"So," Sirius said eagerly, laying out on Remus' bed. "What are we doing on Valentine's Day tomorrow?"
Remus smiled at the black-haired boy, but shook his head. "Nothing, Padfoot. I have work to finish."
"But it's Valentine's Day!" Sirius whined.
"And you have work to do too," Remus accused with a stern finger pointing at his boyfriend. "That essay for Transfiguration has been lying around your trunk for ages."
Sirius rolled his eyes, sighing, as he got up from the bed.
"I can't seem to get the introduction right. Can't you help me?"
Remus stared at him with a that-is-cheating-and-you-know-it-look, but Sirius ignored it. The werewolf let out a groan of frustration. "You are impossible, you know that?"
"Try irresistible." Sirius corrected, tracing a finger down Remus' shoulder bone suggestively.
Remus shrugged off the hand. "Are you bribing me, Sirius Black?"
"Not about the homework," Sirius admitted earnestly. "About the Valentine's Day."
"We have homework to finish and exams are–"
"Shush," Sirius said, pushing Remus playfully onto his bed and walking over to his trunk. "We only have one more Valentine's Day here at Hogwarts. And – it's our first Valentine's Day – studying can be done later."
Remus sat on the bed, considering the situation and weighing options. "I'm rather surprised at you. Last year you told me that Valentine's Day is for the girls." He reminded him.
Sirius shrugged, rummaging through his trunk. "That was three hundred and sixty five days ago. And, I only told you that Madame Puddifoot's is for the birds. The rest is perfectly manly."
Remus laughed. "About as manly as Valentine's Day gets. Because flowers and jewelry is so very, very, manly."
"Don't be stereotypical," Sirius said. "We can switch original Valentine's Day gifts for unoriginal ones."
The tawny-haired boy groaned, falling back down onto the sheets. "There are going to be gifts?"
Sirius ignored him. "But then again, chocolate isn't very girly – and that's a common Valentine's Day gift. How about a big box of fresh and milky chocolate, Moony?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"As tempting as that sounds," Remus said. "I do hope that you are telling me that there will be no Madame Puddifoot's."
"None." Sirius promised with a large grin.
"Good. I don't like confetti being blown into my coffee by chubby cupids." Remus made a face and Sirius crawled over to him with a smile.
"What are you going to get me for tomorrow, then?"
"It's easier for you," the werewolf said frustratingly. "You can just get me chocolate and be done with. But you know what, Sirius? This year – I don't want chocolate!"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "You silly werewolf," he teased. "You will always like chocolate."
"Not this year."
"You'll melt if I bring you the caramel and nutty kind." Sirius said with a smirk.
Remus nodded with defeat. "Yes, I would," he sighed. "So then tell me, Padfoot, what do you want for Valentine's Day?"
"Nothing," Sirius said with a big grin that stretched across his face. "You're the girl, anyway."
"Hey!" Remus said defensively, springing off of the bed and ignoring his boyfriend's roars of laughter. "That's not funny! Just because we're gay doesn't mean that one of us is the girl and one of us is the man! We're both male."
Sirius chuckled. "Yes, but in a male and female relationship, you'd be the girl."
Remus sneered, narrowing his amber eyes. "If you even dare to get me jewelry tomorrow because of this – this joke–"
"Fine!" the black-haired boy said, holding up his hands defenselessly. "Remus Lupin is not a girl."
Remus calmed, sitting back down on the bed slowly. "Thank you."
"But I cannot say that he is a man." Sirius added.
"If I do your Transfiguration essay will you shut up about my masculinity?" Remus asked.
Sirius smirked. "Deal."
---
"Flowers, Sirius? What girl are you picking up?"
"Moony." Sirius responded with a smile, tucking a small tag onto one of the flowers."
"Very… manly, Padfoot." James said, sniffing at the flowers that his friend was holding firmly in his fingers.
"Actually," the other boy said quickly. "It's a lot more romantic than you think."
"Oh, I know it's romantic," James said. "But I don't know if it's fit for Remus… I mean, you do remember that he is a guy, right?"
"Yes, but he's also gay, so he'll appreciate this just as much as I would."
"But you're gay too. Compare yourself to a straight guy." James said.
"All right," Sirius said exasperatedly, turning to face his friend in the face with a wild look in his eyes. "Would you like flowers if Evans gave them to you?"
"Yes, but that's Lily. If anyone else gave them to me I wouldn't take them. I'm still a man." James said. Sirius shrugged.
"I know Moony will like them."
"What makes you figure? I mean – look – there's even a fake flower here!" James exclaimed, pointing to a stiff and de-thorned rose that was made out of plastic.
Sirius jerked it out of James' grip. "No touching, James. They don't all need to smell like your aftershave."
"How do you know that I have aftershave on?"
"I can smell it from here," Sirius said, wrinkling his nose together. "Go easy on the cologne, mate. Evans doesn't like her men like perfume sample magazines."
James looked like he could have retorted back to Sirius, but instead he nervously fidgeted with his hair. "You think it's too much? Should I take a shower to wash it off?"
"What does it matter? It's just a girl."
"No no," James said swiftly. "Lily is not just some girl."
"Of course not." Sirius said with a roll of eyes. He grabbed his Traveling Cloak, which was laid out on his bed, and draped it around his shoulders.
"Meeting Remus in Hogsmeade?" James asked.
"In Honeydukes, of course. Where else?" Sirius responded, shoving a scarf around his neck and bounding down the staircase. James peered down it.
"Anxious, are we?"
"Just excited, Prongs. It's our first real date." Sirius said enthusiastically.
"You make Moony sound like a girl. How effeminate of you to call it a date." James told him, walking down the stairs with unshared eagerness.
"Dates are a-sexual," the other boy defended. "And Moony is not a girl."
"But he's not a guy, either." James said.
"Don't let Remus hear you saying that. I told him that the other night." Sirius warned James, slipping gloves onto his hands.
"How expected of us. But we always knew that we had ESP, no?"
Sirius furrowed his brow. "You're creeping me out."
"That was my intention." James said with a satisfied smirk as he leant against the couch.
"Well, anyway, I'm spending too much of my time with the unintelligent. You're rotting out my brain cells, Prongs." Sirius said with a shrug, running towards the Portrait Hole.
"Then you should stop hanging out with yourself." James retorted with a laugh, but Sirius had already gone.
---
"I was waiting for you."
"In the cold?" Sirius asked sympathetically, slipping off his coat and putting it around Remus' shoulders.
"Thanks," Remus slipped an arm around his boyfriend's waist, curling him closer. "But you will help me warm up just fine."
Sirius chuckled. "I know. I'm very hot, of course."
Remus rolled his eyes at the statement, but laughed nonetheless. He poked him in the side softly. "Happy Valentine's Day."
"How effeminate of you. You think Valentine's Day is girly." Sirius said with a smile.
Remus sent him a glare but steered them into the sweet shop. The door opened with a friendly tinkle and they were both greeted with a wave of warmth. Remus raced over to the chocolate aisle.
"You're obsessed, you know that?" Sirius said fondly when he walked over to his boyfriend. Remus nodded, engrossed in the sweets displayed on the wall.
"Speaking of chocolate," he said. "Do you have a present for me?"
Sirius shrugged playfully, raking a hand through his hair as flurries of snow fell out onto the ground by their feet.
"Come to someplace more romantic and I'll show you what it is."
Remus blushed in delight but looked skeptical at the same time. "It's not Madame Puddifoot's, is it?"
Sirius shook his head, grabbing the tawny-haired boy's hand and dragging him out of the shop.
"I think not. I've had enough cupids following me around all day." Sirius shuddered.
Remus raised his eyebrows questionably. "I didn't know the cupids were attracted to you too, Sirius." He laughed.
Sirius smirked. "Oh, they are. But that's not why they were following me. I got at least five valentines today."
"Should I be jealous?"
"I think not," the black-haired boy repeated. "I would have no pleasure in dating Bertha Jorkins, thank you very much."
Remus chuckled, as they both pranced into the Three Broomsticks and took a seat in the secluded corner. They took off their scarves and coats, draping them across their chairs.
"Do you flirt with Madame Rosmerta when you come here with James?" Remus asked, leaning across the table inquiringly.
"Everyone flirts with Rosmerta," Sirius said, shrugging. He caught Remus' eyes and winked. "But I don't."
He leant across the table and grabbed his boyfriend's hand across the sugar bowl, giving him a small kiss on the forehead. "Your gift." With a fancy wave of his fingers, he pulled out a bar of Honeydukes chocolate, only to be followed with fourteen large roses.
"Chocolate!" Remus squealed, breaking through the wrapper of the bar. He stopped when he felt Sirius' finger poke him in the shoulder. He looked up to see him holding a bouquet of flowers in his hands – blushing furiously.
Remus was speechless.
Remus Lupin was not a girl.
But then again, Remus Lupin was not a man either.
"How effeminate of you, Sirius." He said faintly, not grabbing the flowers but simply staring at them slightly horrifyingly.
"You're not a girl," Sirius said with a smile, placing the roses at Remus' end of the table. "And you're not a man. You're just my Moony."
Sirius ruffled his hair as Remus picked up the flowers reluctantly. A small tag fell out onto the floor. The werewolf leant down and picked it up curiously.
Moony –When roses grow, so does our love. But believe me, you smell sweeter than these flowers. When roses wilt, we fall. But we fall together.
– Padfoot
When he looked up, Sirius was smiling widely. His scarred hands were soon in the black-haired boy's. Sirius' thumb brushed against his palm.
"When all of these roses wilt," he told him softly. "I won't love you anymore."
Remus felt his heart sink. So he arranged all this, just to break up with him? Something was wet in his eyes, but Remus blinked it away.
"Are… are you breaking up with me?"
Sirius blinked several times before responding, furious. "No!! Of course not!"
"But… flowers don't last forever, Padfoot," Remus protested.
"That one will."
Remus watched a pale finger point towards an unnaturally stiff rose sitting in the middle. Remus pulled it out. "It's… it's plastic."
Sirius smiled. "Exactly. And fake flowers can't wilt."
For Remus, it took him an awfully long time to grasp the concept. And then, with a crazy smile planted on his face, he threw himself onto Sirius' neck and kissed his hair repeatedly, until he pulled back with further intentions. He kissed the other boy firmly on his lips, letting his fingers slide back to Sirius' neck.
Sirius pushed him away gently.
"So I take it you like them?"
Remus grinned. "I love them, Padfoot." Climbing awkwardly out of his lap, he admired the roses in front of him.
Sirius crossed his arms with a smirk and a grin on his face at the same time. Remus didn't know how he still made that look so sexy.
"How effeminate of you, Remus."
The tawny-haired boy chuckled. "I'm Remus Lupin. I'm not a girl, but I'm not a boy either."
"You're just my Moony." Sirius ran a hand down Remus' cheek fondly. "And when roses wilt, I will no longer love you."
"That's a long time to love." Remus said, blushing.
Sirius sent a smoldering look toward him. "You know it's true," he said. "And face it. You want me."
"Who doesn't?" Remus asked with a laugh. "I think Rosmerta was making sticky eyes at you earlier."
"Well…" Sirius ran a hand through his hair. "People can't help staring…"
The werewolf grabbed his friend's wrist securely. "Then she should remember," he said with a smile playing on the corner of his lips. "That when she gets caught up staring at you that you weren't staring back."
"Too much talking."
Remus didn't remember closing his eyes – or even moving from his chair – but the next second he was on Sirius' lap and their lips were melded together like fusing metal, his fingers still clamped securely on the rose that would never wilt.
AN: YAY for JeminaKay, because it will soon be her birthday and I am honoring that. :D She truly is like a sister to me - so HURRAH for her:D