Sample Platter - AIM Example - Remus Lupin/Sirius Black (HP AU)
ME: While it went against everything he had been trying to plan for, actually allowing Sirius to visit him at work was not exactly a decision Remus was reluctant to make. Subconsciously, he knew that later he would be disappointed in himself, ashamed of his weak willpower, but Sirius was making it too difficult to stay way. But that was the way of him. Just when one thing had to be done, Sirius would demand the opposite, and not always because he wanted it. But Remus wanted it, too. He thought that, maybe, after a while, he would want it less. Foolish, really.

Replacing the glass paperweight on his desk with a plastic one was the final touch. Nothing out of place or suspciously absent, but it was apparent that he knew what to expect during the course of his mate's visit. Nearly that time of the month, it was. With the last breakable item out of the way, he sat down in his chair with a great whumph. Since coming to stay ("for good") at school, he hadn't been able to sleep for more than an hour at a time. It would be different, now, though. Sirius was coming to take him home.

sailed: What other people described as a "rare" mood was actually a normal one for Sirius. After satisfying himself that the house was about a third of the way in order (and by that, he meant not too much worse looking than when Remus had left), he took no more precaution than putting up a sound barrier around Tib before apparating out of the house and into the outskirts of Hogsmeade village. If the neighbours were home, chances were they wouldn't be able to figure out what in hell that noise was.

Sirius reappeared not far from the Shrieking Shack and took that way into the school grounds. It always seemed easier than coming up the front, if he wasn't trying to meet the kids. Back ways through the grounds led to back ways into the castle, and he knew that any familiar student who ran into him now would mean at least fifteen minutes of standing around talking about what he was doing there. What he had been doing at home.

Eventually, after a circuitous route through hall and doorways, he came to his mate's office, and stuck his head in, as if it hadn't been a very long time since he was there last. The casual swing almost stuttered to a stop, though, when he saw Remus sitting at his desk. Some of the awkward feeling of the last time they saw one another in person threatened to come back. He pushed it away, blurting out a quick, "Hey," before it could get the better of him.

ME: Remus had taken to staring vacantly at a dark spot in the wood of the desk, but surprisingly was not startled when Sirius walked in. "Hi," he said, rather slowly, taking his time to look up from it as if it were a long travel back into the room. "Hi," he said again, smiling when he finally looked to the other man. Although he had been in and out of the office after classes, Sirius's was one of the first adult, human faces he had seen in several days. (Since moving out, he had done his damned hardest to avoid friends, teacher and student alike.)

Standing, he looked down and pressed his lips tightly together, but couldn't surpress the smile. Pushing his chair in, his eyes flitted up to meet Siri's. They looked tired, but they still sparkled. And something else was different. His hair. It hadn't looked quite so neat since before Halloween. An accident, probably, born out of boredom gone horribly wrong. "You look good, today." He tried, in vain, not to blush. "Well, I mean. You always do. Look good, that is. You know."

sailed: "I know, and you look as dull as ever," Sirius said, but he said it in the tone reserved for things he didn't mean, except to be endearingly contrary. He sidled around the door and leaned on it to push it shut. The office in front of him looked very strange and small, with Remus's cot still unfolded and laden with things from home. It gave off the impression that there was precious little space crossed before he stood in front of Remus, tucking a piece of his hair behind one ear, as though he was self-conscious of the choppiness of it. He wasn't, really, but Remus was the first person to have seen that he changed it. "That's dull in a good way, though. You're fantastically dull."

ME: The red blush in Remus's cheeks turned a twinge deeper as he pushed his chair in and came around to meet Sirius on the other side of the desk. "That comes naturally." Closing the gap between them, he stretched up ever so slightly to kiss the other man on the cheek. When he leaned back, he took him, gently by the arms. "I mean it," he said, reaching to fluff up the edges of Sirius's hair. "I like this." It was almost like being in a time warp, and here he was nine months ago with nothing yet to go wrong.

sailed: Or it would have been, were it not for all of Sirius's fancy, new scars. All the gaps between them were closing very fast, though. While Remus toyed with his hair, Sirius slid up close and put his arms around the other man. "Good thing you're coming home then, huh? You can look at it all day."

ME: Remus took that as his cue to wrap his arms around his mate's shoulders and squeeze tightly. "I don't need to look," he admitted, nuzzling into Sirius's cheek. "As long as I can do this." Forget last October, he was ready to settle for the night before he left. Anything close to that would be more than he felt he was allowed to ask for.

sailed: "Yeah," Sirius laughed, "but you like to." He slid a hand up into Remus's hair, tugged his head lightly to the side, and covered his mouth with his own. The worry that had followed Sirius to the office door was mostly gone, replaced with a good combination of delight in knowing Remus was coming back home with him, and mental imbalance from the time of the month. For the moment, he felt almost absurdly happy and good.

ME: Although a weak attempt at protest may have been planned, Remus was quickly shut up. His knees buckled and if his arms hadn't been locked around Sirius's, he might have taken a nasty fall back against his desk. Of course, that's what all the unbreakables and charms had been for, but it still might have made a mess a little ahead of schedule. When he tipped his head down to take a breath, he kept his upper lip resting against Sirius's bottom one. "I do like to," he admitted in one gasp. "I'd do it forever, if I could."