the_debt_of_time

"I would be happy for you," he promised, and she frowned as she saw the sincerity
in his eyes. "I'd be watching him to make sure he didn't screw it up. Your happiness would
bring me happiness."
Her frown deepened. "You'd be alone."
"Not that our time together isn't anything short of, well, mind blowing, but
I did manage to get along before we started shagging."
Mia smirked down at him, seeing the wonder of a confident Remus, who would
have blushed at this conversation not two months earlier. Thinking of Sirius, however,
pulled the amusement away. "He's wounded."
She broke eye contact with Remus and sighed, hating how easily he was able to read
her. When the two friends-turned-lovers were caught in a moment of passion, it was helpful
that he knew her so well. He paid close attention to the way her eyes clouded, the slightest
gasp on the edge of her lips, or the smallest twitch of her nose. In the aftermath, when she
felt vulnerable and exposed, he saw right through her and brought everything to the
surface, forcing her to address her issues.
"So are you." He reached up and took her hand, tugging it forward until she fell on
top of his chest, where he then wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "I don't
know why you are or what you're always holding back, but I can see it, smell it."
"I don't know how to deal with him at this age," she admitted, hoping to change the
subject from her own wounds—wounds he could apparently see—to Sirius. Mia worried
what would happen when the scars of her past began to literally come back to haunt her.
How would she explain them, especially to Remus, who had seen all of her perfect,
unblemished flesh?
"You're the same age," Remus pointed out.
"No we're not; you said so yourself. You and I are different. Sirius is... a child
right now. He's spoilt and thinks he can get away with anything. He pouts when he doesn't
get everything he wants, and he refuses to open up to me—or anyone—about his
problems. I could never be intimate with him, not now, not like.. ." She sat up and
gestured to the small space between them. "Not like this."
"Do you know what your problem is?" Remus asked, tracing his fingers over her
hips. "You try to get everything right on the first attempt. You're so brilliant at Charms,
you can alter them to create your own. You brew the Wolfsbane Potion with ease; and