Jealousy, Jealousy || Jegulus & Rosekiller

2. Planting the seeds

"Okay, this is what we're going to do", says Barty. "We will begin to sit closer, be constantly by each other's sides, look at each other longingly. Also, we should hold hands in the corridors and flirt a lot, and we should kiss whenever they're around".

"How do you look at someone longingly? Please explain it to me", laughs Regulus.

"Like this! Look", and he proceeds to squint his eyes and stare at Regulus with an expression half murderous and half resembling Gilderoy Lockhart's gaze when taking a picture.

"That's so bad, I can't even begin to describe how terrible it is", Regulus laughs as he rolls onto the bed.

"Stop making fun of me! I'm trying to help you here", and he starts tickling Regulus.

"Stop, stop, I hate you!", screams Regulus, squirming. Barty is straddling him and has effectively imprisoned him while continuing the torture.

In that moment, the door opens, and Evan enters the room.

They fall silent. Evan is frozen, and looks embarrassed, and launches himself into the bathroom.

Regulus and Barty share a look and get up.

"It looks like the plan is already in motion. He looked flustered to me", whispers Regulus.

"I think he was just embarrassed to have heard you screaming like that", says Barty dismissing it.

Evan reenters the room, seeming like his usual self, and asks about their day and how the tutoring went. Regulus tells him, omitting the part where James got too close to him and made him confused and, honestly, made him freak out. Then they all go to bed, and as Regulus and Barty proceed to hug each other closely as usual, Evan steals a quick glance in their direction that Regulus doesn't miss. He drifts off to sleep, hoping that the plan is going to be successful.

The next morning, Regulus wakes up to find Barty practically on top of him, and again, with no Evan in sight.

They go to breakfast, sit alone, and are glued to each other.

"Pretend I'm saying something very funny to you", whispers Barty in Regulus' ear with an exaggerated, sultry voice.

"Well, your voice certainly is", giggles Regulus. They make a point of talking to each other only by whispering in each other's ears all morning.

"Your lover is looking at you", says Barty at a certain point. Regulus can't help but snap his head around towards the Gryffindor table, and indeed, he finds James looking at him with what appears to be an interested expression. They lock eyes, and James seems unable to look away. When he does, Regulus doesn't know what to make of it.

Barty can't be right. James Potter? If anything, that boy dislikes him, because he's friends with- No.

Besides, it doesn't matter even if he did, because Regulus certainly doesn't like him.

Evan, on the other hand. Regulus really hopes Evan will see Barty in a different light. Maybe it's true that he always saw him as a friend, but seeing Barty date someone might help him realize what a good boyfriend Barty would be for him.

For good measure, he and Barty make sure to brush hands a lot, and touch each other at every opportunity.

Evan has been careful not to even look in their direction at all, and Regulus hopes that he can count it as a small win.

In Herbology, they stay in a corner of the classroom and spend the lesson sabotaging each other's transfer of the plants into the new vases, throwing soil all over each other and giggling like two little kids.

In History, they sit in the back of the classroom and keep whispering to each other for the entire lesson.

In Charms, the Professor says to practice the spell in pairs, and they end up not doing anything and just pretending to lose themselves in each other's eyes and be entranced by each other's beauty, except that they don't manage to stay serious for more than five seconds in a row.

At lunch, they sit again by themselves, really close, and, for good measure, Regulus puts his legs over Barty's.

"What do you say, are we being convincing?", whispers Barty in Regulus' ear, laughing.

"Well, the only other thing we could do right now is if I sit on your lap and kiss you, but that seems a bit too far for our plan of slowly falling in love", laughs Regulus.

"I already caught James looking at us once", giggles Barty, "But don't turn around because you should be completely enraptured by me".

"I saw Evan staring at us all morning".

"It was probably because it's strange to see us suddenly act like this, we have been just friends for ages".

"Well, James might just be curious too, like everybody else, I guess. I spotted a lot of people looking at us today".

"People always look at me, I'm irresistible", grins Barty.

"Yes you are, especially for me", laughs Regulus.

"Well, we'll see how it goes. For now touch my hand and look into my beautiful eyes", says Barty, batting his eyelashes.

As they are descending in the dungeons, Pandora and Dorcas grab them and push them into the nearest classroom.

"So guys, what's going on?", asks Dorcas, smiling, "This is too much affection even for you".

Regulus and Barty share a look, and Regulus says, "Okay, we'll explain, but you both have to swear not to tell anyone".

They agree, and Barty starts by saying how he's certain that James likes Regulus, but he's cut off by Regulus.

"He likes Evan", says Regulus exasperated.

"You're not together then?", says Dorcas, furrowing her brows.

"No!" exclaims Regulus, "We'll just make Evan see Barty in a different light".

"Reg, stop", murmurs Barty. "Evan doesn't like me. This was just a funny thing to do, Evan has nothing to do with it".

"You are crazy!", exclaims Dorcas.

"Oh, you and Evan would be perfect together!", says Pandora cheerfully.

"Dora, don't go along with this! Nothing good can come out of it", says Dorcas.

"Well, if James, as I suspect, likes Reg, a beautiful relationship could come out of this", says Barty teasingly.

"Sure, because I'm so in love with him", says Regulus, rolling his eyes. "Yours and Evan's relationship, on the other hand-"

"And then what? Let's say Evan is jealous and he likes you, will you start dating him and just tell him this was all fake?", asks Dorcas.

"No, you all stop, Evan doesn't like me-"

"I don't think this is such a bad idea, Cas. As we established, Barty would never say anything about his crush unless he knew he was reciprocated, and Evan would never say anything if he liked Barty... This could be a way to make everyone's feelings emerge", says Pandora.

"I don't know, I still think it's a bad idea", she says, "but I won't say anything. Unless", she adds, "I see that you are hurting somebody, or yourselves".