Sirius and Alice - Backdated to Friday
Oct. 23rd, 2015 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainAlice and Sirius catch up over dinner, before he introduces her to his new place, and his puppy.
"Have you ever tasted steaks like that? Shit, I have a total food baby right now." He laughed as he held out his arm to Alice. Dinner had been delicious, unsurprising consider the reputation of the area but still very satisfying.
A Friday evening, the casual observer might have assumed it was a date when really it was two friends catching up over good food and Sirius loved spoiling his friends. Despite the sickness at the end of the trip, Sirius had brought gifts and Alice was no exception. A beautiful clutch bag, simple but elegant with stone detailing that matched the silver of her eyes.
Instead of taking his arm, Alice slid up to his side, wrapping hers around his waist to press a kiss to his cheek as they hit the street. "I'm sorry, I'm still stuck on that chocolate fondant. It was to die for. Thanks for dinner, Si'. And the bag!" Which was totally gorgeous.
"Spoiling my friends is what I love best, darling." He told her, kissing the top of her head. They only had a block and a half to walk and the evening was warm but still his offered "Need a jacket?" Because he was nothing if not chivalrous.
"I'm fine, thanks," she assured him with a warm smile. Her dark red dress might be short, but it had long sleeves, and she'd pulled her tall leather boots back out of the closet now that the weather was getting chilly again. She ought to buy some new ones, but couldn't make herself part with these just yet.
Besides, the wine they'd had made her feel buzzed and warm, and she was sharing body heat with Sirius. She'd be just fine for a short walk.
"So, how big is your place? So I can properly prepare myself to be wowed."
And Sirius wasn't bothered at all by it, it was how they'd always been. He liked being tactile with friends, nothing for Jay to worry about at all.
He laughed at the question "I'm not gonna lie, it's bigger than I'd be able to afford in this area except I got lucky, one of my friends was selling off a spare apartment. I know, I have friends who have spare apartments, it's insane." He shook his head and continued, "Anyway we had a few drinks back in England, I was complaining about viewing places and nothing and he was complaining about needing to sell it and how much hassle that would be. So, being drunk, I made a cheekily low offer and because I have amazing friends, he accepted."
"I've only been in a few weeks though and with working I haven't had much time to splash some colour or personality about."
"I'd totally offer to help out if I had the time," Alice answered with a nose wrinkle. She'd loved helping Harry out with his, and picking things out for her own place. "I can't wait to see it, though."
"Not too far yet, and don't forget it's not just the apartment you'll be seeing. You'll be meeting my baby too." He reminded her enthusiastically as they made their way over a crossing. "And, I suppose, decorating is one of those things that boyfriends get used for?"
"If they're into it," Alice replied with a small smile, which then grew, "and how could I forget. I think I have about fifty pictures of him on my phone at this stage."
"You're welcome." Sirius grinned back. "Definitely the best gift I've ever been given."
"You're saying that because he hasn't destroyed all your furniture yet," Alice teased, although she was pretty certain that the puppy could set the apartment on fire and Sirius would still adore him.
"We've already talked about that, he knows that he can only chew toys and the ugly furniture that came with the flat he can chew, my nice stuff is a no-no." Sirius chuckled, yup being able to chat and reason with your pup was very handy indeed.
"He's a puppy," Alice laughed. "He's gonna chew on your nice stuff at one point or another. It's the law of nature."
"It's not like I can't afford to replace it though." Sirius pointed out before announcing "Here we are!" And leading her into a beautiful and grand old building, well old by American/New York standards anyway. What was that Eddie Izzard joke?
"I'm right up the top, gives the place a really cool feel. Just you wait." He said, nodding at the door man as they headed for the lifts.
"All the penthouses, all the time," Alice noted with an amused smile.
"What can I say, I like looking down on people." He jokes back, ushering her through the automated doors and pressing for the top floor. "I like a view, light and open spaces." He liked anything the total opposite of Grimauld House.
"Oh, I have nothing against the penthouses," Alice replied with a grin, letting go of him to lean back against the elevator wall. "They tend to be seriously gorgeous." Or maybe her friends all had perfect taste, or both.
"Or Siriusly goregous, as the case may be." He grinned back as they traveled up.
Alice laughed, probably thanks to the gorgeous wine. "That will never stop being awful."
"But you love it anyway." Sirius flashed her a pearly white grin as the lift pinged. They were at the top, on a floor that only had two apartments and Sirius hadn't yet met his neighbor. An actor away on shoot or something.
As he pulled his keys out and moved to the nearest door, he told her "A fair few lights were left on but I meant to, Bowie's afraid of the dark right now." Poor little bugger.
Alice frowned, then smiled a little. "I never even thought dogs could be afraid of stuff like that." It seemed like such a human fear, and as one terrified of big dogs and uneasy with the smaller ones, she'd never imagined what they might be afraid of.
"Dogs have pretty much all the emotions we do in my experience, it's just the language barrier usually complicates things," Sirius explained with a sad smile of his own. "When I go to the rescue centre, I'm the first and only human they can tell their stories to. It gets intense. I'm hoping were he's so young, once I have him settled he'll learn that bad things won't happen here even in the dark." Dogs had better night vision, that wasn't Bowie's issue with the dark, it just reminded him too much of his trauma.
Opening the door, Sirius called out "Bowie! Here, boy!"
Alice hung back a little, waiting for Sirius to be further into the apartment to get in and close the door behind them. She knew Bowie was still a puppy, but she was still cautious.
Sensing this, Sirius went on ahead scooping up his pup as Bowie bounced into the room. "Been on my bed again boy?" He grinned and scooped the pup up in his arms. "Now I've brought a friend over. This is Alice." He turned so his furry bundle of joy could see her. "She's nervous of dogs like you get nervous of people so we're going to be slow and gentle, aren't we?" Once he was sure the message was understood he came over to Alice, thinking a puppy that was in his arms was less threatening to her.
He really was a small pup still, and he was super cute. No matter how uneasy she also felt, Alice smiled as Sirius stepped closer. "Hey there, Bowie," she told him, and held her hand out, slowly and cautiously, so he could sniff it.
Sirius watched proudly as Bowie sniffed at her hand, at first cautiously but with quickly growing interest.
"See? We like Alice, don't we?" Sirius had a look of utter adoration as he looked down at his pup. Bowie's little tail was wagging as he licked Alice's fingers.
"Well, I am awesome," Alice replied, but without her usual spark. She was too focused on Bowie, and she smiled when he licked her fingers, and took that as a sign that she could scratch at his head in a hello-there.
A Bowie lent into the head scratch, eyes closing happily. "There you go, won him over already. He has good taste like his daddy." Sirius grinned
Alice looked up at her friend with a smile. "He's adorable."
"See? Knew you'd love him." As far as Sirius was concerned, he couldn't imagine anyone not. Bowie was behaving perfectly calm and docile for Alice too.
"He's lovely," she agreed, and glanced around before smiling at Sirius again. "But you really do need to redecorate."
"Agreed." Sirius nodded, looking around the spacious, open plan lounge, kitchen and dinner. "Which part most offends you?"
"The lack of warmth," she answered, and eased around them to walk further into the apartment. "There is such a thing as too much white."
"Oh God yes, I've tried telling my family this." He joked, looking around. "Half this furniture came with so will likely go, it's a little soulless right now but, to be honest, I've hardly been here."
"So you're roping Jay into helping out?" she asked, trailing her fingertips on top of a counter. She made a face at some ugly golden couches. "God, please give those away asap."
"God yes." He nodded, pulling a face. "My friend gave me a steal in this place but I never said he had good taste! And I'll be roping in anyone who wants to help. Maybe I can train Bowie with a paint brush, eh?"
"I'm sure there's something like that on YouTube already," Alice laughed.
"Hear that? We're putting you to work boy," Sirius told the furry bundle in his arms who let out a sad whine. Sirius grinned "Playing up to an audience already, he's daddy's boy alright." and then popped the puppy down on one of the offending gold sofas. "So, fancy another drink? Glass of wine?"
"I'll never turn down good wine," Alice replied with a smile.
Sirius headed over into the kitchen to oblige. As he grabbed a corkscrew and set to work he said "You know what our gossip hasn't covered yet, shockingly? How're things with Harry?"
"Probably because that's not gossip, not if you're asking me," Alice called back, crouching in front of Bowie and holding her hand out again for him to sniff. "It's brilliant as ever. He still spoils me rotten, and I still love it."
Sirius grinned as his pup licked her hand and then came closer, his little tail wagging excitedly. "Oh, come on, no teasing. Details?" He asked, coming around the counter with two glasses.
"About?" Alice prompted, and scratched the top of Bowie's head before pulling her hand back and looking over at Sirius questioningly. 'Details about things with Harry' was vague enough that she would have no idea where to start.
"Any of it. The boy is an enigma to me, I want to know all! Sex, dating, fun, sex. You name it!" Sirius grinned as he settled on one of the golden couches Alice had disapproved of.
An enigma. A surprising thing to hear, given how carefully crafted and beautifully executed Harry's public persona was. It made Alice smile, and she accepted a glass before sitting on the couch, beside Bowie. "Well, I've already given you a lot of sex details," she pointed out with raised eyebrows. Superstrength, still a thing. With Harry, with Brian. Always and forever a thing, she was hoping. "He's just the perfect boyfriend, honestly. Always gets me the most perfect gifts. And completely supportive."
Petting Bowie's head gently, he nodded "So long as you're happy, I'm happy for you." And she seemed to be really beaming as she spoke, you couldn't fake that kind of happiness. "Here's to perfect then," He rose a glass in a mini toast.
She grinned, and took a sip. "What about things with Jay?"
Sirius couldn't suppress a hug smile "Couldn't be better, I had no idea I could be this happy."
"Here's to perfect again, then," Alice echoed with yet another smile.
"Who'd have thought, eh? Monogamy for the pair of us."
Alice almost choked on her wine. "What? No!" She coughed a little, but she was laughing. "Oh my god, we're so not monogamous."
"Really? I thought you were properly together?" Or was it just Jay who insistent on monogamy with the boyfriend tag?
"We are properly together," Alice replied, frowning a little now.
"Oh, ok, sorry. I didn't meant to imply, just Jay was pretty insistent on the whole monogamy or I'm out of here front and he made it seem like everyone did it like that." And while logically he knew that polyamory and so on were options, they were so not options in Jay eyes that he'd sort of, well, forgotten them. It was Jay's way or the high way. Not that he was complaining.
"It's the mainstream thing," Alice sort of agreed, still frowning slightly. "Doesn't mean it's the only way to do it."
"Oh absolutely, I know. Just being ridiculous stupid for a moment. In all honesty if I was in a relationship with anyone but Jay, I think that's how I'd prefer it." Sirius told her sincerely, genuinely feeling bad by his slip up.
"So why are you doing it with him?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
"Because I think I love him and I want to be with him. I don't want to hurt him by making him uncomfortable, besides I've never done any of the conventional, mainstream relationship stuff." He pointed out, talking a sip of wine. "Maybe it'll be the making of me."
"So you're sacrificing what you want?" Alice asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Well, no," Sirius shook his head a little. "I want Jay more."
"Fair enough," Alice stated, and shrugged.
"If it doesn't work, it doesn't work but I want to at least try." He told her honestly, free hand now rubbing Bowie's belly. "And I really am happy."
"Then that's all that matters, isn't it," Alice nodded, then paused, and smirked. "Well, that and respecting other people's choices of relationships."
"Exactly," He nodded, sending her another apologetic smile. "So....I can't help asking after that revelation, any interesting playmates on the scene?"
"Mostly just old friends," Alice answered with a one-shouldered shrug and a soft, fond smile. Okay, she wasn't old enough to really have old friends, but relatively speaking, yeah, sure. It wasn't as if she'd met anyone new recently, not that way. And that was fine with her.
"But no one as good as Harry," He surmised from both the difference in body language and difference in the scents and pheromones she was throwing off as they spoke.
"You mean sexually?" Alice asked, amused at the thought. "I try not to compare. That way lies madness. But they're all really good, for me, or I wouldn't sleep with them." Not more than once, anyway.
Sirius grinned a little, ok so most people was completely unaware of the body signs and signals they gave off that he could sense, still it gave him fascinating insight.
He didn't push the issue, that wasn't his style, but he did suddenly laugh "I just realised the conversation we're having over the baby, I'm a terrible parent already!" He joked with a laugh.
"Sex is awesome and you should totally enjoy it, with the consenting dogs of your choice," Alice told the pup, very earnestly. "There is no shame in it, and the sooner you learn that, the better." Then she looked up at Sirius with a smirk and stuck her tongue out at him.
Sirius chuckled before poking his tongue out back at her. "See Bowie? Your Auntie Alice is very wise. You'll go far if you listen to her."
"I'm the best," Alice told the dog with a smile.
The pup seemed to agree since he was edging closer to her, clearly wanting to be on her lap but holding back due to Sirius's order.
"You ok with him getting close?" He checked, ready to move the pup if the answer was no.
He was just a puppy, he was just a puppy, he was just a puppy. And besides, Sirius could communicate with him better than anyone else. She smiled, taking a deep breath in. "Sure. C'mere, Bowie," she patted her lap, leaning back so he could climb on it.
"Stay nice and calm boy," Sirius murmured low enough for only the pup to hear. Bowie seemed to heed his words and moved slowly onto her lap before sitting down quit calmly.
"How're you doing?" He asked Alice, monitoring her responses closely. Her pulse had definitely picked up for starters.
"Just fine," Alice told him with a quick smile, and focused back on the pup, slowly moving a hand to scratch the top of his head.
"Good boy," He said softly, pulling out his phone to snap a quick photo since both seemed to be ok in the situation.
"You're so behaving like you just had a baby," Alice chuckled, and looked back down at Bowie, who was being very nice and letting her pet him without moving. "Well, I guess you kinda did."
"In a weird way," He laughed, grinning proudly. "I've no broody feelings about actual babies though, you'll be relieved to hear I'm sure."
"We are a little young for that," Alice agreed with a smile.
"Oh God yea, just a bit!" Was snorted back before he winced. Wine in nose was NOT fun. "Too busy enjoying the drinking and having fun parts of life."
"That's one reason for it," Alice laughed. She still wasn't 100% relaxed, but she was doing remarkably well, given the pup in her lap.
Sirius took another sip of wine before telling her "You know, you've come so far compared to back when we first met. You're doing great."
When the pup looked to him, he added "You too boy, being very good."
"I think that means we're a good team," Alice told the pup with a smile.
"Looks like it from here." And he was beaming with pride.
"Have you ever tasted steaks like that? Shit, I have a total food baby right now." He laughed as he held out his arm to Alice. Dinner had been delicious, unsurprising consider the reputation of the area but still very satisfying.
A Friday evening, the casual observer might have assumed it was a date when really it was two friends catching up over good food and Sirius loved spoiling his friends. Despite the sickness at the end of the trip, Sirius had brought gifts and Alice was no exception. A beautiful clutch bag, simple but elegant with stone detailing that matched the silver of her eyes.
Instead of taking his arm, Alice slid up to his side, wrapping hers around his waist to press a kiss to his cheek as they hit the street. "I'm sorry, I'm still stuck on that chocolate fondant. It was to die for. Thanks for dinner, Si'. And the bag!" Which was totally gorgeous.
"Spoiling my friends is what I love best, darling." He told her, kissing the top of her head. They only had a block and a half to walk and the evening was warm but still his offered "Need a jacket?" Because he was nothing if not chivalrous.
"I'm fine, thanks," she assured him with a warm smile. Her dark red dress might be short, but it had long sleeves, and she'd pulled her tall leather boots back out of the closet now that the weather was getting chilly again. She ought to buy some new ones, but couldn't make herself part with these just yet.
Besides, the wine they'd had made her feel buzzed and warm, and she was sharing body heat with Sirius. She'd be just fine for a short walk.
"So, how big is your place? So I can properly prepare myself to be wowed."
And Sirius wasn't bothered at all by it, it was how they'd always been. He liked being tactile with friends, nothing for Jay to worry about at all.
He laughed at the question "I'm not gonna lie, it's bigger than I'd be able to afford in this area except I got lucky, one of my friends was selling off a spare apartment. I know, I have friends who have spare apartments, it's insane." He shook his head and continued, "Anyway we had a few drinks back in England, I was complaining about viewing places and nothing and he was complaining about needing to sell it and how much hassle that would be. So, being drunk, I made a cheekily low offer and because I have amazing friends, he accepted."
"I've only been in a few weeks though and with working I haven't had much time to splash some colour or personality about."
"I'd totally offer to help out if I had the time," Alice answered with a nose wrinkle. She'd loved helping Harry out with his, and picking things out for her own place. "I can't wait to see it, though."
"Not too far yet, and don't forget it's not just the apartment you'll be seeing. You'll be meeting my baby too." He reminded her enthusiastically as they made their way over a crossing. "And, I suppose, decorating is one of those things that boyfriends get used for?"
"If they're into it," Alice replied with a small smile, which then grew, "and how could I forget. I think I have about fifty pictures of him on my phone at this stage."
"You're welcome." Sirius grinned back. "Definitely the best gift I've ever been given."
"You're saying that because he hasn't destroyed all your furniture yet," Alice teased, although she was pretty certain that the puppy could set the apartment on fire and Sirius would still adore him.
"We've already talked about that, he knows that he can only chew toys and the ugly furniture that came with the flat he can chew, my nice stuff is a no-no." Sirius chuckled, yup being able to chat and reason with your pup was very handy indeed.
"He's a puppy," Alice laughed. "He's gonna chew on your nice stuff at one point or another. It's the law of nature."
"It's not like I can't afford to replace it though." Sirius pointed out before announcing "Here we are!" And leading her into a beautiful and grand old building, well old by American/New York standards anyway. What was that Eddie Izzard joke?
"I'm right up the top, gives the place a really cool feel. Just you wait." He said, nodding at the door man as they headed for the lifts.
"All the penthouses, all the time," Alice noted with an amused smile.
"What can I say, I like looking down on people." He jokes back, ushering her through the automated doors and pressing for the top floor. "I like a view, light and open spaces." He liked anything the total opposite of Grimauld House.
"Oh, I have nothing against the penthouses," Alice replied with a grin, letting go of him to lean back against the elevator wall. "They tend to be seriously gorgeous." Or maybe her friends all had perfect taste, or both.
"Or Siriusly goregous, as the case may be." He grinned back as they traveled up.
Alice laughed, probably thanks to the gorgeous wine. "That will never stop being awful."
"But you love it anyway." Sirius flashed her a pearly white grin as the lift pinged. They were at the top, on a floor that only had two apartments and Sirius hadn't yet met his neighbor. An actor away on shoot or something.
As he pulled his keys out and moved to the nearest door, he told her "A fair few lights were left on but I meant to, Bowie's afraid of the dark right now." Poor little bugger.
Alice frowned, then smiled a little. "I never even thought dogs could be afraid of stuff like that." It seemed like such a human fear, and as one terrified of big dogs and uneasy with the smaller ones, she'd never imagined what they might be afraid of.
"Dogs have pretty much all the emotions we do in my experience, it's just the language barrier usually complicates things," Sirius explained with a sad smile of his own. "When I go to the rescue centre, I'm the first and only human they can tell their stories to. It gets intense. I'm hoping were he's so young, once I have him settled he'll learn that bad things won't happen here even in the dark." Dogs had better night vision, that wasn't Bowie's issue with the dark, it just reminded him too much of his trauma.
Opening the door, Sirius called out "Bowie! Here, boy!"
Alice hung back a little, waiting for Sirius to be further into the apartment to get in and close the door behind them. She knew Bowie was still a puppy, but she was still cautious.
Sensing this, Sirius went on ahead scooping up his pup as Bowie bounced into the room. "Been on my bed again boy?" He grinned and scooped the pup up in his arms. "Now I've brought a friend over. This is Alice." He turned so his furry bundle of joy could see her. "She's nervous of dogs like you get nervous of people so we're going to be slow and gentle, aren't we?" Once he was sure the message was understood he came over to Alice, thinking a puppy that was in his arms was less threatening to her.
He really was a small pup still, and he was super cute. No matter how uneasy she also felt, Alice smiled as Sirius stepped closer. "Hey there, Bowie," she told him, and held her hand out, slowly and cautiously, so he could sniff it.
Sirius watched proudly as Bowie sniffed at her hand, at first cautiously but with quickly growing interest.
"See? We like Alice, don't we?" Sirius had a look of utter adoration as he looked down at his pup. Bowie's little tail was wagging as he licked Alice's fingers.
"Well, I am awesome," Alice replied, but without her usual spark. She was too focused on Bowie, and she smiled when he licked her fingers, and took that as a sign that she could scratch at his head in a hello-there.
A Bowie lent into the head scratch, eyes closing happily. "There you go, won him over already. He has good taste like his daddy." Sirius grinned
Alice looked up at her friend with a smile. "He's adorable."
"See? Knew you'd love him." As far as Sirius was concerned, he couldn't imagine anyone not. Bowie was behaving perfectly calm and docile for Alice too.
"He's lovely," she agreed, and glanced around before smiling at Sirius again. "But you really do need to redecorate."
"Agreed." Sirius nodded, looking around the spacious, open plan lounge, kitchen and dinner. "Which part most offends you?"
"The lack of warmth," she answered, and eased around them to walk further into the apartment. "There is such a thing as too much white."
"Oh God yes, I've tried telling my family this." He joked, looking around. "Half this furniture came with so will likely go, it's a little soulless right now but, to be honest, I've hardly been here."
"So you're roping Jay into helping out?" she asked, trailing her fingertips on top of a counter. She made a face at some ugly golden couches. "God, please give those away asap."
"God yes." He nodded, pulling a face. "My friend gave me a steal in this place but I never said he had good taste! And I'll be roping in anyone who wants to help. Maybe I can train Bowie with a paint brush, eh?"
"I'm sure there's something like that on YouTube already," Alice laughed.
"Hear that? We're putting you to work boy," Sirius told the furry bundle in his arms who let out a sad whine. Sirius grinned "Playing up to an audience already, he's daddy's boy alright." and then popped the puppy down on one of the offending gold sofas. "So, fancy another drink? Glass of wine?"
"I'll never turn down good wine," Alice replied with a smile.
Sirius headed over into the kitchen to oblige. As he grabbed a corkscrew and set to work he said "You know what our gossip hasn't covered yet, shockingly? How're things with Harry?"
"Probably because that's not gossip, not if you're asking me," Alice called back, crouching in front of Bowie and holding her hand out again for him to sniff. "It's brilliant as ever. He still spoils me rotten, and I still love it."
Sirius grinned as his pup licked her hand and then came closer, his little tail wagging excitedly. "Oh, come on, no teasing. Details?" He asked, coming around the counter with two glasses.
"About?" Alice prompted, and scratched the top of Bowie's head before pulling her hand back and looking over at Sirius questioningly. 'Details about things with Harry' was vague enough that she would have no idea where to start.
"Any of it. The boy is an enigma to me, I want to know all! Sex, dating, fun, sex. You name it!" Sirius grinned as he settled on one of the golden couches Alice had disapproved of.
An enigma. A surprising thing to hear, given how carefully crafted and beautifully executed Harry's public persona was. It made Alice smile, and she accepted a glass before sitting on the couch, beside Bowie. "Well, I've already given you a lot of sex details," she pointed out with raised eyebrows. Superstrength, still a thing. With Harry, with Brian. Always and forever a thing, she was hoping. "He's just the perfect boyfriend, honestly. Always gets me the most perfect gifts. And completely supportive."
Petting Bowie's head gently, he nodded "So long as you're happy, I'm happy for you." And she seemed to be really beaming as she spoke, you couldn't fake that kind of happiness. "Here's to perfect then," He rose a glass in a mini toast.
She grinned, and took a sip. "What about things with Jay?"
Sirius couldn't suppress a hug smile "Couldn't be better, I had no idea I could be this happy."
"Here's to perfect again, then," Alice echoed with yet another smile.
"Who'd have thought, eh? Monogamy for the pair of us."
Alice almost choked on her wine. "What? No!" She coughed a little, but she was laughing. "Oh my god, we're so not monogamous."
"Really? I thought you were properly together?" Or was it just Jay who insistent on monogamy with the boyfriend tag?
"We are properly together," Alice replied, frowning a little now.
"Oh, ok, sorry. I didn't meant to imply, just Jay was pretty insistent on the whole monogamy or I'm out of here front and he made it seem like everyone did it like that." And while logically he knew that polyamory and so on were options, they were so not options in Jay eyes that he'd sort of, well, forgotten them. It was Jay's way or the high way. Not that he was complaining.
"It's the mainstream thing," Alice sort of agreed, still frowning slightly. "Doesn't mean it's the only way to do it."
"Oh absolutely, I know. Just being ridiculous stupid for a moment. In all honesty if I was in a relationship with anyone but Jay, I think that's how I'd prefer it." Sirius told her sincerely, genuinely feeling bad by his slip up.
"So why are you doing it with him?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
"Because I think I love him and I want to be with him. I don't want to hurt him by making him uncomfortable, besides I've never done any of the conventional, mainstream relationship stuff." He pointed out, talking a sip of wine. "Maybe it'll be the making of me."
"So you're sacrificing what you want?" Alice asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Well, no," Sirius shook his head a little. "I want Jay more."
"Fair enough," Alice stated, and shrugged.
"If it doesn't work, it doesn't work but I want to at least try." He told her honestly, free hand now rubbing Bowie's belly. "And I really am happy."
"Then that's all that matters, isn't it," Alice nodded, then paused, and smirked. "Well, that and respecting other people's choices of relationships."
"Exactly," He nodded, sending her another apologetic smile. "So....I can't help asking after that revelation, any interesting playmates on the scene?"
"Mostly just old friends," Alice answered with a one-shouldered shrug and a soft, fond smile. Okay, she wasn't old enough to really have old friends, but relatively speaking, yeah, sure. It wasn't as if she'd met anyone new recently, not that way. And that was fine with her.
"But no one as good as Harry," He surmised from both the difference in body language and difference in the scents and pheromones she was throwing off as they spoke.
"You mean sexually?" Alice asked, amused at the thought. "I try not to compare. That way lies madness. But they're all really good, for me, or I wouldn't sleep with them." Not more than once, anyway.
Sirius grinned a little, ok so most people was completely unaware of the body signs and signals they gave off that he could sense, still it gave him fascinating insight.
He didn't push the issue, that wasn't his style, but he did suddenly laugh "I just realised the conversation we're having over the baby, I'm a terrible parent already!" He joked with a laugh.
"Sex is awesome and you should totally enjoy it, with the consenting dogs of your choice," Alice told the pup, very earnestly. "There is no shame in it, and the sooner you learn that, the better." Then she looked up at Sirius with a smirk and stuck her tongue out at him.
Sirius chuckled before poking his tongue out back at her. "See Bowie? Your Auntie Alice is very wise. You'll go far if you listen to her."
"I'm the best," Alice told the dog with a smile.
The pup seemed to agree since he was edging closer to her, clearly wanting to be on her lap but holding back due to Sirius's order.
"You ok with him getting close?" He checked, ready to move the pup if the answer was no.
He was just a puppy, he was just a puppy, he was just a puppy. And besides, Sirius could communicate with him better than anyone else. She smiled, taking a deep breath in. "Sure. C'mere, Bowie," she patted her lap, leaning back so he could climb on it.
"Stay nice and calm boy," Sirius murmured low enough for only the pup to hear. Bowie seemed to heed his words and moved slowly onto her lap before sitting down quit calmly.
"How're you doing?" He asked Alice, monitoring her responses closely. Her pulse had definitely picked up for starters.
"Just fine," Alice told him with a quick smile, and focused back on the pup, slowly moving a hand to scratch the top of his head.
"Good boy," He said softly, pulling out his phone to snap a quick photo since both seemed to be ok in the situation.
"You're so behaving like you just had a baby," Alice chuckled, and looked back down at Bowie, who was being very nice and letting her pet him without moving. "Well, I guess you kinda did."
"In a weird way," He laughed, grinning proudly. "I've no broody feelings about actual babies though, you'll be relieved to hear I'm sure."
"We are a little young for that," Alice agreed with a smile.
"Oh God yea, just a bit!" Was snorted back before he winced. Wine in nose was NOT fun. "Too busy enjoying the drinking and having fun parts of life."
"That's one reason for it," Alice laughed. She still wasn't 100% relaxed, but she was doing remarkably well, given the pup in her lap.
Sirius took another sip of wine before telling her "You know, you've come so far compared to back when we first met. You're doing great."
When the pup looked to him, he added "You too boy, being very good."
"I think that means we're a good team," Alice told the pup with a smile.
"Looks like it from here." And he was beaming with pride.
