these empty metaphors, they're all in vain;

This; it's all a longing thing.

Petunia wishes she could express it all in lyrical not-quite lies, a love song to make him fall deeper into her arms. But Lily is the poetic one whose life is built on metaphors for beauty and love, and Petunia's not even sure where this story begins, or if it ends.

She's not sure if she wants it to, either.

Their bodies are tangled together like noxious weeds, they suffocate each other with their need for air and body heat. James tastes distinctly like coffee and and smells distinctly like aftershave and reminds her distinctly of Lily. She's left her footprints on both their hearts, and scampered off without seeing the damage.

They rarely talk because they have nothing in common except their ties to the hero of this story, the one who receives all the love without earning a thing. Lily's world is built on words, on threats she cannot carry out and promises she cannot keep, and in the midst of it all she's lost the one thing she can believe in: the people who love her.

"Sometimes, I really hate your sister," James admits one night, breaking away from Petunia with a tiny moan. "She's such a tease."

Petunia gives a non-committal nod, because there's family loyalty and ties and all those things, and really, Petunia, when has Lily cared about those?

"I think she's just too lost in her own perfect world where nothing goes wrong to accept our reality."

"You think?" James asked skeptically. "She knows exactly what I'm offering every time I ask her out, she must do… she has so many witty responses that I'm surprised she's not buying them factory direct."

"I know my sister better than you think, better than she thinks, even."

His words blow her away, trapped beneath the typical exterior, James' wit is a force to be reckoned with. Petunia hears feint traces of Lily in his words, the mannerisms, the humour, it's all the same.

Lily has seeped into both their lives to ruin them and their fragile hearts, and this, this is the painkiller.

It's only when their romance collapses around them that Petunia has the metaphors to describe it at all, and most of them revolve around a broken heart.

I suppose I owe Frayed Misfit for some of this. Not only did the quote on her profile inspire this story dramatically, but she's the one who introduced me to this pairing in the first place. Thank you so much, you know how awesome you are.

The technicalities: yet another HPFC oneshot, this time for the Never Before Seen Pairing Challenge, and I'd love a review. :)