Warm

Within a milli-second of the Quaffle being thrown into the air, James was surging into action. He shot forward with incredible speed and snatched the ball out of the air before anyone else could manage it.

No fucking way.

“And Potter takes first possession of the Quaffle! A strong start from the newest and youngest player on the pitch! He passes to Farley, who sends it on to Smythe… and it’s back to Potter. This kid might be green but he’s certainly fast! To Smythe now. Farley. Potter. And our first bludger threat of the game – a smooth play by Goldstein! Let’s see, can Potter…”

James rolled out of the way completely smoothly, not breaking his rhythm at all. It was a move Regulus had personally seen him do about a hundred times before but it was different seeing it on the Hogwarts pitch than right here, right now.

“Potter can! We’ve got a player to watch, ladies and gentlemen!”

Regulus was on the edge of his seat, unable to properly relax for the first thirty minutes of the game. James was playing a mostly supportive role it seemed, acting as a safe pass for the other two chasers and mostly just marking his probably assigned player. The most action he really got was on occasions when he got possession of the ball closer to their home goal and then absolutely legged it to the other end of the pitch – the Tornados’ coaches seemed to have taken note of how fast James was and made use of it in setting the other, more experienced players up for goals.

Still, he was doing an excellent job so far, and he hadn’t had any major fuckups except a couple of ill-timed passes that got intercepted. Personally, Regulus didn’t think that was his man’s fault. No, he wasn’t biased.

An hour in, the Harpies were up only ten points, and it was an extremely tight race they were looking at. James didn’t show any signs of tiring and he looked more focused than Regulus had ever seen him (and that was saying something). There was a close call with the Seekers catching the Snitch’s trail, but neither of them managed it in the end and the game continued on.

At the two-hour mark, things started to get more intense. The average game didn’t last more than three hours, so the players clearly saw the need to up the ante. The beaters were ruthless, sending bludgers flying at players what felt like every other second. James had a few near misses, which set Regulus’s already frayed nerves absolutely alight, but he managed to make it through unscathed.

At the two-hour-thirty mark, Regulus’s head started throbbing and he gratefully took the potion Amir offered him.

“He’s doing great so far.” The man assured him. “You wouldn’t even be able to tell it’s his first game.”

Regulus murmured a distracted response back, keeping his eyes locked on James.

By the three-hour mark even the crowd started to get restless. The Seekers had had another near miss with the Snitch, but no joy yet. Regulus was quite glad seeing as the Tornados were now twenty-points down.

“Oh, this is going to be a long one, isn’t it?” Amir muttered to himself. Regulus thought he might be right.

After another half an hour, the Tutshill Manager called for a time-out, which was a bit risky, but Amir theorised that they wanted to change up their strategy and shake things up.

Boy, did they shake things up.

Regulus wasn’t sure what was said in that brief strategy meeting but he could tell one thing had changed for certain:

James was encouraged to score.

Where before, he had clearly been playing the support role, Tutshill’s strategy was to go all out now, and if there’s one thing James loved to do, it was score. Regulus could count the number of times he’d seen him miss on his hands (other than the Alanov Twist training session). James was a sharpshooter if Regulus had ever seen one, and boy did he live up to it.

In less than five minutes, he sent the Quaffle through the hoop, and the crowd went mental. Their box went mental. Regulus went mental.

“James Potter scores his first ever goal, not just in this game, but in professional Quidditch!” The commentator announced, barely audible over the screams.

Regulus completely lost his shit, screeching his enthusiasm for all he was worth.

But James was in work mode. And he wasn’t done.

It took him another seventeen minutes, but he managed a second goal.

And then only six minutes later, a third.

James had come to play. And as the newest kid on the block, he had something to prove.

It struck Regulus for the first time that James wasn’t just Hogwarts good, and he wasn’t just professional good either – he had star potential, and with a few years of experience under his belt, he was going to knock goals out like nobody’s business.

As it was, by the five-hour mark (yes, that’s right, five hours), James had scored seven goals – less than each of his team-mates, but impressive, nonetheless. Regulus put it down to him being over three hours behind in scoring, and no, he wasn’t being biased.

The Tornados were now thirty points up, which was of course James’s doing. Again, he wasn’t biased. But the players were all clearly getting tired and scrappy. On both teams.

The problem was that the Harpies had a fresh row of Reserves, unused and ready to go, so they could start substituting them in any time.

The Tornados, obviously, had no Chasers to spare or James wouldn’t be playing in the first place.

At the five-fifteen mark, the Harpies did, in fact, make a few substitutions, and the new players came in, fresh and full of energy.

“Shit.” Amir swore next to him. “That feels like cheating. I mean, it’s not – but it feels like it.”

Regulus completely understood. He watched anxiously as James forged on despite everything. He was probably exhausted after five straight hours of professional level sport, and the sun was beating down, hot and unforgiving on this beautiful Summer day. Regulus wished it would cloud over, just so James could have some reprieve. But his determined man carried on in spite of it all.

The Tornados made a few substitutions of their own, but the Chasers, obviously, weren’t swapped.

James scored another goal. Then two. He successfully marked one of the new players and prevented him from getting the ball – James may have been tired, but he was still fast. He was catching up to Smythe’s score count now, and where the other two, even Olly, were slowing down, James was keeping a steady pace.

Another goal. And another.

It seemed like James’s insanely long and gruelling practices for himself were paying off, not to mention his youth; James was hungry for a win, and eager to prove himself.

The overall scores fluctuated but it was staying about even, only twenty points in it at any given time.

The six-hour mark came and went. The Snitch was still not found. James racked up eleven goals in total. The Harpies made more substitutions.

The pitch was crawling with fresh-faced Harpies now. James had possession of the Quaffle but there was no way of getting through them all to the goal. Through his omnioculars, Regulus noticed him look in the direction of the coaches.

Oh no. Please tell Regulus that James was not going to attempt what he thought he was going to attempt.

Regulus stood up and leaned forward. “Don’t you dare. James Fleamont Potter, don’t you fucking dare.”

“What?” Amir’s concerned voice rang out, but Regulus’s eyes were focused on James who was circling back and gearing up.

“You idiot.” Regulus gripped the railing tightly.

“What?” Effie’s distressed voice came next. “What’s he doing?”

“He’s only going to attempt an Alanov Twist.” Regulus informed them. “The absolutely insane prick that he is.”

There were several panicked variations of “What!” that sounded off behind him. They were right to panic – James had only managed it a handful of times under controlled circumstances in practice. And now he was going to try it against a field of Holyhead Harpies.

“Does he have a death wish?” Amir asked instinctively. “Sorry – that’s not helping! I’m sure he’ll be fine!”

They’d have to see, because James was going for it.

Regulus almost wanted to close his eyes and not look but he forced himself to watch intently through the omnioculars. James launched violently and unhesitatingly into the spin, shooting forward past the Chaser marking him and leaving him in a bewildered surprise. He made it past a Beater, then a Chaser, who tried to swipe at him for the Quaffle but didn’t manage it with how fast he was spinning.

The second Beater lobbed a Bludger his way, causing Regulus’s heart to claw up into his throat. Somehow, absolutely miraculously, James spun out of the way of it, then kept on spinning.

The final Chaser made another pass at the Quaffle, but again, didn’t manage it, and so nothing stood between James and the goal but the Keeper. It felt like the whole crowd leaned forward eagerly to see if he’d manage it.

James shot the ball out of his grip and it went sailing towards the left most goal – furthest from the Keeper. It felt like time slowed down as Regulus watched the Quaffle inch closer.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

It sailed cleanly through the hoop, barely missing the Keeper’s outstretched fingers.

The crowd went completely ballistic.

Regulus didn’t scream this time, just sighed in relief when James made it out of the ‘kill zone’, beaming widely and idiotically. He was going to pay for that stunt later, Regulus would make sure of it.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Amir commented, impressed. “I’m sorry I doubted him.”

“I’m not. I’m going to kill him.” Regulus replied, slumping back into his seat.

“Piece of advice?” Amir said into his ear to combat the noise. “Take the win. Thrill-seekers are always going to do reckless shit. Just be glad he’s okay and celebrate with him, or you’re going to start resenting his choices.”

That… sounded like a problem that might happen way in the future for the two of them, but the way Amir spoke… Regulus tried to take it onboard.

“Take the win.” He repeated, trying to calm himself down.

“Take the win.” Amir nodded sagely.

*

The game ended at seven hours and thirteen minutes with Nicky catching the Snitch for the Tornados. They had been ten points up but the Snitch’s extra boost gave them a much more solid win.

James scored the least number of goals in his team but it was still an extraordinarily impressive effort as most of his had been in the last few hours when the other two hadn’t scored nearly as much. It was almost as though James had been their half-time substitution. By the time it all came to a close, James was being lauded as a player to watch as he had most definitely held his own in what was an extraordinarily tough match.

In order to avoid crowding, only two of their group were permitted to greet James by the changing rooms, and so Regulus accompanied Effie while Amir and Martin came to greet their own players.

The first thing James did when he made it out of the door was beeline straight for his Mother and collapse into her hug exhaustedly. Regulus didn’t blame him and waited patiently.

Effie was talking rapid-fire in another language that Regulus couldn’t understand, though it may have been two languages, he didn’t know – James had mentioned once that his family spoke Urdu, but that they often melded it with Punjabi or Hindi because that was just their manner. Regulus had had the thought about trying to learn but hadn’t gotten around to doing it yet.

He recognised a few odd words – Moujza, aka James’s nickname which meant ‘miracle’. He recognised a phrase which he was pretty sure meant ‘how are you?’ given how often he’d heard it around Potter Manor. And Effie was saying ‘good’ a lot, or something to that effect – likely praising him.

James answered back sluggishly but contentedly in the same language, just taking comfort in her embrace.

Eventually, she let go and it was Regulus’s turn.

He surged forward and cupped James’s face in his hands. “I told you, you could do it. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks for calming me down at the start.” He murmured back.

“You calmed yourself down. I was just there.” Regulus denied.

“That’s all I needed.”

Knowing his man was utterly exhausted, the kiss Regulus gave him was sweet and lazy.

“You were so good.” Regulus muttered after, pulling him into a tight hug. “You were so, so good. I’m so proud. Congratulations. You’re amazing. You did it, Sunshine. I love you so much.”

James kissed the side of his neck chastely in thanks.

“I’m sorry to interrupt.” An official-looking lady stepped up, looking apologetic. She was at least middle-aged and gave them a look of sympathy that was quite motherly, seeming genuinely sorry to part them. “But Mr Potter is required to join the others in the press room. We’ll keep it as short as possible, I promise – we realise how exhausted the players are.”

“Right.” James reluctantly pulled away and Regulus couldn’t resist kissing him on the cheek for luck.

“I’ll be waiting for you.” He promised. “You can handle some reporters.”

James blinked. “I kind of forgot I’m in the middle of a scandal.”

Regulus winced at the reminder. With everything that had happened today, Cleary’s story suddenly seemed annoying but ultimately unimportant.

“You’ve got this.” He tried to encourage. “I’ll be here.”

“Come on, son.” The official lady cajoled gently. “It’ll be over before you know it.”

Salazar, even the arena staff were seeing him as so very young. Just like Amir. He certainly looked young like this. Sleepy and swaying on his feet.

Olly seemed to think so too. He swept in and put an arm around James even despite how tired he looked himself. “Hey, little bug. Let’s get going. I’ve got to brag about how well you did.”

“Shouldn’t I do that?” James said as he was ushered away.

“Nah, I’m going all proud mama bug on you...” Regulus heard Olly say before they walked out of sight and earshot.

“Olly will take care of your son.” Amir assured Effie, who was watching where they had disappeared intensely.

She startled out of her reverie. “Oh, I know – he’s a good lad. He’s been good to Jamie thus far.” The woman smiled weakly at him. “But I still just want to tuck my little boy into bed.” She sighed. “Even though I know that he’s a man now, and this is his job.”

“Sometimes I want to tuck Olly away, and he’s almost twice James’s age.” Amir admitted.

Regulus cautiously moved closer to Effie and held his arms out for a hug.

“Oh, you’re sweet.” She wrapped him up in a warm embrace and squeezed. They probably both wanted to be hugging James instead.

After about fifteen minutes, the same official lady as before came back to them.

“I just thought I’d let you dears know that the press session is over.” She gave them a soft smile. “Mr Potter is currently signing some things for fan auctions and then he’ll have a brief debriefing with his team coaches. After that, he’ll be free to go.”

“Thank you for letting us know.” Effie thanked her sincerely. “We’re a little new to this if you couldn’t tell.”

“You’re doing wonderfully. So is your son.” The woman looked quite sincere. Regulus liked her a lot. And he appreciated whoever had assigned her to them.

The lady paused, then leaned in. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but Mr Potter is so… young. If I were you, I would advise him to stick with Mr Farley – at least for the time being.”

A look passed between the two women and Regulus put it down to some motherly understanding happening.

“I quite understand.” Effie told her. “I appreciate your concern.”

The lady nodded once and then retreated without another word.

True to her estimation, it was a bit longer before James came back, looking just as lethargic as before. Olly still had an arm slung over his shoulder, but now Jen was accompanying them on his other side and Nicky was walking backwards in front of them, talking animatedly. They all looked rather heavy with tiredness.

“’Sup Mrs P!” Nicky greeted when they were in range. She was making an effort to stay upbeat, but Regulus could see in her eyes how tired she was. “Bug’s bug! We totally need to catch up one of these days – I was just saying to James.”

“Sounds good.” He nodded. He registered for the first time that at twenty-three, she was the closest Tornado to James in age.

Olly manoeuvred James over to Regulus who instantly wrapped his arms around him. “See? Here’s your bug, bug. I told you, you’d see him in no time.”

Oh, he must be utterly exhausted then.

Regulus gave the man a grateful look that he hoped was understood. Olly nodded once and hovered nearby, clearly ready to step in again at a moment’s notice.

“You should get him home.” Jen whispered to Effie. “I was subbed out for an hour’s break and I’m exhausted. I can only imagine how he’s doing.”

“It was a rough first game.” Nicky added sympathetically. “That’s for sure.”

“I want to go cuddle in bed.” Regulus told James. “Do you want to go cuddle in bed?”

“That sounds nice.” James slurred tiredly. “Let’s go.”

“Hey, Potter!” A voice called before they could leave. Regulus followed the sound to see none other than Harper-Smythe walking up to them.

Jame tried to straighten up a bit. “Smythe.” He greeted amiably but tiredly. “Good game today.”

Smythe stared at him for a second and James stared back. Then she held out her hand. “Tough game today.” She corrected. “You weren’t bad.”

James took her hand and shook it, smiling slowly. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“I have a Quaffle signed by you in my room.” He said quietly. He was probably only revealing that because he was too tired to think it through. “It means a lot.”

Her eyes widened. “No shit. Huh.” She shook her head. “Now I feel like crap for giving you a hard time.”

James managed to huff a laugh. “It makes me better. Don’t stop.”

“You’re weird, kid.” She reluctantly smiled too. “I won’t stop.“ She glanced away towards something. “I’m gonna go but have a good one.”

“You too.” They all watched her go.

“Damn bug.” Olly commented fondly. “Winning hearts all over the place.”

James sagged against Regulus. “Can we go now?”

“Yes let’s.” Effie spurred into action. “Well done to you all and thank you so much, especially you Oliver. I’d love to have you and Amir round for dinner sometime.”

“That sounds lovely.” He smiled at the woman as Amir came to wrap an arm around his waist.

Then there was a quick round of goodbyes before she ushered Regulus and James away. They apparated home, side-alonging with Effie after she sent off a Patronus to her husband and the rest of the kids that they were going straight home. She didn’t protest even a little bit when Regulus helped James into bed and joined him there. She just tucked them both in with a kiss on the forehead before she left them to rest.

*

“Hi.” James greeted the next morning as he blinked awake.

Considering James’s usual pattern, he’d overslept by about four hours, showing just how exhausted he had been. But Regulus had stayed with him in bed, even after he woke up himself, just carding a hand through his boyfriend’s hair and watching him sleep. It was maybe a little creepy but he was sure James wouldn’t mind.

“Hi.” Regulus smiled down at him where his head was pillowed on Regulus’s chest.

“Did I oversleep?” James rubbed the sand from his eyes.

“Yeah.” Regulus answered softly. “But you’re a winner so it doesn’t matter.”

A smile stretched onto his face. “It kind of doesn’t feel like yesterday was real.”

Regulus dropped a kiss on his forehead. “It was real. You were fantastic.”

“Thanks.” James’s tone was happy and content.

They cuddled in silence for a few more minutes before Regulus decided it was time to get the day started.

“Come on, up you get. Your mum came in with some breakfast and newspapers earlier.” He gestured to the nightstand where a tray of food and a stack of papers sat.

“You read them yet?”

Regulus shook his head. “I didn’t want to move.”

James smiled soppily at him. “You could have just shoved me off – I wouldn’t have minded.”

Regulus hadn’t wanted to shove him off.

They manoeuvred to sit up against the headboard, the tray in James’s lap as they ate.

“Alright, can you read them?” James requested. “I want to at least know what people are saying.”

Regulus nodded and picked up the first one, scanning it carefully. He smiled when he saw the title. “This one’s called: ‘The Golden Boy’s Golden Game’.”

“Well, that’s promising.”

Regulus read it out for him – it was mainly a recap of the game, with focus on James as the newbie. “After a short strategy meeting halfway through, Potter seemed to come alive.” He quoted.

“They told me I could score.” James mumbled absently before biting into his bacon.

“You weren’t allowed to before?”

He shook his head, swallowing. “Nah, the strat was support only, which would have been fine in a short game, I reckon – that’s what everyone was hoping it would be. But when it got long, they decided to fuck it and let the teenager give it a try.”

“You sure showed them.” Regulus smiled at him proudly.

James smiled back for a moment before he sobered a little. “I was trying to prove to management that I’m worth it.”

That caused Regulus to frown. “You had offers from four other teams; they should know your worth by now.”

“It was still a gamble signing me.” James pointed out. “I’m about as green as a player can get.”

Regulus considered this, still frowning. “So, you’re still trying to prove yourself?”

“Yeah.” He sighed a little. “First half, I was trying to show that I can be a team player and do the grunt work, even when I’m used to being the top scorer. But when I got permission to go for it… I kind of wanted to remind them why they signed me in the first place. I know my passing needs work but you were right – I know how to score.” Regulus reluctantly smiled. “It wasn’t even about the game or the crowd, I just wanted to show management that I’m a serious player.”

“You did that.” Regulus couldn’t help but fondly brush a stray lock of hair out of his eyes. “You proved how incredible you are. I’m so proud.”

His lips twisted into a lopsided grin. “I think you might be right – they seemed relatively happy with me in the debrief after.” He blew out a breath. “I have another, more in depth one today at 2.”

“You’ve got plenty of time then.” Regulus noted. “What do you think they’re going to say?”

“Probably that I did a decent job overall, point out a few particularly good moments. But most of it is going to be going through mistakes, which will be…” he grimaced “…fun.”

Regulus frowned in displeasure. “I suppose that makes sense.”

“It’s okay, I’ve just got to get a thicker skin for critiquing.” James said wryly.

“Your skin’s pretty thick already.” Regulus slowly smirked. “You’re dating me after all.”

James matched his smirk and kissed him on the cheek, nuzzling into him. “Maybe I should get you to do my debriefs. You’re the expert at ripping me to shreds.”

Regulus huffed a short laugh, his hand cradling James’s head to him. “You’d like it too much. It would unprofessional.”

James kissed his cheek again, settling against Regulus. “Well, we can’t have that.”

“Do you want me to keep reading?”

“Yeah. Let’s hear it.”

The next one was harsher, pointing out how prone James was to rookie mistakes, but the man just hummed consideringly with a far-off look in his eyes like he was going over it in his head. This article also criticised Tutshill’s strategy in general which had James frowning in thought. As much as he had no control over team strategy on the Tornados, he had been Team Captain and strategy-maker at Hogwarts for some time now, and so he was likely thinking over if he would have given different instructions.

The third article was praising James as the player to watch, and practically turned into a mini-biography about him. There was even a small picture of Regulus and James hugging near the end as their relationship was discussed once again.

“They’re not mentioning anything Cleary said.” James noticed.

He was right – it wasn’t as if their relationship and sex life had anything to do with Quidditch, but when it came to selling news, it wasn’t out of bounds to shove a sentence or two in about that sort of thing. Yet, they weren’t doing it.

The fourth article equally ignored the recent scandal. As did the fifth. Overall commentary on James seemed to be positive and interested – even in the harsher stories, his potential was recognised and his inexperience was pointed to as the reason for any mistakes. It looked like James’s success in the game made him too clean and popular to slander properly.

He had scored his way out of a scandal.

The ‘Golden Boy’ moniker was catching like fire again, appearing in most of the titles, and it was noted in multiple articles that James had taken the Heartthrob Brandon Sharpe’s place in more ways than one. At this point, Regulus wasn’t even jealous; he fully understood the infatuation with his boyfriend.

“Where did the Golden Boy thing even come from?” Regulus wondered absently after they finished eating and started comparing the articles spread out over the bed.

James gave him a wry smile. “Sirius called me it in an argument one time, and you know how it is at Hogwarts.”

“Your friends took it up mockingly for a week but it accidentally caught on through the whole school and eventually the national media?” Regulus guessed.

“Got it in one.” James made a finger gun. “I’m just glad it was that and not ‘Perfect Potter’, because Pads has thrown that one out more than once.”

Regulus winced at the thought. ‘Golden Boy’ was obnoxious enough but ‘Perfect Potter’ would look like next level narcissism even if James never answered to it.

“People call me the ‘Ice Prince’ sometimes.” Regulus offered in consolation.

“Yeah, I know.” His man smirked. “The Golden Boy and the Ice Prince. Sounds like something out of a novel.”

“I kind of like that.” Regulus mused. “Romanticises it a bit.”

Both of their public facades as characters in a story. Yes, he liked the idea very much.

“You’re not as cold as people think you are.” James commented, leaning into him.

“You’re as warm as everyone thinks you are.” Regulus told him in turn. “But quieter.”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever called me quiet.”

“You’re not quiet in public.” He cupped James’s cheek. “But you are with me.”

James smiled as he stared into his eyes. “I never realised that before. Is it weird watching me switch?”

“No. Your peacekeeper switch is the jarring one.”

James hummed in acknowledgment. “Your formal, ‘I am a Pureblood Black’ switch is the jarring one on you. You don’t use it so much anymore though.”

Regulus smiled. “Good.”

James leaned in slowly and kissed him, their lips meeting in a soft press. They moved against each other sedately, comfortably, slotting into place easily now. Without even thinking about it, Regulus crowded closer, and the two of them ended up lying on their sides, kissing deeply and lazily. They knew this dance well by now and it came like second nature to both of them.

Regulus’s hand slipped into James’s hair and his tongue slipped into his mouth without a care at all. Meanwhile, James’s hand ran down his back, all the way across the curve of his arse and down his thigh, hooking Regulus’s leg over his hip in an unconscious effort to bring them closer; the move brought their groins together and it likely wouldn’t go any further but the pressure was still a wonderful sensation. Regulus gasped into his mouth as James groaned in synchrony.

“Starlight.” James breathed, grinding shallowly and likely on instinct. Distantly, Regulus knew he should probably pull back so they could cool off, but he couldn’t fully think straight with James so close.

“Sunshine.” He whined in turn, grinding in too, slow and shallow. He dipped his head to mouth at James’s neck, sucking and biting down, leaving more marks on the already decorated canvas.

James’s hand stroked up and down his thigh and arse sensually while the other pushed beneath the fabric of his sleep shirt, caressing over his bared skin.

“Off.” Regulus commanded, barely knowing what he was saying as he tugged at James’s own shirt. His man obediently pulled it off and threw it aside, his hands returning to their previous places instantly. Regulus roamed his own touch over his boyfriend’s bare back, his nails teasingly trailing over the skin – not digging in, but lightly scratching.

At some point, Regulus lost his own shirt and now James was mouthing at his neck this time, placing his own marks while Regulus gasped and whined, his hand tugging in James’s hair as they continued their slow, dirty grind against each other’s clothed crotches.

The pleasure was building and building.

He was craving more and James must have been too because his hands went to Regulus’s waist band, a question on his parted lips.

“Congratula– OH MY EYES!” Came a screeching voice out of nowhere.

Regulus and James leapt apart faster than they ever had before, to the point where James fell off the bed in a tangle of scattered newspapers. Regulus scrambled to find his shirt.

“I need bleach!” Sirius bemoaned loudly, his hands now fastened firmly over his eyes, shielding them from view. “I need to gouge my eyes out and cut that memory out of my brain! Oh, fucking hell that was gross! I don’t care how supportive you want me to be, that was too much! Have you no shame?”

“This is my bedroom!” James screeched, his voice cracking and extraordinarily high pitched. He hadn’t even been this affected when his father had caught them making out.

Though, Regulus supposed that that time they hadn’t been frotting and two steps away from… yeah. That.

“You could have locked the door!”

“You could have knocked!”

“Since when do I knock?!”

“Since when do I lock the door?!”

Regulus finally managed to find his shirt and hastily put it back on. “It’s fine!” Regulus told them both, though his voice sounded strained even to his own ears. “We can forget anything ever happened.”

James finally resurfaced into view, his own shirt now on. “Yeah.” His voice cracked nervously. “Nothing happened at all.”

“Speak for your bloody selves – I need therapy for what I just witnessed.” Sirius dropped his hands and gave them both a disgusted look. “I’m never going to get that image out of my brain.”

“You’ve practically had sex right in front of me before.” James tried to argue. “This was nothing.”

“You were–” Sirius cut himself off and gestured vaguely to them, looking traumatised. “Don’t pretend you weren’t.”

“But I am. I’m absolutely pretending.” Regulus told him.

Sirius pulled another face. “Was the Cleary thing a lie? Are you not– Have you–?” He retched. “Oh Godric!”

“We haven’t!” James clarified urgently. “I’m a virgin, I swear!”

Regulus didn’t think he’d ever heard someone proclaim that so insistently.

“Then that was the first time?” Sirius put his hands back over his eyes. “Fucking Merlin and Morgana both.”

Regulus didn’t know what to say to that that wasn’t incriminating – if he explained how much they had actually done before, his brother might have an aneurysm.

“Nothing happened.” Regulus stated firmly. “Nothing at all. You witnessed nothing. We were just sitting here.”

“Over the covers. Fully clothed.” James added awkwardly. Sirius groaned.

He dropped his hands again. “Fine! Nothing happened! And nothing will continue to happen when you both shower – separately – and come downstairs. We’ve got a little early lunch party sort of thing going on because Mum said you have to go in a bit.”

“Right.” James said, his voice cracking again. “Will do.” He sent an awkward set of finger guns Sirius’s way.

“Separately.” Sirius emphasised again.

It pissed Regulus off a bit. “It’s none of your business if I want to fuck him in the shower.”

Sirius pulled another face. “Nope! Not doing this! Not imagining my brothers fucking in the shower! Nope! Don’t need that mental image! Why would you say that?”

“Because I can. Piss off, we’ll be down in a bit.”

“What he means to say…” James cut in. “… is thanks for relaying the message and it’s probably best if you stay out of our sex life. We’ll see you shortly.”

“Ugh. Fine!” Sirius turned on his heel and marched straight out. “You better be quick!”

There was an awkward moment of silence after he was gone.

“Well now I don’t want to be quick.” Regulus said to fill the quiet.

James gave him a serious look. “Starlight, we almost…”

He sighed. “I know. We got carried away.”

“Carried away.” He repeated blandly. Then he shook his head as if to clear it. “Right, we should…”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll just hop in the shower.”

“I’ll wait here.”

*

It took a few weeks for the buzz to die down.

Potter Manor was getting hounded by reporters with requests for interviews, which James turned down, reasoning that he didn’t feel like it would be a good idea – his managers at Tutshill recommended he wait for the dust to settle and focus on getting media training before jumping in the deep end. (Regulus didn’t disagree.)

On the bright side, it looked like James had succeeded in impressing his employers – they were currently trying to renegotiate his schedule and get him in the air with the rest of the Tornados more. James was a bit hesitant to devote more time, given that he was going into his NEWTs year, but Regulus knew he was going to cave eventually – he loved the work too much to be able to say no. He might not want to quit school but he lived for flying. Regulus was just going to have to get creative in carving out some time for himself in James’s days when they got back to Hogwarts. He was confident in his abilities.

There was also legitimate, actual fan mail coming through. The first one made James stop functioning for a few minutes in his shock, but he kept it as a memento and put it on his Quidditch shrine in his room. He read through each and every one and sent back a reply much to Regulus’s amusement. There was no way he was going to be able to keep that up forever but it was very cute watching him scribble out replies to seven-year-olds with his brow wrinkled in concentration.

Peter kept sending Em dahlias (she was slowly wearing down), Marlene was being stubborn (but everyone knew she and Dorcas had started fucking again not-so-secretly), Remus still wasn’t talking to Sirius (though Regulus was sure he’d cave soon), Evans talked Mary off her hate-train (Regulus started hearing too many details about lesbian sex again), and Pandora asked that Xylophone guy on a date (it was going well and if it stayed that way, Regulus might have to learn his name). Slowly but surely, forgiveness was happening. Things weren’t the same, but everyone was older and wiser and more understanding.

To everyone’s amusement and pride but his, James got a Head Boy badge in his letter from Hogwarts. And for all his:

“I have had more detentions than anyone else in the year!”s

And his:

“I do not have the time!”s

Or his:

“I’m not responsible enough for this!”s

He ended up accepting because he was incapable of not helping others. Regulus thought he was perfect for the job.

Effie and Monty threw a small party in celebration, inviting all of James and Regulus’s friends over. It was a bit awkward at times given that there were several people still fighting or not talking to each other, but a slow and begrudging air of forgiveness was permeating the group.

And it was that evening. When James was in Regulus’s room, unwinding from the day’s events, and Regulus was congratulating his boyfriend once more on getting chosen for the position. It was that evening that Regulus would remember and hold dear for the rest of his life.

James was staring at him, that dazzling, lopsided smile of his adorning his face and those warm, brown eyes bright but transfixed. He clearly wasn’t listening to a word Regulus said.

“What?” The Slytherin asked, a little self-consciously. He wondered if there was something on his face.

“Nothing.” The man replied, but he didn’t stop staring.

“Well, there’s clearly something if you’re staring like that. Do I have something in my teeth or what?”

“No.” James replied softly. “It’s just… you’re beautiful.”

It wasn’t like Regulus hadn’t heard that out of his boyfriend’s mouth a hundred times before, but there was something about the way he said it – dreamily almost, his gaze utterly mesmerised. It made Regulus blush, which definitely didn’t happen very often, heat rising to his cheeks as this perfect man continued to watch him, enraptured.

“Can I kiss you?” James asked next, his tone breathy and featherlight.

“Of course you can kiss me.” Regulus answered, frowning. “We’re literally dating, why the fuck would you–”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence because James captured his lips with his own, swallowing his words down.

And there was something different about this kiss too. It was slow and deep and sensual in a level of intensity that Regulus had never experienced in his life before, let alone with James. It was the kind of kiss that one would imagine when reading a fairy-tale. That fireworks feeling. That moment when the world around ceases to exist. A true love’s kiss type of kiss. Regulus clung to it for all he was worth.

As their lips slid against each other, James’s hand was placed on the small of Regulus’s back, pressing him closer while James leaned over him in the kiss a bit, so that Regulus had to arch his back slightly to meet his lips. The other hand was cradling his cheek, gentle and reverent like Regulus was the most precious thing in the entire world and James had been given the greatest honour by being able to lay his hands on him. Regulus, in turn, wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s neck, urging him closer, relishing in the moment which he hoped would last forever.

Unfortunately, it didn’t. It couldn’t because they eventually had to pull back for air. But neither of them retreated far, breathing heavily into each other’s faces, mere inches apart.

“What was that for?” Regulus asked breathlessly, his nose brushing against James’s.

“I love you.” James told him, like that was the answer to all the world’s problems. Regulus was about to retort something snarky and recapture his lips but then:

“I want you.” James told him.

Again, it was something Regulus had heard countless times from his boyfriend, but this time? This time, Regulus could hear a different, deeper meaning behind it.

“James…” He breathed, unsure whether he should be leaping on the opening or pulling them both back from the ledge.

“I want you so much.” James stroked his thumb along Regulus’s cheekbone, the hand at his waist gliding up along Regulus’s side. “I want all of you. Every inch.” He brushed their lips together lightly. “Can I have you?”