Ice

“Why are we here again?” Regulus mutters. The crowd was already loud and the game hadn’t even started.
“Pandora got season tickets. It would be rude not to use them” Barty said for the millionth time “At least try to have fun”
Regulus sighed. He wanted to go home. But for Pandora, he’d endure it
“Is it at least starting soon?”
“The players are coming out any second now” Barty said. He was clearly exasperated, but he still went back to yelling with the rest of the crowd.

Soon but not soon enough, two ladies came out and they were doing jumps and spins that was beyond Regulus to comprehend. Then came the referees, and they all lined up.
“Nowwwww put your hands together and make some noise!” The announcers voice blared into the stadium “for the one and only Marauders!!!!!!”
Music blared over the speakers and people were yelling and clapping along to the beat. Barty had even brought a cowbell and was hitting it rambunctiously.
The players came out, gliding effortlessly around the rink. They were all moving a bit too fast for Regulus to see any details, but one player in particular caught his eye. Number 32. He had dark brown skin and brown curly hair. But the most enrapturing aspect of him was his giant grin. He moved around the rink waving to all his fans and the biggest smile on his face that Regulus had ever seen.
“…number 83, Peterrrr Pettigrew!” The announcers voice brought Regulus back to earth. “number 32, Jamessss Potter!”
James Potter. It was a simple name but a charming one nonetheless. And an easy one to moa-
Regulus stopped himself before he could even finish that thought. What the actual fuck was wrong with his mind?
“And our goalieeeee number 25… Remusssss Lupiiinnnnnn”
Regulus had missed the announcement of a couple of the players but that was fine. He saw James Potter.

As the game went on, Regulus couldn’t pay much attention to anything or anyone else. It was certainly an exciting game though, as much as he tried to deny his growing infatuation with the sport. He couldn’t give Barty the satisfaction. The first goal that was scored was scored by James. At first Regulus thought “of course it was james.” Then he thought “What the fuck do you mean ‘of course’? You don’t even know him dumbass”. James skated around the rink in a victory lap with that stupid, brilliant smile on his face again. The fans were cheering and clapping along with some song and yelling “HEY!” intermittently. It was so comical that Regulus found himself smiling despite himself.
“Hey, look who’s having fun after all?” Barty nudged him with a smirk.
“Oh, Regulus is having fun?” Pandora leaned across from a couple seats down “That’s wonderful!”
Regulus huffed and rolled his eyes, but never denying it.

There was one point in the game when some player from the other team (whose name Regulus couldn’t be bothered to learn) smashes someone from the Marauders up against the glass. It startled Regulus so much he jumped. Once he regained his composure, he realized it was James. He didn’t seem seriously hurt, but he still seemed to need a second after being shoved into the sidewall. He turned around and waved to the crowd, letting them know he was fine and in doing so, he made eye contact with Regulus. James just gave a quick wink and skated away to rejoin the game, but even that sent a shiver down Regulus’ back. He blamed it on the cold of the stadium.

The next goal the Marauders scored was by a man with sharp features and black hair that Regulus had missed the name of but could’ve sworn looks familiar. James and Peter had surged to pull him into a quick hug before skating back into the rink. The man had a triumphant smile and was waving to the crowd, encouraging them to get louder. He honestly seemed like an egotistical idiot. He then blew a quick kiss to their goalie, Remus Lupin.

In between the second and third period, Barty and Regulus had been having a conversation that mostly consisted of Regulus complaining about how long the games was taking and Barty rolling his eyes and making fun of regulus when Regulus saw Evan who was two seats down from him, next to barty, shoving Barty’s shoulder.
“Barty, Barty, look!”
“What, Evan?” Evan only responded by pointing up to the jumbotron, which had Evan and Barty’s faces. Inside of the kiss cam frame.
“Huh.” Barty seemed completely unbothered. “Looks like i’ll have to kiss you then”
Barty promptly pulled evan in and kissed him. It wasn’t a light peck either, it was turning into a full on snog.
“Barty, Barty, the camera moved. You can stop now” Regulus tapped at Barty’s shoulder to break them apart, and when they did, Barty pulled back and acted like this was a daily occurrence for him, while evan looked red in the face.
“Ooooh” Regulus heard Pandora say while he just arched an eyebrow at the both of them.
“What?” Barty asked
“Oh nothing” Regulus responded airly with a small wave of his hand “You two just seemed very into each other is all”
“Me and Evan?” Barty asks “No we’re just mates” He playfully knocked Evans shoulder.
“Mhm… Mates” Pandora said with a hum.
Regulus turned his attention back to the game as Evan started bickering with Pandora.

Eventually, the Marauders beat the other team 6-0, which, according to Barty, was impressive. James had scored two total, one was scored by the man with dark hair, one was scored by a man named Frank Longbottom, and the other two were scored by Peter Pettigrew. Regulus had to give it to them, Remus Lupin was an impressive goalie. He had stopped the other team from scoring every single time, which didn’t seem easy. Their opponents were certainly formidable as far as Regulus could tell. Again, he knew absolutely nothing about the sport. The Marauders fans were yelling and cheering obnoxiously, including evan and barty. Pandora was celebrating in her own way. She was dancing with her hand floating above her head. How she didn’t lose her balance in the tight aisles was a mystery to Regulus, who even found himself clapping along.
“Come on! We should go meet the players!” Barty said
“Can we even do that?” Evan asked incredulously
“We can do anything we want!” Barty shouted over the crowd. He grabbed Evans hand, who grabbed Regulus’ who grabbed Pandoras hand, and they made their way to the back in some strange train.

-
“So, James.”

“Yes Marlene?”
Marlene was following James all throughout the locker room as he grabbed his stuff and got ready to head home after the game. Was she technically allowed in the locker room? No. Did anyone actually care? Also no. There was the occasional “Oi! McKinnon what are you doing back here!?” from Sirius, but other than that, no one really payed her any mind.

“I was thinking, you should hook me up with one or both of The Marauders’ ice girls’ numbers. Specifically the tall one with the braids. She’s pretty. But i’m really not picky.”
“You mean Dorcas?” James asked with a laugh.
“Sure” Marlene shrugged.
“Well it’d have to be Dorcas, seeing as Alice is dating Frank and he’d quite literally kill you if you even got close to her.”
“Huh.” Marlene paused. “Oi, Frank!” she called through the locker room.
“What McKinnon?” Frank called back.
“Is it true you’re dating Alice?”
“Yes! Don’t fucking touch her!” He yelled out.
“So… Dorcas’ number then?” Marlene continued her conversation with James.
James just laughed her off.
“Maybe you should ask her yourself, Marlene” he said good naturedly. Marlene just hummed quietly in response.

“Everyone huddle up!” Their coach, Minnie (or technically Coach Mcgonagall) yelled out to them. “Marlene, out. Why are you even in here?”
“Sorry Minnie! I’ll be going now.” Marlene turned and muttered “Off to find Dorcas” and left with a wink.
“Okay, everyone, you played good today. Really well, actually. But don’t let that get to your head okay? You can’t get complacent! I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning! Have a good rest of your weekend. “

James started walking out of the stadium, when he met up with Lily Evans, who played for their opposing team that night, The Valkyries.
“Potter.” She said as a greeting
“Evans” He responded with a nod.
“Good match tonight”
“Thanks! Good luck with your next one!”
Lily sighed and shook her head.
“Only you, James Potter. Only you.” she said, fondly.
“What did I do?” James asked
“Only you would beat someone, then wish them good luck with their next match.”
“Well, I’m sorry for trying to show good sportsmanship.” James said in faux offense.
“I supposes it’s better than some other people in this career.”
“That’s true.” James agreed. They paused in their walk and he could see Mary Macdonald waiting for Lily a few feet away.
“I have to go, Mary’s waiting for me.”
“Bye, Lily. Give Mary a shove for me. A bit of payback for earlier” She agreed and James kissed her cheeks and watched the two girls walk away, chuckling when he actually saw Lily give Mary a little shove.
He continued walking a bit, and was met with the loud and excited chatter of fans. He spotted Sirius essentially draped over Remus talking to a boy with short dusty blonde hair and a girl with long platinum blonde hair. He saw Frank chatting animatedly with a boy with spiky dark hair and sharp cheekbones. Marlene was in the corner of the room chatting up Dorcas who looked unimpressed but also like she was loving the attention at the same time. Then James spotted him. That striking man he had caught the eye of earlier after being shoved into the sidewall by Mary. He had black curls that were reaching to about his chin and such a sharp jawline it looked it could cut you. But the first thing he noticed was his eyes. His eyes that looked like they were staring into James’ soul, piercing him with their beautiful greenish gray intensity. James could feel his heart flutter a little as the man walked over to him.
“Hello, I’m Regulus.” He stuck his hand out. He had such pretty hands. Almost dainty, but still strong enough where they looked like they could kill you. And they were covered in rings. James noticed a particular ring on his middle finger, in the shape of a snake with emerald eyes. He really had lovely hands. James wondered what else he could do with his hands. He quickly blinked to remove that thought from his brain.
Regulus cleared his throat and James realized he still hadn’t said anything. He stuck his hand out to shake Regulus’
“Hi. I’m James Potter. Although you probably already know that. Sorry. You’re very pretty- I mean you seem pretty nice- I mean- Sorry”
James knew he was rambling but he couldn’t get himself to stop. Regulus just raised an eyebrow at James and he quickly cut off.
“Are you going to keep shaking my hand all night?” Regulus asked with a small smirk on his face. James became acutely aware that he was still holding Regulus’ hand and quickly dropped it.
“Um sorry about that. Do you want me to sign something for you?”
“No” Regulus said bluntly. It took James by surprise seeing as that was not the answer most people gave. But Regulus didn’t seem like most people.
“Um okay. Did you enjoy the match then?”
“No, I’m back here meeting you because I thought it was awful.” Regulus deadpanned.
“Oh um, well “ It took James a moment to realize Regulus was joking.
“You’re messing with me aren’t you?”
“Very much so.” Regulus said with a small smile. He had such a lovely smile. Everything about him was so lovely. “I actually rather enjoyed the game. Especially the part where you got smashed up against the wall”
I’d like to smash you up against the wall. James thought. Then he desperately prayed Regulus couldn’t hear his thoughts.
“Oh, um, saw that did you?” James muttered, rubbing his neck a little awkwardly.
“No, I missed it.” Regulus said blankly again. But this time James knew he was joking and let out a small laugh.
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“Well, good job.” Regulus was examining his nails, looking rather bored now. “And good luck at the next one” He abruptly turned and walked away, leaving James there speechless.
“Wait!” he called out after Regulus, finally regaining his senses. “Are you gonna come to the next one?”
Regulus just smiled and kept walking.
“Come find me!” James called out again, not receiving any response this time, but he knows Regulus heard him. He felt a hand clap on his shoulder.
“You’re seeming a bit desperate, mate.” Peter said. “But that’s okay. We’re having an after party celebration at the Leaky Cauldron, come on now.”
James left talking with Peter and discussing the highlights of their latest game, but all he could really think of was the lovely, lovely man with the lovely, lovely name of Regulus.