Chapter 1
"Pads.. Sirius! Sirius, wait up!"
"Just fuck off, Prongs."
"Please, just wait a second!"
"No!"
"Pads, listen.. I can explain-"
Sirius turned around abruptly at the corridor, making James bump right into him heavily, before tumbling backwards.
"Pads-"
"No, you can't explain, James! You can't possibly fucking explain why you'd do something like that!"
"I really can! Just gimme a sec." He panted, bending down and resting his hands on his scrunched-forward knees.
"Okay. Explain away!" Sirius crossed his arms in front of him, eyebrows raised, as he just stood there, glaring at him.
"He.. he wanted me to set him up with someone."
"You're fucking kidding me, right?!" He shouted hysterically.
"No! Absolutely not!"
"Why on Earth would he ask you to set him up with someone when he.. he clearly said he didn't wanna be in a relationship?! He's been telling us since we were 12 and now.. now suddenly at 17 he wants a fucking boyfriend?!"
"I don't know..! How am I supposed to know what goes on in his mind? I just.. I just wanted to help him… that's all!"
"You set him up with Frank! Our fucking Frank! They're gonna be always around us…! Why the fuck would you do that to me?!" He shouted angrily, tears threatening to pour out from his eyes.
"Listen, Pads… Frank said he was going through a phase… he said he wanted to try something out and.. and I told Moony about that.. and he.. he was okay with it! He didn't want a serious relationship. He wanted to just give it a try too and I.. I thought it was perfect…" He immediately regretted the words, as he looked up at Sirius, who looked thoroughly hurt and defeated, and just stormed away.
"Pads, please! Pads!"
__
(A few hours later)
"Listen, you absolute fucking shit -"
"Woah woah, Moony. What's with you now?"
"You set Sirius up with Marlene?!"
James lost all his calmness and just stared at Remus, in total disbelief.
"Okay that's it! That's fucking it! What in the actual fuck is wrong with you two?!"
"What?! Why are you yelling at me? I should be the one yelling at you for meddling in every-fucking-living-thing-in-Hogwarts' love life!"
"You.. you bloody asked me to set you up!"
"But who asked you to set Sirius up?! That too.. with.. with Marls! She's practically our sister! She spends all her time with us!"
"Oh, so you can date whoever the fuck you want and Pads can't! That's rich coming from you, Moony! And you don't think Frank is actually like our brother?"
"No.. no he's different."
"How the fuck?!"
"I don't know! It's not the same!"
"You two are gonna be the death of me! Literally! I'm going insane second by second and I'm fucking done, okay!" He shouted, placing his hands on his hip. "I'm gonna go meet Lily now and I don't think I wanna see either of you for a long time!"
He stormed out of the common room hastily, muttering heavily under his breath.
__
"Your boyfriend is a fucking dick, Lils!"
"Hey! Watch your language!" Lily shouted, a little agitated.
"He set Frank up with Remus! My Frank!"
"Your Frank?! You mean Frank-who-is-always-annoying Frank? Frank who-wouldn't-bloody-leave-you-alone Frank? Looks like he actually left you alone, finally.. like you wanted all this time. Shouldn't you actually be grateful to my boyfriend, Al?" She smirked at her.
"I hate you!"
"You want me to leave you alone too?"
"Ugh! Fine! I like him, okay? I really like him."
"Ah!" Lily gasped mockingly. "Since when?"
"Since always.. I think... I just realized it now! I mean, I really loved having him around actually.. I just pretended to not like anything he did because I.. I didn't wanna get hurt.. I.. I just.. like him, Lils… I do.. I really, really do.. And it's not a - oh, he's not giving me attention anymore so I want that back - kinda thing… it's a - I want him beside me forever, I wanna spend the rest of my life with him - kinda thing… I guess. " Alice spoke quietly, sighing.
"Aww, honey. He'll come around… I promise.." She said softly, winding her arms around her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug.
__
"I'm gonna fucking murder James!"
"Ha! You're not the only one Dorcs… I'm right at the front, leading that line!"
"You can't be more mad at him than me, Rem. I mean, he fucking set Marls with Sirius! Out of all the fucking people in the whole world, he thought setting her up with Sirius fucking Black - the person who has literally always been around, was such a great idea!"
"Yeah! Makes absolutely no sense!" Remus mumbled to her.
"It's like... It's like setting you up with someone like Frank!" She expressed sincerely, before laughing out loud at him.
"Yeah! Exactl- Heyy!" Remus smacked her lightly on the head.
"Okay.. okay!" She laughed quietly, before gathering herself. "But seriously, this thing with Sirius and Marlene is bad!"
"Oh I know, right?!"
Dorcas looked up at Remus pointedly.
"Umm.. why are you so upset about that?"
"Uh… no.. no I'm not.."
"So you're mad at James for something else, then?"
"Um? Oh, yeah.. yeah.. totally… totally different reasons…"
"Uh huh… what is it exactly?"
"Uh?"
"Tell me why you're mad at him."
"I.. I don't know.."
"You don't know? Okay... Would it help if I told you why I'm mad?"
"Oh.. wait… are you… are you mad coz you.. you like Pads?" He closed his eyes shut and waited for the disappointment to wash him over.
Dorcas laughed loudly, before covering her face with her hands and muffling that sound.
"You should have known by now that I'm into girls. Well, one girl, really.."
"Really?! Oh that's good for you, Dorcs." Remus laughed in relief. "So.. Marlene Mckinnon, huh?"
"So.. Sirius Black, huh?" She smirked at him, making him cough and hiccup.
"Wh..wha.. I I .. I don't know what.." He sputtered weakly, before realizing it was no use lying to her. "Ugh!" He groaned, slapping his palm over his forehead.
"It's okay, Rem... Relax. Not really that big a secret of yours, to be honest… I see the way you look at him when we all gather around, or whenever we play spin the bottle and stuff. I mean, I can't believe the bottle has never once landed on either of you during your turns! Fate's a real bitch, you know!"
"Oh, you would know all about that, wouldn't you now?" Remus teased her back. "I don't remember the bottle landing on you two either, during your turns."
"Like I said, fate's a real bitch." She smiled a little into the distance, while Remus smiled back at her.
"So.. what about Frank, uh?"
"Ugh.. please, Dorcs." Remus groaned again, covering his face with both hands. "Don't ask me about that. I don't know what I was thinking! Literally the stupidest decision I've ever made in my entire life! No offense, I mean Frank's really great but it.. it just feels so fucking wrong.. It actually did feel really, really wrong the very second we got together but.. I just.. I didn't know what to do about it.. I.. I still don't.."
"Yeah… I know how that goes. Been there.. Just.. just wait patiently for a while, I guess. I think everything's gonna be alright.." She muttered softly, looping her arm around his, giving him slight reassurance.
"Yeah.. I guess.."
___
"Guys, let's play another round of Spin the bottle? It's been ages!"
"James.. with all due respect, kindly fuck off." Sirius stated calmly from where he was perched on the floor, Marlene leaning the back of her neck on his shoulder, sitting sideways and facing Dorcas.
"We're all drunk already. There's nothing left but empty bottles. Why not have some fun?"
"If you think Spin the bottle is still fun after all these years, I think you've got the whole concept of fun wrong." Remus said, slurring a little.
"Oh c'mon, Moony. What's one round gonna cost us? Don't be a spoilsport now." James grinned up at everyone in the circle, from where his head was on Lily's shoulder, her arms wrapped around him.
"I don't know, this sounds stupid to me.." Frank chimed in, glancing up hesitantly at Alice in front of him. He then looked sideways at Remus. "It's been a long time and things have changed, right?... I mean.. we're all dating somebody in the group… dating uh.. I can say dating, right?" He looked at Remus hesitantly.
"Yeah.. guess you could say that.." Remus sighed heavily, with a full mug of drink on his hand, before he sneaked a quick glance at Sirius to his left.
"I'm not." Dorcas stated curtly, turning everyone's attention towards her. She looked over at Marlene to her right who was humming happily to a muggle tune, wavering against Sirius - who seemed totally unfazed by her because he was glancing sideways at Remus Lupin. "I'm not fucking dating anyone in the group! And I say we should fucking play!" Dorcas downed the last swig of drink directly from the last bottle before placing it right in the middle of the circle.
"Oh, this is gonna be fun!" Lily laughed loudly and nudged James to spin the bottle.
"Alright! Here we go." James said as he spinned the bottle rapidly.
"Whom-is-it-gonna-land-on ooooh! Love, you definitely rigged this!" He grinned at Lily, before he kissed her soundly on the lips. "You did, didn't you?" He whispered.
"No… the universe just badly wants us to kiss each other… and only each other.." She spoke in between kisses.
The group groaned and gagged loudly in unison, throwing chips and other junk at both the annoying parties.
"Alright alright… who's going next?"
"Me!" Marlene shouted in excitement. "I wanna go."
"Sure Marls, give it a good spin!" Lily clapped her hands at the spinning bottle.
Dorcas looked at the bottle keenly.
And so did Remus.
It landed on Sirius.
"Hoohoo! Look what we have here! The newly adjoined couple is gonna give us a glimpse into their love life?" James raised his eyebrows and winked at Sirius rather offensively, who just made a gag expression and flipped him off in response.
Marlene looked a bit deflated and truthfully, so did Sirius. But none of them really noticed it all, except for Dorcas.
"Okay.. here we go.." Marlene muttered softly, turning around to face Sirius fully, before leaning in.
Sirius closed his eyes and waited.
"Okay, that's it! That's fucking it!"
"What's wrong Dorcs?" James asked, although he was grinning slightly.
"I'm so done with these stupid bottles and this stupid game and my stupid fucking life and I hate it! I just fucking hate it!"
"Dor-" Marlene turned around.
"I really, really wanna kiss you right now Marls.. okay? So fucking stop me if you don't want that.." She looked up at her, waiting for a response.
Marlene seemed to be deep in thought. She looked down once and then turned around to look at Sirius.
"The thing is… I really, really wanna kiss her too, Siri... Is that alright?" She whispered, lips close to his ear, as he leaned in sideways to listen carefully.
Sirius just laughed lightly, and pushed her the other way. "Go for it!"
And they did.
_
"So there's two less of us! Merlin knows where they went, giggling loudly at this hour like a pair of dorks but.. let's just continue?" James grinned, nudging Frank to spin the bottle.
The circle became smaller with Frank, Remus to his left, followed by Sirius, Alice, Lily and then James.
He hesitantly spun it around, as it turned and turned.
"I wonder where Peter and Mary are…" James whispered sideways to Lily, to which she just laughed silently.
"Behind the greenhouses.. They've been there since our classes got over hours ago.." She whispered back.
The bottle spun agonisingly slowly, before it decided to finally land on Alice.
There were collective gasps and Alice just looked up at Frank, who just stared back at her, mouth wide open in disbelief.
After a few seconds, Frank laughed humourlessly. "I mean, out of.. out of all the times… all the fucking times we've played this stupid game.. it does that now.." he pointed at the bottle, which just determinedly pointed at Alice in response.
He looked up at her and scratched the back of his neck, embarrassingly. "Don't worry, Al. I'll just respin the bottle or whatever.."
He leaned forward to grab the bottle and spin it again but Alice beat him to it and just placed her hand firmly on it, holding it right there, pointing at her.
He just looked at her in confusion.
"I… I'd prefer for it to stay this way.." She muttered softly.
"Al, we can't continue playing if you won't let me spin it aga-"
"Then just kiss me, you absolute berk! How oblivious can you be after all these years.."
___
"So, we're now down to the last four! Woohoo!" James said, holding up his cup in the air on one hand and looping his other arm around Lily's shoulder.
"I think that's enough, Prongs." Sirius said, looking up once at Remus, who had his head turned to his right, facing James and Lily. "Let's just head back to our respective dorms. Lily, get a hold of your boyfriend-"
"Actually I'm with him on this one, Sirius." She smirked at him, grabbing the cup from James' hand hurriedly and gulping down everything in one go. "Let's fucking play."
"What is up with you two?!" Remus asked in disbelief. "You, especially!" He looked at Lily pointedly and caught her smirking at him mischievously.
"Nothing.. we're just having a lot of fun today. Aren't you two?"
"No!" They both yelled in unison, before looking at each other in shock.
"Ugh, I had a girlfriend before we started playing this stupid game, remember?" Sirius asked irritatedly.
"You were not the only one that lost their partner. In case you didn't notice, Frank's gone too, you know?" Remus looked at Sirius in frustration.
"Lads, I think we can find a solution to that-"
"I never said I was the only one!" Sirius shouted at Remus, ignoring James' remark.
"But you didn't validate my problem-"
"Why would I talk about your-"
"Yeah, why would you! You bloody wouldn't-"
"What do you want from me?! You always have a problem with everything I do anyway-"
"No, I don't. I only have a problem with the stupid shit that you just manage to somehow get us into, all the bloody time-"
"What the hell is wrong with you-"
"Shut up, both of you!" James shouted at them. "Just shut the fuck up! I'm so done with you two, you.. you with your constant bickering, sideways glances and endless fucking hopeless pining after each other, and I just.. I just can't physically take it anymore! Frank and Alice have realized, Marlene and Dorcas have realized, what in the whole bloody fucking universe is it going to take for you two dickheads to realize it-"
"James-" Sirius tried desperately.
"Shut up, Pads! Just spin the fucking bottle!"
"James, listen.." Remus tried.
"No! I don't wanna hear anything from you two! Not. One. Word. Sirius, I said, spin the fucking bottle!"
So he did.
And it landed on Lily.
"Well, that took a turn." James sighed, looking at Lily and Sirius back and forth, thoroughly puzzled.
Lily looked back at James for a second, before they just shrugged casually at each other.
"Oh c'mon, really?!" Sirius asked them, exasperated.
"Yeah, I guess. All's fair in games and fun!"
"Okay just for the record, this.. this right here is no fun! It's just pure torture!" Sirius whined and leaned forward hesitantly, placing his hands on his knees, as he knelt on the floor, sitting on his legs casually.
Lily crawled forward on her knees and closed the rest of the gap.
__
Sirius kissed Lily, James kissed Remus, Lily kissed James, Remus kissed Lily, Sirius kissed James, Lily kissed James again, James kissed Sirius again, Remus kissed Lily again and on and on and on that went -
"Fucking hell!" Sirius shouted in agitation, after what felt like ages. "That's it. That's fucking it!"
He grabbed the stupid bottle from the floor and placed it back the way he wanted, pointing squarely at Remus, before settling down on his knees, facing him. He leaned slightly on his knees and sat upright, just inches away from Remus, his hands placed on both the legs fixedly, his eyes just brimming with determination and finality, though he was really really drunk.
They all were actually.
"Moony…" He hiccuped once, and giggled softly. "Moon-Moon.. the bottle landed on you!"
Remus just looked at him, thoroughly confused and utterly clueless.
"I thought the World would never get to see this day…" James whispered lovingly - teary eyed, although it was just a bit of the reflection of fire in his eyes from across, that made them look glassy, as Lily would say later - to Lily, who just shushed him, despite his silent whisper.
"What… It only took them about 300 kisses with other people to realize that they only want each other, right…" James whispered once again softly and giggled at them dreamily.
Lily grabbed his arm and pulled him up slowly, as they both got up together, swaying lightly. "This is all part of *the great James and Lily Masterplan*, lads… or should we call it *the Prongs and the Redhead* pla -" He shouted while Lily clamped his loud mouth shut with one hand and dragged him along.
"Prongs and the Redhead?" She whispered back to him aggressively. "I hate the sound of it!"
"Oooh I got it! The deer and the damsel! That's our duo team name!"
"Ewww ughhh" Lily groaned loudly muttering, "You be the bloody damsel.. you.. you absolute fool, I don't know what I was thinking saying yes to you.. ugh.." but smiling internally nevertheless, as she pulled him along, heading hurriedly over to the boys' dorm.
__
"The bottle landed on you..." Sirius whispered once again, his eyes closed, as he smiled for just a bare second.
"Uh.. how I wish I could say that without any guilt…" He sighed, clapping a hand over his face defeatedly.
After a few seconds, he proceeded to get up slowly, sighing "I guess we should call it a -"
Remus pushed the bottle forcefully sideways - the stupid annoying bottle that just arrogantly lay between them - and he didn't even wait to watch it, as it rolled and rolled and rolled away from them, as he immediately surged forward and grabbed Sirius' shirt collar to pull him closer and capture his lips in what could only be termed an Earth shattering kiss.
He fisted his shirt collar tightly, savouring the taste of Sirius' beautiful drunken lips, before trailing his hand around his face and holding him by the back of his neck.
Sirius moaned right against his mouth and Remus found the perfect excuse to delve his greedy, eager, Sirius-deprived tongue right into the sweet little gap, as Sirius in turn, just held his face tightly and kissed him back with all the love in the World.
Sirius practically crawled into his lap entirely, and Remus didn't seem to even realize that in the middle of that bruising kiss. He just held him tightly, arms now wrapped around him, winding up around his back, one arm then sliding up slowly and fisting his beautiful black hair from behind, as tongue just delved deeper and deeper, tasting the unusual sweetness of Firewhiskey and many other little things that were just pure-Sirius.
He then broke apart and just kept pecking him again and again on the lips slowly, holding his face with both his hands steadily, before capturing his soft lower lip, taking it fully into his mouth and kissing the life out of him, nibbling and biting lightly before sucking determinedly, almost enough to leave a thorough bruise for the whole World to see.
It left Sirius breathless within seconds as he pulled apart, gasping desperately for air.
He rested his forehead against Remus' as he slightly wiggled forward, closing the even smaller space between them, and settled comfortably on his lap, with his legs on either side of Remus' waist, his hands holding him by the back of his neck in return.
"So… the bottle really landed on you, huh..? Finally..?" He whispered softly, kissing and nuzzling his cheek.
"Yeah.. it did…a perfect land, you see..." Remus whispered back, as he rocked back and forth by the fireplace, holding Sirius right in his arms, hands gripping his face softly, making him listen to every single word escaping his mouth. "But.. but just so you know… I don't think you and I need a stupid fucking bottle to kiss each other anymore..."
"Umm?"
"And I.. I didn't kiss you because of that stupid bottle really.. I kissed you.. because it was the only thing left to do.. It was the only right thing I had left to do that I should've done like long, long ago… and.. and doing that felt like completion.. Hey, Pads.." He whispered, chuckling softly and sighing against him, "I feel so whole right now.. and this.. this thing between us.. it just.. feels so fucking right.. and I don't… I don't ever wanna stop doing this.."
Sirius chuckled and wrapped his arms entirely around his shoulder, hugging him tightly, and nuzzling his neck, leaving soft little kisses right there, making him sigh and moan in content.
"I wouldn't let you ever stop.." He whispered against his neck, "I.. just.. wouldn't.. ever.. Moon-mmh" as Remus brought his face up and took his mouth back into his.