/ Um, yeah. So. Don't kill me, this is my first ever published fanfic. I know the first chapter's very short, but I promise, the following chapters won't be. I'll try to update at least once a week. Uhm, enjoy, and please review, I need constructive criticism. /
"Go on then, tell us!" James Potter said. He and his three friends, Peter, Remus and Sirius, were sitting, butterbeers in hands, in the old broomshed just outside in his garden; the summer holidays had just started after a specially exhausting sixth year at Hogwarts, and of course they had to celebrate the fact that they all had got through their N.E.W.T.s with, if not good, then at least acceptable marks. However, it wasn't such a joyful celebration for James' best friend, Sirius, who had just broken the, for the others at least, rather enjoyable silence of just sitting there and gulping down bottle after bottle of butterbeer. He had simply asked, nervous and voice muffled, if he could tell them something he thought rather important, and the other Marauders had practically exploded with curiosity when he'd said, "Nah, actually, nevermind."
"But Sirius..." little round-faced Peter had said, but Sirius had waved it away with his hand. "Let's talk about something else, shall we?" he said, and plastered a smile to his face.
James, of course, didn't need to be asked twice.
"Do you think Lily Evans will ever go out with me? I've been waiting for six bloody years. I mean, I'm smart, nice, good-looking -"
"Hexing her best friend every now and then for no particular reason," Remus added. Sirius snorted. James didn't seem to have heard.
"- and I'm a professional Quidditch player! Like, that's the best she'll ever get! I'm a Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart – just like her, not like that greasy friend of hers, not like old Snivellus," he stated, and made a face when he mentioned Lily's not-so-shampoo-loving friend.
The three boys listening to him coughed into their butterbeers, exchanging glances that clearly meant "uh-oh, here he goes again." And right they were; James kept talking for ages, and after a while they joined in.
They were having such a heated discussion about how to best humiliate Snape when they came back from holidays that the other three Marauders didn't notice Sirius staring at the floor, seemingly in deep thought. After a while, plump little Peter had said, "Sirius, what is bothering you? Please tell us," and then the copper-haired Remus had said to his friend that if there was something he wanted to say, it was best to get it quickly over with. James, who had up until now been talking and talking, without taking any notice that the others weren't listening anymore, said;
"Padfoot, seriously. Tell us what's bothering you or I will personally make sure dear ol' Walburga'll take you in again."
"Like that's going to happen," the raven-haired animagus snorted into his butterbeer. When James opened his mouth to come with yet another loud retort, he shouted "I like blokes, okay?"
James left his mouth open. So did Remus. Only Peter was smart enough to say, though nervousness was clear in his voice, "But Padfoot, why should that be a problem? We're your friends, no matter what you like."
Sirius felt a wave of thankfulness towards Peter, though he didn't show it. He kept staring at the floor in the small broomshed, his face furiously flushed. What would James be thinking? Sirius had lived with James for the past two summers, slept in his bedroom, shared his small bathroom, gone swimming with him, sometimes even showering together because of the heat. What on Earth would James think of him now? What would he do, throw him out? Pretend they didn't know each other? He didn't dare imagine.
The silence was broken. "Well, this is just bloody ridiculous."
Sirius looked up to find that it was James who had spoken. He sighed. So this was goodbye to his best friend, then.
"Why, in the hottest depths of hell, haven't you bloody mongrel told me before?"
And the bespectacled teenager dragged his best mate in by his shoulders and hugged him. Sirius couldn't help but to crack into a huge grin when Remus and Peter joined in on the hug.
"Thanks, mates," he said, and added truthfully, "dunno what I'd do without you."
Remus grinned back at his raven-haired friend and said, "No problem, Padfoot. You see, there's this thing about having a best friend who's gay, or bi, or whatever you'd like to call yourself. When that ruddy old bloke who just suddenly bursts out with being... - whatever you'd like to call yourself – has illegally become an unregistered animagus just so he'll be able to have a tiny bit of control and offer some support to you while you're a werewolf, and isn't just running away at the very thought of having a friend who tries to kill everyone within reach once each month – then he proves himself one of the world's most loyal, supportive, brave and kind human beings. And I think one ought to accept his sexual orientation in return."
James sniggered. "You're quite the philosopher, aren't you, Remus?" The werewolf did the mature thing in return; stuck his tongue out at him.
But Sirius only grinned. "I love you guys, you know that? The lot of you," he added once he spotted Peter trying to make himself small. "And just for the record; no, I am not in love with you."
This caused the whole lot to laugh loudly, and a few more butterbeers were popped before they all crept silently up the stairs, past where James' parents were sleeping, and went to bed, exhausted.
/Again, sorry it's short./