Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: I love poly couples who have figured out how to send little coded messages to each other. Both James & Lily wanna tap that.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Neurodivergent (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); Ethnic & Present (Y); Lovely Triangle (Y); Setting Sail (Y); Hold the Mayo (Y); Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); New Fandom Smell (Y); Marvelous Cinema; Bucket Listing; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift; Skittles [Polyamorous]; Gwen's HP Checklist [Black Lily Evans]; Gwen's MCU Checklist [Autistic Tony Stark]; Short Jog
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 12 – Assignment 12
Subject (Task No.): Survival Studies (Task#1: Write about being figuratively 'thirsty' for someone.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [558](Coffee); 365 [181](Language); Herbology Club [Individual](Hope)
Other MC4A Challenges: Su Bingo [4E](Desire); AU [4E](Hackers/Programmers); Hunt [Su Objects](Ceramic Mug); Ship [](); Chim [Limu](Hackers/Programmer AU; Ceramic Mug; Sharing); Garden [Plant Types](Strangers); Fire [Medium](Library); Ship [Sp Micro 1](Hackers/Programmers);
Representation(s): black Lily Evans; Autistic Tony Stark; Poly Lily/James; Pre-Ship (Lily/James/Tony); Marauders as Family
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Three's Company; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Middle Name); Chorus (Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Fizzy Lemonade; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Tomorrow's Shade)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Toad); SN (Rail; Spare); LiCK (n/a); FR (Satisfaction; Evolution); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary)
Word Count: 1331

(^^)
Manners of Speech
(^^)

Lily did not bother looking up from her laptop when she sensed someone approaching. So far, she had been fielded no less than six offers for drinks from the local pub and eight for coffee at the coffee shop near the campus bookstore. Every single one of those offers managed to reference her skin color.

Every. Single. One.

One guy actually asked if the mocha goddess wanted a mocha, and it had taken every scrap of patience she had mustered over the decade of dealing with the Marauders to not punch him in his grinning face or to just hex him into a puddle on the library floor. Of course, if she had gone with the hexing route, there was no doubt in her mind that Alice and Frank would show up with whatever Oblivator du jour to clean up the resulting mess. Then there really wouldn't be any living it down.

A cup being set down within to the ceramic mug holding pens in the center of the study table managed to draw her attention away from the variables she was inputting into her code. No matter how much she blinked at the plain off-white cup with its pitch-black lid, it refused to make sense. So she turned her gaze towards the person who had set it there.

Oh, sweet cherry pie.

The guy was handsome. He had the natural olive skin color common to the Mediterranean region, but there was a peaky undertone to it that reminded her of how Remus always looked around particularly bad moons. His inky hair stood up in tufts even more gravity defying than James' hair. As she watched, he ran his hands nervously through it, making the mess stick up even more. His eyes were the color of aged whiskey, warm and sparking with restless intelligence that called to her.

Then he smiled at her, and she could feel her heart skip a beat before taking off racing. She could only hope that whatever reason he had for bringing her coffee and interrupting her wasn't skeezy. It would be a shame if someone this cute was just another racist toe-rag. James would also hate the lost opportunity when she would mention this encounter later. This guy was as much James' type as he was hers.

"You're Lily Evans, right?" the guy asked. Interestingly, he didn't extend his hand like most Muggles would have. Either he had been observing her enough to know that she wouldn't shake it (a cultural quirk she had picked up at Hogwarts where the gesture was seen as too intimate for acquaintances) or he was another wixen attending the university. She eyed him suspiciously.

"Evans Potter," she corrected more gently than she normally did. It wasn't uncommon for people to use just her maiden name. The Muggles attending Cambridge with her usually did it out of a misunderstanding her first term where her records falsifying school records hadn't been updated properly. That had been tied to how many wixen deliberately ignored her marriage to James. Then there were the people who swung wildly in the opposite direction and ignored her decision to continue using her maiden name in addition to her married one.

Ugh, people.

"Right, sorry," he said. He accompanied the words with a seemingly unconscious gesture that looked too deliberate to be random. He kept doing it as he continued speaking. "Dr. Wilkes mentioned the name thing when he recommended you. He's the—"

"Guest lecturer this term for Biochemical Engineering," Lily interrupted. Satisfied that the coffee wasn't tied to a date demand (because there was no need to bring up a professor if it was and Dr. Wilkes didn't seem like the type to stand for fetishization of black people as that would apply to him, too), she picked it up and took a sip. A pleased hum escaped her at the flavor of her favorite roast mixed with just the right amount of caramel. She deliberately let her gaze drift appraisingly over him. He really did have potential. "This is probably the best coffee I've ever had outside of Hell Week."

"That's actually a relief," he replied, continuing to do those deliberate gestures, "because I wasn't sure if your friends were pulling my leg or not. The tall one certainly didn't seem like he could go more than a few words without laughing, and the Indian one couldn't seem to stop tripping over his words. He's the one who told me your favorite coffee order, by the way. He recommended some cookies, too, but…"

"But?" Lily prompted even as she fought the urge to beam. She did love being right about things. James only tripped over his words when trying to flirt without being an ass. It was one of his most endearing flaws. She took another sip of the coffee to distract herself from the idea of sharing her husband with this man.

"I ate them all on the way over," he confessed. "I had never had blackberry jammy dodgers. I thought they were only made with blueberry jam."

"You've had blueberry jammy dodgers?" Lily asked in shock. She set the coffee cup on the table. "But you're American!"

"Yes, well," he said, looking mildly embarrassed like Peter did when he had been caught out in a lie, "my butler was from Yorkshire, and they were his favorite cookie. So his wife baked them often. Since they pretty much raised me, I ended up eating a lot of them. Lemon hamantaschens, too."

"So what did you say your name was again, handsome?"

Lily eyed him as she took a long drink of the coffee that he had thoughtfully brought her. He had even bothered to track down James and Sirius to get advice, which was no small feat given how often the two were called away from the flat they had just off campus. No matter how important her studies were, the war still raged on and all four of her boys were right in the thick of it, James and Sirius most of all.

Of course, Remus would be even more so if Dumbledore actually had his way. The headmaster had made repeated noises about the need for a liaison with the wolf packs. Thankfully, Remus had followed her lead and was also studying at Cambridge. The only difference was that Remus was seeking a literature degree instead of anything science-related. They had all learned the hard way that Remus was all thumbs in anything chemistry related (his potions were always abysmal) and anything involving fauna was dangerous.

"Oh," he said after a long beat where he had just watched her. He shook himself before seeming to draw up a mask of confidence. She grinned as she imagined how he would look once she managed to get him close enough to orgasm that he was reduced back to the guy who blushed about eating biscuits. "I am Tony Stark."

"And what did you need me for, Tony?" She gave him a suggestive smile, already imagining how he would look wrapped in James' arms. "Something exciting, I hope, since Dr. Wilkes recommended me."

"He said that you are one of the best programmers in the world currently," Tony said without reacting to her leer. "I'm having a bit of difficulty advancing a personal project. How do you feel about artificial intelligence?"

"Artificial intelligence?" Lily asked, setting down the coffee cup in order to save her work and close her laptop. Carefully, she slipped it into her warded case for it. Then she licked her lips, cat-like, as she looked at him through her eyelashes in the way that made James agree to try whatever her new idea for the bedroom was. "Or full-on constructed intelligence?"

"Finally," Tony declared, "someone who speaks English!"

"Oh, darling, I speak all kinds of languages." She stood up, making sure to move just barely into Tony's personal space as she did. "Let's get more coffee and speak some more."