James potter was stupid; really, he was. He was stupid to speak to regulus, he was stupid to join regulus nearly every day in the astronomy tower, and he was stupid to fall in love with him, despite knowing for absolute certain that regulus was horribly inexplicably NOT interested in men.
Although tonight, James was stupid for totally different reasons, because, after a horrible argument with the love of his life, he opted to drink himself to absolute death in a Hufflepuff party organised by absolute villains who didn’t know how to play proper music, the mix of wizarding world pop and the loud screaming was making his ears bleed, why couldn’t they play Queen or Abba? And honestly, did everything have to be so yellow? It was hurting James’ eyes.
And so after suffering through that stupid Hufflepuff party, James, regretfully, realised that his plan of getting hideously wasted was stupid, so he decided to focus on the root of his very problem, which happened to be— as established, regulus black.
This was why James made a new plan, “Apologize to Regulus and become friends with him again.” which was to be executed as soon as possible, so of course, he sneaked one more glass of whatever alcohol was available and fled out of the sunny, bright, holly jolly, unicorn express.
Walking all the way up to the astronomy proved to be difficult, James fell on his arse three times, and he was sure to wake up with bruises and a mild concussion but still, he trudged on. Briefly, he thought perhaps there was a slight error to his plan, which was that there was a genuine possibility that regulus wouldn’t be at the astronomy tower, or even worse, regulus might not even want to speak to him. Of course, the thought was very brief because James trusted the universe entirely, and he knew for a fact that regulus would be there and would speak to him after much prying and pricking, something that James has become a professional at.
Once he got to the final steps of the stairway that led to the astronomy tower, James’ knees buckled, and he fell once more, on his face this time. And although he couldn’t see the main focus of his plan, he could hear him, in the way he shuffled to his feet and in the way his shoes clicked as he walked closer to wear James lay, softly whimpering in pain.
“James,” he says sternly, and James tries his hardest not to swoon as he lifts his face away from the tough cobble steps to meet regulus’ eyes, who looked very unimpressed, which was the way he always looked so James wasn’t that worried.
“Reggie!” James says loudly, quickly standing up.
“What— are you drunk?”
“Drunk? Me? Never!” he says, his head throbs at the volume of his own voice, but he ignores it because Regulus is here, and he’s so pretty, and James absolutely loves the universe.
“James”, regulus says again, this time more concerned than stern. “You have a charms exam tomorrow.”
“I’m plenty charming; I'll nail it, don't you worry,” James says and gives Regulus what he hopes is a gentleman-like smile.
Regulus grimaces, then furrows his eyebrows in thought “you didn’t get drunk because of that argument we had, did you?”
“No..” James says, scratching the back of his neck.
“You did, didn't you?”
“I might have.”
“James!” Regulus says again, and really, James loves when Regulus says his name, it’s the loveliest sound on earth.
“What!” he says, lifting his shoulders and then dropping them in a flare of dramatics he learned from Sirius.
“You— it wasn’t that big of an argument.”
“you got mad at me!”
“I’m always mad at you.” regulus says inderiously
“I know,” James grins, steps forward, and miraculously, without stumbling, reaches for regulus’ hand. “but you were even more mad than normal.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I know.”
“No, seriously, you’re stupid. Has anyone ever told you that?” regulus says, and his voice slightly wobbles as he stares at their interlocked hands.
“Might have heard it from you a couple of times”, he slurs and, without thinking, inches his face closer to regulus’ face.
“James..” his voice was rough and scratchy as he inhaled sharply.
It was intimate, James realised, hand in hand, faces so close to each other James could count every freckle on regulus's cheeks, dusted into perfection.
“Yes?” he says,
“You—you’re drunk.” And James isn’t sure why Regulus needs to remind him, but he nods along anyways.
“You’re pretty,” he says. The words tumble out of him before he even has a chance to register them. He slightly regrets it. The look on regulus’ face didn’t indicate that he was super happy about the compliment, but he didn’t feel the need to take it back because it was true, regulus was beautiful, is, beautiful.
“You’re drunk,” he repeated, and it was almost pleading. James chuckles softly, pressing his forehead against regulus.’
“what’s that got to do with anything?”
“James.”
“Reggie,”
Regulus closes his eyes, and James already knows he’s counting to ten in his head because it's what regulus does whenever he gets nervous or agitated. And then, finally, he exclaims, “You— don’t—come to me when you’re not drunk, okay?”
“What?” and he almost whines as regulus pulls back.
“If you’re going to.. kiss me, kiss me when you’re sober. I don’t want whatever this is.”
“Kiss..” James trails off, and he has the mind to look mildly confused as he stares at Regulus, “You want me to kiss you?”
Regulus’ face flushes impossibly red as he rolls his eyes, “Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Do you want me to want to kiss you?”
“What—“ James chokes out, “Do you— want me to
want you to want to kiss me?”
“Yes.”
“Yes!”
“No.”
“No?”
“Fuck this, James. I want to kiss you, just not when you’re like— like this.”
“Drunk?”
“Yes, drunk. Kiss me when you’re sober okay?”
“So next time I see you— tomorrow, when I see you, I can kiss you?”
“Not in public.”
“So tomorrow, when you and I are alone, can I kiss you?”
“Yes, if you’re not drunk.”
James bites his lips and smiles, his eyes brightening as he resists the urge to laugh. He fails, of course, and he bubbles up with laughter. For some reason, it’s hysterical, and he can’t breathe because it is just so stupid. He and regulus, they were such an odd pair, and they were both silly; James was sillier, sure, but they were both just so silly, and he couldn’t stop. No, seriously, his stomach hurts, and he can’t stop laughing—
“What— James, what are you laughing at?” Regulus says, annoyed, or at least he tries to be annoyed Because james’ laughter made him smile so much his face hurt.
James giggles, “Nothing, I just thought you were straight, that’s all,”