Banana Pancakes

Chapter Twenty-Five

(This is some time later from the last chapter)

Remus awoke early in the morning to the sound of lightning crashing outside of his and Lily's flat. His heart was racing in his chest, the rain clashed against the window as if it were trying to break in. His hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, he was out of breath from his nightmare. He knew he would be unable to go back to sleep, too afraid of the terrors that might greet him. His head spun, but he focused on making it to the kitchen for some tea.

Faintly, Remus could hear James snoring in Lily's room. He honestly had no idea how she could've stayed asleep. It would've driven him bonkers. Remus turned to get a kettle from the cupboard, but his reflection of the glass scared him. He fell back, catching himself on the island which was luckily close by. Remus ended up sitting down anyway, pulling his knees up to his chest. Warm tears filled his vision, he hated storms. He never enjoyed water, or rain. It tore through his memories like whiplash, causing all of his suppressed thoughts to flood out.

Remus squeezed his eyes shut. He had to calm down and pull himself back down, his therapist had taught him how to ground himself. Majority of the time it worked, fortunately this was one of those times. After a few breathing exercises he was able to grab some hot tea. He sat on the couch to where he could see the front door, eyeing it every now and then. He turned on the re-runs of Gossip Girl and found himself drifting as the rain died down.

"Hey. Hey you. Come on, wake uuuuuup! We are going to celebrate. Moooony.." the husky voice pulled him from his slumber. He rubbed his eyes, looking up at those grey eyes with a confused expression.

"Celebrate.. what?" Remus questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"You finishing school of course! How come you didn't tell me?" Sirius pouted. Remus sat up, trying to wake himself up.

"I dunno.. it's not that big of deal, love. Now I get to do my own thing.." Remus said softly, kissing Sirius's cheek before stretching after such an uncomfortable sleep.

"You get to do me." Sirius winked before wiggling his eyebrows. Remus playfully nudged him before taking his empty tea mug and placing it in the sink. Warm, strong arms wrapped around his waist. Remus leaned in the touch, unable to help the tender smile from appearing on his face.

"Shouldn't we get ready?" Remus asked, he had seen that Sirius had barely tried taking his hair. Remus didn't mind, but he knew how Sirius was about it.

"I mean.. I'd love to undress you if that's what you're suggesting." he grinned cockily.

"Oi.. it's too early to be horny, Padfoot.." Remus groaned before going to his room and searching through his closet. Sirius followed. He was always amazed by Remus's little gadgets everywhere. The little glow in the dark stars on his ceiling, the broken record player, some strange African mask, about five LEGO models of great attractions, fairy lights, and little plants filling up the rest of his space, even some dangled from the ceiling.

"Why, it's never too early! You're just a party pooper.." Sirius said, running his fingers along the spines of Remus's books.

"Am not!" Remus told him, his voice muffled while he was trying to get his head through one of his sweaters. He finally managed, but the static of his hair was ridiculous. Sirius snorted.

"You look very.. eSTATIC.. today." Sirius blurted before bursting into laughter. Remus grumbled and tried taming his stupid hair. He then proceeded to hit his boyfriend in the chest with a sock before he was finally done dressing.

"Let's gooooo! We have a lunch reservation." Sirius told him, taking much pride in his expert planning skills.

They sat in Sirius's car, Remus looked out the window and noticed the long lines of traffic. Sirius was bouncing his leg so much that Remus worried he would accidentally hit the gas pedal and they'd crash. But they were completely still, no one was going to be moving for a while.