Chapter 11
“I still cannot believe that you agreed to go to James Potter’s Halloween party,” Barty snickered as he ate a piece of watermelon from his lunch tray.
“I didn’t have much of a choice,” Regulus rolled his eyes, then sent a sharp glare Remus’ way. “I was practically tortured into going.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Remus smirks, taking a bite of his turkey sandwich. Regulus scoffed before throwing a grape his friend’s way.
“What are you going as, Reg?” Pandora asks with a soft smile, resting her chin on her palm. Regulus sighed, shrugging, because he really hadn’t planned on dressing up this year.
Of course, as soon as he got back to his house, he called Evan and Barty to ask for help brainstorming any sort of costume idea. The two immediately decided that he needed to look as hot as possible to appeal to the boy throwing the party. No matter how hard he tried to argue against it, they stuck with the idea, immediately naming every ‘slutty’ thing he could be. He just chose to ignore them.
“What do you mean you don’t know? I thought we all agreed that we would be pirates together,” Evan frowned before taking a drink from Barty’s soda.
“Did we? I stopped paying attention after Barty suggested we all show up nude,” Regulus looks back down at his lunch, trying to decide if he wanted to waste another grape.
“It’s not an awful idea! It’ll definitely get you where you want to be by the end of the night!”
Yeah, he can do without another grape.
“What are you dressing as, Remus?” Dorcas asks, seemingly ignoring the small scuffle Regulus causes between himself and Barty. He wins, obviously.
“Sirius wants to–”
“Oh, God, can we not?” Regulus fakes a gag, scrunching his nose. “I refuse to hear about whatever weird little couple thing you two have going on.”
“You’re just jealous you and Potter aren’t dressing in a couples costume,” Barty spits out, earning a slap on the back of his head.
“Anyway,” Remus starts, sending a small glare Regulus’ way. Honestly, the nerve of this boy to speak about what he’s dressing up as with his boyfriend directly in front of said boyfriend’s brother. Seems indecent and cruel, in Regulus’ opinion. “I’m going as a werewolf, and Sirius a vampire.”
“Don’t those two species, like, hate each other?” Evan asks, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, which is valid. Even Regulus is a little confused.
“Enemies to lovers,” Barty and Pandora blurt at the same time, looking at each other and letting out small laughs.
“That’s ridiculous,” Regulus scoffs. “Sirius probably just wants a reason to dress down and force Remus to do the same. I beg of you, keep your shirt on.”
“I beg of you, do not keep your shirt on,” Barty stares at Remus with wide eyes, his hands smushed together like he’s reciting a prayer. This earns laughs and agreements from all around the lunch table.
***
James lets out a deep sigh as he stares ahead, his eyes focusing on a table on the exact opposite side of the cafeteria. He hasn’t been able to avert his gaze for what seems like hours, but has likely only been somewhere near ten minutes. If anyone had tried getting his attention, they clearly hadn’t tried hard enough.
He sits up a bit straighter, feeling his heart beat rapidly against his ribcage at a sight he’s rarely blessed with. Regulus laughing is something that should be recorded, then displayed in an art museum. The way his nose scrunches and his eyes crinkle, oh it truly could kill a man, it could. Should be illegal, really.
Feeling the hairs on his arm stand up, James sticks his open palm to face Sirius, catching whatever the boy had attempted to throw at him in order to get his attention. Without second thought, his hand brings the mystery food directly to his mouth, and he’s instantly hit with a strong wave of sour.
“A fucking lemon, Padfoot?!” James grabs a napkin, then spits the tart fruit into it. He wraps it up and throws it at Sirius’ face. “That’s cruel.”
“No, you sitting here and ogling my baby brother right in front of my face is cruel,” Sirius huffs, lifting the crumbled napkin from in front of him and tossing it onto James’ tray.
“Did something happen between you and Reg, Prongs?” Peter asks, lifting a brow. “Something besides the snog, of course. Sirius has told me plenty about that.”
“Wormy, it’s terrible,” Sirius leans to the side, pretending to faint against the blonde boy sitting on his left. “James is pursuing my young, child–no, baby–brother!”
“Right, that’s enough of that,” James rolls his eyes, pushing Sirius’ shoulder a bit. “Nothing’s really happened, he’s just talking to me again.”
“And that’s enough to make you absolutely smitten with him?” Peter lets out a small laugh, lifting his hand to pet the side of Sirius’ head in mock-comfort.
“Honestly? He could murder someone and I would still be absolutely gone for him,” James answers, rolling his eyes again and when Sirius fakes a gag.
“Oh, yikes, it’s irreversible, then,” Peter grimaces, seemingly turning his mock-comfort into real comfort. “Sorry, Padfoot.”
“He’s going to corrupt him, Wormtail!” Sirius motions like he’s banging the table, but won’t actually. He did once and Minnie got really scary about it, so he never did it again.
“Didn’t Remus–?”
“Moony does no wrong ever, Prongs,” Sirius snaps his head up, a glare strong in his eyes.
“I’m just saying, I was not the first person to snog Regulus,” James shrugs, a small smile tugging at his lips at just the memory of him and Regulus all over each other. Despite being tipsy, James can remember every detail of the boy’s mouth. Well, there goes his heart again. “Bloody brilliant, it was.”
“James Fleamont Potter!” Sirius kicked James’ shin, causing a painful grunt to leave his mouth. “Do not talk about such vile things in front of me!”
“What vile things is James talking about?” Remus asks as he sits between James and Sirius, planting a quick kiss to the top of the latter’s head.
“Him canoodling my little brother,” Sirius scrunches his nose, leaning into Remus.
“And you canoodling his little brother,” Peter adds, a small laugh leaving Remus’ mouth at that. James can’t help but think his reaction is hilarious, seeing as Sirius just gapes at him with a look of betrayal.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that! Don’t you know of what him and Barty–?”
“Him and Barty what?!” Sirius shouts so loud that even James feels a bit of pain in his ears. Obviously, this catches the attention of quite a few people, but James only cares about one.
He looks up to meet green-grey eyes that are filled completely with pure amusement. From his expression, he can tell that Regulus knows what was just spoken of, a small smirk on his face as Barty nudges him the slightest. James looks over to the piercing bright green eyes, also already on him, and can’t help but feel the tang of jealousy strike him in his chest.
Sirius was mumbling apologies, Peter and Remus were laughing like crazy, and James was stuck once more. He couldn’t look away from Regulus for a split second, even long after the dull green had abandoned him. There were a few more glances his way, but none of them the one person he wanted to look at him. Most were Barty and were accompanied by small laughs.
Oh, this was going to drive him insane.
—
Much later, James finds himself swinging through London from building to building, pin-point location to pin-point location. See, when he had started with this whole Spider-Man gig, he underestimated just how exhausting it would be searching through every nook and cranny of the entirety of London–the entirety of England during summer holidays–so he decided to make a mental map of the places with the best views over certain parts of the large city.
He had twenty-four stops in total, the last few being near enough to his home for him to get there without using too much energy, just in case he gets injured at a prior point. This has been the system he’s stuck with for his entire time as a hero. It kind of shocks him that no one’s really caught onto the pattern, seeing as it’s just simple rounds across the city.
Tonight, as he approaches a dingier part of town, he also comes up on one of his favorite stops. A small cafe in a bit of a run-down building, completely severed from the other shops around it, which means it has two alleys attached to it. It’s a shockingly high place for smaller crimes to happen, but James never lets any of them taint the happiness that comes with this small store.
He remembers the first time he saw Regulus in here, standing in a queue next to his older brother, who James instantly recognized as his best friend. He remembers seeing the light marks on their faces and the way they both jumped when James grabbed their shoulders. He remembers seeing Regulus practically light up at the sight of him. Funny how some things change, isn’t it?
After that, he had come back with the two brothers plenty of times, always paying for their orders despite their clear resentments to it. He remembers hearing Regulus say that it was his favorite place to get coffee, and from then on, it was James’ favorite as well. He wasn’t the biggest fan of their food, but he didn’t mind eating it if he had to.
Now, as he lands on top of the brick building, he’s met with an oh-so-familiar pair of eyes. Speak of the devil, James thinks to himself, grinning widely as he looks down and sees Regulus sitting at one of the small, circular tables, dressed in one of his hoodies. Suddenly, James feels a bit faint.
As quietly as possible, James jumps onto a lamp post, then lowers himself on his web upside-down until he’s right next to Regulus, who looks to be writing something for some class. Could be writing club, but he usually gets those done within the weekends.
“Hiya, sweetheart,” James says after a moment, realizing that Regulus wouldn’t notice him if he stayed quiet. He was fine with that, honestly; just getting to watch the pale boy whose cheeks were slightly flushed from the cold. He figured, though, that he must be here for a reason.
“Oh, hello, Spider-Man,” Regulus’ breath hitches a little, and James can’t tell if it’s from the shock of talking to a superhero, or if it’s because of how close they are. He didn’t account for that when lowering himself.
“Everything alright? This store closed hours ago,” James nods his head toward the door, which sported a hand-made sign that read ‘CLOSED.’
“I’m, unfortunately, more than aware of their closing time,” Regulus purses his lips, squinting a bit as he looks James’ face–or Spider-Man’s, really–up and down. Then, he lifts his hand and lightly brushes his fingertips along the middle of the mask, right along James’ nose bridge.
“Then, may I ask why you’re here?” James asks, tilting his head the slightest. Regulus retracts his hand, his eyes darting to anywhere besides in front of him. He’s so pretty.
“I don’t know,” Regulus’ face heats up the slightest. “I guess I just wanted to see if you actually regular this place.”
“Every night, love,” James smiles, and knows that it’s visible through the mask because of the robotic noises of his eyes. “Did ya miss me?”
“Absolutely not, I don’t even know you,” Regulus rolled his eyes, seemingly gaining some sort of composure. Oh, if only he knew, James thought with a small smirk. “I was truly just bored. Didn’t really want to be at home.”
“Fortunately for you, I’m near the end of my rounds, so I have time to hang out,” James lowers himself from his web, pulling a chair over to sit just as close to Regulus as he was before.
“I don’t want to hang out, I was just testing a theory,” Regulus scoffs, and despite his words, doesn’t move to get up. Instead, he stays sat, one knee tucked underneath his chin as he just stares. He’s been doing that a lot recently, James notices.
“What theory?” James asks, pressing an elbow on the table and laying his head in his palm. Regulus lets out a deep sigh.
“The one where I was wondering if you’d show back up. Theory tested, now I have nothing better to do,” Regulus shrugs, lifting a hand to run through his hair. “I honestly probably should get back home soon–”
“Let me take you,” James blurts without a second thought. He notices the way Regulus tenses. “We don’t have to swing or anything, but at least let me walk you. It’s–”
“Dangerous, I know,” Regulus huffs, closing the notebook he was writing in, then slipping it into the small messenger bag he’s brought with him. “You promise not to drop me, yeah?”
“Did I drop you last time?” James can’t help but smile wide, standing from his chair quickly. The smallest smile flashes onto Regulus’ face, gone as quick as it came.
“Well, let’s go, then,” Regulus says, also lifting himself from the small, metal chair.