Christmas morning arrives with little fanfare. There's a heavy sheet of snow outside when James finally manages to pull himself into consciousness. He does it slowly, the warm weight of Lily against his back, and Sirius' bony shoulder digging into his cheek make a good argument for dragging him back under.

Sirius shifts beside him, stretching out with a yawn and narrowly avoiding clipping James in the head with his hand. He looks down at James' grumbling and smiles tiredly. "Mornin'."

"Morning." James parrots, mouth dry and cloying. He clears his throat and winces. "Time is't?"

"Too early for whatever you're planning." Sirius says, but he leans over to grab his phone from the nightstand anyway. It gives James a good look at the tattoo on his ribs, and he slides his hand up so he can trace over the lines of it with his fingers. He smiles at the way Sirius' skin jumps under his fingertips. "Having fun?" Sirius asks, glancing over his shoulder with raised eyebrows and a slight smile.

"Always." James promises, pressing a kiss to Sirius' ribs, before stretching out. Lily grumbles about it but relaxes her hold on him enough for him to sit up. "Time?" He says, poking Sirius in the arm.

Sirius swats at him. "Just gone eight."

Lily lets out a long, frustrated groan behind him and slowly sits up enough to rest her weight on her palms. Her hair is a mess, tangled strands hanging in her face, and she lets James push them out of the way with what can only be described as a pout. "S'too early."

"Even for Christmas?" Sirius asks with a grin.

Lily's eyes widen, and a smile breaks out almost immediately. "Christmas! Get up, get up, get up!" She says, grabbing at James' arm and pulling at him until he reluctantly stumbles free of the duvet.

It's cold outside the bed, and he internally curses the fact he's only wearing pyjama bottoms. He pads over to the armchair in the corner and rescues the jumper he'd discarded over the back of it, ignoring the way Sirius is sniggering at him. Once he's managed to find his glasses – on top of the chest of drawers and out of the way of any potentially flailing limbs – he turns to find Lily tugging uselessly at Sirius' arm.

"C'mooooon." She grunts, digging her heels in and pulling. It does nothing other than make her feet slip over the carpet and she huffs, letting her arms fall back down to her sides. "Sirius."

"Evans." He says. There's a smile playing at the corners of his mouth and his hair is falling into his face. It softens the edges of him, makes him seem a lot less angry at the world.

James sighs, a tad overdramatically, even for him. "I'm making breakfast." He announces, bending to pick up a pair of mismatched socks off the floor before leaving. He shoves them on his feet, wiggles his toes, and gives them one last look as he closes the door behind him. He hears Lily yelp, and then break out into giggles and it makes him smile.

The kitchen is a huge modern monstrosity, so startlingly white and shiny that it makes James feel like he's managed to step into every interior decorating magazine his mum's ever collected. He heads for the fridge, snorting at the abundance of food they had managed to fit in it. It's a real-life version of Tetris, if ever he's seen one. The sound of bare feet hitting tile has him turning his head and smiling when Lily's chin hooks over his shoulder, her arms wrapping around his waist.

"Did you win?" He asks, feeling more than hearing her resounding huff of laughter.

"Only on the promise of coffee." She says, giving his waist a squeeze before reluctantly pulling away. She walks over to the coffee machine, pulling her hair into an attempt at a ponytail as she goes. She turns it on and then leans her hip against the counter, arms crossed over her chest. "What are we having?"

James frowns and looks back at the fridge. "Fry up?" He's still holding the door open and he purses his lips when the chill finally bites into the tips of his fingertips.

"Sounds good to me." Lily says. "Someone's not going to have a choice if he doesn't get up soon." She calls out, mischievous grin firmly in place. She winks at James when he glances over, his own lips twitching.

"I'm awake, what more do you want?" Sirius calls back, but his voice is a lot closer than it would be if he were still in bed. A few seconds later his head appears around the doorframe, a fisted hand rubbing at his eyes. "You're both evil."

James starts pulling the needed ingredients from the shelves and dumping them on the counter beside him. He feels a hand trail across his lower back and looks up in time to see Sirius virtually collapse into Lily's outstretched arms, head burying into her shoulder. She lifts a hand to stroke through his hair and meets James' eye, grin gentling into a soft smile.

"I love you." Lily murmurs, quietly enough that James knows it's not meant for his ears. He lets the fridge door swing shut and starts digging through nearby cupboards for a frying pan.

The smell of roast pork wafting through to the living room is enough to make his stomach rumble. Sirius, who has his head resting against James' ribs, snorts.

"You just ate." He says, reaching up to poke James in the belly. "How can you be hungry again already?"

"Greedy gannet, you are." Lily says, wandering back into the room. She's got a bottle of… something. James can't read the label from this far away. "That's what my mum would call you, anyway."

James shifts out of the way so she can sit back down and then rests his feet on her thighs. "She would never. Your mum loves me."

"Misguided is what she is." Sirius mutters, unable to avoid the fingers James dig into his ribs. He grunts, and then clamps a hand over James', pinning him in place. "I think we might all be."

"That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." James says with a theatrical gasp. He thumps their joined hands to his chest and grins at Sirius' eyeroll. "You hear that? Sirius loves me."

Lily hums, choosing to pop the bottle open and taking a drag instead of actually answering. When she's put the bottle back on the carpet by her feet, she looks over at the tree and then back at them. "Presents?"

"Impatient." Sirius says, lazily tracing patterns into the skin of James' wrist. He sees the way she's looking at them and sighs. "Alright, Evans."

"Yes!" She crows, pushing off the sofa and virtually leaping over the coffee table to reach the tree. She pays no notice to James' complaints about the treatment of his feet, and frowns at them when they don't move fast enough for her liking. "C'mon."

James starts laughing, unable to stop himself. There's a blanket thrown over the back of the back of the sofa, its tassels tickling against his neck as his shoulders shake. He shoves at it, sighing when he hears it start sliding towards the floor.

Sirius sits up, every movement a very clear broadcast of how much he doesn't want to. He rubs a hand over his face and then uses the same hand to try and fix his hair.

"I'm gonna start opening them without you." Lily warns. She's on her knees, arm shoved under the lowest branches until the only part left visible is her shoulder.

"What are you even doing?" Sirius asks, swinging his feet to the floor. He still doesn't look like he's in any particular hurry to get up, almost melting into the comforting hand James runs down his back.

"I'm trying," Lily says, almost losing her balance and falling face first into the tree, "to find… the, ah-" She cuts herself off with a victorious cheer. They'd spent an hour last night checking the fairy lights work, and it was worth it because they spring to life immediately. The room turns a soft yellow, the light dancing over Lily's hair. "That. That's what I was doing."

Sirius smiles, the angles of his face softened by the lights. James leans forwards enough to kiss him on the cheek and uses the momentum to clamber to his feet. He holds out a hand and helps pull Sirius to his feet as well.

"C'mon then. Let's get this started." He says, stroking Sirius' cheekbone with the backs of his knuckles. He matches Sirius' gentle smile with one of his own. "Before she starts throwing decorations at us."

"I would not." Lily protests. She's escaped the tree and is sitting cross-legged in front of it, her knees bouncing in excitement. "Do you have any idea how much some of these cost?"

James huffs through his nose. "Typical. Your concern for our hypothetical wellbeing is noted." He lets Sirius go when he starts wandering in Lily's direction.

"Oh, please." Lily grins, mischievous and full of trouble. God, but James loves her. "I know you'd survive the ordeal – your head's certainly hard enough."

"I wouldn't advise it." Sirius sinks down beside her, pulling a present towards himself and looking at the tag. "You might kill off his last two working brain cells."

The rest of the morning passes without much incident – an impressive feat given that they manage to work their way through two bottles of wine between them over lunch. Even more impressive when considering that James had only tried to light the fire after his third glass and had virtually no idea of what he was doing.

"We're both very proud." His mum says when he phones her just after they've finished clearing up. Her voice is wry, and he can very clearly hear the laugh she's trying to hide. "The fact you haven't burnt the place down yet is a testament to your skills."

"Thanks." He says sarcastically. "I didn't phone you to be bullied, you know. I get enough of that with these two." He jerks his chin at Lily and Sirius, who are curled up on the sofa together, even though his mum can't see them. Lily's wearing the new jumper her mother had bought for her, and Sirius is trying to read one of the books James had received upside down.

At James' statement, Sirius lowers the book, so he can tilt his head back and look at him. "That Mum?" He asks quietly.

James nods, fighting a smile when Sirius holds out an impatient hand. "Your other son wants to talk to you."

"Ooooh, hand him over." Euphemia says. "I miss my boy."

"Sometimes I'm convinced you've forgotten which one of us you actually carried around for nine months." He says drily, padding across the floor so he can hand the phone over anyway. "It's me, by the way. Just in case you have."

Euphemia snorts. "Yes, but I'm stuck with you; you're mine whether I like it or not. I chose Sirius."

"Gee, thanks." James holds out the phone to Sirius with a wink. "Alright, bye." He calls as Sirius holds the phone up to his ear.

"Hello, Mum."

James shakes his head and then wanders back out towards the kitchen. He flicks the kettle on to boil and leans against the counter, so he can look out the window. The fields beyond are covered in untouched snow, as far as the eye can see. It's not snowing anymore, but the sky suggests it'll pick back up later. He watches a robin land on the windowsill, its tiny feet barely making an indent in the snow as it hops about. It startles and flies off when Lily appears in the reflection behind him. Her hands are shoved into the pockets of her pyjamas.

"You okay?" She asks, voice soft. She walks over to him slowly, wrapping her arms around his waist and snuggling into him when he makes no move to stop her. He loops his arms around her neck and pulls her closer, resting his cheek against her hair.

"Of course." He says, frowning slightly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know." She says into his t-shirt. "Just… it'd be okay if you weren't."

James lets out a sigh, shoulders slumping. "I'm fine." He promises, and he means it, whether anyone else believes him or not. He wouldn't deny Sirius anything, let alone loving parents who actually want him around, and he knows that Sirius knows that. Which is all that matters, really. The kettle boils over and Lily lets him go long enough for him to go through the motions of making a cup of tea. "You want one?"

"Please." She says. And here's the wonderful part, the bit James loves the absolute most out of all of her wonderful parts: she lets it go. She reaches into the cupboard and pulls out three mugs without question. She has to stand on her tiptoes to reach, and pulls a face when he laughs at her.

"You're a good'un, Lily Evans." He says.

She smiles at him, beautiful and brilliant. "You're not so bad yourself, James Fleamont Potter." She laughs at his longsuffering groan and leans up to kiss him, smiling into his mouth.

"So how was your first proper Christmas?" James asks, hours later when they've cleaned up as much as any of them are willing to. There's a black bag full of wrapping paper in his peripheral vision, and the smell of Fairy sits in his nose. "As good as you hoped?"

"I wasn't 'hoping' for anything." Sirius says. He's on the floor in front of Lily, letting her play with his hair however she likes. He looks up from the book he's reading – to no one's surprise he's almost finished it already, even though it's as thick as a brick. He smirks a little when he meets James' eye. "But it was alright."

"Enough to do it again?" Lily's voice is muffled because of the hairband she has clenched between her teeth. She's got Sirius' hair in a loose plait and takes the hairband out of her mouth to wrap around the end. "Not that you have much choice, really. You're kind of stuck with us."

James taps the remote control against his thigh as he finally finds a channel to settle on. Soft music pours from the speakers dotted around the room. "Well, that and Christmas comes this time each year." He says in time with the song. He laughs when two hands reach out to smack him.

"I'm never going to love it." Sirius says eventually. He rubs a hand over Lily's knee and attempts to pat James', although he misses his mark and ends up swatting him on the shin. "I don't think I can. But… this was good. What we did today… was good,"

Lily bends over so that she can press her forehead to the crown of Sirius' head. "I love you."

"Think about it this way." James teases, reaching out to wrap his hand around the back of Sirius' neck. "More food for us."

"Hey!" Sirius says, head shooting up and dislodging Lily. She doesn't seem to mind, smoothing a hand over his shoulder instead. "I didn't say anything about disliking the food."

"Christmas loving privileges only, sorry." He says, squeezing gently.

Sirius gets to his feet slowly, grunting when various joints pop back into place. He stands in front of James, and just looks at him for a moment, as if he has his very soul laid out in front of him. If James is being honest with himself, he does. He bends down, and takes James' face between his palms, still just looking. "What if I love you? What does that get me?"

Everything, is the immediate answer on James' tongue. He doesn't say it, because his mouth has gone dry and he has to swallow a few times before he can speak again. "We might be able to make some arrangements."

"Oh, good." Sirius murmurs, leaning in to kiss him. "Lucky that I love you then, huh?"

Lucky indeed.