Archive of Our Own

“You have a new job.”

That’s the first thing Regulus hears when he wakes up, or more likely, gets woken up. He is lying face down in his bed and can sense that his mother is standing close to his bed, but Regulus still refuses to open his eyes, it can’t be past six in the morning judging by the tiredness of his body. He’s still resting from his last job, although it was an easy target, he had to travel countries and he just got back two days ago.

Yeah, he gets that he is one of the best at this job, but he deserves a fucking break. 

Regulus’ first memory is learning how to hold a knife correctly. His first gift was a dagger. By the time he was seven he already knew what zones could cause deathly damage and which ones only caused pain. When he turned ten years old, he made his first kill. His father was absolutely sure that the best way to teach him those things was with actual practice. It didn’t matter the countless scars he had in his whole body, it didn’t matter the times he spent practising with his cousins or Sirius. No. It only mattered to his father the moment he sliced the throat of his first victim. 

Sometimes he wishes he could say he was horrified by what he had done, but at the age of ten, he was only proud because he had made his parents proud. 

Ever since then, the training started speeding up, Regulus took it more seriously and then the training stopped being just that and started being a job. At some point after he turned fifteen, his family made a celebration and officially welcomed him to the family business. A business passed on through generations and yet, Regulus was still the youngest member to join.

He also felt proud about that.

“Who?” He asks and he knows his voice is rusky. 

“Get dressed. We’ll meet you downstairs,” Walburga replies and leaves his room. 

Regulus sinks his face deeper in the pillow, then groans as he stretches his whole body. That feels good , he thinks. Regulus has trained his whole life, but age is a bitch sometimes. He can’t handle this shit at twenty three the same as he did at fifteen. His body becomes more sore and he needs more days to rest, but he can’t say that to his mother, let alone his cousin, they will make fun of him and he is not in the mood for that. So, he gets up, gets dressed and goes downstairs.

Regulus heads directly to the meeting room where he finds his mother, both his cousins and brother waiting for him. Maybe it’s because they all were raised here, but the four of them are the best ones at this. Sirius looks like shit and he guesses it’s because Remus is out working, has been all week. 

“Hi, Reggie,” Bella greets him and Regulus nods at both his cousins and sits next to his brother who quickly lets his head rest on his shoulder. His mother starts explaining to Bella and Cissy their missions, Regulus only half listens.

“Bad week?” Regulus muses to Sirius in a whisper.

“Don’t be a prick. You know it has been,” Sirius closes his eyes and exhales. 

“Yeah… I mean, it’s not like he isn’t coming back,” Regulus rolls his eyes. “Remus is one of the best of us,” he shrugs and Sirius groans at the movement as it makes him move as well. 

“One day, you’ll fall in love and understand, Reg,” he says and sits straight when their mother is finished with his cousins.

He doubts it, though. He has never fallen in love. Quite frankly, he doesn’t even have the time for it and most people wouldn’t even understand his job. Besides, he’d rather save the time it takes to meet new people. The closest he has been to falling in love was with Barty and Evan, but he soon realised he would never reciprocate the love they showed him and could never match the love they have for each other. 

“Sirius, you and Lupin will work with Regulus on a new mission. This time, you are going to be the ones infiltrating an organisation Lupin works at. There you are going to be giving Regulus intel. However, your missions are different. Sirius and Lupin will bring it down from the inside and Regulus,” she turns to look at him. “Your mission is to kill the leader.”

“With Remus?” Sirius asks at the same time Regulus asks, “Who?”

“Yes. The Phoenix Organisation,” Walburga answers Sirius first.

“Phoenix?” Narcissa asks as she looks up from the folder she was handled earlier. “As in the same Phoenix my target works at?” 

“Yes,” his mother says. “The five of you will be working close together. This is a mission we are planning for the long game,” she states and Regulus is surprised, they’ve never done something like this together, which means they need the best ones to make this possible. Now it makes sense they are here. “All of you, except for Bellatrix and Regulus, will work there. Thanks to Lupin as an insider, you will have a job interview and get close to people. Learn everything you can then report it back,” Narcissa and Sirius nod. “And you two have your own assignments, “ she says to 

him and Bella. “The first part is you have to make mayhem in order to draw attention to you instead of them. The other part is individual, Bellatrix you already know your targets,” Walburga points to the folder and Bella smiles. “Regulus, your mission is to kill James Potter. He is the leader of the organisation.”

“He gets to kill the leader?” Bellatrix protests.

“Yes. Regulus is quicker and knows how to have patience. You don’t, you’d kill him tomorrow if you wanted to. That’s endangering the mission.”

No one says anything, but everybody agrees, even Bella. She is unhinged with his victims and likes to do it as soon as she can just to prove that she can . Regulus believes she's the reason why his parents taught him to be patient and to appreciate the process of getting his targets killed. 

“Any questions?” Everybody shakes their head with their own folders on hand. “Great, you have two days to get everything you need. Lupin should be arriving tomorrow, we’ve already sent him the details,” she says to Sirius. “Bellatrix and Regulus, you will be moved several times to keep them on their toes, both of you have a list of targets, they are insignificant, not special to the mission but you still have to finish the list, alright?” They nod. “Great,” is all she says and they know the meeting is over. Everyone gets up and leaves the room, Regulus stays there, reading the papers in his folder. 

He really wanted that break.

“Please, please, don’t kill me, please,” the woman crawling on the floor is begging. Regulus only rolls her eyes. The amount of times he’s heard that and the outcome is always the same. Do these people really think begging will change anything? 

“Shit, you are right…” Regulus says lowering the dagger. “I’m so sorry, let me help you stand up,” he extends his hand and the poor woman looks so confused but still takes it. Is she stupid or something? I mean, he still has a dagger on his other hand. “Are you alright?” 

“Y-yeah, I- uhm…” 

These are the ones that Regulus likes killing less, they are so stupid it baffles him. How are you going to trust someone who just tried to kill you? He gets that it’s the hope they have to be alright, but come on!

“God, you really bought that?” He tilts his head and furrows his eyebrows. While still holding her hand, he pulls her towards himself with enough strength so that she doesn’t have time to react. Next thing, his dagger is buried deep into her stomach. She doesn’t scream which is better for Regulus, he hates when they scream, such unnecessary sound. He twists his wrist and a choking sound comes out of the mouth of the woman, making him bury the dagger even more and then finally taking it out. Regulus pushes her off of him and lets her body collapse on the ground. Dead. He looks at his hands full of blood and grimaces. Such a mess. He shakes his head, disapprovingly and thanks God he is wearing gloves, because he had to get his hands dirty… and for what? For her? Jesus, such a waste.

Another successful job.

His phone starts buzzing and he rolls his eyes. Not even after he’s done with a target can he get a break. 

“Black,” he answers the call. He is well aware that he has blood on his hands, probably got it on his phone as well. 

“Ugh, you sound so pretentious when you answer like that,” his brother says from the other line. 

“How do you answer?” Regulus asks, because he knows damn well how.

“That’s unrelated,” Regulus knows he just shrugged. Regulus would roll his eyes if Sirius could see him, because the fucking hypocrite also answers his phone with their last name. 

“Why are you calling, Sirius?”

“What? A big brother can’t call his little brother to know how they are doing?” Regulus stays silent. “Okay, fair,” Sirius sighs. “I have intel on Potter.” Yeah that would be more like it. It’s been three months since they got this assignment and four weeks since Regulus started his part of it. But honestly it feels longer. Regulus has moved around twice and his boredom is bone deep. Luckily, the places he stays in always have everything he needs. He makes a mental note to thank Pandora who is the one in charge of that, because at least he can rest without the worry of not having any food. “He is getting all the clues you are leaving behind- which, really, Regulus? Could they be any more obvious?” 

“They told me to make them obvious,” he shrugs. “So I did.”

The list of targets he was given are people connected indirectly to the organisation, as well as people who have helped Potter in the past. The “clues” (if you can even call them that) are just little messages for Potter to get. Regulus has to make sure Potter knows he is doing everything because of him, that the last target is Potter. He is taunting him. Playing with the mind of the other man. If Regulus is feeling cheeky he would just leave his initials painted with the blood of the victim or carved in their skin, but that is only when he gets exasperated with the target. 

This one, for example, will get his initials carved in. 

“I think it’s time to move forward with the plan,” Sirius says more seriously. And thank fucking God, he was getting bored , he’s been tracking down and killing, nothing more, nothing less for over two months. Even his cousin, Bella, has been having more fun because her targets are more difficult to find. 

The next part of the plan involves getting close to Potter without him realising who he is. Ideally meeting him in person once or twice and then moving to targets closer to Potter, the ones he has a deeper connection with.

“He will be at a bar tomorrow night, he’s always at the same bar every week,” Sirius explains. “He goes with colleagues from Phoenix, so he is always with someone. Be careful, Reggie, he isn’t as dumb as one might think.”

“I’m always careful,” Regulus replies. “Thank you,” he adds and then hangs up.

Regulus tilts his head and looks at the lifeless body on the ground. He squats next to it and starts dragging the blade on the skin, not so deep, he doesn’t want it to look grotesque. Instead he takes his time and enjoys the end result. It looks almost like a tattoo. 

RAB

When he walks into the bar, the first thing he notices is that he is the best dressed in the place, not overdressed, but just better . Almost everyone is wearing jeans and a shirt, not putting any effort. The girls do, though, they do put in the effort to stand out from the crowd, some are also in jeans but others are wearing skirts despite the cold weather outside. Regulus, however, is wearing black loose trousers, adjusted in the waist, a dark green blouse (that he stole from Narcissa’s closet) and black converse because he absolutely hates wearing fancy shoes, unless he absolutely needs them.

He’s seen a picture of Potter before, so finding him in the crowd isn’t difficult, besides, the man seems to like the attention, it’s like he is craving for it, begging to be watched by everyone in the room.

And Regulus is watching. 

Because that’s his job. Not because the man is actually more beautiful in person than in the shitty photo the folder contained. No, it’s not that. 

Except it is. 

Potter is wearing a dark red t-shirt with (guess what) jeans. The shirt is so tight on his body, Regulus almost salivates watching the way his arms are framed by it and his chest… yeah, this man absolutely exercises daily, there’s no way you can look like that if he doesn’t. And believe him, Regulus is bricked as well, because his job requires great physical condition, and yet, he doesn’t look like that . Fuck.

He has to force himself to walk away from the sight and turns to get a drink, he definitely will need one or a couple. When he gets to the bar he orders a simple shot, he can handle alcohol. He is well aware that the bartender is flirting with him, he flirts back just for the fun of it, but then gets bored and turns to look to the middle of the place and sees that Potter is going to the restroom. That’s his cue.

He waits a couple of seconds before entering, Potter is washing his hands and Regulus takes out his phone and pretends to be annoyed by something and that gets the other man’s attention. Regulus sighs annoyingly. 

“Fuck,” he mutters and if the profile Sirius, Remus and Cissa gave him is true, then this man will want to help him. 

“Are you alright?” Ding, ding, ding. Got you.

“Uh?” Regulus replies, still looking at his phone, pretending to be distracted. “Yes, just texting a friend to come get me,” he says and sighs again. He turns off his phone and leaves it on the counter of the sink, at the same time as he puts both his hands (one on top of the phone) on the edge of the counter, closes his eyes and leans his head back. He knows Potter is watching. “Some asshole was trying to flirt with me, but made it very awkward and now I want to leave but my friend can’t come get me,” he opens his eyes and looks at Potter. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this, sorry,” he shakes his head and looks down.

“No, no, it’s okay,” he quickly says and turns to lean on the counter and look at Regulus. “Is the man still here?”

“I think so, as soon as I could I came here,” he closes his eyes again and shakes his head. “I just wanted to have fun, you know? I had a shitty break up recently and wanted to meet someone,” he inhales deeply and exhales. Regains his composure and leans to wash his hands. “But thanks for asking…” 

“James,” the man says smiling.

“Thanks, James ,” he walks beside him to grab a piece of paper to dry his hands and James keeps looking at him.

“Is your friend coming?” he asks.

“No, I should probably get an Uber or something,” he says sheepishly.

“You can stay with us,” Potter offers. “I mean,” he lifts his hand to scratch the back of his neck. Oh, he is nervous. Cute. “You wanted to have fun tonight, you should do that. I promise we are fun to be around,” he smiles and Regulus hates the beauty of that man. 

Regulus manages to smile back at him. 

“Thanks, but I think I will go. He already killed my mood,” he grimaces, both to play the roll and because that was cringy as fuck. They don’t pay him enough. 

“Oh,” Potter’s smile falls but only for a second. “Can I keep you company until your Uber comes?” 

“Sure, why not?” Regulus smiles at the man as he grabs his phone again and sends a text, appearing as he is getting an Uber.

They get out, Potter waved at someone before stepping out of the bar and the cold of the city hits Regulus without mercy. The shiver makes him shake his shoulders and Potter seems to notice that. 

“Are you cold?” Regulus fights not to roll his eyes. He nods.

“Yeah, I kinda am.”

“Oh, shoot, it would be perfect if I had a jacket on. Sorry,” he says and scratches the back of his neck again, a nervous tick it seems. 

“There are other ways to keep someone warm,” Regulus dares to say, leaving his shy role behind. Potter blushes.

“I- I mean, I-”

“Like a hug?” Regulus teases.

“Oh, you are mean,” Potter says but grins.

“Had to have my fun some way or another,” Regulus smirks and pulls out his phone and sends a message. The car will arrive soon.

“Hey, uhm, I’ll be here next week,” Regulus already knows that, thank you very much. “Do you want to come? I promise I will not let anyone flirt with you,” he chuckles.

“Not even you?” The question seems to take him off guard but the man still smirks.

“I can’t promise that,” oh, no. He cannot flirt back. No. Thankfully the car parks in front of them and it’s time for Regulus to go.

“This is my ride,” Regulus points at the car and Potter hurries to open the backseat door, Regulus gets inside. “Thanks, James .”

“You’re welcome…” he tilts his head waiting for a response.

“Just call me Elio for now,” and he reaches to close the door without letting Potter say anything.

“Really? Elio?” Barty asks from the driver’s seat. 

“That was awful, Reggie,” Evan says from the passenger seat.

“Yeah, I know,” Regulus sighs. “That man is gorgeous,” he laments.

“Wait. Was that Potter?” Barty asks and looks at him from the rearview as he drives. Regulus nods. “Oh, you’re fucked,” he laughs and Regulus can’t even deny it. “That’s your type if I’ve ever seen one,” he keeps laughing and Regulus kicks the back of his seat. “Oi! Stop it.”

“May I remind you that both of you were also my type?” Regulus rolls his eyes.

“We still are,” Evan shrugs and Regulus doesn’t deny it. Yeah, they still are. 

In fact, Regulus ends up going home with them. It’s been a while since he’s done it, but right now he has to take out all his frustration with someone and they are just happy to help. They always are. Regulus deeply enjoys it, but he finds that he wishes he was in bed with Potter, there’s no point in denying his lust. He wants the man and he is going to get him one way or another. But before, he will enjoy the hands of his friends on his body, as well as the need they have for him, and forget about the man with beautiful light brown eyes. 

It’s later next week when Regulus sees him again, at the same bar just as Potter said he would. This time Regulus went directly to him, ignoring the attention Potter’s friends were giving him. Honestly, he didn’t care about them, he was just there for Potter (because of the mission, of course). 

“You’re here!” Potter smiles.

“Great to know your eyes work sometimes,” Regulus teases. Yeah, he is done playing shy. Potter inevitably pulls his glasses closer to his eyes with his middle finger. The fucker is smirking. 

“They can work, yeah. That’s why I have these,” he replies, pointing at his glasses. Regulus can’t help but smile back, not a lot of people are brave enough to answer back when he teases. “These are my friends,” James points to the other people there. “This is Marlene.” She is a blonde woman with her hair short and the tips of it dyed red. “That is Lily.” Lily is beautiful, Regulus notices. She has ginger hair and dark green eyes. “Alice.” The woman is short, but she looks strong. Regulus makes a mental note to not bother her. As well as Marlene, even from where he’s standing he can see her arms and damn, that girl works out. “Frank.” Potter points to the man next to Regulus, he looks… simple. Cute at best but not nearly as handsome as Potter. He is tall, though. 

“Hi,” Regulus smiles at them. He knows about Alice, he remembers. She was in Narcissa’s file. Once he gets to his flat he will ask her more about the short woman. 

“Hello. James seems to have forgotten to introduce you .” Lily says, smiling. 

“I’m Elio.”

“How do you know James?” Marlene asks. He can tell she is protective over him. Probably childhood friends or current best friends. Both, maybe. 

“We met last week,” Regulus nods as he smiles at Potter. “Here, actually.”

“Oh, yes, I remember James going missing for some time,” Marlene nods as she speaks. 

“Yeah, sorry for taking him,” Regulus smiles. 

“Do you want a drink?” Potter raises his other hand that is holding a glass. 

“What are you having?” Regulus doesn’t wait for a response, just reaches for the other man’s drink and takes a sip. “I’ll have one of these,” he shrugs. 

“Keep mine, I’ll go get another one.”

“I’ll come with you,” Regulus says before Potter leaves. There’s no way he’s staying with his friends, no. No amount of money is enough payment for that (no offence, Frank).

“So…” Potter starts saying once they reach the bar. “Where have you been? I’m here almost every week-“ Regulus knows that’s a lie. He is here every week. “-and I’ve never seen you here.”

“I just moved here recently,” he says. Of course he has a storyline planned for these kinds of questions. This is literally his job and this is not the first time he goes undercover. “Moved here to be closer to my ex,  but turns out he was an asshole, but the place is beautiful. Couldn’t let him ruin that for me now, could I?”

Potter stares at him and it is not difficult to know what he is thinking. The file that his mother gave him said that Potter was romantically interested in both men and women, and apparently all of his previous relationships have been with attractive people. Regulus might just be his type then. 

“How long were you with your ex?”

“I don’t even want to say,” Regulus chuckles as he grabs the drink the bartender left between them. “You might judge me,” he takes a sip of his drink and looks away from James. Honestly? Regulus could’ve been an actor. Should he switch careers? Mmm, maybe, it’d be fun. He can picture himself doing that, Barty and Evan as his bodyguards. Sounds good. 

“I’d never judge you,” Potter answers solemnly. 

“You say that now,” he answers. “But you just met me last week.”

“I’m not someone who judges others easily.” 

“No?” Regulus hums. “Well, then I suppose I’ll tell you,” he says. “I moved here after we’d been together for four months.” Potter’s face is comical. Regulus can tell he’s trying very hard not to make a face, but that just makes it funnier. 

One of the perks of being able to come up with backstories is that he has free creativity and, this time, Barty and Evan helped a little. They sat down one afternoon and started creating this story about Regulus’ personality and all his failed relationships because he is a hopeless romantic and falls in love too often. All far from reality. 

“You’re judging me,” Regulus sighs. Potter immediately shakes his head. 

“No, no. I just wasn’t expecting that.” 

“It’s alright, it was my fault for being so naive. I mean I’m young, but I really thought he might be the one, you know?”

“Actually, I do know,” Potter chuckles and Regulus looks at him now. “I used to date Lily,” he says, turning to see where the redhead is. “And I proposed years ago. She said no, of course,” he shrugs. 

“Why did she say no?” He asks, genuinely curious. 

“Other than the fact that we were both nineteen?” Potter laughs. “She made me see it was insane, we were way too young for that kind of commitment. And I’m glad she turned me down because in the end it didn’t work out.” He shrugs. “She’s one of my best friends now.”

“That’s nice, it only happened to me once,” Regulus says. “Just one of my previous relationships was worthy enough to still keep around.” He has learned over the years that the best lies are the ones that are true. 

“It’s a blessing,” Potter says. “Not losing someone who was so important to you.”

Regulus just nods. 

The night goes like that. They drink and flirt while Potter’s friends ask him questions about himself. He learns a lot about these people, which -judging by their work- it’s an awful lot of information they just gave to Regulus. Not a drop of privacy on these people’s veins. 

“It was nice meeting you, Elio.” Lily smiles at him and Marlene nods, next to her. Their arms are intertwined, he knows Lily is going to stay at Marlene’s that night. Because they told her so. Honestly these people , he thinks and fights the urge to roll his eyes. 

“Same to you, Lily.”

“See you tomorrow, Prongs!” Marlene shouts as they are leaving. That makes Regulus turn to face Potter. 

“Prongs?” 

“Old nickname,” Potter laughs and Regulus can tell he doesn’t really want to talk about it. Alright, he will find out. Just not tonight. 

“I’ll get going too,” Regulus says. 

“So soon?” 

“Soon?! James is almost one in the morning!” Alice says as she grabs her purse. Out of all of his friends, she was the one to talk less with him. Always eyeing him weirdly. “Let the boy go!” 

“How can I?” Potter laments to Alice and she just shakes her head as says her goodbyes. “Will I see you again?”

“Are you afraid I may disappear?” Regulus bats his eyelashes while he looks at the man. 

“I am, actually,” Potter says earnestly. Regulus wasn’t expecting his answer to have such a reaction on him. He feels himself blushing and he hates it. What would his mother say? Oh, yes. This is so unprofessional. 

“I won’t,” he answers. “Give me your number, I’ll text you,” Regulus extends his hand so Potter can give him his phone. Which he does. Freely. Like… seriously?! “There,” he says and gives the phone back after saving his own number (not his personal number, of course). “Text me, James.”

“I will,” that’s the last thing Regulus says when he walks out, Barty and Evan already waiting for him. 

“Took you a while,” Evan says when he gets in the car. Regulus knew they were waiting for him about an hour ago.

“Yeah and you enjoyed every minute,” Regulus points at Barty’s neck, with at least three hickeys. This time Evan is the one driving while Barty is in the passenger seat. 

“Well, we had an hour to spare, Reg,” Barty smirks. “Did you want us to wait for you?” Regulus doesn’t answer. “You did,” Barty smiles. 

“He leaves me wanting,” Regulus explains. “He flirts back and it’s so intense. It’s torture,” he sighs and leans on the window next to him. 

“We can stay at yours,” Evan shrugs and there’s that. 

Ever since they dated, Evan and Barty always had a possessiveness over the other, but not when Regulus was in the middle. No. They loved having Regulus there. He knows that much because they told him multiple times. But even if they hadn’t, he could tell because they allowed him to touch and kiss the other. So, being able to kiss Barty as soon as they walk through the door and feel Evan touching his ass, tells him that they still care about him. Yeah, maybe not romantically as they did before, but there’s still something. 

And for Regulus too. He’s been with men (and women when necessary for a mission) and yet he has failed to feel what these two make him feel. The ruthless want to rip his clothes off. The need to rip their clothes off. No one has ever had him as they do. Maybe he was never really in love, but he does love them. 

The next morning, he wakes up only with Barty by his side. Regulus is facing upwards while Barty downwards with an arm across Regulus’ stomach. Like this, Regulus can see some of Barty’s tattoos, among them there’s Evan’s name with a rose next to it. And just below it, it’s a lion with a star where its heart should be. 

“You’re staring,” Barty mumbles. 

“Yeah, so?” Barty just mumbles something and tightens his grip on his abdomen, moving Regulus closer to him. 

“Keep doing it, it’s great for my ego,” Barty nods, his eyes closing again. 

“Where’s Evan?” Regulus asks. 

“Work. Your brother called him earlier,” he explains. “Hate when they only call one of us,” he mutters. 

“I know.”

“Lucky for me, I have you for myself,” Barty smirks, still not opening his eyes just yet. 

“That you do,” Regulus says. 

Suddenly, Barty is on top of him, kissing him fearlessly and without second thought Regulus kisses back with the same intensity. It’s rare. Even when they were together, it was rare for Regulus to be alone with just one of them. It works perfectly, but he is used to two sets of everything. 

“What’s your next work?” Barty asks as he kisses his neck. 

“I have to- ah ,” Barty bites his neck. “I have to find a man, he lives about an hour from here,” he explains with difficulty because right now he can’t concentrate when Barty’s moving his hips like that. “Fuck, Crouch, you’re leaving marks.”

“You expect me to apologise?” Barty bites again. Regulus rolls his eyes, can’t tell if it’s from annoyance or pleasure. Both, he decides. “Will you kill him? The man.”

“Most likely yes.”

“Can I go with you?” He asks and kisses his lips again. 

Regulus knows that Barty would have been a great addition to the House of Black, unfortunately, his mother didn’t think the same. The ones that are sent on missions are chosen because of their skills, yes, but also because of their blood. Remus is blood now, the moment he married Sirius, he became immediate family, which granted him a free pass. Maybe if Regulus had married Barty and Evan, they would be given the same treatment (they had it for a while until Regulus broke up with them). The only one who has earned their position based only on skills has been Dorcas. She was chosen by all of them, leaving his mother no choice but to oblige. 

Besides, Regulus thinks Barty would be almost as unhinged as Bella. And with one Bella is more than enough. 

“Reg?” Barty asks again, moving his hips faster. Moaning and making Regulus groan. The fucker is manipulating him with sex. 

He will not complain. 

“Yes, B,” Regulus exhales. Not even knowing if he's answering the question or encouraging him to keep going. Barty takes his answer as both. 

“Oh, fuck, Reg,” Barty drops his head back and Regulus is left with no other option but to kiss his neck. 

It doesn’t take long after that for them to come apart. Panting and sweating, having made a mess of themselves. It takes Barty a couple minutes to move from Regulus, but eventually Regulus tosses him to the side. 

“Fuck, I always forget how strong you are,” Barty says, a bit annoyed and surprised. 

“Part of the training,” he shrugs and thank goodness they slept naked because it’s easier for him to just get into the shower. The cold water is doing amazing things to his muscles. He has a big day today, not because his target is someone special, actually he doesn’t even know who he is, but the simple fact that it’s a man makes it harder for Regulus. Fortunately, he is fast, faster than Cissa, who’s one of the fastest in the team. One day they proved it, having Bella and Remus (because Sirius is biased) as judges. He won. 

After two hours, he’s with Barty staring at the scene in front of him. They both tilt their heads at the same time. His target is sitting awkwardly on the floor, slowly falling to his side- like a broken doll- right where there is a pool of blood. Regulus’ dagger is buried deep into the neck. Honestly? This man gave a good fight, and he wasn't expecting that, so he had to finish him fast. He hates that, because it doesn’t let him take his sweet time taunting and teasing them. 

“Are you gonna mark him?” Barty asks, still following the movement of the body falling. Why is it going so slow? 

“No. He wasn’t worth it,” he shakes his head. 

“Shame,” Barty sighs as the body hits the ground. “I love it when you mark them,” he shrugs. 

“Not everyone deserves it, besides, the last one was marked. I cannot let Potter know all of them were me.” 

Regulus ducks before the body and takes out his dagger, making more blood come out of the neck. He looks into the dead man’s eyes with anger. I mean, come on! He had a great morning and this fucking asshole ruined it by not letting him kill him as Regulus wanted. He was going to die either way! Even Barty told the man that. 

“Let’s clean ourselves and leave,” Regulus tells Barty who just nods and does what he was told. 

☾✩☽

“Prongs! We’ve got another body!” James hears Lily approaching his office. Right now James is staring at his wall, the one on which he made an entire altar dedicated to solving this case. Lately, he has found himself staring at the same wall more than anything else. Hours could pass and he would just stare at all the photos on the map, pinned exactly where each homicide happened. It’s been three months since the killings started in the area, but two since the ‘RAB’ signature started appearing. And it’s fucking frustrating the way all the crime scenes are wiped clean, perfectly clean with not a single trace leftover. James keeps wishing for this person to make a mistake and leave something behind, but so far, no luck. 

There’s also the people he's killing (yes, James knows it’s a ‘he’ because of the profile Alice made). It’s only people connected to the organisation somehow. Not investors or anyone important. But people who may know someone on the inside, like the woman last week, she was Marlene’s little brother’s girlfriend. They are not directly involved, but somehow they are. It’s making people paranoid and that’s not good for the Phoenix. But to James it’s only making him more curious to find out who he might be. He stares at the list of victims there’s been, and something feels odd about it, he can’t tell what it is but there’s something about it and it’s driving him insane. 

“What do we have?” James asks as Lily handles him the photo of the last victim. He looks at it once and his stomach feels sick. The amount of blood on the photo is uncommon on the scenes he’s left before. It seems like it’s not clean but judging by the other photos on the file, he can tell the scene was cleaned. Only left the body to bleed out. “Have we recognised the body?” James asks and he hears the little tap of the cane coming closer. 

“We have,” Remus says. Remus has been a great addition to the team, he’s currently under Lily’s team, helping with the profiles and searching for clues. He has also been a great addition to James’ talking sessions (yaping as Marlene would say), turns out Remus is not only great at his job, but also listening. “His name is John Francis, apparently he used to be a close friend to Frank,” he informs him sadly. Oh, Frank. He must be devastated. 

Before James can say anything, Lily says, “Frank’s already gone home. We’re giving him a week off work.” Lily hands him some other file which must be all the paperwork he should have done but she did, in order for Frank to have time off. 

“Perfect. Thank you, Lily,” he says, genuinely. That’s his job to do and yet, she did it. He goes back to the photos. “What can we say about this?” He asks, but he already knows. The killer didn’t respect his victim, he wanted to get it done and leave. 

“The killer did it quickly but John put up quite a fight. Judging by the bruising on his ribs, they fought for a while before the killer got enough and killed him. Also, the killer didn’t care about his victim enough to bother afterwards,” Remus says looking at the pictures as well. 

“Is this him, then?” Lily asks. 

“It is. I can bet my right foot the wound was done with the same weapon,” James says and reads the autopsy file and- yes, there it is. Stab wound made with some kind of knife or dagger. “Also, the space is too clean, giving the place of the wound, blood would’ve splashed everywhere and here it’s only next and under the body. It’s the same M.O.” James would be able to know this is the same killer they are haunting by just the wound itself. It’s scarily precise the place where he stabs them. It takes a lot of training and knowledge to do this kind of damage. 

James is in awe. 

“What now, boss?” Lily asks. 

“Ugh, you know I hate when you call me that, Red,” James rolls his eyes as he takes one of the photos and pins it on the map. With this new kill, it’s forming a circle but just on the outsides of the city. “Maybe call Alice and Mary,” James tells her. He knows Lily and Remus are watching the same thing. 

“I’ll go get them,” Remus says and James nods, absentmindedly. He knew the shape it was from a month ago, but now the shape is complete. This tells him almost nothing. He could stop the killings or just move on to a different place, James will have to stay in contact with the other Phoenix’s headquarters if that’s the case. 

“Hey, Prongs,” Alice greets him when they step into the office. “What’s the- oh. That’s perfectly done,” Alice says. 

“How is it so perfectly done?” Mary asks. 

“He’s a maniac, that’s how,” James scoffs. It is no secret James has never felt more taunted than he has with this guy.

Generally, James is good at solving this. That’s why he’s the leader of this headquarters. That’s why he got promoted so young. He is great at profiling as in field operations. When Minnerva told him he was going to lead this unit of the Phoenix, he was over the moon. He’s done a perfect job for three years, until this guy. This guy who is impossible to track down and is making his job harder. He has to inform Minnerva about his failed job every time there’s a kill, he has to report it and he hates the look of disappointment on the woman’s face. He cannot stand it. 

“This is so well executed and planned,” Alice steps over and traces the images with her fingers. “Prongs, I think we need to update our profile… This- this is surrounding us .” 

And that- that is what was bothering him. 

“We’re literally on the Rabbit hole,” Mary chuckles as well as Lily. 

“Do not-“

“Call him like that,” Mary, Lily and Alice say in unison. 

“Yeah, yeah, Prongs. We know you hate that we call him The Rabbit.”

Ever since the first ‘RAB’ signature appeared, Marlene made a joke about the victim being marked with rabies and soon enough the name got changed time to time again, until Lily asked about The Rabbit, and everyone knew who they were talking about. The name stuck, of course. 

James hates it. 

“It’s not good to give an Unknown Subject a name. You all know that,” James apprehends them. 

“You are no fun, Prongs,” Mary rolls her eyes. 

“This job is not supposed to be fun,” James says back. 

“Maybe, but if we do not have fun with something, this job will kill us,” Lily says softly. “We see terrible things happen all the time, James. Calling this guy ‘Rabbit’ isn’t going to make him kill more than he already does.”

“I still don’t like it,” James mutters, but knows it’s useless fighting over this. “Alice, what makes you think he is surrounding us?”

“Well, it’s a perfectly made circle, the center is here,” she points to the center of the map and it’s exactly where they are. “What do you think will be his next move?” 

“I honestly don’t know,” he says. “Can I get a list of all the victims, date of death and if they are related to the organisation or someone of us, please?”

“On it,” Mary says and leaves the office. 

“What are you thinking?” Remus asks him. 

“I want to see if there’s a patron, something to tell us what he’s going to do next,” he explains. 

The day doesn’t move any faster than that, he stares at the wall and analyses the list Mary gave him. It led him to the same conclusion. He’s attacking people they know as well as people who have helped them in the past. Even if it’s people that helped the previous generation of the organisation. There’s no distinction between men or women, age or anything else, as long as the location matched to create a circle. Alice was right, this is perfectly planned and that might scare the living shit out of James. 

Eventually, James just sighs and picks up his coat, realising it's getting dark outside. He feels frustrated with his work but luckily, something that he learned from Minnerva is to leave work’s stuff at work. Naturally, when he leaves the building, he remembers a number waiting for him on his phone. Before he has a moment to hesitate, he dials the number. 

“Elio?” James says when the other man picks up. 

“ Who’s this? ” Elio’s voice says. He is breathing heavily. 

“It’s James. From the bar.”

“ Oh. James, hi ,” Elio says and there’s some hushing. “ I was wondering if you were ever going to call .”

“Sorry it took me long,” James says as he searches for his car keys. 

“ You’re forgiven. I’m glad you called ,” Elio’s voice drops and he can tell he is flirting. That’s something that has driven James insane. Elio has been flirting with him every possible chance and James loves this game. Adding the fact that Elio is one of the prettiest people he’s ever met. He has beautiful hair and beautiful eyes, it’s difficult for James to stop staring at him. He’s angelical. 

“What are you doing tonight?” James asks. 

“ Tonight? You miss me already? ” Elio asks back. 

“I do,” James smiles and gets into his car, turning on. “So, tonight?”

“ What do you have in mind? ” 

“Some coffee?”

“ Really? Okay, James. Coffee sounds good, ” Elio laughs. “ Where? ”

“I’ll text you the address, see you in an hour?” 

“ See you, James .”

He texts Elio the address and heads to the place, there’s no point in going back home when the traffic at this hour will barely let him get on time. 

The place he chose is one of his favourites in the city and the people there know him already. He’s sitting in his favourite spot when Elio approaches. His curls are perfect in place and he’s wearing a black trench coat (looks like women’s clothes but he makes it look somehow manly), jeans and his usual converse, dark green this time. 

“You’re in a suit,” it’s the first thing Elio says when he arrives. “Why are you in a suit?”

“Well, hello to you too,” James smiles and gets up to greet Elio with a hug. 

“Hello,” he says in the hug. “Why are you in a suit, James?” He asks again once they are apart. 

“I came here from the office,” he shrugs and sits in front of Elio. 

“You wear a suit to your job? Is that a requirement?”

“Actually, no. I just like it.”

Elio stares at him as he sits, with a look he hadn't seen before. His grey eyes look darker and James shifts in his seat.  

“That should be a crime. You, in a suit. Fuck,” Elio drops his head to the back with a groan. “A little warning, James.”

“A warning? Why?”

“You look insanely handsome,” Elio looks at him in the eyes and then looks the other way to find a waitress. Elio orders a cup of tea and looks back at James. “Were you wearing a tie?”

“Yes. Took it off,” Elio hums. 

“Anyways,” he sighs. “What do I owe this invitation?” 

“Wanted to see you. I had a long day at work and just thought of you,” James explains. 

“You’re lucky I did everything I had to do in the afternoon, so I have my evening free,” Elio smiles. “What do you do? You said you had a long day at work.” 

“I’m the head of my division in an organisation. Big job and all,” James nods. “But I don’t really like talking about my job when I’m not working.”

“Why is that?” Elio asks. 

“It takes a lot of my time and mental energy already for me to use it when I can be relaxing or, in this case, meeting beautiful people,” James grins. Elio blushes but doesn’t look away. Honestly, this man is just something else. 

“You think I’m beautiful?” Elio bats his eyelashes as he did on Friday.

“Elio. You are beautiful. It’s not that I think you are. You just are,” James tells him seriously. Elio just smiles but doesn’t say anything. 

The night goes smoothly, James talks a lot about different things and Elio follows the conversation just as easily. Which is good because most people have to ask James to repeat himself, but not Elio. No, he just talks as much as James and stays quiet when he has too. At some point, Elio leans closer to James and so does he, so they end up closer than they began. 

The tension between them is palpable, there’s no doubt something is going on here and James is dying to get closer to him. As close as the man would let him. 

“When’s your birthday?” Elio asks suddenly. 

“March twenty seventh. Yours?”

“Oh, an aries. Mine is October twelfth.”

“You look young, how old are you?” James asks, something he’s been meaning to ask him. 

“And just now you are asking me that?” Elio laughs. “You’ve invited me to the bar- which I’m old enough to go to, thank you very much. And for a coffee. And just now you thought of asking?”

“As you said, you are old enough to go to a bar, so it didn’t concern me,” James says. 

“How old are you ?” Elio asks back. 

“I’m thirty years old,” James shrugs. 

“So nineteen? Your year starts with ‘nineteen’?” Elio asks, surprised. At that James starts to get concerned. How old can this man be? “James, I’m from two thousand and one, you do the math,” he chuckles and drinks from his tea. 

Two thousand and one. Elio is twenty three. Oh, Marlene is going to laugh at him. 

“You’re twenty three.”

“Yup,” Elio smirks and oh. James is fucking attracted to someone who’s seven years younger than him… Fuck. “Hope that doesn’t get in the way of whatever is happening here,” he moves his hand in the space between them. 

But James has to think about this. That’s a twenty three year old man, who holds himself with the air of a more mature person and talks in the way of someone who has lived many things already. And the desire in Elio's eyes is addictive. James is afraid of what that means for himself. Because looking at Elio’s eyes, he can see his own desire reflected. 

“No,” he finds himself saying. “It won’t get in the way, love,” the nickname escaping from his lips and Elio’s cheeks dye in a sweet pink colour. 

When they say goodbye is with the promise of seeing each other on Friday, at the same bar. But also with an unknown promise of something else. Something James is dying to find out. 

☾✩☽

Elio [11:21 p.m.]: thank you for the night, it was lovely

James [11:28 p.m.]: Thank YOU! I had an amazing time. 

James [11:29 p.m.]: Can’t wait to see you soon. 

☾✩☽

James  [08:32 a.m.]: Hi, beautiful. Good morning. 

Elio [08:54 a.m.]: is this our thing now?

Elio [08:56 a.m.]: good morning james

James [09:31 a.m.]: Could be our thing. 

Elio [10:03 a.m.]: you are so cheesy for a 30 year old

James [10:05 a.m.]: Does my age influence that?

Elio [10:05 a.m.]: kinda

James [10:07 a.m.]: How so?

Elio [10:10 a.m.]: can’t really explain it

Elio [10:10 a.m.]: just does 

☾✩☽

James [08:27 a.m.]: Good morning, love. 

Elio [09:49 a.m.]: morning james

Elio [09:50 a.m.]: this IS our thing uh?

James [09:53 a.m.]: Yup! It is. :)

James [09:54 a.m.]: Did you just wake up?

Elio [10:36 a.m.]: yes… im eating breakfast now

James [10:44 a.m.]: What are your plans for the day?

Elio [10:46 a.m.]: why? you want to see me already?

James [10:47 a.m.]: Yes, but unfortunately my work won’t let me today. I’m just curious. 

Elio [10:49 a.m.]: shame, wanted to see you again

James [10:50 a.m.]: Do you?

Elio [10:51 a.m.]: yes james, is that so hard to believe?

Elio [10:51 a.m.]: that im actually interested in you?

James [12:38 a.m.]: Sorry, had a meeting. 

James [12:39 a.m.]: It is not hard to believe that you may be interested in me. But it’s different when I’m seven years older than you, baby. 

Elio [13:00 p.m.]: mmm the “baby” felt planned there… and it’s not that i MAY BE, i AM interested in you. 

Elio [13:01 p.m.]: the seven years make you hotter ;)

James [13:07 p.m.]: Elio…

☾✩☽

James [08:31 a.m.]: Good morning, baby. 

Elio [08:33 a.m.]: im sensing a patron here with the hour. is that the time you wake up?

James [08:42 a.m.]: The time I leave for work, actually.

Elio [08:45 a.m.]: so what time do you wake up?

Elio [08:47 a.m.]: good morning btw

James [09:05 a.m.]: At six. 

Elio [09:12 a.m.]: ugh, i bet you go for a run or something like that

James [09:17 a.m.]: I do, yeah. :)

Elio [09:19 a.m.]: figured. you had to stay fit one way or another

James [09:22 a.m.]: You think I’m fit? 

Elio [09:23 a.m.]: you KNOW you are 

☾✩☽

James [01:02 a.m.]: Why do you always wear converse?

Elio [01:02 a.m.]: …

Elio [01:03 a.m.]: it’s 1 am and that’s what you’re thinking???

James [01:03 a.m.]: If you’re asking, am I thinking of you at 1 AM, then yeah. I am. 

James [01:03 a.m.]: Now, answer. 

Elio [01:04 a.m.]: i like them, you can wear them with anything and are comfortable 

Elio [01:04 a.m.]: why are you thinking about me at one (!!!) am??

James [01:05 a.m.]: Honestly, I’ve been thinking about you nonstop. It’s ridiculous how much I think about you now. 

Elio [01:06 a.m.]: that does sound ridiculous 

James [01:06 a.m.]: Good thing I’ll see you today. :)

Elio [01:07 a.m.]: yes james

Elio [01:07 a.m.]: i miss you, is that weird?

James [01:08 a.m.]: No, I don’t think so. I miss you too, baby. 

☾✩☽

James [08:29 a.m.]: Good morning, baby. Can’t wait to see you today. 

☾✩☽

“What are you doing here?” Regulus asks the moment he opens the door. 

“Can’t I just come and visit my favourite brother?” Sirius asks as he walks in, ignoring Regulus’ annoyed face. 

“I’m your only brother.”

“With more reason,” Sirius nods and walks over to his kitchen. 

“Sirius, why are you here?” Regulus asks again, his brother getting on his nerves. 

“Felt like paying you a visit. Nice place, Dora really made a good choice with your flat,” Sirius muses. Dora, or well Pandora, is the one who manages all of these things for them. The place where they’re going to stay, the cars they will use, the clothes. Everything necessary when they have to be hiding or undercover. Pandora also happens to be one of Regulus’ closest friends, which grants him privileges when he’s on missions. 

“She always does,” Regulus shrugs. 

“Not with me,” Sirius pouts. 

“Yeah, that’s because she doesn’t like you,” Regulus smiles and Sirius rolls his eyes. 

“She doesn’t like anyone but you, your boyfriends and Dorcas,” Sirius huffs, counting with his fingers.

“ Ex -boyfriends,” he clarifies. “And she also likes Remus, but everybody does.”

“Yeah… everybody does,” Sirius agrees but something in his voice tells Regulus that Remus is the reason his brother is here. Regulus has been trained to understand non-verbal language, and he excels at that. More than anyone in the House of Black. 

“What did he do?” He asks. Somehow he knows he doesn’t have to plan a murder, but if someone ever dares to hurt his brother, they won’t live to talk about it. 

“What? Who?”

“Remus. You’re here because of him, so stop stalling and just talk about whatever is eating you,” Regulus sits on the kitchen counter while Sirius starts making tea.  

“I don’t like that you always know,” Sirius frowns.

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Regulus sees as Sirius’ shoulders drop. 

“It’s just…” he groans. “Sometimes I feel like shit for making him enter this world. Our world,” he sighs. “I’ve seen him working at the Phoenix and I can’t really tell if he’s just acting or if he’s genuinely happy doing what he’s doing,” Sirius leans on the counter while they wait for the water to boil. “My mission was to kill him, Reggie, but I failed. I fell in love. He’s my greatest failure and biggest win,” and Regulus knows that story perfectly. Sirius was supposed to kill him because of the job Remus was doing at the time at The Phoenix. Sirius went undercover to get closer to him but ended up falling in love. That didn’t stop him from trying though. Sirius always ends his missions and Remus could not be the exception. 

But he was. 

Sirius did try. They both put up quite a fight. Ending with Remus having a large scar across his face, which led to Remus ending up in the hospital and Sirius staying with him all night. Confessing everything the next day, even that he was in love with him. Turns out, Lupin is just as twisted as his brother, because the feelings were mutual. After that, Sirius introduced him to the family, promising that Remus was going to train, which he did, but what’s more valuable was his brain. The man is bloody smart. Of course, Walburga was skeptical about him, until they got married and Remus became as much Black as Sirius a Lupin. 

“Have you talked to him about it?” Regulus asks. 

“No. I think I’m- I think I’m afraid he might resent me or something like that,” Sirius looks down. “I love him so much, I don’t know what I would do without him.”

“Why didn’t you get out? Like Andy?” Regulus asks, his voice is lower than usual. Afraid of the answer that he knows he’s going to get. 

“I couldn’t leave you, Reggie.”

“Do you resent me for that?” He asks. Does he even want to know that? He’s always known he was a reason for Sirius to stay in the House, but he never expected to be the only reason. 

“No, never. It was my choice and I would do it again,” Sirius shakes his head, looking him in the eyes. 

“Then why do you think Remus would resent you? It was also his choice, Sirius.” 

Sirius doesn’t stay long after that. Which Regulus is grateful and hates at the same time. Every time he’s with his brother he wishes they had more time, but they both have things to do and right now, he has to get ready to see Potter. 

Regulus finds it weird that he is excited to see Potter again. The flirting is addictive and even though he already knew Potter’s age, having him confirmed it is thrilling. He wasn’t lying when he said that the seven years of difference make Potter hotter. 

Honestly, this has become one of the most interesting missions he’s had in his life. And just because he gets to flirt with a handsome man (who is a hundred percent his type, but won’t ever admit it to anyone- let alone, Barty and Evan)… and he also gets to kill people weekly. Life is fun. 

He checks his phone.

Pottery Barn [08:29 a.m.]: Good morning, baby. Can’t wait to see you today. 

Regulus will never admit to anyone how the nickname makes him feel. He has never been a man who likes nicknames. Evan used to call him “darling” and Barty “babe”, he wasn’t a big fan. But when Potter does, it’s different, he likes it and hates it. Why would this man be calling him names? Endearing names? It shouldn’t be allowed. 

A couple of hours later, he’s checking his phone again to send a message. 

Regulus [08:43 p.m.]: im here xx

Pottery Barn [08:43 p.m.]: OMW!

God, he’s such a millennial. Regulus thinks as he rolls his eyes, but soon enough Potter is in front of him, with a big smile. 

“Hey, baby,” and oh . No. Regulus cannot hear this man call him baby. The texts are one thing, but coming from his voice. No. 

“Hi, James,” he smiles at the older man. “Are your friends already here?”

“Yeah, got off work a bit earlier than expected, but we’re here,” Potter says as they walk into the place, going directly to the same spot Regulus has seen James the previous times he’s been in the place. 

“Hi!” Lily is the first one to greet him, Regulus only smiles. “Good to see you again, Elio!” 

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting Prongs to bring someone here more than once. It’s a nice surprise,” Marlene says as she puts an arm around his shoulders. Regulus smiles as he does his best not to shove her to the ground. Fucking hate when people touch him without asking.

“Is it really a surprise?” Regulus asks instead.

“Oh, yes. James is known for having one night stands but never more than that, you are an exception,” Lily says as she nods. Regulus turns to look at James and he is smiling, the idiot. And just nods, shrugging afterwards.

“What can I say? Couldn’t resist you, love,” okay, if ‘baby’ had an effect on Regulus, the way James says ‘love’ is going to make Regulus drop into his knees and worship the man.

“Even though he’s a baby, Prongs,” Marlene teases as she finally lets him go. 

“You told them?” Regulus asks, still looking at James.

“He did,” Lily answers for him. 

“Hey, sorry. I was having a wee,” a voice interrupts their conversation. Regulus turns to look at the person. “Oh, hi. You must be James’ friend, nice to meet you. I’m Remus Lupin,” he smiles as he extends his hand to greet him, his other hand is holding a cane. 

Regulus forces the fakest smile he has smiled so far and takes his hand. 

“Elio,” he squeezes the hand enough to know it is hurting Lupin. But his brother in law squeezes back. Then they let go but just stare at the other. Both ignoring the pain that’s obviously on their hands. Regulus has spent enough time with Remus to know that he is having way too much fun with this. “How do you know James?” 

“We work together,” Remus shrugs and stands next to Lily. 

“Oh, really? Didn’t see you here last week,” he tilts his head. He knows damn well that Remus was with his brother last week.

“Already had plans,” Remus smiles and honestly, Regulus smiles back because he is fucking good at his job. Oddly, he feels proud that he is his family. 

“I see,” Regulus nods and directs his attention back to the person he is here for. “Let’s go for a drink,” he says and grabs James’ hand and starts walking towards the bar. 

Regulus wishes he could say that he remembers how they got there, but he doesn’t. One minute he was getting drinks with James and now he is against a wall and Potter is trapping him with a hand next to his head and the other one in his waist. Well, trapping is a strong word, Regulus is exactly where he wants to be. Ever since he was at arm's length distance from the older man he’s been wanting to be this close with almost nothing separating them. 

The kiss is nothing like what Regulus was expecting to be. It’s fucking better. Potter kisses as he does everything else, wholeheartedly and with everything he has. Never doing anything halfway through. The kiss, thank goodness, it’s not an exception. In all honesty, Regulus feels like Potter wants to devour him. Eat him whole. The worst part is that Regulus might just let him. Because it is doing things to him, feeling this desired. 

Potter is filled with desire and hunger and want and need and fucking fire . 

And Regulus is burning.

They’ve been kissing for minutes, hiding in the dark of the place like teenagers afraid to get caught, it’s fucking ridiculous because Potter is thirty years old and-

“What was that?” Potter asks, his voice is deeper than before. 

“What was what?” Regulus asks absentmindedly, and kisses him again, needing more. 

“What were you thinking? You- baby, you moaned,” Potter says, still kissing him somehow.

“Did I?” he asks, not really paying attention to the conversation, more focused on kissing the man.

“Fuck, you did.”

“I was thinking that you are thirty,” he says at the same time Potter presses himself closer to Regulus. 

“ That made you moan?” Potter asks and Regulus nods twice. He wasn’t lying when he told Potter his age only made him hotter. “Fuck, baby, don’t do this to me right now.”

“Do what?”

“I want to take you home with me,” Potter answers honestly, kissing his neck and Regulus is still burning. He feels like he’s standing too close to the sun and he would love to die by its heat. “Take all your clothes off,” Potter continues. “Or better yet, you take them all off for me to watch,” Potter’s voice has dropped and Regulus has to control himself to not do what he just said. “I’d make you feel so good, baby,” Potter licks his neck and-

“James? Elio? Where are you guys?” Lily’s voice interrupts them and Regulus hopes that her name is in one of his lists. If not, he will create one just for her. “Oh,” she says when she finds them. None of them care enough to move from where they are, they are panting and the scene must be quite a show, but they don’t care. “I’m sorry, I was coming to tell you guys that we are leaving,” she grimaces. “Fuck, I owe Remus money now,” she mutters then turns to leave.

“I get that you’re not taking me home?” Regulus asks. Potter just laughs.

“Not tonight, love,” he shakes his head but kisses him again nonetheless. “I do want to, baby, but tonight I promised to take the girls to Lily’s house,” he explains, even though Regulus didn’t ask for an explanation.

“It’s okay, James,” he nods and sighs the moment Potter moves away from his body, feeling cold all of the sudden. 

When they go back to the others, he can see Lily giving Remus money and the tall bastard smiling smugly. Oh, he’s going to kill him. As if he didn’t know that this is literally his job.

“Had fun?” Remus asks when Regulus and James are closer. 

“So much fun,” Regulus replies. Remus just laughs.

“Ready to go?” Marlene asks Potter.

“No,” Potter answers and puts an arm around Regulus’ shoulders. Unlike with Mckinnon, Regulus feels oddly okay with it. And Remus notices it too, because he tilts his head a little and hums.

“Huh. You two make a great couple,” something about the way Remus says it startles Regulus. Because he is not saying it to take a piss or jokingly. No, he is being honest and that is scarier. 

“Do we?” Potter’s eyes shine at the thought of them being a couple. He pushes Regulus closer to his body and Regulus has no other choice but to lean comfortably, hiding his face on the crook of his neck. 

“Do you really have to take them?” Regulus whispers so only Potter can hear. The older man just chuckles and nods.

“Yes, love, I do.”

Now it’s Lily who hums, but she doesn’t say anything. That annoys Regulus.

“Do you need a ride home, Elio ?” Remus asks him and if he didn’t like the man or wasn’t married to his brother, he would add his name next to Lily’s, because this is the second time someone has made him pull away from Potter.

“Actually, I do,” he nods. 

“You do? Why didn’t you tell me?” Potter asks quickly.

“To be fair, I did think I was going home with you,” he shrugs and Potter groans. “Could use the ride,” he tells Remus and takes out his phone to notify Evan and Barty that they don’t need to pick him up. Barty just answers with a thumbs up emoji.

“Alright then, let’s go.”

Before he can move to go with his brother in law, Potter grabs him and pulls him towards him just to kiss him again. Oh, fuck. The way he kisses is going to haunt Regulus everywhere now. 

“Call me when you get home,” Regulus whispers. Once again, only wanting Potter to hear. Potter just nods with a stupid grin.

After they say their goodbyes and they are in Lupin’s car, the man is driving in silence which it’s one of the things that Regulus most appreciates about him. He knows how to stay silent. His relationship with his brother’s husband is great, he wasn’t expecting to feel so understood with him. He always thought that they were going to keep their distance, given that he is a paid assassin as the rest of his family (a family that sent someone to kill him , may he add). But no. Remus did everything he could to be on Regulus’ good side, to get to know him and slowly become friends. He knows he did it for Sirius, he’s not stupid enough to believe he did it because Remus actually wanted to. He won’t complain though. Having Remus’ friendship has been one of the best things Sirius has given him.

“Should I leave you at your house or do you want to come to mine and Sirius’?” Remus breaks the silence. 

“Mine it’s okay,” he nods and turns to look at Remus. “I still can’t believe they allowed you to live together,” he says. Ever since they got married, if they have missions together or near the other, they will stay at the same house. They never allowed that with his ex-boyfriends.

“It was Sirius,” Remus smiles. “He threatened everyone, including your mother, to let us. And- well, your brother can be really scary when he is mad. No one took the threat lightly. Understandably so.”

“Of course he wou-“ he doesn’t get to finish because Remus interrupts him.

“Don’t underestimate James, Regulus,” his voice is so serious it makes Regulus shudder. “He is bloody smart, smarter than most there,” he gives a quick glance to Regulus.

“Smarter than you?” Regulus jokes, but he does want to know. If Remus says he is smarter than him, that may be an issue.

“No,” Remus chuckles. “But almost. Alice too, I don’t know how Cissa is going to take her down because that woman is bloody smart and cunning.”

“Cissa can do it,” Regulus says but he remembers when he met Alice, he felt seen through and Regulus hadn’t even given her a reason to doubt him. It’s like she can see you coming from afar.

“James has a wall dedicated to you, to finding out who you are. He’s not joking about these kills, Reg,” it’s almost as if Remus is concerned for his safety. 

“Does he now?” he hums.

“Yes. He does. I’ll tell you more about it in the debriefing next week.”

Regulus nods and notices that they have arrived at his flat. He thanks Remus for the ride and gets inside. Once inside he sighs and decides that he will make himself some tea, even though he already drank a cuppa with Sirius, he needs to distract his mind from going back to the memory of Potter’s lips.

When the tea is ready he reaches for his phone and finds that he has a new message.

Pottery Barn [00:56 a.m.]: Hey, just to let you know I’m home. 

Regulus stares at the screen then locks the phone and goes to his room to change his clothes for something more comfortable. As he changes, he looks in the mirror and gets an idea.

One ring, two rings, and-

“ Hello? ”

“I thought I told you to call me when you got home,” 

“ Sorry, love. I didn’t want to disturb you if you were asleep. ”

“I told you to call me for a reason, James. I wasn’t going to fall asleep. Besides it’s still early,” yes, he is well aware that it is almost one in the morning.

“ It is not early. But now we’re talking, right? No harm done, baby. ”

Regulus is going to blame the nicknames he’s been having to endure all night for his next actions. And no one can blame him, because having James Potter calling you ‘baby’ or ‘love’ drives any person crazy and he is just a man. 

“I love it when you call me baby,” Regulus says honestly. He’s still watching himself in the mirror.

“ Do you? ” He can tell that Potter is moving around his place.

“Yes. Very much,” Regulus walks towards his bed.

“ I love nicknames. I noticed you don’t use nicknames ,” Potter says.

“Are you- are you pouting?” silence, he stops walking. “Oh. You are!” He exclaims as he sits on the edge of the bed.

“ Well, I do love nicknames, receiving them as well .” 

“What would you like me to call you? Baby, too?”

“ I don’t mind baby ,” James says but he doesn’t sound so sure. 

“Or maybe, Jim? I don’t think I like that one,” he says grimacing as he scoots to the back of the bed.

“ I hate that, if I’m being honest ,” Potter says and thank fucking God, because he cannot call him that. It’s fucking awful and it doesn’t go with Potter’s personality at all.

“Darling?” 

“ Yeah, baby? ” Potter answers smoothly and Regulus has to roll his eyes because it works.

“So, that’s a yes. Next, uhm…” he lays on his bed. “What about daddy ?” Regulus dares and he is met with silence, then the sound of Potter exhaling.

“ Do not call me like that, Elio ,” he warns. 

“So that’s a no,” Regulus shrugs, he liked that one.

“ It’s a big yes. Yes, Elio. But not now, not when I can’t do anything about it ,” he answers sternly.

“Who says you can’t do anything?”

And that’s how it starts, it takes Regulus a while to convince Potter. He is not the kind to do these things on the phone, but he is still horny from all the kissing in the bar. Potter knew immediately how to turn Regulus on and that isn’t something that many people know how to do. If he really thinks about it, maybe only Evan and Barty, but because they know that side of him. Don’t get him wrong, he is a young adult and his libido is insane. It’s just that, the missions where he has to sleep with someone, he has to do most work in his mind before he is actually able to have sex. When he was with his boyfriends, they used to turn him on before going to the mission, so he could do his work smoothly. Now, however, Potter did it by just kissing him in a dark corner like some high schooler. Fucking Potter.

God, how he wishes he was fucking Potter right now.

At this point, Regulus has no clothes on, thanks to Potter who practically ordered him to strip from all his clothes, and- of course Regulus did. There’s nothing hotter than a man knowing how to be dominant enough without being cringe.

“ Baby, you have no idea how good it feels to have your body pressed to mine ,” he hears Potter’s voice and the tone has dropped. His voice is deeper. Regulus shudders as he feels goosebumps. “ I could feel all of you… You have no idea how much I want you .”

“I want you too. I’m mad at you, though,” Regulus manages to say, the urge to touch himself is consuming him.

“ Mad at me? Why? ” Potter sounds genuinely confused. 

“You took them home, instead of me,” Regulus rolls his eyes and somewhere deep down, he knows he sounds like a brat, but he doesn’t care. He is mad. He could be fucking right now, but no. His stupid friends needed a ride.

“ If I knew I would end up kissing you and loving how you feel, and taste, I would’ve never agreed to take them to Lily’s house, ” Potter explains.

“We could be fucking right now,” he ends up saying. No reason to just keep it only on his mind.

“ Baby- ”

“It’s the truth, James,” he shrugs and the mere thought of Potter fucking him is doing wonders. While they were kissing, he could feel Potter’s arousal and it left little to the imagination. “How would you like it? Honestly, I prefer the receiving the end of it, but I’m not opposed to switching and-”

“ Baby, shut up, ” Regulus shuts up instantly. Fuck, he is extremely turned on and Potter’s voice just adds more fuel to the fire. “ If you need to know, I’m more than okay with you being the one bottoming. I know exactly what I would do to you… how I would do it. ”

Yes, yes, yes! 

Finally.

“How would you do it?”

“ I would try so hard to be careful with you, baby, I’d treat you with such delicacy, ” well, that’s not what Regulus was expecting. “ But I know myself. And with what happened tonight, I can tell that’s not what you like. So, I would be rough, make you get on your knees and beg . Make you moan just at the thought of me, ” Potter’s voice was getting slower and he was exhaling more. The motherfucker was touching himself! There was no way in hell that he was getting behind. He left his phone on speaker on top of his chest while his left hand reached to touch himself. The moment his fingers came in contact with his arousal, he moaned. “ Who said you could touch yourself? ” And oh .

Yeah, that’s one of the hottest things someone has ever said to him.

“Sorry,” he apologises and grimaces because when has he ever apologised to someone while being in bed. 

“ Be good for me, baby, ” and fuck. Regulus has slept with several people and no one has ever asked him to be good, quite the opposite actually. This is thrilling. “ Are you gonna do whatever I tell you? ”

Regulus nods a couple of times before remembering that the other man cannot see him, “Yes.”

“ Yes what? ” Potter asks and Regulus can feel himself blushing, from his cheeks to his neck. His ears are burning and his cock is aching.

“Yes, daddy,” he answers.

“ Such a good boy. Now, I need you to start stroking yourself, but do it slowly, yeah? ” Regulus’ head is starting to spin with how turned on he is. Potter’s voice is deep and in the distance he can hear the way his hand is moving.

“Yeah,” he answers and does as he’s told. His cock feels oversensitive and oddly, he likes it. He moans when he makes the first stroke, his whole body twitching from pleasure. “Oh, God.”

“That’s good, baby, keep that pace,” Potter is in fact not keeping that pace and it is driving Regulus insane. “You have no idea how much I want to see you right now. To see your face as your hand goes up and down wrapped around your cock,” Regulus struggles to keep the pace, he wants to go faster and the words from the older man aren’t helping. “You would let me see you, wouldn’t you, baby?”

“F-fuck. Yes. Yes, daddy,” he answers and fails to contain a whine. 

“ Go faster for me, ” Regulus moans as he does. “ Not so fast, love. Slow down- right, just like that, ” he says and sounds pleased with Regulus. “ I want to hear you moan like that when I fuck you. Because I will, baby. I just know you feel so good, ” this time, it was Potter who moaned and- oh, God, to hear a man moan because of the thought of fucking you is one of life’s blessings. 

“James, please. P-please, I need- I need to- please,” he starts begging.

“ Faster, baby, ” Potter moans again as he does it faster as well.

“Thank you,” he finds himself saying and right now, he doesn’t have the time to think about it, because the pleasure he feels has all his senses hostage and the goal is to reach the end. An end that is approaching rather quickly. “James, daddy, I cannot- I will-” he tries to explain but he can’t formulate a sentence.

“ Oh, baby, if it weren’t so late I’d test how you deal with edging. But you have been so good to me, so I’ll have to leave it for another day, ” he has no idea how Potter is managing to speak, because Regulus knows he is as turned on as he is. His voice and his breathing give him away. It’s so hot. “ Come for me, baby. Will you do that for me? ” Yes. Fuck yes.

“Yes, James, yes,” he nods as he moves his hand up and down with no finesse at all. All he can think of is the breathing and moaning Potter is doing. Imaging that he is on top of Regulus, moving in and out of him while moaning in his ear. Suddenly, without warning, he is spilling in his hand and chest, a broken moan with Potter’s name leaving his lips. However, he can’t stop moving his hand. His overstimulated cock sending spikes of pain mix with pleasure all over his body, making him twitch. Distantly, he hears Potter reaching his orgasm as well, letting out a growl as he does and then, heavy panting. 

Slowly, he reaches to the right and grabs a tissue (he left the box there after he brought Barty and Evan home weeks ago).

“ You sound so beautiful, Elio, ” Potter says, breaking the silence. And shit. He thanks whatever God is out there because if Potter had called him like that while he was touching his cock, it would have made him spiral. Just like right now. Because now he wonders what his name- his real name, would sound like coming from Potter’s lips. 

He doesn’t remember if he answered, because soon enough he was asleep.

☾✩☽

The first thing Regulus does as he enters the room is hug Sirius. Well, Sirius hugs him, more like. Regulus does let himself be hugged by his brother.

“We saw each other last week,” he mutters.

“Yeah, a long week,” Sirius says as he steps back.

“Are you done now? We have to start this meeting,” their mother says as they take their seats, he can see how Sirius rolls his eyes which causes Regulus to suppress a smirk. Even though Regulus has stayed loyal to his family and the business, it doesn’t mean it includes all of his relatives, let alone his mother . He enjoys his job, but he does not appreciate the way his parents made him do it. It wasn’t until he met Evan, Barty, Dorcas and Pandora that he knew what fun was. It wasn’t until several conversations later with Sirius that he knew what love really was. Being related by blood doesn’t guarantee love, he learned that thanks to his mother. And his father, but he died years ago, so he doesn’t really feel the need to blame him anymore. His mother, however, has done everything in his power to avoid him becoming soft , and that includes Sirius. Because she knows that the person Regulus loves the most is his big brother. Although Sirius has shown that he loves Regulus and Remus more than anyone (two people is way too many for his mother liking), he has demonstrated that he is capable of love and not becoming soft. While Regulus has only expressed his sincere love to Sirius. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why Walburga never allowed Barty and Evan to train with them, not because she doubted their skills, but because she doubted Regulus.

“Yes, mother, God forbid I hug my brother,” Sirius sighs dramatically which causes their mother to raise an eyebrow. A threat that no longer works with his brother. “Let’s begin,” she says and so it goes.

Bellatrix is the first one to start, saying how the others headquarters are going insane with all the killings she’s been doing. She rants for several minutes about how much fun she is having. Regulus rolls his eyes a couple of times because as entertaining as Potter is, he does envy his cousin, as he likes those kinds of missions too. Because unlike his, Bella’s doesn’t have to follow a pattern and she doesn’t have to clean everything afterwards.

Then there’s Cissy, who is a bit behind on her goal, “She doesn’t trust anyone! It’s impossible to have a civil conversation with her. She is driving me nuts!” Alice, as Regulus saw the first time he met her, is a woman that is suspicious of everyone, apparently even the ones who work with her. “Besides, she thinks she is the shit. Let me tell you something, she is not,” she huffs as she crosses her arms. “I will get this job done, and I will enjoy it,” is the last thing his cousin says. It is amusing watching Narcissa like that because out of everyone, Sirius and her are the ones who win people easily, so this is a challenge for her.

“Well, I’ve had no problem with people liking me,” Sirius grins and Narcissa rolls her eyes. “I’ve won over Longbottom, who’s our superior, as well as McKinnon. Remus has introduced me to Evans, MacDonald, Fortescue and, of course, Potter,” at the mention of his name, Regulus unconsciously sits straighter. “Although I haven’t been able to really get to know Potter,” Sirius shrugs. “Other than that, people trust me, they tell me all kinds of things.”

“Potter is quite busy in his office, he’s kinda obsessed with Regulus right now,” Remus joins the conversation. At that, Walburga seems more interested than whatever they’ve been saying before. “As the one who’s been doing all the killings and the one he met at the bar.”

Potter is obsessed with him? As Elio?

“And you Regulus?” Walburga asks. “What do you have to tell us?” Regulus is not stupid. What do you have to tell me? Are you obsessed as well? Is what his mother is asking.

“Everything is going well with my part of the mission. I have finished the first list, in the timelapse we had agreed. I met Potter the day Sirius told me as it was in our plans. And as Remus said, Potter is obsessed with me,” he explains carefully and he can feel the gaze of his mother, trying to find a flaw, as she always does. And as always, she does not find it. Because his side of the mission is going perfectly. 

“Good,” she nods at all of them.

“If I may,” Remus clears his throat. Ever since Remus joined them officially, he has demonstrated that he is not afraid of Walburga as she would like to, but he does respect her enough to be civil with her. “Potter is not to be taken lightly. That man is one of the best Phoenix has had in the last thirty years. He always solves all the kills when he is determined, and I’ve never seen him like this before… He is dangerous like this.”

Walburga nods as she thinks, “I had a feeling this might be one of the outcomes, so I had something prepared,” she gets up and leaves the room, but before any of them can ask anything she is back, Dorcas following her closely. Walburga points to a chair and Dorcas sits. The relationship his mother and Dorcas have is one Regulus has never expected, because out of everyone in the room right now, his friend is the one Walburga respects the most. And no, his mother does not like her. “Dorcas will be joining the mission,” she states, it is not up for discussion and judging by Dorcas’ look, she already knew about it. “She will be on your team, Remus, at the Phoenix. Her role and mission is to contaminate the evidence enough to throw them off for a while, as well as to protect Regulus from the inside. Is that clear?” All of them nod, even Sirius. “You can go now,” she nods once and everyone gets up from their seat.

As he heads for the exit, his phone buzzes.

Pottery Barn [11:23 a.m.]: What are you doing today?

Regulus [11:23 a.m.]: what do you have in mind?

Pottery Barn [11:24 a.m.]: Dinner, at eight. 

“Why are you smiling? It’s disturbing,” he hears and as soon as he does, he stops smiling. He didn’t even realise he was. He shrugs and Dorcas smirks. “Are you having fun with your new toy? I miss having you around here,” she pouts. 

“Actually, I am. He is funnier than the rest. And at least Dora is with you,” Regulus answers as they start walking together. 

“Yeah, but even she says it’s not the same without the three of you. Who would’ve guessed I would miss Barty. I mean, of course we all miss you and Evan, but Barty? Didn’t see that one coming,” Regulus laughs, mainly because he believes Dorcas is funny but also because he knows she is lying. Dorcas loves Barty as she does with the rest of them.

“Where are they?” he asks. He hasn’t seen them since two days ago.

“Making sure the Phoenix has a spot for me,” she winks at him and he smirks.

Regulus [11:27 a.m.]: cant wait;)

The dinner with Potter is exactly what he thought was going to be. They talked for hours and Regulus laughed an awful lot, which, as Dorcas said earlier that day, was disturbing because he is not someone who laughs or smiles frequently. And yet, Potter was making him do it without any effort. Potter obviously paid for everything (which Regulus was planning on, as he asked for expensive shit just to test the other man, to his annoyance, Potter didn’t even bat an eye when he paid). 

It was becoming more difficult for Regulus to tell where Elio ended and Regulus began. He found himself telling true stuff to James, obviously he wasn’t telling him the whole thing, but the emotions of each story were real. For example, he told him about how much fun he had growing up with his cousins, but he left out that it was during their training days. And it was surprising, because it is one of Regulus’ favourite memories. When he was seven and his brother was ten, it was the only time their training overlapped. Even Andromeda was still in the family. And as part of the training they turned them into two teams and one had to hide while the other haunted them. A twisted version of hide and seek, but Regulus loved it. Despite the weapons and the bruises afterwards, it’s one of the few times he had felt like he was a child playing with his brother and cousins. 

“Let’s walk,” Potter says as soon as they leave the restaurant. He’s offering him a hand and Regulus takes it, immediately feeling the warmth of his skin. They walk for a few minutes, the weather is cold as it has been the last few weeks, but feeling Potter close to him is enough to stop the shivering. “What do you do?” James asks out of nowhere.

“For living?” He asks, even though he knows that’s what Potter means. Fortunately for him, he had all planned, as well as his mother. When he turned seventeen, they decided he should go to college to study (it was to keep apparences), so he has that great alibi. 

“Yeah.”

“Well, after uni I felt what everyone feels I think. I felt like I had to have the perfect job with the perfect paying position. So I threw my life to the wolves, got a good job, a great paycheck, but it was nothing special,” he shrugs. “The only problem was my ex, moving to be with him and stuff, you know.”

“You got the dream job at what? Twenty two? A year ago?” He asks, frowning.

“Twenty one, actually. And yes, I was the best in my class, so it wasn’t that hard to find a job afterwards,” he explains and he isn’t completely lying, he was offered tons of jobs, but he doesn’t really need them right now as he has been working for around seven years give or take in the family business.

“And you threw it away for some guy?” 

“I believed he was the right person. I’d do it again for the right person, I think,” he turns to look at James and he is already looking at him.

“You would?” Potter whispers.

“Yeah,” he nods and he can tell Potter likes the answer because his eyes dart towards his lips and Regulus feels the heat in his cheeks. There’s something about the gaze of the other man’s eyes that makes Regulus feel like burning up. 

James doesn’t say anything else after that, just takes a step closer to Regulus and kisses his cheek and then the other one. He does it so slowly and with so much reverence that causes Regulus to close his eyes. The man kisses his forehead, the tip of his nose, all to end up in his lips. Regulus wastes no time to kiss back, in the same slow manner as Potter. 

“I could kiss you forever, you know?” Potter says against his lips, it’s barely just a whisper, but it’s okay because no one else has to hear those words. 

Without having an answer to that, Regulus kisses him again. And he does the same thing James did. He starts kissing both his cheeks, then tiptoes a little to kiss his forehead, the tip of his nose, and back to his lips. When the kiss ends they just look at each other’s eyes. James’ eyes are shining as if the light of the sun was reflecting on them, and Regulus is burning at the heat of them. 

“Elio…” 

“Shh,” Regulus puts a finger on his lips. Words can only ruin this. 

They kiss in the dark of the night for what feels like hours, Potter offers to leave him at his house but Regulus obviously declines, ignoring how his chest slightly aches because of it. Eventually, they say their goodbyes and Regulus leaves with Evan, this time, he doesn’t invite him to stay the night.

☾✩☽

“James, have you slept at all?” Lily asks him as she enters his office and the answer is no. He hasn't slept well. 

James blinks at Lily, her face slightly out of focus before the world sharpens again. He knows the dark circles under his eyes must be obvious, but he doesn't have time to care. The Rabbit has kept him awake.

"I'm fine," he lies, rubbing a hand over his face as if that will somehow erase the exhaustion clinging to him.

Lily doesn’t look convinced, but she doesn’t push. Instead, she places a cup of coffee on his desk before sitting across from him.

"You missed the bar again last night," she says, her voice careful.

James exhales sharply. "Not really in the mood for drinks lately."

That’s an understatement. The Rabbit disappeared for two weeks after the circle was closed, a silence that had been deafening. No taunts, no bodies, no twisted little messages left behind like breadcrumbs for James to follow. For a brief, ridiculous moment, he had hoped it was over.

Then the body of Marlene’s friend had shown up, and the game had changed. The Rabbit was inching closer. He was getting personal.

James had thrown himself into the case even harder, analyzing every detail, retracing every step, searching for patterns that might give him something– anything, to work with. But the only thing he had found was that the killings were getting closer. The Phoenix still is the center point.

The next murder had happened only a few blocks from the station, and the one after that had been near his own apartment. That was a major change, as well as a major discovery for him as his team. The Rabbit wasn’t just playing anymore; he was watching. He was near him and while the targets were close to his friends and colleagues, he knows it’s James who he is after. He’s started to leave notes just for him to understand and that- that’s what is keeping him awake. Because it’s stuff only people close to him would understand, not a random UnSub.

So no, he hasn’t been sleeping, because he has a target on his back, which is leading to the ones around him to suffer the consequences. But also, because he is starting to suspect of everyone he knows and loves, and that– that makes him feel like shit.

"James," Lily says, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You can’t keep doing this to yourself."

Deep down he knows she is right, hell, if anyone would be right is Lily (mainly because she is always right), still he doesn’t answer. Instead, he picks up the coffee she brought him, taking a slow sip. It’s still hot, scalding against his tongue, but at least it keeps him grounded. Before she can push further, a knock at the door interrupts them. James turns, and his stomach tightens when he sees Sirius standing there, expression grim.

"We’ve got another body," James closes his eyes for a second, just long enough to gather himself. Then he stands, coffee abandoned on the desk, and follows Sirius out the door.

Sirius was quite a surprise to have under his team, at first he wasn't sure about him as he wasn't about any new people, but Sirius fit right in. He is full of smiles and laughs, he is loved around here. Somehow, he reminds him of himself. And that made them get close really fast. James has found that he enjoys Sirius’ company a lot, that’s one of the main reasons he has made him more involved in the case. That and because Remus isn’t subtle at all, and because James is a great friend he has assigned them work together. 

On the other hand, the real problem is Dorcas Meadowes, he thinks. Everyone likes her, but James has a silent alarm going off every time he is near her. She’s new, newer than Sirius and the Malfoy girl, Narcissa. But back to Meadowes, Lily somehow has taken her under her wing as she is part of her division but personally, James doesn’t like that she entered the team in the middle of this case. Maybe because he is territorial about it, but even the newest additions were already working at The Phoenix when the case started. The thing is, the team likes her. And he won't ever deny that she is great at her job, that’s the only reason he has let her stay in the case, besides she makes Mary a good run for her money. There have been fights and bets about it.

"Have you talked to Elio?" Lily asks after a moment, breaking his train of thought again. Some things never change, and her being able to bring him back is one of them. They are walking towards another office where the rest are, so this conversation is just for them to hear.

James stiffens. "Why?"

"Because you’ve been spending a lot of time with him. And don’t look at me like that. I’m not judging. Just curious. I know you’re with him when you’re not at the bar, despite you being ‘busy’ and ‘tired’," she makes quotation marks with her fingers.

She’s right. James has been seeing Elio more often, though he doesn’t quite know how it happened. After their dinner, something between them had shifted. The guarded sharpness Elio carried so effortlessly had softened, just enough for James to notice. Just enough for James to get drawn in. 

It had started with casual conversations, then coffee, then a pattern neither of them had acknowledged out loud. Every Friday, James would be at the bar and every Friday, Elio would appear there as well. And they would chat and kiss and do everything next to the other. James had found himself in Elio’s orbit more than ever, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to be there or because he was trying to forget the weight of everything else. 

"It’s nothing," he mutters, but Lily just raises an eyebrow, unimpressed.

It’s not nothing, he knows. He can actually feel it. The conversations are stretching longer, lingering at the end of phone calls, a steady pull that James isn’t sure he wants to resist. There’s something grounding about Elio, even when everything else is spiraling.

But now, he can’t afford distractions. Not when they’re staring at yet another body.

“This one was found just a few blocks from the Phoenix,” Marlene says, voice clipped. Her fingers drum against the table, restless. “Same patterns. Same calling card.”

James nods, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. His mind races, trying to piece things together. The Rabbit’s pattern has been shifting; tighter, more deliberate. 

“We need to start considering that this isn’t just escalation,” Alice interjects, her brows furrowing. “This is a statement.”

James barely registers her words when his phone vibrates in his pocket. Instinctively, he pulls it out, already expecting another update, but instead, his screen flashes with Elio’s name.

Elio [15:07 p.m.]: miss you

His breath catches for a second. The conversation around him continues, but the edges blur, their voices becoming distant as he stares at the message. It’s nothing. It’s a simple message. But in the middle of everything– between the sleepless nights, the crime scenes, the hunt for a ghost– it feels like an anchor.

“James,” Lily calls sharply, snapping him out of it. “Are you even listening?”

He blinks, locking his phone quickly before clearing his throat. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

Marlene narrows her eyes at him but doesn’t push. Instead, she turns back to the case file, and James forces himself to focus. He can’t afford to be distracted. Not now.

Still, his fingers twitch towards his phone.

☾✩☽

Two weeks later, James finds himself picking up after the third ring. He knows perfectly who it is, he changed the ringtone after the first time he called, but he lets it ring for the fun of it. And also because it’s two in the morning and he wants him to suffer a little for waking him up.

“Yeah?” He answers, his voice is deeper than normal, he knows.  

“ James ,” his voice, as soft as everytime he calls him at this time. Which haven’t been a lot of times, but enough to recognise the tone in his voice.

“Hi, love,” James smiles. 

“ Hey, did I wake you up? ” He asks, something in his voice sounds needy. As if the younger man didn’t know that he was asleep. C’mon it’s two in the morning!

“Even if you did, you wouldn’t really care, would you?” James asks because his lover is a little shit sometimes. The most gorgeous little shit ever. The only one who would get away with this and James would gladly wake up just to hear him.

“ You’re right. I wouldn’t. ” As said, little shit.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“ I’m -” Elio’s voice sounds broken. Oh… It’s one of those nights. “ Please .” Fuck, how he loves when Elio begs.

“That’s not an answer, Elio,” he warns him. “What do you need, baby?” He knows what that nickname does to the other. The younger man has made sure James knows how much he loves the nickname. Even if he hasn’t said it directly, James can tell.

“ I need you, Jamie .” He finally says and yeah, James is wide awake now.

“Good boy,” he whispers and hears the broken moan. At this point, James also needs him. “Take off all your clothes for me, love.”

He can hear Elio moving and James can only picture him doing what he was told to do. He absolutely loves how responsive he is to James. So fucking perfect for him. No one has ever been as a brat as the younger man is, but still doing everything that James tells him to do. It’s a thrilling game, their dynamic. It keeps James alive, waiting for the next step, always on edge and he loves it.

“ Done, ” he says and James has no other option but to take his own clothes off. 

“Alright, baby, you know the rules. Do as I said and you’ll be able to come, alright?” James only hears a sigh and some movement. “I need you to use your words, love, can you do that for me?”

“ Yes ,” he answers and that’s how it goes. It’s helpful for James to have these kinds of calls with Elio. But after that day, he feels awful answering in the middle of the morning, just to be restless the next day at work. Elio has become a great distraction and that scares the living shit out of him. 

☾✩☽

James had always considered himself observant—quick on his feet, with a sharp eye for detail. Yet, as he sat hunched over his desk, rifling through the pages of his latest investigation, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was slipping through his fingers. Something important. The "murder mystery" they'd been dealing with was far from over, and despite his efforts, he couldn't make the pieces fit. It’s been almost four months since all the “RAB” killings have been starting and he is nowhere close to solving the case. So, a few weeks ago, he started going to the scenes, taking Mary (because Dorcas isn’t trained to be on the field yet), Narcissa or Sirius (whoever was available) and Alice with him.

His mind was foggy, not from a lack of effort, but from the peculiar sense that there are secrets just beneath the surface, waiting to be uncovered.

"Prongs!" Mary’s voice slices through his thoughts, breaking his concentration. He turns to find her standing in the doorway of his room, her brow furrowed, a slight frown pulling at the corners of her lips.

"What is it?" James asks, trying to keep his tone steady, though he can't help the flicker of anticipation in his chest. Whatever it is, it has to be important.

"Look at this," she says, holding out a small piece of paper. But as James' gaze shifts from her hand to the floor beneath her, he notices it—a footprint. A distinct, slightly smudged print in the dust. His breath catches in his throat as he examines it more closely. The shape is unmistakable.

"That's not… that’s not just any print, is it?" he murmurs, his fingers tracing the edges of the footprint. It is faint, but the pattern is unmistakable. He has the distant feeling of familiarity. 

“No, it’s not, I’ve already run it through the system to find any pattern recognition,” she nods, smiling. James returns the smiles because honestly, this woman… James often wondered how they had even managed to make it this far without her.

“You are amazing, woman!” James kisses her cheek and she laughs. Feeling a little bit of hope he grabs his jacket and stuff. “It’s late, we should head off. The system will do its job and tomorrow we will find out what it is,” he says as he leaves the scene. 

As James steps into the hallway, the sounds of heated voices drift through the air, drawing his attention. He turns toward the source, a small, dimly lit room near the stairs. Inside, Narcissa and Alice are locked in a fierce verbal exchange.

"You’re impossible, Alice," Narcissa snaps, her icy tone cutting through the tension in the air. "You always think you're the one who knows everything, but you’re just as clueless as the rest of us."

Alice stands her ground, her eyes narrowing as she crosses her arms. "I know more than you think, Narcissa. Maybe if you actually listened to me once in a while, we’d get somewhere.”

James hesitates at the door, sensing the undercurrent of something more between them, something he can’t quite place. There’s a certain sharpness to their words, but the way their eyes lock, the subtle way they stand close enough to feel the other's breath—it’s as if the conversation holds a different meaning, one that doesn’t involve solving mysteries.

Narcissa takes a step forward, lowering her voice to a near whisper. "I don't need your advice, Alice. Not now. Not ever."

Alice’s lips curl into a small, knowing smile. "Well, if you want to be left alone with your useless little theories, then fine. But don’t come crying to me when you realize you were wrong." She steps closer to Narcissa, almost daring her to react.

Narcissa’s gaze flickers briefly to Alice’s lips before she forces her eyes back up to meet hers. "You’re always so smug," she murmurs, her tone softening for just a moment before the edge returns. "But you won’t win this one. Not with me."

For a moment, it’s quiet, the air heavy with an intensity that feels almost palpable. Narcissa's breath catches slightly as Alice tilts her head, studying her with an expression that’s both challenging and... curious. James can't help but feel the magnetic pull between them, the way their movements are fluid, the unspoken tension hanging like a thread waiting to snap. Finally, Alice breaks the silence with a light chuckle, turning away. 

"You’re impossible, Narcissa." Her words are half-hearted, as if she’s not entirely sure she means them. She shoots one last glance over her shoulder. "But don’t think this is over."

Narcissa watches her retreating form for a moment longer than necessary, her lips parting as though she might say something—something that lingers in the air—but then, just as quickly, she shakes her head and turns away. James clears his throat from the doorway, making his presence known. Both women snap out of their trance, their heated glares turning to him.

“Everything alright in here?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

Narcissa and Alice share a brief, lingering glance, and the room seems to cool, the tension slowly dissipating, but only just.

"Everything's fine," Alice responds, her voice a little too smooth, a little too calculated. "Just a small disagreement."

Narcissa, her back stiff and posture cold, nods in agreement. "Nothing worth worrying about, James." But as he watches them, he can't help but wonder if there’s more to this than they’re letting on. Something beneath the surface, something deeper that neither of them is willing to admit.

☾✩☽

Regulus swirls the last remnants of his drink in the glass, watching as James rambles about something from work. He’s not really listening, at least, not as attentive as he should be. But James looks so alive when he talks about things he cares about, and Regulus enjoys watching him.

The restaurant is dimly lit, warm, and intimate, perfect for the kind of distraction he needed tonight. He had chosen this place on purpose. Somewhere small, somewhere where they could sit close, where he could trace the back of James’ hand absentmindedly with his thumb as they talked. The world outside of this moment didn’t exist. Not yet. Not for him.

But eventually, it has to.

“Are you even listening?” James teases, nudging him lightly with his knee under the table.

Regulus huffs a small laugh and shakes his head, a rare moment of honesty slipping through. “Not really. But you look nice when you talk.”

James rolls his eyes, but the tips of his ears go pink. “Flattery won’t get you out of this, you know.”

“No?” He tries, because being a brat is one of his favourite things in the world and James makes it even better.

“No, baby. I was telling you that I have to rest tonight, have a big day at work tomorrow,” he sighs and Regulus knows about his work, because of Dorcas being the one who’s messing with the schedule.

James offers to take him home and, as the times he has the last month, he accepts but gives Barty and Evan’s location for him to drop him off. It’s getting annoying, if he’s being honest, because he wants to let him in and do unholy things to the man. Because the worst part is that Regulus knows James wants to fuck him as much as Regulus wants to be fucked. 

“Alright,” James says as he pulls over. “I’ll see you soon?”

Regulus nods and leans in, pressing a brief, deliberate kiss against James’ lips before pulling away. He doesn't allow himself to think about it too much as he leaves. 

When he enters their friend’s home, he finds them on their couch. Barty is sitting on Evan, while they are kissing. 

“Oh, really?” Regulus asks as he rolls his eyes. “I wasn’t even late!”

“Well, we got tired of waiting for you,” Barty says and Evan smirks as he presses a kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek. It’s sickening how in love they are. 

“I’m here, so let’s go. Dorcas is waiting,” he says, but they go back to kissing. “Now!”

Barty and Evan don’t get out of the car, just leave him and tell him that they will be back in a few minutes. Regulus has to be quick and precise, Dorcas has hacked the security system, making it look like no one’s there. But it can only last a few minutes. So he has to hurry.

Dorcas is still there, as he knew she would be. She’s standing near someone’s desk, flipping through some files, her brow furrowed in concentration. Across the room, Narcissa leans against the wall, her arms crossed, a smirk playing on her lips. Narcissa’s and Dorcas’ friendship is one that took everyone by surprise, she was the first (after Regulus, of course) to vote in favour of Dorcas joining the House of Black. In fact, Narcissa was one of Dorcas’ trainers. 

Dorcas glances up when he enters and gives him a sharp look. “You’re out late,” is all she says and Regulus rolls his eyes, because he is not late. He’s always on time.

Regulus shrugs, stepping closer. “I’m not, and even if I was, it would be B and E’s fault,” he shrugs, not saying their names just in case.

His friend watches him carefully, her eyes searching his face for something he doesn’t let her find. “Something on your mind?” She still finds it. Maybe it is foolish of him to always try and hide things from her, but she is his best friend, next to his exes. Pandora is a close second, but he doesn’t see her as much as Dorcas.

He leans against the desk next to her, glancing at the half-empty office, he has a pretty good idea whose office is, everything in it screams his name. 

“You could say that.”

Dorcas tilts her head and says, “Something about James?” Regulus lets out a quiet laugh, shaking his head. 

“Not everything is about James.”

From her spot against the wall, Narcissa scoffs lightly. Regulus forgot for a second she was there. They’ve had another debrief last week, where the thing he has going on with James is becoming an issue for Walburga. It was a quick debrief but very necessary.

Regulus found out that his brother is now close to James, making him front line in his case (“The Rabbit” case, as they are calling it, which honestly? He was making it so clear that it was initials and these people go on and call him a rabbit . Idiots.) Remus is as involved as he has always been. While Dorcas struggles to gain James’ trust, although she doesn’t look as bothered as she should be. 

“No, but it makes it interesting,” Narcissa gives him a playful smile. Regulus throws her a wry glance but doesn’t rise to the bait. Instead, Dorcas sets the file down and crosses her arms. office. A screen in the far corner flickers briefly before going dark—Dorcas’ hack is holding, but not for long. The security system is blind for now, but only for a few more minutes.

“She’s still in her office, finishing up.”

“She gets an office and you don’t?” Regulus asks, Narcissa laughs but Dorcas looks at him unimpressed. Regulus meets her gaze and something unspoken passes between them. A silent understanding. A confirmation of what comes next. 

He sighs.

Narcissa pushes off the wall, stepping closer. “Get it done,” she says smoothly, her voice barely above a whisper. “Quick and clean.”

“And please, do not make a mess,” Dorcas points at him with a finger and Regulus, yet again, rolls his eyes. Dorcas watches him for a moment longer before she shakes her head and turns away, while Narcissa picks up a file and idly flips through it, unconcerned.

A moment later, he moves toward the other office.

Regulus rolls his shoulders back, forcing himself to exhale slowly as he moves toward the other office. The hallway feels longer than it should. Every step echoes slightly, the hum of a distant computer the only other sound. A faint click sounds behind him as he locks the door.

The next and final target for this part of the mission is Mary Macdolnald. He doesn’t know a lot about her, but he met her before, she is not one to go to the club every Friday, but she is there occasionally. She has a vibrant personality, and like everyone who works here, she’s smart.

Mary doesn’t hear him at first. She’s too focused, too deep into her notes to notice the shift in the air. She’s meticulous, sharp—she should’ve noticed him by now. A tiny part of him almost wishes she had.

Something in the back of his mind tells him not to do it, to just let her go, but he can’t. In the brief moment of hesitation, she turns around, flinching and gasping while touching her chest.

“Oh, fuck. Elio! You scared the living shit out of me,” she laughs, he guesses for the nerves. “Are you here with Prongs?” She asks and Regulus screams internally because he still doesn’t know where that nickname comes from. 

“No,” he answers, and for the first time since he started killing people, for training or work, he says, “I’m sorry.”

For a split second, Mary frowns. The humor fades from her face, her brain catching up to the wrongness of the moment. The locked door. The careful way Regulus stands, just slightly tensed. The sharp glint of something in his hand. But what really makes her realise what’s happening is when she looks at his feet, Regulus doesn’t understand why. He’s just wearing one of his pairs of Converse. 

Her breath catches.

“The Rabbit.”

It’s not a question. It’s an affirmation. But it is too late.

Regulus knows that the scene in front of him is not messy, but it feels messy. He wants to scrub his skin clean, he has never felt as dirty as he feels right now. 

Mary Macdonald is dead on the floor.

His dagger is stuck where her heart is, because he decided to make it as quick as possible. Having mercy on her. 

Before he leaves he grabs a post-it on Mary’s desk and writes a note for Prongs .

☾✩☽

James had been running on empty for weeks now, but this—this was different.

He isn’t sure why he has a bad feeling when he walks into the building this morning, but it settles deep in his chest, gnawing at him like a warning he is failing to catch in time. Maybe it is the way people are whispering in the hallways, or how the usual hum of work felt off, quieter, like the entire place was holding its breath. 

“James? James!” Remus runs towards him once he is at his floor. There are more people than usual, but what makes the alarm go still but somehow louder, it’s the forensic team. 

“What is it? What’s going o-“ and then he hears it, the raw scream and sob from Lily. He moves quickly towards where the sound came from. He finds Sirius holding Lily, his left arm is holding the back of her head and his right arm is wrapping her. It looks like his whole body is shielding her for something.

James moves past the forensic just to find her.

Mary Macdonald, lying on the floor of her office, her skin too pale, her lips parted slightly, as if she had tried to say something before the end. The wound in her chest tells him everything he needs to know. He was here. He killed his friend. And he had been precise. Efficient.

It didn’t feel real.

James took a slow step forward, distantly aware of Marlene standing frozen by the door, of Alice gripping the back of a chair so tightly his knuckles had gone white. James barely registers his surroundings, barely hearing the murmurs, but he hears it: “ they found her this morning ” and “ no signs of forced entry ” and “ quick, at least. ”

Quick. Quick .

As if that meant something. As if that made any of this better.

James is staring at her, stuck in a loop of time, but he has to act, he has people counting on him. He will not let anyone down, he will not fail them– again. 

A flash of something yellow caught his eye, and his breath stilled as he reached for it. A post-it, stuck carelessly to the edge of Mary’s desk, like it didn’t belong in the middle of this nightmare. Like it wasn’t the thing that made his stomach twist, because something about it felt so personal. 

His fingers trembled as he pulled it free and read the words written on it. Two simple words.

I’m sorry.

The blood in his veins went ice cold. His ears started ringing. However The Rabbit is, James is going to kill him. Whatever it takes.

☾✩☽

The following week, after he murdered Macdonald, was hard for both of them. It was hard for Regulus to look at James and pretend everything was alright, when one look at his lover’s face was enough to tell him that it was not.

James’ light had dimmed a little and knowing it was Regulus’ fault… it was killing him inside. He wanted to go back in time and undone what he did. He wanted to make James feel good, make him shine again.

So now, Regulus is a man with purpose. He sighs as he knocks into James’ door. He’s been coming to the older man’s place more often. It’s becoming familiar and a routine. Honestly, he never pictured this job going on for so long, let alone feeling this close to his target, but here he is. 

James opens the door and as he always does when he looks at Regulus, he smiles. 

“Hi, love,” he greets him as he kisses his cheek and lets him in.

“Hi,” he answers. 

Regulus steps inside, inhaling the comforting scent of James’ flat, sandalwood, something so distinctly him . The place is dimly lit, casting soft shadows along the walls. He shrugs off his coat, tossing it over the back of the couch before turning to James, who’s watching him with that unreadable expression. Something tired, something dark flickering beneath the usual warmth.

Regulus hates it.

So, he does what he does best. Distracts.

“You look like shit,” he says, arching a brow, voice light but laced with something else.

James exhales a laugh, shaking his head as he closes the door behind him. “Thanks, baby.”

“You have been working a lot, haven’t you?” James of course doesn’t answer, mainly out of shame. Regulus has seen how James has been working day and night, harder than before and Regulus also knows that it is because of his friends’ death. 

Drowning his guilt, he steps closer to the man. They are now in James' living room, where the older one sits in front of his laptop with clear intentions on working again. Regulus sighs and shakes his head.

“Stop that,” he reprimands him and closes his laptop. Not caring whether the work is saved or not. Then, he just leans closer to James, letting his fingers trail along James’ arm before gripping his wrist and pulling him toward the couch. “You need to relax,” he murmurs.

James hums, eyes flickering down to where Regulus is holding him, then back up. “And you’re here to help with that, are you?”

Regulus shrugs, he looks at James through his eyelashes. “If you let me. Will you let me take care of you?” 

James doesn't answer, but the way he tugs Regulus flush against him is answer enough. James hums noncommittally, hands already slipping beneath the hem of Regulus’ shirt, fingers warm against his skin. He drags them up slowly, purposefully, pulling the fabric along with it. Regulus lifts his arms just enough to help James tug it off completely, tossing it aside. 

“Take off your pants for me, love,” James, still sitting, just watches as Regulus undresses himself, keeping just his briefs.

They’ve done this dance enough times to feel comfortable with James watching him naked, but also enough times to want to see James naked as well. His hands slide down James’ chest, working on the buttons of his shirt, but James captures his wrists before he gets too far.

“Not yet,” James murmurs, guiding Regulus back toward the couch until the backs of his knees hit the edge. “Kneel, ”Regulus doesn’t, he just looks at James, a challenge in his eyes. James rolls his eyes, then with his right hand, grabs his hair and pulls it down, making him kneel.

James chuckles, low and fond, before biting at the soft skin just below Regulus’ jaw. “Spoiled brat.”

Regulus gasps, his hands go straight to James’ thighs, “You love it.”

“I do, i really fucking do.”

Regulus looks up at James, expectantly. His hands skims up the inside of his thighs, spreading them apart. He leans in, pressing a slow kiss to the sensitive skin just above James’ waistband, unfortunately for Regulus, James is still fully clothed.

James exhales sharply, tilting his head back slightly, “You’re teasing, baby.”

Regulus smirks against his skin, fingers deftly undoing the button of James’ trousers, “You want me to stop?” He leans and bites the inside of his thigh. Mine , Regulus thinks. He wants to carve the word into his skin.

James’ breath hitches when Regulus’ hand brushes against him. He is hard already. “Fuck, no, baby. Don’t you fucking dare.” 

Regulus hums, pleased, as he continues his slow, torturous pace. His fingers trail lower, tracing the outline of James’ arousal through the fabric before finally, finally slipping beneath the waistband. James sucks in a breath, his hips lifting instinctively to chase Regulus’ touch. Smoothly, Regulus takes his cock out and starts stroking it.

“You want to take care of me, baby?” James asks, tugging at his hair again, moving him closer to his cock. Regulus just nods, feeling a little helpless. Suddenly realising that James is fully clothed. And Regulus feels his body burning up. “Be good for me,” it’s an order, and- fuck, isn’t Regulus good at following orders.

Regulus is familiar with James’ length on his mouth by now. He has found himself on his knees way too many times before. And maybe that’s what he wants to do for the rest of his life, be on his knees to worship the man. 

And James loves it, every time. He always tries to keep control, but he always loses it- yes! Like that. He keeps his hand in a fist on Regulus’ hair, keeping him still and James just… fucks his face. All Regulus can do is breathe through his nose and relax his throat because James isn’t the only one who loves it. No one has ever made him feel like this, the roughness and precision of his thrusts make feel dizzy in the best way possible. There have been times where Regulus has thought that he could come just by letting the older man wreck his mouth. 

Sooner than he expected, James pulls away and Regulus whines . 

“Needy little thing,” James grins, shaking his head. He lets go of Regulus’ hair and makes his way to his face. He cleans the tears (that he didn’t feel before) and makes his way to his mouth, tracing his bottom lip with his thumb, pulling it down a little. James watches him, dark eyes full of intent, before leaning in to kiss him—deep, slow, consuming. Regulus moans into it, gripping James’ shoulders as he lets himself get lost in the sensation. Without stepping away from the younger one, he says, “Get up.”

Regulus does. Too far gone in the trance to be a brat about it. 

James moves deliberately, guiding Regulus to the bedroom. He’s excited for what’s to come. There’s a switch in James when they are alone, it’s like the kind, gentle James is moved to the back; he’s still there, but this James takes over. The one that likes to boss around and manhandle Regulus. He thinks that James could be a dominant for a living because of how good he is at it. 

James pushes Regulus into the bed, making him bounce a little when he lands. He is fully exposed to James right now. Just his briefs covering him. James stares at him with hunger and Regulus is afraid that he might let him eat him whole, leaving nothing behind. 

“You are gorgeous,” James grasps and Regulus melts. James is still looking at him, steps closer to remove the remaining piece of clothes that he had on. “So beautiful,” he whispers, more to himself than to Regulus. He leans and kisses Regulus’ collarbone. “And all mine, aren’t you, baby?” 

Regulus arches into his touch, wanting to feel more. His breath coming in uneven pants. “Yours,” he agrees, voice barely above a whisper. 

“Good boy,” he praises, which makes Regulus blush, from his ears to his chest, all dyed in a soft pink. “I want to eat you whole, baby. Would you let me?” James asks, but he isn’t really waiting for an answer, because as soon as he’s said it, he is grabbing Regulus by his waist and just… turns him, making his ass be up and his face pressed down on the mattress. 

“Please, James,” he begs as he spreads his legs a little bit more. A warm sensation spreads across his left cheek- James just spanked him. “Please, daddy ,” he says instead.

“That’s better,” he rubs the cheek he slapped and then there’s no talking. He feels the warmth of James’ tongue on his rim and he’s a goner. It’s all moans and whines and whimpers and- 

“Fuck!” he says when James pushes one finger inside of him along with his tongue. “P-please, please, daddy, more,” he presses himself back to chase the feeling, but James, with his other hand, keeps him still. His fingers pressing so hard against his waist that it will probably leave marks. 

James does listen, though, because he adds another finger. Regulus can’t stop moaning and squirming. 

“I- James- I need you,” he manages to say, his throat is dry from all the panting. James doesn’t stop, he eats him out as if his life depends on it. Every now or then, James will moan, sending vibrations that cause him fuck himself with James’ fingers. “Please,” he tries again.

This time, James pulls away. “So polite, my baby,” he moans, because oh . That’s the first time James has called him like that, like he owns him. 

And he does.

“Turn around for me, love,” Regulus does and when he does, James is smiling at him, the hunger is still in his eyes.

“You’re still fully clothed,” Regulus frowns. James is still wearing all his clothes. “That’s unfair.”

“Well, we can always fix that,” James grins as he takes a step back. He slowly unbuttons his shirt, removing it just as slow, letting gravity do its job. Regulus is always in fucking awe with James’ body. You can tell that he is bloody strong because of the way his muscles look. His arms- fuck, his arms are one of Regulus’ favourite parts, so big. He fully believes that he could crush his skull with one arm, and how Regulus wants him to try, just to feel the strength of those. And then his abs, he has a full pack. 

Unable to control himself, he grabs his cock and starts stroking it, watching as James undresses himself. The other man just raises his hand, but doesn’t tell him to stop, so Regulus keeps going, biting his lip to stop the moans. 

When James takes down his jeans, he takes his underwear as well, and Regulus can’t look anywhere but his dick. James is big , bigger than anyone Regulus has been with. Bigger than Evan, and that’s saying a lot. Regulus moves fast, next thing you know, he is crawling on the bed and grabbing James’ cock with his hand, just to put it in his mouth.

“Fuck! Baby!” James hisses as Regulus deep throats. James lets him blow him for a couple of minutes, before pulling away and pushing Regulus into the bed again. “You’re so spoiled,” he shakes his head. “Maybe it’s my fault. I let you do things like that without consequences,” he says as he climbs into the bed and pins Regulus into the mattress. The older man being on top of him, Regulus can feel his cock against his thigh, while his own cock is pressed between them. He whimpers at the sensation. 

“Daddy…” he says, or begs, something in between. 

“You have no idea how much I love it when you call me like that,” James whispers against his ear. “I love how you say it when I fuck you, as if it was my name, repeating it as a prayer,” James says at the same time he adjust himself, pushing against his rim. Instinctively, Regulus tenses, but the moment James pushes forward, he lets go, because this is what he’s been waiting for. 

“Yes, yes. Daddy,” Regulus closes his eyes and throws his head back, which James takes as an invitation to attack his neck. Kissing and licking and biting. 

“You feel like heaven, baby,” James pants against his neck, he is close enough to feel the way his lips move as he speaks. “Made just for me,” he leaves a bite in his neck. Regulus knows that it’s going to leave a mark. James’ thrusts are unforgiving, and the pace is quick. It’s destroying him. “I was meant to find you, baby, I was meant to make you mine. You are mine, aren’t you?” 

Regulus nods, moaning at the words. But James pinches the side of his hip, “Use your words, love.”

“I- I am yours, daddy, all yours,” Regulus says, his voice breaking due to the moaning. 

“I know,” it’s all James says before turning them over, making Regulus be on top. “Show me, baby. Take care of me,” and if the words weren’t enough, the lazy look on his eyes drove him crazy. Regulus now is a man with a mission, bouncing on the cock of his lover, drawing moans and groans out of the other man. James touches every part of his body, moving his hands up and down his sides; moving from his nipples to his thighs, but never touching his dick.

“I’m- daddy, I’m close,” Regulus says, because this position always takes him to the edge. James’ cock hits his sweet point every time he is on top. And the first time he discovered that, he was delighted, because none of his previous lovers had ever made him feel so close untouched. 

“You look so good, my baby, so good for me. You’re so perfect,” James praises him, adoringly. He knows that’s because the praise gets him closer, so it just means that James wants him to come.

“Can I-?” he half asks. The question lingering but James knows what it means. 

“Yes.”

That’s all Regulus needs for him to put his hands on James’ chest, digging his nails, and moving faster, chasing the release he so desperately needs. James helps him, planting his feet on the bed and meeting Regulus’ movements in the middle, and it’s- it’s perfect, the synch, the feeling of being full . 

One of the reasons Regulus loves this position is because he can see the look on his lover’s face, the way his eyes are struggling to keep open because of the pleasure. And right now, he can see that James is just as close as he is.

“Daddy, daddy- Oh, fuck, James!” saying James’ name as he comes wasn’t planned, but it was the right thing, because it sends James over the edge, making him come as well. Regulus feels the way James’ cock twitches as he spills inside of him. Regulus moans at the feeling. “Fuck me,” he sighs, tiredly.

“Just did,” James says, smugly. Regulus rolls his eyes with a smile as he lightly punches him in the shoulder. As he moves to lay next to James, both panting.

Afterward, the room is quiet, filled only with the sound of their slowing breaths. Regulus feels boneless, warmth lingering in his limbs as he lets his eyes flutter closed. James shifts beside him, the mattress dipping as he moves.

A moment later, there’s a gentle press of lips against his temple, then a hand smoothing over his stomach. “You alright, love?” James’ voice is soft, but there’s something firm beneath it, something grounding.

I think I could love you , Regulus thinks, and it doesn’t scare him as much as it would’ve months ago.

Regulus hums, too spent to form proper words, and too far gone in his thoughts. James chuckles, reaching over to pull the blankets over them both before tugging Regulus into his chest.

“You did so well,” James murmurs, fingers tracing idle patterns along Regulus’ back. “My good boy.” Regulus sighs, melting into the touch. He feels safe, warm. Cared for.

I think I already do .

James presses another kiss to his hair, his grip tightening slightly. “I’ve got you.”

And for once, Regulus lets himself believe it.

☾✩☽

James [14:46 p.m.]: Are you coming over tonight, baby?

Elio [14:47 p.m.]: yes, just gotta do something first<3

James sits on the couch, fingers tracing the edge of his coffee mug absentmindedly. The afternoon light spills through the windows, casting long shadows on the floor. It’s been weeks now—weeks that have felt like they’re slipping by in a quiet, almost surreal blur. Elio has been staying at his place, and James has gotten used to the rhythm of it, the small presence of Elio filling the spaces that used to be his alone. 

There’s something about it—something that feels unexpected but right. The way Elio’s laughter rings through the house, the way his energy fills the spaces around them. The little things—his books scattered on the kitchen counter, the sound of his footsteps in the hallway, the lingering scent of his cologne in the air. It feels warmer now, more alive. It feels like home in a way James didn’t know he needed. 

He’s been waiting for Elio to get back. It’s a kind of waiting that feels different now, filled with a quiet kind of anticipation. It’s not anxious; it’s the opposite, in fact. It’s the kind of waiting that fills him up, that makes the time feel like it’s moving too slowly until Elio walks through the door. He hears footsteps in the hall, and before he can even think about it, he’s standing, pulse quickening slightly, a smile tugging at his lips. He opens the door just as Elio is about to knock, their eyes meeting in the moment before words are even exchanged.

“Hey,” Elio says, a softness to his voice as he steps inside, a quiet familiarity in his movements. It’s like this place has become his home, too.

James grins, stepping back to let him in. “Hey. Are you good?”

“Yeah,” Elio replies, his eyes soft as he closes the door behind him. “Just tired.”

James laughs lightly, his hands reaching out to pull Elio closer. “I know that feeling.”

Elio melts into the embrace, and James feels his chest fill with warmth at the ease between them, the comfort of it. They stay there for a moment, just holding each other, the noise of the world outside fading. James pulls back after a beat, fingers brushing against Elio’s cheek. 

“You want to just... sleep?” James asks, his voice low, a quiet suggestion that feels natural between them.

Elio’s lips curl into a smile, exhaustion still lingering in his eyes but softened by the familiarity. “Yeah. That sounds perfect.”

Without a word, they walk together to the bedroom, the kind of silence that says everything between them. James closes the door behind them, and the weight of the day seems to lift as they get into bed, side by side. There’s no rush, no need for anything other than the simple presence of each other.

They settle in close, Elio’s body fitting perfectly against James’. No words are needed. The soft rhythm of their breathing, the shared warmth, fills the room. James closes his eyes, feeling at peace in a way he hasn’t in a long time. Elio’s here. They’re together. And for now, that’s all that matters.

☾✩☽

Regulus doesn’t sleep. He just stares out the window, the soft glow of the moonlight spilling across the room. James’ room. Lately, he’s been staying here more than his own home, and he can hardly tell where one place ends and the other begins. James’ scent is everywhere- on the sheets, on the clothes strewn across the floor, in the quiet hum of the house. It’s all too easy to lose himself in this life, the one he never imagined for himself.

He lets out a breath, watching as James lies next to him, his arm loosely around Regulus, pulling him closer. It feels natural, almost as if they’ve always been like this. His heart flutters painfully in his chest.

“You alright?” James murmurs, his voice groggy from sleep, yet warm and comforting in the stillness.

Regulus nods, but the lump in his throat is hard to ignore. He isn’t alright. He hasn’t been for a while now. Not since he realised he loves the man.

He turns to face James, a sigh slipping past his lips. His hand reaches out hesitantly, brushing against James’ skin, fingers lightly tracing the curve of his jaw.

“I need to tell you something,” Regulus says quietly. The words seem to stick in his throat, and he almost pulls back. But there’s no going back now.

James lifts his head slightly, concern flashing in his eyes. “What is it?”

Regulus swallows. He’s never been good at opening up, especially not about himself. But for some reason, with James, it feels different. He’s not sure why. He’s known Evan and Barry for longer, and none made him feel the way James does in just a few months. Maybe it’s because James has given him a space to be vulnerable, something no one else has done before. But now, with the confession pressing against his chest like a weight too heavy to bear, it seems impossible to hold it in any longer.

“My real name…” Regulus trails off, letting his words hang in the air. “It’s Regulus Arcturus Black.”

James frowns slightly, but his grip on Regulus doesn’t loosen. He doesn’t pull away. Regulus swallows again, feeling his heart race. He has to get this out. It’s too much to hold onto any longer.

The confession tastes bitter on his tongue. The name that’s been a shadow over his life, a ghost he can never outrun, now finally spoken aloud. Regulus can’t bear the silence that follows, but James doesn’t say anything, just looks at him with those warm eyes, as if nothing has changed.

Regulus’ chest tightens. He isn’t sure how to put this into words, how to tell James what’s been gnawing at him for so long. “I fell in love with you, James.” The words come out in a rush, desperate and raw. “I—” He breaks off, unable to finish the sentence. How can he explain something so complicated, so dangerous, when he’s never allowed himself to feel it before? He isn’t supposed to feel this way. He isn’t supposed to want anything, anyone.

James’ face softens, his hand moving to cup Regulus’ cheek, his thumb brushing over the skin there. His touch is gentle, and for a moment, Regulus wants to close his eyes and lose himself in it. But he can’t. Not yet. Not when everything has been leading to this.

“Regulus…” James says, his voice quiet but full of something, as if he’s tasting the way his name sounds. Regulus can’t decide whether it’s pity or concern. But he decides that he loves the way his real name sounds from James’ voice. 

But before he can dwell on it, something catches his eye. A glint of cold metal, a reminder of who he was supposed to be. The dagger. It’s lying across the room, almost forgotten, but it’s still there. It always will be.

Regulus pulls away from James, his movements sharp as he turns to reach for it. His fingers brush against the cold steel, and the familiar weight of the dagger feels like an anchor, a tether to the past he’s tried to escape. He pulls it from its sheath, the weapon gleaming in the dim light of the room.

“This is who I was,” Regulus says, his voice breaking. He holds the dagger out toward James, his grip tight on the hilt. “This is what I was supposed to be.”

James’ face falls as he looks at the dagger, then back at Regulus, but he doesn’t pull away. Instead, he leans forward, his gaze never leaving Regulus’ face. The tension in the room is suffocating.

“Regulus…” James says again, but his voice is different this time—gentle, almost like he’s trying to piece something together. “You didn’t have to be that person.”

Regulus laughs bitterly, the sound hollow. “But I never had a choice, James. I was born into this. Into that name. Into the expectations,” his fingers tighten around the dagger, and for a moment, he feels a sharp desire to let it go, to give in to the anger, to the pain. But something holds him back. Something in James’ eyes.

The silence stretches between them, thick and heavy, until James moves forward again. He places his hand on Regulus’ chest, right over his heart. The touch is warm, grounding.

“Regulus,” James says softly, repeating his name like a prayer. His thumb brushing over Regulus’ skin. “You’re not that person.”

But Regulus pulls away, his chest tight. He wants to argue, to say that James doesn’t know. He doesn’t know the darkness that has followed him, the weight of his past. But James is persistent. His hand moves to the side of Regulus’ face, cupping his cheek gently.

“Don’t pull away,” James murmurs. “You’re not a villain, Regulus. You’re not the monster you think you are.”

The words hit him harder than he expected. Regulus shakes his head, confusion and pain flooding him. How can James be so sure? So certain of him? After everything he’s done? After Mary? 

The lump in his throat grows, and before he can stop himself, he feels the tears starting to fall. His breath hitches, his chest tightening with an ache he can’t describe. The pain inside him is deeper than any wound.

But James is still there, his touch never wavering.

Regulus looks at him, his heart racing, his chest heaving with emotion. “I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve you, James.”

James doesn’t say anything at first. He just stares at Regulus, his face softening with what can only be described as understanding. He doesn’t pull away. He doesn’t want to. For the first time in so long, he doesn’t want to.

“I’m sorry,” Regulus whispers, his voice thick with emotion. “I’m so sorry.”

Regulus feels his heart shatter just a little more, though he can’t tell whether it’s from relief or something else. He doesn’t know if he’s ready to let go of his past, but in this moment, with James looking at him fondly, adoringly; he starts to believe that maybe- just maybe, he doesn’t have to. They stay like that for a while, pressed together, both of them trying to breathe through the storm of emotions swirling inside them. Finally, James pulls back slightly, looking at Regulus with a tenderness that makes his heart ache.

“You don’t have to carry this burden alone,” James says softly, taking the dagger from Regulus’ hand, his fingers brushing against Regulus’ in the process. Regulus doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know how to respond, but the warmth in James’ gaze speaks volumes. There’s still so much to untangle, so much to figure out, but in that moment, the weight of the dagger feels a little lighter. A little less like a curse.

“The things I’ve seen, Regulus, doing what I do, I can recognise a monster when I see one. And you, love, ain’t one.”

And then, with a slow, deliberate movement, James pulls Regulus into a tight embrace. It’s almost too much. Regulus doesn’t know how to react, how to handle the warmth that floods his body. 

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Reg,” James cups his cheeks and Regulus can’t phantom what’s going on. The pain is there, absolutely, but it is so much that his body can’t seem to process it correctly. He looks at James with his eyes farrowed and head tilted, his lips are parted and at some point tears have started falling from his eyes. What is going on? He wants to ask but the dagger on his abdomen is making it impossible for him to even form a sound. He has no idea if the pain is from the wound or his heartache because James is still looking at him with the same expression he used to do, caring. Still, he pushes the weapon deeper into Regulus and a strangle noise comes out of him, he feels like drowning and burning at the same time. “You know, deep down, that you were never really the villain… and I was never really the hero, love,” James whispers next to his ear. 

The words coming out of his lover’s mouth are enough to make him feel pain, but it wasn’t enough. Not to James. He takes off the dagger from his body and his body finally reacts to the pain, the physical one. 

He had one mission. Kill James Potter. 

What a way to screw that up.

☾✩☽

James cannot stop hugging him. He simply cannot. He knows there’s blood on his shirt and hands and… everywhere . But nothing can make him stop hugging him. His body is still warm and James wants to hold on to that. He wants, oh so desperately, to hold on to the younger man. 

What have I done? What have I done? He thinks repeatedly, as he rocks on the ground while holding Regulus’ lifeless body. 

Because he is dead.

James could feel the last breath he exhaled. 

“What have I done?” he asks this time, his lips pressed into Regulus’ forehead. He dares to look at his face and his eyes are closed. It hits him that he will never see his beautiful eyes again. That grey that makes James feel like a storm is coming but the rain never comes. He will never see them again. “What have I done?” he repeats and presses the body closer to him. The body that drove him insane on multiple occasions and gave him comfort in many more. “What have I-” he doesn’t finish the sentence. 

James killed Regulus.

Elio. Baby. Love. The Rabbit. The UnSub. His mission. Regulus. 

He killed who he thought was the love of his life, but in reality was the killer. 

He solved the case. 

James killed Regulus Black. The Rabbit

He stops moving and the weight of Regulus’ body is not a weight he can carry right now. It’s too heavy. Regulus feels too heavy.

Slowly, he puts Regulus’ body fully on the floor and as soon as he does, James scoots back as if Regulus was going to come back to life and attack him. But it never happens. 

He has to- he has to call someone to help him. 

He goes over all the names of his friends and none of them are good options for him to call. The first one he thinks of is Lily, but he doesn’t want her to see this, to see him like this. Then there is Frank or Marlene, but they don’t have the same training for this kind of situation. Alice is off the list, she has always said that one thing is watching photos of the killings than actually seeing them. He then thinks of Remus, and he remembers when Remus was absent for months after an attack… yeah, he can be the one to help him with this. Right?

He taps the sides of his pants and feels his phone on the left side. He blinks once, twice and then he hears the ring calling.

“ Hello? James? ” he hears Remus’ voice and he could cry. 

“Remus. I need your help, can you come to mine?” he asks calmed, but internally he is begging. Please, please, please .

“ Is everything alright? I- love, stop, ” he hears him in the back and James can tell that it is Sirius, not long ago Remus told him that they were seeing each other. 

“No, not really. It’s an emergency, you can bring him too,” he says, referring to Sirius.

“ Okay… Just send me your location, we’ll be there, ” Remus says and then hangs up. James hurries to send him his location and then-

-then nothing. He can only stare at Regulus’ body for, what feels, hours. He doesn’t know how long ago he called Remus, but he feels all his body numb and so heavy. It is so strange. His mind is racing and he cannot catch any thought, so it feels like he isn’t really thinking. 

Eventually his mind calms, because he had his suspicions about Regulus being the one behind all of those killings but his feelings towards the younger man blinded his better judgement, he let himself be part of the game. He let everyone down at the Phoenix and for what? A moment of pleasure and weakness? He knew better than that. But now he won’t have to see McGonnagal’s disappointed face when he has to report about The Rabbit case. No. This time he will tell her that he caught him. 

Okay, yes, he killed him, but that was the only way to stop him. As he said to Regulus, he isn’t a hero, he never pretended to be. Heroes have a strong moral towards good, but all James really cares is doing his job… whatever it takes. And if that makes him a villain, so fucking be it. 

Two knocks on the door make him snap out of it, he hurries to the open. Leaving Regulus’ body alone in the middle of the living room.

“James, are you o- what happened to you?!” Remus asks as he enters. James, distantly, wonders what he looks like, he can smell the blood on his body. 

“I found The Rabbit,” he says as Sirius enters.

“... What?” Sirius asks.

“The Rabbit. I solved the case,” he nods frantically. 

James closes the door and moves to the living room. Remus follows him with Sirius behind him. The moment Remus sees the body, he stops and takes a step to the right, making Sirius stop behind him. Remus just stares at the body and with his right hand keeps Sirius behind him, protecting him from the view of blood, he guesses. From where James is, he can see Sirius trying to peek through Remus’ shoulder. Almost impossible, because of Remus’ height but he manages eventually, which leads to Remus once again, moving to block the view.

“Remus. Remus. Who- who is it?” Sirius asks, but something tells James that he knows. At the end of the day, everyone knew who The Rabbit was. “Remus. Who is it?” he demands.

“I-”

“That’s The Rabbit,” James says as he looks at a shocked Remus. “His name was-”

“-Regulus,” Sirius ends up saying, finally moving past Remus, who manages to catch him by the arm. And James nods, but then-

“How do you know?” 

Sirius looks down at the body. Regulus’ body and it’s awful, the scream Sirius lets out. It’s full of sorrow, sadness, everything bad in the world is in that scream. If pain was a sound, it would be Sirius’ scream. The man gets closer to Regulus and then he is sobbing. A mix between sobs and screams. 

“James,” he hears Remus calling him. His shock left behind as he now moves towards James and even though they are around the same height, James feels small compared to him. “Did you do this?”

He looks at the body and he feels heavy again, there’s an unfamiliar ache in his chest and he feels like he’s about to burst into tears. He killed Regulus, didn’t he? He killed the man who, until a few days ago, James told him that he loves him.

“I- I had to, he-” he tries to explain but a voice deep down- that sounds awfully like Regulus’- asks ‘ Did you? ’ 

“You killed him?” James looks at Remus, but it wasn’t him who asked. It was Sirius, now on the floor, holding Regulus. “Did you kill him?” His voice sounds scarily steady, as if he never cried. “Did you kill my brother?”

Brother ?

“Brother?”

“Yes. Brother. Regulus Black is my brother and you-,” he doesn’t finish the sentence because soon he is standing up, letting Regulus down so gently. It all happens in seconds. First he’s standing up, and then Remus is holding Sirius back, grabbing his right arm which has a little knife. James has absolutely no idea where that knife came from. “Remus, let me go. I’m going to kill that son of a bitch! He killed my brother!” Sirius is shouting and James still struggles to understand. Even so, he takes a step back. 

“I know. I know .”

It’s in the way Remus says it that everything clicks into place for James and he knows he was part of Regulus’ -The Rabbit’s- game, but he didn’t see the whole picture, did he? 

The circles The Rabbit did with all those killings, leaving hidden messages in the scenes, killing people closer to his team, killing Mary, all of that… 

It all makes sense now. 

“How long were all of you planning to kill me?” James asks. Because that’s it, isn’t it?

Sirius hasn’t stopped looking at him, but Remus turns his head slowly. “Almost six months now,” he answers calmly. 

“S-six months?” James is shocked really, because Regulus hasn’t been doing killings for that long. “When?” he asks Remus. James liked Sirius, but Remus is his friend. One of his closests friends. 

“Years ago,” he answers. And it breaks James knowing that even now, he’s been as truthful as he’s always been. The same candor that James has always admired. 

“Why?”

“Him,” he looks at Sirius and unfortunately, James understands. The look in Remus’ face is pure love and admiration. Almost like reverence. It’s worship. All of that in less than a second. “I’d kill anyone if he asked,” and it’s almost comical, the way he’s still holding Sirius back, because even though Sirius’ isn’t moving, Remus is using force to keep him still. “Unfortunately, that includes you.”

“Can I kill him now?” 

“No, sweetheart. Let’s call Dora, she’ll know what to do,” Remus says and as soon as he finishes saying it, Sirius relaxes a little. 

“We cannot let Dora see him,” Sirius whispers, his voice breaking and his eyes watering. 

“Would you rather call Evan or Barty?” 

“Actually, yes. They will happily help me kill him,” the murder in his eyes returns as he looks at James again. But then something funny happens. He gives the knife to Remus and straightens his hair. James, confused, looks at Remus and all he finds is pity in his eyes. Just… it’s not for Sirius. It’s for James. 

“What?” 

“I’ll let you live,” Sirius says as he sits next to Regulus’ body. “You know? Yesterday my brother called me,” the tears start falling down his cheeks. “He told me to come over and I did. He rarely does that. Ask me to come over. So of course I was at his place in less than an hour,” Sirius stroked Regulus’ hair delicately. “He quit the job.”

“What?” Remus asks. He looks extremely surprised. 

“Yes. He chose to face our mother and his wrath, for you,” he looks at James. “He chose to leave the life we grew up in, for you. He chose you, James Potter. Because my little brother fell in love for the first time in his life. He loved you,” the hurt in Sirius’ eyes is driving him to the edge. “So, I will not kill you. Because you deserve to know- to live with the fact that you killed the person who loved you.”

For years to come, James will think about how everything went down. From Regulus to his brother to James, because… well, he never won. Heroes win in the story, but he did tell Regulus that he wasn’t a hero, and here are his consequences. Every now and then he thinks about Regulus,  his chest hurts and it takes him a long time to realise that he never said it back. He never told him that he loved him back, because he did… even now, despite everything, James loves him, and hates him, and loves him, and- 

It’s safe to say that he is bored out of his mind. 

Only a few still visit him. Lily, Marlene and Alice. They talk to him, Lily has left The Phoenix. Marlene is still there but never goes into the field (which is a shame because she loved it), while Alice tells him how she has left to work with Narcissa now. 

Sirius visited once. He ranted for minutes about his little brother, telling James stories about Regulus. At first, James thought it was a way to make him feel guiltier, but then he realised that Sirius just wanted to talk about his little brother. James could see Sirius missed him, because some days, James has the same expression.  

The thing is, Remus and Sirius managed to convince everybody that his mental health was deteriorating because of his work and his obsession with finding “The Rabbit”. So much that he became paranoid. They told everyone that he wasn’t sleeping and that caused hallucinations, making him a danger to everyone and the one who paid the consequences was his boyfriend.

And he will give them a little credit, because part of it was true, but he would never have killed Regulus without any reason. And he had one. He was The Rabbit. God knows he tried to tell everyone about it.

There was a trial. Sirius was a witness, telling a story about how “Elio” was his strangled brother who he hadn’t seen in a while until he was at James’ apartment after James had called Remus. Crying as he said that that day was the first time he saw Regulus in years, just to find out he was dead. Honestly, James doubts the tears were fake. Sirius’ screams and sobs are present every time he wants to sleep, hearing them in his nightmares and daydreams.

He tried to tell them about the foot print, because later, he realised that it was the same pattern of a pair of Converse, he even said that Mary was investigating about it before she was brutally murdered, but when they tried to log into Mary’s database, the pattern didn’t match. It was right there and then when he realised that it wasn’t just Regulus, Sirius and Remus working together. His Phoenix was poisoned, filled with darkness. 

So, all the evidence pointed against him, he had to watch the look of all his disappointed friends. He clearly lost, letting him rot in jail. 

What really broke him was the look on Minnerva’s face. How could he ever explain to her that he did solve the case? Minerva knows how important it is for him to solve his cases, but she still doesn’t believe him. 

Oh, yes, because after a few weeks, another body with Regulus’ same M.O. was found. The scene was brutal, but a note was left:

Game over, Prongs.