James entered his apartment, a triumphant smile on his face, carrying a few six packs of beer with a take-away pizza menu in his other hand. It had been a long day of lectures and he was just about done with the growing mountain of essays his professors kept setting him. Besides, it was 'lad's night' so university could "frankly go and fuck itself" as he had so graciously put it when talking to Remus. Friday night football boasted the Arrows vs Canons match on and James had volunteered to host. 'Volunteered' meaning he lost the final round of rock-paper-scissors to Sirius so he had no choice. Scanning the room, James ruffled his hair as he went over his checklist.

"Okay…pizza place menu and number ready to order." He put the menu down of the coffee table along with his mobile. "Check. Beer in the fridge?" He swung round and wandered into the kitchen, tapping the top of the door frame out of habit, sticking the beer on the pre-cleared shelf to cool for later. "Check. TV on..." he stopped short as he went to pick up the remote from in front of the TV, only to find it missing. "Where the fuck did I put the remote?" His answer came in the form of Lily Evans' voice carrying across the balcony and through the open doors.

"Behind the cushion on the left hand side of the sofa." Amusement spread across his face as James checked behind said cushion to reveal one TV remote and Sirius' favourite magazine.

"Tah, Evans! If I didn't know any better though, I'd say you were spying on me," he teased, moving out onto his balcony, shaking the remote at her in mock accusation.

"In your dreams, Potter," Lily responded, coming out onto her own balcony donned in thick joggers and a baggy 'Rolling Stones' t-shirt. She clocked the sound of the sports channel that James had flicked the TV over to. "Lads night?"

"Yeah. Sirius, Remus and Peter are heading over to watch the match." He screwed his eyebrows up in confusion. "Wait. How did you-?"

"Take-away pizza menu, beer in the fridge and the TV is on the sports channel? It's pretty obvious." James' face relaxed a little and he hummed in agreement as his train of thought moved on to how observant his red-headed neighbour was, and what else she might take notice of. "Who's playing?" Lily's sudden question brought his wandering mind back to attention. He smiled coyly,

"Never had you pegged as the football type Evans," he said with a laugh. Lily just shook her hair out of her face and rolled her eyes.

"I get it from my Dad's side," she admitted, "So come on! Who's playing?"

"Appleby Arrows Vs Puddlemere United. Very low league but we've been supporters all our lives; we watch every match we can."

"I'm surprised they film low league games to be honest."

"Yeah so were we when we came across the channel, but we didn't complain, we've managed to keep up to date because of it." Lily nodded, impressed.

"Are you Arrows or Puddlemere?" she asked, an inquisitive look in her eyes.

"Me?" James held a hand to his heart. "I'm an archer. Proud supporter of the illustrious Appleby Arrows." Lily leant forwards onto the railing and smirked a little.

"I'm a Harpies girl myself." James' eyes widened and a surprised smile worked its way onto his lips.

"You support the Holyhead Harpies?"

"Yes. Have done since I was 12 years old. I'd been at boarding school with Alice and Marleen for a year by the time I started supporting them. I think Alice indoctrinated me to be honest, she never stopped going on about them!" It was James' turn to lean forwards, a nostalgic glaze appearing in his eyes.

"Ahh…yes…the good, old 'indoctrination' tactic. Peter and I tried that on Sirius when we were that age. Never worked, mind. He was a dead-set Falcons fan for some reason…still is to this day."

"Yeah, he strikes me as a rather…" Lily searched for the least offensive adjective to describe the man, "…strong headed character." James scoffed,

"More like big headed. But sure, 'strong' works too." Lily's laughter floated across the space between them like a breath of fresh air, James couldn't help but think he wouldn't mind hearing that sound all day and quickly shook the thought away. 'It's just Evans, don't make it weird.'

A comfortable quiet enveloped the pair as Lily's laughter died down, the soft murmur of the TV in the background advertised the latest cleaning product that neither of them would ever consider purchasing – mainly due to the fact that they were both students so there were more important things to spend money on, like pizza and alcohol.

"So," Lily began, nodding behind James into his apartment, "where do you get your pizza from?"

"Uh, Domino's, where else?" Lily winced, shaking her head dramatically.

"Why? Why would you torture yourself like that?" she said and James laughed awkwardly,

"What?"

"Come on, Potter. We all know that Pizza Hut is the best." James gasped, recoiling from his neighbour in horror.

"How dare you speak such blasphemous language in my presence?"

"Blasphemy? Please, I only speak the truth, Potter. It's not my fault you can't accept it," said Lily, folding her arms across her chest.

"You're right, I can't accept it," said James. "It just doesn't make sense to choose Pizza Hut over Domino's."

"What do you mean?" Her voice was laced with confusion.

"Pizza Hut is just so…" he floundered around for the right expression, "not Dominoes!"

"No shit Sherlock," Lily exclaimed, slightly dumbfounded at her neighbours idiocy.

"Ok, in hindsight that was a pretty obvious description," James admitted, "but to be fair to myself, Pizza hut is more expensive, therefore you spend more money on take out." He paused briefly before asking in a surprised tone, "How are you not broke?"

"For one thing, it's not that much more expensive. And another, it's not like I get take out every week, James," Lily reasoned, "so I can afford to spend a little more on a good quality pizza."

"Good quality pizza my arse," he scoffed. "It's a complete rip off!"

"Oh, and I suppose Domino's pizza is God's gift to the world?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." It was Lily's turn to scoff and the debate began.

Their discussion continued for a long time, with both parties becoming more invested in trying to convince the other that their preferred pizza was the better choice. Menus were examined, prices were compared, and even delivery times were scrutinised as the pair battled it out for the top spot. At one point, James spied one of his lecture mates, a dark-skinned, muscular lad by the name of Kingsley Shacklebolt, lighting a cigarette on his own balcony. He lived in the apartment above Lily and was in the perfect position, from James' perspective, to provide a third party opinion.

"Shacklebolt, my man! How's it going?" Lily noted how Kingsley visibly tensed and then sighed at the sound of James' voice. She knew from hearing him deal with angry or unruly neighbours in their block that he had the patience of a god, but by the looks of it, that patience did not extend itself to the likes of James Potter.

"Potter," he called back, then took a long drag of his cigarette. When he exhaled, billowing smoke encircled his head like a dragon.

"Short and sweet as always. Love it." James' enthusiasm made Lily pity him slightly, she was honestly surprised that he couldn't see how much their neighbour didn't want to converse with him. At any rate, James shamelessly continued, "Question: Pizza Hut or Dominoes?"

"What?" The confused exasperation was evident in his voice as Kingsley took one long, final drag of his cigarette before flicking the burning ember into the street below.

"Pizza Hut or Dominoes?" James asked again, "Which pizza is better?"

"Potter, I'm going to be forthright here," Kingsley said, leaning forward on his balcony rail, then promptly turning around and retreating back into his apartment. They heard the sound of the French doors being closed and locked.

And so it transpired that Kingsley didn't actually give a shit. Lily stifled a giggle as James raised an eyebrow in confusion and muttered something incomprehensible under his breath, so they went back to their dispute. Neither gained an advantage, and yet neither gave up the fight, so much so that it reached a point where the two were merely insulting each other in the most ridiculous ways that they could no longer take each other seriously and the two ended up bent double from laughing so hard.

"I honestly…can't…believe," Lily gasped in between giggles, "that we just spent over an hour arguing about pizza!"

"Shit! Really?" James checked his watch and found that it read 5:30. "Crap we have been talking a while," he said, flushing slightly, time seemed to go by too quickly when he was with Lily.

"Yeah," she said softly, feeling her own blush creep slowly up her neck. "We didn't even come to a conclusion either! How disappointing," she joked, trying to shake the awkwardness that had begun to clog up the atmosphere.

"Tell you what, Evans," James said with a sly smirk, "here's what we're gonna do."

"I'm listening," she said, leaning forward with intrigue.

"I'll order you a Domino's, anything off the menu, and if you prefer it to your Pizza Hut nonsense, you have to pay me back double." Lily began to protest but James held up a hand to stop her. "However, if it is as inferior as you claim it to be-"

"-which it will be," Lily interjected, mischief gleaming in her eyes.

"-then you get a free pizza...and I'll buy you a fancy coffee before your 9am on Monday as a bonus. Deal?"

"Deal." The pair leant forward over their respective railings, Lily balancing precariously on her tip toes, and shook hands firmly. James' large hand enveloped Lily's, callous and warm, contrasting her own soft skin. Her cheeks flushed slightly, darkening when she realised that James had memorised when her lectures were. She hid quickly behind a curtain of hair and withdrew her hand. "So…um," she coughed, trying once again to defuse her awkwardness, "what time do the others show up?"

"Oh…uh." James ruffled up his hair, a rosy blush rising into his cheeks as he tried to shake the electric feeling on his skin where his neighbour had held his hand. "They should be here in about half an hour, but knowing them Remus will arrive 15 minutes early, Peter will show up just about on time and Sirius will be 'fashionably late' as per usual."

"That sounds about right to be honest," Lily said, twisting a strand of hair round her finger absent-mindedly. Silence fell. James found himself unable to look away as the simple movement had a hypnotic rhythm to it, it took more will power than he would have liked to tear his eyes off of his neighbour.

"I should probably order pizza when Remus gets here…" he mused aloud.

"Probably the best idea," Lily replied, making James jump slightly. "With a real adult present, you're ten times less likely to fuck up the order." She winked, a sly grin on her face. Lily revelled in teasing James, his responses always amused her in one way or another.

"I will have you know, Miss Evans, that I have perfectly memorised our orders to the last letter," James said indignantly, holding a hand to his chest in mock pride.

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"And see it you shall if you stick around."

"Well I wasn't exactly planning on going anywhere other than back to my book so I'll be within yelling distance all night."

"You are such a bookworm," James chuckled, a teasing edge in his voice, "Do you anything aside from read?" Lily almost rose to the bait, but instead held onto her dignity and played up to his character.

"Nah, I just stay holed up in my apartment reading and studying and drinking tea like the hermit I am," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Of course I do! I do have a life you know."

"Yeah I know, I was just messing."

They chatted for a while longer about this and that until a sharp knock on the door indicated Remus' arrival, and the start of 'Lads Night'. James disappeared briefly to let his friend in and left Lily to her thoughts in the evening air. She scanned back over her evening and smiled subconsciously, she was secretly glad that James had interrupted her quiet reading, although she didn't quite know why. Her thoughts were interrupted when James reappeared on the balcony with Remus and the pizza menu.

"Hi, Remus."

"Hello, Lily, how're you?" Lily liked Remus, he was like her male counterpart, although she reckoned that despite his cool and collected appearance, he was actually a rebel at heart.

"I'm good thanks, yourself?"

"Ready to get pissed, if I'm being perfectly honest," he said with a shrug.

"I don't blame you, what with having to be in Potter's company all night." This roused a laughed from Remus and a shocked expression from James.

"Oh the shade," James drawled, looking very camp as he clicked his fingers in a zig-zag fashion. "But aside from that, here, pick something." He passed the Dominoes menu over the gap to her and Lily raised an eyebrow in response.

"Um…why?" James sighed,

"Honestly Evans, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one," he teased. "I'm ordering you anything you like from the menu, in honour of our deal. I mean I'm literally about to order dinner anyway."

Lily was oddly touched by the gesture, although once again had no idea why. She shook off the confusing feeling and glanced down at the menu in front of her.

"I stand by my original statement. Pizza Hut is the best." Her voice carried a confident tone, almost arrogant. James just laughed and Remus looked on in amusement.

"You're going to be eating your words soon enough, Evans."

"That's what you think, Potter," she retorted. Handing back the menu she smiles sweetly, "I'll have the spicy chicken please."

"Stuffed crust?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"What else?"

"One spicy chicken with stuffed crust coming right up! Right, I better go order." He clapped his hands together and with an affirmative nod, went back inside.

For a moment she and Remus watched James' retreating figure and then Lily broke the silence with the adamant declaration: "There's no way I'm losing this."

"What have you actually been arguing about?" Remus queried, raising an eyebrow as he turned his face towards her.

"Whether Domino's pizza is better than Pizza Hut pizza," she stated, eyes still fixed on James, who was now pacing around his apartment with the phone held to his ear. She shook her head in surprise when Remus started chuckling, shaking his head. "What?!"

"You two are ridiculous," he laughed. "How long was this debate going on for before I arrived?" Lily folded her arms defensively, a shy smile playing on her lips.

"About an hour," she admitted, shrugging her shoulders sheepishly.

Lily shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as Remus gave her a knowing look. She wanted nothing more in that moment than for the world to swallow her up, but the awkwardness soon dissipated when James came flouncing back onto the balcony with Peter in tow and announced, in an exceptionally loud voice,

"He's here! The man, the myth, the legend…Peter Pettigrew everybody!"

Peter elbowed him on his way over to Remus and waved cheerily at Lily, actively ignoring James' complaints of abuse.

"He'll shut up eventually," Peter said as he, Lily and Remus watched James' melodramatic performance in a state of confused awe.

"For some reason, Peter, I don't think he will."

James eventually did grow tired of his infantile behaviour, meaning Sirius arrived and he got distracted, so the boys retreated back into his apartment to await pizza. Lily followed suit and settled down in the arm chair opposite the window with a book, curling her legs underneath her. She looked up whenever she heard the raucous laughter from across the way and shook her head in bemusement every time. Eventually she was able to completely block out the outside world as she got absorbed in her book, tuning out the enthusiastic yelling and chanting of the boys.

"What the fuck was that? Come on, Cotton, get your shit together!"

"Mate, the Arrows are shit tonight," laughed Sirius, leaning back in the armchair and taking a swig of beer. He wasn't too invested in the match as such, he was mostly there for the pizza and the piss-up, but he thrived in being annoying, especially when James was the intended target.

"To be fair, they've had a shit season," James admitted, glaring at the TV replay of Arrow's striker, Gregory Cotton's spectacularly missed goal. "Look at that! Clear shot on goal and he hits the fucking post." Bringing his own can up to his lips James shook his head in disdain. "Cock."

"There's always next season," Remus said slyly. "I mean, I don't know if there's actually a future for them but they're trying at least." James glared as his friends sniggered.

"Fuck you guys."

"Save that for the ladies, James," Sirius quipped. "Or more specifically, one particular red-headed lady," he added with a wink.

James almost choked on his beer.

"There's nothing going on between us! How many times do I have to tell you this?!"

"Ooh, defensive much?" Sirius said, leaning forward and sharing a gleeful look with Remus. The mousy haired boy imitated his friends pose and James felt like he was about to be interrogated, and he wasn't wrong.

"Yeah…we don't believe that."

"It's true!"

"So the constant flirting means absolutely nothing?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows and glancing at both Sirius and Peter, who was sitting quietly off to one side nursing his beer and seemed delighted to bear witness to James' discomfort.

"Exactly."

Remus sat back defeated and rolled his eyes at Peter, who responded by inclining his head towards Sirius with a raised eyebrow. Remus nodded with a smirk, seeming to know exactly what the smaller boy was implying, and the two of them settled down to watch the show that was about to unravel before them.

"My god…how oblivious can you get? She's so into you!" Sirius yelled, throwing his hands up in exasperation, "I mean I know you need glasses mate but come on! How blind can you be?"

James glared at his friend, his constant probing was flaring his temper and …"Since when did you three become so invested in my love life anyway?"

"Since you made the active decision to stop hooking up with random girls."

"That was ages ago…"

"Round about the time you started talking regularly to a certain pretty red-head."

"Look, I'm telling you there's nothing-" Their verbal tennis match was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. James grabbed his wallet and took out the cash he would owe the delivery man.

"Saved by the bell."

"I'm not letting this one go, Potter!"

"You never let anything go, Black."

"How many times do I have to tell you I've been disowned before you stop calling me that?"

"When you stop being a nosy bitch, that's when."

"AHA! So there is something going on?"

"Oh shut up. Evans! Pizza's here!"

Sirius' smug look burned into the back of his head as he made his way outside.

"I'm gonna kill him," he muttered under his breath and snapped the door shut behind him, hearing his three best mates laughing raucously at his expense.

Lily heard her name being called distantly

"Oi! Evans! Evaaaaans! Are you even listening? Do you want this pizza or not?"

Lily uncurled herself from her arm chair, placing her book face down on the coffee table and throwing off the blanket.

"I'm coming I'm coming, Jesus have a little patience."

"Me, patient? You clearly don't know me well enough," James said with

"Well if this pizza is as shit as I know it's going to be, I'm gonna get to know you a lot better over that coffee you promised me."

James smiled at the lightness of her tone, and was suddenly hit with the realisation that he really wanted her to hate this pizza.

"Well come on then…hand it over."

"What's the magic word?"

"Please…I'm really hungry."

Author's Note

Hi Guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Just wanted to say that canonically, Gregory Cotton is the seeker for the Appleby Arrows, the quidditch team James supports.

Until next time!

Love, Hattie x