Hickey
It had already been two weeks since they had arrived at Hogwarts and James and Regulus had already developed a routine. They would go through their school days as normal (occasionally meeting up to talk between classes), and then at night James would sneak into the Slytherin dorm using the invisibility cloak at night. James would usually wake up at about 3AM (or not go to sleep at all) and sneak back out so that he could make it back to Gryffindor tower before his friends woke up. This morning however was different, because today James had slept in just a bit too late.
James frantically ran around Regulus's room getting dressed so that he could try to get back to his dorm before anyone noticed he was gone. Regulus slowly sat up, James's panic had startled Regulus awake. "Mon amour, reviens au lit." Regulus said, rubbing his eyes. James turned his head towards Regulus with a look of confusion on his face. "What did you just say?" James said with a very puzzled expression on his face. Regulus opened his eyes wider and looked back at James with a matching expression on his face. "What do you mean? Do you not understand English?" Regulus said sarcastically. "Love, I hate to break it to you, but that was not English." James said, growing more confused by the second. "oh fuck, was I speaking french?" Regulus asked, stretching a little bit as he slowly got out of bed. "You speak french?" James said it was more of a question than a statement. "ya, has Sirius never told you that?" Regulus asked as he slowly began getting dressed. "Wait, Sirius speaks French too?" James asked, in disbelief. "ya, we're french. I can't believe in 6 years he has never told you that we're french." Regulus said. James shrugged his shoulders and straightened his tie. Then he quickly kissed Regulus on the forehead and through the invisibility cloak over his shoulders, starting his walk back to Gryffindor tower.
James quickly made his way to his dorm room and took the cloak off before he opened the door. He knew that the cloak wouldn't do him any good. If his friends were awake they would notice him coming in whether he had the cloak on or not. James took a deep breath before opening the door. James quickly walked into the room without looking over to see if anyone was awake and sat down on his bed. "oooo, look who's sneaking back into the dorm." Sirius said, sitting up in bed. "If I was sneaking in then you wouldn't have seen me." James pointed out as he sat back against the headboard of his bed. "oh yeah, then where were you Prongs?" Sirius asked, standing up and walking over to James. 'fuck' James thought to himself, lying to Sirius never got easier no matter how many times he did it. "oh, you know... I just went to the quidditch pitch to do a bit of flying practice." James said, shrugging his shoulders. While it still wasn't easier to lie to Sirius, James did find it easier to think on his feet, which I suppose is the same thing but James didn't see it that way.
A wave of realization washed over Sirius's face as he stepped closer to James. "Oh ya, then how did you get those bruises all over your neck?" Sirius asked, pulling down James's collar to reveal a multitude of hickeys. James looked down at his neck and his face turned bright red upon seeing the hickeys. Remus turned around to look at James when he heard Sirius say this. "Jesus Christ mate are you sleeping with a fucking vampire!" Remus said upon seeing the hickeys on James's neck. Remus and James exchanged a knowing look. "So, Prongsie, are you gonna tell us who the lucky girl is?" Sirius asked, standing up from James's bed. James was startled at hearing those words. 'girl?' he thought to himself, James had been so consumed with hiding the fact that he was dating Regulus from Sirius he forgot that Sirius still thought he was straight. Now James had a decision to make. He could either; A - let Sirius think he's straight and lie to him more, or B - Tell Sirius that he was dating a boy. "No, I'm not going to tell you." James said simply. "oh, come on Prongs, why not?" Sirius said, putting on his leather jacket.
"Leave him alone Sirius, I'm sure he'll tell us when he's ready." Remus said to Sirius. "Why are you taking his side on this!?" Sirius asked, turning his head towards Remus, "He's lying to us. Why doesn't that bother you?" Sirius had a puzzled expression on his face. "Sirius, as much as I love your dramatics, this isn't that big of a deal. James will tell us who it is when he's ready to tell us." Remus said, walking towards the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the library." Remus said as he opened the door and walked into the common room. James sat there for a moment in thought before shouting after Remus, "Wait up Moony, I'm coming with you!"
Sirius gave James a concerned look. "YOU want to go to the library!?" Sirius said. "Ya, I need to get a book for some potions homework." James explained as he walked to the door. "YOU are doing your potions homework on a Saturday!?" Sirius said, his expression looked even more confused than before. "Don't look so surprised, Pads. I'm just doing my homework." James said as he opened the door and walked out of the room.
-In the library-
"So why did you wanna come to the library?" Remus asked James with a confused look on his face. "I need to find a book. Isn't that why most people go to the library?" James said. He was avoiding the question. "What kind of book are you looking for? I know you James, there is absolutely no way you are willingly reading a book." Remus said. "True, ok when I tell you what I'm looking for you can't laugh." James said, looking at Remus with an embarrassed look on his face. "I make no promises." Remus said simply. "Fair," James said back laughing a little, "I want to learn French because Regulus is french." Remus looked down at James and said jokingly, "awe, how cute." "Shut up, this is why I didn't want to tell you." James said, burying his face in his hands. "Come on Prongs, let's go find your book." Remus said, reaching his arm around James's shoulder and leading him to a bookshelf that was full of language related books.
Once the pair made it to the shelf they heard a gentle voice call out from behind them. "James, what are you doing in the library? I thought you were allergic to homework." they heard Lily say from behind them. "oh, hey Lils." Remus said, giving Lily a small wave. "Hey Remus." Lily replied, giving Remus an enthusiastic wave. "Hey Lily, I was just looking for a book for some potions homework." James said with a warm smile on his face. "JAMES FLEAMONT POTTER! Is that a hickey on your neck?" Lily asked, covering her mouth in shock. James's face turned bright red "um, maybe." James replied, his voice laced with embarrassment. "Absolutely not, I will not have you walking around Hogwarts looking like a Harlet. Come with me James." Lily took James by the hand and dragged him across the library.
"Mary, can you grab my contour and foundation from my bag?" Lily asked Mary as she sat down with her friends. "sure Lils, why?" Mary asked as she reached Lily's bag. "Because I need to save James." Lily said as she took the makeup from Mary. Mary looked over at James, confused by what Lily had said. "Jesus Christ James!" Mary exclaimed upon seeing James's neck. Lily quickly got to work covering up the hickeys on James's neck. "So, not that it's our business, but who gave you all of these?" Lily asked James as she put the make up back into her bag. James didn't know why but he felt safe in this moment, he felt as though he could trust Lily. "If I tell you do you promise not to tell Sirius?" James asked, looking around to make sure no one would overhear. Lily's friends had left a couple minutes ago. "Of course, I won't tell a soul." Lily said, raising her right hand as if she were being put under oath. James took a deep breath before continuing on. "It's Regulus,we've been dating for a few months and it's still new so we haven't told anyone except for; you, Remus, and Regulus's friend group." James said with a smile.