Title: Personal Boundaries

Rating: NC-17

Contains: strap-ons

Summary: Lily gets inspiration from Remus much to James' chagrin.

Word count: 2718

Disclaimer: These characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Author's Note: This is a belated birthday fic for museme87on lj. At one point she prompted me with lily/james porn (in the study with the rope), but somehow rope got turned into...well, read above.

James had already begun to drift off when Lily came back from the loo and curled up against him, resting her head on his shoulder and spreading her hand over his slow, steady heartbeat.

"James," she said softly.

He made a small noise of acknowledgement, not really anything more than a reaction to her voice. Dancing images were already teasing at the edges of his vision.

"I'd like to try something new next time."

That was almost intriguing enough to earn Lily a real response, but it was too much effort really, and James was almost gone.

"In bed, I mean. A sex thing." She began to make slow, gentle arcs back and forth across his chest with her fingernails. "I'd like to try...well, I'd like to try...anal sex."

James managed to slit his eyes open for a moment. "Really?" he said thickly. His brain was still fuzzy, but he was pretty sure the only time he'd ever brought up the idea to her, she'd been less than enthusiastic.

"Mmhm." Her hair tickled his nose as she nodded. "I think it would be...exciting. A huge turn on, don't you?"

Still startled by her unexpected suggestion, James reached over to rub her arm reassuringly. "Yeah. Yeah, of course, but I thought...you didn't seem so keen on the idea before."

"Before?"

James squinted at Lily, trying to focus without his glasses in the darkness of the room, only lit by a bit of moonlight peeking through the curtains. He could just make out her frown.

"Oh, that. No. I didn't mean that. I mean, I want to fuck you."

His mouth fell open. "What?"

The way she tucked her chin in told James that she was blushing, even if he couldn't see it in the dark.

"Well, it's just...I was talking to Remus-"

"You were talking to Remus about fucking me in the arse?" James was thoroughly awake now.

"No! Well, not as such, no."

"Not as such?" He narrowed his eyes as Lily wriggled back onto her own pillow. Wisely, he thought, putting some distance between them. "Lily."

"We were only having a chat, a general sort of chat, about...well, sex." She shifted jerkily, though, and brought up a hand to chew at her thumb.

"Do you two talk about sex often?" Though she probably couldn't see, James' eyebrows had flown up. She could surely hear the way his voice had risen in pitch, despite the scratchiness of his late night throat.

"Only sometimes."

"Right." James stared at her a moment. "So what brought this on?"

"Well, we'd gone into London to do some shopping for the holidays. Remember? Last Tuesday?"

James vaguely remembered something about it. He and Sirius had gone to the pub and gotten rather sloshed, so his memories of that day were hazy at best. He grunted.

"Anyway, we thought it would be a laugh to poke into some of the shops in Soho. You know the ones Sirius is always threatening to drag Remus into and make him try on things like leather hot pants."

"You went to sex shops with Remus!" James shot up in the bed and gaped at Lily.

"What?" She snapped. "It was just a lark. Remus thought it would be funny to buy Sirius a big, spiky dog collar for Christmas."

"Yes, but-"

"But what, Potter? Are you telling me I can't visit a shop with a friend of mine, who also happens to be one of your best friends?"

"No, but-"

"Good." Lily sat up, too, fixing James with what was probably a defiant glare. He was rather glad it was dark.

He scowled, though. "So what happened during your little sex jaunt, then."

Lily snorted. "Oh, don't be so ridiculous, James."

"Fine," he said, smiling through gritted teeth. "What happened during your holiday outing with dear Moony?"

"Nothing, we had a look 'round. I saw some...interesting things. And Remus explained some things to me."

"Oh, he did, did he?" James leaned closer, making a mental note to hex Remus later, and peered at her face. "Like what?"

Lily huffed. "He explained the...the..."

"The..."

"He explained how it all worked! The mechanics, and he gave me some really good advice! Did you know you have a prostate?"

"Oh my God!" James threw himself back down on his pillow with a wail of despair.

"James!"

"You did talk to Remus about fucking me up the arse!"

"I can't believe you're being so childish! And vulgar! I notice when you were trying to talk me into it, it was all, 'Oh, Lily, it's just a way we can share even more, a new experience.' There was none of this 'up the arse' business, was there?"

"Yes, but-" James spluttered. "It's not the same thing! I have a cock! You don't!"

He could hear the evil smile in her voice. "I do now."

"What?"

"I bought one. It's called a strap on. It has a harness to-"

"I know what a strap-on is. I lived with two sex fiends for years. There probably isn't anything I don't know about buggery and sex toys and sodding anal lubricant because they have no sense of boundaries and don't seem to understand what over-sharing means, even, it seems, when it comes to my wife-"

"James."

"Take it as read that I am the most well-informed straight man in all of England on the subject of arse buggery!"

"Yes, all right."

"And I still can't believe you talk about our sex life with Remus."

"Don't pretend you've never talked about our sex life with Sirius."

Silence reigned.

"I'm always complimentary!" James finally burst out. "They do go on about how fantastic they are at head, and how being bent somehow makes them the sodding experts, and I just couldn't let that go, could I? I mean, you give brilliant head, and-"

"James, all right, that's enough."

He took pleasure in the strained quality to Lily's voice. "Don't like it so much when the shoe is on the other foot, do you?"

Lily gave a heavy sigh and then shrugged. "Fine. Fine, James. I thought you might like it. I thought you were secure enough in who you are to try something new, but it doesn't matter."

Lily slid under the covers again and rolled onto her side, facing away from James. "It was just a...a silly fantasy, I guess." she said in a small voice. "It doesn't matter. Forget it."

"Lily."

He knew he was being manipulated, knew it but still the flush of guilt made him feel two feet tall.

"Goodnight, James."

"Lily. Come on."

"I said it's fine, James. Really. Just let it go."

She stayed curled up on her side, not saying another word.

Irritated and wide awake now, James punched his own pillow into shape before throwing himself back down on the bed and turning his back on her. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself back to sleep. After counting to sixty backwards five times, he sighed heavily.

"You promise you won't ever tell Sirius and Remus about this?"