Okay I would just like to say before I start, this story is a first for four things for me – it's my first time writing in the present tense, first time writing from a character's point of view, my first time writing smut, and my first time writing a story that isn't just a one-shot. There's no smut in the first chapter but don't worry, there will be once I build up enough balls to write it

It's from Sirius' point of view and I would like to add that I own nothing here except the plot. Hope you enjoy, and I would really appreciate reviews, especially to advise me on whether or not I should continue the story in present tense and/or from Sirius' point of view. Thanks! Now on with the story .......

Chapter One: Trouble

God Almighty. Slughorn can be so boring sometimes. I yawn with my cheek firmly squashed into my hand which is holding my head up. Looking around for a distraction from my boredom, my eyes fall on a curious phenomenon directly in front of me. Remus is hunched over his book, deciphering his potion, and just there in the nape of his neck is a slight hollow. A curious urge to lean over and just lightly press my lips against that hollow comes over me. I can't help but stare, there's something beautiful and tender about it ... what's my reason for not kissing it? Oh yeah, he's my best mate ... Wait a second ... I'm staring at the back of my best mate's neck for crying out loud! What's the matter with me? God you'd think I didn't have enough girl trouble to worry about.

Yeah. I said trouble. It's strange, I used to love the attention, it used to make me feel so proud but recently it has actually annoyed me. But there's no escape, everywhere I look there's another girl looking at me with batting eyelids or giggling and blushing and it annoys me. I've been on my fair share of dates but the most I've ever done is kiss. It used to bother me until I realised that I have no curiosity whatsoever as to what lies under a girl's robes. Then that started to bother me. What boy of my age doesn't want to see a girl naked? A gay one. The thought keeps reverberating around my head but it doesn't seem to fit – I don't exactly have any sort of urge to see what lies under any other guy's robes. Until now ... just that smooth little hollow is giving me the sort of fluttery breath that I hear in girls all the time when I kiss them ...

"OUCH!"

James just nudged me hard in the ribs. Woops ... guess I must have spaced out for a minute – there's a thin line of saliva slowly dripping out of my mouth and landing in a growing puddle on my desk. I wonder if James has noticed. Well he's raising his eyebrows at me – I guess so ... but he seems impatient and I wonder why until he nods his head towards the front of the class. Snivellus is almost inside his cauldron he's studying his potion so hard.

"Fancy sending Snivellus for a swim?" says James with a wicked smile. I'm still rather inclined towards the boy at the table in front of me and hope that James is too eager to prank Snape to worry about my reaction – I just smirk and nod my head. James conveys the message to Wormtail who's working beside Remus and I see the latter roll his eyes and shake his head at his potion. My gaze is so intent on that hollow in the back of Remus' neck that all else escapes my notice until I hear a loud 'CRASH' that indicates the success of James' prank. I jump and look up just in time to see Snape's head emerge from his overturned cauldron, face flushed and hair thickening rapidly, growing down past his shoulders and out almost at arm's length from his head. I snigger but turn toward my own cauldron trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing so that Slughorn doesn't blame me. Fortunately, Peter and James are rolling around on the floor laughing which is a dead give-away and gets me off the hook. Slughorn sends Snape to the hospital wing and spends the rest of the lesson shouting at Peter and James, giving me peace to drool into my desk again.

Later on, when James and Peter are in detention, I lie on my back on a sofa in the common room throwing a quaffle in the air and catching it again. Remus is sitting on the floor, legs stretched out and his back against the sofa working on an essay. Somehow, he changes to sitting cross-legged and as my eye is caught again by the way his neck leans over his book, the quaffle comes straight down, bounces off my slack hand and hits Remus on the shoulder before hitting the floor and rolling away. Remus starts and glares around at me.

"Sorry ... I dropped the ball ..." I mumble sheepishly. Remus smirks and rolls his eyes.

"Well if I'm going to get any work done I suppose I may go to bed early and work up in the dormitory. Night Pads." He flashes me a grin that makes my breath catch and I huskily mutter back "Night Moony."

What the hell is wrong with me? It's Remus! Why is he making me feel like this?

After another hour or so lying on the sofa playing with the quaffle and trying to think of anything but Remus, I get fed up and head for the dormitory to get the Marauder's Map so that I could maybe sneak down to the kitchen for some food. I walk in quietly in case Remus is asleep but stop in my tracks at the doorway. There it is. Again. Christ, this is torture! The back of his neck is just so exposed to my frantic, desperate lips ... I almost feed the impulse to close the distance between us in one bound to press my lips against it but just as I am about to act on it, he turns his head. "Oh, hey Sirius. I'm almost done, then I swear I'll turn out the light," he says hurriedly.

I just stare. Then I realise that he may have mistaken my hesitance on entering the room as annoyance that I wouldn't be able to sleep with the light on. "Oh, that's fine Moony. I'm actually just thinking of going down to the kitchens. Do you want anything up?"

He doesn't look up from his work but says, "Would you mind waiting for me? I'd love a walk to stretch my legs, I swear I'll only be another two minutes!"

Crap. I'm going to have to sit here and do everything I can not to stare at his neck. "Sure, give me a shout when you're ready."

Oh dear God. I was worried about staring at his neck. But every time he reads over a previous sentence or looks for inspiration on what else to write, his quill comes up to his mouth and he just sucks it and chews on it ... I grow hot around the collar and try and concentrate on finding the Map, which turns out to be under James' pillow. Great. I found it too fast. Remus is still nibbling on his quill ...

I go to the bathroom to throw cold water over my face and unbutton my shirt so that I can wet my neck too. And of course, this is the part where Remus walks in to say he's ready to go. He's caught off guard by my shirt gaping open and starts before blushing and walking back out to wait. Since when does Remus blush? Oh well. I button up and exit the bathroom and say to Remus, who's biting his lip, "Let's go then."

It's a quiet walk down to the kitchens. It's slightly awkward at first but we sort of ease into it. That's the great thing about being with Remus - it's so easy to be silent without feeling awkward or a need to fill the gaps with meaningless conversation. Once we pile up on pastries and buns and pumpkin juice (and in Remus' case, chocolate), we slowly head back to Gryffindor Tower, laughing about James and Peter's pranks, wondering what Slughorn is making them do and wondering whether Snape's hair was back to its usual greasy self yet. We go up to our dormitory and pool all our food on Remus' bed, sharing and just chatting about all sorts until we gradually fall asleep, still fully dressed and surrounded by food on Remus' bed.