Reading Sirius
by Am-Chau Yarkona
Remus traced his fingers lazily over the shapes on Sirius' chest. "Odd mixture…" he whispered. "Runes, alchemical signs…"
"You never stop reading, do you, Moony?" Sirius said, laughing. He opened his eyes to enjoy the sight of Remus' slightly guilty start.
"I suppose I don't," Remus admitted.
"I wouldn't mind, except that you've interrupted my post-sex doze," Sirius told him, faking annoyance.
"Sorry," Remus said, and this time he sounded really guilty.
"Not a problem," Sirius assured him quickly, and levered himself up from the pillows far enough to land a quick kiss on the corner of Remus' mouth. "I'd rather have sex with you and suffer your talking afterwards than go without sex."
Remus smiled at him, and with that much more achieved Sirius lay back again and shut his eyes.
"You look like Snuffles does when somebody slips him a chocolate biscuit," Remus observed, amused. "Is that what the tattoos say? Beware, chocolate biscuit hound within?"
Sirius gave him a mock-glare from half-shut eyes. "Do you really want to know, or are you just keeping me awake?"
A moment's pause, as Remus gave the question a serious consideration which it was never intended to provoke. "Both," he said. "I'm curious and not very sleepy."
Sighing, Sirius pulled the blankets a little further over both of them, and said, "If I tell you what they are, will you let me go to sleep afterwards?"
Remus nodded, and Sirius saw him stifle a yawn.
"Okay, then. In essence, they're yet another part of the Black family inheritance. The top ones," he guided Remus' hand across his chest, "represent my parents—this spiral is for my mother, Orbia; and the other one is for my father—the symbol in the middle is the alchemical sign for 'amalgamation', meaning—"
"—marriage, in this context," Remus finished. "That makes sense." He lay his head on Sirius' shoulder. "Go on."
"And the other row," Sirius said, softening his voice to an almost sing-song tone, "are the 'blessings' the Black family name carries with it: fame, wealth, power… a ridiculously large shoe size…"
Remus was asleep. Sirius smiled, doused the candles with a flick of his wand, and let himself drift off.