James has had a bad week, nothing in particular has happened but he's just been in one of those moods lately. Nothing really feels happy lately and his roommate is out of town, so he has been all alone for a few days and it has gotten boring not to have anyone to talk to all the time.
He decides to go visit his friend Remus in his favourite bar. He doesn't usually go there on Saturdays but he doesn’t have anything better to do. One of the main reasons he doesn't go there on Saturdays is because the bar has hired a band to play there every Saturday and even though James likes live music he's usually not in the mood for it when he's getting a drink with friends, it's too much noise. Today he doesn't really care though, he's not going with any friends anyways so the background noise might be nice.
He opens the door and enters the cozy space. The bar isn't very big, in a corner there's a small very low stage and on the other side of the room there's the bar and the space between is filled with tables. The walls are covered with different sized posters and flashy neon signs. James’s favorite sign is the huge framed pink one that says “AWESOME”.
It's a bit early so the band hasn't started playing yet but it looks like they are preparing everything for the evening. There's a guy with big dark brown hair with a green streak through it, he's covered in piercings and jewelry and is wearing ripped up black jeans and a crop top. The second guy next to him has a similar haircut but shorter and pale blond. He is also wearing lots of jewelry but there are fewer piercings on him. He's wearing a baggy white long sleeve with even baggier blue jeans. There are also two girls on the stage, one black haired and one with the exact same hair color as the blond guy. Both girls are in long braids and flowy hippie-like clothing. An interesting yet fascinating group, it seems they're missing someone though. All the people James has analyzed so far are standing with an instrument, leaving a big open space in the middle of the stage where a lone mic stands. Their singer isn’t here yet.
After crossing the room James sits on a bar stool and Remus comes up to greet him
“What are you doing here?” He says with a confused frown.
“Bored. Tired.” James responds, setting his elbow on the bar top to rest his head on his hand.
“Wow, you need a drink.”
Remus starts to prepare James’ regular and when it's done James takes it and gulps down a big sip.
“I know you're skeptical but I think you're going to like the band, they're really good. I think they're going to be a big hit in the future. The owner is trying to convince them to play here more than once a week, Saturdays are our busiest days because of them.” Remus says, looking at the stage.
The lights in the bar dim a little and a few people start to clap. The bar is almost half way full now.
“Hey everybody! We're starting off with a slower song today. I hope that's okay.” Says a voice into a mic.
A distorted type of instrumental fills the room but in a few seconds, drums and a keyboard starts to play and a beautiful voice takes over all of James’ senses.
“I am outside
And I’ve been waiting for the sun
With my wide eyes
I've seen world that don't belong”
It's the most angelic thing he has heard in his entire life. It makes him turn around and his eyes set on the most perfect human being he has ever seen.
“My mouth is dry
With words I cannot verbalize
Tell me why? we live like this”
He has black curly hair that wraps around his features and stops around his sharp jaw. He has big angular icy grayish blue eyes that sparkle in the bar light. He’s fairly tall and lean with a tight black shirt that lets James see a stripe of skin between it and his low waisted black jeans. He is pale and beautiful.
“Keep me safe inside
Your arms like towers
Tower over me, yeah”
Oh how James wants to do that right this damned second. He slowly rises from the stool he was planted on, forgetting about everything in the world except for the man singing his new favorite song.
“‘Cause we are broken
What must we do to restore
Our innocence
And all the promises we adored?”
He takes small, careful steps but comes to a halt when the singer looks right at him.
“Give us life again
‘Cause we just wanna be whole”
Oh. Now he’s a goner. They maintain eye contact as James goes back to his mission. He continues his slow steps to get across the room.
“Lock the doors
‘Cause I'd like to capture this voice
It came to me tonight
So everyone will have a choice”
Halfway there.
“And under red lights
I'll show myself it wasn't forged
Were at war? we live like this
Keep me safe inside
Your arms like towers
Tower over me”
He sped up his steps, eager to get to his goal.
“‘Cause we are broken
What must we do to restore
Our innocence
And all the promise we adored?
Give us life again
‘Cause we just wanna be whole”
Only a few more steps and he'll be right in front of the stage.
“Tower over me
Tower over me”
They guy sang right as James’ shadow started to tower over his body.
“And I’ll take the truth at any cost
‘Cause we are broken
What must we do to restore
Our innocence
And all the promise we adored?
Give us life again
‘Cause we just wanna be whole”
The song ended but the guys voice continued.
“We’re actually going to take a quick break, I'll be right back with you.” He said not even looking up at his audience, just at James.
He stepped off the stage and signaled for James to follow him. They went to a more secluded corner at the end of the stage.
After experiencing it once, walking behind this man is all James ever wants to do. He's shorter than James, noticeably so but still not by a lot. He walks elegantly with proper posture. Perfekt.
They stop walking and the mystery man turns around.
“I’m Regulus,” He said. Perfekt. A star.
“James” He responded, stretching out his hand.
Regulus chuckled a bit and shaked it.
“You're really good. You sing like and angel, you look like one too”
“Most people would say I look more like a demon” He challenged.
“Well I don't think so. You shine Regulus.” James said, making Regulus blush a little. “I heard you might start playing here on more than just saturdays?”
“Yeah, we want to, this is our favorite place to play. We just need to find the time before we make anything official. We’re looking at coming here on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well.”
“Well I guess it's time for me to start coming here more often then.”
Regulus laughed at this.
"Why? You got a little crush?” Regulus said smugly.
“Maybe I do.” James said with a proud but shy smile.
“I’ve done this before you know. There have been a lot of guys before you who have lured me off the stage to flirt and makeout and then never come back. Why not just cut to the chase? Why are you stalling?” Regulus said restlessly, startling james.
“If you want to make out we can absolutely do that but my intention with this conversation was actually to ask you on a date sometime?”
“Ask me again when we're done playing and maybe you'll get the answer you're looking for.” Regulus tries to hide his little smile but James notices everything. Regulus started to walk off towards the stage but the smile he saw on Regulus’ face gave James the confidence to test his luck.
“Wait, if I remember correctly I was offered a makeout.” Regulus turned around and placed a kiss on james’ cheek.
“Only if you stay.” He walked away once again and continued the show for the rest of the night. James stayed.
The bar is closing and the place is slowly emptying, leaving only employees and the band. Regulus lets the rest of his band members pack away while he goes outside to see where James went. He's standing right outside the door waiting.
"You're here” He says, getting James’ attention.
“I'm here, so how about that date?”
Regulus doesn't have to think, he made up his mind when he saw the way James was looking at him when he was singing. This guy seems genuine. “Wednesday at six, the pizzeria across the street.”
“So you're a pizza kind of guy?” James says, trying to make conversation. Regulus does not have time for conversation.
“Shut up” He says as he takes James’ face in his hands and kisses him so hard that James’ back slams into the concrete wall behind them. James doesn’t even hesitate for a full second before he kisses Regulus back and places his hands around the singer's slim waist.
James presses Regulus’ body onto his as their kiss beepens and Regulus moves his hands away from James’ strong jaw and into his soft hair. Reggie pulls a little on the strands which earns him a grunt from James. They’re hungry for each other and as soon as their tongues get involved they start to devour each other fully, feral for the others closeness. Regulus thinks about James’ grunt and how it would sound without Regulus’ mouth half blocking the sound and accidentally lets out a while into James’ mouth, he must've liked it since his hands tighten and squeeze Regulus' body. One of James’ hands travels to Regulus’ hip and latches on there instead. This makes Reggies back arch a little, pressing him even more onto James, he didn't even think that was possible at this point.
James doesn't ever want them to break apart. This is so good. This is the best he has ever felt with anyone. They've just met but it still doesn't feel as if they are strangers. It feels like they’ve done this a million times before. Clawing at each other in all the right ways.
“Hey Reg, time to go. '' He heard Evan say. His band was apparently done packing up and had exited the bar. He doesn't know how long they had been standing there but they clearly saw a lot. Barty was grinning bigger than ever while Dorcas and Pandora were giggling whispers to each other.
He took the bag that Evan held out to him and then looked back at James. His face was deep red from blushing.
“See you Wednesday, promise you'll be there.” Regulus said, walking towards his friends.
“Yeah, I promise, bye.” James answered, waving them all goodbye.
***
James kept his promise and met Regulus for their date. Everything went smoothly and they made plans to see each other again, and again, and again.
Ever since James first laid eyes on Regulus he knew that that was the man he was going to marry one day, because in every universe a star goes looking for the sun and in every universe the sun ends up finding that star, but only in some extra lucky universes like this one do they end up together. And he could feel that this was a lucky universe.