Chapter Text
“How was your class, Reggie?” Sirius asks as Regulus walks into their flat and throws his bag down. He’s splayed out on the couch with his phone sitting on his chest.
“You know that annoying kid in my class?” Regulus asks in lieu of an answer, “Well, I’ve been partnered with them for the next while.”
Sirius hisses, “Oh no. What’re you guys working on together?”
“‘Intimate anatomy’” Regulus mocks, doing air quotes as he settles on the armchair, “We’re supposed to spend half a day getting to know each other then we’ll draw our favourite physical parts of each other.
“And that’s going to take a ‘while?’”
“There’s probably more to the assignment, but you know how the professor is.”
Sirius hums, moving to sit up, “I’m sorry. Are they at least hot?”
“They’re…” Regulus sighs, “They’re easy on the eyes. But they’re so annoying. Literally doesn’t know how to shut up.”
“Maybe they’re quieter when they focus?”
“I doubt it.” Regulus groans and rolls his eyes, “I don’t want to think about it.” With that, he stands up and heads into his room to get a start on his homework.
~~~~~
“I’m James Potter.” The words make Regulus look up from his sketchbook–he’s not drawing anything, just staring at it and contemplating his own death. The person that spoke, James, is standing right in front of him, one hand holding the strap of their backpack and with a large smile on their face.
“I know.” Regulus grunts, “Regulus.” He wordlessly gestures to the chair next to him.
James plops down into it, “Like the star.”
“Yes.”
“Any particular reason for that name?”
“My entire family is named after stars.”
“I bet they’re just as beautiful as you.” James comments, reaching to pull out their sketchbook and bag of supplies, “Only stunning people would be named after such beautiful things.”
“They’re attractive.” Regulus shrugs, “But I don’t like my family.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” And with that, James goes quiet. At first, Regulus enjoys the silence–growing up in a house of screaming makes you appreciate the silences all the more. That and Regulus doesn’t like speaking.
However, the silence quickly grows uncomfortable and Regulus sighs, “I’m not good at getting to know people.”
“I understand.” But do they? James seems like the type of person that would make friends with everyone, “I won’t take it personally. But for the sake of getting to know each other, I’m 21, I live with one of my best friends off-campus, and I got into art because my dad sculpts and my mum paints.”
Regulus sighs, “I just turned 20, I live with my brother, also off-campus, and art has been my escape for my entire life.”
“Do you know what feature of mine you’re going to focus on first?” James asks, tilting their head a bit and flipping to a page.
“Not yet.” Then he furrows his brows, “Do you?”
James hums, “Yeah. I think I’m going to draw your eyes.”
“My eyes?”
“They’re expressive.” James shrugs, beginning to sketch out their guidelines, “You show your emotions and your thoughts through them, even if your body language and the rest of your face doesn’t show anything. And now that I’m up close…” James takes a minute to watch his eyes, “There’s… a lot to your eyes. They’ve got a lot of depth.” Then they go quiet, their tongue sticking between their lips slightly as they continue his drawing.
Regulus sits and watches them for a while before he starts drawing himself. James seems to notice this when they look up once again, “Find something you liked?” Their smile and tone is cocky, which makes Regulus roll his eyes, but he nods nonetheless.
“Your hands.”
“My hands?” James clarifies, “Why my hands?”
“Your hands…” are hot. Veiny, strong, calloused. Would look delightful wrapped around his neck. Regulus licks his lips, “They’re strong. You’ve got a couple scars on them, too. I don’t know, the way you draw is confident.” James offers him a bashful smile, like they weren’t expecting what Regulus said, before they busy themself with their drawing once again.
They spend the rest of the class in silence, working on their own pieces and glancing up at each other for reference, occasionally James will tell Regulus to look up at them so they can see his eyes properly or they’ll pose each other one way or the other. James hums when they draw, Regulus notices. It’s a song that he’s never heard before but one that James clearly knows well, then they’ll switch to another song–which, after class, he notices James pulling out an earbud.
While they’re packing up, James slips a paper to Regulus. It’s got a number on it and their expression is genuine, “You’re pretty, and I like your personality. I want to keep talking to you.”
“We didn’t do much talking.”
“You said enough.” James smiles, “If I’m being upfront about it, I want to take you on a date. Don’t feel pressured to say yes, though.” Then they’re standing up and walking away before Regulus can say anything else. He watches as James loudly greets someone from the doorway before walking away. It takes him a minute to finish packing up as well, slipping the small paper into his pocket before walking out of the classroom.
…
“How was your class?” Sirius asks when Regulus walks into the flat. He’s smiling at his phone, probably texting the latest person he’s interested in.
Regulus throws his bag down, “Not as bad as I thought it’d be. They actually shut up for most of it, other than humming.”
“Ooh, you hate humming.”
“Yeah but…” Regulus sighs, walking into the kitchen, “They were nice. They drew my eyes, told me they were expressive, then asked me out.”
“Did you say yes?”
“I didn’t get the chance.”
Sirius stands up and walks into the kitchen as well, “What do you mean?”
“At the end of class,” Regulus starts to explain, putting the kettle on and grabbing out his favourite mug, “They gave me his number, told me they liked me and thought I was pretty, said they wanted to take me out on a date, then left.”
“Sounds like a douchey move.”
Regulus shrugs, “I guess.”
“Are you thinking about saying yes?”
“I’ll see what they’re like for the rest of the week.”
Sirius hums, hopping up onto the counter, “What of their features did you draw?”
“Their hands.”
The older whistles, “Why their hands?”
“They’re hot.” Regulus shrugs once again, “If I’m being honest, all of them is hot.”
“Got a little crush?”
“I’d hardly call it a crush.” He starts making himself a sandwich, “They’re attractive and seem nice enough, but that might change. I imagine they’ll be put off by how closed off I am.”
“But they weren’t today?”
“Didn’t seem to bother him.”
“Can I drop you off next class? I want to see what they look like?”
Regulus sighs, leans against the counter, and takes a moment to consider. He walks over to the fridge and pulls it open, “Do you promise not to talk to them. I don’t really feel like making them think I brought my protective older brother because they asked me out.”
“Fine, I won’t talk to them.” Sirius huffs, jumping off the counter and walking out of the room.