When the Day met the Night

Stupid for You

"Ugh, Evan !" Regulus groans. He's lying like a starfish in the middle of his bed looking up at the ceiling. Barty isn't there, he's been avoiding Evan, neither of them will tell Regulus why but he has a pretty good idea. He's glad at this moment though cause Barty would definitely be laughing at him.

"What?" Evan laughs.

"James"

"Potter?" Evan responds intrigued. He sits crisscrossed at the end of his bed. "Tell me more."

Regulus sits up, mirroring Evan. "Last night, I don't know what came over me, stupidity most likely, but I asked if he was gay and held his hand."

Evan starts laughing hysterically, he falls over backwards making himself laugh even harder. "I'm dying!" He wheezes.

"Evan if you don't stop laughing right now I will snap your legs off and glue them back on backwards."

Evan abruptly stops and sits up, he shakes his head as if he's trying to get the image out of his mind. "Hold on, you asked him if he is gay, what did he say?"

"He said 'I don't know'!" Regulus flops onto his back and groans dramatically.

Evan tries to stifle his laugh, "And why are you upset that he doesn't know if he's gay or not?"

"I'm not upset!" Regulus shouts at the ceiling.

"And I'm not in love with Barty!"

There's a long stretch of silence that fills the room.

Regulus sits up and points at Evan. "That was uncalled for, I am not in love with Potter,"

"Regulus you asked the man if he was gay, and when you told me that he said he didn't know, you were all dramatic and frustrated like you were wishing that he said yes!"

Regulus doesn't like Evan at this moment, he actually kind of hates him. Evan should know by now that Regulus stopped wishing for things years ago. In fact, he stopped wishing part way through his first summer without Sirius, it's when he lost hope.

Regulus never liked speculation, including wishes, he prefers facts and evidence, facts don't let him down. He figured that out at a young age, younger than he probably should have.

"I-" Regulus pauses, a sudden realization coming to the forefront of his brain.

"I was. Bloody hell Evan I was." Regulus' voice sounds surprised like he isn't able to control the words coming out of his own mouth.

"You were what?" Evan asks, confused by Regulus once more.

Regulus sighs, "I was wishing he would say yes. I didn't know it but somewhere inside of me I was."

"So?" Evan pushes, "What does that mean?"

"I don't know Evan. I think- it could mean- I might have a small crush on James."

"See-"

"Please don't say I told you so 'cause I don't know exactly how I feel."

"Okay."

"Let me figure it out on my own."

"Okay," Evan whines. "I'm going to find Barty."

"Hey!" Regulus shouts as Evan gets up to go. "You fucking hypocrite!"

Evan doesn't respond and instead runs out the door

Regulus sits and contemplates what this might mean for him. He thinks about how he's been getting his hopes up and letting his guard down without even realizing it. And how scared that makes him.

***

James makes his way up to Remus in the quidditch stands. He hopes that no one will realize that he isn't following them into the locker rooms.

"Hey Moony?" James asks.

"Hm?" Remus doesn't look up from his book.

"You said I can talk to you about Regulus?"

Remus closes his book and places it carefully on the seat next to him. "Not in those exact words but yes, I'm listening."

"Don't be an ass, I'm kind of freaking out here."

"Well, go on." Remus gestures.

"Okay so last night we were up in the astronomy tower laying on the floor-"

"The floor?"

"Yes don't question it, anyways, he was upset and I was trying to comfort him so I put my hand on his arm." James starts shaking, remembering the night before, nerves spiking. He can't tell if it's leftover or from recalling it to Remus.

"James is that all, cause that's not really anything to freak out at, I mean we all know he doesn't like to be touched but." Remus is having a hard time consoling James, he's not good at that. He was homeschooled until Hogwarts so he never really had any friends.

"No, I mean yes but- it seems really stupid but when I moved my hand he grabbed it and held it."

"Seriously Prongs, that's it?" Remus smiles. It's funny seeing James flustered, even when he was obsessed with Lily he wasn't this bad.

"I mean yes, I know It's really stupid but yeah." James hangs his head down, looking at his hands, he really hates talking about his own feelings.

"Oh James, that's a good thing though, right?"

"I don't know." James sighs and puts his head in his hands.

"I thought you liked him?" Remus is sincere as far as James can tell, he's not mocking James or anything. James decides to be honest back to Remus.

"I think I do but I don't know, I've never liked a boy before. And not being able to talk to Srius is killing me."

"You have to talk to him James, keeping this from him is just going to make it worse later." Remus' voice is steady and calm, opposite to James' own.

"But I don't want to tell him if I'm unsure of anything, plus I'm not sure Regulus even considers me a friend, never mind anything else. Merlin, I can't even imagine that right now."

"Okay. Is there anything else cause it seems like you are still freaking out a bit?" Remus is trying to help James but he has a feeling that he isn't helping and is just making things worse.

James sighs. "Okay, yeah. There is one other thing. He asked me if I'm gay, I told him I don't know."

"Aw James, It's good that you were honest with him."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it wouldn't have benefited either of you if you lied to him. But freaking out about hand-holding isn't exactly productive either." Remus chuckles.

"I knowwww." James whines

"Feeling better now?" Both James and Remus are smiling now, some of the tension in the air dissipated.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go get cleaned up and get my stuff out of the locker room." James starts down the steps, "Thanks Moony."

James feels better having talked with someone but they leave in a few days and he doesn't know what it will be like staying with Regulus, Sirius, and his new confusing feelings. He's going to like living with Regulus though, spending more time with him.