Chapter 1
"Sirius!" Regulus enters his brother's room, yanking the door violently, he stops and blinks slowly seeing in front of him... what exacly?
"Sirius, why the hell is there a boy in your room and why are you both half naked– or you know what? Don't answer that, I don't want to know, I don't care, I'm telling mom," Regulus turns on his heel looking away from the two shirtless teens on his brother's bed, he must have walked in at the wrong time.
Funny.
"You wouldn't dare," Sirius snaps, he looks at his younger brother, panic in his eyes.
"Watch me," Regulus smirks opening his mouth ready to scream.
Sirius jumps out of bed, stepping off Remus' thighs and quickly grabs Regulus and covers his mouth with his hand, Regulus struggles, punches him and tries to break free.
"Do not fucking touch me! For fuck sake!" Younger boy screamed as he finally managed to remove Sirius's hand from his mouth, but his brother still held him with his arms, not allowing him to move much. "I don't want to know what you did with those hands," he scowls.
"It's not what you think," Sirius reassures him quickly. This isn't- really- he and Remus weren't– It's not–
"Of course," Regulus rolls his eyes "as far as I know you are not allowed to have boys in your room with the door closed," he narrows his eyes "silence costs money," he smiles sweetly, like the little devil he is.
"Shut up, how much do you want?" Sirius huffs. "And it really wasn't–" he tries, he wipes his face with his hands, moving away from his brother, just slightly to be able to quickly catch him again if needed "I was painting, okay?" He explains with a sigh.
Actually, it's true, he painted. Because Sirius happens to be an artist, he really is an artist, he is. His parents say it's just a temporary, stupid whim and that it will go away, it's just a phase - they kept repeating , but Sirius knows it's not, because he's been interested in art for years.
He loved art, he loved painting, he was an artist, which is why this year, in addition to art classes at school, and painting classes at the cultural center, he also signed up for a summer course.
"Yeah of course," Regulus scoffs, not believing him one bit "and you had to do it on some body because you can't afford paper or canvas," he adds, throwing a quick glance at Remus, who is still lying comfortably on Sirius's bed, unconcerned by their argument.
Well, Remus does have paint smears on him, and neither Sirius nor Remus look like they're kissing or anything, no messy hair, no red wet lip... but Regulus won't admit a mistake.
"Shut up, it was a task, the variability of the structure, you will not understand," Sirius shoves him.
"Okay, let's assume I believe you," Regulus shoves him back. "Why are you shirtless too, huh?" He raises an eybrow,
Isn't it suspicious that his brother (quite a very gay brother) and his friend (who Sirius has had a crush on for a painfully long time) are both in such an ambiguous situation?
"Because it wouldn't be fair to Remus if only he was? Duh." Sirius rolls his eyes.
"You're so fucking stupid," Regulus murmurs, hloved his brother, but sometimes... "I'm leaving," he announces "and, hi Remus, nice to see you," he waves to the other boy. "Sirius has a whole diary written with your name in hearts!" He informs, already closing the door so that Sirius doesn't have a chance to take revenge.
What he hears before he walks away completely is Remus laughing and Sirius groaning in agony.
Sirius deserved it himself, if only he hadn't offended Regulus last week by telling Barty that Reg used to have a crush on him (which Barty would never stop reminding him of and making fun of), this wouldn't have happened.
Regulus wasn't malicious, he just wanted to repay his brother.
"He's sweet," Remus says, suppressing his outburst of laughter.
"He's a real demon, the real spawn of Satan itself," Sirius decided sulking "don't let him fool you, Remus, he may have a charming smile and a sweet face but his soul is a very dark place," he warns.
"Oh man, I wish I had a sibling," Remus shakes his head amused.
"You don't want to, trust me," Sirius sighs, he goes back to his seat, turned on the music from his phone again, reaching for his paintbrush, his sheets already smeared with paint, he settles down comfortably on Remus's lower stomach and touch his chest again, he blurred the undry contours by his laughter, but that's okay, Sirius loves his laugh, he would pay any price to hear it. "Thank you for helping me," he murmurs at one point.
Remus blinks slowly as he tried to come back to himself. It's not every day you get the chance to be under Sirius Black who uses his warm hands to touch your body, Remus would have preferred other circumstances but he took what was. He smiles. And it's that smile that takes Sirius' breath away.
"Was he telling the truth?" Remus asks in a low voice, Sirius seemed unable to absorb any information now "about this diary," he explains biting his lip, Sirius is getting all adorably blushing right now.
"You won't believe me when I say no," he grumbled, hid his face in his hands.
Remus chuckles, Sirius parted his fingers to look at his face slightly, he really loved when Remus laughed.
"I won't," he shrugs. Remus gently pushes Sirius's hands away from his face, smiles softly pulling him closer and they're so close, just a few more inches and their lips–
"What are you doing?" Sirius whispers, his breath hitting Remus' cheeks.
"I wanted to kiss you, is that okay?" He asks, also whispering, looking into Sirius' eyes, his cheeks are pink but it's all right.
Sirius held his breath.
"Yeah," it's soft and it came out like a plea. But who cares?
As soon as Sirius finishes saying that little word of agreement, their lips meet in a sweet kiss.
Sirius sinks down onto the mattress right behind Remus, Remus's hands are in his hair and fuck Sirius can't imagine anything better.
Sirius doesn't know what to do with his hands, if they were standing he'd throw them around his neck but now? Now he placed them on Remus's cheeks.
At some point, they broke apart, Remus chuckled and Sirius just stared at him in awe.
"I want again," Sirius whines, keeping his eyes on Remus, pulling him up, now they're both sitting facing each other.
Remus grabs his chin and leans into him, he was very glad to fulfill his wish.
And so they kiss.
"Remus?" Sirius mumbles looking at him biting his lips after a while.
"Yes?" Remus smiles softly.
"I want it to be true," he admits quietly.
"I want it too," Remus assures, it's a quiet confession.
"You think it's real?" Sirius asks hesitantly, as if he's afraid it's one of those sweet dreams that will disappear as soon as he wakes up.
Remus swallows and relaxes.
He doesn't know what song is playing, and he really can't hear it over the sound of his heartbeat. He doesn't realize he's speaking until he hears the sound of his own voice asking:
"Can you hear my heart?"
Sirius tilts his head to the side curiously, and then he leans down to press his ear against Remus' chest. He stays like that for a few seconds before pulling back.
"It's loud. And fast." He informs.
"Yeah," is all Remus can say.
It's truly terrifying, the idea of having everything he's ever wanted right at his fingertips, it's terrifying that he could lose it. One small word can make what they hold now, what they have, fall apart and they will never return to what they had, what they were for themselves.
Sirius takes one of Remus' hands and places it on his chest.
"So is mine." And yeah, Remus can feel it hammering in his chest. He suddenly feels dizzy, the way Sirius Black is looking at him– it's unforgivable.
Is this even true?
Is his dream coming true?
Does Remus Lupin have a chance to tell Sirius Black that he loves him?
"Do you want to try and make it more real?" Remus asks, leaning in to him once more, Sirius nods eagerly, pulls Remus to him kissing him again.
Will you be my boyfriend? finds its outlet somewhere among other words.
Then they lay on the bed talking, their hands joined together.
Sirius still can't stop blushing and Remus's smile never leaves his lips.
They look at each other with love written all over their faces, like the two teenagers in love that they were.
"I'm giving you back your-" Regulus stops "charger" he lowers his voice to a whisper, because he noticed two teenagers sleeping on Sirius's bed, slowly and as quietly as he can he back out of his brother's room. "He owe me," he murmurs to himself.
Regulus thought Remus had long since left but apparently Sirius and his friend arranged a sleepover with cuddles.
Good for them.
When three years ago the school year started and Sirius being foureen started his freshman year, he went to high school, a very expensive, prestigious high school, and well, he met a few new people.
He had already been friends with James, Peter, and Marlene since they had been working on a project together as eleven-year-olds and then he met new ones, that's how he found Mary, Lilly and of course Remus.
This group of friends was inseparable from the start. They were the nightmare of every teacher and when someone mentioned them, everyone grabbed their heads.
These first years were definitely exceptional. The second years whereas were extraordinary. Third years were...troublesome. And seniors? Well, that remains to be seen.
How much trouble they got into and how much they made, it's hard to count it all. They quickly gained popularity, they were extremely likeable people.
So when James and Sirius encountered Remus Lupin in one class, Sirius felt something strange. He immediately wanted to be friends with him.
Remus had been Lilly's best friend since kindergarten so James wanted to be friends with him to be around Lilly more often, because he had a massive crush on her back then.
However, Remus Lupin turned out to be more than good friend material, the boys quickly got along and became best friends in the blink of an eye.
And later... you know how little boys have a "girls are blah" phase? Sirius never seemed to grow out of it, he didn't date any friends in elementary school and he didn't have a crush in high school. Marlene helped him realize that there is such a thing as same-sex attraction and Sirius knew he was gay ever since.
He was fifteen when he understood this, and suddenly all the "deviations from the norm" he was feeling and experiencing made some sense.
When his parents found out (because he hadn't told them) they reacted better than Sirius expected. In fact, he had the impression that they sighed with relief knowing that he wouldn't get any girl pregnant in his teens. They basically took it well just telling him to be careful and leave the door open when he got visitors.
So maybe Sirius had a crush on Remus from the start, since he was a stupid fourteen-year-old three years ago, wanting nothing more than Remus Lupin's attention.
look at me, look at me, look at me
And what about Remus? Remus had a bisexual flag pin on his backpack since he was thirteen, Lilly gave it to him when he come out to her, some time later she got herself an identical one.
So for Remus it was different. Remus understood that he liked Sirius in a different way than a friend likes a friend.
Remus from the beginning, looking at Sirius, thought that he was beautiful.
Sirius was indeed beautiful, he was very attractive and he truly was breathtaking, half the school was pinning after him.
And Remus had the opportunity to be his friend and it was the best thing in his life, really.
When Sirius started giving him mixed signals in their second and third year he felt confused, when he started thinking too much about Sirius and even dreaming he realized that this might be the only one for him, that Sirius was the love of his life, but now that's the problem: they are friends.
Remus didn't want to spoil it, and besides, he wasn't sure about Sirius' feelings and... and it was all so complicated.
So these two had a crush on each other for practically two years, and everyone saw it but them.
Because how could someone so beautiful, sweet and adorable love someone like Remus Lupin?
Because how could someone so good and tender and perfect love someone like Sirius Black?
It turns out they could.
Well... Sirius should have realized that he liked Remus much earlier, maybe when he argued with his parents defending him in the first month of his first year. They weren't even friends yet.
"Who said Lupin was a bad person?Snape?" He guesses.
His parents love this bastard. More than once they had forced Sirius to befriend him, but Sirius had no intention in that, he was not going to waste his time and energy on someone who didn't deserve it at all.
"It doesn't matter," his mother shakes her head.
"Because if we wanna talk about people, let's talk about Snape," he hints angrily.
"Snape's a good boy," she defends him immediately.
"And I'm not?" Sirius looks at her defiantly.
"I didint say you're not a good boy," she announces with a sigh. "Snape's had a very hard life," she informs.
"Not harder than my life or Reggie's life," Sirius snorts, crossing his arms.
"It's different," she said.
"Right, his dad left and ours is a complete asshole," he shrugs casually "I don't know which is worse," he huffs.
"Sirius," she warns.
"If you weren't such a fucking loser with no self-respect you wouldn't be his mother friend because she treats you like shit," he states, at the time, expletives were the most common words that popped up in his vocabulary.
"ENOUGH," Walburga raises her voice. "That's enough Sirius," she decides.
"Why? I can't say it to you but you can say it to me?" He asks staring at her with anger.
"I never said you didin't have any self-respect!" She throws her hands up.
"You don't have to, I can fucking feel it!" Sirius stamps his foot, anger building up in his body.
"Go to your room," she commands.
Sirius's parents thought Remus Lupin was bad company for their son, not only was he not popular, his parents were not known well, and he wasn't rich, so something was definitely wrong with him, in addition, his Welsh accent and scars... he was not the right companion for their son. Just no.
However, they appreciated his unusual name, that's why over time they let Sirius off and did not forbid them to meet.
Sirius wanted to see their faces when he introduces his boyfriend one day, they will surely say that Remus only does it for money, that he is using him, that there is nothing special about Sirius that would make someone love him and stuff like that. But that's okay, Sirius knows it will be lies.
Now he is almost an adult, he can make important decisions. He can decide for himself. He's seventeen, damn it, he's not a kid anymore.
He can decide who he loves.
/////
Can't Regulus live peacefully in his house? Does something always have to happen to him? Does it have to be like this?
Does James Potter have to be standing in his room with just a towel on his hips, chest exposed, hair still wet and an apologetic cute smile on his lips, does he have to? Does he?
However, Regulus squints at something strange, something tightens in his chest, something tightens in his lower stomach, his thoughts are foggy and he can't take his eyes off James fucking Potter's naked torso. He stares at him with his mouth slightly open.
"Oh, Regulus!" James smiled awkwardly in greeting "me and Pads tried to bake a cake for Remus, I sent half the cream on myself and we threw some flour at each other, I also cracked an egg on Sirius' head," he smiled proudly.
"I don't care, I'd appreciate it if you would get straight to the point," Regulus huffs.
He doesn't like James Potter.
He does not.
"Yes, sure," James nodds "we both needed a shower and Sirius said I could use the one in your bathroom because you're not home anyway," he explains. "I'm so sorry, are you mad?" he asked uncertainly. "I shouldn't have used your stuff without your knowledge."
And how can you be mad at that puppy face?
"No, as long as you didn't break anything and didn't make a big mess it's okay," Regulus sighs "I'm more surprised why you two didn't shower together," he snorts.
"Yeah well," James laughs awkwardly "we're not that close," he shrugs.
"You shower together after literally every training," Regulus points out.
"Aaand maybe Sirius got some new photos from Remus too," he adds, his cheeks flushed "I didn't want to be part of that," he mumbles.
"Oh my-" Regulus chocked "It's disgusting. Why you're telling me this," he pretended to gag.
"Yeah so," James chuckled "well also, he sent me here saying something that it would be awkward for him to wank in his brother's room," he explains further as if it was needed.
"It's like I didn't walk on him at the innocent age of twelve when he was doing it, oh and last week, oh and when literally every day when we share a room on vacation," Regulus lists indifferently "no, never," he shakes his head.
"I didn't need to know that," James laughs, and you need to know that when James laughs, it is loud, bright, contagious and strong, so it is no wonder that his towel falls slightly. Regulus is suddenly hit by a wave of heat, what's wrong with him? "So Reg, are you nervous about changing schools?" James smiles slightly, hinting at small talk.
"No why should I?" Regulus shrugs.
Regulus is changing schools which means he will be the only new person in the class who hasn't known others for two years.
Regulus will start his Junior year as a stranger but he didn't care, he didn't feel like making friends with his classmates, anyway.
This sad thing, he leaves behind Pandora, his best friends with whom he was in the first school, he survived this years only thanks to her, they've been friends for a long time so it's not like when he changes school something will change between them, so there's nothing to worry about.
There's really nothing to stress about, teachers always likes him, Regulus is a nerd who studies hard, and if not, he'll use the argument that he's better than Sirius anyway.
In addition, he will already have friends there, he will be in class with Evan and Barty, may it be better?
Plus, if anything goes wrong, he has Sirius to destroy anyone who messes with him. If anyone tries to hurt him or bully him or anything then before Regulus can devise a plan for revenge, his older brother and his fucking protective instinct will take care of it for him.
Well, of course, Regulus doesn't need it, no, Regulus can take care of himself just fine. He can.
"Now James I would appreciate if you go get dressed because you are making me uncomfortable," he's chasing him out of his room.
"Yeah, sure, sorry Reg," James waves as he leaves.
"It's Regulus!" He calls after him.
And now Regulus had a moment for his crisis.
Moment?
It took three hours.
Why seeing a shirtless boy turn him on?
He wasn't even gay.
Okay, he's kissed boys a few times, made out with Barty once, and most of his fictional and TV crushes have been men, but he's not– oh wait.
/////
"Hey, don't you think Regulus had, like, a glow up over the holidays?" James said at one point. He can't stop thinking about it. He knows he probably shouldn't, but he can't stop.
"Yes, he is very good-looking," Remus agreed. He's been spending some time with him lately, because Regulus requires to get to know him better since he steals his brother. They liked each other, that's for sure.
"Moony!" Sirius gasps indignantly. Remus gave him a brief kiss.
When they decided to be in a relationship, Sirius had this wonderful mischievous plan not to tell anyone about it and see how long it would take for their friends to find out.
It would be difficult because Sirius and Remus acted like a couple even when they weren't together.
His clever plan unfortunately was not successful, because as soon as they met, he jumped up and down with excitement and shouted happily, telling them (and the whole world nearby too) that he and Remus were dating.
"I remember when he was so tiny," Peter makes a sweet high-pitched voice.
"You met him when he was ten," James reminds him.
"And? He was such a cute baby," Peter continues.
"Now he's hot sixteen," Marlene smirks.
"Can we come back to me?" Sirius sighs inconsolably "yes, puberty has finally hit him harder, he's got better cheekbones than me he's about two inches taller than me now and that's so fucking unfair," he crosses his arms "why are we even talking about him?"
"Because he's hot," Lilly shrugs.
"Facts," Mary agrees.
"What the fuck?" Sirius give them a death glare.
"In fact, why do we never invite him? Isn't he like a year younger than you? So like Marlene and me?" Mary frowns.
"First thing, he's a year and whole seven months younger than me, second thing, he has friends of his own, he doesn't need to steal mine," Sirius snorts.
He won't admit that he's always been afraid to introduce Regulus and get him into his pack, afraid that his friends will like him more than him, that they'll choose him over Sirius.
Just like his parents always did.
So, yeah, he was afraid that his friends would get along with Regulus.
Sirius and Regulus shared their lives, shared their home and parents, but they did not shared their friends.
Regulus' friends were his friends and Sirius's friends were his, that's it.
"I'd like to meet him, Remus says he's great," Lilly declares.
"He really is," Remus smiles.
"Remus! You've spoken to him less times than I can show on my hands!" Sirius sues him.
"Hey Sirius, I'm just saying he seems okay, we read similar things too," Remus looks at Sirius with a frown. "Don't tell me you're jealous of him," he rolled his eyes, Sirius just glared at him.
"Hey, why don't we invite him to the next party?" Peter proposes.
"No," Lilly interrupted "Sirius was probably forced to take him everywhere with him half his life, don't do it, if Sirius don't want to," she asks. "These lucky fellas are only childs, they will never understand," Lilly sighs and Sirius smiles at her gratefully.
"I'M SORRY-" Peter gasps indignantly.
"Okay, okay, stop," James interrupts to ease the conflict, which has not even begun. "We're playing truth or dare," he decides.
It's so much fun, it's not the first time they've had a sleepover, it's not hard to fit seven people in a house when your house is a goddamn palace.
They were usually at James's, his house was huge and James' parents simply loved his friends like their own children, so it's never been a problem.
Sometimes, though they organized sleepovers at Marlene's and if Sirius' parents weren't at home (and they often weren't), then at his too.
The rest have rather a problem with accommodating such a large group at their home.
So they play truth or dare with a lot of laughter and fun. It's Sirius' turn and he's not a chick so he chooses dare.
"Let Marlene do your makeup," Peter says with a sly smile.
Sirius won't back down so he sits at the girl's dressing table.
Marlene fights with herself for a long time, deciding whether to do it for laughs and horribly wrong or do her best and make it bloody good.
She has a feeling Sirius might like it.
"Please just don't stab me in the eye," he pleads as she tells him to open his eye and look up.
The whole thing takes less than half an hour, it's just eyeshadow, eyeliner, lip gloss and some sequins on the eyelids in the shape of stars, it looks damn good.
Sirius gets a mirror in his hands and begs "please don't be bad" he opens his eyes uncertainly and when he sees his reflection he opens his mouth in shock and looks at his face in delight.
"Remus you're good?" Lilly nudges him with her elbow, amused, but he just grunts indistinctly and goes back to staring at Sirius's face. They had to forgive him, his boyfriend looks so hot.
"And?" Marlene asks excitedly.
"I like it," Sirius whispers, he frowns, could he? "I like this the most," he points but does not touch his face "what is it?"
"It's eyeliner sweetheart," Marlene grins at him. "You look great in it," she assures.
"Can you," Sirius starts hesitantly "will you show me how you do it?" He asks hopefully, Marlene grins happily at him.
"Of course!" And she did.
As each of them headed home in the morning, Marlene stopped Sirius and handed him a black tube.
"Use it if you want," she asks with a smile as she hands him eyeliner. Sirius looks at her with big eyes "you're grateful I know," she laughs. "I thought you'd like it," she smiles at him "don't be afraid Sirius, never doubt how beautiful you are," she kisses him on the cheek.
"You're the best person on that planet," Sirius smiles back at her.
Deep breath.
He's seventeen and he'll fucking wear makeup if he wants to.
He will.
/////
Sirius was playing on his console when the door to his room opened, it's past midnight and the only person who could come is Regulus, who will be fussing about something, probably about that he was playing too loud, their rooms were opposite each other and the walls weren't too thick. Sirius took off his headphones and looked up at his brother expectantly.
Regulus shrugs and handed him one of the cans he had in his hands, it's an energy drink, Sirius frowned, he wasn't expecting to get something– Oh, Regulus probably wants to bribe him and ask for something, for sure.
But Regulus did not drop his requirement immediately after giving him the bribe as he always used to do, he just sat down next to him asking "can I watch for a while?" and they sat in silence.
Sirius frowned, something was wrong.
"What's that?" He asks finally with a long sigh.
It's silence, big eyes and uncertain glances, it's something important.
"I" Regulus starts off with confidence, usually he was brave but this time he quickly looks down at his hands and clenches his teeth.
"It's okay," Sirius assures calmly "just tell me what's bothering you," he asks.
They were brothers and 90% of the time they acted like they hated each other but well, that's not true.
Sirius was willing to bleed out for this annoying little gremlin, he didn't think there was anything he wouldn't do for his little brother, in fact, he wouldn't share his chips with him or lend him his laptop but he would give him a kidney and jump into the fire after him.
He loves him and when Regulus needed it, he was there for him. Always.
"I wanted," Regulus tries "okay, look," he took a deep breath "how did you know you were gay?" He asks the question and leaves Sirius stunned.
"Shit," Sirius whispers "you think you are?" He asks uncertainly, a note of panic in his voice. "Fuck," he tugs at his hair nervously.
It's not good.
"And don't you dare tell me I'm copying you," Regulus warns. "I'm fucking terrified right now," he looks down, he looks so young and sad and scared and... were there tears?
"Reggie no," Sirius pleaded. "I'm sorry, I'm terribly sorry, that's not how I should react, I'm grateful that you told me, I'm proud of you," he pulls him into a hug, letting him cry, rubbing his back and whispering reassuringly "everything will be fine, Reggie, it's okay, you're good," he assures "nothing wrong with you, you're good," he strokes his little brother head. "I love you Reggie," he kisses his forehead.
They both know there's more to it than orientation, Regulus would be okay with being gay and Sirius would react differently if it wasn't for their parents.
They only allowed Sirius to be gay because they still had a second child, a second son who was perfect and would fulfill their dreams and whims.
Regulus apparently won't.
It's bad, it's not good, because he won't hide it from them and if they find out... there's a good chance that Regulus will no longer be the perfect child and favorite son.
They both fear punishment. Sirius fears for his brother and Regulus fears for himself. And it's just-
"What made you come to this conclusion?" Sirius asks quietly.
In the end, he'd support him anyway, even if the likely option right now was that as soon as Sirius turned eighteen, his parents would marry him off to some nice lady. He was their first heir, and if he is not willing to marry and have children properly, they would make him do it.
But Sirius doesn't care, not as long as Reggie is happy. Sirius will fight, he will fight as long as he has something to fight for, and he has because it's about his little brother.
Sirius understands that Regulus is afraid, Regulus wasn't the one to fight and argue, he gave in and tried to fit in.
Regulus was a good son, and the thought of not being one anymore terrified him.
"Another crush and a bloody wet dream," Regulus snorted as if angry at himself. He could mention that his dream was about his older brother's best friend, but what for?
Sirius chuckles.
It will be good, it has to be.
/////
"Mom?" Regulus presses his lips into a tight line. "I think I'm gay," he let the words fall out of his mouth quickly. "I don't think, I know it, I'm sorry," he corrects himself.
This is important information affecting not only him but also the family, so he is obliged to share it. He knows.
Regulus always knows.
His mother looks him over. She frowns, relaxes her brows, and repeats this a couple of times. Finally, she nods slowly. You don't know what to expect from her, her expression, it's empty.
"ORION!" She called out to her husband, Regulus swallows nervously, is she going to punish him? She could, and Regulus knows it. His father is with them before she calls second name. "SIRIUS," she calls out to her older son and you don't know if it's to accuse him of being a bad influence on his younger brother or something else.
"What?" Sirius huffs, then he looked at Regulus and how small he was with his head bowed and his shoulders shrunken. He immediately knew what it was about, Sirius stood next to Regulus to reassure him, "yes?" He asked.
"Let's sit down," she points to the couch, the boys sit down with their heads down. Walburga sits across from them in the armchair, her husband in the other chair. The silence is crushing, they wait for the impact, for the explosion. "So it turns out that two of my sons are homosexual," she muttered more to herself as if getting used to the fact.
"I told you," Orion murmured to her.
"Not the time," she scolds him. "Boys," she draws their attention. "Do you plan to have children in the future?"
"Yes, sure, one day, but when I have a stable job and the right partner and feel ready and all," Sirius finds the question odd but answers anyway.
"I don't know, I feel too young to answer that question correctly. I'm not sure, maybe someday," Regulus gives her his answer too.
"And if you get married, do you plan to keep your last name?" She asks another question. "Or stick to a two-part surname?"
"I think I'd rather stick with Black," Regulus states.
"I don't know, possibly a two-part," Sirius frowns. He likes what Sirius Lupin looks like.
"Good," Walburga nods solemnly. "If I have a grandson named Black, that's enough for me," she informs.
"Does that mean-" Sirius frowns.
"If in ten years you put a child next to me, of your blood, your partner or adopted, if you give them your last name, that's enough for me. Live your life," she decides.
"Wait, really?" Regulus looks up, his eyes shine, and it's sick, but it's gratitude for the fact that she decided not to hate him, that she didn't cut him out.
"It's not something you can influence, right?" She raises an eyebrow. "Thank you for the information Regulus, I appreciate it." She nodded.
And just like that, she left.
"Did she just," Sirius blinks painfully. It's easier than he expected.
"I think," Regulus watches her leave "what do you think she would do if she didn't get a grandson?" He wondered aloud.
"You'd be a big brother," Sirius shrugs. "She would totally make another child," he laughs.
"I thought it would be worse," Regulus muttered, it's not like he waited for a good moment for a week, doing everything perfectly to find her in a good mood to tell her.
"I'm proud of you Reggie," Sirius patted his head.
"Fuck off," Regulus scowls.
/////
"What's that thing with your eyes?" Father narrows his eyes at Sirius's face.
"It's eyeliner, do you like it?" Sirius grins at him. It's mean, he knows.
Sirius is pissing him off, he knows.
"Don't make yourself look like a girl, son, that hair of yours is enough." Orion wrinkles his nose in displeasure, like he's not proud of what his son is doing to the image of the Blacks.
"What?" Sirius blinks at him slowly.
Is this a good time to tell his father that he is going on a date with Mary to paint his nails?
"Do as you please," Mother told him, dragging Orion behind her.
Walburga Black had lived most of her life on the 'do whatever you want as long as you fulfilled your duties' rule.
She treated her sons more like employees than children, she cared for them, but she didn't really love them.
She let Sirius wear long hair, make-up and jewelry and even that ridiculous leather jacket. It didn't bother her.
She let her sons express themselves as long as they treated their elders with respect and wore smart clothes at family gatherings. As long as their manners were impeccable and their duties were done, she didn't care.
She didn't care that they were gay, she had such an option in her plan, she had a plan for everything.
Sirius and Regulus had jobs to do, requirements to meet, if they do it, the rest doesn't matter.
One of them is to take over the company after their deaths, and at least one of them is to have a child to continue the family line, that's enough.
"Father," Sirius draws his attention, determination in his eyes. "I want a motorcycle," he informes.
"Okay, ask Reacher to help you find a good model," he agrees, to be honest, Sirius is surprised. "And don't kill yourself when you ride it," oh what a nice way to tell him he cares about him, maybe it's not a concern, maybe he just don't want to lose his male heir. "Place an order or ask to be taken to the store, I'll make a bank transfer or a written check," he waves his hand, chasing his son out of the office.
Was it that simple?
Honestly, his father was probably waiting for some manifestation of masculinity in Sirius, and his interest in cars was such a thing, so he decided to push him in this direction.
But Sirius got a motorcycle so he didn't really care about father and his opinion.
/////
"James! I have it! I HAVE!" Sirius shouts excitedly as soon as James opens the door for him "father agreed, I already ordered it, next week I should get it, I'm so happy!" He grins, James grins back.
"It's great Sirius, I'm happy for you," James hugs him tightly "tell me everything," he damands "which model did you choose? Do you have any photos?" He asks.
"James won't let him stand on the doorstep, invite him in," Effie chuckle. "Hi darling," she smiles at Sirius.
Oh, how she adores this boy.
"Hello, Effie," Sirius smiles back and waves at her.
Effie laughs. She comes closer to Sirius and tucks his hair behind his ears.
"Your hair has gotten so long," she noticed. Sirius blushes.
"Please don't lecture me about cutting it, Father already does that every time he comes home," his hair has grown past his chin, down to his neck. He had been growing his hair out for a year now, he had kept it medium length for a long time, but now he was growing it longer.
Effie shakes her head with that same gentle smile she gets around her son.
"Never," she shakes her head. "It's beautiful," she informs with sincerity. "Have you ever braided it before?"
"I've tried," he admits shamefully "but it's a lot more difficult than girls make it look," he murmurs.
Effie laughed with the tenderness that only mothers (and not all mothers) have.
"Come. I'll braid it for you if you want," she smiles, Sirius followed her, he wanted to try.
He loved Effie and the warmth she always emanated and gave.
Sirius used to envy James the love she gave him until he received it himself and from then on he was only grateful that someone gave James such a good thing, because every child deserved it.
Effie had so much love in her that Sirius used to cry after every long time spent with her. She was so lovely...
Sirius checked himself in the mirror, the new hairstyle made his face more delicate, his hair was braided into two french braids, it looks good. He smiles.
He thanked Effie and followed James to his room.
James watching with a smile as his best friend's face beamed. "You look stunning Pads" he assured him. Sirius grinned in response.
Sirius took a few pictures of himself, most of them he sent to Remus, one in which he was smiling broadly, biting his tongue between his teeth, to the group.
He was immediately blessed with loads of messages from friends.
"Loser, I was the first to have long hair," Regulus pointed out, he keeps his hair a little longer then most boys do and that's because Pandora and Regulus braid flowers into each other's hair.
Regulus can't imagine world without the flowers in his hair and Pandora's sweet, addicting laughter.
"You look pretty, though," Regulus smiles softly at Sirius and that may be the biggest compliment of the day.
/////
During the rest of the vacation, it seemed that James spent more time in Regulus's presence, not that he spent time with him, he was just where Regulus was. That kind of thing. He often came to Sirius to meet Regulus in the kitchen by chance or to enter his room with another stupid question. He just hung around hoping for a little chat.
He also ran into Regulus today when he went to prepare breakfast for himself and Sirius, he was always up early so he saw no problem in spending his extra time doing something useful. And what's more, he really didn't like asking for something or asking someone to make breakfast for him, he preferred to do it himself rather than give work to others.
The boys anyway usually used the smaller kitchen that was on the same floor as their rooms, cooks rarely came into this kitchen so it was less awkward than sitting next to their parents' employees, it was also closer, and sometimes they wanted to eat stupid cereal for breakfast with milk, not hummus.
James found Regulus sitting on the kitchen counter with a box of cereal in one hand, eating them straight from the box with the other. James can't help it, that he had focused on his beautiful hands for a moment too long, his fingers were long and smooth and these rings-
Regulus was sitting on that counter with a raised eyebrow, wearing gray shorts, two different socks and an oversized T-shirt with the logo of Sirius favorite band, actually it could have been a Sirius's T-shirt.
It was strange to find him in the kitchen so early, but something in his tired, dark circles in his eyes told him he wasn't up, he just hadn't gone to bed yet.
"Hi," James greets cheerfully with his signature pretty smile.
"Hi," Regulus grumbled. He jumped off the counter, reached for the bottle of milk and took a sip. He went back to eating his cereal, this time standing leaning against the countertop, ignoring James.
He did his best to ignore James.
That's what Regulus was good at - ignoring his feelings.
James laughed softly, and that's when Regulus jerked his head up to look at him questioningly.
Okay, so maybe he couldn't ignore James and the things his laughter was doing to his head.
"You have," James pointed to his face "milk mustache," he finished amused.
Regulus frowned immediately then reached for a piece of his t-shirt and wiped his mouth with it as he pulled it up, his stomach, bit of chest and v-line was visible and, oh boy, the things James thought were incorrect and dirty and definitely not innocent.
"Mhm, did you sleep well?" Regulus nodded at him. Regulus wasn't doing small talk, never. James was squinting and deciding if it was good or bad.
"Good, want something better to eat?" He suggests kindly.
Regulus breaks eggs while James searches the cupboards for bread, they're making French toast.
In the meantime, they talk, and it's really nice and pleasant, and James can't argue that his eyes land on Regulus' mouth too often. And he can't help but feel that Regulus is doing exactly the same thing.
"Thanks for meal," Regulus nodded heading to the door, he passed James and tripped over the fucking air.
He could blame it on lack of sleep and tiredness but either way he almost fell on his face if James hadn't caught him at the last moment.
"No need to thank me," James smiles fondly, his hand still clasped gently on Regulus' elbow. His hands are so pleasantly nice.
At one point they're so close that Regulus is sure James will lean in a little more and then- but no.
James just hugged him gently, as if afraid he would break him. And it's not strange because James was a very touching person, Regulus was sure that he wouldn't survive an hour without hugging someone.
So it wasn't weird - Regulus told himself.
"Have a good day," he smiles, Regulus left.
Regulus went to his room and the first thing he did was scream into his pillow.
Sirius took James for a ride on his new motorbike, specially bought him an orange helmet because it's his favorite color and they went for coffee together.
James spent an hour listening to Sirius' dramatic argument because the barista wrote 'serious' instead of 'Sirius' on his cup, literally, Sirius almost cried over it.
But now they were heading back to the parking lot, James sipped his latte without looking ahead or at his feet as he told Sirius about his mum's gift idea for his grandma.
"Fuck-ouch," he groaned as he tripped over the curb and luckily didn't land on his face, but he splashed hot coffee on his hand.
"Careful there's a curb there," Sirius said looking at his friend amused.
James reserved his death stare for moments like this, though calling it a 'death stare' was perhaps a little inaccurate.
"I love you," Sirius sing-song, James just chuckles.
James knows he needs to talk to Sirius about what happened in his kitchen this morning. But he prefers to do it when they get off the machine that can accelerate to 200mph, so he waits.
And when they're in front of James' house and Sirius takes off his helmet to go inside and say hello to James' parents and maybe have lunch along the way James decides to start the subject.
Because James Potter was staring at Regulus Black too much. James looked at him a little too long for it to be just 'friendship'.
And it was starting to become more and more intrusive, and James couldn't hide it, not from Sirius, after all, it was about his younger brother.
James in fact never saw Regulus as just Sirius's little brother, but Regulus was, he was his best friend baby brother and James hated himself for how he looked at Regulus.
But how could he not?
Regulus is...
He's just so, so pretty.
James loves everything about him,
the way happiness flashes in his eyes when he's reading,
the way he grimaces, pretending to hate when Sirius ruffles his hair,
the way he combs his hair when he's anxious and doesn't know what to say,
the way he always plays with his hands when talking about something that really interests him (the way Regulus ran those rings along his fingers were doing things to James),
the way his permanent scowl disappears when he's with his friends,
the way the delicate smile creeps on his lips when he looks at the neighbor's cat stretching on the sidewalk, sometimes he even laughs and James loves it all.
He loves.
Regulus would laugh and if James had to give up his sense of hearing to only listen to Regulus's laugh for the rest of his life, hed give up all of his senses.
James Potter would stare at Regulus with the ardoration of a million suns. He'd make a Regulus matching playlist. He would put stupid love songs on it and it would be his favourite thing to listen to.
He'd wait all day to see Regulus so he could listen to it again, waiting for the euphoria that comes with being near the star. Regulus Black.
But he can not.
It's just wrong.
But how can love be wrong?
Love should be beautiful, that's what his mum always said. Love should be beautiful. So why did his love hurt?
"Hi Sirius," James grunted indistinctly, quite stressed out.
"Yeah James?" Sirius looks at him with a small frown between his brows, he's worried, he's worried because James is rarely stressed around him.
"I think we need to talk," James decides nervously "care to come upstairs to my room?" He smiles awkwardly.
There's no coming back now.
Sirius follows him confused and more then little concerned.
When they finally sat on James' bed, Sirius frowned even more, James tugged at his hair. He must tell him, he has to do it, he knows but it's stressful anyway.
He's afraid of Sirius' reaction, Sirius is his best friend and James doesn't want him to be mad at him or anything like that and he knows Sirius will be, because Regulus is his precious little baby brother.
James himself never witnessed Sirius stitching on children to their mom's at the playground because they were destroying Regulus's sand buildings, but he was sure Sirius was doing it.
James was there when Sirius broke a kid's nose because he was making fun of Regulus telling him, that he was acting girly.
James knew perfectly well about every time Sirius put up a Regulus above himself, protecting him from all evil in the world.
Jamee knew about every scraped knee Sirius had patched up for him and every kind word he said when Regulus was sad.
In addition, James had known Sirius for a long time, they were best friends, they were soulmates, they knew literally everything about each other and James didn't want to undermine Sirius' trust right now or make him feel left out or replaced, didn't want it to look like he was choosing Regulus over him.
Sirius had attachment issues, James knew.
He felt so bad, he was so mad at himself, he was so angry at his emotions.
James sometimes hated his feelings, how strong they were and how much of them he always had.
"I'm so sorry, I know it can ruin our friendship and everything," his breath trembles, Sirius doesn't understand what's going on, what comes out of James' mouth is unintelligible gibberish for a few minutes and is concluded with a deep breath and: "Sirius, I think I might have a little, teeny-weeny, like, tiny crush on your brother," he finally lets it out, he does it quickly as if the words are burning him.
"What?" Sirius blinks, not processing the information, not letting it in. Not yet.
"And I might have almost kiss him this morning," James adds, closing his eyes shut. After a moment of silence, he tentatively opens one of his eyes, expecting screaming, name-calling and drama.
"Oh," is what he got.
Sirius couldn't be mad at James, could he? Not when he saw how stressed he was. Sirius could hear James's heartbeat from where he was sitting.
It's not fair to be mad at him, is it?
"You're not mad?" James asks hesitantly. Was he on the verge of tears?
"You're too good to be mad at you James, you're my best friend, remember? Its us. Me and you, you and me," Sirius smiles reassuringly. "Wait," he frowns "since when do you like dicks?"
"Don't say it like that," James groaned "and I–" he takes a deep breath "I never told you I was straight," he points out.
"You never said you weren't," Sirius shrugs, he doesn't look mad though.
"Well, it's not like," James gets lost in his words, takes another deep breath and tries to concentrate and put his thoughts into words as best he can. "It's just not a gender issue for me, you know?" He mumbles eventually. "I'm pansexual, Sirius," he confesses "and no I'm not attracted to pans," he adds immediately after seeing that spark in Sirius' eyes, he knew what Sirius was going to say. "Pansexuality is the romantic, emotional, and/or sexual attraction to people regardless of their gender," he gives him a textbook definition. "I'm like gender-blind or something," he shrugs.
"Why am I not surprised," Sirius sighs "it's a very James-ish thing to do. You literally admire everyone you meet," he smiles softly.
"Yes I think I fall a little in love with everyone I meet but that's okay I have a lot of love to give," he shrugs, he's too kind for this world, it's all Sirius can think of. "And yes Sirius I do think you're pretty," he adds, because he knows this will be Sirius' next question.
"My brother prettier?" Sirius raises an eyebrow teasing him.
"Don't tease me about it, Sirius," James pleaded "it's already hard enough."
"Not only that, huh?" Sirius huffs, James sent him a death glare. "Alright I'm done now," he raises his hands in surrender "but seriously Prongs, my brother?" He adds with a sigh.
"I'm sorry," James looks down, he swallows nervously.
"Nah, okay," Sirius assures, reaching out his hand, placing it on James' shoulder and smiling slightly "just never make me have to choose between the two of you, okay?" He asks "and I know it's almost impossible with you, but please don't hurt him, James," and that's all he has to say.
It's nothing serious, it's just a crush and James doesn't deserve to suffer because of it, he has no control over it. Sirius loves James and would never intentionally cause him pain.
It's just a crush, nothing serious.
Sirius knows his brother is attractive and has a lot of suitors and admirers, being beautiful is simply in their blood.
Regulus is attractive and James falls in love easily, that's a simple conclusion and that's okay.
It's okay.
Sirius is fine with that.
"I won't," James promises sincerely "besides he'll never even look at me that way, it's just a crush, maybe I'll get over it," he wonders "I just wanted you to know," he informs.
"Because you're terrible at lying and keeping secrets," Sirius states.
"Exactly," James nodds.
"I love you James, and thank you for telling me about your orientation and crush, I'm happy to be here for you," Sirius says with a gentle smile.
He's really grateful to have him.
"You're the best of best friends," James snuggles into him.
/////
The holidays were over and Regulus and Sirius went back to school, this time to the same one. Sirius was very happy to show his brother his school and meet his friends but Regulus was not willing.
He rejected his proposals and Sirius pretended to be very indignant.
"No Sirius, I'm just ashamed of you," Regulus snorted, pushing him away and not agreeing to go inside with him.
Regulus didn't want people to be artificially nice to him just because he was this Sirius' brother
He wasn't stupid and he knew his brother and his friends were the stars of the school especially since they were seniors this year and Regulus also knew that sooner or later people would know that Sirius and Regulus were related, but he wanted one day to judge everything for himself.
Just one day.
He didn't need people picking on him or trying to get to Sirius through him.
When Regulus met Evan outside the school, the blond boy smiled broadly at him and waved. Barty, on the other hand, jumped on him hugging him and knocking them both to the ground, Regulus only groaned in pain.
They got up and entered the school, Barty criticized Regulus's outfit in the meanwhile.
Sirius also complained about his plain casual outfit but Reg dismissed it as "I don't have to show off, I'm not you".
The most awkward minutes of his life were when the teacher told him to introduce himself to the class. Everyone was watching him curiously like some object on display in a museum, but Regulus didn't like attention as much as Sirius so he felt awkward.
And already in the second lesson he was forced to do projects in pairs, he was happy because he was sitting alone in the class, but it turned out that there were an even number of people in the class and he couldn't work alone or join friends and be a group of three.
Barty and Evan argued about who should work with Regulus, Evan decided that if they really wanted to do something, he would be with Regulus (he didn't count on easy A at all) argued that Barty would only distract Regulus and eventually told him to go somewhere else.
Barty found his place with the one girl in the back of the class, he looked like a beaten puppy gesticulating and pointing at Evan, probably complaining about how his best friend treated him.
Okay, Evan wasn't Barty's best friend, Regulus was. Evan, on the other hand, was his Rose, the apple of his eye, his everything, his person.
Regulus swear if these two didn't get together until college, he would shoot himself.
"Dorcas is having lunch with us," Barty informed "I need someone to stand by me while you join your mean forces against me," he huffs.
It turns out that Barty is also quite a famous person in this school, the amount of people he greeted in the corridor is staggering.
Many pairs of eyes land on Regulus, he's not a first year so he causes a stir because his face is new to the rest of the crowd.
Regulus slowly begins to find himself in a new school, he usually quickly adapts to changes in the environment.
"Meadow, Dorcas Meadow, nice to meet you," the girl extends her hand to him.
"Black," Regulus follows her, squeezing her hand, not tight but firm. She frowns looking at him confused. "Regulus Black," he adds and she sits opposite, next to Evan. Barty sits by Regulus stealing food from his plate.
"Nice to meet you Reg," she smiles at him. Regulus huffed and gave Barty his death glare, Barty just put his hands up in surrender and blow him a kiss.
"My name is Regulus," he informs "it's not rEEG, not rEDGE, not rEDGIE, and not rEEGie, is that clear? It's Regulus not Reginald," he huffs. "Barty fuck off," he shoves him.
"When they met, Regulus's brother called him Reggie over and over and Barty was convinced his name was Reginald for literally years," Evan explains, trying to hold back his laugh.
"I was five!" Barty defends himself.
They laugh, they talk more, Regulus feels his brother's eyes on him from the middle of the cafeteria but ignores it, he gets a text from him and is grateful that he respected his request and does not come close to him today. Which does not change the fact that finding a text from him every break was annoying.
The first day of school wasn't all that bad.
/////
The first week went by and it was fine, really, it was fine.
Sirius would hang with him sometimes and Regulus didn't like how quickly people caught on that they were brothers, which would be hard to deceive when they looked almost identical.
And when people found out, what Regulus predicted happened, everyone said sweet words to him, sent him smiles, greeted him and started conversations.
And Regulus complained about it, he really didn't like people that much.
"And then she comes asking "hey, how's your day?" like what the fuck, what do you mean how was my day? Fuck off, my day has absolutely nothing to do with you, leave me alone," Regulus tells his friends about these situations over lunch.
Regulus liked Dorcas, which is strange but it happens. When Regulus likes a person he does it quickly and doesn't let go, so now he had a new friend. (He was sure she would get along with Pandora, too.) Regulus had something like a sixth sense when it came to detecting good people, to choosing his people.
"And you wonder why people don't like you," Barty snorts "be nicer and you will find some friends," he shrugs.
"Fuck off," Regulus gives him his middle finger "you're still here, friend,"he says the last word like an insult.
"Yes, because I have issues," Barty shrugs with a mouth full of fries "I like when you insult me," he swallows and smiles sweetly "degradation kink and all that," now he grins.
"Evan take notes," Regulus nodded to him, Evan frowned confused.
"Oh boy, they're so blind," Dorcas sigh.
"Right?" Regulus agrees immediately.
/////
Regulus has been pouting for a couple of days now, and of course Sirius notices.
His little brother never once pushed him down the stairs, teased him, annoyed him or even complained!
Sirius was starting to miss it, so over the weekend he snuck into his brother's room, remembering to knock because he respected his brother's space compared to him, (not because Regulus would have smothered him in his sleep if he hadn't, absolutely not, he just respected him, yes.)
"Hi there," he smiles slightly, it's too light and gentle for Sirius which means he's worried.
Shit, Regulus didn't want him to worry, he looks up from his books and stands up from his desk to face Sirius.
"What?" Regulus sighs heavily, because either he has a problem or he has noticed that Regulus has a problem. He didn't like either option, he wasn't good at comforting Sirius, and he wasn't good at showing or sharing his feelings either.
Sirius scanned him slowly then took a step closer and gently wrapped his arms around Regulus, it's warm and nice and familiar, it's good and Regulus loses himself in it, clinging to him, tightening his fists on the fabric of Sirius's shirt and snuggling in, burying his face in the crook of his neck.
"Tell me what's wrong," Sirius whispers "is that about school?"
"Mhm," Regulus mumbles.
"No one is bullying you right?"
"You know very well that I would bully them back if they tried," Regulus huffs.
"Yeah I know," Sirius nodded, they just stood there in silence for a while.
"I don't like all the attention being focused on me," Regulus muttered. "Don't people have better things to do?" He huffs, pulling away from Sirius and looking at his face. "I don't like being in the spotlight and for two weeks I've been," he admits whining "because I'm new, because I'm your brother, because I'm Black," he lists "it's annoying, how do you bear it?" He asks, frowning.
"What can I say, I'm an attention whore," Sirius shrugs casually, Regulus huffs a laugh.
He's so fucking grateful for his big brother.
The next day Regulus started lessons later, he had a doctor's appointment in the morning so when he goes back to school and what he found there was lots of whispering and attention focused on Sirius' group he was a bit surprised. What happened while he was gone? Did they make a new prank?
Regulus knew about every prank they pulled at school. Sirius always proudly told him about it.
He wanted to find Barty to find out what it was about, who like who, but Barty Crouch Jr. was the gossip king.
Before he found him, however, he noticed that James (and it's not like Regulus' eyes often sought him out) was walking around Sirius like a fucking guard dog, basically Sirius and Remus were having some escort today, not as usual in a group but very much like bodyguards, surrounded by them to scare others away and glaring at those who came too close.
What the fuck?
A few re-talks came to his ears as he walked down the corridor, some name-calling towards his brother, some name-calling towards Lupin, and many, many more excited whispers and happy squeals and cheering for them.
Okay, weird.
"What happened?" Regulus doesn't even say hello to Barty, he just demands an answer, pulls him away from the group of other people and stares expectantly.
"You do not know anything?" Barty opens his mouth in shock "okay so the general point is that your amazing brother fucking made out like literally snog his boyfriend, fucking Remus Lupin, this morning at the front door of our school revealing their relationship, which supposedly has been going on since the holidays," he summarized for him.
"What?" Regulus blinks slowly, did Sirius really put himself on the line because Regulus was a little uncomfortable?
He'll kill him,
he'll hug him.
"Crazy, isn't it?" Barty grins. "It's going to be a hot topic for weeks if not months," he assures "that's better news than when James and Sirius were rumored to be together," he humms.
"They were what?" Regulus stares at him.
"You know, no wonder," he shrugs "they are super close, they wear each other's team jerseys, and well, they kissed after James' first game as captain," he informs "but totally platonic so don't be jealous," he laughs.
"But— okay," he frowns confused "why everyone–" Regulus points at other people.
"Your brother is a fucking star, Reg," Barty points out "and don't worry it's not homophobic bulshit it's mostly jealousy and admiration," he assures "it's not that they're together or they're gay, no, what pisses people off is that the hottest man in this school ripped off the most beautiful man in this school and now you don't have a chance to even talk to your crush, right?" He tells him quickly. "But that's just part of the people, the rest are excited because damn they've been pinning for each other for over two years, it was hard to watch!" He laughs. "And believe me, half the school simps your brother and the other half crushes Lupin, this guy is fucking Casanova, he's got a better take than James and he's the football captain and the fucking sunshine boy of this school. Believe me it's really hot topic," he shrugs.
"They really are something, aren't they?" Regulus shakes his head.
"Now that their relationship is public, I can hit on your brother asking how big Lupin is," he grins "and it won't come out that I knew from the beginning when you wrote to me over the summer when you caught them 'painting'," Barty wrigles his brows, Regulus hits him on the back of his head.
"You're so fucking stupid," he scowls.
"Have you seen Lupin's shoe size?" Barty stares at him.
"Forgive me that my brother's sex life doesn't interest me," Regulus snorts.
The whole day is about Remus and Sirius.
When class ends and Sirius is about to take Regulus home because they finish at the same time, Regulus runs up to him in the parking lot. Sirius grins at him but his smile fades from his lips as Regulus punches him in the stomach and he do it hard, very hard, Sirius cringes in pain.
"You're so fucking stupid," Regulus whispers hugging him tight, literally crushing him in a hug.
"I don't know if you're happy," Sirius groaned. "I didn't do it for you to be clear," he reserves "we weren't going to hide our relationship anyway, so it's not like I pushed him or myself to anything," he shrugs "now was just a good time," he grins "the list of congratulations I got today, oh if you could see this," he grins even harder.
"Great, now I will not only see you but also hear about you at every step, wonderful," Regulus snorts.
"I love you too, Reggie."