the shoebox project »

• James has got his head stuck in a window, what the hell
• He’s spent a lot of time measuring himself this way
• "Maturity being our middle name. Our collective middle name. Sirius and Remus Maturity Black-Lupin.
• so hard and so quickly that Sirius almost doesn’t catch him.
• "you needn’t be so — forceful.
• James, indulging in his sometimes-painful penchant for heroics one second, and struggling to zip up his trousers the next.
• Nobody understands, Sirius thinks, and puts it aside.
• In for a penny, he thinks
• "So it’s like losing a friend, too. Over something so incredibly stupid —
• "I'm surprised you even remember that." / "I do," Sirius says.
• It’s the look that means Sirius has decided to take something he wants, having thought about taking it far more than the consequences of taking it.
• But with purpose.
• when I need someone manful and reassuring, I have you, which is the irony, isn’t it, because a girl can warm up to you
• mon enfant satanique
• Later, Remus realizes it was a hiccup.
• "Aghk," Sirius says. Remus doesn’t notice.
• their knuckles grazing with the boyish closeness of twelve-year-olds, not seventh-years engaged in unbelievably illegal activity.
• Except Remus Lupin feels suddenly the explosive, maddening pressure of reversion, of turning back in on himself, of crumpling like a wrapper
• I would die for those freckles. One day I probably will.
• They are, to put it simply, separable.
• you know nothing about piracy and he cannot buckle any swashes and only together can you rule the high seas."
• It's the reason, Remus supposes, that he has to be so scatterbrained most of the time; the full focus of his attention borders on frightening.
• "No one else, James Potter,"
• The way Fabian said it was lovely, like, it was lovely but it is always lovely, and Remus thinks, Why don't I know that?
• "Jesus bloody fuck, Moony," Sirius says. "I thought you were. I thought you were rocks."
• Together in a great strangeness,
• You ranting lunatic, I hate it when I really, really want to kiss you and you're not here.

the centre cannot hold »

• He looks so young for a second, until Lily remembers – we all are. Lily is twenty-two years old.
• Remus pretends to be asleep.
• I would trust you with my life, Sirius didn't tell Remus, but not with my godson's.

a short discourse on cruelty »

• Sirius grins, and takes it, his mouth sticking to a curl of Remus's hair, which he flicks away.
• And they are boys, lonely and fifteen, hugging upside-down on his bed, in July, in London, just that.
• Sirius will always be taller than him, always be cleverer, easier, but never be better, he thinks, when Remus smiles, than that.