Just a little Sirius/James fluff in honor of the fact that we had a snow day on Friday. Yay. Also, I do not own Harry Potter.
Sirius Black is much too old for this sort of behavior. He is supposed to be above this. He is supposed to be setting an example for the younger students.
Sirius Black has never cared much for what he is supposed to do.
He has always loved the snow. He loves the way it freezes in his hair in icy dreadlocks. He loves the way it tastes on his tongue and looks on his lashes, like tiny cold prisms.
"Let's build a snow fort," James suggests. Sirius agrees, of course, because James already has snow in his hair and on his eyelashes and it is impossible to say no.
They only find one pair of gloves, so James wears the right one and Sirius wears the left one as they head out to the lake. The snow is crunchy under their boots, and they leave a wide, stumbling track behind them. Sirius looks up at the sky and is happy that the sun has deserted them, for the time being.
Their hands grow blue and wrinkled as they build, and Sirius shivers through his coat. His lips can hardly move and his eyes dart to James, and he wishes that James could keep him warm. But James keeps building, and doesn't look up.
Once the fort is built, Sirius is free to shovel snow down James' collar, and free to half-heartedly fight back when James does the same to him. He pretends to struggle when James pins him to the ground, but he's smiling and laughing. There's snow in his hair and on his face and he sees snow on James, as well.
"Beg for mercy," James demands, and Sirius seals his lips and refuses.
And James is coming closer and closer and he is getting quieter, but he is still saying the same thing—"Beg for mercy." And really Sirius has to do it, because this situation is just too much to handle any other way. He leans up and touches his lips to James, and he's laughing as he does it.
James is laughing, too, but he catches Sirius and pulls him closer, and together they are warm and Sirius thinks he only needs one glove, anyway. He keeps his eyes open, because it is winter and that means the world has stopped, and he wants this to be real.
The snow is still cold, but they do not remember things like Lily or war or impossibilities. The sun is far away and the world will come tumbling down sooner or later.
But today they are boys, together alone, best friends building a snow fort.
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