“I don’t know about this Barty,” Regulus says, shaking his head. He’d known it was a dumb idea, Barty’s ideas generally were, but he’d stupidly agreed. Now here he was, reaping the consequences.
“Too late” Barty replies, sticking his head out of his closet where he had been rummaging for the last 5 minutes. “You’ve already committed.”
A few more minutes pass before Barty sticks his head back out of the closet bringing with him a pair of loose low waisted jeans, a black belt, and a tight fitting dark green tank top. “I know it's more muggle than you usually go for, but you would look bloody sexy so I say to hell with it.”
Regulus already knew he would agree to any outfit Barty threw at him, but it was so fun to play with him.
He smirks, “Oh I know I would, but do you not think it would be a bit much?”
“Please, this is a Gryffindor party Reg. They wouldn’t know ‘too much’ if it slapped them across the face.
“Mmm I don’t know Barty…”
“Come on, this with your rings and a little eyeliner, no one could resist you.”
Regulus scowls. But it isn’t a real scowl and Barty knows it, the asshole.
“Oh and with a face like that you would be turning heads. You know… I bet you’d even turn the head of a certain someone…”
Regulus’ scowl turns real as he chucks the closest thing to him (a notebook) at Barty’s head. He ducks, and the notebook hits the wall with a dull thwap. “I don’t know who you’re talking about”
“Reg, Reggie,” Barty mocks, mouth turned down in an ill attempt at wounded, “no need to resort to violence, I won't mention him again if you don’t want me to.”
“I do not know, who, you are referring to,” Regulus repeats, enunciating every syllable. He does know though. James fucking Potter is who Barty is refering to. The fact that Regulus has had a crush on him for years is a sore spot for him, one that Barty enjoys pushing. Often.
“Alright alright I get it I’ll shut up” Barty laughs.
“Unlikely but one can hope” Regulus shoots back.
“Just, shut up and put on the clothes. I’ll grab Evan and Dorcas, then we can head out.” Barty says. “And don’t think I forgot about the eyeliner” He adds on in a sing-songy tone as he leaves the room.
Regulus’ responding groan is muffled as the door slams, but he’s sure Barty got the message.
-
When they walk into the Gryffindor common room, the party is already raging. Barty had claimed it was necessary they arrived at least an hour late and something about proper party procedure. Regulus hadn’t really been listening.
As soon as they step through the portrait hole, Sirius waves them down, beckoning them towards his group. Throughout the years, Regulus and Sirius have had a tumultuous relationship, at best. but eventually they’d come to a sort of understanding. There was no use blaming each other for the things that resulted from living in that house. They both hurt each other, and they both made mistakes, but first and foremost, they were both children. Now they exist in a state of tentative understanding. They don’t know what they’re doing. Does anyone really? But they care and they’re trying, so Regulus thinks that must count for something.
As they make their way towards the group, they pass the drink table. Barty grabs two cups and passes them back to Evan and Dorcas. He then grabs two more and tries to hand one to Regulus.
“Oh, no” “Absolutely not” says Regulus. “I will not be drinking whatever crime of a concoction is in that cup.”
“C'monn” Pesters Barty, shoving the drink into his hand. “You gotta let loose every once and a while”
Regulus does not need to let loose. In fact it is probably the worst thing he could possibly do at this moment, surrounded by so many people he doesn’t know, and frankly doesn’t want to. He’s about to tell Barty as much when Dorcas butts in.
“You don’t have to drink it Reg, just hold onto it” She leans in closer to whisper in his ear, “just do it to keep Barty from marching out in protest, okay?” Regulus sends her a look, but gives in and takes the cup.
“I can hear you, you know” mumbles Barty petulantly.
Dorcas just laughs and straightens up, “Good, now you’ll think twice before marching out in a huff.” As she begins walking away, Evan calls out after her,
“Not joining us?”
“I will in a bit” she replies, “but I see Mckinnon on the dance floor and I want to have a chat.” She walks of smirking as if they didn’t all know about her little love affair with the Gryffindor.
“I doubt a chat’s all she’ll be having” Evan murmurs, and Barty snorts in agreement.
As they finally get to where the group is standing, Regulus looks around. Everyone seems well on their way to being drunk. Peter is dancing on a table with a bottle in his hands as a microphone. Evan immediately goes over to begin flirting with him, while Barty sends them borderline murderous looks.
Sirius is leaning heavily on Remus looking up at him, while Remus looks down at him with nothing short of adoration as they share a murmured conversation. Sirius offers a small wave of hello at Regulus, but quickly turns back to Remus. Sirius and Remus had been extra close to each other at all times ever since they got together, no one could begrudge them it really though after years of pining and missed opportunities. Despite them being out in the open, Regulus can’t help but look away, feeling like he’s intruding on a private moment.
James is leaning against the wall, seemingly deep in conversation with Lily and Mary. Regulus can’t help but notice James’ arm slung over Lily’s shoulder. He looks down at his drink, maybe a little wouldn’t hurt, he’d been drunk before, it wasn’t that bad. Maybe just a sip. As he’s looking back up from his drink James laughs at something Lily said, Regulus gives in and takes a sip.
“Not gonna drink anything huh?” mutters Barty in his ear, the smirk obvious in his voice. Smug bastard.
“Shut up” he mutters back, taking a long gulp of his drink as he watches James lean down and whisper something in Lily’s ear. Godric knows what he said to her. James’ crush on the red head was no secret, the whole school had been hearing about it since the second he saw her on the train. In recent years they seemed to have become friends, maybe more. Really Regulus couldn’t tell, but at the moment he was doing everything to convince himself he didn’t care.
“Come on,” he says to Barty, tugging on his arm, “I want another drink.”
-
After hours of drinking and dancing, Peter corrals their group up stairs into the boys dorms, declaring they’d gone far too long without any drinking games, and he simply wasn’t going to let the night end without them. Dorcas had already gone up to the girls dorms with Marlene, secret love affair things Regulus presumed, and Evan had gone off with some Ravenclaw girl. A fact Barty was not happy about, but Regulus was too drunk at the moment to worry about Barty’s repressed feelings towards his best friend.
Regulus himself took very little convincing to go up, already drunker than he’d been in a while, he couldn’t find it in himself to want to refuse.
After stumbling up the stairs, they all sit themselves in a circle, Regulus ending up next to Barty and Mary. James sat across from him in the circle, and with his faculties so impaired, he couldn’t help but stare at him. He really was quite an attractive man, with strong arms and legs from quidditch, dark honey eyes, and sun browned skin, no one could deny his beauty. It didn’t help that his burgundy shirt was so tight Regulus could make out the muscles of his biceps as he gestured wildly throughout his conversation.
He didn’t realize how long he’d been staring until James looked over and caught his eye. James stared at him in surprise for just a moment, and then grinned at Regulus, giving him a wink and turning back to where he had been talking with Sirius.
Regulus sat for a moment in shock, looking around to see if anyone had seen what he’d just seen, and paused for just a moment to wonder why the world hadn’t exploded at this gesture, but his spiraling thoughts were interrupted by Peter smacking the ground.
“ALRIGHT!” Peter shouts, at a volume that seemed much more alcohol induced than purposeful. “EVERYONE QUITE DOWN BECAUSE WE’RE PLAYING NEVER HAVE I EVER!”
A chorus of cheers ring around the room, but everyone settles into their spots to listen to Peter’s instructions.
“Now I’m sure you all know how to play, but basically we go around the circle and say never have I ever, then say something you’ve done. If you have done the thing the person says, take a drink. Got it?”
After multiple nods Mary calls out, “Alright I’ll go first, starting with something simple. Never have I ever… had my first kiss.” Unsurprisingly everyone in the room takes a sip.
“Okay Regulus your turn.” Mary says. Regulus looks up from his cup to see everyone staring at him.
“Oh uh okay” he mumbles. He may have forgotten he had to participate in these games, and he’s having trouble forming coherent thoughts at the moment.
“Never have I ever… uhm… smoked weed”
A few chuckles as everyone except Lily takes a drink. She rolls her eyes fondly as she lets them know that they’re all, “going to die of lung cancer”
“I’m gonna die young and hot anyways” announces Sirius
“Cheers to that” laughs James, as he and Sirius both take another sip of their drink. Regulus doubts James could ever not be hot, and he almost says so, but decides to maybe keep that to himself.
“My turn!” Sing songs Barty, giving Regulus a look that he just knows means trouble.
“Never have I ever shagged anyone in this room.” Sirius and Remus exchange a glance and take a sip at the same time. Barty, looking right at Regulus, takes a long drink out of his cup, Regulus, rolling his eyes at the antics, takes a drink too. James’ eyes flit between the two of them, an indecipherable look on his face. Eventually his eyes land on Regulus, giving him a questioning look. Regulus just shrugs, smirking at him the way he had previously in the evening, and looking to the next person.
After a few more go arounds, Mary announces that they need to pick the next game before everyone is too drunk to speak.
“Oooh I know” says James, “let’s play truth or dare”
“We’re not allowed to play truth or dare anymore.” Sirius chimes in, “Last time we did James fell off the roof. Poppy won't forgive us if anything happens.” Regulus doesn’t even question this statement. It sounds exactly like something James would do, and he knows the poor healer has had to fix them up one too many times.
“Okay” James says, amending his statement, “We’ll play truth or truth then. Basically you ask someone a truth, and if they don’t want to answer it, they have to take a drink. Who wants to go first?”
“I will” says Lily, “Remus, truth or truth”
Remus smiles over at her, “Truth.”
“How did you and the boys get those stupid nicknames?”
The nicknames in question are Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs, for Remus, Sirius, Peter, and James. Regulus has his suspicions as to how they came about. With Remus in the hospital wing the day after every full moon it’s not too hard to discern. He’s quite lost for the background behind the other ones though, so he leans in curiously, just as eager to hear the answer as everyone else. Unfortunately for him, Remus shakes his head.
“Nice try Red,” Remus tells Lily, “but that information is coming with us to the grave.” He holds his cup up to Lily, as if to cheers her, and downs the rest of his drink.
“Sirius,” he says, turning to look at him, “truth or truth”
“Hmm” hums Sirius, sounding contemplative. “Thats a hard one there but I’m gonna have to go with truth”
Remus rolls his eyes, but then lights up as he appears to think of a question. “I've been trying to get this one out of you for a while.” He says, “Who was your first kiss?”
Regulus looks over to Sirius, who is looking oddly, sheepish? Before he has the time to answer, Mary does for him.
“That would be me,” she says. “It was, what, 3rd year when we started dating? You said you’d never kissed anyone before.” Regulus looks back over to Sirius, who somehow looks even more sheepish than before, eyes flitting nervously between Mary and Remus.
“So,” Sirius prefaces, “that may have been a lie…”
Mary gasps, looking a little offended, but mostly curious, and James stiffles a giggle he’d clearly been keeping in since the question was asked.
“Okay,” Remus says slowly, “who was it then?”
“Jsmhms” Sirius mutters under his breath.
“Who?” asks Remus, visibly confused at his hesitation.
“JAMES OKAY!” He shouts, “James was my first kiss, and I was his.”
At this declaration, James finally burst out laughing, his choked out gasps filling the air as everyone quickly follows suit, too intoxicated to stop themselves. Sirius curls in on himself, laughing as well while Remus comforts him through his own bouts of laughter. Despite their immediate shock, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Ever since James and Sirius met on the Hogwarts express, they were inseparable. Regulus received countless letters from Sirius his first year detailing everything from the pranks they planned together, to what they ate for breakfast. It was almost fitting they would be each other’s first kiss too.
“Alright alright that's enough laughing at my expense.” Sirius says, while James wipes genuine tears from his eyes. “Reggie, truth or truth?”
“Truth” He responds. He still thinks it’s silly they’re asking at all, there's only one option.
“Right so out of everyone in this room, if you had to pick one person, who would you shag?”
“Oh fuck I mean obviously James” he says, the words leaving his mouth unbidden. He only truly realized what he just said when Sirius shouts,
“JAMES!?” and the room promptly dissolves into chaos.
-
Regulus can’t make out anything anyone is saying through the shouting, but can hear Barty cackling next to him. He looks over to James, desperate to catch his eye, but it isn’t difficult seeing as he’s already looking at him.
With a shocked smile on his face, he mouths, “me??"
Regulus rolls his eyes but nods, face flushed likely beyond recognition and giving up on any and all sense of pride or reservation.
James’ smile turns a lot more real as he looks away from Regulus and shouts, “ALRIGHT EVERYONE THAT’S ENOUGH!”
Everyone goes dead silent as they all turn to look at James.
“Me and Regulus are going to go talk in the bathroom, and you all are going to continue playing the game. We’ll be back. Oh and Sirius?” James turns to look at him, “I apologize in advance.” With a wink, he grabs Regulus’ arm, leading him towards the bathroom and leaving Sirius still sitting on the floor looking absolutely aghast.
As the door swings shut, James turns towards Regulus, but Regulus speaks first, before James has the chance to reject him or otherwise embarrass him more than he’d already done to himself.
“Look I know you don't care for me like that and I’m just your friend's annoying little brother-”
“Reg-”
“No, let me finish. I know I was an asshole to you when we were younger and I never gave you any reason to like me so I completely-”
“Regulus-”
“No! Please. I completely understand why we’re in here and I really appreciate you trying to reject me in private but I know, I know, so if you could just-”
Without letting him finish, James steps forward, pressing his lips roughly to Regulus’ and letting their momentum push them back into the door. Regulus reacts quickly, looping his arms around James’ broad shoulder, gasping as James pushes him harder into the door. He tastes unmistakably of gin, and a hint of cherry from god knows where. It’s absolutely lovely. He wants to take a bite. James groans, shoving his fingers deeper into Regulus’ hair as Regulus bites down on his lip, sucking it into his mouth and running his hand down and under James’ shirt. James shudders against Regulus as his cold hands run along the hard muscles of his back, but then, with visible effort, pulls his mouth away from Regulus’, leaving them panting in tandem, noses practically touching.
“Not here” He murmurs. Regulus just nods, still out of breath and very much in shock.
“How much of that…” Says James with a growing smirk, only a few moments later, “do you think the others heard?”
Regulus pauses to listen for any signs of life outside the bathroom door. Nothing.
“I’d reckon about all of it” he sighs, dropping his forehead down to rest on James’ shoulder.
It starts with a small chuckle on James’ part, leading to a small snort from Regulus, and it doesn’t take long until they’re both roaring with laughter, clinging on to each other like they never plan to let go.
He knows facing Sirius is going to be a nightmare, and Barty will never let him live this down. But for now? He holds on to James as they laugh till tears stream down their faces, ignoring everything to come and enjoying this little moment in their timelines cut out just for them.