BubbleGum

Sirius had gone on an impulsive whim this morning after a quiet breakfast with Remus had revealed he quite likes the edgy punk look. And whilst Sirius is well aware how much Remus adores his long hair and pretty rebel boy demeanour, mixining it up for a few months could only mean a bit of fun.

Besides, if the way Remus’ brain seemed to short circuit that time Sirius came home with a septum and a nose piercing meant anything, Sirius is sure the other man would absolutely melt now.

He’d gotten himself an eyebrow and lip piercing today, as well as an extra three in his ear. It was a painful feat, and Sirius will not admit that he cried and had to be given a lollipop like a child, but he did it.

He also cut his hair short, just below the base of his skull, short wavy locks that no longer frame his face like they once did. And underneath, he’s died it electric blue.

He chopped one of his old metal band tees through the middle for a rough crop, and put Remus’ too big black ripped jeans on, letting them sit low on the waist with a studded belt to keep from pantsing himself. He’s never really been one for having his briefs stuck up out of his pants, but he happens to be wearing dark blue ones today, and they match.

“I think you look lovely, Sirius.” Pandora smiled over her tea, sitting at the table by Regulus. Out of Regulus’ entire group of friends, Sirius likes her the best. She’s always the nicest to him. “Very punk rock.”

“Thank you, Pandora.” Sirius smiled.

“I think you look stupid.” Regulus said, because of course he did.

“Thank you, Reggie.” Sirius smiled.

“I think you look like me.” Barty said, leaning up against the kitchen counter, one foot on the cabinets behind him for stability.

Sirius furrowed his brow and looked Barty over. And… fuck, yeah, he did. Barty was also wearing a messily cropped shirt, briefs that stuck out of the hem of his low baggy sweats, but he usually wears jeans like these when he’s out and about. And his hair is almost identical to Sirius’, however there’s green in it rather than blue. And the piercings, he’s got loads of them, skin smothered with tattoos too.

“You stealing my look, Black?” Barty grinned.

“Yeah, Im very attracted to him right now.” Evan, who had his head resting on Barty’s shoulder, smiled, “You should go blue, Barty. Its hot.”

“Hey.” Barty nudged him in the side and Sirius blushed.

“Well, thank you Evan, however, I am happily committed.” Sirius smiled, taking another little bow, “I suppose I take that as a compliment too, Crouch?”

“Obviously.” Crouch snickered, “I feel honoured that the Sirius Black is trying to look more like little old me-“

“That was an accident.” Sirius pressed, pointing at him, “I just wanted to look cool for Remus.”

“So you think I look cool?” Barty laughed delightfully.

“That’ll work.” Dorcas grinned, “Remember when Remus and Barry shagged-“

“I don’t need a reminder of that!” Sirius shouted as the same time that Barty said, “Cas, I told you to stop bringing that up around Evan.”

“Oh, so she can bring it up when I’m not around, huh?” Evan asked with a snake like grin, “Do you like to reminisce when I’m not there, Barty? Are you unfaithful?”

“Never, dove.” Barty kissed Evans forehead and sent an evil glare Dorcas’ way, “Dorcas just likes to stir the pot.”

Dorcas and Pandora giggled to themselves.

“Okay, enough about you lot, more about me.” Sirius interrupted, “On a scale of one to ten, how much do you think Remus will want to shag me when I get home? Ten being a lot-“

Sirius’ speech was interrupted by someone else letting themselves in through the front door and striding into the house.

“Love, I broke my glasses again, can you please fix them?” Sirius recognised that voice instantly, it was his best friends voice afterall. James walked right past Sirius in the entry way and leant in and smacked a kiss right on Regulus’ lips, “Missed you.” James muttered again, “I know it’s only been three hours, but I always miss you.”

Sirius is feeling a lot of confusion right now.

Regulus sends him a panicked glance over James’ shoulder, and then awkwardly looks up at James with pink cheeks. Sirius takes in the sudden tension in the room, at the way Pandora is sending Sirius a pleading look, at the way Dorcas is biting her lip in anticipation and looking between everyone, at the way Barty is clearly trying his best not to burst out with laughter, and the way that Evan is jabbing an elbow into his side and looking remorseful.

Suddenly Sirius is no longer confused. He feels more betrayed than anything.

James is fucking shagging his baby brother, isn’t he?

“Oh, Barty, by the way-“ James starts but he interrupts himself midway through, “I swear you were just-“ James turns and points in Sirius’ direction, and then spins back to Barty, “Why are there two of you?”

Barty bursts out laughing, “There’s only one of me, Potter.”

James swings back and forth, looking between them for a moment. And Sirius remembers how genuinely blind James is without his glasses. He usually can’t tell Remus and Peter apart when without them, their hair too similar in colour. So Sirius decides to help him out.

“James.” Sirius prompts when James’ back is to him, and he watches the way the other man immediately stiffens, “Are you snagging my brother?”

Regulus stands and slides James’ glasses onto his face before solemnly petting him on the cheek and sighing, “You’ve been wanting to tell him somehow.”

James slowly turns around, “Oh, Sirius, hi! Didn’t see you there, wow, new look. Very punk, Remus is sure to love it- hey, why don’t we go show Remus now? Yeah, let’s go right there and not talk about anything else-“

“James.” Sirius prompts again, glaring at him, “Are you, or are you not, shagging my brother.”

“Uhm, well… shagging’s quite a vile word, don’t you think? I prefer… love making-“

Behind him, Regulus groaned and began to bang his head on the cupboard whilst all of his friends lit up with laughter.

“Love making?” Sirius gasped, “James, that’s disgusting.”

“Well, it’s not really, it’s quite lovely.”

Sirius pretends to gag, “How long?”

“Erm… bit of an odd question considering it’s your brother.” James shrugged, “But, usually at least an hour-“

“No!” Sirius gasped, slapping his hands down over his ears, which hurt due to the new piercings. “I meant you two! How long have you been shagging?”

“Oh.” James turned bright red, “Yeah, I suppose that’s more logical. Uhm, maybe… like… mhgh…”

“I’m sorry?” Sirius asked, “Mind not mumbling?”

James pulled a wry face and shook his head. Sirius cocked an eyebrow, which also hurt.

Regulus groaned and leant over James, shoulder, “Six and a half month-“

“What!” Sirius shrieked, “You’ve been fucking m’y brother for six and a half months and haven’t told me?!”

“I don’t need to tell you all my personal business, Sirius.” Regulus said.

“Yeah, but, James does.” Sirius points at him.

“It’s true, I do.” James agreed, “Which is why I’m so sorry, Pads. I didn’t want to keep it from you, it’s just, we thought we should at first because I know you scared away the last two guys Reggie was involved with. And then… and then I just felt bad for lying and so I kept lying and… and now we’re here.”

Sirius shook his head at James, “I’m so disappointed in you.” He squinted his eyes, “Just fooling around with my brother like that-“

“We’re not fooling around, Sirius.” James defended, “We never were.”

“I don’t understand.” Sirius shook his head, “Are you shagging or not?”

James snickered, “Look, I didn’t even know I had a crush on Reggie till he kissed me one day, and then I immediately realised I liked him and… and well, we started going out. The shagging didn’t start till after then.”

Sirius took a little step back, looking them both over.

“It’s genuine, Sirius.” James smiled, putting his arm around Regulus’ shoulders, “I just didn’t- I was too scared… I was worried you wouldn’t approve of me for him.” James shrugged, “But we’re not just shagging… I love him.”

Sirius was taken aback, stuck silent for a moment. James loved him? Regulus was gazing up at James with flushed cheeks and a a smile he’d never seen his brother wear before, and it seemed like Regulus loved him back.

Sirius burst out crying.

James immediately rushed to his aid, making them both sit at the table, two chairs pulled out to face eachother. Regulus groaned and went to put on a new pot of tea.

James took Sirius’ hands, shushing him and looking terribly guilty, “I- I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sirius. Is there something I can do to make it up to you? Is… Is there something I can do to make me worthy of him? I can’t lose- I can’t lose either of you, I’m so sorry, Sirius.”

Sirius sobbed so hard he couldn’t even speak. He shook his head to try and communicate with James, but the message did not go across clearly.

James had started to cry too, “I’m sorry, Sirius. I’m so sorry, I should have- I know I shouldn’t have lied, especially not for so long. But I was so worried- worried about this. I can’t-“ James sobbed so hard he started hyperventilating, “I don’t want to loose- loose-“

“Okay.” Pandora muttered, getting in between them, “Look at me, let’s take some deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. With me now, come on, in through the nose… out through the mouth.”

Sirius and James sat there for a moment, following pandoras instructions. James’ glasses were cracked and foggy, and Sirius was dreading having to reapply his eyeliner for a second time today.

Regulus set some teacups down on the table and poured them each some midnight blue coloured tea, “Dora’s recipe. Supposed to calm you.”

“I’m sorry.” James muttered after taking a big sip of tea, “I don’t know what to do, Pads. I can’t lose you both.”

Sirius took a few sips himself, taking a moment to compose himself, “You’re not going too.” He smiled, his eyes begging to water again, “I’m sorry I freaked you out.”

“What?” James asked, taken aback, his voice sounded hoarse.

Sirius set his cup down with shaky hands and burst into more tears, but he smiled through them, and they weren’t nearly as heavy as before, “You love him?!”

James sent a nervous glance over at Regulus and tentatively nodded, “As much as I love you- but, differently, of course.”

That only made Sirius cry harder. He tried to talk again, but all that came out was incoherent nonsense.

“Sirius, stop wailing and just talk for Godricks sake.” Regulus scoffed, “Or you can fucking get out of my house.”

Sirius took a deep breath and sniffled, “I’m sorry… I just… you love him! Reggie deserves to be loved.”

“Oh.” James muttered, poking his glasses up his nose. Across the table, Regulus went silent. James smiled and nodded, “Yeah, of course he does.”

“And you deserve to be loved.” Sirius mumbles.

James snickers, “Well, I hope I do.”

“And… and you have such a big heart, and love people so… so… in the best way.”

James smiled and nodded.

“And Reggie-“ Sirius sobbed more, “He struggles- but he really loves who he loves with his whole heart.”

Regulus embarrassedly buried his head in his hands and Barty gave him a playful shove.

“Out of everyone in the world, I approve of you both the most for eachother.” Sirius sobbed, “And it just makes me so happy that you love eachother!”

There was a moment of silence before James started laughing in that way he does when he really adores something. He reached out and grabbed Sirius’ hands, squeezing them tight.

“It makes me so fucking happy that you approve.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Sirius sniffled, “You’re my best friend, and he’s my brother. You’re my two favorite people, it only makes sense that you love eachother.”

“Do you mean that?” Regulus asked across the table.

“Of course.” Sirius nodded, reaching over to pet Reggie’s elbow, “And when you get married James will be my brother in law-“

“I bloody know!” James grinned, slapping his knee, “How good will that be?”

Sirius grabbed onto him excitedly.

After a moment, James smiled and wiped at the black smudge from Sirius’ tears, “This new look got anything to do with Remus’ thing for punks?”

Sirius smiled sheepishly, “Do you think he’ll like it?”

“He liked it enough when you got those nose piercings, he’ll probably pass out seing you like this.”

Sirius chuckled.

“Come on, let’s clean you up and get you back home to him.”

Sirius smiled and nodded, “Thanks, Prongs.”

When Sirius got home, Remus did in fact malfunction. He couldn’t talk proper words for two whole minuets before he pointed to their room and muttered, “Bed, now.” And Sirius could never say no to his Moony.

★ ★ ★

Wow I wrote this at a regular hour in the day, hats off to me. This was inspired by @gaybubblehead and my texts about how they hc sirius goes through a phase where he looks just like Barty in terms of style and stuff and I honestly agree he would do that. I mean they came up with the entire idea of this basically and told me I should write it, and for once I actually delivered. lol

So this one’s for you my dude <3

The lift dings, and a voice filled with faux cheer announces, “Floor Ten.”

Regulus’ office is on Floor Thirty.

But the kitchen with the special tea? His favorite tea? Well, that’s on Floor Ten.

He comes down here every day at precisely one o’clock. It’s after lunch but before his long string of afternoon meetings. For thirty minutes, he can sit in silence. Even his lunch hour isn’t sacred; too many people are far too comfortable about walking in to his office to ask him questions.

If his paychecks weren’t so damn large, he might’ve quit international law years ago. He’s twenty-eight going on eighty-five. Last week, he found a single white hair amidst the black of his curls, called Sirius, and proclaimed, “I’m fucking dying. Literally,” to which Sirius replied, “Make sure I’m in the will. Did you get the reports I emailed to you an hour ago?”

Such is the way, he supposes.

But Floor Ten has the best kitchen with the best tea, and the best part of it all?

There’s no one else here.

The only other amenity on Floor Ten is a small gym. It’s a strange thing to have in a giant office building—half of which belongs to Regulus and Sirius’ firm—but it’s there nonetheless. He’s spent many half hours staring at the equipment through glass walls. Wondering who the hell would exercise at one in the afternoon in the middle of a work day.

Today, it seems, he gets his answer.

It’s as he’s waiting for his tea to steep, gaze faraway and mind anywhere else but here, that it comes.

Well, not it.

Him.

The man Regulus simultaneously wants to strangle and sleep with.

Maybe at the same time.

He won’t admit to that, of course, because that would mean admitting he finds this man’s face attractive. It would mean admitting he likes the narrow line of his waist and broad set of his shoulders. It would mean admitting his smile—bright as the fucking sun—does something to Regulus. It would mean admitting even when he says, “I hate James Potter,” what he really means is, “I want James Potter,” and then his brain will supply the tacked on in my bed bit that inevitably comes with this admission.

The only person who knows is Sirius.

“I hate James,” Regulus had said some months ago.

To which Sirius looked up from his laptop and replied, “I give it six months before you sleep with him.”

As of today, it’s been five months of pining.

Regulus is not proud of this.

James walks into the gym in shorts that are too damn short and a shirt that is too damn tight, and Regulus wants to upend his mug of piping hot tea right over his own head. Can’t get white hairs if you don’t have any hair follicles at all, he figures.

But then James looks up, curious, undoubtedly aware someone is staring. Looks up and searches, hazel eyes flitting around, then out, and that’s when his gaze lands on Regulus. Lands and holds, refuses to move as his lips upturn at the corners and oh, Regulus wants to die.

Right here.

Let him perish and become one with the awful vomit-colored carpets.

James raises his hand—and waves.

Regulus sets his full mug of tea on the counter—and runs.

//

Floor Ten is no longer sacred after this.

However, there’s no other time Regulus can make his tea, and there are no other kitchens with his favorite kind. And he checks. Spends a week combing the kitchens of all thirty floors, only to find that Floor Ten is the only place that stocks his special tea.

One day, he tries to take it with him back to Floor Thirty. But when he stands in this kitchen, the entire office is up his ass. Mister Black this and Mister Black that, and he realizes it was a mistake.

So he takes the box to Floor Fifteen, where Remus works. But this is also where Dorcas and Marlene work, and suddenly it’s Regulus this and Reggie, you wouldn’t believe that, and he realizes it was a mistake.

After a week of trying new kitchens and new floors and new offices, Regulus finds himself in the lift, hears, “Floor Ten,” and steps out into the hall to find James already exercising. Bronze skin glistens with sweat; his cheeks are flushed, his eyes bright.

Regulus hates him.

He heads for the kitchen, box of tea in hand, and drops it on the counter. He avoids looking towards the gym, though his eyes wander. He’s never in his life thought I want to lick the sweat from his abs, but he thinks it now, when James does a chin-up and his shirt rides up his midriff on the extension. More golden skin and now a dark trail of hair and—

James has stopped moving. He’s suspended, hanging from the bar—and watching Regulus with a raised brow.

Fuck.

Regulus turns back to his tea. Why won’t it steep faster? Would it be weird to leave with the mug? Is that too obvious? He’s burning, face over a thousand degrees, and his suit is too hot, the tie too tight, and he has to admit after that first day he ran, there may be nothing more embarrassing than trying to run again, this time with a full mug of hot water. But he could, if he really—

“Regulus.”

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

“Hello, James.”

He stands in the doorway, arms and ankles crossed. Leaning, so comfortable in his own skin. Always charismatic and everything Regulus isn’t. Men and women love him, admire him, discuss his absolutely incredible skills as a lawyer. Regulus isn’t bad, but he doesn’t charm. James, though? He holds the whole courtroom in the palm of his hand the second he opens his mouth to recite his bar number.

“You haven’t come down for a few days,” James observes. “Thought maybe I scared you away.”

“You didn’t. Just busy.”

“I see.”

Regulus picks up his mug, still piping hot, and says, “Alright. I have to go back to my office now.”

“Sure, sure. See you tomorrow?”

Regulus’ eyes narrow to slits. “Why?”

“Well, I work out here every day. You drink tea here every day. Our paths will cross.”

“How do you know I drink tea here every day?”

James grins, crooked. “Ah, well. I used to work out at one-thirty. I would pass by and see you here drinking your tea, and I thought, ‘Oh. I wonder if—,’ but then I would come out and you’d be gone.”

Regulus blinks at him, startled.

“Anyway, have a nice day. I’ll see you in court later?”

“Unfortunately.”

//

They settle into a strange routine.

Regulus comes to Floor Ten at one o’clock each day to find a mug of tea already prepared for him. He sits and drinks in silence until twenty-five minutes past, when James appears glistening with sweat, a bright smile on his face. They talk for five minutes, usually about mundane things, before they go their separate ways.

Regulus doesn’t know what to make of it. He and James don’t get along. They’re not supposed to.

But when he relays this to Sirius, the reply is, “How long did I say?”

“For what?”

“For it to take until you sleep with him.”

Regulus might need to exchange his tea for bleach.

//

Two weeks after their strange routine begins, Regulus comes to the kitchen to find both his prepared tea missing and no tea bags in sight. He frowns at the state of it all, and realizes with some amount of irritation that James has conditioned him. He expected his tea to be here. He expected it to be at the perfect temperature for immediate consumption.

But it’s not.

He looks in every cabinet. Checks the fridge. Even tries the pantry.

Nothing.

Disappointment weighs heavy on his chest, but he tries to push it aside. James might not be at the office today (wrong, because Regulus checked his schedule and he has court at two-thirty), or maybe they’re all out of tea (also wrong, because Regulus requested it be ordered in bulk), or maybe James has grown tired of this game and moved on to better, more interesting things (plausible).

Regulus steps from the kitchen prepared to spend the next thirty minutes lamenting his lack of special tea.

But stops dead in his tracks.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

James blinks at him across the glass wall. In his hands he holds two boxes of Regulus’ favorite tea. “I’m holding your tea hostage,” he declares, as if this explains anything at all.

“I need you to know that those words make no fucking sense.”

“Sure they do. Can I make you a deal?”

“Can you give me back my tea?” Regulus can’t help the spike of irritation.

James’ smile broadens. He holds up the two boxes and says, “If you go on a date with me, I’ll give you back your tea.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

//

The thing is, Regulus doesn’t just go on a date with James.

He goes on a date with him and has fun.

James is irritating but he’s also endearing. His smile is bright, his laugh infectious, and Regulus finds himself enjoying a date for the first time in years. So much so that when it ends, he can’t help the twinge of disappointment that dampens his mood. He wants to tuck it away, to act unbothered, but James looks beautiful in an ironed crimson-colored button down and dark jeans. His curls are as neat as he can make them and his eyes shine behind his glasses.

Regulus stands on his front porch and says, “I had a great time,” to which James replies, “So did I,” and then there is silence.

A beat.

A moment suspended in time wherein neither of them seem sure of the next step.

Until Regulus continues, “Do you want to—?” and James fumbles out, “Can I kiss—?” and suddenly, there’s only this tiny universe made of them.

“Yes,” Regulus says at the same time James says, “Absolutely,” and this is how Regulus finds himself tangled in sheets with James Potter, breathy moans and sweet nothings filling every nook and cranny of his bedroom.

After, when Regulus is curled against James’ side with his head on his chest, James tells him, “I stole the tea.”

“Mm?”

“The tea. I stole it.”

Regulus shifts to look at him. “I’m sorry?”

“The tea you like? I took it out of every kitchen except for the one on Floor Ten.”

“You—Hold on.” Regulus pushes up on his elbow. “You took the tea?”

James’ fingers drag featherlight strokes up and down Regulus’ back. “I noticed you always took the same kind, so I made sure you couldn’t find it anywhere else.”

“How—How long?”

“Six months.”

At this, Regulus swings his leg over James’ hip and rides him until the sun comes up.

//

Sirius pokes his head in Regulus’ office the following Monday.

“Five months and twenty-four days.”

Regulus glances up at his brother. “What?”

“Your neck is covered in hickeys. James looks like he got mauled by a wild animal over the weekend.” Sirius smacks the wall twice. “Five months and twenty-four days, Reggie. What did I tell ya?”

//

“Floor Ten.”

Regulus steps into the hallway and makes his way to the kitchen. Finds his mug on the table, tea at the perfect temperature for consumption, and he sits. Enjoys the silence until twenty-five minutes past, when he hears footsteps in a cadence he’s come to know.

A smooth voice, affectionate and warm: “Hi, baby.”

“that’s okay.” sirius shrugged, “she wasn’t the nicest to us anyway, and she spends all that time with snevellious.”

james snorted, “you’re right. but maybe i still might.”

“well, if you do, we will just have to rescue her from the slimy git…” he said, eyes squinting as he looked at lily some more, “maybe we can convince remus to bring her over. she seems to like him so much.”

james grinned, “i suppose you still have a crush on remus then?”

sirius huffed and flopped backwards in the chair, “it’s terrible james. i wrote him thirteen letters and he only sent me one back!”

“thirteen?” james gasped, turning to look at sirius now, “what did his letter say?”

“it said thankyou for the letters, but he’s not good at writing them back… the envelope was filled with chocolates.”

“oh, sirius!” james said, “that’s so sweet.”

“it’s terrible!” he exclaimed, sliding down onto the floor in a dramatic heap, “he only sent that letter after the tenth one.”

james pulled a wry expression and gently kicked sirius’ dead leg on the floor, “well… it’s not like he didn’t want you to send them. remus loves his chocolate.” james gasped, “oh, don’t you remember when he told us his mother never buys him very much chocolate. he must have given some up for you, sirius.”

sirius peaked an eye up at him, “do you think?”

“perhaps.” james smiled, “but, we still don’t know if he likes boys… or lily.”

sirius groaned and started to roll around on the floor, “it’s terrible. it makes me want to cry. i think i love him, james!”

“who do you love?” remus’ roughed up accent filled the carriage as the door was shut behind him.

sirius jumped to his feet in a second, cheeks burning red as he looked at the boy, who had a fresh scar on his neck that made sirius worry about him. but he had new freckles on his cheeks from the summer sun, and a tan, and sirius wanted to give him a kiss.

“no one!” he exclaimed, and remus cocked an eyebrow.

“limos gregor.” james said with ease, holding up the front page of his magazine, “he’s the new captain-“

“oh, quidditch things.” remus hummed and sat himself down on the opposite side of the cart.

sirius stared at him. for a very long time. long enough for james to pull him by his robes back to his seat.

“i like your… tan.” sirius squeaked out as he plunked himself down beside james, he found his cheeks to be even warmer after that.

remus gave him a funny look, but his freckle smattered cheeks seemed to develop a dusky pink colour to them that james gave sirius a suggestive elbow nudge about. sirius cleared his throat and looked to the ground.

“i like your… hair.” remus said, awkward, as he often was. his eyes glanced over to james and then he looked out the window and cleared his throat, “you- it looks pretty- i- erm… pretty nice, i mean.”

james nudged sirius’ side again. sirius nudged him back harder.

“th-thanks.” sirius muttered, hanging his head low enough to hide his bashful state behind his hair.

there was a knock at the carriage door. all their eyes turned to see who was sliding open the glass, and sirius let out a disgruntled grumble.

james didn’t hear a thing though, his eyes trained on the prettiest boy he’d ever seen. he had dark glossy hair, like sirius’, but it was short and had pretty curls hanging down over sharp eyes. they were icy, but in the most entrancing of ways. james could look at them for hours, he thought. he was dressed in robes, but they didn’t have house colours so james could only assume he was a first year.

james didn’t care who this boy was, or the fact that he was supposed to have a crush on lily, or the fact that he didn’t even know he liked boys the same way sirius did. he just knew, right then and there, at the first glance, james wanted to marry this boy.

“… the legacy.” james managed to catch as his ears tuned back in, it was the boy who spoke, and his voice was as sharp as his eyes.

“have fun with that.” sirius winked, “it’s not as fun as it sounds.”

the boy rolled his eyes.

“scurry along now.” sirius shooed him, and james had never hated sirius more than he had in this moment because why was he making the pretty boy leave?

“see you at dinner?”

“part of me hopes to see you at my table.” sirius grinned.

the boy glared at sirius, and promptly left.

“godrick.” sirius mumbled, rubbing his forehead, “don’t get a little brother, they’re torture.”

remus gave an easy laugh, shuffling further up his seat to be across from sirius. but it only clicked in james’ head then, the boy, it was regulus. of course, he looked so much like sirius. but, we’ll, apparently regulus was just more his type.

oh god. james’ head was spinning. he felt a little giddy.

“i think you’re a great big brother.” remus was saying with a sweet smile that had sirius looking as giddy as james felt.

“really?” he asked back.

“you’re so good at looking after people.” remus hummed, “you always bring me chocolate in the hospital.”

sirius was trying to hide a bashful smile again. peter was flinging himself through the door at that moment, and plopped himself down beside remus. he started rambling about muggle cars breaking down and being late.

james was too in his head to process it, his mind void of all but regulus.

regulus black.

reg-u-lus.

regulus.

regulus potter.

james black.

james and regulus.

regulus and james.

botter?

plack?

rames?

… jegulus.

he made himself giggle.

sirius nudged his side and gave him a concerned glance over.

“sirius.” he whispered, leaning into his space, “i have something wonderful to tell you.”

sirius grinned and turned to face him, “tell me!”

james glanced over at the other two to make sure their conversation was safe, before he whispered, “i think i’m in love with your brother.”

sirius looked at him blankly, his eyebrow slowly arching up. it was almost comical how slow it was.

“regulus?”

james nodded with a bright smile.

“blimey james.” sirius muttered with a shake of his head, “he’s so annoying. not to mention, probably a slytherin!”

“i don’t care. i want to marry him.” james said, and he knew he was gushing. he just had to grab onto sirius and shake him, “he’s just so pretty.”

“i’m going to take that as a compliment.” sirius nodded and poked james in the shoulder, pushing him away, “and the only reason i will allow your terrible tastes- clearly you’ve picked the wrong brother… is because if you marry him we can be related for real.”

james lit up like a christmas tree.

he spent the entirety of the train ride repeating their names smushed together in his head, and the whole of dinner staring at regulus over on the slytherin table.

he took the first teasing chuckle and nudge from sirius about it in stride, but he didn’t get a second like he thought. and then he realised the only reason sirius wasn’t teasing james about his love sick state was because sirius had the same dreamy look on his face towards remus.

remus and james black.

an injury prone halfblood boy with anger issues and a rebellious pure blood who spat in the face of purist values just like his parents, chasing after the only two hairs of the noble house of black.