Sleepover
The school day on Friday came and went, Sirius and Lily had agreed to carpool to James’s house since Lily’s house was sort of on Sirius’s route to get there anyways.
Sirius picked up Lily and all her sleepover things around six thirty, after skating, then they made the rest of their way to James’s.
When they got there, there was already three cars in the driveway. One that Sirius recognised as the one Remus drove to the rink and another that James drove, the third was one that he had never seen. “Now what” Sirius murmured, Lily shrugged and looked around.
Guess I’ll just put it over there
Sirius parallel parked his car beside the driveway, then the two of them got out.
James came out of the house to greet them after Sirius had parked the car on the side of the road. “Hey guys, my parents are still home but once they leave, you can pull your car into the driveway” he explained while leading them to the front steps.
Stepping inside the house, there was a lot more commotion than Sirius would have expected from a three person household.
James’s dad was running around checking for food while some yells came from upstairs asking if he remembered to pack his toothbrush.
“Don't worry, they're on their way out, then we’ll have the place to ourselves” James reassured and walked to the kitchen to join his dad in the search for a spice that ended up being on the top shelf and a little ways out of view.
Lily had slipped off her shoes beside him so Sirius did the same and together they slowly wandered into the house, taking in all the random details and attempting to figure out the layout of the building.
They made it to the kitchen where James’s dad greeted them “you guys can go hang out in the living room for a bit, we’ll be gone soon”, they nodded in the direction of the living room.
There he was. The tall brunet was looking rather small where he sat on the massive couch in the living room. Remus wasn't really paying much attention to the noise in the rest of the house and was instead reading a book while engulfed in blankets.
Lily nudged Sirius “go on then” she said and smiled “I’ll help these guys”. Lily turned back to James and his dad who had turned their attention to moving the cooler full of food to the car out front. She took on the role of opening doors and telling them when they were going to accidentally run into something.
Sirius stood frozen in the kitchen, staring at the fluff of light brown hair in the couch, mostly because that was all he could really see, other than a few of Remus’s fingers poking out from under the blankets to hold the book open.
Why would she leave me here alone? I can't just walk over there and sit next to him with nothing to say, I might have to, hopefully he's too invested in his book to notice
“Sirius, I know you're there” Remus said, not moving.
Fuck, Maybe if I stay quiet he’ll think I’m not actually here
That didn't last very long, James’s mom came downstairs and with how the stairs work, they come straight down in between the kitchen and the living room.
“You must be Sirius” she said on her way down, carrying an assortment of items, none of which seemed to belong together.
Sirius snapped his attention to her so fast he could have sworn he heard his neck crack in the process.
“Yeah, and the red-head that's currently helping to move a cooler somewhere between here and the car is my friend Lily” Sirius explained. By now James’s mom had made it to the bottom of the stairs.
She smiled “I’ve heard lots about Lily” Remus made a strange sound as if he tried to stop a laugh midway then muttered something like “that's an understatement”.
Mrs. Potter ignored him and continued “you guys sound like you get along well, considering figure skaters and hockey players don't usually get along and argue about whose sport is harder all the time” “that's just some friendly banter”.
There's a bit more back and forth before James’s mom looks at the clock “well, we better get going, you know, we meant to leave before you guys got here but that didn't exactly work out as planned” she laughed and took her armful of things towards the front door.
Sirius made to follow her and offer to open the door, but just then, Lily, James, and James’s dad walked in the front door so they left it open for her.
“What took you guys so long?” Sirius asked Lily when they came back, “oh you know, the neighbour came out to say hi and then somehow the cooler opened but only the cheese fell out so we had to reorganize some stuff so it would all stay in” Lily explained.
James’s dad got himself a glass of water, James’s mom came back inside shortly thereafter. “Do we have everything?” she asked, James’s dad nodded “I think so”, “alright well, you kids have fun and don't burn the house down while we’re gone ok?” she said.
James gave them both a hug before they left and promised everything would be fine. He stood by the front door and watched as the car pulled out of the driveway and went down the street until he couldn't see it from the porch anymore.
“Ok guys, the coast is clear, Sirius you can move the car if you want and we can get this sleepover started properly!” James said, Sirius and Lily pulled on their shoes again then went outside.
By now more snow had fallen and the snowplows have been out so it would be better to have the cars in driveways. “I should have brought boots!” Lily exclaimed on the short walk to the car, Sirius laughed.
“I’ll move it first then we can take the stuff out of it so we don't have to walk as far” Sirius said and got in the driver’s side of the car.
Not that there was a lot of ‘stuff’ to take inside, Sirius had brought a backpack which he had dedicated to sleepovers a long time ago, and Lily had a small duffle bag with her things in it.
---
By now it was already dark outside which added to the cozy inside, freezing outside feel that sleepovers can have.
“So what are we having for supper?” Sirius asked, James looked excited then dramatically turned around, opened the freezer, and presented a frozen lasagna to them like some kind of magician.
“Upside, don't have to pay for takeout delivery, downside, it takes” he paused to scan the packaging “like an hour and a half to cook”.
They put the lasagna in the oven and Lily set a timer on her phone for an hour and fifteen minutes to check on it.
“Moony get out of the couch, you need to help us set everything up, otherwise it's like there's only three of us having a sleepover” James complained as the three of them walked into the living room and stood in front of where Remus was reading on the couch.
He sighed and finished the paragraph he was on, then very slowly got his bookmark in place to hold the page. Remus nestled into the blankets a little further before finally crawling out of them, trying to keep all the warmth.
“So what's the order of business?” Lily asked James, “set up the living room to be really cool and chill” “cool and chill mean the same thing” Remus said, James sighed “alright fine, epic and calm, happy?” Remus smiled, “I get more critical about word choice when you take me out of my happy places”.
After that, some things actually started to get done, Lily dismantled the blanket cocoon Remus had made and she placed them all out nicely over every piece of furniture in the living room.
James was raiding the bookshelf next to the giant flat screen tv hanging on the wall for the best movie options.
Remus was opening and laying down the sleeping bags on the floor for extra soft flooring, and so they would already be ready for when they were tired enough to sleep.
Sirius had begun to work on multiple things, first he was getting plates and forks and knives out for when the lasagna was ready, then shifted to organizing both the pillows that belonged at the heads of beds, and various throw pillows that were on the couch.
The entire time this was going on, James had been calling out random movie titles and the rest would say if they would potentially want to watch them or not.
In redecorating the living room, they had accidentally started a pillow fight between all four of them.
As soon as someone threw a pillow at the back of James’s head, he put down the DVD cases he was holding and threw the pillow back.
The mayhem of a typical pillow fight ensued and by the unofficial end of it, everyone was flopped over the couch or rolling with laughter on the now sleeping bag covered floor.
The room looked very soft once everyone was done, like a blanket fort but without a roof. “Seven year old me would kill to have this set up” James said as they looked at their work.
Lily’s phone went off so she went to check on the lasagna, she said it was looking good so it should be ready soon.
The next time they opened the oven, the smoke detectors went off. Lily winced as soon as she saw the cloud of smoke come out of the oven, knowing it would set them off, but not being able to do anything about it.
James spun around and the three of them met Lily in the kitchen. “The one rule!” Sirius said. He meant it as a joke but based on everyone else's reactions, it wasn't well received. “We can talk about that later, how do we turn them off!” Lily shouted.
James pointed to the smoke detector on the ceiling “you push that button in the middle!” he said. It was a silent agreement that Remus would do it, seeing as he was the tallest.
Even then, Remus grabbed a chair to stand on and Lily held it so it wouldn't wobble under him while he switched the smoke detector off.
As short lived as it was, that was enough excitement for the day. Remus put the chair back, James put a coaster out on the table, and Lily took the lasagna out of the oven.
Considering the fact the smoke alarm went off, the lasagna turned out pretty good, only burnt on a couple edges, instead of the whole thing.
Lily took the honours of cutting it and put a slice on each plate, they all walked to the living room with their plates because it's more fun to eat in the living room than at the table, and there was nobody there to stop them.
James set up a movie and they all gathered in various places in the living room to watch.
Lily claimed the chair, while James and Sirius sat on opposite ends on the couch, Remus sat on a beanbag chair that leaned against the couch between James and Sirius.
James skipped through the previews and made sure everyone could hear it fine. Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius could see Lily hunched over her plate and trying to blow on the lasagna before eating it.
As hungry as he was, Sirius didn't start eating right away because he didn't want to burn his mouth and the plate was keeping him warm for now, resting on his legs, even though he wasn't really cold.
Periodically through the movie, each of them got up for seconds, and they were all making small comments about the movie as the events unfolded.
James got up a second time “guys there's still lasagna here if you want” he announced before scooping up a smaller piece of the lasagna and threw his plate in the microwave to reheat it.
When James returned to his spot on the couch, Sirius got up, mostly for water, he pulled open a couple cupboards in search of cups to no avail. “Hey James, do you guys have no cups in this house?” he called back to the living room while still scanning the cupboard.
“Couldn't you have asked me when I was up? I just sat down!” James responded sarcastically and Sirius could tell he had made no effort to get up.
An arm popped up beside Sirius, in his peripheral vision. The arm came down again and by now Sirius knew it was Remus, the arm went up in the cupboard again.
“Here” he said and held out one of his hands, Sirius took the glass and they fumbled it between them before he filled it with tap water. He took a bit of cheese off the edge of the aluminum dish the lasagna came in as he walked back to the couch.
By the time the movie ended it was about 10:30.
“Alright people, what movie is next?” James said with a lot more enthusiasm than any of the rest were expecting, he jumped up and stood in front of the tv to draw all the attention to him.
“Dunno” Sirius said, he got up to refill his water and bring his plate back to the kitchen. Which was something he doesn't usually do but he figured it wouldn't kill him if he was already getting up anyways.
“James, what do you want to do with the leftover lasagna?” Remus asked from where he stood at the table, holding the serving spoon over the dish.
“Uhh just leave it, I’ll deal with it later” James said and Remus brought the serving spoon to the counter that had a few plates on it and put the spoon on one of them.
Lily stayed folded up in the recliner for a moment before deciding to stretch and get up. “I think I’m gonna put my pajamas on so then I won't have to get changed if I’m too tired after the next movie or two” she announced, then took her bag with her to the bathroom to change.
The boys watched her leave “you know what, that's not a bad idea” Remus stated, he walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to what Sirius assumed would be James’s room somewhere up there where Remus must’ve left his stuff.
James looked at Sirius from the living room, “I’m gonna do the same” he said and discarded the DVD cases he was holding and took the same path as Remus up the stairs.
Sirius was left standing in the kitchen by himself, holding an empty glass. He put it down on the countertop next to a random magazine someone had left there so he would remember which glass was his.
Guess I’ll go find my pajamas then
He went to his backpack which was sitting on the floor in the hallway between the front of the house and the kitchen/living room area.
Sirius rummaged around in the bag for a short while until he successfully found his pajamas.
He held up the shirt he had chosen at random as he usually slept without one, it was plain dark blue and luckily didn't have any holes or noticeable stains on it. Sirius also grabbed his favourite red flannel pajama pants, making sure he got both a shirt and pants.
Lily came out of the bathroom just as Sirius walked in the living room, “you can go get changed in the bathroom if you want” she said, Sirius nodded and passed her to go in the direction she came from where the bathroom would be.
It didn't take him very long but by the time Sirius was back, so were the other boys. Remus now secure, under the comfiest looking blanket in the middle of the couch instead of the beanbag chair. James was putting a DVD in the DVD player.
“Hey Sirius, help me bring the snacks” James said as soon as he saw him come into the room. Sirius held up his hand that was carrying his balled-up clothes, “I’m gonna put these away first” he said, James nodded on his way to the kitchen.
By the time the actual movie started playing, James and Sirius had brought multiple bowls of popcorn, and multiple bowls of chips of varying flavours to the living room.
Lily had curled back up on the recliner, Sirius held out the bowls of popcorn and chips, she took a bowl of popcorn and Sirius returned to the couch with one bowl, having discarded the rest on the coffee table.
James claimed a bowl of chips for himself and put the extras on the same coffee table which was a bit too far to reach from the couch but still well within everyone's view.
Sirius sat down just a little bit closer to Remus than he was before, which would be hardly noticeable to anyone else in the room as they were all focusing on the tv screen, and he only moved over by the smallest amount.
James had given Remus a bowl of barbecue chips which he started eating almost as soon as he got them.
The movie that they chose was one that Lily and Remus hadn’t seen before, Sirius had seen it a few times so he knew the story and it wouldn't take too much brain power to follow.
Partway through, Remus gestured for Sirius to pass him the bowl of chips he had. Sirius stretched out his arm with the bowl in his hand and let Remus pick some chips out, then brought his arm back into himself.
“You can sit closer, I don’t have the plague” he whispered, Sirius laughed and scooched over about half a couch cushion closer to where Remus was sitting and went back to watching the movie.
Every now and again everyone would laugh or someone would comment on something. Remus was the first to question something, a logistical error, like why didn't the characters talk to each other or look a tiny bit more to one side and see what was happening.
Lily chimed in a few times with small continuity errors and some scenes that shouldn't be physically possible, to which James was very interested in hearing about but always just ended it with “I don't know why, it's a movie, they can disobey physics every now and then”. Remus would laugh and pretend to be flicking an on and off switch for gravity every time after that when something like that would happen again.
James said he was ruining the movie because of it but the rest didn't seem too bothered, they only had to stop the movie to debate a few times and it was all in the first half. Towards the second half, the snacks were gone and the laughter and comments died down, though Sirius wasn't sure if that was because the movie had taken a dark turn or if everyone else had fallen asleep.
Now that he thought about the prospect of sleep, it was very enticing, but Sirius wanted to stay awake and watch the rest.
James went to pick out another movie which everyone gave very little input on.
This time he chose a movie everyone had seen. James went to the kitchen and asked if anyone wanted a refill of drinks or snacks. Lily asked for ginger ale and Sirius asked him to bring whatever's left in the barbeque chip bag seeing as he already had sour cream and onion.
Even though it was 11:45 everyone was pretty tired. Sirius and Lily had come from skating, and everyone had a full day of school beforehand.
Everybody talks about having fun and partying on Friday nights but honestly most Friday nights, Sirius is too tired to bother doing that. It felt like James, Remus, and Lily didn't mind either, just hanging out and being calm on a Friday was almost more fun, it's just real chill.
Guess none of us are super party animals
This movie was really quiet on the commentary, Sirius could tell that Remus had almost for sure fallen asleep. Lily had laid her head on the armrest of the recliner but was still watching the movie, and Sirius was fighting to keep his own eyes open, James had also gone suspiciously quiet.
Sirius made it about halfway through the movie and he was considering that a win so he let his eyes rest for a short period of time to gain enough energy to stay awake for the rest of the movie.
That is not what happened.
Sirius woke from his leg having fallen asleep below the knee. He tried to adjust his leg, which was harder than expected, like someone had left a big stack of books on top of the blanket.
There was also something pressed up against his entire left side that felt like it was alive instead of part of the furniture.
I don't remember James having a massive dog
Even in the darkness, Sirius could tell that Lily was no longer in the recliner as it now looked deserted. Sirius tried to look around the room as much as he could by barely moving his head.
That small movement was all it took for Sirius to see the floppy brown hair on the boy that was leaning up against him.
He kept his inner panic and excitement minimal but could feel his heart rate going up.
How long have we been here? He wondered
Gauging by the fact it was still dark out but not as dark as it would be at midnight, he guessed it was close to morning.
Sirius moved his head again to try and see the clock on the microwave in the kitchen but it was too far away to read, especially given the fact he had barely woken up.
From looking in that direction Sirius also noted that James was gone from his place on the couch.
He brought his head back to a more comfortable position and in doing so, Remus stirred next to him.
Shit
Sirius just stared at him in hopes that his eyes would stay closed and breathing would stay even. Remus snuggled closer into him.
Sirius figured there would be no harm in staying like this, and it's not like there's much you can do in a house full of sleeping people without waking them up. Besides, what's the worst that could happen, he's getting a bit more sleep.
Sirius closed his eyes once again, snuggled equally more into Remus, and slept in the warmth and comfort of Remus under the warmest blanket on the couch.