Bonus Chapter / Epilogue
12:32pm
Wednesday, 13th July
The hot weather was killing Regulus. When he had the idea of selling his house and dropping his university to go live with Evan and Barty in their city, the warmth of sleeping in a hug was comfortable, but since the summer started approaching, only the idea of having someone touching him with one finger was terrible and a nightmare.
A lot changed after moving out, even before. He and James had a calm, careful talk where both of them listened to each other’s side and understood each other; Regulus would never forget James’ words;
“I was so desperate to make you love me that it didn’t cross my mind what you wanted. It was clear since the beginning you weren’t totally ready to be in a relationship; I was just selfish. I wanted you to like me the way I liked you even though that’s impossible.”
Regulus still felt like shit for hurting James; however, having the chance to admit his mistakes and hearing James admitting his was great — they did not hold any hard feelings against each other because they were good people, still, that wasn’t enough to make a relationship work. James was wrong for ignoring what Regulus wanted and Regulus was wrong for lying to James; both victims of a toxic relationship within great souls that didn’t belong to each other.
“Are you ready?” Barty’s voice woke him up.
Barty didn’t give up on the going to Italy idea, he stuck with it until the end of his university and holidays of Regulus’ work. They arrived in Italy around 2 days and a half ago, Evan didn’t come with them because he claimed not wanting to destroy the couple moments — fair enough Regulus thought at the memory of his words.
“Almost,” he said, sitting on the bed while tying his shoes.
“You’ve been saying that for the last couple hours,” Barty jumped on the hotel bed, next to him.
“The view is too pretty for me not to get distracted,” Regulus shrugs.
“It’s la magia di Firenze, amore mio,” he gave Black the largest, proudest smile he could.
Crouch had always been proud to be half Italian, even if he had the other 50% of French blood, he barely mentioned it.
“I am not talking about the landscape,” Regulus smiled when he leaned to catch Barty’s lips.
The boy could feel the other one smile during the kiss, touching his tongue in a seductive way. Regulus giggled, cupping his boyfriend’s cheek to stop the kiss.
“You’re very nasty, Bartemius.”
“I’m exactly like you, Arcturus,” he felt Barty kiss the snake ring he had given him during Christmas.
His heart heated up as well as his face — he was so in love. Regulus felt like if Barty ever asked him to give him the world, he would have to deny it because for him; Barty is the entire universe.
__________________________
“That was beautiful,” Regulus happily stated once they left the Accademia Gallery where they had the chance to see beautiful work pieces made by artists like Michelangelo, Luigi Pampaloni, Botticelli, Lippi, Gaddi and much more.
Barty had already visited as a kid, but didn’t remember the majority of the things so Regulus counted that as a core memory for both of them.
“My favourite is definitely the statue of David,” Barty confessed, “You see, it’s the most famous sculpture in the world for a reason,” they both giggled.
“Where are we going now?” Regulus asks when Barty rests his arm around his shoulders.
“Maybe go to a market, buy some candies and find a bench to relax.”
Regulus’ stomach flipped at the familiarity of the plans for lunch they had years ago.
“That’s an amazing idea.”
Since it was the beginning of July, it was impossible not to sweat a lot during walks, especially with the amount of tourists filling the streets and making the way to the market harder than it should’ve been. Getting there they bought some typical Italian candies and two chocolate crepes alongside with fresh water; now, finding a place to sit was the hard part.
They tried to look at the parks near them, but the benches were all full and Barty was losing his patience.
“Hey, love,” Rebulus called, grabbing his boyfriend’s arms to make him look down at his eyes, even with the sunglasses, “why don’t we sit on the grass? It’s still romantic.”
“What if we get dirty?”
“We have an incredible cold shower together,” he smiled, noticing Barty’s face relax in agreement, “Brilliant.”
Regulus looked around, looking for a place where the grass wouldn’t hurt them or leave their trousers dirty.
“Here!” he exclaimed, excited.
Barty smiled at his boyfriend, feeling his heart warm at the sight of his excitement. Regulus sat up, looking at the small river that was in front of him as Barty sat beside him, leaving the bag between the two bodies.
“What do you wanna eat first?”
“Definitely the crepes, I don’t want it cold,” Black tilted his head into the older boy’s direction, admiring the smile that danced on his lips.
“I’m sorry to break it to you, love, but they’re definitely cold,” he said.
“Shhhh,” Barty lifted one finger to press it against Regulus' lips, shutting him down. Regulus giggled.
“Alright, let’s go for the crepes then,” he said after Barty took away his finger.
Since they are a clichéd little couple, they decided to eat crepes differently. Regulus stretched the one he had in his hand for Barty to bite and vice versa. Of course that caused a mess, but they were too busy laughing like fools than worrying about the potentially dirty clothes — they didn’t matter, no, nothing mattered.
After soft kisses and loud chuckles, the boys finally finished eating the chocolate crepes, having now two small bags of candies and a half of a bottle of water. Regulus didn’t want to get up, he wanted to stay on the grass forever, spending time with his boyfriend, not worrying about anything else but the kisses they shared and conversations they had — however, Barty wanted to walk and show Regulus every single place he could and Regulus couldn’t deny anything to him, so he just let himself be dragged around Florence.
Of course he was enjoying it, though. Florence was a beautiful city and Regulus was loving every corner of it — especially when Barty was talking about everything so excited.
“Remember when I forced you to play Assassin’s Creed with me?” he asked.
“Impossible to forget how horrible I am at video games,” he replied.
“Okay so, where I’m taking you now it’s one of the places that shows on the Ezio trilogy — well, basically every part of ancient Florence is shown – not that it changed that much to be honest. Anyway, it’s called Palazzo Vecchio and don’t worry about the prices, I am okay with paying it and don’t even try to deny it.”
Barty couldn't stop talking with enthusiasm and Regulus couldn't stop listening with interest. Italy was a part of Barty and Regulus’ job was learning everything about it — double fun if it was Barty teaching him.
The sweets were eaten on the way there — which was not a short walk at all — as the water bottle disappeared within a few minutes of walking. They had to stop to buy a new one and decided they would only drink if it was really needed and of course, that was a hard task during such a hot summer. Regulus was somehow glad Barty forced him to use swimming shorts even if they weren’t going to the beach today.
On the tour through the Palazzo Vecchio, Barty seemed to explain things to Regulus better than the tour guide was; so he didn’t pay attention to the unknownman and learnt everything that came out from Crouch’s mouth. There were times they had to stay quiet, so Barty spent those times kissing Regulus' cheek, hugging him from the behind, stealing kisses, squeezing their hands together… Regulus loved it all.
Barty was the type of person who couldn’t stay quiet for long unless he was upset. He’d jump and run when things were going well but not move an eye when upset — which wasn’t that good due to his weird and almost constant mood swings.
Those mood swings weren’t present on the days they’ve spent in Florence so far — maybe because he’s always too excited to show things about his country to Regulus. It didn’t matter if he spent most of his life in England, his heart would always belong to Italy and he would always wave his flag with pride.
After the tour was over, they went to eat some gelato like they did the days before, dirtying each other’s noses and sharing the same bowl.
That night, they watched a movie on Regulus’ phone and ended up sleeping in the middle of it. Regulus was the first one to wake up. Barty hugged his body like he was going to run away. He smiled after looking over his shoulder to confirm that the close eyes actually meant that he was asleep and not pretending.
“Love,” he whispered, Crouch didn’t react, “Amour de ma vie, peux-tu s'il te plait te réveiller ? Vous bavez,” he felt Barty move. The French always worked.
Regulus waited a few seconds while Barty moved subtly, blinking his eyes carefully, processing the light that was suddenly invading his eyes. When his blue eyes landed on the gray ones, he grinned.
“Hello,” he whispered, stretching right away.
“Good morning, amour,” Regulus replied, watching Barty yawn before sitting on the bed.
“What time is it?”
“No idea,” he looked around in the bed for his phone, since he fell asleep while holding it, “Where’s my phone?” Barty shrugged, getting up.
“See under the pillows,” the taller boy suggested and Regulus moved the pillow just to find his phone on the verge of falling in between the bed and wall, “Now, that was a close one.”
Regulus giggled, seeing the time on his screen.
“five past nine,” he informed, checking some notifications.
James: Ayoo
James: How’s Italy?! Sirius misses you xx
Regulus: Italy is amazing. Tell Sirius to go suck some dick xx
Regulus: [Image attached]
Regulus: Inside the Palazzo Vecchio!!
James: Wow that looks amazing wtf
Regulus: You should visit sometime, it’s worth it
Regulus: Pinky promise
James: Maybe I will, but I have to find a partner first 🙄
James: Otherwise, where will the romance be?
Regulus: Call Hestia Jones, she’s dying to ride your dick
James: She is not!
Regulus: If you say so…
He and James weren’t the best of friends now, but after their talk, they decided to treat each other normally without bringing their toxic relationship up — not that they were trying to forget it. They were just better like this, as something you can call it friends.
He and Barty took a shower together, full of hugs and kisses and even some sneaky hands, enjoying their love for each other in Italy; there’s surely nothing more romantic than that.
“Where do you wanna go?” Barty asked, kissing Regulus’ lips.
“Where you go, I’ll follow so you choose,” he said with a warm smile on his face.
Crouch rolled his eyes, pretending to be annoyed by the sentence.
“Do you wanna ride a bike?”
“Where?”
“I don’t know, go around the city on bikes, next to each other.”
“The city is full of tourists,” he stated.
“Ok, we can save the biking for the night then,” Regulus nodded in agreement.
“We can go to the beach today,” Black suggested.
“You really want to?”
Regulus was never the biggest fan of beaches or pools, basically swimming in general. He wasn’t the best at it, but it’d be fun to have Barty trying to teach him how to swim without looking like a cat at the verge of drowning.
“I do. It’ll be fun,” he shrugged, smiling at the taller boy.
The beach was full when they got there. Full of people lying on the sand and kids running and swimming — a real nightmare for an introvert like Regulus. However, he decided to ignore it like he does on the tours where he’s in the middle of a giant row of people who stop to take pictures of everything. They settled in a place where there was less movement of people, but it was still uncomfortable. Regulus sat on the beach chair they had brought and opened the book Barty had bought him in December as he was finally finishing it.
“Won’t you swim?” Barty questioned, laying on the towel on the sand.
“Let me just read for a moment,” he said.
“Alright. Don’t forget the sunscreen though.”
“I won’t.”
He kept reading for around 10 minutes before putting the sunscreen on himself and Barty and running to the water. They played more than swimmed, doing water wars that ended in fake kisses that were just to bring the other under the water. Barty tried to teach Regulus how to swim better than he is able to and it wasn’t really successful — he didn’t look like he was drowning anymore, though.
They spent around 3 hours at the beach before coming back to the hotel and watch a movie while having some snacks — needless to say, the movie ended with Barty on top of Regulus, kissing his neck.
It was around 10pm, they had already had dinner and were looking for somewhere they could rent bikes for the night; even though it was ridiculously expensive. After almost two hours walking on the lonely night streets, they found it.
They rode their bikes side by side, talking about the things they saw and enjoying the cool breeze that hit their face along with the silence of the night.
“I fucking love Italy,” Barty breathed out.
“I’m loving it too,” he confessed, looking around.
“One day we’ll move here with Evan.”
Regulus looked at Barty, trying to confirm if he was joking or not.
“You’re serious?”
“I am. We’re leaving tomorrow and we haven’t seen even half of Florence. One day we’re buying a house here, me, you and Evan! I’ll teach you guys Italian, don’t worry,” he wasn’t laughing or smiling, so Regulus came to the conclusion he actually meant it, “Don’t you like it?”
“I– No. I mean, yes! I love that idea, I’m just shocked you had it.”
“Why?”
“Because holidays it’s different from living here.”
“Me and Evan are done with University and you can easily find a job. We can find a job, and even if we don’t find a job that easy, don’t forget we all have rich dead parents and Evan has rich, alive aunt and uncle,” he giggled and Regulus couldn’t help but giggle too, “Here, gimme your hand.”
“I’m gonna fall!”
“You won’t!” he already had an outstretched arm, waiting for Regulus to do the same.
“Bartemius Crouch Jr, if I fall, I swear you’ll be a dead man!” he warned before stretching his arm onto his lover’s direction, feeling their hands touching and fingers tangle for a few seconds before Regulus felt his bike slowly fall to the side.
He let out a high-pitched scream, letting go of Barty’s hand to hold his bicycle. Barty was chuckling.
When they got back to the hotel, it was hard for them to fall asleep. Regulus had his head resting on Barty’s chest, hearing his heart while Barty touched his dark curls. His eyes were closed, but he was very awake, thinking about everything.
The days they spent in Italy were the best days of summer he has ever spent. Only him and Barty enjoying their love in such a beautiful and romantic country.
His story with Barty and the way he loved him were two things that can prove that soulmates exist and that when two people are meant to be, nothing can destroy it or be in the between.
Regulus was glad Barty was his meant to be.