Chapter Text
James brought his boot-covered foot down over the pavement, relishing in the satisfying crunch of the orange-red leaf beneath it. He wound his once-maroon, now muted brown, scarf around his neck, shivering and blowing heavily on his numb palms, a futile attempt at attaining some warmth.
He entered the coffee shop on his right, smiling at the poorly carved pumpkins decorating the entry. The owners’ four red-headed children made it a habit to arrange a rather large number of the things around the establishment, and it stayed even a week after Halloween.
James nodded pleasantly at the young girl manning the counter before he hurriedly made his way to the booth in the far corner of the cafe, sighing happily at the sight of the steaming cup of coffee awaiting him.
“You’re late.” Cool grey eyes met his, and James shot over an apologetic look as he slid into the seat and rushed to warm his hands around the cup.
“Sorry, Pads. Fenwick slipped on some ice at practice, and I had to make sure he didn’t get a concussion. Seems all clear, but with the game on Friday, I had to stay for longer to be certain.” James knew Sirius wasn’t upset; James had a tendency to be over forgetful and was at least a bit late more often than not, but Sirius was likely worried, and James explained to curb the feeling.
“It’s alright.” Sirius’ shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly. “Are you cold?” His eyes flicked to James’ still slightly shivering frame.
James hoped that he wasn’t blushing as Sirius, without waiting for an answer, shrugged off his leather jacket and reached over to throw it around James’ flannel-clad shoulders. He averted his eyes from where they unconsciously focused on the slip of bare, pale collarbone revealed by Sirius’ grey jumper.
“So-” Sirius began, frowning momentarily as James winced slightly, his incautious sip of the coffee scalding his tongue. “Heard from Effie yet?”
James nodded eagerly, “Yeah, I got a call around an hour ago. She says that she and dad’ve cancelled their Christmas with the Tonkses, and they’re coming over here this year. She tried to suggest they’d stay at a hotel, but I insisted. We have room, anyhow.”
He leaned back, then added, “That’s okay, right? I know Marls is going to be staying also, but I figured I can bunk in your room for a couple nights.”
Sirius waved it off. “Yeah, yeah, ‘course. I’m glad they’re coming; it’s been long. Haven’t seen them since last Diwali, I think.”
James hummed happily. “Mhm. Although, Marlene in the same house as Mum...” He shuddered, “Please make her stop. Mum may laugh it off, but the whole thing makes me deeply uncomfortable.”
Sirius snickered, “Tell Effie to get her pumpkin pie, and Marlene will be occupied for a few hours at the least.”
James groaned, “Speaking of pie, why haven’t you got me any dessert?” He complained.
Sirius frowned at him pointedly. “Because you have a game in three days, and you’ve explicitly instructed me not to let you indulge your borderline sexually charged fantasies pertaining to anything sugary less than a week before.”
James shook his head, swallowing thickly and desperately ignoring the way his heart dropped to his stomach at the contextually innocent words leaving Sirius’ mouth. “Molly said she’s come up with this great sugar-free recipe for some pie thing.”
James gestured for the waiter to take the order, ignoring Sirius’ disapproving gaze.
“Well, don’t blame me if you regret it.” Sirius shrugged. “Anyway, I was also thinking...” He said, hesitant.
James hummed, prompting him to go on.
“Well– It’s been a couple months since you and Lily split, and—Well, d’you reckon we should invite her to Christmas dinner?” Sirius said it almost apologetically.
James paused. “Well, I mean, I hadn’t really thought over it, but I suppose we should. It wouldn’t be right not to; everyone else is coming.”
Sirius nodded. “Anyway, you're—I mean, there’s no...”
James frowned bemusedly.
“I meant—there’s no lingering feelings, right? I mean, on your end, at least.”
“Oh! Well, I—there haven’t been for some time, to be honest—for me, I mean.” James admitted.
Some semblance of relief flickered over Sirius’ face, but it was gone before James could analyse its origin.
“Right—won't be awkward or anything, then.”
“No, it’ll be alright.” James smiled pleasantly and thanked the waiter who came by and laid a plate containing a chocolate confection on the table. He fruitlessly offered a spoon to Sirius before practically pouncing on the thing.
“Oh, this is really good.” James mumbled.
Sirius’ gaze zeroed in on James’ mouth, and he snickered. “You’ve got some—” He trailed off.
He reached over and swiped his thumb over the corner of James’ lip, then consequently took the digit into his own mouth, sucking off the smudge of chocolate on it.
James felt his cheeks heating up as his eyes keenly chased after the motion. He gazed intently at Sirius’ pink-tinted lips, slightly puffy due to the frostiness in the air, and took in a shaky breath as he pushed away the reprobate images forming in his head.
“Thanks.” He muttered, wiping at his mouth with a paper napkin. The past few months had been... confusing for James, and some unanticipated epiphanies had partly been the reason for his split with Lily.
Sirius, looking like God’s own personification on Earth, did nothing to help matters. He had always been gorgeous, and their high school years had not passed without some embarrassing impulses on James’ part, but at the time, he had chalked it down to hormones and the dearth which was the consequence of studying in an all-boys’ school.
That was not the case. After he and Lily parted ways, James moved in with Sirius, and living with him for the first time since graduation had a rather startling effect on James’ newly-realised proclivities.
“Would you like me to get you a hairbrush for Christmas?” Sirius startled him out of his haze.
James looked at Sirius bemusedly for a moment before he registered the latter’s rather pointed gaze currently resting on the former’s hair.
James frowned and his hand shot up to the nest of black locks swarming around his head.
“Shut up,” he grumbled good-naturedly. “You’re terrible.”
“The worst.” Sirius agreed, his eyes shining with mirth. James fought the compelling urge to bite the smirk off his face. His neck heated up with the thought.
“I–erm,” James said dumbly, “Yeah.”
Sirius bit his cheek, clearly amused, albeit slightly confused, by James’ lack of cogency.
“Oh!” James reached for his duffel bag, which lay on the floor by the booth, “I almost forgot. Your late birthday present.”
He retrieved a small, poorly-but-earnestly giftwrapped box from the bag. It was slightly smushed at the edges, having been squeezed into the bag with James’ football gear and clothes. James handed it over to Sirius almost abashedly.
Sirius took it with a small smile and delicately unwrapped it, folding the paper and setting it on the table.
His eyes widened as he revealed a tiny key sitting inside the box. The head was engraved with a Harley Davidson logo, which Sirius recognised immediately.
“James, is this–”
“It’s parked at the flat.” James flashed him a smile that pulled wide at his cheeks and revealed his dimples. “I—well, I didn’t know exactly which model you’d want out of the three you’d showed me in that magazine last summer—or if you even wanted any of those, but I assumed—but, erm, you know Arthur is somewhat of an enthusiast, so I got him to take me around to the, erm, showrooms and all, and we settled on—well, I forgot the name, but it was the one on the big poster, y’know, the one behind your bedroom door, but if you don’t like it, we can—”
“Jamie, I’ll love it.” Sirius said softly, gently placing his hand on James’ nervously bouncing knee under the table. “Thank you, Prongs, I– Really, it’s perfect.”
“You haven’t even seen it yet.” James smiled weakly.
“It’s from you. It’s perfect.”