"I stayed away because I told myself I was imagining it," he pointed out, watching Regulus curiously, wondering if that's what this was really all about. "I know others can feel it. I didn't mean to imply otherwise."
Remus shook his head. "You smiled at me, touched me casually. I could remember the days you'd come into the staff room with his scent all over you -- only now I know why it bothered me. That was when I left. It may have been control, but only because he looked so horrified. If he'd seemed to flirt back, I'd have had him pinned to a wall by his throat if I'd stayed. It wasn't control to stay away while I wondered about it all day. It wasn't control that had me throwing knives at his imagined face."
Reaching up, he caught Regulus' hand as it brushed through his hair and brought it to his lips. He didn't think, even now, his lover understood why it hurt. But, Regulus hadn't promised not to do it. Remus supposed he had no right to be upset when he went back on it. "I stop thinking frequently when you smile at someone -- especially if it's me.
"However, we've let the focus shift. This conversation wasn't just about my being hurt over you flirting with Severus. This thing with Harry..." Remus sighed, at a loss. "I don't want to argue with you every time his name comes up. He's really not important enough to me for that. I don't see myself giving him consideration I don't give others. But, maybe I am. I can admit I'm not always the most logical when it comes to my friends. School was enough to prove that.
"And, if that's where the problem lies, then it needs to change because you are more important to me than anyone. Those bites and marks and checklists, the fact you would change yourself into a woman in order to give us children that were ours...that means something, something more than I can express in words; it means the world. If my actions and words don't reflect that, I will change the actions and words -- whatever it takes to prove to you there is no one who matters more than you." Shifting to his knees so he could face Regulus directly, Remus took him gently by the shoulders. "I love you, Regulus. I care about Harry and the others. But, I only love you. If my friendship with Harry is going to keep coming between us, then it ends. If that's what it will take to solve this problem and reassure you of your place in my life, then it's done."