Love, Probably.

The doorbell rang just as Barty and Regulus were settling down to watch Love Hard, a favourite in the Black-Crouch household. Barty groaned as he looked over at Regulus.

“Your turn. I made the hot chocolate.” Regulus said with a grin as Barty extricated himself from the blankets piled on the bed in a little festive nest.

“Because you always say it’s powdery and clumpy when I make it!” Barty sighed. “You’re lucky you’re cute, you know. Keep the bed warm, will you love?” He looked over his shoulder fondly as he headed down to the front door.

When he opened the door, Barty was a little bewildered to see Evan standing there with a strange look on his face, an iPad clutched to his chest, and a Bluetooth speaker in his hand, as snow collected in his hair and on his coat. He looked almost angelic, Barty thought. Evan raised one long finger to his lips and gestured for Barty to be quiet. He hit play on his iPad, and some carol that Barty didn’t know started playing.

“Evan, what are you…” Barty whispered, frowning slightly, but stopped as Evan shook his head and turned the iPad to face Barty.

“Who is it?” Regulus called from upstairs.

Barty’s mouth dropped open. How well did Evan know his husband for him to be able to predict that?

“It’s just carol singers, love.” He called back up the stairs.

“Give them a tenner and tell them to fuck off,” Reg shouted. “Tell them we have Spotify premium and we can listen to carols whenever we fucking want."

Barty snorted, then turned back to Evan. “Well, I’m glad it’s not actually carol singers. They’d be offended as fuck. What’re you doing here, Evan? I didn’t expect to see…”

Evan just shook his head, pointed at the screen and flicked to the next picture.

Barty snorted, “Ah, so you have a thing for married men, then? And here, I thought I was special.”

Evan’s eyes widened slightly, clearly not expecting that response, but he continued flicking through the pictures slowly, giving Barty time to both read and process his words.

“But it’s fine to lie the rest of the year? Noted.” Barty said under his breath. “Not sure it would stand up in court, but… noted."

Barty couldn’t suppress the sharp intake of breath. His eyes flickered from the screen to Evan’s face, set in an unreadable mask. Perfect? Barty knew he was anything but, but the word coming from Evan stirred something in him. Perhaps to Evan he was perfect, a thought that was equally devastating and exhilarating.

“Evan, I—” His voice was barely audible, but Evan kept scrolling.

Barty laughed a little wetly, "Did you draw my hair onto a photo of a mummy? You are... something else, you know that?"

Evan just smiled weakly.

“Merry Christmas, Evan,” Barty whispered as Evan paused the music, put the iPad and speaker in his bag, and nodded resolutely.

“Alright, enough. Enough now.” Evan said under his breath as he turned to leave.

As Evan started to walk away, Barty rushed into the snow, caught him by the arm and pulled him into a searing kiss. Evan thought his heart might burst as Barty pulled him even closer, flush against him as his feelings poured out of him in a way he could never manage with words alone.

As they clung to each other as the snow fell around them, neither of them heard Regulus descend the stairs and it wasn’t until he cleared his throat loudly from the doorway that either of them realised they were no longer alone, and leapt apart.

The bottom fell out of Evan’s stomach. Oh, fuck! How could he have been so selfish? But when he looked up at Regulus, instead of finding a look of hurt, anger or sheer betrayal on his face, he looked fondly exasperated. A look he often gave Barty. A look a lot of people gave Barty, to be fair.

“Well, I suppose you should come in, Ev.” He said with a glance at Barty, who at least had the decency to look a little sheepish, an adorable blush staining his cheeks.

“Reg, I didn’t— Fuck, I’m so sorry.” Evan choked out. “I should never have come here and—”

Regulus just shook his head, then held out his hand. “Shut up, Ev. Come on, I’ll make you hot chocolate and we can watch Love Hard and then I think there’s a conversation the three of us need to have.”

Evan hesitated, looking at Barty who nodded, a smile teasing the corners of his mouth, then took Regulus’ proffered hand and let him lead him into their home, basking in the warmth both of the central heating after being outside in the snow and the burgeoning glow inside him as the anxiety lessened by the second. There was a non-zero chance this could all be ok, and he was going to hold onto it.