A Substitute for Sex

Daydreaming, Remus Lupin propped himself up on one elbow. The bed still smelled of sex. He looked across the bedsheets. Lank black hair swirled over the pillow. Such a white neck, tinier than he had expected. The skin of the back that faced him was perfect and smooth like alabaster. It didn't hurt that a saucy bit of arse was peeping out from the covers.

I wonder if he knows how long I've felt this way.

Things had moved rapidly. After the death of Sirius they had found themselves in each other's company more than ever before.
They still sparred over Harry's future, but that was really more Dumbledore's worry than theirs. So much went on now over which they had no control. Perhaps in each other they might find again the stability life had lost since He Who Must Not Be Named had returned to the world. How long could that last?
He was too old to fool himself into believing that love and peace were even close to being the same thing. What then was he searching for? Contentment?

But could it work?
The whole "werewolf thing" was a slight obstacle, but he had already shown that he was willing to help in that respect. Certainly there seemed to be a growing bond between them. More than might be usual for two men thrust together by great events. More than just a physical attraction?

He put a hand on the perfect shoulder and felt the relaxed rhythmic breathing. It wasn't like that last night!
Always in the dark. He really is so pale. All those years underground. So pale and so very warm now.
Lupin was beginning to feel that urge beneath the duvet again. He dropped his hand between his legs.

"Are you watching me, Remus?"
"Yes."
"You are a naughty boy, and we know what naughty boys get, don't we?"

She rolled over to face him.
"Yes, Tonks."
Nymphadora Tonks looked impishly into his face, dwelling slightly on his eyes. She wondered what might be going on behind his thoughtful stare, but could not see past her own reflection.
"And how is my little lycanthrope today?"
"Content." He kissed her and she forgot about his eyes.
"I have to go to work," she teased. "Not all of us have 'unemployed and forlorn' as our covers."

Yes, my whole life is a cover. Is his? What's he doing right now?

For a second she feared she had nettled him, but he just rubbed his face against her neck and whispered, "Call in sick."
"What a bad influence you are!"
She smiled and the long black hair shrank to a spiky pink growth.
"Ohhhhhhhhhh," he whined, reaching out towards what was no longer there. He was so like a child in some ways, she decided.

Tonks giggled and let the shoulder-length tresses grow back. He ran his fingers through it. She remembered when he had first asked her to entertain him with all the different styles she could force out of her hair. It was a silly game, she transforming, he suggesting, "Longer. A shade darker, perhaps," until he had arbitrarily settled on this one. Now it was definitely his favourite and she enjoyed showing it for him. She was always rewarded with a such a look of...affection. She could neither deny Remus nor herself such a treat.

"Why do you like it so much?"
I wonder if his hair is this soft?
He thought for a moment and drew her close against him.
"It reminds me."
She pushed him off and rolled onto him, holding him down.
"Reminds you of what?"
"Reminds me...that I'm in love."

They kissed, playfully at first, but with growing passion.
"Me too."