Gaspard had never thought too much on it, but if he had he might’ve realized that adoption–despite the public’s opinion that biology is superior–was the best way to enter a family. To adopt is to make a choice. To adopt is to pick. To adopt is a absolute yes. Biological families couldn’t say that much of the time. Accidents and it-just-happeneds. Someone who adopts isn’t thrown into parenthood when they don’t want to be. Not to mention the hoops you have to go through. If you have to work that hard to get something–or someone–you’re more likely to treasure it longer, he thought. “You know calling a Ravenclaw a nerd is like calling a Gryffindor chivalrous, right? You’ve just complimented me, and I accept it with grace and dignity–thank you very much.” His smile remained on his face.
“Ah, I see. I didn’t realize how much work went into a popular, handsome ladies-man, laissez-faire reputation. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you stray from it, so I must give you my most sincere kudos. Even I, one of the most skilled emotion-suppressing Martians in all of the land, have broken reputation a few times.” Gaspard paused, glancing at Sirius, sizing him up, and then glancing away. “Albeit it, mostly during this lake day we’ve had, but…still.” He honestly couldn’t think of any other way to finish what he had started–regardless of how cringe-worthy ‘but still’ sounded to him. Though, it was slightly above just trailing off. As someone who hated to assume and put together another’s thoughts for them, he hated whenever he was face with a sentence that trailed off.
Gaspard blinked, nearly thrown off. Sirius had done a good job at getting the jump on him, he had to admit. For a second, he had thought Sirius was _serious. _But that seriousness had washed away–literally–with a splash to Gaspard’s face. He smiled a bit, a nagging feeling at the back of his throat. He ignored the feeling. What did he know? “The highlight of sophistication,” he teased. He wasn’t offended or hurt or defensive over the small prank–it was rather harmless. And, given the company, it was rather fun. Gaspard clasped his hands together, then squeezed, shooting a line of water straight into his companion’s face. Two could play at this game, he thought. Though it was inevitable that Sirius win. He had more experience.
Unbeknownst to Gaspard, the Gryffindor was cursing himself for the question while the Ravenclaw gave it proper consideration. “I don’t see why they can’t. Squids are highly intelligent, and I’ve always thought of Caesar as having a personality. There are a number of documented cases where Caesar has helped students by saving them from drowning or other things like this, which is perhaps an indication that Caesar is kind or sympathetic or thoughtful. And many pet owners will tell you that their pets have certain traits that are unique to that specific pet. They’ll say their different cats or dogs act different from each other. Sure, this could be a projection from the owner, but it could also be an indication of personality. If they have a personality, they have the ability to feel jealousy or not feel jealousy. Even if they don’t have personalities, I think if an animal gets used to a relationship with a human where said animal gets said human’s full attention, and then suddenly they don’t because of another animal or human…the animal may act out or become attention-seeking or needy since they’ve been conditioned to expect certain levels of attention from that human. To make a long story short–too late, I know–yes, I absolutely think that squids could either get jealous, or display actions that correspond with what we would call jealousy.” Gaspard had gone off into his own world as he spoke, working through his thoughts. It was only until the end, when he came back into the present, that he realized he was probably boring Sirius. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
Gaspard chuckled, his head nodding lightly and eyes drawn to the heavens as if to say yes, of course, how could I have missed that? “Of course. Well, I’m sorry to have been trespassing on your property all of these years. But what does that make Caesar? Your knight? Your butler? Your pet?”
Sirius often would wonder what life would be like if some other people were his parents instead of Walburga and Orion. He thought about how much better life could be. Sure, he’d probably have a lot less money, but money didn’t matter to him as much as freedom did. The freedom to speak and to be a kid and not feel like a programmed robot. The freedom to not want to join You-Know-Who. He wondered what it was like to go home and not be afraid of leaving his room. He thought about a lot, but he wasn’t too much of a thoughtful person, somehow, or at least didn’t appear to be one. “Man, like anyone would ever call me chivalrous. Brave, maybe, but some parts of my house I show more than others.”
Hearing Gaspard talk about his reputation made Sirius smirk. He often heard rumors about the type of person he was, and it almost always brought a smile to his face at the very least. A ladies-man was laughable to his closest friends, who knew how shit he could be when it came to girls, plus how uninterested he could be in them as well. Handsome was undeniable, but he still liked to hear it. And to hear that he never strayed from his reputation, he wasn’t really sure how he should feel about it, but certainly didn’t care too much about it. He was full of surprises, but the fact was that at this point, people expected Sirius to surprise them, so it didn’t always work out. “Oh, don’t beat yourself up about it, people can hardly keep a straight face around me most of the time, I’m just that hilarious.” He flashed a smile.
Sirius rolled his eyes at Gaspard’s retort, but was mostly pleased that he accepted the splash as planned. He exhaled a sigh of relief before a stream of water hit him and he laughed, wiping at his face. He cupped his own hands together, squeezing them together over and over again, but not much water came out. “I used to be better at that, but right now I think I’ve lost it.” He frowned down at his hands.
A smile crept up Sirius’s face as he watched Gaspard speak, actually considering his dumb question. He bet that he could take any topic, any question, maybe even just a single word and get paragraphs of response out of Gaspard. He thought it was great. Sure, it had a time and a place, but right now, he was wondering why he didn’t hang out with this kid more, why he didn’t think about squid feelings more often. He shook his head when Gaspard apologized and exhaled a laugh. “Don’t be sorry. I think that was brilliant. You don’t really have an off button, do you?”
Sirius shrugged as best he could while keeping himself afloat. “Oh, it’s okay, I guess, but spread the word. If I was in a worse mood, I might punish you.” He grinned and looked down into the water, as though he was speaking to Caesar himself. “Maybe he’s my spy. Everything you’ve told him so far, I know.”
