hogwrites | Remus Lupus and the prisoner of high society

The best thing about meeting at his place was that the damn dog wasn't there. Other than that, it really wasn't all that good, given the size of his place, but whatever. He knew how to distract Regulus from complaining and right now he just needed to dress him. Not that he didn't much prefer him undressed.

Rummaging around in his wardrobe, he finally turned around and held up two jeans. "What do you want, blue or black? They are both new, no rips or anything."

However, they should be tight on Regulus, which Barty was very much looking forward to.

"Black, if you would." He held out his hands and caught them as they were tossed over, looking them over and inspecting the tag. "Primark? Never heard of this brand." Looked cheap. The stitching was off. He pulled out the tag a little more to read it. "Made in Cambodia. Lovely. All right, let's see how these go."

He slipped his feet into the legs and started to pull them up, looking down with interest. They were so damn tight. He'd worn skinny jeans before... or he thought he had. Apparently not. This was a new experience.

"I don't look stupid, do I?"

"Not at all." Barty looked at him, smiling. And it's not a brand. That's how I can afford it." He knew he should pick a shirt for him, but instead he crawled onto the bed, hands on Regulus' legs as he moved higher and higher, leaning down to kiss the inside of his thigh, he smiled at Regulus. "You look delectable, darling. Trust me."

Of course, he always thought that Regulus looked great.

"Not sure if 'delectable' is the look I want to meet my brother but I suppose I can't complain with the assessment." Regulus deadpanned as he looked at Barty, turned on and quite annoyed by it actually because these pants had no give and he didn't fancy the friction. Hence why he promptly shoved Barty back a little. "Come on, we're putting clothes on, not taking them off."

Sadly. Tragically. Why did they have to go to this thing? "I hear the drinks are cheap. Sirius told me as much so... we'll be wrecked by the end of the night, I assume."

Barty persisted, getting a kiss onto the side of Regulus' neck before he let himself be pulled off, reluctantly getting up again. "We aren't just going to meet your brother. You are taking me out too. And, yes, you will be wrecked. No tolerance."

Of course he had to tease him over that. He headed back to the wardrobe, trying to find a shirt that would both be fitting and not bother Regulus too much. He didn't want him feeling embarrassed or awkward, although he reckoned it was probably unavoidable.

"Yes, it's a date. I'll treat you well, I'm going to pay all evening." He was very insistent because he knew he was the one with the money. So he was eager. "It's just -- it's odd to see my brother under these circumstances. It's odd enough seeing him in the first place but to bring my boyfriend to meet him? It's a bit mad."

And yet, he had to do it. He wanted so badly to acknowledge Barty as his boyfriend to someone and Sirius seemed the best option. "You and him will have a lot in common." They were both poor and couldn't afford things and they'd both been disowned and... that was it.

"Really now?" Barty was amused, because he could already guess what Regulus was thinking. The question was whether he would actually state it out loud. "What do we have in common, pray tell?"

Yes, he was teasing, but sometimes - often - it was impossible to resist the temptation of teasing Regulus just a tiny bit. Or a lot, especially if he could do it without the other catching on.

"You're both... hard working and you have a unique sense of style." Translation: you work shitty jobs and you have terrible clothes. So there was that. "You're more handsome. In my opinion because, you know, you're not my brother. It'd be weird if I found him attractive. Well. Actually. Not entirely if my family history is to be believed. It's possible me and Sirius were the weird ones."

But enough about their families potential incest issues. Moving swiftly on, Regulus sat up properly and smiled at his boyfriend. "You're definitely more handsome. And you have better hair."

"Better hair than Sirius Black? My. I should put that on my business cards." That was a high compliment. Barty ran a hand through his hair now, then threw a shirt at Regulus. It was just plain black, but whatever. His boyfriend would look so goth, he was entertained by that. "And thank you for not being attracted to your brother."

He made his way back over to the bed, sitting down next to Regulus. "You know, Regulus, you don't have to let him know. If you are uncomfortable with it, we can be just friends. I'll just have to be subtly about undressing you with my eyes."

"No, I want him to know. I'd tell everyone if I could but... you know it's not easy." He didn't want to be disowned but he also didn't want to leave Barty so he was sort of stuck in limbo and kind of hoping that somehow it'd all work out. Perhaps mother and father would die in a tragic yet timely accident and allow him to be with his boyfriend and become the heir.

"Sirius will approve so that makes it easier. And besides, he always jokes about my lack of dating or social life." And he'd love to rub it in his face that he had a boyfriend. He had a great social life.

"Oh, I know." Barty watched Regulus, smiling at the thoughts that were going through his mind. That he assumed were, anyway. "I'm glad you can stick it to your big brother. You have a rich social life, between dating me and all your friends from school."

Which, yes, technically were his friends too, but he didn't exactly have the time or, frankly, the patience to spend much time around them. "I'm not expecting you to come out to your parents, Regulus. I know that isn't done in our circles."

Barty shrugged. "It is what it is. We will see what happens."

"I'll live with you for as long as I can. Happily. Me, you and Kreacher."

One can't forget his beloved dog, of course. Even if people wanted to. All dressed now, Regulus stood up and have Barty a bright smile. "I'm still hoping that dog has many years left in him. He's a fighter." Sadly. Unfortunately. He was not a nice dog but Regulus seemed to think so. "It's enough to me. What we have now. I don't want to change it."

Or lose it. Or anything like that.

"Of course you don't want to." He wouldn't live like that forever, but there was no need to bring that up right now, Barty didn't want to upset Regulus. He was already nervous enough about this. "Your brother plays the guitar and sings, right? Do you know if he's any good?"

He got up, holding a hand out to Regulus. They were ready, no more stalling. Time to leave. "All I know is how much we have in common."

"He sings, he plays guitar, he's rather good from what I hear. I don't know, I can judge that noise." He'd rather go home and listen to good music. Like BTS. Not that he'd inform Barty of that but he was just saying. "I'd rather listen to Liszt, personally."

Taking Barty's hand, he smiled and exhaled, nervous but trying to ignore that. "It'll be fine. He won't tell anyone and -- and it'll be fine." Yeah, he was totally chill about this.

"I know. You are all about the Liszt." Barty gave Regulus' hand a squeeze, then headed out the door with him. He let go of his hand to lock the door and didn't bother taking Regulus' hand again. Seemed safer that way, one never knew with modern phones. Someone could recognise Regulus and take pictures. He knew how to be discreet, not that he liked it.

"How far away is it? Are we walking, driving?"

"Not far from here. You live in the right neighbourhood for it." Well, it was that kind of area, after all. Though he didn't say that. He walked close to Barty, checking the location on his phone and doing a quick search. "Seven minutes. May as well walk it."

With his phone back in his pocket, joined by his hand next, Regulus kept some distance so it didn't look too obvious and all. "We just missed happy hour. Tragic."

"I have a posh friend footing my bill. Every hour is happy hour for me." Barty smirked at Regulus, then he laughed, shaking his head. "It's funny, your brother making fun of your social life. What would he have to say about mine? I don't believe he even had one."

All he had was an official friend who was unofficially his boyfriend.

"He thinks I don't get out enough. To men like Sirius, it's more being out then being personable. No idea why. I would see my friends more but by God, they're idiots." And he didn't fancy actually spending more time than he had to with that crowd. As a boy, he didn't notice how bad they were. As an adult with a boyfriend who was experiencing hard times, he kind of hated those rude, evil little fuckers.

"I often think I could use new friends but the idea of making more seems exhausting."

"People can be useful. Think about it that way." That was Barty's approach, by and large. Is how he got people to do stuff for him at work. Or in his studies, for that matter, it just helped to know the right people to team up with for group work. He frowned. "Your brother is still friends with James Potter, right? The one who married the working class girl."

Quite the scandal, in a way, although the Potter family themselves never seemed to have an issue with it.

"Oh yeah. Don't remind me of him. I can't stand Potter. He's such an obnoxious twit. He had a baby with that girl recently, I hear. Caused yet another scandal. Apparently Potter's parents are thrilled." Regulus hated that and hated him. Why did his parents love him? He always supported and loved, no matter how much he fucked up. Once Regulus wore the wrong colour tie and his mother chewed him out for four hours and used the belt on him.

How is that fair? "Everyone cares about the Potters but the Potters, it seems. Every scandal is ignored."

"Well. People like babies. I suppose." Barty was rather ambivalent on them, but he knew the general sentiment. "And of course people care about it. He's good-looking, so is she, and it's that poor girl becoming a princess story, isn't it? Not that her family is even all that poor."

It was fascinating what the tabloids liked to linger on. He supposed some things just sold well, hard to blame them. "It's like you and your brother will always be on covers, simply because of being rich and beautiful. Whatever scandal they can dig up or fabricate. Like they did with me."

"Yeah, people just love drama, I suppose. Hence why we won't give them any. And if they try to, we can deny it. No one believes that shit anyway." At least, not in the circle they ran in. And that was where it counted. Regulus sighed, wishing things could be easier for them but he supposed people found their lives far too fun to give up like that.

"My mother always used those kind of magazines for kindling." Only if she found them in the possession of the maids but even so, said everything about what she thought of them.

"Really? I like the ones that rank you as an eligible bachelor. You rank higher than Sirius these days, because he's been cut off." On the other hand, the musician thing probably kept him higher up. It was kind of fun to pay some attention to these things, Barty even listened to people at work talk about it. "You are my number one, of course."

And that was what Regulus would be, until whatever happened next happened. Barty wondered whether Regulus actually thought about it. Was he planning on getting a wife eventually? Probably barely thinking ahead at all.

"I'm number one? Interesting." He didn't think he'd ever see the day he'd beat his brother but, to be fair, he was disowned so that kind of made it easier. He supposed he would plummet if they knew he was taken. Taken by a man, none the less. He turned to Barty and smiled faintly. "You'll always be my number one."

He knew that for a fact. Even if fate went against them, he knew he'd never get over Barty. "I don't want anyone else."

"I know." Barty didn't really live a life very caught up in confidence issues. He had plenty of other issues to occupy him. "I've made you mine. Forever." Maybe there was no reason to drop his voice to say that, but Barty did anyway, looking at Regulus from the side. Then he stopped, gesturing at the door. Some people were standing outside, but he could faintly here some music.

"Is that it?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject