Out of the Closet (Sirius/Remus)

[storypaint]

Comm: 50fantastic
Words: 1146
Title: Out of the Closet
Prompt: 8. Fandom: Harry Potter (Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, friendship or light courtship (if you don't wanna do that, that's fine too.) Prompt: hmmmm... I love the times when Sirius and Remus were in school before the whole "He Who must not be named" thing, so maybe a happy school story?
Written for: purplenemesis
Genre: fluff fluff fluff, pre-romance
Rating/Warnings: fluff! also slash and one bad word
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and associates. "The Not-Study Game" comes from the Fairy Oddparents, which is not my property.

Notes: Well... I've never written Marauder's fic, so I hope it turned out okay. And sorry about the "Fairly Oddparents" reference, I couldn't resist.

Excerpt: It was one thing when Remus was all touchy-feely, he was practically a girl, but there was no reason for him to touch back, right? Remus was probably blushing right now, in fact. What a girl.

"Let's play a game," Sirius said, tossing a tennis ball at the ceiling. He was lying on his bed across the room from Remus, who was studying at his desk.

"What kind of game?" Remus murmured, not really listening, as he paged through his book looking for the cure to green warts. He thought it was the same as regular warts, but the Potions master was a hardnose, and he wanted to maintain his grades.

"The Not-Study Game!" Sirius said, tossing the tennis ball at Remus, who barely caught the motion in the corner of his eye and turned to block it; the ball missed him but upset his inkwell all over his Arithmancy homework.

"Sirius, how can I study like this?"

"There, you've got the hang of it," Sirius said, laughing. Remus threw the ball back, but Sirius caught it easily. "Let's do something. I'm bored."

"You could do your Potions essay. Or History of Magic. Or Arithmancy. Or any of your homework, actually, since you never do it."

Sirius smiled. "I'm really good at the game."

When Sirius became restless like that, Remus knew he wasn't going to get anything done. It was nearing the full moon, in any case, and he was feeling restless himself. It was always hard to concentrate after three-quarters full.

"What do you want to do, Sirius?" Remus capitulated. "Nothing that will get us expelled, either."

Sirius, who had opened his mouth, shut it again. At that point, James clomped into the room in his Quidditch gear, Peter following behind with his bag.

"Practice was murder," James announced, falling onto Remus's bed. Remus sighed a little. James had top bunk. He should be mudding up his own bed. But at least now that all four of them were there, they could probably come up with something to do.

"Did you watch?" Sirius said to Peter, and he nodded. "Captain was working them hard," he said.

"I had to chase the Snitch about fifteen times," James said. He sat up and began to pull his gear off.

"Let's go do something," Sirius said insistently, and James laughed.

"You've been driving Remus crazy, haven't you?"

"We've been playing the Not-Study Game," Sirius said innocently.

"That sounds like a game the resident bookworm would enjoy," James said, rolling his eyes. "What do you want to do?"

"I'm hungry," Peter announced. "Let's go get something to eat."

"Dinner's not for another hour and a half," Remus said.

"Perfect!" Sirius said, smiling widely. "We can creep down to Hogsmeade and have a pint of butterbear before dinner."

"We're going to be there all next week--" Remus reminded, but Sirius got up from the bed and began rummaging through his trunk looking for their map.

*

That map had been one of Sirius's best ideas, Remus had to concede; as always, it prevented them getting caught and a few close scrapes. It was worth the hours they had to work on it. Setting the theft charm had even been kinda fun.

Things went well until they emerged from behind a statue and Severus came around the corner. He looked suspicious.

"What have you guys been doing?"

"Nothing," they all said immediately.

"Well, what's that parchment you have there, then?"

"None of your business, Severus," Sirius growled.

"Is this some kind of illegal spell, hmm? Should I ask a teacher to check it out?" Severus said nastily. Sirius passed the map to Remus, who blanked it very quietly.

"Aren't you supposed to be at dinner, anyway, Severus?" James said logically. "What are you doing prying around up here?"

"I wasn't hungry. Now, are you going to show me the parchment or not?"

"You're not a prefect, Severus, we don't have to show you anything," Sirius said in a challenging tone.

The tension rose and for a moment the five stood and stared. Then McGonagall came around the corner.

"What are you boys doing? Aren't you supposed to be at dinner?"

The Gryffindors looked at each other with panic in their eyes. If Snape told McGonagall that there was something funny with their parchment, and she bothered to check, she could probably break the spell. She was a teacher, after all.

"Going right now!" James announced cheerfully, and the boys took off running. Severus stood there, bemused, as the four of them headed in three directions.

"Come on!" Sirius growled, pulling Remus by the hand. He knew Remus was the slowest of them and the most likely to be caught. He was also the one holding the parchment, so that justified the dragging.

After a moment of pelting around the halls, Sirius jerked Remus into a dark room and shut the door. Actually, it was a closet, and they ended up much closer than either of them had expected. It was completely dark, the only sound that of their breathing.

After a moment, McGonagall's measured step passed. Remus put his hand on the doorknob, but Sirius covered his hand with his own.

"No," he said quietly, "she might come back around."

His hand lingered on Remus's and when he realized this he jerked back, feeling awkward. It was one thing when Remus was all touchy-feely, he was practically a girl, but there was no reason for him to touch back, right? Remus was probably blushing right now, in fact. What a girl.

After a few long moments, Sirius nodded in the dark. He then remembered that Remus couldn't see him and opened the door. Awkwardly they both tried to exit at the same time and ended up in a heap on the floor.

"Offa me, Remus," Sirius grunted, and Remus moved quickly.

"Would you rather be on top, then?" James said cheerfully, and Remus jumped in surprise. James and Peter had been standing right by the door.

"We saw you two run in here," James said, clearly amused, "when we ran by. So we came back to see if you would come out of the closet together." He lifted his eyebrows suggestively and Sirius glared, getting to his feet.

"Shut up, James."

"What do you mean?" Remus said innocently, finding his own feet, and Peter laughed.

"You've never heard that before? 'Coming out of the closet?'"

"We're not fags," Sirius growled, and started walking away, his legs stiff. Just because they were friends didn't mean they were gay. They were friends with James and Peter too. Why didn't those two get accused of it? Peter was always following James around like a stupid little puppy.

"I'll do your Arithmancy if you lend me a bottle of ink," Remus said, catching up with him. It was clearly his way of saying thanks for helping preserve their map, so why did Sirius think it might be something more?

"Sure, whatever," Sirius said, waving his hand casually, and they all went down to dinner.