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“He doesn’t like coffee. He likes tea; no milk, two sugars.” James interrupts the random guy that’s been trying to ask Regulus out for coffee for the last ten minutes. Regulus had been trying to let the poor boy down easy, but he just isn’t taking the hint.
“Oh, okay… well, um…?” The guy looks at James then back to Regulus and raises his eyebrows with an unspoken question. Regulus just purses his lips and gives the boy a small, dismissive shrug. “Right… um… I’ll just... I’m going to… yeah…” He mumbles, then just turns on his heel and walks away.
“Quite the linguist, that one.” James says with a small laugh.
“How did you…?” Regulus questions as he turns to look at James.
“You looked kind of stuck, so I thought I’d give you an out if you wanted to take it.” James tells him.
“No, I mean, how did you know my coffee order, or lack thereof?” Regulus asks him with genuine curiosity.
He and James have always been in this odd limbo between acquaintances and friends. Some of their friends are friends. His brother is obviously James’ friend. So, James and Regulus have just sort of existed around each other for several years, never quite becoming actual friends. Certainly not enough for James to know that he prefers tea over coffee, let alone know exactly how he takes his tea.
“Oh, well, I sort of just pay attention to people sometimes.” James shrugs, looking a little sheepish.
“You pay attention to me?” Regulus asks as he raises an eyebrow skeptically.
Even though they’ve never really become friends, that hasn’t stopped Regulus from falling head over heels in love with James. The thought that James pays attention to him in any way makes him want to scream and giggle at the same time. Which he will obviously never admit out loud.
“Maybe…?” James answers, awkwardly. “But not in a creepy way.” He clarifies quickly. “I just like to know what people like, I guess.” James explains.
Regulus tilts his head and narrows his eyes at James. Now Regulus is intrigued and wants to know what else James has noticed about him.
“What else do you pay attention to?”
“What do you mean?” James asks anxiously with wide eyes.
“You pay attention to what people like. What else do I like?” Regulus challenges.
“Um…” James swallows nervously. “Well… uh… your favorite color is green.” He fumbles with his words, and it comes out as more of a question.
“Everyone knows that.” Regulus scoffs as he rolls his eyes. Maybe James doesn’t pay as much attention to him as he’d hoped.
“But most people think you like dark green; you actually like lighter green better. Something a bit brighter, but not in-your-face bright. Sort of like the color of a green apple.”
Regulus raises both eyebrows, slightly impressed. Alright, he might pay closer attention than I thought. Regulus thinks as he takes a step closer to James.
“Hmm. What else do I like?” Regulus is invested now, eager to know what else James knows.
James still seems slightly nervous but he’s gaining a bit more confidence at the same time. “You don’t like tomatoes, but you love tomato soup.” James’ voice starts to get a bit softer with a fond sort of smile.
Regulus tilts his head and furrows his eyebrows, it’s an odd piece of information, but accurate, nonetheless. It also seems to be particularly endearing to James for some reason.
“What else?” Regulus takes another step into James’ space.
James’ voice lowers a bit more and he has definitely gained his confidence back. “You like white chocolate more than milk chocolate, but you like that you don’t have it very often because then it’s sort of special when you do have it.” James is whispering by the end as Regulus moves even closer.
“What else?” Regulus whispers back as he gazes into James’ eyes.
“You don’t like when this curl falls over your eyes” He reaches up to tuck the curl behind Regulus’ ear, letting his hand linger on his cheek.
Regulus doesn’t respond, he just hums and leans into James’ hand. James’ other hand brushes down Regulus’ arm until he reaches the hem of his jumper, and he starts to fiddle with it a bit.
“You wear your jumpers a few sizes too big because you like when the sleeves fall over your hands” His hand continues down until he intertwines their fingers, squeezing slightly as he rubs his thumb over Regulus’ thumb nail.
“You like to paint your nails black, but you like it better when you paint them pink, even though you only do that sometimes.” James quickly glances down to Regulus lips then back to his eyes. “You hate it when your lips get dry, so you always keep chapstick in your left pocket. You like the mint flavor the best.” James says it so quietly Regulus only hears it because he’s barely an inch away from him.
“James…” Regulus says just as softly. “What else do I like?” He breathes with a heated look in his eyes.
“Do you…” James give him a hopeful smile as he returns Regulus’ gaze, “Do you maybe like…?” He bites his bottom lip showing just a bit of hesitation, but Regulus starts to nod slowly hopefully removing any remaining doubt as he whispers with a soft smile, “Yeah.”
He watches James’ smile grow as he flicks his eyes down to Regulus’ lips again.
“Can I…?” It’s barely a breath and Regulus can almost feel James’ lips brushing his.
“Yeah.” Regulus repeats and he can’t help but smile as James closes the final distance between them with a soft, slow kiss.
Regulus isn’t sure if it’s because he’s been dreaming about this kiss for so long or if it’s the built-up anticipation from this conversation, but he practically sighs into the kiss like he can finally exhale after holding his breath for too long. He can feel James smiling against his lips as he wraps his arms around Regulus’ waist to pull him closer and hold him tight. Regulus’ hands find their way around James’ neck and into his hair. They fit together perfectly, and Regulus never wants to exist anywhere else but in James’ arms.
When they eventually break apart Regulus narrows his eyes slightly and tells James, “You taste like coffee.”
James’ smile grows impossibly larger.
“Sorry.” But he doesn’t seem sorry at all as he leans in to kiss Regulus again.