What had gotten over him to say something like that? The blood wasn't leaving his face either, as it generally did, leaving him pallid. No, it remained, and it was getting increasingly warm despite the lack of fabric covering him at the moment.
The comparison could so easily be drawn between his situation with Sirius and James's with Lily so long ago. Remus simply had never thought he'd be quite as pathetic as James had been at the time, believing himself quite incapable of being quite this selfish. Yes, perhaps it was alright to want something so much you could practically taste it, but Remus had to be disappointed in himself for it. He was above this. He knew he was. And yet James's words resounded with too much truth; there was no winner if he kept beating himself up over this. He wanted Sirius. He knew it. Best to move on with that knowledge as a fact. Maybe some day, the feeling would fade. For now, it would just have to be part of who he was.
"As best you can?" Remus repeated, his eyes mockingly wide. "Please try harder than that. This is already a disaster waiting to happen. I don't want... my feelings breaking up the Marauders. That's not going to happen. I won't let it." His expression earnest, Remus nodded. James had to believe that. He would never let something as ridiculous come between them all. He was Remus first, a Marauder second, and a man undeniably in love dead last. "You need to get out of here though. All this blushing is more tiring than you know, and it's not exactly the first time today."