Chapter 1
"Prongs!" Peter exclaims, "Did you hear a word I said?"
"Oh, sorry, Pete. I lost my glasses; I'm trying to remember where I left them."
"You do know you're a wizard, right? Just Accio them," Remus interjects, sounding like he thinks James is the stupidest person he's met.
"Right," James says, turning back to Peter, who looks annoyed too. "I was going to go look for Sirius. Oh hey there, sexy," he says, smacking Sirius's arse. It probably won't help much with the rumors, but James couldn't care less what people think of him. He realizes the boy has stopped moving; he turns around and glares at James. "What the fuck, Potter?" he says, scowling to the point where it should be unattractive, but it really isn't, quite the opposite, really.
"I'm so sorry; I thought you were someone else."
The boy rolls his eyes and walks to the Slytherin table.
"Who was that?" James asks as soon as he's out of earshot.
"Wow, you really were blind, weren't you?" Peter says, at the same time Remus says, "That was Baby Black."
"Regulus?" James exclaims, "I just smacked Sirius's baby brother's arse?! He's going to kill me!"
"Who's going to kill you?" says a voice from behind him.
"No one," James says a little too quickly. Sirius sits down, narrowing his eyes with suspicion but doesn’t bring it up again. "Have you heard of the new strain of Mandrakes being cultivated in Indonesia?" Peter says, generously changing the topic. "Pete, I really don't keep up with the latest Herbology news; none of us do. You know that," Sirius says. Seeing Peter's disappointed face, James makes a mental note to research that so he can talk to Pete about it later.
***
"Why did James Potter just smack your arse?" Evan says, eyebrows at his hairline.
"Yeah, Reggie, care to explain?" Barty chimes in, smirking.
"It's none of your business, and I can guarantee it's not what you think it is," Regulus snaps, taking a seat.
"Mate, we're not judging; actually, he's pretty fit."
"Oh, get lost!"
"What happened now?" Dorcas says from her seat, finally looking up from her textbook.
"We're not telling you," is the rather petulant reply from Barty. "Pay attention next time."
"Potter smacked Reg’s arse," Evan pipes up.
"Ooh, I had a dream about this, you know," Pandora says from where she had previously been staring at the eggs with a pensive look on her face.
"Of course you did," grumbles Regulus.
***
"No. Besides, if you go, and I stay behind, Evan and I will get the room all to ourselves for a good few hours."
"I didn't need to hear that, Barty. Just say no next time," Regulus whines.
"I'll go with you," says Dorcas. "Marlene's playing."
"You're obsessed," comes Barty's voice from his bed, causing Dorcas to roll her eyes so hard you can only see the whites for a good few seconds.
"Let's get going then. We both have to see the Gryffindors play for the next game."
When they finally arrive, the game has already started. As they sit down, Regulus notices that his eyes have latched onto the muscular form of Gryffindor's star Chaser. No matter how hard he tries to follow the movements of the Seeker, he always finds his eyes drifting back to James.
The way his thighs wrap around the broomstick as he zips past. By the time he lands and the game is over (Gryffindor wins by a lot), James is drenched in sweat, which Regulus is very aware of as he follows the path of a bead of sweat as it dips into James' shirt out of sight. From this distance, he can clearly see the way the fabric wraps around James' muscular thighs that he wants to bite.
"Reg, what are you looking at?" Dorcas' voice snaps him out of his trance, and he very quickly realizes that he is probably blushing.
"The team we're going to be playing next. What did you think?" he says, quickly regaining control of himself. "Nevermind, so I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to this party Marlene invited me to."
"Sure, I've got nothing better to do." This is half true; he mostly just doesn't want to think about the fact that he has been practically salivating over James Potter. Thus, the crush is getting out of hand.
***
"Does anyone have any silver rings? I can't find mine."
"You can borrow mine, Reg," Dorcas says. "I don't expect them back because you're a little jewelry kleptomaniac, but I have more than enough."
"Thanks, and no, I'm not. Your rings are just pretty," Regulus says.
"Why are we going to Gryffindor Tower of all places? I thought we were supposed to hate them," Evan grumbles, scowling.
"Since my girlfriend was a Gryffindor," Dorcas replies, smacking Barty on the back of his head.
"Reg, can I try out this new eyeliner technique I learned on you? I promise it's not going to be too showy," Pandora asks from her place on the spare bed. Nobody says no to Pandora, so obviously, Regulus agrees.
Eventually, they walk in, and Regulus' stomach drops. James—James is there and dressed in Muggle clothes, looking like sin. It has completely slipped his mind that James would be there.
***
Gryffindor has won the game; the match against Slytherin is next, and they're confident of winning that too—James is sure of it. Currently celebrating their victory, James is excited. Everyone is finally going to meet Marlene's new girlfriend.
“She should be here by now,” Marlene says. “Can anyone see her?”
“We don't know how she looks, Marls,” Mary says, standing next to James.
“She's the keeper for Slytherin,” Marlene says, exasperated.
“Ooh, good taste,” Lily says from next to Sirius. Mary smacks Lily. “Oi! What was that for?” she says.
“There she is,” Remus says, looking towards the portrait hole. James turns to look and sees her standing next to Regulus. Sirius and Regulus are technically on speaking terms now, but the tension between them can still be felt by everyone in the room.
“Oh, look, it's Reg,” Sirius says, pretending to be unbothered, causing Remus to grimace. As the group, which James now notices consists of Barty Crouch, Evan and Pandora Rosier, and of course, Dorcas and Regulus, reaches them, James notices that Regulus seems as tense as Sirius, but he's looking anywhere except for James. Eventually, easy conversation breaks out, and the two groups seem to be getting along. Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas are off dancing, while Barty is talking about a completely unhinged dream he had, slurring his words. Sirius nods along, face flushed from the firewhiskey when Lily puts her arm around James. For some reason, Regulus’ jaw immediately clenches, and after a few minutes of glaring at the floor, he excuses himself and leaves through the portrait hole.
***
“I'm knackered.” The party has just begun to wind down when James gets up and makes his way up to his dorm. Seeing the map on Sirius’ bed, he decides to check where Regulus went off to. Seeing his name on the astronomy tower, James impulsively puts on his cloak and ends up at the top of the stairs to the astronomy tower with the map in his back pocket. Regulus is leaning against the wall, smoking a Muggle cigarette? James wrinkles his nose at the smell and walks over, leaning against the wall next to Regulus. He probably should have announced his presence before sneaking up on him like that because Regulus jumps, turning to look at him. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Sorry, I thought I'd come check on you. You left pretty abruptly.”
“Why do you care?” Regulus snaps. From here, James can see that Regulus is wearing eyeliner and smells the scent of cigarettes mixed with expensive cologne.
“What are you looking at?” Regulus says. James realizes he's been staring. “Nothing,” he replies, looking away instantly, which is hard for some reason. “Why are you still here?” Regulus replies, amused now. “You've checked on me; I'm fine.” For some reason, James doesn't want to leave; he's a bit tipsy, though neither he nor Regulus drank much, so he has poor self-control. “I was wondering if I could get a cigarette,” he lied.
“You don't smoke.”
“Yes, but—wait, how do you know that?” Regulus looks away, but not before James catches sight of a blush spreading across his pale face. For some reason, James’ heart skips a beat. “I—nevermind, fine, here,” Regulus says, handing James a cigarette and lighting it with a snap of his fingers, which is impressive. James takes a drag and immediately starts coughing violently. “Are you going to leave now?” Regulus says, smirking.
“No, I'm fine,” James says, still coughing slightly. “Where do you get these from?”
“Pub in Hogsmeade.”
“Why are you out here? I'm freezing my bollocks off.”
“Then why are you out here?” Regulus says, raising one annoyingly perfect brow. “You answer my question first.”
“Not that it's any of your business, but I come out here to look at the constellations.”
“What, like you know them by heart?”
“Yes, it's a Black thing. Now you.”
“What?”
“You answer my question now.”
“You're wearing eyeliner,” James says, changing the topic.
“Oh, is it that noticeable? Pandora did it for me.” Which, of course, James noticed; he's not sure why, and he has no intention of finding out, but of course, he did. “No, you look hot,” James replies and quickly realizing his mistake adds, “I mean the eyeliner looks very nice on you.” Regulus’s cheeks turn red again, which, for some strange reason, makes James stop breathing for a bit. “Right,” Regulus says, turning to leave. “It’s getting late.”
“I'll walk you.” Regulus rolls his eyes but doesn't object.
***
Regulus needs to work on his self-control. Why he agreed to this is beyond him, but now he is being walked back to his common room by James of all people, who is currently walking a few paces behind him, looking at a piece of paper for some reason.
“Reg, I'm really sorry about this,” James whispers, interrupting his thoughts.
“Wha—” is all he can say in response before he's being shoved into a broom closet.