unsatisfyingly satisfying
part 1: Dead End
Today is a different story, a Coops one that starts as ... not Coops.
I wrote this maybe 4 months ago, just writing for me as a way of processing, for awhile I really didn't think I'd share this. BUT then, with the prompts of @noots-fic-fests I thought of a parts 2&3. also what's scarier/more of a dead end than Sirius Black with a woman? So this is Sirius' last time with someone other than Remus, and in the next part I'll time skip to present day, so no hard feelings if this isn't for you and you want to wait for the next part.
Rated E, 6000 words if you click through to ao3 to read the whole thing. I'm just going to put the first 1300 words, rate T, here on tumblr which is as much James and Sirius banter as anything.
“Your aim is way off.”
“Pardon?” Sirius looked up, part genuinely confused and part annoyed. He had marvelous hand eye coordination. He was good at pool. His aim was not off.
“It’s not going to go in, that’s all I’m saying.”
Sirius didn’t recognize the voice of this unhelpful spectator, but James was clearly already laughing and joined in on the taunts. So Sirius solidly ignored them and took his shot. And missed.
“Fuck!” he exclaimed, hitting the end of the pool cue down into the hardwood floor of the hotel bar.
James laughed in victory as he lined up his next shot.
Sirius looked around for the source of the “advice”, and oh. There she was. Smirking at him over a tumbler of amber liquid.
“Told you,” she smirked.
“It was not way off, it was millimeters. And I’m still going to beat this fucker. All I have to do is steal his glasses.”
“Don’t you fuckin dare, Pads,” James said. He took his shot and sank the ball. “You’d never stoop to cheating. Don’t let our new friend here think such a thing of you.”
James walked behind the girl and from over her shoulder he gave Sirius an eyebrow wiggle that looked eerily like caterpillars dancing and mouthed talk to her, before turning to line up his next shot.
Sirius rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, watching James line up his shot.
“Obviously I wouldn’t cheat , Pots. Taking your glasses would be more of a … prank.”
“A prank,” James snorted.
“Ouais. And a successful one.”
“Stealing my glasses, that I medically need, is not a prank, man. That would be cheating .” He turned to the girl. “Back me up here.”
She smiled and tilted her head, mock thinking.
“Yeah, I agree. Taking something medically necessary isn’t a prank. That would be mean . And I know someone invited to this weekend of ‘celebrating the best in sports’ wouldn’t be mean , would they?”
Teasing infused her every word, and although Sirius didn’t usually like new people, her vibe was so chill that Sirius didn’t have his back up at all.
“No, of course I, who plays hockey for a living and bodychecks people everyday, would never be mean ,” Sirius retorted, a smirk growing on his lips. He stepped as casually as he could towards James’ drink and poured some of his whisky into James’ beer. When James went to take a swig of beer he would get a surprise at the strength of the alcohol content.
“That’s not a fucking prank either! Tampering with a drink. Tut tut Sirius Black, you are terrible at this.”
“I'm not tampering , it’s Pots!”
James turned back to them after missing his latest shot.
“Tampering! What’d he do?”
“Put some whisky in your beer,” the girl tattled.
“Hey, come on, if you tell him he won’t take too big of a swallow, and the prank is ruined!” Sirius groaned.
James laughed and took a cautious sip, smirking at Sirius over his glass. There was no gagging or sputtering. Sirius waved a wrist around towards James, while looking at the girl with raised eyebrows, like he could waft his displeasure at the lack of reaction towards her.
“Hey! It’s not my fault you're bad at pool and pranks. I'm just telling you what I see,” she said, eyes gleaming.
“Oh ho, ok then. Come line up this shot with me if you're so good,” Sirius said.
She stood at the opposite side of the table from him and corrected Sirius on his line, and he made the shot. They did it again, and he sank another ball.
“Hey! As cute as this is, this also feels like cheating,” James protested. She laughed and mimed zipping her lips, and Sirius missed the next shot.
“Merde,” he muttered, leaning on his cue. “I am usually good at pool, even without a coach. What’s your name, o pool master?”
“I’m Rebecca. And I’m kind of glad to see you’re not perfect at everything. Makes you more human,” she said.
Sirius rolled his eyes and James piped up, “oh there’s lots of things he’s terrible at.”
“Pots, come on —”
“Ooh, like what? Other than pranks of course?”
“Well cooking and cleaning are the obvious ones, but also making plans, doing interviews, obviously …”
“Potter, come on, arrêtez ça—”
“… speaking English when he’s upset…”
James had Rebecca laughing behind her glass and Sirius shot them both a mock serious glare.
“In his defense, I heard some of his interviews today and the way they all asked him the same questions would drive anyone to terrible answers,” she said.
“I did not give terrible answers!” Sirius protested.
“Are you here for the ultimate sports magazine special too then?” James asked her.
“Yeah. I’m on the Olympic rugby team. You probably saw us being awesome and getting a silver medal at the last Olympics, so a few of us from the team are here.”
“Oh, sick. That’s awesome. Yeah, his answers are pretty bad sometimes aren’t they?” James said, looking at Sirius all the while.
“Oh my god, I’m right here, stop it you two,” Sirius said, going to stand between James and Rebecca, trying to split up their alliance. He secretly loved James’ teasing though. James was the perfect social lubricant. Being around people was just easier, better, when James was there.
There had been at least a dozen interviewers asking him variations of the same question today, none of which were topics he wanted to talk about. He could’ve given them a whole feature on hockey. On his team. But no, they wanted to know about his family and parents and rivalries and standings and if he’s found a nice girl in Gryffindor yet and he wanted to scream . And there had been a photo shoot. It was awful. So Sirius was 3 whiskeys in and was trying to forget this day had ever happened and was definitely trying to forget that there was another photo shoot tomorrow. At least James was here too. The interviews with him there always went better.
“How did your interviews go?” Sirius asked Rebecca, wanting to stop talking about himself.
“Oh, fine. I was with my teammates for all of them, so that helps. Lots of lovely comments that start with ‘so, girl’s rugby!’. After which I’d stare them in the eyes and remind them that’s not actually a question, and that it’s women’s rugby and we are an Olympic sport thank you very much.”
Sirius smiled at her fierce reenactment. “I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of you, I’m glad I’m not a reporter. Or a rugby player.”
“That’s the reason you’re glad you’re not a reporter? I would’ve thought it would’ve been all the reading and writing,” James quipped.
“I can read and write,” Sirius said, punching James in the shoulder. He turned back to Rebecca. “Ignore him, I can read.”
“Sure, I believe you,” she said. They watched James sink his final ball, celebrate with his arms in the air, and Sirius groaned.
“Rebecca, I thought you were nice .”
“I definitely never said that. Ok, my turn Black, let’s see what you’ve got. Put those soft hands of yours to use.”
Rebecca and Sirius played a game of pool, and James threw jokes at them and drank, getting louder. Then Rebecca continued her winning streak and beat James, so they switched to darts and then somehow found things to juggle. Rebecca was the clear winner of juggling, but Sirius was very proud to be leagues better at it than James. She fit into their dynamic perfectly, the evening felt as relaxing and fun as a night with James alone would have been. She knew the same sports references they did, she was obviously athletic and competitive, and joined in all the good natured chirping.
Which was why Sirius was really fucking confused when she kissed him.
read the rest on ao3
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