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“Reg?” James asks, walking into the room, “Love, Remus, Lily, and I are going to a movie, did you want to come with us?”
Regulus furrows his brows in thought before he nods seconds later, “Yeah, that’d be nice. What movie?”
“1931 Frankenstein.” James hums.
“Black and white?” Regulus asks, furrowing his brows and tilting his head a bit.
The older nods, “There’s a drive-in movie theater that plays a black and white movie for one weekend each month and Lils, Remus, and I have a tradition of going and watching them. We’ll pick the two of them up in my truck and watch it in that. I’ve got a bunch of things back there that we keep, like blankets, pillows, places to put snacks, the whole nine yards.”
Regulus nods, “Does it usually get cold when you watch them?”
James hums, tilting their head back and forth, “I don’t normally get cold but Remus tends to. I’ve got like four blankets back there in case you get cold but if you want to grab a jumper or something, then you can. Since we need to pick up the other two, we’ll leave in about thirty minutes, if that’s good with you.”
Once again, Regulus nods, “That’s fine.” He looks down at his attire, a thin shirt and a pair of sweats, “I’m probably just going to change into something a little warmer and that I feel comfortable seeing people in then I should be good to go.” James nods and leans down to press a kiss to his lips before telling him that they’re going to check to make sure they have everything in their truck and heads out into the garage while Regulus stands up and gets himself ready, changing into a long sleeved shirt and deciding that he’s actually too lazy to change into more formal pants and figuring that he’s been around Remus and Lily enough that he won’t actually mind -- it helps that they’re going to be in the dark so they won’t really see his pants.
Shortly after that, Regulus throws a couple necklaces and rings on, putting in his a pair of earrings that he got one of the first days that he was in town, sprays on some cologne because his anxiety doesn’t let him not when he’s going out with people, grabs his things and heads out of his and James’ room and back downstairs into the living room where he sits on the couch once more, scrolling through his phone until James comes in and leans over the back of the couch right above where Regulus is sitting.
“Baby, are there any snacks you want to bring with us? Lily usually brings Dr. Peppers and cookies, Remus brings the popcorn and water, and I usually bring chips. Do you want to bring something more or does that sound good with you?”
Regulus hums, “That sounds fine. I didn’t realize you could bring snacks with you?”
James shrugs, smiling down at him, “It’s never been stated that we can’t bring them with us and we’re respectful about it so no one seems to have any issue with it. If you’re ready early, we can leave now and get a better spot, we’ll just have to let Remus and Lily know we’re on our way.” Regulus nods and unfolds himself, standing up while trying not to knock his and James’ heads together. When he’s standing, James takes his hand and the two of them walk into the garage and hop in James’ truck -- a dark red, beat up thing that sounds like it’s about to die everytime James turns it on but it’s the first car that they bought themself and they love her.
When they pull out of the garage and ensure that it’s closed behind them, James hands Regulus their phone, “Text our group chat will you, love? Let them know we’re on the way.” Regulus nods and unlocks James’ phone, heading to the group chat between James, Lily, and Remus.
Jimbo
We were ready a little early, so we’re on our way to pick you guys up right now.
Lily Flower
Alright! I’m just about ready.
Jimbo
This is Regulus by the way.
Wolfy McWolf
I was wondering why Jim was texting so formally
Jimbo
They’ve been magically possessed by someone who knows that the word grammar is.
Lily Flower
Yeah, I’d believe that they got kidnapped and the kidnapper was texting us before I’d believe that
Regulus snorts at the text, telling James what the conversation turned to when they ask him what he’s laughing about, which leads to him asking, “I know why Lily’s name is that, but can I ask about ‘Wolfy McWolf’?”
James laughs lightly, “When we were still in school, Remus had a phase where he was really obsessed with werewolves and realised that his name, Remus John Lupin, was basically just Wolf John Wolf. Pete jokingly called him Wolfy McWolf Face and it just kind of stuck. Remus pretends that he hates it but he was the one that named himself that in the group chat so…”
“And is there a reason that you’re called Jimbo?” Regulus asks just as James is pulling up to Remus’ apartment building, watching as the man starts towards the truck.
“I don’t remember who it was, but someone called me Jim as a nickname, which everyone still calls me sometimes, and Remus and I were really high after we made that group chat and we were laughing about our nicknames and Remus just kept saying variations of Jim before he landed on Jimbo and thought it was funny enough that he named me that in the group chat.”
“What about a group chat?” Remus asks, climbing into the backseat behind James.
James glances at him before he starts towards Lily’s building, “The origins of our nicknames on the group chat we have with Lils.” Remus hums in acknowledgment and the three of them continue talking about nicknames, with Regulus explaining that the only person that every called him by nicknames were his friends, and it was all just variations of Regulus -- Reg, Reggie, and Lulu whenever Barty wanted to annoy him -- before they pick up Lily and she joins in on the conversation.
It’s only a ten minute drive from Lily’s flat so they’re there relatively fast, with about forty five minutes until the movie starts. James finds a nice place to park near the front, but far enough away that they can comfortably see the screen without having to strain and Regulus has to admit that he finds the way James parks with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the back of Regulus’ headrest incredibly attractive. When they’re parked, James figures out what station they’re needing to be on before they hop out of the truck with their snacks and into the bed of the truck where they get comfortable on the mass of blankets and pillows that they have.
The four of them end up shoulder to shoulder leaning against the body of the truck with the back window open so they can hear the radio playing but they’re not paying it much attention since only ads are rolling right now. James and Regulus are leaning against each other with a blanket wrapped around their shoulders with Lily sitting on Regulu’s other side next to Remus. There’s a large blanket stretched of their laps and they’ve got various snacks sitting on and around their laps. James and Regulus have their own bag of popcorn that Remus popped and Lily and Remus have the other sitting between their legs.
Regulus is deciding on whether he wants to open his Dr. Pepper or water first when James calls for the four of them to look up, only to see that they’re holding their phone horizontally with their selfie mode open. The three of them smile at the camera for one then make funny faces for the next one. After that James insists that Remus gets a picture of Regulus pretending to be Victor and James pretending to be his monster when he first comes to life -- which they claim they wanted it that way because they didn’t want to call any of their friends a monster -- which Remus begrudgingly takes, Regulus more begrudging but willing to do it to make his partner happy.
When the movie begins about twenty minutes later, the four of them spend most of the movie comparing it to the books and the other movies, making comments about their thoughts on any of the media forms, with all of them having seen the movie before.
After the movie finishes up, they hang out in the bed of James’ truck for a while to wait out the main flow of people trying to get out of the, admittedly shitty, entrance to the theater, joking around until Regulus starts whining about the way that Frankenstein’s Monster is portrayed in recent media and how it’s completely inaccurate, “I mean, Mary Shelley was the mother of science fiction and was a legendary gothic writer who made a wonderful work portraying human impulsiveness, founded on overconfidence and a superiority complex, and a wonderful physical representation of guilt. And it’s all been boiled down into a green fucking monster with stitches in his head that children dress up as for Halloween.” He stops for a minute when James presses a quick kiss to his lips, blinking at them owlishly.
James laughs at his expression, “You were rambling and not breathing properly, love. Take a couple deep breaths.”
Regulus does so, which makes Remus laugh softly, “You’re incredibly passionate about that, Regulus. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that expressive.”
Regulus takes one last deep breath before he nods, “I did my entire thesis analyzing the works of several gothic authors and focusing on the emotions that they played on and how they created what was known as the beginnings of horror media. I’m very passionate about shit modern representations of gothic works. I also get upset about Dracula adaptations.”
Remus hums, “I might have to read that paper, if you still have it. I’d like to look at your takes on some of the popular gothic works if you get this worked up.” Remus gives him a sly smile, which makes Regulus roll his eyes and flip Remus off over Lily, making the other three laugh. James decides that that’s enough and usher the three of them back into the truck after they clean up and pulls out of the theater, starting to drive back to their and Regulus’ house, where Lily and Remus are going to spend the night as per tradition. They continue their conversation about modern takes on gothic literature, soon deviating into other classics authors until they get back to the house and settle down in front of a game of Catan with Ticket-to-Ride and Clue sitting on the sidelines.
Eventually, the four of them get ready for bed and tuck in for the night, with James and Regulus sleepily laying in each other’s arms as James presses a soft kiss to Regulus’ forehead, “Thank you for coming out with us, love. Did you have fun?”
“It was lovely, Jamie, thank you.” Regulus smiles, though it’s not a full one since he’s tired as fuck, and kisses James before laying back down and promptly falling asleep.