Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

During the day, Magic Feel Bar is a relaxed place where friends and family meet up to catch up with each other or a couple games on the pool table. But from 19:00 (7:00pm) onwards, the bar is filled.

The live music is loud, the dance floor is filled and drinks are passed around to everyone. Close friends do shots, some dance, some make out in the dark corners where the neon lights don't hit.

The live music is a series of cover songs played by two young men, one on an electric guitar and the other on drums. Both men would often steal small, hungry glances at each, waiting for the bar to close so they could go home. So very much unlike the other young man standing behind the bar.

No, this young man lives for his job at the bar. Preparing and giving drinks, having small conversations with people and watching his two friends sing and play on stage. Occasionally, when the man felt like it, he would join his friends on stage. He wouldn't do much, just singing small backup notes. If the young man wasn't on stage or preparing drinks, he was busy writing words in a small leather bound journal.

Much like how he was doing tonight. Ink pen in hand, writing small words down and tapping his other hand against the top of the bar in small beats.

"Excuse me?" A voice interrupted his thoughts. In front of the man was a young woman, probably in her early 20s with a head of fiery red hair. "Can I order some drinks for me and my friends?" She pointed to a table against a wall where 4 other young women stood chatting happily with one another.

"Of course. What can I get you?" The young man replied, closing over his journal, putting the pen on top.

"Can I get a pink señorita, a Malibu sunset, a Bloody Mary, a Black Russian and a Tsunami cocktail please?" The red head gave him the list of drinks that he carefully jotted down on a pad.

"Yeah, can I get a name for the order and table number please?" He asked. Although the bar was supposed to be for dancing and having fun, they also had tables for people to stand at and leave their drinks around the edges.

"Yes, that's Lily Evans and it's table number 5, I believe." The woman, now known as Lily answered.

"Lily Evans? As in 'The Dark Roses' Lily Evans?" The male questioned, the name sounding very familiar to him. The Dark Roses was a female singing group, newly formed, that had become very popular and well known across social media. Although they had not yet released any official songs, they had done many videos of the group singing covers, beginning to become famous because of their beautiful voices and talents.

"You've heard of us?" Lily inquired, sounding surprised.

"I know your name through my friends." The young man pointed up at the men on stage who were just beginning a new song. The man reached under the bar and pulled our 5 glasses for the drinks. "Unfortunately I can't say that I recognise your face. Nor would I recognise your voice, I'm not on social media very often."

"Ah, I see. Well maybe when we eventually have lyrics and release a song, you might recognise us. And maybe you're friends could do a cover?" Lily turned to look at the males singing, enjoying how they've done their own take on 'Does Your Mother Know' by ABBA.

"When do you have lyrics?" The young male wondered, mixing different liquids together and pouring them into glasses. "Surely a new group could very easily come up with their own lyrics?"

"Ha, you would think so wouldn't you?" Lily answered. "We have tried, let me tell you. It has seemed to prove much more difficult than we had thought. It seems none of us have a talent for song lyrics."

"My friends, Barty and Evan, continue to ask me for song lyrics. They think I'm good." The young man informs Lily, pouring the last drink into a glass. "So much so that I have actually given it a shot, just so they could stop asking." The man pats the leather book next to him.

He pulls out a tray from under the counter and places the drinks on it as Lily reaches for the book. She flips through the book as the man makes his way round the counter to walk over to the rest of the women Lily had arrived with.

"Might I ask for your name?" Lily asked, tucking the book under arm as she followed the man to the table.

"Regulus." The man, Regulus, replied.

"Regulus, I would like to introduce you to the rest of the band." Lily took the drinks off of the tray Regulus was holding and passed them to each of her friends.

On Regulus' left was a bleach blonde, shoulder length haired woman, wearing a black corset top, jeans and a leather blazer jacket.

"Hey, I'm Marlene." The woman stuck her hand forward for Regulus to shake.

"Regulus." He answered.

"This is Dorcas." Marlene pointed next to her, a dark skinned woman wearing an almost see - through, long sleeved, black top covered in white stars over a black crop top.

"Hi." Dorcas waved at Regulus, who waved back.

"That's Mary, our pianist." Lily nodded the other dark skinned woman whose hair was braided back into a high ponytail. "And Pandora, our costumes and designs." Lily held her gaze at Pandora a little longer, so Regulus noticed.

Pandora was also blonde, however not as blonde as Marlene. Pandora had her wavy hair resting over her shoulders as she wore a blue halter top and denim shorts.

"Hello." She said to Regulus sweetly.

"Hi." Regulus said back. He looked back to Lily who had at some point passed his notebook around the table when he wasn't looking.

"Regulus here writes song lyrics." Lily placed her hands on Regulus' shoulders as if she was offering him to the group. "What do we think about having him write songs for us?" She asked the group.

"Hey-" Regulus started to interfere when Marlene spoke.

"Well we would have to see what his songs are like before we make any decisions." She began to flick through the pages of the book, stopping on a page with unfinished lyrics.

"If you want to see a song you might as well look at a finished one." Regulus mentioned, reaching forward to take the book back.

"We would if you had some." Mary said, pulling the book into the middle of the table. Regulus was at a loss. In truth, he hasn't been able to finish the songs because he couldn't find something to base the lyrics around. That's how he wrote songs.

"Let's try this one." Pandora pointed to the page Marlene had stopped on, one of Regulus' more recent ones.

"Oh no, that one is really deep in the works." Regulus started.

"Which is why we should try it." Lily interrupted him, moving to the back of the group so she could see the lyrics too. "Okay, on three. One, two, three."

"Last night I lay in bed so blue
Cause I realised the truth
They can't love me like you"

The girls began to sing in harmony, singing the lyrics in the book in the same key. Regulus hadn't exactly thought of a note he wanted the song sung in, but he decided then that that key was perfect.

"I tried to find somebody new
Baby they ain't got a clue
Can't love me like you"

They stopped singing then because that was all Regulus had written.

"I told you it was in the works." Regulus mumbled, reaching for the book. This time, the girls let him take it. "I should get back to the bar, we don't have much staff here tonight and two are singing on stage." Regulus nodded his goodbye to the girls, turning to make his way to the bar which started to fill up.

"I liked those lyrics." Dorcas said once he was gone. She got a nod and murmur of agreement from the others.

"Yeah, they really spoke to me. Felt like I could really relate to them." Marlene spoke out.

"Marls, you've never dated a person in your life." Mary added, turning to face Marlene.

"But I've seen lots of films!"

"That's not the same."

"Either way!" Lily interrupted the two bickering. "I think we should get him to work with us. We should hire him as our song writer."

"I agree." Pandora nodded to Lily, sounds of agreeing coming from the other three.

"Right, I'll go and tell him then." Lily took a sip of her drink, feeling the sudden burn of alcohol go down her throat as she made her way back to the bar.

When she got there, she couldn't find Regulus. She did, however, find his notebook. Lily wrote her contact details on the page with the song lyrics they had recently sung and then walked back to her table, knowing deep down that she would be expecting a call sometime tomorrow.

Chapter Text

5 o'clock in the morning was when the bar was completely empty, apart from the workers. All they were doing was playing some songs quietly in the background while picking up bits and pieces left on the floor of the bar.

And they found the weirdest things.

"Heyyyyy! I found a condom package!" Barty called out to Regulus and Evan, flicking the fringe of his brunette hair back as he showed the packet to them.

"That's disgusting Barty." Regulus said back, picking up watches and jewellery that had fallen off.

"Is it unopened?" Evan, the only light haired male of the three, asked. "We could use it later." He suggested it to Barty, who smirked and winked at his boyfriend.

"Gagging." Regulus stuck a finger close to his open mouth, imitating the sounds of throwing up. "You're both disgusting, honestly."

"It's not our fault you can't get anyone." Barty retorted, dropping an empty pack of cigarettes into a plastic bag.

"No, I saw that ginger girl you were talking to write something in your notebook." Evan mentioned, walking over to the bar where Regulus' book was.

"Ooh, was it her number?" Barty asked. "Wait, I thought you were gay?"

"I am." Regulus stated.

"So why did she leave her contact details in here?" Evan questioned, confused. "She wrote her number, email, everything."

Regulus sighed. He knew he couldn't keep those two out of his business. "She offered me a job." He told them. Barty gasped dramatically.

"Reggie! You're leaving us?" He accused, throwing a hand to his forehead for dramatic effect.

"No, I haven't called her yet. It's 5:30 in the morning, and no one is awake yet." Regulus moved to drop his full plastic bag in a cardboard box labelled 'Lost Things'.

"Besides, I don't even know if I wanna say yes yet." Regulus admitted to his friends.

"Well what's the job?" Evan asked, turning back to his original job of cleaning.

"They want to be their songwriter." He told them. "They're that band you two talk about all the time, the Dark Roses."

The two males gaped at the third.

"Wait a second." Barty dropped his bag on a table and walked over to Regulus, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"You met the lead singer of the Dark Roses, talked to the whole band, got her number, and you didn'T TELL US?!" Barty shouted, shaking Regulus who pushed him off.

"Jesus, what is wrong with you?" Regulus glared at his friend, rolling his shoulders a bit.

"A lot of things." Evan told him, receiving a glare from Barty.

"You two were either singing or making out, too busy for me to tell you anything." Regulus explained, walking behind the bar to take off his plastic gloves and drop them in the bin.

"I think you should take the job." Evan stated. The other two stared at him, one with his eyebrows raised, the other gasping at him.

"Are you saying our dear little Reggie should leave us?" Barty accused, being dramatic yet again.

"I just think that Reggie's lyrics are too good to stay in that little notebook. The world should hear them." Evan explained, more to Barty than Regulus.

"Even if I say yes, I would still work here every night. It's not like they'll need me in the studio every single day, I would just have to cut my days down a bit here." Regulus said, picking up his book and moving to a door between two shelves of alcohol which lead to the staff rooms.

"Now I have a date with an annoying, hyper sibling and I have had zero sleep. See you two later tonight." Regulus made a small wave as he walked through the door.

"Bye Reggie darling!"

"Give the girls a call!"

Were the shouts he got in return.

Regulus got back to his apartment at around 05:45 that morning. He unpacked his bag, changed his clothes and fell on his bed. He was exhausted as he had been awake since 09:00 the morning before, did his shopping, cleaning and other other daily tasks. And then from 18:30 (6:30pm) he had been working at the bar.

Least to say his sleep schedule was messed up.

And then he and his brother had agreed to meet up at 13:00 (1:00pm) that afternoon. Now, Regulus was the younger brother of the two, but only by a few months. Since the elder brother had found out Regulus had moved to Ledlow he insisted they meet up at least once a month.

As children, the brothers had very strict, abusive parents. As soon as the elder hit the age of 16 he moved out, leaving Regulus alone in the house. Least to say, Regulus wasn't happy. Regulus waited till he was 18 with a good amount of money to move out.

Regulus hadn't known where his brother had moved to so he hadn't intended to move to the same town as him on purpose. When they ran into each other there was a lot of shouting, arguing and tears.

5 years later, the two are still going strong. The elder brother insisted on sharing everything with the younger one who didn't mind. The only thing they didn't share with each other was their work. You might think this was a strange thing to not share with your siblings, but Regulus has found out that his brother was still very protective of him so he wasn't sure how he would react if he found out Regulus worked at a bar with people making out left and right.

His brother just wanted to keep his job a secret, claiming he would tell Regulus when he becomes more professional.

After waking up to his alarm, Regulus saw that it was 11:16, meaning he had roughly two hours till he met his brother.

Reluctantly getting out of bed, Regulus boils the kettle for his tea and begins to get ready. While pulling clothes out of his dresser, Regulus sees his notebook on the top. He sighed as he opened it to the page with Lily's number.

Regulus pulled out his phone and dialled the number written down.

"Hello?" Came a voice from the other end that Regulus recognised as Lily's.

"Hi Lily, it's Regulus." Regulus answered. He moved the clothes he pulled out to his bed and then walked back to his kitchen to fix his tea.

"Oh Regulus, hey!" Lily said, more excited now she knew who she was talking to. "So, have you made a decision on the job offer?"

"I just wanted to ask what type of songs you guys were wanting to sing? Just so I have an idea of what to write." Regulus gave his answer, which received a very excited squeal from the other end.

"He said yes!" Lily shouted. Regulus heard a couple 'whoops' and cheers from who he assumed was the rest of the group.

"Okay, that's fantastic. Thank you so much!" Lily exclaimed.

"Thank you for the offer." Regulus replied, smiling a little to himself.

"Okay, so if you're free tomorrow, I'll send you the studio address and we can all talk about what to do next." Lily suggested. "Bring that songbook."

"Will do, see you tomorrow." Regulus said before hanging up. He then looked at the clock on the wall, realising he didn't have long until he had to meet his brother.

Chapter Text

Usually, Regulus' brother chooses to meet at a park or a pub to catch up. But this month he chose a cafe, which is very unlike him.

It was a cafe Regulus had passed a few times when going for a walk. They always had a lovely looking selection of cakes and sweet treats in the window decorated with sugar flowers and icing sugar.

Inside the shop, it was light and calm. The light blue walls make the place brighter when the sun shines through the windows without the lights on. There are beautiful paintings on the walls and a small bookcase near the back with cushions and sofas for anyone wanting to read or study.

Regulus walked up to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate for himself. After receiving it, he looked around the cafe for his brother.

"Reggie! Over here!" Regulus heard someone shout, noticing his brother waving at him from the back.

His brother in question was the same height as Regulus, but he was a bit more bulky than Regulus. His hair had been grown out to shoulder length, originally done to annoy their mother but he decided to keep the look even after he moved out. One of the few things him and Regulus had in common was that black was their favourite clothing colour. Except his brother wore black ripped jeans and a leather jacket compared to Regulus wearing dress trousers and a black loose shirt.

"Hi Sirius." Regulus said, taking a seat opposite his brother. Both males had been named after stars, it was the only family tradition they liked.

"So, how are you? It's been like, a month since we've seen each other." Sirius said the same thing he always did when they met up, knowing it annoys Regulus.

"I'm fine, nothing much has changed honestly." Regulus answered. Sticking to their rule, he won't tell Sirius about the job he very recently agreed to.

"Well, I've got news." Sirius announced.

"You've always got some form of news." Regulus deadpanned. "Does it have to do with your boyfriend again?"

Sirius had been going out with Remus since before he had moved out. Remus was nice, Regulus admitted, having met the man at least twice in the 5 years he and Sirius had been talking again. Remus was good for Sirius.

"No. Well, kind of." Sirius answered. "I can tell you about my job now!"

"What? Our rule was to not talk about our jobs." Regulus asked. That was Sirius' rule, he came up with it. So why is he now breaking it?

"That was the rule until I became professional." Sirius reminded Regulus. "Anyway, we're finally able to record and release our first song!" Sirius announced proudly. Regulus was silent for a moment.

"What?"

"Right. So me, Remus and our two friends created a band a couple years back. And after a lot of work, we finally have a song! We recorded it yesterday and it's being released on Friday!" Sirius explained. Regulus was shocked. This is what his brother had been doing for work?

"That's... great." Regulus was hesitant, not sure how to react. "What's the band name?"

"We're called The Marauders." Sirius says, straightening his back to prove how happy and excited he is about this news.

"The Marauders? What does that mean?" Regulus asked, having not heard the word once in all of the books he had read.

"It means a person or animal that looks for things to destroy." Sirius answered.

"Why the hell would you name your group that? What are you guys intending to destroy?" Questioned Regulus.

"We will destroy the hearts of people with our amazing singing voices." That was another thing about Sirius, he also loves being dramatic.

"Okay. What's the name of the song?" Regulus asked, he was getting quite curious now.

"It's called Love Me. James sings the lead, I have this awesome guitar solo and Peter is playing the drums." Sirius told his brother.

"What about Remus?"

"Oh yeah, he wrote it. He plays a bit of base as well." Sirius responded.

"Right." Regulus mumbled, more sure where the conversation should go from there.

"Do you want to hear some of it? I have a recording of one of our practices on my phone." Sirius started digging around his many pockets trying to find his phone. "Ha ha! Here it is."

Sirius opened his phone and after a minute he found the recorded audio of the song.

"I'll play it from my guitar part so you can hear James sing as well." Sirius pressed play and Regulus took the phone, holding it up to his ear. He got a bit of a fright from the voice singing suddenly at a loud volume in his ear.

"Well, just keep looking, looking
Looking, looking, oh"

Regulus admitted James had a good singing voice, but unfortunately he had never met the man so he couldn't place the voice to his face. Next came what Regulus guessed as Sirius' guitar bit, which was also quite good.

"And love me!
If that's what you wanna do
And love me!
If that's what you wanna do"

Sirius took the phone back at that point.

"Can't have you hearing the whole song just yet, it'll spoil how good it is when it comes out." Sirius explained, putting his phone back into a different pocket from where it had previously been pulled out of.

"Well it sounds good, a little pitchy tho." Regulus told him, just to mess with his brother.

"That's because it was a practice audio, the real thing will sound much better obviously." Sirius said, matter-of-fact-ly. Regulus rolled his eyes.

A ping sounded from Regulus' phone that had been lying on the table. He picked it up and saw it was a text from Lily.

'Hi Regulus! It's Lily. Here's the address for the studio:
13 North Street
It's near the bar you work at, hopefully it's not too hard to find. See you tomorrow!
Lily x'

"Whose that?" Sirius asked, trying to peek at Regulus' phone. 'I need less nosey friends.' Regulus thought to himself, hiding the phone to his chest.

"None of your business." Regulus said, putting the phone in his trouser pocket.

"Is it a guy? Reggie, do you have a date and didn't tell me?" Sirius teased.

"No, it's just work." Technically, Regulus wasn't lying. He just wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Ah okay." Sirius sat back in his seat. "But, seeing as you now know that I'm in a band, you should tell me what your job is."

"No. You decided to break that one rule, I'm not." Regulus reasoned.

"But it's not even there anymore! Come on, please?" Sirius begged.

"No."

"Please?"

"Nope."

"Pretty please?"

"Not happening."

"Come on Reggie."

"Nah ah."

"Pretty pretty please?"

"I work in a bar."

That shut him up.

There was silence for a minute.

"You work in a bar?" Sirius repeated as if he didn't believe his brother.

"Yeah, with Barty and Evan." Sirius knew the two boys from when they all went to school. Sirius was silent yet again, staring off into space. "Sirius?" Regulus waved a hand in front of his face. When he did get a response, Regulus kicked Sirius under the table.

"Ow!" Sirius exclaimed, glaring at Regulus who just shrugged. "Let me just get this straight."

"Neither you nor I are straight, Sirius."

"Hush." Sirius shushed him. "For 5 years, you have been working at a bar?" Regulus nodded. "Which bar?"

"Magic Feel." Regulus answered.

"Magic Feel?! Reggie, that bar is known for making out!" Sirius expresses.

"Yeah, I'm aware. I work there." Regulus deadpanned. Sirius physically deadpanned, slapping his hand on his forehead.

"You can't be working there! That place is for adults!"

"I am an adult." Regulus hissed.

"You don't act like one." Sirius grumbled, sitting back in his chair, clearly in a huff about his younger brother's job.

Regulus kicked him again.

'This is why I didn't tell him beforehand.' Regulus thought, shaking his head.

"It's not like I'm the one who's making out with people, I don't even have a boyfriend." Regulus added. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You're ridiculous." Regulus stated, standing up to leave. "I have things to do, I'll listen to your song when it comes out."

"Bye Reggie!" Sirius called, Regulus waved back, walking out of the cafe.

Chapter Text

The next day, Regulus realised that the studio wasn't actually close to the bar so he had to get a bus to the street. Regulus soon found the studio which was actually a small house that Regulus assumed was Lily's and that they had a spare room as a studio.

Regulus double checked the address to make sure he had the right one, walked up to the front door and knocked. Inside, he could hear lots of shouting and then a heavy thud and a cry. And then Marlene opened the door.

"Regulus! Come on in, sorry for the mess." Marlene said, walking further into the house. Regulus walked in, closing the door behind him. He followed Marlene to a room near the back where the other girls were.

"Oh Regulus, hi!" Lily exclaimed upon noticing him.

"Hey." He waved back. Looking around the room, Regulus noticed a lot of things. The walls had lots of band posters, records and picture frames of the girls. Regulus also noticed the series of instruments and microphones, a keyboard, guitar (acoustic and electric) and lots of fabric. Everywhere.

Regulus also noticed a stool that had been toppled over and Dorcas sitting on the floor clutching her foot, Regulus couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying. But Mary was definitely laughing.

"Is everything okay?" Regulus asked cautiously, slightly worried about his new coworkers.

"Yeah, we're good." Pandora answered.

"Dorcas, get up. We have a guest." Marlene instructed.

"But my foot-"

"No one cares, Dorcas."

"Okay! Regulus, come sit. Let's discuss some of your lyrics." Lily announced, pulling Regulus to the floor. The rest of the girls joined them and they all sat in a circle.

"So let's start off with introducing ourselves again and this with our part in the band." Pandora suggested, receiving nods of agreement.

"Okay, I'll start. I'm Lily and I'm the lead singer." Lily announced, smiling.

"I'm Dorcas and I'm the dance choreographer and singer." Dorcas followed.

"I'm Marlene and I play the guitar. Both electric and acoustic." Marlene says. "I also sing as well."

"I'm Mary and I play the keyboard." Said Mary, nodding to the keyboard at the corner of the room.

"You don't sing?" Regulus asked, confused. The others were singing, so why wasn't Mary?

"I have a medical problem called Vocal Nodules. Basically when I sing I sound like a dying horse." Mary explained. "I can do the occasional note or two but not much."

"Oh okay. That must suck. You're a part of a band and you can't sing." Regulus jokes, thinking Mary was a jokey sort of person about her disorder.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Mary replied, a smile on her face.

"Moving on, I'm Pandora and I design and make costumes for shows."

'Ah, that'll explain all the fabric.' Regulus thought.

The room was silent, all the girls were staring at Regulus, waiting for him to introduce himself. Regulus sighed, he was really doing this.

"I'm Regulus and I write the songs." He admitted, knowing that he was fully stuck in now. He was a part of the Dark Roses.

This announcement received lots of whoops and cheers, making Regulus jump but he had a small smile on his face.

"Yay! Okay, now that it's official, let's start talking about songs." Lily said, everyone's attention turning to Regulus as he took out his notebook.

"I can't believe we finally have a song! After all these years!" James cheered happily in the studio he and his band mates had been rehearsing and recording at.

James was a fairly tall bloke, 6'1" with dark brown hair and tanned skin with round glasses on his face.

"Moony, the creator, we praise you." James did a bowing motion towards Remus, a tall and lanky man sitting on the floor next to a microphone stand, scars covering his face.

Peter copied James' motion from where he was sitting. Peter was the shortest of the band, with blonde hair and a slightly bigger body.

"Yes yes, thank you James for being overly dramatic." Moony replied sarcastically, flicking his hand towards James and Peter.

"Guys!" A shout came from the door. Sirius, the fourth member of the band stormed through, clearly upset.

"Sirius! How was your meeting with your brother?" James asked, still in a good mood but curious. Remus was the only member of the band (other than Sirius) who had met Regulus and Sirius didn't have any pictures of the boy either.

"Horrible. Moony, cuddle me." Sirius commanded, promptly sitting himself across Remus' lap, cuddling into his shoulder as Remus stroked his back.

"Why was it horrible, love? You live to meet up with your brother." Remus asked.

"Well, I told him about our band and that we have a song releasing on Friday." Sirius started explaining while James shot an arm into the air at the mention of their song. "And to even it out, he had to tell me what his job was."

"And how is that horrible?" James asked, slightly confused.

"He's not a stripper or anything is he?" Peter questioned, thinking he would get a death glare from Sirius.

"Pretty much. He works at Magic Feel!" Sirius began to sob dramatically into Remus, while the other boys stood completely confused.

"The bar?" Peter said.

"Yeah." A quiet voice from Sirius' body.

"That's nowhere close to being a stripper." Remus deadpanned. He and Regulus could be very alike sometimes.

"My cute, innocent, teeny tiny brother works at a bar!" Sirius wailed.

"Sirius, your brother is like, 22 years old. I don't think he could be that innocent." James said. Even though he had never met the younger brother or seen pictures, he had heard a fair bit about him from Sirius.

Sirius turned and gaped at him, as if James had called Regulus something he shouldn't have.

"Come on Sirius, your brother went to a boarding school and you're telling me he's as innocent as a baby?" James argued.

"He's a baby in my eyes. He always will be." Sirius bit back, leaning back into Sirius to sulk.

"Okay well, I would like to go and celebrate our new found success. Who would like to join me?" James proposed to the others, hoping he wouldn't have to get drunk alone.

"Sorry James, I'm having dinner with my parents tonight." Peter answered, an apologetic look on his face.

"I think I'm going to sulk and be sad about my baby brother's job." Sirius mumbled.

"In other words, have sex with Moony." Peter corrected me.

"Ugh, getting drunk alone. Oh well." James shrugged, walking to the door.

"Hey, maybe you'll get some tonight!" Remus called to him, getting the finger in return and James walked out the door.

It was late outside, James hadn't realised how long he had been in the studio listening to their song and playing around with notes. It also got a lot colder, James now wished he was wearing more than a flannel and T-shirt.

James saw a taxi coming up and called it over. Getting into the backseat, the driver asked where he was going.

"Just the closer bar if you can." James responded.

~

"Well, I think we should go and celebrate our little Reggie's new job with a few drinks." Barty suggested as in the staff rooms at the back of Magic Feels.

"I agree, maybe we could just have drinks here." Evan added.

"I am always covering for you guys when you want to make out. How about you cover my shift tonight so I can get drunk?" Regulus said, taking off the black waistcoat he had just put on.

"What, how is that fair?" Barty accused, sounding offended.

"Well, he does have a point." Evan agreed, kissing the top of Barry's head as he walked out the door to the bar instead of the stage.

Barty glared at Regulus.

"You were the one who suggested I should celebrate by having a few drinks." Regulus shrugged at him.

"I said WE should celeb- and he's gone." Barty says as Regulus walks out the door to the filling up club.

Chapter Text

The bar was loud, louder than any of the other bars James had been to. James also hadn't bothered to look at the name of the bar. He just followed the directions down the alley like the taxi driver had said, he hadn't realised the bar was so close to his flat.

James sat at the bar counter, watching the people in the centre dancing to the music playing loudly over speakers. There was a stage further up with speakers and an electric guitar. James assumed they had music played live, just not tonight.

"What can I get for you?" A man said behind the counter. James turned to face the blonde man who was waiting patiently for him to answer.

"Oh, uh." James started, he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted. He didn't want a beer because he didn't have anyone to share it with. "Surprise me. Something decently strong though." James answered.

The waiter raised his eyebrows but brought out a glass and started taking different alcohols off the shelf behind him.

James turned his gaze back to the centre, looking over the couples and single people, dancing and moving against and with each other. While looking at all the people dancing, one in particular caught James' eye.

He was alone in the centre of everyone and James struggled to see him properly as the lights kept missing him. But when a flash of white crossed over him, James decided there and then that he would never see anyone as beautiful as him.

The room was so dark that James couldn't make out any specific features, just that his hair was swaying and bouncing with any movement the boy did, he had his sleeves rolled up and a couple buttons undone on his shirt. The way he danced was hypnotic, moving his body with the music and the people around him.

"Here's your drink." The waiter said, pulling James' attention away from the beautiful man.

"Thanks." James took a sip of the drink, and then proceeded to cough. He hadn't anticipated the drink to be so strong. The waiter smirked. James turned his attention back to the dancers, soon seeing the man dancing again.

"Who are you staring at?" The waiter asked, clearly noticing where James' eyes were.

"Who's that? With the black hair in the middle?" James asked. The waiter snorted and pulled out more alcohol.

"I think you'll need to drink something a bit stronger to go flirt with him." The waiter responds, filling James' glass again.

James was desperate to talk to the man, so he took the drink and downed the whole thing. He briefly looked at the waiter, whose eyebrows were raised. James gave the waiter a fiver and stood up, making his way towards the dancer, beginning to feel the alcohol hit him.

James managed to get himself caught with different people, women and men moving their bodies against his. James wasn't exactly sure what to do when he got to the man he had had his eyes on as soon as he got in. The man was letting others touch and hold him, so why should James have a problem with it.

By the time James had reached the boy, the song had changed to a slower one, the boy's movements becoming more intoxicating as he timed them perfectly. James grabbed the boy's hand and gave him a spin. The man looked slightly surprised when James pulled him close by his waist but didn't push him away. James could see how drunk he was with how sluggish and slow his movements were.

James, with both his hands on the man's waist, started to move his hips for him. The man begins to trail his hands gently up James' body, over his arms and into his hair.

Now James was closer, he could get a better look at the man. And he looked even more beautiful close up. His eyes were an icy blue, with dark curls shaping his face. His lips were a dark pink against his pale face. James thought he was absolutely stunning.

Keeping his hands on the man's curved waist, James crouched down, the man's hands moving to rest in James' hair. James slowly stood back up, trailing his mouth up the man's body as he moved in time to the music.

When James was stood up properly, the boy turned suddenly so his back was against James. The boy kept a hold of James' hands against his waist. James tucked his nose into the neck of the boy against him as he moved their hips, in a slower motion, making it even more intoxicating.

"My flat isn't too far from here." James whispered in the boy's ear. He turned his head to look at James, and that was all the confirmation needed. The boy grabbed James' hand and pulled him towards the door to the bar.

As soon as they were outside in the dark of night, the boy pushed James up against the ally wall, pressing his mouth against his. James hadn't expected the boy to be so quick but James also didn't stop him. He wrapped his arms around the boy's waist again, feeling how thin his shirt was and how quickly it became cold.

James turned them around so the boy was against the wall instead, his hands sneaking up James' forearm and round the back of his neck. James was the first to pull away and continued to guide the boy out of the alley, but he was continuously pushing James against the wall, licking his neck and kissing him. Not that James minded, of course, but it was cold outside and James just wanted to take this man home.

James managed to get ahold of the boy and pull him out of the alley and down a street or two. When they eventually got to James' flat, only then did James allow himself to be pushed against the walls, trying to avoid the doors of the other residents. James managed to get himself and the boy up to his own flat.

Once the front door was locked, James pushed the boy against the wall, and kissed him more roughly than previously. Their mouths moved together and James was so very grateful he had decided to go to the bar alone. James pulled back, the boy letting his head fall back against the wall.

"How do you want to have me?" James whispered to the boy. The boy looked up through his eyelashes at James and for a moment, James didn't feel as intoxicated as he was. The boy reached his hand up and stroked James' bottom lip with his thumb, keeping eye intact with James.

James connected their lips once again, this time it was much more passionate.

~

"Evan, where's Regulus gone?" Barty walked up to his boyfriend, clearly grumpy and his friend left before they could have some drinks.

"He's gone to have fun." Evan replied, wiping down the bar top.

"Without me?" Barty accuses, a frown forming on his face.

"I don't think you want to join him for this kind of fun, love." Evan said, trying to make it more clear as to what their friend was up to.

"Oh." Barty replied.

Chapter Text

"How do you want to have me?" The stranger whispered against Regulus' lips. He had no idea as to who this stranger was or where he had ended up. All Regulus knew was that he was drunk, horny and had been looking for some fun for ages.

Regulus gently traced his thumb over the stranger's bottom lip, staring into his big brown eyes. Regulus hoped that the touching was indication enough as to what he wanted for he was so drunk he feared whatever nonsense he might spit out.

Thankfully, it was a good indication.

The stranger kisses Regulus' lips, slowly and passionately. But Regulus didn't want to be slow, gentle or passionate. Regulus wanted rough, vicious and aggressive fun.

Regulus tried to get this across to the other male, moving his hands to grip his hair tightly, opening his mouth to allow the stranger entrance with his tongue. He got the hint. The stranger took Regulus' wrists in his hands and moved them so they were against the wall, trapping Regulus.

The kisses became rough and harsh, the stranger using so much force with his mouth that Regulus kept hitting the wall he was pinned against, just how he liked it.

The male moved from Regulus' mouth to his neck, kissing and sucking on different areas, trying to find Regulus' weak point. When he did find it, Regulus let his head fall back, releasing a breathy moan.

The stranger trails his hands from Regulus' wrists down his body, sliding gently over his waist while sucky a mark on Regulus' neck. His hands came to his thighs, holding them, a hint for Regulus to jump. He did, wrapping his legs around the man's waist as he was again pushed against the wall. Regulus could feel the stranger through his trousers, realising how much this was turning him on.

His mouth moved back up to Regulus' mouth, biting his lip before sticking his tongue in again. Regulus' hands were back in the man's hair, pushing him against his lips.

Regulus felt himself be removed from the wall as he was carried through the flat to what Regulus' assumed was the man's bedroom. The male gently dropped Regulus onto a bed, crawling up so he was looking down at Regulus who was breathing heavily.

Regulus wrapped his hands around the stranger's neck in an attempt to pull him back into a kiss but the male resisted.

"I need your consent if you want me to continue." The male whispered, leaning down and licking from Regulus' neck up to his ear, almost enticing him to say yes.

But for Regulus, he was already too far in to back out now.

"Yes." Regulus breathed out.

"Yes what?" The male asked. Regulus had to refrain from rolling his eyes.

"Fuck me." Regulus replied. The male pulled back up, raising an eyebrow at Regulus. "Please?" Regulus finally said. The man smirked.

He ducked down and kissed Regulus' lips again, making them even more swollen than they already were. While one hand held Regulus' waist down, the other traced Regulus' body slowly down to his trousers, beginning to play with its zip.

Regulus was beginning to get slightly impatient, trying to buck his hips up against the stranger but he was quite strong, holding Regulus down.

Regulus wanted to say something, to tell the man to hurry up, but Regulus was so drunk he just wanted someone else to be in charge for once. He was so drunk he didn't even ask for the guy's name, but to be fair, neither did he.

The male trailed down his body again, this time making it so his head was just above his crotch. He looked up at Regulus for more confirmation, to which Regulus nodded. And then the guy did something that turned Regulus on as much as possible. He used his teeth to pull down his zipper. He sucked in a breath, trying not to moan and give the stranger the satisfaction of turning Regulus on so much.

He continued to pull Regulus' trousers down with his teeth and he was so close to coming right there and then. The stranger finally released his hands from Regulus' waist and began undoing the buttons of his shirt as Regulus pulled at the T-shirt the male was wearing. Once both were off they were kissing again, the male's hand crept its way into Regulus' boxers, touching him gently.

Regulus let out a breathy moan against the man's lips, his hands gripping his hair. The stranger moved his head further down, kissing Regulus' body as he went lower, his head ending up between Regulus' thighs, pulling off his boxers. He started to bite hickeys all over Regulus' thighs, making Regulus a red moaning mess.

Regulus just couldn't care anymore about whether he was in charge or not, he just wanted this man to touch him more.

Almost as if the man had read Regulus' mind, he moved his mouth to exactly where Regulus' wanted. Regulus sucked in a tight breath, arching his back slightly and grabbing the man's hair even tighter. The male started to move around Regulus, causing him to moan nonstop, draping his legs over the strangers shoulders.

While doing that, the man moves a free hand to open Regulus up a bit, making Regulus curse and moan from all the pleasure. If Regulus knew this was how he would end up that night then he wouldn't have drank so much to forget to ask for a name. He wanted to moan and scream this man's name, but as Regulus didn't know it he had to just settle for curses.

The stranger added another finger, making Regulus whimper and squirm under him, his thighs accidentally tightening around the man's head. The man pulled off him and Regulus whined, missing the feeling already.

"Don't worry, darling. I'm not done just yet." The stranger said, his voice deep and hypnotic. Regulus just looked at him and tried to catch his breath back. The man unzipped his jeans, pulling them off, leaving him in boxers.

Regulus decided that he wanted to touch this man at least once, tracing his toned body down to his crotch, feeling him through the fabric. The stranger hummed heavily, adding a third finger to Regulus who just moaned in response. They had barley started and Regulus was already fucked out of his mind.

The male above Regulus removed his fingers, pulling Regulus' hand away from his body as he took off his boxers. Regulus struggles a bit to see the man above him due to how dark the flat was.

The stranger was about to move into Regulus but he stopped him.

"You alright?" The man asked. Regulus liked how he cared about him, always checking for consent. Even though Regulus wanted someone else to be in charge, he still wanted him to have fun in different ways.

Using all the strength Regulus could muster, he flipped the two of them, Regulus' legs on either side of the stranger's who looked surprised at the sudden change.

"I want this to be a long night, that's all." Regulus explained, the male smirking as Regulus moved slightly further up so he was on top of the man.

The male' hands landed back on Regulus' hips and started to grind him as Regulus lowered himself. Both boys let out a breathy moan as Regulus sat comfortably on the stranger, staying there for a minute before beginning to move.

Regulus began to pick up a pace, languishing in the pleasure he was feeling. He leaned back, using the stranger's thighs as a balance as he moved up and down on him.

"Fuck, you feel so good." The stranger moaned underneath Regulus, bucking his hips up to meet Regulus' bounces. "You're doing so good."

That encouraged Regulus to go faster. Of course he was doing good, he always did.

Regulus could feel himself become undone, his movements becoming sloppy and tired.

"I'm- I'm gonna-" Regulus struggled to get the sentence out, but it seemed the stranger understood what he meant as he started to touch Regulus again.

"Come on. You know you want to." The stranger encouraged, pushing Regulus' hips onto him a bit harsher. Regulus let out a string of curses as he came on the other male, feeling the same thing inside of Regulus.

He fell forward, using the male's bare chest to prevent himself from falling directly on top of him. They both stayed like that for a minute before the male flipped them over again.

"What are you doing?" Regulus asked breathlessly, his hands clutching the male's forearms.

"Thought you said you wanted a long night?" The stranger recalled, moving his head lower down again. Regulus didn't stop him.

Chapter Text

When Regulus woke up the next morning, it wasn't just his head that hurt. It was everywhere. He knew he should've just made his own drink instead of getting a surprise one from Barty.

That wasn't the only thing Regulus noticed. He realised he was alone, but not in his bed or his clothes. Actually, Regulus was slightly surprised he had any clothes on at all. Regulus was wearing a red T-shirt that was definitely bigger than Regulus' usual size as it hangs off one of his shoulders.

Maybe the guy had gone to work? Maybe Regulus could leave without getting caught?

He pulled off the soft duvet covering, feeling cold now he pulled himself out of the heat of the bed. As soon as Regulus stood up, he immediately fell back down on the bed.

"Jesus, what were we doing last night?" Regulus quietly mumbled to himself. 'Fucking probably.' He then answered in his head.

Regulus took a deep breath and tried to stand up again, succeeding this time. He looked around the fairly large room for his clothes but for some reason he couldn't find them. Maybe he stripped before they even made it to the bedroom?

Regulus walked out of the door in the bedroom, ending up in a small corridor. Now he was out of the room, Regulus could hear the faint sizzling and humming coming from further up the corridor.

'Fuck, he's still here.' Regulus curses himself. He was supposed to leave as soon as they were done, not sleep in the stranger's bed and clothes. Regulus soon realises he doesn't have any other option but to meet the stranger he had sex with last.

Regulus walks out of the hallway and into the kitchen. Standing in front of a stove is who Regulus assumed he slept with, although he has to do a double take because damn.

Gray sweats, no shirt, tanned, faint abs, muscles, messy hair, glasses. Oh no, he's exactly Regulus' type.

'Don't take drinks from Barty added to my list of things to never do again.' Regulus mentally noted.

The man turned around to face Regulus, and his face was just as attractive as his body.

"Oh, you're awake. Morning!" The man smiled at Regulus. 'A cheery morning person. Who on earth is happy in the morning?'

"Morning." Regulus replied, suddenly really shy. Regulus refused to look anywhere close to the stranger now. "Uh, what time is it?" He asked instead.

"Oh, uhh, I think it's about 12:30?" The (handsome) stranger answered, looking around the room for a clock.

"I should really get going, I wouldn't want to bother you much longer. Uh, where are my clothes?" Regulus asked, curious as to where they could've ended up.

"Oh, I just put them on that chair when I woke up. You were pretty tired after last night." He pointed to one of the sofa chairs he had, smirking a bit.

"I didn't say anything embarrassing did I?" Regulus had to ask so he could punch Barty, I mean he was going to anyway.

"Not really, just that you 'wanted it to be a long night'. The male quoted, smirking at the now red Regulus.

"Great." Regulus mumbled, picking up his clothes. "Well, I'm going to change and then I'll leave."

"You don't have to leave so soon." The stranger spoke up, Regulus was surprised by the sudden request.

"I have work in half an hour." Regulus lied. "I need to go home and shower and change." He actually just wanted to storm into the bar and punch Barty in his face.

"Oh, alright then." The man turned back to cooking. Regulus took his clothes back to the bedroom and changed. He caught a look at the window and realised it had started raining heavily. He also didn't know how far away he was from the bar. And he has a white shirt, black dress trousers, and nothing else.

Regulus groaned. Never take drinks from Barty was what Regulus was saying over and over to himself as he changed. Once he was done, he walked out of the bedroom, leaving the shirt on the bed.

"I'll be off then." Regulus said, making his way to the door, stealing another glance and the tall, handsome stranger.

"Wait, it's absolutely chucking it out there, do you what a coat?" He offered, jogging back into the hallway before Regulus could reply.

"Here, I don't mind." The stranger came back out with a dark red raincoat.

"I'm fine, honestly. It can't be that far of a walk." Regulus tried to get out of wearing the coat, moving back towards the door.

"Just wear it." The stranger almost commanded and something in Regulus told him to listen to the tanned stranger, that Regulus should do whatever he says.

While Regulus was too busy daydreaming, the man had wrapped the coat around Regulus' body, pulling the hood over his head.

"There, now you can go and your beautiful curls will be protected." The male smirked at Regulus, who looked at him once before running out the flat door.

Once Regulus managed to find his way out of the building, he quickly recognised where he was and how to get to the bar. He wrapped the borrowed coat around himself as a he quickly walked away, briefly looking back up to find the stranger watching him walk away, a small smirk on his face.

~

When Regulus got to the bar, Barty and Evan were sitting waiting for him, grins plastering their smug faces.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat finally dragged in. Or should I say what the boy dragged out?" Barty said, smirking at Regulus.

"Oh shut up, that is the last time I am ever taking a drink from you ever again." Regulus says, sitting down opposite them and having the red coat on the back of the chair.

Because it was the afternoon, the bar was used as a hang out place with food and proper drinks being served.

"Wait, you don't own any colour. Whose coat is that?" Evan asked, pointing to the coat.

"Oh my god, you actually fell asleep with the guy!" Barty exclaimed, earning an eye roll from Regulus.

"Okay, fine. I fell asleep, big deal." Regulus didn't see the point in his friends over - dramaticness. This wasn't the first time he had gone back with a guy, but it was the first time he stayed till morning.

"What was he like?" Barty asked. "Was he good?" He really enjoyed sticking his nose in other people's business.

"Better than you." Regulus retorted back, getting a laugh from Evan and an offensive gasp from Barty. When Barty and Regulus were in school they hooked up a couple times but there were never any feelings.

"Rude."

"You stuck your nose in where it didn't belong."

Chapter Text

"Sang me sweet melodies
But the day he did me wrong
The song couldn't go
On and on and on, no"

Lily finished singing the final verse of the song, Regulus was trying so hard to hide the big smile on his face. Lily took her headphones off and smiled at Regulus, the other girls watching for his reaction.

"It sounds perfect." Regulus said honestly. The girls cheered and clapped their hands. "Seriously, I'm rubbish with tunes and notes but that sounded perfect."

"Of course it did! You wrote it, we sang it, team effort!" Mary remembered, punching her hand in the air before typing on her laptop. They had decided that because Mary didn't sing, Mary would record them singing and send it to their producers.

"Oh this is so exciting! We should go out for drinks tonight, in celebration!" Marlene suggested.

"Regulus, obviously you have to join us." Pandora said.

"Oh I would love to, but thanks to my brother, I'm being dragged out to dinner." Regulus shrugged, rolling his eyes at his brother even though he wasn't in the room.

"Surely you could cancel?" Dorcas suggested.

"My brother is very dramatic and wouldn't let me forget it for months." Regulus sighed, remembering his phone call from earlier.

~

'Regulus pleaseeee?' Sirius whined from the other end of the phone.

"I told you Sirius, I'm probably busy tonight." Regulus replied, predicting that the girls would get the song down then go out to celebrate.

'Keyword: probably.' Sirius pointed out. 'C'mon! You can meet the whole band!'

"I've already met half of it." Regulus reminded his brother.

'And you like me and Mooney! I don't see the problem here.' Regulus could practically hear Sirius pouting through the phone.

"I do. I only like your boyfriend." Regulus stated. "You're annoying."

'Reggie! You're so rude!' Sirius exclaimed. 'If you don't come to dinner, I'm going to show Barty and Evan your childhood photos.' Sirius threatened.

"You wouldn't dare." Regulus hated how he looked as a child because of how his mother forced him to dress, thrills, these ugly buckle shoe things, his hair was ridiculous.

'Try me.' Sirius stated. Regulus argued with himself for a while. He knew that Barty and Evan would never let him forget those photos if they found out, he would be humiliated for months.

"Ugh. Fine." Regulus agreed, regretfully.

'Yay! Okay so, it's Midnight Restaurant at 7 o'clock tonight. It's under Remus' name.' Sirius cheered and explained while Regulus groaned. Midnight Restaurant was a fairly fancy place so Regulus would have to look smart, well, he usually did anyway.

"I'll see you there." Regulus muttered, hanging up.

~

"So yeah, I'm busy tonight." Regulus grumbled.

"Aww, that's a shame." Pandora sighed, looking at Regulus sympathetically.

"Wait guys. A band's new song is being released today." Mary said, looking closer at her laptop. Regulus' eyebrows furrowed before remembering it was Friday and that his brother's song was releasing today.

"Really?" Lily asked, walking to the small radio and turning it on.

"Apparently. It's a boy band called The Marauders." Mary explained.

"Doesn't that mean 'intending to destroy' or something?" Dorcas question. Internally, Regulus rolled his eyes and face palmed. He knew it was a rubbish band name.

"Got it." Lily announced, sitting on the floor next to the radio. Everyone else sat down as well to listen in.

"- 20 year olds have released their first official song today after spending years doing covers on social media. Here's The Marauders with their latest song, Love Me." The radio presenter announced, and the electric guitar began to play.

'And hey, would you
Like to look outside sometimes?
I'm just with my friends online
And there things we'd like to change'

"Nice voice." Pandora commented, but no one replied. The girls were listening intently to the song.

The chorus soon came in, and Regulus nodded along a little before stopping as he realised what he was doing. He had been singing the bit Sirius had shown him for days, he just couldn't get it out of his head.

"They are good." Mary agreed, looking at the others.

"Yup, but that means only one thing." Marlene said, standing up from the floor. The group sent her questioning looks. "We have new competition." She smirked as the group slowly understood where she was going with this.

"We're the youngest bands, and we're both brand new. We just need to see who is better." Lily agreed, playing it all out in her head.

"We'll have a lot of hard work to do then." Dorcas reminded them. "We'll have to give every song our all."

"That is, if we'll have songs?" Pandora said, looking at Regulus who was just watching the discussion. All the eyes turned to him.

"I'll just need more paper for lyrics then." Regulus grinned, already thinking of ways to beat out his brother's band. Cheers erupted from the room and the planning began. Ideas were thrown around the room and Regulus was jotting them all down, he'll piece it all together later.

"Wait, Regulus, what time is your dinner?" Pandora asked. Regulus had grown close with Pandora quite quickly, she was always checking in on him.

Regulus looked at his watch.

"Shit, I need to shower and change." He quickly packed his stuff up and made his way to the door, the girls shouted bye to him and a couple of 'good luck.

When Regulus got home, he quickly showered and styled his hair, picking out his clothes as it dried. He had been to Midnight Restaurant before and knew the dress code he had to go by.

Regulus decided to wear a white dress shirt, a couple buttons undone, black trousers and a leather blazer style jacket Sirius bought him ages ago (it was the only leather clothing he would allow Sirius to buy him).

Realising the time, Regulus quickly rushed around to make sure he had everything.

'Keys, phone, money. Okay, I'm good.' He listed the necessities off in his head before going out the door and catching a taxi.

Sirius
On my way.
- Regulus

See you soon.
- Sirius

20 minutes later, the taxi pulled up to the restaurant which was attached to a tall building, an expensive hotel to be precise. Regulus thanked and paid the driver, taking a breath as he stepped into the restaurant.

Regulus walked up to a waiter, dressed formally in a white shirt and black waistcoat.

"Table under Lupin?" Regulus asked, the waiter pointed into the room at the left corner. "Thank you." He said politely.

The restaurant itself had many tables, mostly round ones but some rectangular as well for bigger parties. In the centre of the room was a blossom tree which changed depending on the season. At the moment it was in full bloom to represent the spring weather.

"Reggie!" Regulus heard the annoying nickname being called over the restaurant. Regulus turned towards the voice, realising he was the last of the party to arrive.

Sitting around the table was Sirius, dressed probably the nicest Regulus had ever seen. Remus was next to him in a light brown suit with no tie. The other two Regulus didn't recognise it from afar. Sirius stood up to greet him with a hug that Regulus refused to return.

"It's good to see you, Regulus." Remus said, holding his hand out to shake Regulus'.

"Likewise." Regulus replied.

"This is Peter." Sirius introduced Regulus to the only blonde male at the table, they shook hands with a nod as well.

"And that's James. My best mate." Regulus turned to look at the final person, who was already staring back at him, face covered in shock and blush.

'Oh no.' Regulus thought.

Chapter Text

"James?" Regulus asked. God, this man was so attractive. Usually when you hook up with someone, the point of a hook up is to never meet again. Oh, they're both gonna be in big trouble if Sirius finds out.

"Regulus, hi." James shook himself out of his trance, remembering where he was and most importantly, who he was with. "I've heard about you, never seen your face though."

"Yes well, I make sure Sirius has zero picture of me. I don't look good in photos." Sirius guided Regulus to a seat so he was sat in between his brother and James.

A waiter soon came round and they all ordered drinks, both James and Regulus ordered something strong without the others realising. They were going to need it to get through this dinner. Regulus could no longer bear the thought of looking at either James or Sirius anymore in fear of trying red.

Why on earth did the guy Regulus hooked up with, that was extremely attractive and hadn't stopped thinking about having to be the James that Sirius never shuts up about?

"So, Regulus." He looks up to find Peter looking at him. "Sirius tells us you work in a bar?" Regulus glares at Sirius who glares back, still grumpy about his job.

"Did he tell you or did he cry and wail about it?" Regulus questioned, a snort and a choke coming from Remus and James.

"The latter." Remus replied, earning an elbow jab from his boyfriend.

"He's always so dramatic." James speaks, giving Regulus a slight scare. Regulus' phone buzzes in his trouser pocket. He fishes it out and sees it's a message from Barty.

So, how's the dinner party going?
- Barty

"I'm just gonna go to the bathroom." Regulus says, standing from his chair.

"Wait, if the waiter comes back what do you want?" Sirius asks.

"Umm, a steak. You know how I like it cooked." Regulus replies, leaving in the direction of the bathroom but stopping in the empty hallway leading there. He opens his phone to reply to Barty's text.

Kill me now.
- Reg

What happened?
- Barty

Remember a couple of nights ago, when I slept
With someone
- Reg

Yeah?
-Barty

Turns out, that 'someone' is James.
- Reg

'The' James?
As in your brother's best mate?
- Barty

Yup.
- Reg

You're screwed.
- Barty

You think I didn't realise that?! Sirius is going to kill me
When he finds out I slept with him 😫
- Reg

Okay but he's attractive, yes?
- Barty

Very. Even more so dressed up
- Reg

Then get the guys number
- Barty

I will be walking into my own grave
- Reg

*typing....
- Barty

"Regulus?"

'Shit.'

"Thought you were going to the bathroom." James says, walking up to Regulus who was resting his back against the wall, sliding his phone into his pocket.

"I mean technically I am in the bathroom, I was just replying to a text." Regulus responded, still not looking at James.

"Ah." The two stood there silently and Regulus could feel holes being burnt into him from the side. "You're not looking at me."

"You won't stop looking at me." Regulus retorted, crossing his arms.

"Because you're still extremely attractive. You were in such a rush that morning I didn't get to look at you properly." James explains. Regulus finally turns to look at him, immediately regretting it as he locks eyes with James' deep brown ones.

"I'm sure you had lots of time to look at me while I was sleeping." Regulus mumbles, a chuckle coming from James. "Sirius can not know. Not like we're ever going to talk again but still."

"Why won't we ever talk again?" James asked, for some reason he seemed very confused about the statement.

"Well I don't usually meet up with hook ups frequently." Regulus said as if James was stupid.

"You don't even know me."

"I've heard everything about you from Sirius."

"Come on, one date."

"No."

"Please?"

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to meet you and know you more than what Sirius has told me. And now that I have met you I want to see you more often." James says, shocking Regulus. He actually wants to take him on a date and not just sleep with him? This man seriously was mental.

"One date. Please." James held up a finger as emphasis, pouting slightly. He reminded Regulus of a puppy.

Regulus rolled his eyes, pulling himself off the wall. "Fine. One date." James grinned in response. "Depending on how this stupid dinner goes." Regulus begins to walk back to the dining room.

"Wait what?" But Regulus was already walking back to the table, having a large sip of his drink. 'This is going to be a long night.'

"You took a while." Sirius noted when James came back. "We ordered you guys' food for you."

"Thanks, I got a phone call." James lied. Regulus rolled his eyes, almost finishing his drink.

"Did you listen to our song, Regulus?" Peter asked. Regulus nodded, swallowing his drink. "What did you think?"

All the eyes of the table turned to face Regulus. "Wasn't half bad for the first song." Regulus said honestly. "Lyrics were the best bit." Regulus made a rule for himself, never compliment Sirius without having a jab at him straight after.

Remus smirked, looking really smug about Regulus' confession while Sirius and James both looked quite offended. Peter was nodding his head, agreeing with Regulus.

"How dare you? The lyrics were the worst bit!" Sirius exclaims without realising.

"Um, excuse me?" Remus elbowed him, eyebrows raised.

"Sorry Mooney but come on, my guitar was the best bit obviously." Sirius said. Remus looked at Regulus, shaking his head.

"Well, I guess we know what you're not doing tonight." Remus mumbled, his statement getting Sirius to face him suddenly, a look of dramatic hurt on his face. They two started whispering and even though Regulus was right next to Sirius, he blocked his ears from their conversation.

"Why are the lyrics the best bit?" James asked, turning Regulus' attention away from his disgusting brother.

"The lyrics make the song. Can't have a song without lyrics." Regulus explained.

"What about classical songs? Like Beethoven?" Peter questioned. "There are no lyrics in his music."

"Even if there is no singing, he has notes. Notes and lyrics are pretty much the same things. Without them, you would just have a mess of different sounds with no order or timing." Regulus said. Peter nodded, making a sound of understanding while James stared at Regulus, who had to kick him under the table to get him to stop.

Regulus could tell that accepting a date with this sap was going to be difficult to handle but honestly, he wasn't sure if he minded too much. At least this way, Regulus wouldn't exactly have to wait around so long for some fun.

Sirius and Remus turned back around, Remus had a small smirk on his face while Sirius was miserably failing to hide a blush spreading on his face.

"So Regulus, how's work?" Remus asked.

Chapter Text

Dinner was long and it had seemed to Regulus that everyone had multiple questions to ask him. James could not keep his eyes off him the whole night and Regulus, Barty and Evan had gotten into a petty, 2-sided conversation over text.

Regulus, you're brother will kill you
- Evan

Worth it
- Regulus

Don't make the same mistake twice
- Evan

Unless he's hot
- Barty

Yeah, Regulus decided he wasn't going to listen to Evan, he was always ruining the fun.

The boys had all decided to get a cab back to each of their homes as they had all had something to drink. Peter was dropped off first and then Sirius and Remus to their house (they had moved in together half a year ago). So it was just James and Regulus left in the cab.

The drive stayed quiet until they arrived outside Regulus' apartment building. He opened the door and got out.

"Wait, can I get your number?" James said before Regulus could shut the car door.

"Why?" Regulus asked.

"So I can send you details about our date." James said as if Regulus had forgotten, which he hasn't. How could he if James couldn't keep his eyes off him the whole evening? An idea came to Regulus.

"Or you could just, Y'know, come in?" Regulus says, licking his lips as he walks towards his building, leaving the car door open to invite James to follow.

Regulus heard James say something to the driver before the car door shut and James ran up the path to the building door, following up with Regulus. He quickened his pace on the stairs as he made his way to his floor, hearing James behind him.

Regulus made it to his floor and unlocked his door, looking back to see James to see him reaching the last flight of stairs.

'Fuck, he's quick.' Regulus thought, entering his flat and leaving the door slightly open. Regulus took off his jacket and shoes, walking into his kitchen to put other things he brought with him away.

Regulus heard his door shut and lock, knowing it was James. Regulus turned to face him, James looked back at him. The lights were off and for some reason there was a bit of tension in the room.

"So," James started. "Are we talking or having some fun?" Regulus felt his heart race in his chest, something about knowing who it was made it a little bit more embarrassing. James slowly walked towards Regulus, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him into his body. Regulus gasped and looked up at James, hunger in his eyes.

James leaned down to kiss Regulus, but on instinct, Regulus moved his hand to cover James' mouth before it could reach him.

'What the hell am I doing? I was the one that wanted this.' Regulus thought. James raised an eyebrow at him, his eyes suggestive. And Regulus fell under the control of his gaze all over again. Slowly, he removed his hand from James' mouth, James licked his lips and Regulus couldn't help but stare.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to." James whispered, stroking the side of Regulus' face, tangling his fingers in his hair. But Regulus did want this, he wanted this so bad. He wanted to touch, to feel James again.

Regulus grabbed the back of James' neck and pulled him down to a kiss, his lips felt like they were on fire. Like his whole body was on fire. Wherever James' hands reached felt hot. James' hands were on Regulus' slim waist, pushing him up against the kitchen countertop.

Regulus jumped, James caught under his legs and held him on the counter, lips never parting. James stood between Regulus' legs, moving his mouth to his neck, sucking and biting, leaving marks wherever his mouth could access skin. Regulus was breathing quickly, his head against the cabinet cupboards.

James picked him up again but put him on the floor instead of keeping him up.

"I don't know where your room is, if I did I would carry you there." James admitted. Regulus grinned, grabbing the edge of James' brown jacket that he had been wearing and pulled him in the direction of his room.

Once at his room, Regulus pulled James' jacket off, letting it fall to the floor and James began unbuttoning Regulus' shirt. James decided to keep the shirt on, but let it be open so he could see Regulus' body.

Regulus threw James' shirt to the floor, wanting to see his whole body.

James walked Regulus to his bed, letting him sit on it and move back so he was in a comfortable position.

"Are you going to ask for my consent again or are we just going to get on with it?" Regulus asked, gliding a hand along James' chest.

"I am a gentleman, so yes. Do you give me your consent?" James asked, kissing Regulus' collarbone and neck.

"Consent for what?" Regulus played, his head tilting back into the pillows.

"Will you allow me to fuck you?" James whispered in his ear, deep and seductive. Regulus almost gasped at how straight forward James was, his back arching as James sunk his teeth into his neck, just below his ear.

Regulus grasped James' forearm as James' hand trailed down to his trousers, slowly unbuttoning them and pulling them down.

"You like to be slow don't you?" Regulus breathed, his free hand tangling in James' hair. James smirked at him.

"I like to think that slow is more seductive than rough and fast." He answered, a hand slipping into Regulus' boxers. Regulus gasped as James began to move his hand on him. His head fell back on the pillows, back arching as pleasure filled him with every stroke from James.

"Fuck, James." Regulus breathed, gripping James' hair. He kept going, his hand spreading up. Regulus struggled to speak, short breaths and moans was all he could do. And then it stopped. Regulus refrained from whining and asking why he stopped.

"From what I remember, you enjoy a long night." James said, pulling what was left of Regulus' clothes off and lifting his legs so they rested on hips. "Maybe after I've opened you up a bit and we get going you can ride me like you did before."

Regulus audibly gasped at how confident James was with his words as he moved a hand to Regulus' entrance and began pushing a finger inside. Regulus moaned and pulled James down to him, pushing his tongue into the man's mouth.

James worked Regulus open, adding two more fingers. Regulus moaned loudly, his breathing becoming frantic. James' hand moved quickly, his fingers scissoring him.

"James-" Regulus moaned. "Oh fuck." James' free hand travelled slowly up Regulus' body, dragging his nails gently up his abdomen, giving him goosebumps.

And then, just as it was getting good, it stopped. Regulus groaned and glared at James who gave him a smirk while pulling down his own boxers.

Now, because Regulus was drunk last time and it was dark, he couldn't see James very well. He could now, and damn he was definitely hot, and big. Regulus had to restrain himself from gasping.

James spit on his hand and started to stroke himself, leaning down to make out with Regulus again. It was wet and slow but it was hot. Their tongues danced together, biting each other's lips as James lined himself up with Regulus.

A loud, high pitch moan came from Regulus' as James pushed himself in, back arching, head deep in the pillow, probably pulling James' hair out. God it hurt, but it felt amazing.

James started placing gentle kisses on Regulus' chest, leading up his neck while his head was back, breathing heavily.

"You're so beautiful." James whispered. "Absolutely gorgeous." Regulus had been called many things slightly related to those words, but none made him feel the way James did, none made his heart race even more as James gently pulled back then pushed in again.

James was fast when he wanted to be, thrusting in and out of Regulus, gripping his hips. Regulus was scratching his nails up and down James' back, obviously leaving marks. The two boys were loud, moaning each other's names as they got closer and closer.

"James- oh god James." Regulus would moan, struggling to form a sentence, his hand reaching for something, anything for him to hold on to. He settled for the back of James' neck, pulling him down to his lips. It was sloppy and messy, but that's exactly what Regulus loved.

"You feel so good, love." James murmured when Regulus fell back from the kiss. "You're so good for me." James' rhythm became messy and a bit sloppy.

"For you." Regulus breathed, feeling himself get closer and closer to the edge. "I'll be good for you. Only you." Regulus threw his head back, his breathing becoming really messy and untimed.

"Say that again." James moaned next to Regulus' ear. " 'for me'. Say that again."

"All for you." Regulus moaned out, eyes rolling into the back of his head as he felt James release in him, pushing over the edge. "Fuck, James! James -" He moaned loudly, coming onto James and his body.

James slowed down as their breathing returned to normal, although their hearts continued to race. James was about to pull out before Regulus flipped them again.

"Ready to go again?" Regulus asked, sitting on top of James, his hands on his chest. James just looked at him from below, starry eyed.

"Whenever you're ready, darling." He gripped Regulus' hips again as the younger started to rock his body on him. Regulus' eyes closed as his back arched, his hips moving back and forth on James.

Slowly, Regulus began to move himself up and down on James, bouncing his body. His pace sped up and Regulus had to use James' thighs for balance. Moans filled the room once again, sweaty, hot moans.

James thrust his hips up into Regulus from below, using his hands to guide Regulus' body on his.

"You look beautiful on top of me." James complimented, staring at the boy who looked at him with a small smile.

"I'm close." Regulus moaned, trying to keep his rhythm going just a little longer. James could see he was struggling, wrapping a hand around Regulus to help get him off. "Shit James-" he came quickly, slowing down his bounces.

James continued to thrust into him, his body eager to come as well. Both boys moaned loudly as James came into Regulus a second time. They stopped moving now, done for the evening. Or, James thought they were.

"Woah woah woah, Reg you're definitely done for the night." James grabbed Regulus' hips again, this time to stop the boy from continuing to bounce. Regulus couldn't even reply, just allowing James to pull out and lie Regulus on the bed. "Where's your bathroom?" James asked. Regulus weakly pointed to a door opposite his room.

James kissed the boy's cheek and pulled the covers over him before leaving to the bathroom. By the time James got back to the room, Regulus was dead asleep.

Chapter Text

It hurt. Everything hurts. Hair, hips, neck, head, legs, ass. Everything. Regulus refused to open his eyes for a while when he first realised he was awake, he was in too much pain to move. He did, however, roll over gently when he started to feel soft kisses between his shoulder blades.

"Morning." Said a deep voice. Regulus knew who it was, he remembered everything from the night before. He just didn't want to wake up. Instead he groaned, shoving his face into the pillow. "I made hot chocolate."

Regulus wasn't the biggest fan of coffee or tea, so he didn't have a lot of it in his kitchen. The only time he used it was for when guests came over. However, he loved hot chocolate. Regardless of the season. So the fact that James had found his hot chocolate powder, made him a hot chocolate at god knows what time in the morning definitely made Regulus open his eyes slightly.

"You found my hot chocolate stash?" He asked quietly, throat aching from the noises he made last night. He will probably get a noise complaint from the neighbours, although they would have no room to talk.

"Well, you didn't have any tea or coffee." James said, sitting up more. Regulus could see that he was still shirtless, but wearing boxers. "I also found a jar of honey and cinnamon in the same place as your 'stash'." James holds a mug out to Regulus, waiting for him to get up properly.

Regulus groaned again and attempted to sit up, with great pain. He took the mug from James and sipped the warm chocolate drink.

"So what plans do you have for today?" James asked.

"I think I'm off today so not much." Regulus replied. It also suddenly came to his realisation the things he had said last night, and that he was still completely naked. He could feel his face heat up, turning away from James.

"You are thinking about last night." James whispered and Regulus could hear his smirk.

"Shut up." Regulus said.

"Your face tells me the answer anyway, darling." James was closer now, his breath could be felt on Regulus' neck. Soft kisses were being placed on his neck but they soon changed to biting, leave more marks than last night. And then he pulled back. "I'm gonna start on breakfast."

That little shit. Regulus thought. James pulled back and got out of bed, making his way out of the room and towards the kitchen.

Regulus took a minute to calm down and reached for his phone. He had a couple of messages from Sirius about dinner and making sure he was home safe and a few from a group chat the girls had created for the band.

Regulus! The song was a success! There is a record label who wants us to create an album!
- Pandora

But apparently we need a couple more songs beforehand for some reason.
- Dorcas

It's so they know we're not stealing someone else's songs or smth
- Marlene

Basically, do you have any more songs or time to write a couple more?
- Lily

🥳 yes I have some more songs. They need editing but I'll send them over soon
- Regulus

An album. They were going to have their first album. And even though Regulus wasn't going to get any public credit for it, the album still belonged to him.

Regulus could smell bacon from the kitchen and decided to get up. With great difficulty. He grabbed a shirt from his cupboard (Regulus slept in shirts so he purposely bought them in bigger sizes).

He walked out to the kitchen with his mug of hot chocolate and his notebook, filled with song lyrics. He had a couple that were almost finished, he just needed to make some adjustments for the girls and decide on who would sing which part.

Regulus took a seat at one of his counter seats, again with a lot of pain. James was still shirtless, standing in front of the stove in boxers cooking bacon and sausages.

"How are you feeling?" James asked, turning the food in the pan. Regulus got a Deja Vu the first time they slept together, although this time, Regulus didn't have to leave.

"Sore." Regulus admitted, drinking more of his hot chocolate in an attempt to relax his body.

"I'm not surprised, we were rougher last night." James says, smirking at the younger boy.

"I don't remember much about the first night. I was very drunk." Regulus mumbled. He opened his notebook and grabbed a pencil from a pot of writing stuff. He flicked through the book, looking for one of his almost completed songs.

He stopped on one that he had written a while back, forgetting he had that one. 'Touch' he had named it. He just needed to add a bridge and assign roles and then it was finished. Regulus let the pencil sit on his bottom lip and tapped his finger on the table in thought.

"What are you doing?" James asked, resting his elbows on the counter in an attempt to look at the book.

"Nonya." Regulus answered, still looking at his notebook.

"What the hell is nonya?" James said, confused.

"None ya business." Regulus stated, looking at James with a teasing smile on his face. James narrowed his eyes at him, holding the contact. Eventually he broke and continued with breakfast.

Soon a plate is put in front of Regulus and James takes a seat opposite him. Regulus closes the book before James could see its contents.

"So if you're not doing anything today," James began saying. "Can I take you out on a date?" Regulus looked up at James, slightly shocked.

"Umm." Regulus hesitated. He had never been taken on a date before. "Sure, I guess?" He answered, unsure.

"If you don't want to we don't have-"

"No, no, no. I want to." Regulus said quickly, for some reason disliking the idea of making James upset. "I just don't want to run into my brother or anything." He used it as an excuse.

"Ah." James paled. "I forgot about him. He'll kill me if he finds out I slept with you."

"Twice." Regulus reminded him, suddenly finding James' fear of his brother's reaction quite amusing. "Well, if this date goes well then there won't be a reason for Sirius to know about anything." He grinned at the older boy across from him.

James looked at his lips briefly, licking his own.

"Why don't you go shower and I'll plan our date?" James said, his voice low and deep. Regulus finished his bacon and winked at the boy, grabbing his notebook and phone as he left the counter, heading for the shower.

Chapter Text

A black cropped shirt with white star designs and black high waist jeans would have to do for Regulus' date. As James hadn't told him what the date was (as he seemed to just be planning it off the top of his head) he would just have to dress casual, but nice casual.

James would have to stick with the clothes he wore to dinner last night, as he hadn't exactly planned on staying at Regulus' overnight and didn't bring any spare clothes.

Regulus heard James in the bathroom and decided to quickly email Mary the new song lyrics. Regulus was excited to hear this song as he thought it matched the girl's vibes perfectly. He stashed his notebook in a bedside drawer and left his bedroom, waiting in the kitchen for James.

When the elder was finished in the bathroom he met Regulus in the kitchen, slowing down his walk a little to stare at Regulus, a grin forming on his mouth.

"What?" Regulus said, not used to being stared at, at least not the way James was staring at him.

"Nothing. You just look really nice." James said, fixing the cuff on his shirt, and he looked real fucking attractive while doing so.

"So what are we doing?" Regulus asked. James opened the flat door for him, forgetting that Regulus had to lock it behind him.

"Umm, how about a trip to a bookstore?" Oh for fucks sake. Regulus thought. Books. His favourite things in the world, other than music. "I know a really nice place that has a cafe as well?" James suggested.

"Sure." Regulus replied. The two left the building and James directed them to a bus stop.

"The only thing about this bookstore is that it's in a little village further out of town. And I don't own a car." James said, looking at the bus times. "Luckily, we just have a 5 minute wait but we do have to switch buses a couple times."

"I don't mind." Regulus answered. They were silent for a moment, it was just the two of them at the bus stop. "How do you know I like books again?" Regulus asked.

"Uhhh, I think last year, me and Sirius were Christmas shopping for people and he walked into a bookshop. I knew it wasn't for Remus because I refused to shop with him for Remus." James started to explain.

"Why's that?" Regulus asked, a bit confused.

"Those two are disgusting." James answered. "In that way."

"Ew." Regulus replied, wishing he hadn't asked now.

"Yeah. So I asked Sirius why we were in the bookstore, because he never reads, and he told me about your love for books and that there was a certain book you wanted." James continued explaining. "We couldn't find that one anywhere so he got you a different one."

"He got me Little Women." Regulus said, nodding at the memory. "I thought he was joking but it was actually a good book."

The bus arrived then and they both climbed on. Surprisingly, the bus was quite busy, and all the seats were full. James and Regulus made their way to the back of the bus to hold onto the handles above them.

The bus started to move before Regulus could grab the handle, causing him to fall back into James. James' free arm quickly wrapped around Regulus' waist, catching him from falling any further. Regulus looked up at James, who was noticeably taller, a blush covering his face.

"You alright?" James asked, trying to stop a grin from forming on his face. Regulus nodded and turned away, deciding to hold onto the pole next to one of the seats instead. James didn't remove his arm. They stayed like that for the rest of the bus journey, it was too busy to find a seat.

When they got off, they had to catch another bus, this time they were able to get a seat. James told Regulus that this bus was only 10 minutes compared to the 20 minute one they took beforehand. The two didn't talk much and Regulus took to staring out the window.

He hasn't been to this part of town before. He actually rarely left his street unless he was meeting Sirius. James seemed to have sensed this and stayed quiet as Regulus observed.

"This is our stop." James said, beginning to stand up as the bus slowed. Regulus followed him off the bus and down the street, keeping an eye out for a sign for the bookstore.

Suddenly, James redirected them down a little alleyway. It wasn't a dark alleyway like the one outside the bar, it was more of a corridor to another street. Regulus was walking slightly behind James, a little cautious about where they were.

James took a left almost straight into a wall, or so it appeared to Regulus. The younger walked round a little bit to see a door and James standing waiting for him.

"Come on." He said, jerking his head slightly towards the inside. Regulus frowned in confusion, but nonetheless went inside.

It was beautiful.

Chapter Text

Books. Everywhere there were books. Shelves against the walls, stacks on the floor, little tables presenting different genres of books. The little shop was dimly lit with candles and fairy lights, the only proper light was from the far end of the shop. Regulus could see a small counter and a chalkboard on the wall behind it, presuming that was the cafe.

To Regulus, this looked like his own personal heaven.

While turning his head aimlessly around the shop, he noticed James there and resumed his posture, ignoring James’ adorable smile plastered on his face.

“You look like a kid on Christmas Day.” James says quietly, no wanting to disturb the peacefulness of the shop. Regulus rolls his eyes and begins to walk through the shop, James following behind him.

Regulus quickly noticed that the books here weren’t the popular ones in places like Waterstones. These were all classic books, old love stories or scientific fantasy stories. Books from authors like Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many that Regulus didn’t recognise.

“I’ll get us a drink and you can wander around for a bit. You can bring a book back to the table if you want.” James whispers in Regulus’ ear, who nods, distracted by a small light blue book.

‘An Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim’ was printed on the front of the book. Regulus flipped through some of the pages before releasing there was no description for the book, which interested him even more. He kept a hold of the book as he continued to look around the shop, pulling out another book every now and then.

Eventually, carrying three books, he made his way to James who had taken a table in the back corner, a hot chocolate in Regulus’ sights.

“I was beginning to think I would have to start looking for you. Thought you might have gotten lost in all of the books.” James says sarcastically, smirking at the young boy. He too had a book of his own and Regulus recognised the cover.

“Is that James Potter reading a romance?” He asked teasingly, a grin appearing on his face. “A steamy romance. Who would have thought?”

“Alright so I enjoy a romance once in a while, big deal.” James rolls his eyes as Regulus takes the seat opposite, carefully putting his books in distance of the warm drinks James had gotten. “I bet there are a couple books you wouldn’t admit you’ve read.” James raises an eyebrow as Regulus’ furrow in thought.

“Nope. Not really.” Regulus answered, taking a sip of his warm drink. “None that I can think of anyway.”

“Really? I don’t believe you.” James said.

“Okay. Try me.” Regulus challenged, a smirk on his face. “Give me a list of books and I’ll say yes to which ones I have read.”

“Hmm, okay, deal.” James agrees, taking a sip of his coffee. “A Court of Thorns and Roses?”

“Yes.”

“To Kill a Mockingbird?”

“Obviously.”

“Pride and Prejudice?”

“Who hasn’t read that?”

“Sirius. Outlander?” James started to smirk a bit now. He could see Regulus slightly hesitate.

“…yes.” Regulus mumbles.

“50 Shades?” When Regulus didn’t answer, James’ smirk widened. “You have read it haven’t you?”

“Everyone has picked up 50 Shades at least once in their life.” Regulus mumbled, looking down at his drink.

“So you’ve read it more than once?” James was full on smiling now. “Regulus Black, you dirty thing.”

“Oh shut up. I bet you’ve read it.” Regulus shoots back at him.

“I haven’t actually. It was talked about in my last year of school but I didn’t want to get dragged into it so I didn’t read it.” James answered truthfully. The younger boy squinted his eyes at him.

“I don’t believe you.” He whispers across the table. The older one shrugs at him.

“Believe what you want. I didn’t read it.” Regulus shakes his head a little at him. “So, what books did you pick out?” James asks.

“I quite like the sound of this one, An Enchanted April.” Regulus begins to describe the book to James who just sits and listens, watching Regulus with a small smile on his face.

The two boys finish their drinks and James insists on buying the book for Regulus against his will. They catch the bus back to their town, chatting the whole time.

When they get back to Regulus’ apartment building, the younger one turns to face James.

“Probably best if we don’t sleep together a third night.” Regulus says, clutching his new book to his chest.

“Yeah, I’m not usually someone who sleeps over on the first date.” James admits.

“Oh so this is the first date?” Regulus raises an eyebrow. “Are you implying that there will be more?” James smiles at him.

“Enjoy your book, Regulus.” James turns around and walks back to the street, walking in the direction of his apartment. Regulus watches as he walks away, slightly confused.

When Regulus makes it back up to his room, he opens the book to start reading (he has been in need of a new book to start) when he notices some writing on the first page.

Enjoy the book, Reggie. Give me a call once you’ve finished it ;)

A phone number was left underneath, signed with a J and a kiss. Regulus allowed himself to smile fully, rolling his eyes and grabbing his phone.

How dare you write in my new book? R
- Regulus

Well I didnt forget to give u my number
- Unknown

🙄 your grammar is horrendous.
- Regulus

So is this a yes to a second date? Promise it’ll be better planned this time
- Unknown

I’ll have to check my shifts.
- Regulus

🥳
- Unknown

Chapter Text

“James! Have you finished with those lyrics? I need to show Sirius his part-“ Remus stops talking when he walks into the music room to see James glued to his phone. “James?”

“Yeah!” James jumps, looking up suddenly.

“What are you doing?” Remus asks again, crossing his arms as he walks over.

“Nothing! Nothing.” James stands quickly, stashing his phone in his back pocket and picking up the lyric sheets. “You wanted these?” He hands them out to Remus who hesitantly takes them.

“Who were you texting?”

“No one.” That was a lie. James and Regulus had been texting nonstop since their date to the bookshop, neither boys could keep their eyes off of their phones.

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying to you!”

“James-“

“Remus! Do you have the lyrics?!” Sirius shouts, walking into the room and hanging an arm over Remus’ shoulders.

“Yes, here.” Remus sighs, passing the lyrics to him. Sirius grabs them and immediately looks through them.

“What’s going on between you two?” Sirius asks, feeling the slight tension in the room.

“Nothing.” The boys mumbled. Sirius seemed to accept that, shrugging and walked off. James’ phone buzzed in his pocket, but he was too busy being stared down by Remus to look at it.

“Fine, don’t tell me.” Remus shrugs, standing to the side and letting James pass. He nods and makes his way to the door when he feels Remus snatch his phone out of his back pocket.

“Remus!” He shouts and makes a move to grab the phone off of him. Remus, being the tall human being he is, simply holds the phone above his head. “Remus give it to me!”

“Nope. Not until you tell me who is texting you.” Remus answers.

“It’s none of your business.” James stands there, arms crossed and glaring at his friend.

Remus looks up at the phone to see the new notification that came through under the contact name ‘💚Reggie💚’.

“Who’s Reggie?” Remus asks, raising an eyebrow at James who has a blush crawling up his cheeks. “Wait.” He pieces together. “Reggie as in Regulus? As in your best mate's brother?” Remus’ voice becomes stern.

James looks away. “Maybe.” He mumbles.

“Maybe? Are you sleeping with Sirius’ younger brother?” Remus demands. “You know he’ll kill you?”

“Ugh. Yes Remus. I am aware.” James rolls his eyes, snatching his phone back. “Look, I know what I’m doing okay?”

“If he kills you, don’t come crying to me.” Is all Remus says, frowning at James.

“I won’t be able to, cause I’ll be dead.” James deadpans.

“Hey guys!” The two boys turned their heads to the door of the room. Peter was standing there holding his laptop which seemed to have the radio playing. “You might want to listen to this.”

Remus and James made their way over to Peter, Sirius coming to join them.

“And we’ve got some more news in the music business this week. This song is from another new band, this time it’s an all girl band. Ladies and gentlemen, the Dark Roses.” The radio producer finished saying as a strong female voice came on.

“I always say what I’m feeling
I was born without a zip on my mouth
Sometimes I don’t even mean it
It takes a little while to figure me out.”

The boys sat around Peter and the laptop, listening to the song. James felt like some of the lyrics seemed familiar but he couldn’t place his finger on it. Not like he should know any of it anyway as this was a brand new band.

“I made a few mistakes, I regret it nightly
I broke a couple hearts that I wear on my sleeve
My mamma always said ‘Girl you’re trouble’ and
And now I wonder, could you fall for a woman like me?”

The girl’s voices were confident, very much like the lyrics to their song.

“See if you can look up the band.” Sirius suggested it to Peter, who opened a new tab and typed in ‘The Dark Roses’. A few things came up, some weren’t exactly what the guys were looking for.

“Here we go.” Peter clicks on a link to a Spotify account. He clicked on the profile picture to show 5 girls, a blonde, two black haired ones and a ginger.

“I know her!” James suddenly exclaims, pointing at the ginger with the name label ‘Lily Evans’. “I went to school with her.”

“Is she any good?” Sirius asked.

“I dunno, I’d never heard her sing before.” James answers. Suddenly James’ head is filled with memories of his time in high school. “We used to date.” He mumbles.

“You what?” Remus exclaims. For as long as the boys had all been close, James had been gay. So the news of him having dated a girl was shocking.

“Yeah. We dated in high school for a couple years and then broke up before we finished school. Haven’t seen or heard from her since.” James explained.

“Wait so when did you realise you were gay?” Peter asked.

“When I was in Uni.”

“Wait but we were roommates?” Remus questioned. Sirius glared at James.

“Yeah. You were my ‘gay awakening.’” James said, quoting the term. Sirius is full on throwing daggers with his eyes at this point.

“I’m not attracted to you! Not anymore at least.”

“You better not be.” Sirius grumbled, putting an arm protectively round Remus’ shoulders who chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“Okay, ignoring James’ love interests, can we get back on topic please?” Peter announces. “It’s a new girl group who are the same age as us. Don’t you know what that means?”

“Lads. It looks like we have some competition.” Sirius says, grinning at them.

Chapter Text

It had been a few weeks, The Marauders and The Dark Roses had raced to the top of the charts, both bands sharing the Number 1 spot. Regulus feels like he’s never been happier. Sometimes he would walk into the bar and one of his songs would be playing on the speakers. Even though it’s not him that is singing, hearing his lyrics feels like a dream come true. There were even a couple occasions when Barty and Evan would cover one of the songs.

James had persuaded Regulus to go out to dinner with him as the second date. James said he wanted to celebrate his band's success with Regulus by taking him out on a date. Regulus saw it as a dinner to celebrate his secret success with his lyrics.

Yeah, they woke up together the next morning.

Regulus was becoming a lot more comfortable with James, seeing as the only other person he had dated was Barty and they were 15 then.

There had been a couple times where James had stayed at Regulus’ for a day or so, and when Regulus would stay with James. James was getting more and more curious about a certain leather notebook that the younger seemed to always be writing in, but he would respect Regulus’ privacy and leave him be.

“What are you doing?” Regulus asks James. Regulus had stayed the night with James and clearly just woke up. His hair was a bit messy and he was rubbing his eyes, to James he looked absolutely adorable.

“Remus has just sent me lyrics for our next song.” James answers, quickly scanning over the lyrics on his computer. Regulus wrapped his arms around James’ waist, resting his chin on his shoulder.

“Did Remus write the lyrics?” Regulus enquiries, reading the lyrics over his shoulder.

“Uhh, I wrote the pre-chorus and chorus, Remus did the rest.” James feels Regulus hum on his shoulder. The two had stayed up watching films the night before and then Regulus stayed up writing in his notebook.

“ ‘Your sex takes me to paradise’ ?” Regulus questions. James feels his face turn a bit red.

“Well, yeah.” James replies. “It does.”

“It does what?”

“Take me to paradise.” James turns to look at Regulus who had just understood what James meant. Now it was his face that turned red, hiding his face deeper in James’ neck.
James chuckles as he feels Regulus’ arms tighten around his waist.

“Aw, am I making you blush, Reggie?” James teases.

“Shut up.” Regulus mumbled into James’ neck, beginning to plant small kisses against the skin. James moved his head to the side, giving Regulus more area to cover. Soon, kisses turned into biting and small hickeys, Regulus’ hands curling James’ hair and sliding down his shirt. James was struggling to read his lyrics properly.

Then there was that annoying sound no one wanted to hear while you and your partner were feeling up each other. Regulus dropped his head, groaning at the sound of the phone ringing. He pulled away from James, whose face was evidently more red than Regulus’ had been, to find his phone.

“Hello?” Regulus leans against the kitchen counter, phone to his ear, as James slumps forward so his head is against the cool surface. Regulus smirks to himself at how flustered James is.

“Hi Reggie!” Sirius’ voice could be heard on the other end of the line.

“What do you want, Sirius?” James perked up a bit at the mention of his mates name.

“Me and Remus want to go out for drinks and I haven’t seen you in a while-“

“You saw me like a week ago when you showed up at my flat to show me where your band was on the music charts. At 8 in the morning.” That had been a chaotic morning as James had slept over. Regulus had to quickly lock him in the bathroom while he dealt with Sirius in the kitchen.

“Still. Anyway, me and Remus thought why not make a meeting out of it. So we’ve invited James and Peter to meet at your bar tonight for drinks and a catch up.” Sirius finally explains.

Regulus looks up at James accusingly, eyebrows frowning. James looks at him confused.

“When was this arranged?” He asks Sirius.

“This morning, I’ve only just messaged James and Pete.” Regulus frowns at James, who seems to have heard Sirius through the phone. He jumps out the chair and walks to the bedroom, walking back out with his phone in his hand. And low and behold, there is a message from Sirius, asking about drinks.

“Reggie? Are you there?” Sirius asks, Regulus’ line having gone silent as he shared looks with James.

“Yeah.” Regulus grumbled. “You can’t just plan stuff involving me and my job, and not tell me about it.”

“Well I’m telling you about it now!” Sirius says. Regulus watches as James types on his phone, closing his computer and heading for the bedroom. Regulus groaned. “What time are you planning on showing?” He asks.

“Uhhh, like 7 maybe?” Sirius replies. “Oh! James can come! He just messaged.” Regulus felt his face frown even more. “So yeah, we’ll see you at the bar.”

“Yeah, bye Sirius.” Regulus hung up, stalking into his room to find James getting dressed. “So, you got plans tonight?” He asks sarcastically, leaning against the doorframe.

“I’m sorry, okay? What was I supposed to do?” James answers, buttoning his shirt up.

“Say you’re busy? Not go?”

“Busy doing what, Reg? I have no excuses to get out of these things.” James walks up to Regulus who straightens himself up. “Besides, it’s not like you won’t be there. It’s your workplace.”

“Exactly. It’s my workplace. It’s weird. The boyfriend isn’t supposed to be going to the other boyfriend’s workplace so early on.” Regulus began to mumble near the end. James standing above him like this did things to him.

“We’re boyfriends now?” James asked, his hands on Regulus’ waist. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“That’s what you got from that?” Regulus says, looking up at James. James raised an eyebrow at Regulus, expecting an answer. “I guess I consider us as boyfriends.” He mumbled, turning his head away from James. James hummed in response.

“Well, Regulus Black, I am delighted to be considered your boyfriend.” James answers, picking Regulus up easily and holding him against the wall. Regulus makes a noise of surprise and wraps his arms and legs around him. James starts to nuzzle his nose in Regulus’ neck.

“Say it back.” Regulus says quietly. James hums again and Regulus feels like he’s just trying to embarrass him. “Do you think of me as your boyfriend?” He mumbles. James looks at him, hazelnut eyes meeting silver.

“Regulus Black.” James whispers. “It makes me the happiest man in the world to think that you are my boyfriend.” He answers. A smile spreads across Regulus’ face now. He pulls James closer by his hair and kisses him. A proper kiss, filled with love and passion.

James carries him over to the bed and gently lies him on his back. A hand trails down his shirt, James’ shirt, as Regulus’s hands tangle themselves in James’ hair lovingly.

“I have to be at the bar for 5.” Regulus says quietly. He feels James’ hand push up his shirt.

“We have plenty of time, love.” Is all James says.

Chapter Text

“Is that a new hickey I see?” Barty teases when Regulus shows up behind the bar from the staff rooms.

“Oh shut up.” He rolls his eyes at his friends' mockery. “As if you have room to talk. Your neck looks like a dalmatian.” Barty makes a face as Evan chuckles, raising a hand for Regulus to high five.

“Evan!” Barty exclaims.

“What? It was funny.” Evan answers, shrugging at his boyfriend.

“Oh, my brother and his band mates are coming for drinks by the way.” Regulus informs the two, grabbing a couple of glasses and begins to dry them with a towel.

“Is this the band that involves your little boyfriend?” Barty asks. The two had been teasing Regulus endlessly about his nights and dates with James when it wasn’t official.
Regulus almost smiles now at the thought that yes, yes it does include his boyfriend.

“Yes, yes, James will be there. But Sirius doesn’t know and I don’t intend for him to find out anytime soon so please don’t say anything.” Regulus warned.

“Don’t worry Reggie. Your secret love affair is safe with us.” Barty held a hand to his chest.

The bar started to fill for the evening and 7 o’clock came around. REgulus was busy making a drink for someone when his brother and the band walked in.

“Hi, can I get a strawberry daiquiri please?” A voice from next to Regulus says.

“I’m sorry sir, you’re gonna have to wait until I’ve- James?” Regulus turns to face the owner of the voice, slightly surprised to see his boyfriend standing on the other side of the bar.

“Hey Reg.” James smiles at him and Regulus has a hard time trying to keep the heat from rising to his face. “You’re brother us judging the bar over there.” James points to where Sirius is standing, Remus behind him, with his arms crossed and looking around the bar sceptically.

“Of course he is.” Regulus rolls his eyes. “Where’s the other one? The short one?”

“Uhh, Peter’s gonna be late. Something about a power outage or something he needs to stay around for.” James explained.

“Right. Well I’m gonna finish this drink then deal with you lot.” Regulus says, turning back to the drink he had started making.

“Hey Reg, you’re brothers here.” Evan walks behind Regulus as he passes the drink over to the other customer.

“Yes, I am aware.” Regulus pulls out another glass and makes a start on James’s drink.

“Reggie!” A loud call can be heard from across the bar and James swears he saw Regulus’s eye twitch at the sound of his brother.
“Sirius, do you have to be so loud?” Regulus glares. “And do you have to judge my workplace?”

“Yes, yes I do.” Sirius and Remus take a seat at the bar next to James. Regulus finishes James’ drink and slides it over, turning around to put the bottles back on the shelf behind him. “Aren’t you going to ask us what we want to drink?” Sirius asks.

“Remus. What would you like to drink?” Regulus asks, a snort sounding from James as Sirius’ face drops.

“Uh, yeah. I’ll have a whiskey please.” Remus answered, a slight grin on his face as Sirius crossed his arms. Regulus nodded, turning to the shelf and grabbing the whiskey bottle. He poured it into a glass and gave it to Remus.

“Now, what do you want, Sirius?” Regulus asked.

“Tequila shot please.” Sirius says, exaggerating the please a little bit more than necessary. Regulus rolled his eyes but poured his brother a shot anyway.

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m a bit late.” Peter appeared next to Remus suddenly, probably having just walked through all the people he was a little out of breath.

“Peter! You made it!” James exclaimed.

“Yeah, well I said I wasn’t going to be too late, didn’t I?” Peter replied, taking a seat at the bar. His arrival seemed to have caught the attention of someone else behind the bar.

“Do you want a -”

“I can take this one, Reg.” Barty showed up beside Regulus, interrupting his sentence. “What can I get you tonight?” Barty rested an arm on the bar surface and smirked at Peter, whose face had been dusted pink.

“Um, a strawberry mojito please?” Peter asked.

“Of course, darling.” Barty flirted, winking at Peter as he turned to get ingredients. Regulus looked at James, eyebrows raised, receiving an identical look from his boyfriend. “Here you go sweetheart.” The drink is passed over the bar to a blushing Peter who has a look of confusion on his face.

“Thank you.” Peter murmured. The band eyed Peter while Regulus frowned at his colleague.

“Barty. Don’t you have someone else to serve?” Regulus poked at the man, nudging Barty along the bar to another customer. Regulus looked at James briefly who returned the look, although James’ look seemed more mischievous than Regulus’.

“What was that?” James asked

“Who was that?” Remus also asked.

“That was Barty.” Sirius answered. “He went to school with Regulus, they were roommates or something, I’m not sure.” Sirius grumbled.

“Pete, are you okay?” Remus asked. Peter’s eyes hadn’t left the spot where Barty had been standing. “Pete?” Remus shaked his shoulder lightly.

“Huh, what?” Peter blinked and turned to look at his friends. “I’m fine.”

“You kinda blanked for a second there mate.” James leans across Sirius, grinning at his friend.

“Oh shut up.” Peter took a large sip of his drink as the band chuckled.

“Oh Moony! Come on, let's dance. At least this bar has a good music playlist.” Sirius grabbed Remus’ arm and pulled him out of his chair, dragging him into the group of people gathered near the stage.

“I’m uh… I’m going to find Regulus and ask for another drink.” James says, abandoning his seat and his drink, moving down the bar to find Regulus.

“But, hey! You never finished your… drink.” Peter trails off, having lost sight of his mate. Peter sighs and shakes his head, looking into his own drink. He had been left alone, at a bar he didn’t know, on his night off from work and his best mates left him alone.

“Can I get you another drink?” Peter looks up to see a bartender with bleach blonde, short, wavy hair wearing a white shirt and a black waist coat hanging open. The bartender looked Peter up and down, his mouth curved at the edges slightly.

“I um… I’ve already got a drink.” Peter smiled shyly, lifting his glass to show him.

“I can get you anything else you’d like, cutie.” The bartender replied, a full grin settling on his face now.

“Do all of the workers here flirt with the customers or is it just you two?” Peter asked, eyebrows moving in question. The bartender faltered briefly, his own eyebrows furrowing.

“No we don’t, usually it’s my colleague.” He answered. “Has he flirted with you already?”

“Barty? Is that his name?” Peter asked. The bartender nodded. “Yeah he did, called me a couple of pet names.” The bartender chuckled to himself, his head ducking down.

“Yeah that sounds like Barty.” He says. “I’m Evan by the way.”

“I’m Peter.”

“Cute name.” The bartender, Evan, takes Peter’s glass from him and begins to refill it.

“Hey Evan! Is there anymore vodka down your end?” Barty makes his way back towards where Evan is flirting with his eyes with Peter. He spots Peter and smirks. “Ah, you’ve met babyface.”

“Babyface?” inquires Peter to himself, his blush crawling up his face and growing brighter.
“Yeah, I have.” Evan replies. “He is kinda cute. He tells me you were flirting with him earlier?”2” Evan now turns to face Barty with suspicion.

“I might have been.” Barty answers. “But can you blame me? He just looks so easy to make blush.” Peter looks down to hide his fully red face from the two bartenders, beginning to feel very small.

“Hmm. Maybe we should take him behind the bar and see just how easy it is to make his sweet face blush.” Evan answers, smirking as Barty walks away. Peter watches him walk around the bar and come up behind him.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” Barty whispers in his ear. Peter takes a breath and decides he deserves this. He didn’t get to celebrate the success of the band like the other 3 did and the band was secretly his ideas, but he doesn’t say that because Sirius claims it was his.

Peter nods, shivering as Barty nibbles on his ear lobe briefly as Evan takes his glass behind the bar. Barty takes Peter’s hand and guides him out of his seat and towards where Evan is waiting, next to a door labelled ‘Staff Room’.

“Wait, am I allowed in there?” Peter asks nervously.

“It’ll just be us three, nothing to worry about, pet.” Evan answers, opening the door for him. Barty nudges him inside and Peter hears the door behind him swing shut.

Chapter Text

“Okay, I’ll go get my stuff and I’ll meet you outside.” Regulus says to James. It is nearing 2 o’clock in the morning, the bar is empty apart from the two boys. Remus and Sirius and left an hour ago after Sirius had a little too much to drink and no one knew where Peter was.

“Okay, hey! Can you see if Peter is anywhere back there? I haven’t seen him at all.” James asks, heading for the door.

“How could you have seen him? Your eyes have been on me the whole time.” Regulus retorts back, heading to the staff room door.

“It's not my fault you look good in your work clothes.” James winks as he opens the bar door and steps outside. Regulus rolls his eyes but a smile forces its way onto his face. The boy opens the staff room door and immediately steps back out again.

Regulus took a deep breath, closed his eyes and opened the door again.

“You two are disgusting.” There was a squeak sound and moving around. “Is this where you two have been the whole night? Seriously?”

“Don’t act like you’re so innocent, Reggie.” He hears Evan say.

“And please don’t mention your brother while we’re fucking someone.” Barty says. There’s the sound of a groan that's probably more of embarrassment than horny and a quiet “ow”.

“Ugh, I don’t care. I’m locking up the bar and going home, sort yourselves out.” Regulus closes the door and walks away as quickly as possible.

He makes his way outside the bar where James is currently standing, arms crossed against the wall. Regulus makes very quick work of locking the door and dragging James through the alleyway.

“Wait, did you see Peter? And what about your coworkers?” James asks.

“Barty and Evan will let him out when they’re finished. And I haven't seen Peter.” Regulus answers, wrapping his arms around himself against the cold temperature of the night. He notices James shrugging off his jacket and wrapping it over Regulus’s shoulder.

“What do you mean ‘when they’re finished with him’?” James asks again. Regulus gives him a look, hoping he won’t have to explain what he had seen to James. “Ohhhh. Oh. Oh no.” Regulus hears the difference in tones James uses, understanding the mental image.

“Yup.” Regulus says shortly, looking back at the bar and seeing it had not changed after his encounter.

*

“Okay, come on love.” Remus unlocks the door to their apartment, a very drunk Sirius hanging off his shoulder. “You have had way too much to drink.”

“I’m allowed to drink.” Sirius slurred, tripping over his own feet. “I’m celebrating my success.”

“Our success.” Remus corrected him, dropping him onto the sofa. “And you’re probably celebrating enough for all 4 of us.” Remus makes his way back into the kitchen and fills a glass of water.

“ ‘was my idea, my band, my success.” Sirius lies like a ragdoll on the sofa, an arm dangling off.

“It is not ‘your’ band. Bands are groups, this is a group success.” Remus passes Sirius the glass who just puts it straight on the floor.

“You don’t do much.” Sirius mumbles. Remus frowns at him.

“You’re drunk. Drink the water and go to sleep.” He instructs, walking towards the bedroom and leaving Sirius on the couch. Once Remus is ready for bed, he lies there and stares at the ceiling. Their new label wants songs to help them release their first album, but Remus needs ideas, something to go off.

Sirius and Remus have been dating since their 3rd year of school. Started out as best mates and then they got drunk at a party and kissed. They couldn’t get each other out of their heads. 2 weeks of torturous pining later, they admitted their feelings and started dating.

They had yet to tell the label that they were dating, unsure of how that could potentially change their chances in the future. It was just James, Peter and Regulus that knew they were dating, and even though they didn’t know many other people, it sometimes, to Remus, it felt like no one knew.

That’s it!

Remus sits up in bed and grabs his notebook from his side table. It was a very special notebook, with any song Remus had ever written in it. Sirius had gotten it for him when he had first expressed his love for composing. It was set up like proper sheet music inside. Pages and pages filled with blank sheet music.

Remus pulled out a pencil and began to get to work, scribbling lyrics that he could use on the sidelines.

They Don’t Know About Us Remus wrote as its title.

*

"Question. Who the fuck came in here earlier?" It was now nearing 3am, and the 3 boys in the bar were just leaving.

“Uhhh.” Evan mumbled, locking the bar.

“It’s fine, it was only Reg.” Barty answered. Peter’s eyes looked like they had popped out his head.

“Only Reg? Reg as in my best mate's brother?!” Peter exclaims. “God, he’s going to tell them he saw me having sex with you too!”

“You say that like it was a bad thing.” Barty scoffs. Peter looks at him as if it was a bad thing. “Oi.”

“Look, we’re sorry. It’s just, Regulus catching us isn’t a big deal to me and Barty.” Evan explains. “But if it means a lot to you, we’ll try to be more careful next time.” Peter looks at him, a glare still stuck on his face. But the look of genuine sympathy on Evan’s face eases it a bit. "And he didn't even know it was you anyway."

“I’m going home now.” Peter states, beginning to walk ahead of the two boys.

“Wait!” Barty calls from behind him. “Let us come back with you.” He swung an arm over Peter’s shoulders.

“Why?”

“Why not?” Barty smirks, a glint in his eyes.

“Or, we could just walk you home.” Evan appears next to him, whispering in his ear. Peter doesn't understand why he feels flustered again, he got what he wanted out of the evening but now the 2 boys were wanting more.

And Peter wanted to give it to them.

Chapter Text

“What are you writing?” James rests his head on Regulus’ shoulder. He’s hunched over at James’ table bar, scribbling away in his leather notebook.

“What?” Regulus replies, not having heard him.

“You’re always writing in that book. What are you writing in it?” James asks again, his arms wrapping around Regulus’ waist.

Regulus closes the book before James can get a look at it. “None of your business.” He leans back against James so he can look at him.

“Now that’s not fair. I tell you everything that’s going on, even with the band. And I’m not supposed to tell you about that.” James says, look down at Regulus.

“Yeah but that’s usually about how my brother is a dramatic shite. You never tell me about the songs.” Regulus counteracts, looking at James with complete innocence, but they both know he is anything but.

“Because I want the songs to be a surprise for you.” James says, sounding like a child. He leaned down and kissed Regulus’ forehead, a small smile on the boy's lips.

“I’m gonna get changed and then start on dinner.” Regulus mumbles. He pecks James’ lips and slides off the chair, making his way into James’ room. James stared after him, love clouding his eyes. Once Regulus was out of the room, James’ glanced at the notebook he had left closed. His hand inched towards it and as soon as his fingertips brushed the cover - “Leave it!”

“Ugh. How did he even know?” James grumbled to himself, pulling his hand away from the book.

A few days later, the Marauders band is gathered in the studio testing new song lyrics and notes. Peter is practising the beat of the new song on his drums while Remus is going over the lyrics with James.

“Guys!” Sirius exclaims, running into the room, phone in hand. “Look what someone said on Twitter!” The boys abandon their tools and gather around Sirius’ phone.

‘Hogsmeade Records new band, The Marauders, are a group of very attractive young men with equally attractive songs.’

“Songs can be attractive?” Peter asks.

“Shut up, Pete. Look at the comments.” Sirius scrolls down the page to the comments.

“Uh Pads? They’re all about you.” James points out.

It’s true. Every comment was about how the boys looked, more so how ‘fit the lead guitarist is’.

The comments went on and on, people (mainly girls) talking about Sirius. His face, his body, his hair, even his hands. Sirius was smirking the entire time, reading ones out every now and then.
Remus looked pissed. James could see his jaw tightening, eyebrows frowning and realising that this was exactly the man who turned him gay in the first place, and then remembered he had a boyfriend.

“I’m gonna get air.” Remus mumbles to James, stalking out the room and ‘accidentally’ knocking into Sirius.

“What’s his problem?” Sirius grumbles, turning his phone off and watching Remus walk out.

“I mean, this studio does get a little stuffy. And he never stops wearing those jumpers so no wonder he needs cold air.” Peter says.

“Hey Pete-” James starts.

“Eh, it’s fine.” Sirius shrugs, continuing with scrolling through the comments.

“Hey, where did you go?” Sirius closes his apartment door behind him. It was a lot later in the day now, and Remus never came back into the studio. “I thought you’d been kidnapped or something and then I saw you took the car.”

Sirius drops his bag on the sofa and Remus’ lyric book on the coffee table. Looking around, he realises that Remus isn’t in the room. He’s definitely in the apartment, the door was unlocked and his phone is on the counter.

“Remus?” Sirius calls out. He makes his way into the bedroom and sees a lump under the covers. Sirius smiles lightly to himself and rolls his eyes. He climbs on top of his partner, sighing as he wraps his arms around him. “Thought you had been kidnapped or something.” He whispers.

Remus grumbles, rolling over to look at Sirius. “Had a headache.” Remus pulls himself into Sirius’ chest, wrapping his arms around his torso.

“So you just ditched me.” Sirius teases, raking his fingers through Remus’ hair. He feels Remus relaxes a bit against him, but there was still some tension there.

“Promise me something.” Remus whispers.

“Anything.” Sirius says.

“Don’t let it get to your head.” Remus mumbles so quietly Sirius isn’t sure he said it at all.

“What do you mean?” Sirius asks, confused.

“The popularity. When we get big. Don’t lose yourself to it all. I can’t lose you.” Remus explains. Sirius understands now. The jealousy. The lack of confidence Remus has in himself and the short length of trust.

“I don’t know how you could lose me.” Sirius whispers to him. His words are full of the truth, but Remus is hesitant in believing him. For now, Remus decided to burry these thoughts and doubts. He could trust Sirius, he knows he can.
“Okay, I’ll make a start on dinner. Want anything specific?” Sirius asks, pulling himself away from Remus.

“I don’t mind.” Remus replies.

“Pasta it is.” Sirius announces, smiling at his boyfriend as he exits the room.

“Evening Reggie.” Barty says as Regulus walks through the door to the staff room at the bar.

“Don’t call me that.” Regulus grumbles, hanging his jacket up.

“But James calls you that. Why can’t we?” Barty whines.

“Oh fuck off. James is an exception.” Regulus glares.

Barty is about to open his mouth again when Evan interrupts. “Oh leave him be, Barty.” At least he finally has a boyfriend.” Evan smirks at Regulus in a joking way.

“Oh shut up.” Regulus retorts. Barty and Evan laugh a little and then the free fall into a silence.

“You know, apparently, little Jamie has a surprise for you.” Barty says, fixing his tie in the mirror. Well, not really fixing, more like loosening until it just dangles.

“And how would you know that?” Regulus asks. “You don’t talk to James.”

“Peter told us this morning.” Barty answers, completely forgetting that their relationship with Peter, or whatever they had going on, was meant to be a secret. He could hear Evan burying his face in his hands behind him.

“Whose Peter- NO!” Regulus interrupts himself. “Peter?! As in, Peter from my brother’s band?! Really?” Regulus starts scolding them. “Is that who you were fucking in here last night?!”

“Okay wait, you don’t usually bring up when you catch us having sex.” Barty attempts to defend himself.

“You were having sex with my brother’s drummer!”

“Oh he’s the drummer? I didn’t know that.” Barty says lightly.

“Oh my god.” Evan and Regulus say in unison, both walking out and leaving Barty in the staff room.

Chapter Text

"Did you know Barty, Evan and Peter were all sleeping together?" This is the first thing that leaves Regulus' mouth as he walks through James' apartment door. He has his own key and has practically moved in, although he still owns his apartment.

"What?" James misses half of what Regulus says, scrambling to hide the music sheets he's just printed off from Remus.

"Barty and Evan. My co-workers. They're sleeping with Peter." Regulus says again, hanging his coat and bag up.

"What, Peter as in band mate Peter?" James asks.

"Yeah."

"Wow." Is all James says. "Well I wasn't expecting that." Regulus walks over to him and drapes his arms over James' shoulders, resting his head on the back of neck. "How was your shift?" James whispers.

"Boring." Regulus answers. James chuckles to himself. They sit there like that for a little while, Regulus soaking up all of James' warmth, sighing content. And then his phone buzzed.

Regulus groans as he pulls his phone out his pocket to see a private message from Marlene.

Hey Regulus! I was wondering if u could help me with smth, maybe write a song for me?
- Marlene

"You alright?" James asks, feeling cold after Regulus pulls himself off his back.

"Yeah, yeah. Just my boss messaging the schedules and shifts." Regulus isn;t exactly enjoying lying to James, but he doesn't want anyone to know about this little job. "I'm going to change." Regulus kisses James' cheek and begins to walk to the bedroom.

"Okay, I'll start some dinner." James replies.

Is this a song for the band or...?
- Regulus

Regulus replies to Marlene.

Umm, not exactly. Im rubbish at writing song lyrics but its the only way i think of saying how i feel about someone
- Marlene

Oooooh, who is it?
- Regulus

Umm
- Marlene

Dorcas
- Marlene

Omg no way! Ofc I will help!
- Regulus

Thank you sm! Not a word to anyone, this stays between you and me alright
- Marlene

Yup!
- Regulus

"Okay. So what do you like about Dorcas?" Regulus and Marlene are out at a cafe to discuss Marlene's song.

"What do you mean?" Marlene asks, whipping the foam of her cappuccino from her lips.

"Well, how I write songs, I write them based on scenarios, almost like a story. So what do you like about Dorcas?" He asks again.

"Everything."

"That's not helpful."

"Sorry." Marlene mumbles. "Oh! Her eyes. I love her eyes, they're so pretty." Regulus nods and writes a note of it in his book. "And her smile, God I love her smile. I'd do anything to see her smile."

"Anything?" Regulus smirks at her.

She's quiet for a moment, reconsidering her answer. "I'd do almost anything." They laugh briefly.

"What else?"

"Umm, you know I wasn't originally going to stay here." Marlene says. "I was planning on moving up to Scotland, I just got so sick of this place. And then Pandora introduced me to Dorcas, who was her new roommate. And I fell. Like it was love at first sight." Marlene smiles. "So I decided to stay here. Cause she was here." Marelen sits there for a moment, lost in her own little world.

"Woooow." Regulus says sarcastically, breaking the moment.

"Oh shut up." He laughs at her for a bit.

"Okay, okay. But seriously, that's quite sweet." Regulus says sincerely. "I think I can do something with this."

"Fantastic, thank you so much." Marlene nods appreciatively.

"Don't worry about it." Regulus replies. His phone pings next to him, he looks at it to see it's a text from James.

Hello love, let me know when you're on your way home from the bar, I've got a surprise for you xx
- James

Regulus smiles at it. He knows continuously lying to James is wrong, but he can't do anything else.

"What are you smiling at?" Marlene speaks up.

"What? Nothing." Regulus' smile drops and he switches off his phone.

"Regulus Black, is there a special someone we don't know about?" Marelene tries to subtly reach for Regulus' phone but it is snatched out of her grasp.

"It is none of your business." Regulus packs his book away in his bag. "I'm leaving now."

"You have a lover!" Marlene calls after him as he disappears out of the shop.

"I'm home!" Regulus calls into the silent apartment. Home. That feels nice to say. "James?" Regulus looks around, not seeing anything different.

And then he hears the click of something, spinning around to find the source.

Ah, the speakers.

Music starts playing, and Regulus is able to distinguish the voice as his brother.

You're a troublemaker
You're a troublemaker

An electric guitar kicks in along with the beat of some drums in the back.

You ain't nothing but a troublemaker, girl
You had me hooked again from the minute you sat down
They way you bite your lip got my head spinning around
After a drink or two I was putty in your hands

Regulus now hears James' voice come through the speakers and smiles to himself, rolling his eyes at the lyrics.

Trouble, troublemaker, yeah
That's your middle name
I know you're no good but you're stuck in my brain
And I wanna know
Why does it feel so good but hurt so bad?

The boys harmonise in the back a little.

My mind keeps saying, run as fast as you can
I say I'm done, but then you pull me back
I swear you're giving me a heart attack

"Troublemaker." A voice whispers in Regulus' ear from behind him. The shorter whips around and is immediately caught by James, smirking at him. "What do you think?" He asks.

Regulus sighs, smiling though. "When you said surprise, this isn't what I had in mind." Regulus reaches up to kiss James' cheek. "I like this as well though."

"Good. Cause I keep coming back again for more~." James sings along with his own song, and Regulus is surprised that he sounds more attractive live.

I know you're no good but you're stuck in my brain
And I wanna know-

Regulus cuts James off, pulling him down into a deep kiss, locking his hands behind his head. He feels James' arms tighten around him, hoisting him up so he can wrap his legs around James' waist. Their kiss deepens, a moan sounding from each of their occupied mouths.

Regulus doesn't exactly realise James is moving them, all he cares about right now is his lover's lips and hands on him and his voice singing about him in his ear.
The scene feels like a movie to Regulus, having James push him up against the kitchen cabinets, standing between his legs, kissing the life out of him. A really, hot, steamy movie. And Regulus is loving every single bit.

Well, until his brother's voice cuts in from the speakers.

Maybe I'm insane
Cause I keep doing the same damn thing

Regulus pulls back from James. "Wait, I can't make out with you with my brother's voice in the back." He reasons as James drops his head against his shoulder with a groan.

"That is an annoyingly good point." James pulls back to look at Regulus again, a bit out of breath with red lips. "Good surprise?"

"A very good surprise." Regulus yelps a little as James pulls him off the counter, his legs still around James' waist. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I know the song, and I know your brother is just about to finish singing." James explains, carrying Regulus into their bedroom.

"Oh good." Regulus says as he lands on the bed.

James shoots in for another kiss, climbing on top of Regulus whose hands are in his hair. James' hands move to Regulus' shirt, making quick work of unbuttoning it. Regulus' hands move to do the same, pulling James' shirt over his head and tossing it somewhere.

The two are still distracted by each other's mouths, James moaning as Regulus bites his lip, replicating one of his lyrics. James moves from Regulus' lips to his neck, leaving red and purple marks everywhere. Regulus moans above him, his hands curling back in James' hair. Regulus can still faintly hear James' song in the background somewhere, feeling too far gone to remember where. James moves lower down his open chest, kissing every bit of exposed skin he can reach. And Regulus lets him.

Chapter Text

“Dorcas! Can I show you something?” Marlene calls just before Dorcas leaves the studio.

“Uh yeah sure. Do you want me to call the rest of the group?” Dorcas motions to everyone else who has just left.

“Uh no it’s okay. This is just for you.” Marlene replies, walking over to the guitar hanging up. She motions for Dorcas to follow her into the studio as there aren’t any seats anywhere else.

“Everything alright? You look nervous.” Dorcas comments, sitting down on a stool opposite Marlene as she tunes the guitar.

“What? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Marlene says. The room feels hot. It’s really hot here.

“Marls, you know you can tell me anything right?” Dorcas says, her face looking concerned.

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m doing this.” Marlene answers, taking a deep breath. “This is a song called Make You Smile.”

Don’t mess this up, Marlene.

Her fingers begin to strum the guitar. She plays the introduction a couple times to get into the feel of it, and then she starts singing.

I like what you do and I like that you keep doing it
Your eyes look mighty fine, I really think I’m losing it
Oh, oh, oh

Marlene looks up at Dorcas to see a small smile on her lips, encouraging her to continue.

Oh, oh, oh
Pretty girl, don’t be shy
I like all your bad ideas
Ain’t this a nice surprise to find a woman so dear

Marlene starts tapping her foot to a beat to keep herself in time, and to replace any drums she would’ve wanted in the song.

Oh, oh, oh
Say you’ll be my baby and I’ll
Be your girl and
You can have this
Heart of mine, cause
I would walk a
Thousand miles
Just to make you smile

Dorcas’ smile grows, her foot following Marlene’s and keeping her in time, tapping along.

You taste like sugar mints and cigarettes and beer
I used to hate this town but I’ll stay because you’re here

Dorcas thinks back to when she first met Marlene, recalling that she was planning on moving.

Oh, oh, oh
All them skinny girls and bitter and reserved
If you want a lot of love then I’m just what you deserve

Marlene winks, wondering if Dorcas understands the lyrics and what she is trying to say. She really hopes she does because Marlene will cry if she has to actually say, like out loud, how she feels about her.

Oh, oh, oh
Say you’ll be my baby and I’ll
Be your girl and
You can have this
Heart of mine cause
I would walk a
Thousand miles
If you say you’ll be my baby, I will
Be your girl and
You can have this
Heart of mine cause
I would walk a
Thousand miles
Just to make you smile
Just to make you smile

Marlene finishes the song, a huge smile on her face to match Dorcas’ one.

“So?” Marlene asks, voice full of hope.

“What are you trying to ask me, McKinnon?” Dorcas says, smirking at her.

“What do you think I’m trying to ask you, Meadowes?” Marlene says in return. Dorcas rolls her eyes and leans forward, holding Malene’s face with one hand and kisses her.

Marlene all but melts, kissing back. Her hand leaves the neck of the guitar and wraps round the back of Dorcas’ neck in a gentle way. Dorcas pulls back too soon for Marlene’s liking, who chases her lips. Dorcas chuckles and boops Marlene’s nose.

“I’ll see you outside.” Dorcas winks as she gets up to exit the studio, Marlene’s gaze following her every movement.

Marlene feels so rushed to hang the guitar back up she almost drops it. Before she runs out the studio she sends a quick text to Regulus.

I LOVE YOU!
- Marlene

Went well then?
- Regulus

So well
- Marlene

“Hi.” Dorcas says when Marlene exits the studio, almost tripping over the threshold of the door.

“Hey.” Marlene replies. Dorcas holds out her arm and Marlene links her own through it, both of them giggling as they walk off.

“You’re being ridiculous.” Sirius complains, crossing his arms at Remus.

“Am I?” Remus argues. It has been a few weeks, the band has an album and they’re in the Top 10 on the Charts (competing with The Dark Roses for the No.1 spot). The fame of their songs and gigs is coming in like a storm, and Remus feels that Sirius is just getting too caught up in it.

“Yes.” Sirius says, frowning at Remus.

“You’re always on your phone, replying to a random girl’s tweets about you, you’re never actually on time to any song practices because you’re always out signing fucking autographs.” Remus feels his temper rising. “Fuck, I can’t even remeber the last time we actually talked, held hands, the last time we kissed.”

“That’s not true.” Sirius mumbles. “We kissed yesterday.”

“That wasn’t a kiss. That was a quick lips to cheek contact.”

Remus is fuming.”You promised me.”

Sirius looks up at him, startled and a little confused.
“You promised me I wouldn’t lose you to all this fame.” Remus watches as Sirius’ face falls, knowing how Remus is with trust. “And yet-” Remus takes a breath, trying not to break. “I feel like I lost you weeks ago.”

Sirius’ heart shatters, you could see it on his face.

“Remus-”

Remus shakes his head and moves back towards the door.

“I need some air.” And he walks out the apartment.

Once the door closes, slams even, behind him, Sirius falls to his knees, tears beginning to stream down his face. He hadn’t meant to miss any practices, or not show his love for Remus. But he was right. He was getting caught up in the fame.

Sirius tries to pull himself together as he pulls out his phone, dialling Regulus’ number.

‘Sirius?’ Regulus voice answers on the other side, sounding a little out of breath but Sirius was not thinking about details right now.

“I umm… I need your help with something.” Sirius mumbles. He hears Regulus shuffling in the back, probably walking around. “I did something and I don’t know what to do.”

‘Why not ask Remus?’ Regulus suggests.

“That’s why I need help.” Sirius almost whispers, trying to wipe away his tears. Regulus sighs on the other end.

‘I’m on my way.’ He answers and hangs up.

Ten, fifteen minutes later, Sirius is still sitting on the floor, knees pulled into his chest, not even acknowledging his door opening. He looks up to see his brother’s face and he breaks. Sirius cries and cries and cries as Regulus engulfs him in a hug, sitting with him as he lets it all out.

Chapter Text

"Right, well you need to apologise to him." Regulus says. It's late in the night and he had been with Sirius the whole time, letting him explain everything that happened.

"I don't know where he is, and I doubt he'd pick up his phone even if I tried." Sirius groans, his head resting on his kitchen counter.

"Well you're not doing it tonight, it's too late. Both of you will sleep it off, and you'll be in a better mindset to talk about it tomorrow." Regulus says. Regulus has always been wise in these situations, Sirius thinks. Always helping him through his problems.

"Bet he's with James." Regulus falters but Sirius doesn't see it. "Or Peter." Regulus swallows, forgetting that Remus and Sirius are the only open relationship in the band.

"Do you want me to stay for the night?" Regulus offers after a moment of silence.

Sirius lifts his head on his arms and looks at his brother, his eyes red and raw from crying. "If you don't mind." Regulus smiles a little. It's a rare sight and for a while he only shared it with his brother, but of course that's a little different now.

The next day, Sirius still feels hurt about the situation but is determined to fix it. Regulus leaves for a work shift and tells Sirius to message him if he needs him. Sirius had messaged Peter and James, asking if they had seen Remus. Both replied they hadn't heard a word from him. So Sirius just decides to look around, checking everywhere Remus might be. The bookshop, the cafe he loves, the park they go to sometimes, he's nowhere to be found.

Finally, Sirius decides to check the studio. He's happy to find the door unlocked, meaning there is a chance Remus is in fact in here. It's a fairly big building, so Sirius has to check every room he passes, frowning when he keeps finding them empty. Feeling defeated, SIrius slumps down the wall onto the floor, sighing deeply. Sirius looks up at the sound of a buzzing coming from the speakers, as if someone is trying to connect to them. And then music starts playing through them, sounding like a piano. And then a voice.

Stupid me, thought I could trust you
What a lie
That you’d stay, no way you’d be leaving
Without goodbye

Sirius could recognize that voice anywhere, even if he doesn’t sing much. The recording part of the studio is further back, and whenever they’re recording it plays through the whole building, all the speakers are connected.

Did you know from the start?
That I’d never be worth it
Like you did it on purpose
Had me falling so hard
Just to leave me in the dark

Sirius is almost sprinting down the corridor and throwing the door open, not caring when it hits off the wall. Remus doesn’t notice, he can’t hear a thing with the headphones on. His back is also turned towards Sirius, so he doesn’t even notice he’s here.

That you, you were too good to be true
Just a somebody to lose
I let you in and you let go

Sirius listens to the lyrics, knowing that they are Remus’ speciality.

Did you run out of love?
Was my all not enough?
Did you know from the start?

Sirius is hurt. He’s hurt that this is what Remus thinks of him. Hurt that he has managed to hurt the love of his life and he never even realised.

Remus keeps singing, oblivious to the fact that Sirius is watching him. Remus wrote some of these lyrics years ago, when he was in a bad place and didn’t know how to get out. The last few days have in some really bad way inspired the rest of the song. The emotion he feels when he’s singing these lyrics is strong. Remus is really testing his vocal chords, he hasn’t sung in years.

Did you run out of love?
Was my all not enough?
Did you know from the start?
That I’d never be worth it
Like you did it on purpose
Had me falling so hard
Just to leave me in the dark

Sirius feels on the verge of crying, the meaning behind these lyrics hitting him like a train. Still he stays, he can’t look away from Remus.

Did you run out of love?

His voice turns soft.

Was my all not enough?

And it’s this moment that breaks Sirius.

Had me falling so hard

Just to leave me in the dark

The music stops and the room falls silent, Remus trying to catch his breath and Sirius trying to pull himself together. Remus takes off the headphones and turn to leave the room, only then noticing Sirius.

“What are you doing here?” Remus asks quietly. The tension is thick in the room, almost suffocating.

“Looking for you.” Sirius mumbles a reply. He’s trying not to show that he had been crying, although he probably looks like a mess, he feels like one.

“Why?” Is all Remus says, his face stone cold.

“Because I need to apologise.” Sirius answers. “You’re right. I did get too caught up in it and I never realised. What we’re doing as a group is all I’ve ever wanted to do with my life. The fans and autographs and comments just come with the package. I know that’s no excuse, and I am so sorry for not being there, and not being with you.”

“You promised me.” Remus reminds him.

“I know and I will do everything I can to make it up to you.” Sirius steps forward so he is in front of Remus, He wants to cradle him, he wants to cry, he wants to kiss the everloving life out of him. But he knows he has to wait until Remus is okay with that. “I am so sorry.” He says, a lump building in his throat. “Please.”

Remus sighs as he drapes his arms over Sirius' shoulders, pulling the poor man into his chest. "You really hurt me, Sirius." He mumbles as Sirius sobs into his chest.

"Please, I will do anything and everything to fix it." Sirius whines. "Please, Remus."

"Tell them." Remus answers.

"What?"

"The public. The agency. We tell them that we're together." There's silence for a moment before Sirius starts nodding his head vigorously.

"Yes, yes." He chants. "Absolutely. Anything to make you happy. And if anyone has a problem then they'll answer me." Sirius agrees, trying to show how tough he is at the threat, although Remus has trouble believing him right now.

Remus cups his face and pulls him up to his lips, a small but passion kiss. Sirius scrunches Remus' jumper in his hands, pulling him closer.

"I'd do anything for you, Remus Lupin."

Chapter Text

“I still can’t believe we’re about to have an album.” Mary says, turning everyone’s attention to her.

“Yeah, I mean once we’ve finished this song we can release the whole thing.” Marlene agrees. They’re sitting on the floor of the small studio, just chatting as Regulus changes some of the lyrics.

“Marls, I’ve been meaning to ask.” Lily says. “Why are you sitting in Dorcas’ lap?” It wasn’t usually a surprise to see the girls lying on top of each other in some shape or form, but Marlene was sitting in the middle of Dorcas’ crossed legs.

“What do you mean?” Marlene asks, a small smile on her face as Dorcas rolls her eyes. “I’m just comfortable, and Dorcas doesn’t mind. Do you mind?” She looks up at Dorcas who just smiles at her.

“No, I don’t mind, love.” Dorcas answers, leaning down and placing a chaste kiss on Marlene’s lips. The girls looked up after realising the room was silent. Lily’s mouth was open, Mary looked confused, Pandora had a giddy smile and Regulus was just smirking, being the only one who knew.

“What?” Marlene asks.

“Are you two dating?” Mary asks, breaking the silence.

“Uhh, yeah?” Marlene answers.

“Oh my god!”

“I can’t believe it!”

“Hand over your money.”

“Called it!”

There’s a series of excited cheering and squeals and Mary hands a £5 note over to Regulus who slides it into one of his shirt pockets, smirking.

“Wait, were you guys betting?” Dorcas asks.

“Yeah. We were betting how long it would take for either of you to confess.” Pandora explains.

“Wait, wait. Who confessed?” Lily asks, acting as if this is extremely crucial information.

“Well Marlene confessed, but I kissed her.” Dorcas explains. Lily groans and passes more money to Regulus and Pandora.

“Thank you.” Pandora says, leaning her head on Regulus’ shoulder.

“Wait, but Regulus helped me?” Marlene says.

“What?”

“Yeah, he wrote the song.”

Lily and Mary both turn to look at Regulus, who simply shrugs and keeps making edits.

“Sly fox.” Mary mutters to herself.

“Yeah alright.” Regulus rolls his eyes. “I’ve finished these edits by the way.” He passes the notebook to Lily who reads over it.

“Oh I like it.”

“The lines aren’t allocated yet.” Regulus says.

“Can I say ‘photograph with no t-shirt on?” Marlene asks.

“Sure, you can have that bit.” Regulus says. “The chorus will be everyone anyway but yeah you can split it otherwise.”

“Okay, we’ll give it a go.” Pandora decides, heading to the studio room.

“Hello!” Regulus calls into the apartment, knowing James is in there somewhere.

“Hello love.” James does in fact answer from their bedroom. Regulus follows the sound to see James doing up the buttons of one of his red shirts. His nicer red shirts.

“Going out?” Regulus asks, walking closer so he could finish the buttons.

“We’re going out.” James explains, wrapping his hands around Regulus’ waist.

“We are?”

“Mhm.” James hums, leaning down to leave small kisses on Regulus’ neck.

“Is there an occasion?”

“Am I not allowed to take my boyfriend out on a date?”

“Oh well I never said that.” Regulus says, tilting his head back so James can reach more of his neck.

“Good, now get dressed. Something nice, yeah?” James kisses Regulus before, walking into the kitchen. Regulus sighs, not sure if he has enough time to shower before their little outing. He decides against it, instead wetting his hair and just styling it. For clothes, Regulus chooses a pair of high waist black trousers and a white blouse tucked in. He goes for a black cropped blazer jacket and some silver jewellery.

When he finally exits the room, James is standing in the kitchen on his phone. He looks up and almost drops his phone.

“Y’know, we could just stay home.” James mumbles as Regulus walks over, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s neck.

“Oh no, no, no. I’m curious now.” Regulus says, pulling away as his boyfriend tries to kiss him. “Come on, where are we going?”

James sighs, wrapping an arm around Regulus’ waist and leads him to the door. “Well, by telling you it would ruin the surprise.”

James’ (new) car parks in a space just outside a restaurant Regulus known for a fact is pricey. A price he currently can’t afford.

“James, why are we here?” Regulus asks, frowning at his boyfriend.

“I told you, I wanted to take you out to eat.” James shrugs, opening his door and climbing out.

“Regulus opens his own door and steps out. “ Yeah but this place is expensive, we don’t have to eat here.”

“I want to spoil you, I know you prefer Italian to French and this place is new so I thought why not.” James explains, slinging an arm over Regulus’ shoulders and guides him towards the door of the restaurant.

“Is this because you’re suddenly making the big bucks?” Regulus asks teasingly, raising an eyebrow at James.

“It’s helping… I also just want to spoil you.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you.” He says as if it’s the simplest thing ever. As if those three words don’t melt Regulus’ heart every time he hears them.

“Fine, but only because I love you too.” Regulus answers. James smiles down at him as he opens the restaurant door and follows Regulus inside.

While James talks to a waiter about their booking, Regulus takes the opportunity to look around at the restaurant.
It was dimly lit but in a nice way that set a calm mood over the room. Tables were set up in two’s with a candle lit in the middle and a tall, thin glass vase with a different flower next to it.

James linked his arm through Regulus’ as the waiter guided them through the restaurant and to a table near the back next to a window.

“So?” James asks once they’ve sat down.

“It’s beautiful.” Regulus answers.

“I knew you’d like it.” James smiles, picking up the wine menu.

“How’d you find it?” He asks, picking up a menu himself.

“Uhh, your brother told me about it after he took Remus here last week.” James explains. “Don’t worry about the prices.”

“James, it’s all-” Regulus tries to argue after taking one look at the numbers.

“It’s on me, baby. Don’t worry about it.” James assured him. Regulus frowned but listened as he felt he wouldn’t be given a choice in the matter.

James orders them two glasses of Bordeaux and then they start discussing what they are going to have to eat. Regulus was in a pasta mood, so he decided to go for Pappardelle with a slow cooked beef ragu while James (being the child he is deep down) goes for a meat feast pizza.

“That just looks obscene.” Regulus tells him, looking suspiciously at the pizza lathered in different meats: Italian sausage, ham, pepperoni, the whole lot.
“Yours isn’t much different from mine meat wise.” James responds, picking up the pizza cutter he was given.

“Mine is just beef, and carbs.” Regulus swirls his fork around his plate, picking up some of the pasta and taking a bite. “And fucking delicious, oh my god.”

James chuckles across from him, taking a bite of his pizza (somehow without spilling any of the toppings). James mimics the same groan as Regulus. Hazel eyes meet grey across the table and the two men begin to giggle over their food.

“So?” James asks. “Good choice?”

“Very good choice.” Regulus mumbles, picking up more pasta.

And so the night continues. Regulus and James chatting over Italian food and expensive wine. And as the night goes on, they fall more and more in love with each other. It was around 10 o’clock when the couple finally left the restaurant. They were walking out the restaurant, Regulus hanging off of James after drinking a little too much wine. The two are giggling and chatting, tipsy on the wine, when a voice catches their attention.

“Oh my god!” A voice squeals. Both James and Regulus turn to find the source of the noise. There are two girls, who look to have been on a night out, making their way towards them.

Regulus rolls his eyes and tries to manoeuvre them away, but James ‘always the hero’ calls out to them.

“Are you two alright?” James asks them.

“Come one, James. They’re just drunk.” Regulus says, attempting to pull James towards the car.

“Can we get a picture with you?” One of the girls asks. She’s in a tight, glittery green dress, dark hair curling down her back.

“I’m sorry?” James responds, both him and Regulus confused.

“You’re James Potter, right? From The Marauders?” The other girl asks. This one has a short pixie cut and a matching dress but this one is a bright orange. James looks back at Regulus frowning, Regulus shrugs in response.

“Uhh, yeah? I am?” James responds nervously.

“Can we please take a picture with you?” The orange dress girl asks.

“We’re huge fans.”

“Sure.” James answers. The girls squeal and run to stand on either side of James, arms wrapping around his shoulders.

Regulus’ frown deepens as a girl pulls out her phone and poses, the flash of her phone going off as she takes the picture.

“Thank you so much!” One says, grabbing the phone to look at the picture.

“You’re welcome. Goodnight girls.” James says as the girls walk away, chatting and giggling like the boys were when they walked out the restaurant. James unlocks the car and they both get in, shutting the door. The couple look at each other before giggling.

“Well, that was an experience.” James says, doing up his seatbelt and starting the engine.

“The first of many probably.” Regulus hums, relaxing into the warmth of the car.

Chapter Text

Regulus’ head is banging when he wakes up the next morning. He didn’t even drink that much wine. His phone is buzzing on the bedside table. Regulus intends to ignore it in favour of sleeping in. But the phone keeps buzzing.

“It’s too early.” Regulus groans. He reaches over and grabs his phone, swearing at the bright light. His phone screen is covered with notifications from different social media platforms; Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, The News. “What the hell?” He mumbles.

Tapping on one of the notifications, he opens the selfie James took with the two girls the night before, reports and comments flowing in. Theories and questions, compliments from people all over the world.

“James!” Regulus calls out to the apartment. When he’s met with silence he pulls the duvet off himself and gets out of bed, trudging down the hallway into the kitchen. “James!” He calls again. Nothing. Regulus’ eye catches on a piece of paper lying on the work surface, folded into a little origami heart.

Good morning, baby!
Had to go into the studio early, your brother is very demanding -_-
There’s a plate of pancakes in the oven which should hopefully still be warm!
Love you, darling
J xx

Regulus can’t ignore the heat that floods his body reading the letter, and the smile that appears on his face when he finds said pancakes, still warm.

“Sirius!” James shouts out into the studio. He can hear his mates chatting loudly, so he’s clearly the last one to arrive.

“James!” Sirius calls back, suddenly running down the hallway, almost knocking James over. “Have you seen the news? Social media? Anything? Have you been on your phone?”

“Jesus Pads, slow down. He only just got here.” Remus and Peter appear in the doorway.

“Yeah, what’s going on?” James finally asks, eyeing everyone.

“What were you doing last night, Prongs?” Sirius asks, arms crossed.

“I uhh…” His mind goes blank. “I was… out.”

“Out where?” Sirius says inquisitively.

“Out… on a date?” James answers, dying on the inside.

“You were on a date?” Peter exclaims. “You’ve not been on a date since uni.”

“Yes, thank you, Pete.” James frowns at him. “It was just someone I met on an app, alright?”

“Boy or girl?” Sirius quizzes.

“... what does it matter?”

“Well if it’s a girl, I’m not too bothered. If it’s a boy I want to know everything.” Sirius says simply.

“It’s none of your business!” James says. “Now why did you want me here so early?”

“Because there’s a photo going around of you posing with two girls outside that restaurant myself and Sirius were at a few nights ago.” Remus explains, sighing.

The colour drains from James’ face. Fuck, fuck, think of a lie, anything!

“It was just a couple of girls that asked for a photo, they liked our music.” James replies, heart racing in his chest.

“Hmm.” Sirius stares at him, eyes squinted, judging him intently. James can feel sweat forming on his forehead, not sure if his body is leaning away from Sirius or whether he is just imagining it. Finally, Sirius shrugs. “Alright. But I want all the details of your date later.” He points a finger threateningly at James, who sighs in relief.

“Heh, whatever, Padfoot.” James smiles as he follows them through to the recording studio.

James feels cold. Which is an odd feeling when he’s in bed, because usually Regulus has his body wrapped around him like a koala keeping him warm. James rolls over, his arm reaching around the bed blindly in search of his boyfriend, only to find a cold empty space.

Frowning, James sits up, grabbing his glasses off the bedside table to see that Regulus is not in fact in the bedroom at all (James feared he may have fallen off the bed). Tapping on his phone, the time read 4:26 in the morning. Groaning, James pulls himself out of bed and heads for the kitchen where he suspects Regulus might be.

Low and behold, there he is, sitting on the sofa wrapped in a blanket, writing in that little book again. James feels his body relax at the sight of him, a soft smile forming on his face.

“Good morning, nightowl.” James almost whispers. Regulus jumps, his head whipping round to face James. “What are you doing up?”

“Couldn’t sleep.” Regulus grumbles, closing the book and rubbing his eyes. “Why are you up?”

“You weren’t there.” James replies, as if it’s the most obvious answer in the world. As James walks over to the sofa he grabs his guitar on the way, gesturing for Regulus to move over so he could sit next to him.

“Working on something new?” Regulus asks as James starts tuning the guitar, occasionally playing a few notes to set the tune.

“Kind of. This isn’t something for the band though.” James answers, finally finding the right notes and grabbing his pick from the table (They have a bowl of picks on their table as James leaves them all over the house).

“Oh?” Regulus questions.

“Yeah, this one is just for you.” James says, smiling at Regulus.

He starts to play a few chords, just to count himself in. James clears his throat before he starts, sparing a glance Regulus’ way.

“Tracksuits and red wine
Movies for two
We’ll take off our phones and we’ll turn off our shoes.”

The song is gentle, much unlike anything the band ever plays.

“Cause you watch the Tv while I’m watching you”

Regulus smiles, remembering every single game James lost whenever they played (although Regulus was quite competitive with these sorts of things).

“But there’s nothing, like doing nothing, with you.”

Regulus feels his whole body relax, shoulders dropping as he leans his head against the back of the sofa, happily watching James’ hands as they strum through the strings of the guitar.

“Have I told you lately, I’m grateful you’re mine?
We’ll watch the Notebook for the 17th time
I’ll say it’s stupid, then you’ll catch me crying.”

Regulus giggles as James flashes him a small smile.

“Or in a house I painted blue
But there’s nothing, like doing nothing, with you.”

In Regulus’ opinion, this will always be the most relaxing sound, hearing James sing.

“So shut all the windows, lock all the doors
We’re not looking for no one
Don’t need nothing more
You’ll bite my lip and I’ll want you more
Until we end up in a heap on the floor.”

James smiles at Regulus again, a face full of love and admiration as more chords flow from the guitar. Regulus feels his eyelids start to grow heavy, beginning to feel sleep take over once again.

“You could be dancing on table tops
Wearing high heels
Drinking until the world spins like a wheel
But tonight your apartment has so much appeal
Who needs stars?
We’ve got a roof
And there’s nothing, like doing nothing with you.”

Regulus feels himself yawn, eyes closing.

“No, there’s nothing, like doing nothing
With you.”

Chapter Text

When Sirius had called Regulus to say he was going out for drinks with him, Regulus had declined. He had plans with a bottle of wine and his boyfriend and their bed. But when Sirius mentioned that the whole band would be there, including his boyfriend, Regulus was confused. He and James had been dating for around 6 months now and Regulus had said to him the week prior not to make any plans for that night.

Naturally Regulus had to agree to drinks, seeing as he no longer had any plans.

After what was supposed to be a quick 15 minute call with Sirius that turned into a half hour call because Sirius wouldn’t shut up, Regulus called James.

“Reg, hi! Everything alright?” James asked when he finally answered the phone.

“You’re going out for drinks tonight? With Sirius?” Regulus asks.

“Yeah, Sirius called earlier and I’m free tonight. Why?” James responds.

“You were free tonight for a reason.” Regulus explains. “I told you I had plans for us tonight.”

“Oh shit, baby I’m so sorry, I completely forgot.” James rushes to apologise, sincerity in his voice. “I was busy when Sirius called and made the plans, I wasn’t thinking.” There’s a noise on James’ end of the phone that sounded like he was half talking to Regulus, half talking to someone else.

“Am I interrupting something?” Regulus asks.

“What?” James answers, as if not hearing Regulus. “No, no. I’m talking to a fan, that’s all.”

“Uh huh, well can you talk to them later? I want to talk to you about toni-”

“Reg baby, can I call you back? These girls want to take some pictures.” James cuts him off. “We can do what you had planned another night, okay? I’ve gotta go, I’ll see you at the bar.” The line goes dead.

Regulus is left staring at his phone, the screen going back to James’ contact after the call ended. Regulus can feel his mood turning even more sour, especially at the thought of James taking more pictures with fans. Don’t get him wrong, Regulus is happy his boyfriend and brother have so much success with the band, he just wishes James would be with him more.

Regulus was late. He was half an hour late.

Remus, Sirius, Peter and James are all sat at a stool table towards the side of the bar with drinks. Regulus had called Sirius earlier that he would be slightly late because something came up, but he had said nothing to James.

“Oh! Regulus is outside.” Sirius announces to the group, seeing the text come through on his phone.

“I wonder why he is so late, did he have work?” Remus asks.

“No, he doesn’t work on Wednesdays.” Peter answered, and all heads turned to him. “What?”

“How do you know that Peter?” Sirius asks. The thing with Peter, he can’t lie to save his life. He has many little telltale signs of lying and he can’t think of one without stuttering.

“I- umm- Well he said- uhh-” Peter starts to stammer and James rolls his eyes, already knowing how he knew.

“Come on, Pete. Out with it.” James nudged him, a grin on his face.

“Okay!” Peter exclaims. “I may be-”

“Hey! Sorry I’m late.” Regulus interrupts him, squeezing next to his brother who wraps an arm around his shoulders.

“You’re here! Now we can get drunk together!” Sirius shouts.

“Wow, you’ve been here half an hour and you’re still sober? That has to be some sort of record for you.” Regulus replies sarcastically.

“Oh shut up, I was waiting for you.” Sirius grumbles, finishing his drink.

While the brothers begin to bicker, James quickly scans Regulus, having not seen him all day. He was wearing a loose, black t-shirt that was cropped just above his high waist black jeans. His ears and fingers adorned with silver jewellery. James also notices the black eye liner and smudged eye shadow highlighting his light grey eyes.

“Why are you so late?” Sirius asks.

“I originally had plans tonight but the guy cancelled on me, so.” Regulus shrugs, but James immediately feels the guilt run through him.

“You had a date?” Questions Sirius.

“Yeah but it’s fine, he said we would… reschedule.” Regulus’ eyes drift to James briefly and then back to his brother, but James notices the look of hurt in his eye. “Anyway, I’m going to get a drink seeing as none of you got me one.” Regulus turns and starts to make his way towards the bar, Sirius following after talking about getting shots.

“So, Peter. Back to you.” Remus says, and Peter groans in response, thinking he got away with it.

“Oh come on, we’re all curious now.” The glare James receives is funny, seeing as James already knew.

“Fine! Fine. But you can’t say this to Regulus, he might kill me.” Peter shoots a look over his shoulders, making sure Regulus isn’t in earshot.

“Why? Did you sleep with his mate or something?” Remus asks, laughing at himself. But when he notices the guilt masking Peter’s face, the smile is ripped straight off. “Oh my god. You’re sleeping with Regulus’ mate?”

“Well… it’s mates, actually.” Peter grumbles, and James has to fake a shocked reaction.

“What?” James asks, failing to keep the grin off his face.

“Mates. Plural. I’m sleeping with Barty and Evan.” Peter gets quieter as he finishes off the sentence, but James and Remus hear him regardless and they both burst out laughing. “Oh shut up! Please don’t tell Regulus!”

“Don’t tell me what?” Regulus appears behind Peter, carrying a tray of blue shots while Sirius carries a singular drink. “Sirius is in fact tipsy enough to not be able to carry a tray.” Regulus explains to Remus, who was looking confused.

“I got two shots for each of us!” Sirius tells everyone, passing the shots around to them.

“Anyway, what are you not telling me?” Regulus asks, taking his own alcohol concoction and sipping that, ignoring the shot for the time being.

“Nothing.” Peter mumbles, his face as red as James’ shirt.

“Peter is sleeping with Barty and Evan.” James answers for him. The look of betrayal on Peter’s face was just too funny.

“Oh. I already knew that.” Regulus shrugs. Peter’s head whipped round so fast you could hear it snap.

“What?! How?” Peter demands, eyes bulging.

“I caught you three in the staff room months ago, when you all showed up at the bar unannounced.” Regulus explains, watching Peter’s face turn pale.

“Oh… okay…” Peter replies quietly. “I’m uhh- I’m gonna make a phone call.” He stutters, walking towards the bathrooms and pulling his phone out of his pocket.

“Okay, okay, okay, now that that is over, we can tell Regulus the news!” Sirius exclaims.

“Shouldn’t we wait until Peter is back?” Remus asks, picking up a shot on Sirius’ demand.

“Let’s be honest, he’s never going to want to face Regulus again.” Sirius answers, raising his shot glass, getting the other three to follow suit. “Okay! Are you ready?”

“Sure.” Regulus answers, nonchalantly.

“So we got a call this morning from this guy, Fabien Prewett, and he is the organiser for bands for Glastonbury.” Sirius explains. “We have been invited to play at Glastonbury in 2 months!”

“Wow. Congratulations!” Regulus says, raising his shot to the boys. James notices something about the way Regulus says that, but it’s gone before he can pick it up.

“Yeah, we’re all pretty excited.” Remus pipes up. “All the bands get a 30 minute set and we get to pick the songs we perform and everything.” He explains.

Of course, Regulus already knew all of this as Lily got the exact same call 2 hours earlier (which was the real reason he was late to the bar).

The four boys wait for Peter to come back (who moves to stand out of Regulus’ line of vision) to do their shots. There’s a loud chorus of coughing following as they realise the level of alcohol Sirius asked for in the shots.

The night continues, the boys changing between getting drinks and dancing on the floor (mainly James, Sirius and occasionally Peter, Regulus and Remus stay at the table).

“So, what songs are you going to choose?” Regulus turns to Remus, trying to pull his attention from James on the dance floor.

“Ah, we don’t know yet. McGonagall, our producer, says we should pick crowd favourites. We’re working on some new songs at the moment as well, but writing the lyrics is difficult.” Remus explains.

“Heh, I know how that feels.” Regulus slips out. He freezes, eyes widening slightly as Remus frowns at the statement.

“How so?” He asks.

“How so what?” James and Sirius appear again, grabbing their drinks from the table to cool down.

“Regulus says he knows what writing song lyrics is like.” Remus repeats Regulus, who was currently trying to think of a way out of this situation.

Sirius hums, putting his drink back on the table. “Regulus used to write songs when we were in high school.”

“Oh really?” James asks, eyebrows rising.

“Yeah, usually religious stuff.” He scoffs.

“Well maybe if you had read the lyrics instead of teasing me you would have known that they were very much not religious and in fact against it.” Regulus says, matter-of-factly, thankful that his brother managed to bring that up to save him from a lie.

“What was one of the songs called?” Remus queries.

Regulus takes a deep breath. “Take Me to Church.” He answers.
“Sounds very religious.” Sirius mocks.

“Oh piss off, Sirius.”

James and Remus chuckle at the little spat.

“Anyway, that was how I found Regulus again actually.” Sirius says, grabbing the attention of the boys and Peter who has now joined them.

“After you left your parents?” Peter asked.

“It was, like, a year and a half after I had left?” Regulus tells them. “So we hadn’t seen each other in, what? 6 years?”

“Something like that yeah.” Sirius agrees. “I found him at a bar. Not the one he works at now.”

“Well I wasn’t really working at the time.” Regulus interrupts.

“What do you mean?” Remus questions.

“Well when I walked in, he wasn’t sitting at the bar. He was up on the stage, singing with some other guys.” Sirius explains. “After he finished the song I had to go find him, practically chased him out of the bar as he was ignoring me, selfish prick.”

“You got to me in the end.” Regulus mutters.

“Yeah, I did.”

There’s silence for a little bit, before Peter perks up again. “What was the song about?”

“It was called Brother. And it was just about how I had been left alone in that house.” Regulus says, locking eyes with Sirius. Even though the brothers had been back together for almost a year now, there were still scars that were easy to open.

Chapter Text

The evening continues, a mix between dancing on the floor and Sirius convincing everyone to do shots. By the end of the night, Regulus and Sirius are hanging off of each other in drunken fits of laughter, tumbling out the bar with James and Remus following, also drunk but not as bad. Peter had called for a taxi a little earlier, saying he was visiting his mum the next day and didn’t want to be too hungover.

“Okay, I’m going to take Sirius home. I’ve already called a taxi.” Remus says to James, his words slightly slurred. They watch as the brothers attempt to do some weird walk down the street, but they manage to get their legs tangled and trip over, rolling on the floor laughing. “Can I trust you to get Regulus home to yours?”

James frowns at Remus, but nods anyway. Remus calls out to Sirius, telling him they were heading home. Sirius and Regulus looked at each other and pulled their faces into a big, sad pout. Sirius pulls Regulus into his chest, claiming he is never going to let him go again. Remus sighs as he walks over, detaching Sirius from Regulus and pulling him up off the floor, accidentally allowing Regulus to completely collapse onto the pavement.

James quickly runs over, pulling Regulus up by his arms so he was at least sitting up. A taxi pulls up to the pavement and Remus attempts to carry Sirius over to the car as he waves at Regulus.

“Bye, bye, Reggie!” Sirius calls, dragging out the ‘e’ as he waves dramatically.

“Bye- uhh… Siri!” Regulus calls back, stumbling over his words as he waves with both hands, watching Sirius be manhandled into the taxi and they drive off.

“Right, come on. Time for us to head home.” James announces, offering a hand to Regulus. He bats him away, determined to stand up himself.

“I miss him.” Regulus grumbled. “Make him come back.”

“I can’t make him come back, he’s gone home, baby.” James answers with a soft smile on his face as he watches Regulus struggle to keep his balance. “Besides, you can call him tomorrow and tell him you miss him.”

Regulus makes a disgruntled noise at that piece of advice as he tries to walk forwards, but he loses his balance and falls backwards, straight into James’ waiting arms who predicted his lack of balance.

“Ooo, muscle.” Regulus mumbles, squeezing one of James’ biceps.

James laughs at his boyfriend, who he has never seen this drunk. “Okay, come on, Reg. Let’s get you into bed or else you’ll be all grumpy in the morning with your hangover.” James wraps an arm around Regulus’ waist and pulls one of his arms around James’ shoulder to keep him upright.

“Alright, as long as it’s your bed I’m falling into.” Regulus looks at James and winks, a smirk on his face.

‘Okay, so Regulus is a flirt when he’s this drunk.’ James thinks to himself, rolling his eyes at Regulus’ line.

Regulus was indeed grumpy the next morning. After flirting horribly with James all the way back to his apartment, James left him on the sofa to get him a glass of water only to come back and find Regulus completely passed out, snoring on the sofa.

James had to carry him through to their bed and it wasn’t until around midday that Regulus woke up. James was sitting at the worktop counter, texting Remus about songs when Regulus stumbled into the kitchen, makeup smudged, hair a mess, the bed sheet wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

“Afternoon, sleepy head.” James says, watching Regulus clutch his head and squint at his boyfriend. “How are you feeling?” A groan is all James gets in return. “Yeah I figured. There’s paracetamol on the counter.”

Regulus trudges over to the kitchen to get his water bottle out the fridge and takes two paracetamol. He pulls his phone off the charger and groans again as he looks through his notifications.

“Why is my brother spamming my phone?” Regulus grumbles, plopping down on the seat next to James at the counter top.

“Uhh, maybe because you kept leaving him voicemails last night on the way home about how much you miss him?” James suggests, smirking at Regulus’ phone. Sirius has in fact spammed Regulus’ phone, gushing in capital letters about how sweet Regulus is and how much he loves him.

The colour drains from Regulus’ already pale face. “I did what?” He asks, turning to face James.

“Well, when Remus and Sirius got in the taxi and left, you were sitting on the floor pouting about missing your brother. So said that you could call him the next morning but that clearly didn’t suit you because you just left voicemails all the way home.” James explains. Regulus stares at him, and then proceeds to slump in his chair until his forehead is resting on the cool surface top, a whine releasing from him as he accepts what happened.

“This is why I don’t drink.” Regulus’ reply is muffled but James still hears him.

“I thought you were very sweet when you were drunk.” James moves closer to Regulus, kissing the skin on his neck under his ear, making the other boy squirm. “And very flirty.” James whispers in his ear.

James chuckles as Regulus wraps his arms over the top of his head in an attempt to hide himself from the embarrassment.

“Here’s a question.” Regulus speaks up a few minutes later as James potters around the kitchen. “How did you forget I had plans for us for yesterday?” James’ movements slow down. “I called you last week while you were out to keep the day free.”

James searches his brain for that moment of interaction and why he didn’t write it down. “Oh! I was talking to a fan when you had called me, it must’ve slipped my mind to write it down.” James explains.

‘More fans.’ Regulus thinks, a light frown setting on his face.

“I’m sorry, baby. But I said yesterday that we could just do those plans another night.” James suggests. “How about this weekend?”

“I have plans this weekend, a work’s night out.” Regulus mumbles. It was technically a work’s night out, just not with Barty and Evan.

“Oh…” James utters. They’re silent for a moment, the only noise is Regulus cracking his knuckles (a nervous habit).

“It’s fine, it wasn’t for anything important.” Regulus lies. “I just wanted a night for the two of us and it was the only day this week we had free, that’s all.”

“Oh, alright then. If you’re sure.” And they go back to an awkward silence, the first one they’ve ever had.

Chapter Text

“Reg, what time are you going out?” Regulus hears James call from the kitchen. He’s currently in the bathroom, applying a thin eyeliner over the silver eyeshadow. Regulus is silent until he determines his eyeliner to be perfect.

“In about 15 minutes!” He shouts back to James, capping the eye liner and pulling out the dark lipliner. He wasn’t always a makeup person, but Barty convinced him to put on eyeliner one night for a show and it had such a good effect that Regulus has been using bits of it ever since. There had even been one time where Sirius slept over at Regulus’ in the earlier months and they sat doing each other’s makeup for hours.

Finally, Regulus deems himself finished. He quickly tosses his hair, making it fluffy and sprays himself with some cologne. He does one last check of himself in the bathroom mirror before turning off the light and heading through to the kitchen.

James is at the kitchen counter, sitting in a tight t-shirt and grey sweats, a bowl of pasta in his hand. The fork stops halfway to his mouth when Regulus walks in, brown eyes trailing down his whole body.

“Oh fuck…” James mumbles, putting the bowl on the counter. Regulus feels a blush sneak its way up his face, a small smile on his face. “Hello, pretty boy.” Regulus rolls his eyes even though his heart melts a little inside. “The makeup really works for you.”

“Thank you.” Regulus mumbles. He lets James slide a hand around his waist, pulling him closer to the seat so he’s in between James’ legs. “I haven’t worn it in a while, so I was just trying it out.”

“I love your pretty face.” James pulls Regulus’ hand up to his lips, giving him a gentle kiss. “And I love these trousers on you. They give you such a nice…” James’ hand slips down Regulus’ waist to the back pockets of the tight jeans. “Waist. They give you a nice waist.”

Regulus hums in response. “They do, don’t they?” Regulus slides his own hands down the side of his body, letting them trace the curves of his sides as James’ big brown eyes follow them.

“Y-yeah, certainly.” James clears his throat and swallows, eyes still stuck on Regulus’ waist.

“Okay, well I need to go before I’m late.” Regulus starts to pull away from James, who just grabs his hand and keeps him close.

“Do you have to? Just stay with me for a little while longer. Please?” James begins to pout. “Baby?”

“No, James. Barty and Evan will kill me if I leave them stranded with our boss for too long. Not that they’ll stick around the whole night anyway, maybe just an hour.” Regulus pulls his hand out of James’ grasp, letting his boyfriend collapse onto the kitchen counter, a whine escaping his lips. “I’ll be back late, don’t wait for me.”

“I love you!” James calls as Regulus grabs his keys.

“I love you too.” He says, shutting the door behind him.

*

The girls had picked a bar a little further away from James’ apartment, so the plan was to meet at the studio, then get a taxi together to the bar. Regulus was in awe of all the girl’s outfits, it was nice to see everyone dressed up instead of the casual, relaxed clothes they wore when rehearsing.

Lily was decked in red, her signature colour. She looks like she owns the bar - cherry red mini skirt, high-waisted and hugging her just right, paired with a cropped black leather jacket that matches the shine in her boots. A satin red camisole peeks out underneath, delicate but daring. Her lipstick? Perfectly matched to her skirt, obviously.

Pandora’s in a flowy iridescent mini dress, with sheer layers that shift between purples and silvers as she moves. Regulus specifically loves her makeup, glitter on her collarbone, white shiny eyeshadow and tiny stars drawn at the corners of her eyes. Her platform heels are borderline magical, Regulus wasn’t sure if she walked in or floated.

Marlene was by far Regulus’ favourite, the style was exactly his taste. Pinstriped trousers, snug around the waist, slightly flared at the ankle. Black waistcoat over a crisp white button-up, sleeves rolled just below the elbow. A couple undone buttons at the top, a silver chain at her belt, and rings on nearly every finger. It was definitely her style, she wore it well.

Mary wore a black cropped top with asymmetrical sleeves, paired with a long metallic skirt that hugs her hips and shimmers with every step. Chunky heels, layered necklaces, and a bold smokey eye. She dresses like she doesn’t care who’s watching - but she absolutely knows they are.

Dorcas is in navy blue, almost black without any lights - tight leather trousers that make a statement without needing to shout, and a matching navy corset-style top. Her jacket hangs open, more for style than warmth, and her silver hoop earrings catch the light every time she moves. She is controlled, but with an edge.

The group greet each other in loud squeals and hello’s, immediately obsessing about what each other are wearing. Dorcas immediately grabs Marlene by the waist and they start whispering to each other, likely flirting. Pandora grabs Lily’s arm, sliding her other hand up over the leather blazer, a deep blush adding to Lily’s makeup.

Mary finds Regulus first. “Oh, my god. Look at you handsome!” She exclaims, grabbing Regulus’ shoulders and looking him up and down. Regulus is wearing a black, sleeveless, fitted turtleneck, hugging his torso in just the right places to be flattering. He’s paired this with James’ favourite slim, high waist trousers and his shiny black docs. Regulus’ hands are decorated with many silver rings, something he has in common with Marlene.

“Right, it’s cold out here!” Pandora yells, trying to drag a still blushing Lily towards the entrance.

“You’re the one who decided to show up in just a dress in March.” Regulus argues, receiving a raspberry blown in his face in response.

The girls make their way to the entrance of the club, pulling out their ID’s for the bouncer. The man holds each ID up to each of them, looking them all over. Eventually he passes them back, nodding as he opens the door.

“You guys have a good night.” He says to them as they walk in, the bouncer’s eyes linger - not on the girls in their club-ready glory, but on Regulus. The dark turtleneck, sharp boots, silver jewelry catching the glow of the neon sign. The guy looks twice, subtle but noticeable.

“Okay, someone made an impression.” Dorcas teases, wiggling her eyebrows at Regulus who rolls his eyes.

“You should give him your number at the end of the night. Try and get a couple of free drinks while you’re at it.” Lily winks, giggling with Pandora.

“Or I could set myself on fire.” Regulus shrugs, deadpan on the outside, panicking on the inside. “Same effect.” The girls laugh, and Regulus half-smiles but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He shakes it off as someone announces shots, loud cheers erupting.

*

James was fully prepared to just sit on the couch either watching films or practicing songs when Regulus left, but the message from Peter inviting them round for a couple of drinks changed his mind. He quickly throws on a hoodie and sends Regulus a quick text just to let him know where he is in case he comes home early.

James is walking up the stairs to Peter’s flat when he hears two familiar voices ahead of him. He looks up from his phone to see Barty and Evan, who are definitely not as dressed up as Regulus was when he left.

“Well this is a surprise. Weren’t you two supposed to be at the work’s night out with Reg?” James asks, looking between the two. Evan’s eyes widen and Barty frowns.

“What work’s night? We don’t-”

“Do those. Anymore.” Evan jumps in, subtly stepping on Barty’s foot. “Reg is the favourite so he goes, but we’ve not gone in a long time. Boss doesn’t care.” Evan explains, eyeing Barty as a warning.

Barty nods, quickly recovering. “Yeah, we bailed. Reg gets annoyed when we do but he’ll be fine after a few drinks.” He clears his throat, forcing a small laugh. “Classic Reg.”

James frowns slightly. “Huh, that’s not what he said to me.”

A beat of silence goes by. The stairwell is silent except for some distant laughter from one of the flats. James' tone stays casual, but he’s clearly watching them both now.

“He said you guys would be going tonight and would then ditch him after an hour? Reg left mine half an hour ago.” James says, smiling but not really.

“Right! Yeah, we usually do that, but we forgot to text him that we were going to Peter’s for a bit and would be late.” Evan saves them both, Barty nodding along but too much this time. James doesn't say anything, just nods slowly, still looking between them. The tension stretches just a second too long before he backs off.

“Okay, well then. I’ll head on up, you two enjoy the night out.” James answers, finally moving around the pair.

“We’ll let Reg know we saw you.” Barty says, the two watching James round the corner before he disappears out of sight.

Evan releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I completely forgot Regulus was doing that thing with the girls.”

“Do you think he bought it?” Barty whispers to Evan as they keep walking.

Evan grimaces. “Not even a little.”

*

Regulus is sitting around a table, finishing a shot when his phone starts buzzing frantically. He pulls it out his back pocket and sees they are all from Barty and Evan.

Skittles (wtf)
You’re welcome for covering your ass btw
Evan

What?
Reg

We just ran into ur bf
Barty

Shit
Regulus

Yeah, so if he asks, me and B do usually ditch you after an hour but you stay cause you're the boss’s favourite. And we were at peter’s and forgot to tell you we weren’t gonna bother
Evan

Okay, shit, thx
Reg

Chapter Text

As the night continues, so do the shots. Regulus and the girls are having the time of their lives. They’re drunk, dancing to good music (sometimes even their own) and having fun together. The phone in Regulus’ back pocket buzzes every now and then but when it does, Regulus doesn’t go to answer it.

It wasn’t until around 2 in the morning that the alcohol had finally hit the group, and they could already feel the drowsiness washing over them. Laughing loudly, they stumble out of the club, as a group trying to organise getting a taxi. Regulus finally pulls his phone out of his back pocket while trying to keep Pandora standing up right.

Hello love, I’m heading to Peter’s for some drinks just in case you come home early x
19:15
Jamie

I’ve just passed Evan and Barty, I thought they were joining you tonight?
19:27
Jamie

That’s me heading back to the flat, let me know if you want a lift home x
22:36
Jamie

I’ve locked the front door, hope you’ve got a key x
23:43
Jamie

Let me know when you’re on your way home xx
23:45
Jamie

Regulus sighs, switching his phone off as the taxi pulls up to the group. He’ll answer James when he’s in the cab. Just as he starts making his way to the taxi, someone gentle touches his arm. Regulus turns to meet the eyes of the bouncer from earlier.

“I just wanted to ask if you all had a good night.” He says, his voice deep and gravely.

“Yeah, we had - we had a fab night.” Regulus answers in between hiccups, trying to ignore the eyes staring into the back of his head.

“Good, good. Have a safe ride home then.” The bouncer grabs Regulus’ hand, shaking it as Regulus feels a piece of paper slip into his palm. He winks at Regulus before walking back to the club. Regulus takes a deep breath before turning around to face the girls, who are all watching with huge grins on their faces.

“What?” Regulus asks innocently.

“Well? What does the note say?” Lily asks desperately.
“What note?” Regulus lies, trying to wiggle his way out of the attention.

“Oh Regulus! Don’t try and play with us, we know there’s a note.” Marlene whines, hanging off of Dorcas’ shoulders like her life depends on it… at least her balance does.

Regulus sighs and unfolds the note. “It’s just his phone number.” He says blandly. He joins the girls getting into the taxi as they all start telling him to call the guy while Regulus tries to shrug them off.

Got taxi, drunk, phone dead
02:06
Reggie

Bart and Ev usual ditch anyway
02:07
Reggie

It wasn’t a long taxi until Regulus could be dropped off, he was after Pandora and Lily’s place. He clumsily makes his way up the stairs to James’ flat, digging through his pockets for his keys.

“Fuck, come on. Where are you?” Regulus mumbles to himself, even he notices his words slurring. Eventually he finds them in his trouser pocket, a quiet “ha ha!” of triumph escaping him as he holds them up. It takes him an extra minute trying to figure out how to work the lock on the door.

He tries to be quiet when he gets into the flat, but apparently being drunk makes that nearly impossible. Regulus is walking into surfaces, his jacket makes an oddly loud sound as he drops it onto the back of a chair but it falls to the floor instead, he stubs his foot on one of the chairs and almost drops his phone as he puts it on to charge.

He’s yawning by the time he makes it into his and James’ room, flailing around as he attempts to change his clothes. Regulus gets down to just his shirt before he gives up and climbs into bed. He sighs happily as he wraps his arms around the warm body next to him, snuggling up in the darkness, allowing sleep to finally consume him.

*

James stirs awake, the sun shining through the light curtains of the bedroom. The room is quiet except from the noise of the midmorning city. After getting used to being awake, James finally acknowledges Regulus snuggled into his side, his face pressed against his chest, an arm flung over James’ waist. James can feel Regulus’ body heat radiating off of his body. Instinctively, James pulls Regulus closer to him, turning on his side to face him. James brushed his fingers through Regulus’ hair, watching the frown on his face begin to appear again.

James smiles softly, simply admiring his boyfriend as he begins to wake up. Regulus groans, trying to hide his face from the light.

“Make the room stop spinning.” He mumbles. James breathes a laugh.

“I think you may have lost a fight with a bottle of tequila.” James teases lightheartedly.

Regulus mutters. “I lost a fight against too many shots.”

It’s quiet for a bit, James lets Regulus wake up a bit more. His memory suddenly slides to his conversation with Barty and Evan last night, Barty’s flinch and Evan elbowing striking confusion. “Did Barty and Evan ever show up?” He asks.

Regulus stills briefly, his mind racing back to his text conversation with the two last night. “Uhh, no. They didn’t. Said they got held up at Peter’s.” He lies, already feeling the guilt creeping in.

“Right.” James replies and they fall into silence again. Regulus’ breathing levels out and James isn’t sure if he’s fallen asleep again.

“I don’t want to get up. Can we just stay here forever?” Regulus mutters, finally looking up at James through eyeliner smudged eyes. James smiles softly, moving Regulus’ hair out of his face.

“I would love to stay here with you forever.” He says, leaning his head down towards Regulus’ lips, before his phone buzzes on the side table. “But unfortunately work calls.” He kisses Regulus’ forehead, who groans and flops into the fluffy pillows again.

James reaches over to look at his phone, seeing a couple emails from their manager, McGonagall, and some texts from Remus telling him to come down to the studio when he’s ready. James sighs as he pulls himself out of bed and begins moving around the room, getting dressed.

Regulus sighs from under the covers, watching his boyfriend. While the guilt of the small white lie begins to work its way into Regulus’ gut, he also can’t help but look at James like he’s his everything. He wants to do something, something that shows how he feels without having to use words.

“James.” James hears a mutter behind him. When he turns around, Regulus is sitting up against the headboard, sheets pooled around his waist. While the black silk shirt slipping off his shoulder looks so appetising, that’s not what caught James’ attention.

The ring Regulus holds out to him is what cuts his breathing short.

James swallows before he asks. “What’s this?”

Regulus doesn’t reply at first, probably trying to string words together with a hangover. “It’s not a proposal or anything. Just a symbol, I guess. For you and me. For us.” He answers almost sheepishly. James moves to balance on his knee against the bed. “I know the band and the fame will be a bit scary so I want you to have a piece of me with you all the time.”

James swallows hard again. “Are you sure?” He whispers, his voice quieter than he liked it to be. Regulus grabs James’ wrist, pulling it closer to him as he pushes the ring, still warm from Regulus’ finger, into his palm.

“I wouldn’t give it to you if I wasn’t sure.” Regulus nods. “I know it’s small and stupid-”

“It’s not stupid.” James cuts in gently, kneeling up properly on the bed. “It’s everything.” He slides the ring onto his pinky finger, the metal warm on his skin. It fits perfectly.

Regulus’ shoulders visibly relax as he breathes out. He goes to lie back in bed but James grabs the sides of his neck, dragging him back up for a searing kiss. It’s full of love and comfort. It’s home.

“I love you so much.” James whispers against his lips.

Chapter Text

The air in the apartment feels warm when Regulus finally drags himself out of bed. James left for the studio an hour ago, silver ring gleaming on his finger. Regulus still feels like his heart is ready to beat out of his chest at the memory of what just happened. He is still smiling from ear to ear when his phone pings on the kitchen counter, the familiar notification of the group chat sounding through the apartment.

Picking up the phone, Regulus sees a couple of messages from the girls discussing their outfits for their upcoming interview and then a few from Barty and Evan, letting Regulus know that they’re coming over.

Skittles (wtf)

REGGIEEEEE
Hope ur decent, we’re coming over in 10
Barty

Why are you coming over?
And why so soon?!
Regulus

Cause we’re bored and we haven’t hung out in agesssss
Barty

We hung out last week????
Regulus

We have stuff to make cookie dough and cocktails?
Barty

… Fine, let me get dressed.
Wait, where’s Evan?
Regulus

Driving
Barty

Ah
Regulus

Sighing, Regulus leaves his phone on the counter and unlocks the apartment door, knowing Evan and Barty will just let themselves in. They were right, it had been a long time since they had hung out. Regulus had been so busy with the girls and song writing he had to reduce his shifts at the bar and therefore hadn't seen Barty and Evan.

As promised, 10 minutes later, Regulus can hear two voices chatting in his kitchen. Quickly, Regulus pulls his phone out, asking if James will be staying over again and if so, what time he’d be finished with the band. He knows he likely won’t get a response for a few hours, but he wants to know how long he’ll have to drink with Barty and Evan.

By the time Regulus finally walks out of the bedroom, the other two have set up their bottles of alcohol and the ingredients for cookie dough on the counter.

“Ah, good morning sleeping beauty.” Barty says when he spots Regulus. All three of them are still in pyjama-like clothes - joggers, hoodies and such, they’ve grown not to care about how they dress around each other.

“It’s only a little after 10, chill out.” Regulus grumbles, slumping into a stool.

“You know, I can’t believe this is your place and you’ve not even offered us a drink yet.” Evan mumbles, pulling tea bags out of his back pocket and grabbing mugs from the cabinet.

“Eh, you guys have been over so many times.” Regulus waves a hand, brushing the comment off. Evan rolls his eyes but continues to make him and Barty tea.

“Ev, what are you doing?” Barty asks when he sees Evan with the mugs and tea bags.

“Uhh, making us tea? It’s not even midday yet Barty.” Evan says.

“So?” Barty shrugs, beginning to unscrew alcohol bottles. “We can make the cookie dough first if it bothers you so much and then we can quiz Regulus about his secret little job.” Regulus rolls his eyes at that but starts pulling out equipment for the cookie dough.

“There’s not much to tell. Apart from the fact that I’m enjoying what I’m doing now.” Regulus admits. Barty and Evan are the only ones he can talk to about his job with the girls, knowing that they won’t be telling anyone else about it either.

“Well, we’re happy we can finally hear your lyrics and that they’re being heard by the rest of the world as well.” Evan says, giving Regulus a small side hug as he passes him.

“Yeah, and you’re making the big bucks now. What are you doing with all that money anyway?” Barty questions, putting the alcohol in the fridge and the vodka in the freezer.

“Saving mostly, covering the apartment and such.” He says, weighing the sugar. “Have to keep James from asking where I’m getting all the money from anyway.”

“How’s that going, by the way?” Barty leans on his elbows over the counter. “Keeping all this a secret from him?”

“It’s… fine, I guess.” Regulus mutters. “He’s so busy with his band now that he hardly notices when I’m out and such.” He frowns when he notices Barty scrunching his face up. “Oh shut up, it’s fine. Besides, don’t you two feel the same with Peter always going out?”

“Peter isn’t out much, to be honest.” Barty mumbles as he tries to weigh the butter.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, ‘cause Peter isn’t the ‘lead’ of the band, he’s not always required to go for magazine shoots and press meetings or whatever.” Barty explains and Regulus can see Evan mentally facepalm in the back.

“But they’re a band? Surely they need everyone for stuff like that?”

“Nah, usually just James and Sirius, seeing as they’re the ‘pretty boys’, y’know?” Evan is now mimicking hitting his head off the cabinet. “I mean, sometimes Remus tags along cause of Sirius but otherwise it’s just the two of them.” Barty shrugs, ducking under the counter to get the sugar out.

And it shouldn’t, but something in Regulus’ chest begins to hurt. And if Evan notices Regulus brush off the feeling, he doesn’t say anything.

The night continues. The trio eat so much cookie dough they’re almost sick, and that’s when Barty starts pulling the alcohol back out.

“Watch and learn, you ungrateful bartenders.” Barty smirks. “This is what true mixology looks like.” He begins to move so quickly Regulus and Evan don’t have time to stop him.

“Wait Barty, you just poured half a bottle of vodka into cranberry juice and added edible glitter… where did you even get that?” Regulus eyes the glitter suspiciously, knowing for a fact he did not own any.

“That’s not mixology, B. That’s a hangover in drag.” Evan deadpans as Barty pours the alcohol concoction into three glasses. “You didn’t even measure anything, you just eyeballed it!”

Barty scoffs. “Exactly, it builds character, Evan. Besides, precision is for cowards.”

Regulus picks up the glass, swirling the drink around to watch the glitter. He sighs, “You know what, sober decisions are also for cowards.” Regulus puts the glass back on the counter, staring at Barty’s pouting face for a second. “Hand me the gin before your disaster takes one of us out.”

Barty rolls his eyes but grabs the gin anyway while Evan takes the cookies out of the oven (they had leftover dough). “I still can’t believe we’re having cocktails and cookies, what are we? Divorced housewives?”

“Uhh, correction: hot housewives. Y’know, the ones that actually killed their husbands and wore those silky nightrobes?” Barty replies.

“Speak for yourselves, I’d be the mysterious neighbour with six cats and a criminal record.” Regulus passes round the fixed cocktails, sipping it to make sure it tastes better than what Barty had previously made, although without the measurements, it was incredibly strong.

“Yeah, a criminal record for stealing hearts.” Barty scoffs again.

“No, for arson probably.” Barty howls with laughter at Regulus’ response and Evan accidentally knocks over a bag of flour.

“Shit-” The flour splatters everywhere, coating the floor. Evan looks up with eyebrows raised as Regulus frowns. “That wasn’t me. It was the ghosts… the ghosts of failed cocktails?”

“Reg, your kitchen is haunted by my geniusness.” Regulus rolls his eyes at the made up word.

“It’s haunted by the fact you think lemon curd belongs in a mojito.” Barty feigns an offended gasp and Evan takes the opportunity to shove a spoonful of unfinished cookie dough in his mouth.
“Here, eat your feelings.” Evan offers the spoon to Regulus.

“I’m emotionally unavailable, thanks.” He deadpans, rolling his eyes but takes the spoon anyway.

“That’s your entire vibe, our little sad boy.” Barty reaches over and ruffles Regulus’ hair before his hand is slapped away.

“Can one of you just tell me how the cookie dough tastes? ‘Cause otherwise the actual cookies are gonna taste shit.” Evan grumbles.

“Oh it’s really good.” Barty tells him, licking the spoon.

“Yeah well after your alcohol concoction, I don’t trust your tastebuds anymore. Reg?” Evan turns back to Regulus, who is slowly eating the dough, ignoring Barty’s offended whine.

Regulus shrugs. “Yeah it’s not bad.”

Evan nods. “I’ll take that.”

“I hereby declare this night sacred.” Barty announces, straightening up and holding the spoon up. “Reg, tell James he’s been replaced.”

“Heh.” Regulus chuckles, moving to get a dustpan and brush for the flour on the floor. “Tempting.”

Regulus moves on to start cleaning up the floor and Evan fiddles with the cookies which are now cooling on a rack, neither of them noticing Barty adding more vodka than necessary to his drink. It’s not until Regulus is putting the spilled flour in the bin that the silence is broken.

“Oh shit.” Barty mumbles.

“What?” Evan and Regulus both turn to see Barty with his phone out.

“Uhh, your boyfriend is playing heartthrob, Reg.” Barty flips the phone for Regulus and Evan to see a picture on Twitter of James. It’s a paparazzi photo, James has his arms slung over the shoulders of two girls as they leave the recording studio, sunglasses on but his big famous grin plastered on his face. Regulus’ own smile drops for the first time all evening.

“Right.” He mutters, turning away to put the dustpan and brush away and busying himself with the cookies.

“Reg..” Evan tries to say.

“It’s fine.” Regulus cuts him off, moving to pick up his glass. “We’re not public so… it’s fine.” He takes a large drink of his cocktail, ignoring the burn of the alcohol down his throat. Evan and Barty share a glance but they don’t say anything. Regulus reaches for a fresh cookie, and there’s no smile on his face this time.