In case some of you haven't noticed, I've gone back into worshiping my favourite couple in the entire series of Harry Potter. Remus/Sirius are in fact my very favourite couple - period. I swear to you guys, there simply isn't a cuter, more perfect couple anywhere out there, neither in fiction, nor in real life. This is my opinion, and I'm damn proud of it. So if this pairing bugs someone, then I'll give you a word of advice: DON'T READ ANY FURTHER!

Otherwise, I wish the rest of you a fun time reading this fic - 'cause I sure as hell had fun writing it!

Hang on: Disclaimer: Of course I still don't own the HP series or any of its characters... though I keep plenty of drawings of them!

Rated T just to be safe, but apart from the occasional swearing I think you should be safe. I've almost used more bad words in this brief discription than I've done in the actual story, sorry about that. Anyway, here's the actual story!

Wanna bet?

Everything was quiet at the hospital wing this early in the morning – even for a certain werewolf in one of the beds in there. This could of course have something to do with the fact that he, miraculously enough, was the only patient occupying a bed at the moment.

He was yet merely half awake after last night's torturous full moon, when another student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came storming into the room, quickly locating the bed in which his target laid, and rushing over to him just to throw himself at the poor, wounded gryffindore.

"I'm sorry!" the other student exclaimed, his arms tightly wrapped around the werewolf. "I'm so, so sorry Moony! I should have been there, I know!"

"Ouch!" was Remus Lupin's reply.

"Sorry!" the black-haired boy repeated, now climbing off of his friend, finally understanding that he did him harm. "How bad is it?" he added cautiously.

"I've had rougher nights", the other boy replied, not quite calming his friend down just as much as he intended.

"Let me see", the other wizard said, not at all questioningly while he'd already decided to take a look at the injuries no matter what his friend would say.

"Sirius!"

The weak word of protest that escaped Remus' mouth was expected; Sirius Black didn't stop to look at the other boy as he ripped the white bed sheet away from him, uncovering the pale, bare, scar-covered flesh that was Lupin's torso.

The black-haired boy gasped at what he saw. Of course there'd be scars covering the ragged werewolf's body – he was well aware that his friend had scars that would never heal because of his lycanthropy – but the great amount of new, sharp, reddened ones put into view was overwhelming.

Remus hurriedly pulled the sheet back to cover everything but his face, even though he really wanted to cover that up as well, embarrassed and ashamed as he was.

Though if there'd be a competition of who looked to be most remorseful of the two, then this was one of those rare occasions when Black won by large lengths.

"I did this to you", said boy stated ruefully.

"You did not: my condition did", Remus corrected, saying the word 'condition' with such bitterness and hatred that the black-haired boy would've thought him to blow something up had he had his wand then and there – and, of course, had he not been Remus.

"You wouldn't have looked like this if I would have been there with you", Sirius proclaimed truthfully; there was no way of getting around that fact, and he'd never forget it. "Prongs told me of how upset the wolf was when noticing my absence. He said they didn't dare to stay while you went violent. It was my fault."

"How could you possibly blame yourself?" the lycanthrope asked. "I don't."

"How could I not?" the other boy returned. "I shouldn't have been as stupid as to get myself into detention with McGonagall yesterday of all days, knowing it was to be full moon and everything!"

"You have your moments of not using your brain, Padfoot", Remus admitted. "I couldn't possibly be your friend, had I not accepted this fact a very long time ago."

The lycan smiled at this, making the other Marauder's lips twitch as well.

"I won't screw up again, Moons", he said ensuring, still in this great moment of honesty where his best side was shown. "I promise."

"I know you promise not to intend to do so, Pads", Lupin nodded, "though expecting more of you would doubtlessly be unrealistic and disappointing."

"Possibly", Sirius allowed with a weak smile, his mind racing back to the time earlier this year when he had made even bigger an error in telling Snape to go to the Whomping Willow at the time of the full moon. He whimpered at the reminder, not grasping how Remus could be so understanding and forgiving of him. He'd promised the same thing at the time as he did right now, and even though he hardly believed himself, Moony somehow managed to forgive him this time as well, without hesitating.

The dog looked into the expressive, warm hazel eyes of the wolf, realizing how much he truly cared for the tender creature before him, and also realizing how much it hurt disappointing him.

"No", he said, changing his mind. "I'll do this. I won't let you down again; I can handle not screwing up", he tried to convince himself. "I can do anything."

And that was how it all started.

--

"I bet you can't go quiet for an entire day."

"I bet you can't leave me alone for more than an hour."

"I bet you can't go an afternoon without pulling a prank."

This was how Sirius' friends began to challenge him when they found that he continuously claimed to be able to do anything, even weeks after the full moon incident. This earned them some highly treasured time of calm and serenity, as Padfoot just had to prove them all wrong each and every time. He'd had to pay up at one occasion though, when Remus bet that he couldn't lick his elbow, but he'd proudly managed all the rest of the tasks he'd gotten.

After a while, as the self-confident animagus craved new, different challenges, his friends grew tired of his odd – and at times rather unhealthy – obsession. Padfoot wouldn't have this, though; he began to listen out for things that he could question and bet on to enjoy himself. The other Marauders didn't get an easy time, and more than once James felt he couldn't stand the annoying dog anymore, and ended up getting into a fight with him. Then, of course, Sirius wouldn't miss out on the opportunity to bet he'd win the next one.

Remus and Peter dealt with things in a possibly smarter way: they stayed out of the dog's way. Peter did this simply by avoiding their dorm for as long as he possibly could, but Remus just couldn't bring himself to run off or hide from his much adored friend. Sirius would find him anyway, just by taking a peek at their very own homemade map, he reasoned – and so he usually ended up shielding behind a book or something, still being able to partially enjoy the company of the young man who was always on his mind anyway.

Of course, this also meant that if Sirius turned extremely bored, he'd always have Remus to turn to, and sooner or later the latter boy would give in and do or say whatever Black wanted him to do or say. This was their routine – and even if it wasn't the very best way to spend your spare time, it still was what they were both used and content with.

But sometimes Remus would need to slip away to the library to do home works. He tried it out allowing Sirius to come with him once, betting the fellow Marauder that he couldn't finish his paper before him, thereby hoping for the dog to actually get something done. Turned out he should have bet on the quiet-for-a-day-thing again, as Padfoot 'finished' his paper within seconds by burning it up, then getting himself tossed out of the library by Miss Pince for talking way too loud about things inappropriate for younger students to hear.

Since then, Remus had his library hours in private. This wasn't all too appreciated in the dog's point of view, though he lived with it, and made sure to keep the peace between him and Prongs at occasions like those.

This certain afternoon, the two black-haired boys both chose to simply hang out in the common room for a while, looking out for things to happen and waiting for a flash of genius to strike down in their minds.

"What are we supposed to do?" the long-haired boy asked, obviously bored and no longer in much hope for his genius brain to come to life.

"We could... prank Snivellus", the stag replied, not really being in the creative state of mind this afternoon.

"Nah, we've already done it twice this week", Sirius stated, surprisingly not into the idea.

"So what?" James asked.

"It's Tuesday", the other black-haired gryffindore reminded him. "People could get the idea that we were starting to lose it", he explained. "Besides, pulling pranks towards the same victim too many times can be like trying to convince Binns he's a ghost; it's fun at first, but you tire eventually."

"Speaking of which, what were you thinking at History of Magic today, Padfoot?" James asked with raised eyebrows. "One would think that you were actually missing your detentions, seeing as it's been so very long since last time you had one – over a week; that must be your personal best yet, eh?"

"What?" the other bloke asked, defensively. "All I did was seeking some kind of confirmation, making the whole 1840s phenomenon more understandable."

"You asked Binns if he was willing to bet that there had ever been warfare between giants and gnomes!"

"Yeah well, you never know with that professor; I bet he imagines just about as much as he teaches from books."

"As if you care!" James burst, scoffing. "Admit it: you just wanted to utter the words."

"What do you take me for, Prongs? Being addicted?"

"Sure seems like it", the bloke responded seriously. "I just don't get why you'd trade your addiction to girls to something like this."

"I've never had an addiction to girls!" Sirius protested. "They have an addiction to me."

"Oh yeah, sure, you've really sacrificed a lot when girls throw themselves at you entirely against your will", James snorted sarcastically. "Do you even got any idea of how many girls you've made out with around here?" he asked somewhat curiously. This was probably like asking a five-year-old to count each and every stray of a haystack, though, so he didn't expect an exact answer. "Give me an approximation."

Sirius shrugged. "Dunno, all of them?" he said, fairly uninterested to the subject while another pair of lips was on his mind; lips that he hadn't even touched yet.

"You can't have done all of them, there's no way!" James disagreed.

"Okay then, not Evans", the dog confessed, rather unconcerned.

"Still, there's no freaking way", the stag claimed. "Not all witches around here are pretty, you know."

"Oh, I know", Sirius agreed. "But I've already taken that into account, and do you know what, Prongs? Fire whiskey almost exclusively makes girls pretty enough."

"Still, there are a lot of girls at school. 1st years to 7th, that would probably be…"

"Okay, wanna narrow it down? Say then, all fifth years, all sixth years, about half of the seventh years and even some forth years, I'd think", Black reeled. "Leaving out my relatives and most of the slytherines, of course."

"What? You didn't manage all of the seventh years?" the messy-haired gryffindore teased.

"Oh quit it, you know I could get anyone", Sirius bragged, though on his defensive.

James raised an eyebrow. "Not too sure about that, no", he was mocking him, fully aware of what he was about to stir up.

The Black generation's stubbornness started to show for real as the wizard glared at his friend for some time, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"Do you wanna bet?"

The stag immediately straightened up, seeing as how this was the effect he'd intended to reach all the time. He hurried to agree.

"You're on, Padfoot. I bet you two galleons you can't walk up and kiss the next person that comes into the common room."

"Easy money! I'm in, Prongs. We have a deal."

The two teens shook on it, neither bothering to cast a spell to seal the deal; both trusting the other to have enough dignity to admit his loss and pay up.

"I feel for you, Pads", James confessed after casting his net and making sure that his friend – and brother for all intents, just not by blood – got caught in it. "I wouldn't say I'd appreciate having to snog Adrian Stebbins up the wall if he'd be the next one to walk in."

"Gotta agree with you on that one, though last time I checked, Adrian was a bloke", Sirius commented.

"So?" James was quick to say – so quick that it was clear that this was the catch he'd had in mind the whole time. "The bet included anyone – no specific sex mentioned."

"But… we were talking about girls, so I assumed…"

"Well, don't assume things, Pads", the seeker advised him. "That usually ends up rather badly."

The gray-eyed gryffindore gaped at his friend's rough bluntness.

"You can't be serious!" he exclaimed.

"I'm just as serious as you are", was the reply.

"Very funny."

"For real, why would I bet about girls only?" the spectacled wizard asked rhetorically. "That would probably be equivalent to handing you the money straight away, and where's the fun in that?"

"You're a cruel mess of a bloke, Potter", Sirius hissed, eyes narrowed.

"Yeah well, I don't wear out the title of a Marauder for nothing", the boy in question replied, obviously more amused and flattered than he was insulted. "You're not getting your ass out of this one, Pads", he assured his friend with a wicked grin. "We'll just wait for someone to enter, and then you'll go and do your thing."

Said and done. They could've done with less waiting, though. The traffic weren't all too busy to and from the common room in the late afternoon; those who were there seemed to be satisfied that way, and those who weren't didn't seem to find any reason to change that either.

And, seeing as there wasn't any sight of neither Lily nor Remus, the two teenage boys had nothing particularly interesting to put their attention to; therefore they quickly grew impatient. Even Sirius did, because no matter what he felt of the situation he'd put himself into, he was restless by nature and needed things to be happening at all times to be satisfied. Hell, he woke up in a grumpy mood if he hadn't dreamt at night, so one would probably figure he'd got issues concerning his patience.

However, as the painting of the Fat Lady finally swung open to permit a gryffindore student entrance, Sirius immediately regretted complaining about the uneventful passing of time. Both he and James could clearly see the short figure of a redheaded fourth year student: an unpopular, muggle-born boy whose name he didn't know of, just about to raise a trembling foot and step into the room.

"Go ahead, Padfoot", James laughed.

"He hasn't entered yet", the boy in question said through clenched teeth.

Just as he said so, the trembling young boy heard his name being called out grimly by an older gryffindore already installed in the common room, and so he yelped and whirled around at the spot probably wishing to get as far away from the other student as possible.

"Hah!" Sirius breathed out, triumphantly and clearly relieved. "Was that Frank Longbottom cursing at that kid? I'll need to thank him."

"Yeah yeah, you were lucky once", James waved it off. "You won't be it twice. We'll just have to wait some more."

"Seriously, have you got a portable set of Wizard's Chess at hand or something?" the dog asked, already bored again. "This waiting-thing really ticks me off."

This time they didn't need to wait very long, though. In fact, James had hardly had time to react at his friend's words before the portrait swung open again, and behind it another redhead was revealed. Only, his time it had the complete opposite reaction than it had had before; this time the stag was the one wincing with horror while the black dog was enjoying himself.

"Bad luck, Prongs!" Sirius grinned in a true moment of malicious pleasure.

"No, wait, Lily isn't included in this thing, she can't be!" James cried in distress.

"The bet includes anyone, everyone; you said it yourself", the infamous ladies-man reminded him with delight. "I'll just go and ravage her mouth now, then, and blame it all on you", he continued cheerfully and got up from his seat.

A hand stopped him dead in his tracks with a pull so strong and overwhelming that it could've made him fall over, had he been the tiniest bit weaker than he was.

"She hasn't entered yet!" the black-haired teen hissed at the other, his eyes shooting daggers at the happy puppy's face.

Their eyes both shifted to the place where Lily Evans indeed was still standing; having a casual conversation with someone they weren't in the proper angle to get a look at, obviously waiting for this person to move inside before her.

As this happened, it put Remus Lupin into view for the other Marauders, which caused James to bring about a somewhat contented noise even though he was just as surprised about it as the other teen was.

"You fold?" the stag asked with an expression of confidence to hint that he already counted the victory and money his.

Sirius seemed to think this over for a while, though little did his friend know his thoughts weren't concerning the money at all. When it showed in the dog's face that he'd reached a decision, James expected him to dig in his pockets in defeat, but Sirius intended to do no such thing. This he made clear when he started walking towards the unsuspecting brunette who was still talking to the redheaded girl of James' dreams, his face expressing more curiosity than determination.

"Oy, Moony!" he bawled in head's-up, making the targeted sixteen-year-old turn to look at him questioningly. "Pardon me, Evans", he then said as he pulled his friend away from the witch he'd been conversing with, only to pull him close onto himself and tilt his head to meet his lips, all done randomly to the point of incomprehension.

He didn't close his eyes but kept them open, watching from up close how Remus' eyes went wide in shock, trying to analyse and see a tad of reason and logic in what was happening. There wasn't any, the werewolf seemed to state, and Sirius found that a confounded Moony was an adorable Moony.

Without really considering what his next move ought to be, Sirius deepened the kiss by pressing his lips harder against the other bloke's, and sticking his tongue into Remus' mouth as the other gryffindore gasped with surprise. The lycan's lips felt oh-so pleasantly soft, but as the boy still looked astonished beyond being able – or willing, for that matter – to return the kiss, Sirius decided that this could possibly be carried out somewhat further in a place more private than the public, crowded common room.

He pulled away a mere couple of inches, to smile softly, barely noticeable, and give the other wizard breathe.

"Well, that was… interesting", he stated lowly after a couple of seconds, still not getting any reaction whatsoever out of the brunette. "Hang on a second", he told him, and turned to walk over to Prongs, who was standing just as wide-eyed and agape as the other 30 students who were looking his way.

"Pay up", he ordered, and held out his hand for his fellow Marauder to pour coins into.

Much to his surprise, yet satisfactory, it turned out James was too amazed to even care commenting on anything, plus the messy-haired boy didn't need to hand out small change as he had two whole galleons in his pocket.

When Sirius had gotten what he wanted, he turned to where Remus had been standing, though that gave way for yet another surprise: the wolf wasn't left there anymore.

--

Remus just could not believe how the idiot of a friend that was Sirius Orion Black could actually behave. What was going through the stupid dogs mind?

He'd been all too shocked when the black-haired boy had pulled him out of his conversation with Lily only to kiss him fiercely, completely out of the blue. The wolf truly had not understood a thing, just recognising the moment as one of his fantasies coming true – and to be honest, his first thought had been that he'd fallen asleep in the library in the middle of the afternoon again. Though this theory didn't quite match with the fact that the event had felt so abnormally real – and oh-so amazing.

Just as his brain was about to comprehend that maybe, just maybe, this was actually happening for real – that maybe, just maybe, Remus could actually be incredibly lucky and experience this for real – then the handsome sixteen-year-old let him go and stepped away to recall him to reality and crush every tad of good feelings that was beginning to build up inside of him.

He'd witnessed, along with everyone else in the common room, how Sirius had received payment from the spectacled Marauder that was James Potter.

"That figures", Lily Evans said with a frown, while they both realized what this had really been about.

"That figures", Remus nodded with a stifled, rasping voice, being at the edge of cracking up.

He excused himself and hurried up into the dormitory, making sure that no one would be able to follow him, and cursing himself for being stupid enough to make himself vulnerable – get his hopes up around Sirius Black, in other words. Such a thing was always doomed to fail; he ought to have been cleverer than that by now, really; he should've guessed that this would all be another bet and nothing serious. Sirius was never serious.

"Moony, you in there?" an all too familiar voice asked after a while, followed by a startled yelp that made Lupin realize that the goddamned dog must've touched the door handle and gotten a jolt of electricity from it. "What the hell is with the door?" Black cried a second later, as expected.

"It's called a spell, Padfoot", the lycan commented from inside of the poorly insulated room. "Maybe if you didn't sleep in all of your classes, you'd know of it", he added wryly.

"You're pissed off", Sirius acknowledged blankly, and for once the cleverer of the two made no sound to deny it. The black-haired boy heaved a sigh. "Let me explain, Moons."

"I'm listening", the hazel-eyed teen said with a harsh undertone.

"No you don't", Sirius thought. "Not even you can be reasonable while you're angry."

"Is that so?" Remus said with an annoyed frown. "Don't you think higher of me than that? Having measured that from your own scale, now have you?"

"I get it, I'm all-time unreasonable", Sirius admitted. "I'll be more than happy to discuss my many faults, as long as you let me in."

"Not gonna happen, Pads", Remus assured.

"Pretty please?" the animagus begged. "With creamy Swiss chocolate on top?"

All he got in return was a snort, and so he sighed and pulled out his wand.

"Alohomora", he said determinedly while pointing his tool at the handle, but this gave him nothing but another shock shot up his arm.

"It's an advanced spell, Sirius", the wolf explained, somewhat amused though still angry. "You may dare to try it out some day."

"Oh shut it, will you?" the boy he spoke to replied, though not in a sharp way, seeing as he aimed at being forgiven himself. "No fair using the brilliancy and wittiness of your brain and mouth while I'm trying to do right here."

"Funny thing", Remus murmured sardonically. "As much as you try to do right, it always tends to end up really, really wrong."

"I know I'm the invincible master of screw ups; we've already been through this all before."

"… More times than I would've liked, yes", Lupin filled in.

"Well, that just proves my point, right? But you guys all got to love me anyway", the gray-eyed gryffindore said. "Please let me in, Moonshine; I'm begging you! Don't make me go to the library to find the reversing spell."

"Would you do that?" the brunette asked.

"Well, if I had to, of course", Sirius promised. "But I'd rather you saved me the time and effort; my many points and apologizes would be rather pointless and forgotten by the hour of which I'd return, plus I promised you never to miss out on a full moon ever again – and it's soon, right? In about a week, isn't that so?"

The lycan couldn't do other than laugh at the other bloke's words, and eventually he flickered his wand to unlock the door that was closed between them – after gathering himself and setting a neutral facial expression, that was.

Black cheered and opened the door hastily, barely able to react on the effect before a big barrel of liquid was dropped over him as the edge of the door could balance it no longer, making him soaked from tip to toe.

"Pfft!" he spat, much resembling an angry puppy. "What the heck was that?!"

"Water", Remus informed concisely.

"The hell it is", Sirius spat, not buying it. "Why does it taste funny?"

"Oh, that's right, I added some flea shampoo too", Remus stated, as if he didn't remember that part of it until now.

"What on earth did you do that for?" Sirius now wore an expression of someone truly horrified.

The brunette grinned wickedly. "Because I felt you needed it. And deserved it", he added.

"Okay, I get it", the other boy said while he dried his clothes and hair with his wand. "So now we're even."

Lupin slowly raised an eyebrow and looked surprisingly dangerous where he stood, his gaze penetrating his friend with the true intensity of an angered werewolf, for once.

"You… you don't really think we're even, do you?" Black asked hesitantly. Remus growled in response. "Moonyyy, you're kinda freaking me out."

"Well, how about that", the lycanthrope said in a husky voice. "Finally I get a sensible reaction from you, Padfoot."

"Heh…" The other bloke squirmed. "Well, as I was saying…" He truly had big trouble concentrating; too wound up of seeing the quietest and calmest of the Marauder quartet act somewhat like a threatening animal. "… About what happened downstairs…"

"I understand perfectly", the lycan preceded him by saying. "There's no need for you to explain anything."

"Oh, but I think there is", Sirius said and was about to continue when he was interrupted.

"Really? So it wasn't at all concerning a bet you'd made against James, by any chance?"

"No", he protested, and Remus arched a sceptical eyebrow at him. "… Well, yes, but there's more to it."

"Let me guess: you bet money on being able to kiss me", the wolf said sternly.

"Nah…" The other wizard really didn't know whether truth or lie would do him good in this moment. "Not necessarily you…" he finally informed, deciding to take the higher road for once. "I bet him I'd be able to kiss the next person who walked into the room", he explained.

It took a while for Remus to comprehend this, incredulous as it sounded.

"But… the 'next person' could be pretty much anyone", he realized while talking, and Sirius nodded to confirm it. "Geez, Padfoot, you really have surpassed yourself on this one", he stated through clenched teeth.

"Er… thank you?" Black managed to make it sound like a question, with its right as his friend exploded in the next second.

"Are you in truth a complete moron, or do you just enjoy breaking people down cold-heartedly?!"

"W-what?" the black-haired teen asked, in a voice sounding more innocent than it should.

"Don't you realize that people could get the wrong idea if you randomly kissed them like that in public? What if it would've been someone already dating? Don't you realize in how many ways it would be possible for you to ruin another person's life – or youth, at the very least – just like that? You self-centred, idiotic, proud, big-headed git!"

Remus drew his wand again at this, causing the boy he yelled at to start and take a couple of steps back.

"Whoa Moony, calm down!" he begged his friend. "You're not gonna curse me, are you?" he asked, insecure for once in his life as he'd never seen his fellow Marauder like this before; he'd never seemed so upset before.

"Feel free to defend yourself!" Remus dared him.

"No, hang on; there's gotta be some way we can…" The hex that was cast was merely an inch from him as he ducked his head. "Moons, wait, listen, I'm sorry!"

There was no more curses following the first one, but Sirius didn't feel like taking chances at the moment, so he lunged himself at the other boy while transforming in the air. The big, black dog knocked the brunette to the floor within seconds, and then licked his face sweetly on top of him, seeking forgiveness.

"Padfoot, quit it!" Remus cried demandingly, though it was obvious he wasn't all too angry while the dog tickled him. "No fair, you know I can't curse a dog."

"That was kind of the point", the black-haired wizard explained once he'd turned himself human again, smiling softly as he got up, then gave his friend a hand. "There's my Moony. Calm and controlled again."

Remus shook his head, being pulled up to his feet. "It would look ridiculous barking to a dog", he stated with no need to put that theory into test.

"For sure", Sirius agreed with a crooked smile. "Sorry, mate", he then said, hesitantly.

Remus met those gray orbs that rarely enough shone of honesty, and he simply couldn't avoid easing up.

"Worse things could've happened", he shrugged. "You could've hurt someone."

"Did I hurt you?"

Remus didn't dare meeting the other boy's eyes as he avoided the question and gave a hasty, small smile.

"Sometimes I just can't see where your limit is drawn, Pads", he said with a sigh. "How much money did you bet on this thing?"

"Two galleons", Sirius proclaimed, his turn to shrug now.

"Confident, much?" Lupin asked.

"Or brain dead, perhaps", he added himself. "Probably a mixture of them both."

"Probably", the wolf agreed. "It sure takes a man without thoughts to walk up to his friend and kiss him like that, all without warning. What were you thinking then, anyway?"

"Already told you, Moonshine: I didn't think at all", Sirius claimed.

The other sixteen-year-old shook his head. "Not buying it", he said stubbornly. "Something must have crossed your mind when you saw me walk inside the room. Didn't you consider not doing it?"

"Of course I did", he said quite surprisingly. "You know, I did have a feeling you wouldn't take it all too well, but then again…" He trailed of.

"'Then again', what?" the brown-haired boy wondered curiously.

Sirius locked his deep, gray eyes with those creamy, hazel ones.

"... Then again, I didn't know if I'd ever get a fairly good excuse to kiss you again."

Remus' brain dropped dead.

"Wait, what?" he said, tremendously confused.

"It was the perfect opportunity", Padfoot explained. "I could just catch your attention and kiss you, and if you'd push me away I'd be able to smile calmly at you and say something like: "Relax, Moons: it's just a bet."

The boy he was talking to stared at him in a way that Sirius imagined a puppy would gawk when discovering its own reflection for the first time, though the werewolf was at loss of words, giving the animagus plenty of time considering this and that.

"But, coming to think of it, you never did push me away", the black-haired, drop-dead-gorgeous guy stated while recalling things, a vague smile growing wider at the end of the sentence. "While you didn't exactly encourage me by returning the kiss, you didn't do anything to stop it either", he realized. "You could easily have forced me to withdraw – yet you didn't."

A blush spread across Remus' cheeks as the brunette swallowed and licked his lips nervously.

"Er… there's a really good explanation to that", he promised, thinking hard, but for once he didn't come up with a proper thing to say.

"I'm sure there is, Moons", the other boy commented with a crooked smile. "I just don't fancy waiting around until you've come up with one."

Silence. Padfoot eased things up by laughing lightly, as his friend still had nothing to say but looked incredibly cute in his innocent, nervous matter. Though Remus' eyes still shone with something very appealing while he bit his lip and squirmed, Sirius noticed. This was all confirming his hopes; this was all he needed to make his next move.

"Now", he said in a low voice, stepping towards and leaning in closer to the wolf in front of him, "how would you like me to give this thing another go, only this time you'll have a head's-up first, and we would have no audience?" he asked in a seductive and all too convincing voice.

Remus drew a short, rapid gasp, doubting this all to happen for real. Though as he met the other Marauder's expectant gaze, he found those gray eyes to be too earnest and mesmerizing to have been created in his own head.

"I…" he started to say as he realized that Padfoot was actually waiting for some kind of answer, but he had to swallow and start over as his mouth had went dry. "I-I'd very much like that", he stuttered, and was about to continue when Padfoot got a hold of his carefully tied gryffindore tie and yanked him even closer to him, their bodies bumping into each other and their lips crashing together as Sirius kissed the other boy eagerly.

Remus let out a breath he never realized that he'd been holding, and when he felt the other wizard's warm tongue grazing his lips, he opened his mouth to let him in.

This time he wasn't as shocked as he'd been last time, so it didn't take him long before he allowed himself to act on impulse. He dug his hands into Sirius' perfect, smooth, black hair, gladly cooperating as the other boy tried to pull him even closer, and returned the kiss eagerly; exploring the mouth of the one who'd played the main part in his many daydreams lately; their tongues moving together in a pulsing rhythm; his lips stroking against the other pair fiercely.

Sirius' experienced lips travelled down from the other ones, pressing lightly at a barely visible scar on Moony's cheek before tracing the brunette's cheekbone with his tongue. As he reached the other gryffindore's neck he sucked it gently, making Remus moan with delight. He smiled against his love's bare, flustered flesh, then raised his head up to meet the other boy's lips again before moving his head back a couple of inches.

The boys both met each others' eyes, both flushed and panting, and when Sirius smiled he made Remus turn a shade redder still.

"Pardon me for kissing the life out of you", the dog said, laughing softly.

The werewolf shook his head in denial. "You couldn't ever kiss the life out of me", he said. "Not considering for how long I've been wanting you to do this", he explained, slightly embarrassed at his own words, yet honest about them.

Sirius arched an eyebrow at him, with a special sparkle in his eyes, still smiling; smelling a challenge.

"Is that so?" he whispered into the other boy's ear happily. This was gonna be one wonderful afternoon. "Wanna bet?"

Review, pretty please! :D With creamy Swiss chocolate on top! ... Mmm, chocolate... *wanders off to the kitchen, drooling*