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“I swear, something was scratching at the door,” Regulus pouts (he’s not proud of the pouting, but it seems to work), and James’s gaze softens slightly.
“Reg, just–damn it,” the taller boy shakes his head.
“I didn’t mean to,” Regulus whispers apologetically. “I’m not trying to stop you from getting laid.”
And he isn’t, really he’s not. Sure he has a crush on James, but James is straight (the girl behind him makes this very clear, hanging off of his arm like he’s a fucking jungle gym), not to mention the fact that Sirius has made it very clear that all of his friends are strictly off limits to Regulus.
And besides, Regulus has a–a situationship of sorts, who–honest to god–he texted before James.
“I–look, let’s just–” Regulus bites his lip. “True American? Keep the night going? Clinton rules?”
“Fuck it, I’m in,” Sirius shakes his head, dragging along behind some tall guy who Regulus hasn’t met before, a crooked grin on his face.
“Remus,” the aforementioned nods casually to Regulus. “And what’s True American?”
“Only the best drinking game ever,” James beams, offering a grateful look to Regulus. “With stripping. Hey Amanda, what if Peter and I play for your number?”
The girl–Amanda–shrugs, looking back and forth between the guys. “Fine by me.”
And so the night begins.
“You are a cooler,” James hisses at him, not twenty minutes later, as they hide behind the kitchen table, already half tipsy. “Such a cooler, she was a sure thing before you called us back here.”
“I–okay, but I didn’t mean to,” Regulus tries to reason with him. “I–look, tonight, I will do my absolute best to get you fucked. How’s that for a deal?”
James leans back, as if his tequila-addled brain is trying to comprehend the words. “Yeah–you know what, fine, deal. Just–you work on keeping her away from Pete, and leave the rest to me,” he winks, which is just–unfairly attractive, for how ridiculous it is.
“Deal,” Regulus nods seriously.
And, okay–he tries, he really does, but it’s not his fault that Amanda is a fucking idiot, is it? It’s not his fucking fault that he ends up behind the stupid fucking iron curtain with stupid fucking James who isn’t wearing a stupid fucking shirt.
“This is all your fault,” James points at him as soon as the door to the closet is locked, just the two of them inside.
“ Oh , okay, so it’s like that, huh?” Regulus rolls his eyes, trying his very best to ignore all their friends outside the door chanting “ kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!”
“Yeah, it’s like that,” James nods, sliding to the floor, his back against the wall. “Fuck this, man.”
“Well, let’s just–kiss and get out of here,” Regulus rolls his eyes (yes again, James seems to bring out this sort of behavior in him).
“I’m not–no, can we just?” James stutters a bit.
“WE KISSED,” Regulus shouts, ignoring the older boy.
“I need proof,” Sirius sing-songs from the other side of the door.
“Come on man,” James complains.
“Just kiss ‘im,” Sirius says, and Regulus can fucking hear the smirk on his face.
“Or take your time,” Peter offers. “Amanda and I will just be chilling out here.”
“Oh my–” James lets his head roll back against the wall, his neck looking nothing short of enticing , the skin below it–no, Regulus isn’t looking, he’s very much not looking at the expanse of pure muscle–he’s–no. He’s not. Really.
“Fucking–” Regulus grabs his phone from his pocket. “Come on dude, let’s just do this.”
James’s brow wrinkles. “Dude? Since when have you called me dude?”
“I’m trying to make this less awkward, just work with me here,” Regulus offers.
“Alright, let’s do this,” James shrugs awkwardly.
“Yeah, let’s–” Regulus crouches down to meet the other boy, while James stands, and for a brief fleeting second, Regulus finds himself face to–well, to crotch, with James.
“ What was– what ?” James sort of shrieks, screwing up his nose. “What were you–what?”
“I was just–I thought–oh god–” Regulus covers his face in embarrassment.
“Okay, no, it’s fine, let’s just do this,” James says (and really, could he make it sound any less sexy).
“Yeah, let’s do it,” Regulus nods, not at all awkwardly.
“Alright,” James nods, putting a hand on Regulus’s waist. His hand is–so fucking warm, his fingers wrapping easily around to splay across Regulus’s bare back. “Alright,” he says again, tongue flicking out to run across his lips.
“Really, licking your lips?” Regulus frowns. “Is that necessary?”
“It is if you don’t want dry lips,” James tilts his head. “Do you want dry lips, Reg?”
“No–no, just–” the younger boy shakes his head, ignoring the nickname.
“Okay, I’m going to kiss you now,” James announces, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the idea.
“So do it,” Regulus urges, his heart beating traitorously loudly.
“I will,” James nods, stepping closer. One of his hands moves up to Regulus’s neck, thumb twiddling with a stray curl.
Regulus inhales as the taller boy steps closer, leaning in slightly, watching James close his eyes, before– “No, fuck, I can’t do it,” James shakes his head, stepping away dramatically. “I fucking–ugh, LET US OUT OF HERE,” he shouts once again, banging on the metal door.
Right. Of course James doesn’t want to kiss him. Fucking of course. James is straight for god’s sake. It isn’t that surprising that he doesn’t want to kiss a guy, much less Regulus. It’s really just–it’s expected. And fine, Regulus is completely fine about all of this.
“Okay, what’s the deal,” a loud voice comes from the other side of the door. “REGGIE? Reggie, I’m here, are you okay.”
Regulus sighs, leaning up against the door. “Yeah, I’m fine it’s just–they fucking locked James and I in here until we kiss.”
“Come on Barty, let us out, please,” James begs. “So I can kill Sirius.”
“Hmm,” Barty’s voice sounds teasing now (never a good sign). “No, I don’t think I will, this is entertaining. Plus I brought Dorcas, so I have entertainment.”
“FUCK YOU,” James swears, banging a fist against the door. “You know, I never liked you.”
“Aw, love you too, babe,” Barty says back in a ridiculous sing-song voice. “Now kiss!”
“Ah, fuck,” Regulus sinks to the ground, James joining him, their backs against the door once again. “Maybe I am your cooler.”
“Maybe?” James asks incredulously. “Reg, you absolutely, a hundred percent, are my cooler.”
Regulus wrinkles his nose. “I’m sorry? But in my defense you do it to yourself half the time.”
“Fair,” James admits, a lopsided grin gracing his face.
“I mean, your dad literally makes hair products,” Regulus continues. “If you bothered to use them, you could be pretty fucking hot.”
“Oh, so you think I’m hot?” James teases with a flash of white teeth.
“ Could be,” Regulus glares back halfheartedly.
“Mmm, you so wanna kiss me.”
“Nah,” Regulus denies, turning his face away to hide his blush.
James doesn’t let him, using a gentle hand to turn the younger boy’s head to face him. “You do–look, you’re blushing.”
“Maybe,” Regulus admits softly, because fuck the look on James’s face should be illegal, the way his eyebrows crease, the curve of his lips, the shadows his glasses cast across his sharp cheekbones.
For a second–fuck, Regulus almost thinks that they’re going to kiss–for real this time, before there’s a pounding at the door, startling both of them to their feet.
“REGULUS? Regulus are you in there, it’s Andrew, are you okay? I got your message, what’s going on?”
“Fuck,” Regulus swears under his breath. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine–I’m so sorry for making you come all the way over for nothing.”
“Well, not nothing,” another voice chimes in. “We’re playing True American.”
“Is that Marlene?” James asks, his voice absurdly affronted.
“You know it,” Marlene’s voice comes through the door. “So–Andrew, yes? Right, we’re playing a game, and those two–James and Regulus–have to kiss.”
It’s only seconds before chants of “ KISS, KISS, KISS, ” start making their way through the door once again, chipping away at Regulus’s will to live.
“Why is this so hard for you?” he asks, his voice coming out weaker than he’d like to admit. “Are you–are you homophobic or something?”
“No– no,” James assures him. “No–really? You think that–never mind, it’s not–it’s not a big deal.”
“So kiss me,” Regulus says.
“No–I’m not–”
“Kiss me,” he insists again, his voice getting frantic. “Why is this so difficult? Is it me?”
“No it’s not you–it’s just–Reg, you don’t–”
“Just kiss me already Potter,” Regulus’s voice rises an octave.
“Not like this,” James blurts out finally.
“What?” Regulus breathes, and suddenly his sort-of-boyfriend and all of his friends on the other side of the door are as far as they could be from his mind, and all that matters is James fucking Potter.
“No–I didn’t–I didn’t mean it like that,” James tries to backtrack, looking just about as awkward as Regulus has ever seen him, rubbing the bridge of his nose in embarrassment.
“Then what–”
“No I just–not like–you know, I–”
Regulus is sort of maybe reveling in this.
“I just mean that–no, you know how it–look, I gotta go.”
“Where–what are you?” Regulus asks, as James walks into the adjoining room. “James, what are you doing?”
“I’m just–I’m just getting out of here,” James shrugs, as he opens the window of their fucking fourth floor apartment , and clambers out of it, as casual as anything. “I need some air.”
“James what the fuck? That’s not–get back in here,” Regulus can’t really breathe right.
“No it’s fine,” James sounds like he’s trying to convince himself as he creeps along the ledge, out of Regulus’s view.
~~~
Ten minutes later, the roommates all sit around their dining room table, Regulus curled awkwardly into himself.
“Prongs, you can’t be doing that to me,” Sirius is saying, scolding his friend. “Are you–are you okay? Do you need therapy or–we can get you help, you know, we love you, man.”
“No, no,” James is shaking his head insistently. “I was–I was joking–it’s fine, okay? Don’t be weird, I wasn’t going to jump or anything.”
Peter sighs. “We’re talking about this in the morning. But first, I’m gonna go do things with Amanda.”
“Yeah, you have fun, Wormy,” James waves with an exhausted half smile.
“And I’m gonna do things with Remus,” Sirius smirks. “I love you.”
“Yeah, you too,” James nods.
“That’s disgusting, please don’t tell me about your sexual–whatever,” Regulus gags.
“Aw, goodnight Reggie,” Sirius waves, blowing the two of them a kiss.
“Night,” Regulus nods.
Andrew steps back into the room–presumably out of Regulus’s bedroom, moving behind Regulus to wrap his arms around the shorter boy’s chest. “Damn, James, I can’t believe you jumped out of a window instead of kissing Regulus. Hilarious, man.”
“Yeah, well, you know, I’m an idiot,” James says lightly, although there’s some kind of bitter undertone to the words, something in the way he looks at Andrew’s arms around Regulus.
“Missing out,” Andrew shrugs. “Come on, Regulus, let’s go to bed.”
Regulus nods, standing up to follow the other man to his room, leaving James behind in the kitchen. They pretty much go to sleep right away. Regulus isn’t exactly in the mood for anything, and so they cuddle sort of awkwardly before he drifts off, only to be awoken an hour or so later by that fucking scratching again.
“James,” he hisses, knocking on the older boy’s door. “James, the scratching’s back.”
He probably should have just woken Andrew, but he didn’t, and quite frankly, he’s not going to analyze that.
“There’s no one there,” James says as he looks through the peephole, stepping back to open the door.
He’s quickly assaulted by slobbery kisses from a gargantuan dog, laughing, even as he stumbles backwards. “Dopey, did you escape Marlene again? Yes you did, yes–see, Reg, not a big deal, it was just Dopey! Look, I’ll walk him back, you stay.”
It’s a few minutes before James is back, a cheeky grin on his face.
“What?” Regulus squints suspiciously.
“Apparently Marlene and Dorcas finally hooked up, and in their hurry to get undressed, they forgot to close the door all the way,” James explains.
Regulus snorts. “Lesbians, am I right?”
“That’s homophobic,” James points at him accusatorially.
Regulus just giggles slightly as they walk back to their rooms together. “Sorry for–all of tonight.”
“It’s okay,” James says gently.
“Goodnight, Potter,” Regulus says, more tenderly than he means to, turning around to open the door to his room, to rejoin Andrew.
“Night.”
And then there’s a hand on Regulus’s arm, spinning him back around into James, pressing their mouths together hotly, James’s hands fucking roving across his back. Regulus’s arms go up to wrap around James’s neck almost instinctively, and one of James’s hands is on his neck, tilting his face upwards, and James’s tongue is teasing his mouth open.
Shit, James is a good kisser.
His teeth scrape at Regulus’s lips, but it’s never too much, his tongue exploring, even as his hands do the same, and all Regulus can think is that he needs to be closer, closer, even though their bodies are pressed together, no space in between, skin against skin. They positively inhale each other, James taking charge, but Regulus giving as good as he gets, reaching his hands under James’s loose tee to splay his thin fingers across the taller boy’s muscular back.
And then they separate.
No, James leans in again, and their lips meet, tenderly, soft, slow.
“I meant something like that,” he says when they separate, his voice raspy and low, pupils dilated and lips puffy.
And then he walks away.