A/N: Beater 2 for the wasps. My prompts were "burst" "overwhelmed" and "I've never felt this way before". I had to demonstrate an emotion which is revealed at the end.
"Prongs, you ready?" Sirius asked, grinning from ear to ear. He was always giddy whenever they were about to pop balloons.
"All systems go," James said, winking and giving Sirius a thumbs up.
"Let's do this!" Sirius cried, thumping his chest like Tarzan.
James laughed. Simultaneously, the two of them chanted the magic words, "Balloona confettio!"
The balloons instantly burst, confetti trailing out from inside.
"IT'S A PAR-TAY!" Sirius exclaimed.
The two boys jumped around, cheering, doing their best to make sure every student in all of Hogwarts knew they had successfully turned balloons into confetti.
"POTTER! BLACK!" McGonagall shrieks, coming into the hallway, having heard the voice of two boys she did not want to hear screaming. "To my office, now!"
Sirius and James grinned a each other.
"I'm going to end up with more detentions than you," Sirius challenged.
"No way, I get on her nerves so much faster."
"You're kidding, right?"
"If Remus stayed for the break, then he'd definitely have more detentions. Because of bad luck."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yet, I'd still get more than you."
"BOYS!"
.oOo.
"So I got more than you."
"Forget it, Padfoot, I wasn't going to remove her clothes, and that's the only way I could've bettered you."
Sirius laughed again.
"Oh Merlin...look at her," James muttered, looking directly in front of him.
"Who? Evans?" Sirius asked, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, woah!"
"Isn't she hot?"
Sirius rolled his eyes again. "No, Prongs. I don't think she's hot, but I'm sure you do, and that she'd be the perfect Prongsette."
"Do you really think so?" James gushed.
"No, you just forced me to memorize that line so that you won't give Snivellus and me a love potion." Sirius remembered feeling overwhelmed at the time because of the need to memorize two, long sentences.
James didn't have time to deny Sirius' comment, for Lily was in awfully close proximity.
James sniffed her hair.
"Potter! What on Earth are you doing?" Lily screamed, looking disturbed. "Stop sniffing my hair."
James stopped. "Lily Evans, you're the reason cheese tastes good. I do like cheese."
Sirius held in a snicker. By "held in a snicker", it is meant that he burst into laughter.
Lily blinked. "I'm glad you like your cheese, Potter. Now if you'll let me..."
"Will you go out with me? You rock my pants."
Sirius guffawed. "And you rock my hair."
"Padfoot," James hissed, as if Lily wouldn't be able to hear him scolding Sirius if he hissed.
"No, Potter, I'm not going out with you. Goodbye. And I hate cheese."
Lily stomped off, making a dignified exit.
James glared at Sirius. "This is all your fault."
Sirius doesn't understand why it's his fault, but he's smart and knows not to argue when James is mad.
"My fault? You're the one with the cheesy pickup line!"
Or not.
.oOo.
"Black! I need to talk to you."
"Regulus!" Sirius called. "A female needs to—" Sirius turned around and noticed Lily. "Ah, hi, you rang?"
Lily was confused. "Why'd you think I was referring to your brother?"
"Long story," Sirius said. "What'd you need, Evans?"
"Well-"
"-Oh, and Evans, you should go out with James."
Lily blinked. "Where'd that come from?"
"So...yes?"
"No! Okay, but I was gonna ask you to stop giving James stupid pickup lines."
"What makes you think I made them up?" Sirius asked, looking offended.
"Who else would come up with them?"
"I dunno...maybe...POTTER?"
"No way," Lily said.
"Well, deal with it. Because he did," Sirius said.
Sirius should have known that James would be mad at him for lying to Lily and completely ruining his chances.
.oOo.
Sirius and James always got over fights quickly and the past one was no exception. In fact, Sirius fully believed that they would always be friends. No matter what may come, James was the one constant in his life.
They would always prank together. They would always be able to read each other's minds.
And Sirius would make sure that James got the one thing he had always wanted. He would make Lily love him. It was the least he could do.
It was a breezy day, and Sirius knew, from the amount of times he was forced to stalk Lily, that she would be sitting by the Black Lake. He hurried to the lake.
Lily was, quite surprisingly, pleased to see him.
"Hey, Black," she said. "What brings you here?"
Sirius did not want to ruin this civility between them, but he still really needed her to say 'yes' to James. So he decided to tread this delicate topic as carefully as possible.
"So...you and James..." Sirius mentally cheered. He decided that he was very subtle.
Lily didn't seem to think so. In fact, she wasn't looking at Sirius. She was staring into the lake.
"So...er..." Sirius followed Lily's gaze. "James really likes you. I think you should like him too."
Lily nodded. "I know."
"And so you should really go out - wait," Sirius broke off, blinking. "You know?"
Lily nodded. "Yeah. You know, he's become so much more mature, especially with all the responsibility."
Sirius couldn't believe his ears. "You think?"
"Yeah...I don't know, Black, he's so much more charming now. I really like him."
"So...why don't you go on a date with him? He loves you, you like him...everything's perfect."
"Because it's just such a constant: me hating James," Lily said. "I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't."
"Er...if you didn't hate him, then you date him. See, Evans, it even rhymes - this is fate."
Lily laughed. "Okay."
Sirius widened his eyes. "I'm going to tell Prongs! He's going to blow up the school by accident! Oh, this is great!"
Lily laughed harder at Sirius' excitement.
.oOo.
"Prongs, wake up," Sirius called. "Prongs?"
Sirius walked over to James' bed. James was not there.
"James!"
Sirius ran downstairs.
"James! James!" He continued to call as he ran through the halls.
He eventually found James in the Great Hall, eating breakfast with Lily.
"James!"
"What, Sirius?" James asked, sounding a little annoyed.
"I was looking for you. You weren't in bed."
"Yeah...because I was here with my darling Lily."
James kissed Lily as if to prove a point.
"Weren't we supposed to plan our spring prank today?"
"Sirius," James said, looking stern. "We're not going to plan the prank. Because there isn't going to be a prank. I'm not pranking anymore."
"Yeah, okay."
Sirius had no way to explain how he was feeling.
.oOo.
Sirius walked into his dormitory. He saw James doing homework.
"You must be bored," Sirius said. "Because you never do homework."
"What do you want, Sirius?" James asked, looking up.
"Our prank," Sirius said, as if his and James' exchange had never occurred.
"But..." James closed his book. "Sirius, I don't know how to tell you this. I'm done with pranking. I'm with Lily now."
Sirius was having trouble understanding. But something told him that this denial was not going to make James plan the prank with him.
.oOo.
A whole month had gone by and James still was not pranking. Nor was he in bed anymore. Nor did he ever eat with Sirius. He was always with Lily.
Sirius realized that they were growing apart. And he did not like it one bit.
He walked into the Common Room and saw James and Lily snogging.
Sirius groaned.
James broke off from Lily.
"Padfoot! Been waiting for you."
"Yeah, I'll bet you were," Sirius sneered. "Bet you're having a lot of fun, aren't you?"
"No, really, Sirius, we were-"
"Just leave it, Potter."
"Sirius!"
"Shut it. You - just - go back to snogging Lily."
James glared at Sirius, who glared back. Eventually, Sirius shook his head and walked out of the Common Room.
It did not occur to him that James actually wanted to eat breakfast with him.
.oOo.
"Evans."
Lily turned around. "Black."
"You need to stay away from Potter."
"Why? I thought you didn't like him."
"It's, just, well," Sirius looked down. "I've never felt this way before. It's almost like he's forgotten me."
Lily gave a wry smile. "I get it, Black. But I love James, I can't just drop him because you said to."
"Please, Evans. I'll do anything."
"No," Lily said with finality. "You have to deal with this without forcing me out of the way. Just think, Sirius. What kind of friend are you if you don't want James to be happy because you're unhappy?"
Lily turned back around, while Sirius was left to mull over these thoughts.
He really was selfish.
.oOo.
Sirius laid down on his bed. There was nothing he could do to get James back.
He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around.
"What?"
"Sirius?"
"James," Sirius said, sitting up. "What did you need? A condom?"
"Sirius, I just wanted to talk. You've been rather down lately."
"So now you wanted to talk."
"Sirius. Just hear me out. I'm really sorry." James looked sincere. "Please, I want you to be there with Lily and I. I haven't done a good job managing my time, I'll be the first to admit it. But you're my best friend. And nothing, not even the best girl in the world, can ruin it. Please, Padfoot, when you're ready, come down and eat with us."
Sirius heard the door shut.
.oOo.
"And I was thrilled when James asked me to be his best man. He's the best friend anybody can ask for. I wish him and Lily the best of luck, I know they'll be a happy couple."
Sirius bowed at the end of his speech, grinning at James at the same time.
Because they were best friends and nothing could ever come in the way.
THE END
A/N: the word I used was grief. Sirius went through the stages of grief when James "left" him for Lily.