Hello Fam :)

Happy Reading...

James was waiting. Sirius had been aloof, avoiding his presence, pretending to sit beside either Remus, Lily, or Peter in class as if he wasn't the one who would always fight with everyone to sit beside him unless the teacher separated them. He had been coming late to the dorm room, sometimes not returning until morning. It's nothing new. He would do that when he hooks up with some girl but the whole avoiding James thing on top of that was messing his head. It was like a repeat of Snape's incident a few months back. Also, Sirius's fear of losing James for some reason wasn't easing his nerves too. But James was waiting. Because he would always wait for Sirius to come back to him, to sort his head before reaching out for James. And when Sirius would do that, James would be there to hold him.

XXX

Sirius stared at his hand as he returned from the Hufflepuff common room after punching the boy. He had the cloak with him. Hence, instead of going to the Gryffindor common room, he went to the Astronomy tower and sat in a corner, draping the cloak around him.

What do you think, Black? Do you think Potter would accept you? With me? With a Slytherin?

It was an hour and it was the only thing playing in his head repeatedly. By now a few couples had made their way to the terrace for a quick snog which Sirius scared them by making scary ghost noises. Really, he wanted to be alone and not witness the couples going all over each other. One night. Was it too much to ask?

Apparently, it was because an hour later, James appeared on the terrace, thankfully alone. James wouldn't leave listening to scary ghost noises, he would go and poke it. Sirius needed a backup plan but before he could think, James was already pulling the cloak from him and sat down beside him, almost jumping from excitement. "Sirius, we are almost up for the prank on Slytherins. Moony is going over the plan to check if it's perfect. Who was he kidding? It would be perfect. We had come up with the plan", said the boy, rolling his eyes fondly at Remus.

The marauders perfectly know how to sense someone under the invisibility cloak because of the number of times they have been under it. "I want to become a death eater", said Sirius, instead.

James blinked his eyes at him, confusedly. "Okay?", he said, dragging the word. "But the prank? Can it wait until after the prank?"

Sirius threw his hands up in frustration. "Jay, I am serious. I want to join the Slytherins. I want to join the death eaters. They sound fascinating."

"You are mad. Come here and stop talking for a moment", said James before pulling him into a hug and carding his fingers through Sirius's hair. "Did you have too much of a firewhiskey? I told you not to sneak into Hogsmeade without me. Don't do this again. Call me. I will watch your back while you can be as drunk as you want to be."

Sirius forced himself out of James's arms to glance at the boy. "You don't believe me?"

James rolled his eyes. "Of course, I would believe you if you are in your senses. What happened? Did someone say something to you? Is this the reason why you were avoiding me for a few days?"

Sirius looked at his lap where James had held his hand in a reassuring grip.

"You can tell me anything, Siri. Anything that's actually bothering you."

Sirius nodded before taking a deep breath and tightened his hold on James's hand, afraid of losing him. "I am Bi. I shagged a Slytherin."

James chuckled. "Okay? Is it some plan to make me hate you?"

Sirius squeezed his hand. At this point, it was more to reassure himself. "Do you hate me?"

"I would if you break my hand", said James. When Sirius raised his head, James was looking at their hands doubtfully. Sirius loosened his hold, giving an apologetic smile to the boy when he completely freed his hand and cupped Sirius's face. "Hey, did someone say something? Do I need to punch someone?"

"I am Bi", he said again, to emphasize his point.

James nodded. "You have already said that. It's fine. Not a big deal. I had an idea that you fancy guys. I didn't know it was both ways. It's good. There would be more people who would appreciate you. It would do wonders to the world. But what exactly is bothering you? The Slytherin?"

"Jamie, I didn't know he was a Slytherin", said Sirius. That's what had hurt him the most. "I didn't recognize him. We were in Hufflepuff in his room, I thought it was his room. I came out and the Slytherins crowded me and said he was a Slytherin. It was their plan. They used disillusionment charms. I am sorry."

James released his face to draw circles on his back. "Hey, Siri. Try to breathe. Okay? It's okay if he was a Slytherin. Okay? It's fine. It doesn't matter if you really like the guy. But what does matter is him deceiving you like that. That's not okay. And I will have words with them. It's not your fault."

"You wouldn't hate me if I got involved with a Slytherin?", he asked. He had to after what the Slytherin had said before Sirius had punched his face.

James snorted and threw his arm around Sirius. "Are you crazy? You are my brother, idiot. I would never hate you. Okay? Even if you go and become a death eater. I don't care. Of course, I wouldn't approve your decision of going on a killing spree of muggles and muggleborns but nothing you do would make me hate you. You are my brother."

Sirius turned properly to fling his arms around James. "They said you would hate me if you got to know about him being a Slytherin. That you would hate me if I were involved with a guy."

James ran his fingers through Sirius's hair. "They don't even know me. But you do. What does your heart say, Sirius?"

"I love you", he muttered. Now that he thought about it, James would always love him. There isn't a question there. There wouldn't be a question there.

"Yes, I love you. So, remember this always. I would always love you okay."

At this point, I am not even surprised by your declarations of love.

James slightly pushed Sirius behind his back, giving Sirius enough time to clear his face. "Evans?", he yelled with an exaggerating hand wave. "Fancy going out with me."

Sirius's breath caught in his throat. This wasn't the time to ask that. Prongs was being an idiot. He could hear the redhead crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"After you just declared your love to Sirius?", she asked.

James turned back to give a glance at him before turning back. "Would you go out with me? Hogsmeade? This weekend? For the sake of our friendship."

Sirius pinched the boy on his back to stop him from uttering any more shit.

"I hate you, Potter. I thought you were growing up?", she said and left the tower.

"Jay, that would take you miles away from her. Why did you lie?"

James shrugged, pulling the boy up and walking towards their dorm. "I don't want her to see you in that state. Come on. We have revenge to plan. We are modifying the prank."

XXX

James might have assured of everything being fine to Sirius but nothing was fine and the not fine part was jumping out of his being to do something. To avoid further tensing Sirius, he escaped from his dorm room and wandered the Hogwarts corridors. Both students and teachers were eyeing him warily, expecting him to burst out a prank out of nowhere. He merrily waved at them before he saw someone entering the library and followed him only to be stopped by Madam Pince.

"Potter, I would use all the books here to come up with a really creative plan if you even think of destroying my books with your pranks."

James clutched his heart. "Madam Pince, that's so unfair. How can you accuse me of destroying your sacred books without even a bit of proof?"

"Potter, I know what you are capable of. Just because your evil twin isn't with you, doesn't mean you are not up to something."

He rolled his eyes. "Sirius is not evil. He is pretty and really a good bloke. You just have to open your heart to really see it."

The librarian rolled her eyes similar to James. "If I open my heart for you two, I would have to close my library for forever."

James stuck his tongue out. "I just have to talk to someone. I promise, no prank."

"Evans isn't in the library."

It was one thing to be teased by the students but now even the staff had started it which was too much. He definitely wasn't blushing. He isn't. Without bothering to reply to her, when James went in, her laughter was ringing in his ears until he spotted Regulus in a far corner of the library. He didn't understand Reg's fascination with quiet corners. Sirius could never last even half an hour there. "I need all the names of the Slytherin who are really excited about tricking Sirius", he said, without bothering with the formalities. They were once close, too close, and James thought of him as his little brother after Sirius. But Reg refused to acknowledge him after sorting in Slytherin. Hence, they would talk, a minimal conversation for when it's absolutely necessary.

Seeing him, Reg crossed his arms. "And why would I tell you that, Potter?"

One more thing was Reg calling him Potter like the rest of the Slytherins instead of James. It had hurt the first time but if Reg didn't talk to Sirius, James didn't feel like caring about the youngest Black. "They had betrayed Sirius's trust and played with his emotions. I want revenge", he said.

Regulus glanced him up and down before scribbling a few names on parchment without any further questions. Reg still cared about Sirius and James wanted to pull the younger boy into a hug but Reg had become a big boy who was way too cool for hugs. Hence, he thanked him and left muttering to watch out for the news.

On his way out, he was pushed against the wall by Lily at another quiet corner with her wand against his neck. What's up with these nerds and their fascination with quiet corners?

"Tell me you were trying to distract me. That our friendship means something to you", said Lily.

James sighed. He shouldn't have kept their friendship at stake but he couldn't come up with anything spontaneously to make her leave. "It means the world to me, Lily. As I said already, I would treasure it. Trust me", he said, making sure to maintain the eye-contact to emphasize his point. "But I am not ready to talk about Sirius. It's not my secret. If he is comfortable enough to share it with you, he would talk to you."

Lily pressed the wand more onto his throat. "I am not even asking about Sirius, you idiot", she said and threw her hands in the air. "You get on my nerves."

"I am sorry?", he offered.

Lily rolled her eyes. "No, Potter. I am not going out with you."

James smiled at the familiarity of the situation, the number of times she had refused to go out with him. "I am sorry, okay?", he said, sincerely. "I just wanted you to go and blurted out the first thing that came into my mind that would make you go."

She rolled her eyes again before leaving.

XXX

The next day, Hogwarts saw a bunch of Slytherins at the Great Hall in skirts instead of pants and robes and a 'Go, Sirius Black' behind their shirts. The funny part was they were unaware of the change in their robes while the whole Hogwarts laughed at them. The Slytherins were seething but James could see a little smirk on Regulus's face as he glanced at James. James was right. All Baby Black needed was a good long hug to make him Sirius's brother instead of the Slytherin spawn. Completely, contrasting to Regulus, Sirius grinned openly at James and James ruffled his hair. No one deserved to live after insulting his little brother.

XXX

A week later, Sirius openly came out as Bi after getting the approval of his one most important person in life. He didn't care about the mixed reactions he got from his fellow Hogwarts students until Lily sat beside him at breakfast.

"So, is this your big secret?", she asked, rolling her eyes.

Sirius looked at her apprehensively. It was Lily. "Yeah?"

If he expected some sort of reaction, it wasn't the glare that she was sending to James. "I would punch Potter on his face for overreacting every little thing."

"You don't mind?", he asked.

Lily snapped her head towards him before blinking her eyes in confusion. She then rolled her eyes and threw her hands around his neck. Breaking the hug, she kissed his cheek. "Why would I mind?", she asked. "I am guessing it's also the reason for Potter to dress the Slytherins in skirts? If someone is saying anything to you again, just tell me. I could take their points on top of what Potter has planned for them. We could win the house cup."

Sirius grinned. "Evans, I didn't know you were a snake underneath all that Gryffindor exterior."

She waved her hand. "Oh, don't you know, Black? Slughorn had figured it out long back. You are too slow for a Black."

Sirius shook his head before looking into her eyes. "Thank you", he muttered.

Lily gave him a brilliant smile but their moment was ruined when James jumped on his back and kissed his cheek from behind. "I am so proud of you. Let me know if someone even looks at you funny. I would handle them."

While Lily gaped at him, Sirius smirked. These two were so made for each other.

XXX

Within a gap of only a few days, he was again dragged into the infamous broom closet. It was again his baby brother Regulus. "You should choose a more dignified place, Reg. What would mother say if she knew you hang out in the dirty broom closets?"

Regulus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "So, you are Bi?"

Sirius sighed. "Would you have a problem with that?"

"No", said Reg before biting his lip. "Sirius, am I Bi?"

Sirius chuckled and threw an arm around his neck. "I don't know, Reg. Do you fancy guys?"

"I haven't thought about it but my friends said I could be because I don't get excited when they talk about girls and then you told everyone you were Bi."

Sirius pulled him close, ruffling his hair, earning a protest from him. James was a bad influence. "Okay, sorry. Reggie, you are just 13. It's okay if girls don't excite you yet. Or boys or either of them excites you. You would figure it out eventually. Take your time. Don't let them rush you. And it's okay even if you don't. It's just a part of your life and wouldn't change you as a person entirely."

Regulus rolled his eyes. "Did James recite these lines to you?"

Sirius grinned. "You can't roll your eyes like him and then pretend to hate him, Reg."

"He didn't patent eye-rolling. And I hate you all the same", he said, going out of the closet.

"I love you too, baby brother", yelled Sirius behind his retreating back.

I love the Black brothers.