Romantic Homocide

“Evan Rosier, my neighbor?!” Remus was yelling now. There was fury pumping through every vessel of his body and it was clear as day. “You can’t be holding that information.” 

Regulus remained calm, only his flared nostrils giving away his demeanor. “It’s not important.”

“How is that not important?” 

“Because I know Evan.” His voice was starting to raise. 

Everyone on the couch seemed to be growing more and more uncomfortable. 

Remus was swinging his hands. “He was there that night when I was stabbed. How do you know he didn’t do it?”

“He has had a very hard life and is there by force, not by choice.”

“You and Sirius managed to get out. Why can’t he?”

“Because Sirius and I have rich parents that’s why!” Regulus snapped. “When Sirius acted up he got sent to boarding school. Evan would have been brutally tortured.”

“How do you not think to mention any of this? What do you mean tortured? You and Sirius still haven’t even told us what exactly the Death Eaters are.” 

“Not now.” 

James stood in between the two of them, raising both of his hands.  “Guys, please lower your voice.” 

“No.” Remus huffed. “Why don’t I just scream it even louder. Maybe then Evan will hear me and he can explain.” His words dripped in venom.

Regulus contained himself. “You don’t need to know what they do right now.” 

Remus stormed out of the living room and into the hallway. 

Dorcas and Marlene stood, grabbing their things, and paused in front of Regulus. Dorcas pointed at his chest. “Hold back any more information and I’ll go straight to the police.” 

The two of them turned towards the door when a knock rang through. 

James gave a soft sigh. “You’ve disturbed Mary.” He went to open the door, and before he could close it, she was in the living room motioning for everyone to sit back down. Sirius who had been watching this like he would a nightmare unfold, sat unthoughtful. 

“Great… you’ve created a boy band.” She said softly. 

“We can explain.” James tried. 

Mary shook her head. “The Death Eaters I know… So you want to kill them? What seems to be the issue?” She rested her hands on her hips. 

“Remus.” Regulus rolled his eyes. 

Dorcas pointed to Regulus. 

Lily put her hands in her head. 

James pointed to himself. 

Marlene pointed to James. 

Sirius shrugged as if he hadn’t incited the whole argument.

Watching all of the responses, Mary scrunched her face in disappointment. “This is worse than I thought.”

Everyone murmured agreements.

“Wait right here. I’ll be back.” 

No less than a minute later back in the apartment, crawling through the fire escape with an ounce of marijuana and a bottle of Titos. 

Marlene’s face comedically turned into an ‘o’. “You know, I didn’t think about that entrance.”

Lily frowned. “Who's going to break in through a fire escape-”

“You’d be surprised.” Sirius interrupted. 

Waddling out through the window, Mary was back in front of them, standing in the middle of the living room. “Get Remus. We are going to be doing a bonding exercise.” She smiled holding what was in her hand like trophies. 

Sirius quietly scooted his way out of the couch to find Remus. When he opened their bedroom door, he was pacing. He sat on the bed and waited for Remus to acknowledge his presence, which he did through a glare. A grin spread on Sirius’ destroyed lips before he could think anything of it. Though, it must’ve done good as Remus vividly calmed. Pausing for a split second. 

“What do you want?” He asked bitterly.

Sirius chewed on his lip. “Are you okay?”

“No. Clearly not.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“For what? The one that should be apologizing is your twat of a brother.” Remus immediately turned shameful. “I’m sorry.”

“He probably deserved that. I wanted him to be open about what we’re doing… but the truth is I’m no better.” 

Remus dropped his eyebrows. A crease deepening in the middle. 

“It’s hard being honest. These are the worst parts about our lives, and everyone here is relatively new. It’s hard.”

“You need to get over it.” He choked. 

“It’s not that simple.” 

“Then let me. I was stabbed because you didn’t tell me what was actually happening, and don’t pretend like you didn’t know about Evan.” 

Sirius swallowed down harshly. “It was only a suspicion.”

“Lucky you, you got it right. Why did you even come in here?”

“I wanted to know if you were okay.” 

“And I’m not, so run along.” Remus stiffened. 

Sirius rose from the bed, and placed himself before Remus. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re not. You’re not sorry. You’ve never done anything that wasn’t for your own personal gain. You’ve never been selfless once-”

He cut him off with a tight embrace. Remus stood there limp, saying nothing, but Sirius could feel a stray tear of the other hit his shoulder. “I’m sorry. And not because I want you to forgive me or forget about the argument. I’m sorry because I want you to be okay, and if that makes me selfish then fine, I’m selfish. 

Remus slowly, one finger and arm at a time, hugged him back. “I’m trying to be angry at you.” 

“How’s it going?” 

He let out a wet laugh and tightened his grip around Sirius’ waist. 

“I know it hasn’t been long since I’ve met you - like actually met you - but I just want you to be okay.” 

“Alright.” 

Eventually, Sirius had coaxed him into returning to the living room. With the exception of the death stare he was giving Regulus. Strangely enough, Regulus didn’t seem phased. His eyes were even a bit dazed as they wandered around. Mary must have already started them off with shots as the coffee table was now lined with the glasses. The floor was also littered with rolling paper and grinders. She ushered them to sit, and when she had finished rolling, joined them all on the couch. 

“Now.” Mary burped in between the words. Clearly already had more than one shot. “No one is murdering anyone unless we can trust each other.” She lit the joint and then passed it down the line. “Everyone is going to say something about themselves and take a shot. The rest of us will guess if you’re lying. If we guess correctly, you take another shot. If we guess wrong, the rest of us have to take a shot.”

“Bro, we’re gonna wake up so drunk tomorrow.” Lily silently screeched into her palm.

“Hush.” Mary poured the Titos and passed it to Regulus who downed it with a grimmance. “Spill your secrets.”

“This is a stupid game you know?”

“Say it.”

“Fine. Um… The Smiths were my number one on my spotify wrapped last year.” 

Mary cocked her head to the side. “Okay, a bit boring.”

“No it’s not!” James laughed. “You’re lying. It’s Conan Gray or Phoebe Bridgers.”

Regulus scoffed loudly. “I do not listen to that teeny bopper shit.”

James’ laugh grew worse. “So it’s even more embarrassing.” 

“No. It’s the Smiths.” He said with a calculating look. 

“He’s lying!” Marlene shouted. “It’s probably Beethoven or something.”

Dorcas squinted before agreeing 

Regulus yelped. “What are you doing?” He asked Mary who was digging in his back pocket. 

“Need your phone to see the real answer.”

“What? No! You can’t even get to that by now.”

“Websites exist Regulus.” She successfully retrieved and held it to his face to the ID. His face was growing red by the second. “Everyone place your bets. Lying or not?”

Remus was eerily silent next to Sirius, but the rest were mumbling their thoughts. 

“He’s lying. The Smiths are too safe.” Lily conceded. 

Marlene pointed with a wide smile. “Look at his face! Of course he’s lying.”

After twenty seconds of Mary typing away into his phone, her face dropped. Everyone broke out into yells to see what was on her side of the screen. Her voice was nothing above a whisper when let out, “It’s the Glee Cast.” 

Loud laughter erupted through everyone. Even Remus let out a soft chuckle. 

They followed down the line of the couch, watching as the air filled with smoke and roarings. Eventually they turned on the speakers to which James informed the person under them was recently evicted. And Mary informed them the person on top was a right bitch. 

New games followed and it felt as if they were school children at a thirteen year old’s birthday party. 

“I can’t - I can’t -” Lily rolled her head back on her shoulders. “No more vodka. James you have to have something else, or at least a mixer.”

Sirius and Marlene were in an intense game of patty cake when she yelled. “Are you kidding? This shit’s amazing!”

The lights were low and the music was blaring. Everyone could pick five songs at a time, and the mood switches could give whiplash. 

“Remus, no more Eminem, you’re not slim shady.” Regulus groaned. 

Remus continued whipping his head around in higher spirits, getting on the coffee table, ducking not to touch the ceiling. “‘ Cus I’m the real shady, yeah I’m the real shady- ”

Mary guided them through more exercises, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend the ideas behind them as she drank more. The trust falling exercise was particularly the worst, especially for Marlene and Dorcas who have been in an argument since. A lot of bruises came from that exercise. 

With what was remaining in the bottle, James filled it to the brim with lemonade and some pink juice, and Mary confiscated it quickly. “This is -uh- a feeling stick.” 

“It’s a bottle.” Sirius screamed with his eyes closed. “Titos… titi.” He giggled to himself. “I don’t get boobs, man. What? Like okay they’re round… and?”

“Boobs suck!” Regulus agreed from the floor.

“Stop it with the boobs, we get it. Now let me introduce the game.” Mary held the bottle above her head. “This is a feeling stick- whoever - uh - holds it… shares their… feelings.”

James took it by the neck. “Me first! I feel like I just love you guys so much .” Tears began to well behind his glasses, which were extremely foggy. 

Remus then took the bottle. “I feel like we’re all going to die!” 

“Remus no!” Lily chastised. 

Dorcas broke out into tears. “We are gonna die.”

“It’s alright, dance it out.” Sirius and Marlene began to grind up on each other in full efforts. 

In moments to come, James and Lily mysteriously went missing, and the music only got louder. As long with the yelling. Dorcas had joined her girlfriend in dancing, but tears were still rolling down her face, blubbering. It was light and loose, and drinking to forget. 

Sitting on the floor next to Regulus staring at the ceiling, Remus felt around the nearby ashtray for a roach joint to light. Regulus rolled his eyes at him and Remus scoffed. Because Regulus was just so… fucking annoying. How could he - how could he? Could he?

“You know what your problem is?” 

Regulus turned to lie on his stomach, instead. “No.”

“I’m gonna tell you.” 

“Please don’t.” 

“You’re just so…” He took a second to breathe. “High and mighty, and think you’re better than everyone else because you dress fancy. Guess what? You’re awful. And you probably don’t even like classical literature.” 

Regulus stood, but fell twice on the way. “And you are just a burnt out writer who would rather fulfill a deathwish before doing his job.” 

Remus tutted loudly, standing as well, bringing a finger to Regulus’ chest. “You’re just- you- you- and it’s like you don’t even - like not even once !”

“If the shoe fits!” He slurred. 

“Oh it fits! Why don’t you just run along to the Death Eaters. Maybe they’re fancy enough for you to be honest!” 

“I would rather be a Death Eater than stand here talking to you - you tall - freakishly freckled - British man. I don’t like the brits! You eat shepherd's pie, and I don’t know what a shepherd is, and why is it a pie.” His voice broke at the end. 

“I’m Welsh and that was insensitive!”

“You’re mom.”

“ You’re mom!”

James had to use the bathroom. This was a big issue as he couldn’t find his bedroom anymore. The hallway was so intricate and had so many layers. He could have sworn it was one straight line earlier. Now it was a maze, and he had to stick out his arms to both sides of the wall to not fall over. 

Crawling into one bedroom, he located a bathroom, but it was a weird bathroom as there were no toilets. But it was a small room so he assumed he was in the right place. When he was done peeing, James turned to leave, but he did so a little fast and threw up on his hand. 

Luckily he found a water bottle to wash it off. However, he couldn’t find the way out of the room. It was a lovely room. He really did do a good job decorating. The floor was beautiful as well. There were so many duffle bags and little books on the side. Probably Regulus’ room. He was such an interesting character. Such a good, misunderstood soul. So electrocuting. That’s because he looks like Timothee Chalamet, of course.

That’s how Lily found him: on the floor contemplating the ranking of every Timothee Chalamet movie. She chuckled before ushering him into a room with bright lights. They both squinted and stumbled, but she immediately instructed him to wash his hands, and then brush his teeth. He did this with only a few wretches. Lily, ever perfect as ever, brought a towel to dab on his face. Her smile was unfocused and so - so sweet. She was lovely. How could you not love her? She was meant to be loved. And James loved loving people. He closed his eyes and leaned in for a soft kiss, and missed. 

Lily responded quickly, throwing her hands over his shoulders and kissing him with such intensity that thought he could have descended into the heavens at any moment. 

He scrambled to kiss her with passion and desire. It was hot and fast and very messy. 

“Don’t tell anyone about this.” She mumbled hastily. 

“Never.” 

There was nothing but each other’s lips, soft faded music, and Mary’s snores. 

Swaying with all his might, Sirius felt his cheeks flush and sweat creeping on the nape of his neck. It was getting hard to focus on what he was supposed to be doing. He was supposed to be happy right now, right? The bright energetic one who never falters. 

Then why did he feel so sad. 

He was doing fine sniffling and keeping it under a tight lined lip until Bohemian Rhapsody came on. Specifically the second verse. 

Mama, just killed a man.

Put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger now he’s dead. 

Sirius wailed as he sang. “ Mama! ” Tears suddenly were flowing out of him.

Dorcas nodded solemnly. “He gets it.”

“ Didn’t mean to make you cry! ” He choked on the words, stuffing his face with more of his drink. “I hate her, I hate that woman. She ruined my life. And she’s going to keep doing it even in the ground! She’s everywhere. I see her everywhere.” 

Marlene took his face in her hands as he continued. 

“I haven’t even begun planning the funeral! And it’s not like she deserves one, but she has no one else! And my dad can just fuck off, no one even remembers him.” 

“I think your mother was a cunt.” Marlene gave a weak smile. 

“Do you wanna make out?” He asked. 

Marlene let go of his face and blinked. 

Staring out a window, Remus thought heavily on the consequences of jumping out. At least the lights from the city lit up his face with a blue hue. Made him feel like an Avatar. 

It also made Sirius look like a goddess. So perfectly fabricated from his mind, but only his mind couldn’t have created someone as breathtaking as him. He was so fascinating and layered like a fat onion. Remus hadn’t even noticed him walking towards him. Another wonderful thing about him. 

Like he just… so wow… really wow. 

That’s when he recognized the puffy eyes and red nose. Remus instinctively reached out a hand and brought him close. “What happened?”

“Don’t want to bore you.”

“You? Don’t be ridiculous.” 

“Who are you calling ridiculous?”

“You, you beautiful stupid bastard.”

Sirius sucked in a breath. “You think I’m beautiful.” 

“You are so heavenly, Michelangelo couldn’t have sculpted you.” 

His grin grew wide, along with his pupils that looked like a blown piece of glass. “You’re hot too.”

“How does that compare to calling you heavenly?”

“Because I have no words for your beauty.” Sirius stood on his tippy toes to make direct contact. “I’m speechless.” 

“Shut up.” Remus pushed him away. “I just want my teeth on your neck.”

“Like violently or sexually?”

“I’m still deciding.”

The apartment was a mess. There was weed and dried up drink everywhere, and at 6:30 in the morning, an alarm went off, causing everyone to groan. James' alarm was always set for that time as his school started at 7:20. He woke up easily, but had a stiff neck from falling asleep on a duffle bag in what appeared to be Regulus’ guest room. 

Stretching the pain in his joints away, he noticed an awful lingering smell. Trailing it to the closet he blinked at the piss and throw up. “Jesus.”

“James, you need to shut up.” 

“Ah!” This startled James as he thought he was alone in the room. He walked towards the bed and pulled away three blankets before he found Mary with her head in a pillow. 

“Go away or die.” 

“Got it.” 

He left to get to his own room, but tripped on Lily sleeping in the hallway. Poor girl was still in her nursing scrubs. When he entered his room with a slight hop and a skip, he froze. It looked like a tornado had gone through it. Shaking his head, James tried to ignore and finally get ready for the day. Halfway through brushing his teeth he couldn’t help but think he heard a noise. Turning around to examine the bathroom, his mouth dropped seeing Remus damp and passed out in the tub. Getting closer he also noticed an equally damp Sirius clinging to him. 

So these were the idiots that destroyed my room, James thought to himself fondly.

Eventually fully dressed, he set out for the kitchen, but stopped to bring Lily a hoodie and a blanket, which she mumbled a “fuck you” at. In the living room, Marlene and Dorcas were sweetly wrapped around each other on the couch. It made him wonder where Regulus was, but his questions were soon answered when he entered the kitchen. 

There was flour everywhere. Eggs and milk still out. And smoke coming from the oven, with Regulus passed out on the floor, mouth open and all. 

James rushed to get whatever was baking out of the oven, while waving away the smoke with a towel. Coughing as he set it down, James tried to make out what it could have been, but it just looked like a black blob. 

He quickly made stacks of pancakes for everyone when they would wake up, propping Regulus up against the wall so he didn’t trip on him. When that was settled, he walked to Marlene and Dorcas and lightly nudged them. “Do you guys have work today?” 

Neither of them moved a muscle, but James wasn’t gonna let them miss work over it. He continued to shake them until Dorcas opened one eye and threatened to murder him. 

“Do you have work today?” He asked again. 

Both eyes flew open, to which she winced at heavily. “I do.” 

“What time?”

“Nine.” She silently wheezed. 

“I’ll leave you a pair of sunglasses and all bathrooms are open. Pancakes are in the kitchen. Watch your step for Regulus.” 

Dorcas nodded through a skewed face. “Thanks.” 

No one else had to work that day, so James set out for work. Glad he never got hung over. At this rate, they were all going to be there when he got back. 

12:52 P.M.  

Remus felt a pounding in his head and a death in his bones. He must be dying. Covering his eyes with his hands, he tried to hide from the light and curl into a ball, but there was a weight on his knees. Remus kicked it harshly, but it screeched in return. He opened his eyes to loud noise and found Sirius holding his mouth looking horribly green. 

Oh my god. 

That’s how Remus got flashbacks to the night before and pushed Sirius off quickly, running to the kitchen, hoping it wasn’t on fire after he and Regulus tried to make muffins last night. This was not without tripping over Lily and throwing up on his hand, before he sighed of relief seeing the kitchen perfectly intact. If that’s what you could call it over the mess. Washing his hands, he saw Regulus on the other side of the cabinets with a thick hoodie and sunglasses on. 

“There’s pancakes and coffee. Eat it. We’ll order burgers later.” Regulus mumbled. 

“Regulus.” He winced at his own words. “I’m so sorry for yesterday.” 

Regulus walked into the kitchen slowly, frowning at the mess. “You were right. I shouldn’t be keeping things from you guys.”

“But I shouldn’t have blown up like that.” 

“You should have. It was actually quite admirable until you apologized.”

“C’mon, I was a dick. I have to apologize.” 

Regulus closed his eyes so tightly, Remus could see it under the glasses. “The Death Eaters… it’s a sex trafficing ring for rich elite.”

“ What?! ” Remus yelled. 

Everyone groaned loudly. 

When James arrived, they were all still in slow recovery. At least the pancakes were eaten. Regulus had spent the hours explaining to Remus as best as he could everything he knew about the Death Eaters. It wasn’t the best timing, but he was trying to show that he trusted him. 

Recently, everyone migrated to the couch watching Sherlock Holmes in peace, wincing at James’ keys jiggling in the lock. Regulus smiled when he realized he was carrying bags of food from the diner he loved so much. 

He emptied it out on the coffee table. “Burgers. Everyone eat up, you need the protein.”

Everyone took a burger and went back to hiding under the blankets. 

Mary had two pillows taped over head. “James sit down and watch the show that queer baited us all.” He whacked the pillow and found a spot in between Regulus and Lily. 

Regulus clenched his jaw, trying not to notice all the burning muscles under his shirt. Or his stupid goofy smile that made his eyes crinkle under the stupidly round glasses. James had made it clear he was into Lily. James didn’t like boys. It’s better this way, because Regulus would much rather have this than him not considering him a boy. This was fine. 

The day passed slowly, and eventually Dorcas rejoined them too. Maybe the exercises had worked. There was a silent agreement that they were in this together now. Reguls had even offered to go over every excruciating detail with the group, but they shrugged and told him it could wait. They watched the show peacefully and knew they were doing all that they could at the moment, and that was enough. The war room planning could start tomorrow. 

Everyone fell asleep on the couch, and James squeezed away to order a pizza. Regulus, who was only pretending to be asleep, followed him to the hallway. He had noticed, of course, and only smiled brighter. 

“Yeah, sounds good. Leave it with the door man… Thank you… Bye.” Hanging up the phone he furrowed his eyebrows in question at Regulus. 

“I just um… thank you for letting me stay.”

“It gets in the way when you need to go up forty floors every time we need to see you.” He chuckled. 

“It gets in the way when I need to walk three blocks to get here.”

James clearly didn’t understand and tilted his head. 

“I haven’t been able to go to my apartment since…”

“Oh.” His eyebrows raised. “I’m glad you have somewhere to stay then.”

“Your kitchen floor wasn’t ideal, but it works.”

James laughed, throwing his head back. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Don’t tell Sirius, please.” 

“I promise.”