Candles • word count: 494
“Say something,” Sirius whispered, so softly the words trembled against Remus’ bare shoulder, his lips tracing a familiar scar he had mapped and memorized years before.
Remus’ breathing rose and fell steadily, yet… he offered no reply.
The candles had burnt low, three hours remained till dawn. They lay in the middle of his bed, tangled in sheets.
Sirius’ hand tightened around his waist. “Please.”
At last, Remus’ calloused fingers lifted to cover Sirius’ hand, drawing it from his waist to his own chest, holding it there. Right over his heartbeat…until Sirius was pressed fully to his back.
Sirius felt the faint tremor in Remus’ breath before he spoke. “Nothing I say will change our fates, Your Highness.”
Sirius stiffened. “Your Highness? You have not addressed me as such in years, not since we were sixteen… at least not within these chambers.”
Remus exhaled deeply, his voice breaking. “I must begin the practice now, must I not? After all, a captain ought not call his prince… his lover.”
There was no bitterness in his voice… only a sorrow that settled heavy into Sirius’ chest.
Sirius swallowed. “Will you not even look at me?”
Remus’ grip on their joined hands tightened. He could never disobey Sirius… he had never even tried to. Not when they were boys training with wooden swords, or learning to fly their dragons. Not when their lips had first met in these very chambers and not in the years since. Slowly, he turned to face his prince.
“Sirius…” he breathed, warm tear filled eyes catching the glint of candle light. “In fourteen hours you will be wed. And I…” His voice faltered. “I shall stand aside and watch you become another’s.”
“Never another’s, only yours.” Sirius whispered fiercely, apology and desperation crowding his tongue. Their gaze met, tears gleaming, neither willing to fall first.
It was not sexual…that hunger had been quieted hours before. No, this was a kiss made entirely of aching devotion.
A kiss made of every moment that had led up to this.
The slow, unsure kiss at sixteen.
Thank the Gods I found you kiss at eighteen.
A sneaked I would die by your side kiss in a war tent at nineteen.
A desperate I thought I lost you kiss at twenty.
Gentle languid kisses with smiles in-between at twenty-one.
I cannot imagine a life without you kiss at twenty-two.
And now at twenty-three an unsaid… I don’t know how to let you go.
Tears mingled on their lips, foreheads pressed together between each brief parting. Every touch pleaded for time to slow, for the night to stretch out and make dawn forget its duty, for the world to grant them a hundred stolen lifetimes in these fleeting hours.
The rising light crept across the floorboards. Remus kissed him still.
“Run away with me,” Sirius murmured against his mouth, lips soft, voice raw. “My captain. My heart. My life.”
And he felt Remus’ smile against his lips.