second year.

Clouds.

No... the sky. Maybe?

All Remus can see when he wakes up is grey. Like melting snow on the sidewalk, like cleaning the fireplace and smudging charcoal on your cheeks, and like the deep, infinite darkness of space.

Remus blinks, and the grey becomes round. He blinks once more. The grey blinks back.

"Moony? Hey, Moony's awake!" Sirius' voice finishes waking Remus up, and he realizes that the grey he saw was Sirius' eyes.

And his eyes were... gorgeous. Gorgeous is the only word that even comes close to describing it, Remus thinks.

He sits up in bed, still in a bit of a trance, as James and Peter and Madam Pomfrey come rushing over to fret over him, but despite the bustle and laughter and shushing, the only thing he could keep his mind on were those stormy eyes, filled with so much pain and so much love and so many memories.

Sirius Black's eyes.

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third year.

Remus is sitting in the back of the library. A small, round window above him provides just enough light to read by, but not quite enough light to be noticed by. He's gotten pretty good at blocking out the voices that float between the bookshelves, being noisier than they should, resulting in a heavy shushing from Madam Pince.

But on that particular morning, one voice cuts through the words of the book floating through Remus' mind.

"Oi, mate, you pay more attention to Evans than you do to me! I thought I was the 'love of your life'?"

Sirius.

Remus recognizes the rich voice of his dorm mate. The playful words slice through all the thoughts in Remus' mind. Every syllable replaying in his head. Of course, he had heard Sirius speak before. But he's never really listened.

For the rest of his free period, Remus tries to read the assigned chapter for History of Magic, but instead of thinking about goblins and trolls, all he can think about is Sirius' voice. How strong it is, not quite deep yet but smooth like golden honey. Every word he says before leaving the library rings in Remus' mind. Even after he leaves, he can't get the sound of Sirius Black's laugh out of his head.

And he's never heard a voice he couldn't block out.

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fourth year.

Remus did not suddenly wake up one morning and realize that Sirius Black was extraordinarily attractive.

He did, however, wake up one morning later than normal to find that James and Peter did not wake either of them up for breakfast. And they were running late. In his haste, he scrambles out of bed and loops his belt through his pants, pulling his shirt over his head as he simultaneously yanks open Sirius' bed curtains.

"Get up Padfoot, we've missed breakfast!" Sirius shoots up in time to get nailed in the face by the robes that Remus chucks at him. Shaking his bed head, shirtless and groggy, Sirius squints his eyes open in time to see Remus' shirt fall over his scarred stomach.

It isn't until they're sitting in Transfiguration, out of breath and panicked just before Professor McGonagall checks their names for attendance, that Remus lets his mind drift to waking Sirius up. He realizes that Sirius is quite attractive, lying shirtless on his bed with his hair tossed over his eyes, peacefully sleeping. Well, attractive for a man at least.

He wonders, absentmindedly, if James and Peter ever notice this, and if friends are allowed to complement each other like that.

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fifth year.

Remus' 15th birthday is the first night that Sirius Black gets completely pissed. Sure, they'd all drunk before, but never had there been this much... puke.

So as Sirius begins to look ill, Remus drags him upstairs to their bathroom just in time for Sirius to upchuck all the birthday cake he's eaten (it's a lot). Sirius' long, black hair is certain to get in the way of his sicking, and so Remus pulls it all out of his face and sits on the counter as he waits for Sirius to finish. His fingers entwine in the locks of his mate's hair, and he gently runs them through it to properly pull it out of Sirius' face.

He combs through the knots, just to soothe him, he tries to convince himself. Massages his scalp and the back of his neck to help him relax, he tells himself. Not because he gets an unexpected amount of happiness from having his fingers in Sirius Black's hair.

But then Sirius finishes sicking and sits back against the wall, and Remus disentangles his fingers from his hair, awkwardly folding them in his lap.

"Thanks, mate," Sirius mumbles drowsily. Remus tilts his head and looks at his half-asleep, pissed mate.

"C'mon, let's get you to bed." He makes sure Sirius gets safely to his bed, fully clothed. He passes out as soon as his head hits the pillow, hair spreading out smoothly. Remus runs his fingers through it just once more, before pulling his hand away and shaking his head.

Back to the party, he thinks to himself.