, not realizing until this moment how much he’d been holding back in a house of shared walls. 

“Wanna…” Sirius reached between them, hovering his hand over Remus’s own length with barely contained desire. “Please.”

“Okay,” he couldn’t deny him anything. 

Okay?

What happened to the plan? Sirius was supposed to go first, but now he wanted something, only asked for it once, and it was his. He wasted no time, either, quickly wrapping Remus’s cock in his own hand and setting a relentless, matching pace. 

“Fuck, honey…” Remus panted, all of his own desire coming back online with a sudden, startling clarity. He channeled all of it into his treatment of Sirius, devotedly keeping the best rhythm he could until he felt the man shiver, his grip loosening on his cock as he scrambled to hold Remus’s shoulder instead. 

Remus doubled his efforts, had him exactly where he wanted him. 

“You first, remember?” he muttered, almost an explanation for why he refused to slow down, refused to give him an ounce of recovery, his brows furrowed in concentration. 

It was so hot in this room. 

He couldn’t tell if it was the bath anymore, or them, only that sweat was dripping off of both of them, the smell so radiant against the calm lavender that Remus thought, briefly, that he might cry. 

So exquisite was the sensory reality around him — the heat of the water against his skin, the smell of sweat and sex amidst the bath oils, the sight of Sirius falling apart in front of him… It didn’t take much, in the end. 

“Just like that…”

A simple twist of the wrist, the right angle of his fingertips at just the right moment and Sirius came with a shocked cry, his entire body convulsing in his arms as his cock all but erupted between them. Remus felt it in his palm, held it in his hands, watching in awe as it seemed to go on forever. It was nothing short of glorious, watching the man bloom in front of his eyes, his sun-kissed skin radiant under the candlelight’s glow, his silver eyes glazed over as wave after wave of pleasure took him. And all the while, Remus held him through it, murmuring soft praise. 

“On me,” Sirius was murmuring, frantically almost. 

“You’re good, baby, I have you,” he promised, gently removing his hands from the most sensitive parts of him to offer grounding touches to his legs, his arms. 

“No, no,” he shook his head, eyes still half mast, lips wet and wanting. “Come on me. Now.”

Surprise jolted through his system, a zap down his spine. 

“All over me, please, please…”

Sirius slipped away shakily, just enough to recline against the other end of the bath, a blissed out serenity on his face as his body recovered from the shocks of his orgasm. The warm water met him eagerly, the last remaining bubbles flocking to his skin, and he wanted only one thing. 

“Moony, please.”

He could never deny him anything. 

Besides, the stunning clarity of his own desire had already catapulted back to him like a boomerang, his cock suddenly aching with need now that Sirius was taken care of. It wasn’t helped at all by the man he loved begging, now, like he was.

Remus had himself in hand without a second thought, focusing only on Sirius, flushed and panting, recovering so beautifully in the flickering candlelight.

“Feels so good, Moons…” 

It was like he was beckoning him closer and closer to the edge, just by watching with that silver-laden gaze. And all the while, Remus stroked himself determinedly, unable to stop now if he tried. Sirius had said ‘now’. Immediately. He could give him that. 

He must’ve been letting some of the water out. He realized it, deliriously, as more and more of Sirius’s torso became visible to him. The water level was drifting, lowering and lowering, and it felt like another time limit, encouraging him to go faster. 

Now, he’d said. 

Sirius, sprawled out, soaking wet, soft skin glistening in the low amber light. His chest, his stomach, slowly revealing more and more with each passing second. He looked like a siren, again, like some creature of the sea, his lower half concealed as the water cradled the curves of his biceps, his beloved hands certain as they traced across his own chest enticingly. 

And all the while, water dwindling.

Candles melting.

Sirius, waiting.

“Remus, please.”

Just a simple request. 

That was all it took, and he came instantly. 

It exploded from him with a guttural moan, a full body surrender that left his brows furrowed in shock. It was all he could do to aim, watching in awe as stripes of his cum coated Sirius’s chest, his neck, his torso. It was a release he felt in every cell of his body, a wave of illumination that left him with a chill on every follicle, a feeling that was only made better by the satisfaction on Sirius’s face. 

“Fuck, Moons,” he moaned appreciatively, sliding a hand up his own skin to glide through the mess carelessly. 

He was so unbearably beautiful — radiating, glowing — making Remus feel so incredibly seen as he came down with shaky, panting breaths. He almost closed his eyes, and thank God he didn’t. He would’ve missed the sight of Sirius licking his cum off his own fingers, moaning at the taste.

“Baby,” he all but croaked, completely gone for him, watching with amazed amber eyes as Sirius glanced over casually, as if surprised to find him watching.

“Yes?” 

Could you propose to someone twice?

Remus was on the verge.

It was all he could do to cross the bath, sliding over to Sirius’s side and catching his lips with his own in a fervent kiss. He tasted himself, tasted Sirius, tasted forever somewhere in that kiss and Sirius met him for every touch, spreading the mess between them as they slid further into bubbles left behind by the slowly draining tub. 

It was halfway through the next day that Mary barreled back into his life with a phone that wouldn’t stop ringing. 

He was kissing Sirius, again. Minding his business, really, while the late morning sunlight flooded into the room through the generous bay window of Sirius’s primary suite. 

Sirius had shown him that kissing itself could be a comprehensive communication, an unhurried experience and this morning was no different. They were enjoying their day of no obligations, and he had him right where he wanted him — reclined against the sheets, sprawled out and comfortable, lips buzzing with the elongated contact. 

Short, sweet things back and forth, followed by warm, dizzying spells of Sirius’s honey sweet tongue numbing his mind entirely. It was a devotional task, a grounding force, and Remus had no intention of stopping whatsoever until his phone rang. 

“Get it,” Sirius urged him, offering permission as his thumb stroked his cheek and he stared up at him with a faint smile. 

“Don’t want to,” Remus kissed him again, and that was all it took until his phone rang… again. 

And again.

And again. 

“Could be an emergency, Moons.”

“This is very urgent,” Remus disagreed, pecking his lips a final time before he reluctantly rolled back to the bedside table and grabbed his vibrating phone.

MARY

lit up the display, and he actually did pale a bit at the realization. 

Fuck, he forgot about Mary. 

“OH, SO YOU’RE ALIVE, I ASSUME,” Mary’s voice boomed through the phone so loudly Remus opted to put her on speaker for the sake of his ear drums. 

“Hi, Mary,” he murmured sheepishly. 

“Where the hell have you been?”

“...France?”

“FRANCE,” Mary repeated incredulously. She was clearly walking somewhere, he could hear the sounds of traffic in the distance and the wind cutting between her breaths. “With that strangely beautiful man, I assume?”

Sirius wagged his eyebrows at this, biting his lip over a smile that was far too pleased with himself as Remus choked back a laugh.

“Yes, with Sirius.”

“And just when am I meeting this Sirius?”

“Well…” he trailed off, scanning the room for an answer only to land back on the man nestled in his sheets. The sun loved him, played in the strands of his dark hair, coasted beautifully over his chest, his tattoos…

“Remus!”

Mary’s voice snapped him back to attention. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he sat up a bit, intentionally diverting his eyes from the man who could distract him no matter what. “Soon, you’ll meet him soon.”

“Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday…” she started listing off, clearly not settling for a vague promise. “Lily’s apparently already gotten to know him. She won’t tell me a damn thing, but I’m feeling extraordinarily behind. Left out, even.”

“I’m sorry, Mary, you’ll meet him.”

“When?”

He glanced over to Sirius who was still, infuriatingly, looking adorable, doing nothing but trailing his fingertips absentmindedly over the duvet.

‘Thursday,’ he mouthed helpfully. 

“Thursday?” Remus repeated into the receiver. 

“I can do that,” Mary replied immediately, “Take me somewhere with a bar, I beg of you, and you’re buying my drinks. I don’t care that you’re a poor little teacher.”

Sirius had to actively hold back a laugh at that. 

“Oh, and Remus?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell your little boyfriend I say hi.”

Remus opened his mouth, then closed it, stuck on what to say when suddenly the line went dead. 

Sirius finally let out his laugh. 

“Oh, I like her.”

“She’s something,” Remus agreed with a soft shake of his head, tossing the phone aside so he could return to his favorite task —  enjoying Sirius. 

He slid back into his waiting arms with a long sigh, burying his face in the crook of the man’s neck and taking a much needed inhale of his perfect scent. Fingers started weaving through his hair immediately, and he realized, distractedly, that this must be what heaven felt like. 

Nowhere to go, nothing to do. 

Sirius scratching softly against his scalp with devoted fingertips. 

Sunlight warming the sheets.

It was this comfort that encouraged his bravery. 

“Are you busy next weekend?” Remus asked, pulling his head back just enough to look at the silver eyes that coasted over his face curiously. 

“Prep for the show, but nothing set in stone,” Sirius replied.

“I’m supposed to go to Wales,” Remus offered hesitantly, stealing one of his roaming hands, if only to have something to fidget with. He played with his fingers absentmindedly, “I’d like you to come, if you want.”

Sirius’s expression, once soft with relaxation, now blossomed into something terribly tender and hopeful and sweet. “Yeah?”

“Told you I wanted you to…” Remus murmured teasingly, if only to dilute some of the unbearable affection in his chest. 

“I wasn’t sure how soon.”

“Soon,” he confirmed with a nod. 

He’d yet to inform his mother of the added company, but he knew it wouldn’t be a problem. Hope had the extra room and she’d never turned anyone away, whether a neighbor or a stray cat. He’d call her tomorrow, fill her in with the necessary details so she knew the most important parts, but he had no question that it would be more than welcome. 

“I’ve never…” he trailed off, brows furrowing. “I’ve never taken anyone to meet my mother.”

Sirius stilled at this. 

“Not because she’s scary,” he promised, remembering how nervous Sirius had been at the prospect, even before they were engaged. “If anything, it’s the opposite. She gets attached.”

“Oh,” Sirius watched him with tentative eyes.

“I’ve never had anyone I wanted her to get attached to,” he explained, “…until now.”

“Until now,” Sirius repeated, a brilliant little smile rapidly growing on his expression. 

He smiled back, unable to help it. 

“Yeah.”

They were quiet for a time, simply playing with their tangled fingers, exchanging little kisses to one another’s knuckles. 

“It’s the Spring equinox festival,” Remus confessed finally.

“Sorry?”

“The…” he sighed. 

Sirius smiled, faintly, but didn’t rush him as he went on.

“It’s the Spring equinox festival, my mother sort of runs it every year and there’s… Well, it’s astoundingly ridiculous, to tell you the truth, but I love it,” he confessed with a sympathetic grimace. “There’s a maypole and carnival games and some element of gambling that’s probably not entirely legal, and I go every year.” He scanned Sirius’s face for any sign of running for the hills. “Just so you know what you’re getting into…”

Sirius, if anything, was beaming. 

“I can’t wait.”

“Really?” he evaluated him for any signs of deception. 

“Really,” he laughed. “I can’t believe you’re surprised. You had me at maypole.”

They spent the rest of the day in bed, watching horrible reality television on the monstrosity of a screen Sirius had taking up half the wall, tangled up around each other with hands running through hair and tracing up spines. They ordered in food because he had nothing in his fridge but a lonesome jar of pickles after two weeks away. They took a late afternoon nap and when they woke up, they devoured snacks standing around the kitchen island, elbow to elbow, offering bites up between them of leftovers and cookies found in the cupboard. When night fell, they talked until it was far past Remus’s usual bed time for a school night, and when he pulled out his phone to set an alarm, Sirius perked up like a dog offered a bone.

“What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Remus muttered blearily, his free hand rubbing his eyes. If he set an alarm for six he’d could get to the train on time, though he’d probably miss saying goodbye to Sirius who would surely still be asleep at that hour. 

“Your background.”

“My...?” 

It took him a moment to register what he was talking about, but the second it dawned on him, he immediately threw his phone against the pillow. 

“That’s me!” Sirius grinned, launching over him to grab at the device.

This is when long limbs came in handy. Remus had no problem snatching it out of his grasp and holding it over head, out of reach. He almost had it, too, until Sirius straddled his hips, a knee on either side of him, overpowering him just enough to weasel the phone out of his hands and roll away with it to the other side of the bed. 

Remus slid across the mattress, but it was too late. The man was already practically nose to the screen, silver eyes alight with its glow.

“Moony!”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Where did you get this?”

He turned the phone around, as if Remus didn’t know his own background.

It was a shot of Sirius on karaoke night. Dorcas got an incredible photo of him from her spot near the stage, snapped at some point during the several minutes Remus was distracted admiring him from deeper in the crowd. It was Sirius, hands cradling the mic, gaze fixed on a spot in the distance, singing, surely, to Remus. 

“Can I have my phone back now, please?”

There was nothing for it. 

Sirius was smiling. Beaming, actually, cradling the phone to his chest and staring at him mercilessly. 

“Dorcas got some pictures, alright?” Remus cleared his throat. “And I asked her to send me one or two.”

“One or two,” Sirius repeated with a nod.

“…or ten.”

“Moony!” 

Blushing, he was definitely blushing now. He could feel the heat rising on his face, which was ridiculous. They were literally engaged to be wed. Why did this, of all things, embarrass him? It’s not like his feelings were a secret at this point. 

Still, Sirius dropped the phone, clambering on top of him with the sweetest smile and delivering no less than a dozen kisses to his cheeks, his forehead, the sensitive skin of his throat.

“You ridiculous man.”

“Yes, well…” He didn’t have anything to say to that, only slightly appeased by the doting affection, still unable to make eye contact. 

“I want one.”

“What?”

“I need a background,” Sirius determined with a furrowed brow, sitting up to reach over to the bedside table for his phone. “Smile pretty.”

“No!” Remus complained immediately, covering his face as Sirius immediately began snapping a relentless series of photos.

“Please, Moons, c’mon,” he complained, ducking down to try to get around his hands and failing miserably. 

“No, no, I’m horrible in photos, barely tolerable in person, leave it.”

“Hey!”

“What?”

“That’s my future husband you’re talking shit about.”

That got him to smile. Something stupid and dopey that coincided with an immediate eye roll and that was the photo Sirius got, finally, snapped before he could hide it. 

“Baby…” Remus complained, but it was too late. He was already setting it as his background and his contact photo, pleased with himself. 

“Thank you,” Sirius smiled, genuinely, and it was enough to ease the last of the discomfort in his gut. If the most beautiful man on the planet wanted a photo of the most average-looking school teacher in the world, who was he to stop him?

He leaned forward, kissing his lips soundly before they turned out the lights. 

The next day his alarm went off, astoundingly, at six in the morning. He had no right to be shocked, having been the one to set it, and yet he couldn’t help the groan that emerged from his lips as he rolled over to quickly shut it off before it could wake Sirius. 

Too late. 

The man was already stretching out, elegant limbs a little lazy with sleep but still successful in reaching their ultimate target - every inch of Remus available. He was pulled immediately back into the warm arms of the man he loved, enveloped completely until they were nothing but a tangle in the sheets. The dim light of the dawn glowed valiantly through the edges of the black out curtains. 

“You sleep in,” Remus murmured. An instruction, a request. He had to get up and go to work, but Sirius didn’t. At least, he didn’t have to go to the studio right away. One of them should get to enjoy a few more hours of sleep. 

“You stay here,” Sirius murmured back, clearly still more asleep than awake as he buried his face in his neck and took a deep inhale that left goosebumps on Remus’s skin. 

This was a problem. 

He’d never had to leave Sirius before.

He should’ve granted himself an extra fifteen minutes, at least, to reckon with the inordinately heartbreaking devastation that came with the idea of removing himself from these sheets and leaving the man he loved. 

“I have to go,” his mouth said, but his arms tightened around him in contradiction, his heart clenching at the feel of Sirius’s hand slipping up the back of his shirt. 

Closer, closer, closer. 

“Five more minutes,” Sirius requested in a soft sigh. 

Remus wondered, vaguely, how much he really cared about this job, anyway. He’d only been a teacher for the last decade. Only impacted lives every day and made a difference in the world and enjoyed his job an indescribable amount. What did that matter when he had Sirius Black glued to his side, sleepy and tender and soft, asking for five more minutes?

“Five more minutes,” he agreed, immediately, pressing a warm kiss to his forehead, brushing back some of his long hair. 

It was actually eight minutes before he untangled himself from Sirius’s side, using a force of will he wasn’t aware he possessed and leaving half a dozen apology kisses to his sleepy expression. He brushed his teeth and washed his face and borrowed one of Sirius’s oversized sweaters, if only to smell like the man a little longer.

It was only when he’d finally grabbed his stuff and headed to the door that he remembered the watch he’d left behind, doubling back only to find Sirius out of bed, leaning against the doorframe and blinking the sleep from his eyes. 

“I woke you up,” Remus muttered, guilt quickly melting into fondness as Sirius reached his arms out, beckoning him closer. 

He wasted no time, chest to chest in just a few steps, rewarded instantly with the feel of Sirius’s heartbeat against his own, leaning up on his toes as if to get as close as possible. 

“Couldn’t let you leave without saying goodbye,” he said, pulling back just enough to grin sleepily at him in the way that made him, once again, question his loyalty to his profession. 

“I love you,” he sighed. A complaint, more than anything else. 

“I love you,” Sirius echoed immediately, leaning up to peck his lips in a gesture he was quick to return. 

“I will be back as soon as physically possible.”

“Good.”

Sirius kissed him again. 

“I will stop at my place for more clothes…”

“Boooooo.”

He snorted a laugh.

“More clothes, for work, at the very least.”

“Fine,” the stunning man rolled his eyes and Remus’s heart did a stupid little flip in his chest. 

“…and then I will be back here…”

Kiss.

“…on my knees…”

Kiss.

“…ready to worship you once more.”

Another kiss that was quickly dissolved by Sirius’s huff of laughter as he registered what he said. 

He was kidding, but not really, already counting the minutes until he could return. It was pathetic, really, how difficult it was to separate from the man who had become the epicenter of all his waking thoughts in the matter of a few weeks. 

“Have a good day at work,” Sirius said, genuinely, having no idea what havoc he was wreaking on his will power by just standing there in his boxers, gray eyes half mast with sleep, long dark hair in disarray. 

“Have a good day in the studio.”

He kissed him again, if only to feel that warmth in his chest a little longer.

“Text me really dirty things on your lunch break?” Sirius requested as he pulled back, expression serene and lovesick. 

Remus laughed at that, and it alleviated some of the morose homesickness brewing in his gut as the seconds ticked by. 

“Of course,” he agreed, shaking his head fondly before delivering a final kiss to the man’s lips and slowly managing to untangle himself one inch at a time. 

He did text him on his lunch break, but it wasn’t anything dirty. It was far more damning material. Updates on his morning, the status of the break room coffee machine, Lily’s regards, and, more than anything else, the unrelenting affection pounding through him every second for the man. 

REMUS

Class is starting up again soon.

SIRIUS

Have a good class, Teach

REMUS

Miss you.

SIRIUS

Miss you more.

REMUS

Love you.

SIRIUS

Love you more.

“Oh God, look at you smiling to yourself,” Lily wretched as she filled up her thermos with a fond eye roll. “You’re disgusting.”

REMUS

I’m being bullied.

SIRIUS

Tell Lily I say hi.

He sent a photo - a selfie of himself in one of the decrepit armchairs of the break room, Lily in the background flipping off the camera with a fond smile, and his own face, damningly fond.