#llal

Remus turned off the stove and, grabbing the kettle, poured Sirius a cup of coffee.

"Cigarette?" He asked, already looking for his pack.

"You know it." Sirius smiled. "Old habits die hard, Remus. Once you've gotten used to a coffee and a cigarette as breakfast every day, it's hard to let go."

"Tell me about it." Remus chuckled, sitting down next to him, to the window, to the cold air of June morning. "You've been a bad influence, I've been having the same breakfast every since we moved in together."

"Glad to know I had an effect on you." Sirius flicked the lighter on and, bringing it to his lips, he lit up his cigarette.

"You always have. However, that doesn't always make it good." The other man joked, and Sirius stifled a laugh. Remus felt at ease, now, that he and Sirius had warmed up to each other again.

Memories were still memories, though. Nights bent over the same windowsill, sharing a cigarette. (Now each of them had their own; that had changed, of course, but seeing the fact that Sirius always managed to smoke way more than half of it, Remus didn't quite mind.) Nights when they had loved each other, loudly and angrily, nights full of love that had rotten into hatred.

"Do you still...?" He started.

"Of course." It was a mutual agreement; Sirius had known, most likely, what he had thought. "I have. I do, still, I always have. And I always will. And you?"

if this doesn’t radiate wolfstar energy-

@alzcomicbarn

Louie needed a job. Well, he needed money really, and while he’d collected a decent amount of money via bribes from his brothers and the occasional birthday or holiday cash, he still wanted more. He wanted to become the successful businessman he knew he could be. And that meant finding himself a job and starting to save something up.

He’d looked around a bunch of places, but a lot of them seemed like they’d be too much work. There was a delicate balance of laziness and wanting money, and Louie was sure that he’d find the place that was just right. It only took a couple day’s, but Al’s comic book store would be perfect!

So he marched on into the store, head held high and a determination that he rarely had to actually do something productive. Some might say it was historic. As he stepped into the store, he was briefly sidetracked by some of the comics he might actually want to read. Tempting, but not today. Today he’d get a job.

“Hey Mister Al? I’m here about a job. And before you say anything, you should know that I’m obviously the best choice because I actually like comics and stuff.”

remus lupin and sirius black were not the same people they used to be. they had once been happy; reckless, stupid, rogue teenagers who had turned into rugged, older men.

both of them had difficulty speaking, putting down all of the words pent up in their throats, all those things they hadn't been able to say for thirteen years.

the air in the room was different too. heavy with their past, with the ghosts of the old them; with who they once had been.

they had gotten unused to each other.

they weren't the same people. although they had once been loud and brash and filled up the room with their mere presence and laughter, they had been reduced to the cracked shells of those boys.

and even though nothing had stayed the same, nothing had changed.

remus remembered how sirius used to take their coffee, little milk and no sugar. he still remembered the texture of their (ex) lover's hair.

sirius noticed how remus lit his cigarette, a small flick of the thumb, the same way he used to do when they were sixteen and, when he'd smile, they'd see a figment of the loud, loving boy that remus lupin had once been.

and even after all of that they had gone through, together or apart, the fire deep within them still burned, a part of their past.

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.