moon-bound ♤ wolfstar

chapter//seven

i'm not sure who the art is by, i could never find it. anyway, it's sirius & marlene!

//

Remus, like the road trip, was the one who had suggested camping. Because weren't you supposed to camp on road trips? Or was that just some wild idea he had? They were driving down to Tennessee now, they'd park the van at the edge of the forest and put a concealment charm on it, then proceed to apparate deep into the forest where they (hopefully) wouldn't be found. They had just entered Kentucky, and like every time they seemed to be on the road, Sirius was scarily affectionate and Remus didn't know how to handle it.

If they hadn't kissed, he would have been fine, but because of that... it changed the situation, how he felt, and everything else. Given, at least Sirius wasn't asleep on his shoulder this time, nor was he singing at the top of his lungs, his arm slung around Remus's shoulder. No, he was sitting very close to Remus, his hand resting on his knee while he talked about his favorite non-magical creatures. Peter was sitting up front with James, so for once, Lily was one in the back, her nose buried in a book.

Remus caught her glancing in their direction many times, and each time she did Remus flared bright red because he felt stupid for being so nervous. He listened to Sirius talk the best he could, which wasn't very well since he was far too busy planning escape routes in his head that all consisted of jumping out of the moving car. After another moment, Remus gathered up whatever courage was left in his body and grabbed the hand that was on his knee, just to hold it, just to keep it warm.

Sirius didn't make any move to acknowledge the fact, but he heard Lily make some noise of realization all the while Remus wondered if jumping out of the car really was a possible option. Remus just held his hand for a while, until Sirius moved his hand away from his, but another second later he laced their fingers together and continued talking. Remus tried not to make any noise, and instead focussed on other things.

Turns out Sirius was fascinated with giraffes.

"Did wizards breed them? Did they just become so popular they took over the muggle world too? Certainly, something like that has magic origins!" Remus fought the urge to sigh again, he'd been at this for at least ten minutes despite the constant reassurance from everyone in the car that no, giraffes did not have magical origins. "But are you sure? How are necks that long without magic?" This time Remus did sigh and he fell back onto the mattress, draping his free arm over his eyes.

"I think you broke him," James mused, glancing back at them through the rearview mirror. He felt the mattress sag next to him. Dear Godric, is this how it's going to be from now on? Every time Sirius shows the smallest sign of affection he's going to worry that his heart might pop out of his chest? Remus sucked in a breath and held it, hoping Sirius wouldn't do something too drastic.

"He's not broken," Sirius assured them, jabbing his finger into Remus's cheek. Remus swatted his hand away and glared at him, making Sirius beam. "See, he's fine!" Remus moved his arm from over his eyes and flipped Sirius off, untangling their fingers and rolling over to face the door of the car. He felt Sirius put his hand on his hip, his cold fingers making contact with a small patch of exposed skin. "You're not broken, right Rem?"

"Right," Remus muttered. The fingers on his skin moved slightly until his thumb was rubbing small circles on his hipbone. He allowed himself to relish in the feeling, that's not wrong, is it? Remus didn't think so, just because he used to love Sirius didn't change the fact he was still a friend.

"We should arrive there in five hours," James announced. The rest of them nodded in silent acknowledgment and on they went. James was happily singing to some song on the radio, Pete was eating the snacks up front, and Lily was reading. The last two, however, were both far too aware of the hand that remained on Remus's hip.