It was just a few days after Christmas, and James's aunt was still at the Potter's house (scheduled to go home later that day) and James and Sirius were enjoying some alone time in James's room, under the pretense of needing to get some homework done. This wasn't exactly a lie, as they really did need to do some homework, but James was finding it especially hard to concentrate. His eyes kept wandered over to Sirius, sitting less than a foot away from him, and he saw that Sirius was already staring hungrily at him. Both leaned in and kissed, but only for a second because James's mother had called Sirius's name from downstairs. James pulled back reluctantly, and watched Sirius as he left the room.
Ever since that first night together James and Sirius hadn't left each other's side. Unfortunately, the house was rarely empty, and the only alone time the two had together was at night, but Sirius would have to take the spare bedroom once James's aunt left, because that's where he usually slept and they didn't want James's parents to get suspicious. Sometimes they got lucky, like when the adults would go to somewhere and leave them at the house alone for a few hours. Those times were James's favorites. He and Sirius had passed kissing and had moved on to exploring the rest of each other's bodies, which usually led to events they never would have attempted if the house wasn't empty.
When Sirius got back James had gone back to his homework, but he hadn't made much progress. He started to ask Sirius what his mother had wanted, and glanced up in the middle of the sentence to see Sirius staring at him. Sirius closed the door and locked it, while James moved his homework back onto the desk. The second he had Sirius was on him, kissing him more passionately than he usually did. James kissed Sirius back eagerly, his hands in his friend's hair and pulling him as close as possible without forcing Sirius to kneel on his chair. Sirius's hand was on James's knee, but he was slowly moving it up James's thigh. James moaned in expectation, which aroused Sirius more, and Sirius unzipped James's pants and slid his hand inside.
"James? Your father, aunt, and I are going out for a couple hours to do some shopping and then dinner. Would you and Sirius like to come with?"
James and Sirius had jumped rather badly. Fortunately James's mother had only knocked on the door, rather than tried to come in. He took a deep breath before answering, trying to calm himself.
"Well, we still have an awful lot of homework to do. I wouldn't want to go back to Hogwarts without finishing it."
"Okay, there's food in the fridge for the two of you. We'll be back later, have fun." James heard his mother walk back downstairs and then the distinct sounds of three people Disapparating. He looked over at Sirius, who was smiling.
"Are you sure you want to stay here and do homework?" Sirius teased.
But now James had adrenaline pumping through him, and he paid no attention to Sirius's remark as he pulled Sirius onto his lap, Sirius's legs straddling James. James reclined in the chair, sliding his hands up Sirius's back and pulling him closer. Sirius tried positioning himself so he could get as close as possible to James, but as he shifted his weight the chair suddenly toppled over backwards. Their heads hit as they fell, but they were both laughing.
"Maybe I was a little overeager," Sirius admitted. James laughed again and Sirius continued, "It's a good thing we're the only ones here." James just smiled in agreement, and that pushed Sirius over the edge. He leaned down and kissed James, noticing that he was now in a much better position, even if it was a lot less comfortable. James started unbuttoning Sirius's shirt, but he was going far too slow for Sirius's taste, so Sirius pulled it off, even though half the buttons were still fastened, and threw it across the room. He then started climbing ungracefully out of the chair, pulling James with him, and James rolled over on top of Sirius. This gave Sirius the chance to pull James's shirt off of him, and once he did he sat up and started kissing James's bare chest. James let him continue for a bit, then he pulled Sirius towards his bed, which they both collapsed onto and continued their fun.
The car ride to King's Cross was unusually quiet. Not because either of them felt awkward, but because they both had no idea how things would be once they were surrounded by people again. James was looking forward to seeing Lily, mostly because she had sent him numerous messages over the break asking how things were going and James had promised to tell her everything just to get her to stop sending them. But he knew that once he launched into the story about his break he would get lost as he revisited every experience with Sirius, and he knew Lily would be happy for him.
Sirius, on the other hand, was not particularly happy to see James get so excited about talking to a girl, though he would never admit that to James. He didn't usually mind when James talked to Lily, or any girl for that matter, but Lily had also spent years despising James and suddenly at the start of this school year, their sixth, she had started paying more attention to him. Still, Sirius couldn't help but be happy when James was so happy. He supposed that was why he felt so strongly towards him. Sirius had imagined a first kiss with James almost every day since their conversation with the two-way mirrors. This had created some awkward tension between them, but luckily James hadn't seemed to notice. He had imagined the scene going smoothly and also the chance that it would be a lot less smooth. When they had finally kissed, it was nothing like Sirius had imagined it to be. It was better. Sirius was surprised that when he initiated the kiss James had not only allowed it, but had actually joined in eagerly. In fact, James's enthusiasm at removing Sirius's shirt had aroused him deeply, but he knew better than to push it too far on the first night.
Sirius smiled at the memory and ran his left hand through his hair. He let his hand fall down to his side, and felt James take it eagerly, lacing their fingers together, but then drop it just as soon lest his parents notice anything. Sirius looked over at James, still smiling, and saw that James was smiling too, but with an expression that was a bit more pained.
King's Cross was crowded, as usual, and they had decided not to show any affection in the station to avoid any comments from James's parents or any students they happened to see. They said goodbye to James's parents outside of the station, Sirius thanking them for letting him stay, then they pushed their trolleys inside and toward the barrier. Almost the second they were through they heard someone yell out.
"James!" Lily was running toward them, her red hair a forest fire streaming out behind her. She threw herself into James's incredibly surprised arms, and Sirius had to control a stab of jealousy and suspicion. Lily pulled away and smiled brightly at Sirius. "Hey, Sirius!" She hugged him too, but with much less vigor. Then she looked excitedly at James. "Come on, you have to sit with me, I want to hear about your break!" She looked expectantly at Sirius too, but he was determined not to be in the same compartment with the two of them.
"Go on, James. I should see if Moony and Wormatil are here yet." And with that he turned around looking for them. James took Sirius's desire not to be with him as a hint not to tell Lily they were together. He was disappointed, but he remembered promising not to tell anyone, so he walked off with Lily, giving Sirius a sad little wave.
Sirius watched as James walked off with Lily, not moving, barely breathing, until James was on the train and out of sight. He looked around the station for his other two friends, suddenly feeling very upset about not being with James. He didn't understand why, they would see each other again that night before bed, and they would see each other every day, but it wouldn't be the same as it had been during the break. Obviously he cared about James, they were best friends who were now in some kind of relationship. But Sirius hadn't wanted a serious relationship. He hadn't counted on feeling this strongly about anyone, let alone James. Watching James walk off with Lily had been awful, though, and Sirius felt a horrible tug on his heart. He didn't feel like he had watched a friend walk away; he felt like half of himself had gone away.