mystery of love
The night was calm and peaceful. All James could hear was Barty's soft breaths next to him and almost muted sounds of Call me by your name playing from the big TV in his living room.
He glanced towards Barty, content with having him close. They were sharing a "cornea" sofa, because Barty loved having his space but being close anyway. So James took the smaller part, curling nicely between pillows, back of the sofa and wall while Barty took the longer part, pressing his face into the pillow and joining their hands before falling asleep. It was one hour ago.
James still didn't move.
He wasn't sure if Barty was sleeping or napping; they both had a weird sleeping schedule. Sometimes, their nights were their days.
That was until his phone made a sound, calling for his attention. At first, he cursed under his nose, because who dares to ruin his moment of peace with his beloved boyfriend? His sweet, murderous, clinically insane boyfriend?
He glanced at his phone.
Regulus: pick me up.
Regulus Black sent you his location.
"¡Ay dios mío!" James gasped, too happy to not feel guilty about it. It was 2am which meant Regulus was drunk. But that, on the other side, meant that James could see him. "Barty, my love, wake up—"
But before he managed to finish his sentence, Barty's sweet hand actually slapped him in the head.
"Kill yourself," Barty muttered into a pillow. "Quietly. Slowly. Painfully. I'm sleeping, Potter."
James rolled his eyes. Of course. Barty was so awfully grumpy if woken up. But he leaned closer anyway with a sheepish smile and whispered: "But Reggie just texted me, my love. To pick him up."
"Regulus?" Barty immediately sat down, looking around, completely awake. "Where?"
James' gaze softened. Even if Regulus and Barty's relationship softened lately again, they still didn't see each other after their fight.
After Barty called Regulus' family a bunch of inbreds, precisely.
“We have to pick him up, baby,” He caressed Barty’s messy hair, to soothe his sour mood after waking up. “Do you want to come with me, love? Or sleep a little longer?”
Barty pushed his hand away and rolled his eyes.
"Shut up," Barty answered, clearly annoyed with being woken up. He seemed too foggy from sleep to actually say something more eloquent. "Shut up, for god's sake."
But then, in Barty's manner, he leaned closer and pressed their foreheads together, breathing shared air for a second.
He seemed irritated, stressed and excited. All at one.
James' lips lifted in a small smile. He whispered as to not disturbed the stillness.
“Whatever you want, baby, I’ll carry you if you want.”
"No, no—" Barty gently nudged James off, clearly in a half sleep state. "No, I need to walk on my own. Be the man Regulus would want to. Strong. Strong, like—"
James covered his lips with palm, trying to stop himself from laughing. It was too cute. And he'd enjoy it for far longer, if it wasn't for a time that was pressing them both.
"Strong like a bull?" James offered, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing.
"Yeah... yeah." Barty answered, blinking and looking into space.
“Very well,” James pressed soft kiss to Barty’s neck and stood up. “Let’s dress up, my strong bull.”
///
BARTY / EVAN
[02:12 a.m.] Barty: regulus texed james and now we are going to pick him up
im stressed
Evan: oh?
Barty: WHY ARE YOU NOT ASLEEP?
Evan: oh give me a break, like you’re better than me
anyway, don’t be stressed, i am sure regulus doesn’t hold the fact that you suggested that he’s fucking around with his brother against you
Barty: wow, thanks for reminding me
see evan, this is why we are not boyfriends anymore
Evan: i believe that what we had was called “situationship”
Barty: whatever
this is why people hate our whole friend group, everybody fucked with each other at least once
Evan: not peter < 3
Barty: buddy…
Evan: SHUT UP.
[02:24 a.m] Barty: well, we are there, so i have to go
wish me luck.
"Hey baby, before we get there, I just wanted to tell you, I think we should let Regulus sit in the front." James looked at Barty nervously, expecting a small fight, so he cut in before Barty could say anything. "It's just that Regulus normally sits in the front seat and I don't want him to feel replaced, you know? Especially, since we want him to like join us, in our relationship." James was clearly rambling down and Barty shocked James by touching his cheek gently.
"Okay Potter, chill, I get it, I'm not mad. I'll switch seats when we get there-" Barty's reply was cut off when he finally noticed where they were heading to pick up Regulus.
"Wait, i fuckin' know this place," Barty said with such sour expression, that james became worried about his own safety for a moment. "It's close to Avery's house. the fuck he was doing here?"
"Avery?" James gulped, glancing in the mirror at Barty. "Isn't he kinda known for... you know, not respecting no no rule?"
"Fuck," Barty snapped, biting his own nail so harshly, that james almost whined, hearing that awful sound of ripped crunch. "Fuck, fuck!”
"Oh— oh." James hissed, suddenly filled with worry, but he didn't want Barty to stress about something that wasn't sure. "Look, Regulus seemed okay when he texted me. I'm sure he was safe."
"Don't try to excuse him!" Barty snapped, and James noticed blood on Barty's finger. "You always do that, Jamie. He can do no wrong in your eyes, he's like an innocent angel to you. But he isn't. He can be petty, a little bitch, and I'm sure he went there just to spite me. Even if he's okay, he went to a dangerous place, because he knew it would make me angry. I'm so mad, I—"
"Baby, being mad won't take us anywhere," James didn't even try to defend himself, knowing that Barty was right. He tried to reason with his boyfriend instead, which was hard, because Barty seemed really out of place. Triggered, almost. James felt uneasy. "Look, I can see him already. Let's just pull out there, and he will tell us what happened okay?"
"Oh, he will." Barty mumbled under his nose, which made James groan.
James stopped the car right next to waiting Regulus, who looked like a mess, but he seemed... calm. Regulus came and opened the car's door, looking at Barty, surprised.
"Why the hell are you here?" Barty snapped immediately, not noticing that Regulus was positively baked.
"Barty." James' voice was quiet, but assertive. He looked at Barty, forcing him to stay silent. "Not now."
Barty seemed to be thinking about murdering James, with the way he glanced at him from the side, but he stopped talking. They both looked at Regulus, and Regulus looked at them, shrinking his eyes. James sighed, again, feeling like a single mom of two teenagers.
"What's this beautiful man doing in my seat?" Regulus gave a small smile but his eyes still looked lost. Barty finally realized how gone Regulus was so he just sighed and began to climb over the seat to the back. "Wait, where are you going? Don't leave." Regulus was pouting now, reaching out to grab at Barty's arm before he was fully lost behind the seats.
"He's not going anywhere, just getting out of your seat, love." James tried to calm Regulus as he got into his seat. "Look, if you just turn your head, Barty's just there." James continued making sure Regulus was buckled after he shut the car door.
Regulus turned to make sure James wasn't lying to him. "Oh, Barty." Regulus whispered softly while smiling.
From what James could see in the front mirror, Barty was positively melted, too. James chuckled, thinking about how weak Barty was for Regulus, ignoring his own hypocrisy.
"Hi, Reggie," He heard Barty saying, as soft as pure fluff. James clicked his tongue, amused by how Barty's voice was different now. "I'm here."
"You are?" Regulus cooed, trying to reach out towards Barty, twisting his body in an almost unnatural position. "You are."
"Baby, maybe you should move to the back seat?" James suggested, caressing Regulus' thigh. "It can't be comfortable to twist like that."
"But I want to sit next to you," Regulus sobbed, actually sobbed. "Don't you wanna sit next to me, too?"
James was about to answer, panicked, but Barty kicked James' seat. "Potter, for God's sake, just drive that damn car." Barty mumbled, but when he turned to Regulus, he was all sweet again. "Of course he wants to sit next to you, baby. He's honored to do that. He'll write about it in his silly little diary, I promise."
"I don't have a diary!" James protested. "It's a journal!"
"It's a princess diary!" Barty snapped playfully, not allowing James to rest even for a moment. "Be a man and admit you write my name in little hearts there."
"I'll be a man and I'll admit that I tried a love spell on you, once," He admitted, looking smug about it.
"Jesus, you're pathetic," Barty said, but he was clearly pleased. They both heard Regulus' giggle, and they both softened immediately. "He's silly, right?" Barty cooed to Regulus. "Silly, silly stag."
"Very silly," Regulus agreed.
"Great, even baked he's mean to me," James said, while pulling out with his car, to actually drive them back home tonight.
Regulus giggled at James' frown and continued his game of trying to watch Barty and James at the same time, whipping his body back and forth. With a sigh Barty worked on keeping his voice soft as he asked. "Why were you at Avery's party, Reggie? It's not safe."
"Hmm, I had nowhere to go. I felt left out, and they invited me in the meantime. I don't know. I just wanted to feel wanted. Nothing happened. Besides who would mess with Sirius Black's brother." Regulus' smile dropped and he mumbled his answer, shy now, worried about Barty's anger.
James gently squeezed at Regulus' thigh where his hand was still resting, trying to sooth him.
"His name didn't stop them from trying the last time." Barty mumbled with a lost look into his eyes. James peaked at him from the rearview mirror but could tell asking Barty about it now wouldn't help now. And suddenly the silly moment past and a tense air kept them company as they drove to James'.
“We will talk back at home.” James finally spoke in a tense voice, glancing at both of them.In this moment he knew that they needed to have that talk.