ignorance
@wolfstarmicrofic
“Guess what-mph-lads,” Peter starts conversationally, speaking around a mouthful of bacon.
The passion that boy holds for breakfast meats borders on lunatic, but far be it from James to say anything.
“Wormy, it’s not on to speak with your mouth full, you’ll offend my delicate sensibilities,” interjects Sirius. Bless him; Sirius has no delicate sensibilities of which to speak, so James knows the intervention is on his behalf.
“Sorry!” Peter yelps, swallowing before he’s quite ready and hacking in a way that makes James even more queasy.
“Sorry, sorry. But guess what.”
“If I had to guess…” James wonders aloud. “Your clever little rodent ears have picked up another bit of gossip? I don’t know how you manage it, Petey. Terribly well-informed, you are.”
Peter looks inordinately pleased.
“Quite right you are, James. I’ve just heard that Will Diggory—you know, that Seventh Year Ravenclaw?—well, he’s just come out, and he’s gone public with Devlin Abbott!”
“HA! Wormy, I’m quite sure you owe me a Galleon for that one!” James crows.
Peter scowls. “Not a chance. You only got the first part correct, which I had already agreed with you on, if you remember. Doesn’t count, and you thought he was secretly dating—”
“Now hold on just a damned second,” Sirius frowns, interrupting what is sure to be a feisty debate. “I feel like I’m missing a few things. Come out? Come out of what? Public with what?”
Peter looks bemused, so James takes over, explaining patiently: “Come out of the closet. He and Abbott, who is also gay—” Sirius’ eyes become huge— “have gone public with their relationship. Damn it, you’re right, Wormtail, I did think it was secretly Gregor Klein.”
Sirius twitches. “Huh. I never would have guessed,” he says mildly. “Diggory seems so…”
“So what, Padfoot,” James prompts calmly.
It was an inevitable but fortunately rare byproduct of being raised in an ancient family steeped in ignorance and hatred: sometimes Sirius needed some help opening his eyes to a new perspective. There were assumptions he took for granted because he didn’t know any better, but being a generally kind and open-minded person, the work was not overly hard.
“Well, like such a man’s man. No, no, don’t get me wrong,” he rushes out, seeing the looks James and Peter are giving him. “I’m super happy for him. I say live and let live. But you have to admit that it’s a bit weird.”
“Which par’,” Peter inquires curiously, speaking while chewing his blasted bacon again.
“The part about being attracted to another man. Like, sexually.”
James and Peter go stock-still and make sudden eye contact with one another, mirroring astonished expressions. They’re absolutely trying their hardest not to burst into laughter.
How can it be? He has no idea?
“Oh, I dunno, Padfoot,” Peter says slyly, giving Sirius a side-eyed look. “You can’t think of any bloke you’d hop into bed with?”
The restraint James is using right now is nothing short of torturous.
Sirius laughs. “No, you big jessie! If you want to sleep with blokes, have at it, Wormtail, but I tell you, that’s not for me. Oi, where’s Moony? He ought to be here for this.”
Oh, but he’s almost pathetic.
James can’t resist, so he joins in too: “Hmm….what about William Diggory?”
Sirius sputters. “I mean, sure, Diggory’s fit, for a bloke, but, as implied by ‘bloke’, he’s not got a pair of tits.”
“That’s a good point, Padfoot did break up with Lola Edgecomb last year cos ‘she was too flat-chested’,” Peter informs James in a sardonic aside, making liberal use of air quotes.
“No, no, Petey, maybe it’s just that Diggory’s not fit enough for our Pads,” James murmurs gravely.
Sirius giggles at their little show, then cries, “Cor! I wish Moony were here right now, and he’d tell you two how silly you are.”
Peter and James share a look again, but it’s lost on Sirius.
“Someone fitter, then, hmmm….” Peter taps a finger to his chin thoughtfully. “What about Professor Jero? All the girls thought he was gorgeous—do you reckon he’s hot enough to warm your bed?”
“Ha! As if! No, but keep going, though, these are funny. I bet Moony would come up with some hilarious ones.”
“Well Pete, maybe it’s not about physical beauty,” James muses theatrically.
“Oh no? The prompt was about sexual attraction, if you recall.”
“Yes, of course, and there’s no doubt that appearance plays a huge role in that, but…”
“But…?”
Sirius watches them volley back and forth, and James recognizes a growing exasperation in his expression. He’s always hated not being in on the joke.
“But maybe it needs to be a gentleman he knows well.”
“’Knows well’? Just how well should he know them?” Peter inquires with mock wonder, blue eyes big and round.
“Why, I think ‘extremely well’ would be ideal. In fact—” James turns to fully face Sirius— “I think he’d be most likely to fall for his best friend, no matter their gender.”
Sirius’ face goes blank with surprise, then he scowls and crosses his arms.
“Well I’m not about to bed either of you two idiots, sorry, but I have higher—MOONY!!”
And indeed, there appears Remus, tall and lanky, a gentle, eye-crinkling grin for Sirius that manifests as two dimples nestled in between the freckles scattered across his face.
“Moony, you’ll never guess what these two wankers—”
“Pads, I’d love to hear all about it later, really, sorry, love—ah, fuck, I’ve made a portmanteau of ‘Pads’ and ‘lads’—I think—wait, no, that doesn’t—never mind that, sorry, I can’t stay, I’m just cutting through the Great Hall on my way to a Prefect meeting!”
“Moony, wait!” Sirius wails, haphazardly grabbing a piece of jammy toast and chasing after Remus’ rapidly retreating figure. “You haven’t had any breakfast, you dolt!”
Sirius catches up to him and shoves the toast in his mouth. Remus pauses to smile hugely and stupidly at him. Then he blinks suddenly and turns about with a wave.
Peter smacks his forehead. James wonders vaguely if either of them took any notice of James and Peter sitting there throughout that whole interaction.
Sirius returns to his seat, cheeks pink and humming happily.
“Sorry lads, what were we talking about?”
Peter, slumped over in frustration, lets out a groan. “We were hypothesizing whether or not you could ever be sexually attracted to a man, and you kindly let us know that James and I are not up to snuff.”
“Ah. Too right.”
“Say…” James says wonderingly, as if this has just occurred to him. “You know Moony extremely well….Moony’s reasonably attractive, isn’t he?”
Peter sits up suddenly. “That’s right, he is! Tall. Nice curls. He’s alright.”
Sirius scoffs. “I’d say more than reasonably attractive or alright, wouldn’t you? I mean, he’s…he’s…he’s Moony…”
Sirius trails off and starts to blink rapidly, brow furrowed.
“Wow, Sirius,” James sighs unconvincingly, resisting an eye roll with all of his might. “Would you fuck Moony’s brains out, then? Suck his cock? Make him eat his breakfast every morning?”
Sirius has stopped blinking and his eyes appear to have glazed over. He’s gazing at a spot about 4 inches left of Peter’s left ear. James swears he can see on Sirius’ face the moment the realization dawns.
“Oh.”
Sirius swallows hard.
“Oh.”
Part 2: Duck
Part 3: Anticipation
Part 4: Thirst
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