Hey, so I have another story up now!
This one will be quite a bit different from my other for a few reasons. First it's Harry Potter, set in the Marauders era, and also there will be slash in this story. So if you don't like male/male sexytimes then don't read the bloody story.
Okay, so I want to dedicate this story to SiriuslyAbsorbed, as their story 'Believer' spawned this brain child within me. Basically I loved the way their story went, but I couldn't help but see this alternate way it could have gone and my brain just ran with it to the point I couldn't write anything if it wasn't this! So yeah, I definitely recommend you go read their fics, they're awesome!
I really wasn't going to write another story until I had at least written more of my Fairy Tail one, buuuut, this one just demanded to be written.
Even though I really enjoyed writing this, the first chapter really was a challenge for me, for the pure fact there's no smut in it yet. I seem to be crap at the plot stuff, so this may be tweaked a bit until I'm satisfied with it.
Anyways, on with the show!
"It's official Jamesy. I'm a genius!"
James lifted his head from the Quidditch book he was reading to look at his best friend's excited grin. "Oh yeah? Why's that?"
"I figured out the perfect way to get Remus and Evans to want us!"
James groaned. When it came to planning pranks together, Sirius was extremely intelligent, a trait he often hid or simply didn't bother to utilise. Together they made an excellent team, both with their own strengths that covered the others weaknesses and they knew how to use this to their advantage. However, the young Black had come up with plans like this before, in misguided attempts to peak Remus' interest, and to get Lily Evans to finally say 'yes' to James, and they had all backfired. Sometimes with horrendous consequences. There had been that incident in third year… No, it didn't even bear thinking about. So it really was perfectly understandable that he was quite apprehensive about Sirius' plan, but, like always, he would willingly hear him out. His eyes narrowed at his friend as Sirius flopped down on the bed beside him and stretched out languorously beside him, his incessant smirk sprawled across his face. "Go on then."
Sirius' smirk seemed to widen even further, if that was at all possible. "Simple really," he replied, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "We make them jealous."
'Simple, my arse,' James thought, before voicing the rest of his considerations out loud. "Am I hell going out with another girl and you've dated practically most of the girls in our year at some point anyway, never mind the occasional guy you've screwed, so why the fuck would Moony get jealous now if he hasn't before?"
His body froze and his heart stopped for a moment as Sirius proceeded to roll off of the bed in front of him and rise up on one knee, clasping one of James' hands in his.
'Oh, no,' James thought. 'No. Nononono. No way in hell.'
"James Potter…"
'Don't you bloody dare.'
"Would you do me the honour…"
'Don't even bloody think about it!'
"…of becoming my boyfriend?"
"You stupid bastard."
"I'm not hearing a 'no'…" teased Sirius.
"No, Pads! It's a stupid idea! Why the hell would that work? Find something else or forget it!"
"But Prongs, it's brilliant!" Sirius whined. "Look, this way you're not involving some random chick and for me, well, you're my friend. We've got history. I couldn't treat you like those girls, just chucking you once I'm bored and avoid you like I usually do with folk, right? It'd be as if I was being serious. He'd have to take notice! They both would!"
This was a stupid idea. A seriously fucking stupid idea. James knew it. It was all going to blow up in their faces, as usual.
'Oh, what the hell?' he found himself thinking. "Fine, I'm in. But am I fuck being the bottom."
The fire was really nice, Sirius thought. He was warm and cosy, totally relaxed and positively melting into the comfy armchair he was lounging on. Or at least, he was, until the idiot Prongs had chucked an exploding snap card at him, singing his fringe and eyebrows.
"POTTER!" The howl of anger erupted across the thankfully empty common room as Sirius launched himself at the offending party, tackling him into the couch, both boys wrestling and struggling to gain the upper hand.
Sirius was straddling James' lap and had his arms pinned above his head as the portrait suddenly swung open and Alice Fortescue clambered in, followed closely by Remus Lupin and Lily Evans, who were deep in conversation about one of their classes.
Quickly taking advantage of the situation, Sirius leaned over and pressed his lips firmly to James' ones. James gave a muffled shout of surprise and tried to shove Sirius off of him, only succeeding in deepening the kiss and causing the other three Gryffindors to freeze in place across the room as all they could essentially see was the two boys in a passionate lip-lock, rutting and gyrating against one another in a frenzy before finally separating for air, both panting heavily.
A self-satisfied smirk made his way across Sirius' features as he separated himself from James and turned to swagger up to the boy's dorms. His throat was slightly hoarse and his voice came out huskier than intended when he bid his 'boyfriend' good night. He then turned to say good night to their audience and headed up to bed grinning like a madman, effectively leaving James to deal with their confused housemates. They had definitely made an impression.
Sirius also hadn't missed the fleeting flash of anger that surged across Remus' face before he had managed to cover it up. 'Oh, yeah. This is going to be a lot of fun.'
"Okay guys, this is just weird. There is no possible way that their relationship can be healthy! James isn't even gay; he was still asking me out daily until last week!"
It had been five days since the news of James Potter and Sirius Black's relationship had hit the school's gossip network and had spread like wildfire. The entire school was in a state of astonishment and bewilderment, but the ones closest to the boys were the most stupefied.
"It's just ridiculous!" Lily continued. "There's something seriously wrong with this situation – just look at them!"
The potions class had been split into pairs, James and Sirius separated from the others on the other side of the classroom as punishment for sassing Professor Slughorn (again). As Lily, Remus, Alice and a few other of their friends watched, James returned to his table with an armful of potions ingredients, some of which Lily was sure were completely unnecessary for the potion they were supposed to be making, grabbing Sirius' ass on his way by, causing Sirius to jolt and spill part of their potion across the table before growling at James and chucking newt spleens at him.
"What kind of romance is that supposed to be?" cried Lily, throwing her hands in the air.
"I don't know Lily. It does look like they really like each other," sighed Remus.
The two boys in question were currently standing side-by-side pressed together, their heads bent in close, looking for all the world, a couple in love. Unknown to their classmates however, the boys were currently in a deep whispered discussion about all the nefarious ways they could use the extra potions ingredients James had snaffled, interspersed with increasing unpleasant insults being hissed back and forth between them, forced sickening smiles on their faces all the while.
A few weeks passed in much the same manner and, save for a few of the girls (and a few guys) Sirius used to fool around with who now held a seemingly personal vendetta against James, the student body and teachers were slowly but surely becoming used to the couple's strange dynamic. They would take the opportunity between classes to steal kisses in the corridor, which were always forceful, teeth clashing and usually ended in one or both boys being bitten. They would feel each other up in public, especially when they knew Remus or Lily were looking, squeezing much too hard and usually resulting in being hit over the head once in private. They would retire from the common room to their dorm early, recommending that Peter and Remus not come up for a while, then taking the opportunity to plan pranks and talk about the progress they were making with their plan.
Although, they did have a habit of shocking the hell out of everyone from time to time. There was one particular incident in the Gryffindor common room after a particularly stressful day for both boys and they were involved in a full blown argument, which everyone was resolutely ignoring, until…
"Well at least I don't take it up the arse!" James regretted the words the second they had left his mouth.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" growled Sirius.
"Shit, Padsy…"
"Nah," Sirius snarled over him viciously. "But giving it in the arse gets you off right? And you do so love to suck my cock. We'd probably never even get round to the actual fucking if you had your way. Aww, Jamesy, you don't have to leave your mouth hanging open like that! If you want me to put my cock in it, all you have to do is ask, you little bitch. But you know what? I'm not in the mood. Go fuck yourself." Sirius turned on his heel and stormed up to the dorm in anger, leaving James in the common room with everyone staring at him with wide eyes and judging him.
But their fights never lasted long. Sooner or later, they decided the plan was more important than their anger at each other and so let it out in the little ways, forcing kisses, pinching, standing on each other's feet when no one was looking, yanking each other's hair while they kissed… You know, perfectly healthy relationship stuff!
"I'm telling you, mate – we're so close to victory I can taste it!"
"I'm not so sure," James reasoned. "I mean, have you noticed how much time Moony and Evans are spending together recently? They're together pretty much all the time! Studying, my arse!"
"Jamesy, Jamesy, Jamesy. This is a good thing, see?"
James just gave Sirius a look that clearly said he thought he was an idiot, which to be fair, Sirius admitted he could be, but that wasn't really the point here.
"They're jealous. So they're trying to make us jealous back! The plan's working, you dolt, we just need to step it up a notch!"
'Yep, this is definitely going to backfire.'
"We should do something." Lily's musings cut across Remus' thoughts as he read up on their next transfiguration lesson. "We've been far too lax lately. We need to do something. Any ideas?"
Remus sighed; he obviously wasn't going to get any studying done today. "If you're talking about trying to make Sirius and James jealous then my opinion is that we should forget it. If you simply mean you're bored and it's surprisingly nice out then I suggest we get a group together and head down to the lake with some food."
An hour or so later Remus made his way down to the agreed meeting spot, knowing he'd be the last one there as he'd been determined to get as least some studying done before goofing off the rest of the Saturday. As his group of friends came into view, his gaze immediately landed on Sirius. By this point Sirius was already topless, but, unfortunately for Remus, was also wrapped around the equally bare torso of James, tweaking his nipples (painfully, I might add, but James was determined to make a good show of enjoying himself). James groaned and threw a laughing Sirius off and throwing him a glare, but everyone thought it was just because he was getting turned on.
"Hey Remus," Peter squeaked as Remus dropped down between Sirius and Lily, forcing a smile to his face.
Lily had really worked her magic here. The four marauders were there, along with three other boys in Gryffindor in their year they spoke to. Lily, of course, was there, with Alice and another three girls she was friendly with. Sirius had actually dated two of them.
There were mixed sentiments among the group to James and Sirius' antics. The boys seemed annoyed or disgusted while the girls loved it, cooing and giggling over them. They all seemed to get so soppy when it came to romance. It was sickening, really.
Lily had also managed to procure quite a spread of food; Remus would have to ask where it all came from later.
The day went on; the food eaten, juice drunk and it merely seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. All of the boys were topless now, even Peter who was quite self-conscious over his chubbiness. Sirius and James had gone so far as to strip down to their boxers and jumped into the lake, wrestling as the other boys joined them and attempted to coax the girls into the cool, refreshing water.
Lily and Alice finally relented, taking off their t-shirts to reveal bikini tops underneath. They took off their socks and shoes and Lily rolled her light capris up until they were shorts, while Alice already wore a skirt.
James and Sirius were having a great time. Remus and Lily hadn't been able to keep their eyes off them all day. This was such a win for them, and it hadn't even been their idea!
A startled yelp escaped Sirius' mouth as he was tackled underwater by James, but he began to quickly panic when their limbs became tangled and he couldn't reach the surface. Suddenly, there was a strong hand on his shoulder and a second later he could breathe again as Remus hauled him out from under the water and against his large warm chest. Still spluttering and gasping, he nodded his thanks to Moony and gratefully accepted his help back over to the edge to catch his breath. He made his way over to his clothes as Remus went back into the water and sat down, surreptitiously pulling out his wand, silently deliberating over what hex he was going to use on James. Twirling his wand he thought to himself 'can't be anything too bad, or obvious. Besides, I got Moony to hug me… So, something subtle…' Then the idea hit him. Peter was sitting right at the edge, with a pie of some sort in his grubby little hands. If Sirius timed it right, he could jinx James to fall over and land with his face in Peter's pie. Petty? Yes, but still amusing. He just had to get the timing right, aaand… there.
The jinx hit James just as he was turning away from Peter, causing his legs to buckle beneath him, his body stumbling forwards. Lily was beside him and spun to help catch him but he missed her outstretched hand and instead tried to grab her shoulder. But he missed his mark completely, instead only succeeding in catching the strap of her bikini top in his grasp and he continued falling, ripping it from her body and leaving her standing there topless.
For a moment everyone froze in place, the only movement being James as he hit the water and went under for a moment before resurfacing, gasping, not realising what he had done. The first thing he noticed when he had gotten his bearings back was the look of unadulterated horror on Sirius' face as he stared at James and something slightly to James' left. He followed Sirius' line of sight to Lily's legs, then up her body until he saw her arms wrapped across her bare chest. 'Well, shit.'
The next thing he saw was one of Lily's hands swinging out before her palm connected with the side of his face.