Shivering
continuously, Sirius lifted his gloved hands and rubbed them together, trying
to generate warmth. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other for a
while until his feet felt numb, and then began to pace back and forth in front
of the door. He'd tried apparating, tried flooing,
and had certainly tried knocking, but still he found himself outside. In the cold. In the snow. In the middle of the evening.
His shoes
were covered and soaked with snow, as were his shoulders and the hood of his
cloak. If he stayed out any longer he feared he might turn completely to ice
and snow and be nothing more useful than a wintertime lawn ornament. "P-Padfoot
the s-s-snowman," he mused out loud, trying to warm himself up with humor. "Or Siriusicle." He rather liked
the sound of that one. At least, he liked the word better than the feeling.
He was
frozen through and through. He was going to get pneumonia. Or frostbite, maybe.
And then he'd wind up in St. Mungo's for a month, or
he'd lose a leg or something. In fact, he was pretty sure he would freeze to
death at this rate if Remus did not come home soon. All right, so Remus had
said not to come over until seven, but since when did Sirius pay attention to
the time? And now here he was, forced to stand outside Remus' flat and wait for
who knows how long. And all because he didn't have a key.
But his
heart leapt when he looked over to see Remus walking up the path. He bounded
forward as though he were in dog form and wrapped his arms around Remus with a
kiss to prove he was definitely in human form. "Thank Merlin you're finally
home. I've been waiting ages."
Remus
smiled at the greeting and then walked past Sirius to get to the door. It was
always nice to feel appreciated, but Remus knew Sirius just wanted to get
inside. Remus fumbled with his wand and his keys, needing both to open the door
but not wanting to drop his brown paper bag of groceries.
"Hurry up,"
Sirius whined. "I'm absolutely freezing." Remus nodded with understanding but
was already moving as fast as he could. When Sirius saw no change in speed, he
got a bit more dramatic. "Mooooony,
hurry uuuup!" He rubbed at his nose. "I think
I've caught a cold from being out here so long." It wasn't a complete lie, and
he had the sniffles to prove it.
"That's not
good," said Remus automatically, so used to it that he barely paid attention to
the drama.
"Sniff! No, sniff, sniff, it's not. I'm all sniffly
and sick--"
"You're not
sick," Remus sighed. His mittens were making it impossible to isolate the right
key on his keyring.
"Actually, I
think I am, snff, sniff," Sirius said, wiggling his nose
at Remus and putting on his sad, pathetic puppy dog face. "Sick and cold- Sniff! Sniff!- and
in need of my Moony. SNIFF!"
"Your nose
is just running because of the cold temperatures and the chill in the wind,"
Remus said with a sigh, used to Sirius' tricks. "You can't catch cold from
standing outside for a few hours." Still, Padfoot did look unusually pale and
did sound unusually stuffy. "Besides, you can't have been here so long because
I only just left for the market an hour ago."
"Sniff! Sniff! Feels like a lot longer,"
Sirius replied, watching eagerly as Remus finally fitted the key in the lock. "If
only you'd see fit to give me a key of my own..."
"You did
have one," Remus felt at liberty to point out. "You lost it, remember? Fell out
of your pocket with the label still attached as you were trying to do stunts on
your flying motorcycle. So I had to get the locks changed just in case." He
tapped his wand against the doorknob. "Fiddlesticks and
violins."
Sirius
rolled his eyes at the password but was grateful when the door opened. He slipped
past Remus and then leapt onto the couch and under the covers.
Remus
closed the door behind, then gave a swish and flick of
the wand to light a fire in the hearth. He set the groceries down on the
counter and thought about unpacking it that moment. But he heard a sneeze and
looked back over at Sirius. Sniffles were one thing but sneezes... sneezes made
Remus feel a twinge or two of guilt.
Sirius was
completely beneath the covers so only a big bulge could be seen to indicate
Sirius was beneath. He was shivering and had not bothered to take off his
cloak. He rubbed his cheek against the pillows and hugged his arms to his chest
as he waited to warm up. The wait outside had chilled him to the bone, but he
didn't feel very well besides. "Remus?" he called out, muffled by the blankets.
"I need you!" Need and want were the same thing to a
cold Padfoot.
Remus put
the bottle of milk, the only perishable in the bag, in the fridge and headed to
the bed. He stripped off his hat, scarf, mittens, boots, and cloak. Then he
pulled down the blankets. Shivering violently, Sirius looked up at him, curled
in on himself. Sirius sniffled a few times pitifully, then
his head snapped downward. "Harhshooo!"
"You could
have at least taken your shoes off before getting into my bed," Remus said at
the spectacle before him. Sirius' reply was just a pathetic series of sniffles
and shivers. Sirius would have him feeling guilty if it killed them. "Were you
really that cold?"
Sirius
nodded, his teeth chattering. "C-c-colder," he answered, and his body tensed
and snapped forward again. "Hahhh-Shuhhh!"
Remus
pulled a tissue out of the box on the nightstand. "Bless." He sat down on the pull-out
sofa. Remus liked to say his was a two-room flat, because there was clearly a
door between the main room and the bathroom. But the couch doubled as a bed and
the kitchen table doubled as a desk. A stack of boxes acted both as a
nightstand and a side table. And a trunk was used as a coffee table, a
footstool, and a wardrobe, though sometimes it was used as a stepstool or extra
seating, depending on what was needed at the moment.
Right now,
he did not need it at all. He stretched out on the bed and pulled the covers up
over both of them. Then he folded the tissue and held it to Sirius' nose, which
was still flushed from the cold like his cheeks. At least, it was probably
because of the cold. Sirius blew and then tilted his head back so Remus could
rub his nose dry. Then he wrapped his arms around Remus again and hugged
tightly.
Their warm
breath made it feel hot and stuffy under the covers. It was a nice change from
the snow outside and made them both feel slightly sleepy. Quickly, Sirius'
shivers stopped, but the sniffles remained. "You're not really sick, are you,
Pads?" Remus asked worriedly. He ran his fingertip down Sirius' nose.
Sirius
shrugged. He wasn't about to give Remus license to get up now, or he might
start shivering again. "I feel all kinds of sniffly,"
he replied, rubbing a finger under his nose. He was sniffling every few moments
now, and Remus folded a tissue over his nose and had him blow again. "But I
guess I don't actually feel sick," Sirius admitted afterwards.
"Good,"
said Remus with a small smile. "Because, if you were sick, I couldn't..."
Remus
trailed off and started directly into Sirius' grey eyes, which were filled with
confusion. "Couldn't what?" Remus said nothing, simply continued to stare.
"Couldn't what, Remus?" Sirius asked
impatiently.
With still
no verbal answer, Remus slid down a little in the bed until he was face-to-face
with Sirius' glove. He bit the tip of the middle finger, getting only fabric
between his teeth. He pulled and it slid off, though it took a bit of force and
was accompanied by a wolfish growl at the effort. Then he quickly opened his
mouth, dropping the glove and taking Sirius' finger in his hot mouth. He lapped
at it with his tongue and sucked for a moment.
Then Remus'
hands found the opening in the font of Sirius' cloak and fingers fumbled with
buttons until the bottom few were undone and his hands were on Sirius' waist.
Remus rocked forward, his pelvis pressing into Sirius' crotch. Sirius was still
too cold to be hard, but that just made it a little more challenging for Remus,
who grinned and nuzzled his face into the nape of Sirius' neck with warm
breaths. Then he moved his head back and looked back up into Sirius' eyes
"Oh,"
Sirius said, understanding. "Then, no, I definitely don't feel sick."
"Very good,"
Remus repeated, rewarding Sirius' honesty by slipping his hand down Sirius'
pants.