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Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
James couldn't take it anymore; he’s been listening to the same fucking tapping for the last five minutes. It first had half a minute or so between the taps. But for the last minute it’s been tap after tap after bloody tap. He was about two taps away from offing himself and his annoying younger brother who was clearly trying to get a rise out of him as all Slytherins seem to do. James debated with himself whether or not he was able to be the bigger man and just deal with the noise. Al would stop eventually, wouldn’t he?
Tap.
“That is it!” Sitting up quickly, James furiously whisper-yelled, “Al, I swear to Godric! Knock! It! Off!” When no reply came and the tapping continued, James kicked off the covers, crossed the room in a couple strides, and shook Al awake.
A convincingly sleepy groan answered him. “Sod off, James, I'm trying to sleep.”
“So am I, so stop the bloody tapping, you pillock!”
Albus propped himself up on his elbows, messy black hair flopping into his eyes. He squinted at his brother, trying to see him clearly without his glasses. “What in the name of Merlin’s tits are you on about?”
James’ brows drew together in confusion. “That's not you?”
“What’s not me?”
“That tapping.”
They both paused, listening. And right on cue:
Tap.
“That!” James exclaimed. “It’s been driving me crazy for the past five minutes!”
Albus glared up at his brother, truly and clearly pissed. James couldn’t help the chill that rolled through him at that signature glare. Fucking Slytherins. “You’re a fucking wizard for Merlin's sake, James, cast silencio or something if it's bothering you so bloody much. I'm going back to sleep.” And with a huff and a mumbled “git”, Al rolled over and did exactly that. Soon James could hear soft snoring.
“How in bloody hell does he do that?” James muttered to himself.
Tap.
He was a second away from following his brother’s advice and casting silencio, when he heard a faint voice follow another tap.
“James!”
He stopped moving about, wand at the ready, and listened closer.
“Jamie!”
He only knew three people in the world that still called him Jamie; his mother, his sister, and Teddy. And seeing as he hadn’t seen Teddy in three weeks due to some Auror mission abroad, James was hoping very strongly that it was his boyfriend being obnoxious outside. James quickly threw open the window, and, though he was very much cheesed off that his sleep was interrupted, he had the biggest grin on his face.
“Merlin’s balls, Teddy, it’s ruddy two in the morning!”
His hair was his usual vibrant blue and even in the limited moonlight Teddy shone. He was wearing an old Hufflepuff hoodie, ripped jeans, and some trainers. Nothing fancy, but seeing him still made James’ heart skip a beat. He was also holding a bunch of pebbles in one of his hands. Teddy stood there smiling up at James a smile that rivaled the beauty of the moon itself. “Don’t care,” Teddy called softly, “get your fat arse down here!”
James grinned. “Alright, give me a second you tosser!”
He threw on a hoodie and grabbed trainers, awkwardly pulling them on as he stumbled down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible. He slipped around the corners of the house, making his way to the back door in the kitchen. James opened the door slowly, squeezing past it when it was just wide enough to let him cleanly slip through - the door had a tendency to squeak if it was opened past a certain point and, unfortunately for him, his mother’s ear was finely tuned to that telltale sound of James sneaking out. But the door didn’t betray James even as he gently shut it. He wasn’t even a foot away from the door when strong arms were flung around his middle, gently squeezing. James wrapped his own arms around those of Teddy and heat curled throughout his body.
“How’d you get home so early?” James said excitedly, “You weren’t supposed to get in till Sunday. Gran was planning on surprising you with your favorites.”
“How could she when you’d ruin the surprise?” Teddy teased. He whispered seriously, almost reverently, “I missed you”. And then the wazzock had to ruin the moment by shoving his ice-cold nose into James’ bare neck.
James shrieked delightedly, half-heartedly pushing at Teddy’s face which served to only make Teddy bury himself further into James’ exposed and quickly chilling skin. Teddy was always cold and because James seemed to always be warm, Teddy took it upon himself to make James his personal body warmer. Not that James was, ever in fact, guilty of complaining.
James laughed, “You wanker!”, smiling like an igit as Teddy pressed a gentle apology to his neck.
“I say ‘I missed you’ and you call me a wanker?” Though his tone was accusatory, James felt Teddy’s lips stretch into a small smile, obviously lovingly teasing.
He turned around in Teddy’s arms, adjusting to grip at Teddy’s shoulders. He gave Teddy his best puppy dog eyes and asked, “Do you forgive me?”
Teddy stared into James’ eyes. James could see the twitching at the corner of Teddy’s mouth as he desperately tried not to smile and give in. “Dammit,” Teddy laughed, “alright, alright, you win.” James smirked. Teddy mumbled, “you’ll always be forgiven” as he bent down and pressed his lips chastely to James’.
“So rocks, huh?” James smirked.
“Was it too much?”
“It was perfect. Odd choice, but, then again, that’s what makes it perfect.”
Teddy grinned. “Brilliant. I was passing the time in America by watching the telly and some Muggle movie came on. A rather handsome bloke--,” James lightly swatted Teddy for this, only making Teddy’s grin split wider, “--tried wooing a bird by throwing rocks at her window. It seemed to work well for him so I thought I might as well try my luck at it.”
“Well, I have some good news for you, Lupin.”
“And what’s that?”
“It worked,” James said against Teddy’s lips as he leaned up and kissed him though it was a little hard to snog properly since they both were grinning like the biggest gits in the world.