Chapter 3
Black remembered about how James implied Barty asked for a call. He didn’t know if that was true of if James was just being sarcastic, but he decided to give it a shot, since he never deleted Barty’s contact.
He searched for ‘Homme de ma vie 🙄❤️’ in his contact lists. The last call being almost 3 complete years ago, on his birthday. He couldn’t help but smile softly at the contact name; still remembering how Barty was the one who made him write that and Regulus had to add a rolling eyes emoji. He wasn’t actually bothered, though — Barty was, indeed, the man of his life. Or at least back then.
The phone rang once, twice, three, four times and when Regulus was preparing to hang up, feeling like a fool, ready to scream onto the pillow below his head; Barty answered.
There was a few seconds of silence, but Regulus had to break it.
“What do you want?” he snapped.
“You’re the one calling me,” his heart skipped a bit hearing his voice so close to his ear, but he was too sad to make a fool of himself.
“He’s angry at me, Barty.”
He tried to force his tone to become totally normal in order not to demonstrate that he was afraid, but Barty knew him too well. There was a silence, followed by movement sounds.
“What did he do?” his voice was firm.
Regulus sighed. Good, now Barty was on his protective mode.
“Nothing. He’s just mad, I know it. He… he said he wasn’t, but he is acting coldly towards me. He kinda of implied that I cheated…. why? Why couldn’t you just stay quiet?”
Regulus could not see him, but he knew barty was with furrowed eyebrows, totally concentrated on his voice.
“He implied what?”
“… that I cheated on him.”
“What the fuck,” that was muffled and Black deduced that he had his hand on his face.
“He didn’t actually say that. Maybe I am cra—” he hurried into justifying James, but Barty didn’t let him finish.
“I don’t care,” he stated, “Who is he to even imply that you’re not loyal? What? Because you were with your ex? Christ, Reggie, tell your boyfriend to go have some classes about self-esteem.”
That made Regulus laugh quietly, but he was still uncomfortable.
“I don’t want him to be upset.”
“I know baby, but it’s not your fault he’s a asshole.”
Regulus got caught up in the sofa, closing his eyes when his heart warmed upon hearing the nickname.
“He’s not an asshole.”
“Two minutes with him was enough to realise he’s not good enough for you.”
“Then who is?”
Silence.
“What else did he say?” Regulus had to smile at the way Barty avoided his question. Butterflies flying around his stomach. He felt alive, like he was back to his 16s.
“He got mad because you bought me the book.”
“It’s a good book.”
“Yeah I’ve always wanted to read it.”
“You’re serious?!” his voice was excited now. Regulus sat down again.
“Yeah I just never got time to buy it.”
“I still know you like the palm of my hand, Black,” he could hear his smirk, “When I read that book I knew you were going to like it.”
“from 0 to 5, rate it.”
“Hmmmm a 4.5, maybe.”
“That’s a good rate,” he started playing with the edge of his sweater.
“When you finish, you’ll have to tell me your opinion on it. Have you started?”
“Not yet, been stressed.”
“Don’t worry. Start whenever you want to but we have to talk about it once you’re done with it.”
Something on Regulus’ chest lighted up just by the thought of having future talks with Barty.
“Deal.”
“Brilliant,” there was something about the soft and excited tone on Crouch’s voice that made all of the anxiety go away, like an antidote. He missed that, “Have you had dinner yet?”
“Nope. I’ve been on my sofa all day,” he looked at the TV.
“What are you waiting for? Get up and go eat, don’t be like Evan.”
Regulus laughed, actually getting up.
“Like Evan?” he questioned as he head up to the kitchen.
“Yup, he only cares about his skate now. Poor boy will have a hard time on this snow,” they both giggled, “Once I had to put the spoon inside his mouth. Just like you do to the babies!”
“No way!”
“I swear. He hated me so much.”
Now, the two laughed loudly as if they hadn't spent two years apart. It was something natural and beautiful between them — without any pressure or discomfort. Regulus was feeling genuinely happy and actually laughing in a way he didn’t even remember how it used to feel.
After some time, Regulus had already finished dinner, but the call was not yet near to end. He was leaning against the wall, playing with a spring that was on the table. They were still laughing — Barty telling him his stories on the University, like how Evan was almost falling asleep on his side, so he banged the boys head against the table, when he was in the library and ended up farting louder than he was expecting or even that one time he saw a bulge on his professor’s trousers and had nightmares about it.
Regulus couldn’t stop laughing, feeling like home.
“Once I went to Turkey for two weeks without Evan and he spammed my messages, calling me a traitor because I left him alone in the mess that our flat is.”
“That does sound like Evan.”
They both took deep breaths, the laughs slowly stopping even though the smile was still present on Regulus’ face.
“You know, we should all go out together one day?” this invitation made Regulus' whole body nummodobly, “We really missed you, Reggie. So… i was thinking that maybe you could come over, or we could go there… whatever you’d like.”
“Anywhere you guys prefer,” he stuttered at the beggining.
“You can come over and then we decide, what do you think?” his voice was careful.
“That sounds great. Yeah, yeah I’ll be there… whenever I’m allowed to.”
“You’re always allowed.”
Something in Regulus' throat closed and he wanted to cry, but not from sadness. He felt radiant and for the first time in a long time, really happy. His eyes watered and he quickly wiped it before a tear could escape.
“— are you there?”
“Yes- yes. I’m sorry, I am here.” he tried to find a steady tone.
“You can come whenever you want to. Not pressuring you, you don’t have to come tomorrow or something—”
“Tomorrow would be great,” impulsiveness ran down his throat, causing him to interrupt Barty faster than he expected.
“Oh. Great! That’s amazing. Do you want me to pick you up with Evan’s aunt car? It’s really cold.”
“It’s okay, thank you,” he denied in a soft way, “So… see you tomorrow?”
“See you tomorrow.”
There was something intimate and flirticious in the air, and even if both of them catched it, they ignored it. Regulus sucked his bottom lip to the inside of his mouth, trying not to scream like a teenager. They both waited for a while, but no one was hanging up — that was until Barty whispered Bye, Reggie and the call ended.
Regulus stared at the contact for a while, seeing that the call lasted 2 hours and a half. The best two hours and a half of his year.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The next day, it was like nothing could ever make Regulus upset. He woke up around 11:40, took a shower, had lunch and when he looked at the mirror, he actually felt pretty. His eyes were shinning and his hair was actually not bad. Regulus smiled to get dressed.
The only thing he could thing about was Evan and Barty. About how they were going to be together after so long. It didn’t even feel real.
He was taken away from his fantasies when his phone ringed twice with notifications. Regulus looked to the side, grabbing it to see it was messaged from Barty. A smile increased on his face
Homme de ma vie 🙄❤️: i just realised we didn’t discuss about the hours LMAO
Homme de ma vie 🙄❤️: what do you think about like hmm 1:30?
Regulus: Whatever it’s better for you!!!
Homme de ma vie 🙄❤️: reggie you have to choose
Regulus: Why
Homme de ma vie 🙄❤️: bc im the one asking you to, duuuhhh
Regulus: But I really don’t care about the time
Homme de ma vie 🙄❤️: alright, Il mio cuore, you’re coming now then
Homme de ma vie 🙄❤️: idgaf if you’re busy you’re gonna start walking now because I am saying so
Regulus: Soooo bossy
Homme de ma vie 🙄❤️: you love it
Regulus: Maybe
Regulus was smiling when he left the chat, and he was still smiling when he was getting dressed, and when he was outside walking towards Evan’s old house.
He had other notifications, but none of them matter. He has his headphones on, playing some romantic music that wasn’t helping his butterflies. Evan. He was going to see Evan. He was going to see Barty.
He still remembered the path —since he used to trace it a lot—so a wave of nostalgia struck him right in the chest the minute he started regonising the red wine buildings and the park where the kids were playing. He still remembers hanging out with Barty and Evan at that place.
The dark curly haired boy sighed, fixing his scarf around his neck before ringing the bell. Seconds after he heard some screams inside.
“Get out of the way!”
“Ev— let me… fuck— let me go!”
“Piss off you— leave me!”
Regulus rolled his eye hearing that from afar. Two kids. After a few seconds of waiting, the door was opened by Evan who had clearly recently tripped. He was panting, and clearly excited. Regulus felt his heart race by being face to face with his old best friend.
“Regulus fucking Black,” he grinned and immediately pulled him into a hug.
Regulus shutted his eyes strongly, holding Evan with every strength he had on his muscles. He could smell him and even if he was using a new perfume, it still smelled like Evan. The blue eyed one didn’t want to step back, it looked like if he pulled back, he’d realise everything was just a dream.
“Alright,” Barty spoke, “I’m still here lovebirds.”
Evan turned both bodies away, to be facing Barty without pulling away from Regulus. They both laughed.
“You’re just jealous.”
“I am, actually. I didn’t got my hug.”
Regulus rolled his eyes, pulling away from Evan with a smirk on his face. As nervous as he was about touching Barty, he didn't hesitate to walk towards him and open his arms. However, Barty pulled him by the neck.
Having his face pushed against his shoulder was a first-rate shock, but he locked his arms around the other’s torso, inhaling strongly to smell Barty’s cologne. When he shrugged his face against the neck of the other man, it was impossible not to feel the way the hug got slightly tighter. Regulus felt his heart beating on his throat, feeling the fingertips holding the side of his neck strongly. Jesus, he wanted to live there — on the warmth of Barty’s arms.
Evan forced a cough behind the two and that brought Regulus back to reality, who stepped away even if against his will.
“Alright. My aunt is out so we can either stay or leave lads,” Evan informed.
“You two chose,” Regulus pointed to Evan and Barty.
“We’re staying,“ Barty stated, grabbing Black’s scarf and starting to take it off, “It’s not cold inside, you’re not using that amount of clothes.”
“I know how to undress myself,” Regulus rolled his eyes, but did not move.
“Do you?” Barty raised one of his eyebrows and Regulus looked away, his face heating up.
He stared at Evan while Barty was taking off his coat. The pink haired boy rolled his eyes and that only made Regulus smile more. After Rosier hung the coat and scarf on his improvised coat rack.
“So, Regulus,” Evan jumped over the sofa, falling perfectly on it before sitting down, “you have a boyfriend.”
He heard Barty’s forced sigh.
“Not really,” he just replied, ignoring the fact Barty had been talking about James to Evan, “we’re not really… official.”
“Barty told me he was a pussy.”
Regulus looked back, to judge Barty with his eyes — the boy shrugged his shoulders not showing any regret.
“He’s just complicated.”
Evan raised his eyebrows, clearly judging with his downward smile.
“That’s all you’re going to tell us?”
Regulus walked to the front of the sofa, sitting in front of Evan. Barty sat on a chair in front of them both
“There's not much to tell. We’re together for like… 5 months? It was around June, July.”
“How did it start, though. Because I genuinely can’t understand how you chose such a dork like him.”
“He’s not a dork, Ev.”
Regulus didn’t dare look at Barty, who was silent.
“You’re not giving any details, Reg. C’mon, you tell about your romantic story and we will talk about the people we shagged there.”
We. Regulus’ stomach turned; a sudden urge to vomit. Stop it. He demanded to himself.
“Alright…” he sighed, getting ready on the couch as if he were picking up courage.
He was about to talk about his story with James — if you could even call it a story — in front of Barty. Gosh.
“After you two left,” he started, “i was pretty… alone. I didn’t have anybody — of course Pandora and Dorcas were there, but It’s not the same,” at that point, he was staring at his own hands. He couldn’t and wouldn’t look at Barty and Evan because he knew they had sad and guilty expressions on their faces, Regulus didn’t want to see that, “so Sirius kinda showed up and we got closer and closer. Around… 7 months ago, he introduced me James and… I don’t know, we got along pretty well and he was attractive so we started having sex and then things started getting romantic. One day he confessed to have feelings for me and… and I said it back,” he took a deep breath, looking at Evan with a forced, melanconic smile, “and where we are right now!”
There wasn’t anything else to tell. He left out the part where everytime he told James he liked him was a lie because he still couldn’t handle confessing that out loud but he still tried to make Barty understand the truth underneath the lines.
The room was silent for a while. Evan blinked quietly at him, looking at Barty before titling his head, opening his mouth for a few seconds before closing again. He didn’t know what to say —awkward.
“Well— That was… something?”
Regulus closed his eyes, feeling embarrassed.
“This is funny,” Barty said, but he wasn’t laughing, “just leave him, seriously.”
Black opened his eyes only to stare at Barty, confused.
“Excuse me?”
“That relationship sucks harder than my parent’s marriage right now… reminder that they’re still divorced.”
He heard a quick laugh from Evan that he probably didn’t mean to let out.
“I’m sorry if we’re very simple. We had a very normal story, it doesn’t need to be such romance involved.”
Barty rolled his eyes.
“Regulus,” he called, “stop. You’re clearly not in love with him.”
“Who are you to tell me how do I feel?”
“Bello, I know you got used to lying since I left, and I know you probably think you learned how to trick people. But I guarantee you, James is the only dumb mother fucker to believe you,” he leaned forward, speaking with a sarcastic smile, “You can’t lie to me,” Regulus didn’t answer, “Alright. Answer me this question: What is the most beautiful thing about James?”
Fuck. He hated Barty for knowing how to manipulate him so well. Regulus talked a lot and if you asked that question about the people or things he liked, he’ll start a whole speech. He was quiet, thinking.
“He’s a good friend,” Barty chuckled.
“That’s so romantic. You admire the way he is with other people, not with you.”
“Christ,” he grunted, seeing Barty smiling proudly.
“Why are you even with him?” Rosier asked.
“I… i don’t wanna hurt him.”
“I think you’re too late to try to take care of his feelings,” Barty judged and Regulus glared at him with annoyed eyes.
“Seriously. I just— he is great. He might not seem a good person but that’s because he gets really annoyed when talking about Barty.”
“That’s because he sees me as a threat. Kinda honoured,” Regulus didn’t look at him because if he did, this time he would laugh at his comments.
“Look, Reg. Maybe just talk to him, he has to understand.”
“Can we… not talk about James?”
“Fine.” Rosier said, “We can tell you about our affairs.”
“I’d be glad to hear them,” Regulus sighed, grabbing one of the pillows to place it on the top of his thighs.
“Okay so, first off. Barty fucked a girl named Amelia Bones for like 3 months,” he laughed and Barty rolled his eyes.
“Look, I had just arrived and she was all over me,” he tried to justify, throwing his hands back.
Regulus sat back, forcing a smile to appear on his lips.
“That’s nice,” he forced a soft tone.
“No need to be jealous, bello. You’re still number one.”
Black rolled his eyes, but he was actually finding the situation very amusing. He had missed the Italian nicknames and Crouch’s boldness.
“I’m not jealous, Crouch. My life is a lot more than you.”
“Oh, so we’ve returned to the last names, Black?” Barty had a playful smile on his face.
“If you keep annoying me, maybe.”
After some time of conversation, the boys eventually left the house. It was raining, so they had to fit the three of them under an umbrella and run to the closest coffee shop around. When they got there, they talked more and drank hot sweet drinks — sharing stories and laughing about it. Evan told Regulus about one girl that he liked for a couple months and then she left him for her sister’s boyfriend. They really had a fun time like they used to do as teenagers, before the life pulled them apart.