It was chaos in the dormitory when James found out that Sirius was ticklish. He chased his friend around the room, making a feather zoom along before him and tickle his sides. Sirius cackled madly, almost tripping over a frightened Peter as he leapt blindly from bed to bed, attempting to escape a Fate Worse Than Damnation. Peter made a break for the common room with a frightened squeal.

Remus ducked continuously as kicked up papers flew at him from odd angles. He was fed up with this behaviour, and after ten minutes of staying silent, decided to make it known. "Really!" he cried out, stamping his foot once for attention. "You two are the most immature people I've ever met – you've knocked over my good ink!"

James and Sirius paused and looked at Remus, who glared imperiously at both of them. No-one spoke or moved for a few moments.

Then all of a sudden, with no warning to be heard, James made a great leap for Remus, pinned him to the ground by straddling his knees, and began attacking the boy's stomach with his fingers. Remus wriggled convulsively beneath James's touch, laughter bubbling on his lips. He burst into giggles, and James only relented when Remus started to look like having trouble breathing.

"That," said Remus, getting up and brushing himself off, "was utterly and completely unfair!" Sirius, though flustered and dishevelled from moments earlier, looked highly entertained. James smirked and grasped each of them by the wrist.

"Come on, you two," he said with authority, ignoring their squeaks of protest and hauling them onto his bed. Pinning them both there with a knee to each stomach, he removed his necktie. Remus and Sirius looked wary. James grinned in high amusement as he fastened his tie first to the bedpost, and then to both of their wrists.

"What the—" Sirius began to protest. James moved to sit on Remus's free hand. Remus huffed in discontent but James paid him no heed, instead focusing on removing Sirius's tie, much to his displeasure, and binding his free hand to the bedpost with it.

"James, what on Earth do you mean by this?" Remus demanded, but got the same treatment in response. The two boys attempted to free themselves of their restraints, but it seemed that James could tie a mean Devil's Tongue.

James had left the bed and was rummaging through his trunk. A second later he surfaced, holding – and Merlin knew why he had it with him – a hefty length of rope. Despite the groans from his two friends he clambered back onto the bed and made quick work of binding their legs there by the ankles.

"What are you doing?" asked Sirius wearily. James sat down and faced them with a devilish expression.

Then he tickled them.

--

For a while, Peter could hear no signs of suspicious activity from upstairs. He almost thought it was safe to go back up until the giggles started again – maniacal, like the laughter of madmen. Two of them! Peter shook his head disbelievingly, wondering how James ever managed it.

--

James had let Remus alone for the moment to torture Sirius some more. Sirius's laugh was so much funnier. It was sort of sharp and high-pitched; a real witch's cackle. Not a wizard's guffaw, but a witch's cackle.

Sirius writhed and squirmed, eyes screwed shut, unable to control his laughter. The sensation of being tickled was at once pleasing and unbearable. Suddenly, a feeling of overwhelming relief washed over him, and it seemed James had stopped. His eyes fluttered open and he started to see James's grinning face inches from his own.

The element of surprise quickly wore off and Sirius smiled lazily. "Had your fun now, ha…mmpphr?" Sirius's question, whatever it had been, was muffled by James's lips against his own. Sirius froze up at first, but soon relaxed and kissed back.

Remus's breath caught in his throat. He swallowed. "What the hell is going on? Would you just – untie me?" The other two ignored him. "Oh, Merlin…" Remus breathed. He went limp and watched them, unsure of what was going on but not impartial to watching.

James's tongue ran across Sirius's upper lip, asking for entrance. Sirius granted it this, and suddenly the kiss was far too intense to pass as an innocent joke. Warm, wet tongues pushed against one another, probing hungrily. Instinctively, Sirius began to rock his hips gently upwards against James's. James pulled away from the kiss to moan softly, his own hips responding.

Remus's face grew red. "Guys, I really…oh…" he trailed off with his own quiet moan as James slipped his hand under Sirius's shirt and bent down to kiss him again. There was a hot, tingling sensation in Remus's loins that he knew. He was enjoying this far too much. He was going to need relief, he realised, and he wasn't going to get it. Breathing harder, he struggled frantically against his bonds, increasingly frustrated by them. "Untie me, James, untie me," he pleaded, but James seemed not to hear him; too busy now slipping off his shirt and undoing the fastening on Sirius's pants. "Don't, please," Remus whimpered, but his voice fell on deaf or otherwise preoccupied ears.

Sirius's tongue flitted out over his upper lip, looking over James's lithe, naked torso with an animalistic need. He felt his trousers being slipped down to his ankles, and all of a sudden there was a palm pressing firmly against his groin. He bucked upwards with a grunt of approval.

Remus shut his eyes tight, still squirming and trying to break free. He couldn't look – no, he couldn't not look. He was panting as hard as Sirius, and it wasn't him tracing circles around James's nipple with his tongue, or with James's hand down his underpants, clasping his – oh, Merlin.

"Let me out! Let me out!" he squeaked in a panic, bucking and kicking and jumping until finally, the ties connecting his wrists to the bed loosened, and he was able to slip his hands out. Of course, this meant that Sirius's left hand was also free, and he could use it as he pleased. He bit his lip, watching James and Sirius again. Should he…? Well, they were doing that…Just look at them…It couldn't hurt to just…well…

Yes, he decided. In a time where the Prince Charmings of your fairytale were busy or elsewhere, you had to save yourself.

--

Peter was worried now. The laughter had subsided, but he was sure he could hear some sort of moaning coming from upstairs. Now, surely that was not what he thought it was! Out of curiosity and concern, Peter ascended the stairs.

He would never forget what he found at the top.