Chapter 28
Barty was quite confused when he got a text from an unknown number asking him to meet on the beach.
He was even more confused when he realised that the one asking him to meet was James. Fucking. Potter.
So Barty dialled the number and called until James picked up. ‘Hello?’ ‘Yes, hello. First of all, why do you send messages at three am to meet someone?’ Barty asked, walking out of the cigarette shop (don’t ask him about his midnight activities, okay?) and starting towards the beach.
‘I didn’t send you a message at three am? I sent that message six hours ago.’
Ah, that was way more sensible.
‘Okay, too bad. I’m on my way to the beach now, and I’m expecting you to be there when I arrive,’ barty ordered. ‘What? You’re joking right? Barty, it’s three am!’ James said, sounding incredulous. ‘Yeah, so what? You need my help with something I assume, and I’m in a good mood right now, so I want to help you. You’re already awake anyways, so just as well make use of my help now that the offer still stands,’ Barty said in a singsong voice.
He heard a deep sigh from James and then a little bit of rumbling. ‘I’ll be there in twenty minutes,’ James said. Barty laughed. ‘Make it fifteen and I’ll wait for you.’
His bare feet felt cold on the sand, almost calming.
In fifteen minutes, James did show up. Barty was already halfway through his newly bought pack of cigarettes by now, and he regretted the loss already.
James stood beside Barty, staring at the calm sea for a while before he cleared his throat. ‘Yes?’ Barty asked, not turning his head to look at James. ‘I uh… I need your help.’
‘Well we had already established that, now, hadn’t we? Why else would we be standing here close to half past three?’ Barty said, no bite to his tone. ‘No, no that’s true. I uh, you were classically trained in dancing right? Like Regulus and Evan were?’ James asked. From out of the corner of his eye, Barty could see James looking at him.
‘We weren’t classically trained, James. We were taught how to do a large variety of ballroom dances. Being classically trained mostly means ballet or that kind of shit,’ Barty said, wincing at the thought of doing ballet. ‘Okay, well, that’s what I mean. I uh.. You see, I want Regulus to know that he can be himself with me, you know? And I thought that if I learnt something from his world, that he’d appreciate it,’ James said, which earned him a loud laugh from Barty.
Sucker was way down deep.
‘That is one way to get into Regulus’ pants, yes. Works like a charm, really. You know what, now that I think of it, that was actually the-’ ‘Okay, okay I don’t need the details. Just.. Will you help me? Please?’
Barty raised an eyebrow at James, finally turning to look at him. ‘What’s in it for me?’ His gaze was clear and challenging James, but James was, of course, too innocent to see it. ‘Whatever you want, really. Wait that’s-’ ‘Okay, so I’m gonna need a new pack of cigarettes for every hour we’re spending on this, and it’s going to be a lot, because learning ballroom isn’t like latin. In ballroom dancing, everything is fucking different, and then we’re not even talking about the moves that really make Reg get the hots,’ Barty started, wiggling his eyebrows.
‘Okay, sure. Sounds… reasonable,’ James said, nodding to himself. ‘No, I wasn’t done. I want you to talk to Ev for me. Tell him what I’m doing for you and Reg so he knows I do care about others,’ Barty said, which made James frown. ‘Barty, if I have to tell Evan about this so you look good for doing it, isn’t that kind of selfish?’ James asked, frowning. Barty also frowned. ‘Okay, fair. Scrap that,’ he muttered.
‘I want you to teach me how to dance like you do,’ Baryt said, nodding to himself. ‘And-’ ‘Nuh uh, somewhere is going to be a line,’ James said, shaking his head. ‘Don’t you want the specific moves that make Reg squirm in between your hands, Potter?’ Barty challenged, raising his eyebrow. James mulled that over for a minute, before he nodded once.
‘I’ll throw in a batch of Effie’s homemade cookies. And some moves that always prove successful,’ James said, extending his hand towards Barty who looked at it for a second.
‘Are they good cookies?’
‘The best you will ever taste in your entire life.’
‘Deal.’
And they shook hands.
Not letting go of James’ hand, Barty pulled him in and grabbed him in the standard dancing position. James stiffened and gave him a surprised look. ‘First lesson. Ballroom is strict. No shuffling the toes. No looking all around you. The leader looks in the direction they’re going, the follower looks left. Your hands are not falling limp. Your shoulder is extended and against the others. The leaders’ grip on the follower’s waist is firm, but not painful,’ Barty rattled on, slowly showing the differences as he explained. James nodded along.
‘Regulus knows both leader and follower moves, but you and I both know, at least I assume, that Regulus prefers to be a follower, so I’ll be teaching you how to lead,’ Barty said, changing their arms around so James was holding him in the leading position.
‘Barty, isn’t it kind of late to do this? And not the right place?’ James asked. Barty sighed deeply and let go of James. ‘You don’t have loads of days left to learn it though, and I’m already wide awake anyways, so why not? But I do agree on the place. We need a firm ground and some music,’ Barty said, looking around.
‘Yeah, okay. Say what? We go to my house and you can sleep over in one of the spare rooms. We can practise until we’re tired,’ James proposed, which made a grin appear on Barty’s face. ‘You got yourself a deal, loverboy.’
‘Thought that was Sirius’ name for Evan.’
‘Oh ew! Never saying that again. I’ll call you… honeypie then.’
‘Uh…’
‘Oh my honeypie!’
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When Regulus woke up again, his head was in angry Evan’s lap.
‘Where were you? What were you thinking?! Why didn’t you just call?!’ Evan yelled, making Regulus’ eyes open and look at him irritated.
‘I uh, I didn’t think it was such a big deal,’ Barty said, shrugging. Regulus looked over towards him and glared at him. ‘Hi?’ Barty asked, smiling a little. ‘I’m going back to sleep,’ Regulus huffed, turning around and closing his eyes again. ‘Maybe go to your room if you want to sleep, Regulus,’ Evan said, more calm than he looked.
‘Nah,’ Regulus muttered. Evan shrugged and snapped his gaze back up to Barty. ‘You fucking imbecile! You think it’s just okay to randomly fucking disappear in the middle of the night?! No note, no text, when I call you don’t pick up! You could’ve been dead for fucks’ sake! Do you know how worried we were?’ Evan asked. Regulus had a distinct feeling that he was close to growling at Barty, which made him internally giggle.
He didn’t know what was wrong with himself.
‘I’m old enough to care for myself! Calm down, Ev!’ Barty yelled back, and oh now he was causing trouble for himself. Evan huffed out a sarcastic laugh. ‘You’re old enough to care for yourself? You can care for yourself? Wow,’ Evan said, shaking his head in disbelief, which also shook Regulus. He tugged at Evan’s shirt.
‘Sit still, I’m trying to sleep.’
‘Go sleep in your room then?’
‘Nah, I’m comfy like this,’ Regulus said, shuffling a little bit and humming in content.
Regulus opened his eyes to look at Evan, who rolled his eyes. ‘You can’t keep me inside for yourself Evan. I’m not some pet you have to look after 24/7 even though you think I am!’ Barty said, raising his voice once again.
Regulus saw Evan’s face twist from anger to hurt, but he quickly masked it with indifference. ‘Is that what you were doing then?’ he asked, the noise level suddenly way lower.
‘Is what? Living my own life? Yes, I was. Sue me,’ Barty said, and Regulus guessed he didn’t realise how bad it sounded when he said it. Barty didn’t understand Evan’s question like Regulus did, but it wasn’t really his place to point that out.
Evan was silent for longer than Regulus thought he would be. Regulus thought Evan would bite back quickly, like most times, but he didn’t say a thing. Regulus moved his head to look at Barty, who was staring at Evan with his vibrant blue eyes.
‘What?’ Barty asked, confused now. Evan sighed, shook his head, and closed his eyes. ‘No, nothing. I thought…’ Evan muttered, shuffling his legs underneath Regulus’ head. Regulus snapped his eyes up to him in irritation. ‘You thought what?’
‘It’s not important. It’s just a thought that isn’t true anyways. Didn’t you have anywhere to be?’ Evan asked, but Barty frowned. ‘No? Why do you suddenly want me gone?’ Barty now sounded desperate. Regulus could hear him stepping closer, but Evan turned his head away from Barty to look into the garden.
‘I don’t want you gone. I’m just asking you before you randomly disappear again without saying anything,’ Evan said calmly, but his tone was sharp and Barty looked at Evan as if he was physically hurt. ‘Why are you so angry? I came back, didn’t I?’
‘Yeah, you did. I’m not angry, Barty. Just let it go,’ Evan muttered, sighing deeply and looking down at Regulus, who quickly closed his eyes. Evan huffed. ‘Very mature, Regulus. Keeping yourself out of the conversation?’ Evan asked, to which Regulus nodded. ‘I’m sleeping, so I have no part in this conversation.’
Regulus felt Evan heave a deep sigh again, before sagging down against the couch. He saw Evan’s phone light even though his eyes were closed. Barty scoffed. ‘You’re fucking joking, right? We’re talking!’
‘Are we? I thought it was clear that the conversation was done, Barty,’ Evan said, not even looking up from his phone to look at Barty.
‘Fine, then the conversation is fucking done. Prick,’ Barty muttered in irritation, before he turned around. ‘Who are you calling a prick? Maybe look in the mirror first,’ Evan said, raising an eyebrow. Still not looking at Barty.
‘Two can be pricks, Evan. Would’ve thought that’s why you were in love with me, because stuck up pricks are your type,’ Barty said airily. ‘Excuse you? Say that again, I dare you,’ Evan hissed, his entire body stiffening up. Regulus opened his eyes again, because sleeping was impossible with these stupid dudes, and he looked at Barty, who had a mean grin on his face.
‘I would’ve thought that you love me because you always choose the stuck up pricks to fall for. Much like yourself,’ Barty said slowly, a mean way of teasing. Evan huffed. ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought. You forgot to add a d though. If you’re like this, I don’t love you. I hope you find someone stupid enough to believe your bullshit,’ Evan said, rolling his eyes before grabbing his phone again and turning the volume up.
‘The fuck are you saying? You can’t handle someone living their life? Do you expect someone to share everything?’ Barty asked incredulously. ‘No, Barty. I don’t expect someone to share everything. But you went out to buy cigarettes at three and didn’t return for more than twelve hours. What do you think that shows?’ Evan asked.
Barty shrugged, eyes cast towards Regulus. ‘Because I think it only shows that you can’t keep it in your pants for more than three days. Cause it was three days ago you and Regulus decided to ‘stop’, right?’ air quotes and all. Barty scoffed again, and now Regulus was also offended. He sat up and gave Evan a cross look.
‘Oh, you too? I fucking swear, just take the plane back already! I’m not doing anything right for either of you, huh? I think I would’ve had more fun if I was here with my parents,’ Evan snapped, standing up now that Regulus was away from his lap.
‘You guys do realise that this was my last summer vacation, or any vacation for that matter, where I still had my own life and my own choices to make?! You guys have completely ruined my last vacation as a normal human being and if my father ever gets the slightest information about any of this, I’ll be forbidden to see you!’ Evan went on, using his hands while explaining, drawing Regulus’ eyes away from his teary eyes.
‘He won’t forbid you to have a social life, Ev,’ Barty said, trying to calm Evan down.
‘No he won’t, of course! He’ll just buy me some new friends! Like he’ll buy me a girlfriend or two and he’ll monitor my every move, give me a few bodyguards and never let me leave the millions of hotel rooms I’ll be staying in. I’ll be prohibited from eating, cause I’m already weighing too much and my hair will definitely be cut and styled and maybe even dyed! He’ll throw out my clothes, because those are way too old fashioned for an up and coming model like me! I won’t be myself anymore. Not even a shell of my former self will stay intact.’
He was full on bawling now, trying desperately to talk through his tears, but failing. Regulus didn’t often feel like hugging people, but he reached out to pull Evan into a hug. Not even surprised about being hugged by Regulus, Evan hugged him back and hid his face into his blouse.
‘I’m so scared,’ Evan whispered, facing Regulus. ‘I know, Ev. But we’re not leaving. I’m not leaving, at least,’ he said, giving Barty a stern look.
Evan’s emotions were so deeply rooted, it secretly frightened Regulus. How much was he keeping from his supposed best friends? How much had he wanted to say, but couldn’t because he was scared of backlash? How many times had Regulus snapped at him when he wanted to talk about something important to him?
Regulus felt sick. He felt like a terrible friend, no, a terrible person. He had been horrible to Evan for months now, and it never dawned on him to apologise.
But it did now.
‘I’m so sorry, Evan. For everything. The last few months were supposed to be good for you, but I’ve been horrible to you and I shouldn’t have been. I should’ve listened to you more. I should’ve said sorry earlier. So I’m saying it now. Twice. I’m sorry,’ Regulus said, softly patting Evan’s back.
Evan looked at him, still shaking from his tears. ‘Did you just say sorry to me? Twice?’ Evan asked, surprised. He was hiccuping from crying, but he still managed to ask unimportant stuff. ‘I already have my regrets, but yes,’ Regulus nodded.
Evan grabbed a tissue and blew his nose. He smiled weakly through his tears. ‘Well now I’m gonna have to throw a party, because holy shit.’ He shook his head, which made Regulus huff a small laugh.
‘Now I definitely regret saying it.’
‘Nah, you love me, really.’
‘I really don’t.’ Evan gave him a look. ‘Okay maybe just a little,’ Regulus said, while crossing his arms. Evan smiled as if he had just gotten a victory. But then his gaze locked on Barty’s, who was staring at Evan in some kind of trance. His smile fell in replacement for a scowl.
‘What? Am I wearing something of yours?’ Evan asked, raising one eyebrow. ‘Actually, that shirt is mine, yeah. But, that’s not… I was wondering about something,’ Barty said, shaking his head and sighing.
‘About what?’ Evan asked, crossing his arms. Regulus could see him biting the inside of his cheek in annoyance. ‘It was stupid, wasn’t it? The box? Did you throw it away? Did you set it aflame? I know it was corny, but I thought that maybe you’d like it,’ Barty asked, suddenly protective.
What box?
‘I did like it, actually. But how much do your words really mean? Actions speak louder, Barty,’ Evan said, sighing deeply and touching the bridge of his, luckily fully healed, nose. ‘It was an action! I made an entire basket for you!’
‘Filled with letters that bear meaningless words! Realise it, Barty! Put in the effort! Show me you mean what you’re talking about.’
Both Barty and Regulus stared at Evan in shock.
So, Barty made Evan a box.
And Barty must’ve planted it on Evan’s bed last night, which explains Evan’s sudden need to speak to Barty. And then Barty basically confirmed that he slept around last night.
Wow.
Fucked up much?
Could Regulus really say that when he knew how fucked up he himself was? Not really, but whatever.
Evan huffed, shook his head and made a beeline for the door. ‘Where are you going?’ Barty asked, his voice suddenly soft and almost scared. ‘Out. Can’t bear your perfume for much longer,’ Evan sneered, before he slammed the door shut.
Regulus and Barty stood there for a few minutes, just looking at the door.
Evan was coming back every second now, he forgot his Airpods.
‘Does my perfume really-’ ‘No, of course it doesn’t. He’s just sick of you right now, not your perfume.’
‘Oh. Don’t know what’s better, honestly.’
‘Both. Both are bad,’ Regulus said, scrunching up his nose. ‘You do actually smell weird. Did you take a shower after sleeping with, I assume, the dude?’ Regulus asked him, which made Barty frown. ‘What? Huh? I didn’t sleep with anyone? Where did you get that from?’ Barty asked, utterly confused.
That was when the door opened and Evan walked in, head downwards. ‘Forgot my Airpods,’ he mumbled, grabbing them and turning around sharply to head for the door again.
Barty and Regulus, once again, looked at the door as Evan slammed it, and stayed quiet for a little while.
‘I didn’t have sex with anyone last night. I was helping an old friend with a favour,’ Barty said, breaking the silence, and turning to look at Regulus. Regulus looked at him too. ‘You really, really must be one of the stupidest smart people the world has ever seen, fucking hell. You should win an award for being so smart and so stupid at the same exact fucking time.’
Barty pulled a face very akin to a toddler that didn’t get the lollipop they wanted, pout and all. ‘I feel like that’s a bigger insult than I comprehend it is,’ Barty muttered after a little while, after which Regulus, genuinely (yes he could do that, fuck you), laugh. When he realised that he was laughing though, he immediately stopped and stared at Barty, who was staring back at him with big eyes.
‘You laughed. Holy shit. I made THE Regulus laugh. Holy. Fucking. Shit. Now I have to start a diary to write about this happening.’
‘If you ever tell a soul about this, I will come for all of your cigarettes and drown them in a bathtub. One by one.’
A loud gasp from Barty.
‘You wouldn’t dare.’ Regulus scoffed and crossed his arms. ‘Fucking try me, punk,’ he said, raising a challenging eyebrow.
‘Hmm.. No thanks, I like life.’
‘Smart boy.’
‘You just called me stupid in rich language and now you’re calling me smart? Which one is it?’
‘Neither. You’re just an arse.’