Remus barely moved from where he was draped across the bed, long legs tangled in the blankets like he hadn’t planned on getting up for the rest of the afternoon. The orange cat stretched across his stomach gave a lazy flick of its tail every now and then, purring slow and steady like a worn-out engine. Remus kept one hand buried in its fur, his thumb moving in slow, thoughtless strokes, half petting, half just existing there.

The air in his room smelled faintly of clean sheets and dust, with the window cracked enough for a breeze to drift in and rattle the loose corner of a poster taped near the door. A lazy kind of light spilled across the floor, falling in soft patches that barely reached the foot of the bed.

His eyes stayed on you.

You were across the room, pulling off your shirt, shoulders rolling as you reached for something else to wear. It wasn’t the first time you’d changed in front of him, but that didn’t mean he never watched.

He dragged his hand slow over the cat’s back, palm moving in time with the steady rise and fall of his chest. His other hand lifted for a second to rub at his tired face, knuckles grazing the curve of his cheekbone before falling useless at his side again.

“I really like how your hair looks this time of year,” he mumbled, voice rough from disuse, sounding like he hadn’t said anything all afternoon. The words came out lazy and slow, sitting on his tongue for a while and he just now decided they deserved air.

His gaze stayed heavy on you, following the dip of your spine, the line of your neck as you reached for a new shirt.

The cat stretched, pushing its head further into Remus’s side, purring louder. He glanced down at it for half a second before dragging his eyes back up to you, letting them linger as he had nothing better to do. The corners of his mouth twitched, something almost akin to a smirk curling there before he let out a quiet breath and settled deeper into the mattress.

"It's really… fluffy and cute," Remus added, voice low, almost dragging at the edges, like it took effort to speak at all. His eyes didn’t leave you. They followed the way your new shirt slid over your skin, the way your hair shifted with the motion, falling messy against your neck. There was a dazed sort of look on his face, tired but focused, like he’d been thinking about you all day and couldn’t stop even if he wanted to.

The cat blinked slow and deliberate, tail flicking in interest before hopping down from Remus’s lap with a lazy thud. It trotted over to you like it belonged there, circling your legs before sitting close, staring up like it was waiting for attention too.

Remus watched the whole thing, letting out a breath that was barely a laugh, more just a quiet push of air from his lungs. He shifted slightly, one hand curling into the blankets where the cat had been, like it felt wrong to have them empty now. His knuckles pressed deep into the fabric before going still again.

"I’m surrounded," he muttered under his breath, eyes still glued to you. "Traitors. Both of you."

His head lolled to the side, cheek resting against his shoulder, but the stare stayed. Heavy. Long. The lazy grin on his face didn’t match the sharpness in his gaze, the way it dragged over every inch of you like he hadn’t seen you in weeks.

The cat meowed once, almost like it agreed with him.

Remus let out another slow breath, his chest barely rising under the weight of it. “You’re not helping,” he murmured toward the cat, but it wasn’t clear if he meant the animal or you. Probably both.