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The first time Barty heard about Evan, he thought he was going to throw up. He was 18, him, Regulus and Dorcas had just barely started attending university and somehow, Regulus, who had never shown any romantic interest for anyone, seemed to have developed a crush on a guy in one of his classes : Evan Rosier. It was a punch in the gut after having secretly harboured feelings for him for years. Barty had felt like he was finally accepting that even if Regulus didn’t feel the same way about him, he would never feel that way about anyone. But then Evan had come along, shared most of his classes, seemed to have the same taste in music and books as Regulus, was apparently enough of a dick that Regulus wouldn’t immediately brush him aside but also nice enough that he kept his attention. Barty hated him.
After about a month of foreplay, Regulus and Evan finally made out at a party that Barty had refused to attend. He didn’t talk to Regulus for a week after and Regulus hadn’t cared for it. After moping and pouting and almost burning the dorms down, Barty had gone back to Regulus.
“Are you done being a baby ?” Regulus had asked without looking up from his notebook after Barty had offered him an apple.
Barty had pursed his lips and thrown the apple in his face. Things were back to normal after that.
Except, for some reason that Barty still didn’t understand, everyone was opposed to him meeting Evan. Especially Regulus. He had tried not to be hurt by his friends’ insistence, upset that they thought he could ever do anything to someone Regulus cared about. Him cutting off all of Sirius’ hair had been a childish mistake he would never make again. Except if Sirius started being a little bitch again.
But Barty listened because he loved Regulus. Because he was still stupid and naive and thought that if he didn’t witness his relationship with Evan it would hurt less. Because he hoped that it meant their relationship wasn’t serious and that meant there was still a chance for him.
Their couple lasted for only about a month before Regulus realised he wasn’t in love with Evan and probably would never be because he didn’t think he could feel that way about anyone. Barty went out that night and celebrated so hard he got permanently banned from his favourite bar.
The first time he met a Rosier, it wasn’t Evan, it was his twin sister, Pandora. She had platinum blonde hair with pink highlights and bows in her braids. She was in his engineering class during the second semester of his first year. Regulus hadn’t brought up Evan in a few weeks but Barty suspected they were still friends. He had tried poking at Dorcas but she wouldn’t say so Barty stayed in the dark for a while. Sometimes he would stay up at night, stalking Regulus’ followings on Instagram, trying to find someone who resembled an Evan or a Rosier. He never did.
“So, um, do you have any siblings ?” Barty asked Pandora one afternoon.
They had a joint project to hand in at the end of the semester and Barty had very-casually-not-at-all-on-purpose asked her to be his partner. She had agreed and he was very glad because she had the organisation Barty lacked. She was also a bit unhinged which Barty could appreciate. She was currently taking note of everything they needed to sort out before their next session while Barty essentially did nothing, simply waited for her to be done and answered her eventual questions.
“Mhm,” she hummed without looking up from her notes. “A twin, Evan”, she said and before Barty could even muster up a smile because bingo, she continued “He dated your friend Regulus, I expect you’ve heard of him”.
Barty tried not looking too caught off guard because it seemed that even if Pandora wasn’t looking at him, she knew how he was feeling. It seemed like she knew everything.
“Uh, yeah, hadn’t realised you were the same Rosier as him”, he tried to answer casually.
Again, she simply hummed but Barty could very well see her little smile. Rosiers really were insufferable.
Which is why he introduced Pandora to Regulus and Dorcas one night and why they all decided, after spending the evening playing board games, that they would kill for her if needed.
“You should tell Evan to come next time,” Regulus said at one point. He was arranging cards around Pandora’s head - who was laying on the floor - for reasons Barty didn’t understand.
“He doesn’t really like board games but I’ll try to convince him”.
Barty went to bed thinking about Evan and wondering why he didn’t like board games. Who doesn’t like board games ? What kind of antisocial freak did you have to be to dislike board games ?
Pandora and Dorcas started dating soon after. Since Regulus, Dorcas and him shared an apartment close to their university, Barty got to see even more of Pandora, which he was secretly very happy about. Dorcas seemed lighter than she ever had and Barty wondered if that was just the Rosier effect. He remembered that Regulus had seemed more relaxed when he had been dating Evan.
So Barty started observing Pandora more, and started wondering which of her habits and traits Evan shared. Did he hold himself with as much grace as Pandora did ? Did he also like his coffee with insane amounts of sugar and cream ? Did he also like maths and physics ? Did he also write in cursive ?
One day, when Pandora was leaving, she kissed Dorcas, as she always did, but she bit her lip too hard and Dorcas started bleeding. They both laughed it off and Pandora gave her an extra soft peck before taking her leave. As Barty took out a singular ice cube and helped Dorcas icing her lip, he wondered if Evan also bit his partner’s lip when kissing. If he also held them by the waist or put his hand on their thigh.
“Are you okay dude ?” Dorcas asked, ice cube on her mouth which made her sound more like “ah yu ohay huhe ?”
“Well my fingers are going numb because of your girlfriend but sure”, he said, not meeting her eyes.
Dorcas punched him in the stomach and he dropped the ice.
“Aouch, what the hell Dorc ?”
She gave him a look and licked her lip. She wasn’t bleeding anymore so she simply picked up the ice cube and threw it in the sink.
“Don’t bitch about my girlfriend. If you’re still jealous because you can’t get this with Regulus, you need to get over yourself, Crouch”, she said, crossing her arms over her chest and resting against the fridge.
“What are you talking about ?” he asked, frowning, confused.
“You have that look on your face, the one you got in high school whenever you talked about Regulus.”
Barty blinked.
“I don’t- I don’t even feel that way about Reggie anymore”, he said and he found that for once, he meant it.
Dorcas must have felt it too because she simply stared at him for a minute then shrugged.
“Well, whoever it is you’re thinking about, either do something about it or stop looking so stupid,” she said then ruffled his hair before walking away.
Barty went to bed trying to think about something, anything that wasn’t Evan Rosier.
When Barty finally meets Evan Rosier, he’s 20. He’s halfway through his second year of uni and he has accepted that he has an unhealthy obsession for a guy he’s never met or seen. He has tried desperately to get Dorcas, Regulus and even Pandora to at least show him a goddamn picture but they seem to find Barty’s behaviour hilarious at best, ridiculous at worst so they have repeatedly refused.
What they don’t know about Barty is that he is crazy. So, Barty did the only thing he could do, which was sleep with a guy who works in the university’s administration, figured out which classes Evan took and enrolled in one of them during his second semester. And there he is now, attending a class on British History in the 14th century, which isn’t Barty’s favourite century, that’s for sure. He’s not even pretending to pay attention to the class, simply skimming the classroom, trying desperately to spot someone who looks like an Evan, or who at least seems to be related to Pandora. He’s about to give up, thinking that maybe Evan was just not actually dedicated to the 14th century enough to actually come to the class he signed up to, when the chair next to his starts moving.
A guy around his age, at least as tall as him with blonde locks and green eyes, is pulling the chair and sitting down. It’s Evan, he knows : his gut is telling him so and he looks enough like Pandora to confirm his theory. He doesn’t pay attention to Barty at first, simply putting his bag down, taking out his computer and phone from it. It’s after about 5 minutes of staring that Evan finally clocks him, doing a double take. He frowns and tilts his head at Barty.
“You good ?” he asks. Barty blinks. That’s what he sounds like ?
He’s suddenly taken by the need to get him talking again - something about the way his lips move and his voice vibrates made him shiver.
“Yeah, sorry, I just feel like I’ve already seen you somewhere, I just don’t know where,” he lies.
“Uh, are you sure ? I don’t really go out, I’d remember you if we had talked,” he replies with a confused frown.
“Yeah, maybe I’m wrong then,” he agrees with a small, fake smile.
He whips his head to face the front of the room where their professor will start class in a few instants but all he can think about is that Evan Rosier is sitting next to him. The Evan Rosier.
The entire two hours of lecture go like this. Barty doesn’t take one note down, partly because he never does, but mostly because he’s too focused on Evan Rosier next to him : his hair, his smell, his lips. He thought meeting Evan would make the obsession better but it actually made it worse. When the class finishes, he turns abruptly towards him and Evan raises his eyebrows in surprise.
“You’re Pandora’s twin brother,” he says, going for a question but ending up sounding like an affirmation, almost an order even.
“I am ?” Evan replies but now he’s the one sounding like he’s asking it.
“That’s why you looked familiar,” he continues lying. “I’m Barty. Crouch. Junior,” he says. “I’m friends with her,” he says.
“Oh, yeah. You’re Regulus’ friend,” Evan replies with a more comfortable look on his face.
“Yeah, you know him ?” He asks, feigning ignorance.
“Uh, yeah, we dated for a bit,” Evan replies, confused again.
“Really ? He didn’t mention,” Barty answers.
Evan blinks at him and then a small, mischievous smile starts spreading on his face.
“I’m sure he did. I remember you now, Barty. Yeah, what a funny coincidence,” he says, clearly knowing something Barty doesn’t, which he doesn’t like one bit.
“Is it ?” he asks, genuinely confused now.
“Yeah,” he replies, then gets up, surprising Barty. “I guess I’ll see you around, Barty. Crouch. Junior,” he says with the same malicious smile then turns around and leaves the room, leaving Barty more confused and insane than ever.
He needs him. He will get him, no matter what it takes.