opening act
Sirius walks back over to the group with James in tow. His hair is swishing back and forth in a way that’s obvious he’s doing it on purpose. However Pandora also loves swishing her hair so Regulus guesses it’s common with long hair.
“Reggie, come meet everyone. Of course, you remember James.”
James smiles awkwardly, and stretches out his hand for Regulus to shake.
“It’s been a while.” he says, still smiling. God, why does he smile so weird?
“Not long enough,” Regulus grumbles, he quickly shakes James’s hand before dropping it and looking back towards Sirius.
James laughs, “You haven’t changed a bit since we were kids.”
Regulus has complicated feelings for James, he’s just weird. He talks too much, he’s loud, he’s pretty dumb, and he’s seriously uncultured. Something Regulus isn’t particularly fond of. They got on better when they were little and would hang out sometimes, but once secondary school started they drifted apart. Regulus no longer liked the way he was always talking to the same friend group, he literally talked to no one other than Lily, Remus, Peter, and Sirius. And Remus and Peter didn’t even go to their school.
“What did you expect? I fucking hate when things change, you know that, you prat.” Regulus says.
“God, Reggie, leave him alone,” Sirius laughs and puts his arm around James’s shoulders, “Jamie’s like a brother to me. Just stop bickering with him for once.”
Regulus rolls his eyes, “Whatever.”
Sirius grabs Reggie by the arm, “Now come on, I want you to meet my friends, you wanker.”
Regulus can’t help but slightly smile at Sirius and let himself be pulled along. James thinks it’s adorable, frankly. The way Regulus walks around like he’s a lost puppy.
Sirius walks her brother over to the rest of the group, “You’ve met, Remus, Peter, Emma, and Lily. And this is Mary, Marlene, and Emmeline.” he points to each of them.
Marlene is currently fiddling with Mary’s drumsticks and Mary and Emmeline are sitting across from each other and talking. Lily is talking with Peter and Remus is inspecting his insulin pump. Remus was diagnosed with type one diabetes at age six, so he wears an insulin pump to combat the disease.
Marlene looks at Mary, “Mary Elizabeth Macdonald,” Mary looks up at her friend, “Yes, dearest Marlene?” Marlene eyes Regulus, who is standing awkwardly as Remus and James bicker with Sirius. “Who’s that?” Marlene asks. Mary looks over at the shorter boy, he’s small and lanky. And he looks like Sirius, she knows that she knows him but she can’t quite put a finger on who it is. “I think that’s Sirius’s little brother. I don’t remember his name, but Sirius told us he’s shy so we should probably make him feel welcome, chat with him a bit.”
Marlene studies him, he’s extremely wound up, he looks like he’s gonna throw up. “Do you have any skins?” she asks Mary. Mary hands her one, “Yeah, why?” Marlene rolls a spliff, takes out her lighter and lights it. She takes a hit of it before placing it between her fingers. “Marlene, don’t you dare give him any pot. Sirius will kill us. You know he doesn’t touch that shit, imagine what he thinks of his brother smoking.”
Emmeline joins the conversation, “Yeah, don’t. Sirius is gonna get so mad.”
Marlene rolls her eyes and takes another hit, “God, you guys are so boring. And if it makes you feel any better, his friend that he brought, is high as fuck. Seriously, look at him.”
The girls look at Barty, he’s sitting next to Dorcas who’s trying to give him water that he’s refusing. His pupils are extremely dilated and he’s laughing a bunch. He’s definitely high.
“Marlene, that isn’t an excuse to get Sirius’s brother high. Sirius will kill you.” Emmeline says, “Plus, weed really isn’t good for you. What if you get him addicted and then he gets that weed psychosis disorder?” she adds.
Suddenly Emma walks over, “Are you guys talking about Regulus?” she asks. Holding her vape in her left hand. “That guy? Yeah. You know him, right?” Mary asks, gesturing toward Regulus. “Yeah, that’s Regulus. He gets high a lot. Mostly with Barty. But I think he’d appreciate it if you gave him a spliff or something, to calm his nerves and such.” Emma explains. Marlene gets up from her seat, “Thanks, Em.”
Regulus looks over and sees Marlene walking toward him, she’s got black hair with wispy bangs. She’s wearing a battle jacket with her name painted on the back, a white tank top with a black star, a pair of baggy jeans with a chain, and a pair of doc martens that she added spikes to. She’s holding a spliff in between her fingers and she’s smiling.
“Hey, Regulus, right?” she asks. “Yeah,” he replies, not forcing a smile or any facial expression, he looks blank. “I’m Marlene,” she holds up the spliff, “Want a hit?” she asks. Regulus takes it from her without a word and takes a hit.
“Excuse me, Marlene Mckinnon, why the fuck are you giving my brother weed?” Sirius asks, clearly pretty mad.
Regulus pats him on the shoulder, “Loosen up, big brother. I’m fine.” Sirius still looks at him with concern, he remembers the last time he saw Regulus high like this. He had taken something and he was sitting against a wall laughing and crying. Sirius almost had to take him to the hospital. Ever since then Sirius has been sober, except for cigarettes which he had quit a year later.
“Ok, Reggie, I just don’t think you should be smoking. I’m saying this because I care about you, but if you don’t wanna listen that’s fine.”
Regulus rolls his eyes, “It’s ok Sirius, I’m fine. Dorcas is our designated driver, if anything happens you can get her.”
Regulus takes another hit of the spliff, inhaling the smoke into his mouth. Sirius sighs, “Fine, just be safe. I trust you and I trust Marlene.”
Marlene smiles, satisfied. She walks Regulus over to introduce him to the other girls.
…
About an hour has gone by, Regulus is pretty high and he’s currently with Barty and Marlene against a wall. Barty is so delirious, he just keeps kissing Regulus’s head and hands and not paying attention to what he’s doing or saying. Marlene is sitting on Reggie’s left and going on about some sort of complex feminist theory she read about. Regulus can hardly focus on her with Barty kissing him but he listens as much as he can.
Marlene can already tell that she likes Regulus, he’s a good listener, he’s nice, and despite being a little shy she knows that he’s probably just as talkative as her depending on the topic. Barty is cuddled up against Regulus and kissing his hands and head and it’s adorable. Suddenly Sirius and James walk over, Sirius is completely sober and James is a little tipsy from some alcohol he drank.
“Reggie, James just had the greatest idea. You seriously won’t believe it.” Sirius says, sitting down next to Marlene, James sitting down on Sirius’s left, forming kind of a half circle. Regulus looks over and Sirius notices how high he is. He’s delirious, he looks like he’s gonna pass out but he’s happy at least. Regulus oftentimes only feels happy when he’s high.
“What is it?” Regulus asks, he sounds like he just woke up and he’s still groggy.
“How would you like to be our opening act?” Sirius asks, eyes wide with excitement.
Regulus is kind of shocked, he’s not sure whether he actually just heard that or if he’s developed the weed psychosis thing Emmeline was talking about. Sirius hadn’t heard him play in years, why would he want Regulus’s band to open for him? Hell, he barely remembered Dorcas’s name. Well…That’s an exaggeration, he forgot that the group calls her Cassie, which is a play on the nickname “cas”. So when Pandora referred to her as Cassie, Sirius had no idea who she was talking about.
“What?” Regulus asks, this is pretty much all he can say in his shocked and dazed state.
James steps in, “You don’t have to, we know you just reconnected with Sirius and it’s gonna take some time for you to get comfortable again but—”
“Oh shut up, Potter. I wasn’t talking to you,” Regulus bitches, he’s far too high to deal with stupid Potter right now without punching his face or wringing his neck.
James just shuts up and he looks a little hurt, which almost makes Regulus feel bad for him, but he still doesn’t really care.
“Anyways, we’ll cover all the expenses related to the tour. Hotel, food, etcetera. And we’ll pay you, obviously. And we’ll promote you on our socials and stuff. And I'm sure the girls will too. It could be good for the band’s exposure and stuff and you’ll probably get more fans and better gigs.” Sirius adds, she ignores the fact that Regulus is picking on James, she’s used to it from when they were kids.
Regulus thinks, while he thinks that opening for the Marauders will be good for the band’s exposure. And with more money coming in he and Barty can probably afford an apartment. It will also mean he has to spend lots of time with James and Sirius. He isn’t quite used to the idea of Sirius yet and he hates James’s guts. But then again it is kind of worth it if he gets paid a lot and gets to travel around the world with his best friends.
“Ok, fine,” Regulus says, ignoring the splitting headache brewing in the back of his head.
“You’ll do it?” James asks.
Regulus puts his head in his hands and laughs lightly, “Yes, Potter. That’s what I just said. I’ll do it. Maybe it’ll be enough money that we don’t have to live off food stamps anymore. I dunno.”
It’s right then that Regulus realizes that Barty has gotten up and went over to Pandora and Dorcas, who are chatting with Remus, Peter, and Mary. Emma and Emmeline are listening to music on a couch and Emmeline is asleep with her head on leaning against Emma’s shoulder.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to make sure that Barty doesn’t throw up on someone. It happens more than you’d think.” Regulus is wobbly when he gets up but he stays on his feet and walks over to Barty and the rest of the group.
Regulus walks over and taps Barty on the shoulder, “Barty, what are you doing?”
Barty puts his arm around Regulus’s waist, which he does sometimes in public but it feels a bit weird since they’re around all these people that they don’t know very well. “Nothing,” Barty hums in response. Regulus’s vision is blurred from the harsh glare of the lights. Then Regulus realizes the smell of alcohol on Barty’s breath.
“Barty, have you been drinking?” he asks, pulling away from Barty’s arm.
Dorcas glares at him, “Barty, we talked about this. You can’t mix booze with weed or pills or anything. That’s how you overdose and die.”
Barty says nothing for a few seconds, “Oh fuck off, I’m fine.” He doesn’t sound fine. All his words slur together and he’s stumbling a little.
Barty pecks Regulus on the head, “It’s fine. I’m just gonna go to sleep in the car. And I'll be fine.”
“You better not try and drive home you dumbass. That’s also how you die.” Dorcas adds.
Mary joins the conversation, “Who drives high?”
“Believe me, he’s tried,” Dorcas replies, “I’ve had to hide his car keys from him because he keeps trying to drive.”
Pandora nods, “One time after a party he was completely stoned and tried to drive us home. But we made him walk and pick up his car the next day.”
Remus adds to the conversation, “One time Sirius tried to get behind the wheel piss drunk. He passed out before we got to the car.”
This makes Barty laugh a little too loudly and he stumbles, grabbing Regulus for stability. He looks at Regulus too. Barty looks at Regulus like he’s the stars. He’s just beautiful, his icy gray eyes slice into yours when he looks at you. The way his curly black hair frames his face and compliments his features. Gods. He’s truly to die for.
Barty looks at Regulus’s lips, they’re plump and pink and they suit his face nicely. Barty really wants to kiss him, but he knows Regulus isn’t certain about their relationship and doesn’t like to be too touchy in public, so he keeps that thought to himself. Instead he goes in for a hug. However it’s a bit awkward since he’s significantly taller than Regulus. Regulus is about 5’5” but Barty is almost 6’2”. He’s always been tall but compared to most people he’s insanely tall. Barty thought Remus was tall and now Remus is only a little taller than him.
Barty leans down so he’s close to Regulus’s level, “I love you.” he whispers in his ear. It’s not the first time he’s said it, he only says it when he’s piss drunk or taking some weird pills that Pandora’s dealer, Xenophilius found.
Pandora doesn’t hear him say anything but she still lets out an “Aww!”. She thinks they’re adorable. Barty kisses Regulus’s cheek and pulls away from him. Regulus looks up at him, “Gods, you’re drunk. We should probably take you home.” he wraps Barty’s arm around his shoulders.
Pandora glares at Regulus, “Come on, Reggie. I’m having fun.” she groans. “Pandora you told me you can barely feel your face because you’re so high off that spliff Remus gave you. We should probably get home. Besides, we haven’t eaten anything in hours. We should go get food. Also you have work in the morning and it’s almost 10PM. We should go home.” Dorcas concludes. Pandora rolls her eyes, “Fine, Cassie. Bye you guys, this was fun.”
Pandora and Dorcas stand up and the group walks over to Sirius, James, and Marlene, over by the wall. “Hey guys,” Regulus starts, “We’re heading off.” Sirius walks up to them, “Ok, bye everyone. It was great seeing you again. Do you want me to walk you to the car?” Sirius asks. Sirius has been really nice to them this whole time, probably because she hasn’t seen them in a while and she needs to adjust.
“That’s ok, Sirius.” Dorcas says, “We didn’t bring anything besides our phones and Barty’s weed so we’re good.”
“Ok, bye, Reggie.” Sirius comes up to Regulus and gives him a hug. Regulus actually likes physical touch quite a bit, but only from his friends, Barty, and Sirius. Sirius releases him from the hug and blows him a kiss. “Au revoir, sweet Regulus,” he jokes. Reggie laughs lightly. After saying goodbye to Marlene and telling James to fuck off, they make their way out the exit and eventually make it out to the almost empty parking lot.
Barty’s car is a fucking mess but at least it has gas. They get in the car, Dorcas is in the driver’s seat, Pandora in the passenger, and Regulus and Barty are grabbing one of the many blankets on the car floor and taking a nap. They don’t feel like walking all the way up to the apartment anyway. So this just saves time. Barty falls asleep almost as soon as he gets in the car. And Regulus just looks out the window. He looks at the stars and the moon in the night sky.
He remembers how he picked his name after the Regulus star, he was extremely hyper fixated on astronomy as a kid. And he always felt a special connection to the stars, particularly because most of his family were named after them. The stars gave Regulus comfort. Except for the Denebola star. Even as a kid he hated it because it reminded him of the wretched name his parents gave him. They thought it was beautiful but Regulus wanted to throw up every time someone said it.
He wraps his arms around Barty’s waist and hugs the sleeping boy close as they drive home to the apartment.