Chapter 1
James and Sirius were best friends. Alright? Everyone knew that. They had known each other since they were ten years old in Hockey practice, and became inseparable since. So inseparable that they even applied to the same university so that they could see each other every day. When Sirius was sixteen, he moved in with the Potters and their bond only grew. Their bond was close to a brothers bond. That’s why when James found out Sirius had a brother, he was flabbergasted. The brother he never had already had his own brother? It stung. And to make matters worse, he found out about this six years after their friendship began.
This was because apparently Sirius didn’t want James to worry about his life back home. Which, naturally, made James even more worried. Nevertheless, after this huge revelation, Sirius cried in James’ arms and told him about the tortures he had to go through at home, and what led him to his house. That’s when he found out about Regulus.
Regulus was Sirius’ baby brother, or that’s how Sirius put it. Apparently he agreed with everything their parents did and said, but Sirius was convinced he still had good in his heart. Of course, he never admitted this, but James could tell by just looking at the small glint of hope on Sirius’ eyes when he talked about his brother.
Sirius never went home. As if James, Effie and Monty would ever let him set foot on that house after what they’d heard! So, this made their bond grow even more.
Before university, James also had a very close bond with Peter Pettigrew and Marlene McKinnon. Their families were friends, which led them to be friends as well. The four of them—Sirius included—were really close friends. Once the three of them entered the same college, things changed for the better. Marlene met Mary Macdonald and Lily Evans and they immediately became the best of friends, which led to them being friends with Sirius, James, and Peter as well. There, they also met Remus Lupin. He quickly became part of their friend group too. Which led them to where they are today. Where are they today? might you ask. Well, let’s go a little bit back...
This very day was the last day of their first week of their second year of college. Of course, James, Peter, Sirius and—whether he’d like to admit it or not—Remus, needed to throw a welcoming party. So, they were sitting crosslegged on the floor of James’ room in their shared flat near Hogwarts University.
“So,” Sirius clapped his hands together, “It’s settled then? Tonight at midnight the party begins here.”
“Settled it is, Padfoot,” James grinned.
“Great!” Sirius said. His face darkened, “Um, before we tell everyone to come and, you know, all that, um,” he swallowed, “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“God, Padfoot, as long as you didn’t steal the Mona Lisa you’re fine,” Peter said.
Sirius smiled weakly, “Look, I—Remember when I told you guys that I have a brother?”
Time went still. The three other friends shared knowing glances. Sirius never talked about his family. Ever.
“Well, he kind of, um,” Sirius cleared his throat, “Escaped home?”
James’ jaw dropped.
“What?!” He said, “That’s—”
“Amazing, I know,” Sirius said nodding. “The thing is, I kind of want to, you know, invite him to the party?”
“Of course, Pads,” Remus said softly, “Why wouldn’t we?”
“Well, I—” Sirius blushed, “I—Er—I don’t know.”
“But, won’t he feel a bit uncomfortable?” James asked, “You know, since he’s younger.”
“He’ll be fine,” Sirius said.
Fast forward, now they were here today. It was midnight. The party had already began. Students on their first year with wide eyes, second years absolutely pissed, third years singing to the top of their lungs, fourth years dancing until their hips itched, and the list went on.
Basically, it was a good party. So good that James felt himself analyzing very single detail of the party. Every single person; what they were doing, how they talked, the tension between some, the— oh.
And that was when James saw him. Him. The love of his life. A perfect boy with black curls, bottle of beer full and almost untouched, leaning against the wall. Looking as perfect as one can look like. Oh, god, was that a small tattoo on his right arm?
James felt himself going straight towards the lonely man, as if their body were magnets, destined to find each other some way or another.
“Hi,” James smiled dopily at the other man, who jumped a little in surprise but quickly turned his face to blank.
“Hello…?” The man said, frowning.
“That’s a black T-shirt,” he felt himself say. Look, usually he was better at flirting, but he was a drunk nineteen year old, okay?
“I’m happy your vision is good,” the man deadpanned, no hint of happiness whatsoever in his voice.
“Yeah, my vision is so good indeed that you,” he poked the man’s chest lightly, “caught my eye.”
The man looked amused as he tilted his head, smirking slightly as he said, “Did I?”
“Mhm,” James said, “You’re cute. Really cute.”
The boy frowned a little, clearly enjoying this, but he didn’t say anything.
“You’re not taken, are you?” James asked, suddenly aware that this perfect man could easily be in a relationship.
“No, I’m not,” he said, his lips twitching at the edges.
“Good,” James smiled. His gaze dropped to the man’s lips and he leaned in slightly, “You never told me your name.”
“Ooh, you don’t want to do that, Potter,” the man said smirking as he pulled James away with a hand on his chest.
“Wait, how do you—”
“Prongs!” Sirius appeared by James’ side and pulled him into a side hug, “I see you’ve met Reggie?”
Realization hit James like a bucket of ice.
Reggie.
Reggie as in Regulus.
Reggie as in Sirius’ little brother who is supposed to be little and very much not this hot.
“You said he was your baby brother,” James whispered-hissed to Sirius, mouth feeling dry.
“Okay, well, sue me,” Sirius whispered back, raising his hands up in mock surrender, “I treat my younger brother as if he were a baby. He’s only a year younger.”
What? Regulus was supposed to be, like, fifteen! That was how James always pictured Sirius’ supposedly baby brother! Oh god!
This was bad. Oh, this was really, really, really bad. He had just flirted with Regulus! Reggie! Regulus who looked like he was enjoying every second of this. Regulus who looked so fucking kissable with the party lights hitting his face. Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck.
“I’m studying art in Hogwarts,” Regulus said innocently, “I’m in my first year.”
Oh god. Of course he was in first year! How could James not have thought about that?! He thought Sirius was inviting Regulus for him to see what a cool older brother he had, to show him how college parties were, not because he was a student!
How could he be so stupid?!
“Oh,” was all James could manage to choke out.
Seriously, what was he supposed to say to the gorgeous man he'd just flirted with who just happens to be his best mate’s brother?!
“James wants to be a professional Hockey player, isn’t that cool?” Sirius said, clapping James' shoulder proudly.
James swallowed hard when his brown eyes met those fucking perfect gray, stormy ones. Holy fuck.
“Really cool,” Regulus said with a ghost of a smirk in his lips. Oh, he knew exactly what he was doing to James’ weak, weak heart.
“I’m going to get another drink!” James blurted out, and rushed to the table with the drinks on it.
“Why do you look like you’ve just seen a ghost?” Remus, who was leaning against that same table, asked, grabbing a beer bottle beside him.
“I just flirted with Regulus,” James said, downing a shot at a gulp.
“What?!” Remus choked on a laugh. “How did that even happen?! Isn’t he, like, fourteen?!”
“That’s what I thought as well!” James said, relieved to find out he wasn’t the only one who thought that Regulus had just finished his wetting the bed phase and was still playing with dinosaurs toys, “Turns out he is actually a really hot first year.”
“No way!” Remus said surprisedly, eyes going wide.
“Way!” James nods and groans, dropping his head into his hands “He was standing there, I flirted, I tried to kiss him, asked for his name, he didn’t tell me his name and pushed me away and called me ‘Potter’, and Sirius introduced us both.”
“Wait, where is he?” Remus asked, snickering.
“Moony!” Sirius said, approaching them with the beer that had once been his brother's in hand, with the perfect bloke—Regulus—by his side. James looked away quickly before their eyes could even meet.
“Hey,” Remus eyed James with a knowing smile. He nods at Regulus, “I’m Remus.”
“Regulus,” Regulus nodded back politely. He looked at James again. “Would you pass me another beer?”
James' eyes roamed Regulus' perfect face. Oh god, would you just look at those perfect puffy pinkish lips?! Oh dear fucking god, those grey eyes... his straight perfect nose— oh, fuck, was he talking to him? James got that answer when the angelic man in front of his raised his eyebrows expectantly. Right. Shit. He blinked repeatedly, before choking out, “Er—yeah,” he grabbed one of the beers behind him and handed it to him. He didn’t miss the way their fingers brushed ever so slightly.
“Thank you,” Regulus said, taking a sip while holding eye contact.
“Y—yeah, ‘course,” James stuttered.
Remus coughed out a laugh, and James sent him a death glare.
Sirius looked between the three of them with narrowed eyes.
“Okay…” Sirius frowned. “So, any news?”
“James was just telling me how he saw a pretty boy but didn’t quite catch his name,” Remus said. Oh he was going to kill him later. That fucking bastard.
“Was he?” Regulus tilted his head.
“Oh, oh, how did he looked like?” Sirius said, eyes wide with excitement, unaware of what was happening.
“You know,” James said, ignoring his question completely and turning to Sirius, “Moony was just telling me about how much he likes it when men speak another language...” he clapped Remus' shoulder and glanced at him with a shit eating grin, "Isn't that right, Moony?"
Remus glared at him.
"Tu aimes?" Sirius asked, tilting his head. Damn the Black brothers and their tilting heads.
Remus blushed furiously and stumbled over his words as he said, “Whatever.”
Sirius narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.
“So, Remus,” Regulus spoke up, now he was narrowing his eyes, as if he was evaluating Remus on something, “What do you major in?”
“Teaching,” Remus said, “I want to be a Literature professor.”
“Hm,” Regulus nodded slowly, “Favorite book?”
“That is a really hard question,” Remus chuckled nervously, “But I recently read The Song Of Achilles and I gave it five stars.”
James had no idea what song that was but he nodded along anyway just so Regulus would think he was cool and into literature even though he was none of those things.
“Oh?” Regulus seemed satisfied, “I really love that book, actually.”
“Really?” Remus beamed, “What other books do you like?”
Regulus and Remus started rambling about books they liked all while Sirius and James shared glances with secret meanings; ‘what the fuck are they talking about?’ ‘I have no idea whatsoever’. Yet they both listened intently. James mostly looking at Regulus moving his hands—god those hands—with silver rings and tilting his damn perfect head. Sirius was paying way too much attention to Remus’ mouth.
“Is this the Baby Black?” Mary asked, settling next to James.
“Yes!” Sirius said excitedly, “This is Regulus. Regulus, this is Mary Macdonald.”
“Pleasure,” Mary said warmly, “I was expecting you to be in diapers and crawling on the floor but, hi anyway.”
“Sirius, what exactly did you tell your friends about me?” Regulus glared at his brother.
“I just said that you were my baby brother,” Sirius shrugged and scoffed, “Don’t know why they were under the impression that you were still hitting puberty, or something.”
“You talked about him like he was a bloody baby!” Mary said defensively.
“And all I see is a man,“ James said, crossing his arms over his chest while looking at Regulus up and down. He immediately regretted it.
Sirius was basically breathing smoke from anger as he hissed, “James bloody Potter, do not.”
“Hey, hey, I’m kidding,” James said, backing off Regulus with his hands up in surrender. He looked at the younger boy and winked. He was not kidding.
“Potter!” Sirius warned.
Regulus was just standing there, unimpressed.
Oh, James was going to regret this in the morning. He was drunk, okay? And Regulus was pretty. No, not pretty; beautiful. Perfect. Stunning. Gorgeous. Breath-takin—
“What is a party without Potter trying to get in Sirius’ baby brother’s pants,” Marlene said drunkly as she appeared at Sirius’ side. He looked at Regulus, “Marlene.”
“Regulus,” he said.
“Hi,” Lily said appearing with Peter, both standing beside Marlene, “I’m Lily.”
“Evans!” James smiled at his friend drunkly.
“My god, why is everyone so bloody pissed?” Lily rolled her eyes.
“I’m Peter,” Peter said awkwardly.
The party went on. James didn’t see Regulus much after that, which was disappointing. He probably would’ve already kissed him by now if he was literally anyone else. But, of course, he did not, given the reason that he wasn’t just anyone, he was Sirius’ baby brother. And James wasn’t as drunk as to forget that tiny little detail.
He played drinking games with Mary, held Marlene’s hair on the toilet, played truth or dare with Peter, laughed with Remus about how pathetic they both were about the Black brothers, danced with Sirius and Mary, found Frank on a corner and said hi, and so on.
Long story short, it was a long night.
That was why the next morning he woke up with the world’s biggest headache on earth. He groaned, earning a ‘shhh!’ from a very sleepy Peter. It had been such a tiring night that the four friends had ended up asleep in the living room. Peter slept on an arm chair, and Sirius and Remus looked very comfortable sharing a couch. James stood up from his spot on the floor—fuck, his back hurt—with a grin on his face at the sight of his two friends that were head over heels in love with one another but too stubborn to say or do anything about it sleeping together on the couch. He quickly grabbed his phone from where it was laid on the floor and looked at the time. 11:28. James had officially slept six hours. He knew it was little time, but he couldn’t bring himself to get up any later than that without feeling like he’d just wasted a whole day. So he got up, he brushed his teeth, put on an outfit, and stormed out of the building and straight to Hogwarts.
It wasn’t like he had to go, since it was literally Saturday, but at this point he’d made it a habit to. He walked through the corridors, earning some smiles and some people saying things like ‘great party!’. It had been a great party, hadn’t it? Not like he could remember anything. But that was a good sign.
He did remember, though—and quite vividly—the cute curly black haired boy with a baggy black T-shirt and baggy black pants with black shoes and mysterious gray eyes that felt like staring straight into a storm, and pale skin with puffy red lips. With long and attractive—yes, attractive—hands with silver rings and straight nose. Everything about him had been perfect. He was mysterious. He was untouchable. He was unapproachable. He was gorgeous.
He was also Sirius’ brother.
Fuck.
That was all James thought as he came to a stop when he found the usual café that served the best iced coffee ever.
Fuck, fuck, fucking fuckable fuck.
Sirius just had to have the most outstanding little brother ever, didn’t he?
Damn the Black family and those splendid genes.
“Hi, James,” Amelia Bones grinned behind the counter as he stepped in.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Oh, you know,” she waved a hand aimlessly, “Work.”
“Right,” James said, “How’s Edgar?”
Edgar Bones was Amelia's twin brother, who played Hockey just like him. He wasn't on his team, though, given the reason he was a Hufflepuff while James was a proud Gryffindor. He had quite the soft spot for the siblings. They were always willing to smile at him and just say nice things as well as some snarky comments.
“He’s fine,” she said, “You have an upcoming match against each other, correct?”
“Correct,” James beamed, “Is he getting ready to lose?”
“You wish,” Amelia narrowed her eyes defiantly. “So, what can I do for you?”
“The usual, please,” he smiled softly.
“Got it,” Amelia said, “On the house.”
“Amelia!” James said, “I’m flattered, thank you—”
“So that you can be a little happier when my brother kicks your arse on Friday,” she cuts him off with a wicked glint on her eye.
James gaped at her, “You know, I think I’d rather pay for the coffee myself.”
“Alright,” she smiled brightly.
Sometimes Amelia scared him. They weren’t friends, but they were close to that, he assumed. Not like they hung out ever, but they saw each other, were nice to each other, shared jokes, you know. But sometimes he wondered if she liked him. She was one of the sweetest person he ever had the pleasure of knowing, but, man, when it came to her loved ones—Amelia Bones was scary.
He paid and shared his goodbyes with Amelia, and took his coffee to go.
He put his headphones on, listening to music as he walked through the halls, feeling like the main character of a coming of age movie. Maybe he was a little insane himself—but weren’t they all?
His main character moment was interrupted by an incoming call from none other than Marlene McKinnon. He felt himself smirk as he picked up, knowing exactly what this conversation was going to be about.
“Get it over with already,” Marlene sighed, no greeting as always.
“A solid seven,” James nodded to himself and chuckled as he heard Marlene groan.
Ever since they were, like, sixteen and they’d find out the power alcohol had and had started getting pissed quite often, Marlene and James created a sort of game.
Marlene would call James every time after she’d drank a little too much, ask him to rate on a scale of one to ten how much of a fool she’d made of herself the other night, James would tell her and she’d groan.
It became a sort of routine.
It was hilarious, really, since Marlene was one of the most awkward person he knew when it came to interacting with people, but as soon as a drop of alcohol dripped over her throat, she became a complete different Marlene McKinnon. She would just say everything that came to her mind, instead of thinking it through and through before she spoke up. She’d dance until her hips gave in, laugh loudly at bad jokes, make bad jokes, flirt with girls she found attractive… you get the point. James loved that Marlene McKinnon—not more than the regular one, of course, he wouldn’t change her at all, but he enjoyed seeing her be more… herself and free. Marlene, on the other hand, hated it.
“What did I do?” She asked.
“Well, you met Regulus—you know, Sirius’ brother?”
“Did I?” Marlene said, “Fuck, I’d love to remember.”
“I wouldn’t count on that, seeing as you straight up told him I wanted to get in his pants,” He grimaced at the memory but quickly chuckled as he heard Marlene’s little frustrated scream she let out.
“Fuck my life,” she groaned, “James, why didn’t you stop me you son of a bitch?!”
“Woah, calling my mother a bitch?“ He shook his head teasingly, even though she couldn’t see him.
“Oh, no,” he could practically see the smirk on her face as she said, “No, if anything, Effie’s my bitch.”
“Okay, enough,” he fake-gagged.
“Hey, be nice to your future step-mother, will you?” She said. “Also, were you actually wanting to get in Sirius’ little brother’s pants? Isn’t he, like, fourteen?”
“Surprisingly no, he’s a year younger than us,” that earned a gasp from Marlene, “and is so bloody hot.”
“Oh, god, James!” Marlene hissed, “You can’t just—speak about Sirius’ little brother like that!”
“But he is hot.”
“He’s Sirius’ little brother, James!” She scoffed, “He’s, like, totally off limits.”
“I don’t think I should be taking love advice from the girl who told Dorcas Meadowes she had eyes that looked as delicious as chocolate yesterday…”
“I did not!” Marlene practically yelled, “James, please tell me I did not.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“FUCK MY LIFE,” She repeated. Then she groaned, “Fuck, my head hurts.”
“Go back to sleep, will you?” James said softly, “I’ll stop by your flat later today and give you a feel better kiss.”
“I’d rather get ran over by a train repeatedly until my arms blow away and be forced to choke on my own eyes,” she deadpanned.
James barked a laugh, “I know you do.”
“I can’t believe you want Sirius’ little brother.”
“He’s so incredibly hot that you’d stop being a lesbian if you laid eyes on him—while you’re sober of course,” he said.
“You’ll have to tell me everything later when you drop by, okay?” She said.
“Aw, so you do want a feel better kiss!”
“Die.”
“Whatever you say, McKinnon,” James sighed dramatically, “No one can resist the James Potter, so, don’t be ashamed!”
“Goodbye, James,” she said as she hung up, but he didn't miss the fondness in her voice.
James shook his head fondly, still staring at his phone, when he bumped into someone.
“Shit, sorry my bad,” James said hurriedly, hiding his phone on his jacket pocket.
“Sorry,” the person he’d just bumped into said.
“No, you’re fine—” James started saying but was immediately cut off as his eyes met the other person’s eyes and—fuck. Regulus stared at him with wide perfectly grey eyes. He almost laughed. Really universe? “Shit, you’re fine—I mean—you—not like… not like you’re fine, as good looking—I mean, you are—I mean, no—but you are fine—but—um—you’re fine— as in—”
“Okay, Potter, I get it,” Regulus frowned.
“Right,” he sighed, mentally kicking himself, “Um. Hi.”
“Hi...?”
Of course. Second time meeting the love of his life and he’d already messed it up. Again.
“Hi,” James repeated, stupidly. Hi?! Regulus just stared at him. “So, um… did you have fun yesterday?”
“I suppose,” Regulus deadpanned.
“Cool!” He grinned down at him, “I had so much fun.”
“No offense, but I don’t exactly care.”
And that mean comment surely shouldn’t be thought of as hot. But. Fuck, it is. God, it is. James liked them a little mean, okay?
“Ha, yeah,” he smiled, “Second time meeting each other.”
“Except this time you aren’t flirting with me,” Regulus said.
James choked on air. Woah, so they were being bold now.
“Okay, in my defense I now do know you’re Sirius’ little brother,” he said.
“Right,” he narrowed his eyes, “I’ve got to go.”
“Why?” James blurted out.
“Well, Potter, some of us have things to do,” he said.
“Right, yeah,” he nodded, “See you, then.”
“Goodbye,” he said with a playful smirk. That little bastard. He knew exactly what he was doing to James’ poor heart.
As he stared at the younger boy turning to go to whatever secret destination he had to head to, James decided something.
Regulus Black was going to be the death of him.