small_gifts | Fic: A Change of Plans for themessrs

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com posting in

Title: A Change of Plans
Author/Artist:

themessrs
Rating: Mild R
Contents or warnings (highlight to view): *A little bit of smut*
Word count: 3629
Summary: Sirius's Christmas Eve plans go awry in more ways than one.
Notes: I hope you enjoy the story,

themessrs. It turned out to be a combination of two of your prompts, sorry I couldn't squeeze the third one in. Thanks to

laroseminuit for beta'ing the story for me.

It was totally unacceptable. Absolutely, totally, unacceptable. And Sirius Black had every intention of telling James Potter exactly that, just as soon as he could get a word in edgeways.

They had been planning their first post-Hogwarts Christmas Eve party since fifth year. It was going to be spectacular. They would have delicacies and drinks worthy of the Black family, but without the snobbery. The music would be a mixture of the very best of both the muggle and wizarding worlds. There would be no curfew or parents keeping an eye on things and everyone who was anyone would be there.

"…so you can see why I couldn't say no?" James finally finished with a nervous grin.

Sirius glared at James across the table in the Leaky Cauldron. James's grin faltered slightly and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Lily suggested we could move the party to my place on New Year's Eve instead," James suggested quietly.

Sirius stuck out his lower lip in an exaggerated pout.

"Don't look at me like that."

Sirius looked pointedly at the wall, his eyes fixing on a small spider slowly navigating its way across the weathered panelling.

"Sirius!"

"We sent the invites out two weeks ago," Sirius grumbled.

"It won't take more than a few minutes to send out a note to everyone and say the date and venue have changed. That's what magic is for."

Sirius folded his arms and scowled. "For inconveniencing everyone by changing plans at the last minute?"

James opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the arrival of Lily Evans and her parents. Sirius watched as his best friend jumped up from his seat and engulfed his girlfriend in a tight hug. Then, before Sirius had even managed to adequately size up Mr and Mrs Evans, the four of them disappeared into Diagon Alley.

"Great," Sirius muttered to himself. "Just bleedin' great."

The party was supposed to have been the highlight of their year, a welcome celebration amidst the growing unrest in the wizarding community, and Sirius's chance to show he didn't need the support of his family and could do just as well without them. Instead, with only two days to go, James had decided to spend Christmas Eve with Lily and her family and consequently their party was being postponed.

This left Sirius with no idea what he was going to do over Christmas. The party, which had been set to kick off around six o'clock on Christmas Eve, would have lasted well into the early hours of the morning. Christmas Day would have been spent mostly in bed until all too soon it would be over.

Now what was he going to do?

He couldn’t sit around on his own in his miserable little flat for the holidays. He needed to be around people. He knew the Potters would have him over if he asked, but without James there he knew he'd feel awkward.

Sirius downed the rest of his mug of butterbeer and apparated home.

The boxes of Christmas decorations were stacked in the hallway. The tree was up, but it was still bare as yet. Sirius and James had planned to decorate together on Christmas Eve morning. He gave the nearest box a good kick. He guessed that plan was up the spout as well.

-o-

Remus Lupin hummed to himself as he opened the window to let in the owl who was impatiently tapping at it with its beak.

"You could have just come in the other way," Remus told the bird as it hopped over the sill and stuck out its leg. He recognised the bird as belonging to James and wondered what couldn't wait. He took the letter, opened it and scanned the contents.

"How weird," he said to himself. It was a personal note from James, hastily scrawled and clearly composed in a rush, telling him the Christmas Eve party was now taking place at James's place on New Year's Eve. What was odd about the note was that Remus had already received the magical alert on his invitation telling him the exact same thing not more than an hour ago.

Of course neither the amended invitation nor James's note told Remus the most important thing about the whole situation. However, Remus Lupin was an observer, and he had spent many a long hour watching one Sirius Black, and as such he already knew, without being told, what he needed to know.

He looked around his undecorated house and smiled to himself. Suddenly he had work to do.

-o-

By seven o'clock on Christmas Eve Remus was beginning to wonder if he had been mistaken. He'd been sure Sirius would show up on his doorstep long before now. Could he have been wrong? Was Sirius perfectly content to spend Christmas on his own?

Then the doorbell rang and Remus knew instinctively it was Sirius. Sure enough, when he opened the door, Padfoot was sitting on the stoop, a pitiful expression on his canine face. The dog gave a small whine and tried to look adorable despite being soaked through from the downpour of rain which had washed away the light covering of snow that had fallen earlier in the day.

"Come on it," Remus said as he stepped back from the door.

Padfoot bounded past him and shook the water off his coat, spraying Remus in the process.

"Honestly, Padfoot, you couldn't have just turned back and dried off the normal way, with a spell?"

A moment later Sirius stood in front of him with a wide grin on his face. "Nah, this way is much more fun."

Remus wiped the droplets of water from his face and rolled his eyes. "Of course it is."

"So, I thought maybe you might be lonely tonight since our party got moved." Sirius didn't wait for Remus to answer before tossing his cloak over the bannister railing and sauntering into the living room. "Wow!"

Remus smiled to himself as he followed after Sirius, knowing the time he had spent decorating his place had been worth it for this moment. Initially he hadn't intended to bother much. What with the party at Sirius's being arranged for Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day being spent at his parents, Remus hadn't anticipated spending a great deal of the holidays at home.

"What are you plans for the evening then?" Sirius asked as Remus poured them each a glass of elf-made wine.

"Thought I'd watch a few muggle Christmas movies," Remus replied. "It's a Wonderful Life should be starting in about ten minutes and after that there's A Christmas Carol."

Sirius's eyes lit up and he hurried over to the television, his favourite 'toy' when visiting with Remus.

Remus chuckled and sat down on the comfy old sofa. A few minutes later Sirius flopped down beside him.

"You don't mind my coming round here, do you?" Sirius questioned quietly.

"Of course not."

"Just didn't want to think of you being all on your own at Christmas."

"That's very kind of you."

"It is, isn't it?" Sirius sounded almost surprised.

Remus smiled and sipped at his wine. He was used to being on his own and comfortable with his own company. As a werewolf there had been times when being on his own was the only option. At least until his friends had made sure he was never on his own during the full moon again. Sirius, on the other hand, didn't do so well when he was left alone. Privately, Remus suspected it had something to do with the way his family had shunned and neglected him after he was sorted into Gryffindor, but this was only speculation.

The movie started and the two of them settled into a comfortable silence as they watched.

Remus wasn't sure when it was he noticed how close they were sitting to each other. He was fairly sure they had started out sitting at opposite ends of the sofa, with at least a foot between them. Somewhere between Clarence jumping off the bridge and George discovering that maybe his life hadn't been wasted after all, Sirius had moved close enough to Remus that he could feel the heat of the other man through their robes.

Sirius sighed at the events on the television and Remus gasped out loud as Sirius leaned his head on his shoulder. Sirius didn't seem to notice Remus's body stiffening in surprise.

Remus was thankful he had seen the film before, because he was no longer seeing anything on the screen. Every fibre of his being was focused on Sirius, who was snuggling up closer to him with every passing minute.

"Um…" Remus began.

"Hmm?" Sirius replied without looking at him.

"What are you doing?" Remus whispered cautiously, unsure whether he wanted to ruin the moment, but equally sure it would come crashing down around him the instant Sirius noticed just how much Remus liked the way they were sitting. Something Remus wasn't going to be able to hide much longer.

"Watching the film," Sirius said, as though the answer was quite obvious. "Aren't you enjoying it?"

Remus looked down at his lap and gave a rueful smile. He was enjoying this a little too much actually.

"Remus?" Sirius sat up and pulled away. Remus gave an involuntary whine that was worthy of Padfoot.

"Um…"

Sirius cocked his head to one side. "Are you okay?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. Let's just watch the rest of the film."

Sirius didn't look entirely convinced, but he settled back down, right where he had been previously, flush against Remus, only this time with his arm draped right across his stomach. All it would take was one nudge, one slip and Sirius would realise just how very 'okay' Remus was. He willed his erection to go away, but with Sirius practically sitting in his lap it was never going to happen.

"Remus?" Sirius whispered about ten minutes before the end of the film.

"Yes?"

"Are you queer?"

Remus drew in a sharp breath. "Um."

"It's okay if you are," Sirius continued. "Me and James kind of suspected you were back in sixth year."

"Oh."

"I thought maybe you fancied me."

"You did?"

"Okay, I hoped you had feelings for me. James disagreed."

"He did?"

"Yeah. James said you had better taste than that."

Remus continued to stare at the television, praying silently that Sirius wouldn't look up and see the flush on his cheeks.

"He told me you were way out of my league," Sirius said.

Remus remained quiet as Sirius's hand moved to hover over Remus's crotch before dropping slowly down to smooth out the material. The action caused a very obvious tent in Remus's robes and he bit his lip to stifle a soft moan of pleasure.

Maybe Sirius was wiping away some crumbs from the biscuits Remus had been eating earlier in the day.

Perhaps he was imagining things, or had fallen asleep in front of the television.

Or maybe, just maybe, Sirius was really sliding his hand between the folds of Remus's robes, stroking his leg, and inching ever closer to the rock hard cock that was trying so desperately to push its way out of his robes.

The film was all but forgotten as Remus tried to control his shivers of pleasure.

"This is the best thing about wizard robes," Sirius commented casually. "No zippers or buttons to mess about with."

Remus wasn't sure if Sirius was expecting a response from him or not. It didn't really matter; he had lost his voice entirely around the same time Sirius's warm fingers slipped into his briefs.

Sirius turned to look at Remus and there was a question in his eyes. "You can tell me to stop if you don't want this."

Remus didn't trust his voice and all he could manage was a small shake of his head. He didn't want to know why Sirius had chosen to do this tonight and he didn't want to ask. If it was some sort of ill-advised prank he'd rather not know. Somehow, Remus didn't believe it was a joke. There was something in Sirius's eyes that told Remus his friend wasn't as sure about himself as he was making out. There was just the smallest hint of fear in the grey eyes staring back at him.

Finally Remus found his voice. "Are you gay?" he asked.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "We've been cuddling on the sofa for the last hour and I'm sitting here now with my hand down your pants. What do you think?"

Remus chuckled. "Stupid question, huh?"

Sirius nodded and pulled his hand away. "Do you really want to watch the other film?"

Remus sighed dramatically. "Well it is one of my favourites. And I have been looking forward to watching it all week."

"Oh."

"It's a muggle classic."

Sirius's face fell.

Remus grinned widely. "On the other hand, I've been dreaming about something like this for a long, long time."

"How long?"

"A couple of years."

"Does that mean you wouldn't say no to continuing this when the films are done?"

Remus growled deep in his throat. "No, Sirius, it means I want you to touch me right now."

Sirius laughed and launched himself at Remus, clambering onto his lap and wrapping his arms around his neck. "Two years we could have been doing this," Sirius muttered as he peppered kisses along Remus's jaw. "Two bleedin' years wasted."

"Not wasted," Remus replied as he struggled to find the edge of Sirius's robes. Why did they make these things so damn voluminous? Yards of material that served no purpose except to keep him from touching that smooth, unblemished skin.

"Could have been doing this in the dorm," Sirius complained.

"With James and Peter goggling at us?"

"I'd have made them sleep in the common room."

"Yeah, right!"

"Okay, maybe not. But two years Remus! We could have been doing this for the last two years."

Remus gave up his search for the edge of the robes. He pushed his fingers into Sirius's hair and pulled him close. "I'm going to kiss you now," he stated.

Sirius gulped visibly. "Okay."

Remus pulled Sirius towards him, nervous all of a sudden about what he was about to do. It wasn't like he had never kissed anyone before, but this was Sirius he was about to kiss. This was one of his best friends and that made it the most important kiss of his life.

Worries about whether he was a good or bad kisser flitted through his mind. Concerns about whether he should keep it chaste or not, and if he should take control or let Sirius dominate him plagued him until the moment their lips touched. Then every worrisome thought vanished from his head.

Sirius ground up against him as they fought for dominance of the kiss. Remus was reluctant to relinquish control and in one smooth move he flipped Sirius off him and onto his back on the sofa. At least that had been his intention. Instead Sirius's robe caught around something and instead of landing on the sofa he slipped down onto the floor with a loud bump. Remus fell with him and hit his head on the coffee table with a loud crack. Then everything went black.

"Remus? Remus?"

Remus groaned and opened his eyes. Sirius was hovering above him with a concerned look on his face. "What happened?"

"You hit your head on the table," Sirius said. "I stopped the bleeding, but you were out cold for several minutes."

Remus raised his hand to his forehead. He could feel the lump forming already.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked. He waved his right hand in front of his face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Remus squinted and tried to focus. "Nine," he groaned. "I feel like I've got a hangover, but haven't had the fun night out to compensate."

"You weren't having fun?" Sirius looked stricken.

Remus closed his eyes again. He felt too woolly-headed to deal with Sirius's insecurities just yet. He needed a few minutes to get his head to stop spinning.

"Remus, stay with me!"

"Sirius, shut the hell up," Remus muttered back.

Sirius went very quiet. Too quiet. Remus opened one of his eyes and nearly jumped out of his skin. Sirius was hovering over him again, but close enough that Remus fancied he could feel the warmth of his breath against his face. It was a little weird.

"Sirius, what are you doing?" Remus asked.

"Er…"

Remus groaned, and this time it wasn't a good groan. "Let me up."

Sirius scooted back as far as he could get. "This wasn't exactly what I had planned for the holidays."

"I'm glad to hear my concussion isn't on your agenda," Remus muttered as he struggled to sit up, finally collapsing back against the sofa. "What plans did you have?"

"Thought I'd make sure you weren't all lonely here on your own. Then I thought I'd make my move and we could spend the holidays together. Isn't that much better than spending Christmas Day alone?"

Remus didn't have the heart to tell Sirius he had planned to spend Christmas Day with his family. He wasn't exactly sure how Sirius had come to the conclusion that he would be spending Christmas moping around on his lonesome. Still, it seemed to make Sirius happy to think he was rescuing Remus from the Christmas doldrums and there would be plenty of time to break the news to him tomorrow that his parents were expecting them for Christmas dinner. He had flooed them after receiving the note from James and told them to expect an extra guest. They had been delighted to think he was bringing someone special home for the holidays and he couldn't bring himself to tell them it was only a friend.

Now Remus looked at Sirius and realised he wouldn't just be inviting a friend home, and that Sirius was someone very special. He probably wasn't the 'someone special' his parents were expecting, but Remus knew they would welcome him like a second son.

Realising that Sirius was waiting for an answer to his question, Remus gave a careful nod. "Yeah, it sounds like a great Christmas."

"Can I stay the night?" Sirius asked. "If I promise not to do anything to injure you again?"

Remus leaned up against Sirius and sighed happily. "You can stay forever if you like."

-o-

James was pacing back and forth when Sirius and Remus arrived at the party on New Year's Eve.

"Where in the name of Merlin have you been?" James shouted the moment he saw them. "Sirius, you were meant to be here three hours ago to help set things up."

"Got tied up," Sirius replied with a wink at Remus.

Remus blushed and gave a silent prayer of thanks for the dim lighting.

"I ended up calling Peter and getting him to come over early."

"Knew you'd think of something," Sirius said as he breezed past James and headed for the buffet table. He waved at Peter, who was dancing in the middle of a crowd of ex-Gryffindors.

"Sirius, is something going on I should know about?" James asked as he trailed after him.

"Nope."

"Sirius!"

Sirius ignored him and helped himself to a glass of punch. "You want a drink, Remus?"

"Sure."

James turned to Remus. "What's going on with him?" He indicated back over his shoulder with a jerk of his thumb.

"What do you mean?"

"When I last saw him he was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, looking like he'd lost a galleon and found a knut. When he didn't show up this morning I thought he was still sulking about my spending Christmas with Lily and her family. But here he is now, all smiles. Is he drunk?"

"No, I'm not drunk," Sirius interrupted. "At least not yet."

"Then what's the matter with you?" James asked.

"Nothing. I just realised you were right. You should spend Christmas with the one you love."

James shook his head and groaned. "You didn't?"

Sirius grinned as he sipped his punch. James rounded on Remus. "Please tell me you didn't."

"Didn't what?" Remus asked with fake innocence.

"You know what, you git."

"Don't know what you're talking about, mate."

"Don't you mate me. Are you really telling me your taste in men is that bad?"

"Hey!" Sirius smacked James round the back of the head. "Remus's taste in men is perfectly fine."

"Not if he's let you get into his pants," James muttered.

Sirius and Remus laughed in unison. James buried his face in his hands.

"Come on, James," Remus assured him. "It's not that bad."

"Yes, it is."

"Why?"

"Because it means Sirius was right all along."

Remus laughed and stepped closer to Sirius. "Yeah, I guess in this case he was."

Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus's waist and pulled him flush against him. "I'm always right," he declared, planting a kiss on Remus's cheek.

"That's debatable," Remus teased.

"I'm right about the important stuff," Sirius amended.

Remus looked back over his shoulder and smiled softly.

"Oh spare me," James muttered as he disappeared into the crowd, shouting back at them that they were on clean up duty on New Year's Day.

"I say we slip out early and head home," Sirius suggested.

Remus nodded his approval. "My place or yours?"

"Doesn't matter as long as we both go to the same one," Sirius replied. "I wouldn't want you to be all alone on the stroke of midnight."

Remus felt exactly the same way about Sirius, and even though he knew Sirius would never admit to feeling lonely, he would make sure that as long as they were together, he never would be again.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

themessrs.livejournal.com

...!! :D!!

I'm a bit inarticulate at the moment, but...

YES! This is so wonderful and perfect! I love the almost-not-quite-romantic mood you've set up, and then for poor Remus to be injured — that just makes it all the more realistic to me. I also love that you've included James with his wit and spot-on dialogue!

AND THE FILMS! Two of my favourites!

Thank you so, so much for this. It made me happy and warm on the inside. <3

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

*Breathes a big sigh of relief*

I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and the realism.

Those are two of my favourite Christmas films too. I have to watch It's a Wonderful Life every Christmas just to get into the holiday spirit. :-)

PS: Sorry for not stopping by and responding to your comment sooner. The story went live the same day I got a lovely pile of edits in my inbox and I am only now catching up at the weekend.

From:

escribo.livejournal.com

I really liked this. Remus was so sweet, knowing Sirius would end up on his doorstep and not giving him ten different kinds of shit for it but giving him the sort of holiday he knows Sirius needed. It was just so lovely. And James! *shakes head* boys. Great work!

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

Thanks. I'm pleased you enjoyed the sweetness of Remus knowing just what Sirius needs, even if Sirius won't admit it.

From:

laroseminuit.livejournal.com

Yep, just as good the second time through. I really enjoyed the whole tone of the piece; it struck a lovely balance between humor and careful emotion. I loved that Sirius thinks a screening of It's a Wonderful Life is the perfect time to make a move on Remus (not my usual reaction to it, but then again, I've never watching it while snuggling up to Remus). I love that their first snog session ends in catastrophic injury -- how very, very Marauder-ish of them. Your characterizations ring true, especially James, who has an entirely overtrusting sense of friendship. And oh, but I do love a happy ending.

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

Thanks, and thanks again for beta'ing this for me.

I suspect Sirius thinks any cozy cuddling time is the perfect time to make a move on Remus.

Just wish I could have got more of Peter in there, but I don't like to shoehorn him in for the sake of it, any more than I like to see him completely left out.

From:

kg99.livejournal.com

Great story

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

Thanks.

From:

secretsolitaire.livejournal.com

This is all things delightful. I like how indulgent Remus is of Sirius's desire to make sure he's not alone for the holidays.

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

Thanks. Remus is very attentive to what Sirius needs, even when it means altering his own plans. Or at least he is in my universe. :-)

From:

brighty18.livejournal.com

Oh good dawd but that was darling! Seriously, siriusly, darling. I love getting-together stories and hurt-comfort stories, and this was such a delightful combination of both. And, even more importantly, both of our boys were darling and very in-character. Sirius' disappointment at the beginning just tugged at my heart-strings in the perfect way, and Remus' last-minute decorating was the most adorable gesture ever.

And they were so cute when they actually got together. I particularly loved this bit: Somehow, Remus didn't believe it was a joke. There was something in Sirius's eyes that told Remus his friend wasn't as sure about himself as he was making out. There was just the smallest hint of fear in the grey eyes staring back at him.

Finally Remus found his voice. "Are you gay?" he asked.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "We've been cuddling on the sofa for the last hour and I'm sitting here now with my hand down your pants. What do you think?" LOL, but also, awwwwwwww....

And James was pretty awesome here, too, so funny and silly, but also sweetly sincere.

Well done, my dear. Well done!

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

Thanks. I'm glad you thought they were in character. It has been a while since I wrote the pairing (last year's RS Small Gifts being my last story) and I do worry that I'll forget how to write them one day.

I'm glad you found it equal parts LOL and Aww.

From:

pavlablack.livejournal.com

I really enjoyed this! As others have noted, your James is perfect—I love how he's all nervous when telling Sirius their Christmas Eve plans have changed, and how Sirius is all pouty, and of course Remus tries to give Sirius exactly what he needs on Christmas Eve. And the slowly building tension as they're watching the movies—that was wonderful. I love how Sirius can't stop complaining that they could have been doing this for the last two years—so cute and very in character. The details about the robes were a lovely touch—how Sirius thinks they're great because there are no zippers or buttons to get in the way, and all Remus can think is that they're so "voluminous" they keep him from touching Sirius like he wants to. That made me laugh. The injury threw me for a loop but added some nice humor and UST, and James's comments at the New Year's Eve party were great as well. The whole story was just fun and sexy and sweet., a winning combination.

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I'm glad you liked the differences of opinions about the robes. You know what they say, one man's rubbish is another man's treasure. When it comes to robes their opinions are polar opposites.

From:

rewrites24.livejournal.com

I love Sirius's hero-complex. lol like it's all about making sure Remus isn't lonely. He's not lonely or anything. Kudos!

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

Thanks. Yes, Sirius does have a bit of a "hero" streak, even if he isn't very good at it. Thankfully Remus knows all his tricks and exactly what he needs.

From:

shutupeccles.livejournal.com

This is cute, funny and believeable. Also glad to hear concussing Remus wasn't aprt of the holiday plan.

From:

fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com

Thanks. No, concussing Remus wasn't part of the plan, but I can assure you Remus recovered nicely and was well enough to spend Christmas with Sirius without further injury.