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Sirius had made a career out of being a bloke that dressed feminine at times. Technically, he'd made a career out of singing, but more people talked about his outfits, his makeup, and his hair, than his songs. Which was fine by him. He wrote all of his own lyrics, but it's not like he thought they were anything groundbreaking. He'd done three albums so far, and each of them had a single, poetic song that was basically a love letter to James. The rest of the songs on the albums were pop. Maybe pop rock, if the reviewer wanted to be generous. Incidentally, his poetic songs were always the least popular ones, but again, it didn't really bother him. He was a pop artist. He was successful at it in large part because people thought he was gorgeous. It was a nice stroke to his ego, which he always appreciated.
James had made a career out of actually being a good singer and songwriter, which Sirius thought was hilarious. They were quite a pair. Every time a fan discovered that they were married, they expressed shock at how different their styles were-- usually followed by wondering how the hell they were together; Sirius didn't understand how different musical styles were supposed to make them incompatible life partners, but he thought that was pretty funny too.
"I don't want to go on tour again," Sirius said with a frown-- not that Benjy could see it. The beauty of phone calls was also the biggest drawback: Benjy couldn't see what Sirius looked like. It meant that he could stay in his pants while talking, but it also meant that Benjy couldn't see his expression and react accordingly.
"I know you said that, but-"
"But nothing, Benjy. I've got a husband that I do like seeing every once in a while, and I can start on the next album like you wanted."
"It's an over exaggeration to say that you starting on the next album is what I want," Benjy, Sirius's manager said. "I offered it as an alternative to going on tour."
"And I've accepted, so what's the problem?"
Benjy sighed. "Nothing, I guess. Tell James hullo for me."
"Will do. And thanks." Sirius knew that he was a pain sometimes, but whenever he was too nice to Benjy, he never ended up getting what he wanted. He once hadn't seen James in person for three consecutive days for a year and a half because he had kept telling Benjy that it wasn't the end of the world if he stayed on the road.
"Uh-huh. I know it's your time off, but keep in touch, yeah?"
"Yep. Bye."
Benjy echoed, "Bye," and they both hung up.
"Hey sweetheart," James said, putting an arm around Sirius's waist and pressing a lingering kiss to his cheek.
"You're cuddly," Sirius noted.
He hummed, not denying it. "Just love you is all."
"Aw, you love me? How embarrassing."
"I've always been in love with you, and not once in my life has it embarrassed me."
Sirius flushed a light pink but pretended like he hadn't. James saw it anyways but kept his mouth shut. There had been times where Sirius didn't like himself in the slightest, but James had always liked him. Every inch. When he had his dysphoric days, James loved him just the same; it helped.
James was plucking tunelessly at his guitar as he frowned at his music notebook, and Sirius was laying on the ground with his feet propped up on the armchair in front of him. Ah yes, the glamorous lifestyle of popular musicians.
Sirius was having a pretty good time of it. Doing nothing was quite a bit of fun. It was one of the only things he really missed from their school days. Even on his days off, where he purposefully sat around doing nothing, it felt like he had been run ragged. Sirius loved his life, and he liked performing, but a part of him couldn't wait for the day when he got to retire. They'd be able to sit around like this all day, every day.
It was as he was having that thought that his life decided to take a dip. His phone was sitting on the coffee table, and it buzzed several times in quick succession from new messages. "Can you kick me my phone?" Sirius asked, not wanting to get up to see if it was important.
James paused playing, then did as Sirius asked and kicked it off the end where it landed near Sirius.
He picked it up and unlocked it, then frowned. "What's Benjy texting me for?"
"Well, he's your manager. I'm sure he has lots of reasons."
Don't panic.
Well that was comforting.
I'll take care of it.
People might say some shite, but your #1 defence is to just not look at it.
Sirius itched to get on twitter and see what he was talking about, but to date, Benjy hadn't given him bad advice. If he said that Sirius didn't want to see it, then it was probably true. Still, he needed to know what the hell he was talking about.
What's going on?, he texted back.
Someone found an old photo of you and James at school.
Oh. Sirius swallowed. If it was from Hogwarts, then Sirius hadn't come out, and he sure as hell hadn't transitioned yet. James was back to plucking at the guitar strings, evidently coming to the conclusion that if Sirius hadn't told him what it was about, then it wasn't important. It's not like Sirius was going to keep it from him, but he wanted to know what was going on, and James would tell him not to bother with it. He'd tell James what was going on-- as soon as he figured it out himself.
You're gonna get pissed at me for looking, aren't you?
DON'T. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SIRIUS DO NOOOOOT.
Sirius read the text and didn't reply. He wasn't going to look at all the comments-- really, he wasn't. He just wanted to know how this had started.
It wasn't hard to find.
Some fan of James's was attending Hogwarts and had recognised him in an old photograph. They'd snapped a picture on their phone and uploaded it. Guys, teenaged James Potter!!! I guess that's his girlfriend before he got married :P Sirius had hair down to his shoulders now, but back then, he hadn't cut it once and in the picture, it was in two low pigtails. He'd had to wear the girl's uniform back then, which meant a pleated skirt and a blazer in red instead of trousers and a yellow blazer like the boys had gotten. He'd hated that uniform. He'd gotten more detentions for wearing the wrong uniform than he had anything else, which was sort of amazing considering how often he'd acted out in other ways.
Someone else had said that the girl in the picture looked an awful lot like James's husband.
Someone new put that picture side by side with one of Sirius's current ones. Dude, does @siriusblackpotter have a twin sister or smthn?? He has mentioned "family issues" before...
It went from there to someone unearthing the names listed for the original picture, to someone pointing out that he never took his shirt off for photoshoots, to someone finding both records of him changing his name. That shite was on public record. The only reason he'd gotten away with it up until now was that no one had thought to look for the first one.
Sirius exited out of twitter and crawled over to James's chair, leaving his phone where he'd been sat before.
James stopped playing, peering at him curiously. "You alright, love?"
"Mph."
"Benjy trying to get you on tour again?"
"Nah."
James threaded his fingers through Sirius's hair, scratching lightly at his scalp. "Then what's up?"
"Someone found an old picture of us in Hogwarts."
There was the briefest pause in James's hand before he resumed. "All over social media?"
"Yeah."
"What did Benjy say? That was Benjy texting you, right?"
"Yeah. He said he'd come up with a statement or summat, and I should just wait it out."
"Good advice," James said mildly.
"You disagree?" Sirius asked, tilting his head back to look at him.
James gave a small shrug. "I dunno. I'm sure from a PR point of view, that's the smart thing to do."
"But?"
"But all I want to do is... I dunno. Something mushy. Let everyone know I love you."
"Pretty sure they already know that. I think the marriage might've tipped them off."
"Might've," James agreed with a small smile. With the hand still holding the guitar, he held it off to the side and leaned forward to kiss him. They kept it short since it was an awkward angle, and if James tried to stay that way for very long, he'd probably fall off the chair entirely. It did Sirius a world of good to feel it, brief as it was. Feel him. He leaned back in the chair again, but he kept the guitar away. Evidently, the time for figuring out a new chorus line was done for the moment.
"I love you," Sirius said. He knew that James knew that. But he liked saying it, and he knew for a fact that James liked hearing it.
James's eyes lit up like Sirius had given him the world-- just like he did every time Sirius said it. "I love you too. You want to do something fun?"
"Fun how?"
"Eh, dealer's choice. We could watch a horror movie and eat ice cream."
"I hope you realise the only part of horror movies I like is the part where I cuddle up to you."
"Liar," James said with a grin. "You also like the blood sprays."
"I just think they're funny is all," Sirius said.
"Thinking it's funny counts as liking it."
"Hm, disagree."
James rolled his eyes. "Does that mean we're on for a horror movie?"
"Absolutely."