FIC: Tea, Chocolate, and Autumn; Remus/Peter; PG

[thewlisian_afer]

Title: Tea, Chocolate, and Autumn
Rating: PG
Pairing: Remus/Peter
Word Count: 1,000 -- so says Word.
Author's Notes: For i_smile whose request at the Cookie Jar ran as such: Remus/Peter. James and Sirius don't always understand that schoolwork's not as easy for everyone as it is for them. When they go off to practise Quidditch, Peter offers to help Remus with a subject he's good at--Charms, Potions, Arithmancy?--in return for help with something Remus is good at, and they get a bit closer. (I'd prefer romance, but friendship fic is cool, too.)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I make no profit from this. Or anything else, actually.


Peter made a frustrated sound and let his forehead thunk to the table.

"What's wrong, Pete?" Remus asked from his place on the sofa in front of the fire where he was going over Potions notes.

"This whole assignment! I can't get it right. Why am I even taking this class?" Peter lamented, staring down at his rune translation. The parchment was full of scribbles, and very little of what remained looked anything close to correct. He couldn't imagine ever actually needing Ancient Runes but James, already thinking about a future career as a cursebreaker, had signed up for it. And so had Remus, because he wanted to be "well-rounded." Everybody thought Peter had signed up because James had and Peter was perfectly happy with that because the truth was more embarrassing and could possibly cost him his friends.

The smell of tea, chocolate and autumn filled Peter's nose and he glanced up to see Remus standing close and peering down at the paper. "Oh. I see your problem. Pictish runes are phonetic. You have to go by how the words sound, not how they're actually spelled."

"Ohh... All right, this makes more sense now. Thanks, Remus," Peter said almost absently as he set to work, trying to sound appreciative and nonchalant at the same time. "I asked James for help but he rolled his eyes at me and went outside with Sirius to terrorize Firsties or Slytherins or something."

Remus gave an understanding nod. "Sounds like him. Both of them. They forget not everyone can throw together an assignment ten minutes before it's to be handed in and do just as well on it as people who studied and worked for hours. No, no, look..." Leaning closer, Remus pointed to a word. Was it Peter's imagination or were the other boy's lips closer to his ear than might be considered appropriate? "That's a hard E, like in 'Remus' instead of a soft one like in 'Pettigrew'."

Peter tucked his bottom lip between his teeth as he listened, concentrating on Remus' words instead of how his breath ghosted over Peter's cheek. With a nod Peter added a line to the top of the rune in question to indicate the long sound. "You're so patient," he said wonderingly. "How do you manage? The other two are always getting annoyed with me, especially Sirius, but you never do. They think I'm stupid, but you just keep explaining things."

"Well," Remus said with a little shrug, "I know you're not stupid. They underestimate you. For example, I am arse at Potions, and I know that you are not. I can't figure out which ingredients are meant to counteract the poison in hellebore in this potion. Think you could help?"

"You want my help?" Peter sounded amazed. "I'm not as good in Potions as Sirius is, shouldn't you ask him?"

"You're better at it than I am, and Sirius is off doing things he thinks are more important than my grades. Besides, we've already established he's terribly impatient. He won't be any help." Heading back to the couch, Remus beckoned the other boy to follow.

Peter did, though not without some hesitation. He liked Remus a lot more than he probably should, and he wondered if Remus had noticed and was teasing him now. That didn't seem like the sort of thing Remus would do, but James had noticed something peculiar and pointed it out to Peter -- sometimes when Remus was working on homework in the Common Room, Sirius would glance around to make sure no one was looking and touch Remus' neck or nuzzle his hair. "Do you think they're poofs?" James had asked Peter. Peter told him he was sure he didn't know, but if they were that was hardly a nice thing to call them, because they were still their friends. James seemed to shrug it off, but it was still on Peter's mind. What if Remus was teasing him now because Sirius asked him to?

"Um," Peter said as he sat down. "I have something to ask you. James asked me, and I didn't know..."

Remus didn't look up as he started sorting out papers in his lap. "Sure, Pete, what is it?" he asked, sounding completely unworried.

"Well, it's about ... Sirius. Are the two of you...?" Peter couldn't bring himself to ask outright, and Remus was looking at him now, eyebrows raised in mild interest. "Uh. Well, James asked me if you're poofs."

Remus snorted laughter and rolled his eyes. "Oh-so-eloquent, our Mr. Potter," he said, shaking his head. "Sirius fancies me, but I always push him away. I like somebody else."

This answer sounded fine to Peter for a moment, until he realized it didn't really answer the question. "Who do you fancy, then? The others are always going on about one girl or another, and you never do."

"Because I don't fancy a girl, Pete," Remus replied with a shrug, as if this was the most natural answer in the world.

Peter frowned. The other boy was definitely avoiding giving him a completely solid answer. "Oh. Then who--"

Peter's words were interrupted by lips pressing firmly to his own. Lips that tasted pleasantly like tea, chocolate and autumn, just like Peter always secretly thought they would. He blinked in shock; it took several moments before he responded, parting his lips just a bit to kiss back almost shyly. Encouraged, Remus brushed his fingers through Peter's hair, curling them at the back of the other boy's head to pull him even closer.

When Remus finally pulled back he looked at Peter questioningly. A small smile formed on Peter's lips and he murmured, "Oh. That ... explains it. Well. Good. Um. So, how about that homework?"

Remus nodded, laughing a little as he kissed Peter again much more briefly before he settled back against the sofa. "Right. Homework."

Sitting comfortably shoulder to shoulder, the two boys worked together, barely even noticing when James and Sirius returned.