Shatter

"Is that me?" Remus asks quietly, fingering a corner of parchment. On it is a still portrait of a boy, his head leaned over with hair falling in his face. Impossible to see his features. Could be anyone, really…. Still, Remus has a feeling.

"Hmm?" Sirius asks, looking up from his book. His eyes shift to where he sees Remus standing near his dresser, a piece of parchment in his hands. "No!" He says immediately, but Remus can tell from his wild eyes that he's lying and tells him so.

Sirius snatches the parchment from Remus' hand and puts it in the first drawer, glancing at it only quickly.

"I'm not lying. It's… Arthur Weasley."

"Why are you drawing Arthur Weasley?" Remus asks, an amused smile making an appearance. "Does someone have a thing for Arthur Weasley?" he teases.

"No," Sirius says, dismissing it haughtily. "He asked me to draw it."

"And then you decided to keep it?"

"Oh, sod off," Sirius grumbles and makes a show of marching back to his bed.

Remus can't help but smirk as he follows Sirius to his bed. He sits down beside him, their legs almost touching.He rests a hand on Sirius' leg tentatively. They haven't yet named this thing between them, but it is there, a palatable energy in the air like static. When their eyes meet across the room in Transfiguration, it is obvious there is something there by the way they both look away immediately, and then glance back shyly. Still, recognising something and acknowledging something are two quite different things.

Sirius' hand comes down to cover Remus'.

"It's a shame it wasn't me," Remus murmurs, glancing down at their overlapping fingers.

"What wasn't you?" Sirius asks.

"The drawing. I rather liked it."

"Oh."

"Do you think Arthur would mind if I keep it?"

Sirius smiles slightly. "I should say not."

His thumb is circling his hand ever so slightly, tickling the back of Remus' hand.

"In fact… I wouldn't mind drawing him more."

"He might let you," Remus muses. "I do rather think he has a thing for you."

"That's too bad," Sirius murmurs, resting his head on Remus' shoulder. "I have a thing for someone else."

"Oh?" Remus asks lightly, afraid to confront this delicate thing between them lest it shatter.

"Mmhmm."

And then it does shatter when Sirius takes his hand off Remus' and reaches up to his cheek to turn his head slightly towards him. Remus feels it bursting and shattering inside him when Sirius brings his open lips up to Remus' and kisses him softly, gently. It shatters, but it is made anew and even stronger into something else; something else Remus can touch and does, his hand moving up and down Sirius' leg slowly, another hand in his hair.

They pull back, breathless.

"I think Arthur may be jealous," Remus says, his speech accented by heavy breathing.

"He can learn to live with it," Sirius says with a grin and reaches over to capture Remus' mouth once more.