Regulus sighed, putting out his cigarette. He was in his dressing room, watching as Evan did Barty’s eyeliner; how he had him pressed up against the wall with absolutely zero space between them, and a hand fisted in his hair to keep him still. Honestly, they could try to be a little less sexual about mundane things.
They were getting ready for the final show of their tour and this time, they had a special guest. Regulus’ brother’s band would be playing with them tonight since they had finished their tour around a week ago and were in the area.
Sirius’ band consisted of Sirius, of course, his boyfriend Remus, and, the bane of Regulus’ existence, James Potter. Sirius and James had known each other for around 12 years. And, for those 12 years, Regulus had had a secret, truly horrific, crush on him.
The worst part was that they had fooled around many times in the past, without Sirius’ knowledge, but they hadn’t labelled anything, it was no strings attached. It was simple (no it wasn’t); whenever they got drunk, Regulus would inevitably wake up in James’ bed.
James had never shown any signs of wanting more, so Regulus had never pushed for it. Neither of them wanted to know about the shit fit that Sirius would throw if he found out.
“Reg, you want me to do yours?” Evan asked, cigarette dangling from his lips as he spoke. Barty plucked the cigarette from his mouth and took a drag.
Regulus shrugged. “Sure.”
Evan grinned, leaving his spot in front of Barty to straddle Regulus’ lap. Regulus closed his eyes, letting Evan do what he wanted.
“Lord, have mercy, I thought you were fucking.” Sirius’ relieved voice sounded from the doorway. Regulus opened his eyes to see his brother, followed closely by his band mates. He met James’ eye, not missing the flutter of his jaw as he saw Evan straddled over him. Regulus bit his lip, catching his vertical labret in his teeth.
“Nothing we haven’t done before.” Barty winked. Sirius made a horrified face, shaking his head.
Regulus rolled his eyes and gestured for Evan to finish his eyeliner. “Why are you in here?”
“That’s my bad,” Remus’ voice approached the sofa, dropping next to Regulus and Evan. “You got an extra pick?”
“Yeah, there should be some on the table.” Evan finished Regulus’ eyeliner and rolled off of him so he could help Remus look.
“This room is a tip.” Sirius commented, looking around. To be fair to him, the room had been violently influenced by Barty. Where there weren't empty alcohol bottles, there were tattoo stencils, piercing equipment, full ashtrays, empty cartons of cigarettes, and a tattoo gun on the coffee table. There were drawings up and down the walls of the room where the band had decided to mark their presence. Even a few pill bottles were scattered around the room.
“Who do you think is responsible for that?” Regulus asked sarcastically, handing a spare guitar pick to Remus.
Barty simply grinned over his cigarette which Regulus then snatched from his mouth to claim as his own.
He glanced at James, who had been unusually quiet. He was eyeing Regulus’ outfit, expression still unwavering, save for the fluttering in his jaw as he tensed and untensed.
Regulus was wearing a very short, very mesh black crop top and long black cargos. It was a simple outfit but he topped it with accessories - his usual rings that adorned his fingers, along with various chains around his waist. He looked pretty good, in his opinion.
James, in turn, looked devine. He was wearing a tank top which had holes and splits running through it. Some of the splits were held together with safety pins, while the others hung open, revealing all of his tattoos. He wore black cargos, similar to Regulus’, and his usual beaten up red converse. He had some black eyeliner smudged under his eyes, accentuating the honey colour of his irises.
Regulus met James’ eye again and blew out some smoke. James remained passive.
“Would you two quit eye-fucking?” Barty huffed from next to Regulus. “It’s really quite distracting.”
“Ew.” Sirius muttered, elbowing his best friend in the ribs.
The door cracked open behind James, revealing Evan’s sister, Pandora and their manager, Dorcas.
“Hey, Cas.” Regulus called, opening an arm for Pandora and kissing her cheek.
“Hello, hello,” Dorcas scanned the room to make sure they were all ready. “You have five minutes and then you should be on stage, no excuses.” She turned to Sirius. “Marlene is looking for you lot but she probably wants to tell you exactly what I just told them. I’d go and find her if I were you, just in case.”
Remus thanked Regulus for the pick before he left with his bandmates.
“You guys look hot.” Dorcas said, taking in their looks for the night.
“We know.” Barty winked, getting up from his chair and swinging his electric guitar strap over his shoulder. “Let’s fucking go!” He whooped, running out of the dressing room.
Regulus exchanged a look with Evan before releasing Pandora, grabbing his bass guitar, and following in suit.
——
The stadium was loud. Their fans could see their silhouettes through the darkness and the smoke and they were fucking screaming. Regulus would never admit it out loud, but he craved this feeling. It was honestly like crack to him. Whenever he wasn’t touring, all he wanted was this exact feeling.
He smirked, nodding to Evan as they began the opening notes to their song MAMMAMIA. Somehow, the crowd got even louder. Regulus couldn’t suppress his grin as the spotlight hit his face. He threw his head back, letting his fingers go where they needed to go. Playing this song was muscle memory by now, and it was truly euphoric.
Barty’s spotlight came on and he started singing, a grin plastered on his face.
Oh mamma mia-ma, ma-mamma mia-ah
I feel the heat up, uh, I feel the beat of drums.
A second set of drums matched Evan’s beat and a second bass matched Regulus’ as James and Remus’ spotlights came on.
Call the police, I’ll do it, they’ve stolen all my fun,
I’m breaking free but I’m stuck in a police car.
Finally, Sirius’ light came on and he stepped forward as he played his electric guitar. He was in his element, that was clear enough. With his long hair half tied up with one of James’ old drumsticks and his signature yellow jacket open, all of his tattoos on display. There was a new one, Regulus noticed, directly under Sirius’ belly button, just above where his trousers were, the word ‘MOONY’ was written in red ink. Regulus rolled his eyes.
The song played on; Regulus could barely hear the music in his earpieces through the piercing screams of the audience in front of him. He scanned the crowd, reading some of the signs people had made. He smirked at one aimed at Barty that said ‘If you want a dog, I can bark.’
I swear that I’m not drunk, and I’m not taking drugs,
They ask me why I’m so hot, ‘cause I’m Italiano.
——
They were nearing the end of the show. Barty had sweat running down his neck and Remus had long ditched the open overshirt he had been wearing. Regulus could feel his eyeliner had smudged and the glitter on his eyelids were now on his cheekbones.
“Well, hello.” Sirius said into his mic, grinning when the crowd screamed in response. “Before we go, Jamesie here has a little gift for you guys. So, may I present the hottest, daddiest, most ravishing man I’ve ever laid eyes on - sorry, Moons - James Potter!”
James stood up from his drum set and made his way to the mic at the front of the stage. “This is favorite.” He turned to Regulus and winked as the music began to play.
Say my name, I want the neighbours to hear it,
Want your body to feel it
Boy, you know if there’s a heaven, I’m near it
Yeah, I promise, my dear, it’s
Only you who has my body and heals it
I’m the one, can you feel it?
I’m the one, can you feel it?
Despite having heard this tune many times over the course of the last week during practice, this was the first time Regulus had heard the accompanying lyrics. He recognised the first line. It had been something whispered in the darkness of James’ room, into the hair that curled around Regulus’ ear. Into an arched back, into his inner thighs.
Suddenly, playing was no longer muscle memory. His hands froze around the neck of his bass as he listened to James’ voice.
Darlin’, can I be your favorite?
I’ll be your guy, let you taste it
I know what you want, yeah, just take it
James locked eyes with Regulus.
Darlin’, can I be your favorite?
Want you to tell me you crave it
My name’s whatever you make it
A grinning Barty appeared behind Regulus, carefully extracting his bass from around his neck as James began walking towards him. He leaned into Regulus. He wrapped an arm around his waist, fingers tangling in the chains that lay there, and whispered the words into his ear, though the mic was close enough for the speakers to pick it up.
Ay, cariño, sé que tú eres mío
Quiero pasarme la raya
Mi paciencia se acaba, te digo
“Tá chiquito como mi saya”
Ellos no tienen lo que yo tengo
Soy celoso, lo siento
Soy celoso, lo siento
Regulus couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t even imagine the look on his brother’s face right now.
Darlin’, can I be your favorite?
I’ll be your guy, let you taste it
I know what you want, yeah, just take it
Darlin’, can I be your favorite?
Want you to tell me you crave it
My name’s whatever you make it
James straightened back up but kept a hand fisted at the base of Regulus’ head. Now, he was speaking directly to him.
I swear you’re heaven, but boy, you’re no angel
You take me places only we go
James’ hand moved to cup Regulus’ face, pulling him that little bit closer, all while maintaining eye contact.
You’re so pretty, God, I swear that it’s painful
I whisper things only we know.
James took Regulus’ hands and put them around his neck.
Put your hands around my neck, make me faithful
Soy celoso, lo siento
Soy celoso, lo siento
The beat dropped and James fell to his knees, eyes locked on Regulus with his right hand resting on Regulus’ stomach. Regulus could’ve sworn that, in that moment, his heart was about to tear out of his chest.
Darlin’, can I be your favorite?
I’ll be your guy, let you taste it
I know what you want, yeah, just take it
Darlin’, can I be your favorite?
Want you to tell me you crave it
My name’s whatever you make it
James stood back up, hand curving around the back of Regulus’ neck to pull him into a hard kiss. He kissed back, feeling James grin into it. Regulus had seemingly forgotten that there was an entire fanbase in front of them, the screams from the audience broke through their bubble and he pulled away.
“What the fuck, James?” He breathed out, heart still working in overdrive at their proximity.
“Yes, James,” Sirius’ voice spoke through the speakers. Regulus looked over James’ shoulder to see Sirius, guitar forgotten, with Remus’ hand wrapped around his arm, keeping him in place. “What the fuck?”
——
Regulus found himself back in his dressing room with Barty, Evan and Pandora after the show. Barty jumped onto the sofa next to him and looked at him expectantly.
“What?” He asked.
“What do you mean ‘what’? What was all that about?” Pandora asked, carefully taking Evans hair jewellery out of his braids.
Regulus was dreading this part. “What was what all about?” He smiled, feigning innocence.
“Hm, I don’t know.” Evan started sarcastically. “Maybe the fact that the guy you have been, rather painfully, crushing on for the last decade just snogged you senseless in front of all of our fans?”
Regulus groaned, leaning forward into his hands. “It was bad, right?”
“Nothing was bad, Reggie, we’re just very fucking confused.”
Barty narrowed his eyes on him. “You fucked didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Regulus nodded, grimacing. “More than once.”
“What?” Evan exclaimed, pushing Pandora’s hands away. “You fucked Potter and didn’t tell us about it?”
He shrugged. “Well, it was always no strings attached.” Sighing, he looked at his friends. “You know I’ve always wanted more with him. I can’t just be his sneaky link anymore, you know? If he’s going to pull some shit like that on stage, he has to do something more about this whole,” He gestured to himself. “This whole thing that we’ve got.”
Barty regarded him for a moment. “Well, Reg, if you ever want relationship advice. You know where to look.” He grinned, pointing to the ring on his middle finger. Evan had an identical one, it had spikes on the inside that imbedded into their skin and hurt to take off.
Regulus rolled his eyes and reached forward to grab a cigarette and a lighter and leaned back to light it. A knock sounded on the door, he blew out the first smoke from the cigarette and called out. “Come in.”
The door opened and James walked through. His shirt appeared to have more rips in and his hair was slightly more dishevelled than before. He smiled down at Regulus through the smoke.
“Sirius is fine. Dramatic, but fine.” He said.
Regulus looked up at him through his eyelashes and took another drag of his cigarette. “So?”
James fiddled with the belt hoops on his trousers. “Uh.”
“Potter.” Barty said in a sing-song tone. “Don’t be stupid, now.”
Evan looped an arm over Barty’s shoulder, hovering their shared cigarette in front of his mouth so he could breathe in the smoke. “Dick him down, Potter.”
“Oh my God.” Regulus huffed, standing up and pulling James out of the room. As the door closed, James’ hands found Regulus’ exposed waist again, his left hand creeping under his crop top and grazing over his top surgery scars and his nipple piercings. Regulus shivered.
“Hi, cariño.” James smiled. “Sorry for the show. Seeing Rosier on you like that drove me a little crazy. Soy celoso, lo siento.”
Regulus simply raised an eyebrow, taking another drag from his cigarette. “You were jealous.” He deadpanned. “So?”
His smile widened. “Regulus.” James said, dragging out his name. “Se mi novio?”
Regulus looked up at him for a moment, searching his eyes for anything to signify that he didn’t actually want this. Finding nothing, he hummed, dropping the cigarette to the floor and stomping it out as his hands went up to James’ neck. He pulled him down into a kiss, though it was slower than the one they shared on stage. Regulus’ smoke mixed with the tequila on James’ breath and he sighed as James bit down on his vertical labret. James pushed him backwards until his back pressed up against the wall and began kissing down his neck. Regulus leaned his head back and wrapped an arm around James’ head, trying to bring him impossibly closer.
“Jesus- fuck.” The two were pulled apart by an affronted looking Sirius. “I do not need to see that. When you’re around me, keep it PG, please. And please refrain from making out in corridors. Cheers.” He turned on his heel and stomped back over to Remus who looked rather amused.
“Congrats on getting your shit together.” He said before allowing himself to be dragged down the hall by Sirius.
Regulus turned to James and bit down on the bar that ran through his tongue, James’ eyes tracking every movement. James cleared his throat. “Our hotel isn’t far from here.”
Regulus smirked. “Then what the fuck are we still doing here?”