Expressing Yourself
Pairings: Remus/Sirius, James/Lily
Warnings: It's slash! Lovely, wonderful slash. Don't like? You're insane.
A/N: Right, lovelies, this is Psycho Hippy posting for EvilSatsuma because the document is on my laptop. We wrote it together although she wrote the first part alone…about down to where they start playing. (If you want to know what I mean – read it!)
Disclaimer: None of these characters etc. are mine.
"Liiiiiily!"
Lily Evans didn't even have to turn around to realise who was calling her. She adjusted her Head Girl badge on her robes and arranged her face into what she hoped gave nothing away, except an air of quiet annoyance. For some reason, she mused, this was getting harder to do and her only defence was to act irritated in his presence. James Potter had changed over the summer, or perhaps she had, though without knowing when, how or why.
"Lily?"
Damn, she thought, as Potter caught up with her as she walked on down the corridor.
"Hello, James."
She kept walking, her head held high as though challenging him to try something. But nothing came- he'd gone. Lily halted, unaccustomed to this new tactic.
Obviously, she said to herself, the summer gave him the time to think up something new.
James Potter had stopped, his mouth open slightly, the hazel eyes behind his glasses glazed over. Lily had stopped and turned, his eyes never leaving her or a second.
"What?" she asked impatiently of the handsome seeker, her hands automatically going to her hips.
"You….you said….my name."
"Sorry?" Now it was Lily's turn to stare. If anyone could have seen the pair now, they might have looked comical, standing meters apart with equal looks of confusion etched onto their features as each watched the other so intently. Luckily for them, the Charms Hall was empty; students were back in their common rooms for the usual start-of-term notices given by their Heads of Houses. Lily and James had been left, as the new Head Boy and Girl, to patrol the corridors on the look out for miscreants playing truant so early on in the new school year.
"You said….James! You never call me James!"
Lily was flustered, her ivory skin colouring delicately.
"I- what?"
"See, Lily! You said my name!" James was positively bouncing by now, all his attention focussed on the object of his long-term affections.
"Well…" Evans struggled to regain her composure, why did she have to say his name now? The truth was, of course, that over the summer, Lily had found herself thinking of Potter as James more often than not. In his absence she had warmed to him somehow. "You called me Lily. I felt it was, um, only right to return the, err….favour?"
James grinned happily and caught up with her in a few strides. It took a lot of willpower to prevent Lily from reciprocating the smile, but she felt the corners of her mouth twitching even so. She busied herself with taking out her wand, and turned on her heel to walk on down the corridor, careful to flick her hair over one shoulder as she went. Like a lovesick puppy, James Potter followed in her wake.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Back in the Gryffindor common room, Sirius, Peter and Remus were starting up a game of exploding snap. Sirius was renowned for thinking up interesting new ways to play the game, and a crowd hemmed the remaining marauders into a circle in the middle of the room, sitting on beanbags and dealing out the cards.
"Hey, Padfoot? No alcohol this time mate…remember what happened in fifth y- hello, Professor McGonagall!"
Remus laughed as both Peter and Sirius whipped around to find the professor berating a second year for forgetting to bring his cauldron on the other side of the room.
"Git." Chided Sirius, wiping a dramatic hand across his forehead, mocking himself. "So…what shall we play this fine evening?" The dark youth inquired, stacking his cards together on the floor. "No-one?"
This was how Sirius always started these games, Peter wriggled slightly in his seat, and Remus smiled good-naturedly across at his friend, but both boys remained silent.
"Really, boys, I do declare that you appear to have lost interest in these games of ours! I'll have to think up something 'specially good to re-kindle this lost interest."
"Sure, Padfoot. Do your thing."
"I intend to, Moony. Hmm..." Sirius feigned a look of deep thought, only slightly ruined when he flicked his hair from his eyes and winked at the closest girl in the circle, a pretty 4th year student, who blushed.
"Yessir, I got it tonight!" Sirius laughed, his eyes focussed particularly on his blonde friend as he revealed his idea. "Tonight, ladies and gents, me and the boys intend to play a game of…" Here, he paused theatrically for a moment, before "Strip- exploding snap!"
The 4th year girl blushed deeper as a ripple of excited whispers went through the onlookers.
"Wha-what?" gasped Peter, face a deep purple. Remus shifted nervously. He didn't really want his scars to be revealed. What if he lost? Then Sirius caught his eye and sent him a cocky grin.
"Scared, Lupin?"
"You wish, Padfoot." Peter spluttered a little.
"G - guys? I don't really...you can't..."
"And why not, Wormtail? Hmm?" Sirius laughed, bark-like, throwing his head right back.
Peter's eyes flicked, horrified, from Sirius' mirth to the determined glint in Remus' eyes as he watched Sirius laughing. He gulped. Sirius grinned again for a moment, before putting on his well known 'poker face'. He wasn't about to lose. The first card went down.
Remus watched the cards carefully. The pace got faster and faster and Peter began to make whimpering noises.
"Snap! Hell yeah, in your face, Pads!" Everyone gasped. Remus was red in the face, but triumphant. A chant went up. "Off Off Off" Sirius flicked his hair back with a could-I-care-less grin and pulled off...his tie.
"C'mon, Wormtail!" Sirius cried cheerfully. "You lost too!" Reluctantly, Peter pulled off his school jumper, sulking. Sirius shuffled the deck.
"You're going down, Moony!" Remus decided to let the obvious joke pass - after all, making crude jokes was James' job.
"I seem to be wearing all my clothes, Padfoot. Goodness me, but you're not! Have you lost a game ALREADY?"
Sirius growled as the crowd snickered and dealt out the cards. The game was on again.
"Snap!" cried Peter almost at once. "Oh, god dammit! Sorry guys, no pair."
"Look, Moony! Another loss for Wormtail. Off with it, Pettigrew." Peter looked highly uncomfortable. He decided to copy Sirius and took off his tie. Feeling slightly comforted by his own cleverness, he sat up straighter and said,
"Right! Deal!"
"Right you are, Wormtail old chap." Sirius took the pile and shuffled again, his eyes locking onto Moony's.
Remus' mouth twitched but he didn't break the eye contact until the first card was laid down. And another...and another. The pace was lightning speed quick, each boy afraid of what would happen when-
"SNAP!" Sirius yelled triumphantly. He put his hands behind his head and gave Remus a lazy grin.
"Go on, Moony. First item, off!" To his surprise, Remus sent him a wicked grin and began to unbuckle his belt, blushing slightly as the metal clinked through the belt loops on his trousers. He handed the belt to Sirius, his eyes scanning the boys' face, registering the shock.
Sirius sat there for a minute, blinking at the belt in his hands. Remus kept his eyes locked on the other boy's face. The silence stretched until, at last,
"Guys?" Peter squeaked, having removed his socks.
"God, Wormtail! Your feet reek!" Sirius broke Remus' eye contact to hold his nose, chucking the belt onto the floor. Remus also looked away, wearing an unreadable expression.
Peter blushed a bit as the crowd backed off a little but Remus just said,
"Deal again, Pads." Sirius shook himself mentally and the game continued. Sirius and Remus both ended up removing their socks as Peter pulled a surprise win out of the bag. Remus was starting to get nervous. He was rapidly running out of innocent things to remove...but then again, so was Sirius.
"Bugger, Wormtail. How'd you get so good all of a sudden?" Cried Sirius, flinging down his cards in protest. Luckily for the two unlucky card-players, the crowd had dispersed somewhat after the removal of the socks.
"Well, my canine friend," announced Remus, breaking the silence. "Looks like it's shirts."
Sirius glanced quickly round the common room. There weren't many people left, and the remaining ones were mostly desperately finishing various bits of homework. He looked back at Remus and grinned.
"So be it, Moony old pal." He began unbuttoning his shirt.
"I guess so." replied Remus, trying to remain cool and nonchalant as he removed his own shirt. Nevertheless, a crimson flush spread across his face and neck.
"This is getting stupid guys- I'm gonna beat you no matter what. Maybe we should...um...pack it in and go to bed?" Both Sirius and Remus ignored Peter. He watched as Sirius shuffled again, and then stood up.
"Guys, I'm gonna go to bed." Remus nodded but kept his eyes on the cards...and away from Sirius' bare chest. Sirius blinked at Peter as though he had just noticed he was there.
"Oh, right. Cool. See yah, Wormy."
"Whatever. Goodnight, guys." He shuffled towards the stairs up to the dorm and disappeared up.
"Um...Remus? D'you wanna keep going, or-" Sirius injected a healthy dose of bravado into his voice "Am I just going to accept your defeat at a shirt?"
Remus was in a dilemma. On one hand, he really, REALLY didn't want to take off any more of his clothes. He was shy enough about his body as it was so stripping in the common room was not high on his list of fun things to do. However, his Marauder pride was screaming at him not to admit defeat. Also, if he won...Sirius would have to strip.
"I'm not giving up yet, Padfoot!"
"Very well then...but when you're down to your pants and I'm still dressed, we can stop, if you like."
"Nah, in your dreams Pads." Sirius dealt out more cards, his eyes again fixed on his blonde companion. Remus fought the blush that he could feel rising, but he forced a cheeky smile.
"You're the one who's gonna be down to your pants."
"Well, then. Let's do this." There was a glimpse of fire behind Sirius' eyes now as he dealt the cards deftly between the two. Remus was feeling seriously nervous, but kept up the show for his own benefit just as much as Sirius'. He couldn't explain why he was so nervous- they were just two guys playing a harmless game...late at night...with no shirts on...
His eyes flicked again to Sirius' chest. He bet lots of girls would be very jealous of him right now. Sitting in a practically deserted common room with a shirtless Sirius Black. Because Sirius did have a very nice chest. Very nice indeed.
Remus shook himself as Sirius sent him an odd look.
"Alright there, Moony?"
"Hmm..? Oh, right, my go. SNAP!!!!!"
Remus smiled. Sirius stood up, making a (what Remus felt to be unnecessary) show of undoing his trousers. He glanced at his friend, and then let them go.
Remus immediately felt his face burning and he dropped his gaze and cleared his throat.
"Well, um...you can..." His voice sounded altogether too high so he cleared his throat again. "...give up if you want." Still too high. Damn.
Sirius gave him a withering look. "You think I'm giving up whilst you've still got your dignity intact? You jest, Moony my mate. You've got no chance!"
"Erm...right...deal then..." Remus couldn't stop fidgeting as Sirius dealt swiftly. The game was extremely tense and unfortunately for Remus, he was so distracted by Sirius' lack of clothes (on a purely platonic level of course) that he...lost.
"SNAP!"
Remus sat, rigid with shock. He didn't know what to do. He felt like a rabbit staring into the headlights with no bolt hole nearby- no way of backing out without getting well and truly steam-rollered…
"Off...Off...Off..." Sirius had begun to chant quietly under his breath, his eyes fixed on Lupin's midriff, his smile twisted into a satisfied smirk.
"Um...I'm actually feeling tired now!" Sirius stared at him as he began to babble. "Yes so I'm going to go to bed, excellent game, Padfoot, very well played but..."
"Oh no, you don't!" Remus winced. Sirius had a look on his face that could only be described as evil. "You're going take those trousers off! Don't think you can get out of it that easily!" Remus did the only thing he could. He ran.
"Oh no you don't, my furry little friend!" Roared Sirius, leaping over a sofa to cut off Remus' escape route- the dormitory stairs. "Not so fast, matie." here, he wagged a disapproving finger in his friends thwarted face.
He reached out for Remus' hips, taking hold of his trousers, yanking them down.
Remus let out a squeal, which he later protested was very manly, and tried to back away, getting hopelessly tangled and tripping over. Sirius, being the intelligent being that he is, didn't let go and was dragged down on top of him just as the portrait hole swung open.
"...Guys?!"
James Potter stood above them, one hand around a very giggly Lily Evans, who was fast sobering up in light of what she had just witnessed.
"Um...hi, Prongs..."
Remus shoved Sirius off him and yanked his trousers up. Blushing furiously he bolted up the stairs, leaving a dazed Sirius to explain. James looked slightly horrified as Sirius tried to blurt out the explanation.
"See we were playing Strip Snap and Peter backed out but me and Moony kept playing..."
"And you jumped on top of him, why??"
"Um...well, see, thing is, Moony didn't really want to...um..." Even to his own ears, Sirius knew his truthful explanation wasn't good enough. No matter what he said, the truth was that he had yanked down his friends trousers and then promptly fallen on top of him...this wasn't good. Lily had both eyebrows raised and was tapping her foot.
"Well um...look um...he wouldn't take his trousers off and I said that wasn't fair so I um..." There was a very awkward pause then Sirius began speaking very fast
"IpulleddownhistrousersandhefelloverandIfellontopofhim."
"Sorry?" asked Evans, tugging herself free of James' arm, which was holding onto her waist protectively. "I -uh- pulled his trousers...down."
"Then you fell onto him?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Sirius had gone very pink, something James noticed, but decided to keep to himself- at least for the moment.
"Right, well that was stupid, Sirius. You could've hurt yourselves." Lily shrugged, and headed over to the stairs. "I'm going to bed. I suggest you go to bed yourselves- it's three in the morning."
"Goodnight Lily!" She waved vaguely over her shoulder and carried on up the stairs. James beamed.
"She waved at me! And called me James!" Sirius grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Finally getting somewhere, mate!"
"You too by the looks of things!"
But James didn't get any further, because Sirius had pinned him up against the wall with all his strength, snarling.
"What was that supposed to mean?"
"Woah, dude, chill! I just meant..."
"You meant what?!" James pushed at Sirius, only to be slammed back against the wall.
"I didn't mean anything, alright! Merlin, Sirius, calm down!"
"You sure 'bout that, mate?" Sirius' eyes bored into James', searching for the truth.
"YES! Alright, I'm sure I didn't mean anything, c'ept...well, you guys looked kinda, um...busy?" He knew almost immediately that it was definitely the wrong thing to say.
"What the hell are you talking about!! You don't know anything! Me and Remus aren't...that's wrong!" Sirius shoved James to one side and stormed furiously up the stairs.
"No...It's not." whispered James, knowing how to interpret his best friend's every look. Sighing, he pulled himself up the last few stairs to his dormitory door and, after a moment's hesitation, opened it as quietly as possible and made his way over to his bed. He noticed that both Remus' and Sirius' bed curtains were shut tightly; blocking out everything except for themselves. James chose not to comment and hit his pillow.
"Prongs?" He turned to see Peter sitting up in his bed, looking sleepy. "What happened?" James shook his head.
"It's nothing, Pete." He drew his curtains shut before Peter could protest.
Thanks for reading! Hope you like Love xxx
