Title: Thinking Things Through

Pairing: Sirius/Remus

Summary: 'Of all the things that may have been said by one Sirius Black, this was not one of them.' Sirius has a habit of not thinking things through. All in all, it's not that surprising when his proposal doesn't go quite according to plan.

Era: Post-Hogwarts

Rating: (SUBJECT TO CHANGE) For now, not M. First fan fic I've ever written that does not include explicit slash. Sorry, smut chasers but this one simply didn't call for it ;) I suppose I could have done sex on a roof, but ah well :P

Warnings: Slash, Sirius/Remus, perhaps some fluff.

Notes: Before you get the wrong idea, this is not all gooey, gooey, mushy mush love, ok? I tried to keep it cute but somewhat realistic, so don't be put off by the idea of a proposal. :/ And don't be disappointed by the general lack of "Oh, Sirius, our wedding day is going to be so perfect. I love you sooooo much", crying everywhere, and "Oh, Remus, I love you, I've always loved you and always will and oh baby, I just want to shag you to death". I like meh fluff, but I like it in moderation XP So I tried to keep the humour going through it and tried my darnest to keep the characters in character. Oh, and try to read past the first sentence ;) Let me know how it went, I'm afraid of the fluff monsters attacking me while I'm writing and shitting all over my story. :/ Hate when that happens.

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Chapter 1: Thinking Things Through Is Overrated.

"We should get married".

Of all the things that may have been said by one Sirius Black, this was not one of them. So Remus assumed he hadn't heard correctly.

"What was that?", he asked distractedly as a waitress accidentally sloshed some Butterbeer onto his shoe as she walked by.

"Married, Moony. We should get married".

Finally accepting that he had heard correctly but concluding instead that he had misunderstood the meaning, Remus looked at Sirius and raised his eyebrow.

"Well, what do you say?", Sirius pressed, grey eyes searching Remus' face for something that simply wasn't there. Instead of joy he found annoyance and confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

Remus was distracted from the distraught look on Sirius' face by James leaning over to hiss loudly at Sirius, "Idiot, you're supposed to do it on one knee".

"And you're supposed to have a ring", Lily interjected, frowning disapprovingly at Sirius' apparent lack of jewelery.

Perplexed, Remus watched as Sirius snarled something at James and shoved him back into his own seat.

Here he was, trying to enjoy an evening out at the pub with his best friends, and Sirius Black decided that it would be the perfect time for a prank. Idiot. It was a shame that he loved said idiot or he would have kicked him in the shins by now. In fact, he did it anyway. It had the desired effect. Sirius yelped and turned his attention back to Remus.

"Now what are you on about this time? And this better not be as ridiculous as your last prank".

It had taken days for Remus to figure out how to get the bubbles in the bath to stop whistling at him and singing loud, bawdy songs about various parts of his anatomy.

"It's not ridiculous", Sirius protested, most affronted by this most heinous of accusations. That was what the haughty posture said anyway.

"I'm talking about marriage, Moony. You know, you and me, a wedding and rings and a white dress, except we don't have to have the white dress unless you really want to wear one".

There was an exasperated sigh from Remus' right (Lily) and a muffled murmur of "Oh, dear Godric's golden knickers", from Sirius' right (James), and perplexed silence from Remus' left (Peter).

Then something began to dawn on Remus. If this was part of some prank then James wouldn't have his head in his hands, looking as if he wanted to shake sense into someone and Lily would look most disapproving, which would be slightly ruined by a reluctant smirk. And Peter would be snickering most unsubtly. This didn't appear to be a prank.

Remus took another look at the uncharacteristically anxious face of his boyfriend. Marriage? His jaw gaped most unattractively.

"You mean you want to get married? To me?", he asked stupidly, his mind a complete blank. Calm before the storm probably.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you for the past five minutes. And people say you're the clever one", Sirius rolled his eyes affectionately and lounged back against his chair across from Remus, apparently pleased that he'd got his message across.

Their table was silent for a moment as everyone stared intently at Remus, waiting for his response.

"Are you mad?"

Sirius frowned. That was not the response he'd been hoping for. He'd been hoping for a 'yes', or something along those lines, rather than a questioning of his sanity.

"You want to get married to me?", Remus hissed at him, anger flaring in his eyes, "You know what I am and you ask me to marry you?"

Perplexed by whether or not to answer when all the questions seemed rhetorical, Sirius let out a small, confused, "Wha...?"

This was not the correct response.

Remus leaned across the table, uncharacteristic sneer on his face as he whispered quietly so no one in the pub would hear but their table, "You're asking a werewolf to marry you. Are you asking for an early death?"

Sirius made to say something that would undoubtedly make Remus even angrier so it might have been considered lucky that Remus interrupted him.

"Marriage to a werewolf is for life. Literally. You're bound mind and soul to that person for the rest of your life. 'Until death do us part' is taken further in werewolf marriage. When one dies, the other dies – literally. You breathe your last breath at the same time, regardless of whether you want to or not".

Sirius stared at the angry werewolf across from him in surprise. He'd read something along those lines in books before (really, the only books he'd ever taken seriously in school were ones on werewolves) but he'd never quite focused on the parts on werewolf marriage and thought most of it metaphorical anyway. Apparently he'd been wrong.

However, he didn't quite know what to say to make the angry, questioning Remus go away and the humorous, thoughtful Remus come back. So he continued to gape at him stupidly. Again, he could have responded better.

Remus stood abruptly, giving Peter a glare to indicate that he should get out of his way. A moment later and Peter had scuttled from the chair to give the furious werewolf a wide berth. You had to be good at duck-and-run when Remus got like this.

Remus gave Sirius one last glare as he declared calmly but coldly, "And by the way, the answer is no, in case you hadn't guessed". He swept past their table with a quiet mutter of, "Sorry, have to go", presumably to Lily, James and Peter before he stalked out of the pub.

Sirius stared at the spot where Remus had sat.

Well that could have gone better.

He was still staring at the same spot when he felt James pat him consolingly on the back.

"Sirius Black's marriage proposal rejected – never thought I'd live to see the day".

He coughed and offered some more consoling words when he saw the glare Lily shot him, "He probably just needs some time to think things over. I mean, you gotta give a guy some warning".

"He's right", Lily added, leaning over to place her hand on top of Sirius', "You know how Remus is; he doesn't like to just jump into things like you do. He needs time to think things through before he can make a decision".

"But I asked him to marry me", Sirius exclaimed in apparent bewilderment, "Why should he have to think about that?"

"Well", Lily said, the start of a smile forming on her face, "Have you thought that maybe this wasn't the time, place or situation for a marriage proposal?"

"And besides", James agreed, nodding, "What about all that stuff he said about werewolves and marriage. None of us really ever thought about that stuff before. He's thinking he's just looking out for you, mate".

Sirius pondered on the things Remus had said for a minute. It did seem like Remus was just angry that he hadn't thought it through properly and that he hadn't been aware of the dangers. Sirius snorted quietly. How like Remus.

James then said, "Go talk to him", just as Lily said, "Give him some space".

They glared at each other. Well, Lily did most of the glaring. For James it was more of a sheepish, apologetic look. Merlin, Lily needed to give James back his balls one day, Sirius thought vaguely.

"If you give him too much time to think it over he'll think too hard and come to some ridiculous conclusion and lock himself away somewhere".

Lily frowned.

"But if you go running right after him, he'll still think you've not given any thought to this and his answer will be the same".

Sirius' head hit the table.

"What horrors have I brought upon myself?", he cried in muffled self pity.

"Do you still want to marry him after all that stuff about you both dying at the same time?"

The concerned voice this time was Peter's and Sirius glanced up at him. A different opinion to the bickering lovebird's might be good.

"Of course I do. As if I could live without the silly git", Sirius replied confidently, smiling affectionately at the thought of said silly git, "I used to be self-reliant, you know. Now I can't even sleep without him. Only makes sense for us to be married and even more for us to die at the same time".

His three friends looked at the stupid smile on his face and heard the affectionate tone in his voice, along with his ridiculous words. The only humane treatment for this incurable sickness was definitely a lifetime spent by the side of the one person who had caused it.

"Well, go tell him what you just told us, you disturbingly hairy bird".

Sirius shoved James affectionately, ruffling his already messy hair cruelly as he stood up and made for the door.

"Don't wait up, kids", he called back over his shoulder, still grinning stupidly as he ignored the curious and annoyed looks from the other people in the pub, "When you see me next I'll have a fiancé".

A couple of whistles and hoots from the pub patrons followed Sirius as he stepped out of the pub, but his three friends were silent.

They almost felt sorry for Remus. Being stuck with Sirius Black for the rest of your life...it was a harsh sentence. However, they also knew that he was one lucky bloke thanks to Sirius.

So it was a confused toast, "To poor, lucky Remus, for having to put up with that lovestruck sod for the rest of his life".

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This story will be finished in one more chapter, which may even be uploaded tonight ;) Just a little fic that popped into my head and I just had had had to write. Change of plans though, there may or may not be smut, we'll see. Apparently I just can't help myself XD

Let me know what you think of it so far. Please? :)