This was awkward. Well, it could have been worse, they supposed. It wasn’t like they were being overly affectionate. Sirius was grateful for that. At least their brother had finally taken it upon himself to take their advice and get out of that house for good. At least he was safe and cared for. At least he was happy...with James.
Yeah, no. This was still weird.
As the five of them sat in their compartment, the tension was almost uncuttable. Sirius, James and Regulus had gotten more comfortable around each other over the summer months but Remus and Peter had seen them significantly less and were still having to put in an effort to act casually with Regulus Black around.
Sirius had noticed very early along the train ride that Regulus and James were being very comfortable, Regulus having his head rested gently, his eyes closed and a smile on his face as James grasped their hands together on Regulus’ lap.
The good thing is that Regulus was looking a lot better than he had been when he showed up on the doorstep two months ago.
-
‘Fucking shit.’ Sirius muttered when they opened the door. They knew that it wasn’t likely to be any of their friends or an expected visitor, seeing as it was gone 11 at night. But they weren’t expecting it to be Regulus.
‘Sirius…’ His voice was barely a whisper, his nervousness travelling across the space between the two siblings, almost suffocating them both.
‘Why-are you hurt?’ They realised that asking why he was there would only scare Regulus off so they decided to instead ask one of the other pressing questions at that moment.
Regulus shook his head, still looking slightly warily at Sirius. ‘No, I’m not hurt. Mother tried to throw a couple of curses after me when I left but I got away before any of them hit me properly.’ Sirius stared for a few more moments and then slowly stepped forward, giving Regulus enough time to step back.
For the first time in 6 years, they hugged their brother.
‘I asked you to come with me so many times…’
‘I know. I was scared.’
‘I know.’
‘Who is it, Pads?’ James called from down the hallway, Sirius moved away and turned to the direction James was in, calling back.
‘It’s erm…it’s Regulus.’
‘...Did you say Regulus?’
‘Yes…’
James was at the door in an instant, Sirius wasn’t sure if the look on his face was that of pride, shock, worry or joy.
‘Reggie! You’re here! You did it! I knew you could! I mean it did take a year of me begging and you saying no but you did it!’ Regulus smiled and pushed past Sirius slightly, letting James jump forward and pull him into the tightest hug he’d ever experienced.
‘I did.’
James continued grinning as he let his face fall into Regulus’ hair, closing his eyes and whispering to Regulus, though Sirius could still hear.
‘I’m so proud of you baby.’
‘I hate that nickname.’
‘I know.’
-
Sirius had been…confused, to say the least. And maybe even more confused when they decided to explain their relationship after they had made Effie check that Regulus was definitely okay. They all knew that it would be easier to live in the same house if they were completely honest about everything.
It had been a shock that they had apparently been seeing each other for the entirety of the previous school year.
But at least they weren’t keeping any more secrets from them.
They were ripped from their thoughts by the door to the compartment slamming open.
‘Reg! There you are! I actually found you! Oh my- you’re okay! You’re fucking alive!’ Sirius couldn’t help but roll their eyes as Barty Crouch Jr stood in the doorway to the compartment, beaming wildly at Regulus. Hopefully, Regulus would just send it away, Crouch really wasn’t good company to keep in their…rather biased opinion.
Regulus did not seem to be thinking of doing that, however, as he stood up and took a small step over to Crouch, letting Crouch take his face in its hands and smile at him adoringly.
Sirius thought their eyes were going to shrivel up and fall out when Crouch kissed Regulus’ cheek, then moving to the other, then his head, his nose and finally, his lips.
Ew.
They looked at James, expecting to find him rolling his eyes and pulling a similar face but saw that he was smiling. Smiling. Why? James hated Crouch! This was confusing.
They glared at Crouch again as he started speaking once more.
‘I know I’m fussing. I’m sorry. I know you sent the letter saying that you were out and safe and telling me that you couldn’t send anything else in case the letters got intercepted by your crazy family and put us all in danger but I was so scared that it was all just a trick from that insane mother of yours. I’m sorry. Fuck, you’re okay.’ He smiled again and hugged Regulus, stroking the nape of his neck delicately as it closed its eyes and took in the fact that Regulus was here, with him, okay. Safe.
At least, that is what Sirius got from it.
But Crouch was vile. That couldn’t be what it was thinking, could it…?
‘Merlin, I take back what I said. You’re by far the fussiest boyfriend I’ve ever had.’ Crouch laughed and kissed Regulus’ cheek and James gasped dramatically.
‘Reggie! I thought that was me!’
‘You’re in second place love. I’m sorry but it topped you with that entrance.’
…What? So…Regulus was seeing James and Crouch…and James seemed to know this and be okay with it? This was too much. Did this mean they had to pretend to like it? Did they have to call him Barty now? Well, that last bit couldn’t hurt but still….why did this have to happen?
Barty still hadn’t moved away from Regulus and still had his eyes shut. ‘You’re fine.’ it muttered and Regulus nodded.
‘I am.’
‘You’re fine, you’re fine, you’re fine.’ He kissed Regulus again. ‘You’re fine.’
James cleared his throat loudly, getting the attention of the whole compartment. ‘I’m fine too, where’s my kiss?’
Sirius was horrified. It was a joke. It had to be. It couldn’t not be a joke.
Barty laughed and moved away from Regulus, stooped down to James’ level and put a hand on his neck, leaning in and kissing him. And James kissed him back.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This had to be a joke.
They were all seeing each other? No. They wouldn’t believe it. Not at all.
James pulled back and gave a satisfied hum. ‘Much better.’
Barty smiled, not moving away and let his arms rest on James’ shoulders. ‘Nice to see you.’
James reached forward, gently brushing Barty’s hair from his face. ‘Nice to see you too.’
Sirius thought they were going to scream.
‘When are we gonna see you next? You could come round this evening…?’ Regulus looked up curiously after hearing Barty’s comment and title his head, waiting for an answer.
‘Hmm, probably not. Sneaking past this lot probably won’t be an issue anymore but I think we should give everyone a chance to settle in, I’m less likely to get caught when everyone in the castle is slightly less stressed and alert of everything. Tuesday?’
‘Sounds good. You okay with Tuesday, Reg?’
Regulus nodded.
‘Perfect. Oh, and you do realise that you’ll be staying in my bed that day, right?’ Barty grinned at James, who tilted his head as a way of asking why he was so decisive on it. ‘Well, he’s had you for months now,’ It nodded towards Regulus who shrugged in agreement. ‘And I’ll have Reg for the rest of the week so by the time you come to see us, it will definitely be my turn.’
James smiled and kissed Barty’s nose, making Sirius even more horrified. ‘You have a good point.’
‘I always have a good point, darling.’
‘Nah, that’s me, undoubtedly. Well, Tuesday it is, then.’
‘Oh brilliant, I can’t wait for that.’ Regulus slumped down opposite, next to his still in-shock sibling and sighed, looking at his two partners with a slightly disappointed expression. Barty turned around, still stooped down in level with the benches.
‘Awh, Reg, you know we’d have you with us if the beds were big enough.’
‘It’s not that I’m worried about, I’ve just remembered what you two are like. Now I'll have to spend the night listening to you two going at it whilst I’m trying to sleep because you apparently can't even cast a silencing spell properly.’
Peter piped up for the first time in a good while. ‘I really don’t want to listen to-’ He was cut off by Barty, who had sat on the floor and turned to properly face Regulus, James’ arms wrapped loosely around its shoulders.
‘Oi! You not feeling sexual attraction doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t!”
Regulus scoffed. ‘It’s not the sexual attraction that’s loud though, is it? It’s the way you express it that’s annoying to listen to.’
Peter butted in again and Sirius nodded fervently to what he said. ‘Yeah, no I really do not want to be hearing this thank you.’
At that moment, Barty seemed to realise something and stood up quickly. ‘Shit shit shit. I need to go. Reg, you should probably stay here, just to push the confrontation with that lot back a bit. You know they’ve found out everything. I need to go and save Evan before he has his ear talked off by that friend of yours. You know the one. Blondie, bit wacky, Lovegood’s chick.’
‘Pandora?’
‘That’s the one. Anyway, have fun dealing with this lot.’ He quickly kissed both of them once more before turning and leaving the carriage, closing the door behind it.
They all sat in silence for a few more moments, Regulus quietly got up and moved back over to when James was sitting, hiding his face in his boyfriend’s shoulder. ‘Oh no. This is not going to go well.’
Sirius looked around at the people in the compartment and then spoke rather brashly.
‘So? Willing to explain what the fuck just happened?’