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Sirius Black was a bit of an arse, yes, but not in the way that most Slytherins were. He was the funny, relatable kind of arse, not the kind that made James want to hex someone into oblivion-- which is where most people in that House landed with James.
Sirius was also wicked smart and bloody gorgeous to boot. He was more than a little prickly, which meant that James hadn't had to worry about rivals for his affection. Not that James had his affection, that is. But he would get there one day, and he didn't want to have to fend off other suitors in the meantime.
It had worked very nicely for years, and somehow, now, when they were only four months from graduating Hogwarts, was when someone decided to stick their nose into the middle of the situation. And it was another Gryffindor! A year below, so it wasn't as big of a betrayal as it could have been, but still. What was Smithson thinking? He was the best Keeper they had right now, but that didn't mean he could afford to split his focus like this.
Smithson walked right up to Sirius after practice ended (his brother was on Slytherin’s Quidditch team, who was taking the pitch as Gryffindor was leaving) and started flirting with him. The only good news was that it didn't look like Sirius was flirting back, but it was equally likely that James just didn't know what he looked like when he was flirting with someone-- Slytherins had an unfortunate habit of trying to hide any emotion that wasn't annoyance or smugness.
James glared at Smithson's back. This was just insulting. First he played like that during practice, and now this? Did the tosser not have any self-awareness?
Sirius caught his eye, looking over Smithson's shoulder. His mouth quirked up in one corner, and then he turned his attention back to Smithson. He pointed at James and said, "I think your captain wants to have a few words with you."
Smithson turned to look, and Sirius winked at James then sped away.
Winked. For Merlin's sake, James's heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest from that one little motion. He half-wanted to chase after Sirius and ask why he'd done that-- or maybe cut to the chase and ask him on a date-- but he had something more urgent to deal with and its name was Smithson.
Smithson shuffled over, clearly aware that he was about to be reprimanded, and James folded his arms over his chest.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, his eyes on Smithson's retreating figure. "Are you going to chase him off every time he talks to me?" he asked James.
"What? I don't do that."
"This would make the third time. That is-- in case you didn't know-- every single time that he's tried to talk to me while you were nearby."
"He can try to date someone after he learns to block the shots on the left hoop," James said, trying not to blush. He wasn't actually embarrassed by Sirius figuring out what he'd been doing, but having Sirius's attention on him made him hot under the collar.
"Hm. Glad I'm not on your Quidditch team if this is how much you micromanage," he commented idly. Then he turned and left, continuing on his way.
James followed him because shame wasn't exactly something he was well acquainted with. "Does it bother you that he does that?"
"That who does what?"
"Smithson, flirting with you all the time."
Sirius stopped walking and turned to James with a frown. "Flirting?"
"Yeah. It's pretty obvious."
His frown deepened. It did absolutely nothing to make him look less attractive. "He thinks that's flirting?" Then he paused. "You think that's flirting?"
"If it's not flirting, then what do you think it is?" James asked.
"Something not near as pleasing," he replied, expression clearing so he could roll his eyes.
This time, when he left, James didn't follow him. Did he really not know that Smithson was flirting with him? And if he didn't know that that's what was happening, then what did he think of James's interference? He'd given a Quidditch-related excuse yes, but he'd thought it was a pretty thin one.
Wait. Did... did Sirius not know that that James fancied him? He thought that he'd made it pretty damn clear over the last four years, but maybe Sirius was more oblivious to people being attracted to him than James had known was possible-- he'd been rather obvious, after all.
Well. Alright then. He was going to have to make it so obvious that even Sirius could tell what he felt. Everyone else in the entire buggering castle knew, if Lily was to be believed.
"What's this?"
"Flowers," James said.
"Erm. Yes. I can see that. Why are they here?"
"They're for you."
"O...kay," Sirius said slowly.
"I hope you like them."
"Thank you?" Sirius said, looking puzzled.
Not obvious enough, then. James might need to actually say the words 'fancy' and 'date' if he wanted this to go anywhere. He couldn't do it right now though, because tonight was the full moon and he needed to talk to Moony about something before then. He'd been cutting it close just by giving Sirius the flowers, so he couldn't afford to stay and talk to him further.
He just smiled and left for the Gryffindor table.
Sirius looked at him, looked some more, then said, "You're being weird."
"I'm behaving the same way I always do, just more obvious."
"So, not the same way you always do."
James shrugged. "Like turning the radio's volume up. Same song but louder."
"So you're being the same level of weird, but now I'm able to notice it?"
"I'm not being that weird."
"If you say so," Sirius said, clearly not buying it.
Sirius grabbed James by the arm and dragged him into a nearby corridor that wasn't quite as busy. "You fancy me?" he demanded.
"That took you a lot longer to figure out than I thought it would," James said with a grin.
"You... you do fancy me?" he asked incredulously.
James blinked at him and didn't bother to try and free his arm, which was still being held hostage by Sirius. "Did someone have to tell you?" he asked, because that's what it sounded like.
"Regulus." Then, after a short pause, he added, "My brother."
"Yeah, I know who your brother is. You couldn't figure it out? Really? I wasn't subtle."
"I've never had someone fancy me before," Sirius said, blushing.
Huh. James had never seen him blush before. His entire face went pink, and it was glaringly obvious that he was blushing, which was probably why he tried not to blush. Still, he would think that in seven years, he would've seen it happen at least once before. "That you know of," James pointed out.
"Shut it," he said, his blush deepening. "I'm trying to talk to you about this, but if you're going to take the piss, I'm just going to leave."
"Wait, wait don't go anywhere," James rushed to say. He reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Sirius's robe even though he hadn't moved to leave. "I'll stop. What did you want to talk about?"
"Normally when someone fancies someone else, they ask them on a date, and then they go out and enjoy themselves, but we're never going to get there unless you actually ask me," Sirius said, looking down at his feet like he couldn't stand to look at James as he admitted it.
"Couldn't you ask me instead of waiting for me to ask?"
Sirius looked up to glare at him.
James could be plenty stubborn, but he knew that Sirius could as well. If it came down to it, he fully believed that Sirius would wait him out. And if it did come to that, James would be the one to break first because if he could be dating Sirius, he would. With that in mind, he didn't see the point in drawing it out when he could just agree to it now and save himself a lot of trouble. "Sirius, would you like to go on a date with me?"
"Fine," Sirius said, like he was being forced into it. The pleased expression ruined it, though. Not that James was complaining one way or the other. "You could've led with that instead of being an arse to your poor Keeper."
James rolled his eyes. "Smithson's fine, believe me."