The Very Best of Prince

Sirius has been sitting by Regulus’ bedside for the better part of 3 days now. 3 days by his brothers’ bedside that would usually have been spent fantasising about murdering his own parents, 3 days spent praying for some sort of higher power to come and take them away, 3 days spent in utter despair at seeing his sarcastic dick of a brother reduced to a silent beaten up body. But these last 3 days were different. These 3 had been spent plotting their escape for freedom. and this time it would be for real. No higher power was coming to save them, and it was up to Sirius to do something about it.

It had all started that summer with the UK general election coming up. The Black brothers had been brought into this world by two of the most cutthroat tory politicians in parliament with a reputation for fucking evil. As with most people in positions of power this reputation hadn’t extended to their children, and no one ever suspected them when either brother would turn up at their highly prestigious, all boys private school with black eyes or bruises or sprained wrists.

The summer Regulus turned 16 and Sirius would be turning 18 had been an unusually quiet one for the boys due to their parent’s preoccupation with the election - work would always, and without a doubt come before family. They’d been left to their own devices for the most part, entertaining themselves or each other, for neither cared for the stuck-up twats they went to school with, and the house staff were just too shit scared of their parents to have anything real to do with them. The only time they had come across their parents properly this summer was during a family meal. And it didn’t go well. At all.

It was no secret that Sirius was gay. Sirius certainly made sure of it at home anyway, even if it had resulted in a few near misses with a plate or his father’s fist, he just couldn’t help watching them squirm and stutter at the prospect of having a queer child. He was smart though, he could handle their disapproval of him within the household, what he wouldn’t have been able to handle was if anyone outside the household found out. That is to say if he upset his poor parents’ reputation. God forbid the tabloids caught him sucking off one of the (many) definitely closeted boys at school. Well, it’s not that he couldn’t handle it it’s just that Regulus couldn’t handle it. He too squirmed whenever Sirius made his homosexuality overtly obvious at the dinner table, but not for the same reason as his parents, he squirmed because he knew what it meant for Sirius, and Sirius didn’t think he could handle his reaction if he were to face the consequences of tarnishing their parent's public image.

Or at least he thought that was all true.

At this particular family dinner - black ties like nooses around their necks, his father at the head of the table like some sort of vulture, just the clattering of silver cutlery - that was definitely worth more than some houses - to fill the silence. If anything, it was because he was bored of it and couldn’t stand to hear his mother berate the chefs under her breath one more time. Sirius caused a scene. A big gay scene. Filled with all sorts of (depressingly fake really) anecdotes of what he and a boy from school had been up to so far this summer while his parents were busy fighting for their chance to ban abortions and help the rich get richer. At first, his parents acted as usual; berating him, his mother threw a fork at his head, etc etc. until something must’ve snapped.

It was his mother. She got up from the dinner table, and silently walked toward him with enough calmness in her step to have Sirius already sweaty at the collar.

“You can tease and talk all you like Sirius but when we win this election, we will make sure there is a place for people like you. And believe me we won’t be so kind just because we were burdened with you. You disgust me. And you’re no son of mine.”

She said the last part with such hatred Sirius actually thought she was going to spit in his face. He wouldn’t have put it past her either.

He’d gotten to an expert level at letting the things his parents say go over his head, water off a ducks back and all that. But ‘people like him’? Maybe this went further than him. Had he forgotten that his parents actually did have power outside of controlling him and his brother?

The dinner ended abruptly after that and Sirius found himself up in his bedroom trying to hide his nerves about what was said as Regulus paced the floor in front of him.

“She can’t do that. She can’t say that to you.”

In some ways both Black brothers were horrifically similar; the jaw, the nose, the way Regulus was currently pacing the room lost in thought to the point you could see the cogs in his mind turning. They were serial planners. How they weren’t similar, however, was in the fact Regulus was a man of very few words. Direct, blunt, straight to the point. He said what needed to be said and that was that. And he always meant that he said, there was no room for light conversation or small talk. He also rarely complained about their parents.

“Reg, she literally always says that to me.”

“No. using the election to threaten you. To threaten people like you.”

“Yeah… I’ve been thinking about that. It’s scary isn’t it? Suppose I’ll just stop using it to get under their skin.”

Regulus looked at him then and nodded stiffly, leaving his room soon after, clearly still deep in thought about it. Sirius thought he could practically hear his socks shuffling against the floorboards from here.

What followed that was indeed unexpected.

It never occurred to Sirius what Regulus was actually plotting, but when he miraculously disappeared one afternoon and his parents came home seething, brandishing pictures of Regulus at a gay rights march Sirius considered himself downright impressed, proud even. Regulus had done that for him. His parent’s reaction squashed all that down to dust, however.

Sirius had always taken the worst of what their parents had to offer. But the state Regulus was left in left Sirius wondering how on earth they’d stayed there that long, and that was how Sirius found himself on day three of Regulus’ bedside with a pretty fucking solid plan of how he was gonna get them the fuck out of there.

“Rise and shine.”

Now the plan had been officially made, the bags were packed, and escape route indicated (out the front door funnily enough) Sirius was gearing up to go.

He just had to pitch it to Regulus.

Day 4 left Regulus in slightly better shape - his bruises weren’t as black and the swollen parts were back to normal now, he actually acknowledged Sirius when he walked in, and was even sat up reading.

“Oh you’re up - excellent. so. big day. we’re leaving.” No point delaying the inevitable right?

“Excuse me?”

“Us, me and you, Bonnie and Clyde, Thelma and Louise we’re outta here!”

“Could you speak in something other than fucking pop culture references for one minute?”

“While you were recovering, I made a plan for us to get the fuck out of here, and Reg, it’s a good one, it’s actually gonna fucking work.”

“Like run away?”

“Yeah!”

“No”

“what?”

“No way”

“Regulus- “

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Well yeah- runs in the family”

“Sirius we can’t run away, we aren’t 12 this isn’t a joke. You think they’ll let their two precious heirs get away from them? Don’t you think we’d have done it by now if there was a way?”

“Okay first of all, we’re not 12 you’re right and that’s exactly why it’s gonna work. I’m 18 in a few weeks which means they don’t own me anyway and I can qualify as your legal guardian, second of all do you think they’d let a scandal like this ruin their precious election? Now is quite literally the perfect time. They’ll think we’re just kids messing about and assume we’ll be back before long but jokes on them.”

Regulus held his temples like he was talking to an infant, “and where, pray tell, do you propose we go?”

“Uncle Alph’s”

“Alphard? that long-lost uncle we’ve never fucking met that got exiled 20 years ago? That Alph?”

“Duh.”

“Is he even fucking alive Sirius? Do you know where he lives?”

“You underestimate me mon frère - I’ve been doing some digging and from what I can tell he went to Scotland - this little part in the north called Glencoe, as for the alive part, well you got me there but I figured they’d have mentioned something by now if he was I mean they fucking hated the guy they’d have at least had a celebratory dinner for his long awaited demise.”

Regulus face lit up suddenly making Sirius sit on the bed closer to him in excitement, “oh! Okay! So we’ll just run away to Scotland! Sirius you’re a genius I can’t think of a single thing wrong with this excellent plan of yours!”

His face fell and Sirius realised he was being sarcastic. Prick. Now he was closer to him he could see the extent to which his facial wounds were healing, the feeling it gave him was like a punch in the gut reiterating exactly why he was proposing this in the first place.

He took a breath, “Regulus they’ll never stop, I can’t- I can’t let them do this to you again I refuse.”

“They do it to you.”

“But you’re different. You’re mine, and seeing you like this hurts more than anything they’ve ever done to me. Please.”

“Even the time you walked into the glass door running away from mum?”

Sirius laughed at the memory despite it all, “yeah. Even that. My nose hasn’t been right since, and you know how I cherish my looks. Just trust me. I won’t let anything worse happen to us. It’s worth a try, anything is better than this surely”

“and if Alphard’s not there? or refuses to take in his homeless nephews?”

“We’ll work. And rent someplace. We’ll sleep in hostels, I’ll pose nude for magazines.” He got a smirk out of him with the last part.

“Look I’ve gathered enough money-

“stole”

“- stole enough money to get us there and some emergency too if it doesn’t work out with Alphard. We’ll make it work Reg. We’ve got to try.” Sirius tried with all his might to convey his sheer desperation in those last few words, and something must’ve worked because suddenly Regulus was getting up and picking up clothes off his floor.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re making a quick escape, aren’t we? can’t be sentimental about what we take.”

“I already packed” Sirius gestured to the two leather cases in the corner.

“Of course you did.”

“So you’re in?”

“Ugh. It certainly seems that way doesn’t it? Yeah I’m in”

They were out the door within half an hour, having stopped to have a “final meal”, though that was as far as the sentiments went before Sirius was practically skipping out the door at the prospect of bidding adieu to the hell hole.

“Good riddance you fucking monsters” he stuck his two middle fingers up at the front door as Regulus sped walked ahead of him, case in hand, muttering something about “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Sirius wasn’t worried about being spotted by any of the staff as they generally made themselves scarce during the day, and so what if they did spot them? They didn’t know where they were going and their parents were gonna find out they were missing soon enough. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about any search parties.

As Sirius lead the way, he explained he’d been in contact with a car dealership over the phone and had pre paid for what had been described to him as a slightly old, yet classic, getaway vehicle that would suit their “road trip to visit family” just fine. On the phone the dealer hadn’t sounded much older than Sirius himself, pretty indifferent to basically everything Sirius said, so he wasn’t too worried about being ratted out by them. Sirius also explained they were driving instead of getting the train because on the very very rare chance they were followed, the car would be more difficult to track down and that he wasn’t even sure trains went that far into Scotland anyway. They were walking the mile it took to get to the car place and were almost there.

“I can’t believe you’ve actually thought this out.”

“Course I have, I’m not gonna let us be left on our arses - we’re still the sons of very wealthy politicians, only the best for- “

at that they’d turned the corner at the dealership and there sat the most beaten up piece of shit car Sirius had ever seen in his life. He didn’t know the first thing about cars, but he knew from looking at this one it wasn’t very good. It had so much rust and denting that he wasn’t even completely sure what colour it was supposed to be - blue?

“You’re kidding” Regulus deadpanned from beside him.

“What? We were on a budget.”

He spotted the teenager standing by the car and approached him, “hey! Stan is it?”

Stan was in fact as young as Sirius had predicted, his braces and terrible posture making him look considerably more so.

“Uh yeah. You Sirius?”

“I am indeed, is this her?” Sirius slapped the roof of the car trying to seem like one of those car dealer guys he’d seen on tv, but all that happened was it groaned and dipped horribly under his weight. He coughed to cover up his concern. A car was a car, right?

“Yeah just need you to sign sommet then she’s yours”

“Right. And is there anything I should know - maintenance wise?” What was he on about? Honestly, he was just hoping Stan would be like ‘yeah! Press this button and it actually turns into a bright red fucking Ferrari! Have fun!’ Instead all he got was a shrug and a clipboard shoved into his hand.

Regulus was suddenly beside him again, whispering frantically, “Sirius if we turn back now it’ll be like we never left. Seriously I think we’d have a better chance getting to Scotland on foot than in that thing.”

“Oh hush where’s your optimism Reg?”

“Must’ve left it at home with my sanity.”

Sirius ignored him, filling out the surprisingly vague form - name, address, (both of which he made up), insurance information? Sirius wasn’t even sure what that was so just wrote yes next to it.
Stan came back for the clipboard, thankfully didn’t even look at it, and handed him the keys.

“Cheers mate” Sirius clapped him on the back, and in response Stan simply stared at him blankly and turned back. Well that was easy.

Sirius opened the door, thankful it didn’t come off in his hand and winced at the sound it made as he sat in the driver’s seat. He looked around to get his bearings.

“Er alright so it’s got this thing” Sirius poked the gear stick a few times in confusion.

“Sirius that’s a gearstick. do you mean to tell me you learned on automatic?”

“Well it didn’t have that in it.”

Regulus stared at him clearly baffled, “no wonder you passed after about five lessons! I thought Mum and Dad had paid them off!”

“Well I know what I’m doing with my feet alright! So it can’t be that hard it’s probably just a safety thing.”

Regulus put his head in his hands, “oh god I’m gonna die.”

“Don’t be dramatic, maybe there’s a manual” he started checking the doors and the back seat when he opened the glove box and found it empty save for a single mars bar that looked at least 10 years old.

“See? look at that that’s a good sign that is.”

“A good sign for what? food poisoning?”

“I wish you’d lighten up Reg come on! We’re out! We’re going rogue me and you!” He nudged him with his elbow. Regulus rolled his eyes and got out of the car.

“Where you going now!?”

“To find Stan”

After a brief lesson in gears delivered by Stan, Sirius felt confident he wouldn’t kill them.

like 90%.

Maybe 75.

As he pulled out of the garage waving dramatically to Stan, their knight in shining armor, he took them from first, to second, up to third gear on the main road.

“REG! look third gear! I’m doing it! “

“That would be a lot more impressive if we weren’t embarking on a multiple day runaway road trip - do you even know how to get to Scotland?”

“That’s where you come in” Sirius reached blindly into the back seat into one of the carrier bags he’d brought

“Sirius! oh god Sirius please the road” Regulus' voice was at least 2 pitches higher.

He finally pulled out the gigantically heavy map book he’d found in his father’s study and dumped it on Regulus’ lap, “you’re navigator!”

He glanced at his brother's scowl and bit back a laugh, adding “look I’ve already indicated roughly where we need to go,”

“is that red crayon?”

“Yeah look-” he ran his finger along the route he’d vaguely mapped out.

“Sirius part of this goes over water.”

“Oh well we’ll figure it out - just don’t drive through any bodies of water eh?”

Regulus sighed and looked further into the map indicating he was in fact embracing navigation as “his thing” and Sirius would no longer have to worry about it.

They didn’t talk for a while at first, Regulus just occasionally giving him directional instruction, leaving Sirius to think over what they were doing. He did a mental inventory check to pass the time.

⁃ one beaten up vehicle
⁃ one beaten up brother
⁃ his favourite Madonna crop top
⁃ his best records
⁃ A stash of snacks he’d been gradually sneaking from the kitchen
⁃ deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairspray etc
⁃ Regulus’ bear that he refused to admit he still slept with
⁃ cash
⁃ passports (just in case)
⁃ about three days’ worth of clothes
⁃ emergency cigarette stash

Yeah that was about it.

Oh god. Three days?! How long were they gonna be re-wearing clothes?! That didn’t feel like much at all. Was that really all that was tying him to that place? Should he have packed more for Regulus? Suppose he would’ve grabbed anything he felt he needed himself before they left. Or was he relying on Sirius? Of course he was relying on Sirius this was Sirius idea! his plan. When had he ever been the strategic one?! Regulus was always the one that figured out the details. Sirius just had the ideas. Fuck. This was all gonna go wrong wasn’t it. What was he doing?!

“Oh god okay Regulus I’m freaking out a bit.”

“Why?” A distinct lack of concern in his tone.

“You’re right! What are we doing?! I don’t have this all sussed I mean I only brought 3 days’ worth of clothes! what if it rains, we don’t have umbrellas Regulus.”

“3 days was all we’d have been able to carry anyway. We can buy umbrellas.”

Sirius was breathing heavier now, his eyes wide and unseeing on the road, “you’re not stressed out?! I mean why on earth would you let me do this Reg!! Why did you listen to me?!”

“Because I trust you.”

Sirius found those words to be quite disarming. He suddenly stilled and realised Regulus really did trust him. He really did get in this beat up peace of shit and agree to travel across the country. He supposed they were sort of desperate. And he trusted him.

“You do?”

“Of course, Sirius. Granted the whole gearstick thing was a bit of a setback but we’ve always figured it out. You were right. We couldn’t stay there.” He was looking out the window avoiding eye contact which was something he did often with everyone but Sirius. Only when he was talking about something he didn’t feel confident to talk about it did he avoid eye contact with Sirius.

Calmer now, Sirius added, “I just feel like I forgot something important.”

“Did you get your Madonna shirt? “

“Course.”

“Then we’ve got everything we need.”

Regulus glanced at him sideways and smiled, and Sirius grinned back.

They’d be fine.

They drove until it was starting to get dark then stopped to eat and figure out where they’d sleep for the night.

They sat at a diner over a single burger and fries - Sirius wanted to get milkshakes too but Regulus reminded him that they were budgeting. Boring. Regulus sat with the map open on the table.

“So it doesn’t look like there’s a hostel anywhere nearby.”

“We can just sleep in the car”

Regulus looked at him, a painful look on his face,

“what? Were you expecting the Ritz? We’re roughing it now Reg”, he kicked him lightly under the table.

“I suppose we could take stints in the back seat,” Regulus responded diplomatically.

When they got the bill, Sirius noticed the waitress had left her number on the receipt, he whistled and held it up to Regulus, “think we could ask to stay at hers?”

“I think you could.”

“Nah, we’re a package deal anyway.” He slung his arm around Regulus’ shoulder as they walked back toward the car.

Sirius let Regulus take the backseat first, but after a while noticed Regulus' breathing hadn’t evened out meaning they were both still wide awake, staring out the windows at a dark expanse of starry sky. Sirius had the brief thought that perhaps this was the time one would usually feel homesick. Personally, he was still buzzing over the prospect of leaving home for good. A feeling he wondered would ever leave. He spoke quietly from the front seat, his gaze still fixed on the stars,

“Do you ever think it’s weird how Mum and Dad were so shit but neither of us were like that?”

“I’m a bit like that.”

“No you aren’t. I wouldn’t like you if you were.”

Regulus didn’t say anything to that, so Sirius added, “I’m glad we are like us. That we didn’t turn on each other or something. It’d be shit doing it on my own.”

“Yeah it would” he knew Regulus was in the back also looking out the window.

“You know I never did figure out all that star shit were named after” Sirius went on.

“You- I- what?” Regulus sounded exasperated and suddenly sat up, so he was right behind Sirius.

“Think it was me taking some sort of a stand against it.”

“Yeah but it’s sort of general knowledge Sirius, everyone knows it.”

“Well not me” he said, pride in his voice.

Regulus pointed out of the windshield, “that one’s you.”

“Which one?”

“That one.”

“Reg your fingers in the way”

“no it’s not- Sirius it’s the brightest fucking star in the sky.”

“Well I knew that” he responded, smirking.

Regulus lightly smacked him up the side of the head “you’re a twat. I’m going to sleep.”

They woke up feeling, well, like they were two teenage boys on the run who had hardly slept cramped in a tiny car. Sirius stumbled out of the car first to stretch his legs after they were woken by the sunrise.

“Eugh that was not fun. I’m definitely taking the back seat tonight.”

Regulus grunted in response from where he was still half asleep in the back seat, cheek smushed against his hand, definitely drooling.

Sirius banged on the window, “c’mon the sooner we get going the less nights sleeping in there.”

Regulus groaned and flipped him off, so Sirius left him to walk into the diner to get them breakfast.

By the time they were back on the road and had been for some time Sirius noticed Regulus hadn’t actually said a single word.
“You getting cold feet or what?”

Regulus looked like he’d been torn out of a deep thought, “what?”

“You haven’t said anything all day.”

“No. Just thinking. It’s a bit quiet isn’t it?”

Sirius knew the feeling. They were similar in that respect too. They’d spent much of their childhoods coming up with games and ways not just to pass the time, but to keep them distracted. The mind of a Black brother was not somewhere you wanted to dwell, and both were often welcoming to any means of occupying their minds. Sirius, for one, at a young age had discovered the beauty of being able to blast Black Sabbath at full volume to drown out any and all of his darker thoughts. Nothing like the voice of Ozzy Osbourne to help avoid your problems. Regulus, he knew, had taken more to actually playing music, spending hours at a time glued to the piano or transcribing music.

They’d give up on the radio a few hours ago after finding it lost signal every five minutes, and even their thoughts were better than static.

“Ugh I cannot BELIEVE I forgot CDs, music, that’s my THING,” Sirius complained.

Regulus, seemingly deciding that static IS better than whatever’s going on in his head, leaned forward to mess with the radio bit of the car. “It says there’s already a CD in it.”

“What really? Play it.”

“Well let me just- “, at that Sirius leaned forward and punched the play button. An energetic, and oh too familiar, beat filled the silence.

‘I aint got no money, I aint like those other guys you hang around'

“Oh god it’s prince.”

This came from Regulus. Sirius, sure this was some blessed sign from an angel above replied, yelling over the volume, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN OH GOD ITS PRINCE?!”

Regulus leaned forward to turn it down, but Sirius was quicker, and bat his hand away while simultaneously glaring at him and turning it up louder, filling his brain with loud noise once again like feeling the rain after a drought.

“God Sirius could you be more gay,” Regulus said, defeated.

This made Sirius erupt into laughter, Regulus joining him. The both of them left laughing like maniacs.

Thank god for Prince.

The next stop they made was to get petrol and food at a service station/ fast food place. They were standing at the checkout counter when Sirius noticed the tv on silent above them displaying some sort of meeting in parliament, with none other than his parents partaking in said meeting. He reached for two pairs of aviators on a stand by the counter, handing them to Regulus.

“Here get these so no one recognises us.”

“As the sons of two politicians? Sirius we’re in the middle of nowhere I hardly think we’re on a most wanted poster round here.” He hadn’t noticed the TV.

When it was their turn to pay Sirius slid the glasses on the counter as the cashier looked up at him, “ey you look like that tory woman on the telle.”

Sirius heard Regulus cough next to him.

“Mmm sorry mate don’t know her, must be a bitch if she’s a tory - wouldn’t piss on any of them if they were on fire.” He smirked at Regulus as they walked away,

“oh for fuck sake give me those” Regulus grabbed a pair of glasses from his hand.

They sat in at the fast food joint just to get out of the car for a bit, quietly arguing over how effective a pair of aviators actually were at disguising them, Sirius was about to make the very valid point that disguise aside, it made them look straight out of Top Gun which is in itself was reason to keep wearing them, when they were suddenly interrupted.

“Sirius black?!”

“Oh god give me the glasses” Sirius whispered to Regulus at the sound of his voice being called.

He didn’t have time to wrestle them out of Regulus' hands however before a vaguely familiar face was standing before their table. He was tall, taller than Sirius with dark skin, large glasses, and incredibly messy hair. Sirius wondered if Regulus recognised him and could aid him in figuring out where the hell he knew him from, but when he looked over at him for help all he found was a blank expression on his face, eyebrows slightly raised, mouth slightly agape and… was he blushing? The not-stranger spoke up, clearly recognising that Sirius was at a loss.

“Its James. Potter? I went to your school briefly, we were in the same year. I left pretty quickly so I doubt you’ll recognise me.” He glanced between them, looking truthfully a bit sceptical, especially when he lingered a second on Regulus and his bruised face.

“And you’re Regulus, right?” Regulus said nothing and Sirius realised that he did actually know who he was.

“Oh James! Hey! Yeah you played rugby, right? Shit you were the reason we won that season! You know we haven’t won since.” It felt weird to be talking about a school and team he knew he’d never associate himself with again.

James laughed, “good to know. I left to pursue sports actually, but how are you? How’s school?”

At that Regulus suddenly stood up, muttering about going to the bathroom before making a swift exit, leaving a free chair that Sirius quickly offered to James. They continued to talk, and in the five minutes Regulus was gone James made him laugh more than he could remember laughing in years and he instantly felt lighter for it. They talked Rugby and how genuinely tragic their school was, and even music briefly before Regulus returned. James smiled warmly up at him before offering him back his seat. Regulus, of course, avoided eye contact at all cost.

“Best be off anyway, I’m here with my parents we’re road tripping to Scotland to look at a uni I’m interested in.” He gestured to his parents across the room, they waved at all three of them and Sirius enthusiastically waved back.

“What about you guys what brings you here?” James asked. Sirius could practically feel Regulus' glare.

“We’re actually road tripping to Scotland too” sharp kick to the ankle, he winced,

“-visiting family.”

James frowned comically as though he could see right through them, “...well maybe I’ll see you on the road?”

“Yeah for sure! We’ll keep an eye out won’t we Reg?”

“Mm” Was all Regulus offered in response.

Sirius waved bye to James' parents to be polite before they left, who returned it with warm smiles, though James' mum frowned with a subtle mix of concern and sympathy when she looked at Regulus, who stormed ahead of him into the car park.

“These fucking bruises, everyone looks at me like I’m some sort of convict or charity case.” He slammed the door behind him in the passenger seat.

“No one thinks that Reg. Though we could do with the charity.” Regulus seemed angry in a way like he was sort of... embarrassed?

“I bet some people think you look cool” Sirius added, trying to make him feel better.

“Oh whoopee let me just go back home and get beat up a bit more maybe then I can finally be the cool one.”

“Oh reg.”

Sirius found he always felt particularly protective and paternal when Regulus got like this… like, well the angsty teenager he was. He knew better than to indulge in his paternal instincts however, so left it up to Prince to work his mind-numbing magic and drove away thinking about James, feeling oddly comforted by his presence on the road. He did decide to voice this, curious as to whether Regulus felt the same.

“James was nice” Regulus didn’t say anything at first.

“He was …tall.”

Sirius laughed, “god your people skills are really something.”

“You shouldn’t have told him where we were going you know, we’re supposed to be keeping a low profile.”

“Pffft I hardly think James is running to the feds ‘officer they’re embarking on a highly illegal road trip to visit family! *gasp *!”

After no less than seven renditions of Purple Rain performed as a duet, with as much energy and choreography as possible in a tiny 4-seater, they settled for the car park that looked least murderous and decided to settle down for the night again. It was Sirius’ turn in the back seat which he gladly accepted, stretching out and noticing not for the first time that day how badly he needed to shower - and for a second thought of James probably asleep in some five-star hotel smelling much better than him. The backseats must have been much comfier than the front because it wasn’t not long before he was nodding off.

He was woken by the door slamming, shaking the whole car with him in it and the muffled sound of Regulus mouthing off about something. He sat up and opened his door, sitting half in half out the car while he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“I am NOT spending another night in that thing we're finding somewhere else tonight.” This came from Regulus.

“Alright we’ll head in the direction of a hostel today.” Sirius stretched his arms above his head and was immediately reminded of the stench now no doubt surrounding both of them. He grimaced.

“Could do with a wash anyway if we don’t kill ourselves with the smell before.”

Regulus nodded in agreement, looking like a very very tired child.

“Didn’t sleep much then?” Sirius asked coyly.

Regulus just flipped him off.

“So what do you think Mum and Dad are doing now they’ve noticed our absence?”

They were back on the road again, pretty close to Scotland, they’d hopefully only need to stop to sleep once more before they reached wherever the fuck Alphard was supposed to be. That was assuming they managed to find him. Something Sirius was purposefully ignoring for the time being.

Sirius answered his own question - “probably rejoicing over finally being rid of the queer one and crying over being rid of the good one.”

“Oh well you win some you lose some”, was Regulus’ response. They both laughed. Regulus went on,

“not sure I’m considered the good one anymore after…” his laughter died. Sirius had forgotten about why they were actually doing this.

“Oh yeah how have we not talked about this?! Erm what the fuck was that Reg? You went to a gay pride march? Without me?! Just as a fuck you to them. That was pretty fucking legendary.”

Regulus smiled slightly and nearly whispered, “I was so angry.”

“Well fuck them yeah? It was dumb but at least we got to get under their skin one last time.”

“Right.”

“Seriously Reg. We don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

“Yeah except maybe we do. They’re still our parents. Don’t you think maybe, just maybe, they actually do need us – or want us? We left but were still their sons.” Regulus had always had more sympathy for them than Sirius did. All sympathy Sirius had died the first time they ever hurt Regulus. They truly were, wholly and completely dead to him.

“No Regulus, they want you to think that. They don’t care about us. I don’t even think they love us. They definitely don’t love me. What they did, we didn’t deserve that. We don’t deserve that. The sooner you realise that the better.”

Regulus sighed “yeah.”

“I know it’s hard, blood is thicker than water and all that, but fuck. They’re horrible people. And you are not.” It had taken a long time for Sirius himself to accept that. A lot of completely ignoring everything his parents said and realising he needed to believe it so that Regulus would.

Before they knew it, they were both silently weeping, trying not to acknowledge the fact the other was indeed also silently weeping. Just the occasional sniffle and of course, Prince keeping them company. For the first time Sirius realised that Sign O’ the Times was actually kind of a sad song.

They had a pretty uneventful journey that day, arriving into Scotland sooner than they thought and even passing James' car on the motorway at one point, Sirius making ridiculous faces that James immediately reciprocated from his place in the back seat. James even glanced at Regulus who just wordlessly held a gun sign to his head in response to Sirius ridiculousness which made James laugh so wholeheartedly Sirius thought he could hear it through the window.

They arrived at a hostel, still on the edge of Scotland, that already had a bit of a queue outside of it. A queue made up of people that looked a lot rougher and a lot meaner than Sirius and Regulus. They reluctantly joined the queue, a few supplies in carrier bags, both sending a silent prayer they weren’t gonna get their asses beaten by some Scottish thugs. Sirius was tapping his foot and could hear Regulus quietly humming ‘wanna be your lover’ beside him when they were called up to the entrance and paid a small fee for a shared bedroom with access to the communal bathroom.

At the sight of clean bedding and a pillow Sirius didn’t care if he was sharing with Al Capone, he was so overcome with relief he almost moaned at the sight. It turned out not to be the only thing he had to refrain from moaning at the sight of.

Sitting on the lower bunk of one of the two sets of bunk beds in the room was a boy, no, man, well, guy, adjusting the strings on a guitar. He was lanky with curly mousy hair hanging slightly over the guitar as he concentrated. He looked up when he heard them walk in and Sirius met the most wonderful eyes he’d ever seen in his life. He was freckled and tanned, he looked tired but in a way that suited him - like he’d been tired a long time. His mouth was slightly agape as they stared at each other.

“Hi” was all Sirius managed.

The guy cleared his throat and stood up - very VERY tall. Young. He was wearing beaten up cargo pants and a loose, thin, Talking Heads shirt, “I’m Remus.”

“Hi hey I’m Sirius this is my-

“Regulus” Regulus supplied for a dangerously close to stuttering Sirius.

“Brothers?”

“No we just met.” Could Regulus shut up and let him stare at the angel?!

But then the angel laughed at his joke and suddenly Sirius wanted Regulus to keep making jokes for all of eternity just to keep him laughing. Regulus deposited their stuff onto the other set of bunk beds as Sirius stood there stupidly. Remus was sitting back down but glanced up through eyelashes to smile at him. Sirius was sure he was blushing.

“You play?” He decided to ask, gesturing to the guitar by Remus’ bed.

“Nah just carry it round to look cool.” Sirius was reminded to keep his cool and instead of giggling like a girl at his joke he simply mirrored his soft smile.

“Don’t worry though I won’t burden you with it tonight, your eardrums are safe.”

Regulus now sat on the top bunk, legs dangling over the edge, “oh I don’t think Sirius would-“

“REG”

Regulus was smirking ‘…yes?”

Sirius gritted his teeth, “shower – should I go first, or should you?”

Sirius widened his eyes at him telepathically trying to say ‘you should go first so I can try to seduce this sexy angel of a man in peace’. Regulus hopped off the bed, snatching up a towel from the bottom bunk, “how gentlemanly of you Sirius.”

“Don’t get lost”, Sirius stepped aside and held an arm out.

Regulus winked at him once outside the door. Regulus rarely allowed himself to be youthful and frankly fun, but whenever he did it made Sirius especially fond of him, even if it was against his will. He smiled and shook his head as he walked further into the room.

“What brings you here then?” Remus had a very low faint Scottish accent.

“Oh we- “ he considered giving him the same bullshit as James but the honest look on Remus’ face told him there was really no need.

“-We ran away from home. Been sleeping in the car. but- “

“the back pains a bitch, right?”

“Right.”

“His- his face was that why?”

“Yeah, having monsters for parents gets old after a while.” Remus looked at him with such sadness Sirius immediately wanted to change the subject.

“I take it you’re familiar with this,” He said gesturing to the room.

“Oh yeah I... ran away a long time ago. I mostly just busk around here nowadays.” He said the runaway bit like his kind of running away was a bit different to their kind of running away, but Sirius chose not to push it.

“Oh, so you’re a professional?” Sirius grinned.

“If you call playing to angry businessmen on their route to work and the street rats professional then yeah, consider me David fucking Bowie.”

“Those lucky street rats.”

“They don’t tip very much mind you.” They were both laughing, shit-eating grins plastered on their faces.

“What’s your full name?” Sirius asked.

Remus swallowed and looked him in the eye, his smile still subtly in place like he found this whole thing very amusing, “Remus Lupin.”

“Mmm yeah, sounds like a famous name.”

“you think so?”

“Oh, for sure. Like Marvin Gaye or Mick Jagger, it rolls off the tongue”, and for flirtatious effect he could only pray was working, repeated it once more.

“Remus Lupin.” Remus’ cheeks immediately filled with colour and he looked down.

“Oh yeah? What’s yours then?”

“Sirius Black.”

Remus’ head immediately whipped back up, “oh fuck off.”

“What?”

“You’re telling me I have a famous name when you’re walking around with a name like Sirius Black?”

Sirius laughed loudly at this, “good job I’m not the one with a guitar – might outsell ya.”

Remus smiled, shaking his head when Regulus walked back in looking between Remus still sitting on the bed, and Sirius leaning against the bunk bed, like he’d walked in on something vulgar. Remus looked at him sadly, clearly reminded of their conversation previously.

“Oh you’re not supposed to look at him like that” Sirius said casually in response to Remus's facial expression – he was, of course, still refusing to look at anything else.

‘Hm? Oh sorry’, Remus politely averted his gaze, “s’just… fucked.”

Regulus was now sitting back on the top bunk drying his hair with a towel, “you told him?”

“That we’re runaways? Yeah.”

“Oh well that’s different if he knows. I do deserve a little sympathy.”

Remus laughed and Sirius grabbed himself a towel, desperate to be clean again, even if it did mean parting with the angel called Remus for a few minutes, “right guess it’s my turn.”

“Oh I’ll come with you.”

Never mind then. Sirius froze. “Oh! sure…”

“Thought we could shower together – save water that way.” Sirius thought he was going to actually faint and die. Just die. Right there. He clearly looked that way too because Remus had to hastily add,

“kidding. Obviously – you mean you wouldn’t want to shower with a strange man you just met at the local hostel!? Really Black?!” He stood up again, a look of pure mischief on his face.

“Oh, great you told him our last name. Why not give away our social security numbers and home address while you’re at it?” Regulus piped up from behind them, watching the entire exchange closely.

“Well we don’t have one of those anymore do we Reg?” Sirius said, walking out the door still flustered from Remus ‘joke’. Oh, how he wished it wasn’t a joke. If he’d have only given him time to get over himself, he would’ve said yes! Still, Remus followed him out the door. So he was serious about coming with him then.

“I’m not gonna get shanked mid shampoo, am I?” Sirius queried.

“Nah everyone here’s usually alright, its closer to the cities you have to worry about.” Remus even nodded or said hi to a few regulars. Remus's shoulder bumped Sirius’ a few times as they walked down the hall.

“You should keep your distance – seriously I smell,” Sirius said.

“Don’t we all? How long have you been on the run?”

“Since Tuesday.”

“And where you heading?”

“Glencoe? We supposedly have an exile uncle round there but… truthfully, I think were both feeling like it might be a lost cause. Suppose we're a bit fucked after that.”

“Ah nothing wrong with being a bit fucked. I’ve been a bit fucked since I was 15 and I’m still here. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I’ve heard about a few good gigs n that up there it's meant to be alright. All else fails you can set up camp up north.”

“Yeah. Might have to resort to naked modeling though – bit cold up there isn’t it? Think I’ve got potential?” Remus laughed, blushing again.

“I don’t know strip off and let’s find out.” Sirius knew he was joking but god he was relentless!

They were in the bathroom now and from inside a shower cubicle (with a door thankfully) Sirius shouted,
“you are a flirt Remus lupin!”
He placed his clothes on the little table inside and turned the shower head on letting out a straight up pornographic sound at the feel of hot running water.

“Now who’s the flirt!? You can’t make sounds like that!” Sirius laughed and heard Remus also turn on his shower. When he was done and feeling like he’d quite frankly been reborn, rejoicing in the feeling of a new set of clothes touching his skin, he walked out to find Remus already done, towel drying his hair.
Sirius let his own fall over his face, deciding not to embarrass himself by asking about a hair dryer.

“They’ve got a bit for tea n that down the hall – want me to grab you guys one?” Remus offered

“Oh yeah please – Reg has no milk no sugar, I’ll have milk 4 sugars.”

“I don’t know which one you’s more of a psycho for that – 4 sugars?!” Remus walked out the door grinning at him. Sirius returned to their room; grateful they hadn’t been joined by anyone else.

“You didn’t shag him in the showers did you?”

“Piss off obviously not you little shit.” Regulus laughed, still looking at the book he’d been reading.

“Y’okay?” Sirius asked.

Regulus nodded, Sirius went on, “I feel better for that though fuckin hell who knew how much a shower n clean clothes could sort you out?”

“A shower, clean clothes, and a lanky guitarist – where’s he gone anyway?”

“Get tea.”

“Oh, did you- “

“black, no sugar you freak.” Regulus smiled slightly despite himself.

“Your face looks better.”

“Mm”

“Want me to beat you up a bit so you’ll still get sympathy from hot strangers?”

“That’s not funny Sirius.”

“It’s a little funny.”

Remus returned with teas and sitting in bed with a hot drink in his hands, Sirius found he was more tired than he thought and was even about to settle in when Remus threw them both various garments of clothing. “Here - gets pretty cold in the night.”

Sirius got a hoodie and a hat and put them both on, taking Remus’ word for it. He tried not to think too much about the fact they smelled incredibly good as he quickly fell into the best sleep he’d had in days.

Both brothers slept longer than anticipated, Remus had showered and dressed before they’d even opened their eyes, both completely bundled in his clothes and the thin duvet on the bed. Sirius briefly worried that Remus was waiting for them to wake up so he could get his clothes back but when he glanced at him, he found him pretty comfortably laying against the wall on his bed quietly playing the guitar so as not to wake them.

“Sleep alright?” Sirius croaked
.
“Not as good as two people who’ve spent the last few nights in a car, I’m sure.”

He heard Regulus groan at them for making noise from above him and they flashed a smile at each other. Sirius sat up, “thanks for the clothes.”

“S’alright.”

“Suppose I’ll get em back to you so you can be off.”

Remus had a distracted look to him, “right.”

Sirius stood up and turned to Reg, poking him, “uptime kid, gotta give Remus his stuff back.”

“Oh you’re alright for a bit I actually saw someone I know so might go say hi” Remus cut in.

“Oh okay – cheers.”

Once Remus was gone Sirius turned back to Regulus, “Reg I’ve had an idea.”

“Mmm’

“It’s about Remus.”

“Bit soon for a proposal isn’t it?” Regulus mumbled, eyes still closed.

“No I wondered if we could- If you’d be cool with-“

“no.”

“Reg come on.”

“Sirius, we don’t even know him”, he sighed and sat up.

“But Reg hear me out – what if he’s the love of my life? You’re just gonna let us walk out that door and I’ll never see the love of my life again?! You’d be so cruel!? That is SO selfish Regulus.”

Regulus groaned and flopped back down onto the bed. He let out a muffled “fine” from where his face was mushed in the duvet. Sirius briefly thought that he wouldn’t have been nearly as easy to win over was it not for the fact he’d just woken up. He would feel at least a bit guilty about it were it not for the fact Remus was back looking oh so lovely in a beanie, hoodie, and jeans. Regulus took the Remus sweatshirt he was wearing off and handed it to Sirius with a look that said ‘well go on then’. He handed Remus his clothes back.

“oh thanks, I-“

before Sirius could overthink it he was blurting out, “you should come with us. I- I mean- would you… would you like to come with us? To Glencoe. it's just you said about the gigs and it’d be cool for you to have a look maybe… you don’t have to. Obviously.

“Smooth” he heard Regulus whisper.

Remus looked genuinely surprised at the offer, “oh I erm- I”

“- that’s fine!”

“It’s just I wouldn’t want to intrude, or I don’t know, I mean I’d love to but- “he looked disappointed suddenly.

“No yeah yeah that’s- “

They both stood there lamely, clearly neither were happy with the outcome. Regulus had to help them out in the end. “Oh for fuck sake this is painful. Remus – just come with us. I know you want to. You know you want to.”

“But Regulus do you want me to?”

Regulus looked a bit taken aback at being asked by him so outright, “I- yeah. I can’t be doing with Sirius whining if you don’t. he gets boring.”

“Thanks Reg” Sirius mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

“Yeah why not”

Sirius looked up as Remus shrugged at Regulus. “You will?!”

“Yeah, beats staying here another night. You better not get boring though.” Remus and regulus grinned at each other and Sirius suddenly felt like he was missing something.

“Actually, I believe the words you used were that you’d love to”, he added.

Remus rolled his eyes then, “c’mon then if we're gonna find this exiled uncle of yours.”

That morning, as Sirius left the room to take advantage of the running water, he allowed himself a little jump out of sheer excitement at having Remus come with them. This time, when he got out the shower, he put the Madonna shirt on.

It was noticeably colder in Scotland and Sirius shivered against the wind, internally cursing himself for prioritising fashion over warmth. The strip of bare stomach on show was making him question whether the Madonna shirt was a good idea after all, when suddenly Remus tugged his hat back over Sirius's head.

Remus’ hat.

He did it wordlessly and smirked at him when Sirius frowned in confusion before realising that Remus must’ve noticed him freezing. As Sirius fished the keys out his coat pocket Regulus nodded to the guitar in Remus's hands, “Know any prince?”

Both brothers erupted into laughter at the inside joke leaving Remus to look lost.

“Don’t worry you’ll understand before long” Sirius patted him on the shoulder fondly before sliding into the driver’s seat.

Sirius would like to tell his grandchildren the moment he knew Remus lupin was the one was when he first set eyes on him at the hostel. Truthfully, the first time Sirius black knew Remus lupin was the one was when he discovered he already knew all the words to “The Very Best of Prince” including, may he add, the entire Alphabet St rap. Actually, it was around their fourth rendition of Alphabet St (this time Remus being the one to chant the cat we need you to rap bit and Regulus and Sirius absolutely sweeping the floor with the rap section) when they realised, they were quite lost.

“Aye I don’t recognise this you sure we’re going the right way?” Remus leaned forward from the back seat.

“Yeah should be, we came off the M74 and Reg said take a right then follow the road for a while.”

“No I didn’t” Regulus piped up.

“Yes you did you said take a right and-“

“I said take a left.”

“Remus! Did he or did he not say take a right.”

“Oh no I’m not getting involved.”

“So, in other words we’re lost” Regulus announced.

“Fuck” Sirius began pulling up at the side of the road so they could figure this out.

“I said left” Regulus muttered.

“Well Remus was distracting me from the back!”

“Hey!” was Remus's defense.

“Great Sirius your dick got us lost” Regulus got out of the car, Sirius following him.

They argued a bit more on the side of the road before Remus joined them, map in hand, “nah we should be alright if you carry on this road for about 20 miles it takes us back to the motorway and we can just circle back till we take the right exit.”

So that was what they did. By the time they were back on the right track it wasn’t even evening yet, but Sirius could only take so much of Remus and Regulus discussing musical note notation styles before his eyes began to droop,

“right! That’s it I can’t drive anymore I don’t know who said I was the boring one but you two are fucking dull.”

“Fine by me” Regulus drawled.

“I saw a sign for a motel sight a few miles away” Remus offered.

“Excellent Remus remind me to snog you when we get there.”

They arrived at said motel and Sirius had to swallow his excitement when he saw James’ car in the car park so as not to embarrass himself in front of Remus. He spotted the messy haired boy kicking a football around with his dad in the park next to the motel and waved, jogging up to meet him,

“James! this is Remus. he’s with us now.”

James smiled at Remus offering his hand “I’m James – where did you-?”

Remus explained they found him at the hostel, to which James looked politely confused, no doubt wondering why the sons of two highly prestigious politicians were staying in a hostel and not a five-star hotel, but he thankfully didn’t bring it up.

Sirius, Remus, and James played a few games of football, or their version of football – just one of them repeatedly tackling the others to get the ball in their possession. They argued they’d have actual teams if Regulus joined but he refused, instead choosing to watch from his place on the grass. James must have felt bad because he retired after a while to join Regulus, something that seemingly made the younger boy quite uncomfortable, but Sirius soon noticed them chatting and Regulus even giggling once or twice, a flush to his cheeks the whole time…

“Wait do you think? -“ Sirius slid off Remus’ back where he’d been tackling him, suddenly distracted by how James was clearly making Regulus bush, both of them leaning into each other with that look in their eye.

“That your brother has a big fat crush on James? Yeah I do.” Remus replied.

“Oh.”

He could see Remus staring at him from the corner of his eye, gaze still fixed on James and Regulus. It wasn’t that he had an issue with it of course if it were to be a thing, it was just that he’d just never considered Regulus to be the type to have a crush… on anyone. Suppose James was a pretty good option.

“And do you think James- “

“has a big fat crush on Regulus? I’d say so yeah” Remus finished for him again.

Sirius suddenly side eyed him, “and what are you some sort of love expert?”

“Might be.”

Sirius turned to look at him, the orange light of the early sunset making his skin look that bit more tanned, sweaty hair sticking to his forehead and still slightly out of breath, smiling back at Sirius with bright eyes and white teeth. He looked suddenly like every boy Sirius had fantasized about marrying and shagging and loving his entire pathetic teenage existence.

“Yeah sounds about right” he nearly whispered.

“Sorry?”

Sirius shook his head laughing and took the football from under his foot making Remus stumble and grab Sirius from behind lifting Sirius, and the ball, into the air.

Shortly after this, the sunset turning from a pale orange to those lovely deep blues and purples, Regulus and Remus took their stuff into the double room they’d shelled out on, James and Sirius staying behind. They sat on the edge of the park that overlooked a distant motorway and woods. They were laughing as Sirius retold the story of a prank he’d pulled at school that had ultimately resulted in temporary exclusion and a broken wrist thanks to his parents (though he left that part out).

“No fucking way you did that. How’d you get away with it? Weren’t your parents pissed?”

“I didn’t. Yeah they were pretty pissed…” He remembered Regulus being the only person that would sign his cast. It had made Sirius so happy he’d drawn all sorts on it - it looked like a work of art by the time he was done.

James noticed the lull in the conversation as Sirius recalled the bittersweet memory. “You’re not… you’re not on a road trip to visit family, are you?”

“Well we- sort of. But no. we don’t plan on going home if that’s what you mean.”

“Your parents. Regulus, his face- they did that?” The pain was evident in James' voice.

“Yeah.” Whether it was the immediate connection he felt to James, the sunset, or the fact he was just so bloody tired and relieved to have spent the afternoon with people he could actually consider friends, he didn’t know but for some reason he felt his eyes fill with tears.

“Sirius I’m so sorry.”

And at that Sirius found himself spilling everything he’d never told anyone before in his life. From the first time he remembered thinking his parents were evil to the whole reason they were on this road trip in the first place, and everything in between. James listened intently, occasionally asking questions to show Sirius still had his undivided attention. It felt good, really good. Better than he’d thought bringing all this up would ever feel.

Shit, maybe he did need therapy.

When he was done, he wiped his face on his sleeve and sighed like he’d just dropped the 20-ton weight he’d been carrying on his back for the better part of 16 years.

“I realise you didn’t ask to hear any of that.” Sirius laughed wetly leaning into James slightly, who leaned back happily.

“Sirius that’s… horrible and incredible and- no obviously not incredible that should have never happened to you, you didn’t deserve that. either of you. but it’s- you’re incredible for that. For doing that for Regulus. Leaving.”

“Uh thanks. Regulus he’s- he didn’t want to at first, I think. He’s always had more empathy for them I think but he’s- he’s so smart and he could always deal with it all. Better than me. I think he struggles to hold it more than me. Hold the weight of it. I try to take it for him but- “

“you can only carry so much.”

“Right.”

“I think Regulus does a pretty good job. He’s- well he’s. Yeah.” James seemed to realise he was talking to Regulus’ big brother and cut himself off. Sirius smiled at him knowingly, but James was too busy studying his hands to notice.

“He is yeah.”

“I’m proud of you Sirius. I don’t know if that’s weird. We only properly met the other day and I’ve only seen you quite literally in passing but, in case no one’s said it. I am. I’m really proud of you.”

“Oh god.” And no, no one had ever said that to him. But James did. And for right now, that felt like all he’d ever really needed to hear.

As they walked back toward the motel, the sun fully set by now, Sirius decided to get something else off his chest while they were there.

“While we’re confessing things, someone ought to know I have the most gigantic crush on Remus.”

James dissolved into laughter, ruffling Sirius's hair affectionately. “Oh, we know.”

The next morning Sirius, Regulus, and Remus sat with James and his parents over breakfast at the motel. James' dad ‘please call me Monty’ was talking to the boys about their ‘future plans’ James’ mum ‘and call me Effie’ tutted at him,

“oh Monty leave them to their breakfast not everyone had a five year plan you know.” It was said light heartedly, making them all laugh.

‘I’m just curious! Sirius have you thought about university?”

“Erm not really, no. I think that’s what my parents would have liked but I never really looked into it to be honest.” Not only was he hell bent on refraining from doing anything that would please his parents, but he’d never even consider leaving Reg alone.

“Well why don’t you come with us? I take it you haven’t visited any universities yet?”

“No I haven’t.”

“Dad, their uncle”, James reminded his father.

Sirius quickly glanced at Regulus who shrugged nonchalantly, secretly Sirius thought they were both happy to have an opportunity to delay the inevitable. He looked at Remus too, who nodded at him encouragingly. He felt like the leader of a team at a maths quiz or something - consulting them before giving the winning answer. He liked the feel of that. His team.

“No we’ll- we’d like to come if that’s okay with you. I’m sure Alphard can wait another day.”

James seemed utterly delighted at the prospect and before they knew it, they were back on the road only this time they were following the Potter’s car.

They’d been discussing the prospect of going to university, an interesting topic for three people who hadn’t ever really considered it an option. Regulus claimed he’d thought about it once or twice but wouldn’t go to university in Scotland.

“You mean you wouldn’t want to go just because James was going?” Sirius asked cheekily.

“I could ask you the same thing. Besides, why would that mean I wanted to go?” Regulus feigned confusion but refused to meet Sirius's eye, choosing to keep staring out his window instead.

“Oh you knowwww”, Sirius leaned toward him and raised an eyebrow,

“no, I don’t.”

“He’d be playing rugby Reg. in those little shorts. All sweaty.” Regulus immediately blushed, Remus half-heartedly piping up from the back in Regulus’ defense,

“aw Sirius don’t.”

“I don’t know what you mean. I have no romantic feelings toward James.”

His formality made Sirius let out a bark of laughter, “it’s a crush Reg it’s not herpes!”

This got Remus, who added from the back “… well it could be herpes depends where the crush leads.”

“You’re being ridiculous I’m not speaking to you. Either of you.” Regulus once again deadpanned.

“Oh don’t be like that Regggg.”

Sirius suddenly heard the opening sound of Kiss from the stereo, “listen Reg it's Kiss your favourite! Come on I’ve seen you singing along to this one,”

he started tapping the steering wheel in time, adding “bet you’d like to give James a kiss.”

“SHUT UP.”

You don’t have to be beautiful to turn me on

Sirius started singing the worlds with vigor, occasionally turning his head to sing to Regulus,

You don’t need experience to turn me out

He could see Remus singing along in the back, tapping the beat on his knees. Sirius turned it up, “c’mon Reg admit it!”

You don’t have to be rich to be my girl

“I’m sure James thinks so!” Sirius adlibbed again, making Regulus slump down in his chair and cover his face.

I just want your extra time and your…

Sirius and Remus both leaned toward Reg to make the kiss noise,

Kiss!

Sirius could see Regulus smile from behind his hands.

You can’t be too flirty mama, I know how to undress me, yeah

By this point both Sirius and Remus were completely going for it singing along, Remus filling in the ad-libs from the back. Sirius turned to sing the next line to Remus,

I want to be your fantasy maybe you could be mine?

“C’mon reg the chorus!” He whooped.

You don’t have to be cool to rule my world

They’d now all joined in, Sirius singing with such passion he forgot about teasing Regulus and by the final chorus they all joined in the kiss part with equal enthusiasm,

I just want your extra time and your… kiss!

They arrived at the university and Sirius had to admit it wasn’t exactly what he’d expected. It looked like a fucking castle for starters. It wasn’t all up tight professors and pretentious 20 something year olds as he’d assumed, and for a minute as he watched James and Remus look around one of the dorm rooms he let himself imagine what it would be like if they all went there together. Remus who had previously claimed he wasn’t smart enough for university (Sirius highly doubted that) became fascinated by the array of literature available at the library,

“for free?! You can just borrow this stuff any time?!”

“Yeah just costs about 50,000 in loans for access to the place,” James replied humorously, making Remus instantly put the book he was holding back like it was on fire, leading to James further explaining how the loans actually worked, and that anyone could get one.

“They have regular library’s outside of university too you know Rem,” he added.

At one-point Sirius lost Regulus to the music department, discovering him practically drooling over a grand piano.

“What do you think?” he asked, perching on the edge of the piano,

“I think you’d rip James left arm off to come to school here with him and Remus,” Regulus replied.

“But what about you? What do you think?”

“I’m… not sure.”

“Well you’re allowed options Reg. we have those now you know. No one telling you what you can and can’t do.” He knew there was more to it than that; money, accommodation, the fact Regulus had only just finished secondary school. But it felt good to say because it was closer to the truth than they’d ever been.

That evening they went to eat at a cosy little pub by the university called The Three Broomsticks. It was warmly lit with two long wooden tables in the middle and squashy armchairs and sofas arranged around smaller tables at the edge of the room, a bar at one side, and a stage set up at the back for live music. Sirius noticed Remus light up at the prospect of live music.

They sat toward the edge of one of the larger tables, the pub already fairly full. They were served by a short red headed woman who Sirius assumed was the owner – or one of them, considering there was a taller ginger man behind the bar, two identical ginger guys about their age also taking orders, and various ginger children running around. Remus struck up a conversation with the women regarding the music, who was only too eager to talk his ear off about the different kinds of acts they got at the place, though no, unfortunately, they couldn’t get anyone for tonight.

Sirius saw Remus visibly deflate at this.

“Why don’t you go up there eh?” He nudged him playfully.

The woman – whose name he now knew was Molly, brightened up at this, “do you play?”

“I- sort of,” Remus replied bashfully.

“He busks around Scotland, I heard somewhere that he’s the next David Bowie” Sirius supplied for him.

“Well we’d love to have you perform for us, if you’d like to that is, people around here love a show we hate it when we have to disappoint on nights as busy as this.”

“I don’t have my guitar on me.”

“Oh Fabien, one of my brothers – he has all sorts back there I’m sure he could find you something.”
Everyone in their group was listening to the conversation now and Sirius didn’t know about anyone else but personally, he’d have trekked back to the car himself for Remus's guitar if it meant having him play.

When Remus didn’t really respond molly added, “why don’t you have your food and a few drinks and think about it – acts don’t usually go on til later anyway.”

She winked at him and left to take the next tables orders.

Sirius kicked Remus lightly under the table, “not shy are you?”

“Believe it or not street rats make for a slightly different kind of audience than a full pub.” He looked around the place warily,

“I’m sure you’d be great, besides if we get everyone suitably drunk, even if you are shit, I don’t think anyone would care.”

So that’s how, about 3 pints in and everyone suitably more relaxed, Remus took to the stage with none other than Regulus black on keys and Fabien (one of molly’s identical twin brothers) on drums. Sirius watched as Remus seemingly described the drumming pattern to Fabien, and quickly jotted down notes on some paper for Regulus. He also seemed to be consulting both of them on song choices. They came to an agreement and Remus, with a surprising lack of shyness stepped up to the mic, clearing his throat.

“Hello. I’m Remus Lupin. This is Regulus black behind me on keys and Fabien Prewet who I’m sure many of you know already on drums. We’ve sort of just come up with this band set up in their last 5 minutes so please be gentle with us,” a few people laughed.

“-If you’ve been to literally any city on the outskirts of Scotland in the last 5 years chances are you’ve seen me silently begging for change with the help of this thing,” he gestured to the guitar.

“So yeah. Let us know if there’s any requests. This first one is an original.”

He spoke with the fluidity and confidence of a true performer and Sirius found he was on the edge of his seat with anticipation to hear him sing. He was immediately lost in it when Remus fingers moved over the guitar strings. He was vaguely reminded of that one Amy Winehouse quote that’s like ‘to have a guitar in your hand is like having a dick – it gives you some kind of power, like a strength that no one can touch.’ He didn’t know about the dick part considering Remus probably already had one of those, but he could definitely feel the power radiating off of him from there. When he started singing James and Sirius immediately looked at each other because shit, he was good.

He was really good.

And suddenly he wasn’t this Scottish kid they met in a hostel a few days ago that busked. He was this famous performer that they’d paid thousands just to get a glimpse of.
He almost felt bad for neglecting to acknowledge his brother’s talent too. But he knew Regulus was good. This kind of stuff was almost below him. Though, surprising as it was, he had to admit that Regulus did look like he was enjoying himself. At least a little bit. Occasionally glancing up to roll his eyes at James' thumbs up or when Sirius made more noise than anyone else when they finished a song. Like playing keys didn’t take more than an ounce of concentration for him. Soon they started getting requests, delving into the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, even a bit of George Michael. And of course, upon Sirius’ request, none other than Prince himself. Remus actually almost couldn’t finish the song for laughing at Sirius and James slow dancing to their rendition of diamonds and pearls – a song that actually complimented Remus’ voice wonderfully.

The evening ended with much laughter and congratulations on Remus and Regulus' part, the entire pub having seemingly taken quite the liking to them. Molly repeatedly made it known that Remus was welcome any time and that there was even a room for him upstairs should he need it, Fabien actually asked for Remus’ number ‘to talk music sometime’ but to Sirius immense relief, Remus politely declined informing him he didn't actually own a phone.

Despite Sirius and Regulus’ rapidly emptying pockets, they stayed at a nearby hotel again that night with the Potters, and the next day, both James and Remus in the car with them, (James coming for ‘moral support’) they finally got round to doing what the trip had been all about in the first place. Finding Alphard.
The place that he was supposedly taking up residence was just an hour or so away from the university, and with the very plausible prospect of being homeless so rapidly approaching Regulus and Sirius, tensions were high.

“REGULUS STOP SKIPPING LITTLE RED CORVETTE”

“It’s the worst one.”

“It is NOT.” To prove a point, Sirius skipped back to it.

Regulus skipped forward again. They did this a few more times, more aggressive with every press of the skip button when James interrupted them from the back, ‘I like Gett Off.”

Regulus erupted into a coughing fit while Sirius simultaneously erupted into laughter.

“What? It’s a good song. It’s got my name in it” James offered in confused, innocent defense.

“Yeah it’s also the horniest song in existence,” Sirius responded.

“Well maybe I’m a horny guy.” Remus and Sirius shared a knowing look through the mirror as Regulus gradually recovered.

“I’m just a straight up Kiss guy in all honesty,” Remus continued the conversation. They all muttered in agreement.

“Oh yeah you can’t go wrong with that” James agreed.

“When Doves Cry is a personal favourite” Sirius said.

“What about you Reg?” James leaned forward to ask Regulus, who shrugged, looking out the window.

“Oh Reg is an avid Raspberry Beret fan.” Sirius supplied.

They approached the village in which Alphard had supposedly dwelled all these years and a silence fell upon the car. Sirius didn’t even know what he looked like, every old man they drove past could’ve been him and he wouldn’t have been any the wiser.

“Maybe we should get out and… ask? Village can’t be too big.” He suggested.

They tried a few different places, mostly just met with confused stares and apologetic no’s when asked if they knew an old man of the name Alphard Black. Finally, they tried a pub a bit further in the village, fairly empty considering it wasn’t even midday yet. Sirius went in alone; the others choosing to stay outside and ask passers-by. He approached the middle-aged woman at the bar,

“Hello, I was wondering if you knew of an Alphard Black that lives around here?”

The woman looked at him, eyebrows slightly raised, “Alphard Black you say?’

“Yes, he’s my uncle you see, and-“

“yes I do, he was in here a lot, only lived up that street, lovely man.” Sirius didn’t miss the way she used past tense.

She went on, “I’m afraid he passed away a few years ago now. I’m very sorry.”

Oh.

“I- no that’s fine. Thank you”, was all Sirius managed to come up with.

“He was your uncle you said?”

“Yeah we- I didn’t really know him. Just wondered I suppose.”

“Well he was a kind man, I’m sure he would’ve been delighted to see you.”

The panic began to set in slightly and Sirius was suddenly eager to exit the pub of broken dreams.

“Thank you” he repeated, walking away and bracing himself to share the newfound information with the others. He stepped out, the sun bright, and immediately locked eyes with Regulus across the pavement. He didn’t even have to say anything.

Regulus just let out a single monotone “shit”.

“Yeah, shit.”

“What? He’s not here?” James asks looking between them, confused.

Regulus spoke again, “he’s dead James.”

“Right do you two have some sort of sibling telepathy?” This was from Remus.

Sirius suddenly put his head in his hands doing some sort of movement like a 3-year-old having a tantrum and kicked the wall, “FUCK.”

“Well don’t act like this wasn’t a possibility the whole time- this was your idea”, Regulus said, subtle frustration in his tone.

“You agreed to it!”

Regulus ignored him going on, “no this is perfect Sirius this is fantastic another one of your reckless plans that didn’t fucking work out. You should’ve just asked them if he was fucking alive if we were leaving anyway.”

“Oh my god Reg! You’re so right! Let me just hop in my time machine and do that!” They were yelling at each other now, attracting disapproving looks from locals.

Yelling like a manic Sirius added, “no it's FINE it’s gonna be FINE I’m gonna figure this out just let me- I’m gonna figure this out were gonna be-“

his voice broke as he started pacing around the pavement.

“Sirius.” Sirius wasn’t sure which one of them had said his name.

“No I’m- I just need a minute to- you’re gonna be okay I’m not gonna let you-“

“Sirius. We’re homeless.” He knew that was Regulus.

“I KNOW. I KNOW THAT. Fuck. I can’t believe I’ve let this happen. You’re mine you’re- I was supposed to be the one that did a good job! That kept you safe! and now- “ his breathing had become erratic.

“Sirius okay it’s okay you did do a good job we’ll figure it out you’re right I’m sorry.” Regulus reluctantly stepped forward and held Sirius's panicked body tight. Regulus did not hug. This was new.

“Fuck Alphard why did you have to be gay and die.” Sirius sniffled,

“more like why did our parents have to be shit and abusive.”

“And Tories” Sirius added pathetically.

They all got back in the car and sat in silence for a while, Sirius had a newspaper in his hand that he got from a newsagent.

“What are you doing with that?” Remus asked.

“Looking for jobs aren’t I. or places to stay.”

“You’re gonna stay in Scotland?”

“Well we’re not going home.”

“Right but- “James cleared his throat like he was going to say something important and shifted in his seat nervously, they all looked at him.

“Well it's just- you could come back with me? All of you I mean-“ he looked at Remus,

“We’ve got a big house, room for all of you and I’ve spoken to mum and dad about it, sorry, I know I shouldn’t have told them but they- they actually suggested it. And it wouldn’t have to be forever but well… Sirius you could come to university with me and dad could help you get a loan and Reg you could finish school and Remus you could come to university or work on your music or- and I know you’re all hell bent on being honest bastards so there places you could get jobs if you really wanted. Like there’s this music store Remus and Reg could work at by my house… it could work. And I know we, like, just met but I think it could work. I think it could be good.”

They all silently stared at him.

Regulus spoke first, “damn Potter you’ve really thought about this.”

Sirius looked at James completely pathetically and, though he truthfully would love nothing more than to be absorbed by the Potters unrelenting love for a summer then to move to university with James and learn to do something he loved, surely, they couldn’t. “James that’s lovely but… three strange teenage boys… it’s a lot.”

Remus stayed the quietest.

“I know but Mum’s always taking in strays, for as long as I can remember, she loves it, honest. Listen I’ll get them to talk to you about it. Just let’s go back to the hotel and you can just think about it yeah? Please?” He looked at them all in turn. And in that moment Sirius was so tired and so grateful for James Potter. Even if they couldn’t accept, the thought of it brought him some comfort.

The drive back was pretty silent for the most part, but it was a more contemplative silence this time. Most of the tension has dissipated, Sirius just found it felt like that bit in Stand By Me where they walk home after finding the body. Like they did what they came to do and were so unsurprised at the outcome that they weren't even disappointed, just the feeling of not knowing what comes next more prominent than ever.

He thought about Regulus and how he always planned everything, but he didn’t plan this. Whether he was sitting there shit scared that they were gonna be homeless or whether he felt the same as Sirius, almost content despite it all. He wondered what Regulus thought of James' proposal and what that would be like. Whether they’d fall in love under the same roof and Regulus could be happy and safe all the time. Whether that was enough of a reason to just say fuck it and let them take the offer that was just too much. When you’ve been given nothing all your life offers like this seemed incomprehensible. He also thought of Remus, who’d been on his own for so long he couldn’t possibly say yes to moving in with two strange brothers and an even stranger family. They were technically adults after all.

The Potters did in fact reiterate the offer profusely, offering them everything just shy of the world itself. Sirius and Regulus talked well into the night on their double bed in the hotel room.

The sun was almost coming up by the time they agreed that they would do it, just for the summer. They’d both get jobs and pay the potters back every penny. They’d see how things went and if it…went, Sirius would think about joining James at university in September and Regulus would complete his A-levels at a public school. Though as Monty was a retired university professor, he had offered to tutor Regulus himself. They agreed to take every day as it came because if it did all go tits up and they were left on their arses, they knew they’d be okay because they’d done it before and they had each other, a beat up car Sirius still didn’t know the name of, and The Very Best of Prince on CD.

In the early hours of the morning, Sirius decided it was time to divulge into his emergency cigarettes and went outside to smoke. He wasn’t alone long before he found Remus doing exactly the same thing.

“You know they’re bad for you right?” Sirius asked, cigarette in the corner of his lips.

Remus removed his and observed it between his fingers, “what? No. who says?”

Sirius grinned at him. God, he liked him. He liked him so much.

“You figure out what you’re gonna do?” Remus asked.

“Just about. I think we’re gonna do it, just for the summer. See how it goes. Get jobs. Maybe I’ll go to university with James in September. And you?”

“I- that was so kind of James, of the Potters but- well it's different for me isn’t it?”

“Right.”

“I’m older and, I’ve been alone for longer. I don’t have a brother and I don’t think I could go back to living like that… under someone’s roof like that.” Remus had mentioned to Sirius previously how he was raised in foster care but ran away when he was 15.

“That’s okay Remus.” It actually wasn’t. Did this mean he’d have to leave Remus forever?

He went on so that he wouldn’t think about that part, “so what will you do?”

“The Weasleys. They have a room above the pub. They said if I play there it would cover the costs. I could get a job alongside and save. I liked it there Sirius.”

“You looked good there. It suited you.”

“I could come visit you at university.”

“All the more reason to go”, he offered sadly. He wasn’t sure why; he’d hardly expected anything more.
They had both finished their cigarettes and were looking at each other, the weight of everything they clearly weren’t saying in the air around them thicker than the smoke from the cigarettes they’d just finished.

“I miss you.” He’d meant to say ‘I’ll’; I’ll miss you when we go. When you stay.

“I’m right here” Remus whispered, nothing but fondness in his eyes.

And at that Sirius closed the little space between them. Remus meeting him halfway, and they kiss like lovers saying both hello after a long time apart and goodbye for the last time. It was long and passionate and Remus’ long guitar playing fingers soon find their way into Sirius's hair making him hum in approval. When they parted, they were still nose to nose, and Remus ran his finger along the edge of Sirius’ face,

“so to tell you truth I’m no love expert, But I have a pretty good feeling about this one” he whispered.

“I bet you say that to all of your taxi drivers.”

“Only the ones wearing Madonna shirts.”

Sirius leaned his head back and cackled before planting many messy kisses to Remus’ face. “Remus Lupin I am so glad I found you in that hostel and forced you to embark on a fruitless journey to locate my exiled uncle.”

They didn’t return to their rooms until the sun was completely risen.

And that was how they found themselves standing outside the Weasley's pub; the Potters, Regulus, and James one side and the Weasleys on the other, Remus (guitar in hand) and Sirius in the middle like some sort of peace makers signing a treaty of a long distance love. They’d already said their less PG goodbyes in the privacy of Sirius hotel room while Regulus was elsewhere. Sirius chose not to think about where that elsewhere was or whether it involved a certain James potter.

“You’re sure you can’t come with us just for the summer?” Sirius asked once more.

“Got to start building up my fan base haven’t I – no time like the present. Hey, you never know we could be on the road again soon, touring.”

Regulus spoke up from where he was standing pretty close to James by the car “remember me when you’re famous, Lupin.”

“Are you kidding? You’re my pianist.”

James suddenly launched forward enveloping Remus in what could only be described as an overly affectionate bear hug that Remus reciprocated gladly.

“We’ll call you Lupin” James' voice was muffled in the fabric of Remus's jumper.

“I’ll wait by the phone.”

He let him go and Remus began walking back to the pub doors.

Sirius yelled, “promise you won’t fall in love with Fabien while I’m gone?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it – haven’t you heard? My type is runaways with long hair and a thing for Prince!”
He called back over his shoulder before being guided in by Molly, her hand resting affectionally on his shoulder.

The Weasleys waved goodbye and Sirius got back into the car, James wordlessly choosing to go in their car instead of his own.

“Excited?” James asked Regulus over the roof of the car before getting in.

“You said there was a music shop by your house?” Regulus responded,

“yeah it's pretty cool. Mostly run by this kid... bit weird, called Barty something. You’d probably get on.”

“You calling me weird Potter?”

“Oh the weirdest. That’s what's so great about you.”

Regulus blushed and shook his head getting into the passenger seat, followed by James in the back seat.

“Let’s go home boys” He announced from the back. Sirius turned on the radio.

‘I aint got no money’

Regulus did get a job at the music store and did befriend the weird kid that worked there. It was strange for Sirius to see Regulus want to hang out with someone other than him for the first time ever, and it did take him a while to get used to the jealousy. But then again, he had James to distract him at all points of the day. James, and his new job at the motorbike garage in town were something he’s come to find he had quite the passion for.

He called Remus most days, who was getting on well with the Weasleys, he’d even acquired a fan base of local Scottish girls that watched all of his shows and that no, Sirius didn’t need to be jealous of, besides, ‘It’s great for business’.

The potters stayed true to their word and welcomed the boys with open arms, treating them as if they were their own and on nights when it was just Sirius and Effie baking in the middle of the night, or afternoons when Monty took them all to the football and they shared pie and chips, it was hard to believe that Sirius wasn’t one of their own. Regulus got on especially well with Monty, spending hours with him in his study absorbing everything Monty had to teach him like a sponge.

Ever the mediators the Potters convinced Sirius to write a letter to his parents plainly explaining the situation, but he never did hear a response.

Regulus eventually decided he would stay there and do his A levels, Monty tutoring him for the most part. He claims he won’t miss Sirius even a little bit when he goes to university with James, even though he sleeps in his bed with him every night the week before they leave. Sirius doesn’t ask about whether he’ll miss James because he doesn’t need to, he also doesn’t need to know what they get up to when they both disappear for hours on end in the middle of the afternoon. And this time, when Sirius gets in the car, with James in the passenger seat this time to make the final move to university, dreams of his reunion with Remus filling his mind, he doesn’t bother to bring any of his new CDs because he knows the one already in there like the back of his hand.

And god, it’s a good one.