You're so fuckin' special

James slung an arm around the furiously panting boy, as he normally did. James had a thing for physical affection towards his friends.

Sirius did a lot of the same stuff, but he didn't really include Peter in that. He would hug and lean on both Prongs and Moony, even though Pads was only dating Moony.

Prongs, however, was certainly fairer. He would embrace, lean on, and just casually stroll with anyone. He didn't care who it was. He would make sure that they consented to him being around them, and that was that. If they said no, he left them alone. If they said yes, he would never leave them alone.

Peter, Remus, and Sirius were the first ones to say yes.

The blonde-ish boy smiled a bit as he felt the emotions one would feel from the friendship.

"Warning! Evans approaching," Sirius grinned.

James playfully punched Sirius, "Shut up."

A gasp was heard from a couple of ignorant first years.

Moony turned to look at them, "Excuse me?" He almost glared at them but didn't completely.

Peter was worried that they would say something offensive. Which was what always happened lately. The first couple of years of their schooling was chill. But in 1974, everyone started... well being racist. And even though it wasn't directed at him, it made Peter very uncomfortable.

He hoped that it was because he didn't like conflict, and not because he didn't want to be associated with a Black man. Well... He knew it was because he didn't like conflict, and he liked James Potter. Prongs was one of the most popular guys at school, which was both a good and bad thing. The bad side was that his hate increased because people actually noticed him.

Peter focused in on the present time as one of the boys spoke.

"Are you going to let that, you know, touch you? Like he touched all of the rest of your friend group?"

"In case you didn't know you little," Sirius paused to look at their robes, "Hufflepuff, this is James Potter. One of the best people at school. One of the elite. The leader of the Marauders. So shut the fuck up before I make it so you are unable to talk for the rest of your pathetic life, you little twat."

Remus at this point had moved to hold Sirius back, and James was assisting.

The boys had moved back, kind of protecting one another.

"Mate come on, I'll buy you a fire whiskey," James started walking sort of pulling the group to start walking again.

Peter walked, shaking a bit. What if those boys got a whole group together? What if James was attacked? What if Peter was attacked for being with James?

"Wormy. Everything is cool, alright? I mean like it didn't even come to a fight," James pat Peter on the shoulder.

Peter nodded in response, ashamed of his own thoughts. Like usual. How could he be so self-centered? Why did he care so much about his own life? It wasn't like anyone else did.

"I'll be right back," James removed himself from both Peter and Sirius. He then started running over to the group of girls, which contained Evans, Marlene, Dorcas, and an angel.

Mary MacDonald. Gorgeous as always. Beautiful, pure, amazing, wonderful, perfect. Her hair moved slightly. She smiled shyly. And then he saw her move. He saw James take her hand and lead her away from the rest of the girls.

Pure rage filled his system. How could James do this? How could the player take the only girl Peter had ever cared about? How could Prongs betray him?

The rage filtered out quickly and was replaced with sadness. Peter was an idiot. A fool. A nincompoop. A stupid person. A creep. How could he ever believe that he could get a girl like that? When there were so many better people. When every guy at school was better than him. How had he been so foolish? How had he at one time believed that an angel could ever settle for a lowlife rat?

He had gotten carried away. He had let his wonderment, his awe, turn into him falling head over heels for an unattainable work of art. There was no way a painting would settle for a mere bristle of a paint brush.

James came back a moment later. "We're going to The Three Broomsticks with the ladies."

"Good going," Sirius smirked.

Peter merely nodded, still feeling extremely insecure and worried. Worried that James Potter had stolen his girl, after being unable to get Evans. Worried that Mary would never notice Peter again. Worried that James told her what a creep Peter was. Worried that she had already noticed that fact.

After all, it was painfully obvious.