Prompt 27 - Drought
@wolfstarmicrofic June 27, word count 990
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He’d fallen asleep in Sirius’s arms. When he woke, the others had gone. It was just him and Sirius.
“Hey, sweetheart, how you feeling?” Sirius asked as he stroked his fingers through Remus’s hair. He could have purred. It felt so good. He stretched his limbs, his joints popping. He opened his eyes to see Sirius watching him carefully.
“I’m good, need to stretch my legs though.” They felt a bit stiff after all the chores that morning and his afternoon nap.
“That ties in nicely with what I had planned,” Sirius said mysteriously. Remus’s interest was piqued.
“What do you have planned?” Sirius sat up and pulled Remus up with him.
“Well, I promised you a nature walk to replace the one you’d missed.” Remus jumped out of bed, dragging Sirius with him.
“Yes, please,” He said enthusiastically. Sirius chuckled.
“Alright then, put on your shoes and let’s get going.”
Sirius led him down one of the narrow trails winding through the forest. Sirius bent down and showed him a carpet of white star-shaped flowers with shiny oval leaves. “This is wild garlic. Here smell,” Sirius rubbed the leaf between his fingers and a garlic scent filled the air. “It’s excellent to use for garlic bread, but don’t pick it if it’s flowered, it’s not as nice then,”
They moved through the forest. Sirius pointed out different trees. “That one’s a yew. They used to make longbows out of it. Everything on the tree is incredibly poisonous, but apparently they use it for anti-cancer compounds. Beautiful trees, but yeah maybe don’t lick it,” Sirius threw his head back and laughed as he continued on pointing out a few small flowers hidden around the large ferns on the ground.
They came upon a tinkling stream. Sirius slipped his shoes and socks off and walked into the water. “A few years ago there was a bad drought and this entire stream dried up. The lake was so low we were only allowed to kayak on it. That was the most boring summer we’ve ever had here.” Remus took his own shoes and socks off and let his feet slip into the cool water.
It was bliss, he hadn’t realised how warm he’d gotten. “Come on,” Sirius took his hand and began walking along the stream. They walked in silence, Remus took in everything around him while keeping a close eye on where he placed his feet. The stream was crystal clear, but the bottom was littered with small pebbles and the odd large stone. “Just a bit further and we can rest,” Sirius told him. He had no idea how Sirius had known he was getting tired, but Remus had only just thought about it in his head and Sirius voiced it.
The stream widened suddenly into a small pool. It was a lot deeper and he would have fallen in if Sirius hadn’t thrown out a hand to catch him. “Fancy a swim?”
They quickly stripped to their boxers and Remus followed Sirius into the pool. It was freezing, but Sirius soon took his mind off it. He pulled Remus into his arms and balanced him on his knee. The water swirled around them. Remus swallowed. They’d been close before, but James had always come barging in before anything more could happen. But they were in the middle of the forest, away from everyone. He knew Sirius wouldn’t do more than he was comfortable with, but Remus felt ready to do a little bit more with him.
Their lips met and suddenly Remus wasn’t the least bit cold. Sirius’s fingers trailed up his bare chest, tracing the scars. Remus relaxed into the touch, he didn’t think he’d trust anyone else to do what Sirius was doing. Sirius was the only one to touch his scars. He avoided them himself as much as possible.
Sirius’s hand moved, and his fingers traced the line of his waistband, his eyes asking for permission. He felt a shiver run through him and he leaned back slightly, giving a small nod. He felt incredibly vulnerable but the trust he felt for Sirius outweighed it.
Just then a clattering of breaking branches and thunderous footfalls broke them apart. A figure came hurling towards them surrounded by a swarm of bees. He jumped and plunged into the pool with them, engulfing them in water. They ducked down as the bees dissipated. The person who’d disturbed them bobbed into view from below the surface.
“Hey guys, didn’t realise you were out here.” James beamed at them, pushing his sopping hair out of his eyes.
“Potter! Where have you gone?” Snape called through the trees.
“Over here, Sev, and look who I found,” He shouted back, waving his arms and spraying droplets of water over Remus and Sirius. Snape and Peter came into view.
“Oh,” Snape stopped. “Didn’t realise you’d be.”
“Calm down, Sevy. We’re not naked.” Sirius sighed, exasperated. “What happened to you anyway?” Peter scuffed his boots into the earth.
“It’s my fault,” He said sadly. “I tripped over and grabbed a branch to stop me from falling, but it broke off and bit a branch on the next tree over and upset a beehive. It fell next to James and they started chasing him,”
“Peter, when we get home I’m taking you to a priestess because there is no way you aren’t cursed,” Sirius grumbled. “Now if you don’t mind, Remus and I would like to get dressed, so clear off," Remus snorted with laughter as the others disappeared into the forest laughing about what James had managed to see before he dove into the pool. “Come on, then. The cook told me there was chocolate cake for pudding again and I know how much you love that.” Sirius clambered out of the pool and offered his hand to Remus. Remus hurried him along, there was no way he was missing out on that chocolate cake.
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