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If you had told James Potter ten years ago that he'd be leading the pilates class at his local gym every Thursday, he would've laughed in your face. But, here he is, encouraging everyone to hold their planks for the last few seconds. He actually quite enjoys it, to be honest. Pilates is not for the weak, despite popular opinion that it's just as easy as yoga. It's not his full time job, he also has a manager position at the gym and he's a waiter at a bistro down the block from his apartment. A jackass of all trades, Sirius likes to joke. James is working his way up through the ranks of the food industry, though, or trying to, at least. The pilates classes just give him some extra cash.
“Alright, that just about wraps it up,” James says, standing up to roll up the mat he’s using. “Thanks for coming, I'll see y'all next week.”
Lily likes to tease him about the “y'all” thing, as well as “ain't”, “ion”, and “talmbout”. The inner city schools will do that to you, though, especially as an ELL Latino kid.
“James, was it?” One of the women in the class asks, approaching him as everyone else is rolling up their mats.
“That’s correct. Can I help you, miss?” James replies, ever the gentleman, lest his mother let into him about disrespect, wooden spoon in hand while she’s cooking. James Fleamont. I'm not one of your little friends. ¿Tú te crees que estás en la calle o qué?
“You're here everyday?” James’s brows furrow, smile growing more confused.
“Ah, yes, I'm a manager here?” The woman smiles in response.
“I'm Anna,” she says with a wink, placing a rather flirty hand on his arm. James’s smile grows stilted as he realizes what's going on. He opens his mouth to try and shut this down when two other women drift over, introducing themselves way too familiarly for James’s comfort.
“So, James, are you single?” One woman asks.
“No, I’m not, I’m taken, sorry,” James says. Anna frowns.
“You sure about that?” she asks, placing a hand on his chest. James is about to reply with a firm yes when he hears the most lovely voice he possibly could.
“James?” Regulus says, putting a hand on James’s shoulder. James grins, putting his hand over Regulus’s and turning around to look at his boyfriend.
“Oh my God. That's Regulus Black, isn’t it?” one of the women says. James’s grins. He’ll probably never be used to the gasps and whispers when people see him with Regulus Black, the famous model, of last week and next week's Vogue. Of course, he thinks Regulus surely deserves it, but that doesn’t make it any less disconcerting. Regulus, however, has an uncanny ability to be completely unfazed by it, remaining as stone-faced and passive as he is in his photos and on the runway.
“Are you ready to go?” Regulus asks him shortly, blatantly refusing to look at any of the women around James. James laughs, turning around fully and winding his arms around Regulus’s waist, pulling him close.
“Well, hello to you too, gorgeous. Where have you been all my life?” James asks, pulling Regulus into a kiss before he can answer. Regulus melts into his kiss, winding his arms around James’s neck and pressing forward into him, lining their bodies up together to get closer. He kisses James a bit more deeply, biting James’s bottom lip briefly before pulling away. Regulus is usually never so affectionate in public, but James certainly isn’t complaining.
“Again, where have you been all my life?” James asks, looking down at Regulus adoringly.
“I saw you like two hours ago, James,” Regulus says with a soft, sweet smile, silver eyes sparkling with joy. James feels like the luckiest man in the world to be able to see that smile, reserved for the people who make Regulus happiest. The world only ever sees him at his most serious, expressions sharp and piercing (and don't get James wrong, he looks hot as hell like that obviously), but James gets him glowing like this.
“I know, and I missed you every minute of it,” James tells him, cupping his jaw and pressing a kiss to those cut-glass cheekbones. Anna coughs conspicuously.
“Mr. Black, could- could I possibly get an autograph?” she asks. Regulus turns to her, and the look in his eyes sends a pleasant chill down James’s spine.
“No.” he says, “And flirting with my boyfriend won’t get you any closer to an autograph either.”
Anna opens and closes her mouth, looking like a fish out of water. Just then, a younger teen girl in a visibly stunning outfit runs up to them.
“Hi, oh my God, I’m so sorry to bother you, Mr. Black. Hi, I’m Marianela Dupont, and you are literally my hero. I'm going to RISD next year, and I've been following you and Mary Macdonald since I was twelve. It’s so inspiring that you two are out queer and trans models, I'm just—” the girl, Marianela, cuts herself off, siren eyelined eyes shining.
“Could you sign these for me?” she asks, holding out a photo of Regulus and a drawing of what must be one of her original designs. It's a gothic evening wear gown, a perfect blend of vampirical and steampunk. The photo of Regulus is actually one of James’s favorites, a close up of him with his cheek resting on the heel of his palm, a bored look on his face and his faint freckles visible across his nose.
Regulus smiles at Marianela.
“Of course,” he replies, signing both the photo and the design sketch. “RISD is not ready for someone as bright as you. You'll do amazing.”
Marianela beams, thanking him before running off again. James smiles at his boyfriend, pressing a kiss to his dark curls.
“You’re wonderful, d'you know that?” James asks, and Regulus blushes slightly, leaning up on his toes to talk directly into James’s ear.
“I can be a lot more wonderful in the car,” Regulus whispers lowly.
“Yup, you got it. Let’s go, see you ladies next week,” James says quickly, looping an arm around Regulus’s waist. Regulus grins, wiggling his fingers at Anna over his shoulder as they go.
Once they get in the car, Regulus pulls out of the parking lot quickly and moves the car up to the road to the Hollywood sign, pulling over on the shoulder by a set of bushes. He stops the car and unbuckles his seatbelt, turning to James with that look in his eyes he has in all his photos, sharp and piercing. It’s devastatingly attractive. Regulus pulls the emergency brake up and then hops over the gearshift and climbs into James’s lap, kissing him deeply.
“Woah, hey, hi. Missed you too. What’s this for?” Regulus rolls his eyes at James’s words.
“For being the most respectful man ever when those girls tried to flirt with you, or something,” Regulus mutters. James laughs.
“So this is about them, huh? Ya jealous, Reg?” James asks.
“Quite the opposite, actually. I don’t have to be petty or jealous of anyone when I already have you right here,” Regulus explains. He then reaches down and yanks one of the levers by the seat up, reclining the seat back so that James falls back with Regulus on top of him.
“Woah, fuck. Well, hello there, I—” James says, and Regulus rolls his eyes again.
“Do you ever shut up?” Regulus asks, folding forward to press their lips together again, grazing his teeth across James’s bottom lip.
James shuts up.