Work Text:
Sirius Black, catch of the school but a Slytherin, walks into the Great Hall. He's promptly sprayed by golden paint, catching half of his face, some of his hair, and a section of his robes near the shoulder and neckline. James almost went with a nice Gryffindor red, but he doesn't want anyone to think he's bleeding; this is a prank, not an attack. He went with gold because Sirius has grey eyes and silver is a Slytherin colour but gold is Gryffindor, and it'll be nice for him to finally look less than perfect; gold will be unflattering to his skin tone, James is confident.
Sirius freezes in surprise, but as quickly as the paint started to hit him, it stops. He glances at the shoulder now covered in gold, and in moving to look, some of his hair drifts into view-- also gold. He grins and runs a hand through his hair on the effected side, then glances at his fingers. "No bleed over," he notes. He reaches for his wand and casts a spell to clean it up, but of course James thought of that possibility and accounted for it. Sirius waves his wand and nothing changes. His smile, perplexingly, gets brighter as he notices that the paint hasn't lightened. His eyes go to the Gryffindor table and easily land on James, almost as if he already knew where he's sitting. He winks, still with that wide smile, and James's heart starts beating harder in annoyance.
He meant to bother Sirius with this, not make him smile like a loon. And he still looks good, even though all evidence had pointed to him looking bad with gold. Instead of looking washed out with his complexion, he looks radiant, like the gold warmed him instead of making him look sallow in comparison. It didn't clash with his eyes, it enhanced the feeling that he's deserving of precious metals-- the silver of his eyes a bright spot to enhance the gold colour splashed across his cheek.
Mission result: total failure.
As Sirius turns towards the Slytherin table, easily accepting his golden fate, James scowls down at his food. Gods, he's such an arse. Nobody should react this way when James targets them-- despite what he said to professors when caught-- and they certainly shouldn't react this way after years of such treatment. He started back in first year, trying to make the uptight Black heir have a breakdown that there was something he couldn't control and his parents couldn't fix for him; James knew the type on sight and was confident he would succeed with ease. But first year passed with a single negative reaction, and by the time second year came about, he started (for lack of a better word) enjoying the pranks, never caring if they were ultimately harmless like the paint, or mean spirited like he constantly did in third year. Even that time in fifth year, when he Vanished all of Sirius's clothes in the middle of the Great Hall, Sirius laughed, made some sort of joke to the professors about how he couldn't get in trouble for it because it wasn't his fault, then looked right at James as he turned to get new clothes and smirked.
He's infuriating, seemingly going out of his way to show James how much he doesn't care what he tries next. It's a battle of wills that James has been failing since day one, but he refuses to not win in the end. He just needs some new ideas to shake things up. Hell, at this point, he'll take surprising Sirius with what he's done, even if the other man eventually laughs at it.
"I don't suppose you're on the cusp of letting this go?" Peter asks, hoping for the best but with realistic expectations, considering he knows how James is.
In response, James glares at him.
Peter let's out a small sigh and murmurs, "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"I'll get him one of these days, you'll see," James says, more than a little tetchy.
"You've gotten him every time," Remus says in confusion. He's working on homework and only caught the last sentence.
"He wants for Black to not have such a good humour about it," Peter explains, then turns back to James. "Which is stupid." Remus tunes them out and goes back to his homework-- either because he doesn't care to try to give James advice that he never listens to, or because he actually needs to concentrate on his homework; it can go both ways with Moony. "Anyone else would talk to a professor, and you'd never be able to make Quidditch practice because you'd be holed up in detention every day of the year. He's built a resilience to you, and this is a good thing. It's keeping you out of trouble." Peter pauses and makes a face. "It's keeping you out of detention," he amends.
James continues to glare across the Great Hall at Sirius Black.
Obsessive seems too kind a word for this.
Over at the Slytherin table, Sirius is also dealing with his friends, he's just having a better time of it than James.
"I don't understand why you put up with any of this," Severus hisses. "You can easily bring this up with your parents and get him punished."
Sirius shrugs and takes a sip of pumpkin juice. "Why make a fuss? It's harmless."
"It's not always this harmless," Magaera points out.
He shrugs again. "It's funny."
"It's humiliating!" she insists.
"Strange that I don't feel very humiliated then, isn't it?"
"Are you... doing this to mess with Potter?" Severus asks.
"Partially."
"And the other parts?" Megaera asks. She's known him too long to let that 'partially' become 'all'.
"I find the attention flattering, and it's rather amusing. He's spent the entirety of our school years trying to find something that will make me mad. He still does well in his classes, but imagine what he could do if he took that drive and applied it elsewhere."
Severus's mouth curls. It's almost funny how much he hates James Potter. James hasn't been nice to him, to be sure, but everything that Sirius lets roll off of him, Severus takes personally. "He seems to do well enough in Quidditch with his attention diverted."
Megaera scoffs. "Why do you care about Quidditch so much? None of us play, and we only go to the matches so we have something fun to do." Megaera and Sirius have fun at the matches, at least. Their other friend seems to hate them but shows up to every single one anyways.
Severus scowls further, and Sirius laughs and responds for him. "He only cares because Potter does so well in it."
"Seriously?" Megaera asks, raising an eyebrow at Severus.
"No, it's..." he struggles to think of a good lie and lands on "...House loyalty."
Sirius and Megaera give identical hums of skepticism, and she turns from the question of Quidditch to go back to the prank that started this. "I know you said cleaning it magically didn't work, but do you think a shower will help?"
"Probably, but I don't have time before tonight."
"I have makeup. We can try it where it hit your skin?"
"I'm not bothered," Sirius laughs.
"That's because you're barmy," Severus mutters, under his breath but loud enough for them to hear.
That's where the thread of conversation ends and they begin talking about their first class: Potions.
Sirius's mind lingers on the topic of James, though. His friends won't stop speaking to him or something equally ludicrous if he tells them that he fancies James, but they will look at him like he's sprouted a second head. Easy acceptance is not a possibility-- not that he's going to let that stop him from making a move before the end of their Hogwarts years.
He's known for a while that he fancies James. It seems to him that James fancies him as well, otherwise how could he explain all these pranks? Most people think it's because Sirius gets under his skin, and he agrees with that except what the definition of 'gets under his skin' is. James seems incapable of not thinking about him, needing to poke and prod to make sure he always has Sirius's attention. He does. Sirius thought it was obvious, even if he tried to mask it from being clear to first years. He can't help but be enchanted by the everything that makes up James Potter.
"Does that even count as a prank?" Peter asks skeptically. He's squinting across the Hall, as if closing his eyes will help bring the scene into focus. Flowers rained down on Sirius. It doesn't feel like a prank, and he has no idea how it can possibly be justified as one. Maybe if he tilts his head a little it will suddenly make sense?
But James says, "Yes, of course it counts."
"Uh-huh, how's that?"
"Roses are his least favourite flower."
"How do you even know that?" Remus asks.
"He mentioned it once," he answers, waving him off.
"Okay, following that logic-- giving him a bunch of roses when he doesn't like them very much-- roses are your favourites," Peter points out. "How do you think that's going to come across?"
James looks at his friend, bewildered. "Why would it come across as anything but a prank? I swear, the closer to exams we get, the stranger you become."
Peter grumbles under his breath, and James stops paying attention to him since clearly he isn't going to be helpful.
Hmph. Sirius doesn't look annoyed or upset in the slightest. He looks happy, for Merlin's sake. James has no idea what he's doing wrong here, but making Sirius's day better is not how this was supposed to go.
James and Sirius see each other during class-- most of their courses are the same and have been from year three-- but what surprises James is the way Sirius is beaming. It's not a normal, good-humoured smile or smirk the way he normally does for the pranks to show James that he's not bothered. He seems genuinely happy. Clearly, whatever happened to him this morning before the flowers was enough to brighten his mood for the entire day, no matter what else happens. For Merlin's sake, they're sat in History of Magic right now; no one likes sitting through Binns and his horrid lecturing.
On top of his strangely happy mood, he keeps sending James his pleased smile, as if they are sharing this happiness. James has no idea what's going on, but he doesn't want to admit that to Sirius, so when he shoots James a smile, he raises an eyebrow like he's expecting something. Hopefully, it'll take care of itself and he won't be made the fool. Again.
The rest of the day passes quickly, with James alternating between paying attention to class and looking at Sirius-- not an entirely new rhythm for him, he admits, but he's more distracted than usual, unable to pay adequate attention to either when he tries.
Evening comes and there's still an hour before dinner. Unfortunately, James's lack of concentration during the day lingers, and he walks the corridors aimlessly with his bag still over his shoulder because he hasn't had a chance to drop it off in Gryffindor Tower yet.
He spots a few other students making their way through the halls as his feet carry him around, but no greetings are exchanged. They're heading to their destination and he... Merlin, he feels lost, despite knowing Hogwarts like the back of his hand. Maybe he's especially tired today, and hungry now on top of it.
Sirius surprises him by coming around the corridor, and his feet stop automatically instead of going around him. Sirius strides forward with a smile and a bouquet of roses-- he suspects they're the same roses that James poured over him this morning. "I know these won't last long," he says, confirming his suspicion, "but I figure it's only right to give a few back to you. Roses are your favourite, right?" Sirius phrases it like a question, but there's a knowing gleam in his eyes as he holds the bouquet out to James.
"Erm. Yeah." He accepts them slowly, unsure what's happening.
"You were much more forward than I was expecting," Sirius continues. "With how it's been going the past couple years, I thought we were going to graduate before you asked me out."
Ask- what? Surely he doesn't mean 'ask out' like a date-
"We've been dancing around each other for long enough, so you were right to be so obvious." He chuckles. "Maybe I needed a bit of a kick in the arse instead of expecting you to do everything." And Sirius kisses him. It's a light thing, barely brushing against his lips, but it is definite contact, their mouths touching with purpose.
So he did mean a date. That's... not actually ridiculous. James pulls him back in with one hand, the other holding the roses out of the way so they won't be crushed. He wants a real kiss, damn it. After all these years of not noticing a fancy when it's right in front of him, he deserves a proper kiss.
And Sirius is more than happy to give it to him.