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Remus swears he doesn’t do it on purpose. He does have quite a nice apartment, which he shares with Peter, but it’s just… It’s raining tonight, for like the fourth time this week. And it’s cold, and foggy and, yeah, they do live in London but it’s just so warm and cozy in Sirius’ place that the thought of putting on his coat and scarf and everything makes him want to curl into his friend and beg him to let him stay the night.
Also, Sirius doesn’t mind.
“I don’t mind,” says the man just then, as if reading Remus’ mind.
“You sure?” asks Remus, just to be polite.
“You know I don’t.” Sirius smirks. “Besides, I’ve missed you in my bed, Moons. It’s been like one whole night since…”
“Oh, shut up,” he interrupts, but returns the smirk.
They head to the bedroom and strip off their clothes. Remus puts on his pajamas, Sirius doesn’t. They get into bed, turn off the lights and wish each other good night. You know, just a regular night at their… Sirius’ home. And if legs end up intertwined and bodies pressed up against each other during the night, it’s only natural. After all, it is a cold winter night in London.
The next morning, James arrives unannounced. Remus thinks giving him a key to the place was not a very smart choice from Sirius’ part, and he confirms that thought when James bursts into the bedroom, wide-eyed and looking like death itself.
“Wake up!” he yells.
“What the…” Sirius mumbles, pushing himself up on his elbows.
“What’s wrong?” asks Remus in a groggy voice.
“Everything’s wrong!” James continues to yell. “We don’t have a place to live by ourselves! We’re students, we don’t have a sickle to our names and… We’re not even married! Oh my, my mum’s gonna kill me!”
“Prongs, hey!” Sirius cuts him off, still not getting out of bed. “Calm down, will you? And tell us what’s wrong”
“Lily…”
Remus feels a shiver run down his back. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, yes.” James takes a deep breath. “She’s pregnant”
Silence falls over the room.
“That’s…” Remus mumbles. “Good?”
“No, it’s not!” yells James.
“It’s not?” asks Sirius.
“It’s… well, yes, it’s wonderful, but…” James sits down on the edge of the bed. His hair is pointing everywhere, his glasses are askew and, judging by the smell that comes his way, he’s wearing the same clothes as the day before.
“Mate,” Sirius says, now sitting up on the bed. “Where’s Lily?”
James’ eyes finally focus on Sirius’. “At her house. She sent me an owl, she sounded…”
“And you came here?”
“What?”
“She sent you an owl and you came here?” repeats Sirius. “Are you dumb?”
James opens and closes his mouth like a fish.
“Imagine how she must be feeling, James” Remus pitches in. “I know you’re scared, but imagine what this is like for her”
James seems to think for a second, and his whole face changes immediately. “I’m a horrible boyfriend”
“No,” says Remus. “You’re a man. Now, go to Lily and tell her everything’s going to be okay. Because it will, yes? James.” He catches James’ attention with a wave of his hand. “I know the timing is not the best, but it’s okay. You love each other, you’re great together”
James smiles hesitantly. “Thanks, Moony.” He stands up and heads to the door. “Thanks guys, I’ll let you sleep now”
When he’s about to close the door, however, he turns around to look at them again. He frowns. “Why are you two sleeping together?”
Sirius and Remus turn to look at each other. Sirius returns James’ stare, shrugging. “Why not? It’s cold”
James shrugs as well, apparently content with the answer. Then he turns around and leaves.
Some days later, it seems Peter has finally had enough of his roommate disappearing every other night. They are all having tea together at Sirius’ place when he begins asking questions. It all starts as a joke, with Pete suggesting Remus seems to be doing well with the ladies considering he doesn’t ever sleep on his own bed. Remus leaves the joke going on a bit longer than necessary, in Sirius’ opinion, but finally has the decency to clear it all up to their friend. Though not in the best of ways.
“You’re wrong, Pete” he interrupts. “I’m not doing well with the ladies at all”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” Remus smiles smugly at Sirius. “But I’m doing quite alright with Sirius, if you want to know”
Peter gapes at them. “What? You mean…”
“Remus’ been sleeping in my bed, yes” says Sirius, not backing down from Remus’ game. “I’m afraid the ladies don’t know what they’re missing.” He puts a hand on top of Remus’ knee.
“Oh, honey, don’t give up any details” Remus continues, blushing.
“I think I’m going to go,” says Peter, standing up and almost knocking down the chair he’d been sitting on.
“Pete…” begins Remus.
“No, no, it’s…” he laughs uncomfortably. “It’s fine! I’m not… I’m alright with this, okay? Not that you need… It’s just, I’m okay. Just shocked. And my ma’s waiting for me to bring dinner, so”
He heads towards the door and Remus and Sirius stand up to stop him. “Pete, calm down, it was a joke,” says Sirius.
Peter laughs. “Yeah, sure.” He opens the door. “See you guys.” And he closes the door behind him.
Sirius turns to look at Remus. “Shit,” he says, and they both burst out laughing.
Lily and James arrive more or less twenty minutes after the incident.
“That little rat,” murmurs Sirius.
“He didn’t mean to tell us,” James defends him.
“Sure,” says Remus, rolling his eyes.
James and Lily stay silent, each playing with their hands on their laps on their place in the couch. James looks angry, Lily looks… smug?
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me” James lets out, not looking at them.
“Prongs…” Sirius tries, surely about to tell him it had all been a joke.
“I mean it was obvious, don’t get me wrong. I’m not dumb,” he goes on. “And when I saw you sleeping together the other day…” To this Lily raises her eyebrows. “... I sort of confirmed it, and I figured you weren’t ready to tell me yet, though it’s probably been years! But to find out from Pete! Pete!”
Sirius cuts him off. “It was a joke”
Lily’s head snaps towards them. “What?”
“The us being together thing,” Sirius explains. “It was a joke. We played Pete a joke and the little shit went out and told you”
Silence falls over the room for a few seconds. Remus stays silent, still thinking of James’ outburst.
“So you don’t sleep together?” Lily asks.
“They do!” yells James.
“We do,” says Sirius at the same time. “But not in the way you’re thinking!”
Lily frowns. “So you just… sleep? Together?”
Sirius shrugs. “Yeah”
“Why?” asks Lily.
Sirius looks at Remus, as if waiting for him to give a logical answer. Remus clears his throat, searching for the words. “I…” His mind is blank.
Now Sirius is frowning at him. He turns to James and Lily. “Look, the other night, when James saw us... It was cold and Moony didn’t want to go back home. There is only one bed here. Do the math.” He stands up. “Now, if you don’t mind, it’s quite late and I didn’t sleep well last night”
Two minutes later, James and Lily are going out the door. Remus is about to follow when Sirius calls him from the kitchen.
“Moony, could you stay for a minute? I need to ask you something about that book you lent me”
“Um, sure.” He says goodbye to Lily and James and closes the door behind them.
When he enters the kitchen, Sirius is leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. “What was that?”
Remus hesitates. “What was what?”
Sirius sighs. “Look, Remus, if you’re uncomfortable with our little… habit, we'll stop, alright?"
Remus hesitates. "Don't you think it's… I don't know, odd?"
"We've always done it! Since we were kids!" Sirius exclaims.
"Well, we're not kids anymore though" explains Remus.
Sirius huffs, raising his shoulders. "Whatever," he mumbles. "I'm going to sleep." And with that, he strolls towards his bedroom.
Remus stands in the kitchen, fingers pitching the bridge of his nose and thinking about James' words. What did he mean it was obvious? Was Remus that transparent? He'd felt guilty at first, staying in Sirius' bed without him knowing about Remus' feelings for him. But then again, Sirius not only didn't mind him staying, he wanted Remus to stay, so couldn't that mean…? Remus sighed, too tired of wondering about what could be instead of finding out once and for all. After all, what could be the worst outcome? Not getting to sleep in Sirius' bed again? He gathered he could live with that, as long as he had Sirius as a friend. Remus knew he couldn't tell Sirius he was in love with him and expect their relationship to stay the same, but maybe if Sirius rejected him but Remus convinced him it was just a silly crush or that he was confused, it'd all be okay.
"Fuck it," Remus murmured, and rushed towards the bedroom.
He had only put one foot inside the room when Sirius walked to him, grabbed him by the front of his sweater and pushed him against the wall next to the door.
"What the…?"
"Shut up," said Sirius, and pushed his lips against Remus'.
Remus made a weird sound, surprised. For one second, he didn't know what to do. Then his brain caught up and he began to return Sirius' kiss. He put his hands on the back of Sirius' head, pushing slightly while he closed his eyes and opened his lips to Sirius. Now it was Sirius making the weird sounds as he felt Remus' tongue touch his. He pushed his body against Remus, who moaned in response. They kissed like that for a while, separating and kissing again until their lips were numb and their hands had explored every bit possible from the waist up and above the clothes.
When they finally stopped, Remus let out an uncomfortable giggle.
"Okay so…" Sirius begins, giggling too. " That's why we can't sleep together, I guess. Sorry it took me so long to figure it out"
"No," Remus says. "That's exactly why we can sleep together, Pads." He smirks. "Though I'm not sure we're doing to be doing a lot of sleeping, to be honest"
Sirius returns the smirk and, taking Remus by the front of his sweater again, drags him to the bed.