Honey

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Honey

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It was a day terribly like any other day, save for the fact that its calendar date was different than all others. Sirius Black, prankster extraordinaire and self-proclaimed best friend of James Potter, found himself lounging in his dormitory, temporarily taken out of commission by a nasty fall that had left his leg in poor condition. In true Black form, the raven-haired boy had solemnly refused to go to the Hospital Wing ("they're mad in there!" Black claimed when James attempted to convince his best friend to have his bones mended), and had instead resorted to reading miscellaneous magazines and drifting off every hour or so in the luxury of satin sheets.

Moments before drifting off into a deep slumber that afternoon, Sirius' quest for Dreamland was disturbed by the sound of his mahogany dormitory door being slammed open by a sullen-faced James Potter. Sirius sat up in his burgundy sheets as his friend flopped down on his failed-to-be-made bed and groaned into the soiled pillowcase.

"Tough day at work?" Sirius mockingly guessed.

James shot the other boy a look of deepest loathing that seemed to say Don't ask.

"You know that I'm just going to keep bothering you until you spill the goods."

James sat upright on his bed, folding his long legs underneath him. "It's Lily."

"What? Little miss redhead not putting out?" Sirius pressed, amused as his friend's face turned many shades of burgundy.

"Don't be crude," James shot back, throwing his pillow at Sirius. It hit the boy straight in the head, and fell inelegantly to the wooden floor. "It's nothing like that, and you bloody well know it."

"Yes, but it's ever so much fun to watch you blushing like mad."

"Can we get back to my problem?"

Sirius rolled his eyes.

James fidgeted for a moment, a look of extreme discomfort flitting across his face. "Well, I was out with Lily this afternoon, and we were just walking around when we happened upon some of her friends and..."

"You asked her to marry you?" Sirius guessed.

James glowered at him again. "And well... Lily called me...she called me.. um...."

"Remus?"

"Honey."

"Honey?"

"Yeah, honey. I thought it was weird too. I mean," James shuffled uneasily on his bed, "it made me feel really dumb. Like I was one of those token boyfriends that girls drag around to show all their female friends."

Sirius laughed. "And this is what you're all bent out of shape over? The fact that your three-month girlfriend gave you a pet name?"

James blushed again. "Don't call it that, Sirius."

The shaggy-haired boy smirked at his companion. "That's what it is, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I don't like being reminded that I have one."

Sirius limped over to James' bed, and took a seat next to his friend. "Come on, James! That's what it's like when you have a girlfriend. They just do things like that. They also ask if they can paint your fingernails, and if you would be willing to carry all their books to classes."

James shook his head. "Blokes don't do things like that."

"We're proud to carry our own books, mate."

James shifted awkwardly. "That's not what I mean. I mean, imagine if two boys were, you know... dating. They wouldn't go about calling one another "honey" or "sweetie" or "cutie pie". They'd just know that pet names aren't something you use. They'd know that pet names are stupid, and that boys feel stupid being called by them."

Sirius chuckled as he saw James' eyes dart across the room uncomfortably. "And these two blokes dating would be...?"

"I'm not saying that I know two boys who are together like that," James replied, flushing again. "But imagine that there were two blokes we knew that were together. You wouldn't see them hanging all over one another and calling each other by pet names. They'd act like normal blokes. They'd probably be best friends before anything else. They'd act like regular mates like you and I would, don't you agree?"

"Like you and I?" Sirius spat out.

"I don't mean to say that WE should date or something," James retorted quickly. "I'm just saying that two blokes together would be better than a bloke and a girl would. Girls just don't understand boys, and boys just can't empathize with girls. It would be better if boys just stayed with boys, and girls just stayed with girls."

Sirius laughed outright. "James, if the whole world thought that way, there would be no sexual reproduction, and thus the world of humans as we know it would cease to exist."

James groaned, and dropped his head into Sirius' lap. "You're hopeless, you know that? You can't take anything seriously."

"My first name might imply otherwise."

James shook his head. "You see what I mean? Here I am, trying to be very sincere, and you can't even grow up enough to hear me out. I have a very good point to this story, I promise you!""

"Then get on with it, James! I'm aging here."

"Do you... do you ever think that you might want to... you know."

"I don't know, as a matter of fact. I think you should tell me."

"Well... date boys. Instead of a girl, I mean. Or date girls and boys. Or just boys. Mainly just boys. Do you ever think about it?"

"Do you?"

"Not often!" James responded quickly. "It's just once and awhile. And I'm not like that, in case that's what you're thinking. I mean, I don't think I am. No, I'm not like that! I like Lily, so I can't be like that. But I'm not sure that I only like girls. I mean...am I making any sense whatsoever?"

Sirius shook his head. "James, James, James. You are damn lucky to have a friend as good as me. You're blessed that you have somebody who understands what you're saying, even when you aren't really making any sense."

The taller boy dropped his weathered hand, and ran it through James' black locks. "I know exactly what you mean, mate. I understand better than anybody does. I just didn't know that anybody else thought about that kind of thing. I mean, it's not normal, is it?"

"I don't know anymore, Sirius. I just don't know."

The two boys stayed noiseless for a few moments. Sirius continued to comb his long fingers through his friend's hair, and James listened to his own heart racing.

Sirius broke the silence. "So... say that you and I were dating," he whispered coyly, pulling his best friend up by the scruff of his neck. "You and me; two boys together like that. Would you mind if I called you honey?"

James turned to face Sirius, but lost his response as Sirius leaned forward and kissed him gently. James froze slightly, taken completely by surprise as Sirius kissed him harder, and slipped his tongue into James' mouth. James squeaked slightly at this, and responded by putting his arm around Sirius' neck.

"Well?" Sirius softly demanded, his hand snaking up his friend's shirt, and his lips hovering over James'. "Would you?"

James panted. "I...oh Merlin, I..."

"Don't think too hard, Potter. You might hurt yourself."

"No," the shorter boy whispered as Sirius' lips trailed to his collarbone. "No, I don't believe that I would mind."

"Good. Now, please shut up while I kiss you, sugar. It's too difficult to multitask."

So James did.