An Offer I Could Refuse
Regulus felt, quite honestly, ambushed. He had been caught off-guard, and found himself agreeing to something he didn’t really want to agree to.
It had happened at Breakfast. He had been sitting at the house table, eating breakfast. Eggs on toast. It was simple, Regulus appreciated simplicity. Barty and Evan sat across from him, nibbling at their food and glancing at each other every now and again.
They seemed to be having their own conversation, silently communicating with widened eyes and rapid blinking. “For fucks sake Evan, man up!” Evan huffed, and turned away from Barty deliberately over exaggerating the movement.
“Fine! Regulus, we want to meet your boyfriend.”
“I - James?” Regulus spluttered. Barty raised an eyebrow, “I was under the illusion James was your only boyfriend.” Regulus blushed bright red, “He is, obviously, my only boyfriend. But why do you want to meet him?”
“Make sure he’s good enough for you,” Evan said through mouthfuls of egg, “Barty came up with some lame excuse to make it seem like we were emotionless bastards that didn’t care. But I copied your charms essay, so we’re even.”
Regulus blinked rapidly at his friends, who were looking at him with impatience. “Just say yes, Black, we’ll have dinner in the dorms, it will all be very hush hush.”
“I - No!”
“Come on, we just want to meet the guy.”
“Fine!” Regulus wasn’t sure why he was agreeing to this, it was a bad idea, a very, very bad idea.
“Great!” Well, fuck.
Evan grinned and began eating again, “I don’t know about you guys, but I think these eggs are egg-cellent.” Evan wiggled his eyebrows and Barty groaned, “Don’t fucking start with your puns, Rosier.”
“Excuse you, I am the pun master, and you will miss me when I’m gone.”
~*~
Regulus and James were sat shoulder-to-shoulder, on the floor at the end of an abandoned corridor. They had decided that there relationship was to stay a secret, for the most part, they told everyone that they wanted to know. That they trusted.
James could tell Regulus was stressed straight away. His brow was creased, he switched between biting his nails and biting his lips and he played absent minded lay with his hair. James loved how used to the boy he was that he could tell what he was feeling and thinking just by looking, James didn’t love that Reg was stressed.
“Hey, love, what’s got you stressed out?”
“I fucked up, I did something stupid. Or, well, my friends suggested something stupid and I agreed to it.” Regulus, was now up on his feet, pacing. James gently held his arm, trying to ground him. “What is it, that you’ve agreed to?”
“Barty and Evan want to meet you, and they kind of ambushed me. Which wasn’t fair. Because I would have come to talk to you about it first, but I kind of agreed to it. And now they want to have dinner in the dorm tonight, meet you.”
James eyes widened, then settled, then he ran his hands through his hair. “Okay, great, I’ll be there at six, yeah?”
Regulus breathed out a sigh of relief, “Really?”
“Yeah, Barty seems great. And I’d love to get to know Evan. They’re your friends, I want to meet them.”
Regulus kissed him. “I love you so fucking much, James Potter.”
James smiled, “I know, love you too. Wait - fuck. Reg, what should I wear? Should I bring food? Can I tell my friends?”
Regulus laughed at James’ panic stricken face. “You paranoid idiot, we’re clothes for a starter - jeans and a jumper, be causal. Bring chocolate if you have, Evan will appreciate that. And yeah, tell your friends. I don’t want you to have to keep secrets from them.”
~*~
James sat in his bed, later that afternoon, stress folding all of his clothes. He wore a fresh pair of jeans, a white top and a blue jumper. It was the only one that want red, or boldly in support of his house. He figured that wasn’t a quick way to make friends with Evan and Barty.
“Guys,” James says, getting the attention of the other three boys in the room. “I won’t be coming to dinner tonight.”
“Why?” Peter squeaked, picking at the cuffs of his fraying jumper. “I eh - Well, I guess - ”
“Spit it out Prongs,” Sirius called, good-natured. “I’m meeting Regulus’ friends tonight.”
There was a brief awkward silence, before it was broken by Remus, “Good luck, mate.” Sirius echoed Remus’ statement with a half-hearted ‘Good Luck’ as well.
Surprisingly it as neither Sirius nor Remus that brought it up, it was Peter. “So,” the young boy squeaked, “when do we get to meet Regulus, then?”
James glanced at Sirius, “Whenever, I suppose.” He knew Sirius understood, ‘Whenever you’re ready’ those were James’ unspoken words. He wanted Sirius to feel happy and safe, and he was in no place to begrudge him that.
“I - I - ” Sirius stuttered, “I think it would be really nice, I mean if you guys want to. I don’t want to pressure Reg into something.”
James’ eyes glistened with tears, “Really, Sirius? We’d love to!” He jumped in the big, engulfing him in a hug. “You’re brilliant, Sirius.”
~*~
Regulus met James outside the house entrance, wringing his hands together with nerves. James appeared around the corner, he looked nervous. He was dressed perfectly, however.
“You look hot,” Regulus said, blushing and staring up at James. “You too, baby.” Regulus was bright red now.
“Stop staring,” Regulus muttered, feeling quite embarrassed now. “I like looking at you, love. I like seeing you happy.” Regulus grinned, “I’m always happy with you, dork.”
“You’re such a sap,” James laughed. “Fucking hypocrite.”
“Before we go in, Reg. My friends would like to meet you too, if that’s okay?”
Regulus let out a joyous laugh, “That’s brilliant, James. Sirius too?”
“Sirius too.”
They linked arms, and Regulus walked him into the house, now empty all for the four boys. “Evans nice, he’s an idiot though, but he’s easy to win over. He’ll love you. Now, Barty. Barty is a dick, don’t take it personally, it’s just his only personality trait.”
“Noted, love,” James smiled, pressing a kiss to Regulus’ head.
“Let’s go.”
“Let’s go.”