Regulus
I tried to breathe, watching as Barty fell asleep. He tossed and turned a little bit but he eventually ended up passing out, clutching my hand the entire time.
Being here felt wrong somehow. It wasn’t like I wasn't friends with Barty, of course I was! But I wish I was more but I doubted that that would ever happen. I was me and Barty was, well Barty. Meaning that there was no way in heaven or hell that he would feel the same way for me.
So here I was, sitting on his bed, watching his sleeping form and clutching his hand.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I told him I would leave after he fell asleep and now he was. Meaning I should leave. But I really didn’t want to. Maybe Barty would wake up and I would bring myself to tell him about my feelings for him.
I sighed, shaking my head. This was stupid. He probably wouldn’t wake up and that was good. He needed his sleep. Besides, I would see him tomorrow and he wouldn’t even notice if I was here or not. It wouldn’t make a difference to our relationship and would probably be seen as a little creepy.
“Goodnight Barty,” I whispered, begrudgingly dropping his hand. I stood up, and headed out of the door. I walked slowly, almost praying that Barty would wake up and tell me to come back.
Alas, no such thing had happened and I made my way to the door, locking it from them inside. I then stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind me.
Once I made it to my apartment, I realized that the door was slightly ajar. It was possible that I had left it open as I was a clumsy person but not that clumsy. Plus, I directly remembered closing it before going over to Barty’s apartment.
And the only person who has a key other than myself was Regulus and it was for emergency situations only. Being Regulus, he would generally only use it for emergencies but he was also a odd human being, meaning i wouldn’t put it past him to show up unannounced to my apartment.
I stepped forward slowly, pushing the door all the way open.
“Hello?” I said slowly, stepping inside.
“Hey,” Regulus smiled, sitting cross-legged on my couch. He was smiling, which was a thing Regulus Black didn’t do often, meaning it probably wasn’t good for me.
“This better be important,” I sighed, closing and locking the door behind me.
“Depends on where you were,” he shrugged, still smiling.
“What do you mean?”
“The fact that you’ve been gone for pretty much all day and you keep taking forever to respond to my texts and when you do you only respond with only one word answers and it's not like you. You just returned from wherever it was that you were. Your cheeks are bright red as if you’ve been blushing for the past hour and you’re smiling even though I've said nothing funny. ” Regulus said simply, “So, where were you?”
I shook my head, glancing down at my feet.
“Barty’s….” I whispered.
“Oh, I see,” he remarked, “care to share?”
“Nothing happened,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. I flopped down next to him on the couch, kicking my shoes off and throwing them into the sides of my living room.
“Uh huh,” he sighed, rolling his eyes, “explain.”
“There is nothing to explain,” I shrugged, glaring at him, “Barty was hungover.”
“And you were there because…?”
“He needed help, you know, not being so hungover,” I sighed, so done with his stupid questions.
“You know Evan, i hate to have to tell you like this, that seems a little-”
“Don’t. You. Dare.” I threatened, cupping my hand over his mouth.
“Sorry, sorry,” he laughed, but his words came out mumbled by my hand as he tried to push it away.
“You better be!” I sighed, rolling my eyes but I couldn't keep myself from smiling. Regulus had that effect on me. For most people, being around Regulus wasn’t a great idea because he normally gave off grumpy vibes but that was just because he has a hard time trusting people.
But with me he was different. We had known each other for years and he was my first close friend, not including Pandora. After I moved here, he was the first friend I made, making him my closest friend.
So when me and Regulus were together, he showed his true colors and some of my favourite memories are with Regulus.
“But you are in love with him, aren’t you?” Regulus asked after a brief moment of silence.
“I- loves a strong word,” I whispered softly, running my fingers through my hair. I did think that love was a strong word but I also knew what Regulus was trying to say was right.
“But you at least like him in a romantic way, correct?”
I nodded, not sure how to phrase what I was feeling. .
I wasn’t really good with words and I didn’t normally talk about stuff like emotions. Other than maybe Pandora but I tried not to concern her with my personal drama.
And if I were to bring this up to anyone else in my family, I’d be shunned and disowned because I had fallen for a boy and a boy that wasn’t of a proper social status or whatever. But it wasn’t like I talked to any of my family other than Pandora anymore so it didn’t really matter.
I tried not to think about what my family would think. I didn’t talk to them and I was off living my own life so what did it matter? It was my life now, not theirs. So it mattered what i thought right?
But still, I couldn't bring myself to forget about them and their opinions.
“You okay?” Regulus asked, chucking a throw pillow at me. Even though this seemed like lighthearted behavior, I could tell that he knew something was up.
“I’m fine,” I said a bit too quickly. I wasn’t sure whether I was trying to convince Regulus or myself but it didn’t matter because it didn’t work either way.
“You’re such a bad liar you know,” he said, his face deadpan.
“It’s nothing, really,” I whispered, forcing a smile as I glanced over at him.
“I can see through your fake ass smiles you know,” he was glaring at me slightly, waiting for me to tell him what was up.
“Just thinking about my family in such,” I sighed, “not a big deal.”
Regulus didn’t say anything, just nodded. He had a shit family life too so he knew that anything he could’ve said wouldn’t do much. But the nod felt more personal somehow, like he knew what I was going through.
“Well if it matters to you, I think Barty has a huge crush on you,” he shrugged.
“I don’t know Reg, I just don’t know.”