Title: Cleansing Day
Warning: This story contains SLASH so if you don't like it DON'T read it
Author: Clover Madison
Rating: PG-13 for the excessive use of the B-word
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Summary: When Remus goes over to Sirius’ house on Tuesday he learns this is the day that Sirius cleans his motorcycle. Deciding to help Remus realizes that he may have gotten himself into more than he can chew or in this case clean. As the day wears on more than just a motorcycle is cleansed. One-Shot Warning: Slash RL/SB
Disclaimer: These brilliantly created characters belong to J.K. Rowling, which I hope you all know. I’m not making any money off of this.
A/N: This story was hatched when I cleaned three cars in two days, inside-out! So please enjoy and R&R is very much appreciated. Also if any of the years that I mention are off please tell me. And if any of my Motorcycle lingo is incorrect also bring it to my attention. I would love to fix anything that is wrong.
Basically this is an unbeta’d story so if you would like to beta it please correct it and send it to me at: taxidog@rockriver.net thank you
Cleansing Day
Remus Lupin Apparated to the end of his best friend’s driveway. He watched as his friend, by the name of Sirius Black, walked around a huge, black motorcycle. He had bought the motorcycle the day after their graduation from Hogwarts. It was his pride and joy. So the only odd thing about him circling his bike was that he held a rag in one hand. He’d wave it at the bike every so often, shaking it madly and muttering to himself under his breath.
“What are you doing?” Remus asked walking up to Sirius with a confused smile on his face.
Sirius looked up startled. His long black hair swished in its ponytail as his bright gray eyes pinned Remus to his spot. His eyes used to make Remus feel like they could see right through him, but he had gotten used to the feeling during their long friendship. He knew that plenty of times Sirius had no clue what was going on. His eyes were unable to see anything except what was in front of him and sometimes not even that.
“Don’t sneak up on me Moony,” Sirius said using Remus’ nickname.
“Alright,” Remus answered almost automatically. “What are you doing?” He asked again.
Sirius just held his arms out toward his massive motorcycle. Sometimes Sirius didn’t communicate very well, Remus thought to himself. “Sirius,” Remus said using his perfected prefect voice, “Just tell me what you’re doing.”
“Can’t you see?” Sirius asked waving his white rag in front of Remus’ face. “I’m cleaning Bitch.”
“What?” Remus asked immediately.
“Bitch,” Sirius said patting the seat of his motorcycle, “You said I should give her a name, so I named her Bitch.”
“I meant a nice name like, Lola or something,” Remus said. Sirius also had problems understanding very normal things. He liked to make them far too difficult. Remus liked to keep things simple.
“What’s wrong with Bitch?” Sirius asked rather innocently. Forcing Remus to think that maybe Sirius really didn’t understand what was wrong with it. Remus just shook his head.
“Well, ah, she looks very clean,” Remus said meaning it and it did look very nice.
The motorcycle was sparkling in the morning sun; it looked spotless to Remus’ untrained eye. Which it obviously was because Sirius said, “I haven’t cleaned her yet, I’m going to clean her. Today is Tuesday and I dedicate every Tuesday to cleaning Bitch.”
“Why Tuesday?” Remus asked.
“Because that’s the day I bought her and took her away from that evil salesman. You see I clean her everyday on our anniversary. Don’t I Bitchy?” Sirius said, the last words were said in baby talk and directed to the motorcycle. That would have been absolutely adorable had it not been that Sirius was talking to his motorcycle and that its name was Bitch.
“That’s great Padfoot,” Remus said.
“As you can see I’m a little busy today,” Sirius said, “You could help if you’d like. I bet you’ve never cleaned a motorcycle before, Moony.”
Remus shook his head; he didn’t know how to clean a motorcycle. It would be rather interesting to learn. He inspected the motorcycle closer. “Sirius, I don’t see any dirt. It really is spotless. Why are you cleaning a spotless car?”
“It’s not a car!” Sirius gasped loudly, “It’s a motorcycle.” He glared at Remus.
Now Remus was sure those eyes were trying to kill him or at least do some voodoo by themselves as they started at him fixedly. “Um, yeah,” he said a little nervous under the intense gaze, “Why are you cleaning a spotless motorcycle?” At least Sirius wasn’t giving him the death glare, which he usually saved especially for James, another best friend from Hogwarts. There was still hope when the death glare wasn’t involved.
“It’s filthy!” Sirius cried, “No offense Bitch.” He said to the motorcycle.
Remus looked closer, maybe he was missing something. He circled around the bike.
“Stop walking so close! You’re kicking dust on the wheels!” Sirius said sounding like he was having an emotional break down.
Remus stepped back, “I still don’t see a spot Padfoot.”
“Well,” Sirius said, “Besides the dirt you have just put on it...”
Remus ignored that comment, remembering how he, personally, diagnosed Sirius with OED, Obsessive Eccentric Disorder, in third year. Of course he hadn’t told this to Sirius.
“There is a spot right here,” Sirius said pointing to a place on the back of the bike.
Remus looked closely, putting his nose all the way up to the shiny black metal.
“Don’t breath on it!” Sirius practically screamed grabbing Remus’ arm and pulling him away.
“Padfoot, I really don’t see anything.” Remus was miffed at how Sirius could see any spots on it. Maybe he really could see through things, or maybe he needed to get his eyes’ checked.
“Then you’re blind,” Sirius stated, “I could see that spot from a mile away.” He stretched his arm out in exaggeration.
Remus tilted his head sideways and started at him with a familiar face that asked if he was insane. He had starting using it a lot since the two had been spending more and more time together. James had started dating Lily and Sirius needed a new partner in crime. Who else to call but Remus? Sometimes James would still come along and hang out but more often than not it was just Remus and Sirius. James was much too busy wooing Lilly. Peter, the last of the friends, rarely came by if ever, unfortunately, he wasn’t that much of a loss.
“Are there any other spots?” Remus asked. Sirius had only pointed out one. There had to be more dirt than that.
“Nope,” Sirius said, “it’s the only one and thank Heaven because otherwise this would take all night.”
Remus noted that it was only noon and that all night was a very long time to be cleaning a car.
“It’s already going to take at least five hours but probably more like ten,” Sirius said seriously.
Remus gave Sirius another odd look. Sirius headed toward the garage and pulled out a yellow bucket filled to the brim with bottles and scrubbing tools.
“So…what are you doing Sirius?” Remus asked again.
“I’m cleaning Bitch! Jeez, Remus I’ve already told you this about eight times.” Sirius almost dropped the bucket with the enthusiasm he said this with.
“Actually,” Remus said, “It’s more like…” he stopped at the glare on Sirius’ face, “Never mind.”
Sirius began to carefully unload the bucket. He set out each bottle in a line and draped a towel, mitt or brush over or next to each bottle.
“Why don’t you just use magic?” Remus asked frankly pulling out his wand from within his robes.
“No!” Sirius shrieked knocking over one of his bottles which started a domino effect. He head butted Remus to the ground and snatched the wand from his hand. “No,” he said again his voice calmer but with an off key note still in it.
Remus wondered briefly in Sirius had been doing drugs. “Why not?” Remus asked.
“It would be like throwing a bucket of mud on her!” Sirius said his eyes opening wide with the thought. “Bitch needs tender loving care,” Sirius explained, “magic wouldn’t get her, her cleanest. She needs a real human touch. You have to wash her by hand and show her that you love her. Just saying a spell isn’t love! You have to make sure you get her everywhere, rubbing her down gently from the top to the spokes of her wheels. Touching every part of her body work. Magic is far to ruff on her and besides, it will chip parts of her paint job.”
Again, this would have been very cute. Sirius: madly in love. Except he was madly in love with his motorcycle and Remus was still pinned to the ground. Remus groaned, “Okay I won’t use magic but could you get off of me and give me back my wand?”
“Oh sorry,” Sirius said coming back to reality after thinking about how nice it was going to be to wax the chrome. He stood up, “But I can’t give you you’re wand back. You may be tempted to use it. You can have this brush though,” and Sirius tossed him a gray brush that looked like a toilet bowl cleaner.
Unfortunately Sirius could be a little weird when it came to his possessions, like the motorcycle. Once Peter had tried to be funny and change the color of Sirius’ lucky underwear. Sirius hadn’t let Peter off the ceiling for three hours. Then James had stolen the silver chain Sirius wore. The scars from the blisters Sirius had cursed him with hadn’t gone away completely until a month later.
Remus smartly stayed out of all that. Once, on accident, he had taken Sirius’ favorite quill when he couldn’t find one of his own. He had never been quite sure how Sirius knew which on was his favorite since they all looked a like, but some how he knew. He hadn’t gotten anything from it though, well, except a lecture about the favorite quill. Remus smiled slightly, Sirius had always taken it easy on him, even before he knew that he was a werewolf.
“Are you listening to me?” Sirius asked waving a hand in front of Remus’ face. “You shouldn’t daze off, Remmie, it’s bad for your mind.” Remus blushed. He had used to tell Sirius that at Hogwarts. But it really was bad for Sirius’ mind! He would think about pranks when he dazed off.
“Listen to me,” Sirius demanded.
“I’m listening,” Remus said patiently.
“I am going to teach you how to clean tires.”
“Why do I have to know how to clean tires?” Remus asked.
“Because it’s an art form and it will cut part of the cleaning time in half. Tires are the dirtiest part,” Sirius said pointedly.
The only problem Remus could see with this statement was that the wheels were already spotless, glittering in the sun. “Are you sure you haven’t cleaned this yet?” Remus asked.
“Of course not! How many times must I tell you? You’ll see the difference when we’re done cleaning,” Sirius said as if he were sure.
“Alright,” Remus said, still not convinced, “teach me how to clean tires.”
Sirius picked an orange spray bottle from the line of various cleaners. The label read Wheel and Tire cleaner. “Now,” he said, “you’re going to take this cleaner, here and spray it on the wheel and the tire.” Sirius began to spray the wheel, everywhere. He did it carefully, getting the liquid in between every spoke, all over the rim and covering the tire. Basically when Sirius was done spraying the entire wheel was covered. “Don’t worry about running out.” Sirius said, “I have enough for each side of the wheel to get one bottle.”
“But you didn’t use the whole thing,” Remus said pointing to the bottle in Sirius’ hand.
“Of course I didn’t. I’m just explaining quickly how to clean it. You’ll be doing at least every wheel twice if not three times.”
Remus felt that his eyes must have popped out of his head. He had to clean an already spotless wheel three times by hand?! Sirius must have gone crazy. Now Remus really did want his wand. But he just answered with an, “oh.”
“Now after you scrub for awhile…” Sirius said keeling down and brushing intently with the toilet bowl cleaner. He began to get into a rhythm. Scrubbing in-between one spoke and then another. Moving the brush back and forth, watching the dirt vanish before his eyes.
He scrubbed like this for somewhere around five minutes until Remus said, “I know how to scrub Padfoot.”
“What?” Sirius asked, “Oh sorry, I get lost in cleaning her. Make sure you scrub her gently but forcefully as well. Remember to scrub her tire as well. After you do all that, just rinse her off.”
“I can do that,” Remus said eager to get started.
“Are you sure?” Sirius asked with concern.
“Of course,” Remus answered, how hard could it be?
“Alright,” Sirius gave the hose to Remus to finish the wheel he had started. Almost as soon as the water hit the wheel Sirius snatched it away again.
“No, no, no! Don’t get any of that on the paint job, it will take it right off. Point the water downward,” Sirius said, finishing off the wheel himself.
Remus still didn’t see any difference in the cleanliness of the vehicle. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” he questioned.
“I thought you knew,” Sirius said, “You said you could handle it.”
He couldn’t argue with that, Sirius was right.
“Okay,” Sirius said, “Now that you know what to do, you can start with a new wheel. We’ll let this one dry. Then you can clean it again.”
Sirius watched, standing over Remus, as he cleaned the second wheel. Remus realized why he really took his wand away, so that he couldn’t hex him. Sirius kept pointing out every little thing he did wrong, which was getting very annoying.
“Use more spray than that! Drench the wheel, drench it.” Remus did so using the remainder of the spray bottle, “Good,” Sirius said.
Then Remus began the scrubbing process. Using the toilet bowl scrubber he began to imitate what Sirius had done. “Gently,” Sirius said and Remus decided this would be a lot easier if he could see the dirt on the wheel or if he could shove the toilet bowl cleaner into Sirius’ mouth. Instead Remus just cleaned softer, why scrub hard if there wasn’t any dirt anyway? “Not that gently!” Sirius cried, “Don’t take it easy on her.”
“I don’t understand how you want me do this,” Remus almost screamed in annoyance.
“Calm down,” Sirius said, an evil glint in this eye. It wasn’t often that he caused Remus to lose control; he always thought of that as some sort of big accomplishment. It had happened only twice in school. The first time was in his third year when he snuck a girl into the dormitory. Remus had almost flipped. But Sirius thought that was only nerves. He was young and Remus wasn’t very comfortable around girls yet. Then again it could have been because Sirius had been butt naked when he walked in. After spending enough time with James and Sirius though, Remus had gotten pretty used to all the stunts that went on.
The second time was in seventh year when Sirius told Snape about the knot in the Whomping Willow. Remus had almost gone mad when he heard about that. He hadn’t spoken to Sirius for months. For some reason that hurt Sirius more than anything and he tried, for the rest of Hogwarts, to mend their friendship. Now he felt like he had succeeded. But he didn’t try to get Remus angry anymore.
He grabbed Remus’ hand lightly. Sirius felt his fingers flinch under his palm. He glanced at Remus briefly but said nothing about the reaction. Turning his attention back to the dirty Bitch he said, “Gently yet forcefully.” He began to move Remus’ hand in the motion, applying the pressure he wanted Remus to apply. The dirt began to peel away from the wheel, Sirius could see it. It made him feel accomplished and proud. The back and forth movement of the scrub was soothing to him. He liked to feel it on his back when he took a hot bath. That was his favorite thing about his body, his back. It had just the right amount of hair on it, giving it a masculine look with a smooth feel. He worked out just so he could get his back in shape. He even had a tattoo on it…
“Sirius,” Remus said the annoyance in his voice gone. His control perfectly regained.
“Yes?” Sirius murmured huskily, lost in the thought of a back rub.
“I understand now,” Remus said trying to hold back laughter.
“Oh…OH!” Sirius pulled his hand away; stood up and stepped back watching Remus finish scrubbing with just the right intensity. He hosed down the wheel perfectly. “Nice job, Moony. Just keep up the good work and make sure you do that wheel again. You’ll get even more dirt next time.”
Remus gave him a look of utter confusion. Sirius was used to ignoring such looks and did so. He walked over to his perfect line of fallen over bottles and picked them up. Then he pulled out one and poured part of it into the yellow bucket. He added some water from the hose and stuck his hand in a cleaning mitt. Sirius stuck his covered hand in the concoction and began to scrub his Bitch down carefully.
“What are you doing now?” Remus asked as he cleaned the wheels.
“You continue to ask that question don’t you?” Sirius said not looking away from the bodywork he was scrubbing.
Remus just smiled and blushed slightly.
“I’m washing it with motorcycle soap,” Sirius answered, he usually didn’t like sharing his washing day with anyone. It was kind of like a cleansing of the soul, and anyway Bitch was his baby, but he didn’t mind sharing it with Remus. It wasn’t that bad, actually he was rather enjoying teaching Remus something.
He continued on running his hands along the pipes and bumpers. Enjoying the solid feel of the metal as his mitt slid down it, soaking it with suds and bubbles. He had covered his leather seats with plastic so they wouldn’t get soapy. Of course Sirius didn’t have much to worry about. He was so good at cleaning Bitch by this time that he could do it with out the plastic. This is what he loved about washing Bitch; he could escape to his own world. It was kind of therapeutic for him; it got all his energy out. Something kept interrupting his mind’s rest time though. He couldn’t place the sound.
He glanced up from his soaping, “Remus are you humming?”
Remus looked up at Sirius from across the bike, his eyes looking up through the lashes, “Yeah, sorry. It’s stuck in my head. Didn’t even realize I was doing it until you asked, I’ll stop.”
Sirius nodded and went back to cleaning. Bitch was going to look so clean after this, he thought, and then maybe he could take a shower and wash his back. He looked around for a moment; something was still breaking into his concentration. Scanning the other houses in the neighborhood he noted that Mr. Fiddlemyer had set his new owl outside. It scratched at the sides of its cage and squawked annoyingly. Sirius pulled out
Remus’ wand and stunned the owl. Ah, he thought to himself, much better.
After a few more moments it seemed that it was eerily quiet. Sirius didn’t like that either. Usually though, he did like the quiet. Something, before, had seemed calming to him and familiar but he couldn’t place it. “You could, ah, keep humming if you want to,” Sirius said to Remus trying to sound indifferent.
They worked in a somewhat awkward silence for a moment or two. Then Remus started to hum again. In no time at all Sirius realized this was what had been missing. The song seemed so familiar to him, like he and Remus had sung it sometime a while back, but he didn’t really remember. It was more like a dream.
Whenever Sirius washed Bitch, his mitt would move in a sort of automatic rhythm that came from deep inside him. Today though it was different, it moved to Remus’ music or rather the song Remus was humming. Sirius didn’t mind though, he kind of liked this pace better.
Remus hadn’t known what had made him think of that song. Maybe it was because that day had started a lot like this one. James and Peter off somewhere, him and Sirius alone with really nothing to do. Just throwing ideas around until Sirius found one he liked and convinced or more really forced Remus to help him. He even used some of the same words today that he had then, ‘I bet you’ve never done it before, Moony.’ Remus shook his head, no more of that, too many memories.
It seemed a long time had passed when Remus finally said, “I think I’m done.” He stood up awkwardly, his back and legs hurting from squatting on the ground for so long.
Sirius took off his mitt and draped it over the side of the yellow bucket. He walked around the motorcycle, “Good, except you should redo this wheel, just a little spot checking would be fine,” Sirius said pointing to the left side of the front wheel.
Remus grumbled he had been sure they were perfect. Sirius went back to his cleaning and Remus bent down looking at the offending wheel. He scrunched up his eyes, turned his head and looked at it cross eyed and still didn’t see a spot. Then he turned his head just a bit, maybe there was something. He saw a small black speck. He blinked. Nope, there was something in his eye. He drenched the wheel again and went back to cleaning.
When he finished rinsing the wheel off Sirius was standing behind him. “That’ll do,” Sirius said, “Now we’re going to rinse the whole Bitch off.”
Remus thought Sirius was just going to spray the hose at the motorcycle, soaking it. Instead he did it cautiously and slowly. Taking great care to not get anything wet that didn’t need to be wet. Even the seat stayed relatively dry. Remus had never really seen Sirius take so much trouble with one thing; sure he took a long time with his pranks but never with something that was so tangible.
Then Sirius handed Remus what looked like a windshield wiper. “That is a California wiper, it helps eliminate streaks,” Sirius said, “As does this.” He held up a blue rag. “We’re just drying off Bitch,” Sirius commanded.
Remus wondered if it really was that simple and soon realized that it indeed was.
When they had both finished and the vehicle was dry, Remus asked, “Is that all?” They had already been working on the motorcycle for over two hours.
“Is that all?” Sirius asked mockingly, “Of course not. We still have all those bottles over there to use,” Sirius waved his hand in that direction.
Remus sighed, “So what’s next?”
“Well…do you want to do the leather or the mirror, dashboard and windshield?”
The leather sounded like less work so that was what Remus answered.
Sirius’ handed him another spray bottle that read ‘Leather Repairer, Protector and Conditioner with UV protection.’ “Take this rag,” Sirius said handing Remus a simple white rag, “either spray a bit onto the leather or into the rag. Then rub the cleaner on the seats. Make sure you get every inch.”
Remus nodded, took the plastic off the leather, and began to spray. Sirius had his hand wrapped around Remus’ wrist in seconds flat, “Don’t drench it like the wheels just spray.” Sirius could feel himself shiver at the physical contact with Remus.
“Okay,” Remus said, relieved that that was the only thing he was doing wrong.
Sirius, himself, grabbed the blue Windex bottle, the blue rag and the California wiper. He walked to the mirrors and sprayed them with Windex, then used the blue rag to wipe it off. After doing the mirrors he sprayed the small windshield and cleaned that inside and out. This time using the California wiper to leave it streak less. Though the inside was slightly difficult since he and Remus kept bumping hips.
Sirius then switched the Windex with Armor-All and a new rag. He poured part of the Armor-All on the rag and began cleaning the dashboard. Remus, meanwhile, was finishing up with the leather. The two kept bumping and brushing body parts against one another. Remus finally stepped back when his elbow smacked Sirius across the cheek. “Oh I’m so sorry,” he cried.
Sirius just gritted his teeth through the sharp short spurt of pain and tried to smile. Damn werewolf doesn’t know his own strength, he thought to himself. Yet through all the explaining and redoing this was by far the best cleaning day yet. Sirius felt like he had several years ago, on that day in fifth year. It was his favorite memory with Remus.
Remus watched Sirius finish up and asked again, “Are we done?”
“Not by a long shot,” Sirius answered. He handed Remus a circular white cloth. “Now we are going to wax.”
“Wax on, wax off,” Remus said smiling.
Sirius looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Have you done this before?”
“Um, no.”
“Well then you take your applicator,” Sirius said picking up his own circular cloth, “and pour on this wax. I’m going to use the special chrome wax.” Remus nodded his understanding. “Now using your applicator, move it in a circular motion. I’ll demonstrate on the chrome and you do yours anywhere else,” Sirius paused, “except the wheels because they don’t really need to be waxed.”
Sirius began to demonstrate and Remus imitated, “Good,” Sirius said, “continue on as you please.”
Remus smiled happily he had finally gotten it right. As he began to wax, his hand moving in a slow, cautious circular motion, he realized that it must be at least two o’clock in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day for washing a motorcycle. He was proud that he had decided to help clean it, he felt accomplished. Maybe, he wondered, this was how Sirius felt and why he took such care to do it.
Remus paused and looked over at the dark haired man in question. He was looking intently at the chrome carefully fulfilling each movement, covering the silver with a sort of yellowish glow. The same look had been on him that day, as he looked at the boxes of Firewhiskey, intently thinking about how to sneak them out. Remus sighed and turned his attention back to waxing. There was no reason Remus had to keep thinking about that day, especially today, in the company of Sirius. It was useless to think about it, Remus had said this to himself over and over again as he fell asleep at night, useless…
Sirius didn’t even notice Remus’ pause. Which wasn’t really rude since he was caught up in this own thoughts. He always loved waxing; it was his favorite part of the whole process. The yellowish color of the wax moving over the bright, sliver gleam of the chrome, protecting it from any harm. Keeping it safe and merging with it. It reminded him of an eclipse when the yellow sun and silver moon crossed. He could feel the sun on him right now. The sweet scent of sweat enhanced ever so slightly by his canine instincts. The drop rolled down his back, sending a chill to his spine. His lovely back, with its tattoo. But he didn’t particularly like the sun, what he really loved was the moon, when you wipe the wax away leaving the lustrous gloss of the chrome.
Remus stepped back after a few more minutes to admire his handy work. He watched Sirius carefully as he finished his own waxing job. His whole body seemed to be connected to the work. His hand moved in circles, taking his arm and shoulder with it. His head swayed side to side just a little and his legs shook slightly as if from laughter; more than likely though it was from squatting down for too long. Sirius’ torso was bent so that he could see the chrome better. His heels were up off the ground as he sat on his toes. And those eyes! Those bright gray balls of slate, intently gazing at every nonexistent piece of dirt, absent chip, and unnoticeable spot on the waxed chrome.
They turned on him and Remus could feel the on coming rush of dizziness. He hadn’t felt that way since fifth year, when he and Sirius had…he pushed the thought from his mind. No use thinking about it now, just like there was no use thinking about it then either.
“All done?” Sirius asked.
“Yeah,” Remus said nodding his head.
“Good, me too. Now we are going to…” he paused for a moment as he inspected Remus’ handiwork. He snatched his cloth away and moved his hand in one circular motion. “Okay,” he said satisfied standing back, “Now we just let it dry. Then we’ll remove it.”
“Do you do any special ceremonies while you wait for the wax to dry?” Remus asked jokingly.
Sirius blushed, “Actually I do. I…um…drink a bottle of Firewhiskey. When I finish it, I assume the wax is dry. Then it’s time to rub Bitch down.”
“Oh,” Remus said slightly embarrassed and yet rather amused by this.
Sirius entered the garage again and walked to a blue and white cooler. Opening the top he exposed his liquor collection. Several cheap wines, some light beer and far too many bottles of Firewhiskey poked out from the ice. He grabbed the neck of two of the orange tinted bottles and closed the lid. “Here,” Sirius said reappearing at Remus’ side and handing him a bottle.
Remus shook his head, “I’m not one for Spirits.”
“Come on take it. I know you like it,” Sirius said, “and its Firewhiskey not Spirits.” He grinned and took a swig of the amber liquid.
Remus ignored his friend’s joke and took the bottle from him. He didn’t enjoy alcohol much but he supposed one bottle wouldn’t hurt. Taking a sip he wondered if this day was too much like in fifth year. “Does this remind you of something?” Remus asked trying to keep his voice calm and resigned as he spoke.
Sirius looked up at him from where he sat on the lawn. “It has its similarities,” his voice sounded faintly amused. He paused as he took another swig and leaned back on his elbows, “The only time Remus Lupin, school Prefect, got detention.”
“Indeed,” Remus said looking skyward, lost in his own thoughts. Sirius watched him with interest. He had always been more grown up than the rest of them. He was good for James and me to have, Sirius thought. Without him Sirius doubted that James would have ever ‘chilled’ enough to win Lily over. Without him, Sirius thought, his throat turning numb from the burn, it wouldn’t have been quite as fun.
“Do you remember that day?” Remus asked his brown eyes on Sirius.
“Mmhmm,” Sirius answered, “It was colder than this.”
Remus walked over to where Sirius was and sat down next to him, swatting him with his free hand in the process, “It was in November, Siri.”
“And so it was,” Sirius said, “We were at Hogsmead.”
“Yeah.”
“Why weren’t James and Peter with us?” Sirius asked.
“I think Peter was pinning over that girl in Hufflepuff...”
“Oh yeah!” Sirius said laughing, “She was so much better than him! Poor girl, never had any luck with the men, didn’t Snape like her after that?”
Remus grinned, sipping at his drink, “Yep…and I think James had detention for being late…”
“For the Umpteenth time!” Sirius said imitating their old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Remus tried to suppress his laughter.
“He was such an old fussbudget.”
“He was a good teacher!” Remus exclaimed.
“He thought your name was Rarmus,” Sirius said accusatorially.
“He developed a speech problem when he had that run in with a-”
Sirius cut him off. “Hag yeah, yeah I know, do you really believe that?” Sirius asked, taking another swallow of Firewhiskey.
“No,” Remus laughed toppling over onto his back, Firewhiskey bottle pressed against his lips.
“Not so much at once,” Sirius said pulling the bottle back from him.
Remus sat up reaching for the bottle and pulled it back to his chest, “That’s not what you said before,” he said waving a finger in Sirius’ face.
“I know and think were it got us.”
“Detention,” Remus said, “That’s where it got us.”
“You were really funny that day though,” Sirius said, lying down on his back, balancing the Firewhiskey bottle on his stomach. “‘We can’t do this Sirius! We’ll get caught. This is illegal.’” Sirius said, imitating Remus.
“We did get caught too.”
“Yeah, after we snuck the Firewhiskey bottles out of Hogsmead and into Hogwarts.”
“We drank half of them on the way back to Hogwarts anyway. It’s surprising that they didn’t find us sooner, we were roaring drunk,” Remus said, taking another long gulp.
“Yeah,” Sirius agreed, “Literally roaring.”
“That’s why I quit drinking. I was so embarrassed and all.”
“I’m honored that you’d stop drinking because of me, but really being drunk has more advantages than you’d think,” Sirius said, finishing off his bottle of Firewhiskey and setting it down in the grass beside him.
“Oh yeah?” Remus asked skeptically, “What might those be?”
“Well you don’t remember what you do afterwards,” Sirius said drunkenly rolling over on top of Remus; the palms of his hands positioned by the side of Remus’ ears.
Remus could feel his stomach drop and heat appear in more places than just his face. He pushed Sirius off. “Which doesn’t help since the things you want to forget only happen when you’re drunk,” Remus said nervously.
“I don’t forget everything I do when I’m drunk,” Sirius said lying on his side looking at Remus’ cheek.
Remus turned his head with a snap to look at him, he gulped, “What else do you remember about that day?” he asked hoarsely not meeting the gaze of those sparkling gray eyes.
Sirius closed his eyes, thinking, “After we were caught and McGonagall tried to sober us up with threats about expulsion we got detention that night. ‘Report directly to Filch at eight o’ clock.’” Sirius imitated in a shrilly voice.
“It was after dinner,” Remus corrected.
“Do you want me to tell you what I remember or not?” Sirius asked.
“Please go on,” Remus said his voice wavering just a bit.
“So we got detention for a month and that night we had to clean the Trophy Room.” Sirius hadn’t minded much though since he loved to wax and polish. Remus nodded in agreement. “Then, still partly drunk from drinking the hidden Firewhiskey at dinner, we went to work on the Trophies.”
“You were drunk. I didn’t drink Firewhiskey at dinner,” Remus said reproaching.
“I was drunk. You were sober, swearing off alcohol left and right. Is that better?” Sirius asked sarcastically.
“Much.”
“We didn’t really do a lot of cleaning that night though,” Sirius said thoughtfully and rather quietly, as though he was actually thinking about these events for the first time. “No we didn’t…” He dropped off.
Remus paused waiting for him to say something, nerves causing his hands to shake. “Siriu-” Remus sat up quickly his mouth crashing violently into Sirius’ not realizing that he had moved closer. He jumped away like Sirius was on fire, which wasn’t too far off the taste of the kiss.
Sirius stood up. “We told jokes,” he said continuing the memory, “to pass the time. I asked you what your favorite color was. You didn’t think that was much of a joke.” Sirius was taking steps closer with each word, his eyes widening with realization. “I thought it was hysterical.” He paused. Remus had backed up to the point where he was almost touching the motorcycle. “What’s your favorite color Moony?” Sirius asked.
“Sirius, you don’t have to-” Remus started.
“What’s your favorite color?” Sirius demanded.
This time Remus met Sirius’ eyes as if to confirm that he had to answer the question, “Black,” Remus answered and Sirius kissed him. The taste of Firewhiskey, Chrome wax and sweets almost made Remus’ heart leap out from his chest. Memories he had tried to suppress came rushing back to him and neither of them noticed how their sunny day had suddenly turned dark.
“I hadn’t thought about that night before,” Sirius admitted, “My head hurt so much from the alcohol the next day that I didn’t really want to think about it. We, um, did a bit more than that didn’t we?” Sirius asked.
“Yes, quite a bit more,” Remus said looking down at the dirt driveway, “I didn’t know if I was relieved that you didn’t remember that next morning or if it was the largest loss of my life.”
“I used to dream about it,” Sirius murmured quietly, “I only thought it was a dream but…it wasn’t.”
Remus looked up and Sirius’ piercing, see-through, eyes were looking at him. “Sometimes,” Sirius said his voice becoming a whisper, “I wished it was real, and late at night I wanted to crawl into your bed and do bad things to you.”
Remus had a feeling that his mouth was hanging open and that his face was all red. “Sirius…I…felt the same way. Late at night though I’d wished that you’d remember and come into my bed but I’m not quite sure I wished the same obscenities that you wished.”
“You would have by the time I was done with you,” He grinned evilly.
Remus felt relived. For so long he had tried to suppress the memories of that day, trying to tell himself that if Sirius remembered it would be bad. Here, though, several years later the hidden thoughts were finally being spoken.
Then the first rain drop fell, right in-between the two. Both men’s thoughts were broken as they looked skyward. A bucket of raindrops fell next and as they ran towards the garage for shelter, they were drenched.
“Damn,” Sirius said looking out at Bitch, the wax was running off her. “We didn’t get to polish the wax off. Now we’ll have to start all over!”
“We can’t just wax it again?” Remus wondered.
“No, the rain is dirty. Even if I brought her in the garage now all our work would be washed away.”
“The rain is dirty?” Remus asked.
“You took Muggle studies, you know, acid rain,” Sirius said distractedly.
“Ah, yes,” Remus said smiling inwardly, “But we have all night to clean it again, and all of tomorrow, and the next day. Why, Sirius, we could clean your Motorcycle everyday.”
Sirius turned to look at Remus standing behind him. “We?” he questioned.
“You and me, maybe we’ll enroll the help of James but he might not be much help.”
Sirius nodded, smiling now, “I like that idea of you and me, cleaning Bitch. You’re kind of sexy when you scrub those wheels.” He slipped his arms around Remus’ neck.
“Is that why you liked to watch all the time?” Remus asked kissing Sirius playfully.
“You know it,” Sirius whispered in Remus’ ear, tugging at it gently with his teeth. “Should we do this doggie style?” Sirius whispered again.
Remus pushed him away, “You are a sick man Sirius Black.”
“I want to show you something,” Sirius said soberly. Remus nodded. Sirius gripped the bottom of this shirt and pulled it up over his head. He turned around, his back facing Remus and Remus gasped.
“When did you have this done?” he asked running his hand along Sirius’ back.
Sirius closed his eyes savoring the touch, “Right after you stopped talking to me in seventh year. I wanted to see what it was like to belong to the moon.”
Remus’ eyes were glued to the tattoo on Sirius’ back. It was a full moon, covering his entire back. In the middle of it was a shadow of an open muzzle, howling. It was amazing.
Sirius turned to face Remus, “Do you like it?” he asked.
“I love it,” and Remus kissed Sirius again. When he opened his eyes he could see that the rain had stopped as quickly as it had come. “It’s cleared up.” Remus said and Sirius turned around to look.
The dark clouds were quickly leaving and the rays of the sun were prickling through landing on the motorcycle, making it gleam even brighter than before. Sirius walked out to inspect it, “Look how filthy she is!” he exclaimed.
Remus looked at her carefully and now he was sure he saw a spot. “I think she needs to be cleaned again. That Bitch!” Remus added.
Sirius looked at him and laughed loudly. He threw a rag at Remus, “We better start drying her off before we do anything else.”
Remus caught it and nodded. He began to dry her. “Dry her all in one direction.” Sirius said and Remus growled jokingly. He had a feeling that the motorcycle wasn’t the only thing that was cleansed that day, so was a friendship.
“Are you paying attention?”
~Fin~
A/N: Other ideas for this story were inspired by a piece of excellent fan art on www.Gaiaonline.com : Favorite Color by Morien
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