wildestranger | Ficlet: I couldn't feel so I learned to touch, Remus/Sirius PG-13

I couldn't feel so I learned to touch

Remus/Sirius, 203 words. PG-13.

Remus doesn't like his feet; of all the twisted bones and torn flesh of his body they have seen the most damage, from rocks and roots and hard earth, from claws and teeth. The skin is dry, the nails discoloured and grey at places. His bones look sharp under the well-worn callouses.

Yet Sirius doesn't seem to care, doesn't notice the ugly flesh. He steals scented oils and body creams from the girls (for who would blame Sirius for Hermione's disappearing toiletries?) and rubs them into Remus' feet, long fingers going over every groove and wrinkle. He massages the tangled muscles, pressing hard and relentless until every point of pain has turned into melting pleasure, until Remus sighs and wriggles his toes in Sirius' warm hands.

It isn't that he doesn't look, as Remus thought at first, hiding from his own scarred body as much as from Sirius' ravaged flesh. Touching is no longer about perfect young bodies, about smooth and supple things that move easily. It isn't even about heat, although Remus knows that Sirius has been cold since before Azkaban.

But: a scrape of a nail, a breath of warm air on chilled skin, a moan rising from a silent throat. The discovery of living flesh, in another body, in himself.

So that kind of came from nowhere. What shall I do next, elbows, shoulderblades? Am at work and likely to get bored. Inspire me with bodyparts!