Fluffy the plushie
James loves Sirius with all his heart, there's no doubt of that, never has been.
"I don't love you enough to spend a hundred dollars to get you fucking teddy bear, Sirius. There's no way in hell," James says, shaking his head, a smirk on his face because what he just heard it's stupid in dimensional ways, and James has done dimensional stupid things himself before.
"Don't be mean, James," Remus, the so-called most sane of the four of them, snorts, taking a step towards him. But then again, when it comes to Sirius, Remus loses all his sanity very often. "It's not like we can't afford it."
The employee of the stand looks at them with annoyance in her eyes after that comment. As if what she just heard has ruined her morning. However, she says nothing and keeps waiting for them to decirde if they're going to play, participate in the lottery and win some of those stupid prizes.
They’re at their favorite spot ever, the city fair. It is this big themed park with attractions made up for rides, stands, roller coasters, all that kind of stuff. The fair only stays two weeks, twice a year, and James and his best friends go there every single day, like it’s never enough. And they have so much fun every time, even when most of the games are always the same.
Except this time, a new stand has arrived. Sirius was the first one to notice it the second they found themselves in the middle of the crowd, he likes the fair the most, so he has every corner of this place memorized. The stand has a wall full of toys and teddy bears as such, a few of them are very really unique and extravagant, and look- James would have loved to play and spend every single dollar he has just to get Sirius the fucking teddy bear and one for himself if he wanted to, that’s the fun part of it.
What he doesn’t like is that, to play and win the prize, you have to buy a ticket and that is instantly directed to an urn, a small white box that seems to be a lottery box. In a week, like the employee explained to them, two names are going to be selected from the inside and the winners will have to spend two months in a random house very far away. And the time there is televised, like some kind of reality show.
James isn’t okay with that.
Not that he doesn’t like the adventure or the comic part of a small chance of being selected. He just can’t risk being in those kinds of things. Neither does Sirius, but he’s just thinking about the bear and the guitar that is holding on his bear-hands. And surely, he thinks this would piss off his parents. He might be right too.
“Sirius, I can buy you the entire franchise of Metal Teddy Bears, if you want,” James offers, very willing to do so. Not to sound pretentious, but he can. “We can’t participate in this… thing,” he says, pointing at the big banner on Sirius’s side that shows how the house is and all the benefits within, not wanting to offend the already upset girl in front of them.
But Sirius, again, just looks at him with puppy eyes and his hands together on his chest, as if he’s praying. He’s insisting because if one of them doesn’t agree in play, none of them can, that’s an implied condition that they’ve been following for years. And even if they could play without giving a fuck about him, James could never let Sirius put his name on the tickets, it could be a high risk.
“Oh, James. Look!” Peter’s voice makes him look to his left, his blonde best friend is pointing with his arm at the bottom of the banner, James has to frown because he can’t see anything from there, even with his glasses. Sometimes he struggles a little. “The forest that’s close to the house has animals and the show uses the money to make sure they are all okay. That 's so cool.”
Sirius gasps so loudly that they could hear him even with all the noise of the fair around, Remus starts to move a bit, but James doesn't take away his eyes from the banner. There is, indeed, a forest in the picture, is a full pic of it and the house, James thought it was just the design.
How much credibility can it have, though? There is really a forest there? Could it really have animals living there? What kind of animals? Like stray dogs or cats? Or wild animals? How can they take care of wild animals? What does that even mean?
But animals still.
James focuses then, just to see Remus paying the employee with a wad of bills that she takes very happily. “Forty,” Remus says, since they can only play ten times per head. James doesn’t say anything and Sirius throws his arms up to the sky, knowing he won that battle. James can’t refuse, they’re animals.
Peter laughs next to him, very aware of what he just did. If Peter hadn't said anything, eventually they would’ve ended up going somewhere else.
“You just paid four hundred dollars for a teddy bear,” James says quietly, crossing his arms as he stands next to Remus, after they had approached to put their names one by one. They’re a bit far from the game, letting Sirius and Peter play, since both of them are the best at bowling. James is sure that they’re probably going to get more than just that teddy bear.
He doesn't say anything outloud, but why is a stand so expensive in a fair that’s supposedly for children mostly? James is aware that the city they live in is not bad economically, his family – their families – are on that side of the job-world, the businesses. Economics, politics, and all. Also, the Mayor who runs the city isn’t doing a terrible job in trying to make it good for his people, for his actions and connections he has been reelected two consecutive times.
So, it is a wealthy city, yes, but this is still a fair; a single play in a stupid bowling game shouldn’t cost anyone twenty dollars, let alone have a contract attached, or an age limit of eighteen years whatsoever. It’s not inclusive with the population. James is pretty sure that his twelve-year-old self would have been so upset if this stand was there the moment he visited the fair for the first time ages ago.
Remus grins, looking at Sirius’ back, mimicking James’ position. “As if your pretentious ass didn’t offer to buy him the whole franchise.”
James laughs inevitably. He was just trying to escape from that one, it clearly didn’t work. Again, thanks to Peter and his wildness when it comes down to playing. Peter is more composed normally, the next one after Remus, but all of them have exceptions to lose their sanity.
Remus' is Sirius, anything related to him really. At least since he found out how madly in love he was with Sirius around three years ago. Remus “cold-headed” Lupin became very fast Remus “anything for Sirius” Lupin. It’s good, somehow, because Sirius has had James to give him almost everything he needed since they became best friends when they were twelve years old, but what they have is brotherhood; they’re brothers, nothing else. And how Remus acts towards Sirius goes far beyond that, and it’s amazing. James loves that for Sirius, that Remus loves him that way. Though he kind of hates it for Remus, because until Sirius manages to figure out what he feels for him (which James thinks is reciprocated non-platonic love), Remus is suffering imagining his infatuation is one sided.
Peter loses his sanity when they are in places with games to play on. Last year almost created an unhealthy habit of playing poker. He needed a little bit of a lot of help to get over it before it got too serious. Peter doesn’t have a hard life to create a vice to cope with his problems; he just likes it, even when it’s just children’s games. Peter’s family is as normal as a wealthy family can be in this city, or at least in the group of families they tend to be surrounded with. It also helps the fact that he’s the youngest son of three, so the pressure of their jobs and legacy isn’t on his shoulders.
Sirius’ crux, somehow, is his family. His brother, more specially. Actually, it might only be him, not even his entire family at this point. He used to go crazy whenever his parents made him upset and even said something remotely bad to him, and Sirius threw tantrums and pulled pranks anywhere just to get them back. But Sirius has grown to only pester his parents when he feels like having fun. However, anything –good or bad– related to his brother is enough to make him have a bad day and also do stupid things.
James would say that his own crux are the people he cares for. He’d do anything to protect them, though somehow he might have failed Sirius once or twice when they were younger, but he learnt from his mistakes. James doesn’t have much in his life, if he’s honest, so he cares for what’s his, and those are his friends, the only ones he holds on for dear life. First would always be his brother, may not he be by blood, but that’s even better. So, unlike Remus, James has more filters when it comes to Sirius. James cares less about anything when Sirius gets hurt, and cares a lot about everything when something might get Sirius hurt. Weird, and maybe not everyone could understand it, but it works for James, the way he protects Sirius. And he is one that needs protection.
“You better pray that our names don’t get selected, Remus, or I swear I’ll kill you myself.”
The employee warned them that they would have to sign a contract before buying the tickets, establishing that they knew about the implications of buying them and a few more stuff saying that they won’t be able to refuse if they’re selected. James is a chronic worrier, so he thinks, in case Sirius or he are selected, their parents would find a way out, they always do when it doesn’t benefit them, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be in trouble.
James loves trouble, but he doesn’t love it so much when it comes to Sirius’ family. He can handle his parents, but Sirius’? Sirius just keeps trying to catch their attention, putting himself in the worst situations possible. Sirius isn’t stupid, he has already thought of the exact same things that run on James’ mind, but he finds them entertaining, amusing almost. James loves trouble, Sirius loves to challenge his parents. Always doing more.
James isn't into that very much.
But the first time they were thirteen years old and it was a fire alarm going off, while they were visiting the Black’s company with their parents. Sirius grinned and they both pulled the trigger together, it didn’t cause the chaos James expected, everyone moved and walked out calmly, but it did stop an important reunion that their fathers had to postpone.
After a couple of excruciating hours outside the building, and when they realized that there was no fire at all, administration had to check the cameras and it didn’t go well for them. Sirius got it worse, bruises on his back and for some weird reason his mother cut his hair way too short as punishment too. James… Well, his parents locked him in his room all day and it was just a little before noon, so he didn’t have any food until breakfast the next morning. Plus, both of them were grounded for a week, not seeing each other at all.
Did that stop them, though? Absolutely fucking not.
Grounded, punished and maybe sometimes regretting their decisions, they kept messing around for years, nine to be exact. The fire alarm might not be their most original, but it works every single time. For protocol the workers at the company have to leave the building, which stops their jobs and whatever boring shit they were doing. And what their fathers hate most is to waste time. Fire alarm is a good prank whenever they get angry at them out of the sudden; it’s rushed and it doesn’t need premeditated planning.
In their last prank, just a few weeks ago, they caused a fire, a real one. Their fathers forced them to go to the company, to do absolutely nothing, apparently, because all they did was showing off Sirius’ brother around and set him as an example, trying to humiliate Sirius. So, once both fathers and Regulus went to an important meeting with some new investors of theirs, Sirius and James locked themselves in an unoccupied office.
And no one should leave Sirius and James alone with their upset thoughts because it gets awful.
They started a fire, as simple as that, finding the tools they needed in the bathrooms, or the kitchen of the tenth floor; then locked the door once they were sure it would grew bigger and bigger, and got the fuck out of the building. Not because they were afraid, the fire alarm always worked, of course, they tested it! A lot! But seeing the street get crowded with the exasperated workers was a lot funnier to watch sitting in a water fountain across the street.
It cost James his credit cards for two weeks, Sirius a couple of bruises and both –and their families– their trip to Brazil for the summer. It was the first time they canceled a vacation because of a prank, so James and Sirius kind of sweared to each other to never do anything stupid while they were close to travel. It hit them bad losing that one.
“Just relax, James,” Remus suggests, rolling his eyes. How easy for him to say that, he doesn't have mental parents. Just an homophobic one while he’s fully out of the closet, which is no better, but- hey, those are very different situations. “There’s no way you’ll get selected.”
James wonders how many people have bought tickets, how many names are in there, what are the exact chances? His own name is there in ten tickets, not one, or two, ten. Because Remus is a fucking lunatic who couldn’t pay one by one until Sirius’ got the teddy bear. No. He had to go for all of it. Forty tickets. Ten times his name. Ten times Sirius’.
“Sometimes I hate how much you love Sirius, Remus,” he groans in complaint. Remus’ cheeks flush and he softens himself then. “Oh, look at how shy you are now,” James mocks him, pushing his side softly. “I bet you have that franchise of teddy bears bought for him already.”
“Fuck off, James,” Remus grits out, annoyed, but with a phantom of a smile on his face. James, in exchange, laughs very loudly. “Shut up!”
Sirius turns his back because of the noise, his whole face is bright and smiling, while Peter keeps playing. James composes himself instantly, as Remus gets tense. “What’s so funny?” Sirius asks with a frown, but still very happy.
Alright, buying the tickets may have been worth it. Sirius’ happiness is always worthy of every trouble they can have in the aftermath.
“Nothing,” James shakes his head. “How is it going?”
Apparently, Sirius has already won the pink teddy bear, with the first ten tickets; and Peter is trying to get one minion plushie that Sirius selected for James. They joked about how the minion and James look alike.
A few while later, Peter wins it and gives it to him, as promised, and there go another ten tickets. After that, Sirius gets Remus a smiley half-moon plush, and it’s big, as a thanks for buying all the tickets. James can’t help but laugh at the scene, especially at how Remus blushes and almost stutters his thanks, even Peter chuckles in silence. The only blind there is Sirius, who just turns around and decides to get one more for Peter, ignoring completely how flabbergasted he’s just left Remus, as usual.
It takes only five rounds to get Peter an avocado plushie he liked. When they're about to leave, prizes in their hands, the employee informs them that there are still five tickets left to use. Remus tries to say it’s enough for them, but Sirius shuts him up nicely, lifting up his palm. A mischievous grin on his face.
“I think I can get one for my baby brother.”
Oh.
Regulus opens the door of his house with an absent amusement, unlikely of him this time, and his friends notice it.
“What’s wrong with your face?” Barty asks the second he sees Regulus, before letting himself into the house, not caring for an invitation, but Barty knows he doesn’t need one.
Unlike her twin, Pandora smiles at him first, but decides to pull out a plushie? straight into Regulus’ face. “Look what Barty got me at the city fair.”
Regulus frowns. Taking a step back, looking better at the thing. It’s a penguin, a normal penguin that has Pandora smiling like a child.
“Did you bribe him?” Regulus asks genuinely, closing the door behind them once Pandora gets in.
They walk through the hallway, not knowing exactly where to go, Barty could be anywhere at this point, he moves around like a worm. He doesn’t even care if Regulus’ parents are around, he just acts as this is his house too. It doesn’t bother Regulus, really, but it does upset his mother sometimes, though she would never, ever, make a face to Barty, or Pandora in any case. Regulus’ mother knows better than to disrespect the Mayor’s children.
Pandora laughs, hugging the penguin for the last time when they get into the living room and she throws the plush to one of the couches, Regulus is very sure it fell down, but Pandora is long gone to tell her that. She also likes to walk around like a worm, especially when they have to search for her brother.
“I did not!” She says once Regulus matches her pace, they’re going to the kitchen now. “But we did bribe the lady on the stand. Well, first we tried to bribe her into giving it to me just like that, but she refused, so we had to play her stupid game. Did you know we’re awful at bowling?”
Pandora laughs loudly when Regulus nods. He’s not much of a talker, especially when he feels down, like he’s feeling now, so he appreciates that Pandora is there to distract him. “I did know, yeah. You should have taken Dorcas with you.”
They planned to go to the fair today, the twins, Dorcas and Regulus; like they always do. Regulus doesn’t like it very much, since it’s a crowded space, too many bodies and too much noise; and finds stupid most of the games. He goes the very first day, just to spend time with his friends, but the rest of the two weeks is like it doesn’t exist for him, even when the only thing his older brother talks about is that stupid place.
Regulus is pretty sure his friends don’t like it much either, but the twins enjoy cheating and making fun of other adults that somehow are bad at children’s games. Dorcas only goes when she has a date to go with, she says it’s better than going to the movies or to eat something, but otherwise doesn’t find it entertaining.
Regulus had a bad morning today, and last night he slept really badly, so he decided to tell them to go without him. Better that than ruin the mood.
“Oh, but we did, we just lost her at some point and when we texted her, she said that she was already at home. Can you believe it?” Pandora says and Regulus can, actually, believe it, Dorcas isn’t much a fan of crowded spaces either, but daylight spaces, she loves parties at least, or concerts.
They open the door of the kitchen, just to find it completely empty. Regulus wonders where Minnie, the woman in charge of cooking, is; probably the garden, she likes it there. Pandora sighs, tilting her head back. “Where the fuck is this guy?”
“Let’s go to my room,” if Barty isn’t there, he could be at Regulus’ study room, but is not likely. He once went there and found Regulus’ father searching for something in Regulus’ bookshelves, and it was weird so Barty hasn’t come back since. They both turn around and go to the stairs, not so far from there. “So, Barty won?”
“At his fiftieth attempt almost.”
Regulus doesn’t move after that. “Sorry?”
Pandora stops walking too, turning to see him. “What? I told you we’re bad at bowling.”
“Why didn’t you just give up? Is a stupid penguin, Dora.” Regulus finds that very funny, especially when she lifts up her perfect eyebrow and looks at him with a smirk. “Right, you’re not a quitter, neither is Barty, but fifty times is still a lot.”
“Oh, I know, Reg. But after the twentieth attempt, we asked for one more ticket and she denied it to us.” Pandora makes a disgusted face, clearly, not knowing the word no. “So, Barty took it personal and bribed her by paying twice the price per ticket.”
“What?” Regulus repeats, his feet still stuck on the floor. “How much was it?”
“I’m not sure, but a lot, I bet.” Pandora laughs and makes him a sign to keep walking, so Regulus follows. “It was ten dollars per ticket at first, and we paid twenty at that price. So, it was two hundred dollars, but then it was double with almost twenty five more tickets, how much is that?”
“Five hundred dollars, Dora, plus the first two hundred.”
Pandora just chuckles and shrugs as if it is nothing. And it isn’t. Regulus knows that. It’s not even the entire allowance their father gives them for a week, each. Is not even that much for Regulus himself, he has wasted way more in one night out too, but Regulus just can’t believe how irresponsible that is, almost a thousand dollars for just a plushie. What Regulus spends at least gets him wasted, that penguin is now on the floor of his living room and there’s a high probability that Pandora isn’t going to remember to take it with her before going home later.
“Ha, he’s expensive, isn’t he?” She jokes amused, as they finish their way through the stairs, going to the right, Regulus’ bedroom is the last one through the hallway, the one in front of his is his brother’s. They find lottery when the door is opened and they catch a glance of Barty lying on Regulus’ perfect tidy bed, he’s resting peacefully with his hands on his stomach and his eyes closed.
Pandora walks like a tornado and throws herself next to him on the bed, making him jump terrified. Regulus laughs at that, leaning on the door frame, crossing his arms. Few things bother Barty as much as his sister. He looks at her mad, now sitting on the bed.
“Are you insane, Pandora?” Barty grits out and she laughs, again. Her two braids extended on the pillow under her head.
They’re very lookalike, since they’re twins is kind of obvious, but apart from the same facial structure, the brunette hair, though Pandora is lately thinking of going blonde, and tanned skin, their personality is exactly the same. Unluckily for their father, the Crouch twins are chaotic as fuck. Wherever they go there is a problem, noise and disorder. Pandora looks insane, messy most of the time, her laugh is terrifying when she’s being mischievous. Barty is the headmaster of the plans, who has the ideals of a rebel. They never follow the rules or care about what people think, not even their father. Not that their father forces them to care either.
Regulus was raised to follow the rules, to be perfect and stay still when it was needed. He enjoyed being a little statue next to his mother’s legs at such a short age, because that implied not talking to anyone and definitely not smiling. His parents had a rough time back then trying to convince people that he didn’t smile because he was just shy, but he was following rules. His brother’s rules.
Before Sirius turned out to be a pain in the ass, they used to help each other in a lot of things. Sirius's advices helped Regulus survive a lot of events and dinners they went to, but one thing was always clear: smiles were only for real people, and none of those people were real for Regulus, or Sirius.
Regulus saw, one night, two little kids sneaking out from the place where a party was being thrown, and a few moments later the fire alarm went off. In the panic of it, no one saw the smirks on the kids’ faces once they got back running, but Regulus saw. And they met in school after that, Regulus recognized them, and watched them, staring curiously at them. Until they saw him and approached.
They became friends instantly, Pandora and Barty were the funniest people Regulus had ever known, also they were the mayor’s children, but who cared about that. Barty and Pandora were the first real people Regulus met outside his house.
His parents, and even Sirius, who had no business in Regulus’ life at that point; tried to talk him out of it. They said that the twins were messy and only caused problems, but he begged. Regulus begged his parents to not have a say in that. They accepted, at the end, just because Regulus never caused problems himself, and thought that they could always prohibit him from spending more time with them if something went wrong.
Regulus is sure that getting their approval, upset Sirius a bit, because he never had the chance for that, to ask for anything and have them agreeing, but it didn’t matter, because Regulus won that battle.
Regulus has never participated in anything in particular, the twins have their own ways to do their things and never involved Regulus before, they are very aware of the implications of it, and they love Regulus enough to not make him go away by his parent’s orders.
But as alike as they are, everyone can find them very often annoyed with the other.
“You’re such a baby, Barty, honestly,” Pandora snorts. “I was just telling Reg how much we spent without him.”
“Seven hundred dollars for a plushie,” Regulus remarks, watching how a slow smile appears on his friend’s face. “I know money grows in your garden’s trees, but it’s still a waste.”
“Hear me out, Reg,” Barty lifts his hands in the air, grinning. “My baby sister wanted a plushie and the lady said no to her, I couldn’t accept that. I had to do everything I could.”
“You just didn't want her to see you fail,” Pandora points out.
She stopped arguing about her being the baby sister a few months ago, their father finally confessed the truth, after nineteen years. Barty, in fact, was born ten minutes before Pandora. Barty literally threw a party after that statement and Pandora pulled out a prank for him, with Dorcas help. Funny week for Regulus, he has to admit.
“That too,” he accepts. “It worked, got her number.”
Regulus rolls his eyes as he walks towards the bed, just to sit in the end, looking at them.
“Why didn’t you come, Reg?” Pandora asks softly. Regulus thinks she just uses that side of her when talks with him, or sometimes with Dorcas, Pandora is not much of a sensible, calm person. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah, I just didn’t sleep well last night. Sirius and dad got into an argument at dinner and it pissed me off.”
And Sirius didn’t show up for breakfast, so it made things worse. Regulus had to hear for more than an hour how disappointed his parents are, and also how glad they are that Regulus never caused problems for them like Sirius. The same speech they say everytime Sirius does something wrong.
Regulus doesn’t mind, really, when their parents point out Sirius’ flaws, but it gets him really tired.
Every time Sirius fucks something up, Regulus gets more weight on his shoulders, because his parents expect much more from him every single time. And Regulus himself makes his mission to get better every time, but better in an excruciating and not healthy way, because he has to prove he is better than him, that he can be better than whatever they expect Sirius to be. And it’s not like Sirius stays still and behaves really often.
“What for?” Barty asks simply, ruffling his own hair. He likes it messy, pointing in every direction possible. “What did he do?”
“Joked about getting a shared apartment with his friends, or at least I think it was a joke, but dad went mad, saying that getting a place with those people would only make him worse. And for those people he didn’t mean Potter, obviously, but the other two, Lupin and Pettigrew.”
The reason why his parents don’t like Sirius’ friends is still a secret for Regulus. Lupins and Pettigrews have always been part of the sacred group of the twenty eight more powerful families of the city. They run the market, the business, the politics, they are important people. It’s like a legacy established probably since the foundation of the city. Blacks are in too, obviously, they’re one of the most ancient families of the group, alongside Pettigrews.
Actually, the ones that are not really in it are the Potters, since they are not from the city.
They moved a decade ago, though they were also important people in their country, Mexico. However, their connection with the Blacks made them important, so they can not be in the group of the twenty eight, but are considered an important family too.
Having said that, it’s been a year since his parents asked Sirius to cut ties with Lupin and Pettigrew. Which was a weird thing to say in the middle of breakfast and after years of being okay with their friendship. Because they were more than alright with Sirius getting along with rich kids, especially members of those high families.
Unlike the twins, who might not be part of the 28, but are the Mayor’s children still, Lupin and Pettigrew never showed bad behavior. It wasn’t rare, well behavior is instructed to them since the moment they were born, probably to all the kids growing in these families. So yes, their parents were thrilled with their friendship, it seemed to be the only thing Sirius made right for their parents in his entire life, but something changed someday. They tried to force Sirius to cut ties with both of them, the Potters had the same argument too. It didn’t work. It would have been funny for Regulus, but it didn’t happen. Both Sirius and James stood on their feet and refused to do it.
Rough times for both families, rougher than ever, actually; and there’s still tension in his house whenever Sirius brings them up without noticing.
That was the heat of the argument last night, because Sirius knows that things are delicate and somehow manages to make it ten times worse by saying he wants to move out with the friends his parents clearly don’t like anymore.
It was a mistake, Regulus noticed it, Sirius didn’t mean it this time, causing a fight. It just slipped out. Bad for him, really. Regulus at least knows what that feels like, getting their friends judged by their parents.
“Have I ever said I like Pettigrew?” Pandora adds, shrugging when Regulus frowns. “He’s not that bad, he’s funny.”
“He’s dumb, Dora,” Regulus corrects, as a general thought. He doesn’t like Sirius' friends very much, Lupin and Pettigrew. He pretended to like them, just because it was quite funny how mad it drove Potter, but they were truly annoying, so his act lasted just two months after they met, before he acted towards them the same way he acted with the other one, as if they don’t even exist. “The only one worthy of a little attention is Lupin, he’s grown to be quiet.”
“Unlike Potter,” Barty hisses, rolling his eyes. “I’m with your old man with this, those guys are a bad influence for Sirius, including glasses.”
Regulus can’t even think about that guy without feeling the annoyance irradiating off of his body, he’s glad he shares that with Barty.
Pandora mocks him, making a face behind him. “I would take a shot with Potter, he’s cute.”
“I feel sick,” Regulus says immediately, turning his face to pretend he’s throwing up. “Why would you say that?”
“Is true!” She laughs diabolically, blinking with a fake enamored face. “Is he single, Reg?”
Regulus looks at her brother, wondering if she has just lost her mind. It seems like it. Barty also looks at him, completely horrified.
“What is wrong with you?” Barty asks, remarking every word.
“I’m not joking. But I would try Pettigrew first, to be honest. I like them funny,” she says looking at her nails, as if it’s an appropriate conversation to have in front of her brother, who Regulus thinks is more disgusted by the thought of her sister hitting on anyone, than for them being Sirius’ friends, like Regulus is. “If it doesn’t work it would be Potter. If that doesn’t work, I would go with Lupin, and stop there because Sirius sometimes reminds me of Barty and I would rather die than hit on Sirius.”
That last part is true, Sirius and Barty are very similar in the way they act. Sometimes Regulus wonders why he can bear Barty but not Sirius, then remembers that Barty doesn’t make his life a living hell and his thoughts are cleared.
“I think Pettigrew is dumb enough to get hit on by you,” Regulus says, giving up, Pandora doesn’t take it as an offense. “And as far as I know, Potter is booked already.”
All the things Regulus has learned about James Potter were against his will. Sirius just never shuts the fuck up.
James’ parents are playing matchmakers between their only son and some girl whose last name Regulus has never heard before so it must be no one that important.
Barty lets out a laugh while Pandora boos, none of them ask, they don’t really care about James’ life and don't necessarily have to listen about it, unlike Regulus.
“What about Lupin?” Barty asks then, leaning with a grin on his face. “Is he booked too, Reg?”
Regulus has to roll his eyes, inevitably, clicking his tongue. It’s different when Pandora jokes about liking one of Sirius’ friends, because first and foremost, she’s a lesbian. But with Barty, it is different. Remus Lupin was Barty’s gay awakening back in high school, which he didn’t confess until Sirius and his friends finished school, leaving Regulus and his group there for one more year. So, it’s more realistic. And weird.
“He’s not, I don’t think so,” Regulus answers dryly, looking away which only makes Barty and Pandora laugh harder. “Stop, please.”
“Don’t get jealous, Reg!” Barty says grinning and starts to crawl towards him, Regulus frowns and leans back. “You know I only have eyes for you.”
“Stay away. Barty.”
Under the sound of a maniac Pandora’s laugh, Barty gets so close that Regulus inevitably falls from the bed graciously, and Barty follows him, until he’s on top of Regulus, kneeling between his legs. “Come on, Reg, give me a kiss.”
“Stop!” Regulus chuckles, putting his hands on Barty’s face, trying to avoid his mouth as he closes his own eyes. “Barty!” he grits out when his friend starts to tickle his stomach with his hands. Regulus enjoys it, having a laugh, being touched, even hearing Pandora cheering for her brother. “I swear, I’ll kill you after this,” he says almost without breath, trying to push Barty, but he just keeps going.
“First the kiss, you know you-“
“Reg, did you- What the fuck?”
Barty stops moving finally and Regulus shuts up, feeling cold, especially on his back, and not precisely because of the floor underneath his body. He frowns as he looks up at his right, Barty doesn’t let go of him, between Regulus' open legs, too close to him, and still with his hands on Regulus’ thighs.
The door is open and his brother’s standing on the frame, looking very much surprised at how Regulus is on the floor, he’s holding the stupid penguin plushie he probably found in the living room, and James Potter is behind him, with a confused stare.
Nobody moves.
“What?” Regulus asks, tense, getting a little up until he’s resting his weight in his elbows.
Sirius’ frown intensifies and gives a fast look at James behind him, who just keeps staring at Barty. That rivalry of theirs, that has been driving Regulus crazy for years now, reflecting in their eyes. Regulus doesn’t have to look to be sure that Barty’s enjoying his place between his legs. “What are you doing?” Sirius asks finally, suspicious.
“‘Bout to fuck.”
“What do you think?”
Pandora and Barty answer respectively at the same time and chuckle together. Regulus just rolls his eyes.
“Either tell me what do you want or get the fuck out of my room, Sirius, before I kick you out myself.”
He notices how Sirius blinks twice.
Regulus has always wondered if Sirius thinks Barty is his boyfriend. Once he even though about what he could say about Regulus being gay, which is a secret shared only to his closest friends, but after a couple of minutes without figuring out an scenario, Regulus realized he really doesn’t give a fuck about what his brother thinks. That’s why he’s still lying shamelessly on the floor, letting Barty touch him like he always does.
“Did you go to the fair?” Sirius shows them the plushie on his hands. “We found this in the living room.”
“Fluffy!” Pandora, sitting now in the bed, extends her arms, asking for the penguin who apparently has a name now. “It is mine.”
Sirius just throws it to her, without moving much and she catches it, just to let it down on the bed like it’s nothing. Barty laughs to her disinterest. Maybe now that they know its value, they care even less.
“Anything else?” Regulus asks shortly, but his eyes are on James, who looks at him now. What’s the whole point of him being in his room? Sirius could have come alone, but no. God forbid James to leave Sirius’ side for a single minute.
The only person who annoys him more than Sirius, with his stupid fucking glasses and stupid curious eyes and stupid grin, and stupid face overall, James Potter in the flesh.
“Got you something from the fair,” James says, lips twitching up. “Sirius won it for you.”
Sirius, with that usual grin of his, takes what James had hiding behind his back, and extends it with both his hands. Another plushie.
A small, pink and glittery unicorn plushie. It's the size of a hand and it’s smiling at Regulus the same way James smiled whenever he tried to act like an innocent kid when they were children. Disgusting.
“You liked unicorns until you were ten.”
Regulus is pretty sure he’s going to kill Sirius one day, and that’ll be sooner than later. Way too soon.
For the record, he didn’t like unicorns. In fact, he was terrified of them, but just until he was seven. Sirius knows that.
“I don’t want it.”
Neither Sirius or James’ smiles fade. “It is a gift.”
“You can’t return a gift,” James ends the phrase, just for Regulus’ blood to start boiling inside him.
“Catch,” Sirius says before throwing the unicorn across their short distance.
Regulus flinches and closes his eyes, anticipating the moment where the thing falls in his head, since he can’t really catch it because of the position he’s in. But it never comes. Instead, Barty moves faster and catches the unicorn in a second, just to throw it back and above his head, more precisely at Pandora, who also catches it in the air, sitting in the bed and manages to throw it out of the window of the room effortlessly.
Pandora hisses falsely and pouts. “Oops.”
Feeling not sorry at all, Regulus looks back at his brother the exact moment he rolls his eyes. James, instead, looks slightly impressed. “Anything else?”
“No,” Sirius answers in a huff, shaking his head. “I’m going to be downstairs with the guys. We’re ordering pizza, in case you want some.”
“Imagine ending up with food poisoning,” Barty jokes and only Pandora laughs, though Regulus finds it funny too, because it happened before.
Sirius’ and Regulus’ friends had never liked each other, especially Barty and James. So, in high school, they used to pull pranks on each other all the time.
One of them was Sirius and his friends offering pizza in the afternoon, a day that both groups happened to be in the house at the same time, and later Regulus got calls from his friends dying of food poisoning, obviously blaming James. Sirius confessed it was Remus’ idea actually, but it didn’t matter, all of them worked together, so it was everyone’s fault.
Though Sirius never let the pranks affect Regulus, because that day he knew Regulus was having a stomachache and wouldn’t be able to eat the pizza, so he wouldn't have been a victim.
Sirius knew he wouldn’t escape the punishment from his parents if his little brother ended up ill, dirty or with detention at school; last one happened a lot. Their parents would have killed Sirius first, then taken care of Regulus.
“We’re a bit old to be pulling pranks anymore, Crouch, don’t you think?” James says, leaning on the door’s frame just to get to Barty.
“Playing mature now, Potter?” Barty whistles. “Doesn’t suit you at all.”
James is everything, but mature. Regulus knows that very well, he practically lives James’ immaturity on a daily basis.
“He can pretend all he wants,” Pandora adds her opinion to the party, “but not even that will get Regulus’ approval. So lame.”
Barty laughs, agreeing with her and Regulus tries his very best to not smile.
Regulus has never liked James, not when Sirius told him about that new friend he made while Regulus was away visiting their grandma in Rome, not when he met James personally once he got back, not when James and Sirius spent every single afternoon together and Sirius tried to include Regulus too, not in all those years they studied in the same school. Not even when James did everything he could to make Regulus like him.
James tried a lot, for years, probably until he started college, except messing with Regulus’ friends, that was one thing apart (that only made Regulus dislike him more). But it was useless in the end, Regulus has hated James since the first mention of his name when he was eleven years old, very few people know why. Those people being the twins, Dorcas and, shamefully, his parents.
James never felt ashamed of his attempts. His twelve year old self claimed, after Regulus made it very clear that he didn’t want James anywhere near him, that it was fundamental for him to be liked by his best friend’s brother and he would do everything to accomplish it. Again, useless. But James is still not ashamed, though it seems that he had dropped his mission a few years ago, since he started college.
So, he only smiles sarcastically at both twins.
Sirius sighs, annoyed, “do you want pizza or not?”
“No,” the three of them answer instantly, composing themselves like robots. “Just stop bothering us. Go,” Regulus adds, feeling pain in his arms, so he leans forwards more, until he’s sitting completely. Barty is still close to him and he runs his hands through Regulus’ thighs. Sirius narrows his eyes.
“Call me if you need anything. I’ll just be downstairs.”
“You already said that,” Barty points out, as if it was directed to him.
“Did I?”
“We’re not going to murder him, you know?”
“Not yet, at least, we’re not that bored,” Pandora adds and Sirius makes a weird face, James seems to want to laugh, but he would never laugh at anything they say.
Regulus gets on his feet fastly, just to walk towards the door and close it in his brother’s face, without caring if it hurts him. It seems like it does, though, judging by how Sirius curses loudly, just before stepping away from his door.
Barty is already in the bed when Regulus turns around, in the exact position they were before. He feels his head hurting again as he approaches them, just to fall in the bed with his face buried in the mattress, he feels the twins lying down on his sides.
“Can someone please call Dorcas and tell her to bring her soul here?” Regulus says, his voice muffled by the mattress, but very clear still.
“Of fucking course,” Barty says.
On speaker, the call with Dorcas is very short, she accepts immediately when Barty reminds her that Regulus is feeling a bit down today. They care too much, Regulus knows, which doesn’t match with their rebel personality, and he loves them for it, their company and care is all Regulus needs sometimes.
After that, Barty and Pandora talk about their day and their plans for summer vacation. They don’t plan on traveling so soon, not at least the first month, which is a relief to Regulus because he knows he won’t go anywhere at all. Sirius and James pulled out a prank in the wrong place (their fathers’ company) at the wrong time (they were having an important reunion), and since it was a week before the end of the semester at college, the four of their parents decided to cancel all travels planned with anticipation. They were supposed to be in Brazil next week, but now they won’t and it’s all thanks to the childish decisions Sirius is still making, forgetting he’s fucking 21 years old.
“Oh, Dorcas is outside” Pandora notifies, starting to stand up. “I’ll go.”
Regulus wants to tell her it’s not necessary, Sirius can open the door, he’s already there, but Pandora runs from the bedroom in a heartbeat.
“Why does she have so much energy?” Regulus complains, looking at the ceiling now, with pillows under his head and Barty next to him.
Barty is lying on his side, but holding his head with his hand, while the free one is on Regulus' stomach, caressing him, Regulus plays with his fingers from time to time. Sometimes he also needs that intimacy.
“Don’t know, she drives me crazy,” Barty sighs and Regulus chuckles. “Oh, a laugh! A kiss for a laugh.”
Regulus rolls his eyes but smiles anyway, letting him lean down.
A kiss for a laugh started as a joke, when Barty and Regulus had a crush on each other in second year in high school. Yes, Barty had a crush on both Lupin and Regulus at the same time, it didn’t matter to him.
Regulus was having a rough time and was always very sad or grumpy about everything, so Barty tried to hype him up all the time. The first time they kissed both of them were alone and Regulus was laughing really hard for the first time in weeks thanks to Barty, so he connected the dots (there were no dots to connect, he just wanted an excuse) and thought it would be funny to steal a kiss from Regulus every time he was feeling down and Barty made him laugh, as a reward.
The crush on each other stopped eventually, because they saw each other better as friends, but the joke persisted.
Regulus holds Barty’s cheeks to keep him close, not letting it be just a press of lips, and Barty gets it instantly, opening his mouth as Regulus opens his, brushing their lips together. Barty’s hand stays on his stomach and presses there, as both of Regulus' hands lift to Barty’s neck. His lips are a common zone by now, he knows how he kisses, how he bites, how he sighs and groans, and Barty always knows what Regulus needs, but sadly, what Regulus needs right now is more than a kiss and Barty won’t be able to do more than that.
Not with his sister smashing the door open, making them jump and Barty fall from the bed. Dorcas and Pandora don’t move after noticing what they just interrupted and Regulus sees down from the border of the bed. Barty fell on his back, probably smashing his head. He has his eyes closed and a frown, one of his hands touching his forehead.
“You okay?” Regulus asks softly.
“I just hit my fucking head, Regulus, do you think I’m alright?”
Regulus snorts, trying to cover his laugh, but who doesn’t even attempt to hide it is Pandora, they hear her clear and loud. When he turns his head a bit, he sees Dorcas bending down with her hands on her knees. Oh, yeah, she’s laughing her ass off too.
No one is surprised, clearly, both of them know that Regulus and Barty sometimes hook up, when they feel like it and no strings attached. They’re still friends, because Regulus just looks out for it when he needs to feel anything; and, apart from not wanting a relationship at all, Barty’s a very horny guy, he’s always willing to do anything Regulus asks.
It works out for them.
It takes them a while to recover and to be in the bed again, a grumpy Barty included, who now is aware that Regulus needs to be touched, so he doesn’t exactly deal with it, instead, he says: “Dora, Reg wants to cuddle.” Barty isn’t a physical touch kind of person, unless it’s sex related, but Pandora is, that’s why she rushes to sit next to Regulus and makes sure that she’s fully leaning on him. It doesn’t bother him like it would usually do, he appreciates the gesture.
Dorcas, on the other hand, while she opens the pizza and sushi boxes that Pandora asked for in the call, asks gently.
“Do you need something else, Reg?” When he shakes his head and hums, she adds: “your brother looked at me very annoyed when I arrived, what happened?”
They met Dorcas a few months later after they became friends, the twins and Regulus, she was transferred to their school. It was her first day and somehow managed to get detention for calling a girl stupid in front of the whole class, teacher included, and Pandora got detention too after she said “hell, yeah”, just because the victim of their verbal assault was… an attention seeker, Regulus would say. Then a guy started whistling for them to start a bigger fight and Barty went on and called him a dick, honestly he only wanted to get detention too; they twins moved together back then. And no, Regulus did not get detention; he knew better. But the twins befriended Dorcas and later she was a member of their small group.
The Meadowes are not part of the sacred families, but right after she transferred, Regulus got knowledge of her father being a new important investor in the Black’s company. So yes, his parents like Dorcas. And she has lost her explosive temper too.
“He offered pizza first, but we couldn’t risk food poisoning again, and I wanted you to come, so,” Regulus shrugs, accepting the slice of pizza Barty offers him, sitting in front of him. “He must be mad, I don’t care.”
Honestly, he doesn't want to talk about Sirius in a week, he knows it’s not possible, but he can dream.
“Did you know that the four of them have their own plushies and are eating with them?”
Regulus looks at Pandora fast, faster than ever, unlike Barty who slows down his moves, stopping chewing, Dorcas just agrees with a chuckle.
“What do you mean? How are they eating with the… plushies?” Barty asks his sister, pure disbelief on his face.
“They’re sitting on the table and the plushies are there too and each has a plate in front of them, with pizza.”
“I swear I didn’t laugh out of pure respect for their dignity.”
“That’s why I rushed to get in! I wanted to tell you that” Pandora remembers, opening her mouth, discovering the eighth wonder of the world. “I wanted to say that your brother and his friends are five years old and we should take a picture of it.”
And they run, never so fast and never so quiet, getting out of the bed and the room after. Barty on the head has his phone with the camera ready, going silently through the stairs, following him is Regulus. Pandora and Dorcas are a bit behind, since they can’t help their giggles and already saw the show.
Barty stops abruptly when they hear their voices through the hallway, talking about what they’re going to do tomorrow, probably go to the fair again, or the movies. Regulus has a glance at them as they walk closer, he knows Barty has taken the picture already, before Regulus could have a full view of the scene.
But he does, and is wonderful.
The table is big, enough for ten people, even when they’re just four, their mom thought it would be necessary if their family ever come for lunch or their usual Sunday dinners with the Potters. Regulus can’t argue, because she’s completely right, it is necessary. Sirius used to complain about how big it was and for nothing, but he’s giving it a good use now.
He can’t see their faces, just their backs, but definitely can see the plushies that are in front of them, almost from the same family as Pandora’s penguin. Pettigrew is in front of a smiley avocado, Lupin has a moon? (it’s not even cute), Potter has the single-eyed minion and Sirius, as extravagant as he is, clearly has a pink teddy bear with a guitar on its hands, very rocky. The unicorn that’s probably dead in their front yard might be a cousin of that bear, they’re lookalike.
“That’s why Sirius was asking about Fluffy the plushie” Barty whispers. “He wanted him for their party!”
Regulus has to cover his mouth and nose to not make a sound, closing his eyes too.
His older brother is having a tea party with his friends and stuffed animals and a moon as if it’s something they do every day, how bizarre that can be.
“Let’s go, before they notice us.”
Listening to Barty, Regulus follows him to the same path they came, finding Pandora and Dorcas halfway.
“Did you take it?” Pandora asks, her eyes shine when Barty nods. “Let’s post it everywhere!”
They run again towards the stairs and directly to Regulus bedroom, making sure to lock the door and the window this time. They laugh as they post it in every single social network they know and tag the protagonists of the picture. Except for Regulus, he doesn’t use his social media to post anything and even if he did, he wouldn’t be allowed to embarrass his brother publicly.
“Couldn’t find the @ of their plushie friends, feel free to tag them!” Barty put it as the caption.
All of them are pretty sure that the pic is getting attention very fast since the twins’ accounts are followed by at least a thousand people each and Dorcas’ is followed by a lot of people from their university, the one where Sirius and his friends study too, in the same career as them. They would be recognized and hopefully ashamed.
They just keep eating in silence, waiting. Knowing they did something bad, they wait. And wait. And wait.
Until…
“Regulus Black!”
The laughter breaks inside the room as the door keeps being slammed again and again by his brother.
“I’m going to fucking kill you, you dick! Get your ass out here, now! Fuck, Regulus!”
Regulus’ day has gotten a million times better.