I can try but i can't hide it from you.
When sirius gave the suggestion to remus about hiring his younger brother, remus was torn.
Sirius is a wonderful profiler and has done so much good since joining the team and perhaps regulus can do the same.
But love can make you biased of a person, so remus said he'd consider it and think it over.
He did, he looked into regulus' files. His previous cases, the work he's done with his parents. They hold him back, he looks empty in all the photos. Stood with perfect posture and hollow eyes.
That's what made remus call out, that's what made remus have the excruciatingly boring conversation about the job offer. That's what made remus give regulus the job to replace frank.
Definitely not because of sirius,not because of the way his eyes lit up and his lips stretched into a smile at the news.
From the minute james brought sirius in something in remus clicked, it scared him so he ignored it. He became cold towards sirius, well colder than usual, and eventually realised that that proved fruitless.
But he was unit cheif and sirius is his subordinate. It can never be and it will never be.
That's unimportant right now though, as he sips on the watered down coffee in the break room. Staring down at the case file in his hand. They haven't had a break though and it's infuriating, if the bags hanging under his eyes have anything to say about it.
Which is why he agreed when sirius recommended for regulus to start early.
And no, the playful hit on the arm and the huge grin from a certain Black didn't make him want to grab sirius back and crash his lips against his.
He was just lonely. That's all. It had been a while. Definitely.
Moving on from that thought track. Remus walks back into the briefing room where most of his crew sat, a map spread across the table and multiple crime scene photos littered around. They'd fly out to Birmingham once regulus gets settled.
Said regulus that just walked through the doors behind sirius, a complete contrast to his older. Walking straight for him.
(pov switch- regulus)
Regulus was stressing. Proper stressing.
He has 4 outfit options on his bed and he hates them all,
he's also running out of time.
Sirius is meant to be there in an hour and regulus is still in a towel. Eventually he actually decides on what to wear.
Dark green button down, black dress pants and his converse. He would wear oxfords but who doesn't like to be ever so slightly different sometimes?
He sorts his hair out, making sure every single curl is perfect. Making sure there is not one crease in his clothes. Possibly obsessing over that, but no one needs to know.
He stares at himself in the mirror for a good 5 minutes, his mothers and his voice swirling around in his head with thoughts that makes him want to curl back under the covers.
Too late, there's a knock at his door before sirius just lets himself in. He looks different, regulus giving him a once over. Not formal but not as, let's just say, extravagant as he usually dresses.
"Reggie. Regulus. Reginald." He grins and regulus wants to punch him. Luckily no one gets punched in the end, Regulus grabbing his coat and umbrella and ushering sirius out of the apartment.
He wills his knee to not bounce and bites at the flesh in his cheek instead as he sits in sirius' car. Ignoring the worried glances from sirius and focusing on the blasting nirvana being played on the radio.
Eventually the get to the bau building and regulus almost gapes as he looks up, sirius giving him a knowing smile.
They walk through the lobby and speak to a, way too bubbly, in regulus' opinion,, receptionist. Her handing regulus a card with his id on it. He pockets it and they carry on.
The elevator journey feels like forever, the air stale and the tension could be cut with a knife. Regulus couldn't breath.
Once they got out it felt like the gates of heaven just opened and immediately closed on regulus as the actual thoughts of having to work with others, share his knowledge and work cases, fall upon him.
Yet he keeps his head high, posture perfect and staring straight on.
Sirius leads him through two doors and into a large office, there's a few desks, a couple uniformed officers and people bustling around with coffee mugs juggled on stacked files.
They go into a room with a long table, a projector screen on a wall with a whiteboard aside it.
There's a blonde sat with her legs swung across a woman who you can just tell has everything figured out. Regulus feels himself slightly envying her without even knowing her name. Said woman balancing a laptop on, who he picked up as, marlene's legs.
There's two boys currently bickering over a location on a map.
The one with a jagged mullet looking up at regulus when he walks in and nudging the blonde boy on the arm, that in turn causing him to look up at regulus aswell.
There's a tall, scarred, man writing something on a white board, who turned around when they walked in. Regulus not missing the way his eyes softened ever so slightly, couldn't have been because of him which draws out sirius.
Something he will definitely be bringing up later, or not. Depends on which ways more interesting to go.
The tall man, which is formally known as Remus Lupin, regulus recognises him from an interview,, ushers for everyone to sit down.
Regulus takes the empty seat at the far end, hoping to be left alone. Does not go to plan.
The two boys from the map sit themselves down on either side of him, the brunette giving him a sharp smile.
"Barty crouch, jr of course." He, now known as barty, greets. Holding out a hand that gets heavily ignored.
"Ignore him and you'll be fine." The blonde says from the other side of him, "Evan rosier"
Regulus recognises the two, especially Rosier. Their families were interlinked before the Rosier clan stopped going private and Crouch sr is a well known politician.
His son even more known as the rebel of the family, abandoning his role as heir and instead joining the force.
Regulus is pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of Lupins voice, levelled but enough to catch everyone's attention.
"Alright, enough chat. As you all know we have a case based in Birmingham, the unsub is focusing on young women outside of popular clubs. You should know all the information but if there has been an error please see too speaking with either me or Meadowes" He says with a nod, peter going around the room and placing identical files in front of each of them.
Regulus immediately starts flicking through them, committing every stomach churning word and nauseating photo to memory.
He's mid way through before remus asks him to meet him in his office. Regulus prays to the gods his masking is enough to hide his anxiety to the profiler.
Regulus stands and gets ready to leave the room when the door bursts open, showing a wild head of curls and sun kissed skin.
Of which is breathing heavily and has a sheepish apologetic smile on his face as he looks at Lupin
"Potter, late. again." Remus scolds but there's a twinge of amusement in voice.
"Yeah yeah. sorry rem', train was late." Potter mumbles, waving remus off and brushing past him to go take a seat at the table
He freezes once he sees regulus though, giving him a once over and glancing at marlene, who just gives him a look, then back at regulus.
Regulus feels like he's about to burst into flames under his gaze, like all his secrets are laid bare for him to see and he can't escape it.
"You're the new recruit, right?" he asks, not even giving anyone a chance to reply before he continues speaking "James potter, at your service."
His smile is so incredibly warm it twists something inside of regulus, making him feel fuzzy. He hates it.
Potter gets a grunt in reply, then gets ignored in favour of regulus just walking past him and too Lupins office.
Regulus bites harshly at his cheek, only stopping when the metallic taste of blood lays at his tongue. standing straight in front of Lupins desk, waiting for whatever he has to say.
"Regulus," He starts, face and voice giving absolutely nothing away, "i understand this is your first day and its quite unusual for a beginner to be on a case when they have just begun." His accent is different and regulus notices, notices the undertale of welsh in his r's and how he's forcing his a's. Wonders why he'd choose to hide it.
"But, as sirius has most likely said, we are having trouble on this case and can use all the help we can get. Which is why i must ask if it is infact alright for you to join us on this case." Lupin finishes, lifting a mug of coffee up to his lips as he waits for a reply.
Regulus purses his lips, thinking of all the suitable replies he could give.
"I can work the case" Is what he settles for, holding his head a little high and accepts the nod from Lupin as an out.
He leaves and goes back to the briefing room, sitting down in his spot from before and trying to ignore the feeling of a certain brown pair of eyes settled on him.
He looks through the rest of the file and moves his head up in sync with everyone else when Lupin enters again.
"Another body has been found and we've been asked to go to the West midland police precinct in Birmingham. So,
wheels up in 30."