What is this? Disgusting, nauseatingly cute fluff? Gross. (NB: nai refuses to be held accountable for any suffocation/ diabetes that may result from this crap)

A Very Big, Very Large, Idiot

It all starts to make sense when James slides her a bottle of blue ink during Charms one morning.

Lily hadn't managed to pick up one during the last run to Hogsmeade, so when she dipped her quill into her ink pot only to find it empty, she all but slams her head against the desk swearing. James being James of course noticed her predicament in within a few seconds and with a muffled, 'Hold on,' he went rummaging around in his bag before pulling out a new pot of ink and sliding it over to her. She doesn't really think anything of it- Flitwick is still going full speed ahead with his lecture and James has already turned back to his parchment- so instead Lily just cracks the seal open, dips her quill in and proceeds as normal.

It's only when she stretches over a good twenty minutes later- almost at the end of class- to fix the phonetic spelling of one of his spells does she realise. And the things it, it's the most stupidest thing that tips her off about it- really, really, stupid that has her wanting to kick herself for not noticing before.

James Potter pulled out an extra pot of blue ink from his bag like nothing.

James Potter has been writing solely in black ink ever since he was wet behind the ears firstie.

James Potter fucking hates blue ink with a passion and always likes to tease her for using it so why the fuck would he be carrying it around-

Oh.

Oh.

She thinks about late night head meetings and secret trips to the kitchens. How he knows she likes raspberry flavoured every flavour beans over anything else and always saves them for her. How she's the first person he hugs after a quidditch match and last person he talks to before heading up to bed. How-

Right then. Well, she's a grade A idiot, isn't she.

Lily doesn't realise she's just sitting there in the middle of Charms class with her mouth hanging open and just staring at him as he moves to start packing up. James does however, and a little dip forms between his brows as he turns to her and asks, 'Alright Evans?'

'Are you flirting with me?' she blurts out.

A heavy silence falls between them and the scroll of paper James has in his hands drops to the desk as he suddenly goes stock-still and rigid in his seat. No one else seems to notice the new-found strangeness between the pair and goes about their business as usual, as though Lily hadn't just singlehandedly caused everything he's painstakingly been building over the past few months to collapse in a pile of rubble and feelings.

'I mean,' she's quick to continue, 'Have you been flirting with me all this time?'

For a moment she can see him deliberate, weighing the pros and cons of telling her the truth, which is completely unnecessary in her mind because once she's realised it's pretty much clear as fucking day, but still. She'd like to at least hear him say it.

'I've been trying to flirt with you since September and you've only just realised it?' he deadpans, cheeks slightly red and running a hand through his already mussed up hair.

Lily does flush, colour creeping up her neck, dashing across her nose and cheeks and hiding beneath her shirt. 'Remus told me you weren't into me like that anymore!' she offers weakly.

'And you believed him?'

'I'm an idiot?'

That got a slight chuckle out of James and he kicks at the ground with his foot. 'Right. Glad that's all cleared up now. Feel free to enlighten me on what led to your epiphany.'

She could practically feel the glow on her face intensify and she couldn't meet his eye. 'The blue ink?'

'The stupid pot of blue ink led you to realising that I've been slyly flirting with you for the better part of three months? What did you think was up with all those jokes and excuses to touch you about then?'

She makes a choked sound in the back of her throat. 'I'm a very big, very large idiot who's going to leave before she embarrasses herself further.' She does that too- leave, turning on her heel and all but running out the door. Of course due to the combination of a crowded corridor, her very short legs, and his abnormally long legs, James caught up to her quick enough and threw an arm around her shoulders to pull her into his side.

'So am I correct in assuming that you'd like to be a very big, very large idiot with me on a date sometime in the near future?' he asks, just the slightest bit of anxiety colouring his tone that would have had her scoffing at him (because really, was there even a doubt?) if she hadn't been grinning like the very big, very large idiot that she is.

'Depends, Potter,' she replies, looping her arm around his waist, 'Are you flirting with me again?'

James grins down at her and presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth that leaves her stunned for a second or ten.

'All the time, Evans.'