James
James knew he was gay from the age of 13, when he realised the only reason he thought he liked girls was because he thought he liked Lily, turns out she was just the first and only girl he felt completely comfortable with and he confused those feelings.
Then regulus came along, his best friends little brother. At first he didn't really have an opinion on him, paths almost never crossing in school, but as they grew older Regulus grew more handsome by the year.
Hogwarts did him good, he started accepting more and more, unlearning the things he had been forced to learn from home. James along with a few others could see the good in him.
Slowly James found himself attracted to the younger black brother in a way he has never been attracted to anyone before. He had told Lily about it, she was one of his best friends, and seeing as he obviously couldn't come to Sirius with this, James told lily instead.
Lily already knew he was gay, he also knew that she was a lesbian, the two had made a promise to be there for the other when needed, most of the school still thought james liked her and they used that to their advantage as a cover up so it would be less obvious that they were both queer.
People generally weren't that accepting of it yet.
No one besides Lily knew about James's crush on Regulus, they didn't even know he was gay.
It wasn't that he was afraid to tell them, he knew they would accept him either way, hell both Remus and sirius were queer, but if they knew he was gay they would ask him if he liked anyone and James knew it would show on his face that he did, he wasn't ready to have the confrontation with Sirius yet.
It was hard keeping his head in the game as Regulus was passing by every few minutes taking him off guard again because all he wanted to do was watch as regulus's hair moved with the wind as he soared through the sky.
Nonetheless Gryffindor had won as Marlene caught the snitch, everyone knew it was tradition to throw a party after winning a game.
James was leaning against a wall with Remus talking about the game and looking around the room, they couldn't see far past the body of people in front of them. Sirius had went off, probably to get another drink and so it was just the two of them.
"How is it going with Sirius?" James asked knowing it would take a while for sirius to find them again.
"I really don't know, one time he's all clingy and unapologetic about it and the next he won't even look at me, how the hell am I supposed to read the signs if they all point in different directions?" Remus let out an annoyed sigh and James patted his shoulder in support.
"Sirius is a complicated guy, but you're smart Remus you'll figure him out"
Remus rolled his eyes "you're not helping,I know you know if he likes me or not, please tell me james, I'm begging you" Remus clapped his hands together infront of himself in a begging motion.
"Oh please, Moony, you know I won't tell even if I knew, just like I won't ever tell him about you liking him, you both have your secrets and both don't want them spilled so I won't"
"Please James, if you tell me that he doesn't like me, I will lay off of it, if he does like me, well that's brilliant then isn't it? I could tell him I like him too and you wouldn't have to deal with me anymore"
James chuckled "Remus dear, as much as I wish you got together as well, I won't tell you, if he does or doesn't, you either have to ask him yourself or he has to tell you himself, I don't want you to know from me if he likes you, and I also don't want to be the one to break your heart"
"Not even if I help you get together with your crush" Remus had a knowing smirk on his face and James promptly choked on his drink, Remus couldn't possibly know about Regulus could he?
"Don't act so surprised everyone knows you fancy lily" oh- yeah, right, Lily. "Just swallowed the wrong way" James lied and Remus shook his head before leaning in to whisper in James's ear to be extra sure no one else heard.
"Unless it's the younger brother you're hopelessly in love with"
"I'm not in love"
"So it's true?" Remus leaned back with a triumphant smile.
"Merlin remus how did you know?" James asked with a groan.
"I have eyes, am gay too, and in love with the other black brother, being observant of his moves also makes me observant of yours, the way your broom sways just a tad to the side regulus is on as he passes you, because you're looking at him, or the way you always look up when sirius mentions him, or the way your gaze seems to trail to the slytherin table every so often just to find him... do I need to continue?"
"No no, you've made your point" James waved him off before throwing back his drink, he could not handle this sober.
"Hey boys, we're collecting people to play some games in the dorms, wanna join and if yes can we use your dorm?" Lily appeared in sight, her cheeks a little rosy from being tipsy.
"Sounds like fun right Remus?" Remus nodded and they were tasked with finding peter and sirius amongst the crowd.
James went over to the drinks first knowing Sirius had went there earlier, his eyes indeed landed on the lad as he was leaning back against the table, someone on his other side hidden by his towering figure.
"Oi padfoot there you are" James yelled over the noise making sirius turn to him as he walked closer "We're about to play some games up in one of the dorms, some lads from slytherin and Marlene's girlfriend are also join-" James stopped walking along with talking as his eyes landed on the boy next to Sirius.
Regulus black
He was leaning back against the table dressed from head to toe in muggle clothes, pyjama bottoms and a band shirt to be precise. His heart stopped along with his mind as he took in the sight.
There was something about regulus in those clothes with slightly messy hair which made him want to push the boy against a wall and snog him senseless.
"Oh hi regulus, you coming as well?" James asked as he managed to get back to earth.
"Sounds fun we'll join" sirius asnwered for the both off them pushing away from the table.
"Great" James clapped his hands together following after sirius but stopping to check if Regulus was following, which he wasn't. So james reached out and grabbed Regulus by the wrist to pull him with.
As soon as he did, he realised this was the first time he touched Regulus's skin with his own, and it was burning from his finger tips all the way to his heart.
He quickly started walking to divert his attention, not even aware that his hand was slipping down to lace his fingers with the smaller, colder ones, as if it was second nature.
"They are not in a relationship yet you know" regulus broke the silence making James come to a halt to turn around. What was he on about? James's mind did a quickl scan through their earlier brief conversation and came to the conclusion he was talking about Marlene and Dorcas.
"They might as well be with the way they were attached to one another" he shrugged before continuing his walk, if he was left alone with regulus in this confined space while holding his hand any longer he would break and actually kiss him.
"They kissed?" Regulus sounded surprised, James chuckled
"hell yeah they did"
Regulus was now the one to stop walking "it doesn't bother you?" He asked doubtfully like he was scared for the answer.
"What does?"
Regulus looked up their eyes meeting "them kissing, two girls, two people of the same gender liking one another?".
James's heart hammered in his chest at the question "oh? That? No not at all, I think everyone should be able to love who they love, it's not like we can chose who we fall for" there was a tug at his heart as he spoke the last sentence a little quieter, the words feeling delicate on his tongue because they were true, he hadn't chosen to fall for a boy.
"Does it bother you?" James quickly asked worried Regulus might be homophobic with the way he was so intended on the fact that they were two people of the same gender and that it was surprising james acted so casual about it.
"Would be a little double sided if it did, hating on my own sort"
James's thinks his heart actually stopped at what Regulus's was implying "you-" he cut himself off due to shock "you like boys?" His eyes met regulus's.
Regulus nodded with a small smile "yeah I like boys".
He likes boys? he likes boys, he likes boys, oh my god he likes boys, I am a boy, I like boys, I like him, HE LIKES BOYS!!
His mind was yelling at him and the only thing he managed to get out was "cool" before abruptly turning around to start walking again trying to get the fuck away from the stairs and into a room with other people.
—-
Mary had explained the rules and multiple rounds had already passed before the bottle Sirius spun landed on james. Sirius sent him a dangerous smirk wiggling his eyebrows, oh shit.
"I'm scared for both truth and dare here mate" James muttered, sirius knew too much about him to ask superficial questions, but he was also a menace when it came to dares.
Still James would rather do some stupid dare than spill a secret "dare, I'm taking a risk here aren't I padfoot?" His friend nodded, his smirk still on his face.
"I dare you to snog the prettiest person in the room"
Let's break that one down shall we?
For starters, James's mind immediately went to regulus, who he found the most prettiest person in any room, second sirius said 'person' instead of girl, even though sirius was fully convinced James likes Lily. Third... SNOG!?
"Snog? Like full on kiss, or just a peck?" James asked his cheeks heating up, he had the confidence to peck Regulus's lips, he had to come out sooner or later, it was his last year, but snogging regulus in front of his group of friends including the boy's brother? That went a little too far, besides he doesn't think he could act normally when he did.
"I said snog James, do I have to give you sex ed classses again or?" James wanted to punch him so badly right about now
"alright alright, snog it is, Merlin" he hauled himself up, he looked at lily who gave him a look, only he knew what that look meant, something along the lines of "if you don't snog him right now I will slap you".
He turned to look at regulus and he swore he heard someone in the circle gasp but he didn't pay any attention to the reactions of others, this was big, huge even, he was about to come out and hint at the fact that he liked regulus. Double Fuck.
Merlin, was he really going to do this? One look at regulus and he knew his answer, hell yes.
Regulus was looking at something at the other side of the room from where Lily was sitting, like he didn't want to see james kiss her.
Regulus didn't notice James and so he reached his hand out grabbing regulus's chin between his pointer finger and his thumb moving his head to face James who's heart was beating so fast jt might break free from his chest.
Regulus looked up at him with wide eyes of surprise, his gaze flickering all over James's face trying to find out what he was doing, he got his answer soon enough as james started to kneel down and lean in.
Either everyone was holding their breaths or James had tuned out the world around him, either way the only thing he could hear was the quick breath Regulus took in, the boy being his only focus.
This might as well be his only chance to kiss regulus and so he didn't waste anymore time, he closed his eyes and pressed his lips to regulus's waiting for his reaction, he didn't want to go on if regulus didn't want this.
It took james by surprise when Regulus's hands went to cradle his face and pulled him in closer. James took this as a good sign and carefully darted his tongue out to lick over the other boy's lip. Regulus reacted by almost immediately opening up his lips.
James couldn't believe what was happening, regulus was kissing him back, with his fingers laced in the hair at the back of James's neck. James himself had one hand on the ground to keep himself up, the other was still cupping regulus's jaw.
James has kissed people before, but Reggie's lips felt like no other's. Maybe that was because he has wanted this for so long or maybe regulus really was such a good kisser.
He allowed himself to get lost in the kiss for a little longer ignoring Sirius who was yelling something at them.
Slowly james pulled pack his eyes fluttering open to look at the boy he had just snogged per sirius's request, ironic isn't it?
There was a blush creeping up Regulus's neck and cheeks, his lips red and wet, james did that to him, he couldn't help but feel pride at that ...as well as some other things.
He slowly stood back up and winked at regulus who looked up at him in a dazed manner. James turned around and walked past lily who stretched her hand out with a proud smile james high fived her and went to sit back in his spot, seeing regulus shift from the corner of his eyes.
Sirius was glaring at him, if looks could kill James would be out cold by now. Everyone seemed in a state of shock, which james understood, after all in their minds James was hogwarts's golden boy, in love with the perfect girl. James just smashed that image into a million pieces.
"Right my turn to spin the bottle now isn't it?" James asked casually breaking the silence and snapping everyone out of it as he reached for the bottle and gave it a spin, having it land on Marlene and the game went on.
After marlene had answered her truth sirius went to sit besides james "follow me for a moment" he hissed and james had no choice but to do so, not wanting to anger Sirius more than he already had
"what the actual fuck mate?!" He yelled as soon as the two of them were in the hallway, "I gave you the perfect opportunity to kiss Lily, you've wanted this for the past seven years" he hissed.
"Sirius" James said looking at his friend but he looked the other way.
"..Honestly mate, if you wanted to play a prank on us you could've done something else..."
"Sirius-"
"This might've been your only chance!"
"SIRIUS!" James yelled and it startled him but it efficiently shut sirius up who looked at him now.
"You're right it might've been my only chance" sirius was about to speak up but James shot him a look which made him close his mouth again "it might've been my only chance to kiss the one I've liked for the past two years yes"
"You've only liked lily for two years?! oh.. OH!" His eyes widened and his mouth hung open.
"Yes" James nodded "it is exactly like how you think it is" james confirmed, his heart hammering in his chest, he regrets not telling sirius earlier, but there was nothing to be done about it now. he also wished he had taken another drink to calm his nerves.
"you like my brother?" Sirius asked in disbelief.
"Yes" james nodded
"yah sure!?" Sirius asked with such a ridiculous tone and look that it made James laugh.
"You sure you like that dude? Cus I think I missed a few chapters, or perhaps a whole book in your love life"
James kept laughing now leaning against the wall too keep himself upright. "Him?! Are you serious?!" Sirius hissed but there was a small smile on his face.
"no, you're Siri-"
"Don't even finish that sentence" Sirius hissed and James couldn't quiet down his laughter. "Honestly mate, I don't know what you find so funny about this"
"Oh it is so terribly funny" James wheezed "cus I'm infatuated with a boy, and on top of that he's a slytherin and my best friends' little brother, Life is playing such a joke with me" suddenly this wave of sadness crashed down on him and his loud laughs turned into loud sobs.
"Oh prongs" Sirius whispered pulling James into his arms.
"I'm gay" James cried into his shoulder.
"Yeah I figured that one out" Sirius whispered as his hands moved over James' back trying to sooth him.
"It's okay james, it's okay to be gay" Sirius whispered.
"it isn't okay to like your best friends' little brother" James hiccuped.
"Who says it isn't?" Sirius asked making James pull back to be able to look at him
"you?" He asked "you looked ready to kill me back there".
"That's because I was convinced you were in love with lily and only kissed regulus to pester him or something, the protective big brother came out along with you"
"Funny" James mumbled.
"I would never hurt someone like that and you know it" James said turning serious.
"I know you wouldn't but that seemed like a more logical explanation than you genuinely liking him, I mean when did that even happen?" Sirius asked genuinely confused.
"Around two years ago, it just sort of happened, lily was the only one who knew until tonight"
"And you didn't tell me because you thought I'd be mad?"
James nodded.
"James, you're the best person I could wish for for regulus" Sirius said sincerely "him for you... that's another story" they both laughed before sirius hugged him again.
"You're my best friend james, and I'm happy for you, really I am, but if you hurt him.. well you know the drill" James nodded with a smile, he felt so genuinely happy by the response he got from sirius, he couldn't give a shit about what anyone else thought about him.
"Are you gonna threaten him as well?" James asked and sirius nodded
"you know me too well" he smirked "let's get back inside yeah?"