A/N: Honestly, I was just feeling the fluff, and I couldn't help myself. Hope you enjoy! (Also, despite the title, this is only fluff. I repeat, this is not an actual lemon).
FOR QLFC - ROUND 6
Team: Puddlemere United
Chaser 3: James/Lily (with Chaser 2: Regulus/James and Beater 1: Lily/Hermione)
Optional prompts: Word: Virtual, Emotion: Surprise, Colour: Lemon
WC: 2,710
Betas: Ash Juillet, bea writes (I can't thank you enough!)
WARNINGS: I'm not entirely sure if this is worth warning, but just in case, this is a Lockdown!AU. Consider yourselves warned :) Oh, and also, very, very minor swearing.
~~ Lemons and Coffee ~~
You'd think Lily's day couldn't get any worse.
A national bloody lockdown had just been announced, which was just wonderful. She'd stepped in dog poop on her last day out before confinement in her tiny flat for the next couple of weeks. The barista had gotten her order wrong, and they'd even managed to spell her name with an 'h'. Her name was Lily, for goodness' sake! How did one manage to spell her name wrong?
And then, as if her day wasn't terrible enough, someone just had to bump into her just as she was heading out of the coffee shop, successfully spilling her drink all over her shirt.
It's a real shame too because she was wearing one of her favourite shirts today. It was a bright lemon-yellow, an unusual colour, but it went well with her hair—and Lord knows very few things did; it was quite the curse of being a redhead.
"Oh, my god, I'm so sorry," the person exclaimed.
Lily huffed, fishing in her bag for a tissue to wipe the mess away. "It's fine, don't worry about it," she said even though she didn't mean it; she just wanted the whole incident to be over with.
"No, really. Let me make it up to you."
She sighed but finally looked up at the person. Needless to say, she was more than surprised to see a quite good-looking man looking quite helpless as she scrubbed furiously at her shirt, hoping the coffee didn't stain even though she knew it had. He had messy black hair and eyes the colour of her now-spilled coffee.
"Here, I'll give you my number. Just, call me or something." The man pressed a number in her hand, and Lily was quite tempted to refuse to take his card. However, she could very well imagine her best friend, Marlene, screaming at her to take his card and live out her very own Notting Hill fantasy.
"Thank you," she said with a small smile, but quickly hurried away. She wasn't sure she was ever going to call the number, but then again, surprises were always in store.
As expected, Marlene was absolutely over-excited by the idea that Lily had met her very own Hugh Grant, despite the fact that Lily argued that they looked nothing the same (well, maybe apart from the smile) and that the situation had been completely different (she definitely was no super-famous actress).
Lily managed not to text the mystery man—James Potter according to his business card—for quite a few days. However, the fact that she was in lockdown with a person who asked her two to three to seven times a day if she had texted him yet finally made her crack.
"Lillllllyyyyy, have you texted him yet?" Marlene asked one evening while they were binge-watching a show.
"No, I haven't," Lily replied yet again. It was now the eighth time Marlene had asked her that.
Lily wasn't paying any attention to the television. Instead, she was on her phone, James Potter's number already typed out and ready to be messaged.
"But you should!" Marlene insisted.
"I don't see why," Lily retorted just as she was typing out a word.
"Lily! He could be the love of your life."
Lily hit send. "The odds of that are very unlikely."
"Just send him one little message!" Marlene begged.
"Oh, just watch the show, Marlene."
Her best friend pouted for a bit after this dismissal but quickly got over it when Lily offered to fill the bowl of popcorn (which was usually Marlene's job). They watched the show until far too late, but then again, it was a Friday evening and there was literally nothing better to do. They couldn't exactly go out, could they? Marlene passed out shortly after midnight, but Lily stayed awake, the sound of the television very faint in the background.
Lily Evans: Hi! I'm the person you spilled coffee all over last Tuesday
That was what she had sent three hours ago, but there was still no reply. A sort of excited trepidation filled her as she wondered whether or not he was ever going to answer her. Maybe it was all a prank, and he'd given her someone else's number. But he looked so genuine.
Just as her eyes were about to give way to sleep, her phone buzzed softly.
James Potter: Hi there! I'm glad to see you messaged me. I was starting to think you wouldn't.
Lily smiled a little and stretched out on the couch.
Lily Evans: My best friend may have bullied me into doing it.
James Potter: I like your best friend, how would I have ever made it up to you if you never texted?
Lily Evans: Really, there's no need for that…
James Potter: No, no, I insist! I'd offer to buy you a coffee, but with the current situation, I suppose it would have to wait quite some time…
Lily laughed this time.
Lily Evans: I guess you do owe me at least a coffee, if not two. That was my favourite shirt you know.
James Potter: aaah
James Potter: shit
James Potter: Definitely worth more than one coffee.
Well, she definitely wasn't going to tell him that the shirt was actually completely fine, nothing a bit of dry-cleaning couldn't easily fix, but she was going to make him pay for the (very minor) emotional distress the whole incident had put her through.
They texted throughout the next hour, maybe more, Lily wasn't too sure. Turned out he was very easy to talk through even through messages, and he didn't seem to mind the obnoxiously late hour.
"So, did you text him?" Marlene asked.
"Marlene, I swear if you ask one more time, I will burn his card," Lily promised. She wasn't quite entirely sure why she hadn't told Marlene she had indeed texted him, but now was not the time to tell her.
"You wouldn't do that!" Marlene gasped.
"Watch me," Lily promised.
She suddenly had a feeling Marlene was going to take a picture, photograph, and rewrite the card, just to be sure her best friend could still send a message to her personal Hugh Grant.
However, she didn't have much time to think about it as her virtual meeting was about to start. She logged onto the meeting, relieved to see that she wasn't the first (but not the last) there. It went pretty uneventfully. She worked for a pretty large company that specialised in beauty products.
Lily herself was supposed to make the link between the experimenters and the direction, meaning she was often at big meetings and also sometimes met possible investors of the company, trying to showcase all of the things they were coming up with.
"Ms Evans?" her boss called out towards the end of the meeting. "Could you please stay a few more minutes."
Lily tried not to sigh. She loved her job, she truly did. But three weeks into lockdown, she was already sick of all of these virtual meetings. Marlene was working on her next comic book and thankfully, didn't know the pain of all of these virtual meetings.
Thankfully, she had found someone to complain to in her text friend, James Potter, who seemed to be wrapped in just about as many meetings as her. He was also quarantining alone, which made him quite desperate to talk to someone. He was often calling his friends, but she could tell he was a very sociable person who lived for parties and gatherings. Sometimes, she wondered if she wasn't going to suggest that they call.
"Of course, madam," Lily replied as she watched her colleagues log off.
When it was just the two of them, her boss smiled. "So, I was going to have a meeting with one of the important investors, but unfortunately, I have another meeting with my superior at the same time. You've been doing some really good work lately, so I thought maybe you could handle it?"
Lily nodded. "Of course, Mrs McGonagall."
"Good," she replied. "And maybe there'll be a promotion sometime soon."
They said goodbye to one another and ended the meeting. Lily was positively buzzing. A promotion? Now? In lockdown? This was absolutely amazing! Lily desperately wanted to tell someone, but Marlene had been in 'the zone' for the last couple of days (it was a so-called moment when the inspiration flowed better and absolutely no one could bother her, but Lily truly believed it was just her excuse to bite people's heads off.)
Therefore, she couldn't speak to her. However, there was someone at the other end of her phone who would be delighted to hear of her success.
Lily Evans: I think I might be getting a promotion soon!
He responded almost instantaneously. Maybe he too was in an extremely boring virtual meeting and pretending he wasn't actually on his phone.
James Potter: Really? That's great!
Lily Evans: I'm so excited! My boss said if I did good with this meeting with an investor, I was most likely to be promoted
James Potter: Well, best of luck for your meeting! I'll do my best to be around to text-support you.
Lily was grinning. They'd grown really close over the phone. Some part of her was screaming things like INTERNET SAFETY, but then again, she figured he was pretty trustworthy. After all, he'd told her he still had a stag plushie to sleep with. A stag plushie. Honestly, she didn't even know they existed.
Lily Evans: Thank you!
As it turned out, the world simply hated her.
It was the bloody lockdown. People had literally nowhere to go, no alarm clocks in the morning to wake up, no nothing! And yet, the meeting that was probably going to get her a promotion was at bloody eight in the morning.
The world just hated her like that.
She therefore but the goddamn alarm clock at seven, did her best not to wake up Marlene who was sleeping on the sofa (she was now out of 'the zone' and spent her days lazing around on that sofa until inspiration hit again), made herself the strongest coffee she'd ever made, and tried to get ready.
After a shower, two more cups of coffee and a touch of makeup, she felt significantly more human. Lily took the time to send a small text to James, but there was no answer as she sat down at her desk and pulled the link for the virtual meeting up.
Lily Evans: Hey, my meeting is about to start! I'm kinda nervous...
It didn't really surprise her, after all. Just like her, James was a night owl, and any time before 9:30 was just an abomination. And, they may or may not have been up till two in the morning just texting once again, so it was only natural he didn't reply.
Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Lily clicked on the link and the virtual meeting opened up. However, it was just her for the moment. She stared at her face on the other side of the screen and started to panic slightly.
Had she gotten the time wrong? Was the link wrong? Maybe she was late? Or maybe early?
Suddenly, her phone buzzed next to her.
James Potter: aaaah my alrm didnt ring this moring! Im goin gto bz soo late!
James Potter: Gpof lucghk!
James Potter: *good luck
Lily smiled as she saw his message, and hoped he wasn't going to be too late either… Missing your alarm clock was just the worst.
However, she had other things to deal with as she saw someone was trying to connect to the virtual meeting. Lily readied herself. It was only one meeting; everything was going to be okay. She was going to be fabulous, and then she would get that promotion, and she and Marlene could move into a bigger flat, and her mum could get into a nicer retirement home.
The other person's video came on.
Lily could barely believe her eyes.
There, at the other end of her virtual meeting, was none other than James Potter. She thought she was dreaming, but even the small name under his video confirmed it. James Potter. Her mouth dropped open in shock, and she couldn't utter a single word. McGonagall hadn't told her the name of the investor, and she hadn't checked, but this, this was a surprise.
And, to top it all, his background was lemons.
Literally, just lemons and lemons and lemons. It was really confusing, and it seemed like he hadn't noticed it yet because he hadn't done anything to change it. He looked quite tired, and his hair was all mussed as if he hadn't had the time to brush it yet. But given his messages, it made sense.
"Good morning," he said with a barely contained yawn. "Sorry I'm late. My alarm didn't go off."
Clearly, he hadn't noticed it was her. "James!" she exclaimed.
"Hmm, yes?" he replied sleepily.
"It's me, Lily!"
This caught his attention, and suddenly, he was looking at her completely. Shock completely covered his face (which did make him look quite cute, she had to admit) and he too seemed to have trouble speaking.
"Lily, Lily Evans?" he asked.
"Yes! It's me!" She burst out laughing at his even more shocked face.
"Oh, my god! I didn't even know it was going to be you!" he said.
"Neither did I."
There was a moment of comfortable silence during which they both just took each other in. It was quite strange seeing him, like actually seeing him. She'd seen him once before when he'd spilled coffee all over her, but apart from that…
(Okay, maybe he was even more handsome than in her memory. But just maybe.)
"Well, it's lovely to see you!" he said and grinned at her.
"Same!" Though one small word couldn't quite seem to express the absolute elation she was feeling at seeing him. It was quite uncanny actually. "But, just a question, why do you have lemons as your background picture?"
He frowned. (God, even his frown was handsome. Marlene could never find out about any of this.) "I do?"
And that's when he noticed his very particular background and blushed. "Oh my god, I hadn't noticed."
Lily laughed. "Are you a fan of lemons?" she asked.
"Not really. I love the colour, but I'm actually allergic to the fruit."
She could see him looking cross-eyed at the screen, probably trying to figure out how to remove the strange background. "But then why did you put it?"
"Got dared to by my friends," he mumbled and then added something like, "colour of your shirt. Serious, complete idiot," but she wasn't too sure, because the internet went slightly quirky at that point. Nevertheless, it was quite a surprise (especially because lemon-yellow was also Lily's favourite colour).
The meeting was a lot more fun than expected. Everything went rather smoothly. Turns out James worked in his father's hair product company, and that they were going to invest in Lily's company if the two collaborated to make a product range that was sure to blow away the market.
And while they did talk business for a while, the discussion quickly moved onto different and more personal subjects, and Lily was quite sad to have to disconnect when her next meeting three hours later came up.
She got the promotion after all. James had very kindly convinced his father that this collaboration was going to be a spectacular idea. Marlene and Mrs McGonagall both congratulated her heartily. So did James, because they were now calling, when Marlene was asleep.
And when the lockdown was finally over...
"Where are you going?" Marlene asked as she saw Lily pull on her shoes.
She was wearing her nice lemon-yellow shirt and a cute skirt.
"On a coffee date," Lily told her.
"A date?" Marlene practically shrieked. "With who? Don't tell me you secretly got a boyfriend during lockdown?"
Lily smiled. "I'll tell James you said hi."
And with that, she closed the door, though she could still hear Marlene shrieking, something along the lines of "James, as in James Potter. As in mystery-man-coffee-spiller-Hugh-Grant James Potter?!" but a lady never texts and tells.