Author's Note:
Hey Guys! Yeah I know, I know…I suck. I'm not going to give you a really lengthy, grovelling paragraph as to why it's taken so long to update, I'm just going to give you the admittance that I suck and I'm sorry.
I am, however, praying to the God of writing that this chapter makes up for my absence. No lie, it's about twice as long as the last one so hopefully your hunger shall be satisfied.
Thank you for sticking around and waiting for so long, it means so much.
Hattie x
James was not okay. He was very far from okay. So far, in fact, that he was 100% certain that he would never be okay again. Glancing groggily around the room his blurry eyes could just about make out his surroundings and two almost unidentifiable lumps; one sprawled out in the arm chair, head thrown back and snoring loudly, and the other dramatically draped across the sofa, long limbs stretch out to the max, who James knew to be Peter and Sirius respectfully. Moaning loudly, he screwed up his face unattractively and dragged a calloused hand through his untameable, raven black mop of hair before fumbling around to find his glasses.
"Oh quit the moaning already James, mate. It's only 1pm for Christ's sake! Some of us are trying to sleep." Came an unmistakable, yet muffled, voice of complaint from the sofa.
"You know Sirius? Normal people are often up and lively at this time." James snorted at the sarcastic retort. James knew only one person could produce a tone that sarcastic.
"Yeah, well, normal people aren't the ones with a raging hangover, are they, Remus?!" the shaggy haired, young ruffian yelled before clasping his hands over his ears, a pained expression on his face. "Ouch. Too loud." He whined as Remus howled with laughter from where he was leaning, arms folded, in the kitchen doorway.
"Is that the sweet aroma of freshly ground, straight from the packet, shitty instant coffee granules that doth caress my nostrils?" James queried, strolling as smoothly as he could in his ridiculously hungover state, nudging Sirius' head with his bare foot, mocking his best friend's posh accent. Sirius lifted his sluggish head only to flash James a swift glare and a middle finger before flopping back onto his makeshift pillow.
"That would be correct." Remus nodded, "Nothing like a strong cup of black coffee to kill a hangover."
"Ugh, you can say that again mate." James sighed, stretching his long arms above his head, tapping the top of the doorframe with the palms of his calloused hands. His sleepy eyes scanned the kitchen counters - ridiculously cluttered with what appeared to be a whole liquor stores worth of bottles and cans – searching thirstily for that cup of sweet smelling, richly bitter, brown goodness. His bleary vision seemed to tunnel as his focus sharpened on four steaming cups of coffee. "Remus, my man," he announced royally, picking up one of the four cups and inhaling deeply "You are truly the greatest man I've even know!"
"Lies!" came the indignant protest of Sirius, who was now making a miraculous display of dragging himself across the apartment floor, having decided in that moment that coffee was more important that sleep. "We all know that that title belongs to me." He said airily, gesturing flamboyantly down the full length of his torso.
"In that case, I think this calls for a vote." James said seriously between sips, "Remus, wake Pete up will you? His vote is crucial." He added and Remus huffed, heaving his lanky self towards the plush armchair where Peter lay sprawled, snoring loudly.
In one seamlessly swift motion Remus flipped the armchair, catapulting Peter forward with such tremendous force that he flew over the coffee table, sending an awfully loud clattering of empty beer cans to echo around the apartment. James and Sirius grimaced at the noise, and not just because of their splitting headaches. Remus however, remained completely unfazed and seemingly had no shame in his action, his face neutral. A pained groan sounded from behind the coffee table and a mousy haired, plump face appeared. Peter navigated his gaze around his three best friends, his expression showing them he was clearly unamused.
"I would complain, but I really can't be arsed." he said slowly, his voice laced with exasperation. "Do I smell coffee?"
"That you do, my dear friend. That. You. Do." James responded cheerfully, holding out a steaming cup towards his friend. Peter snatched it gratefully from his hands and gulped down half of the cup in one go.
"Oh yeah, that hit the spot." He sighed, closing his eyes and allowing himself to release the tension in his body. "Remus, despite being a complete and total prick just then…you make great coffee."
"How do you know it was Remus, huh?" James teased him, clasping a hand to his heart mockingly, looking affronted. "For all you know I could have slaved away-"
"James. We all know that Remus is the only one of the four of us who can function as a human being when hungover." Peter stated, interrupting what would have been an extremely long-winded rant from the bespectacled man. There was a brief pause as James halted in his spiel, mouth open, finger pointing, eyes flickering between three smug faces.
"Yeah I'll give you that." He conceded, a sheepish grin creeping onto his face. "Now! Thou shalt move forward, onto the precise reasoning of why we awakened thee, Peter Pettigrew, oh mightiest of the snorers…"
"James? Get to the bloody point." Peter said, glaring at James over the rim of his coffee mug, his nose protruding ever so slightly, yet in such a way that James found highly distracting as he could not take his shorter friend seriously. He sniggered slightly, like a naughty child, into his own cup and made brief eye contact with Sirius, whom apparently was also finding it extremely difficult to not collapse into raucous laughter.
"Ah yes," he coughed, straightening his expression, "the point. Well, Sirius here," he gestured grandly to his best friend, who had finally dragged himself to his feet and was now leaning against the back of the sofa next to Remus, "appears to be in the belief that he is the greatest man ever known. However, as you and I are both aware, this is not the case. The true deserver of such a title is the one and only Remus John Lupin..."
Remus couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's antics. Leaning towards Sirius he whispered out of the corner of his mouth,
"Is he still drunk?" Sirius shrugged in response,
"To be honest mate, I think we're all still a bit pissed."
"True." Remus nodded, turning his attention back to James, "Is he still talking?"
"Yep."
"…and so it has come to a vote!" James announced loudly, throwing his arms out dramatically. "Therefore I, James Potter, call upon you to raise your hand, all those in the belief that Sirius Orion Black is the greatest man ever known!"
Eagerly, Sirius' hand shot straight into the air, nearly taking off Remus' head in his excitement. A proud, childish smirk plastered his roguishly handsome face, despite the fact that there were no hands other than his raised. James smugly grinned at him, and Sirius scowled, pouting his lips in displeasure, at yet still managing to make it look good.
"You guys are just mean." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest in a huff. James' grin only grew as he locked Sirius' gaze as he cleared his throat.
"All those in the belief that Remus John Lupin is the greatest man ever known!"
"All those in the belief that all current occupants of apartment 5 need to shut the fuck up!"
The four men stopped still, three hands half raised, frozen in silence as Remus, Sirius and Peter carefully studied one another, each shooting questioning glances the direction of the open balcony doors. James, on the other hand, possessed a sly smile and a cheeky spark in his eyes. He lowered his arm and watched in amusement as his friends tip-toed away from the doors, forming a comical clump behind him. Breezily he strolled towards the doors, glanced cockily over his shoulder at his dumb-foundered mates, winked and then slid out dramatically onto the balcony.
"Well, hey there Evans." He charmed, finishing his slide almost flawlessly, leaning sideways against the railings. 'Almost' because as he completed his dramatic entrance, the momentum caused the remains of his coffee to splash out over the edge of his mug and onto his bare torso. "Fuck! Ow, hot coffee, hot coffee!" he yelped, jumping about on his toes, flapping pathetically.
"Alright there Potter?" Lily asked playfully, chuckling in spite of herself. Distractedly she found herself scraping her gaze up and down James' boxer clad form and mentally chastised herself.
"My dear Lily," he said charmingly, "considering I have just scolded my wonderfully toned abs with blisteringly hot coffee, I must say I am simply marvellous!" Lily scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Abs? Yeah sure, keep dreaming Potter."
"If you stay in them, I sure will." He replied with a cheeky wink and a disarming smile. Lily shook her head, James noticed her auburn hair shimmering as it caught the sun. She leant forwards, crossing her arms on the top bar of the railing.
"Even hungover you are still ridiculously arrogant."
"Well, I have to entertain myself somehow." James said, "Something I do on a regular basis, I might add."
"And so is flirting, but you're still terrible at that." Lily quipped and a roar of laughter erupted from inside James' apartment.
"Oh, James mate, you are going to need a bucketful of ice to recover from that burn." Sirius howled, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye as he sauntered onto the balcony beside his friend.
"Sirius, this is Lily. Lily, this is Sirius." James said, introducing the pair. "He's very easily amused." He added in a stage whisper.
"I'll have you know, that I simply find enjoyment in every aspect of my life."
"You laughed when Peter said 'booby trap'."
"Not my proudest moment, I'll admit."
"At least you don't find 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' amusing." Lily added yawning, only to receive a pained expression from James, and a guilty look from Sirius. "No…you don't?"
"He does." James said solemnly
"Shit no way?!" She exclaimed, shock horror and clear amusement written in her voice and across her face. Sirius looked down, his face flushing red and a nervous smile playing on his lips.
"James? Are you being mean to Sirius again?"
"For once, Remus, I think you'll find that I am not."
"Why do I somehow not believe you?" Remus said, smiling as he walked out onto the balcony. He noticed Lily across the gap and waved, "Nice to meet you, I'm Remus."
"The greatest man ever known." The young woman responded, leaning over the balcony and extending a hand in greeting.
"Apparently so." He laughed as he shook it politely.
"Lily Evans."
"Pleasure to meet you Lily."
"How come Remus here gets the nice, formal greeting?" Sirius complained, holding a hand over his heart in mock hurt.
"Because Remus is clearly the only adult here." Lily shot back. Sirius gasped and clutched his chest harder.
"I'm insulted! I am just as much an adult as he!"
"You're standing on a balcony in your underwear, like a child." She gestured towards Remus, "Remus is standing on a balcony in his clothes, like an adult." James could barely control the laughter that was threatening to burst out at any moment and his shoulders shock with the effort. He noticed Lily yawning again out of the corner of his eye.
"I like this one." Remus stated, casually leaning back and softly jabbing a thumb in Lily's direction.
"From what I've heard, she sounds rather remarkable." Peter came stumbling out onto the balcony, trying not to get stuck in the jumper he was pulling on. James coughed,
"Peter, Lily. Lily, Peter."
"How many of you are there?" she asked groaning, her tone exasperated as she rubbed her eyes, slightly smudging her mascara.
"Just the four of us."
"Seriously? From what I heard last night and this morning I could have sworn there were more of you."
"We like to party hard."
"That's evident." She deadpanned, "although I would have thought 4 fine gentlemen such as yourselves would have thought to show a little respect for their sleeping neighbours."
"You managed to sleep through that?"
"Nope." James grinned,
"Brilliant! You would have missed out on some epic music choices if you had."
The glare that followed was enough to turn all four of the boy's smiles into pictures of pure terror. Lily's lips were pressed into a tight, thin line, her shining green eyes were now stony and James could see the anger brewing behind them like a growing flame. He noted her neatly shaped eyebrows knitting together and the clenching of muscles in her jaw. It was only now that James truly saw what Lily looked like; there were dark grey circles under her eyes that she had cleverly covered with dabs of concealer. Her hair was mildly dishevelled and tangled as though she had been rushing round, and despite her strong posture she was swaying slightly. James realised also that she was wearing a uniformed polo shirt, he recognised the logo on the left breast as that of the 'Blue Moon Café', the 24 hour coffee shop about 10 minutes away from their apartment block. Slowly the cogs in his brain turned and the pieces fell into place.
"Crap," he whispered, guilt sweeping over him "you were working the early shift this morning."
"Yep."
"And you started at?"
"5am."
"And you didn't get off until?"
"1pm."
"Which means you only got home-
"About 15 minutes ago."
"Aww crap, Evans I'm so sorry."
Lily sighed and ran a tired hand through her knotty hair. She released the tension in her body and just let herself slump forward onto the railings and let out a huge yawn.
"Look. Potter. It's fine okay? I'm sorry, I'm just…really, really tired. I've been run off my feet this morning, I've had no sleep and I'm basically running solely on about 6 cups of black coffee, which I honestly don't know how you drink, it's disgusting! Anyway…" she looked up feebly at the four people opposite her, "please, for like, the next 8 hours at least? Shut the fuck up."
James smiled softly and nodded his head. The other three exchanging guilty yet slightly uncomfortable glances and seemed to agree that this was a delicate moment between their friend and his neighbour. With haste and rather awkwardly they side-stepped back into the apartment.
"Not a problem Evans," James said, his voice low and gentle. "Now get your sleepy arse to bed."
Lily smiled gratefully and turned on her heel, shuffling back into her apartment. A cheeky smile graced his face, mischief dancing in his eyes.
"Speaking of arses…"
"Finish that sentence and I will end you Potter!" Lily threatened, her back still towards James who laughed and couldn't stop his eyes from shining as he watched her walk away, auburn hair cascading down her back, slightly shimmering as it caught the sun.