Rosekiller

Fifth Year|Fourteen|Bartylus

You're in the wind
I'm in the water
Nobody's son
Nobody's daughter

Monday, September 1st, 1975

By the end of the day, Regulus was back to his usual self, and Evan was much more talkative. Their friend group was chilling in the boy's dorm by night. Pandora was braiding Dorcas's hair, Regulus was reading a book, occasionally joining in on conversations, and Barty and Evan spent their time wrestling one another around the dorm.

Tuesday, September 9th, 1975

The first week of lessons was hell. McGonagall had assigned them loads of homework, Flitwick was on their asses about missing assignments from the previous year, and Slughorn was just god awfully annoying.

"Evan. Evan. Evan. Evan. Evan. Evan. Evan!" Barty pestered the blond boy in Defence Against The Dark Arts class.

"Shh, you're gonna get us in shit" Evan aggressively whispered. "Don't worry, the old bat is too deaf to hear us. D'you wanna bunk divination with me? I'm planning on setting some hexes with time spells around the castle" Barty asked.

"Yeah, just shut the fuck up before we get detention, please?" Evan ordered. Barty grinned and sat back in his seat.

Thursday, September 18th, 1975

Barty and Evan had detention every day until Halloween.

The two had spent a free period cursing passing by first years, and accidentally sent a hex toward a student ought in front of McGonagall, the bastardly strict professor. Barty thought someone 'otta pull that stick out of her ass.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 1975

Regulus and James had broken up, again. They had broken up multiple times since the middle of their fourth year, most times because Regulus believed he wasn't worthy of love.

This time, though, Barty and Evan reckoned they were done for good. The two lovebirds had gotten into a heated fight over what they would do if the war were to escalate. Regulus said he would probably have to stand with his family, and Potter cursed him out for that.

Regulus acted like he was completely fine, but Pandora and Dorcas told the other two boys that he was definitely hurting. Apparently it was some sort of sixth sense for girls, they could just tell if someone was feeling off.

One night in October, at around 2am, Regulus crawled into Barty's bed. He shook Barty awake, and assuming it was Evan, Barty hit him.

"Ow, fuck you, Crouch" Regulus whispered.

"Shit, sorry, Reg. Thought you were Ev"

"What, you two share a bed a lot?"

"Nah, he just likes to shake me awake in the middle of the night to tell me some revelation he's come up with. Why are you shaking me awake at two in the morning, anyway?"

"Well, uh, I wanted to ask you something that I didn't feel comfortable asking in front of other people" Regulus fiddled with his fingers.

Barty sat fully up now, curious to know what this relatively quiet boy was getting nervous/flustered over.

"Uhm, alright, I'm gonna just ask it" Regulus said. Barty nodded encouragingly.

"WouldyoufakedatemetomakeJamesjealous?" He said quickly.

"Say that again? I didn't catch a word of that" Barty asked.

"WouldyoufakedatemetomakeJamesjealous?" Regulus repeated in the same way.

"Mate, I have no idea what you're tryna ask" Barty said, raising his brows a little and smiling.

"Would you fake date me to make James jealous?" Regulus asked, slower.

Barty was shocked by the question, and it took a few seconds for his brain to register the request and think up a response.

"Uhm, sure, but why not Evan? He's the gay one" Barty asked.

"Well, one, because I can't ask that of him, and two, because I figured you'd be more down to do it" Regulus replied. O m

"Alright. Cool. Yea, I'll do it" Barty agreed to Regulus's idea.

"Okay. Great. Thanks" Regulus thanked, and then paused. "If we're doing this, should we make up some ground rules? Boundaries, and such?" He asked.

"Sure" Barty shrugged and the two spend some time thinking of rules, and wrote them down on parchment.
We
In Regulus's neat handwriting, it read:

1. No sexual stuff (sex, teasing, etc)
2. Only closed mouth kissing (unless James is watching)
3. Barty's hand will rest in Regulus's back pocket (that one was Barty's idea)
4. Don't see anybody else until the fake relationship is over

The list was short, but the two agreed that it was good enough and covered what they needed to cover.

"You're sure you wanna do this? You don't have to do it just because we're friends" Regulus asked. "I'm cool with it. Y'know, it might get a reaction out of Evan too" Barty replied.

"What, you like him, then?"

"Nah, it's just fun to mess with him"

"That's cruel"

"Maybe. But it's damn entertaining".

After that, the two went back to bed, and Barty fell asleep quickly.

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I've got angst coming for the next chapter, so I'm excited.

The song at the beginning is Chemtrails Over the Country Club by Lana Del Ray!