The sun hangs low in the sky, golden-hour light bathing the park in yellows and pinks. The warmth that has everyone outdoors on a February afternoon is slowly fading. You feel the chill nipping at your nose and your fingers and wish you brought gloves.
"I actually can't fucking believe it's not January anymore," Sirius says.
You knock your shoulder with his. "Weren't you complaining last week that January is the longest month?"
"Was that me?" He flicks a curl from his face, mouth tugging up in a smirk and nose ring glinting. "Doesn't sound like me. I'm not a whiner. You're probably thinking of James --"
His smirk turns to a shit-eating grin when you fail to swallow your laugh. It's just one of many in the park full of children running around, friends lounging on benches, and couples pressed close like you two.
Sirius is remarkably good at that -- making you laugh. Making you smile, pulling you out of your head. He likes it when you're in your head just fine, or so he says, but having someone willing to put in the effort is new. It's novel.
Well, new-ish, anyway. You've been seeing each other long enough that a walk in the park isn't really a date so much as spending time with him. You'd give him every spare moment if you could. You love whispering secrets in the dark, love the crease of your pillowcase on his cheek when he wakes up next to you. You love the riot that is his hair in the morning and the way he kisses you, the way he treats you like someone to be worshiped, like someone he's waited for, like --
"God, they're a fucking nightmare, aren't they?" he grumbles, tearing you from your thoughts. Sirius has tugged you to the edge of the pond to watch the two swans chase away ducks. "Don't know why anyone likes birds, if you ask me."
"They're romantic," you chide. "They mate for life, you know."
He laces your fingers together. "Nature expert, are you?"
"Come on." You roll your eyes, cheeks warm. "Everyone knows that," you mutter.
His thumb gently strokes the back of your hand. You can feel his eyes on you but you keep your gaze on the swans.
"News to me," Sirius says, softer. "Do you think that happens for us?"
The question surprises you. He's not the most romantic guy, your kind-of-boyfriend, preferring to leave that to his friends. He treats you plenty well and takes you on nice dates and calls you on days he doesn't see you but he's not exactly...serious. He's not open like this, at least not to you, not yet. Not outside of your bed. It's still so new, this feeling in your chest when you see him, when he touches you. The future stretches out in front of you and instead of being daunting, it's exciting. You want him there for it.
"Like, soulmates?"
You turn to look at Sirius just as he looks away, his own cheeks a little pinker than before. He wrinkles his nose and shrugs. You trace the strong line of his brows and his sharp jaw with your eyes and squeeze his hand.
"I guess so," he says. "Silly, I suppose."
"I don't think it's silly."
Sirius looks at you, dark eyes swirling with something you can't put a name to.
"No?"
You step a little closer to him, close enough that the tips of your shoes almost touch. He smells like leather and the cigarettes he sneaks when he's stressed. You inhale deeply.
"If birds can have that, why can't we?"
"Romantic."
"You started it," you whisper. Your eyes flutter shut and you feel his breath on your lips.
"I like when you're being so soft," he says.
Before you can retort, he's kissing you. It's firm but unhurried, just the press of his lips to yours, his tongue tracing the seam of them before he pulls away. On the scale of kisses you've had with him, it's pretty chaste, but your heart picks up all the same and you blink a few times when he pulls away.
"It's February," he says.
"Uh, yeah?" you say, a bit stupidly. "We -- we talked about that already."
He laughs and wraps his free arm around your shoulder to tug you in for a hug.
"Will you be my valentine?"
Before you can answer, a loud squawk startles you both. Sirius yelps and leaps back from the water's edge, pulling you with him.
"Fucking menaces!" he shouts. "Up to no good!"
The swans flap their way onto the path and crane their necks at you, hollering all the while.
You throw your head back and laugh.