James
For the next few hours, Remus and I coordinate our efforts, share quips and take turns fetching coffee - even though every time he takes a sip he looks at the mug he looks somewhat disappointed, as if he was expecting something else. I'm about to offer to get him a tea when we're approached by a plain girl in a grey pant suit.
"Sorry guys but I have to ask you to finish up, we're closing soon,"
"Oh, of course, we'll be out of your hair in a moment," Remus says with a smile, closing his notebook.
"Time flies," I say, packing up the assorted notes and books that I had strategically placed for convenient viewing.
"You're not wrong," he replies, looking distracted.
"What's up?" it looks like he's snapping out of a trance when he looks up at me.
"Oh, nothing, I just get a little put out when I'm on a roll on an assignment and I'm interrupted," he smiles awkwardly, but his eyes are noticeably grumpy.
"Well, I promised my flatmate-"
"The messy one?"
"-the messy one- that I'd get him some fish and chips on the way home. So why don't you come with me, have a late lunch and we can keep studying at mine?" his smile seems genuine now. And Sirius thinks I'm a nerd. I think with a certain humour.
"That sounds great actually," He slings his leather satchel across his cardigan-clad shoulders and Picks up the pile of books to be borrowed. I swing my backpack onto my shoulders and we walk towards the front counter.
Sirius
It's almost four by the time the front door is being forced open. I don't look up from my page in the book I'm reading when I call out.
"Prongs, you're late!"
"Sorry Mate, got a little held up," he replies, grunting with the force it takes to get our damned door open. I hear a second pair of footsteps, footsteps that are too light to belong to Peter so I assume its Lily.
"Snogging in the alleyway, were you? Hope you saved some for sugar for me," I joke and then I hear a mortified squeak which is followed by James bursting into laughter. That's when I turn to see who is actually with James and I feel all the blood run to my face. The boy that is standing in the middle of our flat is clutching a bundle of chips for dear life and his face is probably the same shade of crimson as mine. "Oh... Uh... Sorry... Um," I roll off the lounge, stuttering as I back down the hallway then disappear into my room. Shutting the door behind me and feeling the tears of shame pouring down my face.
By the time James makes his way to my room, I am sitting in my closet.
"Sirius?" he asks, the door squeaking. "Pads?" his tone is somewhere between how you would say 'Marco' and how you would call your pet golden retriever.
"Sirius is dead, I am a tiny ball of dark shame," he chuckles and opens the closet doors.
"Okay, tiny ball of dark shame, are you going to come out and say hi now?" I look at him in alarm.
"No! How can I ever face him?" James would later describe my tone as that one serious anime guy who starts crying randomly, you know the one. "How can I ever face the beautiful boy in a knitted cardigan ever again?"
"You're being dramatic," he mutters and, after a pause, adds "and he's really not that beautiful," he scrunches up his nose and I glare at him
"Remus Lupin is the epitome of beautiful!" I say and then clamp my hand firmly over my mouth. James looks at me in confusion.
"Sirius, is there something you wanna tell me?" he asks with a cocked eyebrow.
"No," I reply indignantly.
"Whatever, your chips are going cold, by the way,"
"Can you bring them in?" I asks and he shakes his head.
"No way, you have to get them yourself," he tells me, leaving my room with the door wide open. I throw my head back and groan, glaring into the darkness of my closet which, at this point, I really wished was the entrance to Narnia. Slowly but surely I climb down out of the closet, pull on a jacket and look at myself in my mirror. I take a deep breath, run a brush through my hair before pulling it up into a messy bun and walk out to face my ultimate doom. My walk down the hall is spent composing every muscle in my face so that I look calm and maybe a little bit mischievous. Prongs had, of course, set up my chips right across from Remus and I make a mental note to kill him in his sleep tonight. I smile at Remus courteously, and he returns it, though he doesn't hold my gaze for long. I sit at the table and start pulling apart my piece of fish, tearing the batter off and wrapping a chip in it.
"So, Remus, this is my flatmate Sirius," James finally says, cutting into the almost tangible awkward silence. "Sirius, this is my partner Remus,"
"Hey," I offer, my tone as close to nonchalant as I can manage.
"Hey," his voice wavers and I suddenly feel terrible for making him feel so uncomfortable.
"So… Sirius, have you and James known each other long?" Remus asks and I smile. I like the way he says my name. I push that thought away for now, right now I have to be cool Sirius.
"Yeah, since we were kids,"
"Oh, that's cool... How long have you two been a couple?" his eyes flicker from the page in front of him, where he's scribbling notes in some sort of shorthand, and my face. James bursts into yet another fit of laughter and I try not to turn into a tomato again.
"Oh! Oh no, we're not... God, no," James answers before I have the chance to even formulate a coherent sentence. "God no, he's way too much maintenance for me," I roll my eyes but I'm glad for the line he's just thrown me.
"Says you, Mr. 'I spend $40 on hair gel and only eat wholegrain bread'," the art of playful banter is something James and I have perfected over the years. Remus cracks a smile.
"Oh come on, you spend more time choosing your outfit than Lily does,"
"That's because Evans doesn't know the difference between a plaid and a tartan or why they should never be worn together,"
"There's a difference between plaid and tartan?" James looks thoroughly bewildered and I turn to Remus.
"Do you see what I have to live with? Honestly," a smile pulls at the corner of his mouth and I grin back at him.
"Absolute barbarians," he adds and I laugh at James's look of absolute betrayal. As the jokes die down and Remus and James return to their study session. I pick up my chips and return to my place on the lounge and delve back into the fictional world of my book.