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James and Sirius were both used to people commenting about their impossibly close relationship. Even before they started dating, people already talked about their unique and unbreakable bond which was only further strengthened when they finally started dating in their fifth year. People liked to describe the two boys as a package deal as they were often “attached at the hip”, especially with the way you simply never saw one without the other for as long as they can help it and if not, they’d complain very loudly and publicly about it. Of course, being the gifted boys that they were, this rarely ever happened as they’ve gone through extreme lengths to make sure that they were never apart. In fact, they’ve even enchanted two-way mirrors to literally have the other in their pockets. To put it simply, they were embarrassingly codependent and there was no argument to the contrary, not that they’d ever try to argue against it. In fact, they wore these comments like a badge of honor.
While perhaps this could pass as normal for an overzealous new couple, James and Sirius were this way ever since they were eleven and have shown no indications of ever changing. One would think that after that much time together, they would start feeling annoyed at the other or at least need some space from the other once in a while. However, this was clearly not the case for the two boys.
During the summer before their sixth year, the topic of the two boys’ codependency was brought up again in the Potter household. It happened on the day where Mr. Potter scheduled an appointment with the ministry for Sirius to settle some documents about his new residence after he had ran away from Grimmauld Place a couple of days ago. It was decided that he and Mr. Potter would head to the ministry together while James was to stay with his mother at home because leaving her on her own after she had just recently started recovering from the flu was simply reckless.
Of course, James was not happy about the arrangement at all and insisted to come with Sirius and his dad. Sure, he cared for his mother dearly and wanted to be there to help in case she had another bout of illness. However, he also very much wanted to be there for his boyfriend, especially after what he had just went through with his “family” that ultimately led to his disownment.
As it stands, some things could not be helped. So after reassuring James for at least four times that morning that Sirius would be fine with Mr. Potter, the two proceeded to the ministry to finally settle the remaining affairs Sirius had with the Blacks. At home, James coped by loudly and repeatedly ranting to his mother about how he didn’t understand why they had to leave now and why they couldn’t just wait for his mother to be all better so they could all go together. He irritably questioned why Sirius had to be there at all and why his dad couldn’t just do it on his own if they were just dealing with boring paperwork anyway. He pouted about why he can’t at least give Sirius a call to tell him about this new idea he had for their next date.
At this, Euphemia can only shake her head fondly while muttering exasperatedly about lovesick teenagers and hormones. While Euphemia absolutely adored and doted upon her only son, she couldn’t help but release a dramatic sigh of relief when she finally heard the sound of apparition, signaling the return of Sirius and her husband.
As the two entered the house through the front door, Euphemia and James walked up to them to greet them with a warm hug. After the greetings, Euphemia started talking about how glad she was that they finished earlier than they expected because James seemed absolutely determined to talk her ears off about how much he missed his boyfriend. This caused all of them to erupt in laughter.
Normally, when people talked about their codependency, James and Sirius would simply look at each other and roll their eyes because they just don’t get it. No one does. But this time, James was appalled to see Sirius giggling along with his parents at James’s expense.
“James has always been too needy for my attention.” Sirius said, looking at him fondly.
“Excuse me! You were the one who always clung to me whenever we shared a bed!” James defended, feeling affronted.
“And you were the one who always climbed in bed with me in the first place.” Sirius retorted. “So my point stands that you are the more dependent one.”
“Oh yeah? How about a bet then?” James challenged, “Whoever caves first and initiates a cuddle or a kiss or whatever is the more dependent one in this relationship and would have to do anything the other says for a month.”
Sirius paused. He really didn’t want to deprive himself of kisses and cuddles and it looked like James didn’t want to either. However, he also had a stubborn look on his face when he taunted Sirius, “What, scared you can’t handle it?”
Sirius huffed, “Of course not! You’re on, Potter.”
“Prepare to lose, future Potter!”
And so it began.
They started off by putting physical distance between them to limit the incessant urge to wrap an arm around the other and simply call the whole thing off. With great struggle on both their parts, they no longer clung to one another at every moment of the day nor did they sit on the same armchair as they hung out in the living room to work on their summer homework. Instead, they sat on the chairs opposite from one another as they stubbornly pretended to be unbothered by the new arrangement. Of course, this was odd for everyone who happened upon them. In fact, in the couple of days Remus and Peter had spent with them when they visited Potter Manor, the two boys stared at them dumbly before asking if they were fighting.
“Of course not!” They had quickly denied but they stubbornly made no move to close the unnatural gap between them. They simply shifted in their respective seats, trying to keep themselves from launching themselves into the other’s arms. At seeing this, Remus and Peter simply shook their heads at them, not wanting to be caught up in whatever argument the two no doubt just had.
Their little competition was not only limited to their waking moments. They no longer snuck out to one another’s rooms at night, much less cuddled in bed as they fell asleep. This, Sirius found, was the hardest part of the bet because Sirius had grown rather used to having the warm body of his boyfriend by his side to shield him from the nightmares that had been plaguing him ever since he ran away, while James had grown used to being a source of comfort for his distressed boyfriend.
This ended in the both of them never getting a full night’s rest. They had tossed and turned for the better part of the night, itching to climb into the other’s bed but their egos simply wouldn’t allow them.
One morning, Sirius stood frozen in his room after he woke up from a fitful sleep. He was contemplating about simply running to James and accepting defeat because it had been over a week since he had last felt well-rested. Not to mention, a week without James’s hugs and kisses when he was literally just across the hall was simply torture. However, as he was considering surrender, he froze when the sound of the door to James’s room opening, along with the voices of James and his mother, reached his ears.
“Why are you even so eager to win this little bet you boys have going on?” James’s mom asked. “It’s plain as day that you both are suffering. You might get yourselves sick with how little sleep you both are getting these days.”
“Don’t worry about it, mom. I’ll be fine. Besides, there’s no way I’m losing. He’ll cave soon enough, you’ll see.” James reassured her.
“Whatever you say, Jamie.” Euphemia said with a sigh.
Upon hearing this, Sirius felt the need to win return tenfold. He had been willing to accept defeat and suffer through James’s gloating earlier but after hearing James’s cocky and self-assured voice, losing is now out of the question. However, he also knew how stubborn James can be so he decided that it was time to take matters into his own hands.
He channeled his inner Marauder and tried concocting a plan to make James surrender.
Maybe he could pretend to be hurt? Perhaps his injuries from running away flaring up? He was sure James would immediately come running to fuss over him. As this thought entered his head, he quickly dismissed the idea. No, that was too mean. He didn’t want to cause the Potters any unnecessary worry after all that they have already done for him.
Maybe he should give James a lap dance? James would surely be unable to keep his hands to himself. At this thought, Sirius felt his cheeks burn. No, that’s just embarrassing and he’d be playing his hand way too openly. James would probably see through that plan.
Sirius huffed a sigh. This was why he never made it to Slytherin. Subtlety never really came easy to him. Sure, he was better at it than James could ever dream to be but that doesn’t really say much. That was way too low a bar if James’s open-book personality was anything to go by.
Sirius shook his head and glanced around the room dejectedly. However, he perked up as his eyes landed on a muggle magazine that he had left on the bedside table. On the cover, there was a man in a leather jacket and a scantily clad woman riding a motorcycle. The woman had her arms around the man’s waist as they posed for the photo. Suddenly, an idea formed in Sirius’s head and he quickly left his room with a smirk to find James.
“Jamie!” Sirius called as he saw James lounging on the sitting room, playing with a snitch.
James perked up at the sound of his voice. Even with the whole “who can keep their distance better” thing they had going on, James always felt elated to see Sirius no matter how much harder James had to try to prevent himself from simply surrendering and snogging his face off.
“Do you want to come with me and take my bike for a spin?” Sirius invited.
“There’s no way I’m getting on that death machine!” James declined immediately.
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you the quidditch captain? And a Gryffindor at that? One would think you wouldn’t be so scared of a little risk!”
“I- I’m not scared!” James spluttered. “I just don’t trust that… that thing.”
“Sure you don’t. Not when ‘that thing’ looks about a hundred times more sturdy than that flimsy broomstick of yours.” Sirius said condescendingly.
“My broom is not flimsy!” James argued, indignantly.
“Whatever you say, Jamie.” Sirius hummed before he made to leave.
Sirius made it all the way to front door when he heard James hesitantly speak from behind him. “I- I’m coming with you. If you want to go around risking your neck, I might as well be there to save your arse.”
Sirius turned to face him with a wide grin. “Perfect!”
The two boys entered the garage after James had rushed to his room to bring a coat with him.
“Are you sure this is safe?” James asked.
“Do you not trust my spell work anymore?” Sirius teased.
“Of course I do.”
“Well, let’s get on with it then, shall we?” Sirius asked, his eyes glinting with excitement.
Sirius threw one leg over the motorcycle, straddling it before he motioned for James to get on the seat behind him.
“Be sure to hold on to the seat, yeah? We wouldn’t want you falling off to your death or something.”
James visibly swallowed before placing his hands behind him to grip the seat tightly and with the sound of a revving engine, they were off.
James instinctively closed his eyes and tensed as he pondered upon what had to be the worst decision he had ever made in his life. Why does he always let Sirius talk him into doing incredibly reckless things?
It was only when James heard Sirius let out an exhilarated laugh that he finally managed to force his eyes open. He watched in awe as they traveled in a breakneck speed along the streets. Maybe this wasn’t so bad. At least, not for James who was used to making incredibly dangerous and complicated dives with his broom.
James was just about to let himself relax fully as he enjoyed the view of the village he grew up in fly by before his eyes when he suddenly felt the motorcycle’s tires lift from the ground. When he agreed to join Sirius for a ride, he had assumed that it was just an ordinary ride on one of those moving death machines that he knew muggles regularly die from after collisions. He didn’t expect them to ride a FLYING death machine! While he knew Sirius messed with the motorcycle a bit by adding a charm or two to make it turn invisible or to fix a leak, he hadn’t expected him to make the thing FLY!
He let out a yelp when he felt himself start to slip backwards as they steadily flew higher into the air. Merlin, he was going to fall off! He was going to die!
James heard a gleeful chuckle somewhere in front of him. He slowly wrenched his eyes open and it was only then did James notice that his eyes had shut without his permission. However, now that he realized that he was still firmly seated on the motorcycle and was no longer in danger of falling to his doom, he released a sigh of relief.
“I won.”
James confusedly looked towards the source of the sound, only to find that it came from the figure that his arms were tightly clutching onto which ultimately prevented him from falling off earlier. Upon recognizing that it was Sirius, James felt himself relax further. However, once he registered that he had his chest pressed flat against Sirius’s back with his arms firmly around his waist, the events of the past week, along with The Bet, suddenly flooded into his mind. As it did so, he couldn’t help but gasp in betrayal.
“You planned this!” James accused.
“Quite right, darling.” Sirius admitted shamelessly.
“I can’t believe this. You tricked me!” James pouted, not really angry.
Sirius did not answer him. Instead, he touched down from the sky, aiming towards Potter manor, all while giggling at James’s reaction.
Once they reached the ground, they got off the bike. James was just about to sulk his way into the house to get some warmth back into his bones when he was stopped by Sirius.
He looked up to find Sirius looking at him expectantly.
James, finally giving up his act, rolled his eyes amusedly. “Alright fine! I’m the more needy party and I’m so desperate for your attention and cuddles. Happy?”
“Very.” Sirius said before encircling his arms around James’s waist and burying his head in the nook of James’s neck.
“I’m glad you finally broke. I’m not sure how much longer I could’ve lasted.” Sirius admitted, “If you hadn’t, I would have been forced to execute my other plan of action.”
“And that is?” James tilted his head to the side curiously.
Sirius pursed his lips before he abruptly grabbed James by the arm and dragged him towards his bedroom with a naughty smirk, “You’ll see.”
After being in the receiving end of what James would argue to be the best lap dance anyone’s ever seen, James couldn’t help but think that if Sirius had went with THIS particular plan, he most likely would have caved a lot sooner than he did and he probably wouldn’t have even been so put out by the fact that he lost the bet.