Work Text:
Sirius had had an absolutely miserable day at work-- who would've thought that putting memos together could be so open to criticism from the boss?-- and was consoling himself by finishing off the rest of the cake that Moony had given them. And okay, maybe he should've saved some for James, but he didn't think that he'd mind. Sirius was the one with the sweet tooth, and James had never objected to him finishing off a dessert before.
He didn't think this time would be any different, and it wasn't, really. James didn't object to not getting any of it when he got home. He leaned down and kissed Sirius's cheek while he was still chewing. "I thought there were three pieces left."
Sirius nodded.
"You're going to get padding if you always eat like that," he teased, giving him a pat on his stomach and another kiss on his cheek. He walked away then to change out of his work robes to something more comfortable, missing the way Sirius stilled at his words.
He looked down at the rest of the cake in the container. There were only a couple bites left, so it wouldn't make sense to leave them there. He finished them off, thinking as he chewed. He had been eating a lot of desserts lately. He hadn't given it any thought because he simply didn't think about what he ate that much. Now that he was thinking about it though, he realised that it was too much. Not for his tastebuds obviously, but too much if he wanted to stay thin the way he'd managed to maintain since him and James started dating.
James had said it like a joke, but Sirius wasn't going to take any chances. If keeping James meant getting rid of the sweets in his life, then he'd do it.
Sirius slept on it, then decided that just giving up sweets probably wasn't enough. It would keep him from getting fat in a hurry, yes, but it didn't mean that he'd stay trim. He'd have to start exercising. Ugh. The things he did for love. He loved sitting around. He used to love being active, but in his old age-- the ripe age of twenty-three-- he liked to laze around. His Quidditch days were a thing of the past, and the occasional run as Padfoot was good, but he did a quick sprint and called it good instead of running for half the night like he used to.
This was going to be miserable in the beginning. He knew once he got back into the groove of it that it would be fine, and even feel good, but starting out would feel like rubbish. He set an alarm early for the next morning so he'd have time to exercise and shower before work. He thought about changing the rest of his diet to be more healthy but that would never last. And even if it did last, he wasn't sure hating it the entire time would be good for him. Exercise and laying off desserts would be plenty.
He woke up with the alarm and turned it off quickly so it wouldn't wake James. It didn't work, because he squirmed, half pushing himself up before Sirius gently pushed him back down. "Go back to sleep," he said lowly, "you've got time."
James took his word for it and buried his head in his pillow, eyes shutting.
Sirius hadn't been able to go for as long as he'd thought he'd be able to, and it took more breath from him than he'd been expecting. He'd have to pull back until he was actually used to it. He hated having to start small, no matter how much sense it made. This, in a word, sucked. He sipped at his water and tried to cool off as much as he could. If he jumped into the shower like this, he'd feel sick for half the day.
The good news, he supposed, was that he could get breakfast started before cleaning up, and it would be fine. He was grabbing eggs when James stumbled out of their room. He frowned when he saw Sirius standing there, though only he knew why.
"Morning," Sirius said. He felt sweaty and gross, but it's not like James hadn't seen him looking far worse than this.
"Morning," James muttered. He pushed his glasses up and rubbed at his eyes, then settled them on his nose again. He walked closer and slumped into a chair. "I thought you went in early. What were you doing?"
"Exercising, what's it look like?"
"It... does look like that," James agreed slowly. He sighed, looking even more tired than before. Which was quite a feat, because James was not a morning person. It took him a good two hours to wake up enough to be his usual cheerful self. "Is this what I said the other night when you were eating the rest of the cake?"
Sirius didn't mean to pause, but he did.
"Bugger. I knew it was stupid to say it while I was saying it, but when you didn't get mad at me, I thought it was nothing. You do know that it's nothing, right? I don't care what you eat. Eat the whole bloody city for all I care."
"I'll get right on devouring houses after breakfast," Sirius said, shooting him a smile that was returned.
James got home a little later than usual, but Sirius barely noticed until he saw a box in his boyfriend's hands when he arrived.
"What's that?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, erm, for you," James said, holding it out to him.
Sirius took it, then looked. Then he blinked. "These are chocolates."
"Well spotted," James said, then blew out a breath and brought a hand up to muss his hair. "I was feeling guilty for the cake thing, and I wanted to apologise."
"You already did that," Sirius said, setting the chocolates aside to pull James closer.
"I apologised for saying it, yes, but I wanted you to know that I really don't care. You could be twice the size you are now, and it wouldn't make a bit of difference in how much I love you."
He already had James's hands in his own, so instead of fiddling with his own fingers, he fiddled with James's. "You like how fit I am," he muttered.
"Once I've fallen in love with your looks, there is no going back, and I have long since fallen in love with how you look. You're hardly the same now as you were when we got together, and yet I still love you. How strange that must be to you," James teased. He laughed when Sirius shoved at him.
"You know what I mean."
"I do," James said, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to like you less if you eat as many sweets as you desire."
"Even if it changes how I look?"
Normally, James would make a joke here, but a poorly timed joke is what made Sirius feel bad to begin with, and he wasn't going to mock him now that he was asking a question he wanted a real answer to. "Even if it changes how you look. You wouldn't love me less if I started gaining weight, now would you?"
"Of course not," Sirius said, rolling his eyes, like the mere thought of their situations being reversed was absurd to him.
"See? Perfectly resolved. I love you, you love me, and we're happy despite my best attempts at being a right wanker."
"Oh, don't give yourself that much credit," Sirius said. He opened the box and shoved one in James's mouth. "If I'd thought about it, I would've realised I was being stupidly insecure."
"Not to put too fine a point on it, but you're insecure pretty often," James said while he was chewing. "You'd think you wouldn't be, with how great you are."
"Only you think I'm great, and you're bloody barmy," Sirius replied.
This time, James was the one to reach for a chocolate, and he none too kindly shoved it in Sirius's mouth.
He supposed that was fair, considering he'd done the same to James not thirty seconds ago.
"Make no mistake that I love you. You can think whatever you want about it, but it's true, and it's never going to change."
"Never?"
"Never."
"I feel the urge to make you regret saying that."
"I admit, it would be a spectacular rough patch if you decided to smash my broomstick for the hell of it, but I'd still love you."
"I would win in a popularity contest between me and your broomstick," Sirius said, eyes wide and sounding like he could hardly believe it. "You really are arse over kettle gone for me."
"I thought it was obvious."
"There are times when it gets more obvious than others," Sirius said, popping another chocolate in his mouth. "I'll have to remember this when I've finished off this box."
"I'll buy you more," James promised.