Are You Bored Yet?
‘The Marauders’ were a band of four, always had been, always would be. Or so they thought. When James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter had gone to school at Hogwarts- a boarding school to which their parents had sent them- they formed a band. Of course, since they were only still between the ages of 16 and 17, most of their music… well, sucked. Though as the years went on, their talents got better, and so did their lyrics.
On the morning of October 17th Peter Pettigrew was accepted to study music at the school commonly known as Julliard, while Peter didn’t want to leave his best friends or the band, this was something he needed to do. To further his career and do what he loves. Of course, his friends were supportive. Though, Sirius, being the absolute drama queen he is had called him a “traitor” at least once or twice before telling him that he was incredibly happy for him and that he should pursue his dreams.
That is how they ended up here. James was sitting on the floor tapping it rhythmically to the beat of whatever song they had playing while Remus was sat on the couch, Sirius splayed out on his lap.
“So what do we do?” Remus questions, running a hand through his hair. “Do we try to find a replacement? We have a gig scheduled for next Friday, should we cancel?”
“No, absolutely not. There will be no canceling of the gigs, as utterly depressing as it is that Peter has decided to leave us for Julliard” Sirius rolls his eyes- “We’ll get through this, it’s only a tiny little bump in a road, a pebble if you will, we’re finally starting to get somewhere with our music it would be tragic if we just gave up this far down the line.”
“A pebble? Sirius, we just lost our lead guitarist, that at least qualifies for a nail in the tire.” Remus mutters, earning a dramatic glare from Sirius. James could see a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips as Sirius continued his flare for the dramatics.
“Okay, can we stop talking in metaphors? It’s quite confusing. Though Sirius does bring up valid points, we’re happy for Peter, but we need a new guitarist. What do you suggest, Pads?”
Sirius thinks on that for a moment, then another as the two boys watch intently waiting for his answer. “Okay well, I can’t think of anything with you two staring at me like that, go away.” Sirius shoos them, earning a scoff and a playful smile from James.
“Did you just tell your best friends to ‘go away’”? he asks.
“Yes, I did in fact do that, now I suggest if you want any amazing ideas from this brilliant head of mine, you both go outside” Remus rolls his eyes and begins saying something but before he can get even a word out Sirius had pushed them both out the door and slammed it shut. James watches fondly as Remus pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket.
“Do you want one or are you still entirely against smoking?” Remus questions, laughing as he lights one of his cigarettes and puts it to his lips. James watches as the smoke exhales from Moony’s mouth after he takes it back.
“Those things will kill you, so no I wouldn’t like a smoke Remus.” James laughs.
“Yeah you’ve always been one stuck in your ways- can you believe Sirius had the gall to kick us out-” before Remus could finish sentence Sirius yanks the door open and pulls them both inside.
“I have just had a fantastically brilliant idea,” he claims, holding out his hand gesturing for Remus to pass the cigarette.
He takes a smoke before sighing, handing it back, and staring at them both gleefully.
“Well? What is this wondrous idea? Come on, get on with it!” Moony states with a laugh.
“Reggie.”
“Aren’t you on horrific terms with him right now?” James asks
“No actually, we got everything figured out months ago. He’s no longer living with mother and father dearest, and he’s got an apartment downtown with some roommates. Evan Rosier, Barty Crouch, and Dorcas Meadowes if I remember correctly. He’s still a bit of an arse but he’s godly on the guitar. Come on, it’ll be fun!” Sirius suggests.
“Alright, we can talk to Regulus, but are you sure he’s going to be okay with this? Especially on such short notice…” Remus asks.
Padfoot rolls his eyes, “He’ll agree to sub in for a few weeks, our next gig at the very least. He won’t leave us hanging. Besides, if all goes well he could be our new guitarist.”
“Then let’s call him and ask. What are we waiting for?” James states.
“Right.” Sirius pulls out his phone and dials the number.
The first time Jame’s saw Regulus, he was 8 and Reg was 7. Sirius’s parents had told him that if he wanted to go to James’s birthday party, he had to bring Regulus with him. James, of course, didn’t mind, he wanted Sirius at his party regardless. At first Reg had been a bit mean to him, but after an hour or so they had warmed up to each other. Regulus was still a dick, sure, that was simply their method of communication. Regulus was mean, and James loved it. It was simple, easy. The world was small, quiet and they had it grasped in the palm of their hands. They could run around outside all day and play in the snow or the autumn leaves until they had to go home. Nothing mattered, not really. Then they got older.
The last time James saw Regulus he was 12, and Reg was 11. The curly haired boy had smacked the back of his head to gain his attention. At first, James had been royally pissed off but that had only lasted a moment. When he met the boys’ eyes, all of his anger seemed to dissipate immediately, he had felt almost as if he were drowning. The harsh greying blue of Regulus’s eyes was exceptionally easy to get lost in, he thought he would be stuck there forever, that he would be forced into the rush of the current for the rest of his life. But at that moment in time, drowning had become a bit of a beautiful thing, it was two boys staring at each other, a fond smile tracing one’s lips, and a mysterious smirk lining the others. It was fire meeting ice, a collision of sorts. A moment where anything and everything seemed to just… stop. After that James had never seen Regulus the same way again.
It’s safe to say it was then that James had developed a rather gigantic crush on his best friend’s brother. He was truly and utterly fascinated, nothing and no one could pry his eyes away from the curly black-haired boy. It was simply impossible. Well, until Sirius smacked the back of his head again to pull his attention back to him. James carried that crush with him for years after Sirius and Regulus had a falling out, he knows why it happened. Sirius got out of that house, Reg didn’t. It’s quite simple really. After that Reg refused to talk to either of them and James tried to get over him by dating around a bit. Nobody could make him feel like Regulus had.
During his last year of school he began dating a spirited red headed girl called Lily Evans. They both knew it wouldn’t go anywhere, after all, he was getting over Regulus and she was trying to get over an ex girlfriend of hers. Safe to say, they did not last, but it was fun for the time being and they remain friends to this day. James likes to think he’s gotten over Regulus but the painful reality always creeps in eventually, the reality that Reg wants nothing to do with him, hasn’t for years. Last James heard he was dating Barty. He assumes the situation remains the same since they’re living together and everything. He wonders how Evan feels, is he a third wheel all of the time? James would hate to be in that situation.
“What do you want?” James hears Reg’s voice cut through the phone. “I’m busy.”
“Oh, I’m sure you are Reggie, busy with your whatnots and whodads” Sirius speaks.
“What are you even saying?” Regulus asks.
“Who are you talking to?” another voice cuts through the phone, slightly more muffled. Barty, James guesses.
“My absolute idiot of a sibling.” Regulus states, his voice becomes quieter so James can only assume he’s turned to face Barty.
“Oh hey Sirius”
“Hey Barty,” Sirius laughs. “Stop snogging my brother and let him talk to me for a moment-”
“Okay, asshole. What do you want? Why are you calling me at twelve in the morning?” Regulus asks cutting him off.
“Well, our lead guitarist just quit and we need someone to fill in for him, permanently or at the very least for our show next Friday. And, well since you can play the electric guitar I figured I’d check with you.”
“Fine, whatever, sure. Can we talk about this later? Like I said, I’m busy at the moment.”
“Yeah, busy shagging Barty over there.”
“Goodbye Sirius”
“Love you too little brother.”
~*~
Regulus hangs up the phone and sighs, turning his gaze to Barty.
“Did I really just agree to that? why the fuck would I agree to that?”
Barty laughs. “I don’t know mate. You walked right into that one. Personally though, I think we have more pressing matters to discuss. You can play the guitar?”
“My parents wanted me to learn an instrument when I was younger and I chose the one I thought would piss them off the most. What can I say, electric guitar came first on that list.” Regulus states, a smirk tugging at the bottom of his lips.
“That is so incredibly hot you have no idea,” Barty informs him before capturing his lips in a kiss.
~*~
Friday, October 21st was a day of pure chaos. It was the morning of the Marauder’s first gig without Peter and everyone is freaking the fuck out. Only 10 in the morning and Regulus is on his way to the studio so they can practice the set-list. Reg had been in a band before but they broke up because the two other members practically tore each other apart over some girl and it ruined their entire dynamic. They had actually been quite popular, and had a good sum of fans, more than the Marauders that’s for sure but nobody had heard from them in a while. There are a whole bunch of conspiracies online as to why they broke up, nobody wants to admit that two of the members fought over the same girl and could hardly look each other in the eye afterward.
While Remus begins tampering with the keyboard, Sirius pulls James aside.
“James.”
“Sirius.” James smiles.
“I love you. with all of my heart, you know that?”
“well, I love you too, obviously. What’s this about Padfoot?”
“I’m here to warn you that there will be absolutely no flirting with my brother. under any circumstances.”
James lets out a laugh, “Sirius, you really think I would do that?”
“Oh yes, abso-fucking-lutely. James, he is the epitome of your type,” Sirius states blatantly.
“I do not have a type.” James defends.
“Oh you absolutely have a type.” Remus exclaims from his keyboard.
“Moony’s right. You like it when they’re mean to you.” Sirius says matter of factly. “Regulus is an absolute dick, No flirting, period the end.”
“Look, Pads, I love you, but You’re being crazy, I won’t flirt with Regulus, I promise-” James trails off as the door to the studio opens and Regulus walks inside. James sees his face first, the dark eyeliner that surrounds his eyes as though he was born to wear it. It complements the blue in his eyes. James hasn’t seen Reg since he was eleven, and god has he changed. The final thing James notices are the many rings on his fingers.
Lord the things he would let those hands do to him. He wets his lips and Sirius smacks the back of his head just like he had when they were twelve. “No,” he tells him sternly, earning an eye roll from James.
“Well, are we rehearsing?” Regulus asks as he picks up the eclectic guitar.
James is dumbfounded, trying to discover just exactly how Reg had been able to render him entirely speechless simply by walking in the door. Regulus is the best looking person he believes has ever graced him with their presence and he’ll stand by that. He looks godly, and those rings, oh my god. James feels as though he could drown just looking at him.
“James,” Sirius calls and motions for him to stop drooling over his brother and get to drumming. That’s fair, he thinks. Throughout the band, James plays the drums and vocalizes from time to time, Remus is on keyboards, Sirius is the lead singer who also happens to play the bass, and Peter used to be their one and only electric guitarist, but now that he’s in New York with all of the other musical prodigies, that title goes to Regulus.
James shakes out of his daze. “Sorry, I just, yeah I don’t know. I’m- yeah. Anyways, let’s just-”
Regulus rolls his eyes, “Can you shut the fuck up and the start rehearsals? Hearing your voice is majorly pissing me off.” James stares at Regulus in awe.
“Hey..” James says. When he can’t find the words to say anything else his head to Sirius. Regulus looks disgusted and begins tuning his guitar, paying no attention to James whatsoever. James looks between Regulus and Sirius, a silent conversation going on between him and the latter. ‘NO! not my brother.’ ‘but that was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen! How am I supposed to just ignore him?’ ‘I don’t care! find someone else that’s willing to be a dick to you! It shouldn’t be that difficult. The conversation strictly through eye contact was cut off as Remus suggested the boys start rehearsing.
“Okay, what song should we start with?” Remus asks.
“Are You Bored yet?”
~*~
The boys finished rehearsing at roughly three in the afternoon, meaning they had an extra four hours to kill, and that’s how they ended up sitting on the floor of Regulus’s apartment playing ‘Would you rather’ with Barty and Evan.
“Let’s see, would you rather…. be set on fire and you can’t put it out, or drown in the shallow end of the kiddie pool but nobody can help you?”
“What the fuck kind of question is that?” Regulus scoffs at Barty who asked the question.
“It’s literally Would you Rather, just answer the question.” Barty comments, earning an eye roll from Reg.
“He’s got a point mate, it’s quite literally the name of the game,” Dorcas adds.
“Drown, definitely drown. I could not ruin this gorgeous hair because some dumb arse set me on fire.” Sirius runs a hand through his hair as he speaks. This warrants a laugh from Remus.
“No, of course not, because nobody can touch the famous Sirius Black’s glorious head of hair.” Sirius scoffs.
“You did not just insult the hair.”
“Did I? You know, I can’t really remember.” Remus responds.
“You did, you absolutely did.” Sirius deadpans and then with no warning whatsoever, tackles Remus- who lets out a grunt of surprise- to the ground. They pretend to fight for a while, wrestling on the floor, Sirius clearly winning. That is until Remus gains control of his arms and rolls them over to pin Sirius down. They stay like that for a moment, breathless but somehow breathing in sync. The whole room seems to still as Remus and Sirius continue to gaze into each other’s eyes.
“Oh get a room you whores.” Barty shouts and the room erupts into laughter. Remus seems to immediately notice what that had looked like and pulls himself off of Sirius and into a seated position next to him. James could tell he was trying to hide the blush that had since crept up his neck and reached his ears. It’s safe to say that it did not work. He looked like a firetruck.
“Well. I’d rather be set on fire because drowning seems like it would take too long.” Evan states once the room calms down.
“I agree with Rosier, fire would be more reasonable,” Regulus comments earning a bewildered look from his boyfriend. “What, you told me to answer the question. I did that. What do you have against setting people on fire?”
“Reg, Honey, love of my life forever, being set on fire would hurt like a bitch. No way I’m willingly following both of you into flames. Sorry not sorry. I say drowning, seems quite peaceful actually.” Barty responds.
“Drowning? Peaceful? Have you forgotten that I have actually experienced drowning before? It is definitely not peaceful.” Regulus states with a laugh.
“But did you die?”
Regulus scoffs and looks at Barty with a look of pure love. “No-” he starts but is imminently cut off by Sirius.
“But he would have had I not jumped in to save his sorry arse from the shallow end.” he points out earning a scowl from his little brother, and oh, if looks could kill, Sirius would be in hell.
“Well, I’m glad you were there to save him.” Barty comments with a laugh.
“You better be, otherwise you wouldn’t have access to all this” Regulus gestures to himself earning a scoff from Barty.
“Yeah right, If it weren’t for you, I would’ve gone for Sirius. The black genes are something purely magical because what do you mean someone can look like that, and be an actual person?” Barty gestures to both of the Black boys.
“Are you flirting with my brother right now?” Regulus deadpans.
“No, I’m simply saying I would be, had he not saved you from drowning in the kiddie pool.” Barty wraps his arm around his boyfriend and Reg rolls his eyes before leaning closer to him.
“Alright, who’s going next?” Evan asks, distracting himself from the scene in front of him. Evan had been crushing on Barty for nearly two years at this point. As much as he’d like to deny it, he can’t. Typically Barty and Regulus are good at keeping their relationship private, with slight flirting or touches here and there, but they don’t usually flaunt it for everyone to see.
Evan’s grateful for that. Whenever he sees them together his heart seems to break a little bit, he knows he should be happy for his friends, and he is, don’t get him wrong. Evan loves Barty and Regulus, in different ways of course, but he knows that Reg is treating Barty better than he ever could.
In the end, he’s simply not enough. That’s what he tells himself anyway, It’s better than thinking about how Barty just doesn’t want him in that way. Most of the time he hides his pain with humor, cracking jokes that somehow everyone always finds funny, but when it’s just him and his thoughts behind closed doors, in the dead of night, everything he works to hard to make people believe about him comes crashing down.. He knows he’s not enough, he knows that, but oh how he wishes he were.
He knows that Regulus wouldn’t have started anything with Barty had he known about Evans’ crush, but at the time Evan himself wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until he’d seen them together and that pang of jealousy touched him that he realized he liked Barty as more than a friend. If Evan told Reg now that he had feelings for Barty he’d probably back off and let Evan have him. Which is precisely why he can never tell Regulus. He and Barty would never work out anyway. It would ruin their friendship and it wouldn’t even matter because Evan was simply not good enough. It’s as easy as that. Evan’s pulled from his thoughts when someone speaks.
“Fucking shit, our gig is in 30 minutes, we gotta go.” Sirius jumps up and pulls Remus with him who lets out a yelp of surprise. Regulus and James follow them both out the door after saying goodbye to Barty, Evan, and Dorcas.
“Good luck boys!” Dorcas shouts after them.
~*~
“Alright Bexley how we feeling tonight?” The crowd erupts into cheers when they hear Sirius’s voice. “Now, we know you all love Peter, unfortunately though he is unable to be here with us tonight.” he states, and the crowd boos.
“Hey now, we have nothing against Peter, we love Peter. He has his reasons for leaving the band.” James points out.
“However. we’ve found someone willing to stand in for the time being, and I think you’ll be happy with our choices. You know him, you love him, give it up for Regulus Black everybody!” The crowd once again erupts into cheers and someone faintly shouts “I love you” to which Sirius pulls out his charismatic smile and winks at them. James swears he sees them faint.
“The first song we’ll be playing for you tonight is an original.” Sirius speaks again as he plays the opening chords to “Are You Bored Yet.”
By the time the Marauders are halfway through the song James is fully in the zone, he swears he’s drumming better than he has ever, and he’s having more fun than he’s had in years. While on backup vocals he’s perfectly in sync with the rest of the band and they’ve never sounded better. Regulus is truly magical. He looks purely ravishing while he’s focused on the guitar, James can hardly look anywhere else. It’s good that he knows these songs like the back of his hand because if he hadn’t he’d be absolutely screwing this entire thing by staring at his best friend’s brother.
James simply couldn’t pull his eyes away, the way that Regulus’s hands looked as they plucked the strings or the way his dark curls fell in front of his eyes when he got more into the music, the way that his eyes would light up every time the song picked up a bit. It was clear that this was what he loved doing, and James was practically in heaven just watching him.
~*~
As the song came to a close, it brought a small smile to Regulus’s lips. He truly loved playing the guitar. Regulus hadn’t felt this exhilarated since… Well, ever. Not even in his last band, they had never been on the same page and couldn’t make it through one rehearsal without fighting over something, so to find a group of people who match his love of music to the same level and have similar talent is unimaginable.
Sirius takes a breath and creeps closer to the mic. “How’d we feel about that one?” he asks and breaks out into a sly smile as the crowd goes crazy. For a small crowd, they can be loud, and once people heard that Regulus would be covering for Peter, more people began showing up, including fans of his previous band.
“Regulus I love you!” someone yelled and Regulus playfully rolls his eyes. He spots Barty in the audience and as the chords to their next song “Snap Out of it.” are strummed, Reg starts on the electric and winks at him, Barty’s face immediately break out into a grin followed closely by Regulus.
~*~
“Alright, last song of the night folks. Let’s introduce our newcomers to the band shall we?” Sirius shouts into the mic and plays the intro to “The Great Escape”.
When he finishes singing the first lyric he states “I’m Sirius black, lead singer and bassist” He sings a few more lines making his way to Remus as the crowd cheers. He brushes up next to Remus and makes direct eye contact, both boys breaking out into a smile. “And of course, there’s the fantastical Remus Lupin on keyboards!” Sirius blows him a kiss and all that Remus can think to do is catch and pocket it. He thinks the crowd cheers louder than they have all night, Sirius slowly makes his way toward James, leaving Remus to his, once again, crimson colored face.
“Everyone give it up for James Potter, our one and only drummer!” James cracks a smile, enthusiastically drumming out his solo, riling up the crowd even more. Sirius heads to Regulus last and introduces his brother once again who absolutely shreds the guitar and gets everyone in the crowd drooling over him. It’s official, Reg is definitely a fan favorite.
“And we are The Marauders!”
“Throw it away, forget yesterday!” Sirius sings
“We’ll make the great escape!” this time it’s everyone
“And we won’t hear a word they say” Remus continues.
“They don’t know us anyway, Watch it burn, let it die” James adds on
“Cause we are finally free tonight.” Sirius holds out the last note and strums the last chord on his bass. The crowd screams and the entire band has a smile on their face. They haven’t played like that in way too long.
“We’ll see you all next time but for now, we bid you a proper marauders goodbye.” Sirius sticks his tongue out and everyone walks backstage.
~*~
“Regulus oh my god, I knew you could play but Jesus Christ,” Barty says as soon as he finds them backstage. “You just got 10 times hotter.” Barty pulls Regulus into a passionate kiss which he melts into, immediately forgetting about the group of eyes currently watching them.
“Oh get a room, sluts.” Sirius shouts the same as Barty had only a few hours ago, Regulus responds to this with his middle finger, lips not leaving Barty’s for even a second.
“How they survive with no air supply? I’ll never know.” Sirius rolls his eyes and when they finally pull away from each other he asks the question everyone has had on their minds since the first time they played with Regulus.
“So Reggie, what do you say? Wanna be our guitarist?”
“Oh fuck yeah he will, that shit was awesome,” Barty responds for him.
“I guess it wouldn’t be too horrible.”
“Well then welcome to the band, little brother.”