Chapter Text
James had five minutes to arrive, and he was two blocks away.
He could do it, he was close, he was walking fast, and they wouldn't notice. He may have overslept, but everyone overslept, but then again, not everyone overslept because they started a discussion in a fans' forum of Grey's Anatomy about the bad decisions Rhymes had been making. In his defence, he was tired, but he couldn't sleep and Grey's Anatomy was there, and he was a weak man.
Luckily he had made his backpack the day before, and he had some old shirt at hand, and if anyone could make work the slacker look, it was him.
So James was confident that everything was going to be alright, it was the third day. It was when everyone stopped trying to get in time, it could happen to anyone, it wasn't like this was some kind of tradition for them. He was safe.
"No, you are wrong"
"How? How?!"
"Easy, I am never wrong"
"Never? May I remind you of the negative zero."
"I was just testing your knowledge of maths"
It wasn't hard to find them, as they were having their traditional discussion about something that no one could understand, except him.
They were standing under a tree that had started losing its leaves. And James had a plan, he would walk fast and quietly, hoping that maybe if he arrived without any sound they wouldn't notice and forget until lunch.
And then he would buy food and that would be it. It was a great plan that would save him money from paying the fair for arriving late.
"Ah, James! Finally, could you tell Sirius how wrong he is?"
He should have known that they would notice, and from the glint, in their eyes, he knew he would have to pay for lunch and more. Fuck. It was the agreed punishment for anyone who arrived late, he knew that, and he was prepared, but he had to try.
"Wrong?"
"I said the dress was blue, and he said it's gold"
"Isn't that to 2016?"
"Your face is to 2016!"
Reminder: arrive later to evade these discussions.
They were still waiting, Sirius had lighted up a new cigarette and Peter was eating a Twister, they probably had skipped breakfast to arrive on time. Not like him who wasn't ready to make the sacrifice, and maybe he should review this rule as he was always paying, or maybe he could skip breakfast. But no, that wasn't even an option.
"I believe the dress has both colours"
"Whaaat?"
"No, you have to choose"
The bell rang two minutes ago, and he knew that he should be going if he wanted to arrive on time and not get another notice from the professor. He also didn't want to start the day with a migraine, so he grabbed the backpack and started walking away, leaving behind his two best friends who kept arguing about 2016.
"Jamie-Pooh! Don't forget about us!"
"We shall be reunited, my love!"
He was standing at the door and people were trying to pass, and he had stopped to look back at them, and he knew people were about to start pushing as the second bell sounded. But it was Wednesday, the second day of three days a week that he didn't share with them, so they could all suck it.
"I shall count the seconds and minutes!"
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Regulus had arrived with minutes to spare, he had talked to the professor and presented himself and had got away from that silly presentation some professor asked from new students.
So he was safe and sound in his seat, next to the window and texting Barty, who couldn't stop complaining about how boring chemistry was. Because they didn't teach you how to explode things, and what was the point of understanding if he couldn't make a smelly bomb? And no, Regulus wouldn't tell Barty that a smelly bomb was the dumbest thing to do and easy as a pie to do. He wasn't a complete idiot as others thought.
It didn't take long for the other students to start arriving, some of them noticed that there was a new face with them because they kept looking his way and whispering. And fucking high school is always the same.
It didn't take more than a second look for him to open his book on the page that the professor had told him. It seemed they had been reading “Ham on Rye” by Charles Bukowski, a good book, interesting and depressing at the right level, and it had been his favourite book for ten years. So this had the potential of being exciting.
Some blond girl with a low voice was reading the second chapter, from time to time the professor would stop the girl to make a comment or make some sad question that no one would answer.
It was during the third interruption that the boy got in, with his red cheeks, his hair a mess, and his backpack open.
"Ah, Potter! What a pleasure you could join us."
"You know me, I live to pleasure"
A cheeky bastard apparently, he could respect that, what he couldn't respect was that, that Potter boy was walking toward him.
Because apparently, the only vacant space was next to him, damn it. When this Potter fella got nearer, he got a glimpse at the backpack of the boy, and it was a mess. It looked like someone had tried to push every book possible inside there and failed, so now it was a sad thing of papers and rubbish.
However, he did get out of there the book, even if it had a blotch of ink and some turn pages, it was a book, a sad and abused book.
"Psst"
Maybe if he acted like he couldn't hear him he would stop, yes, good plan.
"Psst"
Regulus would just keep ignoring him.
"Psst"
Yet it seemed that this Potter didn't understand that Regulus was ignoring as he threw a rubber at him with a "psssst" written on it. Great.
"What?"
Potter was smiling like he had won a prize, the worst part was that he had another rubber at hand, so he was used to it.
"On which page are we?" This Potter boy should know this, Regulus was the new kid starting mid week, he wasn't the new one. He was an idiot it seemed.
"Fifteen"
"Ok, great, thanks"
Great, now he could carry on pretending that he was reading when he was actually texting Bart and looking outside.
"Psst"
"Dear God, What?"
Potter was enjoying this, that was obvious by the way he was smiling, bastard.
"You are new, right? Because I haven't seen you before."
Yes, not the smartest cookie in the jar.
"Yes"
"Cool, cool, cool, I am James, you?"
He was extending his hand, God, this guy was annoying, he shouldn't have let Barty choose. Next time he would decide, and they would go to some private school deep in the mountains where the people were quiet and reserved.
"Regulus"
"Cool name"
"Potter, pay attention!"
"Sir, yes, sir"
Saved by the professor, Regulus could return to his texting, yet that didn't stop Potter from winking his way. Regulus liked this place, maybe he could work something out with the professor and avoid this Potter boy that was too friendly for his liking.
Regulus already had all the friends he needed, thank you very much, and that was the reason why the moment the bell rang he was out of there.
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It was lunchtime and Bart was exhausted, he had decided to come to this school because he thought it would be fun. Also, it had a great library, and he knew of someone who would like that, but even then the price was too high.
Because it was hour after hour of boring classes about how to do boring experiments or do some maths exercise.
He didn't like it, and worst of all he had a class that he didn't share with Regulus, so he was all alone (well, only for today, but the pain had lasted for a lifetime).
Adding to that, Regulus had skipped classes without telling him, so he had to attend all the other classes alone and introduce himself and his imaginary friend Regulus. Bastard.
Now Bart was looking for him because he was the one who had the food for the two of them, and he had a plan of what he would do the moment he found him.
Finding him wasn't hard, he just had to follow the whispers and the looks that some students threw through the window to know that Regulus was outside and sitting under a tree.
He had a plan, and he was acting on it, running from the door of the cafeteria to the tree and then throwing himself to Regulus.
"Reggie!"
"What'cha doing?"
Regulus hated change, and Bart knew that, as he knew that Regulus was more of a night person than a morning person.
So his mood was awful at this time of day, and that was why he was hugging him and petting his hair as if he was a dog, Bart knew he was annoying him.
"I missed you"
"Off, off, off"
"You abandoned me"
Now he was nuzzling his neck, and he knew that he was breaking through the cold exterior that was Regulus. Because he could feel the smile forming while he talked and Bart knew he was close, so he stopped his attack, but he kept Regulus close, and he lay his head in Regulus' lap.
"You are a dog"
"I prefer a fluffy cat, thank you very much"
Regulus was reading “Ham on Rye”, Barty thought that he already knew the book by heart but apparently, he didn't, or probably he was bored and had decided to re-read it.
"Huuuungry!"
"There's food in my backpack"
"It's tooooo faaaaaarrrr"
Ok so maybe Bart had seen one too many Kdramas, but he was tired after all those classes, so Regulus could turn his eyes all he wanted because Bart had the higher ground.
Regulus was a sucker, so he put the book over Barty's eyes and started looking in his backpack for the chocolate bars that the third party of them had left just in case one of them needed food.
Bart knew it was for him because Regulus was a professional in controlling the need to feed, he didn't need to tell Regulus to feed him as he started feeding him bites of the chocolate.
It was delicious as one would expect, it melted on his tongue, and it had the taste of strawberry. Regulus was feeding him and petting his hair, and the book was forgotten.
"People will think we are dating"
"Well, we did date once upon a time"
Regulus was eating what was left of the chocolate bar, which wasn't much and Barty wasn't going to complain when Regulus barely ate in front of others, a tick that he maintained from his first life.
"Yes, as a prank to some homophobic idiot"
"Yeah, good times, what happened to him?"
"He fell into the cold water when he saw us kissing"
They got quieter and quieter, and somehow Bart knew that Regulus had his eyes closed and that the two of them were taking a short nap before the next period.
It was a slow day when the third party of them didn't come with them, also they were kind of tired because they hadn't slept in days between travelling and moving into a new house. They were exhausted, and they would wake up with the sound of the bell.
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Sirius was smiling and Peter was making paper planes, the dispute about the dress had already been forgotten after their professor had them sit out of the classroom for the rest of the class for interrupting with their discussion.
Also, because they were assholes that had settled in opposing corners of the classrooms, they could disturb the class. A classic that always worked.
James was walking to them with a tray full of a different kind of food, and it was all for them. Because that was the price to pay when one of them arrived late, they had sat somewhere far and with a bumpy road making James travel difficult.
It was funny to see their best friend trying to balance the drinks with the food. The only time that Sirius lost focus of James was when he saw that weird new kid jumps to another boy who was sitting under the tree. Probably one of those three friends that he had said that were new to him.
The new kid had moved, and he was about to see who was his companion, but it was at that moment that James arrived.
"Let's see what you brought"
"Only the best for my friends"
"You say that, but I don't see any Oreos"
"There weren't any?"
"Or you don't like them?"
Silence for three seconds, while Sirius was grabbing some chips, Peter was looking at James right into his eyes. And no one ever messed with Peter and his Oreos, James was a fool.
"I am going for the Oreos"
"Good man! Sirius, do we have a target?"
After James left, Peter was proud of how he managed to persuade James, Sirius found himself choosing their target for the paper plane attack.
It was an easy plan they would put some paint on the tip of the planes and attack their unsuspecting victims, it was one of their more innocent pranks. But it was the third day, it was a pre-warm, give them time, and they would have chaos reigning the school.
It took him a moment to decide their starting point. And Sirius could be a silly boy, so when he saw her, he just knew. This time it had been her to break it off with some poor excuse, it was always some poor excuse from one of them and maybe it wasn't fair.
But he was James best friend and that was all he needed to know, so he put red paint in the paper plane and threw it into Lily Evan's way. And then they were throwing anywhere, without thinking or discriminating, nor giving anyone time to understand or respond.
From there it was people laughing, shouting and looking their way, because it had fallen in their food, or they had their faces painted. Or even worse, in their hair. People started throwing the planes at other people, and it was a fight of paint. When James arrived, there was a rainbow of colour in his clothes.
"You started without me?"
"You arrived late, call it karma"
"Did you bring the Oreos?"
They were petty friends and selfish, but they weren't bad friends, they did save three paper planes for James. Pete grabbed the Oreo, Sirius kept throwing planes, and James was about to start eating when they saw her, she was walking fast and mumbling.
"Potter! Black! Pettigrew!"
"We better run"
James was slow sometimes because Peter was running with his Oreos and Sirius was running while throwing planes like some kind of defence. But James? James was grabbed by his neck, and it was one man down, they weren't marines from the United States, thus they did leave a man behind.
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Remus was waiting for them, sitting against one of the outside walls of the school he was having a smoke, it wouldn't be long before they were out. He knew that Barty would make Regulus walk faster, as he wouldn't stand the idea of being another minute inside the school grounds.
So he would keep waiting until they appeared, he had arrived thirty minutes early as he was getting crazy by being alone in that house or walking the same distance from the house to the convenience store.
Also, he had promised to wait for them before getting to know the new town.
He was waiting, when someone fell on top of him, a guy that was two inches shorter than him, black hair and grey eyes that were pretty similar to the ones of Regulus. Yet, he could see the difference in the length of the hair and that Regulus' eyes were a shade darker. The boy had the same stunning cheekbones as Regulus. But the number one difference with Regulus was that the boy knew that he was handsome.
Remus knew that this was a cheeky one because he had his backpack with him and classes hadn't ended, so he was skipping class.
"Shit! Sorry, are you alright?"
He had all his left arm written with some lyrics, mixed lyrics, it had parts of Joy Division mixed with Twenty One Pilots and Kodaline, ok an interesting mix. The guy was extending his hand to him when he got up and started checking for any injuries.
"Yeah, you?
"I believe so"
"Sorry, I didn't check"
Remus smiled and ruffled his hair in a nervous tick he had picked up through the years when he was in front of someone he didn't know. It was a defensive move, or that was what Regulus and Barty said.
"You know what they say? Always check before jumping through the window."
The guy with the dark hair was smiling, when he heard the bell ring.
"My name is Sirius, yours?"
"Gotta go"
"Cool, I always wanted to know someone called gotta go"
"Moony! Moony!"
And they were out and calling, little shits they were, he left the guy there, and he went to look for Bart and Regulus who were waiting for him outside the school grounds. It was Bart who threw himself at him, as it was expected from them, and when Bart let him breathe. It was Regulus who took the jumper he had tied to his hips put it on himself and hid his nose on the jumper, two weird friends he had.
"Ok, so, homework?"
"Ah! I have it!"
And it was just one paper with some words scribbled and dates and Remus knew, he just knew that Regulus had skipped classes and Bart had been bored, so he hadn't been paying enough attention, they had one job. Jesus.
"It isn't like we need to pass"
"Yeah, we do, we didn't come here to pass the time"
"Didn't we?"
He was always trying to explain this to them, yes Bart had chosen, but he may have manipulated him to get what Remus knew they needed, and that was going back to school.
"When we were deciding where to go Bart said the Soviet Union and you Regulus the other day thought we were in the nineties because of the way the people were dressing. – Which was fair, but not the point- And I couldn't remember the reasons why the second war ended, and we lived through it!"
"Yes, but we are old we forget things"
"We lived through it!"
"Jesus, freaking God, fine!"
And like that Bart was getting another set of papers from his bag, and they had details, with colours and small notes set apart. They were proper notes and the both of them were smiling, bastards, they already had planned this, making him suffer and laugh at his expensive, brats.
"Ice-cream?"
"It was the only way to convince Bart to pay attention"
It made sense.
"Ice cream!"
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James and Peter found Sirius sitting under the window he had escaped. They had looked for him high and low to find him where they expected him to be long gone, but there he was, and he was smiling like an idiot with a cigarette.
"Sirius, what the hell?"
He jumped, and James thought that maybe that wasn't a regular cigarette, that maybe today was the day that Sirius made another stupid decision like smoking pot on school grounds. It was a matter of time.
"I am in love"
— Great! A new record!
— What number is it, Pete?
— A good number, uneven, between Tennant and Capaldi, good, good
— No! I. Am. In. Love
— Yeah, we got it mate
It was a usual thing for them to hear that Sirius was in love, it took him just a smile or a wink, and he was a goner until the next one came his way.
So Pete, and he were used to pulling his leg, but this time, Sirius was looking at them, right at them, and he wasn't high, he was sober and as awake as Sirius could get, this was a whopper.
— I think I found my one true pairing
And maybe not.