Somebody to Love
Regulus POV
Oh my god, what am I doing? Regulus thought as he cursed himself.
He’d trudged home and had a huge internal battle of ‘Should he see the band? Should he just not go? But James was there. Then again, there’s Sirius. What if Remus is going? What if he has to talk to them? Is it better to not go at all? Going is a stupid idea right? It was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.’. It made his head swim.
And yet, despite all of his doubts, Regulus stopped mid through the way home and said fuck it.
He spun on his heel and before letting himself think, headed back to the cafe.
Somehow, the atmosphere was completely different at night time. At day, it was warm and open, but with the thudding of feet upstairs and distant chatter, and the darkened stairwell that lay ahead of Regulus, it felt completely different. The cafe essentially became a bar.
The bands usually performed upstairs, so that’s where he went, the wooden stairs whining as he marched up them. His heart pounded against his chest and his hands felt clammy. Regulus wasn’t used to being in crowded places like this, and if he could help it, would instead be listening to music with Cosmo on his lap on his bed. But he was here, it’d be cowardly to turn back now.
Regulus was immediately overwhelmed by a sea of warm bodies pushing up against him at all sides. There were so, so many people, which was surprising and a bit claustrophobic for such a small space. Just how famous was Sirius’ band? Determined, Regulus pushed with effort through, trying to part the crowd, get any kind of view of the stage.
Regulus had a plan. Not necessarily a fool proof one or a good one, but something nonetheless.
Step 1: Don’t get noticed by my idiot brother
Step 2: Maybe find Remus, if he’s there
Step 3: Stay far enough from the stage to see the music, without making contact with band members
Step 4: ???
Okay, maybe this plan wasn’t as well thought out as he thought. But things would be fine! He could leave whenever he wanted.
Regulus’ eyes darted around, alert for anyone he might know. For a second, he thought he saw a glint of Remus’ fluffy hair through the crowd when the lights darkened, and he was coated in blackness.
A few scattered whoops and cheering sounds around him.
It was starting.
Oh no, already? He’d barely had time to find a good spot, much less look for Remus.
A deep male voice boomed over the speakers. “Introducing to you, a new band this time, the one, and only.. Marauders!”
Cheers erupted all around him, so loud it made Regulus’ ears ring.
Lights shut onto the stage, revealing James with his microphone at the ready, Sirius (ugh) on the guitar, a blonde haired girl on the keyboard and a mousy-brown haired guy on the drums.
James looked into the audience, shining with confidence and tapped the microphone a couple of times to check it works. “Hello everyone!”
James had hardly said two words before a group of girls next to Regulus were squealing excitedly and loudly. Reg fought the urge to roll his eyes at them, though James on stage with that outfit … he was hot, there was no denying it.
James chuckled wryly. “I’m James, the singer of the Marauders, and I’m sure some of you have met us before, but I’m just gonna introduce some of the members.” He gestured to Sirius. “Sirius on the guitar!”
Sirius immediately began a quick guitar solo which reverberated around the room, causing clapping and someone calling “We love you Sirius!”. He winked at the audience, leaning into his microphone and saying “Hey ladies,” making Regulus cringe on the spot. The group of girls shrieked.
“Marlene on the keyboard!” The spotlight shone on the girl as she performed a short piece.
“Aaand lastly Peter on the drums.” James called. Peter gave a couple of beats then a short swish on the cymbal.
“Alright, let’s get this thing started.” James grinned, readying himself to sing.
Artificial smoke poured over the stage and the lights turned vibrant shades of blue, pink and purple.
The excited chatter stopped as the music began, The Marauders began to play ‘Rebel, Rebel' by David Bowie.
The drums and electric guitar played, and then James began to sing.
“You’ve got your mother in a whirl,
She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl
Hey babe, your hair’s alright
Hey babe, let’s go out tonight,
You like me, and I like it all
We like dancing and we look divine
You love bands when they’re playing hard
You want more and you want it fast
They put you down, they say I’m wrong
You tacky thing, you put them on
Rebel rebel, you've torn your dress
Rebel rebel, your face is a mess
Rebel rebel, how could they know?
Hot tramp, I love you so!”
The beat dropped and everyone began to let go and danced, friends all right up next to each other.
Regulus, however, was in love.
He could do nothing but stare as he watched James sing. His voice was beautiful. Godly. Either it was that, or the alcohol, since Regulus had gulped and ordered two shots since the band started playing. But still, he could hardly tear his eyes away from James. He silently prayed James would notice him, see him in the crowd. ‘I’m right here,’ he thought.
Without thinking, Regulus stumbled closer through the crowd, hoping to catch his eye. So much for not catching the band members’ attention, but he honestly couldn’t care less at this moment.
James was gorgeous. Regulus felt pulled in like a magnet. ‘Please see me,’ he thought hopelessly.
The song ended, and more cheers and whooping came from all around him.
The next song the band played was ‘Moonage Daydreaming’ by David Bowie, followed by ‘Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy’ by Queen, which around the middle of it, James finally, finally caught Regulus’ eye.
“I'd like for you and I to go romancing
Say the word, your wish is my command
Ooh, love, ooh, loverboy
What're you doin' tonight?
Ooh, hey, boy”
James didn’t stop singing, and though he was surprised, he never dropped Regulus' gaze as soon as he met it, the corners of his mouth curling upwards. Something about his gaze felt intense, like James was singing directly to him. Regulus felt hot and flushed.
“Write my letter
Feel much better
And use my fancy patter on the telephone
When I'm not with you
Think of you always
(I miss those long hot summer nights)
When I'm not with you
Think of me always
Love you
Love you”
A silly thought popped into Regulus’ head.
He wished he was the microphone stand right there, with how close it was to James and the way he leaned into it. He could feel himself going red and then tried to wash that thought away.
After that, Sirius leaned in next to James, singing with him as he played. James broke his gaze away to look at Sirius, and Regulus felt disappointed, but at the same time giddy. He gestured to the bartender, asking for a few more drinks. Regulus decided he would talk to James after the performance, and some liquid confidence couldn’t hurt, right?
A few more songs played, and then ‘Radio Gaga’ by Queen and ‘Somebody to Love.’ as the grand finale. The crowd cheered as soon as the song started and sang along, swaying with one another and smiling ear to ear.
Regulus could see Remus from across the room now, as pink coloured spotlights travelled around the room. He seemed to be arm in arm and joking around with a red haired girl in a cute, short flower-patterned dress. All the while, Remus looked dreamily at Sirius, who seemed to be doing the same back, glad for the attention. He sighed. Those two were head over heels in love.
“Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love (find me somebody)
Find me somebody to love (somebody, somebody, somebody to love)
Find me, find me, find me (find me, find me, find me, find me, find me)
Find me somebody to love (ooh, somebody to love)
Find me somebody to love (ooh, find me, find me, find me somebody to love)
Find me somebody to love (anybody, anywhere, anybody find me somebody to love)
Find me, find me, find me”.
The song ended and the crowd roared with appreciation and clapping.
James and Sirius took a deep bow.
“Thank you everyone for coming here tonight!” James’ voice boomed. “We had a great time, and I hope you all did too. Until next time.”
He blew a kiss into the crowd, and unless Regulus was hallucinating, it seemed to be aimed directly at him.
Everyone went wild. Sirius put down his guitar, turned around and threw himself into the audience, crowd surfing his way around the room to Remus.
The crowd slowly began to scatter and dissipate, quiet laughter and chatter fading.
Regulus gulped down another shot, then ventured to look for James.
James POV
“Ahhhhh you were amazing!” Mary shrieked, tackling him as soon as he came backstage.
She turned to Sirius excitedly. “And so were you. The crowd absolutely loved it, I could tell.” Mary said proudly. James beamed back at her. He and Mary had been friends since high school, and she’d always been there to support them and the band. She was very sweet, it was to no one’s surprise that all her students loved her. Mary was a teacher at the local elementary school.
“Yeah, really good! Loved the song choices too.” Remus added.
“Thanks, picked ‘em myself.” Sirius announced proudly, obviously just wanting Remus’ attention. Sirius offered out a hand to Remus’ surprise, but he took it, and the two went off somewhere James wasn’t going to question.
“Did I look nervous? ‘Cause I felt really nervous.” Marlene asked all in a rush.
The girls all said something along the lines of ‘No, not at all!’
“Oi, Potter,” Lily asked, poking James in the arm.
“Yes, Evans?” He replied, arching a brow.
“Was there a special someone in the crowd tonight? You looked like you were mooning over someone, I could tell.” She asked cheekily.
“Oh!” James felt embarrassed. “Well, yeah, sort of.” He bit his lip, wondering if he should say who it was. “We aren’t together or anything, in fact we only just had a reunion today.”
“Oh wow. Well, why don’t you change that! Go on, talk to him or her or whoever it is!” Lily encouraged.
“Ah, so much encouragement coming from someone I dated during high school.” James laughed.
“Yeah, well, we weren’t each other’s type in the end. You were actually how I found out I was a girlkisser. Now I'll happily be your wingwoman." James laughed and tried not to be offended.
"As your wingwoman, I command you to go talk to them.” she continued.
“Yeah, alright, alright I’m going.”
James stumbled off, looking for those familiar dark curls and grey eyes that didn’t leave him the entire night. It seemed Regulus had been trying to do the same thing, because as they were both pushing through the scattered crowd they bumped into one another.
“Oh! Reggie, hey!” James lit up, voice higher than usual.
“Hi James.” Regulus looked up at him.
“I uh, didn’t think you would come tonight.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m glad you did though.”
“Me too,” Regulus beamed. “You.. your singing was really good. Like reeeaallly good. I could never sing like that, especially in front of sooooo many people.” he spoke with a slight slur.
“Oh it wasn’t easy, I was filled with nerves the entire time.” James replied, still buzzing with energy as if he was still on stage. ‘It didn’t help that you were there, looking gorgeous as always, watching me the whole time’ James thought, but didn’t say that.
“I hope it was okay that we only did covers.” James said. “I.. sort of struggle coming up with my own songs. I mean, singing them is no problem, but I haven’t been able to make any properly good original ones. I plan to though. Sirius is probably better at this and can help.” He felt kind of silly, blabbering about random things to keep the conversation going. He hadn’t spoken to or seen Regulus in so long before today, every interaction made him buzz.
Regulus’ eyes gleamed. He had an idea, James could tell.
“I um, I write songs.” Regulus blurted out.
James blinked. “Really?”
“Yeah, alll the time.” Regulus admitted. “Haven’t in a while since the breakup with Barty, though. Used to write songs about him. Feels silly now."
“Oh.” James couldn’t help a clenching feeling of jealousy in his chest. Not about the breakup, but the picture of Regulus and Barty together. James could do so much better.
“I could, maybe, help you write songs sometime?” Regulus offered, grey eyes looking up at him, big and adoring.
“Yeah, I’d love that!”
Regulus hummed dreamily. “You were really pretty up there.” He stepped closer.
James blinked twice. He could feel Regulus' alcohol-stained hot breath on his neck. For a stupid second, James thought he might kiss him.
“Oh- hold on one se- oh no-” Regulus bent over.
James put a hand on Reg’s shoulder. “You good, Reg?”
Regulus proceeded to throw up on the floor in front of him.