regulus black was—well he was—trying to find sirius so the two could discuss their parents' bullshit rules that had been sent via owl, so here he was, standing in the door way of sirius's dormitory. of course the gods or whatever hate him because the only person in there just so happened to be james potter. his least favorite marauder. his tacky black hair was a mess, and his glasses weren't on his face. regulus noticed how much brighter his eyes were. regulus guesses he was changing due to james having only his trousers and button up on. james's eyes lock onto regulus's and suddenly, regulus was pushed against the dorm's door, with his hands above his head held by james's left hand, wand in his right hand against regulus's neck.
"what the bloody hell are you doing here black." it didn't sound like a question.
"i was looking for my brother, potter." regulus responds.
"yeah?" regulus felt his face getting hot as james pushed his annoying, much brighter eyed face into regulus's personal bubble. "why, to put a hex on him? to yell at him? to hurt him? i know what kind of shit your parents pull, and i'm so glad sirius got your cousin, andromeda's, blood in him. your parents have hurt and tormented him enough. so please enlighten me as to what it is you want with sirius."
regulus was frozen in shock. how much shit did his parents do while he was with his cousins? he didn't want to leave the manor, and he knew that "to give you a bit of a break" was not the reason his parents wanted him out of their house all summer.
regulus decided to finally break the silence. "what did they do this time?" it came out in a whisper.
"whatever bullshit you probably plan on doing. i absolutely despise your family name, and i don't want to talk to you anymore."
"it's kinda hard for me to leave because of the position we're in." they both paused, regulus's face was probably beat red. regulus stared into james's eyes. then, whatever made him decide doing so was a good idea, james pushed his lips onto regulus's and their bodies collided, regulus's hands still in james's own. regulus didn't know what to do. he wanted to fight and scream. he wanted to push and cry. but he felt his own hands sneaking up james's neck, pushing him closer. soon, regulus was in james's arms, and james was taking him over to his bed. james dropped regulus onto his bed, undoing his tie. regulus didn't want this. at least he thought he didn't. but he felt his body pushing back. he felt himself ripping james out of his button up. he felt himself shirtless, and he felt his hands on james's trouser button. james pulled his lips away from regulus and discarded his trousers. he looked back at regulus, who almost felt like he was sulking.
"are you sure you want to do this." regulus knew it was more of a statement than a question, but he nodded anyway. james stared at regulus with his perfect eyes, and it made regulus forget all about hating him. maybe he did want this after all.
xxx
regulus had his head on james's naked chest while james ran his hand up and down regulus's bare back. the pair sat in semi-comfortable silence.
"so," james starts.
"so." regulus responded. forget semi, it was now completely uncomfortable. regulus just slept with his ex/ ish-brother's best friend, and even then james was the last person he'd expected to end up in's bed. even though the room was completely silent, james continued to run his hand on regulus's back.
"i should probably head to my dorm, now." dinner was almost over, and regulus was not in a good position to get caught. he sat up, and james quickly followed.
"i'll go with you."
regulus looked at james with raised eyebrows. "wouldn't that be weird? a pure-blood-family-heir-black and a potter walking to the slytherin dormitories—oh shit. oh bollocks." regulus swears as he hurriedly trugs his trousers on. "i have no way of getting out of here."
james looked unfazed, as if he already planned an escape. "i have that covered." he said slowly, pulling his
invisibility cloak out of his trunk after fastening the last button on his pajamas.
xxx
it was a few weeks after what happened between regulus and james, and the pair started to grow quite close. when time permitted, regulus was under the invisibility cloak with james, huddled in james's bed. that was exactly what was happening. the pair were under the cloak, giggling at whatever james had said, when suddenly, someone burst through the door.
"james are you in here?" sirius.
james stayed silent. sirius must have noticed the movement of the bed, yanking off the cloak. he stood in shock, eyes falling on his brother curled up into his best friends side.
"holy shit." sirius said, dumbfounded. james sat up. regulus just wanted to roll over and cry hysterically, and he didn't know why: it was either lack of contact with james or the fact his ex/ish-brother just walked in on their "bonding exercise".
"sirius, listen." james said, trying to figure out an excuse.
"why is my brother in your bed," sirius whispered. huh, regulus thought, didn't know we were still brothers. sirius raised his voice. "james, why is my brother in your bed." the room was so quiet, regulus could hear james swallow. he started giggling. he tried to stop, but he absolutely would not.
"the fuck is funny—" regulus was full on wheezing at that point, rolling himself into james's arms. sirius stared at his brother, dumbfounded.
"i'm so-rry!" regulus huffed out while he was trying to calm down. it took a whole other minute for regulus to calm down. his head was now propped up on his hand, looking innocently up at his ex/ish-brother. everyone was silent, sirius's eyes flicking between regulus and james.
"so.." he started. "what is happening?"
regulus looked over his shoulder at james, allowing him to speak. "so uh," james started. "sirius, regulus and i—how do i put this-"
"what would you even call this?"
"honestly no idea."
"im your side hoe?"
"i wouldn't say side since your not side to anything."
"oh—sex buddy?"
"no, more meaningful."
"hm, boyfriends?"
"yeah alright." james cleared his throat. he looked up at his best friend who seems to be completely lost. "sirius," sirius snaps back to reality. "regulus and i are dating." regulus gave sirius a simple nod of approval.
sirius just went still. "you...your dating? when..what?"
"well," regulus says all matter-of-fact-ly. "we've been dating since now, technically, but we've been sleeping together over the last few weeks."
"haha, now what's really going on? are you sure you haven't been cursed into letting him in here to kill me for my mother?" sirius stares at james.
"if i kiss him will you believe us?" regulus deadpans at james's comment; he did not want his ex/ish-brother to watch him make out with james. instead of saying anything, sirius walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"where's he going?" regulus whispers, looking over his shoulder at his boyfriend.
"to go make out with remus, i reckon."
xxx
the dining hall scenarios between the black brothers changed after that, james noticed. there was less bickering between the two's friends. james looked over to see his boyfriend talking to—unfortunately—snape, but he smiled nonetheless. regulus caught his eyes, grinned, and went back to his conversation.
xxx
james was walking into the dining hall one morning, and right before he could even sit down, he felt very familiar quick lips meet his cheek. he looked to his left to see regulus walking toward his friends at his own house table. this was a normal thing for them. whoever got to the dining hall first got the quick-kiss-on-the-cheek hello before anyone noticed. "love you", the kiss always said. james wanted to get up and drag regulus out of the great hall. before he could even begin to lift his feet, a hand holding remus and sirius waltz into the great hall, sitting across from james. james smiled at them, then turns his head to glimpse at his own boyfriend.
remus follows james gaze, and adjusts. "y'know, you can go over there if you want? we can try to to stop them from following you both." remus says, smiling. sirius fake gags, but nods in agreement.
james smiles, flinging his legs over the bench and practically flies to his boyfriend. james stops between crouch and regulus. he puts on his acting face. "black, i need to speak with you." james almost breaks character at the look in regulus's eyes.
unfortunately before he could get a word in, regulus was interrupted by crouch, who'd put his hand on regulus's shoulder. regulus peeled himself away. "what do you want wit' him?" crouch glares.
"to take him out to dinner." james says, deadpanning. he wasn't lying, technically.
crouch lets out a laugh, missing regulus's very pink cheeks. andromeda notices. she always does. "regulus, why dont you go see what this is about? send a flare if you need us." she says, only showing james her smile.
regulus tried not to hide his excitement, but let's out a quiet "thank you" as he stands up.
before he can walk away, crouch grabs him by the wrist, and pulls regulus down back onto the bench, taking out his wand. he points his wand towards james. "c'mon potty, what do you really want wit' him?" regulus stands up. and before he realizes, sirius and remus are at his side.
"barty, put the bloody wand down." narcissa says. "your making a scene."
"i just want to talk to him." james says, hands flying up to his head in defense as crouch shoves his want into james's neck.
"bloody liar."
before anyone could even stop him, a loud "sectumsempra!" is heard ringing in the great hall. regulus stares, frozen. his boyfriend is on the ground, bleeding from his throat. "awesome spell, severus!" crouch says. snape smirks.
time was going in slow motion for regulus. he felt his cheeks wet. he felt teachers push past him. he felt his brothers arms pull him into a hug. he felt his brother's boyfriend hold them close. he felt his housemates stares. he felt professor slughorn push him, sirius and remus into the halls, madam pomfery and a floating james potter covered in blood in front of them.
"mr. and mr. black, mr. lupin." madam pomfery says. "Professor Dumbledore has requested to see each of you separately to know what happened. mr. regulus, if you would follow me, please?" regulus nods, straightening his back. his face was still damp with tears, so him image was messed up anyway; but he was still going to see the headmaster so he wanted to at least look presentable. "mr. black, do come in." dumbledore says, calmly. "please take a seat." regulus makes his way into the office and takes a seat at the desk. the room was covered in paintings and the ceiling was full of candles. "i believe you know why you're here?" regulus nods, and dumbledore continues. "you know, out of all the reactions some would have expected to see from you in this situation, and i mean this in no offense, you crying and being comforted by your brother was not what people saw coming. is there a reason for this expression?"
regulus paused. shit. "minor fear of blood, but when there's a lot, the fear grows."
"and this is not affected by the frog blood you have been using in potions?"
double shit. "no, sir."
"alright," dumbledore says, and smiles knowingly. "back to this, what had happened? use full names, please."
"barty crouch jr. and i were talking, when james potter walked up to us, asking to speak with me." regulus's cheeks grew red, and if dumbledore noticed, he didnt say anything. "i agreed, but barty crouch jr. had other plans, i assume-"
"please mr. black, relax a bit."
"-i guess. barty crouch jr. pushed me back onto the bench, and stood up, taking his wand out. sirius black and remus lupin showed up out of no where but they were at my side instantly before i could stand back up. when i did, barty crouch jr. pushed his wand into james potter's neck. he used a spell—i don't know what the spell is, i dont even think it's an official spell—but it gashed his neck, and probably other places. and that's basically it."
dumbledore nods. "and you're sure you acted that way because of blood?"
regulus couldn't help it, anymore. he felt his voice force itself out. "n-no." he cringes at his stuttering. "no. the blood isn't the reason."
dumbledore smiles. "i thought so. as someone who had a similar experience, you made it very difficult to hide this."
regulus's eyes widen. "what are you talking about." he whispers.
"well, mr black, you're in love with him."
"you're joking? me and potter? no."
dumbledore raises his brow.
"mr. black i assume you don't want to be honest with me, then." regulus does nothing. "alright, mr. black, you're free to go." regulus stands and walks towards the door. "please let remus know i can speak with him, and let madam pomfery know you may visit mr. potter." regulus nods at dumbledore, exiting through the griffin.
xxx
it's an awkward walk to the hospital wing. people are staring. hard. by the time regulus gets to the hospital wing, there's a crowd of people surrounding the doors. regulus pushes through the crowd, people silencing as he passed. opening the door and slipping in, his eyes met with james's. james looked so relaxed, but those bright eyes uncovered by glasses were so pained.
"james." regulus says, his voice cracking. he slowly makes his way over to him, and james watches his every move.
"hey, reg." james's voice was rough from the screaming in agony, but he was talking. he always would talk to regulus. regulus sat at the seat next to james, and james wanted to hug him. james rolled over, supporting his wounded neck and scooted back, allowing room for regulus. regulus was puzzled at first. james patted the open space on the bed, so regulus stood and crawled on next to james. james raises his hand to play with regulus's hair.
"hi." regulus smiles, his eyes watering.
"hi." james closes his eyes, pulling regulus closer. he hears footsteps and feels regulus tense, but keeps his eyes closed. he knows those footsteps.
"thank you," he hears a whisper from an elder female. "i've been trying to get him to close his eyes but he's been insisting to see you." he hears regulus sigh, and the sound of a closing curtain makes him open his eyes. he kisses regulus, the salt of his tears being all james tastes. he pulls away and leans his forehead on to his boyfriend's.
xxx
"james?" remus's voice rings through the room. regulus pulls away his forehead from his sleeping boyfriend and stands. he opens the curtain to see remus standing in front of a silent crowd. he closes the door. "regulus?"
regulus nods. "he's alright. i just got him to sleep." and here's the awkwardness. "you know, i think i'll always associate a wand to a neck with either the start of a relationship or an attempted murder from here on out."
remus raised his brow. "why?"
"well, why do you thing james and i started dating? i doubt it would have been by a casual ask out."
"you tried to kill him and then he confessed?"
"if that's how you wanna look at it." regulus sighs. "it was more of a 'he put his wand to my throat then we slept together, then a few weeks later we started dating." remus nods—or shrugs(regulus can't tell)—and looks over to james's bed. "well, you wanna diffuse the tension and go find something to drink in Hogsmade?"
"i thought you weren't allowed to go?" regulus questions. remus shrugs—this was definitely a shrug—and turns to head out the door, regulus catching up quickly. they open the door to see the crowd had shrunk. closing the door behind them, the pair pushed through and started their way to the doors. while chatting, sirius runs past them to the hospital wing, causing them both to abruptly stop. the pair shared a knowing glance, but continued their way to Hogsmade.
xxx
"aye, regulus, how ya doing?" marlene asks when regulus enters through the portrait door.
"hello reg!" pandora says, noticing her friend.
"working on the project for your potions class?" regulus asks.
pandora nods and marlene grabs another bertie botts every flavor beans. she gags. "boogers." she says, grabbing another one.
"james is..?" regulus says, dropping his voice.
"he's up in the room," marlene says. "think he's alone, sirius and remus might appear out of nowhere, though." regulus thanks her and heads to the bedrooms, waving at pandora as he disappears up the stairs. he knocks on the door. no answer. he starts banging. still no answer. after a while, regulus gets impatient and opens the door. it's empty, but he can hear the shower on. he takes his robe off, throws it into james's chair, and flips onto james's bed, loosening his tie. he grabs a book off of james's side table and flips through it. he grins at the notes in the margins, and smiles at the mentions of him.
james turns off the shower, wraps a towel around his waist, and steps out of the bathroom to find regulus on his bed, reading a book. regulus clearly didn't hear james walking so james let out a small laugh under his breath when regulus jumped at james's forehead kiss. "morning, reg." he says, moving to his trunk to grab a change of clothes.
"morning," regulus says. he closes the book and props his chin up on his hand, watching james put his boxers on. james looks up and meets his boyfriend's eyes. he raises his eyebrow. "yes, reg?"
"well, deerest, do i get my proper good morning or what?"
james rolls his eyes, but complies. he maneuvers around his bed till he's at the side with regulus laying sideways, his chin propped on his hand. he leans down and presses a soft kiss to regulus's lips, pulls away, and gives him a longer kiss. regulus smiles as he pulls away. james stands up, throws on a t-shirt, and lays next to his boyfriend. regulus runs his fingers down the long scar on james's neck and frowns.
james starts speaking. "crouch is on in school suspension and slytherin lost 50 points—sorry—and when he's allowed back he has a week's detention." regulus nodded. regulus hears a knock on the door so he stands up and sits on the floor. the knockers push in.
"good afternoon," remus says, grinning at the couple. sirius pushes by and lays on remus's bed. remus follows, but sits against it and faces regulus. "hello," he says, grinning with his eyes.
"no, no, no." sirius says, rolling over to stare at the back of remus's head. "he's already stollen my best friend he is not allowed to steal my boyfriend too." his eyes meet regulus's over remus's head and they smile at each other. james lifts his hand and runs it through regulus's hair. the group sit in comfortable silence.
xxx
regulus was one of the smarter people to notice the pattern. once—sometimes twice—a month, remus would get stronger, and all his senses would sharpen. then after a week of that, he'd disappear for a night and be in the hospital wing the next morning covered in scars. regulus waited the week for remus's senses to fully strengthen before deciding that he was going to follow him. leaving the slytherin rooms, he walked to the stair case and waited. when someone showed up, he realizes it's not only remus, but also madam pomfery. they walked down the stairs and left the hall, regulus close behind. he follows them to the courtyard and across a small footpath before realizing they stopped in-front of the whomping willow. they slowly began walking into the base of the tree, before disappearing completely. he started his way over, but stopped. he inhaled a sharp breath, then snuck in hastily. he saw remus not far in front of him, so he took a side tunnel, turning through it to avoid any contact. he came out to an old door, and realizes it's the shrieking shack. before he can decide if he took a wrong turn, he hears madam pomfery's comforting voice. he runs into the shack and hides. madam pomfery says one last goodbye, then leaves closing and locking the door behind her. he watches remus look around and suddenly there's a james, sirius, and peter next to him, invisibly cloak in james's hands. remus looks panicked.
"we're we followed?" remus asks, quietly.
peter shakes his head. "doubt it—no one at this school is that smart."
regulus almost stands up.
"are you ok remus?" sirius says worriedly. "you look more stressed out than usual."
"i just—i thought i heard someone." he pauses and straight at where regulus is hiding. he can practically hear remus glare at the spot he's hiding in.
"remus, mate, you ok?" james says. remus looks back at him.
"i smell someone." that's all remus had to say. "alright—alright—hey!" james yelled at the spot remus was so set on. "come out, if you don't get out of hear you could get really hurt!" he says is as more of a threat, but he doesn't mean it as a threat at all. he starts walking over to the spot but as he goes to turn to look around the bed, he hears remus start to collapse and scream.
"get regulus out of here!" remus yelled through screams of agony. james's eyes snapped wide, and whips his head around to look back at what was now regulus.
james grabs his hand, quickly turns to peter and sirius—who were now trying to support remus—and yells, "transforms the second we leave the room!" before leading regulus to the door. james takes his wand out, casts an unlocking charm, and pushes regulus uhh the door.
"james wait!" regulus says from the ground, hand outstretched for james. james doesn't listen, and instead slams the door shut, locking it. "get out of here!" he hears james yell, before it's muffled by a howl. regulus covers his mouth with his hand. he stares at the door in shock due to the lack of yelling. maybe remus's ability got the better of him and remus—he didn't even want to think about it. he stood up, staring at the door, and walked backwards, quietly. he almost got to the darker part of the tunnel, when he suddenly heard a dog bark and a werewolf howl. regulus's eyes widened. he looked around the tunnel, and sighed.
xxx
james was worried. he had just saved his boyfriend from death but what would that cost him? regulus right outside the door? regulus did get hurt? thatp was a possibility because james threw him, or maybe—the worst option— he told a teacher. after getting remus situated, peter, james, and sirius started towards the door. james hesitated. he didn't want to open the door to an injured or worse version of his regulus. he grabbed the nob, unlocked the door, and creaked it open. no regulus. the three ushered out, sirius giving remus one more kiss. they got to the darker part of the shadow. james stopped, and looked hard into the shadow. i cat was running towards him. he braced himself for impact when the cat leapt at him. suddenly, very familiar arms were braced around him. he looked at regulus with his face in james's neck and his arms hanging on his nape. james's eyes widened, but he didn't ask questions. not then, anyways. he wrapped his arms around regulus and held him close. the second regulus was off james, sirius grabbed him to hug instantly.
"i heard you." regulus says. he feels sirius stiffen. "the same bark you use to piss off mother and father. i heard it." regulus feels sirius squeeze harder. after a pause regulus felt was too long, he started talking again. "i didn't tell anyone." and everyone let out a breath they were all holding. regulus smiled. he pulled away from sirius, and started toward the entrance of the tunnel. "let's go, pomfery might come soon."
james was confused. where did the cat go? where did regulus come from? it took him a minute, but by the time the group got to the castle, it clicked. he was standing next to regulus behind peter and sirius. james grabbed regulus's hand, and regulus turns to look at him. james stops walking. "i want to ask you something." regulus nods. james takes a deep breath. "that ginger cat... was that you?" james stays silent after that.
regulus smiles. "actually the cat is half-ginger-tabby, half-kneazle, but yeah." james watched regulus's face. regulus turned and started walking again, james following. "mother and i had found a dog in the courtyard of the malfoy house during a family dinner. i knew it was sirius. i think it was the face." regulus says.
xxx
on the way to the hospital wing—regulus wonders who's next—he spots pandora and a hufflepuff walking in his direction.
"lestrange!" he calls, and pandora looks up.
"hello, regulus! on your way to the hospital wing? is everything okay?" she says. the hufflepuff excuses herself so pandora walks with him.
"yes, everything is fine, i'm visiting." regulus says.
"is it james's scars? did they open again?"
regulus's smile drops. "no," he says flatly. "remus again."
pandora nods. the walks is short, and when they get to the door, pandora says goodbye and takes off. regulus barely touches the door knob when he hears is name to the left. suddenly, his boyfriend is right next to him.
"hello."
"james," regulus says back. regulus watches james's eyes stare back at him, and regulus almost melts.
james pulls his eyes away and opens the door, holding it open for regulus before he slips in behind him. the two walk in and see sirius helping madam pomfery with remus's scars. sirius looks up at his brother and stares warily.
"you boys have 15 minutes." madam pomfery says. she walks out a side door.
remus smiles at the two of them.
"hello, mate." james says, patting remus on the shoulder. "holding your bones together?"
remus rolls his eyes but laughs anyway. "so, uh, regulus, i've been meaning to ask you," remus says. regulus looks at remus and nods for him to continue. remus drops his voice. "where'd you go? last night you were in the shack and—did...did you tell anyone?"
regulus frowned. "obviously not. and to answer your first question—i stayed in the tunnel."
remus quips an eyebrow. "wouldn't i have felt you?-"
a knock was heard from the entrance, causing regulus to jump. a gryffindor who looked like a second year waddled into the room, holding his arm. he stared in fear at the older boys, and scattered into madam pomfery's office. remus pulled his eyes away from the now gone boy and looks back at regulus. "you're alright?"
james's eyes widened. he's forgotten to apologize for throwing regulus the way he did. it was obvious he's hurt him. "excuse us for a second." he interrupts before regulus can respond. he drags his boyfriend into the corner of the room—furthest from the two—and hugs regulus tight. "i'm sorry i threw you." he says, face buried into the nape of regulus. "i am so sorry i threw you."
"james," regulus says, awkwardly hugging him back due to the hight difference. "all you did was push me on my arse. i'm not in the same position remus is in." he almost took it back, but the black in his blood told him not to since it was some what true.
"are you sure?" james says, voice still muffled. regulus pulls away gently and kisses james's forehead.
"james, there, in any way shape or form, is no way you could ever hurt me."
xxx
years later, james did end up hurting regulus. he hurt him bad. he didn't know what to expect, honestly. telling james he had taken the mark was for the best, and james and lily were made for each other. regulus had only ever wanted james to be happy. if james wasn't happy, neither was he. if the light leaves james's eyes, so will his. if james dies, so will he.