Sirius had overslept again, he had told his friends to stop waking him up so early and insisted that he could wake himself in time for breakfast. That was over a week ago and he hadn't once made it to breakfast since, he lurched out of bed and dressed as quickly as humanely possible, jumping the stairs out of the dormitory and sprinting out of the Gryffindor common room, he was determined to make it to breakfast this time. The common room was deserted, as were the halls- which could be either a good or bad sign, either breakfast was underway and he would make it or it was about to finish. Luckily enough for him it was the holidays, and he hadn't been late to any of his classes.
He finally made it, puffed and panting into the great hall and sat down amongst his fellow Gryffindors, he piled his plate with food and began eating as quickly as he could- still unsure of the time and how long he had before the food would disappear by magic before his eyes. James, Remus, and Peter were smirking silently at the sight of their dishevelled friend.
"Slow down mate," James said laughing at him, "You're gonna choke."
Peter laughed with James while Remus imitated Sirius, demonstrating to him how ridiculous he must look. Sirius paused a moment and looked down, his robes were half undone and his hair was wild and untamed- rivalling the messy hair that always sat however it wanted to atop his best friends head. He ran his fingers through his hair and it was tamed, James always envied how Sirius could make his hair look presentable just by brushing his fingers through it.
Sirius was exactly the opposite of a morning person, and was worse when he was hungry. "Well boys," He was happier now that he had eaten than he had been for the past week, skipping breakfast made him extremely irritable which was nothing more than amusing to the others in the tight knit group. "I finally made it to breakfast. You can congratulate me whenever you like." He bowed in response to his own mock cheering.
None of the other boys had understood how someone like Sirius had come from a family like the Blacks, he was (for the most part) a kind, loveable, goofy boy- the only thing proving he wasn't adopted was his striking good looks, almost everyone in the Black family had the dark eyes, dark hair and strong handsome features, Sirius was no exception. He had been slowly dating his way through the houses since fourth year, and he never had a lack of people interested in him.
He began to straighten up his robes when Remus noticed a red and purple mark on Sirius' neck, "Padfoot, what have you been up too?" He remarked smirking, poking at the bruised love bite that Sirius had forgotten was even there.
"Never you mind." He retorted cheekily, knowing full well that they were going to pester him with questions until he caved and answered them. Only, he was a little nervous about answering this particular set of questions- he had been with a boy last night, and while it wasn't the first time and surely wouldn't be the last time Sirius got together with other boys, this particular boy was a Slytherin. Last time he had been with a Slytherin he was teased mercilessly, particularly by James, because of the rivalry between the two houses. They had convinced the Fat Lady to change the password to the common room without telling him, and somehow had gotten her to sing about how he was a house traitor for two hours while he pleaded to be let in.
"You should have said who have you been up too?" Peter remarked, he was the least funny of the group, which was endearing and often they found themselves laughing at his failed attempts at humour.
"Yeah," Probed James, "Who have you been up too?" Laughing at how absurd the sentence was, as well at how Sirius was visibly squirming. He didn't often avoid the questions, he was proud of his night life, and always gave just enough detail to leave his friends envious of his many adventures, and the fact that he was hiding something meant that he had done something they wouldn't be proud of him for.
Sirius was trying to smirk as he usually would, as to not give anything away, but he was failing and so he lifted his glass of pumpkin juice to his lips and began to drink it, trying and not succeeding to hide his discomfort.
Remus' eyes lit up, as he worked out what Sirius was hiding. He had seen him flirting with a boy in a green house tie, and had briefly made fun of him for it days before. Sirius assured him that he was just flirting and had absolutely no intention of doing anything with the boy, and so Remus had dropped it. "YOU DID IT WITH THAT SLYTHERIN." He said a little too loudly, and a few of the other students stared in their direction.
Sirius looked at him wide eyed, put a finger to his lips, and rose from his chair expecting them to follow him out of the great hall, which they did. Once out of earshot of the other students, and of the teachers he spoke, "Okay, yes I was with a Slytherin last night." He admitted, as close to sheepishly as any of the other boys had ever seen him.
"Oh Padfoot, you know what this means…" James was looking sternly at him, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Prongs, dude. C'mon…" He complained, he didn't actually know what it meant, but he was sure it wasn't going to be fun for him.
"Prongs, let's cut him some slack." Remus was always the pushover, though he was arguably the better prankster of the four of them when he joined the fun or retaliated when they had joked with him. "Maybe he has a good explanation." He raised an eyebrow at Sirius, his eyes also shining cheekily.
Sirius thought for a moment before opening his mouth, he wasn't sure what would be a good enough explanation- other than the fact the he really liked this boy. He was hit, as he sometimes was, by an overwhelming gratitude for his friends. They may be making him pay for hooking up with someone from their rival house, but they had never even batted an eye when he had told them he was maybe gay, and they didn't care at all when he later (after sleeping with a girl, and not really enjoying it) told them he was definitely gay. His family would disown him if they knew, they had already almost disowned him for being sorted into a house other than Slytherin, and his mother could barely look at him for weeks after he was forced to admit to her that he was a Gryffindor by his older brother who had threatened to tell her himself. "Look," He started, still unsure of what to say that would stop them from humiliating him, "I actually think I like this guy." The words came out before he could stop them, he knew that a crush wouldn't a good enough reason in his friends eyes and on top of that he hated admitting that he had feelings for someone.
"Ooh," Peter teased, singsonging, "Padfoot has a crush!"
His cheeks flushed, it wasn't easy to make him blush, and the fact that he was doing so now was taken as further proof of his crush on the Slytherin boy. The three other boys were laughing at him, every time one of them had developed feelings for a girl Sirius had made fun of them, often in front of the girl they were interested in, and so they were getting their revenge on him now. He crossed his arms and pouted while waiting for them to stop with the kissing sounds and commotion.
"About time you got a real crush on someone Padfoot," Remus spoke, causing the other two boys to quiet down slightly. "I was starting to think you weren't capable of love." He was joking, though Sirius didn't particularly enjoy that kind of joke.
"Shut up." He retorted, unable to come up with a witty response.
"It's about time you know what it feels like." James replied, if anyone knew what a crush felt like it was going to be James.
"At least the person I like knows I like them. And doesn't hate me." Sirius said pointedly, staring directly at James.
"Oooooh." Remus and Peter reacted to Sirius' jab at James' love life. Peter hoped it would end in a physical fight- it was always funny to him to see the two friends fighting like muggles, with their fists.
Sirius had known that remark was risky, given the fact the James was sometimes very sensitive about his feelings towards Lily. On bad days it would send James hurtling into Sirius, a flurry of fists and they would both end up on the ground bruised and laughing by the end of it.
"Fuck off," James replied, "At least I don't wanna Slytherin with a Slytherin." He was pretty proud of his wordplay, at looked to the other boys for approval.
"It's true Padfoot," Remus interjected, wanting to join in the fun. "James isn't a house traitor."
Sirius flinched remembering the night with the Fat Lady, and the humiliation that came with it. "Shut up Moony," He turned to face Remus now, a smile forming on his lips. "We can continue this lovely chat later, but for now I believe I'm the only one of us with a date." He stood and walked away.
"So, any ideas on what to do to him?" James asked the group quietly.
They sat and thought for a few minutes until Remus looked up at the other two boys suddenly, and with excitement in his eyes. "I know exactly what to do."
A/N: I started writing this without being exactly sure of where it was going, so sorry if it seems a little muddy. I'll probably continue this between updates of my other fic When He Left.