Chapter 11
James and Regulus have organised their date for the Saturday following Sirius’ birthday. They are going to this coffee shop just outside of campus. Regulus chose it. Said he often goes there to think. And they have the best coffee, apparently.
James has been jittery all day, so he decided to run to help with his nervous energy. He doesn’t know why he is so nervous, they got on pretty well when they were talking in the bathroom. Or at least James thought they did.
“Where are you going, Prongs?” Sirius asks, raising an eyebrow as James puts on some cologne, “Got a date?”
“Actually, yeah,” James admits.
Sirius sits up in bed, “What? With whom?”
“The ‘handsome stranger’.”
“You mean the guy who stood you up?”
“He explained that, just a simple misunderstanding. He said he wants to make it up to me,” James replies, not quite meeting his friend's eyes.
“I don’t think you should go.”
“Why?”
“He stood you up! You deserve so much better than that.”
“I appreciate the concern, Padfoot, but I’ll be fine,” James reassures him.
“Fine,” Sirius relents, “but I don’t like him.”
“You don’t even know who he is.”
“I don’t care.”
“God, you’re so dramatic.”
“You love that about me,” Sirius laughs.
James rolls his eyes. He will never admit that he does actually love that about Sirius. But he hates lying to him. He's never actually lied to him before; he's had no reason to. It's not like it’s forever, right? They will tell him eventually, when the time is right. He just has to wait until the brothers get closer again. Then, Sirius would likely support them. Hopefully.
***
Regulus is sitting at a table in the back corner when James arrives.
“Sorry, I’m late,” James says. “Your brother wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“Sounds like Sirius,” Regulus smiles, which instantly makes James smile.
“Want a drink?”
“I’ll have a black coffee and a croissant.”
James must have pulled a face at that because Regulus asked, “What?”
“I just don’t understand how people can drink black coffee. It’s disgusting.”
Regulus exclaims, offended, “Black coffee is amazing.”
“It’s so bitter.”
“Coffee is supposed to be bitter. I don’t understand how people can have it sweet. You can’t even taste the coffee.”
“Better than the bitterness,” James replies as he makes his way to the counter.
He orders what Regulus asked for and a latte for himself, grabbing about five packets of sugar before returning to his date. James sits down opposite Regulus and looks him dead in the eyes while pouring all of the sugar in his drink, then takes a sip.
“I did not know I was on a date with a psychopath,” Regulus says, not breaking eye contact.
“Neither did I,” James responds.
“Did you not want anything to eat?” Regulus asks.
“No, I'm not that hungry.”
They talk for the next three hours about everything. James finds out that Regulus has two really close friends, Barty and Evan, and how he has felt like a third wheel ever since they got together. James knows how that feels, Remus and Sirius are always together. Three days ago, Sirius practically screamed in delight as he entered their dorm, repeatedly shouting “I have a boyfriend”. Twenty minutes later, when he had finally calmed down, he told James all about how Remus had asked him to be his boyfriend. About fucking time, he thought.
They glaze past the topic of family; James already knows some things from Sirius, and from what Regulus has told him, it seemed to have only got worse for him since Sirius left. Which is why he also had to leave, but he didn’t know where to go, so he followed his brother.
James could have stayed talking to him forever. Or not. Just being in Regulus’ presence made him feel like the luckiest person alive. James’ phone buzzed.
“Anything important?” Regulus asked as James looked at the screen.
“Just Sirius,” James says, “he has been bothering me non-stop since I was ‘stood up’ on his birthday.”
“God, he can be so dramatic sometimes.”
James laughs, “Sometimes? I swear his middle name is drama.”
James checks the time, it’s almost 4 pm. They’ve been talking for hours now, but it hasn’t felt like long at all.
“Maybe it’s time to go,” Regulus says, but he sounds unsure.
“Or we could go somewhere else,” James replies, a bit too quickly, “I know the perfect place.”
“Okay,” Regulus agrees, and they leave the coffee shop.
This is going to be fun.