Grinning, Lily leaned over and kissed Cox lightly. "Oh, come on," she murmured. "It'll be fun. Tell you what. If I must strip - which I'm not planning to, by the way - you can choose what I take off." Then, wrinkling her nose and laughing softly, she kissed him again. "And you think about me naked? Now that's just the sweetest thing you've said to me all day." Sitting back in her chair, Lily hooked her leg across Cox's lap and gave him a cheeky grin. "So, are you going to play, or are you just going to watch me own these two," she gestured towards Sirius and Yang with her glass.
Sirius earned himself a glower, and Lily rolled her eyes. "Right. New rule. Only those who have consensually seen me naked get to bring it up in conversation. Oh, and no more talking about how brilliant my boyfriend is in bed - it's a fact, we've stated it, moving on." Giving Sirius a pointed look, she continued, "Just for the record, also, I'd always rather have you play some silly prank than spy on me naked. For future reference, in case you find a dungbomb stash and an Invisibility Cloak and feel the need to do something fiendish." She stuck her tongue out at Sirius with a smile and then took a look at her own hand. "And, no, I rather like Phyllis. Somehow, I think girly and unimpressive suits it." She flashed him a wicked smirk and returned to contemplating her cards.
"Have to tell people something, what with Black going on and on. Unless you'd just rather I let people draw their own conclusions?" she glanced at Cox and grinned. "Which would be amusing, but not entirely accurate." To Yang she said, "It was a hexed chocolate. Not a hermaphrodite-type situation. At least, not that I know of. And, as my aforementioned rule stated, it's also off the table for a topic of conversation."
Shuffling through her cards, arranging her hand, Lily froze completely at Cristina's question. Then, with a small breath, her eyes still fixed on her cards and not sparing a look towards Sirius or Cox, she said shortly, "My husband. He died." Another difficult breath and Lily looked up, expression carefully blank. "Right. Who's in, then?"
Cox was almost, almost okay with the whole 'Sirius seeing Lily naked' thing, until Sirius had to go and make everything worse by referencing whatever 'show' he'd put on for her back in the day. Oh, that was it. Cox's good will only went so far, and for Sirius it had just run out. "Fido," he snapped, turning to dart a particularly vicious glare at the Animagus. "you~'re using up your 'pissing me off' quota for the month awfully quick here. Watch it." He held up two fingers towards his eyes, then pointed one at Sirius -- the universal symbol for I'm watching you.
As for Lily, well, if Sirius was going to be a little bitch, so to speak, he wasn't going to hold back for his sake. When she kissed him, he kissed her back sweetly, pulling her legs across his lap. "Well, only when you're not actually naked," he replied to her question, smirking. "Anyway, I still can't say I entirely get why you're trying to get me to play a game that involves me looking at my male friend and another woman naked after I beat them..."
All the same, as Lily sniped at Sirius, he found himself peering over her shoulder, curiousity piqued, trying to look at her cards. When she started to explain the situation to Cristina, he rolled his eyes and glanced over at her. "Way to leave out the whole 'whoring me out part of it, Red," he whispered, low enough that only she could hear. "You could work in politics--"
Cristina's question cut over his teasing and he fell quiet immediately, glancing at her, then back at Lily. At the look on her face, the sudden tension in her body, his eyes softened slightly, and he lifted one hand to rub her shoulder gently. The other reached out, picking up his cards. "Yeah, okay," he muttered. "Let's go."
"Phyllis," Sirius said, jerkily picking up his cards, rearranging them, and setting them back down roughly, "is extremely manly and most definitely, mindblowingly impressive."
How he had somehow managed to acquiesce to Lily's nutty pet name for his nether regions was beyond him at this point. It was hard to analyse such things when she was kissing Cox and putting her leg on him and doing all sorts of things that Sirius really didn't want to see. Every time she leant in to kiss him, he felt this horrible, hot wave of something crawl across his skin, and it was beginning to become unbearable.
It didn't help that Cox, for some reason, seemed to be particularly fussy at him, and where normally he would laugh it off, he was at this point in no mood to do so. Instead, he grumpily rolled his eyes at Cox's warning and picked up his cards again, staring intently at them.
It was actually a rubbish hand if ever there was one; he had seen that from the moment he had picked it up, despite his assertion to the contrary. Three of clubs, five of spades, seven of diamonds, eight of clubs, jack of hearts. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He glanced up at the others to see their reactions to the cards...and saw more kissing and legs on laps and...
...and then Cox referred to him as his 'friend', and Sirius was all confused and frustrated again.
He took a huge swallow of Firewhisky and then switched around his cards as if he actually had something to put in order.
He had been about to go for his Firewhisky again when Lily reacted to Yang's question, and he, too, froze, his cards held out in front of him and his eyes fixed on Lily.
And then Cox comforted her, and Sirius felt a wave of something again, but this time he knew what it was, even though it was something he had experienced only on rare occasions.
It was jealousy. Sirius was not at all the jealous type. He fully and completely trusted those who were his friends. Even after Peter's betrayal, and especially because of the way he had distrusted Remus, he continued to trust his other friends, because without trust, there really was no foundation for a friendship. And jealousy and trust did not make for good neighbours.
Sirius trusted Lily; there was no question about that. They had fought a war together and had been willing to give their lives for each other and their other friends. And she had been married to his best friend - of course he trusted her.
He also trusted Cox. Cox had his quirks, and he was often gruff and blunt, but Sirius believed he was a good person - if anything, Sirius had been sold when Cox had opened up to him about Ben - and he trusted him with Lily. He knew Cox genuinely liked her and meant well.
But somehow despite all this trust, there was a thread of jealousy winding its way around Sirius's flesh, pinching and squeezing and pressing and making it harder and harder for him to breathe.
But what was he jealous of? It couldn't be Cox and Lily's relationship. Sirius liked to flirt with Cox, and sure, they had had sex when Sirius was temporarily a woman, but it was all in good friendship. He certainly had no interest in dating Cox; the thought nearly made Sirius laugh despite his discomfort. And the thought of him wanting to date Lily was laughable, too. Sure, she was one of his two closest friends at Hogwarts, and he loved spending time with her, and she always had a way of making him laugh...and yeah, truth be told, she was very very pretty, especially her hair...but date her? She was James's wife. That automatically shut down any thought process that could've been further devoted to the possibility of a romantic interest in Lily - which was crazy and ridiculous anyway.
No, Sirius suspected it was something else, because as Cox lifted his hand and rubbed her shoulder and looked at her and talked softy to her, every muscle in Sirius's body was pushing him to get up and do the same. That's my job! his mind seemed to be screaming. I made the promise to James, and to myself, to take care of her! And she was upset about James, and Cox didn't even know the whole story, and...
What it came down to was that Sirius wanted to be the one with his hand on her shoulder, the one saying something soft and comforting in her ear.
It was a selfish thought. He knew it. What mattered was that Lily had someone to comfort her. But he still could not help wanting to be that person, because had made a promise, dammit, and furthermore, Lily was his friend, James's wife.... She was Lily.
But Sirius also caught Cox's point, which was that the best thing to do right now was to play the game rather than getting emo distraught over things that no one could change and that made everyone feel worse.
"Right," he said, focusing back on his cards. "So, this round, we play for shirts, and I'm in." He slapped his cards back on the table. "All set - don't need any new cards. Cristina, you drawing?"
"Sorry," she replied quietly. Compelled by the sudden tension in the room, Yang repeated, "Sorry."
She looked down at her cards, trying to ignore whatever the hell was going on in that room. She'd assumed her question about James was the cause of it and tried to fade back into the background. there was no need to make the situation any worse.
"So, uh, I'll draw two," Yang said as she discarded a four of diamonds and a ten of hearts.
Stupid. It was just a question, an innocent one, no way Cristina could have known. No harm intended; after all, they had just been talking about James. No reason for her to suddenly feel as if someone had stabbed ice down her spine, no reason for her to feel both like screaming and curling up in a ball. Eyes dropping back to her cards, Lily stared for a second without really seeing. Cox's hand on her shoulder pulled her back and she looked up with a soft, shuddering sigh.
Lips quirking up into a small smile, she gave him a grateful look and reached up to take his hand, lacing her fingers tightly with his. "It's all right," she told Cristina, quietly. Turning to look at the girl, Lily's expression was slightly embarrassed at her apparent inability to school her emotions. "Not your fault. No worries, mate." She shrugged and handed Cristina her two cards from the deck.
Appearing to have composed herself, Lily nonetheless didn't let go of Cox's hand. To have him here and with her, to have his hand holding hers and to be able to look over and know he cared about her, made the awful sick feeling that had washed over her fade into the background. Her eyes glancing up at him over the top of her cards, she smiled softly. "See, my whole plan is," she teased, resting their joined hands on her lap, "to get you liquored up and naked. Black and Cristina are just pawns."
Her eyes went to meet Sirius' and she gave him a slightly concerned look. A quick question in her eyes that she knew he'd be able to read and then Lily grinned. "Going straight for the shirt, eh, Black? Risky. How are you going to feel sitting there, shirtless, while I laugh?"
Hmm...not too bad of a hand. Six of hearts, queen of spades, and three sevens. "I'll take two as well," she decided, trading the six and queen for a king of hearts and a two of diamonds. Giving Cox a playful smirk, she arched an eyebrow. "It's to you, Ginger."
Cox still was not exactly thrilled about the idea of playing strip poker (especially above, say, playing for cash), but after that little moment of horror, he was willing to shut up and play for a bit if only to placate Lily. Holding her hand tight, he rolled his eyes at her teasing. "Fair enough," he deadpanned.
He looked down at his cards -- two aces, two kings, and a queen -- and raised a brow, laughing. "I-hiii think you mean while I laugh, sweetheart." Sirius was going down. "Just one," he announced, tossing the queen out.
Yang was the one person who wasn't giving Sirius any confusing thoughts at all, and as such, he felt particularly bad that she felt bad about the James mention. She hadn't known.
"Definitely not your fault," he agreed with Lily as he topped off Yang's Firewhisky glass. After all, what else could say, "No worries!" better than alcohol?
Cox and Lily were still making Sirius uneasy, and he was hating himself for it. But dammit, he most certainly was not a pawn in whatever sex plans Lily and Cox had later that evening. That was something he didn't even want to think about. It was bad enough where their hands were right now.
As a result, he likely looked more than a little bit grumpy when Lily caught his eye. Just as quickly, however, he did his best to rearrange his expression in answer to Lily's unspoken question, because he knew exactly what she was worried about: James. And for once, that wasn't his problem. As such, his eyes softened and his mouth relaxed into a loose smile to let Lily know that, really, he was okay - about James, at least.
Glancing back down at his cards again, he said, "As much as you'd like it, you're not going to see me shirtless, Evans." It was much easier to talk to her when he didn't have to look at...them. "But you're welcome to give it your best shot. I hope you're wearing a bra you don't mind showing off to the entire common room."
He put his cards down again and took a long swallow of Firewhisky. "Okay, so did you lot want to fold and keep your clothes on, or are you going to endure the humiliation of stripping while I remain fully clothed? I mean, if you fold, all you've got to do is...." Sirius paused, trying to think of a good consequence - one that would be mild enough to encourage folding, but still carry a fun punch. After a quick stride over to the bar and back, he returned with a bottle. "All right, if you fold, you've got to take a shot of this Jones Smoked Salmon Pate soda...which, while seeming completely and utterly disgusting, does not involve the removal of clothing."
Only the removal of stomach lining, most likely. But Sirius would keep that part to himself.
"So, shall I start pouring out the soda, or are you lot going to get naked? I highly recommend giving the soda at least one try, but...your choice, you know."
Sirius hope they took the bluff. But if not, well, he knew he'd actually prefer to start stripping than to drink that soda. Merlin, it sounded worse than Moxie.
Lily snorted softly. "Oh, Black. You can bluster all you like, but we all know how this round is going to end."
Laying her three sevens down, she gave him a cheeky grin. "With you shirtless and me gloating." Turning to Cox she arched an eyebrow. "All right, babe, what've you got?"
Cox's cocky good cheer easily lasted through Sirius's obvious bluffing, and when Yang put her cards down he smirked widely. "Somehow, I~'m not worried," he replied lightly to Sirius.
As Lily's cards went down, however, his face fell, blinking widely as he looked down at her hand. Well, nevermind that, then. He sighed. "Ah... dammit." Tossing his own high two pair down, he leaned back with a groan. Oh well, he was sure Sirius was faking it, so at least Lily wasn't going to be getting naked this round, right?
'Babe'? Sirius bristled slightly at Lily's use of the pet name for Cox. It was so cutesy and so familiar and so unnecessary, as if she were rubbing it in...except Sirius had no idea what 'it' was. All he knew is that it made him feel oddly glum.
And bloody hell. From the moment Yang had laid down her hand instead of folding, Sirius knew he was doomed to strippery. He was comforted, however, by the fact that two other people would be stripping with him. Nudity definitely loved company.
After Cox laid down his cards, Sirius flipped his own over with a grandiose gesture and immediately pulled off his shirt and tossed it to Lily. "Shut up, Evans, and Perrilicious and Cristina, join me in toplessness. Try not to be blown away by the impressive view. You can look, but don't touch, all right?" He paused and gave Cox a sidelong glance. He was still the same Cox, and Sirius knew that whatever problem he was having was his and his alone; Cox had done nothing.
As such, Sirius couldn't help but add, "Well, you can touch if you want."
Then he started dealing the cards again, waiting for the inevitable ceremonial rubbing-in-of-the-victory from Lily.
Both proffered shirts were caught neatly and Lily gave Sirius a wide smirk. "Didn't say a word, Black." Letting go of Cox's hand and picking up one of the jokers, Lily transfigured the unneeded card into a box proclaiming 'CLOTHING LOST TO LILY EVANS' MAD POKER SKILLZ'. Why say something when there were more creative ways to rub it in? Yang's black sweater went into the box, but Lily hesitated before adding Sirius'. Smirk changing to a grin, Lily pulled Sirius' t-shirt on over hers. Ha! More layers meant longer she could go without having to strip, herself. Holding her hand out for Cox's shirt - that one would go nicely over the two she was now wearing - she looked rather smug. "Pony up, Ginger. Victor, spoils, all that." Oh, she was enjoying this. Not only did she get to win, she got to see her boyfriend shirtless. Leaning forward, she nipped lightly at Cox's lower lip. "This game is fun."
Picking up her drink and settling back in her chair, Lily looked at Sirius. "Good try, though, Black. Really. If we were playing Go Fish or something similar, I'm sure you would have done brilliantly." Winking at him, she raised her glass in salute. "Funny, I'm not feeling very shirtless at this moment. And yet...you are. Why is that, do you reckon?" Then, with another grin at Sirius, Lily flicked her wand absently towards the fireplace. A cheery blaze sprung up instantly. "Wouldn't want you losing types to get cold."
This was so going to come back and bite her in the arse, Lily just knew it. Totally worth it.
"You realize, Red, you are going to wind up paying for all this," Cox remarked dryly as if reading her mind. Rolling his eyes, both at Lily and at Sirius's rather generic flirting, he pulled his shirt off and handed it over. Of course, it wasn't like being shirtless particularly bothered him; when he was at home it was practically his natural state. Leaning back in his seat, he folded his hands behind his head and waited for the next hand.
"For once, Fido, just this once, mind, I will ignore your checking me out," he said lightly, a smirk passing across his face. "Only because, well, I know it's just too damn hard to resist."
"You, my dear, are a cheater," Sirius said to Lily, trying hard to ignore the whole kissy lip-pully thing, because Merlin on a cracker, whywhyWHY did they have to keep doing that? "When you go down next round, and notice I said 'when', not 'if', all shirts must come off. No hiding behind extra layers." Sirius looked at Cox. "Right, Six-Pack?"
Yeah, it was a bit of flattery. But hey, Sirius felt like he sort of needed to make up for being an arsehole, even if no one knew he was being that way. And anyway, Cox really did have a six pack, something that Sirius, being a little on the too-skinny side, had no hopes of ever obtaining. Fourteen years of poor nutrition had likely messed up his metabolism beyond repair.
He, too, rolled his eyes at Lily. She really was such an awful winner. "Believe me, your victory won't last long. This isn't Crazy Eights or - or Old Maid. Now, if we were playing those games, I wouldn't even put up a fight. I'd just take off everything and get it over with, you know?"
Now he gave Lily a sidelong glance, one eyebrow raised. "Anyway, do you know what I did in that shirt, Evans? No, of course you don't, or you might've hesitated to put it on. Oh well, too late, it's already touching your skin."
Quickly, he picked up his cards, which were a little better this time - a queen of hearts, a three of spades, an eight of spades, a queen of spades, and a four of diamonds. He could hold out for a flush, but...nah, it was unlikely. After discarding the three, four, and eight, he picked up three more cards - a four of hearts, a six of diamonds, and a king of clubs. Well, a pair of queens was at least workable.
Like Cox, he leant back in his chair. "Your draw, Cristina. And keep in mind, the goal is to beat her," he said, pointing at Lily. "Not because the goal is to see her naked," he added quickly for Cox's sake, "but because otherwise we're going to have to deal with her loud mouth gloating for the rest of the game."
Sirius earned himself a glower, and Lily rolled her eyes. "Right. New rule. Only those who have consensually seen me naked get to bring it up in conversation. Oh, and no more talking about how brilliant my boyfriend is in bed - it's a fact, we've stated it, moving on." Giving Sirius a pointed look, she continued, "Just for the record, also, I'd always rather have you play some silly prank than spy on me naked. For future reference, in case you find a dungbomb stash and an Invisibility Cloak and feel the need to do something fiendish." She stuck her tongue out at Sirius with a smile and then took a look at her own hand. "And, no, I rather like Phyllis. Somehow, I think girly and unimpressive suits it." She flashed him a wicked smirk and returned to contemplating her cards.
"Have to tell people something, what with Black going on and on. Unless you'd just rather I let people draw their own conclusions?" she glanced at Cox and grinned. "Which would be amusing, but not entirely accurate." To Yang she said, "It was a hexed chocolate. Not a hermaphrodite-type situation. At least, not that I know of. And, as my aforementioned rule stated, it's also off the table for a topic of conversation."
Shuffling through her cards, arranging her hand, Lily froze completely at Cristina's question. Then, with a small breath, her eyes still fixed on her cards and not sparing a look towards Sirius or Cox, she said shortly, "My husband. He died." Another difficult breath and Lily looked up, expression carefully blank. "Right. Who's in, then?"
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As for Lily, well, if Sirius was going to be a little bitch, so to speak, he wasn't going to hold back for his sake. When she kissed him, he kissed her back sweetly, pulling her legs across his lap. "Well, only when you're not actually naked," he replied to her question, smirking. "Anyway, I still can't say I entirely get why you're trying to get me to play a game that involves me looking at my male friend and another woman naked after I beat them..."
All the same, as Lily sniped at Sirius, he found himself peering over her shoulder, curiousity piqued, trying to look at her cards. When she started to explain the situation to Cristina, he rolled his eyes and glanced over at her. "Way to leave out the whole 'whoring me out part of it, Red," he whispered, low enough that only she could hear. "You could work in politics--"
Cristina's question cut over his teasing and he fell quiet immediately, glancing at her, then back at Lily. At the look on her face, the sudden tension in her body, his eyes softened slightly, and he lifted one hand to rub her shoulder gently. The other reached out, picking up his cards. "Yeah, okay," he muttered. "Let's go."
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How he had somehow managed to acquiesce to Lily's nutty pet name for his nether regions was beyond him at this point. It was hard to analyse such things when she was kissing Cox and putting her leg on him and doing all sorts of things that Sirius really didn't want to see. Every time she leant in to kiss him, he felt this horrible, hot wave of something crawl across his skin, and it was beginning to become unbearable.
It didn't help that Cox, for some reason, seemed to be particularly fussy at him, and where normally he would laugh it off, he was at this point in no mood to do so. Instead, he grumpily rolled his eyes at Cox's warning and picked up his cards again, staring intently at them.
It was actually a rubbish hand if ever there was one; he had seen that from the moment he had picked it up, despite his assertion to the contrary. Three of clubs, five of spades, seven of diamonds, eight of clubs, jack of hearts. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He glanced up at the others to see their reactions to the cards...and saw more kissing and legs on laps and...
...and then Cox referred to him as his 'friend', and Sirius was all confused and frustrated again.
He took a huge swallow of Firewhisky and then switched around his cards as if he actually had something to put in order.
He had been about to go for his Firewhisky again when Lily reacted to Yang's question, and he, too, froze, his cards held out in front of him and his eyes fixed on Lily.
And then Cox comforted her, and Sirius felt a wave of something again, but this time he knew what it was, even though it was something he had experienced only on rare occasions.
It was jealousy. Sirius was not at all the jealous type. He fully and completely trusted those who were his friends. Even after Peter's betrayal, and especially because of the way he had distrusted Remus, he continued to trust his other friends, because without trust, there really was no foundation for a friendship. And jealousy and trust did not make for good neighbours.
Sirius trusted Lily; there was no question about that. They had fought a war together and had been willing to give their lives for each other and their other friends. And she had been married to his best friend - of course he trusted her.
He also trusted Cox. Cox had his quirks, and he was often gruff and blunt, but Sirius believed he was a good person - if anything, Sirius had been sold when Cox had opened up to him about Ben - and he trusted him with Lily. He knew Cox genuinely liked her and meant well.
But somehow despite all this trust, there was a thread of jealousy winding its way around Sirius's flesh, pinching and squeezing and pressing and making it harder and harder for him to breathe.
But what was he jealous of? It couldn't be Cox and Lily's relationship. Sirius liked to flirt with Cox, and sure, they had had sex when Sirius was temporarily a woman, but it was all in good friendship. He certainly had no interest in dating Cox; the thought nearly made Sirius laugh despite his discomfort. And the thought of him wanting to date Lily was laughable, too. Sure, she was one of his two closest friends at Hogwarts, and he loved spending time with her, and she always had a way of making him laugh...and yeah, truth be told, she was very very pretty, especially her hair...but date her? She was James's wife. That automatically shut down any thought process that could've been further devoted to the possibility of a romantic interest in Lily - which was crazy and ridiculous anyway.
((Continued in the next post...))
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No, Sirius suspected it was something else, because as Cox lifted his hand and rubbed her shoulder and looked at her and talked softy to her, every muscle in Sirius's body was pushing him to get up and do the same. That's my job! his mind seemed to be screaming. I made the promise to James, and to myself, to take care of her! And she was upset about James, and Cox didn't even know the whole story, and...
What it came down to was that Sirius wanted to be the one with his hand on her shoulder, the one saying something soft and comforting in her ear.
It was a selfish thought. He knew it. What mattered was that Lily had someone to comfort her. But he still could not help wanting to be that person, because had made a promise, dammit, and furthermore, Lily was his friend, James's wife.... She was Lily.
But Sirius also caught Cox's point, which was that the best thing to do right now was to play the game rather than getting emo distraught over things that no one could change and that made everyone feel worse.
"Right," he said, focusing back on his cards. "So, this round, we play for shirts, and I'm in." He slapped his cards back on the table. "All set - don't need any new cards. Cristina, you drawing?"
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She looked down at her cards, trying to ignore whatever the hell was going on in that room. She'd assumed her question about James was the cause of it and tried to fade back into the background. there was no need to make the situation any worse.
"So, uh, I'll draw two," Yang said as she discarded a four of diamonds and a ten of hearts.
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Lips quirking up into a small smile, she gave him a grateful look and reached up to take his hand, lacing her fingers tightly with his. "It's all right," she told Cristina, quietly. Turning to look at the girl, Lily's expression was slightly embarrassed at her apparent inability to school her emotions. "Not your fault. No worries, mate." She shrugged and handed Cristina her two cards from the deck.
Appearing to have composed herself, Lily nonetheless didn't let go of Cox's hand. To have him here and with her, to have his hand holding hers and to be able to look over and know he cared about her, made the awful sick feeling that had washed over her fade into the background. Her eyes glancing up at him over the top of her cards, she smiled softly. "See, my whole plan is," she teased, resting their joined hands on her lap, "to get you liquored up and naked. Black and Cristina are just pawns."
Her eyes went to meet Sirius' and she gave him a slightly concerned look. A quick question in her eyes that she knew he'd be able to read and then Lily grinned. "Going straight for the shirt, eh, Black? Risky. How are you going to feel sitting there, shirtless, while I laugh?"
Hmm...not too bad of a hand. Six of hearts, queen of spades, and three sevens. "I'll take two as well," she decided, trading the six and queen for a king of hearts and a two of diamonds. Giving Cox a playful smirk, she arched an eyebrow. "It's to you, Ginger."
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He looked down at his cards -- two aces, two kings, and a queen -- and raised a brow, laughing. "I-hiii think you mean while I laugh, sweetheart." Sirius was going down. "Just one," he announced, tossing the queen out.
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"Definitely not your fault," he agreed with Lily as he topped off Yang's Firewhisky glass. After all, what else could say, "No worries!" better than alcohol?
Cox and Lily were still making Sirius uneasy, and he was hating himself for it. But dammit, he most certainly was not a pawn in whatever sex plans Lily and Cox had later that evening. That was something he didn't even want to think about. It was bad enough where their hands were right now.
As a result, he likely looked more than a little bit grumpy when Lily caught his eye. Just as quickly, however, he did his best to rearrange his expression in answer to Lily's unspoken question, because he knew exactly what she was worried about: James. And for once, that wasn't his problem. As such, his eyes softened and his mouth relaxed into a loose smile to let Lily know that, really, he was okay - about James, at least.
Glancing back down at his cards again, he said, "As much as you'd like it, you're not going to see me shirtless, Evans." It was much easier to talk to her when he didn't have to look at...them. "But you're welcome to give it your best shot. I hope you're wearing a bra you don't mind showing off to the entire common room."
He put his cards down again and took a long swallow of Firewhisky. "Okay, so did you lot want to fold and keep your clothes on, or are you going to endure the humiliation of stripping while I remain fully clothed? I mean, if you fold, all you've got to do is...." Sirius paused, trying to think of a good consequence - one that would be mild enough to encourage folding, but still carry a fun punch. After a quick stride over to the bar and back, he returned with a bottle. "All right, if you fold, you've got to take a shot of this Jones Smoked Salmon Pate soda...which, while seeming completely and utterly disgusting, does not involve the removal of clothing."
Only the removal of stomach lining, most likely. But Sirius would keep that part to himself.
"So, shall I start pouring out the soda, or are you lot going to get naked? I highly recommend giving the soda at least one try, but...your choice, you know."
Sirius hope they took the bluff. But if not, well, he knew he'd actually prefer to start stripping than to drink that soda. Merlin, it sounded worse than Moxie.
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She laid down her cards, two jacks and two eights. "Two pair, beat that."
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Laying her three sevens down, she gave him a cheeky grin. "With you shirtless and me gloating." Turning to Cox she arched an eyebrow. "All right, babe, what've you got?"
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As Lily's cards went down, however, his face fell, blinking widely as he looked down at her hand. Well, nevermind that, then. He sighed. "Ah... dammit." Tossing his own high two pair down, he leaned back with a groan. Oh well, he was sure Sirius was faking it, so at least Lily wasn't going to be getting naked this round, right?
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And bloody hell. From the moment Yang had laid down her hand instead of folding, Sirius knew he was doomed to strippery. He was comforted, however, by the fact that two other people would be stripping with him. Nudity definitely loved company.
After Cox laid down his cards, Sirius flipped his own over with a grandiose gesture and immediately pulled off his shirt and tossed it to Lily. "Shut up, Evans, and Perrilicious and Cristina, join me in toplessness. Try not to be blown away by the impressive view. You can look, but don't touch, all right?" He paused and gave Cox a sidelong glance. He was still the same Cox, and Sirius knew that whatever problem he was having was his and his alone; Cox had done nothing.
As such, Sirius couldn't help but add, "Well, you can touch if you want."
Then he started dealing the cards again, waiting for the inevitable ceremonial rubbing-in-of-the-victory from Lily.
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"Hope somebody remember to light a fire in the fireplace, otherwise it's going to cold in here pretty quick."
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Picking up her drink and settling back in her chair, Lily looked at Sirius. "Good try, though, Black. Really. If we were playing Go Fish or something similar, I'm sure you would have done brilliantly." Winking at him, she raised her glass in salute. "Funny, I'm not feeling very shirtless at this moment. And yet...you are. Why is that, do you reckon?" Then, with another grin at Sirius, Lily flicked her wand absently towards the fireplace. A cheery blaze sprung up instantly. "Wouldn't want you losing types to get cold."
This was so going to come back and bite her in the arse, Lily just knew it. Totally worth it.
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"For once, Fido, just this once, mind, I will ignore your checking me out," he said lightly, a smirk passing across his face. "Only because, well, I know it's just too damn hard to resist."
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Yeah, it was a bit of flattery. But hey, Sirius felt like he sort of needed to make up for being an arsehole, even if no one knew he was being that way. And anyway, Cox really did have a six pack, something that Sirius, being a little on the too-skinny side, had no hopes of ever obtaining. Fourteen years of poor nutrition had likely messed up his metabolism beyond repair.
He, too, rolled his eyes at Lily. She really was such an awful winner. "Believe me, your victory won't last long. This isn't Crazy Eights or - or Old Maid. Now, if we were playing those games, I wouldn't even put up a fight. I'd just take off everything and get it over with, you know?"
Now he gave Lily a sidelong glance, one eyebrow raised. "Anyway, do you know what I did in that shirt, Evans? No, of course you don't, or you might've hesitated to put it on. Oh well, too late, it's already touching your skin."
Quickly, he picked up his cards, which were a little better this time - a queen of hearts, a three of spades, an eight of spades, a queen of spades, and a four of diamonds. He could hold out for a flush, but...nah, it was unlikely. After discarding the three, four, and eight, he picked up three more cards - a four of hearts, a six of diamonds, and a king of clubs. Well, a pair of queens was at least workable.
Like Cox, he leant back in his chair. "Your draw, Cristina. And keep in mind, the goal is to beat her," he said, pointing at Lily. "Not because the goal is to see her naked," he added quickly for Cox's sake, "but because otherwise we're going to have to deal with her loud mouth gloating for the rest of the game."
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