title: bad blood
word count: 3,747
summary: In which the Bikers and Surfers really don't get along and neither do their Leaders, Lily Evans and James Potter, respectively. But things get to be too much and they decide that compromises need to be made, sooner rather than later. Meanwhile Remus breaks the fourth wall, Sirius wonders why this isn't a musical, Peter's good at heckling, and Frank and Alice make out.
notes: "bad blood" by bastille, also this is very loosely inspired by teen beach movie i am kindofnotreally sorry.

enjoy! :)

BAD BLOOD.

"I heard you were talking shit." Lily Evans sits back on the seat of her motorbike and eyes James Potter, warily. He's sitting in his unnecessarily fancy convertible and she tries not to focus on the sand still all over his neck and bare chest. Doesn't he own a damn shirt?

"Nah, I was just talking about getting a bite to eat." Then he pauses and smirks and runs a hand through his hair in that infuriating way of his and she really wants to run him over with her motorbike (and then have the rest of her gang do the same). "You wanna join us, Evans?"

"No." She says, crisply. "I'm here on official business."

"Official business that I'm sure can be discussed over a burger and fries, yeah?" He inserts, raising an eyebrow, as if challenging her.

Lily tugs at her leather jacket, suddenly feeling cold even though it's a ridiculously warm summer day. She wants to say no, fuck off but the way he's looking at her, all expectantly with messy hair and a slightly sunburnt nose, makes her cave almost immediately. She hesitates for a second because it won't look good, as the leader of the bikers, to appear so easily swayed (especially with the leader of the surfers). "Fine, Potter. But you're paying."

He hops out of the car, not even bothering to actually open the door, and Lily sincerely hopes that pretty mouth of his ends up eating pavement. He then throws an arm around her and winks at her, "Then it's a date."

All she can do is splutter and turn a bright red as he laughs at her and drags her to the beachside restaurant, The Shrieking Shack.

~.~.~.~.~

"Your friends look awfully pissed, Evans." James says, casually, as he stares between the fry in his hand and the milkshake before him, contemplatively.

Lily glances behind her and frowns because Marlene is giving her a look that guarantees a myriad of colorful curses as soon as Lily goes back. Instead Lily eyes the crowd behind James, where Sirius Black has his eyes narrowed at the two of them. "Your friends, too." Lily decides to remind him.

James doesn't even glance back; instead he finally dips the fry in his hand into his milkshake and takes a cautious bite before shrugging. The way his eyebrows furrow ever so slightly makes Lily smile a little. Then she frowns. "Yeah, I know. Surfers and Bikers are rivals, remember? I don't think anyone likes that their leaders are having a date in the middle of The Shrieking Shack." James says, his tone annoyingly casual.

"It's not a date. It's official business." Lily hisses, glaring at him.

"You're saying you wanna make it official?" James asks, looking up at her from underneath the rim of his glasses with a sly little smile.

"I'm saying that we've been trying to get recruits and your people have been scaring him away. And I've found quite a few of your friends on our side of the beach." Lily says, ignoring his comment.

"Same here, actually." James replies, tone suddenly very serious.

She doesn't like the raspy quality it seems to take, so she decides it's really time to wrap it up. Especially when it looks like the occupants of The Shrieking Shack are about to brawl it out at any moment. "Then, fix it, Potter." She says, tightly, before she slides out of the booth. She takes his milkshake with him just to get under his skin. Instead he laughs and gets under her skin.

~.~.~.~.~

"What idiots." Alice says from beside Lily, taking a drag of her cigarette before handing it off to Frank. Lily follows Alice's scowl and has to agree. James Potter was currently flexing his (barely there) muscles for some girls in bikinis and Sirius Black and Remus Lupin seemed to be having a deep conversation (about the waves, no doubt).

Frank eyes it warily, "You know I've got asthma, babe."

Alice blinks for a second, the streak of blue in her short hair catching the light, before she laughs. "You're the coolest biker in town."

Frank smirks and Lily has to roll her eyes because Frank and Alice are the cutest things she's ever seen but Bikers aren't supposed to be cute. And now they were sucking face and she decides it's about time she leaves before they get any further (that's happened before, unfortunately).

Lily makes her way to The Shrieking Shack when she hears someone calling her name. "Evans!" Lily doesn't even bother suppressing her cringe but she still stops for him (because her mother taught her manners).

"Potter." She states. He grins at her and ruffles his hair, his tanned skin glinting in the sun a bit and his square glasses sliding off his nose. His swim trunks sit low on his hips and she feels something flutter at the very pit of her stomach. She figures she's feeling queasy because Potter. Yes, that's it.

"So I've figured out how to fix this whole beach conflict for good." James says and Lily grimaces because he's smirking at her.

"If it has anything to do with trampolines then no. You tried that last time and Frank's mother called the police and Peter didn't stop crying for two hours." Lily reminds him with a stern look.

James rolls his eyes, "That was Sirius's idea. That's why it didn't work."

Lily waits and when James doesn't continue, she crosses her arms, "Okay, what's your plan, then?" She prompts.

He grins, eyes glinting, "Let's brawl it out."

"You're an idiot."

"Or we can start being friends."

Lily blinks once, twice, three times, before she shakes her head. "No way."

"Look. If the leaders are getting along then the rest will follow eventually." James says, with a sigh. "We're not that bad."

Lily looks at him incredulously, "You're constantly surfing."

James grimaces, "And you're constantly wearing black in the middle of summer."

"I don't like you." Lily adds.

"Then let's just pretend. Neither of us want the cops back here again, so let's just…compromise." James says, steadily, and Lily is surprised to see how serious he looks.

"Fine. Okay. But I'm not surfing." Lily mutters.

"That's cool. Let's just hang out, Lily." James exclaims, a little loudly, throwing his arm around her shoulders. Lily elbows him in the ribs and he just laughs, catching the attention of everyone on the beach.

~.~.~.~.~

"Well, this is awkward." Sirius Black says eventually, finally breaking the long and drawn out silence. James doesn't even look fazed, however. He's too busy drawing pictures into the sand with Peter. Are they five year olds?

"I'm going to have to agree." Lily responds. They had literally sat there in silence for maybe five minutes.

"This is the part where the story cuts to The Shrieking Shack." Remus says, matter-of-factly.

Sirius blinks and glances behind him and Lily notices how Bikers and Surfers alike are swarming into the restaurant. "Shit, Remus. You're good." Sirius says with grudging admiration in his tone. Then Sirius tilts his head, "I really hope this isn't a goddamn musical. I hate musicals."

Remus just shrugs, but there's a grin on his face and Lily is utterly confused. "What are you talking about?" Lily asks.

"They're weird, Lily, ignore them." James responds, waving his hand a little.

Lily's about to respond when there's a loud crashing and even louder shouting coming from The Shrieking Shack. Lily immediately gets up, brushing the sand off her bare legs, and runs towards the restaurant.

~.~.~.~.~

Lily sits on her motorbike and tries to look disapproving. "We need to stop fighting." She says, eventually, eyeing each person in front of her, from Alice and Marlene's wild hair and running eyeliner all the way down to petite Dorcas Meadowes and her scowl. Lily doesn't exactly know how she was chosen as the new leader of the Bikers, but when she had found out she was kind of terrified. Bikers had a bad history and she had only joined on a whim and now she was stuck here. All she wanted was for everyone to just get along. She was sick and tired of dealing with the police and broken bones and busted egos, she just wanted to wear leather jackets and leather shorts and combat boots and rev through town on her sleek, black motorbike.

But of course there was the whole problem with the Surfers and usually Lily would have tried to make amends, but when she had found out that James Potter had been chosen as the Surfer's new leader she knew she was fucked. Never in a million years did she think she and Potter would be on the same agenda (and she was correct in her thoughts for a long, long time), but here she was realizing that, for once, they did in fact want the same exact thing. They both wanted peace and friendship and a goddamn free beach.

"We need to stop fighting." She repeats, rubbing her eyes with a tired sigh.

~.~.~.~.~

He's waiting for her at the border between Biker territory and Surfer territory just after sunset. He looks incredibly solemn and she sighs. "Do you finally understand?" He asks, quietly.

She takes in his messy hair and tanned skin and tired expression and she thinks, for once, she and James Potter really, truly understand each other. She nods. "Let's be friends. Real friends. Let's fix this." She says, just as quietly as he had. She sticks out a hand, conscious of the fact that she had just crossed the border.

He takes her hand and shakes it firmly. "Yeah. Let's fix this." He says with a nod. He holds on to her hand for a little longer than necessary and she thinks she should be annoyed but she's not. His hand is strangely comforting.

~.~.~.~.~

Being friends with Potter isn't so bad, she later realizes. He's funny, she'll grudgingly admit, but his friends are entirely too weird (and she strangely likes it).

She's sitting on the beach and it's late out. She can hear the arguments in the Shrieking Shack from all the way out here and she wonders if this rivalry will ever really stop. She's been trying, she really has, but the rivalry between Bikers and Surfers are centuries old and she thinks it'll take lifetimes to fix it.

"Hey." A voice calls to her, nearly getting lost in the sound of the waves. She looks back and smiles slightly. James is wearing blue swim trunks and a grey sweatshirt. "You're missing out on all the fun." James says as he takes a seat beside her.

"Who's drunk?" She asks without taking her eyes off the waves and dark horizon. She's begun to notice that whenever she looks at him, her heart practically flips in her chest. She doesn't think that's healthy in anyway so she's decided she'd rather just not look at James Potter.

"Peter. And he challenged Alice to an arm wrestling match." He says with a chuckle.

"Does he want his arm ripped off?" Lily mutters.

James just laughs and then there's a stretch of comfortable silence before James finally speaks. "It's working, you know. It's slow progress, but still."

"That's good."

"You know, Lily, Bikers aren't that bad." James pauses before adding, "You're not that bad."

Lily's heart flutters in her chest and she feels really warm suddenly. "Surfers aren't that bad either. Except for the whole obsession with surfing thing."

"I could start another turf war over those words." James says with an eye roll.

Lily's glad it's too dark for him to see her face because she's pretty she's blushing like mad as she says her next words, "You're not that bad either."

James grins, "Oh, I know."

She rolls her eyes, "Don't push it."

He just stands up, brushing the sand off him, before holding out a hand for her, his other hand running through his hair. "Come on. Let's go back."

She hesitates for half a second before she takes his outstretched hand, his warm fingers wrapping around her tiny, cold ones. He pulls her along and starts rambling about something Remus had told him, his grip on her hand tightening. She doesn't really complain about it; she likes it.

~.~.~.~.~

She's sitting on her motorbike overlooking the beach when it happens. There's shouting and she can see a crowd forming just at the border between territories (the former border, she has to remind herself). She hurries down and she can't believe her eyes because James is in the middle of it, throwing punches. She recognizes Severus (someone she thought had left the group a long, long time ago) and she forces herself to take a deep breath before she shoves herself into the middle of it all.

The crowd goes silent as soon as they realize that she's there. James just stares at her, expressionlessly. "What the hell is going on?" She asks (shouts).

That's when Severus speaks, from behind her, and his tone is so cold and accusing and she's knows he's here to stir things up. He's never liked the Surfers (particularly James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter) and nothing she would say could change his mind. "Lily. I know you're trying to fix things or whatever, but this isn't going to fucking work."

Lily spins on her heels and looks at him, "Don't fuel this rivalry with your personal problems, Severus."

"So what? Bikers and Surfers will never get along. Are you going to choose the Surfers over your own friends? Are you going to throw everyone away like you did to me not too long ago?" Severus replies in a clipped tone.

Lily flinches because it had become a sort of unspoken agreement between the two of them to never speak of what happened between them ever again. They had fallen apart as best friends and they had both decided they wouldn't speak about it. But his words had seemed to spark a fire in the crowd and Lily could clearly hear the accusations getting louder and louder. Lily looks at James a little helplessly and she hates the blank look in his eyes. "James." She says and she really doesn't know what else to say.

People are shouting and yelling all around her and Severus's cold, dark eyes are still engraved in her thoughts, but all she can do is look at James because she thinks maybe he can help her in some way. But he just shakes his head and looks disappointed.

"Do what you need to do, Evans." He says.

She starts to miss him before he even turns and walks away.

~.~.~.~.~

Sometimes Lily has something to say but when she turns to her side, she realizes the person who'd appreciate her comment isn't there anymore. He's on the other side of the beach, in Surfer territory.

~.~.~.~.~

Lily's upset. She's snappy and annoyed and absolutely sick of the fights. Because they've gotten much, much worse. She sits at one of the booths facing the windows and sighs at how quiet and empty the beach is.

"Lily." She looks up and is surprised to find Sirius Black and Remus Lupin standing at the edge of her table.

"What?" She snaps, frowning at them. She can see Alice eyeing them in suspicion from across from the restaurant and it just makes her angrier. Either they're oblivious or they really don't care because they both slide into the booth across from her.

"You're upset." Sirius says, matter-of-factly.

Lily makes a face. "Yes, I am. And if you keep talking, you'll know exactly how upset I am."

"Just go to the beach tonight, around eight." Remus explains, nudging Sirius in the ribs with his elbow.

Sirius lowers his voice, "You don't think she needs to sing a sad ballad first, do you?"

Remus rolls his eyes, "For the tenth time, this is not a musical, Sirius."

Sirius sighs a little wistfully, "I wish it was."

Lily just watches the two of them argue, slightly confused. Then Remus places a hand flat across the table, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Just go to the beach."

"You two are so weird." She mutters.

Sirius just shrugs, "And you like James. That's weirder."

"No, I don't." She tells him, with a scowl.

"Denial doesn't look cute on you, sweetheart." Sirius replies, raising an eyebrow delicately before pushing Remus out of the booth and out The Shrieking Shack.

~.~.~.~.~

It doesn't take long for Lily to figure out that Sirius Black is correct. She's in denial. It makes her angrier (more resentful).

~.~.~.~.~

Lily's lounging on her motorbike along the very edge of Biker territory, just at the water's edge. It's technically illegal to ride unauthorized vehicles on the beach, let alone near the waterfront, but she doesn't really give two fucks at the moment anyway. Lily stares at the waves, at the dark horizon, and when she's hears a voice call to her, déjà vu makes her insides squirm.

She looks over her shoulder and James is standing there, hands stuffed into his pockets and hair messily swept to the side. He's looking at her with the strangest expression, his shadow casting over her. "What are you doing out here on your bike?" He asks curtly.

"Nothing." She replies, copying his tone. She doesn't feel angry anymore, though. She feels tired and that fluttering feeling in her heart is back full force. Sometimes she forgets to stop being in denial.

He rolls his eyes, "This is illegal."

She just shrugs and she expects him to walk away but he doesn't. Instead he comes closer until he's standing right next to her and she has to stretch her neck up to look at him. She trains her gaze on water before her and tries to calm herself down but it's not working. She can smell him; she can smell James intermingled with the sharp smell of the sea. He doesn't say anything but she knows he's watching her, she can feel it.

Finally, she speaks. Her voice is so quiet; she can barely hear herself speak. "I'm sorry." She says. She doesn't know why she's apologizing.

"Why are you apologizing?" He asks his tone unidentifiable.

"I don't know." She says. She fumbles with edge of her leather skirt.

"I'm sorry, too." James says.

"Why are you apologizing?" She echoes his words back to him.

"Because I shouldn't have put you in that position." He says and he sounds upset. Lily finally lets herself look at him and he looks exhausted. "I shouldn't have put you in a position where you had to choose. That was fucked up."

"Well, that's Severus for you." She scoffs.

He laughs a little, "I don't understand what you saw in him."

She smiles and she wonders if she looks sad. Sometimes she still feels sad about it. "You don't need to understand."

James runs his fingers through his hair, ruffling it, "You know, maybe he was right. Maybe Bikers and Surfers were never meant to get along. Maybe we'll always have to choose sides."

"Maybe." Lily mutters and she wonders why exactly her heart feels so heavy. She watches him, the line of his jaw, the way lips are turned downwards in a slight frown, the furrow of his eyebrows, and wonders if this is the last time they'll ever really speak to each other like this. She wonders if they'll give up before they even started.

His eyes meet hers and the defiance in them shocks her. It shocks the resignation right out of her. She doesn't know what to do, though, when he leans so, so close. She could count his eyelashes if she wanted to. She blinks rapidly and he smirks, pleasantly. "Too bad I don't want to choose sides anymore. What about you?" He breathes and Lily nearly forgets how to breathe.

She clutches the seat of her motorbike and tries to formulate words but she can't. "I. Um. Yes?" Lily stutters, completely distracted by the fact that his lips are getting closer and closer. She tears her eyes away from that frankly offensive part of his face and focuses instead on his hazel eyes, but moments later she can't help but glance back down.

She hears him chuckle and he's just hovering right there, barely a hairsbreadth away. The fluttering in her chest suddenly becomes loud beating and she feels so warm. She grimaces and manages to hiss out a fuck this before she closes the distance between them, effectively capturing his open mouth in hers. His lips are soft and lovely and they send electric shocks through her spine and all the way down to the very tips of her toes. He caresses her face, gently, pushing her back onto her motorbike and she lets her fingers tangle through his hair, tugging him closer. She's lost in his lips, in his touch, and she doesn't know how long they stay like that, giving and taking, on her motorbike along the waterfront under the stars.

She pulls away from him first, gasping for breath (of course he can hold his breath longer than her, goddamn Surfers) and he just grins at her, eyes twinkling. "I change my mind about motorbikes." He says, patting her bike gently, "They're fun to make out on."

She grimaces at him and he laughs, softly. He's still so close to her, his forehead nearly touching hers. "You're right." She replies a little sarcastically. "You can't even make out on a surfboard."

He just smirks that smirk. "Yeah, you can. I'll have to show you one day."

She can't help but giggle, feeling a little giddy. She opens her mouth to respond when a loud horn interrupts. She jumps, nearly smacking her nose into James's forehead, and squints up the beach. There's a crowd gathered beside The Shrieking Shack and then she hears a voice blaring through a megaphone, "Stop doing dirty things on the beach after dark! That's illegal!" She's pretty sure it's Peter. Lily can vaguely make out Remus, Sirius, and Alice beside him.

"Let's kill them later." Lily murmurs.

"Surfboards are good for carrying dead bodies." He responds, nodding.

Then he pulls her in for another kiss, nibbling on her bottom lip softly, and she sighs into his mouth.

Maybe James Potter is right. They don't need to choose.

Maybe Lily will be alright.

a/n: I think I rushed it near the end welppp but here you go! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you for reading, I love every single one of you /smooches/

reviews are puppies and snow and someone to kiss under the mistletoe and a very merry christmas/happy holidays! :*

xo