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It was always a bad sign when Remus woke up with a headache. Sometimes it was just because he’d slept weird and it gradually faded once he got up and moved his body. Today, he could already tell moving his body was not an option, and would do nothing to relieve his headache. It was a worse sign when he woke up with full-body pain. It usually meant the day was ruined before it had even begun.
The room was chilly in the mid-winter morning; the sun had just begun to rise, as Remus could tell from the tiniest sliver he could see outside between the curtains in the window. He spent a few long moments lying on his back, trying to gather the willpower to properly wake up and at least get himself to the bathroom; the act of rolling over seemed to take the last of his energy before he’d even had time to do anything. And he really didn’t feel like leaving the comfortable warmth of the bed.
He eventually managed to drag himself to the bathroom—one pain-filled step at a time, each sending a new tremor through his entire leg up to his back—determined to at least get the day started, but by the time he’d finished brushing his teeth, the throbbing pain behind his eyes was too much to bear for the moment. He couldn’t quite recall what the Order had planned for the day, but they’d have to make do without him. No one would probably miss him anyway.
Remus limped back to bed, wrapped himself in the duvet and promptly fell back asleep.
When he woke, beams of sunlight were warming up his cocoon of blankets enough to make him start to sweat. The warmth felt great on his aching body for about two seconds before Remus felt like he was overheating, kicking the covers off in what must have looked like a fit. But the heat wasn’t what had woken him up. It had been the door opening, creaking like everything in this ancient house. Finally turning to look, Remus saw a figure standing in the doorway.
“Sorry,” said Sirius. “I’ve been meaning to fix that. Actually.” He flicked his wand and swung the door back and forth for a while, noise completely gone. Sirius’ triumphant smile made Remus immediately smile back.
Sirius turned back to Remus and frowned at what he saw. “Bad day?”
Remus had barely enough energy to nod, but it didn’t seem to bother Sirius.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.” Remus opened his mouth to say he’d already been awake—even though it was a lie—but no sound came out. He just shook his head and hoped the message was conveyed. “May I join you?”
Another nod and Sirius stepped further in the room, the door closing with a loud creak again. Remus laughed at Sirius’ scowling face. “This house hates me.” Evidently deciding to leave the matter be, Sirius joined him in bed, carefully wrapping his arms around Remus. “Is this okay?”
Remus wanted to say he actually needed Sirius a lot closer, needed Sirius to hold him until everything was alright again, but resigned to a grunt he hoped sounded affirmative.
Sirius gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”
“I don’t want to waste the day.” Remus’ voice was hoarse from disuse.
“Nothing’s happening. The day’s as boring as the rest of them,” Sirius assured him, brushing hair from Remus’ forehead. “You’re a bit hot.”
“I was wrapped up.”
Sirius kissed his temple softly. “What hurts?”
“Everything.” Remus drew in a deep breath, trying to listen to his body for a moment to be able to tell Sirius more accurately. “I think… there might be something… stuck in my back? No, that’s not how that works. It feels like it, though. And my head is killing me.”
Sirius frowned, considering. His hand never left Remus’ hair, the steady movement soothing as his fingers moved down to Remus’ temples. “Here? Is this helping?”
“Unless you plan on gauging my eyes out and sticking your deliciously freezing fingers straight into my brain…”
“Morbid, Moony.”
“Don’t stop.”
Sirius continued rubbing his fingers on Remus’ temples, and his cold fingers really did feel amazing. Occasionally, he leaned forward for a kiss, which Remus gladly gave him.
Remus fought to focus on the sensation of Sirius with him, instead of the ache all over his body, but it was almost impossible.
“Would you take a potion?” Sirius asked after a while.
“No. I don’t need it.” Need wasn’t really the right word to use, and Remus could almost feel Sirius holding back his retort. The healing potions weren’t really meant for daily or even weekly use. After a while they’d lose their potency and Remus wanted to save taking them when he really needed one. Sirius generally disagreed.
“You are a stubborn, silly man,” Sirius admonished lightly, clearly knowing exactly what Remus had been thinking. “A bath?”
“I don’t want to move,” Remus mumbled into Sirius’ shoulder.
“You don’t have to. We can spend the whole day in bed if you want to.” Sirius rubbed a hand down Remus’ back, occasionally hitting a few especially sore spots, which made Remus hiss in a mixture of pain and relief. “I’m here when you need me.”
“I know.” Remus didn’t need to say it out loud, but he wanted to assure Sirius he wasn’t pushing him away just because he was feeling bad.
“I could give you a massage?”
It actually sounded really good. Unfortunately, Sirius’ massages very often led to— “I’m not feeling up to having sex.”
“We don’t have to have sex. I’m capable of touching you without it having to lead into anything.”
“Are you?”
Sirius pulled back enough to give Remus a smile. “You make it sound like I’m insatiable. If you’re not taking care of yourself, at least let me do it.” Sirius frowned then, and Remus wondered if his own face had shown something, perhaps his reaction to the flare of pain that ran down his back that very moment, even though he’d tried to suppress it.
“Alright,” Remus conceded, though he wasn’t nearly as apprehensive as he sounded. “Cure me with your magical hands.”
Sirius grinned. “‘Let’s not have sex’, he says and then immediately after… that. Your back, was it?”
With the help of Sirius’ insistent tugging, they got Remus’ shirt off and he turned to lie on his stomach with Sirius gingerly perched on top of him, taking care that he wasn’t causing Remus more pain as he was sitting on him.
“Tell me if it hurts,” Sirius said, then immediately continued when Remus scoffed, “More than you can handle. I’m trying to make you feel better, not worse.”
Remus felt Sirius reaching for the bedside table, where they kept things such as massage oil and… others, for activities in bed. At the last moment, Sirius remembered to mutter a warming charm under his breath, before his hands touched Remus’ now bare back.
Carefully, yet still firmly, Sirius’ hands slid up Remus’ back, pressing into his aching muscles. As usual, it was sort of painful at first, but Remus was determined to let it work and didn’t say anything. Slowly, Sirius got more confident with putting more of his weight against Remus, and soon he was pushing against the knots in Remus’ muscles with force Remus hadn’t thought he could handle, but it actually felt so good he couldn’t help but let out a small noise that may or may not have sounded like a moan.
Sirius laughed softly and leaned down to press a kiss to Remus’ cheek.
Sirius methodically found the achiest spots on his back and tenderly rubbed until he seemed satisfied, before moving onto the next.
To Remus, it was slow torture until something happened and it finally started to feel good. Gradually, he sank further into the mattress and all of his limbs felt so heavy he was sure if he’d been asked to get up, he wouldn’t have been able to. When Sirius’ fingers reached the back of Remus’ neck, massaging along his shoulders as well, he thought he might fall asleep right that moment.
“Finally,” Sirius muttered, sounding elated.
“Huh?” Remus’ mind was somewhere very far and coming back to his body was too difficult of a task right now.
“Nothing to you.” Sirius emphasised his words with another pass from the lower back all the way to Remus’ shoulders, and a little kiss to his shoulder. “Just finally got you to relax.”
“I’ve been relaxing.”
“You are now. Trust me, this position is great for feeling when you truly do. You can’t hide anything from me.”
Remus supposed it had to be true; Sirius was in an advantageous spot to feel everything under him.
“How about your legs?”
The answer Remus gave was an incomprehensible hum that Sirius correctly interpreted as ‘Yes, keep going.’
“May I take off your trousers?”
Remus was sure he might have nodded into the pillow.
With the utmost care, Sirius continued his treatment on Remus’ legs, and Remus sank back into the state where nothing but he and Sirius existed. The pain was still there, but it had almost faded into the background and Remus was able to shift his focus fully on Sirius instead. He listened to the way Sirius’ breath huffed slightly when he leaned against Remus with all his weight, and felt the way each finger glided against his skin. Even the coldness of the room seemed soothing rather than harsh, like it had earlier.
He must have dozed off at some point, because suddenly Sirius was no longer sitting on top of him, but had draped himself against his back, both of them under the covers again. Sirius’ hands were still touching him, lazily drawing nonsensical patterns on his back. His fingers moved up Remus’ back, the touch so light it felt like a breeze and made Remus shiver involuntarily. They then sank into his hair and Sirius’ lips pressed against the back of his neck.
“Thank you,” Remus said quietly, unable to produce a sound louder than a whisper.
Remus could tell Sirius hadn’t expected him to wake so soon by the way he jolted against him. He recovered soon enough and his mouth was back on Remus. Remus could feel him smiling against his skin. “Did you just thank me for kissing you?”
“No, for… everything else.”
“Everything but the kisses?” Sirius asked, feigning ignorance, and accentuated his question with another light brush of lips against the shell of Remus’ ear. It tickled and Remus tried to turn his head away, but his pillow was in the way. “And now you run from me? The utter ingratitude—”
“I said ‘thank you’,” Remus protested, laughing as he turned around to be able to properly answer Sirius’ kisses. Sirius welcomed the new position by wrapping his arms around Remus again, tugging himself close and threw a leg over Remus’ hip for good measure.
“Are you still in pain?”
Remus paused to think, letting his forehead rest against Sirius’. His headache was completely gone, and at least this little movement right now hadn’t triggered any major bouts of pain like previously. “A little. A lot less than when I woke up.”
“Good.” Sirius leaned in for another kiss, which quickly stretched into a longer one. Remus let himself relax against Sirius, who didn’t seem to mind taking control again. Sirius’ fingers were combing through Remus’ hair again, before settling to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. Their lips moved against each other in a familiar rhythm, the softness of their kisses combined with Sirius’ closeness filling Remus with contentment and he never wanted this to end.
Unfortunately, Remus’ stomach rumbled loudly, interrupting their kissing soon enough. His face heated up instantly and he couldn’t stop a huff of laughter from escaping, embarrassed. “Sorry. I, er… haven’t eaten anything yet today.”
Sirius laughed as well, in his carefree and cheerful way that was fully in contrast to Remus’. He pressed a kiss to Remus’ burning cheek before sitting up, stroking a gentle hand on his hair. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll bring you food. Just a moment, my love.”
Maybe the day wouldn’t be as bad as Remus had feared.