The Change

The Change

"Got tired of wasting gas floating up above the planet! Mister show me the way to eaaarrtthhh!"

"Sirius!! You promised!" Peter whined. The umbrella he was carrying suddenly popped open in his face and he tripped.

"The boys from Quadrant 44 with their vicious metal hounds don't come 'round here no more," Sirius sang on, ignoring the shorter guy's request. He was ahead of the line, leading his three best friends into the dark forest behind his uncle's house. Remus was right behind him, humming the rest of the song, James behind him and Peter was picking up the rear.

It was the last night they were staying at Sirius' Uncle's farm (and probably their last night out of school together before they started 7^th year), and they were taking advantage of the vast wilderness on the property to get away from the adults. Uncle John was a squib himself and had been married to one of Sirius' aunts until they were divorced. But Sirius had grown attached to his Uncle John, and so frequently he visited him, usually bringing along the Marauders.

His uncle farmed turnips and giant pumpkins. The crops were never bad and neither was the money so there was no reason for John to complain. He was one of those people who loved to be content, never strived for anything more.

That evening Uncle John had invited some of his muggle buddies from town and they were playing cards and getting drunk. The boys had never liked playing cards, so they decided to go camping.

After trudging for a good half-hour they reached a small clearing just big enough for the giant tent that James had carried. He pulled the tent bag off his back and threw it onto the ground in front of them. A few spells later and Remus had set it up.

"Ahh," declared Sirius, taking in a deep breath. "Nothing like roughing it in the wilderness. This is what real men do. They get together and camp and swap stories and-"

"And give eachother manly tattoos!" announced James, pulling a black sharpie from his pocket.

"Yeah...That too," Sirius agreed.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Peter stated. The other boys just stared at him. "We don't have any toilet paper," he added. Sirius looked around in the pack sitting next to him and pulled out a paperback. He threw it to Peter.

"Pygmalion?"

"Just rip out the pages," he said as he set out to making a fire circle. Peter set out into the woods.

"Sirius! How dare you give him my Pygmalion! You know I love George Bernard Shaw," Remus exclaimed.

"Oh quiet down, I'll buy you a new one when we get back to civilization."

James pulled a few logs up around the fire circle and sat down to rest. He took out his wand and magicked a fire. He leaned against the log and stared into the flames, mesmerized. Remus and Sirius stood and stared into the flames too.

Their concentration was broken by a scream that was followed by the sound of someone sprinting through the foliage. Peter burst out of the trees with his hands holding up his unbuttoned pants. He stopped running once he was in front of the tent. He quickly did up the front of his pants and took a few breaths before he stared back at his best friends.

"Well, what was it, Wormy?" James asked.

"Spiders," he whispered. He went into the tent and came back out carrying a small stuffed black cat. The sun was just setting as he took a seat on the log closest to the tent. James smirked slightly, Remus kept a mostly straight face, but Sirius didn't bother to hold his laughter in. He nearly fell off the log until he saw that no one else was laughing. He stopped.

"All right, so who's up first for a tattoo?" James said, trying to break the silence.

"Oh come off it, Prongs. You can't even draw," Sirius pointed out. James shot daggers at him.

"I wasn't going to draw. I came up with a symbol that represents the four of us." He picked up a stick and drew it in the dirt in front of him. It was the letter 'M' with a hump on the top of either side.

"What is that?" Remus inquired, scratching his head.

"You can't figure it out?" James teased. He traced each letter as he spoke. "M for Moony that turns into a W for Wormtail, and a P on either side for Padfoot and Prongs."

"Oh," said Sirius. "That's kind of cool. Sure, I'll take one on my lower back."

"Lower back? Isn't that a bit girly?" James pointed out.

"Shut up and just draw it," Sirius grunted. He took off his shirt and lay down on his stomach in front of James. James kneeled beside him and slowly etched the symbol onto his lower back. Sirius bit his lip, but couldn't hold back a giggle. James poked him in the side.

"Don't move or you'll mess it up," he warned.

"I can't help it, it tickles dammit," he cried, full-on laughing this time. James quickly finished up Sirius. Peter lay down in front of him, wanting one in the same place. Then James got one from Sirius on his bicep. He flexed it slowly, watching the lines expand and contract by the light of the fire. The sun was completely down and they were left under the domain of the moon. Remus was glad it was only a half moon

"Save it for the ladies," Sirius teased. He sat down and poked a stick into the fire. "The last time I heard from good God above...was a slap on my ass by a lipstick kissed elbow glove," he sang softly.

"Sirius! You know I hate Brian Slade!" Peter whined again.

"La, la, la, I can't hear you," Sirius covered his ears. Peter humphed, stood up, and went into the tent.

"You know, I think I'm gonna hit the hay too," James said, standing up and stretching. He let out a weird sort of screech and then went into the tent, closing the flap behind him.

"Hey, I thought we were going to swap manly stories!" Sirius cried, disappointed. James never answered him. He looked through the fire at Remus with a questioning look on his face. Remus stood up, walked over and sat down in front of Sirius, back towards him. He lifted his shirt over his head but kept it covering his chest. Even after all these years he was still slightly ashamed of the scars on his chest. But his friends understood it was mostly force of habit.

"I never got a tattoo," Remus said softly. "On my right shoulder please," he requested.

Sirius widened his eyes a little bit, then picked up the sharpie and began to trace the symbol on his best friend's back. He placed his left hand on Remus' back to steady his other hand, only to discover the skin he was touching was softer than anything he'd ever known. Kinda odd for a guy to have such a soft back. But Remus was no ordinary guy, and Sirius knew that, so he pushed the softness out of his mind and focused on not messing up the design.

After he'd traced it several times over, he capped the pen and declared he was finished. He stared at the tattoo for a moment before Remus pulled his shirt back over his head. The brunette turned around so that he was facing his darker-haired companion. They sat in silence, trying not to look at eachother directly.

"You know, that tattoo is very becoming on you," Sirius said. Remus was about to thank him when Sirius finished with, "then again, if I was a tattoo, I'd be coming on you too." Sirius snorted and rustled Remus' tawny head.

Remus grinned at his best friend for a moment. Sirius' eyes became confused as he detected a hint of something feral in his friend's expression. He was about to say something when Remus suddenly pounced on him and pinned him to the ground. But Sirius was having none of that. He kicked and squirmed and finally threw his weight so that he was on top. Remus didn't have much weight on Sirius and soon found himself expertly pinned. But he'd known all along that he'd end up on his back.

Sirius let go of Remus' wrists only to have his own jerked back down. His elbows didn't lock and he ended up laying chest to chest on top of his best friend. He was about to stand up when he felt something touch his lips. Remus' thumb was the offender, tracing Sirius' upper lip every so carefully. Sirius stared down into the sincere brown eyes below him and understood. Warm lips covered his own and his eyes flickered close. The lips under his were expertly maneuvering, tasting, drinking in what the other had to offer.

Remus broke the kiss and pushed his friend off of him. Sirius stood up and dusted himself off, feeling a little hurt, thinking maybe he'd offended in some way. Remus stood up as well, went up to Sirius and latched his lips on Sirius' once again. He pulled away momentarily.

"You were crushing me is all, love," he informed.

"Oh-" Sirius began, but was once again cut off.

They didn't make it back to the tent that night...

~

The next morning when everything was packed up, the boys began their trek home. They kept in the same order as before, with Sirius in the lead and Peter at the rear. Only this time Sirius wasn't singing.

"I came down like water, from the age of sooolllarrrr," Remus sang, louder than he usually would have. His voice was much happier than usual as well. Peter groaned.

"Moony! You're just as bad as he is! You're turning into him!" he cried.

"No, I think he just rubbed off on me a bit," he replied, smiling.