You belong with me ~ Bartylus

5. Masterminds

Barty

"We will make Evan see you in a new light," Regulus says.

They sat back in front of the fire, its crackling the only other sound that can be heard. Their voices barely disturb the stillness of the common room.

"And annoy all the pureblood supremacists along the way.  It's perfect!" Regulus giggles.

"Stop with Evan," Barty says. "But I can't wait to irritate those ignorant idiots," he grins. "And witness the blossoming of yours and James' relationship, of course."

A light blush appears on Regulus' cheeks. "There is no relationship."

"Yet," Barty smirks. "Should we tell everyone that we're dating at breakfast?" he says. "No, better. We should enter the Great Hall and kiss in front of everyone."

Regulus laughs. "It's not believable in the slightest."

"Don't you want to kiss me?" says Barty, acting offended, "I'll have you know that many people do."

Regulus chuckles. "Oh, I know. I sit with you in the Great Hall."

"But we can't go from being friends to announcing that we're dating overnight," he continues, "We've been friends for ages."

"A shock, right?" Barty grins.

"No, we should slowly fall in love."

"What? You don't want to shout your love for me from the rooftops?"

"No. You have to woo me first," says Regulus flatly.

Barty laughs, "You won't resist me." Regulus gives him a shove.

"We need to make it convincing," says Regulus. "We should start to stay constantly together. And spend more time alone, I guess."

"Noted. Where you go, I'll go," he says, making Regulus giggle.

"Also exchange lingering gazes, accidental brushes of hands, exceedingly long hugs," continues Barty.

Regulus is laughing when Barty's eyes land on the book James gave Reuglus earlier.

"What would you like James to do? Hypothetically, as your boyfriend."

"Why? What do you mean?"

"So I can show him," he says simply, and he makes a soft smile appear on Regulus' face.

"You like books as gifts," he continues, "But he already does that."

Regulus bites his lips, thinking for a moment. "I think it's more about the thought," he says. "I mean, I love receiving books, but what I like is that they saw something and thought of me, that I appeared in their thoughts during the day."

"Aw, Reggie," Barty coos, "That was heartwarming."

Regulus glares at him. "What would you like Evan to do?" he retorts.

"He would never be my boyfriend. But if you insist, you could grab something for me at breakfast and bring it to class so I can sleep more."

Regulus laughs, "Of course you'd like that."

"But I think you'd also like little surprises from a boyfriend, no?" he continues, "Little unexpected gestures that are meaningful for you."

Barty turns to look at the dancing flames. Is that something he would like? He has gone out with a few people, but it was never anything serious. There certainly wasn't love.

With Brian, though... He's a muggle boy, they met at a gig. When Barty said he liked the band's poster, Brian told him he knew how to make collages and that he could teach him. At that point, Barty wasn't even familiar with the term. He liked that Brian invited him to his place - which was actually a punk house, Barty was in awe of the place - and he taught him that technique. He still makes collages sometimes. Since he bought the muggle camera, he makes them with pictures too.