Just Between You and Me

Peter hated Friday nights.

James would go out with Lily. Remus would tutor dateless Hufflepuff losers because it helped keep his conscience clear (he was on a religious streak lately--this week it was the Protestantism and, in keeping with the sect, had decided that if only he'd work a little harder, maybe he wouldn't go to hell. Quite frankly his friends couldn't wait for him to give up the hobby), and Sirius would be going out with his new "flavor of the week".

Peter, in the manner of sexually frustrated boys everywhere, would undress from the waist down, assume the customary position on his bed, open up to the latest Playwizard centerfold and masturbate until he almost blacked out.

Anything to pass the time, after all. And this evening would be no different.

He had just gotten a good rhythm going when he heard it: the sound of Sirius being dumped. Again.

"...Don't you ever come near me again, Sirius Black, or I swear that blue balls is going to be the least of your problems!!!"

Peter flinched as he heard the crack of a hand striking bare skin. It seemed to echo throughout the room. The doorknob turned creakily; Peter hastily threw his Playwizard to the floor and pulled his blankets across his waist.

With an air of forced calm, Peter watched as Sirius entered the room, a bright red welt covering the right side of his face. The boy looked positively livid.

As usual.

"Fucking tease," Sirius muttered as he stomped over to his bed.

Despite his friend's anguish and his own loneliness, Peter couldn't help but smile. It was the same thing every week: Sirius would meet a pretty girl during the week, ask her for a date on Friday, play the charmer all night in the hopes of getting a little something more than a kiss and then...whammo!

And, as luck would have it, only Peter was around for comfort.

"Un-fucking-believable! I spent ten Galleons on a meal for that mother-fucking son of a bitchy, cock-teasing little shitte!" Sirius swore. "The fucking least she could have done was let me feel her up a little! Jesus H. Christ on a cracker!" He kicked the wall in frustration.

"Now that was sheer poetry!" Peter looked up from the thick volume he was pretending to read. "You're the sultan of swearwords, Sirius. The imagery was top-notch, but you changed gender partway through. I'd substitute something catchy for 'son' next time, if I were you," he suggested in a helpful voice.

"Give it a rest, Wormtail! We can't all be as witty as you!" Angrily Sirius pulled his soft brown sweater over his head and threw it to the floor. Peter couldn't help but stare at the older boy's broad chest. It was well muscled and nice to look at, unlike his chest, which reminded him of a bowl of gelatin.

Sirius caught him staring. "Take a picture and put it under your pillow, why don't you?"

"Sorry!" Red-faced, Peter looked down.

"Would you mind wanking off someplace and leaving me alone?" Sirius spat, still upset at his failed conquest. He glared coldly at Peter, his eyes narrowed.

Peter's eyes darted to his magazine, only partially covered by the blanket and then quickly away. "With all due respect, Padfoot, it was you who interrupted me."

Sirius gave a harsh bark of laughter. He saw that the book Peter was "reading" was upside down in the boy's hands. His friend had been doing something while he was out, Sirius was certain, but it certainly hadn't been exploring the literary arts. Realization dawned and he grinned evilly.

"I didn't mean that literally, the wanking, I mean, but I see you've already beaten me to the punch."

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked, his face reddening.

"You were jacking off in here right before I came in, admit it!"

"Was not! I was reading and have been for--" Peter looked at the clock "--five hours? Well I'll be goddamned! Time flies when you're reading--" he turned the book over and inspected the cover--"...the Bible?! EEEEW!" he shouted, throwing it across the room. "Bloody hell, Remus!"

"I should say the same for this," Sirius said, pointing to the floor. He kicked at the magazine that lay there with his foot, causing the periodical to fall open to the centerfold, a witch who went by the name of 'Pretty Pussy' and more than lived up to her name, if the artful airbrushing was any indication.

"Bollocks, Peter," Sirius said in a solemn voice as he sat on the bed next to Peter's. "Can't you do better than this? It's Friday night!"

"You're one to make fun," Peter scoffed. "At least one of us was kissing the sky and I don't think it was you, judging by your face!" He reached forward and touched Sirius' cheek. The black-haired boy winced at the touch.

Rimshot, thought Sirius. Score one for Wormtail. He sighed with an immense sadness. Outdone by Peter...well, it's not like that'd ever happen again, he thought.

"You'd better fix your face before James gets back or he's going to know what happened," Peter advised, cutting into Sirius' thoughts.

Sirius sighed. "This happens every week, you know. James takes Lily on a date, Remus tutors, I go on dates that always end in disaster and you spank the monkey. For someone with no social life, Petey, you're the only one getting action...er, of a sort."

"You set yourself up for failure the minute you ask a girl out," Peter said. "My left hand never lets me down."

Sirius gaped at Peter's bluntness. "You're pathetic."

"Perhaps." The conversation lapsed into an uneasy silence.

"Don't you ever want to try to get a date?" Sirius asked in an exasperated voice. "Aren't you normal?"

"Normal is such a nebulous word," Peter answered.

"Are you into boys?"

The question seemed to throw the young man. He paled slightly. "Well, I...that is, don't you...? Are you into boys?"

"You can't answer a question with a question," Sirius answered.

Peter hesitated for a moment and pondered a response. "Love is love. I'm into whatever gives me what I need."

"Who gives you what you need?"

Peter sighed. His blue eyes closed for a long second. "Nobody."

"Do you honestly think that I enjoy this--this being alone? Is this what I'll be doing the rest of my life--getting off by myself?" He turned to Sirius with a desperate expression. "James has Lily, Remus has--well, I don't know what or if he actually has anything, given that he was considering priesthood last month, but whatever he's got he's enjoying it, and you--you--well...I wish I had someone, too."

"If we're playing true confessions, I've never gotten past kissing with any of the girls I've been with," Sirius stated in what he hoped was a sincere voice.

"You're lying."

"So I am. Just wanted to make you feel better, mate."

Again Peter sighed. "I'm sixteen and I've never even been kissed, except by my mum."

"Oh, we worked so hard to build a dam, that would stem the dreams of a desperate man. But hope can disappear like morning mist...still sweet sixteen and you've never been kissed," sang Sirius in an exaggerated falsetto.

"Cram it, fuck-wit." Peter fell back against his pillows and turned over, away from Sirius.

"We're both having a shitty night, aren't we?"

No answer from Peter.

"You just need to get out more, Pete! How about that fourth year Ravenclaw that keeps staring at you? You know the one I mean--Meredith--the girl with the lazy eye patch? What about Amanda in Hufflepuff? She seems to like you."

No answer.

"What about Beatrice? Polly? Suzanne? Mandy--"

"Mandy's the school slut. She'd do it with anyone," Peter said in a small voice.

"Hey--I took her out last month and she didn't do anything with--oh." Sirius' stomach seemed to fall into his shoes. "God that's just cruel, Mandy," he added, shaking his head.

Peter turned back to Sirius, his facial expression thoughtful. "I guess I've always wanted something like that to be real...you know, important, like what James and Lily have. I don't just want some one-night thing with a person who won't remember my name the next day. I haven't met a girl who fits that bill yet. Something tells me I never will."

"Maybe that's why the girls never let me get under their bras," Sirius muttered. He mentally congratulated himself on the maturity of the thought. "You'd make a good girl, Peter."

"Well, at least I'd be good at something."

Sirius got up from the adjacent bed and scratched himself. Then, without warning or preamble, he placed his hands on Peter's mattress, leaned forward and brushed his lips against those of his friend. For a second, Peter didn't know quite what to do or what to think, choosing to remain completely still until, tentatively he kissed him back. Closed-mouth and chaste to be sure, but a kiss just the same.

In reality, the kiss was maintained for perhaps five seconds, but when Peter and Sirius broke apart, the blond-haired boy was red-faced and took several gulps of air, as if he hadn't breathed for five minutes. He was more than a little dazed and confused.

"What--why did you--I don't--I'm not--"

"Stop talking, Wormtail," Sirius commanded with a slight grin on his face. "Neither of us were getting what we wanted tonight. I didn't get laid and you weren't getting kissed. Now you've been kissed and I can brag that I got a little action with someone tonight when James asks."

"Don't tell him what we did!" squeaked Peter.

"As if!" Sirius said. "I have a reputation to maintain."

"Oh." Peter was quiet. "Well, I wouldn't want to get in the way of that."

"Friends try to help each other when they're down. You said you wanted to share your first kiss with someone who would remember your name the next day. I'm no girl, but I'll remember your name, won't I?"

Peter didn't answer. He merely looked at his blanket, his hands loosely folded. For a minute Sirius thought about saying something else to him, but decided against it and walked away. He pulled on a T-shirt and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Peter looked to the door, then to the floor where the magazine lay, still opened up to "Pretty Pussy". He sighed, the feel of Sirius' lips on his still very fresh in his memory.

"You sure will, Padfoot," he smiled. "You sure will."

And with that, he pulled on his trousers, ran a brush through his hair, and left the dormitory. Maybe he'd see what Beatrice was doing...