Love in a Library (Remus/Sirius)

[Quite Contrary]

Hello...! It's been a long time since I've posted anything here, but I was recently brought back to one of my first favorite pairings and the origins of my appreciation for this fetish. It inspired this silly little one-shot. Set when the Marauders are all still at Hogwarts, around 7th year. Hope y'all enjoy!

 

Love in a Library

“Hh’rrrshuh!”

            “Bless you, Sirius,” Remus mumbled, eyes never leaving the dusty tome spread out in front of him.

            A weight landed at the small of his back and Remus let out a surprised “oof” as Sirius settled against him. “Moooonyyyy, ‘m bored. It’s boring in here. What do you want with all these books anyhow?” he whined.

            “It’s called ‘research,’” Remus responded, his eyes scanning a particularly interesting page on the mechanisms behind the movement of the staircases, “It’s the reason you and James’ last prank didn’t end with both your eyebrows blown off.”

            Sirius was quiet for a moment, before musing aloud, “I think I’d still look rather dashing without any eyebrows. What do you think, Moony?”

            This was an important addition to the plans of the castle grounds, although it was later replaced (please reference page 484 for the above edition of the castle design). “Blast,” Remus muttered, turning another page.

            “Moony,” Sirius prodded him in the side, “Moony. You’d still love me even if I didn’t have any eyebrows, wouldn’t you, Remus?”

            Remus took a quick peek at page 484 – useless. His voice dry as the book in front of him, Remus replied, “Our relationship is based solely upon the stately…state of your eyebrows, Sirius.”

            Sirius rolled to face Remus, puppy eyes huge and hurting, “You wound me, Moony.”

            “I’m sure,” Remus muttered, “Can’t you find a book to read or something, Siri? I am trying to read.”

            Sirius pouted, but rolled up into a seated position nonetheless. “You’re always reading. Reading or thinking. That’s what Moonys are made of, books and thoughts. Dusty, dusty thoughts,” Sirius muttered, voice becoming fainter as he strolled away down the library aisle, “Hh! Huh’urrrshhu!”

            “Bless you,” Remus mumbled, biting his lip.

            It was true that he was often reading. And it was certainly true that he was always thinking, something that Sirius had commented on before many times. Remus couldn’t understand how a person could simply not think about things! It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried. Sirius seemed able to manage it easily enough, but Remus just…couldn’t. It wasn’t as if they were particularly exciting thoughts either. Compared with James and Sirius’, his thoughts were rather boring. Boring and dusty, as the books he read.

Remus wondered, not for the first time, how he’d come to find himself among such friends, a place he wasn’t always sure he fit. Peter was alright, but James and Sirius were bright and creative and charming. Three traits that do not describe Remus Lupin, he thought, worrying his thumbnail with his teeth. Sirius was right, he was just books and thoughts – two things that often unappreciated amongst the Marauders, no matter how helpful they might be. Something he was reminded of every birthday and Christmas when his carefully wrapped books, however thoughtful, were tossed aside.

Although, Remus remembered with a small smile, his gift to Sirius last Christmas had not gone so unnoticed. He’d given Sirius a muggle book of the best pranks in history, with a note inside daring him to do better. The spark of intrigue in his grey eyes upon unwrapping it had been reward enough. Sirius had spent the better part of the afternoon curled up reading, and the better part of the night in James’ bed whispering. The night had culminated with Sirius stumbling out from behind the curtains whilst James shouted, “Then go on and do it, you git! Some of us are trying to sleep!”

His reminiscing was interrupted by a muffled sneeze from further down the aisle, followed by a thud. “Heh’urrsshuh! Bugger! Ow!” Sirius swore, “Heh! Heh’urrrshuh!”

Footsteps grew closer to Remus, and he could hear Sirius sniffle. “Your books have attacked me, Rem. Snf! I’ll have to retaliate now. Snff! As a fellow marauder, you’ll have to stand with me.”

“Bless you,” Remus looked up to find Sirius standing above him, a book carried beneath one arm, “That’s four now, Sirius. Are you coming down with something?”

Sirius sniffed again hard, producing a somewhat liquid ‘snrk,’ his wrist pressed against his nose. “If I say yes, can we leave? You could coddle me and we could cuddle in bed,” Sirius leered.

Remus leveled him with a blank look. Sirius caved, slumping out of his dramatic posture. He settled back on the floor beside Remus, sitting against a bookshelf with his legs sprawled out. “No, I’m not. It’s just that it’s awfully dusty in here, innit?”

Remus narrowed his eyes at Sirius. “Is that why you never come in here with me? The dust bothers you?”

            Sirius rolled his eyes. “Well, that and it is dreadfully dull in here, Rem,” Sirius paused, gaze going blank before his breath caught once, twice, “Hh’rrrsshu!”

He pawed at his nose, shooting Remus a pitiful look. Remus mumbled a ‘bless you’ reflexively. Curious, Remus propped himself up on one elbow to get a better look at Sirius. “What are you doing here now then?”

Sirius shrugged, glancing at Remus from the corner of his eye. “Thought I’d be a good boyfriend, offer to carry your books for you or something like that. Didn’t know you were going to be here for bloody ages, though,” he finished, rolling his eyes as he shelved his unopened book in a random slot.

Boyfriend. Now that was a word Remus hadn’t heard from Sirius before. Boyfriend? Were they…? Remus hadn’t known. It had been shortly after Christmas that they’d…Well, but they’d never really discussed…! Not that he didn’t want to be Sirius’ boyfriend. He’d thought about it, of course. Truth be told, he’d thought about it a lot over the past month.

“You’re doing that thinking thing again,” Sirius mused, laying down beside Remus, his head pillowed on his folded arms.

Remus flushed, the bridge of his nose going pink. “I’m not,” he protested.

Sirius nodded sagely, “You are. You’re thinking what I said about boyfriends, and you’re thinking that we haven’t talked about being boyfriends because that’s the other thing you like to do. You like to do the thinking thing and the talking thing.”

Remus tried manfully not to gape. “Sometimes, that’s not all necessary, Moony,” Sirius said softly.

Sirius reached for him, his fingertips grazing Remus’ jaw. And with a shy look that Remus didn’t recognize, Sirius ducked his head and kissed him.

           

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! Not required, but comments are always appreciated.  

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by Quite Contrary

[Womp]

Ahh so cute! 😚 Love the plot, and how the characters were written.

[Winged]

Oh this was adorable! I love little in-between scenes like this. And I love Sirius having a dust allergy that just...doesn't appear very often since he's rarely in the library with Remus, haha. Nice work!

[mystic-chibi]

Oh this was wonderful! Very cute and playful! I\ve missed stories about this era of Remus and Mooney at Hogwarts 

[RemedyBane]

oh my gods i love this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The way Sirius reads Moony like a book (pun intended). Moony and his books and his tendency to overthink. I love this

[AngelEyes]

Awww. This is adorable!

[LifeOfTheMarauders]

So so so so good. I love ❤️ please write more Marauders Era stuff! This is spectacular!