A/N: In Chapter 15, Remus tells Lily that Sirius "got pretty blunt" with James and that they "had some words" after that horrible practice following the James/Lily duel. Here's how I imagined that all actually went. Enjoy!

What Else Do You Call It?

SIRIUS

Sirius was ninety-nine percent sure that James and Lily had just shagged.

There was still that one-percent chance they hadn't—they had resorted to other means that day behind The Three Broomsticks, after all—but it seemed unlikely.

Because he was one-hundred percent sure his friend had just gotten off. Not only was James Potter's jet black hair mussed just slightly more than usual, but his best friend—cursed with that marble-pale skin that would have made for a very natural and believable vampire costume—had a tell-tale flush that lingered in splotchy patches around his neck and betrayed when he'd been with a girl. Sirius had never really noticed it before that summer, but when James had emerged time and again from the grounds, the gardens, and then Emma Vanity's mansion with that same flush in his cheeks and peeking around the collar of his shirt, Sirius had realized. His friend had a fucking tell for when he'd gotten off.

He'd meant to tell him. Really, he had. But by the time he'd figured it out, he'd never really gotten around to it, they'd gone back to school, life had gotten crazy again, and then the most incredible thing had happened: James had appeared in the common room, back from "working" in the Heads' office, hints of that flush still lingering—with Lily. On the heels of busting them in that broom closet—getting fucking distracted on a reconnaissance mission like a fucking amateur—it had been really all the proof he'd needed to know that James was hooking up with Lily (fucking finally), and that had subsequently been confirmed anyway when he and Remus had overheard them having intense make-up sex in their shower (which, Sirius wasn't entirely sure how it could be make-up sex when they weren't actually together, but whatever—point being, James and Lily were definitely shagging).

Anyway. James still had that flush, though it was fading, and he and Lily had disappeared incredibly quickly after their explosive duel, so Sirius could add two and two together.

But James didn't say anything about it, so Sirius didn't either. Bloke seemed like he at least needed a good fly first.

xxx

The fly didn't help. In fact, it might've made things worse. Because now James was out of sorts from playing horribly—which never happened—on top of still being out of sorts from that fucking duel.

Sirius rather wanted to murder Lily Evans, and only the knowledge that such an act—literal or figurative—would put his best friend in even worse straits prevented him from flying himself straight up to the girls' dormitory window and giving the Head Girl a piece of his mind.

James sat on a bench in the boys' locker room, head in his hands, and Sirius waved off Kingsley and Ludo with a look before sitting next to him.

"Prongs—"

"Don't." James's voice was muffled in his hands.

Sirius sighed. "Look—"

"Nope."

"Mate—"

"Pads—"

The locker room door swung open with a creak, and Sirius whipped his head around to see Mary walking purposefully toward them, her eyes bright. She had that intense look on her face that usually preceded shouting, and Sirius held up a hand, giving her a warning look. Mary hesitated and then sort of deflated, her shoulders slumping as she looked at James, nodded at Sirius, and then sat on James's other side, putting a hand on his back.

"James—"

He sighed. "I know, Mac."

Sirius met Mary's gaze over James's hunched figure, and she rolled her eyes before saying, "What do you know, Jamesie?"

James ducked his head further, raked fingers through his hair. "That I played like shit."

Mary pursed her lips as she stared at Sirius, and he furrowed his brow and gave a shrug toward James that he hoped sufficiently mimed the question he was thinking.

Mary got it, or she was thinking the same, because she asked, "What's bothering you?"

James was quick to reply, "Nothing—"

And then Mary was quick to drop her calm demeanor and retort, "Oh, bullshit, James. You're the backbone of this team and you've captained through far more stressful games than an opener against fucking Hufflepuff, you don't just play like shit for no reason."

James just sat with his hands deep in his hair, elbows on his knees.

Sirius leaned forward, elbows on his own knees as he folded his hands. "If it's about the duel with Evans—"

"It's not."

Sirius swiveled his head to look up at Mary, who rolled her eyes dramatically at him. She believed James about as much as he did, then.

"Mate, you can tell us—"

"It's not."

For the first time, James's tone seemed testy. Sirius arched a brow at Mary. Your turn.

She frowned down at James, then changed tactics. "I saw some students scampering away from the pitch. Assuming Hufflepuff. They seemed young, but…I was pretty high up, so I couldn't tell year for sure—"

"Fucking great," James mumbled.

"So," Mary continued, "I think we put out that you're injured. Your throwing arm."

That got James's attention; his friend's head snapped up toward Mary. "What?"

Sirius turned it over in his mind; it made sense. "You know, that's not a half-bad idea."

Mary smirked at him. "Black, it's your idea. You joked about doing that in the Prefects' Bathroom, remember?"

A grin broke over his face as he remembered. "Oh yeah."

Mary rolled her eyes but her lips twitched in a smile. "Anyway. Maybe it'll throw the scent away from bad practice to injured star player until Saturday and the Hufflepuffs will let their guard down a little."

James's voice seemed hollow. "In case I'm still playing like shit by then?"

Mary faltered, mouth opening and closing, but then James said resignedly, "It's fine—"

"No," Sirius cut over him, bringing a hand to the back of his friend's neck and giving him a squeeze. "You're going to be in top form on Saturday, because you always are. You had one bad practice, so what? It's outta your system, and we're gonna use it to play mind games with the Hufflepuffs, because we know we're gonna come out and rail them on Saturday, yeah?"

James nodded as he patted Sirius's knee, and though he said a quiet, "Yeah," his heart didn't seem quite in it.

xxx

They made their way back to the castle in relative silence, letting their friend brood. James always had been a bit dramatic, but Sirius knew—and so did Mary—that he'd shake out of his mood eventually. They just needed that to happen sooner rather than later.

By the time they reached the staircases, Sirius could tell Mary was fuming, and he didn't blame her—or envy her dorm mates, including one Lily Evans, whom he suspected was about to get a nice, big piece of Mary's mind. She stalked off up the stairs, and Sirius followed James up their staircase, his own mood souring as he remembered Lily and the duel and what had started this all in the first place.

Remus and Peter looked up as they walked in, tracking James and Sirius going straight toward their beds to drop broom, gloves, pads.

"Er," Peter started, "how was practice?"

Sirius looked over at James, curious if he'd answer, and when he didn't, Sirius looked at Peter, said, "Complete shit," and then looked at Remus as he said, "Prongs is rattled by the duel."

There was no surprise on Remus's face, only a furrowed brow as he watched James, who immediately spun around and snapped, "No, I'm not."

Okay, he couldn't do this anymore. "Bullshit, Prongs. You really want to tell me that you just played maybe the worst you ever have for no fucking reason?"

"That bad?" Remus interjected.

Hands on his hips, still staring at James, Sirius answered, "He made two shots, Moony."

James's shoulders deflated at that, and he hung his head as he brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose under his glasses.

Sirius's blood was starting to boil as that reverberated in his mind. Two shots. Their star Chaser, less than forty-eight hours away from the match, only making two shots. Because of drama with a fucking girl.

"Prongs, we all know this is about that fucking duel and whatever the fuck's going on with you and Evans."

James sighed. "It's not—we're fine."

"Fine," Sirius repeated.

"Yes," James snapped, looking at him up. "We're fucking fine, we talked about it—"

"You mean you shagged."

James faltered, biting his lip as he stared at Sirius. Then, "Yeah, but we also talked—"

Sirius snorted.

James rounded on him. "The fuck's your problem?"

Finally. If he was done moping and actually getting angry, they were at least getting somewhere.

Sirius gave a hollow sort of chuckle. "What's my problem? Mate, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the one who just blew at practice after my fuck buddy just shouted she wasn't my girlfriend in front of the whole grade. So if you want to have a real conversation about why that's bothering you—because it obviously is—then let's have it. But I'm done putting up with you pretending like it's not."

James glared at him, his skin somehow a shade paler than normal. "She's not my—"

Sirius waited, but it was like James couldn't finish the sentence.

"Not your what? Not your girlfriend? Yeah, we all know." Sirius watched James's throat bob and felt a pang of guilt, but he also knew his friend needed this confrontation, so he pressed on. "Not your fuck buddy? Well, what else do you call it when you're fucking in secret and she's shouting that she's explicitly not your girlfriend?"

That cracked him. James turned toward the window, bracing against the ledge, his head bowed. Sirius waited.

Then, quietly, his voice somewhat strained, James said, "We're…trying to figure it out."

"And how's that going?"

No response.

"Because that duel didn't make it seem like it's going very well."

"That wasn't—it's not—she said—"

"We all heard what she said—"

"No, I meant when it was just her and me, she said—"

But James didn't finish that sentence either, so Sirius did. "What you wanted to hear?"

Silence thickened in the room, like they were all holding their breath and even the wind outside had paused, but then James drew a shaky, ragged breath and said, so quietly Sirius barely heard him, "I love her, Pads."

His voice cracked a bit at the end, and Sirius swiftly stepped over to him, leaning against the ledge so he faced James. His stomach knotted as he saw the tears mingling with the streaks of dried sweat just before James rubbed his eyes under his glasses.

Sirius put his hand on James's shoulder and squeezed as he said softly, "I know you do."

James swallowed hard and cleared his throat. "The duel—I dunno, I—I thought—"

But he bit his lip, and instead of finishing that sentence, he looked determinedly out the window and breathed deeply through his nose.

"I know," Sirius told him. Because he did. Nothing but the fear of being rejected by Lily Evans—now, after they'd finally started something, actually been on the road to something more—would move his best friend to tears like this.

Sirius gave James's shoulder another squeeze, then said, "Come on, go take a shower, get some sleep, lay low tomorrow. We'll figure shit out when we're fresh."

James gave a jerky sort of nod, meeting Sirius's eyes only briefly, and then turned toward the lavatory. Sirius drifted back towards his own bed, not missing the surprised look on Peter's face or the concerned look on Remus's. Sirius knew they hadn't interjected only because they all knew that Sirius was the only one who could get through to James in something like this, but he also knew that they had more than their fair share of thoughts about it all. After all, hadn't they all watched James fancy Lily for years? Hadn't they all been there through the rows and the weird tension? Watched James bounce from girl to girl while Lily dated boy after boy and both of them seemed perpetually on edge around each other? Hadn't they all been holding their breath once they realized something was finally, secretly, unfolding between them?

The water started running, and Sirius met Remus's gaze, and before his friends could get his words out, Sirius growled, "I know you're close with her, Moony, but we both know how hot and cold she is, and I swear to Merlin, if she's fucking around with him and breaks his heart, I will destroy her."

Remus looked taken aback for only a moment, and then he smiled, shaking his head lightly, and flicked his eyes toward the lavatory door before whispering back, "Pads—I think she's falling in love with him back. Look, I talked to her tonight. I think she's just sort of realizing how she feels."

Sirius stared at Remus, his mouth falling slightly open. "She—actually has feelings for him?"

It was more than he'd dared hope for. Merlin, he almost felt like James.

Remus nodded, giving a casual shrug. "Yeah, I think she does."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well can she bloody figure it out and fucking tell him before fucking Saturday?"

Remus's eyes twinkled. "I think we can make that happen."