Devine.
Darling, I keep (keep falling in love)
Darling, I keep (keep falling in love)
Da-da, da, I keep (keep falling in love)
forever is too long (c'mon)
James has to ask Regulus to hangout, again. Except Sirius and Remus will be there this time.
He’s not necessarily nervous or anything, Prongs just doesn’t know how to bring up the subject. Luckily Regulus was in a good mood, even occasionally laughing at Pandoras’ stupid jokes.
“James take a pic of this and remember it until next time.” Regulus handed him a small notebook with a few things written on it. James furrowed his brow, trying his best to comprehend what’s written on it.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“New barre combo, I won’t switch the one in class just yet but I think it’s about time you get a new one.” Regulus leaned on one of the barres as he waited for James to respond, cracking his knuckles slowly.
James squinted his eyes at the paper, trying to make up what it’s supposed to say.
“What sort of ancient Egyptian language is this?” he chuckled “Your handwriting is horrific” he wheezed just thinking about some funny synonyms. “Appaling even, absolutely vile, cacographic and most definitely indecipherable. If I had a gun to my head and someone asked me to read this allowed I’d just shoot myself”
Pandora burst out laughing with absolutely no shame, and James followed suit. He had literally never seen someone with worse handwriting, Remus’ hieroglyphics don’t even come close to this atrocity.
“You’re so dramatic it’s very readable.” Regulus rolled his eyes, kicking James’ leg “Just try to make out what it says and I’ll fill in wherever you don’t understand, text me or something…” he sighed “What are you laughing about?” He glared at Pandora.
“I told you it’s not just me who can’t read it!! Also James is fucking hilarious” she smiled nicely at James while Regulus still looked displeased.
“You just picked the wrong career mate, should’ve studied medicine or something” James continued to laugh.
“You could write that on a really old scroll and pretend it’s a lost ancient language that no one discovered yet.” Pandora added, clutching her stomach from laughter.
“I’ve read clearer messages in alphabet soup” James just couldn’t stop, they were on a roll.
“Kind of looks like a failed necromantic script attempt” Pandora was just gasping for air, barely managing to get her words out.
“Oh for fuck’s sake” Regulus sighed, walking behind the both of them and smackigg the back of their heads. Hard.
“Ow!” James shouted “What was that for?!”
“What do you think?” Regulus attempted a somewhat serious look but James noticed the smile creeping up at the corner of his mouth.
Prongs considered this a somewhat decent opportunity to ask Regulus if he’s free this weekend, or the following one, since Sirius was free during both.
“Are you doing anything this weekend?” he looked Regulus in the eye, waiting for a response.
He just stared at James for a short moment, almost not knowing how to react. He blinked hastily a few times before clearing his throat to respond.
“Depends, why do you ask?”
“Well Sirius and Remus wanted all of us to like, meet? Told them about how I forced you to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox and all and Sirius said we should do that again but like, together. Different movie obviously.” James tried his best to explain, it was a bit awkward at first, he had quite a hard time formulating his sentence.
“Yes! Yes sure I’d like that! I really want to see Remus!” Regulus’ face just lit up unexpectedly “You settled on any details yet?”
James snorted at that, he’s so used to his friends joining and leaving his flat as they please without any particular warning that hearing Regulus actually ask was a bit unusual for him.
“Not yet, I wanted to make sure you’re free first.” he smiled. “I’ll let you know.” James winked quickly, just before he sat down to take a break.
Reglus stood there, James could see him from the corner of his eyes. Prongs figured he was looking at Pandora, since she said something not long after.
“Can I try to rehearse some Kitri today? You always have the best tips! Please!” she smiled.
“Only the entrance and the act 1 variation, you know the other’s well enough” Regulus answered sharply.
“Sure!” Pandora giggled.
“Go grab a fan and the castanets while I have James do some turns or something” Regulus did a small gesture towards Prongs to get him to stand up.
Pandora nodded and then she walked out quietly, leaving the door just a bit opened.
“Wanna try something cool but insanely difficult?” Regulus grinned.
“Depends, I’m intrigued nevertheless.” James said.
“Okay well, it’s a jump, you’ll need to learn it sooner or later so I’ll have you try them now.” Regulus walked away from James so he could show it. “It’s really hard to get it right and you will look silly doing it at first, let me show it.” He arranged his pants a bit. “It’s called a coupé jeté en tournant.”
James took a few steps back himself so he could watch Regulus properly. And the jump really did look hard. It was like a sort of unfinished turn and then you finished it in the air, sort of? James couldn’t break it down on his own even if he tried.
Regulus did a few, gaining insane height with all of them. Every single time he hit the floor without even the slightest thud, which was incredibly impressive, at least for James.
“So I did this en manége, which is how they’re usually done. This basically means you circle the stage doing it, that’s how you get used to the jump.” Regulus stopped for a moment to breathe.
“There’s no way I’ll manage doing it.” James chuckled just thinking about attempting it.
“Well you’ll have to, it’s used way too often in men’s variations” Regulus put his hands on his hips. “So let me try to break it down, I might be shit at explaining so ask Pandora to show it too when she comes back if you don’t understand it from me.”
James nodded, letting Regulus take his time as he paced around the room a few times, doing the jump slower or faster to figure it out.
“So from a tombé or chassé you go in a coupé—” Regulus showed James what to do slowly, waiting for him to follow. “Then you turn en dedans in plié, it’s a bit annoying to understand, just this movement a few times until you grasp it.”
James followed closely then he did it himself a few times until Regulus looked pleased.
“Don’t sickle when you coupé.” Regulus watched him closely, looking way more concentrated than he should. “The plié needs to be a bit deeper.”
James applied the corrections, looking at himself in the mirror since he felt a bit self conscious. Eventually Regulus nodded.
“Beautiful.” He smiled with a pleased look in his eyes. “This is where the jump takes place. From here you just spring up in a grand jeté en avant, and you sort of continue till you land in an arabesque, you’re supposed to complete the turn.”
“That’s a lot of terms I haven’t heard before, elaborate or something.” James smiled back, he couldn’t really help himself.
“Well a regular grand jeté is this jump.” Regulus took a few quick steps back before demonstrating. It’s like doing the splits in the air, James recognised the move.
Prongs nodded, letting Regulus, who was concentrating on whether or not he jumped high enough, continue.
“En avant directly translates to forward, like moving forward. Since you’re doing it en avant it means you move forward with the jump, it’s supposed to be a big sort of leap.”
“Right, so I suppose I need to try it now.” James hesitated, not knowing exactly how he was supposed to approach the jump, even after Regulus broke it down.
“Just try to get the basic movement down, you’ll need to stretch loads for it to look good, which I’m assuming you haven’t been doing.” Regulus grinned. “Come on give it a go already”
James just sighed at that because well, Regulus is right. In his defense Prongs had been busy, he just couldn’t find the time! Either way he positioned himself properly to try the jump, still doing it extremely slow.
Regulus watched James do it once, twice, thrice. Just enough so he could explain it better. It didn’t help Prongs at all, feeling Regulus’ eyes on him just made him awkward and awfully self conscious.
“Let’s focus more on footwork, keep your hands on your hips for now, or just in first position, whatever you prefer.” Regulus took a few steps closer to James and he sat down. “Go again, slowly, listen to what I’ll tell you.” he murmured.
James listened. He chose to keep his hands in first position since it helped with the quarter turn. He let Regulus correct him slowly, listening to everything he said.
“That’s a bit better, now when you jump here lead with your hips.” he sounded distracted, almost as if he was focusing elsewhere “Don’t focus on height, I’d much rather you land properly.” James could basically feel him staring.
“I think I’m doing something wrong in the jump, the landing feels weird.” he said.
“Mmm, no that’s not it. You mess up the footwork when you move onto the next jump I’m almost certain. Give en menage another go, I want to see you do it again.”
James was basically certain that he was messing up the legs somewhere. Perhaps he didn’t even need Regulus to realise it, but now that he heard it from him the jump felt a lot better.
“Oh that’s gorgeous!” Regulus smiled as James took a breather “That was really well done! You’ve grasped it pretty quickly, the footwork I mean. There’s loads of things to correct but for your first time it’s actually wonderful!”
In the meantime Pandora came back, took her long enough honestly.
“What’s wonderful?” She asked, clapping a castanet in one of her hands “I love these things!”
“Had him attempt jete’s en tournant” Regulus chuckled for a moment “It’s a shame he’s not flexible.”
“Ugh I hate them! It’s okay James really I firmly believe only Regulus is mental enough to actually enjoy such torture!” she assured him.
“They weren’t so bad, just felt awkward” he answered honestly.
“Well you weren’t made to be comfortable, hun.” Regulus interrupted with a flat and almost harsh tone “Ballet is awkward, get over it.”
“Well you’re mean today!” Pandora exclaimed “How about you let James take a break and let me try Kitri a few times! I want to do the act one first!”
“Sure…” Regulus muttered, taking a look at his phone to find the music for it.
James took a seat in the meantime, grabbing his water bottle and his phone so he could watch. Pandora sat down to put on her pointe shoes, doing the same ritual as last time, wincing as she took off a few bandages, replacing them with new ones. Her feet looked, and there’s no delicate way to put this, rather gruesome. James hated the sight of it, and the way she was always hurt really made Prongs feel a bit sorry.
“You better get the jumps right this time!” Regulus scolded her as she got ready to enter.
James recognised the variation, it’s a fairly popular one and he’s heard of it a few times. He soon noticed that Pandora is, quite literally, the perfect embodiment of Kitry.
A playful girl who dances around town, having fun in her own little world, teasing various men and being nothing short of charming. Pandora not only had the energy for it, but her youthful appearance and overall personality just added to it.
James liked the short dance, especially since it ended with a whole diagonal of turns. He recognised a few moves, like the pas de chat or the grand battements, but the majority were new for him.
After Pandora finished dancing Regulus clicked his tongue a few times, clearly displeased.
“I’ll never understand why they love you as Kitri so much! Sure the acting is good but you’re barely lifting off of the floor! And the turns? What happened to closing fifth position? Get a grip!” he shook his head a few times, listening to Pandora groaning.
“Not everyone spent their entire lives consuming technique! I’d much rather mess up and still charm the audience instead of doing it flawlessly but with no emotion!”
“Well yes, but there’s supposed to be a balance in ballet! You have too much of one thing, perhaps you get carried away, I dunno…” Regulus scolded her.
“Can you try doing it once? I’d love to see you do it.” she asked, not in a teasing way but rather more genuine.
Regulus nodded, walking to the same starting point as Pandora did. James found it a bit funny how they all knew just every single variation at the top of their heads, even the ones for the opposite gender.
Regulus stepped in with confidence, doing the jump at the start with his usual cockiness. Pandora rolled her eyes when she noticed the height Regulus gained, but she continued to watch nonetheless.
Regulus’ style was much different, he kept the playfulness of the character but instead of making Kitri seem innocent he added something more erotic to her that Pandora didn’t have.
Before he left to run for the diagonal he blew a kiss, then he proceeded to quickly wink and rush towards the other side of the room. It did make Regulus look insanely good, at least that’s what James thought. Pandora opted for a flashy smile when she performed, which really ended up changing a lot of things.
Regulus didn’t turn as fast as Pandora did, though he did close fifth visibly better, even for an amateur like James. He ended the variation with a very impressive balance in attitude, then he sat down quickly, panting for breath.
“Fine you’re better I suppose.” Pandora chuckled “I want to close fifth but I like turning quickly, you did them a lot slower.”
“I did them on the music.” Regulus snapped back.
“We have a live orchestra playing for us, the music follows us not the other way around, just do them however you like.” she scoffed.
“Yeah no, you’re just excusing bad musicality.” Regulus stopped for a moment, he looked like he was thinking about something. “Speaking of musicality, James you’ve got loads of that! You just sort of feel the music, it’s visible!”
James was a bit surprised to get such praise out of all sudden, especially from Regulus. He shrugged, smiling, trying to think of something to say.
“My mum did play the violin for the longest of times, must be something I inherited.” he laughed “Plus I told you I play piano, and I’m around music a lot in general.”
“Well yes but you dance to it differently, like during barre for example. I never had to tell you to use your head or arms more, you just always did it without needing someone telling you to do it.” Regulus furrowed his brow just a bit while trying to explain.
“You know what, now that I think about it I’ve noticed that too!” Pandora chimed in “It took me a lot of time to just ease up and add some personality into my dancing.”
James was flustered, or flattered, he couldn’t tell which one it was.
*
*
*
On Saturday, at precisely 5PM James went to meet Regulus. He was in the area anyway, so he figured walking back with him wouldn’t be a bad idea, since they planned hanging out anyway.
Sirius and Remus said they’d arrive at some point, without actually specifying the time, so James was just quietly hoping they wouldn’t be too late.
He texted Regulus just to let him know where he’s waiting, and about two minutes later they greeted each other with a short hug, turning to walk to James’ flat yet again.
“I’m a bit nervous, is that normal?” Regulus asked. His stress was visible, he was just buzzing with it.
“Depends on what you’re nervous about.” James teased.
“Well, I hope I’ll still get along well with Remus first of all, he was my favourite back then I think.” Regulus giggled as James did a dramatic scoff, just for fun. “Well of course I’ve always liked you, and then Sirius is my brother so I needed to like him, and Peter was bearable, but you were all arrogant and extroverted little shits! Remus was the only balanced one.”
“Remus still is balanced, but I sort of take care of all of them.” James pointed. “Remus is excited to see you again too y’know, said the same thing about you.”
“Yeah well we sort of understood each other I suppose.” Regulus hummed, remaining quiet for a moment.
“What about Sirius? He told me you guys met a few times not too long ago.” James asked.
“We’re fine really, he just pretends nothing happened and that sort of bothers me just a little bit. He shouldn’t need to, yet he still does it. I want us to talk about it but I can’t force it on him.” Regulus spoke with such care that it made James’ heart melt, he had no idea what happened back then but it’s clear that Regulus still loves his brother with all of his heart.
“I think it’ll be fine when we’re all together really, you’ll see.” James assured him, walking up to the building’s door to hold it open as Regulus walked in.
They climbed up the first floors in silence, when James thought he heard music.
“Oh I think they’re already here.” he smiled, his shoulders shaking slightly as he tried to hold back from laughing. “Sirius has my spare key, he just lets himself in most of the time.”
“Oh I’d fucking kill him if he did that” Regulus joked “How can you tell anyway?”
“Just listen.” James lifted one finger up in the air, humming along to a bowie track, the prettiest star. Sirius loves that song, he’s constantly singing it.
“Didn’t even notice it before.” Regulus smiled, “Wait, I'm a lot more nervous than I thought.” He exhaled sharply, turning a ring on his finger obsessively, “Shit I’m so scared.”
“Then rush in there and leave yourself no choice but to continue.” James put a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down a little bit “Nothing bad can happen, at least while I’m there.” he joked.
“Okay.” Regulus met his gaze and he smiled playfully, jumping up the last few steps and walking up to the door.
James didn’t need to take his keys out to unlock it because Sirius doesn’t close the door behind him, Prongs just kicked it lightly with his foot and he walked in, shouting so Sirius and Remus could hear.
“We’re here!” He took his jacket off and he threw it on the coat rack.
Usually he expected Sirius to be the first to greet them, but this time it was the sound of paws clicking against the floor as Buckbeak ran up to James, jumping on him with full force.
“Shit buddy what are you doing here!” He laughed, almost falling back from the impact.
“Sorry I didn’t want to leave him!” Remus came in not too long after, holding open a drink. “Regulus!” his face suddenly lit up and he ran across the hallway to hug him, giggling slightly as Buckbeak tried to join too.
“Hi! Good to see you!” Regulus also smiled, James felt how genuine it was. He watched Regulus scan Remus’ face, waiting for him to say something.
“Don’t mind dogs do you? This is Buckbeak, he’s got massive attachment issues, I didn’t want to leave him at our flat.” Remus introduced the dalmatian who immediately jumped on Regulus, begging to be pet.
Regulus did just that, he started scratching his ears until Buckbeak eventually got bored and he started running back and forth between him and James.
“He’s very well…neurodivergent.” Regulus observed.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself!” Sirius leaned against the doorway from the living room, a wide grin plastered all over his face.
It didn’t take James long to notice something was different, and he obviously couldn’t help but point it out.
“You’ve straightened your hair! What’s up with that?” He asked just as Sirius began to walk towards them.
“Lily got this new straightener and she begged me to let her test it on me first, I couldn’t say no of course. It worked wonders. I can literally run my fingers through my hair.” Sirius ran a hand through his hair just to demonstrate. He usually can’t do that, his curls are so tight and messy it’s basically impossible.
James got so distracted with Sirius’ hair that he even forgot about Regulus, Remus or Buckbeak. Sirius didn’t apparently because he moved on to greet his little brother.
“Reggie!” he practically fell into his arms, letting his tone soften as they hugged. “It’s lovely to see you, sorry for the chaos.”
Regulus also seemed to relax a bit, growing just a tad shy when Sirius greeted him.
“Oh don’t worry I’m very used to chaos,” he responded “wonderful to see you too!”
They stared at each other for a moment until Sirius heard the vinyl he was playing come to an end.
“Oh shit wait , I'll be back!” Sirius jumped, rushing to the other room to flip the disc “James I swear I took care when I played it don’t scold me!” he shouted from the other room.
As Regulus took off his coat and shoes, Remus was already getting ready for them to chat.
“He doesn’t let Sirius use his record player and he only lets me use it on special occasions, it’s bullshit really.” he whispered.
“I heard that!” James bragged “And yes I don’t trust everyone with them.”
“But you let me play music as I please! You should’ve said something!” Regulus looked surprised.
James didn’t actually think about this before, why did he let Regulus use his record player? Now that he’s looking back on it he didn’t even hesitate to agree.
“You’re all calm and collected, most definitely not a threat.” James responded, heading to the livingroom to sit down and having Buckbeak follow along with him.
Regulus and Remus joined them a few moments later, having stayed behind to chat. Prongs and Padfoot settled down on the floor, while Buckbeak was pacing around the room, occasionally smelling a few things.
Instead of listening in on their conversation like the usual drama-deprived James would have, he decided to focus on Sirius, since he really wasn’t used to this…new look.
“Your hair is much longer now!” James sat closer to play with Sirius’ hair a bit “Does it feel any different?” Prongs admired Sirius’ hair that was way past his shoulders now by a noticeable few centimeters.
“It gets in my face more, it sort of flows easier?” Sirius shook his head a few times “I can actually tie it with just one hairtie now and it doesn’t hurt my whole wrist to do so!” he said that with so much excitement that it actually made it seem like a huge deal.
“Personally, I like it better curly,” Remus joined in on the conversation. “Like this it has no shape, no layers, it’s not fun!” he whined.
“Oh shut up Moony you’re supposed to love me regardless!” Sirius teased.
“God forbid a man has taste.” Remus rolled his eyes, chuckling.
Regulus stifled a laugh at that and he turned back to whispering with Remus about…whatever they needed to discuss. James considered this a good opportunity to ask Sirius about how he’s feeling, but he was quick to change the subject, shouting about how he urgently needs to eat.
“Guys I’m FAMISHED!” he made sure the whole neighbourhood would hear him “Not to be dramatic but I’d kill for some food.”
Remus was visibly startled at the sudden shouting, he took a deep, deep breath before responding.
“Yes, eating would sound nice, we planned to cook anyway.” he said, calmly.
Well, it was true. They all collectively decided on a little schedule just to keep things in order, and first on the list was making dinner together, just for a little extra bit of fun. On today’s menu was alfredo pasta, Remus’ pick. It was fun to make and the recipe didn’t take too long but not too little either, and they all agreed that they would eat it.
As they walked into the kitchen Remus and James got busy with looking for ingredients, so Regulus and Sirius got to chat. The funny part is that they chose to do it in French.
“Tout va bien pour toi ? Ta présence m’a manqué.” Sirius murmured.
“Oui, à moi aussi. Merci pour l’invitation.” Regulus was polite, smiling fondly as he spoke.
“Pour être tout à fait honnête, je suis simplement ravi que tu aies accepté de te joindre à nous. Tu t’entends bien avec Remus, j’imagine ?” Sirius said as he sat down at the kitchen table.
“Oui, très bien. Parler avec lui m’avait manqué, il a toujours su m’écouter, quoi que je dise.” Regulus smiled to himself.
“Tu veux dire qu’il supportait tes interminables discours à propos de James ?” Sirius responded with a grin, watching Regulus’ face closely as his eyes widened.
“Bon sang... tu savais ?” he basically gasped, blushing lightly.
“Évidemment ! Alors, tu es toujours éprise de lui ?” Sirius chuckled.
“Devine.” Regulus sighed.
James didn’t make out anything besides the last thing Regulus said, which Prongs already knew meant ‘guess’. They spoke too quickly and well, the upper class french differed from the usual style that Prongs was just a tad familiar with. They have a different accent and a special way with words.
“Would you look at that James, they’re gossiping without us!” Remus stopped to think for a moment, carrying a pan in his hand. “I propose we speaketh in Shakespeare’s tongue, to confound them even as much.”
“A most brilliant conceit! Perchance we should prepare our supper alone and leave them to hunger—’twould serve as fitting chastisement!” James responded, loving Remus’ idea.
“You can’t just say perchance!” Sirius snorted a laugh.
They all sort of wheezed at that. It will be a really long night, there’s no doubt about it.