"Sirius? Where are you?"

Remus entered 12 Grimmauld Place, holding his breath for a moment, as he always did the moment he crossed the threshold. He silently prayed that Sirius hadn't decided today was the day that he'd had enough hiding and walked right out of his family's house.

"I'm up here!" called the familiar voice. Remus breathed a sigh of relief. Footsteps pounded above and Sirius's face appeared, his body bent over the railing. "I'm feeding Buckbeak rats. Wanna help?"

Remus wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "I'm exhausted," he said. "Are you going to be long? I just want to fall into bed." As Remus made his way over to the kitchen table, he could almost hear Sirius's eyebrows fly off his head.

"Bed?" replied Sirius. "That's the magic word. I'll be done in a second." Remus winced as feet thundered overhead and he could hear Sirius coaxing Buckbeak to eat faster. "C'mon, Bucky! Don't you like your ratties? They're good for you! Eat as many as you can." Rolling his eyes and chuckling, Remus wondered when exactly Sirius had developed such a keen instinct for fathering.

A moment later, a pair of arms wrapped around Remus's chest, restricting his movement. Startled, he jumped a bit. "Wow, Moony, you must really be tired," smirked Sirius. "You usually smell or hear me well before I get to sneak up on you." He planted a kiss on Remus's temple and Remus melted into the warmth.

Playfully grumbling, Remus turned around and said, "It's no wonder! Everything around here smells like hippogriff." Sirius didn't even scoff, so he must have seen through Remus's lie. For one thing, Sirius definitely smelled like Sirius and just that thought alone was enough to make Remus hard. He buried his face into his lover's collarbone and breathed deeply.

"Rough day?"

Remus nodded. "Negotiations with the other werewolves have been...problematic, at best. I'm apparently a traitor for taking the Wolfsbane and for my brief flirtation with teaching. I'm apparently - What was it? Oh, yes. - 'Denying my animal instincts.' I'm a misfit in one world, an outcast in the other. If I can't convince the werewolves to side with the Order, there's really no point to me being here."

Sirius tilted Remus's chin upwards, so they were now eye to eye. "Hey. That's just stupid. Besides, it's never bothered either of us being misfits, has it? We have each other. And anyone who thinks you've been denying your animal instincts obviously hasn't been woken up at three in the morning with his pants around his ankles and your hot mouth sucking him off. Thankfully. I'd rather keep that honour for myself, thank you."

Remus couldn't help but burst out laughing. He placed a lingering kiss on Sirius's lips, savouring his taste and loving the battle their tongues were currently waging. When he pulled away, Sirius whimpered from the loss, but brightened a second later when Remus bit his lower lip and said, "It's not three in the morning, but any interest in that other part?" Remus jerked his head in the direction of the stairs.

Grinning, Sirius yelled, "Race you!" and transformed into Padfoot. Remus groaned and cursed the fact that he couldn't transform at will. He decided he wouldn't run because he knew Sirius would be waiting for him when he finally made his way up the stairs.