Smooth Sailing

Thursday

Content warning for cancer...sort of?

James sent Sirius a picture of him on his sofa, legs crossed, teacup in hand. His pinkie was raised and so was his eyebrow. Tell me everything , he captioned it, ready to spam his best mate into giving him the details if they didn't fess up in the next sixty seconds.

Sirius sent a picture back, lounging in a bed that clearly wasn't theirs, with a heavy-lidded smile across their face. i hope this gives you an idea , they captioned it.

Again? Well, if you've slept over and survived this many times, I guess he isn't a serial killer , James responded.

we've established that serial killers don't wear grandpa jumpers and visit babies , Sirius defended.

he could be holding off because he likes me , they added.

Don't make me nervous, James commented.

So he LIKE likes you? he added.

shut up you 14 year old, Sirius joked.

Excuse you, I am a dignified gentleman who likes the occasional tidbit of gossip . James rolled his eyes.

hold on, texting will not do this date justice , Sirius said, and then FaceTimed James.

"Morning, lover boy," James drawled.

"It's a great day to be gay, old sport. He's out buying us breakfast. Pastries and the whole lot. This man spoils me," Sirius said.

"I'd say that's better than your other morning-after-sex experiences," James teased. "So, how was it? The date, of course. Spare me the sexy details."

Sirius grinned. The look on their face had meant trouble since the day they met James."I'll tell you about mine if you tell me about yours."

"I don't know what you're talking about," James said. He'd only been to the gym and back and was planning on drafting a press release after talking to Sirius.

"Your romantic morning with Regulus, you dolt. All week, I haven't heard a word from you that wasn't about my brother. And it's the same with him! It's all, Potter, Potter, Potter , all the time. I've never seen him like this."

James burst out laughing. "Sirius, I can't make any sense of him, but I do know without a doubt that Regulus doesn't like me. Definitely not like that. Just yesterday he was making comments about me sailing shirtless."

Sirius wiggled their eyebrows. "Shirtless, you say? Out of all the infinite things my brother could have complained about, he complained about you being shirtless? And you still don't think he's interested?"

"Not after today I don't. He just turned up his Lana playlist the whole time the team was working out." Not wanting to egg Sirius on, James didn't mention how Regulus had really spotted him during his bench presses that time, or how he'd properly said hello as he walked in. James liked to joke that Sirius should have done the long jump at school, since he was so good at jumping to wild conclusions.

"James, Regulus is angsty, but he's never angsty over nothing."

James rolled his eyes. "Okay, back to your love life. I'll let you tell me all the sexy bits if you stop talking about me fucking your brother."

"Glad I've got you thinking about it." Sirius' smirk turned into a genuine smile. "Remus, the chivalrous wanker, insisted on picking me up at my flat."

"Stop it, that's so romantic." James shook his head fondly.

"I had to tell him not to pick me up at my door since the elevator still doesn't work and he's got bad knees, but he picked me up and gave me a bloody plant —not just cut flowers, an actual lemon verbena plant—and called me stunning. Stunning ! He asked about ten times whether he was being gender-affirming enough, and he apologises too much, but he looks so cute when he does it. He looks cute doing everything, to be honest. Looking at menus, driving, talking—I just wanted to kiss him every time he did something like that. He's going to be a secondary school teacher, and he's doing a Master's degree in psychology so he can do it better—can you believe he's real?" James shook his head, prompting Sirius to continue.