#prompt 18

After spending three days avoiding the conversation, Sirius makes it a point to drag Peter out of the library one afternoon while they’re all supposed to be studying, insisting that the other two Marauders stay behind and continue their Potions essays. James glares at him as they walk away, but he can’t help but feel grateful. 

“What was that about?” Remus asks, and James’s stomach turns. Whether at being alone with Remus or finally having no excuse to avoid asking him on a date, he’s not sure. Either way, it’s not helping the jitteriness he feels. 

“No clue,” James lies. He can feel his face heating up, and for a moment he almost cries. He’s blushing. How embarrassing. 

Remus shrugs and turns back to his parchment, and for a moment, James does the same. It doesn’t take long for him to come to the conclusion, however, that if he doesn’t ask him now, he won’t do it at all. “Hey, Remus?”

The other boy looks up, and James nearly swoons at having Remus’s honey brown eyes on him. “You okay?” he asks, and James realizes he’s just been staring for about twenty seconds too long.

“Hogsmeade,” he blurts out. Oh Merlin. This isn’t going according to plan. There’s a jolt in his stomach, urging him to abort the mission. But he’s a Gryffindor, darn it, and he can do this. Remus tilts his head in confusion, and James thinks his heart skips a beat due to how adorable it is. “Us–well, you and me, that is–butterbeer together, maybe?”

“Erm…what?”

Right, of course. Nothing he’d said made any sense. James hangs his head and curses under his breath, then inhales deeply, before looking back at Remus, this time at the center of his forehead rather than his intoxicating eyes. 

“Would you want to get a butterbeer together in Hogsmeade?” he asks, just like he’d practiced with Sirius. “Just you and me.”

“Just you and me?” Remus asks, and James nods. “What about Sirius and Peter? Won’t they want to come?”

James’s heart sinks just a bit, but he forces himself to keep his spirits up. It wasn’t a no just…confusion. Maybe James hadn’t been clear enough. 

“A date,” he says, again spitting out words without thinking about them properly. “I–I’m asking you on a date. I don’t want Sirius and Peter to come, I want…I want to go on a date with you.”

Without his permission, his eyes wander back down to Remus’s, only to find the other boy looking back at him in wide-eyed shock. “You want to–to go on a date? With me?”

James shrugs, smiling shyly. “Yeah, I–well, I fancy you, so–”

“Yes,” Remus interrupts. James’s heart jumps. 

“Yes?” he asks, almost in disbelief. Actually, there’s no almost about it. He definitely doesn’t believe it. 

 But then, Remus says, “Yes,” again. He says yes and he’s smiling, and he’s blushing and–

“This diagram is a little chaotic, but I think I see what you’re trying to do. So, to pull this off, you’re going to have to get cooperation from someone that’s not either of us to send him on a task,” Anzhi finally said, turning his eyes to Kismet.

“Yes,” Kismet replied, finger-drumming stopping and ears straightening as he caught Anzhi’s tone. Maybe there was hope for this plan.

“And then that task leads him to several places, where he will find clues, and eventually that leads him to the Limsan docks.”

“Correct.”

“And then you do the big reveal?”

“Yes! And I propose a trip to our island–”

“You propose?” Anzhi cut in with a sly smile.

Kismet just laughed, but his ears angled back a bit in embarrassment, his cheeks warming. “You know what I meant!”

“Kismet! You’re blushing!” Anzhi’s eyes twinkled mischievously, and he put the paper down to rest his elbow on the table and his chin on his upturned hand. “Does that mean you’re planning to?”

“Well, if I was, I’d be asking for your blessing, now, wouldn’t I?” Kismet countered, reaching up to toy with the braid hanging over his shoulder. Anzhi’s odd-colored eyes flicked to the nervous habit, and then back up to Kismet’s face.

“Well, is this you asking me for my blessing?” he asked, his smile widening.

Kismet’s fingers paused on his braid, and he briefly contemplated burying his face in his hands, but instead he swallowed hard and leaned forward, folding his hands atop the table to keep them from trembling. Why was he suddenly nervous? He knew the dynamic they had, he knew if he did ask, Anzhi would say yes, but being faced with the prospect of the actual answer had his heart hammering against his ribs.

Finally, he looked down to his hands, breathing out a heavy breath. “Yes. That was going to be the topic I broached next.”

The squeal that met his ears was loud enough that he pinned them back atop his head, looking up in surprise, but Anzhi wasn’t sitting across from him anymore. Instead, he was dancing around the table to throw his arms around Kismet’s shoulders with an excited giggle. “Do it! You have more than my blessing!”

“It’s not too… I don’t know, cheesy? Overused? A scavenger hunt leading to a big gift?”

“And a proposal!”

“And a proposal,” Kismet sighed, “though let’s be clear, it would likely be a handfasting like ours was, not an officially recognized marriage. If he says yes.”

Anzhi squeezed him a little tighter before letting go. “It’s still a promise, and I think it’s perfect. He loves cheesy things, and I don’t think anyone’s ever sent him on a hunt like this, so it’s not going to lose its meaning on him.”

Kismet blew out a breath. “There’s no ring, Anzhi. We’ll have to figure out something else.”

“I think I’ve got an idea,” Anzhi immediately answered, and Kismet couldn’t help but laugh.

“Have you been thinking about this!?” he asked, almost accusingly, and Anzhi gave a little shrug as he returned to his seat across from him.