Cute & Fuzzy

Cute & Fuzzy

"Remus...oh!"

With a sigh, Sirius collapsed onto the bed, sated and pleased. Remus curled up beside him, head resting against his chest, eyes fixed on the dark boy's face.

"Was it alright? Did I do it right?" Remus asked anxiously.

"Yes...God, yes! Perfect!" Sirius smiled lazily and pulled his boyfriend closer. "And you, what about you? What do you want?" he murmured into shaggy brown hair.

"Nothing. I'm fine," Remus said quickly, squirming slightly under Sirius' touch. Sirius frowned to himself but remained silent, merely holding Remus until the change in his breathing showed he had fallen asleep. Pushing himself upright, he stared down at the small, wan face against his chest.

They had been together two months, two months in which he had been deliriously happy. After six years of friendship and flirtation, Sirius had finally acted on his feelings and, with all the smoothness of a sixteen year old, has told Remus how he felt and begged him not to hate him for it. To his immense surprise, Remus had burst into tears and then thrown himself into Sirius' lap, and it had all gone from there. Sirius hadn't thought much about the odd reactions he was getting from Remus but now he was being to wonder. Two months and Remus had not been shy in showing his affection, keen to keep Sirius as happy as he could be yet...well, Remus was making all the effort and Sirius having all the fun, but when he tried to turn it around, Remus refused. Sirius hadn't pushed it - he certainly wasn't complaining - but he was not a selfish person and cared deeply about Remus.

He idly played with the longer strands of Remus' fringe, twisting the sandy brown locks between his fingers. Even in sleep Remus' face remained guarded, the faint lines meant for someone far older than him not quite smoothed out, speaking of Remus' many nightmares. All the Marauders felt fiercely protective of him, for despite his supernatural physical strength and resilience Remus was fragile and vulnerable.

An old conversation with James suddenly sparked in Sirius' mind, a talk they had one full moon before they learnt how to accompany the wolf. They had been discussing the changes in Remus, how the wolf waxed and waned within him, and James had said something that struck him as true: the wolf was always within Remus, always watching and waiting, influencing the way he thought and behaved. Remus probably couldn't even remember a time when he was alone in his own mind. This meant that even though most of the month, Remus was human, he never felt normal. He was always aware of a part of him that was a monster - and he hated it. James had been very solemn and utterly serious as he laid out his theory and explained Remus' self-loathing. No matter what they said or did, Remus couldn't get past this darkness within him, this belief that he was tainted and that he should be ashamed.

Sirius had never met Remus' parents, which was in itself a little odd; after all the Potters treated him like a second son and the Pettigrews adored him. He had seen them from a distance collecting Remus from the train. They held themselves apart from everyone else and seemed to be intensely private people. Obviously, there was much of them in their son, but what exactly they had taught him about his lycanthropy was anyone's guess. Remus would not speak of his childhood, only saying that they had kept him and everyone else safe. For my own safety...the image of a cage filled Sirius' mind at these words, a thought he could never quite shift.

Remus shifted in his sleep, bringing Sirius' mind back to the present. He didn't know how to solve this; he was a doer rather than a thinker, yet what could he do to show Remus that he was a beautiful person, that he was special? Even thinking the words they seemed clichéd and trite. But Remus was special and his obstinate refusal to see this was beyond Sirius' comprehension.

Remus stirred again, muttering slightly as he dreamed. Hmm. A gift perhaps? James was in the habit of giving lavish magical flowers and enchanted chocolates when he wanted to impress a girl, although Lily Evans seemed less than impressed when she sent them back singing 'R.E.S.P.E.C.T'. That girl was far too handy with her wand. No, given the sensitivity of his nose Remus probably wouldn't appreciate flowers. He did have a definite weakness for chocolate though...Sirius grinned evilly to himself and carefully extracted himself from the sleeping werewolf. Where did he leave his wand...?

A few hours later, Sirius stood over the bed and gently shook Remus awake. Brilliant amber eyes blinked at him slowly. Sirius clapped his hands over those expressive eyes and launched into his carefully thought out speech.

"I know you think I haven't noticed, but I have and I didn't know what to do about it, so I thought I'd just show you instead."

He felt the eyelashes against his palms as Remus blinked.

"Padfoot, what are you going on about?"

Sirius contemplated his sentence. Maybe he should have thought about it a bit more.

"Since we got together, you have been totally concerned with keeping me happy. You don't seem to want me to make you happy. I think this is because you think I'm better than you, or you don't deserve me or some rubbish like that." Perhaps not the most elegant sentence, but an improvement. Remus remained silent. "You've always had stupid ideas like that and as you may have noticed, I'm not particularly good at telling you that they're stupid. So...I thought I'd show you how special you are to me."

Taking a deep breath and hoping that Remus wouldn't laugh, Sirius pulled his hands away with a flourish. In the silence, Remus' sharp intake of breath was clearly audible.

Sitting in front of the bed was a life-size replica of Padfoot.

Made of chocolate.

Remus scrambled out of bed and carefully poked at the giant treat.

"It's real chocolate," Sirius said from behind him. Remus reached out and broke off one of the pricked ears.

"Mmm!" Remus turned and stared at Sirius, who was watching anxiously. "How the hell did you manage this?"

"Took me a while, but Transfiguration's my speciality," Sirius said with a smile. "I couldn't talk the House Elves into giving me enough chocolate - apparently McGonagall's set a limit - so it used to be a roast dinner for four."

"A roast dinner?"

"Erm, yeah, anyway, you've got about two hours before James and Peter get back so you'd better eat it quick unless you want to share. Oh, and..."

Sirius bent down and retrieved what appeared to be a miniature Padfoot. He tossed it to Remus who turned it over and stroked the fuzzy fur. He rubbed his face against it then froze, nose wrinkling.

"Sirius, what was this before you Transfigured it?"

Sirius had the grace to look guilty. "Erm...a sock."

"A clean sock?"

"Erm..."

The offending toy bounced off Sirius' forehead and skidded across the floor. Seconds later, Remus collided with Sirius in a fierce hug that knocked them both off balance.

"So it's OK then?" Sirius asked when he regained his breath.

"Yes! It's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me!"

"Good. You deserve it. So no more of this 'Nothing' nonsense?"

Remus only smiled and leant in to kiss him, tasting of the chocolate.

[Insert smut]

Much later, when all traces of chocolate had been removed from the room and the two people curled up together, the door banged open and James stomped across to his bed. Sirius looked up,

smirking.

"So she said no?"

In response, James threw a box bearing a large red ribbon at him. Sirius caught it and opened it, then started sniggering. The chocolates, which had been painstakingly charmed to have a different compliment scrolling across each one and to sigh lovingly when you bit into them, now bore various messages including 'Get your head out of your arse you git' and 'Stay the hell away from me'.

"I'd say that's a no," Sirius said, handing the box to Remus.

"James..." Remus started, fixing hungry eyes on Sirius, "would you mind if I ate your chocolates?"

"Do what the hell you want with them," James replied sulkily. Remus whispered something to Sirius that made his dark eyes flash, and the two left the bedroom giggling. James was pacing the room irritably - now what was he going to give her? He would win her over if it was the last thing he did! - when his foot collided with something soft. Bending down, he retrieved a small, extremely cute replica of a black dog. He stared at it for a few moments, confused, and then smiled.

Maybe cute and fuzzy would work.