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"I'm just saying - it's gross."
"It's not gross," James says indignantly, prying the blender out of Sirius's hands. "It's healthy."
"It's green," Sirius counters as he lets go of the blender willingly, watching as James plugs it in.
"It's spinach, it's supposed to be green."
"But shakes aren't - healthy or not," Sirius decrees.
"Side with me here, lovely," James reaches for you, pressing a kiss to your cheek that feels distinctly like bribery.
You just hum in response, though, your back still partially to the two of them as you lean against the counter and stare off into the living room.
"The smoothie," James continues pointedly.
"What?" you blink as you finally look at him. "Hm, no. Sorry, Jamie, but the spinach is kind of gross. You should try microgreens."
"And you should eat more spinach," he counters, pointing at you accusingly as Sirius laughs some kind of victory, pinching James meanly on the bicep as a reward.
"Oh yea?" you muse distractedly, your gaze drifting back to the living room.
"Yea, you need more iron," James insists.
"Hmm," you hum absently.
"I don't know about you, Prongsie, but I'm feeling very loved right now," Sirius drawls, sarcasm etched into his words as he drapes himself over your back.
"I've never felt more interesting," James agrees sombrely. "What's caught your attention, lovebug?"
"Oh," Sirius cuts himself off with a laugh, seeing where your line of sight has taken you now that his chin is hooked on your shoulder and he's pressed against your back. "Oh, I see."
"What?" James asks, a whiney sort of tone sifting through his voice at being left out, and Sirius squishes his cheeks together with one big hand so that he can turn his head and follow your staring.
"Oh," James hums, something shifting - something teasing levelling his voice in a way that makes your gaze snap to his.
"Stop," you say firmly - but, really, you know it's too late.
It's Remus sitting in the living room, tucked up in the worn armchair in the corner with a mug of tea curling steam up around him and a stack of papers sitting on his lap. The early morning light filters in and washes over him, his hair fluffed from sleep and his face concentrated.
"Oh, you poor thing," Sirius croons mockingly, wrapping his arms around your waist from behind. "You've been very one-note lately."
"Enough," you insist. "There's no note."
"No, I get it," James muses, leaning his back against the counter so he can watch you. "He has been looking very good lately."
"He looks the same as he always does," you insist, but it falls on deaf ears.
"You've been honed in since the semester started up," Sirius ponders. "I didn't know you had a thing for professors."
"I don't!" Your voice tips into something exasperated. "James, can you hand me the blender?"
"What - why?" he laughs, dutifully passing it over. "Are you changing your spinach opinion?"
"No, of course not," you say pointedly. "I need something to hit you both with."
"Did you see when he came home the other day still dressed from work?" James muses, letting you wrestle the blender from him easily.
"Oh," Sirius hums smugly at the memory. "Yea. I thought his tweed was going to have claw marks in it by the end of -"
"Oh my god -" you exclaim, embarrassment turning your voice shrill. "Shut up -"
"What…?" Remus's voice has all three of you freezing, James stuck half-reaching for you while you hold the blender over your head, poised to pretend to whack Sirius over the head with it. "What are we doing?"
"Making smoothies," you offer sheepishly, moving to clutch the blender to your front like you're trying to stop it from giving you away. "Do you want one?"
"No, dove, that's… alright," Remus says slowly, bemusement colouring his features. "I was just coming to get more tea."
"I'll get it," James barely has time to shoot his hands out and catch the blender as you shove it towards his chest, and then you're prying Remus's empty mug from his hands - desperate for an out.
"No, no," Sirius reaches over your shoulder to pluck it from you. "I'll do it. It's the weekend, go relax - sit with Moons while he works."
"Do I need someone to sit with me?" Remus asks in amused unawareness as he watches the three of you fumble about, and you shake your head.
"No," you say pointedly as you glance at Sirius. "You don't. You're fine - go finish your work."
"I'm sorry I've been so preoccupied," Remus offers, and something softens in you at the genuine apology in his voice. "I just like to get ahead of things at the beginning of the term. It'll slow down in a bit."
"That's fine," you say quickly. "Do work from home - I don't mind."
James snorts out a laugh, mumbling an I bet you don't, and you shoot him a glare that you hope conveys how perturbed you'll be if he gives you up.
A useless attempt, though, you realize, as you look back to Remus. His head is cocked slightly to the side, his eyes soft and knowing as he looks down at you fondly.
"Oh," he says, and the delighted little surprise that nestles into his voice makes the embarrassment feel a bit more bearable. "Oh, my poor love. Are they teasing you?"
"I think," you say pointedly as Remus skims his knuckles across your cheek, "that this is really all your fault, if it's anyone's."
"Is that so?" he muses, and he knows - you know he knows. But you're unwilling to fess up to it, still, so you just sniff and pointedly look towards the other two.
"I wouldn't know," you murmur, and Remus hums in mock sympathy, his knuckles dragging down your cheek to your throat.
"I really would like you to sit with me while I work," he says gently, and it's enough to have you blinking up at him.
"Oh yea?"
"If you want to," he amends quickly. "I wouldn't want to bore you."
"You couldn't," you assure him immediately, but the smug little smile that flits across his face has you biting your tongue.
"No, apparently not," he says lightly, teasing and prodding as you tip your head forward to press your face into his neck with a drawn-out groan.
"Aw, who's being mean now?" Sirius points out, sliding a new, steaming hot mug of tea across the counter towards Remus.
"I'm moving out, by the way," you mumble, your voice muffled by Remus's knit sweater. "And I'm never speaking to any of you ever again."
"Well, I'm not sure that's fair," James chimes in as he fiddles with the blender. "Why deprive us all, hm?"
"If you'd both like to be mean to me, then you get to be deprived of my company, that's how it works, baby," you snipe back lovingly, but the smile that flits over James's face makes you narrow your eyes.
"Didn't mean that," he says easily as he looks down at whatever he's measuring into the blender. "Meant depriving us of watching. You know, like last night when you and Moony -"
"I'm leaving now," you announce, Remus's shoulder shaking silently from laughter as you peel yourself off of him and flounce into the living room.
Sirius, though, trails in after you, and it's only once you're sitting down that you notice the second mug of tea that he nudges into your hands.
"I hope you know we really are only joking," he murmurs against the crown of your head, kisses pressed there as he speaks.
"I know," you say softly. "So am I."
"But really," he tacks on. "If you're not careful, you'll give him an ego boost that none of us are really equipped to handle."
You glance through towards the kitchen where Remus and James are still standing together, James leaning into him and Remus smiling - slightly new, slightly different, like he fits into his own skin a bit better, like he's taller, like he's happier.
"I'm ok with that," you say easily, flashing Sirius a smile that's supposed to be smug but comes across with a little too much love in it for that.
"Yea," he sighs happily, slouching against you. "So am I, I think."