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Regulus black was not one for parties. In fact, he rather hated them. So, when he wound up in the Gryffindor common room with a vial of veritaserum being shoved in his face, you could say he was a bit apprehensive. Not to mention the aggressive scent of cologne in the air.
“Come on Regulus, just one round? Its bewitched so it only lasts one question!” Barty was almost begging at this point. Merlin, can he just take no as an answer? “It’s not like you have anything to hide anyways.” Barty isn’t stupid – far from it, actually. But hell, Regulus does in fact have things to hide, things he would much rather take to his grave than spill in front of literally everyone who holds even the smallest emotional value in his life.
Regulus looks down at his hands as if they hold the answer, they just hold dried up ink. “Fine.” Regulus stifles despite himself. “But before you get too excited, I am not kissing anyone. Understood?” Barty practically squeals.
“Let's see what my little friend thinks of that.” He retorts smugly, glancing at the vial in his hand.
When he was a child, Regulus often was subject to veritaserum, courtesy of his mother. So naturally, he had a slight tolerance to it. Not anything major, just more control and restraint over what he wanted to – well he never wanted to say anything most of the time. More like what he was willing to say.
Due to this, Regulus is surprisingly calm until he spots the one person he physically cannot lie to under any circumstances. James fucking Potter. Just his luck, right?
He’s not exactly sure why but for as long as he can remember, Regulus has always felt a little bit odd about James. He doesn’t know if it’s the fact that he literally despises James with every bone in his body or the fact that he is insanely jealous of Sirius and James’s relationship. Maybe both, maybe neither. But he does know that he wants to stay as far away from James as physically possible.
“Who’s up for a round of honesty shots?” Barty and Evan call out in unison. Almost everyone in the room looks to where they’re stood as murmurs of agreement fly around the room, almost everyone. Regulus can practically feel someone’s eyes burning a hole in his head, but in no universe is he going to look at the culprit. He knows who it is.
“Dibs not going first!” Mary calls out once they had all planted themselves on the floor.
“Yeah, me either!” Remus agrees and is then promptly jeered at by Sirius and James who are sat either side of him.
James .
“Blah blah.” Marlene coos as she plops down next to Dorcas. “When you’re all done being pussies, I’d like to get this game started.”
“Oh, so you’re going first McKinnon?” Barty grins as he lifts one eyebrow. He thinks he looks so cool but in reality, he looks like a twat.
“Yeah, I am actually.” Marlene replies, just as smugly.
“Alright blondie. Here you are,” Barty passes her one of the vials of veritaserum and then continues to – Shit . Now where the actual hell did Barty manage to get his hands on a whole jar of amortentia?
Marlene’s eyes practically pop out of her head at the realization at what she has in her hands. “Hang on! What? I didn’t agree to this!” She splutters.
No. Is his immediate reaction. Regulus hates this kind of thing; he’s almost sixteen and has never been in a relationship before. Sure, he had a slight crush on Barty, but that was in first year before he realized that Barty was far from his type. Yeah, that ship has sailed. But that doesn’t mean he wants to go looking around for a relationship. Besides, nobody even knows that Regulus is gay.
“Not so confident now Marls?” Sirius says as he leans forward, a boyish grin gleaming on his face. Regulus thinks he looks stupid.
He looks to everyone else for their reaction, Evan is smirking, Mary looks pleasantly surprised, while Remus seems like he wants to run away. Yeah, no thank you.
“Sod off Black. I’m still doing it.” Is Marlene’s response. Regulus can appreciate bravery, but this? This is straight stupid.
“Okay well go on then!” Evan calls. To which Marlene flips him off while taking a shot of veritaserum. She then opens the amortentia and smells it for a good thirty seconds. A smile plays on her lips.
“What do you smell?” Lily chirps from across the circle.
Marlene’s breath audibly hitches. She clearly does not want to answer that. Bit late to change your mind though. “I smell... Metal and butterbeer and…” Marlene is trying so undeniably hard to restrain herself, it’s almost pitiful. “The third-floor girls' bathroom.” She’s obviously said too much and slaps a hand to her mouth. Dorcas slightly tenses but it’s not surprising, Marlene looks as though she’s constipated with how red she’s turning.
Peter sighs. “Well, that was fruitless.” He passes the amortentia and veritaserum to Pandora who sits on the other side of Marlene. “Your turn, Dora.” He chimes.
“Here goes my self-respect.” She laughs and then immediately throws the veritaserum into her mouth. Regulus thinks she would do well as a drinking buddy. Her reaction to the potion is unsurprising, this is Pandora we’re talking about.
“This is just Xenophilius?” She looks genuinely confused. Lily lets out a laugh and Evan fake gags.
“Eugh. I don’t want to hear about my sister and her not-so-secret boyfriend.” Evan exclaims and dramatically collapses onto Barty, making their heads crash. “Move your fat head!”
“You just smacked it into mine!” Barty whines, holding his forehead.
“Yeah well, you’ve got a bigger head! It’s in the way!”
“Shut up Rosier!”
“Alright, Bartimus Crouch Junior.” Evan smirks as Barty’s jaw drops.
“You bitch! I told you that in confidence!” Barty then tries to tackle Evan.
“My god that’s an unfortunate name.” Regulus hears Remus mutter to James which makes him burst out laughing. Regulus wants to kill him. Why is everything about James so perfect? Even his laugh is pretty. God, Regulus hates him.
“Okay! Enough!” Lily shouts, causing Evan and Barty to clamber off of each other. She sighs, “I’m going to grab a drink, lets break for a minute.” Apparently, nobody wants to argue with Lily because everyone immediately disperses into various parts of the common room.
Regulus thinks that now would be a suitable time to leave, to get the hell out of here. But it seems like the universe has no intentions of letting him do as he pleases because just as he was about to turn to leave, Sirius appears. Looking… nervous?
“Regulus. Help.” Sirius is fidgety and looks about five years old. What is wrong with him?
“Um. What do you want?” Regulus tries to sound disinterested, but he hasn’t seen his brother this jumpy in about ten odd years. Sue him for being intrigued.
“Je vais juste dire les choses comme elles sont.” Ah shit. Sirius is about to say something incriminating or embarrassing. Or both.
“D’accord.” Is Regulus’s response because what can he say to something so vague?
“Je suis amoureux de Remus.” Sirius then starts to turn a bright shade of red.
“Ouais. C'est assez évident.” Regulus quirks one of his eyebrows at Sirius’ shocked expression, did he think he was being slick?
“Merde.” Sirius covers his face with his hands. Regulus can’t help the grin that tugs at the corners of his mouth.
“Ne le sait-il pas déjà ?.” Regulus asks, why is Sirius so scared? He was under the impression that his brother and Remus were together by the way they can barely keep their hands off the other.
“Quoi ?” Sirius jerks his head up looking mortified.
Oh shit. Clearly not. “Je vais prendre ça comme un non…” He mumbles.
“Non ! Regulus. Il ne le fait pas !” His brother is positively shitting himself and Regulus finds it hilarious.
“Je ne peux pas lui mentir. Jamais.”
Oh, this is gold , Sirius is going to expose himself so fast once he takes that veritaserum.
Regulus doesn’t know why Sirius is so scared, well in fairness he never actually told his brother what Remus had said in the library a few weeks prior, did he?
Regulus wasn’t one for making new friends. He’s been with the same five people his whole time at Hogwarts until a few months ago, so it was surprising that him and Remus became close fast. It had started as nothing more than a nod in the hallways but then they randomly started sitting together in the library to study. Not talking or anything, just sitting there. In silence. Much to Regulus’s surprise, one day a few weeks ago, Remus had blurted out that he had… very strong feelings for Sirius. This was to Regulus’ distaste, but he promised to keep it to himself, nonetheless.
Yeah, sorry Remus but the feeling seems mutual. “Sirius. Calm down, okay?” Regulus says whilst rolling his eyes. He can see everyone gathering back into the circle, sorry Remus. “He told me he likes you as well.” Regulus blurts and then turns to walk away before any further conversation can continue. He has more pressing matters to attend to.
Regulus is a very observant person. After years of quietly learning how to tell when someone is following him, he’s become rather good. Yet he is still genuinely confused as to why Potter is unapologetically staring at him.
Well, that’s not exactly normal. Neither is the way Regulus’s heart seems to start breakdancing in his chest. Why is he getting so nervous? Shit, is there something on his face? He glances at James who looks like he is in a trance, weirdo.
Regulus sits back in between Peter and Mary, ignoring how he can still feel James’s eyes on him. Maybe he should get a portrait done for James so he can stare at that instead because right now? The attention is making Regulus feel quite hot. He does not like it.
In all honesty, he enjoys Peter’s company. They’re a lot alike to Regulus’s surprise. They both aren’t exactly sporty – yes, Regulus is on the Slytherin Quidditch team but that is solely because he loves the feeling of beating James at something. That’s it.
Whatever. Mary is one of those people that you can’t help but like, and she knows it. She uses it to her advantage and Regulus privately admires her abilities. Maybe that’s why she’s failing nothing .
“Alright. Let me at it.” Evan starts stretching like he’s about to hop on a broomstick. Barty seems delighted about this and happily pours Evan’s drink.
Evan drinks it and then sniffs the potion. He starts beaming. Regulus automatically knows who he smells. “What is it, Evan?” Regulus muses.
“I smell our dorm room, cigarettes and Barty’s hair dye.” Despite Evan’s smug attitude, Regulus can practically hear his heart racing. He glances at Barty who is just staring at Evan with a very specific look in his eye.
Without a word, Barty gets up and pulls Evan to stand. They then literally leave. Regulus makes a mental note not to go back into their dorm room without knocking very loudly.
“Are they going to have sex?” Pandora announces after an uncomfortable silence.
“Oh definitely.” Peter laughs.
To that, everyone starts to laugh, except for Pandora, who just looks a bit ill. Regulus understands that, he thinks he would be sick if he knew Sirius was about to go shag someone. He’s surprised she hasn’t vomited, quite frankly.
All eyes fall on Sirius; he only then realises that it’s his turn to take the veritaserum. This might be the most excited Regulus has been in a long while.
“Bottoms up, Padfoot!” Peter bellows into his hands, cupping them into a trumpet shape.
Regulus practically feels the way Sirius’s stomach drops, oh and he’s shaking. Ha.
Much to Regulus’s dismay, Sirius does not let his nervousness show. Instead, he slaps on a shit-eating grin and tips his glass.
Now, Sirius Black is not a bad liar, even under the influence of veritaserum. But apparently Remus Lupin can undo years of veritaserum resistance with a single look.
Sirius opens the amortentia and – yeah, just as expected really. “Remus.” Is the only thing that comes out of his mouth. Way to be smooth about it.
“Can’t say I’m surprised.” Lily is the next voice that speaks. She rolls her eyes with a smile as if she has known her whole life. Not like it’s hard though.
“I second that.” Peter all but groans.
Sirius and Remus just stare at each other. Dear me, does Regulus go that red when he’s embarrassed? Surely not, that’s the exact same colour of the sofa.
“Sirius?” Remus is losing his shit. “Do you actually?” What a stupid question.
“Yes. It’s you. The way you smell after you’ve come back from your morning smoke. The way your smells after a night out. The way your clothes smell.” Sirius is rambling now. “It’s my favourite smell, it makes me feel safe and-” He doesn’t get farther than that.
Remus yanks his head towards him by the neck. He genuinely might be constricting Sirius’s blood flow at this point.
“Heavens, get a room. This isn’t an orgy.” Regulus chides. To which James stifles a laugh. God, enough with the annoyingly perfect laugh.
Sirius and Remus pull away from each other – thank Merlin. They just stare at one another and smile before realising that they aren’t alone and are in the middle of a game.
“Much better.” He does not want to see his brother tongue-fucking someone, no thank you.
“I’m just going to assume that you don’t want your go.” James suggests and leans to take the bottle.
“Oi! Sod off Prongsie-boy. I still want to know.” Remus nips with a playful undertone.
“Be my guest, Moons.” James snorts.
Remus then confidently chugs the bottle and takes a long whiff of the amortentia. “Motor engines, firewhiskey and leather .” He happily says. If he isn’t describing Sirius, he’s definitely got a type.
To this, Sirius shuffles closer to Remus and not-so subtly links their fingers together.
“Okay. My turn!” James cheers. At least James doesn't have anything to worry about. As far as Regulus is aware, he’s not crushing on anyone here because he’s not staring at anyone like a lost puppy.
“Alright James! Go on.” Lily and Mary coo at him. He looks past them and glances at Regulus? No, he just imagined that. Did he?
“Truth be told, or whatever the saying goes like!” James takes the potion and lets out a refreshed noise, like he just drank three gallons of water.
James leans forward and smells the amortentia. He grins. He full on grins . Why is he smiling? And why is he looking at Regulus. Again ?
“What is it, Potter?” Dorcas asks.
“Ink. Parchment, and oh yeah. Cypress wood.” James smirks into his hand. Now looking straight at his lap.
Regulus might die. Not because of the stench of someone spraying an obnoxious amount of cologne. Because of the fact that he currently has ink-stained hands, spare parchment in his left pocket and his cypress wood wand on the floor in front of him.
There are many things in life that can be excused because of pure coincidence. Like how it was a coincidence that Regulus had found Peter’s textbook one time when he went up to the astronomy tower. Or that time he bumped into Barty at a formal dinner party. That can be classed as a coincidence. But this? Regulus isn’t so sure.
Nobody else seems to notice the almost perfect depiction of Regulus’s current state, except Dorcas who is currently dancing her eyebrows at him suggestively.
He just glares at her and tries to ignore the butterflies that have made a home in his stomach.
“Okay well James, stop having sex with books.” Marlene remarks.
“That’s foul.” Sirius laughs.
“Next!” Lily then snatches the glass from James and refills it.
“Just letting you guys know, I am interested in a grand total of nobody. Don’t get your hopes up.” She says as if she’s already said it a million times.
An unconvinced groan follows that remark and Lily makes a face at Peter – who had started it.
She takes her shot and brings the amortentia to her nose. “Some sort of herbal tea, summer and... the potions wing?” She genuinely looks confused at the result. “Um okay, sure dude.” She says to nobody in particular.
The group simultaniously shrug Lily’s response off and wait for Mary’s turn. What she says before is pretty much the same thing as Lily had but she then takes a smell of the potion and freezes.
“What is it, Mary?” Peter asks. She eyes him wearily.
“Um. It smells like my friend, from home. His name is Jackson.” Mary is clearly confused as to why she smells her friend.
“You sure it’s just a friend?” Peter and Remus say with a giggle.
She stares at them until it clicks. “Oh shit.” Yeah, there we go.
Regulus never really spoke about people from home much, maybe because he hates everyone he grew up with except Sirius. At times. He doesn't give it much thought though. He’s a bit busy trying to ignore the war his nose is waging with the aggressive smell of cologne that is plaguing the air.
He looks around at who could possibly be the culprit and spots James spraying that fucking cologne. Of course it was James, who else could pick the best and worst scent?
“For the love of Salazar, stop spraying that fucking cologne Potter. It stinks in here.” Regulus snaps. How has nobody else even mentioned it?
James looks confused, everyone does actually. Except Dorcas, who is yet again throwing a party with her eyebrows. What is up with her?
“Uh, what?” James asks.
“It’s the only thing I’ve smelt all evening. It’s giving me a headache.” It’s not, but Regulus can’t take it anymore – and why the fuck have the butterflies in his stomach woken up? Get him out of this party.
Pandora has been quiet for a while but suddenly gasps just as Marlene was about to say something.
“Oh my.” She laughs hard. Regulus realises that she must’ve had a vision or something by the way her demeanor switched. “Shit! Ignore me, please!” She clamps her hand over her nose and mouth to drown out any laughter. What is wrong with Regulus’s friends?
“Right...” Dorcas says with a smirk.
“Well. Looks like it’s your turn baby black.” Marlene states.
“You know, McKinnon. You don’t need all ten fingers; would you mind if I took them?” Regulus retorts. He absolutely despises that name.
“Would you mind if I loudly announce what I read in that sad boy poetry book of yours?” Marlene grins. This girl is evil.
Regulus can’t say anything to that because he knows what she saw, and he knows that it would quite literally kill him if anyone else found out about the poem he wrote when he was fourteen and his obsession – no. Hatred for James manifested after he saw him walking shoulder-to-shoulder with Sirius.
“Yeah whatever.” Regulus mumbles.
“Just take the damn potion Regulus.” Peter wails.
“Shut up, Wormy .” Regulus mocks as he drinks the veritaserum.
Peter grumbles at this and Regulus is sure he heard Peter say ‘Whatever, Mr. I’m my own cousin.’ If he did, which he probably did. Regulus silently swears he will hex him.
“Wait what was in the book?” James asks and Marlene snorts.
The thing about Regulus is, he can dance around a subject like he was born to avoid confrontation. He’s done it many times with his parents, teachers and even his friends. He finds it easy, like second nature. But it becomes a lot harder when veritaserum is involved.
He’s done it before; avoid a question whilst being conditioned to speak an answer. He just needs warning. This doesn't have warning.
The last time he smelt amortentia was in second year, Pandora had been allowed to study sixth year potions because of her outstanding grades and exam results and Barty somehow convinced her to sneak some to them after hours. Regulus wasn’t particularly interested but he does remember the smell. Well, not exactly .
All he remembers is that one specific scent was overwhelmingly prominent in his bedroom. He doesn’t know which smell but there was definitely something alluring about it.
Regulus is now extremely focused on not letting any words leave his mouth. The poem wasn’t even like that , so why is he so nervous? Okay. Just smell the potion and distract everyone.
Stiffly, Regulus opens the potion and – oh fuck no.
——
James isn’t obsessed , okay? He just likes to look at Regulus more than he likes to look at anyone else. Does that make him weird? Maybe. But he doesn’t really care.
In the past, when it came to his best friend’s little brother, James didn’t really pay any notice. But then Regulus Black became so attractive over the summer. Let's just say, James found something out about himself.
So, when he’s in the same room as Regulus, expect him to be taking him in as a whole.
Look, he knows Regulus hates him. He can tell, but he doesn’t let that deter him. In fact, it makes him want Regulus more.
He also, desperately wants to know what Regulus smelt in the amortentia because by his reaction, it was something – someone he was not expecting. Regulus just sits there. James could watch him forever.
“Archie, what do you smell?” Dorcas asks with a glint of mischief in her voice.
Regulus all but glares at her. “I smell spices and broomsticks and-” He pauses with a sharp inhale. “Cologne.” Regulus snaps his jaw so tight James thinks that he might break his teeth.
Dorcas seems to know something the rest of them don’t. She starts to push her luck. “Okay but what kind of cologne?” She leans on her elbows towards Regulus with a look that says I know who you smell.
“A very specific kind.” Regulus pushes out. James can’t help but feel bad for him as he says, “Barty said this only lasts one question.”
“It lasts for the length of your turn.” Sirius says with a very intrigued look splayed on his face.
Dorcas looks at Pandora and makes a face that seems to tell Pandora exactly what is going on. She squeals. “Oh Merlin! No way! Regulus!” Pandora’s excitement only made James want to know even more who this mystery woman is. Pandora shuffles over to Regulus and whispers what James thinks is a guess as to who Regulus is currently losing his shit about.
“Yes.” Regulus says bluntly. Lord, he looks embarrassed.
Pandora is not particularly good at keeping things like this to herself. Especially not when she looks as if she’s had three shots of fire whiskey. “You like-” Before she can finish her sentence, Regulus clamps a hand down on her mouth and says, “If you say his name I’m going to put you in a portrait, and trust me, it is torture .” The world practically stops spinning.
His? His ? James did not know it would be a he .
——
Regulus has all but frozen in place. Hand still clamped down on Pandora’s mouth wide-eyed. He did not want that to be the way he came out.
Fuck. He really didn’t want that to be how he came out. He’s not sure if he even wanted to at all.
When Regulus was a lot younger, his mother had found a photograph of Sirius with a boy named Miles. He didn’t know all the details but what he did know was that they weren’t exactly supportive. Sirius came upstairs after about three hours.
Regulus knows that Sirius wouldn’t let a single person in this room say anything but the reaction his parents gave was more than enough to keep it quiet.
He’s not doing this. He should’ve left earlier.
“I’m done with your stupid fucking game.” Regulus spits out. He’s really embarrassed and needs to leave before he says anything utterly stupid.
“What? Why?” Sirius blurts.
“Because Sirius . I’m not exactly in love with the idea of me accidentally professing my love to P-” And Regulus just saved himself from absolute humiliation. Focus, you idiot. “I don’t want to say something that I didn’t even know was true until thirty seconds ago.” That’s the truth.
Sirius quirks an eyebrow at him in genuine concern.
“Okay, your turns over. Just please stay.” James pleads. Regulus, for the life of him, cannot bring himself to leave now that James has asked him to stay.
James didn’t leave after his turn and if Regulus does, he might as well get on his knees and tell James he is better than him in every way – not that that’s a bad thought – Wait what.
“Please Reggie.” Sirius says. Oh whatever, it’s not like the veritaserum is still affecting him.
“Fine. Only because Potter asked.” Never Fucking mind.
Sirius is immediately up and rushing Regulus out of the circle, he doesn’t care to go far from thew group, who are all staring, and just cuts to it.
“Regulus. Sois honnête, aimes-tu James ?” He says. Trust Sirius to automatically guess what is going on. He’s good at that – only with other people though.
Regulus sighs so deeply that he runs out of oxygen. “Oui.”
Sirius’s eyes fly out of their sockets and Regulus feels heat crawl up his neck.
“Regulus Arcturus Black!” Sirius shouts, he’s not angry. Bewildered is more like it. “Comment? Quoi? Quand?” He fumbles. Regulus almost finds it amusing.
“Je n'en ai aucune idée. Je ne le savais même pas avant de sentir l'amortentia.” Regulus shifts uncomfortably on his feet. He genuinely didn’t know.
Sirius takes a deep breath and laughs. Thank fuck. Regulus was sure he was about to get sparked in the face. “Shit me, you suck.” Sirius punches Regulus’s shoulder playfully.
Regulus knows that he didn’t mean to say any of that. He turns back to the group.
“Why is this stupid potion still working?” He can feel himself getting a little more than irritated now.
Pandora howls out a laugh, and Regulus knows. He’s going to murder Pandora.
“Pandora. I am extremely mad at you right now. When the hell is this going to wear off?” Regulus spits. He is so angry. So, so angry.
“I put yours to last until the end of the day. Barty’s idea.” She smiles at him. She knows what she’s doing when it comes to conniving shit like this. Regulus doesn’t doubt her word in the slightest.
“Are we going to ignore how Regulus is only staying because James asked him to?” Remus asks. Regulus wants to punch that smile off his face.
“No Remus, remember it’s Potter ,” Lily adds, and they both crack up. Regulus swears he will kill both of them , sorry Sirius.
“Yes.” He and Sirius respond together. They then share a look. Sirius looks rather confused and on-edge. He wants to know what is going on inside of Regulus's head but even Regulus doesn't know.
He sits.
“Are you okay Regulus?” Mary whispers so she isn’t overheard by Peter taking his turn.
“Yeah. Great. Just found out I’m apparently in love with Potter, but you know.” You have got to be shitting him.
His eyes bulge and he slowly meets Mary’s face. She’s smiling. Of course she’s smiling, everyone finds this so hilarious.
“Don’t.” Regulus says before Mary can say anything.
Mary mimes zipping her mouth shut and sits back, mentally rejoining the game. Crisis averted.
“Sybil Trelawney?” Sirius exclaims, his mouth agape.
What the hell did Regulus miss.
“Yeah! She's really sweet actually!” Peter smiles blissfully. He claps his hands in satisfaction. Apparently, Peter and Sybil had been secretly meeting up and he’d fallen for her.
“No way! She likes you too!” Pandora squeals. She looks so giddy.
“Holy shit!” Dorcas yells.
“Go on Pete!” Remus adds.
Peter smiles even harder at the encouragement from his friends. “Should I ask her out?” He wonders.
“Um, obviously!” James yelps.
“Duh!” Lily chimes in.
Peter looks over the fucking moon. The group chatter away as Dorcas preps her shot. Regulus sneaks a glance at James who is predictably, already staring at him. Does he have a problem? Regulus does, it's that James does not have him pressed against a wall.
Regulus physically recoils at this thought. Where in the ever-living fuck did that spawn from? Does veritaserum now cause thoughts to become the whole truth now? Merlin, if that’s the whole truth, then Regulus might send himself to an early grave.
James is still staring. Someone please rescue him. He’s starting to think he’d have better luck surviving the killing curse than he would getting Potter to stop looking at him with those beautiful, brown eyes. Shitting hell, enough!
Regulus can’t help the fact that his face falls into a scowl because what is he thinking? That is the sole person he has hated for years. Since when did he want Potter’s clothes to come off? There he goes again .
“My turn now.” Dorcas croaks with a smile. Her confidence is gone and it’s now Regulus’s turn to act like an arse.
“Chop, chop Cas. Can’t keep us waiting.” He says with a huge ‘fuck you’ grin wiped across his face.
“Archie, do us all a favour and close your mouth.” Dorcas mews, then pauses with a smirk. “Or, you know, go snog cologne boy.” She retorts.
Okay, he can’t say much to that, so he snaps his mouth shut and stares at her like he’s about to kill her and he waits.
Regulus can’t help but notice that Dorcas’s other hand is tracing circles on Marlene's knee. There we go. Payback.
As soon as Dorcas drinks the veritaserum, Regulus cuts in. “When were you going to tell us that you and Marlene are secretly together?” Oh yes, Regulus feels mean. Good.
“On Tuesday; it’s our two months on Tuesday.” Silence. Marlene goes red and Dorcas stares at Regulus in disbelief. Nobody moves. Nobody says anything. Regulus can’t help but grin at his satisfaction.
Regulus needs to start thinking things through. Dorcas has been acting weird today, but not because of Marlene. Because she knows who Regulus’s ‘cologne boy’ is. The realization hits as soon as Dorcas glances at James who is none the wiser.
Merde.
“When were you going to tell us you had feelings for James?” She’s good.
“Well, I only found out today but it's becoming clear that maybe I’ve always liked him but just thought that my feelings were hatred and not lo-” He’s said far too much. He didn’t even realize he was speaking until he almost said that.
Maybe Regulus should try his chances with the killing curse because now there is no way James will ever not look at him.
“I’m done. Leaving. Goodbye.” Regulus states as he grabs his wand and walks straight to the door. He ignores the loud whispers that follow, one being James saying something about Pandora’s vision. That adds up, but he’s too tense to think about that.
He’s not even mad at Dorcas, will he be rude to her later? Yes. But that’s because he’s embarrassed. If he was her, he would have done the exact same thing. And that pisses him off more.
——
When James finds Regulus, he’s at the top of the astronomy tower. James knew he was there, of course he did. He didn’t have to use the map, Regulus is just predictable, and James has picked up on his habits. It’s not creepy.
James likes to know where Regulus is. He finds comfort in it, no idea why. Well, he does have an idea.
“Fuck off.” Regulus says, without turning around to see who he’s talking to. “I don’t want to hear about how the boy I’ve wanted for years doesn’t want me back.” He turns. “In fact, I-” He freezes. James thinks he looks like a child being caught with sweets.
“How do you know he doesn’t want you back?” James replies, his voice comes out soft, comforting. Although he’s not sure how, he’s using an insane amount of control not to shove Regulus against the wall and kiss him.
“I... What?” Regulus replies, stunned.
James gets very hot at the silence. It’s dark, and James is hoping that Regulus can’t see the crimson hue attacking his face.
James clears his throat, “Well, I- um, I’m not sure if you noticed but I was...” James can’t find the words. Someone help him, he's not good at this.
“You were staring at me the entire time. Why?” Regulus asks, sounding like he’s trying to be spiteful, but James can hear the softness behind the words.
Now or never, do it James. Sirius had said that to James as soon as Regulus left the common room. Okay, he will.
“Because you’re beautiful and I’m in love with you.” He blurts out of his mouth. He really is bad at this.
“What.” Regulus is staring. He looks so confused and relieved and - fuck.
James steps closer to Regulus, closing the space in a few short strides. He’s now face-to-face with Regulus. Regulus is so pretty, his eyes are glazed over, and James cannot stop looking at them.
“James...” He feels Regulus’s short breaths on his neck; his heart might have just been swapped with an Olympic sprinter because it seems to think that he has run a whole marathon. Regulus has never called him James before. James wishes nobody but him would call him that because his name sounds so perfect coming out of Regulus’s mouth. He wants to hear it again so badly.
They stand there, just looking at each other for a while. Until James can’t help himself, he takes Regulus’s hand in his own.
“Regulus, I want you too...” James mumbles. He didn't mean to say it but by God is he glad he did.
“je te veux tellement.” Is all Regulus mutters before he slides his hand behind James’s neck and kisses him, leaning into it like it’s the only thing keeping him alive.
James has no idea what Regulus said but he’s certain it meant something good. As soon as James pulls Regulus closer, deepening the kiss, he realises that is what he was made for. Yes, this is his purpose in life, to hold Regulus Black in his arms.
They fit together so perfectly. James is completely intoxicated by the beautiful man in front of him. Yes. Is all that he can think, this feels so right.
James has no idea how long they stay like that for, just kissing. But when they pull apart, Regulus lets out a dazed sigh, It’s breathless and it makes James so giddy. He rests his chin on Regulus’s head; he smells so good.
“Reg?” James mumbles, his face buried in Regulus’s hair.
“Yes?” He replies, sounding so, so peaceful.
“Can this be a thing? Can we be a thing?” James asks, and he feels nervous all over again.
Regulus lifts his head so he can see James and stares at him. James notices a small curve to Regulus’s lips and his stomach flips. “Yes James. I want it to.”
James. That does it for him, James Potter is a very easy man once you have him, and Regulus has him.
It’s clear that neither of them want to let go. Not even a little bit.
——
Regulus arrives in his dorm room. Just as he is about to step into the bathroom to shower, Barty jumps on him.
”what happened to ‘I’m not kissing anyone’ Reg?” He says as he slides off of Regulus. “Because it seems to me,” He points to a lovely bruise forming at the base of Regulus’s neck, “That you did kiss someone. Someone by the name of James? Perhaps?” Barty leans forward with a smug grin.
Regulus lifts one foot and kicks Barty right in the stomach.
“That’s for making me spill my guts until midnight like some knock-off cinderella.” Regulus states dryly.
”Yeah. That’s fair.” Barty wheezes.
Regulus turns on his heel and closes the door behind him, only then does he smile. A big, broad smile.
James.
——
“Brother fucker.” Is all Sirius says to James when he finally returns to his dorm after a few lovely hours in the astronomy tower.
“Not yet, but I might be soon.” James laughs in response, feeling high on adrenaline and pure adoration for the black-haired boy named Regulus Black.