Pretend.

chapter thirteen

James reached out for Regulus hand. His fingertips brushed against the top of Regulus' hand, which was lying on the table. Regulus blushed, and moved his hand closer to James so that they were holding hands. Rosemerta gave them a knowing look. The boys talked for hours and eventually had to leave because Sirius would have a hard time believing that James would actually study for 4 hours.

The boys stood behind the statue of the witch. James was looking at the map with his wand for light, the coast was clear. He looked at Regulus, who looked as if he wanted to ask something. "What?" James asked.

"Nothing. I was just..." Regulus started nervously "I was wondering if, if you would like to be, erm, my boyfriend?"

James smiled brightly. "I'd love to."

Regulus looked relieved and smiled. The boys walked back to the Gryffindor tower, talking as if they had been friends for years.

"There you are! I was starting to worry that you two did something else than studying!" Sirius said, winking at the two boys standing in the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. James went red. "I was only joking Prongs!"

Luckily, Sirius was too oblivious to realise that what he had said was 100℅ true.

-

The rest of the December holiday flew by, and soon, The Marauders found themselves greeting Lily, Mary, Marlene and Dorcas at the small station of Hogsmeade. James and Regulus hadn't really told anyone about their relationship, but Remus had figured it out himself. Luckily, Remus understood that it would not be very smart to be telling, say, Sirius, about the relationship between James Potter, Sirius' best friend, and Regulus Black, Sirius' little brother, of whom he was (overly) protective. Yeah, that one wouldn't go over well.

Sirius still jokingly flirted with James, who jokingly acted flattered and flustered. Secretly, he was just really happy that Sirius had an ego that reached the moon because otherwise, he'd have realised there were 2 Black sons.

As classes started again, James and Regulus had more time to see each other in private. From quick kisses in cupboards (there were like millions of cupboards in Hogwarts, it's absolute bollocks) to study dates in the back of the library, at the table that had been established Marauders property a long time ago. People tended to stay away from that side of the library.

James spend hours during classes, making little lists in his head, full of things he wanted to tell Regulus, things he loved about Regulus and tiny details about Regulus that made him even cuter.

Tiny details about Regulus Black that make him even cuter. {By James Potter}
★ Regulus Black has dimples when he smiles
★ Regulus sometimes wears eyeliner. It's very little and hard to notice, but it's hot.
★ Regulus' hair is naturally curly, and it looks stunning in the wind. If you think Sirius' hair is holy, wait until you see Regulus'
★ Regulus can't draw to save his life, except when he draws mushrooms. He can draw beautiful mushrooms, and James suspects Regulus drew the mushrooms on Sirius' trunk.
...

James told lots of his secrets and thoughts to Regulus, but there was one thing he hadn't told. He hadn't told Regulus about Remus' furry little problem. And a full moon was coming up. That alone wouldn't be that much of a problem, there had been full moons while Regulus stayed at theirs before, but then they'd asked Lily to do a prank on the Slytherins so that they could say they had to do that. But now James would not leave alone his boyfriend for a simple prank, and it's not like Regulus wouldn't be able to join them.

Last time, Regulus hadn't joined them because the Slytherins were assholes looking for any opportunity to hex him. Now, the hexing had calmed down, so Regulus could easily join them.

But that wasn't the worst thing. The worst thing was, that Regulus wanted to plan a date. And James had a hard time saying no. So now James had two choices.

1. Tell your friends' biggest secret to your boyfriend and then have to explain to your boyfriend's brother who is also that friends' boyfriend why you told his brother his boyfriends' biggest secret. Wow, that's a lot of brothers and boyfriends in one sentence.

2. Don't tell your friends' biggest secret to your boyfriend, and then have to explain to your 3 friends, of whom 1 friend knows that you are in a relationship with your boyfriend, and of whom 1 is your boyfriend's overprotective brother, why you can't join them for a full moon.