Sirius was sitting in the kitchen when Remus nearly fell in the door, exhausted from whatever fool mission Dumbledore had sent him on this time. Remus was not too tired to grin warmly and take another half dozen steps into a tight hug.

    “I missed you,” he sighed.

    “I’m glad you’re safe,” Sirius replied. He pulled back and held Remus as arm’s length, doing the customary check for new injuries and/or permanent marks. Remus mused silently that most of the new ones were in places Sirius wasn’t likely to see until Remus had a long hot shower and a good sleep, but he didn’t begrudge Sirius the once-over. Nor did he mind the chance to stare shamelessly back.

    His hair is awfully long, Remus noted with fond exasperation. Or maybe that’s just because he hardly ever wears it down.

    Remus frowned slightly. Sirius was never without his infuriatingly attractive ponytail these days.

    “Why do you have your hair down?” Remus asked, trying to sound as if he was just curious.

    “Oh, you know,” Sirius avoided looking him in the eye. “I haven’t found an elastic yet this morning.”

    “There’s one on your wrist,” Remus pointed out, becoming even more suspicious.

    “So there is,” Sirius did a poor job acting surprised, and still made no move to tie up his hair. He raised an eyebrow. “I thought you liked it better down anyway, Moony?”

    “You know I do,” Remus moved closer, brushing his nose close to Sirius’. Sirius’ took the bait and kissed him firmly, always better at showing how much he missed Remus than telling. For a few seconds, Remus forgot what he was doing, then moved his hands up to tangle in Sirius’ hair. He brushed a thumb across Sirius’ ear…

    Sirius hissed in pain and jerked back.

    “What was that?” Remus demanded.

    “Nothing!” Sirius stepped away and smoothed his hair back down.

    “Let me see,” Remus ordered sharply.

    “You’re going to be angry,” Sirius hedged, letting his hand drop. “You’re going to tell me I’m stupid.”

    “I will not,” Remus coaxed, advancing slowly. “I just want to see.”

    Sirius chewed on his lower lip with reluctance, then reached up to swipe the hair away from his ear and glared at Remus defiantly.

    Sirius ear was the size of a marble, discolored and oozing something that couldn’t possibly be healthy. Buried in the mess was a gold stud.

    “Oh, Sirius,” Remus sucked in a sympathetic breath, then rolled his eyes. “An earring? Honestly.”

    “I knew you’d think it was stupid,” Sirius growled, dropping his hand and letting the hair swing back over the bit of flesh that used to be his ear.

    “I haven’t said anything,” Remus soothed, trying not to look like he was thinking it loudly. “Why don’t you sit down and I’ll look at it. And tie your hair out of the way.”

    “Aren’t you tired?” Sirius looked a twinge guilty as he sat back in his chair. “It can wait until later.”

    “Yes, I’m exhausted,” Remus answered, “but I’d rather keep your earlobe from falling off first, if you don’t mind. I like that earlobe and I’ve got plans for it later.”

    Sirius gave Remus a baleful look and Remus swallowed a laugh. He tilted Sirius head to the side so he could get a better look and inspected the ear more closely.

    “Are you going to tell me how this happened, then?” he asked.

    “James and I successfully completed our first command assignment,” Sirius answered proudly.
“That’s wonderful!” Remus interrupted excitedly, pausing in his examination to kiss Sirius in congratulations.  “You’ll have to give me all the details…AFTER you explain about the earring.”

“Anyway,” Sirius continued, grinning a little sheepishly, “we decided to celebrate. And then I said we should commemorate the occasion, and he said we should get pierced, and then there was some firewhiskey and things go blank for a bit…and here I am.”

    “But how did it get like this?” Remus prompted. “And why haven’t you done something about it?”

    “It just sort of did,” Sirius shrugged. “And you can’t heal piercings with magic, you have to let them heal on their own or they close.”

    “I hate to tell you this, Padfoot,” Remus touched the lobe gingerly, making Sirius wince, “but I think this piercing is beyond saving anyhow.”

    “Knew you’d say that,” Sirius grumbled.

    “Do you want to take out the stud, or should I do it?” Remus asked.

    “You do it,” Sirius wrinkled his nose. “I don’t even want to touch it.”

    Remus rolled his eyes and reached up to the earring.

    “OW!” Sirius yelled, making Remus jump.

    “I haven’t even touched it yet!” Remus snapped.

    “Sorry,” Sirius apologized with a hopeful grin. Remus huffed a sigh and took a firm hold of Sirius’ chin.

    “Now hold still,” he admonished. Remus carefully pulled the back of the earring with only a small grunt from Sirius, but a small tug proved that the earring was virtually glued in place by the infected secretions of Sirius’ earlobe.

    “Sorry,” Remus said, gritting his teeth.

    “Sorry for wha…AAAAAAAH!”

    Remus dropped the earring and everything stuck to it into the dustbin without looking at it closely and still felt a bit queasy. Sirius glared at him while he clutched his ear, a trickle of blood and…other things oozing out from between his fingers.

    “Had to be done,” Remus tried to placate him, pulling out his wand.

    “Just fix it,” Sirius hissed through clenched teeth.

    Remus gently pried away Sirius’ hand and touched the tip to the remains of his earlobe, telling himself that the wand was going right into some boiling water immediately after he was finished.

    “Imputrify,” he murmured, and Sirius tensed, then sighed in relief.

    “Thanks, Moony,” Sirius brushed Remus’ hand.

    “Maybe you should wash your hands,” Remus suppressed a shudder. While Sirius complied, Remus set his defiled wand down on the table and went to see about that hot shower.

    He was just starting to feel half-human when he heard the door creak open, and he made out Sirius’ profile through the clouds of steam. Remus stuck his head out of the curtain to see Sirius peering into a spot he had wiped clear on the mirror and fingering the healed earlobe. He caught Remus’ glance in the reflection and smiled ruefully.

    “It was really cool,” he said mournfully. Remus rolled his eyes, but reached out with a dripping hand to tug Sirius close for a conciliatory kiss. Sirius made a noise deep in his throat and shoved the curtain aside to pull Remus against him more firmly, ignoring the spray of water that began soaking him, the floor, and everything else in the tiny bathroom of their flat.

    “You’re making a mess,” Remus mumbled against Sirius’ mouth. Sirius responded by pushing Remus back into the shower and following him, still fully clothed. He yanked the shower curtain closed behind him before pressing Remus into the wall with renewed force. He ran his tongue across Remus’ jaw, making the werewolf catch his breath.

    “Better?” he whispered in Remus’ ear, brushing his tongue against the soft folds. Remus shuddered his response and tilted his head slightly to nip at Sirius’ neck. When Sirius groaned softly, Remus took another patch of skin harder, leaving a mark this time.

    “Not good enough,” Remus growled, lifting his head to kiss Sirius, running his tongue against the inside of Sirius’ lower lip. Sirius sucked Remus’ tongue viciously as he ground Remus into the wall, one hand clutching at the other man’s hip convulsively. Remus gasped and swore as the rough fabric scratched his erection half-painfully, and he flexed his hands against the smooth tile behind him for support. “Take it off,” he ordered, voice sharp from lust.

    Sirius laughed throatily but didn’t release Remus’ mouth or his hip as he reached up to his robe clasp with one hand and undid it, letting it slide to the floor. Remus let go of the tile to run his hands underneath Sirius’ underlying T-shirt, which was also soaked and clung to him tightly. He was dimly aware that his legs were trembling and if Sirius stepped back, he would spill to the floor of the shower.

    He didn’t think Sirius moving away would be a problem anytime soon.

    Sirius seemed disinclined to worry about the T-shirt, but at Remus’ breathless plea he slid a hand between them to undo his trousers and push them out of the way, along with his underwear. He sank back against Remus heavily and ground him into the wall, dropping his head to suck savagely at the hollow where Remus’ neck met his shoulder.

    Remus let his head fall back against the tile and whimpered helplessly at the slick heat that the friction of their bodies was creating between them.

    “Sirius,” Remus tried to speak, but his words cut off in a moan as Sirius slid a searing hand down to cup his ass.

    “Remus,” Sirius growled against his shoulder, sex practically flooding out of the name, “god, Remus…”

    “Sirius,” Remus’ voice took a note of urgency. “Can’t stand…bed…”

    Sirius jerked his head up to peer at Remus and cursed his forgetfulness through the desire that was pounding in his veins. Remus was still exhausted, seeming at this point to be more sprawled on the tile than leaning on it.

    “S’okay,” Remus assured in short gasps, reading the thoughts as they flashed openly across Sirius’ face. “Want you, just…need to lie down.”

    “Hold on to me,” Sirius told him, voice still gravelly with need, but hands turned gentle. He slipped a supportive arm around Remus’ waist as he eased back and reached to turn off the water. He took slow steps back out of the shower, careful of the wet floor and pulling Remus out with him. He paused long enough to pull one of the towels off the rack and slid it around Remus’ shoulders, rubbing off the excess water.

    Remus watched Sirius’ face in open adoration while Sirius dried him off, fascinated by the mix of lust and concern he found there, and distracted by thoughts of licking off the droplets that were running down Sirius’ toned arms. Sirius shook his own dripping hair out of his face impatiently, and Remus laughed softly as he remembered being caught in a rainstorm with Padfoot.

    Sirius raised an eyebrow at the laugh, then let Remus lean against the sink with the towel still around his shoulders so that he could peel the soaked T-shirt from his skin. Remus huffed another laugh when Sirius tried to remove the shirt slowly for effect and then cursed as the heavy fabric got tangled around his head. Sirius finally emerged from the shirt scowling, but his eyes laughed with Remus. He slid the towel off Remus and used it to rub most of the water out of his own hair before letting it fall to the ground.

    “I’ll clean it up later,” he promised Remus softly as he tugged him towards the bedroom, wandering hands softly promising other things. More immediate things.

    Remus sank down onto their bed gratefully, and was even more grateful when the heat of Sirius covered him, staving off the chill of the air on his still-damp skin.

    Sirius kissed him slowly and deeply, running his fingers idly through Remus’ wet hair and exploring him slowly, as though Remus had been gone six months instead of three days. Remus arched into the light touch, exhausted though he was, and felt the pull of muscles that were crying out for sleep.

    “You’re going to be the death of me,” Remus sighed against Sirius.

    “Only the little one,” Sirius quirked his mouth in a smile against Remus’ cheek and pressed into him, heat coursing through him both from the feel of their cocks rubbing together and the soft whine that rose from Remus’ throat. He slid a hand between them and gripped Remus firmly, and after several strokes the moan Sirius heard could have come from either of them.

    “Sirius,” Remus gasped. “Take me.”

    “Are you sure?” Sirius breathed, not stopping the rhythmic movement of either his hand or his body.

    “I can barely keep my eyes open,” Remus sighed, nuzzling Sirius’ neck so that his slurred words were hard to make out. “We both need to be done before then. And I want you. God, Sirius, I want you.”

    Sirius heard the last part loud and clear, and, eyes so bright it was hard to look at them directly, reached over into the bedside table with a practiced motion and pulled out the lubricant that was always there.

    Remus hissed when the first finger entered him, but the slipperiness quickly warmed and he pushed against the touch greedily. He growled at Sirius, who was clearly taking his time.

    “Just do it, Sirius,” he ordered. Sirius smiled hotly as he reached down to stroke himself slick and Remus closed his eyes when he felt Sirius’ head press against his opening.

    “Don’t close your eyes,” Sirius begged softly and Remus acquiesced, staring up at him darkly. Sirius loved the way Remus’ pale skin was flushed with arousal, and the way his eyes widened when Sirius pushed inside in one fluid motion, his lips parting in an involuntary cry.

    Sirius thrusts were teasingly slow and deliberate at first, but both of them were fully aware that that could not possibly last long. As he sped up, Sirius wrapped a still-slick hand around Remus’ cock and urged him on in time with his own movements. Remus covered Sirius’ hand with his own and stroked with him, clutching at Sirius’ hip with the other hand.

    Remus, already strained from stress and exhaustion and at the mercy of Sirius’ onslaught inside and out, came in a matter of several minutes, a harsh cry tearing out of his throat and a violent shudder wracking his body. His vision cleared in time to see Sirius’ jaw clench and his eyes squeeze shut.

    “Don’t close your eyes,” Remus echoed Sirius, reaching up with the last of his strength to cup Sirius’ cheek. Sirius’ eyes flew open  and the intensity of his gaze pinned Remus motionless as one last thrust sent Sirius over the edge. Sirius came silently, biting down furiously on his lower lip, the moment seeming to stretch impossibly long. Finally he gasped a breath and collapsed onto Remus’ chest, arms sliding under Remus to gather him as close as possible while smaller trembles ran their course through both of them.

    Remus bent his head to seek out Sirius mouth with his own and they kissed again around gasps for air, Remus soothing Sirius’ bruised lower lip with his own. Sirius murmured something affectionate and nonsensical, and Remus hummed in return.

    Sirius pulled away gently and urged Remus up against the pillows so he could draw the blankets out from under them. He pulled Remus with him under the covers, and the werewolf draped himself limply across Sirius’ chest.

    “Promise,” Remus yawned.

    “Promise what?” Sirius asked, rubbing soft circles across Remus’ back.

    “No more piercings.” Sirius sighed, but Remus persisted. “Promise!”

    “I promise,” Sirius answered grudgingly. Thus assured, Remus went out as though Sirius had said “Nox”.

    *        *        *        *        *        *

    Next time it was Sirius’ turn to stagger through the door and collapse into welcoming arms. He winced visibly when Remus’ arms tightened around his shoulders.

    Narrowing his eyes, Remus pulled back the collar of Sirius’ shirt to reveal a gauze square attached by medical tape with spots of blood seeping through.

   “It’s not a piercing!” Sirius exclaimed self-righteously and Remus glared at him. He
peeled the gauze away to find a tattoo of the crescent moon, waxing and waning magically.

     Sirius shrugged sheepishly.

    “Oh, Padfoot!” Remus exclaimed in loving exasperation. “Honestly!”