Only a fool for you

Barty knew something was wrong from the moment he woke up. He felt a small nag in the pit of his stomach but he chalked it up to nerves. They're gonna ask Peter to be their boyfriend. No more games, no more guessing, they're gonna tell him as clear as day that they're right obsessed with him and want him to be theirs. Mostly because Evan had stumbled into their dorm last night in a daze and then proceeded to tell Barty about how he had just kissed Peter. Kissed him! And well Barty couldn't wait anymore he needed Peter to be theirs so that Barty could kiss him whenever he wanted. Because based on what Evan told him, Peter's kisses are addictive. So they were just gonna have to put on their big boy trousers and pull Peter to the side and tell him how they felt or just confess right in front of those stupid marauders faces, he didn't much care at this point. 

Except Peter didn't show up to breakfast which wasn't very concerning because sometimes people miss breakfast, it happens. So Barty had spent the rest of the day trying to catch a sight of the boy but still he wasn't too worried. He really didn't think much of it til the next morning where neither Peter nor his little groupies showed up to breakfast again. By the time the rest of the marauders showed their faces Peter wasn't with them. Barty wouldn't have thought much of that except for the fact that they all looked awful like they hadn't slept last night even Sirius Black who always looked like he was ready to be on the cover of a magazine had his hair haphazardly thrown up into a messy bun with ruffled up clothes, like he didn't even attempt to fix them after throwing them on in a hurry and they all seemed to be frantically looking through the halls as if they're looking for something or someone. Weirdly they also kept looking on the ground as if Peter would be there crawling around. So yes, now Barty was worried. 

He decided to take matters into his own hands and skipped all his morning classes in order to find Pete, when he came up empty he was officially losing his mind. Evan had wanted to help but Barty convinced him to go since he more than likely had a pop quiz in DADA. By the time it was lunch Barty had resorted to going around asking people if they had seen Peter. He came up with a whole lot of nothing. He wasnt even in the greenhouse! Evan had found him and they were going to break into the Gryffindor common room when they were rudely stopped in the hallway.

He hit the wall so hard it rattled his brain a little bit. It was a lot harder than the last time James Potter pushed him against a wall and it might have scared Barty just a tad that last time James had been holding back.

“Alright you dirty snakes where the hell is he.” James' voice was so low and gruff with a promise of violence if Barty was anyone else he might have been terrified and if Barty wasnt ridiculously in love with his best friend he might have been very turned on. Right now though he was just worried and getting increasingly more pissed off. 

“Well jeez Potter at least buy me dinner before you push me up against a wall…again.” James’ arm that was pressed against his throat got tighter and Barty fought hard not to let his smug smile falter.

“You know I'm getting real sick of you and your smart mouth.” Barty had expected it to come from James;  but it was far too deep and far away for it to have been him. He lifted his eyes to see Remus standing behind them with an absolute murderous glare. Barty looked to his side to see Evan in a similar predicament as him but instead of carmel brown Evan is held against the wall with fair skin. Evan and Sirius were not spitting insults back and forth like Barty is sure he and James are about to do in a moment, instead they stared at each other seeming to have a standoff… one that Barty is exactly sure who's winning.

“Why don't you get your damn hands off me Potter?” James scoffed before pushing him even deeper into the frankly very uncomfortable brick wall. 

“Imma ask you one more time Crouch. Where. Is. He.” 

“How the hell should I know. He finally get sick of yalls bullshit did he?” Barty didn't miss the way that James faltered at his words, he also didn't miss the way that next to them Black tensed and while he can't exactly see Lupin he's sure he looked uncomfortable by what Barty was suggesting. Barty being a true Slytherin used this to his advantage and used Potters moment of weakness to finally push the oaf off him.

“So he did. It's about time honestly, what with how you nitwits treat him like crap.” Barty felt a sense of satisfaction at the hurt and guilt that washed over Lupin and Potters face, just like he knew it would. He however did not know that it would strike a pretty sensitive nerve in the older Black that caused him to be harshly pushed back.

“Us! As if. You two are the ones messing with his feelings. Leading him on knowing how he feels about you.” Barty halted in his actions to push the boy back even harder when his words sinked in. 

How he feels about us?

“What do you mean… how does he feel about us?” Evan finally spoke up and Barty couldn't tell if the softens of his voice was because of emotion or the way Black must've messed up his throat in pushing him into the wall. Maybe a little bit of both.

“Oh don't act! You know how he felt about you last year” the older much less likable Black pointed at Barty “before you went and got a boyfriend and now all of a sudden this year you both wanna be all over him again? I don't buy it. You think he's some game. Well his not. He's our friend, my friend and I'll be damned if I let you dirty snakes mess him up more than you already have.” 

“Real noble of you Sirius, real fascinating how much you all care before something shiner catches your attention.” Barty really should have have seen the hex coming. He should've really but in all honesty he didn't think any of these sorry Gryffindors had it in them. Especially James “sun comes out of my butt” Potter. So really he didn't expect the sharp pain that bloomed up his arm.

“You watch what you say Crouch. We love Peter. We've been there for him through everything. Through the bullying and the shaming and we'll stay by him through you.” Barty grabbed his arm in an attempt to soothe the pain as he glared daggers at Potter. He was about to open his mouth to spew all the hateful things he's thinking of when his boyfriend beat him to it.

“Please you lot don't love him. You love having someone there to jump when you say jump and laugh when you say laugh but you don't love him. We love him. The real him.” Barty had the fleeting thought that this whole thing was getting wildly out of hand and that while they were all standing here arguing Peter was probably somewhere feeling very alone. He had meant to say his thought out load when Lupin silenced him with a scoff.

“You don't love him. You love playing with him. You see him as a game to win.” Lupin stood there as if he knew everything and would be damned if you told him any different… it pissed Barty off.

“Suppose it's better than ignoring him and making him feel like hes worth nothing, eh mate” Lupins know-it-all smirk dropped and turned into a glare and from the looks of Evans face it was immensely satisfying.

“You call him stumbling into our dorm reeking of firewisky on the verge of tears and marks all over him what? Treating with respect?” Barty's vains ran cold. He felt himself freeze as he listened to Potters sneered words. 

“The hell are you talking about” Potter scoffed before turning his gaze to Barty.

“I'm talking about how you and your devil boyfriend let Peter walk to the towers alone looking uncomfortable in his skin and like something had attacked him.” Barty quickly looked to his boyfriend praying to everything that maybe it was a miss understanding and that it was him that had his hands on Peter. The hope died with the firm shake of his boyfriend's head. Crap. Even the thought of someone else's hands on Peter made him irrationally angry but knowing that it happened, that someone really did have their hands on Peter made him want to burn the whole castle down. 

“We didn't do that.” His boyfriends voice was as tense as Barty feels. He could feel the shift in the mauraders vibe. Could tell that the went from angry to worried in seconds flat but Bart really didn't care. He didn't quite remember telling his body to move but before he knew it he had Potter pressed against the wall.

“Who the hell put marks on him Potter.” His voice even to his own ears sounded foreign and nerve wracking.

“I don't know! We thought it was you two… crap.” 

“We need to find Peter.” It was the smartest thing Remus had ever said.

So they were on a very temporary truce as they ran about the tower searching for one Peter Pettigrew with a promise that if either group found him they'd use these weird magic mirrors Potter had begrudgingly shoved into Barty's hand to tell each other before they separated. That had been about an hour ago and there was still no sign of Peter, Barty had been on his last hope when he looked through the window of an abandoned classroom in what seemed like the farthest wing of the castle. Barty really wasn't expecting anything so it came to quite the surprise that Pete was there.

Peter had his back against the far wall of the classroom with the only light fickling through the cracks of the cream colored sheets covering the windows to the outside. He had one leg lying almost limply in front of him while he used the other as a rest for his head and hands.  Pete seemed to be deep in thought but Barty could tell that he had gone to a dark place in his mind. Barty knew that him and Evan needed to get Peter out of his head. Slowly and quietly as to not draw attention to himself through the window Barty beckoned Evan over to his side.

“Oh thank Merlin” Evan breathed out relief thickly coating his airy voice, though Barty could tell that he was still immensely concerned for their boy.

“We gotta go in there, he had to know we're here for him.” Barty had gotten ready to open the door when a warm hand on his forearm stopped him. 

“We have to tell them.” Barty scoffed even though he knew Evan was right. “Cmon B, we'd wanna know if they had found him.” 

“But-.... oh fine.” 

Barty picked up the mirror before say Potters name. Suddenly his reflection morphed until he had dark caramel skin and gold rimmed glasses.

“We found him. He's fine. We're gonna go talk to him now.” 

“You did! Pads, Moony! They got him. Alright mate where are you?” Barty had the very strong urge to just hang up on Potter or maybe just lie but then he glanced back at Peter and he knew that he'd need to talk to his friends just as much as he needed to talk to them. “Very last door over by DADA but let us talk to him first… please.” 

With that Barty really did hang up. Evan squeezed his arm for comfort as he took a deep breath. He was preparing himself for the worst, for Peter batting them because they weren't clear with their intentions or worse he had actually found someone else.

But Barty was done letting his fears keep him away from this amazing guy. He needed to be brave. So he carefully turned the handle and slowly opened the door. Peter looked up from his spot on the ground and visibly tensed. Gods Barry hated that they caused that reaction in him because all he wants is to wrap this beautiful boy up in his arms and let him feel safe. 

“Hi baby” Peter relaxed a little and let the corners of his mouth twitch up and Barty thought that he'd call him a thousand pet names for the rest of his life if it would comfort his Peter. 

“H-hi” His voice was so small, it broke Barty's heart. Evan moved first, crouching down in order to get look straight into Peter's eyes. 

“What's going on, darling” Peter once again melted to the name but the tension came back as he opened and closed his mouth trying to explain what was going on in his head.

“I- I've messed everything up. I'm sorry.” Peter was helplessly pulling at the ends of his sandy locks while he avoided looking directly at either of them. 

“Oh no baby, you didn't mess anything up. It's okay, we're right here.” Barty reached to tug Peter's hands away from ripping out his hair but Peter jerked away before he could reach him.

“N-no I did! I said stuff to the guys that I-i can't take back and… well I-” Peter kept glancing between Evan and Barty with shame clearly coated on his face and Barty was starting to get a little worried.

“I'm sorry Evan” Peter whispered… so now Barty was very confused. Barty tried to search Peter's eyes for answers but they stayed firmly to the ground. Barty had tried to squat down even lower to intercept the glare that the floor was getting but then Peter's eyes flicked to him with a new sense of determination.

 “I- well- oh Merlin just spit it out… Evan kissed me and well I kissed him back I suppose but he definitely leaned in first though I'm not sure that actually matters to you. Anyway… I kissed your boyfriend and I'm so sorry.” 

“Pete-”

“No you know what I'm actually not that sorry. Well I am because kissing another guys boyfriend is so far from who I actually am but well can you blame me. You two have been flirting and leading me on since that stupid lunch and, so well you actually blame me that I kissed him back… gods that makes me sound like such a prick doesn't it? That I'm trying to blame you for kissing your boyfriend. Even though it is partly your fault. But on the other hand-”

It was apparent that Peter was not going to stop rambling for a while. So Barty did the only thing that he knew would shut him up long enough for them to explain how they are obsessed with him. Barty Crouch kissed him. He just grabbed him by his gorgeous face and snogged him with everything that he had. He used his frustration from today, his worries, his hope. He used his feelings for him from last year, his yearning, his jealousy, his love. He put all of it into the kiss or at least he tried. He thinks he is at least because it a little hard to focus on anything but gods this feels good. 

It feels so right, like this is the missing piece that Barty had been waiting his whole life for. He could write a whole poem about Peter's lips and not just some half assed one either, he could write one like in those muggle books that Reg is alway raving about. 

Barty supposed that he should've been a little more concerned with the actual kiss and not the things he could write because of it. For all of a sudden it gentle pulled away from him. 

Too soon

Not enough 

Just a little more

Please

“Bart-”

“Shh baby just let me-” and they were back to kissing and Barty could not feel more pleased with himself.

He could tell how long they stayed there before Peter pulled away, more firmly this time, but seeing as how his lips weren't at all as numb as he would like, it was not that long. Barty sighed as Peter pulled away and kept his hands firmly on Barty's chest so that he would not follow again.

“I'm so confused.”

“I think it's time we have a talk, darling”