Chapter 9
James softly knocked on Regulus’ door, who opened it, pulled him in, and closed the door. "Hey, Reg," James greeted, grabbing one of his hands.
"Hi, Jamie," he responded, and shifted slightly.
James thought for a second, before telling him, "There's something I forgot to mention about Lily. We act a bit fond because she's bi, and she has a girlfriend. If James Potter appears to be dating her, then clearly any rumors of her being seen with a girl aren't true."
"Oh..." was Regulus’ reply.
"Doesn't mean that you have to be okay with it, but we should talk about it."
"Knowing that she's not single helps. Was it her idea to mention that?" Regulus asked, a bit of a smile playing on his lips.
James laughed quietly, feeling the tension break, then rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly, admitting, "Maybe... In my defense, I'm kinda dumb."
"Yeah, but you're mine," Regulus stated, gently taking James' chin in his hand and making eye contact.
James looked back into his eyes for a few moments, then softly repeated, "I'm yours." After a couple of seconds, he added, "I've been yours longer than I'd like to admit."
"Longer than we've been sleeping together?" Regulus questioned, with a smirk. James nodded, and looked down. Regulus lifted his head again, and kissed him, then whispered, "Can I ask you for something?"
James' brain short-circuited. He had to blink a few times to remember what words were. "What?" he asked, slowly.
Regulus spoke at a normal volume, not trying to break his boyfriend, when he inquired, "Can I leave marks where they'll be visible, next time?"
James got over his initial shock, and replied, "Uh- you know that everyone will think that Lily made them, right?"
"Everyone except her," Regulus corrected.
James agreed, but, after a while, commented, "Possessive." Regulus’ only response was briefly looking him up and down. At that, James' brain stopped functioning again for a couple more seconds. He then added, "You're going to have to make it up to me for the ribbing I'm gonna be subjected to."
~Days later~
James woke up on his side, and went to the bathroom to get ready. He completely forgot, until that moment, about the bruises littered over his neck. He leaned towards the mirror to inspect them closer. A smile grew on his face. The boy who didn't used to leave them anywhere, had made them specifically so they'd be seen. Taking off his shirt to change it, he saw them trailing down his chest. His face heated up a bit.
He quickly buttoned his shirt up and switched to his jeans, then went back to his bed. Remus was sitting up in his bed, and looked over at James. "Hey, Prongs," he greeted, slowly.
"Morning, Moony," James replied, glancing over as he started tying his shoes.
"Are my eyes to be believed?"
"You're acting like this is the first time that I've gotten a love bite."
"I've never seen you with that many," Remus defended, moving to go change.
"They're pretty nice work, I think," James returned, getting out his tie. He was shockingly proud of them, instead of embarrassed like he had expected.
Remus laughed quietly and left to change. James struggled with his tie for a few minutes, and eventually got it on, though it looked terrible. When Remus came back, he took it off of him and did it properly. James thanked him, and went out to the common room. Lily came down at the same time, and they both stared for a second.
While much less aggressive than his, she also had a few marks on her neck. She walked over to him, and used air quotes when she chuckled, "'I' got rather carried away last night, eh?"
James grinned, loosened his tie to open his top button, and showed her a couple of the ones on his chest, replying, "'You' did. 'I' had a similar thought last night." She laughed and leaned her head to the side to show them off. He laughed too, and quietly questioned, "You ready to deal with the entire school thinking that this was you?"
"Out of either of us, I feel like you're gonna get the worst of the ribbing. I managed to mark up James Potter this bad. I had to be the one fucking you if you let me," she pointed out, amused.
James thought for a minute, then admitted, "You're not wrong." He lowered his voice to a whisper and continued, "I'm gonna wear this shit with pride though. It's the first time he's left anything visible, and he made them for me to show off."
"He seems possessive."
"He is. He's also probably going to be very proud of his work."
"I would be, too, honestly," she responded, and turned his head to the side by his jaw to look at them closer.
A few people came out of the boys' dorms, so Lily quickly leaned into James' neck, and whispered, "Don't pull away."
He didn’t, and she grabbed one of his wrists. The people uncomfortably hurried out of the common room, out into the castle. Lily pulled back as soon as the door closed, then apologized.
They went to the Great Hall together, and James could feel Regulus watching him throughout breakfast. He was mostly paying attention to his friends, though.
Sirius asked, "You really let her do that? I would never-" Remus looked at him with a questioning expression that almost no one else could see, and Sirius fell silent.
"It's kinda impressive. That's gotta be at least ten," Remus commented, to fill the silence after Sirius stopped talking.
"It's thirteen, actually," James corrected, grinning. He quietly added, "That's just counting the ones on my neck."
"You're proud of that?" Sirius asked, laughing.
James nodded, since he was eating, then he swallowed and replied, "I have them, might as well show them off. It's not as though they're going away."