Bartemius Crouch.
As promised, Regulus stayed true to his word and came back that night. He doesn’t officially live with Barty, but he spends more time at his than his own apartment. Not that Barty minds, the opposite really. He wishes Regulus would just move in. Barty wouldn’t even make him contribute to rent. Barty just wanted him around at all times.
Barty spends most of the night watching Regulus sleep. Not in a creepy way, but in an admiring way. His curls are spread out around the left pillow on Barty’s bed like some sort of halo. He looks so peaceful while he sleeps, and Barty loves it. There’s nothing that he wants more than Regulus to be at peace at all times. He’d do anything to make sure of it.
He doesn’t sleep much that night, but it’s fine. By the time Regulus starts to wake up, it’s already past nine which means Barty has been awake for a few hours. Barty smiles at him when Regulus’ eyes open, and Regulus smiles back.
“Morning,” he says before shifting from lying on his back to his side, now facing Barty. Barty does the same, and their faces are mere inches apart. Regulus must notice the eyebags that have been slowly growing under his eyes for the past few weeks, because he brings his hand up to Barty’s face and runs his thumb over it.
“You’re not sleeping properly?” He asks, and Barty shakes his head. Regulus frowns, “is it because I’m here? Do you prefer to sleep in your bed by yourself?”
“No,” Barty says instantly. The last thing he wants is for Regulus to stop sleeping over at his place. “I sleep better when you’re here, Reg, I just have a lot of problems falling and staying asleep.”
Regulus nods his head and hums, before moving to sit up in Barty’s bed. “We’ll talk to Pompfrey when we get back to Hogwarts, but for now I’ll research a few things and see if there's any ways to reduce the amount of time you spend awake.”
Before Barty could protest, Regulus is already pulling his laptop onto the bed and flicking it open. He spends a good minute typing and clicking onto multiple articles before skimming them. Barty’s heart is doing fucking backflips right now. The fact that Regulus is willing to research ways to help Barty makes him want to pass the fuck out.
“Look here, it says meditation helps,” Regulus said, turning his laptop so that Barty can see it.
Barty looks down at the laptop’s screen and then back at Regulus with the most disgusted face he’s ever made. “Go fuck yourself, I am not doing meditation.”
“Oh come off it Barty. It’ll help,” he says, to which Barty shakes his head stubbornly. “Just try it tonight, just once. If you really hate it that much I won’t ever make you try it again.”
“Im putting my foot down at meditation. Why don’t you just punch me? As hard as you can. That’ll knock me out perfectly,” Barty says and Regulus scoffs in response.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Barty. Can you stop being such a baby and just do this for me, please?” Regulus frowns, and Barty wants to die. Of course he’s going to do it. He’s about to agree to do stupid fucking meditation as if he hasn’t been against itn for his whole life. Leave it to Regulus to be able to get him to do something he really really doesn’t want to do.
“Fine,” he says, “but I’m only doing it tonight. Tomorrow you’ll have to punch me, or even drug me for all I care.”
Regulus smiles before nodding in agreement. He shuts his laptop before tucking it back in its usual spot under Barty’s bed. Barty leaned back on his pillows before turning his head to its side to look at Regulus. “What are the plans for today?” He asked.
“You should probably spend the day packing since we go back to school tomorrow, and we won't have time to do it tonight,” Regulus replies, turning to look at Barty. “I packed weeks ago, but I assume you haven't, so I'll help you.”
“You always assume the worst from me,” Barty says playfully.
“Maybe because all you do is lower the standards I have for you,” he teases back. Barty smiles at him, and Regulus shoots him a small one back.
The moment only lasts a few more minutes before Regulus is forcing Barty out of his bed so they can pack his suitcase. It ends up being a rather long process of Barty trying to pack everything in his apartment, but Regulus telling him he can’t.
By the end, Regulus just let Barty pack whatever he wanted and opted for sitting back down on the bed and watching. If Barty was being honest, he really didn’t want to bring all this stuff he was currently trying to fit into his suitcase, but he couldn’t let Regulus be right.
When he was done, he turned around to face Regulus and make a big show of how ‘easy’ it was. Regulus just rolled his eyes before Barty sat down next to him.
“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?” Barty asked, and Regulus shot him a glare.
“What did I literally say yesterday, Barty? I want to do this, so unless you’ve changed your mind, it’s happening.” Regulus says, and Barty smiles in return. Oh how he loves this man.
“Alright, what’s the plan?”
“Well, I did a lot of looking into the house, I even went to check it out. There doesn’t seem to be any camera’s towards the back of the house so that would be our best spot to sneak in from.” Regulus says, and Barty wants to kiss him.
“My bedroom window is literally always unlocked. I used to sneak in and out of it all the time so I never locked it, and my dad refuses to set foot in my room, so the chances of it being unlocked are looking pretty good,” Barty says.
Regulus smiles at Barty again. “That’s really good Bee, you’re helping so much right now thank you,” Regulus says and Barty stops breathing. Regulus Black is sitting on his bed, meer centimetres away from Barty’s face, and telling him how helpful he’s being, and Barty feels like he’s going to faint.
Barty doesn't feel real right now.
════
Bartemius Crouch Senior has always had his life under control. Even as a teenager, there was never a single minute where he existed and he didn’t have his life together. He had a trust fund set up and waiting for him by his parents, a job in the family business, and was dating possibly one of the most gorgeous girls at Hogwarts.
But then she fell pregnant, and Bartemius was forced to rearrange his life for a woman he barely liked and a kid he never wanted. His parents arranged their marriage and his son, Bartemius Crouch Junior, was born.
Bartemius never paid much attention to his son, never thought he’d have to. He’s now realising that was a mistake.
Bartemius stares up and his son who has just stabbed him in the side of the neck. He can feel the blood starting to trickle down his neck. He can feel the knife as it’s ripped out of his neck and shoved straight back in, the same spot, over and over again.
Bartemius feels his life start to slip away as he stares at the boy, his boy.
“Maybe you should’ve been a better father,” is the last thing he hears before his eyes close and stops breathing all together.