Redecorating
by Kait


"This is the ugliest china pattern I've ever seen." Sirius looked up from the counter he was attempting to scrub, frowning at the plate Remus was holding up to the light. It was trimmed in an ugly dark brown with a grotesque brown flower in the center.

"Mum's," Sirius said with a small sigh. Remus hopped off of the countertop and strode over to Sirius, placing a light kiss on his temple.

"Don't worry. Once we clear this place out I'll have Molly get us something a little less alarming." He returned to his perch on the edge of the counter next to the sink. Sirius shot him a coy grin.

"Picking out china patterns? Why, Moony, I'm touched, but I haven't quite proposed yet."

"Well, Padfoot, I do believe that asking me to move in after sleeping with me for about five days straight is close enough, considering the circumstances." Sirius rolled his eyes, but allowed himself a small smile. The invitation was not quite as brazen as Remus had made it seem. He had merely pointed out, a little awkwardly, even, that the war would be long and hard and assignments would be lonely. And the time between assignments would be even lonelier, unless, perhaps, he wanted to take up residence in the Black house. He was, in fact, planning on asking Remus to live with him after the war as well. He just needed to find the right way to phrase it. Until then, though...

"God, Remus..." Sirius seemed deflated, almost. "It's so much bloody work. There's so much of her in here... it just... it won't go away." He sighed.

"It just takes time, love," Remus murmured, reaching as far as he could from his seat to brush his fingers against Sirius' shoulder.

"No, it's...we'll never fix it. That damned portrait still screams every time the bell rings. If I hear it screech at you once more..." He growled, his hands fisting unconsciously. Remus slid once again from his counter top seat and moved to stand behind Sirius, wrapping his arms around the other man's waist.

"Well, it is true," he said softly into Sirius' hair. "I am a dark creature and thus... well, my blood is tainted." He gave Sirius a small smile and pressed a kiss right below his earlobe.

"No," Black whispered vehemently. "You are no such thing, Remy! Never. I don't care what that damned painting says, you're... you're... you're Moony. And you're beautiful. And patient and kind and smart and... I love you." A pause. "You know that, right?" Remus squeezed him just a bit tighter before loosening his grip and allowing for Sirius to turn around in his arms.

"Of course I do, Padfoot." Their noses brushed together awkwardly. The little movements and signs of affection didn't come as gracefully to Sirius as they had fourteen years ago. Remus cared little, however. Just the fact that he had Sirius back - and innocent - was more than good enough. "I loved you then. I loved you when I thought you killed my best friends. I love you now. And I know that you love me too." He gave Sirius a reassuring smile before kissing him soundly. When they finally broke apart, both were smiling. "Better?" Remus asked, his fingers tangling in Sirius' hair momentarily.

"Much," the other man replied with a small grin. Remus released him from the embrace and allowed him to continue working, climbing back to his seat on the counter top to watch as he had before. Sirius finished scrubbing the counter and opened a cabinet to shift through its contents.
"It's just that she haunts this ruddy place," he muttered. "Everywhere I look there are memories of her... of them... of that whole life that I left behind when I was sixteen. I don't want parts of her here anymore. This is going to be our house for the next few years. Ours. I want to look at things and think of you. I don't want to think of the family any more than I absolutely have to." He sighed. As he reached into the cabinet to remove another group of mixing bowls there was a crash to his left. Startled, he whirled around. There was a broken plate on the floor. Remus, looking perfectly angelic, was still sitting on the countertop with a stack of dishes on his lap.

"Did you just...?" he trailed off, pointing at the shattered remains of the plate on the floor. Remus nodded. "Uh... why?" He shrugged.

"It reminded me of your mother." He threw another one. "That one does too." He grabbed a bowl and scrutinized it for a moment, then tossed that one as well. "That one REALLY reminded me of her." Sirius' eyes were wide and his mouth hung open.

"Remus, love?" Remus threw a dish like a frisbee. It hit the opposite wall and shattered.

"Yes, dear?"

"Are you MAD?!" The werewolf plopped another dish onto the floor.

"No," he said cheerfully. "Why do you ask?" Another smash. Another.

"You're destroying dishes, love. Uh... quite a few."

Smash. "Oh." Smash. "That." Sirius nodded, still stunned. "Well, you said you wanted to get rid of her... her presence."

"Yes..." Smash.

"I'm... helping the process along." Another smash. Sirius smiled slightly, shaking his head and approaching his lover. "Oh, wow, this one is simply putrid..." And another smash... Sirius was laughing now. He placed his hands on Remus' arms, gently preventing him from smashing another plate. Lupin was wearing a delightfully sly smile.

"You are... incredible, Remus. Incorrigible. But incredible." Without hesitation he slid his hands up Remus' arms and pulled him forward. They kissed deeply, Remus tugging his arms free in order to pull Sirius closer. Sirius' head turned slightly, just a little too far, making the kiss just a little uncomfortable. Their noses bumped. Sirius flushed - Lupin could feel it, their cheeks were pressed together - and started to pull away.

"Don't even think about it," Remus whispered, his voice thick with emotion and want and need. He pulled Sirius' mouth back to his own soundly and they were kissing again. His left leg slid around Sirius' back and settled around his hips. The two were unimaginably close now and as Remus felt Sirius' mouth stray from his own down to his neck he had a feeling there was only one way this was going to go.

Not that there was anything wrong with that.

He let go of Sirius' neck with one hand and groped for something to hold on to. The cabinet door was the first thing his fingers could close around and soon he was letting quiet whimpers escape his lips as Black nibbled and nuzzled his neck. One hand lay firmly on the back of Sirius' head, urging him on as the other clawed at the cabinet door.

"God... Sirius..." His voice was dry and seemed to be a million miles away. His other leg curled around Sirius' back as he felt the first two clasps of his robe ease open. Sirius' hand slid down against his chest and Remus pulled his head back up for a frantic kiss. He let go of the cabinet door to begin to undress his lover, his fingers twitching as he awkwardly slid open the top clasps of Sirius' robes.

"Perhaps we should... move," Sirus panted as their kiss broke once again. Remus nodded mutely, trying to catch his breath. He let go of Sirius' neck and moved to slide off the counter when he felt himself being lifted off of his seat. He let out a muffled gasp in surprise and knocked over the rest of the stack of dishes as his arms flailed about before settling around Sirius' neck. They were both quiet and motionless for a moment as the sound echoed around the kitchen.

"Dammit, I was going to save those for later," Remus whispered with a smirk. Sirius rolled his eyes and started to carry Remus towards the table. "You're going to hurt yourself, Padfoot," he warned warily.

"Am not," Sirius replied. "You're too skinny. You need to eat more."

"Thanks, Molly."

"Do you call everyone by the names of annoyingly attentive matriarchs during sex or am I just lucky?"

"Well, as it stands, I haven't called you by such a name during sex yet either. I'm waiting, Padfoot." He smiled coyly down at Sirius. The other man gently lay him on the table.

"Oh, I wouldn't want that now, would I?" he murmured softly as he moved to climb a top his lover. "Now let's see just how much weight this table can hold, shall we?"

***

Sirius Black was a convicted murderer. Sirius Black had pulled off a historical escape from Azkaban, one that no one before him had been able to accomplish. Sirius Black was probably the second most feared wizard in the world, second only to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Nymphadora Tonks was going to meet Sirius Black.

She was about to fall over from excitement. She followed Kingsley Shacklebot through the hallway nearly shaking in anticipation. She had just recently joined the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix, a small league of witches and wizards who were not only aware of the rise of the Dark Lord, but wanted to try and stop him. Kingsley had approached her earlier in the week about it, and after a whirlwind of meetings with Albus Dumbledore, Mad-Eye Moody, and Arthur Weasley, she was finally inducted into the Order. She was now standing in the new Headquarters of the Order for the first time, ready to meet the infamous Sirius Black, who happened to be a taboo relative she had always wanted to see.

"They should be around here somewhere..." Kingsley was muttering. Tonks glanced at him, tugging on one of the blue ringlets of hair that currently adorned her head.

"They?" she asked as quietly as possible. Kingsley had warned that quite a nasty ruckus could be caused if she was too loud.

"Black and Lupin. When I left this morning they were attempting to clean this place out. It looks like a daunting task." He swiped a finger over an end table as he walked by. The dust seemed to be about half an inch thick. "They might be downstairs. We have meetings in the kitchen. Check down there. I'm going to look, ah, upstairs." Tonks nodded and took her wand out, murmuring "Lumos!" as she approached the staircase and descended the stairs.

It wasn't even that she was joining the order, meeting Sirius Black, breaking the rules, that was so exciting. It was part of it, of course. It had been six years since she left school and she still had yet to do one thing that was not planned out for her by her family or the ministry. No, it was just the lift her spirits got when she realized she was doing something good for once. She was helping. She had finally found a way to help the whole world and just make things... good. She liked that feeling. But still, the disobedience did bring her a thrill and meeting the shunned cousin was a perk.

She was almost lost in thought when she heard the crash.

Tonks froze where she was and held her breath. She could hear quiet murmuring and a sharp gasp from the door at the bottom of the stairs. Someone was in the kitchen.

She took a deep breath and calmed her nerves. She knew how to handle this. She had trained for three years and she was damn good at it. While she prayed it was only Lupin and Black, she knew that there was a chance it could be anyone or anything else. She needed to act accordingly. With the utmost caution she advanced on the door to the kitchen. More murmuring and small noises were coming from the kitchen. Very carefully she opened the door a small bit to peer inside.

When she saw what she saw it slipped the rest of the way open as her chin slipped to the ground.

Sirius Black. Half naked. On the kitchen table. On top of another man. Also half naked. Both in the midst of something that was not meant to be done in front of an audience.

"Oh." She didn't realize she had spoken aloud until they wrenched apart and frantically turned to the door. Sirius turned bright red and nearly leaped from the table. The other man, who she assumed was Lupin, smiled slightly and propped his head up on his elbow, watching as Sirius rushed to button his top as he tried to avoid stepping on the shards of... were there broken plates all over the floor?

"You must be Nymphadora Tonks," Lupin said with that same self-satisfied grin. "Lovely name, Nymphadora. Don't you think so, Padfoot?" He was looking at Sirius now, who was picking his way over to her.

"Quite lovely. Nice to meet you," he muttered, obviously embarrassed, as he offered her his hand to shake. Before she could comply, she heard Kingsley's deep laugh from behind her.

"So I see you've stumbled upon the worst kept secret of the Order of Phoenix." She turned to him, her cheeks flushed and whimpered.

"Oh, really, Kingsley, I think maybe Arthur's habit of toying with muggle artifacts is a little less secret than Sirius and I," Remus called across the room. He had pulled himself into a sitting position and was lazily rebuttoning his robes. He chuckled to himself every few moments, as if laughing at some private joke. Although she did not say as much, Tonks was getting the impression that he was just a little nutters.

"Oh, for the love of God, Moony, it's not that funny," Sirius growled, his ears still red.

"It would be less funny if it hadn't happened about three hundred other times in the tenure of our nearly seven full years together." Sirius shot him a look.

"Is there a reason there are plates all over the floor?" Tonks blurted it out without even thinking. Sirius and Remus both looked at the ground. Remus started to giggle again.

"Remus here was trying to redecorate a little."

"It's really much better this way. Those plates were absolutely an abomination." Sirius gave him a withering look. Remus ignored it and slid off the table, gingerly stepping around the broken dishes and making his way to the door. "It's nice to meet you, Nymphadora." He extended his hand to her and she returned his smile as she shook it. "I'm Remus Lupin." He frowned for a moment, looking as if he were trying to remember something. "You're a Black." It wasn't a question. She nodded in response anyway. "Then you must already be acquainted with Sirius. Padfoot, do come over and introduce yourself properly." Sirius sighed and picked his way across the floor, shaking Tonks' hand as well.

"I don't think we've met, actually," Sirius replied with a small sigh. "I haven't met most of the lot, to be honest." Tonks nodded.

"My mum was shunned before you left home," she said with a shrug. "And even after you ran away she said we'd be better not to associate with the Blacks anymore. After you were convicted well... she still gloats about it sometimes." Sirius nodded quietly, not looking at her. She realized immediately it was probably not a good idea to bring such things up. Remus filled the silence by pulling his wand out and muttering a brief spell. In no time all of the shards of plates were hovering in the air towards the trash bin across the room. Once he was finished he coughed softly. All three of the others turned to look at him.

"If we're all done in here, I do believe I'm going to go upstairs for a bit. Kingsley will be happy to show you around, Nymphadora," he said.

"Tonks," she replied. "I prefer Tonks."

"What a shame. It's a lovely name, really." He smiled again. "As I saw saying, Kingsley will show you around. Molly and Arthur should be here in a bit. Make yourself comfortable." With a gracious nod to the visitors, he started up the stairs from the kitchen. Sirius looked back and forth between Remus' retreating form and the two near-strangers in the kitchen. He opened his mouth, but before his words could escape, Remus interrupted.

"Are you coming, Padfoot?" he called rather smugly. "I think the bedroom needs a little... redecorating... as well." Sirius' cheeks grew slightly warm as he heard Kingsley attempt to disguise a snort as a short cough. Without a second glance he quickly started up the stairs. The kitchen could wait. He had a feeling that in the bedroom there would be quite a bit of redecorating to do...

-end-

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