Chapter 13
James had most likely never seen Evan more relieved than he did now, when they entered his house and Regulus and Barty weren’t there.
It felt like James was seeing another part of the picture that created his boyfriend’s life. He heard stories about him and his friends from Regulus, but it seemed the dynamics between Evan and his friends were quite different than Regulus and his friends. Evan and Dorcas were like brother and sister together, but Regulus had that relationship with Pandora.
Evan showed the two girls to their room, leaving James to plop down onto the couch and click on the tv to look for a good movie to watch. He was scrolling through Disney+ when Evan returned to him, and threw his arms around James’ neck. ‘Hi,’ he whispered softly, his curls brushing James’ neck. The feeling drove him a little crazy. A little.
‘Hu-hi,’ James muttered back, turning his head to look at Evan, his face suddenly very close. James felt his face getting warm and he laughed, suddenly a little nervous with all the butterflies going crazy in his stomach. ‘Oh, getting flustered already? In that case I must do this more often, because I love it when you get like this,’ Evan said, grinning and pressing a soft kiss on James’ lips before jumping over the backside of the couch and shimmying close to him.
‘What are we watching?’ Evan asked, his eyes falling on the tv, which conveniently showed off his gorgeous side profile to James. He really tried to keep to himself because Dorcas and Marlene could come out of their rooms any moment. ‘Uh… You choose, you have great taste,’ James said before shoving the remote in Evan’s hands, who stared at it with big, brownish eyes and then looked at James with the very same eyes.
‘Evy,’ James muttered, smiling against the urge to kiss him. Evan blinked once. ‘What?’ he asked innocently, big eyes on James’ face. ‘Please don’t give me those eyes,’ he said, closing his own eyes to resist, but failing. ‘Which eyes?’ Evan asked, now sounding genuinely confused. That was only because James had his eyes closed though. He knew Evan knew exactly what he was doing. ‘Those- those big eyes. They really make me want to do some things to you,’ James muttered, looking at Evan who was still giving him the eyes, now paired with a grin. ‘What kind of things do they want to make you do?’ Evan asked, wiggling his eyebrows. ‘You know that, Evy,’ James managed to get out in a strained voice. ‘No, I really don’t,’ Evan said in a childlike confused voice.
‘I- they uh,’ James started, a blush now creeping up on his neck too. ‘They… What?’ Evan asked. James sighed deeply and closed his eyes, shaking his head. ‘Some unholy things, that’s what those eyes make me want to do,’ he muttered, opening his eyes when he didn’t get an immediate answer.
Evan’s big eyes were now replaced with a confused look. This time genuine though, not faked. ‘Then… Do that? I mean, always ask of course, but I don’t think I’d say no,’ he said, his heartbeat steady, while James’ was going insanely quick. ‘I… Oh. Uh…’ James didn’t really know what else to say, so he just looked away. ‘Dor and Marlene won’t come out of bed ‘till next morning, they’re really tired,’ Evan said, wiggling his eyebrows again and grinning.
James stared back at him, a little shocked. ‘You uh… Movie?’ he muttered, quickly looking away, eyes darting to the tv and then falling back on Evan’s face. Evan smiled at him brightly and nodded. ‘We’re watching the devil wears prada. One of my faves,’ Evan said, looking at the tv to find the movie. And as quickly as the tension between the two came, it went. Evan was incredible in diffusing sexual tension just like that. James respected him for it, though another part of him missed the tension already.
When the movie started playing, Evan shimmied a little closer to James and James put his arm around him, pulling Evan’s head on his chest. Evan started explaining stuff about the movie while it was playing, looking from the screen to James, to check he was still listening. He was of course, Evan was enchanting to listen to.
‘You know, you can actually see how she loses herself in the fashion world with her outfits. She went from complete nerd, her old self, to a complete fashion icon, someone she pretended to be. At the end of the movie, she finally finds herself as someone in between the two styles. It’s fascinating how much fashion can tell about a person,’ Evan said, his eyes falling back on the screen.
James smiled and pressed a soft kiss to Evans head. ‘It sure is Evy,’ James told him. Around halfway through the movie, Evan’s commentary stopped entirely. James quickly came to the realisation he had fallen asleep, which was confirmed by the soft breaths Evan muttered out. Sometimes a few undecipherable words made their way out his mouth too, but James himself was too tired to really listen to them.
He carefully moved himself and Evan to lay down on the couch, being too tired to carry them to Evans bed. ‘Goodnight my loverboy,’ James muttered, before putting off his glasses and closing his eyes. He fell asleep thinking about fashion magazines and Evan’s amazing commentary.
James woke up alone on the couch.
He frowned and rubbed his eyes, looking around for Evan, but finding no one nearby. ‘Evy?’ he asked into the silent house. He grabbed his glasses and took a quick glance at the clock to tell him it was two pm. He slept awfully long, though he never did that.
He stood up and walked around the house, knocking on Marlene and Dorcas’ door. ‘Hey, do you guys know where Evan went?’ he asked, getting a ‘piss off’ from Marlene and then a ‘don’t know’ from Dorcas in return. James went looking through Evan’s house for any sign as to where he was, but the only thing he found was a little pile of Evan’s dirty clothes in his bedroom, his closet door open as if he was in a hurry, and his shoes gone. When he looked further, he noticed his scooter was gone too.
James sat back down on the couch and opened his phone, shooting a message to Evan.
2.24 PM
Hey Evy, woke up without you here. Where’d you go?
2.25 PM
Thought I left you a note? It’s on the table beside the couch
I had to go and do something real quick, I’ll be back when I can
2.26 PM
Alright. I’ll wait here for you?
2.27 PM
Please do
He frowned and sighed deeply, looking to find something to do in Evan’s house. The problem was, however, that Evan was not a ‘staying in’ person, much like James wasn’t. This meant that there was nothing to do though, so James just watched some sports on the tv while mindlessly scrolling on his phone.
Evan came back around an hour later, all flushed cheeks and tousled hair. James looked up instantly when he heard the door open and close, standing up to meet Evan halfway. Evan gave him a small smile. ‘Sorry, I forgot I needed to run some errands,’ he muttered, running a hand through his hair and quickly peeking in the mirror in the hallway. He pulled a sour face and stopped messing with his hair, most likely deciding it wasn’t going to look better anyway.
James frowned at Evan. It was weird that he came back from an ‘errand’ like this. James hated making assumptions about people, but the fact Evan wasn’t telling him what he had to do made him suspicious. ‘What did you have to do?’ James asked, guiding Evan to sit down on the couch. Evan’s cheeks pinked at the question, but he didn’t seem to notice himself.
‘I uh, I had a… dentist appointment,’ he said, smiling while lying through his teeth. ‘Okay…’ James muttered, frowning but not asking any further.
‘Hey James?’ Evan asked, his eyes curious. James frowned at him. ‘Did you ever specify where you were born? Like, I know you go to school in Britain, but I do too and I’m from France,’ he explained, earning a soft smile from James. ‘It’s really weird to just, randomly, ask stuff like that, Evy,’ he said, starting to laugh when Evan frowned. ‘It is? Why?’ he asked, big eyes innocent. ‘Because, no nevermind it’s okay. And no, I’m actually not from Britain. My family’s Spanish. I thought you would’ve known that, from you know, my mother calling you mi querido niño?’ James asked, softly laughing.
Evan’s cheeks became red from shame. ‘Oh. It’s Spanish… Yeah that makes sense. Holy shit, I’m stupid sometimes,’ he muttered, shaking his head. He looked up towards James. ‘Does that mean you can speak Spanish too?’ he asked, earning a grin from James. ‘I’m fluent, Ev. I can speak Portuguese too, if you care to know,’ James said. Evan’s mouth dropped open from shock. ‘Yes I care to know! That’s so cool James, mon Dieu!’ Evan said, eyes growing wide, shocked. ‘I feel like a bad boyfriend for not knowing that, wow,’ Evan sighed, looking at the tv.
‘Why’d you ask that, Evy?’ James asked curiously. Evan’s eyes became wide for a split second, before he recovered. ‘Oh, I was just curious,’ he muttered. Evan really was terrible at lying.
Evan turned to face James and looked at him. ‘Tell me something. Something in Spanish. Please?’ Evan asked, blinking quickly and looking at James through his lashes. ‘Alright. Creo que eres la mejor persona que jamás haya entrado en mi vida y me enamoró aún más de ti con cada minuto que pasamos juntos,’ James said, the words coming out of his mouth fluently and perfectly. I think you're the best person to have ever entered my life and I'm falling further for you with every minute we spend together. When James spoke Spanish, Evan finally understood his slight accent. It had always been Spanish, but Evan was just too stupid to figure it out. ‘Wow. Okay I definitely need you to do that more, because that’s really freaking sexy,’ Evan said, his mouth still open from shock. ‘What did you say?’ Evan asked, carefully getting closer to James, as if James wouldn’t notice it. ‘Just, something,’ he muttered, making a mistake by looking at Evan’s lips.
His eyes got stuck there, and didn’t go anywhere else until his lips landed on Evan’s. James could feel Evan’s hands travel up and down his body, moving softly, but with purpose. James moved closer to Evan and busied his own hands by burying one in Evan’s hair and holding the other one on his hips. He softly tugged on Evan’s curls, earning a gasp. Evan broke the kiss after that, gasping for air and staring at James who looked at him a little worried. ‘Something wrong?’ he asked, carefully removing his hand from Evan’s hair. ‘No- Just- out of breath-’ he muttered, taking deep breaths and crashing his lips against James’ again.
The world honestly could’ve exploded in front of them, and James wouldn’t have noticed, nor cared. This was where he wanted to be. Right here, right now.
Evan’s hands worked faster than James’ brain, because before James really had any mind of what was happening, the kiss was being broken to pull off his shirt. James had no protests, and pulled on the fabric of Evan’s to pull it off too. They crashed together again, closer, warmer and harder, but were roughly pulled back away from each other by two certain lesbians.
Evan thrashed against the hold until he realised Dorcas was holding him and looking at him with one eyebrow raised. ‘A white couch Ev? Really?’ She said, shaking her head, disappointed. James blinked twice at Dorcas, before he was hit with his shirt by Marlene. ‘Let’s not PDA in the middle of the house if guests are over, Jamesie,’ she said, tutting softly. James would’ve expected Evan to be just as embarrassed as he was, but Evan just looked disappointed at Dorcas.
‘Could you have any worse timing? Literally, any worse?’ he hissed, not really angry, but not happy either. Dorcas grinned at him and handed him his shirt, which he put on begrudgingly.
‘That’s me for you Ev. Dorcas the cockblocker, huh?’ she said, winking at her girlfriend who was busy messing James’ hair up even more. She grinned at her girlfriend before softly pushing James’ head away and walking over towards Dorcas. ‘We’re heading out now, but please Ev. Don’t do it on a white couch,’ Dorcas said, giving him a pointed look, which did make Evan blush. ‘We weren’t doing it anyways, maman,’ he said, crossing his arms.
Dorcas muttered ‘yeah, yeah, you’ll thank me later,’ before she and Marlene walked out of the door and closed it behind them. Evan turned back to face James who was trying to hold in his laugh. ‘So, I guess we’re not doing that anymore now…’ Evan muttered, before looking at James. Both boys started laughing at the same moment. It was all big smiles and even bigger giggles, like they were little kids who thought everything was funny.
It didn’t matter much to James though, because the right moment would come when it came, and he loved having fun with Evan just as much.
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‘I’m proud of you, Reg,’ Barty said, just as Regulus closed the door behind Evan.
Regulus pursed his lips and gave Barty a pointed look. ‘This doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven him. But I want them to have a good time, at least. I am secretly hoping Ev doesn’t know how to do it, just like me,’ he muttered under his breath. Barty scoffed. ‘I doubt it. Have you seen that man move his hips at parties?’ he said, remembering one specific incident where Evan got a little too tipsy and was dancing on top of the table with Barty almost the entire night.
Loads of fun that was, back in the days when everything was fine.
Barty hooked up with another guy that night. One that looked a little alike of Evan, but he only realised that now, almost a year later.
Regulus said nothing after that, but instead picked up his book and walked onto the balcony. ‘This isn’t just some ploy for you to see them dance together at the club… Right?’ Barty asked him, getting innocent eyes from Regulus back. ‘Regulus! Stop doing selfish stuff, jeez!’ Barty scolded, earning a cold gaze from Regulus. ‘You’re no one to judge about selfishness. And at least let me have this, if I can’t have James.’ Or Evan. It was clear Regulus wanted to say that, but he didn’t.
Of course he didn’t. Regulus was a little pathetic. He never really told anyone about his stupid crush on Evan, except for Barty. Barty also knew he wasn’t quite over Evan, but anytime Barty brought that up, Regulus shut him down.
Regulus opened his book and started reading, sitting down in the chair on the balcony.
‘What are you reading?’ Barty asked, lighting a cigarette. ‘A book,’ Regulus answered, uninterested. ‘I know that. What kind of book? What’s it about?’ he asked, breathing in deeply and making small smoke rings with the inhaled smoke. ‘It’s about a boy and a girl fake dating so the girl can make someone else jealous. It’s a basic trope, I know, but I… Why are you looking at me like that?’ Regulus asked, frowning at Barty.
‘Isn’t that a great way to make people jealous,’ he said, smirking at Regulus. Regulus frowned for a second before realising and shaking his head. ‘No, you can forget it you utter asshole,’ he said, eyes on his book again instead of on Barty. Barty put his cigarette down in the ashtray and moved to throw his arms around Regulus’ shoulders from the back. ‘Oh but you said you’d go to any lengths to get James back. Is that not what you want?’ Barty whispered, seeing Regulus’ eyes falter and doubt the idea.
See, Barty knew how most of the fake dating books ended. The ones who fake dated, fell for each other. And Barty wouldn’t really mind that happening. Not at all actually. He was planning on it, so James could have Evan. Because if Barty would have Regulus, he wouldn’t still have weird thoughts about loving Evan anymore, he was sure of that.
‘Fine. But only when they’re around. I’m not falling for you, Barty,’ Regulus said, giving him an irritated look and pushing him away.
‘That’s what they all say, babes.’
‘Call me that again and I’ll cut your tongue off in your sleep.’
‘Ah. Vague threats, a sign of true love.’
‘Shut. Up.’
Barty snickered and picked up his cigarette again. ‘Anything for you my sweetie pie,’ Barty muttered in a baby voice, before laughing and dodging Regulus’ fist. He threw his book down and glared at Barty. ‘I’m giving you three seconds. One,’ he started, slowly walking towards Barty, blocking the door for him. Well shit, cause now he has nowhere to go. ‘Two,’ Regulus went on, stalking closer until Barty was against the wall. ‘You know, you could also kiss me if you want?’ Barty said in a really rushed voice, laughing nervously as Regulus raised his eyebrow along with his fist. ‘Three.’
Barty yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice breaking halfway and letting out a very girly scream. He had his eyes closed and was waiting for a blow that never came. He slowly opened them to find Regulus frowning at him. Hand besides Barty’s head, fingers splayed to keep him balanced. ‘You scream like a little girl, Crouch,’ Regulus said, his eyebrow still raised. ‘Do you like it? I could scream for you like that in the bedroom too?’ Barty asked, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows. That was when Regulus did hit him. It was soft though, not as hard as Regulus could hit.
Still, Barty pouted and put a hand over his jaw. ‘That hurts Reg, ow,’ Barty muttered, his words not entirely clear because of the way he was holding his jaw. ‘No it didn’t, you fucking crybaby.’ Regulus had his back turned to Barty, and he was reaching to grab his book again. ‘It did. Really, it did,’ Barty said, grabbing Regulus’ arm, who gave in willingly. He sighed deeply and rolled his eyes.
‘Let me look at it,’ Regulus said, motioning for Barty to remove his hand. He did just that, and Regulus carefully grazed his fingers over Barty’s jawline. ‘Does this hurt?’ he asked, looking at Barty a little bored. Barty was offended how bored Regulus could look when they were so close, but he was too focused on Regulus’ soft touch to comment on it. ‘No. You can press a little harder,’ Barty muttered, not really wanting Regulus’ touch to go away.
And though Regulus gave him a disbelieving look, he complied and carefully pressed a little harder on Barty’s jawline, which was slowly turning red from the impact of Regulus’ blow. ‘Okay, yeah, you can stop, it hurts now,’ Barty said, grinding his teeth together against the pain. As fast as it came, the touch disappeared.
Regulus looked at him for a second, a storm in those beautiful icy blue eyes of his. Barty could feel his gaze drawing him in. He would willingly go down for those eyes, like a sailor drawn to a siren’s call. He stared right back, openly, without any hidden emotions.
And for once, Regulus returned the favour by showing some emotions on his face.
It made him even more gorgeous to Barty.
He wanted to kiss him. He wanted to kiss Regulus senseless and make him forget all about that stupid James. He wanted to forget about Evan and his stupid golden hair. His multi coloured eyes, and the way he ate his toast. What he did and didn’t like, his go to drive thru, the way his not often heard laugh bounced off every surface and followed Barty in his dreams. He wanted to forget, though he wasn’t sure he could.
But Regulus was his first love, so Regulus must help. He was sure of it. He was sure of it when both boys locked lips and actual sparks seemed to fly between them. Barty wasn’t sure when he dropped his cigarette, but he clearly did because both his hands were around Regulus’ waist, pulling him in until there wasn’t any space left between them.
Regulus was careful in his kisses, but Barty was not. Barty was hungry, and he had longed for this so long, he didn’t want to be careful anymore. He bit on Regulus’ lip, earning a soft groan from Regulus, who then pushed Barty against the wall with enough force to take out a man. Not Barty though, Barty had enough strength right now to survive anything.
He guided Regulus back inside, further into the hotel room until Regulus’ legs hit the bed and they broke apart. ‘This is a bad idea, Barty,’ Regulus said, looking at Barty with lust filled eyes. Barty was sure his eyes were filled with even more hunger than Regulus’.
‘What can I say? I’m a bad guy,’ Barty grinned, before pushing Regulus on the bed and falling down with him.
And yes, Barty did forget about Evan.
Even if he was the first thing Barty thought of after, he at least forgot during. Which meant he was getting over him, right?
Right?