Regulus holds a brownie in front of James’ mouth, giggling deliriously. “You’re gonna get crumbs everywhere, open your mouth wider,” he laughs, holding his other hand underneath his best friend’s chin as he takes a bite.
“God,” Regulus hears from across the room. “If you two are done flirting then, we’re going to play Cluedo.”
He looks up to see a very tired looking Remus Lupin looking at him with a raised eyebrow. If he was sober, he would have blushed in embarrassment. But considering the fact that he was absolutely sloshed, he could barely think straight enough to pull away from James. He just giggled, leaning into James and pulling the brownie away, placing the rest in his own mouth.
“We aren’t flirting,” Regulus groans. “I’m feeding him a brownie because he is absolutely incapable of feeding himself anything without dropping it on himself, and I bought him this jumper and it was very expensive,” he says, trying to keep his words in order as he crosses his arms over his chest.
Lily hums from where she’s sitting on the floor in front of Sirius’ legs as they braid her hair. Sirius looks up, raising his eyebrow at Regulus.
Mary, Lily, Remus, James, Sirius, and Regulus decided a couples game night would be a fun idea. Well, couples plus James and Regulus.
(Remus says they might as well be a couple considering the fact that they spend so much time together that they wouldn’t have time for a relationship.)
“Besides,” Lily begins. “Reg and James wouldn’t even make sense. Reg’s too smart for him, and James couldn’t pull him,” she points out, and Regulus snorts, nodding as he leans sideways, swinging his legs onto James’ lap and resting his head on his shoulder. James’ arm instinctively wraps around his shoulder, chin resting on top of his head.
“You are correct, Lillith Evans,” Regulus hums.
“Oh, shut it,” Sirius scoffs, rolling his eyes. “You’re literally in his lap,” they point out, nodding toward the other sofa. Regulus shrugs as James rests one hand on his knee, thumb rubbing circles on the skin there.
“Hey,” James says, laughing. “He likes it here. It makes him feel tall-“
“I am tall, you imbecile,” Regulus mutters, smacking James on the leg and making him wince from the force of the smack.
“Mm,” James hums. “5’8 is very tall, Regulus,” he says sardonically, and Regulus snorts and pinches his leg, making James wince again. “Why must you hurt me every time I insult you?”
Regulus raises an eyebrow. “Why must you insult me every time you open your big mouth?”
With a head tilt, James gives Regulus a dazed grin that makes his heart burst into flames. “You’re so easy to insult, I can’t just let the opportunity slide,” he drawls, and Regulus feels his cheeks heat up, but he doesn’t let his frown falter a bit despite the way his lips are pulling into a grin.
Their eyes meet in a bit of a staring contest between the two, James’ eyes half lidded and Regulus gazing back through his eyelashes as his fingers graze James’ a bit from where they lay on his knee.
“My god,” Mary groans from across the room, but Regulus doesn’t tear his gaze away from James. “Why did we force them to become friends again? I feel like I enjoyed life better when they couldn’t stand each other,” they say, and Regulus hears Sirius cackle.
Instinctively, he sticks up his middle finger in their direction, then his eyes slowly drag from James’ eyes, down the slope of his nose, and back. “I feel like you shouldn’t antagonize me, Potter.”
James chuckles. “But it’s so fun ,” he whines. “You’re so easy to rile up-“
“Okay,” Lily calls from across the room, breaking James and Regulus out of their trance. Regulus’ cheeks bloom an even deeper shade of red as he clears his throat. “I’m stopping this before one of you ends up with a cock in your mouth-“
“I wouldn’t suck James’ cock even if I was being held at gunpoint,” Regulus deadpans.
James whines from beside him, and Regulus responds with a slap on his knee to chastise him. “You’re so mean to me.”
Regulus giggles, leaning his head on James’ shoulder again and peering up at him. “I like being mean to you. You blush so easily,” he says, and James rolls his eyes, placing his hand on Regulus’ knee and gently rubbing it.
“Why don’t you lot just shag already and call it a day?” Remus asks in exasperation, and Regulus looks up to see him resting his head on Mary’s lap.
“Because James couldn’t pull me,” Regulus answers simply, shrugging. “Lils said it beforehand. Weren’t you listening-“
“ Hey !” James shouts, and Regulus winces at the booming of his voice.
“Volume, Jamie,” Regulus chastises, and James squeezes his knee as an apology. Regulus hums, a satisfied smile painting his lips as he scoots closer to James and snuggles into his side. “As I was saying,” he continued. “James couldn’t pull me-“
“Says who ?” James snorts. “I could totally pull you, mate. You’re just stubborn. I don’t know how you’ve lived with me so long and you haven’t tried to shag me yet.”
Everybody in the room lets out a groan in unison, all muttering variations of I hate you and you’re so bloody full of yourself , and Regulus just muttered “get your head out of your arse, Potter,” and snorted, sitting up to take James’ face in his hands, squeezing his cheeks together. “You can’t. I’m too smart.”
James hums, then he giggles and leans in, rubbing his nose against Regulus’. Regulus grins, cheeks flushing. “I totally could,” he says quietly, voice thick and scratchy.
“Can you two not eye fuck each other while we’re all in the room?” Sirius deadpans, and Regulus pulls away from James, glaring at them before turning back to James.
“I bet you couldn’t, Jamie,” Regulus hums, tilting his head to the side and giving him a look through his eyelashes. He watches James gulp and he smiles innocently.
(Regulus enjoys riling James up. It’s honestly easy. He loves to see his face flush and watch the sweat bead on his forehead whenever he walks into the living room wearing one of James’ shirts instead of his own.)
Vaguely, Regulus can hear Remus and Mary muttering about how gross this all is, but he can’t focus on anything else but James’ labored breathing and flushed cheeks. “Wanna bet then?” James croaks, and Regulus chuckles breathily.
“Bet what?”
James hums in deep thought, pulling away from Regulus a little bit. “If I can’t pull you, then I get to set you up with Lockheart-“
“Why Lockheart? ” Mary wheezes from across the room. Regulus grimaces, scrunching his nose up at James, who had a lazy, smug grin on his face. He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol in his system or his lack of sleep finally catching up to him, but James looks so …
“Regulus hates Lockheart,” Sirius pipes up, and Regulus breaks his glance away from James and looks over at them. “And to be fair, I do as well. He’s a bit of a buffoon.”
Remus lets out a loud cackle, his head falling back onto the sofa. “And he’s really full of himself,” he adds.
“And obnoxious,” Lily says, pointing her finger in the air.
“Oh,” Mary cuts in with a giggle. “And he thinks he’s a great singer but he can’t match pitch to save his life-“
“God,” Regulus groans, his head falling back. “I fucking know. I was in the bloody musical with him, do you know how obnoxious he is to work with? God, he was playing Crutchie, and somehow, he made me hate Newsies. How could anyone make me hate Newsies?” he rants, hands flailing. “He absolutely ruined Carrying the Banner for everybody because he couldn’t stay on fucking key. He was so off that he might as well be eating the fucking piano, holy fuck.”
“He isn’t that bad,” James snorts, pushing Regulus’ legs off of his lap. Regulus snaps his head toward James, opening his mouth to ask him why he pushed him away, but James shifted his body until he was comfortably situated on the sofa with his head resting on Regulus’ left thigh. Regulus hums, one hand coming down to card through James’ unruly brown hair, gently combing through the tangles.
“James,” Lily sighs. “I love you, but you can’t sing either. So obviously you won’t know when somebody is off key-“
“I’m not that bad,” James pouts, and Regulus coos.
“Sure you aren’t, cherié .”
James hums, a blush painting his cheeks again as he smiles up at Regulus, his eyes fluttering shut. “I like when you speak to me in French,” he says softly, and Regulus chuckles, rolling his eyes.
“I like when you speak to me in Hindi,” he says, winking, and James’ nose scrunches up as he attempts to curl into himself to hide.
“My god , you’re worse than Rem and Siri,” Lily mutters.
“Like you and Mary are any better than us,” Sirius scoffs, glaring at Lily.
Regulus blinks slowly. “You and Remus like to undress each other with your eyes at any given moment of the day,” he deadpans, and Sirius’ face flushes red while Remus bursts into laughter, wrapping his arms around Sirius’ waist as they attempt to hide their face in his neck.
“Baby,” Remus laughs, kissing his forehead. “Baby, it’s okay,” he giggles, and Sirius giggles too.
Regulus looks away from them, swallowing thickly.
He would never admit it, but he was jealous of them. So jealous. He just - they were so good together. Even before they were together, they were perfect together. There was just something about Remus and Sirius that just worked . Sirius was always so wild and energetic, talking a mile a minute. Regulus swears he was a dog in their past life. Remus, on the other hand, was content with just sitting and listening to Sirius, all loving glances and stares and gentle touches.
They were best friends as well. Regulus assumes that’s why they worked so well. They were friends long before they even admitted feelings for each other.
(Regulus and James often talk about the fact that they didn’t even know they were dating when they were absolutely dating, just unofficially and without the boyfriends title.)
James' hand is on his chin all of a sudden, tilting his head down, and he follows, turning his gaze toward James with a soft smile. He runs his hand through his hair again, watching the way James relaxes under his touch. “Is it a bet, then?” James asks, and Regulus hums softly.
“Don’t we need rules for a bet?”
“We should write some!” James exclaims, shooting up from his spot and nearly hitting Regulus in the jaw. Regulus squawks and pulls away, glaring at him. “Let me get some paper!” he says, practically flying off the sofa and running to his bedroom.
“I feel like this is a really bad idea considering the fact that you’re both very drunk right now,” Mary murmurs, yawning as they stretch their arms above their head.
Regulus shrugs. “I’m not that drunk,” he murmurs. “Besides. I know how to handle my alcohol, James does not. If anybody’s making a stupid decision, it’s definitely him.”
“He says as he just agreed to a bet where his best friend tries to get him to fall in love to prove a point,” Remus sighs, pushing himself off of the sofa across the room. Regulus narrows his eyes at him, then flips him off. “Sirius and I are gonna get going. They have work in the morning, and I have a long list of errands to run. And I forgot to feed the dog before we left-“
“You said you fed him!” Sirius groans. “Jesus Christ, Remus, I literally told you-“
“Honey,” Remus chuckles. Regulus stifles a laugh behind his hand as he continues. “I was kidding. You watched me feed Winnie before we left,” he says, helping Sirius off of the sofa and then pressing a kiss to his forehead. Sirius narrows his eyes at Remus, and Regulus falls backward onto the sofa, covering his mouth to hide his laugh as James comes sprinting back into the room with a notebook and a pen.
“Okay, rules for the bet, then?” James asks excitedly, plopping himself down next to Regulus.
“We’re leaving so we don’t have to witness this buffoonery,” Sirius mutters, grabbing Remus’ hand and dragging him toward the door. Regulus snorts, watching them both walk toward the door and slip their shoes on.
They all say their goodbyes, and James turns his attention back to his notebook.
“Rules!”
Regulus hears Mary sigh from across the room, and he turns his head toward them to see them slumped over in Lily’s lap, fingers pinching the bridge of their nose.
“This is a terrible idea,” Mary mutters, and Regulus shrugs.
“Bad ideas are fun,” Regulus says. “When have I ever made a good decision, honestly?”
With a hum, Lily nods. “That’s fair,” she murmurs, running her fingers through Mary’s curls, separating them. “Now start the rules! I want to see how stupid this will be.”
-
Due to the fact that their rules were heavily influenced by alcohol, James and Regulus were constantly writing over each other’s words, crossing words out, and making unsolicited comments in the margins of each other’s rules.
Boundaries for the Bet?? No James it should be called rules for the bet Regulus I don’t care what it should be called
- ABSOLUTELY NO KISSING ON THE MOUTH I DO NOT WANT TO SWAP SPIT WITH JAMES POTTER regulus you are so dramatic i’m a GREAT kisser you cunt
- I know you’ll fold if I call you baby so I’ll be using pet names why are you writing these rules as though we’re having a fucking conversation are you stupid you call me stupid all the time, so yes ??
- Don’t flirt bitch how am i supposed to pull you without flirting figure it out fleamont
- DO flirt i literally just said don’t flirt
- Don’t touch my arse i don’t want to touch your arse?????
- Kisses anywhere else except for the mouth are okay so what you’re saying is i can kiss your neck if you kiss my neck i’ll have your head on a plate james
- This lasts for three weeks and if you lose the bet i’m setting you up with cissy you are the devils incarnate i hope you die no you don’t
- If you lose, then I get to kiss you on the mouth you don’t even want to kiss me on the mouth who says?
-
Week One
Honestly, Regulus didn’t know what he was expecting from James.
After being friends with James for over ten years, he’s learned a lot about him. He loves his family, he’s very proud of his culture, he would actually throw himself in front of a car for any stranger on the street, he doesn’t like to talk about his feelings, he gets nervous when people seem upset with him, and he loves to cuddle. But most of all, he’s a romantic. Like, a disgusting, soppy, gooey, gross romantic sod. All kissing in the rain and dancing in the kitchen in the refrigerator light at 3:00 a.m. just because .
At most, Regulus was expecting James to flirt a little, kiss him on the head, and then give up.
What he wasn’t expecting was James making him breakfast and serving it to him in bed.
Regulus groans, furrowing his eyebrows and burrowing further underneath James’ duvet to hide himself from the sun as it was way too damn early to be in the sun. Regulus doesn’t remember falling asleep in James’ bed instead of his own, but he assumes that they were watching something together, or something of that variety. He was used to waking up in James’ bed most mornings, his chest against James’ back or James being wrapped around him like a bloody baby octopus.
The door creaks open and Regulus lifts his head up, opening one eye to peer toward the entrance of the room, and his cheeks heat up immediately as he fully wakes up and sits up quickly.
“Morning, grumpy,” James grins, and Regulus rolls his eyes, rubbing at his eye with the back of his hand.
“I’m not fucking grumpy.”
A breathy laugh leaves James’ mouth that makes Regulus’ chest feel light and airy. “Sure you aren’t,” he says, and Regulus hears a hint of fondness that makes his stomach flip. “I made you eggs and bacon-“
“Did you burn the flat down?” Regulus teases, raising an eyebrow at him as he takes a seat on the bed with the bed tray. James snorts, shaking his head.
“I didn’t,” he says, dragging out the end of his sentence. Regulus raises his other eyebrow, a small smile quirking on his lips. “But I might have burnt your eggs a bit. And the bacon is a teensy tiny bit too crispy,” he murmurs sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
Regulus’ eyes soften and he tilts his head to the side at the embarrassed look on James’ face.
“Can I go brush my teeth first?” Regulus asks, watching James lift his head.
“No.”
Regulus blinks. “Piss off,” he mutters half heartedly, getting off of the bed and stretching his arms over his head, his shirt riding up over his stomach a little bit as he rises on his toes to crack his bones. He lets out a soft hum, yawning before he feels arms wrapping around his waist from behind. Regulus isn’t actually annoyed with James. James knows that as well, which is why he decides to touch Regulus this early in the morning. He whines a bit, wiggling to get out of James’ grasp. “Why are you touching me this early?”
“It’s literally almost noon,” James laughs, kissing the back of his head.
Regulus is not getting butterflies.
“Let me brush my teeth and pee or I’ll pee on you.”
Once James pulls his arms away with a laugh, Regulus turns around and looks at him with a flat expression, raising an eyebrow. James has his usual shit-eating grin on, and it makes Regulus want to push him.
“Thank you for breakfast, James,” he says, giving him a small, grateful smile before walking past him to head into the bathroom.
James scoffs. “No good morning kiss?” he calls after Regulus, and Regulus shakes his head with a laugh, shutting the bathroom door before replying:
“Kissing is against the rules!”
-
“I wanna do my nails,” Regulus sighs, dropping his textbook on his lap and staring up at the ceiling. James hums from across the room, and Regulus hears a page turning.
“You painted them on Monday.”
Regulus closes his textbook and pushes himself off of the sofa, walking over to where James was on the ground, reading a book for one of his classes. He sighs, sitting down in front of him and pushing his hands in front of the book, hearing James suck his teeth and push his hands away.
“Reg, piss off-“
“I’m showing you how chipped they are,” he chuckles. “I’m gonna paint them-“
“You literally have a final exam tomorrow , and you’re thinking about repainting your nails ? Reg, you can do that tonight,” James sighs in exasperation, looking up from his book as Regulus pushes himself off of the floor.
(Regulus told James to make sure that he actually did his work. It obviously wasn’t working.)
“The chipping is bothering me,” he states simply. “I’m gonna do them now-“
“Okay,” James says, cutting him off. “How about,” he starts, and Regulus raises an eyebrow at him. “I’ll paint your nails, you read the textbook, and I’ll flip the pages for you and then quiz you while they’re drying. Deal?”
A gentle smile spreads across Regulus’ lips and he scrunches his nose up, trying his best to hide the blush that dusts the bridge of his nose.
“Wanna pick the color?”
“Can I paint them pink and green?”
Regulus nods, practically running to his bedroom to get all of the supplies to paint his nails.
-
They barely end up reading the textbook at all because James is struggling so hard while painting Regulus’ nails and Regulus’ entire hand has been painted green at this point.
“Jamie,” Regulus groans, pulling his hand away. “You have the same hand eye coordination skills as a three year old who's never held a pencil before,” he huffs, taking the nail polish brush out of James’ hand. James rolls his eyes, then he blinks at Regulus.
“You didn’t show me how to do it, how am I supposed to know?”
Taking a deep breath in, Regulus tries to keep his annoyance at bay. Despite being extremely irritated with how shitty James is at painting nails, it’s a bit endearing, really. James is great at a lot of things. He’s a bit of a perfectionist. Regulus always tries to let him know that it’s okay to make mistakes, but James tends to beat himself up for mistakes, even if it’s something little like this. So he lets out a soft sigh and takes James’ left hand, laying it on his knee.
“You have to take a little bit on the brush, yeah?” Regulus instructs, and James nods. Regulus can feel James’ eyes on him, and he knows James is watching him instead of the brush. It makes his chest squeeze and he wants to rub at it, but he can’t. “You have to brush it slowly so that you coat the entire nail and it stays on the nail and not the skin. Like this,” he explains, then shows James how to drag the brush across your nail.
Nodding, James hums. “But what if it gets on the skin around your nail?” he asks, eyebrows knit together in confusion. Regulus giggles at the genuine confusion and he moves on to the next finger.
“Cotton swab, mon bien-aimé ,” Regulus chuckles.
“You know,” James says. Regulus hums, not lifting his head. “You call me that all the time and I still don’t know what it means. What does it mean?”
A snort leaves Regulus' throat and he shakes his head. “You didn’t think to Google it?” he asks, furrowing his eyebrows at James. For the smartest person he knows, James could be quite thick sometimes. James falls silent, and Regulus feels another laugh bubbling in his throat that he attempts to stifle. “Critical thinking, cherié .”
“ Main tumhen pasand nahin karata ( I don’t like you).”
A blush blooms across Regulus’ face and he swallows thickly when James looks up at him with a warm gaze that shoots right into his stomach, lighting a fire in his body that warms him from his head to his toes. He wiggles his toes in his socks at the uncomfortable warmth in his body, then he looks away, clearing his throat as he continues to paint the rest of James’ nails.
James coos mockingly, making Regulus’ face burn an even deeper shade of red as he grits his jaw, trying not to let his face falter. “You’re blushing, jaan(lover),” he smirks, and Regulus narrows his eyes, slowly lifting his head to look at James.
“Shut your mouth.”
James clicks his tongue.
The words fall off of James’ tongue slowly, a sultry undertone in the sentence that sends a shiver up Regulus’ spine. “Make. me.”
Regulus’ mouth goes dry and he can see James’ pupils dilate behind his glasses and he feels like he’s going to fucking faint.
So, obviously, he does the logical thing and he lifts his hand, brushing the nail polish against James’ right cheek before shooting off of the ground with a squeal, running down the hall to his bedroom, ignoring James’ cackles and shouts of his name and he slams his door, locking it and placing his back against it, his chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath. Mentally, he yells at his heart to shut the fuck up and slow down as it races in his chest and he swears it’s trying to leave his fucking body.
He allows his head to fall back against the door, his eyes falling shut as his breath begins to even out. He hears James laughing behind his door, but he just tells him to piss off with a breathy laugh, wondering what the hell that was.
-
Stubborn is definitely a word one could use to describe James and Regulus, even if it was in different ways. James was stubborn in a good way, Regulus thinks. He doesn’t like giving up on things or people or ideas. He refuses, actually. He’s resilient. Persistent, he would say. James doesn’t let things push him down despite the way that his mood drops when he’s disappointed.
(Regulus wishes he could set fire to everyone and everything that’s ever disappointed James. He hates seeing his face drop and the light leaving his brown eyes. It’s heartbreaking, honestly. It’s like a solar eclipse without the excitement. Instead, you’re left wondering where the sun went and why it won’t come back out. Why is this eclipse lasting so long?)
On the other hand, Regulus was stubborn in the worst ways. At least he thinks so. He’s stubborn without meaning to be and he beats himself up for it, often getting angry when he finds himself fighting to be right even when he isn’t. When he’s in the middle of an argument, he often loses sight of what he’s even fighting for . He just wants to be right . He pushes feelings away, refusing to face them. Ever. He doesn’t even acknowledge them.
Mostly, he thinks it’s because of his parents. He spent so many years fighting to be heard and now he feels like he has to fight to be heard, even if he doesn’t.
Nevertheless, Regulus was stubborn and didn’t like accepting help. So, naturally, when he got the flu he holed himself up in his bedroom and didn’t tell his friends he wasn’t well. He buried himself in his blankets with a box of tissues beside his bed, coughing and sneezing as quietly as possible so that James wouldn’t hear him.
But he wakes from a nap, skin drenched in sweat due to the fever he’s been sporting for the past 12 hours, and he whimpers due to the pain in his head. His eyes are hurting and he winces, blinking them open to see a very concerned looking James Potter sitting beside his bed, holding his hand.
It’s the most gentle of touches Regulus has ever felt, but Regulus swears his fever gets even worse due to how the touch warms him up. The touch sends sparks up his arms and into his chest and if his face wasn’t already flushed and warm from the fever, he’d be blushing.
“James,” Regulus croaks, suddenly feeling choked up as though he’s going to start crying.
“Baby,” James breathes out, and Regulus’ stomach does a flip. “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t well? I would have called out today to stay with you-“
“I’m contagious,” he deadpans, sniffling before he coughs a little bit, turning away from James so that he doesn’t cough right onto his face. “I didn’t want you to take off work because I wasn’t well, and I know you would. Because you’re you,” Regulus says lightheartedly, but he knows it comes out as more of a jab.
“Regulus,” James sighs. “You know I’d walk through a storm for you, right?”
And the thing is, Regulus does know that. He knows James would do anything for him. He’d do anything for James. He loves James. He does. More than anything in the world, actually.
Regulus’ eyes soften and he swears that his heart is going to fall out of his chest. His throat feels tight and his stomach feels light and airy as James gets up off of the floor and gets on the bed, crawling until he’s right next to Regulus, and he wiggles around until he’s comfortable next to him, opening his arms for Regulus. He shifts until his head is resting on James’ chest, a cold shiver running up his arms as he snuggles close while James pulls the duvet over both of them.
“I didn’t want to bother you,” Regulus mumbles softly, despite knowing what James would say to that. He lets out a sigh, toying with a loose thread on James’ shirt. He feels James’ fingers carding through his hair and he leans into the touch, wrapping his arm around his waist and pushing his leg between James’ so they could be pressed closer together. “And now you’re gonna get sick also,” he pouts, looking up at James.
James gives him a soft smile, wrapping his arm tighter around Regulus so that he could reach his cheek, stroking it softly with his thumb. “You’re worth getting sick for, Reggie,” he whispers, leaning down and pressing a feather light kiss against Regulus’ forehead that makes Regulus heart jump. Regulus hums, smiling softly. “And you’re burning up. I texted Marls and told her that you’re not well and she offered to make you some chicken noodle soup, her and Cas’ll stop by later to drop it off. Have you taken anything yet?”
“Mhm.”
James nods. “Nap, then?” he asks, going to pull away from Regulus. Deliriously, Regulus whines and grabs onto his shirt, pulling him back down.
“Stay with me,” he asks, looking up at James with glossy eyes. He doesn’t know why, but his heart twinges in his chest at the thought of James walking away from him. He watches James’ eyes soften as he settles back onto the bed and wraps his arms around Regulus again. “Want you to stay,” he mumbled sleepily, laying his head against James’ chest.
Regulus swears he hears James saying that he loved him before he fell asleep.
-
Week Two
As the semester comes to a close and summer begins, the entire group decides to plan a road trip. They’re not exactly sure where they’re going to go yet, but that’s a decision for later. Right now, they’re just planning.
“Mm, how about The Cotswolds?” Regulus asks, throwing a crisp at Dorcas and hits her in the face, who narrows her eyes at him before throwing it back. Regulus catches it between his teeth, munching on it.
Peter makes a noise from where he’s sat on the blanket spread on the grass.
(Mary thought it’d be nice to have a picnic, but it’s not really a picnic considering the fact that they just have crisps, cookies, and juice.)
“‘S wrong with the Cotswolds?” Mary asks, furrowing their eyebrows at Peter before taking a cookie from the little container in front of them.
He shrugs. “‘S like,” he pauses, flailing his hands as though he’s trying to grasp the words. “I don’t know. What if we have nothing to do?”
“Well, Peter rabbit-“
“I told you not to call me that, Reg.”
“This is why we plan the trip, Pete,” he says. “There are a lot of pretty villages to visit, nice photo opportunities, and there’s this cute little vintage looking coffee shop James wants to go to really bad for some reason. And then maybe we can also go to Cornwall? Like, we all took two weeks off work, yeah?”
“I think everyone except Remus,” Dorcas mumbles, taking a crisp and popping it into her mouth. “He’s starting his rounds at the hospital, remember?”
“Stupid medical students,” Lily mutters, and Regulus snorts, covering his mouth.
“Are you forgetting that your partner is literally a medical student,” Peter points out, and Mary nods, raising an eyebrow at Lily who leans over and presses a kiss to their cheek.
“Yes, but they’re not doing rounds at the hospital yet because they have another semester before they start that.”
A loud groan leaves Dorcas’ mouth, and Regulus turns to look at her. “Can we stop talking about Remus being a lung doctor and start planning this road trip-“
“James and I already have half of it planned,” Regulus mumbles and Dorcas looks at him with a dropped jaw. “What?” he squeals. “We got bored last night and we couldn’t sleep, so we planned out multiple different routes and places we could go-“
“Why didn’t you just make out if you were bored?” Marlene asks, and Regulus’ cheeks flush in embarrassment at the thought of him and James snogging. Even just a quick one. The thought sends a spark through his stomach, tugging behind his navel and sending waves up to his chest.
“I don’t want to kiss James!”
A chorus of sure you don’t ’s, alright ’s, and that’s why he nursed you back to health’ s erupt from the group and Regulus falls backward with his hands on his face, albeit letting out a fake sob due to how embarrassed he is. He knows they’re all just taking the piss, but he wants to hide .
“Just admit that you lost the bet,” Dorcas wheezes, and Regulus flips her off without even looking at her.
“I didn’t lose the bet!” Regulus whines, trying his hardest to defend himself because he is not doing this right now . “He didn’t pull me or sweep me off my feet or make me fall in love with him-“
“Oh,” Peter snorts. “So that’s why Sirius walked into your flat the other day to find you guys napping together?”
If Regulus could, he’d drown himself right now. He’d just jump into the ocean to get the fire in his face to calm the fuck down .
He needs the blush in his cheek to go away and for the butterflies in his stomach to die immediately because he doesn’t like James. He doesn’t have feelings for James. James is his best friend above anyone and he loves him more than anything in the whole world.
Risking that all for a quick snog? Regulus doesn’t think he could do that. Not when James is everything to him. Not when James knows every inch of his soul and has practically created a map of his heart, knowing every mood and face and every bit of body language. Not when he can look at James and know exactly what he’s thinking. Not when he can sit in silence with James and still feel like he’s with him .
As much as Regulus hates being in the sun, he doesn’t mind if it comes from James. James is the physical embodiment of sunshine, all bright smiles and soft edges, warming everybody up from the tips of their toes to the top of their head. Regulus is so used to being in the dark, hiding in the shadows, and being so cold.
For once, Regulus wants to be in the sun. He doesn’t know if he’s ready to let that go. He certainly doesn’t want to let a little snog ruin the bridges they’ve built together and the home they’ve created and come to love.
“I do not have feelings for James,” Regulus mutters. The words feel strange in his mouth despite the fact that they’re true. It makes him clench his jaw, his teeth grinding together as he clenches his fists. “James and I are just friends and snogging him would mess that up-“
“Why would it mess things up if you don’t have feelings for him?” Peter points out, and suddenly Regulus wants to choke him.
“Because!”
“Okay,” Lily cuts in and a wave of relief washes over Regulus’ body. “Okay, everyone stop picking on Reg. Whether he likes James or not is really not our business, and they’re also his feelings to come to terms with, not ours . So everybody stop bugging him, because you’re making him very uncomfortable, okay?” She lectures, her voice serious and low like a mother lecturing her children after they broke the television, and Regulus can see everybody freeze and nod, eyes wide. It’s almost comical, really, the way people reacted to Lily’s stern lectures. She was always the stern one; despite her soft demeanor, Lily was not a force to be reckoned with.
The topic switches immediately, shifting the attention back to the trip instead of about him and James’ strange relationship dynamic. He gives Lily a small smile as a silent thank you, and he swallows thickly, looking down at his hands as he thinks to himself, wondering why that whole thing made him so uncomfortable.
-
One of the things that Regulus and James did not discuss was flirting with other people. Technically they weren’t in a relationship, despite what all of their friends thought.
[Regulus blinks slowly, eyes skimming the page of his book as he tries to finish one last chapter before he goes to bed. James is beside him, already sleeping, his face shoved into the pillow. Regulus is glad he’s asleep face down because he snores so loud he could wake up an entire village.
He turns the page, humming happily as he reaches the last two pages of the book. Soft fingers touch his arm, pulling his attention away from the book he was reading as he turns his head to make sure that James is alright.
Immediately, he scrunches his nose up in confusion and worry. James looked a bit dazed and it startled Regulus a little bit.
“‘S wrong, Jamie?”
James lets out a soft breath, blinking sleepily before moving closer to Regulus and pressing his lips against the skin above Regulus’ elbow gently. Regulus smiles softly, putting his book down and reaching over to stroke James’ hair.
“You’re my best friend, you know?”
The words leave his mouth in a breathy, gentle tone that sends fireworks through Regulus’ stomach.
“I know,” he replies. “You’re mine as well.”
“The bestest?”
“The bestest.”]
James knew they were just friends. Regulus knew they were just friends. Why did it feel so wrong when he flirted with somebody else?
They were at one of Sirius’ friends' parties, because of course Sirius had friends who owned huge houses and threw big parties for no reason. James and Sirius ran off to do fuck knows what, but James told Regulus he’d be back soon and kissed him on the cheek.
James was still on about this bet that Regulus knew James would lose.
All of his friends had run off, either to dance or to the kitchen or to do something else, and Regulus, who didn’t like parties unless they were with people he knew, was standing in a corner nursing his drink, non alcoholic since he was driving, and waiting for James to come back and attempt to flirt with him.
Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t James who came over to him and made a terrible attempt at flirting. It was another person, a guy who Regulus vaguely knew as Ben? Maybe Benjy? He thinks Remus is friends with him.
“Regulus, is it?” Ben - Benjy? Asks. Regulus looks up from his drink, humming. He shakes his curls out of his eyes, putting on his nicest fake smile.
“Yeah,” he breathes out. “Benjy, right?” he asks, cringing at how fake he sounded.
Benjy nods, grinning wildly at Regulus. Regulus shifts uncomfortably, bringing his drink back up to his mouth. “Where’d your boyfriend go? Could’ve sworn I saw him here a moment ago,” he asks, and Regulus could hear a hint of malice in his words.
Regulus clears his throat, glancing behind Benjy to see James standing against a wall, arms crossed over his chest with his gaze fixed on Benjy while Sirius chats a mile a minute in his ear. He licks his bottom lip, blinking twice at James before turning back to Benjy. “I don’t have a boyfriend,” he says, glancing back at James again to see him clenching his jaw.
Benjy seems confused at this, but happy. It makes Regulus feel a bit uncomfortable. “Thought you were dating that Potter kid? The tall one-“
“He’s my best friend,” Regulus smiles tightly, immediately wanting this conversation to be over. He glances back at James to find him smirking and his stomach clenches on its own accord.
A scoff leaves Benny’s mouth and it makes Regulus clench his fist. “It seems like it’s a bit more than that-“
“Why is it any of your business?” Regulus asks, voice flat and expression tired. “Did you come over here to get in my pants or talk about James? Because if you want to talk to James , he’s over there with Sirius.”
Benjy lets out a bit of a whistle, chuckling as he holds his hands up in surrender. Regulus fights the urge to pour his drink over his head and he rolls his eyes so far back they might as well fall out of his head. “You’re a mean one, aren’t you?” he asks flirtatiously, and Regulus lets out a loud sigh, throwing his head back.
“Fenwick.”
Regulus’ head snaps back up to see James standing behind Benjy with a shit eating grin, and it makes Regulus’ body relax immediately, relief washing over him like a wave.
“Potter! How are you, mate?” he asks, and Regulus can feel the irritation dripping off of him.
“Fine,” James sniffs. “Just thought I’d come get Regulus and let him know that we’re going home ,” he says, more to Regulus than Benjy. Regulus albeit melts at the tone of his voice, his knees going weak. If James spoke to him like that all the time, he’d let James do whatever he wants to him.
“Didn’t know we were leaving early-“
“We’re leaving now,” James says sternly, taking Regulus’ cup out of his hand and grabbing him by the wrist, not even letting him say goodbye to Benjy before he drags him out of the house and toward his car. Regulus lets out an amused laugh at the whole thing, allowing James to pull him until they reach the car.
“James, what’s the matter-“
“He was,” James groans, face flushed and full of rage. His nostrils flare, and Regulus reaches up to cup his cheek tenderly. He feels a bit nervous and shaky, not exactly understanding the problem at hand. “He was all over you,” James mutters, pushing Regulus back against the car by the hips, pinning him with his own.
Regulus’ eyes widen, nearly popping out of his head as he looks up at James, who was drunk, but not drunk enough to be making rash decisions. But he was drunk enough to where Regulus could see that the back of his neck and the tips of his ears were flushed red and he wanted to run his fingers across his skin.
“James,” Regulus says softly, bringing his arms up and looping them around James’ neck, pulling him down until their foreheads rest against each other. He feels James relax under his touch and he smiles, breathily laughing. “We aren’t together-“
“I just don’t like Benjy and I don’t want him all over you because he’s a proper dick, okay?” James mutters, leaning in and pressing a slow kiss against Regulus’ jaw. Regulus hums in affirmation, one hand coming to cup the back of James’ neck as he pressed warm, wet kisses across his jaw and slowly dragged his lips down his neck, making Regulus whine softly in his throat. “Just don’t go around Benjy,” he says against Regulus’ skin, breath fanning his neck softly and causing his eyes to flutter shut.
But Regulus can hear something else behind James’ words. Something that makes the hair stand up on the back of his neck. It just feels off . It doesn’t feel right .
“Tell me the truth,” Regulus croaks out, feeling James nipping at the side of his neck. He lets out a quiet noise, fingers tangling in the dark hair at the nape of James’ neck while James licks at his skin. “Please. I know it’s more than that.”
“I can’t,” James mumbles, biting down softly, sucking the skin into his mouth and rolling it between his teeth. Regulus lets out a soft moan, falling pliant in James’ arms.
“You can tell me anything, Jamie,” he reminds him.
James falls silent for a second, releasing Regulus’ skin with a wet noise, blowing a bit of air on it before pulling back and resting their foreheads together once again. Regulus breathes out softly against his lips, merely inches away. Everything else around them fades to black, and it feels like they’re stuck in this little fizzy bubble of pixie dust. He feels so light .
“I can’t tell you this right now.”
-
Week three
There was a bit of a shift between James and Regulus, especially after that whole… whatever that was with Benjy at the party.
Since then, James had been attached to Regulus, sticking to him like a fucking leech or a barnacle at the bottom of a ship. He constantly intertwined his fingers with Regulus’, arms around his waist, hands on his waist underneath his shirt, fingers in his hair, head on his chest, everything . James would touch Regulus every chance he got . He was a bit confused about it, mainly because he was sure that James only liked him as a friend.
Whether or not he liked James as more than a friend was a question that he chose to ignore. He didn’t want to think about the fact that he did very much want to snog his face off and hold his hand and kiss his neck.
There’s about a week and a half until the road trip that their group planned to take. James took it upon himself to be designated driver, and Sirius said that they would be backup, considering the fact that James and Sirius drove the best out of everyone in the group.
(Sirius claims that Regulus drives worse than Remus, which is pretty bad considering the fact that Remus never uses his turn signals.)
Regulus is lying on his stomach on his bed, scrolling through twitter on his laptop as he FaceTimed Lily to discuss last minute things about the trip. “Who’s bringing snacks?” Regulus asks absentmindedly, pressing retweet on a picture of Louis Tomlinson.
“Marls and Dorcas said that they would,” she replies easily. “Sirius and Remus said they’d bring extra towels, blankets, pillows, etcetera,” she continues, trailing off. “Did James rent the car? Or is he gonna do it next week?”
“Next week.”
“Cheers,” Lily mumbles, sighing as she flips backwards onto her bed. “Go ask your boyfriend what time we’re all leaving. Do you want us all to sleep at your flat?”
Regulus lets out a loud groan. “James is not my boyfriend! How many times do I have to tell you this? We aren’t dating-“
“You literally went on a date last night!” Lily squeals, and Regulus rolls his eyes.
“That was not a date -“
“You have standing dinner dates every Thursday night and those are reserved for just you two,” Lily deadpans, and Regulus’ face flushed.
“As friends-“
“As friends my bloody foot! He gave you a love bite last week because Benjy Fenwick was undressing you with his eyes at that party,” she points out, and Regulus flushes an even deeper color of red as he tries to think of an excuse.
“He said that he just didn’t want Benjy around me because he doesn’t like him-“
“Because he’s in love with you , you big buffoon!”
Regulus squeezes his eyes shut, sighing loudly before sitting up and holding his finger up to the camera, telling Lily to be quiet for a moment. “James! Can you come in here? I need you for a moment,” he calls loudly. “Look, I’m about to prove you wrong, Lilith,” he glares at her, waiting for James to come into the room.
James’ head pops into the room a few moments later and he grins at Regulus. “What’s up, baby? Is everything alright?” he asks, and Regulus’ face immediately softens.
“Lily thinks we’re dating,” he says simply, and James chuckles softly, walking into the room and crossing his arms over his chest. “Are we dating? Tell her so she can get off my case, please.”
James blinks at him. “We are dating, Reggie,” he says slowly, raising an eyebrow at him. “We’ve been for like, almost a month. I gave you a hickey last week-“
“ What ?!” Regulus exclaims. He stares at James in disbelief, listening to Lily cackle through his laptop. He shuts his laptop in a fervor, scrambling off of the bed and stomping over to James, his eyebrows furrowed angrily. “What do you mean -“
“Baby,” James chuckles. “We sleep together every night-“
“Friends do that!”
“I kiss your face in the morning and you don’t let me leave the flat without a kiss on the forehead.”
“Friends also do that!”
“You wear my clothes!”
“Friends do that too!”
Regulus’ eyes flicker across James’ face, watching the way his face falls ever so slightly, his eyebrows knitting together. He feels a weird bit of guilt in his stomach and he swallows, gritting his jaw. “Do - do you not want to… You don’t like me? I’m - I - I’m sorry if I got the wrong impression, but-“
“Oh my god , stop talking,” Regulus huffs out, grabbing James by the face and dragging him into a kiss so hard that their teeth crash together and their faces are smashed together. James lets out a noise of surprise, his hands coming to rest on Regulus’ hips as Regulus relaxes, his lips softening against James’ own.
The kiss goes from hard to gentle in a quick moment, soft movements and gentle slides as they kiss languidly in the room, James’ back against the wall and Regulus standing on his toes to kiss him properly. James’ mouth tastes better than he ever imagined - he tastes of those stupid dinner mint candies that he ate religiously and his favorite kind of tea, and Regulus just wants more .
It’s their first kiss, actually. Their first real one, anyway. The first one that wasn’t on the knee, or cheek, or jaw, or ear. The first one where Regulus could feel the way his atoms pulled him to James’, the way his heartstrings practically fell out of his body to tangle between James’. He feels James’ teeth scraping his bottom lip, and he opens his mouth a little bit for him, feeling James slide his tongue between his lips and lick at the roof of his mouth.
“You can’t just date somebody without their permission,” Regulus murmurs between deep kisses, then he licks into James’ mouth, drawing a long moan from the other boy’s lips. He decides that he wants to hear that moan everyday for the rest of his life, holy fuck . “Normal people don’t do that.”
James chuckles softly against his lips, one hand sliding up his shirt and gripping his waist tightly, then moving to his back and making him hum softly. “We sleep together every night and we showered together the other night,” he points out. “Most friends don’t do that. I’ve also been in love with you for like, four years, Reg. Most friends aren’t this in love.”
Regulus giggles, leaning in to kiss him slowly. Chastely. Sweetly. He can feel James’ smile pressing against his own and it makes his heart feel like it’s going to explode.
“We broke the first rule,” he points out. James snorts.
“Well,” James sighs against his mouth, pulling away to look at him. He has a lazy smile painted on his kiss bitten lips and his eyes are bright and glossy and Regulus just wants to snog him all over again. “You did lose the bet. I pulled you, and the last rule was if you lost the bet, I get to kiss you on the mouth.”
Regulus blinks slowly at him.
“I hate you.”
“Tell that to the tongue in my mouth two seconds ago.”
“Piss off before I bite you.”
James wiggles his eyebrows, and Regulus wheezes out a laugh, then leans up and presses his smile against James’, feeling warm and satisfied.
“I love you too, you know?” He says softly. “You’re my best friend.”
“I know.”
fin.