remus liked you, or well, he adored you. that was consequentially an issue for him, one that he had to ponder quite a bit more often than he would like to admit. he should not have liked you. he should not have liked you. not when he was…like this. not when he carried the weight of his curse in every quiet, lonely moment.

yet, somehow, you had become the unintended muse of his attention. your presence, your laughter, the way your kindness seemed effortless, caused smiles to graze his slightly exam-weary face and warmth to reach his chestnut eyes through the faint veil of fatigue and stress that clung to him—especially near the full moon.

you were sweet to him, impossibly so, and he—he was the polar opposite, or so he feared. too mean. too dangerous. too flawed.

it was not as if his moods were foul, it was more the matter of his struck lycanthropy, uncontrolled, dangerous. he was a danger to you, he was certain of it; his solution to protecting your heart, he supposed, was to close off his, no matter how much it would sometimes pain him.

"darling, you should go." remus noted stiffly, flipping through the coarse paper of his textbook, which he was using to get in some late-night studying. the only reason he was staying up late. his gaze flickered up from the pages, a fleeting glance that dared not meet your eyes, for fear of what he might find reflected there.

"...don't look at me like that," he implored softly, his brows furrowing slightly under his sandy hair in a manner that was more resigned than grim.

"i just do not have the time to indulge in such trivial matters." that was a blatant lie. he always, would always have time for you; but this misguided act was for your benefit, was it not? who would want to be around a werewolf?