It was a rather beautiful morning, if you asked Barty. Most others would find it dull and miserable but Barty, especially after his recent activities, wasn’t exactly like most others. To him, the rainy drizzle and looming clouds were simply washing away the previous 24 hours, giving everybody a fresh start. If anything, it was doing them a favour.
He was so distracted by the way the rain trickled so familiarly down the glass of the window that he almost missed the weak knock at the door.
Hmm, it was still rather early, if he had been able to sleep at all, Barty wouldn’t usually even be awake by now, though, perhaps if he had been able to sleep, something may have changed before that, resulting in there being no visitor in the first place. No, he was being ridiculous. It wasn’t even 5 in the morning, nobody would know yet.
Then, who could it be? It wouldn’t be his parents, he had severed all ties to his dad almost 4 years ago now and his mother was too sick to move. It couldn’t be Regulus coming to collect his coat from where he had left it yesterday. Was it the police? He hoped not.
When Barty had finally made his way over to the door of his flat and cracked it open just enough so he could make out who was on the other side, the last thing he had ever expected was standing in the rain in front of him. Evan Rosier.
Okay, well, Evan wasn’t exactly the odd sight. He visited quite often anyway, and he was usually awake early too so he could get to work at the editors on time. That much was perfectly ordinary. No, what was strange was the fact that Evan was stood in the rain, without even a coat, with tear stains dried into his skin and clutching tightly what appeared to be a newspaper article, likely one he had just edited.
Oh, so there was a chance he knew.
But the paper wasn’t the thing that gave it away properly. Evan was crying. Crying. Evan. That’s what was really strange. Evan didn’t cry. Ever. He huffed and whined and went distant when he was upset but he never cried. He didn’t cry when his childhood cat had died, or when he was fired from his first job, or when his girlfriend had broken up with him and called him a slur in their last year at school. Evan Rosier didn’t cry. He just didn’t. But now he was.
‘Evan?’ He had not spoken in the past few hours and had not expected his voice to sound as dry and robotic as it did. It sounded strained, carrying all the stress from the previous night and he was glad when Evan didn’t seem to notice.
Evan looked up, jumping and rubbing hastily at his eyes with his damp shirtsleeve. ‘I’m sorry, I should have called first or…um…can I come in?’
Barty opened the door more and stepped to the side, his head tilted slightly at Evan’s nervous demeanour. Did he know? It was starting to look more and more likely by the minute.
‘Of course. You can’t just stand outside forever, it’s raining.’ He inwardly cringed, noticing how colourless and dull his voice sounded and hoping Evan was still too distracted to notice it. It appeared that the excitement and adrenaline from before had completely left his system and taken part of his soul with it when it did so, leaving him feeling a little empty.
Evan stepped through the doorway to the flat, trying to regulate his breathing in deep, shaking breaths. Only a few steps in, he stopped and turned around, looking scared and extremely out of place.
-
‘You look scared, Reggie. Why are you scared?’ He took a few quick steps closer and Regulus mirrored him, taking a few steps back.
‘Because of you! Because you…you’re different now and it scared me because I’ve known you since we were 5! Since we first met at that snobby posh party and we skipped off together and bonded over our favourite animals and colours! Since when our parents had to physically drag us away from each other because we had places to be! I’ve known you since we found out we were being sent off to boarding school together and got sorted into the same house and dorm. I knew you when we kissed each other at that terrible school party when we were too drunk to stand so we spent the next day ignoring each other out of embarrassment. I knew you when we had to sit down with tea and lunch so I could explain to you that Evan had a crush on you because somehow you were too dumb to see it for yourself. When you somehow turned that conversation around and ended up accidentally confessing your feelings for me. I knew you last year when me and James announced our engagement to everyone and you didn’t say anything for hours but when you finally did you didn’t even say congratulations, you just started listing off all the dos and don’ts as if he hadn’t already dated me for 3 years before then. I even still knew you 7 months ago when I helped you move into this bloody flat.’
Barty thought this all seemed extremely random. Why was Regulus suddenly reliving all of their memories together? Weren’t they supposed to be arguing? And then he realised where all of this was going.
‘But…and believe me when I tell you I know how cheesy this sounds, I’ve read enough books to know how dumb this line in but…now I don’t know you anymore.’
And there it was.
Fucking brilliant.
Regulus Black, the one man in this world he could confidently say he loved, had just declared that he thought he didn’t even know him anymore. How fucking embarrassing. What a great friendly dinner this was turning out to be.
’And before you say anything, just…’ Regulus ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, not knowing how this new, unpredictable Barty would take what he was about to say. ‘For the past…I don’t even know, let’s say around…5 months…you’ve been…off. And not in an obvious way either, you’ve just been ever so slightly different in the smallest ways that just seem to grow little by little as time goes on. Always in those small, insignificant ways that nobody would notice. But it’s definitely been building up and I’m sure even James has noticed something off about you. And I thought, at first, that maybe something had happened, you know? Something that you weren’t ready to tell us about yet. Something with your father or…but then it didn't stop. It kept getting worse and worse and you still hadn’t told us what happened to you so either you’re not telling us the full truth or you’re just changing, and if you are then it’s not for the better.’
I started changing because I realised just how much I really love you.
Oh, how he wanted to grab Regulus by the face and tell him that, he desperately, desperately wanted to. But he didn’t. He couldn’t risk scaring Regulus off already. So he stayed still and let him finish what he had to say, not taking his eyes off him the entire time.
‘It’s gotten to the point where I don’t know whether I’m scared for you or scared of you.’
That was it. What this big, dramatic speech had been leading up to. Regulus reiterating the fact that he was now scared of him. As if that was going to help the situation at all.
He stepped forward, ignoring the way Regulus froze and hugged him. After a few seconds, once he had realised that he wasn’t going to hurt him, he hugged back, grabbing onto his shirt and burying his face in Barty’s shoulder to muffle his sobbing. Barty placed a gentle hand on the back of Regulus’ neck and rubbed his back soothingly.
‘I don’t want to be scared of you.’
‘I know, Reggie. I don’t want you to be scared of me either.’
Barty then pulled back slightly before leaning in again. When he kissed Regulus, Regulus kissed back almost instantly. Of course he did. Why wouldn’t he? They were best friends, they did this all the time. But then it kept going. And Barty didn’t show any sign of pulling back any time soon so once Regulus had decided it had gone on too long to be friendly, he pulled away himself, noting how reluctant Barty appeared to do the same. He furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion but Barty only smiled down at him.
‘I only changed because I love you and I want to protect you.’
-
Barty smiled warmly at Evan, gesturing towards the kitchen area with his hand. Evan stiffly walked through to it, still clutching the paper in his trembling hands.
Barty walked straight past him to the kettle, flicking it on and walking to get a mug from the cupboard next to Evan.
‘Tea?’
Evan shook his head, still looking at the ground. ‘N-no thank you.’
Barty sighed and leaned against the counter. He waited for Evan to speak but he didn’t.
‘C’mon, out with it. What have you seen?’
Evan looked at the newspaper clipping in his hand, then at Barty, then back at the floor, trying to remind himself to breathe.
The kettle stopped boiling.
Neither of them moved.
‘I-fuck…Regulus is dead.’
Silence.
Ah, so it was that, then. Well, that was quick. He must say, he had expected at least 3 more hours before this. The police were getting good.
When he looked at Evan, he saw that he had started crying again. He couldn’t blame him, he didn’t know why Regulus had to go. So he stepped forward and hugged Evan, letting him cry into his shoulder. Well, wasn’t this familiar?
‘Yes, yes, he is.’
Evan kept crying for a moment longer, still keeping his arms wrapped tightly around Barty like he would die if he let go.
Then he stopped. And he pulled back, slowly, warily. He let his arms drop heavily to his sides and looked extremely fearful.
Ah, smart boy. Trust him to figure it out so soon.
He took a small step back, staring at Barty like he was some kind of mutant science experiment. ‘What?’
Smiling still, Barty attempted to look innocent. ‘What’s wrong, Ev?’
Evan walked back even further, still looking at Barty out of the fear that if he looked away, it would be over for him. There were still tears on his face but in the shock, they had stopped spilling from his eyes completely.
He didn’t know what he was thinking, or if he was even thinking at all. Everything inside his brain had stopped. It had given up trying the second it had registered the words he had heard. He knew something was wrong about it and now all of his thoughts had turned to static fizzing and helpless whirring, like a neglected record left on the turntable to spin aimlessly for hours, still being scratched at even when it had nothing left to give.
He weakly raised the paper again, looking down at it like maybe the publication date would magically change to last week. It didn’t.
Barty took this as an opportunity to step closer and take the paper from him, wanting to read it himself.At the top, in stark, bold print, were the words:
Heir To Local, Wealthy Black Family Found Dead.
The text was followed by a brief overview of what the police had discovered, including the fact they were not currently suspecting anyone in particular. He did not have the chance to read it out in full, however, as Evan’s shaky, worried voice broke the silence again.
‘That- how did you know? The article was only written an hour ago, it hasn’t been published yet, nobody has seen it…nobody knows…’
‘Yes, I know.’ Once more, he stepped forward and Evan stepped to the side, stumbling as he lost contact with the kitchen counter he had pressed himself up against as he tried to keep at least 3 paces between them at all times.
Barty didn’t understand. Why was he being like this? Surely he understood why he did it? It was so clearly Regulus’ fault, how could he not see that?
‘You aren’t even acting surprised………Barty……’
His smile still hadn’t dropped as he advanced on Evan once more. ‘Yes?’
Evan gulped. ‘......What have you done?’
Silence.
Barty laughed and approached Evan too quickly for him to be able to back away from. Much more gently that Evan had thought possible for a crazy murderer, he lifted his hand up towards Evan’s face and brushed Evan’s cheek with a single finger. Evan squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, certain that he would be sick at any moment.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. You haven’t done anything wrong, have you? I only dealt with Regulus like that because he was being an idiot. I won’t hurt you’
Unsurprisingly, he did not find those words at all comforting and instead of giving whatever thankful reaction Barty was clearly expecting, a strangled sob ripped from his throat, echoing around them.
Still not opening his eyes, Evan felt Barty wrap his arms around him in an embrace he usually would have found comforting but now just made him feel even more nauseous. Knowing he did not have the strength to pull away, he stood still, trying desperately to think of a response that wouldn’t get him killed.
‘It’s okay, I promise you that I only did what I had to.’
‘Wh-’
‘Hush, let me explain. Now, Regulus was being very nasty, you see? I told him I loved him and he just deflected it. He didn’t understand how much my love meant so I had to show him.’
‘By killing him?! Nobody deserves that!’ He immediately regretted interrupting.
‘He was being selfish!’
-
‘You’re being selfish, Barty!’ They were now on opposite sides of the kitchen, yelling across the small space.
‘I’m not the one being selfish, Reg! You are! You know I love you yet you’re still pretending-’
‘I;m not pretending, Barty! I am not in love with you. Why can;t you just accept that and move on? Why do you have to be so fucking crazy?!’
‘I’m not crazy, I’m in-’
‘You’re not in love. You’re obsessed. There is a difference.’ He backed away, grabbing his coat from the hook so he could leave. ‘I’m going home, come and talk to me when you’ve gotten a grip of yourself and gone back to the person you were when you weren’t obsessed with me.’
‘Oh, going back home to your perfect fiance, are you? How lovely. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to have you back.’
Regulus whipped around, tired and exasperated. ‘What is your problem with him? James is the kindest, sweetest person I have ever met besides Evan so why do you have him so much? You have been jealous of him ever since we were in school, get over yourself already!’
Barty stayed where he was, leaning back against the kitchen counter and staring intently at Regulus. He was so pretty when he was angry.
‘If you actually loved me, you would be happy for me and thankful to him for being able to make me this happy, has that not dever occurred to you?’
Slowly pulling open the drawer bedding him, Barty turned so his back was facing Regulus and shook his head. Before he had a chance to leave, he spoke to Regulus again, slowly, entranced, whilst looking down at the silver blade in his hands.
‘Oh no. No, no ,no. Don’t be silly, Reggie. You don’t understand, baby. That isn’t what love is, not really. I know what love is, do you want me to show you?’
-
He finally collapsed onto his knees, letting the knife slip from between his fingers and clatter against the floor, his arm wa so tired he thought he would never be able to use it again and his fingers had cramped up completely, the knife had become extremely slippy in the last few minutes, so he had needed to tighten his grip as not to drop it.
He raised his other hand to tuck a bit of Regulus’ hair behind his ear, smearing blood over his cold, quickly bluing lips as he brushed his finger across them, smiling softly.
‘Have you learnt your lesson now love? Being in love isn’t being happy for someone regardless. It’s doing anything to stop someone else from stealing them from you. I think you understand that now, don’t you?’ He quickly kissed Regulus’ still, bloodstained lips, still smiling to himself cynically.
‘If I can’t have you…nobody can.’
-
Barty frowned as Evan collapsed onto the floor in front of him, struggling to keep himself propped up as he retched and thew up on the floor Regulus’ corpse had been on only a few hours earlier.
‘I don’t understand…’
‘You don’t understand, Barty? I don’t understand why you are acting like nothing has happened despite murdering your best friend last night!’
‘I told you, he deserved it.
‘Nobody deserves to be murdered for not being in love!’
‘You’re being silly, Ev. Of course he deserved it. It was for the best. I couldn’t just let him continue going around saying he wasn’t in love with me. He was hurting my feelings.’ How was it that Barty could sound like a petulant toddler when he was talking about the murder he had just committed?
‘How-you- I don’t- but…do you even feel bad about what you did? At all? You murderers our best friend, do you actually feel guilty? Or do you just not ever feel regret?’
Evan kept saying that. ‘Our best friend.’ It was annoying. Why didn’t he understand? Regulus was Evan’s best friend…but he was Barty’s one and only. That’s why he had done what he did. To protect him from those who were undeserving of him. Did he regret that? He didn’t know. Did he even care? Probably not.
‘No, I don’t.’
-
It had been 25 minutes and now the two young men were sat on opposite sofas, both looking at the floor.
‘They found the…body in a back alley a few streets from his house. That’s quite far from here, did you…?’
‘Well I couldn't dump him too nearby, could I? That would be way too suspicious. And I wasn’t just going to leave him to rot in my kitchen, was I?’ Barty laughed but Evan turned even paler and closed his eyes in disgust.
‘Evan?’
The reply was barely a whisper. ‘What?’
‘I’m going to need your help, y’know? I can’t get away with all of this myself. Will you…help me?’
Evan didn’t know how to respond. He couldn’t exactly lauh, as it was clearly not a joke but something in him wanted to. He didn’t really have many options, did he? Help the crazy murderer and escape being next or ignore his best friend’splea for help in favour of his other friend, who didn’t need help because he was dead.
Well, that was about it, then, wasn’t it?
‘Yeah, yeah of course I’ll help you, yeah.’
Barty grinned. Perfect. ‘Good boy.’