Lily Evans lives in a quaint apartment overlooking the busy street. The small balcony she often spends hours reading on floats rather precariously four floors above the busy sidewalk. In all honesty, the balcony is rather sturdy, and is inspected at least twice a year. This however does nothing for the nicknames Lily's friends assign to it. Sirius is the worst among them, and the only one who vehemently refuses to step outside onto the aforementioned balcony, which only works against him because Lily forbids him from smoking inside of the apartment.
"I only suffer extensive periods without cigarettes for you," he mentions one day when Mary is expectedly late to their Tolkien marathon. "You know this, right?" Lily rolls her eyes at her friend, because—yes, of course—she knows he only makes this great sacrifice for her, but somehow it does not come off as a compliment which is inevitably what Sirius wants it to sound like.
A buzzing noise delays her retort. "Thank you for not stinking up my living space," she says and reaches for her phone. As suspected Mary's text reads she will be another five minutes late which, as Lily knows, in Mary's world means at least ten minutes, if not fifteen.
Remus and Peter promised to be there as well but the two have—as Mary predicted—cancelled last minute. The news barely surprised Lily when Remus texted her mere hours ago. She would resent him for leaving her to handle Sirius and Mary—who always gang up on the third wheel—on her own, but the apology is so genuine, and he has been rather sick lately, all the way through the exams. Peter, on the other hand, is a sly traitor and she will not forgive him so easily.
"How long do we have to wait," Sirius asks without even glancing at her annoyed expression.
"Mary says five minutes," she replies, and he does not need to hear the hint of annoyance in her voice to know what that means.
Instead, Sirius chuckles. "I might just have to step out onto that death-trap you call a balcony to have a smoke while we wait."
"I'm irritated enough to join you."
"I'm afraid you can't, that ledge would break under our joint weight."
"Are you calling me fat?"
"Muscle weighs more than fat," he pokes at her side, which is most certainly not all muscle.
"Are you calling me muscular," Lily frowns in amusement.
"I'm calling you a strong woman."
She chuckles, loving the banter they always seem to fall into. "I'm not going to shag you."
"Ew, Lily, I would never have sex with you."
"Well," a smirk grows on her lips, "now I'm offended."
"I played myself," Sirius accepts the loss gracefully. "Come on, let's test our luck."
A gust of wind washes over her face as Lily opens the wide sliding door. The spring evenings still get rather chilly, and she appreciates the gesture when Sirius hands her his leather jacket. Lily inquires if he would like it back upon noticing the goose bumps rise on his forearm. A chuckle escapes him as he steps out to join her, leaning against the wall. The two of them barely fit onto the miniscule balcony, and Lily does not own an ashtray so they make do with a small candleholder whose main purpose for that evening becomes embodying an ashtray. It does the boy very well. Sirius refuses to step away from the wall even after Lily jumps up and down a few times to prove to him the resilience of her most beloved space. She gives up soon enough and stubbornly leans against the rusty railing. With a hint of genuine worry in his voice, and in between two drags from his cigarette, Sirius warns her about leaning against old rusty railings. In response the redhead presses her behind against the railing more heavily simply to observe the hint of terror on his face.
"It's a sturdy ol' railing," Lily smiles softly, tapping it lightly.
"If you die I won't hold a speech."
"Remus will," Lily says lighting a cigarette of her own. "And you know I've always liked him better, even if he does bail on our movie marathons too often."
"Not more than Pete does."
"Peter is neither here nor there," she scrunches up her nose. "We haven't hung out with him last semester."
"Remus likes to bring in some sad strays," Sirius shrugs.
"Well, I don't mind. Look at you."
"I am a delight."
"Precisely," she puts out the butt of the cigarette in the ashtray.
Halfway through Sirius' second cigarette another text from Mary arrives and Lily's phone makes the familiar buzzing noise, vibrating on a glass coffee table. She walks off inside, in spite of Sirius' fears that as soon as she leaves the balcony would fall to its demise thus killing him at a tragically young age. This, he claims, would be a shame because he has yet to make a modelling career of his dashingly good looks. For a second Lily contemplates tossing him over, but murder would certainly look bad on her resume and Sirius is her favourite person, save for Mary and perhaps Remus. Nevertheless, he is the only person always available to join her for coffee, and it would not do her well to lose a mate so early on in the year. So, she steps inside and closes the balcony door to teach him a lesson.
At the grocery store down the street, do we need more food/wine?
Sirius is knocking lightly, yet urgently, on the glass door and promising revenge as Lily types her reply.
Get more popcorn, we have enough wine
When Lily finally opens the balcony door, not a minute after she closed it, Sirius leaves the half-smoked cigarette in the small ashtray and bolts inside. He stalks off, in what she can only presume is supposed to be an upset manner, to the bathroom while announcing he has to take a piss.
"Please don't miss the toilet, and put the seat back down," she yells after him and he flips her off because, as she well knows, he has never done a single bad thing to her bathroom. Save for that time he broke the toilet seat while hooking up with a shockingly attractive brunette. The only modicum of defence he offered back then was that she forbid him from using her room—which any sane person would do, Lily said—and Remus was in between flats, and thus occupying his usually empty apartment.
Mary lets herself in thirty seconds later to the faint sound of Sirius' pissing. She rolls her eyes at the bathroom door and offers her friend a wide smile. Lily would have been surprised at the two additional bottles of wine she brought, but she has learned that very few things surpass Mary's avid love for good red wine. Instead, she grabs the patterned reusable bag from her hands – Mary is big on ecology, and Lily respects it and wishes she could be more like her in that aspect.
Mary quickly slips out of her sneakers. "It was discounted," she walks towards the small kitchen where Lily is already putting the wine in the fridge.
"Hey, I'm not complaining." Lily presses extra hard on the fridge door lest it stays open. Sirius promised he would have Remus check it out, though both she and Mary doubt that just because he is studying electrical engineering makes Remus a certified fridge expert. Remus silently agrees with the two of them, but he can always try tightening some screws.
Mary is already reaching for her glass of wine while Lily puts the first bag of popcorn into the microwave. "You were giving me the look."
"The look?"
The toilet flushes, "Hello."
"Ew," is Mary's reaction.
"Missed you, too."
"You didn't wash your hands, you pig."
"The bathroom sink is out of order," he retorts, pushing past the two of them to reach the kitchen sink, which can not fully be described as functional as the pipe needs a solid shove to get it to work. Mary offers him a half-hearted apologetic shrug as the popcorn start going off inside Lily's retro looking microwave, and in return, Sirius sprinkles some water on her before wiping his hands. "Oh, good," he rummages through the food left in the cotton bag. "You bought croissants."
A smirk plays on Mary's lips as she directs her focus on pouring a full glass of wine. "I wouldn't dream of depriving you of your favourite pastry."
"I would marry you," he says, and Lily thinks there is even a dose of sincerity in the statement. "I would," Sirius assures, "if it weren't a crime against humanity. Or at least the female population." Lily leaves and settles down on her comfortable couch. Oftentimes their flirting gets out of hand, and everyone else is destined to feel like a third wheel. It is moments like those when she regrets not having Remus, or even Peter, around. And it is moments like those when she reminds herself to call them both traitors the next time she sees them.
"Who says I would marry you?" Mary asks, and sips on the wine.
Lily can imagine the way Sirius would frown at her apparently offensive question, and if she were participating in their obnoxious flirt fest, she might even feel inclined to remind him that he can not possibly become a model with frown lines all over his face. Only, it would only be half-funny because she found out his secret cosmetic products stash one night, a while ago, when his fairly bigger apartment was used as a movie marathon place and Lily allowed herself to explore the contents of his bathroom. It was impressive, even back then, and could easily rival hers, so she doubts Sirius would be getting wrinkles any time soon.
"No one in their right mind would pass up on marrying me," he says, but Mary decides to put an end to the flirting, much to Lily's relief. It may have had something to do with an imploring look her red haired friend sent her over Sirius' unassuming shoulder that prompted the brunette to join her on the couch.
She sips on her wine, and offers the bottle to Lily who happily pours herself a glass. "Oh, and won't you be a doll and fetch the nachos and the popcorn?" The sweet smile she directs at Sirius informs him that 'no' is not a plausible answer, so he obliges and walks towards the two of them hands full of food. Though there is room on Lily's left and Mary's right, he decides to shimmy in between them.
"Fatass," Lily mutters shifting towards the end of the couch.
"Why do you insist on insulting my ass? I swear this has to be the fourth time you've mentioned it today," the scandalized tone of his voice is dampened by the consequent crunching of nachos as he dips them in salsa and shoves two in his mouth.
Mary tosses the remote over to Lily and, expectedly, takes yet another sip of her wine. The glass in her hand is nearly empty, but the smile on her face is a bit wider. "It's a fine ass, though."
The crunching of nachos speeds up alongside Sirus' jaw movement. He finishes the bite in a record time and smirks, "Oh, is it?"
"You two need to shag already," is all Lily can say, now that she is stuck with the two for the night. "Just not on my bed… or the toilet."
"We can't," they reply in unison.
Prompted by Lily's confused look Mary goes on to explain. "We're building it up, it's fun."
"The longer the flirtation lasts," Sirius dips a nacho in cheese, "the better the sex."
"You two are insane."
Mary sips on her beloved wine as the intro music starts playing. "We're not."
Sirius can do nothing but nod for a while, as he devours yet another pair of nachos. "Besides, you need a shag. You haven't had a single date since… well, as long as I've known you."
"Mhm," the betrayal in the air is palpable as Mary agrees with him.
"Shut up, and watch the movie," Lily mutters, and the conversation is dropped. Though, Lily has to agree, she does not necessarily need a shag but a good ravishing would do her wonders. Or at least an entertaining date. By the second movie she grows annoyed with the two, not only due to their incessant flirting, but for reminding her just how boring her life was. The wine helps, and by the third bottle both Mary and Sirius are finally too focused on the movie to pay attention to one another.
Around five in the morning, Lily wakes up to Mary nudging her. Sirius is awake, and she kisses him on the cheek, in a sleepy drunk stupor then wobbles off to Lily's room where, later on, she inevitably hogs all of the blankets and takes up most of the large bed. After rubbing the sleep from her eyes Lily goes about cleaning the dishes left behind from their crazy night. There is not much, and Sirius helps carry most of it over to the kitchen.
"Do you need help," Sirius asks, and she knows it is not merely out of curtesy, he has helped her a fair amount of times. Once he even washed all of the dishes after she organized a dinner.
There are only a couple bowls, and the three plates they ate pizza off that she absolutely needs to wash, lest they crust over by the morning. The glasses can wait, "I don't think so, no."
He shrugs, stretching a bit, "If you say so." Though he does not leave, instead he hovers around as she finishes up in the kitchen.
"You don't have to keep me company," she means it.
"I want to, plus the bus leaves in fifteen minutes," a tired smirk graces his face. "And I have a feeling that pizza we ate was bad, so I might have to throw up before I go. We're never ordering from that place again."
"You too?"
"My stomach is all," he motions with his hands in a complex manner.
"Yeah, same." Lily says, collapsing onto the couch and reaching for what little wine they had left.
Sirius joins her, and she lets him light a cigarette inside too tired to complain, and not bothered enough to care.
"Just you wait," the smoke escapes his lips as he talks. "When James gets here we'll only ever eat homemade pizza."
"Your imaginary hot friend you want to set me up with?"
"He's not imaginary."
"Whatever you say," she grabs the cigarette, stealing it from his nearly limp fingers.
"He's very real, and can make fantastic pizza," Sirius takes the cigarette back, but not before he burns his palm on the tip of it. "Shit. Anyway, he's an awful cook in general, really, but his mother adores Italian so…"
"He sure does sound too good to be true."
"You're horrible, Lily."
She would smile if she could move a muscle in her face, "Why isn't he here?"
"James?" Lily nods. "He is, uh, a year younger? Well, not really, you two are nearly the same age but they've sent him off to school abroad, for a while, so he fell behind somehow… I'm not sure how the educational system works there, but he is coming to England to study after it. Soon. Very soon," Sirius attempts a wink, but the most he manages is a slow and steady blink.
"You'll miss the bus," her voice is soft, and she knows he has no idea when the bus leaves. Or if there is even a bus at that time of night, or at all.
"I'll sleep on the couch."
"Fine," they both knew this would happen from the moment he sat down. "But you're making breakfast tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am." He salutes but Lily already has her back turned to him and she is shutting the bedroom door. Left alone in the living room, Sirius collapses on the small couch, fully aware of the backache he is risking the next morning.
Lily knows she should not be awake when the smell of something delicious burning is what wakes her the following morning. Her body feels numb, and she doubts she slept longer than a couple of hours, but the smell is there, and it scares her. It takes some time for her to gain full consciousness, and an extra effort for her brain to—on top of waking up on an early Sunday morning—come to a conclusion that ignoring the situation would possibly leave her homeless. She was yet to trust Sirius with her kitchen while she was not around. Groggily, she rolls towards the end of her bed and, quite unceremoniously though no one is there to see it, plops herself on the floor.
Lily sits at the foot of her bed for an added minute, she cannot truly tell how much time she wastes trying to come to completely, but the sirens going off inside her head are still muted by the lack of sleep she got the night before. It is only the absence of sleep-talking Mary in her bed that jolts her back to reality, and stops her from dozing off on the cold floor. It is the apparent disappearance of Mary, who misses most of her early classes because mornings—as she nicely puts it—came from the ninth circle of hell, that forces Lily to get up and abandon all hope for extra sleep.
Her vision goes dark for those uncomfortable five seconds, and she leans against the wall rocking back and forth while her brain regains its power. Then, with much strength needed she opens the bedroom door.
"Oh. My! FUCK!" It is astounding the level of decibel that a tired girl can produce upon being presented with her best friend's half-naked form saddled on top of her other best friend's equally naked body on a Sunday morning.
"You didn't lock the door?!" Sirius screeches at Mary, who is now standing a fair distance away from him.
Lily tosses a piece of cloth—Sirius' t-shirt—at her friend. "You would lock me in my room to shag him" she points an accusatory finger at the man in question, "in my apartment?! And you!" She addresses Sirius, her finger still pointed, quite menacingly at him, "You have seduced her with your… your seducing ways."
"We didn't even do anything," Sirius mutters. "And she came onto me."
"That's not true," Mary says, still covering her naked torso with the shirt. "You've made me pancakes. That was so nice of you."
"I made us all pancakes!"
"I need coffee," Lily sighs, "nice boobs, Mary, but please put the shirt on."
Sirius remains unclothed, which he is more than content with Lily assumes. He must enjoy parading his abs around Mary, who has clearly lost her mind due to lack of sleep, and an abundance of wine.
"You've burnt my pancakes," he sounds less than content. "Or at least, the two in the pan."
Mary shrugs her shoulders, as if she was not the one to start it all. As if she did not wake up minutes before nine in the morning, mouth parched and in need of water, while her stomach grumbled due to the wonderful aroma that filled the entire flat.
And there he stood, in the middle of Lily's tiny kitchen, wearing nothing but his jeans, and baking pancakes for her, at least that is how Mary's brain interpreted it. She could have had an orgasm right then and there, or so she thought. Her sleep deprived, clearly insane form, made its way to the object of her very strong, very untameable desire. He greeted her, voice raspy and a smirk on his lips, and there, suddenly, went all the resolve Mary had ever held in her entire small frame. It disappeared, as if she never had any. If Sirius had been wearing a shirt, the girl would have tugged him down towards her, but—working with what little she had on her hands—she merely lunged herself towards him until he was leaning against the counter and had nowhere to go. Sirius muttered a soft 'ouch', as his hip collided with the counter, and she had him where she wanted him, leaning against the counter. This way, once Mary stood up on her tiptoes she could just barely reach his lips and, with her hands sneaking around his neck, pull him closer. The details of getting to the couch and losing her shirt seemed quite blurry, though she was quite certain they have spent at least ten minutes in the kitchen first.
"She seduced me," Sirius assures Lily, once Mary has left to take a shower. He would joke about it being a cold one, but he is not certain just how pissed Lily is. The toilet seat fiasco had been an accident, but shag attempt on one's prised couch might be a higher offence. It certainly had to be a higher offence, Sirius concluded. "Pancake?" He offers her the blueberry one, and Lily rolls her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she mumbles before taking the first bite.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry," Lily reiterates. She shoves the rest of the pancake in her mouth.
"What for?"
For at least thirty seconds they stand in silence as Lily chews. "That you two did not shag… again."
"Oh," he is sorry too. Probably not as sorry as Mary is, but that could be his ego talking.
"And please go take a shower after her," she says while piling more pancakes onto her plate. Sirius is baffled, and confused, but mostly glad that he will live to see another day. "A cold one." The glance she directs at his crotch, which he thought he hid quite well, is accompanied by a very amused smirk on her lovely, tired face.
"I hate you," he mouths as Mary steps out of the bathroom wrapped in a small towel. "And you, too."
A/N: Uhm, this is very super really new for me so please leave reviews (and if I have a shitton of mistakes, pls let me know bcs I suck and can't proof read it on my own).
Anyway, hope you enjoy?