Chapter 2
"What the fuck, Potter?"
"Shh."
"I'm not gonna shush if you—" James covers Regulus' mouth with his hand, and Regulus' eyes widen till the whites all around his eyeball are visible. His eyes are still really pretty. James has just realized how cramped the broom closet is and how Regulus’s body is pressed up against his. (Why is that thought occupying so much space in his head?) when Regulus bites down on his palm.
"Ow, what was that for!?"
"For shoving me into a broom closet and then shutting me up in not very pleasant ways!"
"Right—wait, what would be some more pleasant ways be?" James asks, smirking, thankful that his dark skin covers up his own blush.
Unsurprisingly, Regulus' pale skin does very little for the blood rushing to his face. It’s even more adorable because of how hard he’s scowling. Shit, Regulus is hot as fuck. James thinks Regulus is hot.
"I’m going back to my dorm; you can't just hold me captive in a broom closet for Merlin's sake."
"I'm really sorry," James replies, still reeling from his realization. "Mrs. Norris was just around the corner; they should be gone by now." Regulus pushes James off him and makes his way out of the broom closet.
"Why are you following me?"
"You didn’t object the first time."
"Well, I’m objecting now."
***
"Rise and shine, bitches!"
"Shut up, Sirius," Remus grumbles from somewhere inside the many blankets Sirius has on the bed he now shares with Remus. Sirius sleeps at 1:00 am at the earliest and wakes up at around 5:30; he's a truly insufferable person to share a room with, but all the Gryffindors still love him.
"No, I will not. They say you should rise with the sun, and the sun is up. Also, I'm bored."
"Then go be bored somewhere else," Peter mumbles, still half asleep, getting a grunt of agreement from James.
"James, tell them it's time to wake up."
"No," James exclaims petulantly, which causes Sirius to gasp so loudly he starts coughing.
"This relationship is not going to work if you don't learn to support me, as my husband," Sirius says in between coughs.
"Oh? Don't you think having me fuck you regularly, and I mean regularly, is more of a deal-breaker in your ‘marriage’?" Remus says, now sitting up and smirking as Sirius breaks into another fit of coughing. He takes any opportunity to torture Sirius, who is surprisingly quite a prude.
Eventually, they reach the Great Hall and sit down next to Mary, Marlene, & Lily.
"Nothing for me?" Sirius pouts as Lily slides over a plate already full of food to Remus.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because we like Remus more than you," Marlene butts in, snatching the jam from Sirius as he prepared his breakfast.
"So, how’s monogamy going for you, Remus?" Mary says.
"It’s actually great. First of all, Sirius, and second of all, sex without having to flirt or work for it," Remus replies, causing Sirius to blush profusely.
"I have so much Potions theory work due," Sirius says, changing the topic.
"Oh, me too, Astronomy. I was thinking of asking your brother for help, actually."
"Why?" Peter says, "Don’t you barely know him?"
"He can actually find constellations by heart, Black family thing apparently, so I assume he’s good at Astronomy."
It’s actually just wishful thinking. James wants an excuse to talk to him again.
***
"Merlin! You would expect someone so tall to be easier to notice; you keep jump-scaring me!"
"I'm not tall; you’re just short," James says.
"Oh, piss off."
"So small, so cute, you're like an angry kitten," Regulus blushes and scowls even harder.
"Why are you here?" Regulus says, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Needed help with some homework."
Actually, he just wanted to see Regulus.
"And why are you asking me?"
"It’s Astronomy."
"And?"
"I figured you’d be good at it."
"Fine, and what do I get for it?"
"I don't have anything to give you but my body," James says jokingly. For whatever reason, this has a very strong effect on Regulus, causing him to blush again and his heartbeat to quicken.
"I’ll help you tomorrow, and then you owe me a favor."
"What kind of favor?" James asks.
"I don't really know yet; you have nothing that I want."
That he can have.
"Right," James says, leaning against the tower wall next to Regulus.
"Why are you still here?" Regulus asks, sounding genuinely confused. How could someone have the confidence to just do whatever James was doing uninvited?
"Could I have a fag?" James says, enunciating the last word as if he rarely uses it.
Regulus sighs and hands one over; he really has to work on his ability to control himself, especially around James Potter.
***
"Hey, Lily," James wheezes, out of breath from running to catch up with her.
"Why were you running?" she asks, with a confused expression on her face.
"Oh, I just remembered I had to tell you something," James replies, still trying to catch his breath.
"Was it that urgent?" Lily says.
"Not really," James replies. "It could have waited, until at least the evening."
"Then why were you running? We're both free around that time," Lily says.
"Right, I knew that."
"So what did you want to tell me?" Lily says, getting back on topic.
"I need some advice."
"Don't you usually go to Sirius or Remus for that, depending on whether you're looking for actually good advice or whatever advice I'm sure Sirius dispenses as a way to share his wisdom?" Lily says.
"Well, Sirius isn’t exactly the best person to ask about this."
"Sirius should not be asked for advice on anything, but I digress," Lily jokes, giggling. "Hey! Sirius gives great advice."
"Listen, I'm a very strong believer in the opposite. That's why I've mentioned his talent for dispensing shit advice twice. He's the reason Mary thought I was pissed off at her when I was trying to... you know, navigate my feelings for her. What about Remus?"
"Well, I don't know how he’ll react, and he's scary."
"Completely valid. That was his New Year’s resolution at one point, you know, to scare you all so you would actually keep the room clean," Lily says, looking proud. "Why do we keep on getting distracted?" She adds almost as an afterthought.
"Right, so I'm just going to get it out. I like Regulus, and I don’t know what I'm supposed to do, because I don’t think Sirius would approve with everything that’s between them," James rambles.
There's a long moment of silence before it’s finally broken by Lily.
"Ok… so you’re sure you like him?"
"Yes, definitely. I mean, have you seen him?"
"Good point. Maybe you should just see if it's going anywhere? Tell Sirius if it does?"
"Yeah, maybe, but I don't think it's going to go anywhere. I am meeting him tonight."
"Good, you'll figure it out," Lily says, right before they hear Sirius’ voice around the corner calling for James.
***
"I know Slughorn’s the Slytherin head, but I think he would be a Hufflepuff," Sirius rants.
"He literally was a Slytherin?" Remus snorts.
"Not that surprising. He’s a conniving git," Mary grits out, stabbing into her mashed potatoes a bit too hard, which pulls James' attention from Remus, whose face is paling at an alarming rate.
"Right, we've got to go do the… thing," Sirius says, noticing this.
"What thing?" James says, which causes Sirius’s expression to harden.
"You forgot," he says, annoyance clear on his face.
James is quiet for a second before Sirius grabs his arm and drags him out, closely followed by Remus and Peter.
"It's the full moon, you knob!" Peter whispers forcefully as they leave the Great Hall.
Oh.
Oh, Merlin's ballsack.
***
This moon was good; everything went by smoothly. But the day is a blur, mostly due to the lack of sleep, but James was also itching for a chance to sneak out and see Regulus again. Thankfully, everyone in the dorm goes to sleep really early, so James gets up and tries looking for the map in the dark.
“Bollocks!” James whispers loudly as pain shoots through his foot. “Lumos!” James says, giving up. He finds the map and creeps out of the common room after locating Regulus in the astronomy tower again.
While he's on the way up, he hears footsteps coming down. He checks the map to make sure it's Regulus, and before he can look back up, he bumps into Regulus on his way down from the stairs.
***
Regulus is pissed, mostly at James for not coming last night and also at himself for hoping he would come tonight. Obviously, he only wanted him to because he wanted to give him a piece of his mind. He stubs out his cigarette and tosses it over the rail before storming out in a very dramatic manner, typical of a Black.
He's a quarter of the way down when he bumps into someone and falls over, letting out a groan of pain. “Watch where you're g—” he starts speaking sharply until his gaze lands on James’s face. “Oh.”
“Hi, Reg.”
“Don't ‘hi, Reg’ me, you knob! You stood me up! Do you know how bloody cold it is?!”
“I had to…” James trails off.
“Had to what?!” Regulus snaps.
“I had a thing to do.”
“Oh, you had a thing to do? Piss off,” Regulus mocks before making his way down the rest of the stairs, closely followed by James. His patent leather boots echo through the hall; it adds to the dramatic scene.
“Why are you so upset? I just forgot about—this thing. I'm here now, let's just—what were we going to do?”
“Oh go fuck yourself, you prick,” Regulus says before a seemingly omnipresent meow echoes from around the corner, and he’s being shoved through a door and into a cramped room, again.
Their bodies are uncomfortably close because of course James has to find the smallest possible space. Regulus is trying to look anywhere but at James, but his eyes seem to have a mind of their own as they lock onto James’s just as his eyes trail down to Regulus’s lips. Regulus’s heartbeat quickens an impressive amount, and his state of panic only gets worse when the door swings open with Filch on the other side. Regulus is fucked; he's never had detention before, and Christmas is right around the corner. His parents aren’t just going to let this go. Honestly, fuck James. A little part of Regulus’ brain points out that he wants to do just that, but he shuts it down immediately.
***