Work Text:
“Hey Barty,” Sirius nods as they approach the door to the bar, “Got stuck on bouncer duty?”
Barty hums, “Just for a bit. Our one on shift had to leave since he had a family emergency so I’m just here for a minute while we wait for our next one to get here.” He shrugs, “It’s not all that bad.”
“Well, it’s tough luck either way. Is Reg in?”
“Yeah, he’s working the bar tonight. Working until like one.”
Remus sucks in a breath, “That sucks.” Then he gestures to James, who’s standing behind the boyfriends, “This is James, our friend.”
“Potter?” Barty asks, looking the man up and down. He whistles then shrugs, “Sure, you can get in for free, too.” He turns to Sirius, “Definitely easy on the eyes.” Sirius winks, thanks the man, and leads his boyfriend and friend inside. They head to Sirius and Remus’ regular booth in the back corner of the bar and Sirius claims he’s going to get the first round of drinks to announce his presence to his brother then walks off.
“I like it here.” James hums, looking around the room.
“It’s nice.” Remus nods, “You can definitely see where Barty, Evan, and Reg each added into it.”
“I only really know Reggie,” James hums, “I’ve never been able to meet Barty or Evan but… from what I know about them, yeah I can see it.” They talk for a moment more before Sirius swings around with three drinks in hand.
He places each drink to each person and settles down next to his boyfriend, “Reg was busy so Evan served me but he acknowledged my presence.”
“It’s hard to not acknowledge, love.” Remus smiles, taking a sip of his drink, “Why was he busy?”
“Another girl asking him for a dance.”
Remus rolls his eyes, “When are people going to learn?”
“Learn what?” James asks, eyes furrowed and drink brought half-way to his lips, “What’s up with Reg?”
Sirius hums, “Everyone really wants to dance with him. He gets several people asking him to dance each night, usually when he’s on the floor but he gets it a lot bartending, too.”
“I assume he says no every time?” James asks, unable to stop the jealousy that leaks through.
Remus rolls his eyes, “He’s got a reputation for saying no. If anything, it makes him more appealing to a lot of people. The hard-to-get chasers.”
James grimaces, “Gross.”
“Like you’re much better.” Sirius rolls his eyes.
“Touche.” He grins, “You think I should show them all up?”
Remus smiles, “Maybe let me get the next round, let it fester for a bit longer.”
“I like your thinking, Moons.” James smiles, tapping his glass against the taller’s, “I’ll wait until they can get another person at the bar to take over for a minute, too.”
“How respectful of your boyfriend’s job.” Eventually, the three of them finish their drinks and Remus squeezes out of the booth and grabs another round of drinks. This time, Regulus is able to serve him but, according to Remus, there’s a guy that’s particularly upset about the fact that the bartender was talking to a conventionally attractive guy with genuine fondness.
When they finish their drinks, James stands up and heads to the bar where Regulus and Barty are serving. He takes a seat at one of the stools and pulls out his phone since Regulus is busy. Barty comes over and leans on the counter towards him, “What can I get you, Potter? The same things Remus got?”
James smiles at his boyfriend’s best friend, “Actually, I’m wanting to be served by Reg, if that’s not too much to ask.”
“Oh?” He raises a brow, quickly grabbing the order of the person next to James and starting to make their drink, “Wanting something in particular?”
“Oh, just another round. And maybe a dance.”
Barty barks a laugh, “I see you’ve heard about the events unfolding within the bar.” He slides the glass towards the person and starts on the next order, “You think he’s gonna say yes?”
“I’m pretty confident, yeah.” James grins.
“Then I’ll let him know you want him to serve you.” The man winks and goes to fill a beer. He continues serving his drinks, at some point putting a gentle hand on Regulus’ lower back and jerking his chin in the direction of James, saying something.
“So you’re wanting to ask Regulus for a dance?” The person sitting to James’ right says. James hums and turns to them, nodding. They hum, “Trust me, I try all the time. There’s not a single person he’s said yes to.”
James hums again and tilts his head, giving them an innocent smile, “Like I said, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to get a dance out of him.”
“Just saying,” the person says, raising their hands, “Almost everyone is confident when they ask. They’re always sure they’re gonna be the one.”
“I appreciate your input,” James placates, “But I think I’ll be fine.”
Just a couple minutes later, Regulus slides over to him with a slight smile on his face, “About time you showed up here.”
James shrugs, “I’ve been busy. I apologize that I don’t feel like having a hangover when I have practice at six in the morning.”
“You don’t have to drink that much, James.”
“With how Sirius and Remus are?”
“Fine, you win.” Regulus rolls his eyes, “Just another round for you three?”
James hums and nods, then he tilts his head while Regulus starts working on Sirius’ drink--the most complicated of the three, “I was also hoping you’d bless me with a dance whenever you get the chance.” Regulus furrows his brows and watches James for a while, reading his expression. He doesn’t answer for a while, just works on making the drinks for James.
The person sitting next to him laughs, “Told you. I already tried asking him tonight. He’s being particularly mean about it.”
“I have faith, just wait.” James smiles at them again, “He didn’t actually say no, did he?” They roll their eyes and go back to their drink.
When Regulus finishes the three drinks for him to bring back to the table, he leans towards James. When their faces are mere inches away, he smiles, “Get ‘Cas to queue up enough songs that she can cover me for a while, then I’ll dance with you.”
“Can do.” James winks. He salutes to his boyfriend, sends a self-satisfied smirk to the person he had been sitting next to--who’s jaw has dropped--and takes the drinks back to the booth.
“Tough luck, mate?” Remus asks as he sets the drinks down.
James shakes his head, “He told me to talk to Dorcas about it. I’m gonna do that right now, I think it’ll give me a couple minutes to drink this.” Remus smirks at him and laughs, asking him if anyone overheard. James tells them the story of the person he was sitting next to quickly, which gets his friends to laugh, before he slips towards the turntable that Dorcas has settled at.
“Hey James.” Dorcas smiles upon noticing his presence, “You look nice.”
“So do you.” James smiles back.
She nods, “Did you need something?”
“Reg told me to ask you to queue up enough songs that you can cover him so we can dance.”
The woman raises a brow, “Oh? Is there going to be a historical event happening before my eyes? Regulus Arcturus Black agreeing to dance with someone?”
“I know right,” James rolls his eyes, “Especially with his boyfriend?” He places a hand over his chest and leans back a bit, laughing.
“Groundbreaking.” The woman laughs, “I’ll get things taken care of, if you want to sit down for a minute or two.” James nods, thanks her, and walks back to the booth to sit back down, joining in on Sirius and Remus’ conversation. The three talk about everything and nothing at all for a while before James glances up and sees Regulus making his way towards their table. James smirks, gets his friends’ attention, and jerks his chin in the direction of his boyfriend. They both look, grinning back at James.
When the bartender gets there, he slides into the booth next to James, “Cas said she got a good song for us coming up after this one, so I’ll hang out here until it starts.” James nods and offers his glass to his boyfriend, who gratefully takes a quick sip. The four talk lightly for the rest of the song, fully aware of the many looks being sent their way.
Then the song finishes and the next starts up. Regulus rolls his eyes, “Of course it’s fucking Nickelback,” then he stands up and grabs James’ hand. The man goes with him willingly as Regulus pulls him towards the dance floor, pulling James flush to his body. James goes easily, resting his hands on his boyfriend’s waist.
Neither of them pay any attention to their viewers as they dance to the song, and at some point Regulus leans to talk directly in the taller’s ear, “Thank you for this, actually.”
“Hm?”
“Maybe it’ll mean I’ll have less people bothering me.”
Everybody wants to be the sister’s mister
James hums, and shrugs with one shoulder, “I can see this making you more popular. Now that people think there’s a chance you’re going to say yes to them.”
“The worst part is, most of the people that ask me to dance know I have a boyfriend,” the younger rolls his eyes.
“Maybe I’ll have to put a ring on that pretty hand of yours.” James laughs, spinning them so their side profiles are in blatant view of the watchers. He presses a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips, which Regulus immediately responds to by wrapping his arms around James’ neck.
I need her so bad
When they pull back, there’s a slight blush on Regulus’ cheeks, “Maybe so. But we’ll have to get married fast. For some reason, people think it's less valid when it's an engagement ring.”
“We can do that. Piss of Sirius by not having a large wedding and instead just eloping.”
Regulus laughs, “We should run away and get married without telling anyone.”
“One of my aunt and uncles did that.” James hums, “My aunt also came back pregnant but no one knew for months.”
“Well, I can’t do the pregnancy thing.” The song switches and they slow down their dancing but don’t move from the floor yet, “But Sirius would be furious.”
“I think he’d actually follow through with that promise to slit my throat if we did that.” James laughs, leaning into his boyfriend, resting his head on the younger’s shoulder, “I barely got out of it when he learned about us.”
“And now he’s our biggest supporter.” Regulus smiles, moving one of his hands to card through his hair.
James snorts, “He always was, just wanted to do his duty of being the overbearing protective brother.”
“Well, he succeeded.” James can hear the smile in his boyfriend’s tone and he squeezes his waist a bit, “How dare you ask me to dance with you?” He buries his faces in James’ hair, swaying their hips as the song changes again.
The older hums, “Why so?”
“Because now I’m going to have to go back to work, which brings up two problems.”
“Oh?” James asks, mirth audible in his tone.
Regulus bats at the top of his head, “Yeah, first I’m going to have to work when all I want to do is be in your arms. Second, I’m going to have to deal with an onslaught of people thinking they really have a chance with me now.”
“I’m sorry, love.” James says, but he doesn’t sound all too sorry, “If I could sit at the bar and play the possessive role all night, I would. But I did come here with Remus and Sirius and I would feel bad ditching them.”
“That’s okay, just glare at anyone that tries to flirt with me until they get uncomfortable.” Regulus hums, making James laugh, “Also, why are you here tonight?”
James hums, “Moons got a promotion or something and Sirius took that as an excuse to get blackout drunk. He invited me and since I don’t have practice tomorrow, I figured I’d come and see the bar.”
“I hope you don’t get blackout drunk, then.”
“I don’t want to.” James smiles, finally pulling his head away from his boyfriend’s shoulder and throwing a glance towards Dorcas, who taps her finger on the back of her wrist like she’s tapping a watch ‘hurry up. “Tell you what, if Pads and Moony do, I’ll take them back to their flat and come back so I can play the possessive boyfriend shtick and you can take me home when you get off.”
“I don’t get off until three.”
“That’s alright.” James offers his boyfriend a soft smile, “I would wait until the end of the Earth to wait for you. Besides, neither of us have anything to do tomorrow so we can sleep for as long as we want.”
Regulus flushes and hits his boyfriend on the chest, “Fine, do what you want. We can go back to your flat after I get off.”
“That works with me.” James’ smile widens and it genuinely rivals the sun. He pulls his arms from around Regulus, “You should get back to work, I think Dorcas is trying to tell me we’re running out of songs.”
Regulus heaves a dramatic sigh, “Alright, I guess.” With one final kiss, they break apart and head their own direction, James back to the table with Remus and Sirius and Regulus back to the bar.
When James settles down at the table once again, Sirius barks a laugh, “That was amazing. You had half the bar glaring at you.”
James grins, “It’s just my charm.”
“Yeah, your charm is the reason that you’re dating Regulus.” Remus snorts. He and Sirius have full drinks, they must’ve gone and gotten another round while he and Regulus were dancing.
“Shut up,” James grumbles, pouting and crossing his arms. He takes a moment to glance up at his boyfriend, who is now fully back behind the bar. He’s mixing a drink and has several people waiting to be served by him, much to his and Barty’s annoyance. He already looks so drained.
So James downs the rest of his drink and stands up, letting his friends know where he’s going. He heads towards the bar and settles down on a stool that he manages to steal from someone, near enough to where most of Regulus’ crowd is. He doesn’t do much, just glares at the people that attempt to ask Regulus to a dance, clearing his throat whenever someone gets a little too persistent with him.
Finally, Regulus is able to move to James, “Another refill?”
James nods, “Why not?” Then he reaches out and strokes Regulus’ cheek with a thumb, “You look exhausted, love. Are these people bothering you?”
“Just a bit,” Regulus smiles, pulling James’ hand off his face and starting to make him a drink. He slides the glass towards his boyfriend, winking at him. James glares one more time at the small line of people waiting to be served by Regulus sending him nasty looks, before he stands from the stool and slips away.
Remus and Sirius get pretty drunk after an hour and a half, and James had started slowing down and drinking more water half an hour ago. He helps them pay for their drinks, grabs the keys from Remus’ pocket and leads his friends out of the bar and to Remus’ car, driving them back to their flat. He gets them inside and settled before he slips out of the flat and walks back towards the bar. The bouncer, clearly having been alerted about James, lets him through easily.
Once he’s inside, James goes and settles on another stool by the bar, further towards the end and where Regulus usually ends up working. There’s still a significant amount of people around asking Regulus for dances and flirting with him so James amps up his possessive boyfriend act, glaring and sneering at people, hitting his hand on the counter whenever someone tries to touch Regulus or clearing his throat if someone pushes. Regulus sends him a grateful look and, at one point, brings him a can of soda. He presses a kiss to the older’s hand before slipping back and starting to work again.
After several more hours, a couple sodas, and the occasional cocktail, Regulus is finally getting off of work. He and Barty start the transition period between the two bartenders replacing them and they slip into the backroom so they can grab their things before they leave.
While Regulus is gone, someone that’s been there for several hours and tried many things with Regulus, sneers at him, “So, who are you?”
James hums and gives them an innocent, yet sly, smile, “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been getting upset at everyone asking Regulus for a dance. I know that you danced with him but… what gives you the right to be like that to us?”
James’ smile turns more into a sneer, “I happen to be Regulus’ long-term boyfriend, which is why he danced with me. I also happen to know that people pursuing him in the way you have tonight, and refusing to take his no for an answer, makes him incredibly uncomfortable.”
“If you're his boyfriend, why has he never mentioned you before? And why have you never been here before?”
“What, like you’re here every night?” James pushes, tilting his head a bit, “If you are, I’m not your biggest problem. Also, he has mentioned me before. For a long time, he would explain that he had a boyfriend when people would ask him to dance but he learned that it didn’t matter whether he had a boyfriend or not so he stopped putting in the effort. And it’s hard for me to come here because I have a job and would rather not spend my days rotting away drinking alcohol.” He smiles cruelly at the person, turning his head a bit when he feels a hand on his shoulder.
Behind him, Regulus is smiling down at him with his bag thrown over his shoulder, “Did you drive back here after dropping off Sirius and Remus?”
James shakes his head, “No, Remus drove here in the first place so I drove them back and walked here.”
“Alright, we can take my car then. Your flat, right?” The older nods and he stands up from the stool, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. Regulus smiles once again when they pull away and jerks his head towards the door. James nods and they head out of the bar and into the fresh air of the night. Regulus takes James to his car and they get inside, heading towards James’ flat.
“You looked like you were about to punch that person.” Regulus says once they’re on the road.
“I was.” James groans, “They were getting all confrontational, asking me who I was and why I thought I could act like I did. They got defensive when I said that I was your boyfriend and you were getting uncomfortable.” Regulus rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling so James knows it’s not annoyance towards him, more so the customer James had been talking to.
About halfway to James’ flat, the older snorts, “Maybe you guys should make money off of it.”
“What?”
“Have some sort of fee that you charge when people flirt with you or ask you to dance. Have signs like on the doors and the counter that talk about the charge.”
Regulus laughs and makes the turn into James’ building parking lot, “Maybe I’ll bring it up with Barty and Ev. They both hate it just as much.” He parks his car next to James’ and they head inside, going up to James’ flat. Regulus throws his bag in the entryway while James grabs them some comfortable clothes. They get ready for bed and curl up in bed, James wrapped around his boyfriend.