Chapter 1
James wonders how The Marauders found themselves here, facing Regulus Black and the rest of his band in a regular office with their own managements at either sides of the desk.
"We thought it would be beneficial for both bands to make this decision, a joint tour means double the media traction, double the merch sold, and double the fans hearing your music." Their band manager, Lily Evans, said.
She was right, it would benefit all of them, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be really fucking difficult to get both bands on the same page.
Especially since the brothers hadn't seen each other in about 4 years, the only way of knowing about each other's lives was through the media.
"I'll do it if he does." Sirius said, shrugging and slightly nodding his head towards where his brother sat, yet keeping his eyes fixed on Lily.
"I'm right here Sirius, you can fucking acknowledge me." Regulus said harshly, speaking for the first time since he had entered the room.
James remembered Regulus from school, from before everything between him and Sirius went to shit, He was a shy 11-year-old, following behind Sirius, and flushing slightly whenever James tried to speak to him.
That wasn't the same Regulus Black sitting in front of him now, this Regulus had an aura of confidence and power all around him, and had a scowl and glare placed upon his older brother.
James partially remembered this Regulus from later in their school life, the boy that had a look of disdain all over his face as he looked James up and down with those stupid grey eyes of his.
Trying to stop a fight that he could tell was coming based on the face that Sirius was making, James interrupted the harsh words that were about to leave the tip of his tongue,
“I think it's a good idea." and the second he had opened his mouth Regulus' glare was on him.
James knew Regulus hated him, and had hated him for a long time, James felt the same burning hatred towards him, he always wondered how he could look at James as if his presence has offended him somehow, when he'd done nothing that could have impacted Regulus' life whatsoever.
In fact, before he started receiving harsh glares from Regulus left and right in the corridors, he had asked how Regulus was doing, and what he was up to, only ever receiving tight nods and blank faced responses.
"Thank you James. And Sirius, I'm sorry but even if you might not like it, it's happening, they've been put on the tickets, and it's being announced later today, so I suggest you try really hard to deal with it and talk it out, or ignore each other during the tour, and never speak again when it's over, it's up to you, but it's happening." Lily spoke again, causing Sirius to slide down in his chair, letting his eyes frequently glance in Regulus' direction.
The 'them' in question was Regulus' band, The Serpentines, which had formed a few years ago, and quickly gained a lot of fame. Regulus was their lead singer, with Barty Crouch Jr. on the drums, Evan Rosier on bass, and Dorcas Meadowes on electric guitar, and their keyboard player, Pandora Rosier.
Their band manager, Mary Macdonald, has worked with them for only a year, yet did more for them than the management they were under previously, Tom Riddle, had ever done.
The meeting continued, Lily and Mary discussing the rules for the tour and which locations they were travelling to first. But part of James couldn't keep his eyes off of Regulus, how could he just sit there, with that stupid scowl on his face and his stupidly straight posture.
James met his eyes with a similar glare of his own, holding the eye contact until they were brought back to the conversation by Lily.
***
"I just don't know why they thought this was a fucking good idea, he's not going to want to do it, he fucking hates James and I, and he couldn't care less about either of you." Sirius complained to them.
"I know pads, but it could be good for you to connect through music, you might find yourself getting closer again."
"I don't think he wants to even consider the idea of reconnecting with me Remus."
"But do you want to?" James asked.
Sirius let out a brief sigh, and whispered so quiet that James almost missed it, "I don't know" he spoke, biting his lower lip slightly.
"Maybe you could give it a chance?" Remus replied, reaching out to gently tuck a piece of Sirius' hair back that had fallen from behind ear, causing James to silently communicate with Peter, who widened his eyes in reply.
"Yeah maybe, he'll have to try a little bit too though, I can't just be talking to a blank wall." Sirius said quietly, unconsciously leaning into Remus' side on their apartment's small sofa.
Remus let out a slight hum, his cheeks slowly reddening as he glanced towards where his and Sirius' arms were meeting.
James smirked slightly when they met eyes, causing Remus' eyes to narrow.
James refocused his attention onto Sirius, "I'll cook tonight yeah, I'll make whatever you feel like, what would you like?"
"Chicken tostadas please, like how mum and dad make them." Sirius responded.
Whenever he was sad, he would ask James to cook him something that their parents cooked them both when they lived there, it helped Sirius to remember positive memories instead of wallowing in his sadness.
"Of course pads, anything else?"
He received a quiet almost inaudible, "No thank you." As Sirius had curled further into Remus, placing his head where Remus's head and shoulder meet.
Remus ran his fingers through Sirius' hair as an attempt to comfort him, since he was the only one allowed to touch it.
Not even James, Peter, or the hairstylists could go near Sirius' hair, only Remus could. How Sirius made a platonic excuse for that, James couldn't understand, but he chose to let him discover his feelings on his own, as frustrating as it may be, and decided to take his leave and start making dinner.
Only now letting himself reflect the day, he notices the current predicament he is in.
How the fuck was he going to work with Regulus Black for so long without wringing his hands around his neck?
***
Later that night, James found himself scrolling through Regulus' instagram page, he discovered that he mostly posted photos of places he travelled to, France being frequent among them, and a few photos of his friends, yet he very rarely posted any photos of himself, and if he did, they were mainly taken from behind him, or so blurry, that any features on his face were unseeable anyways.
However, after continuously scrolling, he stumbled across a photo from a year or two ago, that had Regulus front and centre smiling into the camera.
regulusblack: Barty made me post this.
comments:
bartycrouchjr:and i'm so glad i did, you look hot reg ;)
pandorarosier: smiling photo of regulus, wow i didn't know they existed, thank you barty :333
serpentinesun: omg look at this old photo I found of regulus @serpentinemoon!!!
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Fuck.
Fuck Regulus Black and his stupid curls, and the way that stupid smile that James has never seen before ignites rage in the pits of James' stomach, and no, not thank you Barty, actually fuck Barty Crouch for making him see this photo of Regulus, he didn't even know he was capable of smiling, James certainly has never received a smile from Regulus Black, only frowns, and dirty looks.
He can't look at that photo anymore, the feeling in his stomach is building, and building, and he doesn't know what to do with this amount of rage, so he clicks off of the photo.
However, in his extremely distracted, and angry state, his finger slips and accidentally likes the photo.
"Shit, shit, shit." He unliked the photo as quick as soon as he did it, and prayed to the universe that Regulus wasn't on his phone, and didn't get the notification.
Given that James didn't follow Regulus so it wasn't as if he could play it off as the post just appearing in his feed, and the photo was also from so far ago, so if he saw the notification James couldn't really explain that he was hate-scrolling through Regulus' account in order to discover anything that might change how he felt about him, but instead it just fuelled the rage he already felt for Regulus.
*1 new message from @regulusblack*
Fuck.