Chapter Text
Regulus Black didn't have crushes. He just didn't. He understood what they were, to an extent, and he's read about them in the silly romance novels that Pandora sometimes leaves around. (He reads them out of curiosity, and definitely not because he doesn't know how to feel that kind of emotion beyond reading about it.)
However, he supposedly had a "crush" right now; Barty and Evan were practically 12 year old girls with how much they badgered him about who he liked. They were never satisfied with his usual answer of none of them, so he decided to just pick one. There was a pretty ginger girl in half of his classes - he was pretty sure she was the grade above him, and top of her year. He knew her name to be Lily, but only because she was a bit of a teacher's pet in chemistry. He actually admired her cleverness, but it wasn't a crush as far as he knew. He had no interest in actually pursuing her at all, but once his friends had heard this fake news, they'd sunk their traitorous teeth into it, and went and mucked everything up.
It was the end of the last period of the day when she approached him, and small slip of paper in her hand and a smile on her lips.
"Hi," she greeted softly. "Would you like to study together sometime? I've seen some of your notes, and they're quite brilliant, and I was sort of hoping you'd be willing to show me how you organize them?"
Regulus stared at her for a moment, taking in her appearance. Her long red hair draped over one shoulder, and her school uniform was pristine. She wore no makeup, but she was still a soft kind of pretty, like that of the flower she was named after.
"Sure," Regulus replied, forcing his voice to sound normal, and not like how he felt - dying inside. "I'd be happy to."
She smiled wider at that, the sides of her eyes crinkling and her dimples showing. "Here's my phone number - text me later so we can set something up, yeah?"
Regulus nodded, taking the paper from her. She waved him a goodbye as she stepped back and turned, catching up to her friends that were waiting by the door giggling. Regulus finished closing his backpack with a sigh, slinging it over his shoulder. He was going to murder Barty and Evan. There was no fucking way that Lily had just randomly wanted to study with him. It was going to end up being a date, and she was going to realize that he was boring and mean. He was fine with that, actually, the more he thought about it. If she ended up hating him, then he wouldn't have to pretend that it hadn't gone well to Barty and Evan to get them off his back.
Regulus boarded the bus back to his parents' house, slipping on his headphones and connecting them to his phone. It was a bit of a drive, but it was the same every day, and he liked that. Assumedly, his older brother was somewhere in the back of the bus; he was part of the group back there that knew everyone and liked being loud.
Regulus was not part of such group. More people knew him than he knew them, because his brother was popular enough that everyone knew his face. Theirs were, unfortunately, quite similar. It was obvious they were related.
He went through a few different things to say to his friends about Lily, and decided to just ask if they'd been the ones to send her.
Barty:
whaaaaaatttttt why would you accuse us of this crime that definitely doesn't seem like something we would do.
Evan:
Yeah it was us
Not sorey tho
Reg:
She gave me her number. What am I supposed to do with it?
Barty:
text her you dumbass
sya smth like "hi this is regulus can we go on a date pretty pretty please" and then she'll say "oh hi regulus!!! yes i'd love to date you because youre rich and pretty!!!"
Reg:
I am not asking her out on a date. She wouldn't say yes even if I did, you moron.
Evan:
You should text her but not like that, pls ignore him
You should say "hi this is regulus" but then ask what time shes free like a normal person
Reg:
But I'm not a normal person. I've literally never texted anyone who didn't text me first.
Barty:
quit being dramatic and do it before i show up at your house and do it for you
Reg:
I'm not even there yet. What would the point of showing up there be?
Barty:
idk intimidation maybe
Regulus sighed, biting the insides of his cheeks. He found the scrap of paper with Lily's delicate handwriting on it, and typed it into a new contact, labeled with her name.
Regulus squeezed his eyes closed as he sent a text letting her know it was him. How could he possibly be so awkward??
Lily, fortunately, was a lot more competent with her texting abilities, because they somehow managed to arrange a time and day to meet for studying in a little coffee shop not far from his house. They texted consistently about a few different seemingly random topics until Regulus had to get off the bus, filing out behind his brother and another couple of kids around their age who lived in the neighborhood. Regulus refused to text Lily back whilst Sirius was there where he could be teased for it, so he ignored the gentle buzzes of a couple consequent messages from the ginger girl coming from his jacket pocket. (It was pure coincidence that he and Sirius had both worn leather jackets today, which soured Regulus' mood slightly, because Sirius always looked so much better in it.)
"I heard through the grapevine that Lily asked you out today," Sirius mused out of nowhere, interrupting Regulus' thoughts about the girl.
"She didn't ask me out. It's not a date," Regulus scoffed. "What's it to you, anyway? And who the hell is 'the grapevine?'"
Sirius snorted. "Right. She didn't ask you out to study with her, alone, away from school or either of your houses?"
"Well- I- I suppose. You didn't answer anything else."
"My best mate just so happens to fancy her, that's what it is to me," Sirius replied with an eyeroll. "And I heard it from Marlene. She's close friends with her, and shes on my soccer team."
"Why does it matter if your best mate fancies her?" Regulus mocked the words - he used to be Sirius' best mate. He didn't know why Sirius felt the need to brag about James Potter. He wasn't everything that Sirius claimed he was. Regulus only knew him as the boy that took his brother from him. He knew it was only time until that distance was physical, too. "It's not like I do."
Sirius made a face. "Why're going out with her then? Leading girls on is mean, you know."
Regulus rolled his eyes. "No, but you surely would. I seem remember quite a few girls dumping their drinks on you." Sirius only laughed. "And I'm only going out with her because she asked to study. I wouldn't have agreed to go somewhere with her if she'd said it was a date. So it's not. Bugger off."
"Why wouldn't you want to go on a date with her? She's pretty, and nice, and smart," Sirius smirked, "unless.. you don't like girls? Is my Reggiekins gay?!"
Regulus scowled. "I am not gay, you git. And don't call me that! Boys are your thing, thank you very much."
Sirius sputtered. "I do not like boys."
Regulus raised his brows, not believing it for a second. "Could've fooled me. You're quite affectionate with that Remus Lupin of yours."
Sirius scoffed. "I don't fancy Remus." He thought about it for a second. "Do I?"
Regulus sighed, tuning out Sirius' revelation. "Just kiss him already, you idiot."
Sirius, now red in the face, smiled. "Maybe I will."
"Whatever. Just leave me alone about Lily, alright?"
"Alright," Sirius gave. "But you'll tell me if anything happens with her?"
"If I must.
That Saturday, at precisely 3:30 pm, Regulus sat down at an empty booth in that small coffee shop with a warm coffee in hand. Lily had said she would be a few minutes late, due to traffic on the other side of town, but Regulus had walked, so he had no such issue. He'd brought his school supplies, and he pulled out some homework that was due the following Monday to do quickly while he waited.
Lily arrived at 3:37, and Regulus was almost done with his worksheet. He looked up when she came in - cheeks a little pink, and wearing a sage green blouse with baggy black cargo pants. Her hair was tied back into a messy ponytail that looked quite rushed, rather than intentional, but it suited her regardless. She glanced around until she saw him, and beamed as she made her way over with her messenger bag that she usually brought to school in the place of a regular backpack.
"I'm so sorry for being late," she apologized again, sitting across from the boy with a now sheepish grin.
Regulus waved her off, finishing the question he was on. "No worries. You gave me a heads up on it, which is more than most people bother doing."
She smiled. "Yes, it's quite annoying when that happens. I always try to do the opposite of things that annoy me, for other peoples' sakes."
"Me too." Regulus tilted his head slightly, grimacing. "Unless it's Sirius. Then I try to annoy him as much as possible."
Lily giggled. "Being a younger sibling has its perks. Getting to annoy them is just one of them."
Regulus smiled. "Erm.. do you have an older sister, or brother?"
"Sister," Lily replied, "Her name is Petunia."
Regulus donned a smug grin. "Themed names are always so fun."
Lily thought for a moment, before realizing. "Oh! The star thing. And Tunie and I are flowers, obviously."
"I'm sure there were better choices than Petunia," Regulus said, mostly talking into his coffee cup as he took a sip.
Lily huffed out a laugh. "Oh, certainly. My childhood friend and I used to come up with other flowers to call her just to be petty when she was rude to us. Our favorites were even worse, like rhododendron."
Regulus chuckled. "Nearly my whole family is named after space. Mostly stars, but we have galaxies, and entire constellations as well."
"I've had some.. unfortunate.. encounters with one of your cousins, I believe." She frowned, recalling them. "Bellatrix, I think? She was graduating the year I went into the highschool."
"That sounds like her," Regulus sighed.
"What was she named after?"
Regulus smiled. "Bellatrix is a star in the Orion constellation, which my father was named after."
"Are you and Sirius' stars in constellations?"
Regulus nodded, ducking his head slightly. "My star is considered to be the heart of the Leo constellation, but Sirius' star is off on it's own. It's the brightest one."
Lily smiled. "I think that that's surprisingly fitting."
Regulus furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
Lily picked at one of her fingernails. "Well, Sirius loves being in the spotlight with all his various partners, but I think you love in a more private way. I mean, I haven't seen you in a public relationship or anything, but Evan and Barty told me you're a bit shy about that kind of thing."
Regulus frowned. "They told me they talked to you, but.."
Lily smiled again, but it seemed superficial, and a bit pitying. "Look, I- I know this kind of seemed like a date, especially cause we haven't really started any studying like we planned, but I.. I can't return your feelings. I'm really sorry if this all made you think I was interested in you. Really, I just think you're kind of cool, so when Barty and Evan came up to me, I sorta figured, maybe we could just be friends?"
Regulus let her finish her ramble, feeling a bit like a deer in headlights. He knew his friends had meddled, but he had no idea that they'd actually told her he liked her! "I'm.. a bit relieved, actually, erm.." Lily looked up, shocked. "Well, you see.. I really only said I liked you because I was trying to get them to leave me alone about not liking anyone. I'm sorry I roped you into this, I didn't think they'd be stupid enough to tell you anything."
Lily laughed, tension bleeding from her shoulders. "Could we be friends then? I could pretend to be your girlfriend if you need, just to make them go away."
Regulus smirked. "I could pretend to be your boyfriend to keep Potter from bothering you."
Lily gasped. "That would be so great." Her smile turned incredibly grateful. "My friends all expected me to give into his nagging, but I don't think I've ever really been attracted to anyone before. Not in a proper crush way, at least."
"Me either," Regulus admitted. "I don't really want to seriously date anyone. My main goal in life is finding a job I like and getting a cool ass car."
Lily hummed. "I kind of want to get into forensic science." She scrunched her nose. "Right now, I work as a part-time waitress. It's the worst."
Regulus shrugged. "I don't particularly need a job until I move out, because of my parents' money, but it would be nice to not financially depend on them."
Lily nodded. "I'm saving up to move out." She grinned. "If you're ever looking for a roommate in a couple years.."
Regulus huffed, smiling. "It would sell the illusion. We could even get married for tax benefits. Plus, then my parents wouldn't be able to put me in an arranged marriage."
Lily blinked, but nodded. "An arranged marriage sounds kind of lame. I couldn't image being married to someone I don't love. I wouldn't mind marrying you platonically."
Regulus shrugged. "It wouldn't be that bad, I suppose. If they arrange it, I guess I'd have to have kids with whatever girl they ship me off with, but if it's you, then I'm sure we could get out from under their thumb."
Lily hummed. "I don't think we need to worry about that for now, but we can come back to that later."
"Right, sorry." Regulus grimaced, feeling a bit embarrassed that he bright up marriage on the first damn date.
"So, anyways, boyfriend," Lily grinned, mischievously, "you wanna go see a movie or something? I didn't actually bring anything to study with."
Regulus smirked right back, feeling rather excited about this plan. What could go wrong?