Remus and Sirius, backdated to 13th July

[om_padfoot]

After Pietro and Felix rile up wolf Remus, Padfoot stayed all night and at dawn helps to pick up the pieces and look after a bashed up and self loathing Remus.


Warning: Very brief mention of past child abuse




The night was a long one, Padfoot didn't know how long he'd spent coaxing the wolf to calm (a difficult and repetitive process) he'd shifted to human once to try to find a way inside before dawn but had failed and the human presence had agitated the wolf once more and so he'd gone back to Padfoot.
 
Thank Christ for shorter Summer nights though because dawn was finally breaking which meant the timecodes keeping him from going to Remus would be expiring. Would he be wanted? He didn't know, he just needed to go to him, be with him. Just in case.

Shifting back to human after a full night (minus a few minutes) meant he was a little unsteady and awkward on two feet, his vision in greyscale as he let himself in. He didn't rush over to the form as he wanting, he was more controlled than that, he moved slowly in case the other boy was sleeping lightly and retrieved a blanket. Modesty wasn't a big deal for him but he guessed it would be for Remus. Carefully as he could, he eased himself down to where Remus lay and started to cover him gently.

When Remus woke, it felt like it always did: painful. Maybe even worse than usual, as his ribs felt as if they were one giant bruise.  He moaned a little before even opening his eyes, and it was only then that he realized he wasn't naked. There was a blanket covering him - and there were hands still attached to it.

Startled, Remus grabbed the blanket away and scrambled to a sitting position (which hurt more), staring in disbelief at Sirius.  "What - what are you doing here?"

"Hey, hey, careful you had a rough night." Even by usual full moon standards. Still, when Remus backed off Sirius stayed crouched where he was. No sense in spooking him further. "Some stuff happened, had to make sure you were ok. I...Padfoot is always out there on a full moon." He nodded towards the door. In fairness he had told Remus months ago that he would help anyway he could whether the other boy accepted it or not. "Helps keep wolf-you calm, yesterday I couldn't so I was, I was worried."

"You've..." Remus felt a blush creep up from his neck to his face. He couldn't entirely decide how he felt about this revelation, but at least part of it was gratitude that Sirius cared about helping him, so he decided to focus on that for now. "What... what happened?"

"Some students came looking, I was trying to get them to leave when you caught their scent. Like I said, it got you all riled up. They ran, I was left to pick up the pieces." He was trying to gauge the other boy's comfort level, what he'd accept at that moment. He was in pain and tired so Sirius's instinct was to offer snuggles and blankets and maybe some codeine but would Remus let him look after him?


Part of Remus' discomfort came from his nudity, so he decided before asking more questions to do something about that.  "My clothes are folded up on a shelf outside," he said quietly.  "Could you get them for me?"

Right, yes, that should have been his first thought. Sirius mentally told himself off as he stood slowly, still a touch unsteady himself.  As he went to fetch them, he told the other, "Course I can, honestly Remus there's no need to be embarrassed. I've had my fair share of rough nights where I've woken up naked somewhere. Not saying it's the same thing, just saying I'm never going to judge you for it, you know?"

Remus was still blushing a little.  "No, I know, it's just - um, I mean not many people have seen me naked, is all." And he knew he wasn't much to look at, not with all the scars. Though at least he wasn't quite as malnourished as he used to be.

Sirius handed him his clothes, pausing there to wait for eye contact before tell him. "I haven't peeped or snuck a look anytime I've been here, I wouldn't do that without your consent. Anything I saw accidentally, like I said no judgement here but, unless I have permission, no naked Remus seeing for this dog." He promised, hoping it might ease Remus a little before standing and pointedly turning to face the wall so that the other boy could dress in peace.

Remus did feel a little better, and he stood up gingerly, glancing down to survey some serious bruises before pulling on his clothes quickly.  "Okay," he said, and leaned against the wall.  "Sirius..."  He had a bad feeling about this.  "... what students?"

Once he had permissionSirius turned back and came back over to Remus. "Pietro and Felix. They said that, uh, they wanted to check you weren't lonely down here and say goodnight or something." Something equally stupid. "I tried to get rid of them for you but they wouldn't go until after they'd gotten you all riled up. Did you hurt yourself?" Remus always hurt himself but this time is did seem worse to Sirius.

At the names, Remus paled.  Of course.  Because that was how his luck would run. Anything having to do with the wolf. It just ruined everything.

He swallowed hard and then offered Sirius a little shrug at the question.  "Bruises. My ribs, mostly. Let me guess.  Throwing itself against the door?"

"Yeah, you did a bit." More than a bit but it seemed best to play things down for the moment. "Hey, come over here a minute?" Sirius gestured towards himself.

If a human being could have his tail between his legs, this was how Remus looked at the moment. Defeated. This was how he usually looked after a full moon: like he'd been in a fight and he lost, badly. Which, to be fair, was probably not all that far from reality.  He approached Sirius a little tentatively. He supposed he wouldn't be averse to a hug, as long as he was careful of the bruises.

Sirius felt empathy as he watched the pained and defeated movement. He knew how that felt, before he'd left the Black ancestral home for good his public acts of rebellion had gotten more than a few punishments. Brutal punishments.

He was gentle as he wrapped his arms around Remus, mindful of the injuries but still firm and supportive. He wanted the other boy to know that he wasn't scared of the wolf and he meant what he said, he didn't  judge him and wasn't repulsed by what he'd seen. He was here and would continue to be.

It took a lot more than a wolf to scare off Sirius Black once he'd made up his mind.

Padfoot was sensitive to certain things in humans. Heightened emotions, especially negative, sickness and pain, they altered the body chemistry and therefore the smells and such given off. Sirius could feel it too though not as acutely as in dog form, it still distressed him though.

The sad whimper he couldn't control, the soft kiss to Remus's temple he could've controlled but didn't want to. It underlined the fact that he was not repulsed at all. No matter what Remus thought of himself.

Remus stayed for a moment, but then pulled away from him. "Walk me back to my room?" he said quietly. "I think I'll just sleep the rest of the day." And then maybe talk to Pietro and Felix later, if he had the courage. But for now... he just felt like he wanted to sleep forever.

"Course I will, mate." Sirius nodded, smiling encouragingly at the other boy. "You want to lean on me? It's totally cool either way, just, you know, I've had my ribs bashed up a few times too."

"Thank you," Remus said, and managed a little smile at him in return. And leaned on him a little as they made their way back to his room. At this point he really just wanted to sleep for a week. And not think about anything that had happened the night before.