Spectre

Regulus had been stressed out ever since he didn’t kill James Potter. He had a plan, but he didn’t stick to the plan and now their whole mission was at risk. Sirius wasn’t supposed to work on this case, he was supposed to back away, and Regulus was supposed to make him. Instead, he probably only drew him closer to finding out about him. 

He had been visiting James every night since they first spoke. It was over a week ago and Regulus was losing his mind thinking about James Potter. His brain was like a broken record, just James, James James-

He couldn’t help but wonder if the other also thought so much about him? Or did he forget Regulus existed as soon as he was out of the man’s eyeshot? Regulus couldn't bear the thought that James might not think about him as much as he thinks of him. He doesn’t care, the voices said.

Regulus was a serial killer after all. 

James probably hated his guts. 

And well, Regulus did intend to kill him just a week ago. He was watching for a long time. Even before he started a podcast about him. He hated James Potter ever since he became his brother’s best friend. But Regulus doesn’t like to think about his brother. Not now, not ever. 

James Potter deserved to die. 

But then, Regulus met him and oh. He could then understand why Sirius liked him so much. 

Don’t think about him.

James was everything to Regulus now, he had to take him away from Sirius somehow. It was the only way he could hurt him-

Don’t think about him, interrupted his thoughts once again as one lonely tear fell down his face. 

Thanks to Barty's recklessness, Regulus had to take care of the podcast situation on his own. Keeping Evan alive was the stupidest thing Barty could have done, but Regulus couldn’t even get mad at him since he didn’t exactly kill James either, did he? Both of them were idiots.

Now Barty had to keep an eye on their guest and Regulus had to keep James under control. That’s why, once again, he was on James’s balcony, about to come in. James must have been in the shower because Regulus couldn’t see him anywhere inside. He picked the lock and silently slipped inside. 

It turned out James was actually just in the kitchen, too far for Regulus to see from the living room balcony. Well, he may have been able to see him if he didn’t sit in absolute darkness.

“Why are you sitting in the dark, baby?” Regulus said coldly, he tried to sound scary to intimidate James. He had to be scary to get what he needed, but he also liked to use pet names, purely because the flustered expression on James’s face gave him so much joy. 

He had to turn his emotions off while meeting with James, he had to be cold and calculated. No empathy, no sympathy, nothing. It came easily to him, like a second nature, but just as he left James’s flat every night the feelings hit him back like a brick wall. It was not fun. 

But for now he was empty and that was he had to be around James - empty.

“Oh, fuck.” He heard James cursing under his breath as he stood up quickly, his chair falling behind him. “Don’t scare me like that!”

“Am I scary, Jamie?” Regulus knew James hated this nickname, yet he never corrected Regulus using it. He was probably just too scared to, but he liked to think that he was somehow special. 

“Yes! Yes, you are.” He stumbled to turn on the light and suddenly Regulus could see his wide eyes and his heavy breathing. Regulus also might have liked to be the cause of that state. 

“What a bummer. I thought I was quite sweet.” He sat at the opposite side of the table, facing James, looking staring into his soul-

James hummed in response, which, to Regulus, didn’t sound like he agreed. “You don’t think I’m sweet, James?” He made sure to make his tone extra harsh. 

“Not really, no-” Well, it didn’t seem like he considered him scary talking to him like that, did it? Something’s changed-

“No? Look at me now, I’m here to spend time with you, like a sweet person would do.” He pursed his lips.

“You’re a murderer, I don’t even know your name, and you don’t know anything about me. We’ll just sit here and talk about bullshit, then you’ll go and come back tomorrow.” James rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t sound sweet to me. It’s actually tiring”

“I don’t know anything about you? I hunted you down for a reason, James.” He smirked. “I know you had a girlfriend,Lily, but it didn’t work out. I know you two recently bought a house together but you had to move out after the breakup. I know everything about all of your friends, about your family, I know more about Sirius than you do.” 

Well, Regulus was fucked. Why would he say any of that? He was an idiot. He was a loser. He wanted to die. 

He needed to die. Right this second. 

“What do you know about Sirius?” Nothing. Why did he mention Sirius? God, he was so stupid.

“Well, I’m not gonna tell you, am I? We have to get to know each other a little better first.” He tried to sound calm.

“What do you want to know, you already know everything!”

“You can just talk, and I’ll stare at your mouth.” Why did he just say that. Why. Why. Why.

Why.

He needed to die.

“Woah, okay-” James seemed like he had been taken aback. Yeah of fucking course he was you dumb fucking idiot, why would you say that?

“Sorry,” Regulus tried to get himself together. Emotions started to get away from him, it was all too much. It started to burn him from inside. He tried to look composed and cold, he hoped James couldn’t see how he was breaking. “I mean it’s too soon for me to tell you anything.” 

“Even your name?”

“Even my name. I will never tell you my name, it would be too dangerous. It’s enough that you saw my face.”

“Could you at least tell me anything? Like, I don't know a nickname, whatever I can call you?” James’s voice was calmer than before, like something changed. Regulus just didn’t know what. He was too caught up in his external crisis to pay close attention.

“It starts with an A.”

“A,” James repeated, “Great, that’s what I’ll be calling you.”

“A?”

“A.”

“Alright.”

“Alright.”

Silence fell between them and Regulus took it as a cue to go. He was supposed to talk to James about the podcast and the police but he wasn’t in the shape to do that. Instead he just silently got up and left the apartment the same way he got in. 

He went straight back to their hiding place and told Barty everything as soon as he could. Evan was safely locked away at that time, he was quite comfortable, he got his own room, maybe not the best but he had a bed, a dest, some books. everything he could ask for. His phone of course had been confiscated so he had to spend time some other way. 

He complained to Barty that he didn’t like reading but well, guess he has to start to like it. 

“Why would you say any of that?” Barty straight up laughed at him for what he said to James. Real nice.

“I’m not proud of it.” Regulus answered simply. He was actually so ashamed of it he wanted to die. He wanted the earth to break in two and swallow in whole. He wanted to be eaten alive-

“Why do you even care so much, anyway? It’s just Potter, you were supposed to kill him.” Barty said nonchalantly. Of course, it looked so simple to him, yet when it came to Evan he seemed to be in the exact same situation. They were so similar, too similar even. Sometimes Regulus thought they were literally the same person. 

”I don’t know Barty, I’m just invested okay. I mean, James’s something, it may be the wrong thing but it’s something.” 

He’s the only thing I have, except you, he wanted to say. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. 

Also, he didn’t have James, not yet. It would sound stupid. James was just the person Regulus talked to every single night, but he did only since last week. So it was stupid. 

“Does James feel the same?” Regulus didn’t even notice that he was using his first name instead of Potter until Barty pointed it out. He was fucked. He wasn’t supposed to care.

“I don’t think so, no-”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt Reggie and this-”

“He asked me my name today.” Regulus interrupted him. This was important. See, he cares about me, he cares. He wants to know me just as much as I want to know him.

“What did you tell him?” Barty asked. “Please tell me you didn’t actually tell him your name.” Barty frowned. He knew not to trust him when it came to his obsession with certain people, but he was the same way so it was okay. They understood each other.

“Of course not!” Regulus hit him lightly on the shoulder. “I told him it started with an A, so he could have something to call me.”

“A?”

“Arcturus.”

“Right, Archie.” Barty smiled gently at the reminder of the nickname he used to call Reg when they were kids. “Maybe I should start calling you that again, Archie.” He grinned.

“Absolutely not.”

“But you could tell James it’s your name, he would never connect it to Arcturus. No one would connect it to that.” 

Well in theory it sounded like a good plan. No one in their right mind called their kids names like that. A regular person wouldn’t be able to connect it in any way to his real name, but there was one problem-

“Sirius would.”

“You think he’s that smart?”

“I think he’s smarter than you think.” People never gave Sirius enough credit, but he was so smart, smarter than Regulus even. He always knew better. He was the better brother. “Shouldn’t you go check up on Evan?”

“Right, see you in a minute, sugar.” Barty dramatically blew him a kiss.

“Don’t call me that,”

“I will,” he grinned, and left the room to check on Evan.

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Evan was in a bad situation. Really bad situation. He had been kidnapped, thankfully not killed but trapped in some sort of weird bunker. He was almost sure they were underground, there were no windows, everything was so dark and cold, but the room Evan had been assigned to looked quite cozy. He had a bed, a desk and a lot of books. Everything he could ask for in a setting like that.

He had told Barty he didn’t like books but there wasn’t much he could do about it. On the topic of Barty, Evan started to suspect the only reason he didn’t kill him was that he liked him in some way. Maybe a fucked up way, but it was good for Evan. 

Barty was a really weird person, Evan couldn’t quite understand him. He still didn’t meet the other one, Barty had told him he had a partner but he didn’t remember if he ever mentioned his name. He couldn’t bother to focus on details like that. The only thing that mattered to him was survival. 

It wasn’t as bad as he imagined it would be, he could at least catch a break here. Barty wasn’t really as crazy as he first seemed, he turned out to be really nice actually. 

In the real world Evan had a father that hates him, no friends, not even a real job. His father tried to keep him occupied with the organization until he found a job, which he never did. That’s why he was here, Barty captured him on the job for the organization. He promised the boy secrets, but if he had to be honest he had none. Barty probably already knew that.

But he liked him, he wouldn’t get rid of him, Evan liked to say to himself.

“What’s up, Amore mio?” Barty barged into his room like he owned the place. To be fair, he probably did own it-

“I’m fine. Thanks for stepping by.” Evan eyed him carefully. He made sure to be overly polite to Barty, just to stay safe. The boy didn’t like that but Evan preferred to stay safe rather than make Barty happy. Sometimes. Well, at the beginning mostly, now they had more of a friendly kind of relationship.  “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m great,” Barty smiled at him. He looked wrong, something was wrong but Evan couldn’t place it. “What were you reading today, pumpkin?”

“You always use those weird nicknames?”

“Yeah, you don’t like it, angel?” 

“It’s just a bit too much for me.”

“Am I too much for you, doll?” Barty took big two steps into the room and now was standing right in front of him. Too close. “I can stop if you want me to.”

“Really?”

“No,”

“Oh, okay.” He was really flustered by how close Barty was standing. He really didn’t know what to do with himself. “Can you leave now?”

“Do you want me to?” Barty asked and well, that was a good question. Did he prefer loneliness to his company?

“No. You’re better than these boring books.”

“Careful, Reg chose those books for you, call them boring and he might not like you.” A small laugh escaped his mouth. “He’s not as nice as me, just so you know, honey.”

“I don’t think he has good taste in books.”

“No, I agree, just don’t say it to his face.” He tilted his head. “I think you will like him. He’s actually pretty great, you have to believe me. He may seem scary but he’s like a kitten.”

“Good to know.” 

Barty seemed to be thinking about something. “You want to go see the base?”

“Like, right now?”

“Yeah,” he grinned. “Come on, princess. You’ll like it.”

So they went. 

And well, Barty maybe could have been right if Evan wasn’t kidnapped in the first place. If he had gotten to this place on his own. Maybe then, maybe he would have liked it. 

But Barty’s tour of the base was so charismatic Evan couldn’t help but smile from time to time. He showed him everything, from the kitchen to his own room. Evan had a pleasant time, until they stumbled upon someone, who Evan guessed had to be Barty’s partner, Evan still didn’t catch his name. 

“Why isn’t he in his room Barty?” He said coldly. He had a nice voice, it sounded gentle even when he was cold like that, like the fondness he felt towards Barty was hard to hide.

“Chill, Reggie. he lives here now, so I had to take him on a tour.” Barty looked at the other man with puppy eyes and a mocking smile. Even when they seemed to have a disagreement they seemed to be perfectly in sync, like they were made for each other. Evan could only dream of a love like this. 

“You’re so reckless Barty I can’t believe-”

“You’re the one who didn’t kill-”

“You didn’t either so don’t-”

“Oh my God, just shut up, let me have a little fun, baby.” Barty rolled his eyes dramatically at the other boy and that seemed to break the other boy’s cold facade.

“Okay, just be careful,” he responded, his voice a little softer this time.

“I will be, don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours.” He ruffled his hair, which the boy didn’t look too pleased with. “I should introduce you two. Evan, this is the brain of the operation - Regulus, Regulus this is Evan.” Regulus didn’t say anything, just looked at him with empty eyes. Great.

“Hi,” Evan said simply, slightly terrified of the other boy. 

Regulus said nothing.

“It’s nice to finally meet you. Barty said a lot of good things about you.” He tried again.

“Good,” Regulus finally responded. “I’ll see you,” he turned to Barty and with that just walked away.

“He’s a little shy, don’t mind him.” Barty shrugged. 

Regulus didn’t look shy, he looked terrifying, Evan wanted to say, but he was still too scared to be honest with Barty. He was kidnapped. He had to remember that.

He couldn’t get too comfortable. He had to remember. He had to find a way out. 

“You know some card games? I’m shit at cards but maybe it’s better than books.” Barty interrupted his thoughts and well, maybe getting away could wait.