꧁ʙᴏʀɴ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴜʀᴘʟᴇ꧂

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 25

꧁✧✧✧꧂

𝕾ide by side, Romie and Regulus stand, silently staring ahead.

For as long as possible, delays had been clung on to for dear life. Longer than necessary, Regulus holed himself up in the upstairs bathroom, much longer than it had taken to get a handle on the unwanted tornado of emotions spinning out of control. Longer than necessary, Romie had helped Mia downstairs, washing up dishes, plates and cutlery until she gave squeaky clean a new high expectation to live up to. Longer than necessary steamy hot showers had lasted, only wrapping up when Sirius and James threatened, scarily seriously, to bust down the door in the next ten seconds.

Delay after delay after delay, until unfortunately all delays, big and small, had run out, forcing face to the predestined disaster.

Romie's bed.

Needless to say, the size wasn't the issue, the Potters possess a wealth that puts the phrase minted to shame. A queen size for a queen, they had insisted, refusing Romie any less, even when she quietly mentioned a single mattress on the floor, like in her and Remus' shared room at home, would suffice. Easy the plentiful bed would fit a growing teenage couple, the issue was, they were, in actuality, not a couple. Barely even friends.

Sighing lightly, Romie begins, "I can—"

But Regulus cut her off almost immediately, voice firm and insistent, "No, I'm not kicking you out of your own room. Besides, that will raise too many questions"

Much to her bolshie little heart's annoyance, he was absolutely right. If anyone, especially Remus and Sirius, were to stumble across her sleeping in another room, unwanted thoughts and questions would rise to the surface. No. They both have to stay in the same room for the duration of the night if they want to keep up their sly scheme.

Absently stroking the soft skin between her knuckles, she turns to him, huffing, "What do you propose then? I doubt your—"

"Fancy pureblood arse will take the floor? You bet your insufferably stubborn arse I will not" Regulus scoffs, feeling phantom twinges and cramps around his neck, shoulders and track of his spine at the mere concept.

Romie bites back her own scoff, purely for the reason it would probably be a little unfair to force him to sleep on the cold, wooden floorboards when she's the one who proposed this fake dating plan in the first place. Besides, if James and Sirius have no problem busting down the bathroom door, removing all means of personal privacy that one is entitled to in a bathroom, Romie doubts they'll decide that bedroom doors is where they draw the line.

Her nose scrunches and her nails dig into the flesh of her palms, already hating the words crawling up her throat.

"We'll share the bed"

Regulus' head whips around in a lightning flash, staring at her like she's transformed into some sort of Cerberus. He had thought she'd have suggested — anything else — before submitting to the easy yet impossibly risky option. She's not an easy girl nor dense, past experiences have proven that, if she wanted to, she would have find another solution, but no, she wants to share the bed. His visible surprise melts away, the replacement that arrives, strong and powerful, making Romie's fierce side come out to play, growling assertively,