Persistent

Disclaimer: Harry Potter universe is the property of JK Rowling. I, sadly, make no money from fanfiction.

“James! Oy, James!”

“Shite,” James muttered beneath his breath, drawing the cowl of his cloak up around his ears and lowering his face as he hurried along the dimly-lit corridors. Bloody brilliant.

“James William Potter stop right sodding now,” Sirius bellowed.

Not slowing his pace down a bit, James clenched one hand into a fist and jammed the other into a pocket on his robe, resisting the strong urge to glance over his shoulder and tell Sirius to bugger off for good.

“PRONGS!”

Merlin, he’s a persistent bugger, James though sourly, getting more fed up by the minute.

“PRONGS PRONGS PRONGS.”

Usually James could stomach it when Sirius would set out to be deliberately annoying but not this time. This time Sirius’ attempts to get his attention (and this means was usually a last resort, used when James was being particularly stubborn, much like now) in this annoying manner caused him so snap.

“WHAT?” James snarled, stopping in his tracks and pivoting on his heel wildly to face Sirius. “What IS it, Sirius?”

\"You can\'t do that to me! I needed you!\"

His glasses slipped a few centimeters down his nose and he pushed them back forcefully, wincing as they settled with a pinch against the bridge of his nose. “You needed me?!” James shot back, absolutely incredulous at Sirius’ nerve. “You didn’t need me, Padfoot. You never have. You never have and you can’t tell me that I can’t do that to you cos I just DID.”

Throwing his head back, Sirius laughed a loud, barking laugh and James suddenly very much so wanted to hit him.

“What,” he demanded through clenched teeth, “is so funny?”

“You are,” Sirius replied, clutching at his side with one hand and wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes with the other.

“I am not,” James retorted heatedly. “I’m not funny, I’m capricious. And besides, you didn’t need me anyway. You don’t need me. Evans does.”

Sirius’ face grew so grim that James could not stay cross with him for long. It wasn’t as though he could ever really stay angry with Sirius for more than a few moments anyway. He had a lot to deal with – his home life was bad enough and James never wanted to add to the burden that Sirius carried around with him.

“That’s a lie,” Sirius said quietly.

Swallowing hard against a lump in his throat, James nodded. “I know,” he returned, his own voice barely above a whisper.

There it was again. That loud, barking laugh. James loved watching Sirius laugh. It was infectious, the laugh of Sirius Altair Black. It was definitely a belly laugh and Sirius’ entire frame would jerk back and forth as he guffawed and chuckled and James could rarely ever not join in when Sirius was taken with a chortling fit.

And so James joined in with Sirius’ laughter, laying a hand on his best mate’s shoulder for support. Just as it usually was, James could barely even recall just why he and Sirius had gotten into a bit of a tiff in the first place. It didn’t matter anyway. They were best mates and would be until the day they died. Beyond that, even, if James could have had his way.

“Shove off!” Sirius gasped, leaning over and placing his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

James reeled back a few steps, body off balance both from his laughing fit and the force of Sirius’ little playful elbow to his side. His arms pin-wheeled a bit until he got his balance. Smoothing down the front of his hair with one hand, he then touseled the back of it so that it was standing straight up for that ‘just-off-the-broom’ look and then lunged at Sirius. “You shove off!” he cried, something of a mad glint in his hazel eyes.

“Git!” Sirius protested, blocking James’ advance.

“Oh no you don’t.” Always much faster on the draw than Sirius, James had his wand at the ready in the blink of an eye and, after a cursory glance around the hallway, Banished Sirius into the nearest room. As his best mate yelled some unintelligible protests, James smirked with satisfaction and quickly went off to see just what sort of state Sirius was in.

Pushing the ajar door open even wider, James stuck his head in the darkened room. Squinting, he couldn’t make out Sirius’ form in the dark, although he could hear his breathing coming from somewhere further inside. “Padfoot?”

There was no reply.

Frowning, James called his name again, only to have silence answer. Suddenly James wondered if maybe he hadn’t Banished Sirius into a wall or something. It wouldn’t have been the first time that he had accidentally rendered Sirius unconscious from a bit of horse-playing, after all. The last time had been right scary; the nurse hadn’t been able to rouse him for several hours.

“This isn’t funny,” he said slowly. “Padfoot?”

James wandered further into the room, turning in a slow circle and straining his eyes to see in the darkness.

Why am I so daft?

Realising that his fingers were in fact clenched around the hilt of his wand, James raised it waist-level. “Lum-”

Before James could get out the rest of the incantation, he felt his legs give out beneath him. Landing on his arse with a loud cry, James struggled to sit up.

However, sitting up when one finds that a large, shaggy Newfoundland has decided to seat himself on one’s lap can become quite difficult.

“Get off!” James whined, only to be answered by a slobbery lick on the cheek. “Grotty thing, you!”

Tranfiguring back with a -POP-, Sirius grinned down at James, placing a hand on each shoulder and pressing the other boy firmly against the ground. “Grotty?” he asked, grey eyes dancing somewhat wickedly.

“Yeh, grotty,” James confirmed, finding that his hands were pinned beneath Sirius’ knees. Meeting Sirius’ eyes, James wasn’t sure if he should grin back or scowl. He hated it when Sirius got the upper hand; he would gloat about it for days and James was always tempted to hex his mouth shut.

Leaning down so close that James could practically see his pores, Sirius shot him a wink. “I reckon I’ll have to earn the grotty title, then.”

The next thing James knew, he was rolled roughly over onto his stomach and there was warm breath tickling the back of his neck.

Ohhhhh.

James wanted to say something. He wanted to do something. He couldn’t let Sirius do this to him; he’d been in control the last time and he hadn’t let James forget about it for an entire month. He wanted to—

He forgot all about wanting to fight back or take control when that warm breath was followed by an even warmer tongue laving across the nape of his neck. James’ shoulders twitched and a strangled moan tumbled past his lips. Sirius’ chuckled followed quickly on the heel of James’ moan and he knew that had been his undoing.

“I’m going to take care of you, Prongs,” Sirius promised huskily, broad hands moving clothing this way and that until James could feel Sirius’ warm skin against his own. “Take care of you the way you’ve taken care of me.”

“Yes,” James managed to get out, his voice sounding foreign to his own ears. “Take care of me.”

“I will,” Sirius replied. He must have been lowering his head as he spoke as James could feel the ends of his hair brush against his skin.

James’ eyes nearly popped out of his head when he felt Sirius’s tongue flick against the top of his spine. So that’s what he was up--

Merrrllllliiiiiiiiin.

Sirius’ tongue xylophoned slowly down James’ spine, moving leisurely over the bump of each vertebrae. James felt himself go limp beneath Sirius’ weight and was quite certain he would pass out when Sirius’ tongue ran over his crevice.

“Prongs Prongs Prongs,” Sirius chanted, the words forming an odd sort of cadence in sync with the scissoring of his fingers within James and suddenly James didn’t give a flying shrivelfig if Padfoot was being a smarmy git and trying to get his attention. He didn’t have to try; he had it lock, stock, and two smoking wands.

“Say it,” Sirius breathed in his ear as he slid inside him.

“Shove off,” James moaned, pushing back against him, reaching a hand round to grab onto Sirius’ hip. Gritting his teeth, he dug his fingers into Sirius, bloody well hoping to have left a mark there. Sirius might have the upper hand but he would be the one to wear the mark of ownership.

“After I get off,” Sirius chuckled, rocking his hips against James and pulling him off at the same time. James could feel his eyes roll in the back of his head and he wanted to stop the bloody loud moans he was making but he couldn’t stop, couldn’t help it. Padfoot knew just how to get him to do the very shite he didn’t want to and he should hate him for it but he didn’t. He couldn’t. He could only moan and writhe and clench around Padfoot until he felt his warm release inside and then they were falling, falling, falling—

The shuddering began to overpower him and he couldn’t contain himself any longer. “I need you, Padfoot,” James gasped, spilling his seed all over Sirius’ hand. “Always have, always will.”

Collapsing against James, Sirius rested his face against the back of his best mates’ shoulder and pressed a tired kiss there. “And I need you, Prongs.”