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‘So Remus,’ James said, aiming for casual as he poured himself a glass of apple juice, ‘You coming down to watch the match?’
‘Hmm?’ Remus made a distracted noise, not looking up from the book he was reading, ‘What?’
‘He said,’ Sirius snatched the book out of Remus’ hand and hit him on the head with it, ‘Are.’ Smack. ‘You coming.’ Smack, smack. ‘To watch the match?’ He aimed one final blow to the back of Remus’ head and tossed the book onto the table.
‘Ow! You’re such a dick, Padfoot.’ Remus rubbed his head and grabbed the book back, scowling at Sirius, who stabbed a sausage with his fork. Then without breaking Remus’ eye contact, took a large bite, chewing open mouthed. Remus looked back at him, revolted, ‘You’re so disgusting.’
Sirius opened his mouth, no doubt to retort with a nonsense argument but James got there first; he was not in the mood for Sirius’ special brand of annoying this morning. The adrenalin of the upcoming game, the fact that Remus might actually come and watch him fly, with his adorable knitted scarf wrapped round his adorable freckled face, just two eyes peeking out the - fuck, he really needed to get a grip.
‘So are you?’ he asked again. Casual, cool, yes definitely cool, well done James, you’re the fucking man .
‘Probably not, no.’
‘Oh,’ James felt his face fall. Uncool! He quickly schooled it back to his usual perky grin, although from the look Sirius had just given him he hadn’t been quick enough.
Sirius held his gaze a second more and then turned back to Remus. ‘You should come, Moony. It’s the last match of the year, what else are you possibly going to do?’
‘I’ve got loads of work to do. I haven’t even nearly finished that Tranfig essay that McG keeps banging on about and I’ve got that potions thingy which I've already ballsed up twice. I missed three days after the last you know what. Three days . I was still playing catch up from last month too.’ Remus sighed and looked at James, ‘Do you really want me to come?’
‘Well sure,’ James said, slipping back into his usual bravado, ‘I mean it’s for your own benefit Moony. Don’t you want to see these babies in action?’ He stood up and away before lifting one leg up and placing his foot on the bench and slapping the thigh that was now encroaching Remsu’ personal space. ‘Gripping tightly on to a broomstock, all limbered up and glistening-’
‘Why would they be glistening?’ Sirius interrupted.
‘Because they’re oiled up,’ James said quickly, ‘Now shut the fuck up, you ruined my flow. All limbered up and glistening with oil making-’
‘I would have thought oiling up before straddling a narrow piece of highly varnished wood would be inadvisable?’ Remus cocked his head to the side, eyes twinkling and James’ heart did it’s now patented Remus swoop.
‘Erm.’
‘Ha! Good one Moony!’ Pete slapped Remus on the back, James hadn’t even realised he was there. He did, however, notice Remus wince, even as he tried to brush it off as shifting in his seat.
‘Oh my God Pete, what's wrong with you?!’ he snapped, reaching around Remus to punch Pete’s arm, ‘You hurt him!’
‘Hey!’ Pete griped, glaring at James.
‘Apologise,’ James demanded and Pete huffed, all too used to James’ spiraling into Mother Hen mode, especially when it came to Remus. He looked at Sirius and they shared a knowing look which James chose to ignore because maturity , thank you very much.
‘Can you not Prongs?’ Remus bit, pushing at James’ thigh which he dropped from the bench immediately. ‘If I wanted Pete to apologise I’m perfectly capable of asking him to do so myself.’ He turned to Pete and smiled, ‘You’re good Pete, ignore him.’
‘Fine,’ James raised his hands up. He could feel his face heating, a flush rising on dark skin and he sat back down heavily and began aggressively spooning porridge into his mouth.
‘James,’ Remus said, exasperated, ‘Come on.’
‘No, it’s fine!’ James scrapped at his at his now nearly empty bowl loudly, scooping up the last mouthful of porridge, ‘I mean you’re clearly in pain but it’s fine. People are just thumping you and making it worse and I'm just trying to help but obviously I'm the bad guy in this situation and it’s not like you’re coming to watch the match anyway, so yeah,’ he jammed the spoon into his mouth, ‘Life’s just peachy.’ He dropped the spoon, aiming for the bowl but missing and watched instead as it clattered to the floor.
‘I’m not coming to watch the match? What’s that got to do with any-’
‘Aren’t you going to pick that up?’ Sirius interrupted Remus loudly, looking at James.
‘No, Padfoot!’ James’ voice was bordering on hysterical, ‘I’m not going to pick it up! I’m not picking anything up, apparently!’
‘Smooth,’ Sirius muttered audibly and then cried out as James gave him a well aimed kick to the shin underneath the table.
There was an awkward silence as the four of them sat there. The noise of The Great Hall was loud and excited, everyone gearing up to watch the match. James’ heart was beating too fast, nerves or disappointment or - well, he probably knew why. What a fucking start to the day , he thought to himself. He glanced sideways at Remus who had gone back to reading his book, although James noticed that his eyes weren’t moving, as Sirius and Pete started up a conversation about Pete’s latest Hogsmead date and did Sirius think Pete could pull off a sleeveless jumper. He didn’t. But Remus could , James’ brain helpfully supplied.
Eventually, Remus put the book down. ‘I’m going to go back up to the dorm,’ he said as he stood up with a clear grimace before sitting back down again. James opened his mouth. ‘Don’t,’ Remus shot at him before taking a deep breath and standing up again, ‘I’m fine, James. I just need to lie down for a bit.’
‘Whatever,’ James muttered sullenly, grabbing the jug of juice and pouring himself another glass, chugging it down in one, juice dribbling onto his Quidditch shirt.
Remus looked at him a second more. ‘Well, good luck guys. Go Gryffindor!’
‘Cheers Moony!’ Sirius said, giving him a little salute, ‘Hope you feel better.’
Remus gave him a short smile, ‘Thanks. Just need to sleep it off. Or something. Anyway, see you all in a bit,’ and he turned and walked towards the doors, leaning heavily to one side, his hip clearly bothering him.
There was silence for a moment as Pete and Sirius exchanged yet another knowing look and James picked up an orange, throwing it up into the air and catching it a few times before putting it down. His eyes kept flickering towards the doors. In the end, it was Sirius who cracked first.
‘Oh my God Prongs just go!’
‘What? No, I was just thinking that -’
‘Go!’
‘Yeh. Ok. I need to change this shirt now anyway.’ He gestured to the juice stains and then scrambled to his feet.
‘Yeh, yeh, whatever helps you sleep at night,’ Sirius said, waving his hand in James’ direction.
James hesitated, ‘I might have a spare in my locker or I could -’
‘Gooooo.’ Sirius said again, waving a hand at James, ‘If you don’t go you’re going to play like shit. Go kiss and make up.’
‘Oh fuck off,’ James snapped, but there was no malice behind it, ‘See you down there?’
‘See you down there,’ Sirius affirmed and James turned on his heels and began to walk quickly towards the door.
The corridors were more or less empty, most people still having breakfast and those early birds already making their way out the front doors and into the May sunshine, looking forward to getting front row seats in the stands. James broke into a half jog as he reached the seventh floor, rounding a corner and almost running head first into Remus, who had paused in the middle of the hallway.
‘Bloody hell James, you scared me!’ he said, backing away and trying to subtly lean against the wall, pain and exhaustion written all over his unusually pale face.
‘Remus,’ James said softly looking at him, ‘Come on you, let’s get you to bed.’
Without waiting for an answer James wrapped an arm around Remus’ waist, hitching it up slightly so his hand was resting just above his hip. Remus stiffened and James was sure he was going to protest but then he seemed to just melt against him, leaning into his side, wriggling his arm free to support himself on James’ side.
They walked towards the portrait hole and James was just congratulating himself for being a jolly good friend, look at me helping Remus and not making an arse out of myself , when out of nowhere Remus tipped his head so it was resting on James’ shoulder.
He’s tired and hurting, James reminded himself, even as his heart made a valiant attempt to implode, it doesn’t mean anything, he’s just leaning on you. I mean yes, he’s never done this before and remember that time he said he thought it was cute when couples walked along all cuddled up and -
‘James?’
‘Hmm? What? Oh!’ They were standing in front of the portrait hole, the fat lady looking expectantly at him. Remus had lifted his head from his shoulder and was looking up at him with a wry smile.
‘She asked what you reckon Gryf’s chances are?’
‘Oh, dead cert. There’s no way we won’t win.’ Next to him Remus gave a little chuckle and James puffed out his chest a little; he loved that sound and he loved being the one to make Remus make it. The Fat Lady, however, didn’t seem as amused,
‘Hmmm, see that you do young man, I’ve got four galleons and a weekend away in Ayrshire, on the second floor, riding on this.’ and with that, the door swung open and James helped Remus, carefully, inside.
‘I’m good Prongs, thank you.’ Remus said as the portrait closed behind them, ‘You didn’t need to come up.’
‘We all knew I was going to, apparently,’ he muttered and then louder, ‘Anyway, it’s a good job I did. You are clearly in pain Rem, I don’t know why you have to be all self sacrificing about it.’
‘I don’t want to put people out,’ Remus said, mouth set and James huffed.
‘But it’s me! I don’t care, do I?!’ Remus didn’t answer. ‘Come on, you said you wanted to lie down.’ He went to slide an arm under Remus’ own but this time Remus stepped out of his reach.
‘I’m fine James. I can walk up the bloody stairs by myself.’
James just took a step forward, eyes challenging, his lips twitching up trying to suppress a smile as his eyes darted between the entrance to the staircase and Remus.
‘Jaaaaames,’ Remus eyed him warily, ‘What?! James no! Put me down! I swear - ugh!’
James just laughed as he swept Remus off his feet and threw him over his shoulder, one arm wrapped tight around the backs of Remus’ thighs and the other secure against his lower back. Remus struggled but only for a moment, resigned to his fate as he let his body become dead weight as James marched them towards the stairs.
‘This is humiliating,’ Remus said, deadpan as James began to climb upwards and he kicked his legs a little to prove his point.
‘Nah,’ James gave his back a little pat, ‘Just pretend I’m one of those muggle firemen rescuing you from a burning building.’
‘Does that mean I get to imagine you in the outfit then? With the braces and the hat? And all wet and dripping from spraying your enormous - woah!’
‘Fuck!’ James lost his footing and stumbled backwards, one arm shooting out to steady himself on the grey stone walls and the other sliding down Remus’ body so it was resting squarely on his arse.
‘Spraying your enormous hose,’ Remus whispered, voice shaky. ‘Fuck J, you nearly dropped me!’
‘No I -’ James cleared his throat, ‘No I didn’t. Just lost my footing, tis all.’ He slowly started to climb again, head reeling with images of Remus handling his enormous hose. I bet he’d know what to do with it too, a very unhelpful voice, that sounded suspiciously like Sirius’, supplied. And by the way, remember that your hand is on his arse!
‘Ah! Sorry Rem,’ James tried for a nonchalant laugh as they reached the dormitory, ‘Didn’t mean to feel you up!’
‘Oh I’m enjoying it,’ Remus said airily, and although James knew it was a joke he couldn’t help but let that little sliver of hope, the one that he normally stuffed into the Don’t Even Go There James part of his brain, grow a little.
‘Well I do have the ideal groping hands!’ James said enthusiastically, gently laying Remus down on his bed. Ideal groping hands. What the fuck does that mean? He makes one, barely passable innuendo and you’ve completely fallen apart, get a grip Potter!
Remus huffed a laugh, ‘You’re so weird Prongs.’ He shuffled up the bed so he was leant
against his pillows, James fussing behind him, pulling the pillows into a better position and fluffing them up. ‘I’m fine J,’ Remus smiled, ‘Honestly. You need to go, you’ll be late.’
James just shrugged down at him, ‘They can’t start without me can they?’
‘Oh Captain! My captain!’ Remus gave him a salute.
‘What?’
‘It’s from a poem by Walt Whitman, about the death of Abraham Lincoln.’
‘Who?’
‘Doesn’t matter. Why’re you still here?’
‘You’re here.’ James said, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them, ‘And,’ he hurried on, although not missing the bemused look on Remus’ face, ‘I need to change my shirt. It got all juicy.’ It got all juicy?! Oh my God you might as well die now.
‘It got all juicy?’
‘Yes.’
‘I see.’
Feeling hot all over James made his way over to his bed and pulled open his trunk. He rifiled around for a second before emerging holding a clean, well cleanish he thought, there were no visible juice stains on it anway, shirt. He surreptitiously gave it a sniff, it passed the test. Straightening up he looked back towards Remus’ bed. They made eye contact for a split second before Remus’ eyes flickered elsewhere and James could almost convince himself that he could the feel the sexual tension wrack up a notch. Without giving himself time to overthink it, he pulled the dirty shirt over his head, chucking it to one side and then, more slowly than was entirely necessary, he picked up the clean one off the bed and tugged it over his head, smoothing the scarlet material over his chest. He chanced it and looked over at Remus once more. This time Remus didn’t look away, a beautiful red flush spreading over the apples of his cheeks, his ears pinking as he realised he’d be caught starring. The air in the room crackled around them as James took a step towards him and then Remus shivered involuntarily, pulling the sleeves of his cardigan over his hands.
‘You’re cold,’ James stopped preening as concern flooded through him, ‘You’re never cold!’
‘No, I’m good, I'm not cold it’s just-’ Remus trailed off as James dived towards his trunk once more and began to throw an assortment of odd sock, rolls of parchment and a variety of half used potions ingredients onto the bed.
‘Ah! Here!’ James strode across the room to the foot of Remus’ bed and handed him a jumper; it was James’ favourite, old and worn, the hoodie he wore after practise on his way back up from the changing rooms. A deep scarlet, with gold embossed letters stamped out across the back, P-O-T-T-E-R.
Remus looked up at him but didn’t take it.
‘Go on,’ James all but shoved the jumper in Remus’ face, ‘Take it. It’s really warm.’
Remus took it, although he seemed a bit reluctant. Putting it in his lap he ran his fingers over the gold letters, tracing the large ‘7.’ ‘Thanks,’ he whispered, ‘I like it when you wear this.’ He gave a humourless chuckle, ‘You always look after me don’t you. James-’ he reached out to take James’ hand and squeezed once but didn’t let go. James took a deliberate step forward.
The door banged open and Sirius barrelled in. Remus started, dropping James’ hand and pushing him back.
‘Alright lads?’ he said cheerfully, striding towards his bed and snatching up something, a jumper, the same jumper James had just given Remus, although this one had B-L-A-C-K stamped across the back.
‘Yeh, all good.’ James said, still looking at Remus who was chewing the inside of his cheek and dermindly looked at Sirius. ‘What’re you doing? I thought you would have gone down by now.’
‘Needed this, didn’t I,’ Sirius held up the jumper, ‘I mean, is your boyfriend even your boyfriend if he’s not wearing your jersey when you’re playing?’
Fuck.
Remus blanched and looked down at the jumper in his lap and then back up at James who opened his mouth and then closed it again. Smooth, James, so smooth. You’re really pulling all the moves today.
‘You coming Prongsie?’ Sirius asked, coming to a stop next to him, ‘I’ve got to get this to Gid before the match but you should - Ah… shit, I've put my foot in it haven’t I?’ He’d finally spotted James’ hoodie, still clutched in Remus’ hands. ‘Right, well,’ he slapped James on the back, ‘I’ll leave you to it then. See you down there mate, feel better Moony.’ He shot them both a smile and then slipped from the room, closing the door behind him in an uncharacteristically quiet manner.
For the love of God say something! James gave a funny sort of a cough. Excellent. Very articulate James.
‘Here,’ Remus said abruptly, pushing the jumper towards the edge of the bed.
‘Erm, thanks,’ James picked it up and stuffed it under his arm, ‘I can get you a different one or-’
‘I’m good, don’t worry about it.’
‘Sure. Well. I should probably go.’
Remus nodded, ‘Have a good game, I'm sure you’ll smash it. Sorry I'm not going to be there.’
‘That’s ok,’ James said, ‘I know you don’t like the crowds. I can just give you a blow-by-blow account of my magnificence later.’
Remus snorted and James grinned, ‘You liked the blow-by-blow bit didn’t you?’
‘You’re an idiot,’ Remus said, eyes shining, ‘I don’t know why I like you.’
As a FRIEND Potter, you need to chill your boots.
‘C’mere,’ Remus held his arms open, ‘Good luck hug?’
‘Yes please,’ James said, leaning down and sliding his arms around Remus’ shoulder, his hands loosely fastened at the base of Remus’ neck. He felt Remus take a deep breath and James could have sworn he felt his heart stutter as without warning Remus buried his face in the dip of James’ collar bone. He’s so lovely and amazing and BEAUTIFUL, I just want to smoosh him and then eat him! Fuck, don’t think about eating him, these trousers are not forgiving in the dick department. No, don’t think about dicks!! Why are you thinking about dicks? And your own dick, that’s just weird! If anything you should be thinking about Remus’ dick. Wait no, what oh GOD why are you like this?!
‘James?’
‘Yeh Re?’
‘That feels nice.’
‘What? Oh-’ James realised his fingertips were gently stroking over the stray curls at the base of Remus’ neck, dipping up to rub soft circles in his hair. He stilled his hands and Remus gave a little whine of protest, nudging his head against James’ shoulder. Before all resolve cracked James let his fingers catch once more before pulling away. ‘I really need to go.’
‘I know.’ Remus let him pull back further. ‘See you in a bit yeh?’
‘Yeh.’ And screwing up all his courage, James dipped forward to first press a kiss to Remus’ cheek and then, when he met no resistance, brushed his lips gently over Remus’, in a barely there kiss.
‘See you in a bit,’ he said hoarsely and without looking at Remus he turned, diving down the stairs towards the common room, heart racing at 100 miles an hour.
__________________
‘Fuck!’ James roared, as he watched the quaffle fly soar long, not even close to it’s mark, ‘Fuck!’ He pushed up his goggles to wipe the sweat out of his eyes, the jeers of the Slytherin supporters echoing in his ears. He watched as both McKinnon and Shacklebolt raised their arms in disbelief at yet another missed shot and then raced off towards the opposing goal, Slytherin now in possession.
‘What the fuck mate?’ Sirius sped to a halt just beneath him, shouting over the noise, ‘My grandmother could have made that pass and she’s fucking dead!’
‘Just keep your own eyes on the game, Black!’ James shouted back, although he knew Sirius was right. I can’t believe I fucking missed that. He snapped his goggles back on and took off towards the other end of the pitch, narrowly missing a bludger that he hoped came from a Slytherin beater and not Sirius. He looped round the furthest goal post, in hot pursuit of a blur of green, hollering at Longbottom to follow, taking a sharp turn to the right as McKinnon intercepted a dodgy pass.
He had just lifted an arm to indicate that he was free, pleased with a clever bit of flying which had seen him fake out the Slytherin chaser when he spotted him. He ground to a halt, hovering in mid air and heard the whoosh of a quaffle as it soared past him. The crowd groaned, but James’ didn’t hear.
‘Prongs!’ Sirius’ voice sounded as he pulled up beside him, ‘What the hell is the matter with - oh!’
There, in the stands, sandwiched between Gideon and Dorcas was Remus. He caught James’ eye and waved, smiling shyly. He was dressed in scarlet, in a jumper that looked incredibly familiar and James' breath hitched as, ever so slowly, Remus turned around revealing the word P-O-T-T-E-R, emblazoned on the back, in gold solid gold lettering.
‘Sirius,’ James cleared his throat, ‘Sirius, I think I might be dying.’ And he felt himself honest to god swoon as Remus, who was still facing away, turned his head to rest his chin on his shoulder and shot James a wink.
Sirius laughed, nudging the handle of James’ stick with his own, ‘Well, if you’re impending death could perhaps wait until we’ve caught snitch that’d be great.’ He laughed again as this time Remus blew James a kiss and James pretended to catch it and put it in his back pocket, ‘Seriously though, happy for you mate.’
The whistle sounded and both boys' heads whipped round as a roar sounded from the Slytherin supporters.
‘Shit,’ James grimaced, tearing his gaze away from Remus once more. ‘Right,’ he straightened up on his broom, I bet my thighs look fucking awesome, and turned to Sirius, ‘Let’s get this shit won!’
_________________
They won, obviously, 260-140 although James wasn’t entirely sure it was just the adrenalin from such a hard fought match that was giving him the jitters as the team walked towards the changing rooms. They rounded the corner and James spotted a gaggle of people standing just to one side of the doors.
‘Gid!’ Sirius yelled, running forward and throwing himself into his boyfriend’s arms. Gideon laughed as he stumbled back under the weight of Sirius, who threw his arms around Gideons neck, talking a mile a minute.
James let his gaze sweep through the crowd until he found what he was looking for.
‘You came,’ James said as Remus stopped in front of him, trying to ignore Gideon and Sirius who were now snogging furiously next to them.
‘I came.’ Remus agreed
‘Did you enjoy it?’
‘No. Not really.’
Oh. James’ face fell.
‘But I did enjoy watching you ordering everyone around. And your glistening thighs. Obviously. Very sexy.’
James’ head snapped end and Remus raised an eyebrow.
‘Erm,’ Come ON James, try, for once in your life, to be cool .
‘Oh come here you.’ And before James had registered what was happening Remus had grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down, tilting his own head up to meet James half way as their lips met. It took James approximately one second to realise that Remus was kissing him and he moaned in Remus’ mouth, throwing his broom to one side and hoisting Remus up to wrap his legs around James’ waist.
They kissed for several minutes, Remus licking into James’ mouth, one hand threaded through his sweat soaked hair and James let one hand drop to Remus’ arse and he squeezed, letting out a pleased groan as Remus pressed in towards him.
Eventually Remus pulled back, resting their foreheads together. ‘You smell revolting,’ Remus said into James’ mouth.
James nipped at Remus’ bottom lip, sliding a hand up the back of Remus’, not Remus’, yours! Jumper. ‘You should come and help me get clean then.’ he nuzzled Remus’ cheek and rucked the jumper up further.
Remus laughed, letting his legs fall back to ground and James reluctantly let go of him. ‘Not a chance,’ Remus said smiling, nudging him towards the changing room, ‘Go on! I’ll wait here.’
‘Reeeeemus,’ James pouted, now walking backwards, stopped just before the door and making a heart shape with both thumbs and forefingers.
Remus’ smile was blinding, ‘Go!’
James gave him one last longing look and then turned around, disappearing into the room, although not before he heard Remus shout after him,
‘Then maybe afterwards you can tell me what you thought of in the shower.’
Fuck yes.