Summary: Remus knows what to do about the Sirius' sorry
state of frustration combined with a head cold.
A cry rose
up from across the room. Remus smirked briefly, then
wiped the amusement from his face completely. He put the half-wrapped present
down on the coffee table and picked up the box of tissues. He had heard the
sound of frustration, but not a sneeze, but he wasn't a
complete idiot.
Remus
headed across the room to where the Christmas tree stood. He checked the water
level, glad to see it was high, then he squatted down
and cocked his head. "Having trouble, with the lights, Padfoot-love?"
Sirius was
covered in strings upon strings of lights. Some were lit in colors, some where bright
white, but most weren't lit at all. They were all tangled and wrapped around
his arms or sitting in a mess on his lap. He also had a dozen small replacement
and tester bulbs he was using to try to fix the strings. He looked up at Remus
imploringly. "Just ode sbell," he pleaded. "Just ode little flick of the wadd?"
"No wands,"
Remus said, settling down on the floor, cross-legged. "No spells." He pulled
out a few tissues, putting them together in layers. "And no
potions." Unfortunately.
Sirius'
mouth opened and his eyes closed. He took several deep, strong breaths in and
out before succumbing to the intense urge to sneeze. "heh-CHUHhh!" Remus held the tissues up to Sirius'
nose, which was not only a little wet and running now, but still twitching with
need.
"ehhh-hehh..." Remus could feel the nostrils flaring
against the tissues, against his hand, and he leaned in closer, his free hand
gently caressing the side of Sirius' face.
Sirius was beginning to grow his hair out, and right now he just looked
shaggy, on top of miserable from the nastiest head cold Remus had been witness
to in years. He felt Sirius tense up and heard the man's breath
catch. Remus knew this was it.
"hihhh-EH-SHIKkkuhhh! hehhShttttuhh!"
The ends of Sirius' sneezes were like little sighs of relief. Relief that the sneeze had finally come out, relief that the
pressure and the tickles were gone for at least a moment. "heh-ehgshuhhh! Cheshuhhh!" But it all
returned again so quickly, building up to more and more sneezes.
"hehhCHIHhhh-uhhh!" Without asking, or even opening his
grey eyes to ask permission, Sirius quickly took the deepest of breaths and
blew his nose into the tissues Remus was holding for him.
When finished,
Sirius toppled over onto his side, going down in a tangle of lightbulbs and cords, landing with his head right on Remus'
thigh. Remus wiped his nose for him, and balled the used tissues up. But Sirius
was already reaching for the box for more tissues, his nose still tickling madly
and still running visibly. "Stubid Christbas," he snuffled. "Stubid
lights that dod't work. Stubid buggle
celebratiods."
Remus ran
his hand through Sirius' hair. It was a close second to James in messiness
right now. "Just because we can't use magic here for our own safety doesn't
mean it won't be a magical Christmas," said Remus, leadingly.
Sirius
coughed out a laugh. "With this head cold? Snfff! I'd like to see that!"
Remus
obliged by leaning over and pressing his lips to Sirius'. Their heads were in
opposite directions, and their lips moved awkwardly against each other for a
few moments. But then the sensations overtook them like a sneeze and the kiss
grew soft and sensual. When Remus pulled back just a little, his mouth hovering
over Sirius' still so their breath was warm against the other's face, he
whispered, "Magical enough for you?"
Sirius
nodded and the string of unlit lights which was right beside his head suddenly
burst with bright colors.