Author's notes: This is something I wrote for the '101 kisses' challenge, on LJ. They have 101 themes and you're supposed to pick a pairing and write a kiss for each theme. I'm not oficially on the challenge, cause Sirius and Remus were already taken... but it's my ffn space and I'll write if I want to...

So, here's the first two kisses (and 99 to go). I don't think I'll be updating this often, but I'll try to make updates worth it.

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Voices

Theme 85: Teaching, Theme 74: Voice

"Very good. Five points to Ravenclaw." The bell announces the end of the class, and Remus can barely hear himself saying "we'll finish this next week" over the noise of bags, chairs and desks moving aside. He smiles. He likes teaching.

He's picking up his stuff when he hears the voices. They're barely whispers at the back of the classroom, but the sharp senses of the Wolf gets them clearly.

For a second, he thinks his mind is starting to play tricks on him (it had to happen, sooner or later). But no. The voices belong to real people (two of his fifth year students, actually). It's just the intonation and words that seem to come from the lost corners of time... from the memories he had tried so hard to keep asleep.

"Why don't you ask Professor Lupin for help?"

"Because I want you to help me..."

He can almost see the mischievous glint in the grey eyes... (The teacher was another then, but the words, the sweet demand, the excuses to look for a private moment, were all the same.)

"You know perfectly well you don't need help with this subject... or any other."

"Mmm... Okay. I'm a genius. Now, can you please get into an empty classroom with me and pretend you're teaching me Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

He can hear the soft, amused shake of the head. And the absolute silence that takes over the room for a second, later. Absolute, because even the heart of Remus J. Lupin stops beating for the second that lasts that kiss.

"Are you mad? Lupin is here."

"I am mad," grants the second voice. "Can we go look for a classroom now?"

And the voices depart.

But it's too late. Two sixteen year old boys, quite different from the ones that just left the room, occupy now every available spot.

A new voice fills the air, with breathtaking clarity. A dangerous, amused voice that leads to forbidden paths and seems capable of turning every word into something obscene. It makes stupid jokes and bark-laughs. It goes smooth and asks softly for its wishes to be fulfilled. It calls from every corner... yelling... whispering... moaning...

'Come on, Moony, it's empty...' 'Moony! Are you coming or not?' 'Moony... will you stay after class?' 'Moony... please...' 'Moony...'

Unwilling, Remus turns around.

Sirius pulls him from the collar behind the door and steals a quick kiss, while him –shy and too thin- opens his eyes wide in surprise. Sirius sends him notes in the middle of class, laughing to see him go all red. Sirius whispers in his ears as they leave class and they both laugh. Sirius kisses him with fury against the empty class door, rubbing against his body, desperate. Sirius pulls out his whole tongue and licks his face, like a dog. Sirius smiles from his chair, and Remus, almost twenty years later, can still feel how everything inside of him turns into a knot.

He had tried to avoid it. He couldn't avoid the world, the posters, the articles in the Prophet... What made him think, for a second, he could avoid Hogwarts? He couldn't, of course. Hogwarts was plagued by Sirius like nothing else was, and Remus would have to learn to deal with his ghosts.

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A secret

Theme 42: Riddle

He kisses Remus in the forehead under the waning moon light.

James and Peter are asleep. He's been sharing the bed with Moony for a month now, and is still surprised by how well they took everything. Much better than him, actually. It took him six months of thinking and rethinking the issue to make a move.

But... who would have guessed that Remus Lupin liked blokes? And that from all the guys in Hogwarts he would set his eyes precisely on him?

Of course it was the same for him... but one could see that coming. Always exaggerating, always a rebel, always surrounded by girls without taking interest in any of them, always worried about Moony, always taking more care of him than anyone, noticing him more than anyone, feeling him more than anyone...

About Remus, on the contrary, you couldn't guess a thing. A barely perceptible blush... a rapidly hidden look... vague, ambiguous signs... details that only years of practice on Remus Lupin had allowed him to notice. And now, naked and asleep in his arms, he found a Remus he had never known before. Where did this strength, this intensity come from?

Who are you for real, Moony?

Remus is a riddle.

No. Not a riddle. A secret.

A riddle is a game where you guess clues, squish your head and reinterpretate words searching for an answer. You put all your logic to work, become obsessed, and once you finally get to solve it, enjoy your victory and move on to something else. The most important riddles, like the challenges of the sphinx, can open the doors to something greater... but they are still just instruments (and not goals).

A secret doesn't search to be unveiled (and there are usually reasons for it to remain hidden). A secret, unlike a riddle, is not a game. There are no clues to link or words to twist. Logic, interpretations... they can only get you so far. But a secret can't be unveiled by the head... it is found by the soul. And when you find it, don't enjoy your victory and happily move to the next task. To unveil a secret is to become its guardian. It brings power and responsibility, and one should be quite sure of wanting to know it before lifting the veil. There are things you don't need to know (and live a better life not knowing them). To unveil a secret is to become a part of it. Is to let the secret become a part of you.

Remus Lupin is a secret. And Sirius wants to unveil him, more than anything in the world.