I don't like your little games.
Sirius grimaced as he saw the notification pop up on his phone, he locked his phone and tossed it on the pillow next to him before pushing out of his bed. “Jamie!” He called, walking into his boyfriend's room. When he got to the edge of the bed he flopped down dramatically. “He’s doing it again.” He groaned.
“What? Who?” James was confused as he pushed himself up with his hands and reached over to play with Sirius’ long hair.
“Crouch. He somehow got my number again.” James nodded along solemnly to Sirius’ plights.
“How? You just changed it!”
“I don’t know!” Sirius rolled over and laid himself in James’ lap. They had been dealing with Crouch’s stalking for two years since James and Regulus formally got together. He had specifically targeted James and Sirius since James was dating Regulus and Sirius was his brother. They we grateful that Crouch didn’t know about the fact that they were all together or he would go after all of them.
“He really didn’t take the breakup with Reggie well, did he?” James asked after a few moments.
“No, apparently not,” Sirius muttered, rolling over to bury his face in James’ lap.
“What did he say this time?” James asked, leaning back against the pillows. Crouch had gone to great lengths to keep tabs on Regulus ranging from getting a job at the coffee shop Sirius was working at to showing up during Regulus’ violin recitals to wearing his hair like James and even getting fake glasses to look more like him.
“Hacked my phone and tried to get my IP address.” Sirius kept his voice low. They hadn’t told Remus and Regulus how bad the stalking had gotten, not wanting to worry their boyfriends.
“Shit. Remus should know, that puts him and Regulus in harm's way.” At Sirius’ confused puppy look he elaborated, “If he has your IP then he can figure out where we live, we just moved in I don’t want to have to move again.”
Sirius reluctantly nodded and sat up, wrapping his arms around James’ neck and resting his head on them. He took a deep breath and breathed in James’ warm scent, relaxing in his boyfriend's arms. “Fine, but you’re carrying me.”
“Fine by me, Pads.” James chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Sirius’ form and stood up before walking to Remus's room where he saw Remus and Regulus curled up in Remus's window seat, reading. “Moony,” James started, taking a deep breath. “We need to talk to you and Reggie about something.”
Regulus instantly tensed up; those words never meant good things were coming.
Remus felt more so than he saw his partner's apprehension. “What’s wrong?” He asked, tucking a bookmark in the book in his hands to mark his place before setting it down next to him and gesturing to the pair still in the doorway to sit down on his bed.
James walked in and quietly set Sirius down before sitting next to him on the edge of Remus's bed. Sirius kept his head down, scared of his brothers and boyfriend's reactions to what he was going to say.
Before he could get the words out, James opened his mouth and spoke quickly, not giving Sirius a chance to try and fumble his way through an explanation. “Crouch is back up to his bullshit.”
Regulus blinked dumbfounded, that was not what he was expecting them to say. Meanwhile, Remus just sighed. “What did he do this time?” The scared man asked at the same time Regulus blurted out, “What do you mean back up to?”
Sirius’ hand rubbed at the back of his neck anxiously. “He- uh... he’s been stalking Jamie and me since you broke up with him Reggie.”
Regulus’ mouth was wide, shock evident on his pale face. “What?!”
James nodded before he spoke. “Yeah, after you broke up with him, he got a massive tattoo dedicated to you over his chest and sent Sirius and me pictures of it. After that, he started showing up at places we were and doing a whole bunch of other weird shit.” James’ lips pursed as he went on to explain all the ways Barty had been keeping tabs on them.
When he finished Sirius swallowed audibly and kept his eyes on the floor as his words quietly left his mouth. “He has my new number, the one I just changed, and somehow my IP. Apparently.”
Remus, who had been quietly thinking as his boyfriends explained the situation finally spoke up, “Get a VPN, change where your phone says it’s coming from, both of you, and call into work for the week, say it’s a family emergency if you have to.”
Sirius nodded and got up, walking to his room and grabbing his phone before he dipped into James’ room and grabbed his. He walked back to Remus's room and sat back on his boyfriend's large bed. “Here Jamie.” His voice was quiet as he handed James his phone and unlocked his own, setting about trying to find and download a VPN.
After several annoyed huffs, Remus held out his hand and smiled at Sirius when the younger man placed his phone into Remus's outstretched scarred hand. “I'll find one for you, cariad. You too Jamie.” He said, reaching for James’ phone as well.
James gave Remus a grateful look and handed over his phone before reaching over and pulling Sirius down to cuddle him on the large bed. Regulus muttered something and pressed a kiss to Remus's cheek before joining the two intertwined men. “Shove over. I want to cuddle too.”
Sirius nodded and held his arms open, a nonverbal signal to Regulus, who climbed up and inserted himself in between the pair. “Je t’aime Siri.”
“Je t’aime aussi, Reggie.” Sirius whispered into his brother's hair before wrapping his arms tightly around the youngest member of their polycule.
“No love for me?” James joked, trying to keep the mood light despite the truth that he and Sirius had been hiding for years.
“You’ll get love when you don’t hide something from me that could’ve put you in danger!” Regulus muttered exasperatedly with a roll of his eyes, though despite his words he pressed a gentle kiss to James’ nose.
“I love you Prongsie.” Sirius chuckled, reaching for James’ hand, which he held tightly when he found it.
When Remus was finished with James and Sirius’ phones he stood and stretched with a groan as his back popped. He walked over to the side of the bed and set the phones down, glancing down at the trio that had drifted off sometime in the last half hour or so he had been working.
He smiled and walked from the room, going to their large kitchen and starting some lunch. He got out the ingredients for croque monsieur’s, knowing that after what they had talked about the brothers would probably want some comfort food.
Remus heard a yawn behind him as one of his partners shoved themselves up onto the barstools as he pulled the warmed sandwiches out of the oven and set the tray on the stove. “I made some lunch.”
James nodded and yawned again. “I can see that. They smell fantastic, mi corazón.”
Remus smiled at the term and set a couple of the sandwiches on a plate before sliding them over to James and plating a couple more for himself. He moved around the island and slid onto the stool next to James as the pair started eating in the quiet they knew would be short-lived.
And short-lived it was. After a few minutes of enjoying the light pitter-patter of the gentle spring rain on the large windows, they could hear muffled shouting coming from Remus's room.
“I’m just saying that as long as he was going after me, I was fine!”
“And I’m saying that that’s bullshit! You should’ve told me sooner!”
“And what?! Put you in danger!? No fucking way, Reg!”
“He’s my ex!”
“I was protecting you!”
“That’s what you think protecting me looks like?!”
“I would rather have him go after me than you!”
“Whatever. Fuck off.” Regulus’ tone was short, clipped as the door opened and shut behind Sirius.
Neither James nor Remus had time to get in a word as Sirius quickly walked across the apartment and out the front door, grabbing his shoes as he left and slamming the door behind him. Both men sighed around the sandwiches they we still eating when Regulus walked out of Remus’s room and into the kitchen.
When he saw the sandwiches, he smiled and grabbed a couple, plating them and putting them next to James on the table. He pulled his stool closer to James and slid onto it, leaning against his boyfriend before he started eating.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Remus asked quietly, already knowing the answer but wanting to give Regulus a chance to clear the very tense air.
Regulus just shook his head and kept eating.