The Story of Regulus Black - Years 5-7

CXII. Barty's Birthday

When he removed his hand and looked at Barty's face again, there was a smile on his lips. Regulus smiled in response and grabbed one of Barty's hands from around his waist. He laced their fingers together, holding it between them and placing a soft kiss on his knuckles. Barty opened his eyes by the smallest bit and squinted at Regulus, exhaustion glistening on his eyelashes and seeping from his gaze.

"What's this for?" He croaked. The tired smile never left his lips as he blinked slowly and stared at Regulus with nothing but admiration in his exhausted eyes.

Regulus couldn't keep the smile from his own lips. He ran his thumb over Barty's knuckles and felt Barty's other arm flexing around his waist. "Happy birthday my love," he replied quietly.

His smile widened. That impossibly beautiful smile. The one that Regulus thought he could stare at for years and years without once becoming bored. Without once feeling as though his time was being wasted.

"Is it midnight already?" Barty gave Regulus's hand the softest of squeezes. Regulus felt his cheeks growing warm in the way that a mere speck of Barty's attention never failed to induce.

Regulus nodded. "Midnight exactly. Well, it was when I started trying to wake you. It might be a few minutes past now." He kissed his hand again, each individual knuckle. "Happy birthday."

Barty's own cheeks grew dark. "Thank you darling." He pulled their hands close to his face and planted a kiss on the back of Regulus's.

"You're welcome," Regulus whispered. He felt Barty's kiss burning on his hand. So excruciatingly warm. So blissfully hot. Carving itself into his very flesh in a way that Regulus loved. That Regulus craved. A part of him wanted to ask Barty to do it to his entire body. To carve his name into Regulus's skin, etch it into his bones. Mark him and brand him and show every single person in the world that he was his.

Though he assumed that might be a bit much.

He unlaced their fingers and placed Barty's hand palm-down on the mattress between them. He slowly traced the veins in his hand. Outlined his fingers. Drew a series of small hearts over the tendons that flexed beneath his touch. "I have the whole day planned out for us y'know," he muttered.

Barty hummed quietly and tilted his head forward. Their foreheads were nearly touching, centimeters of empty air their only separation. "You do, do you?" He tapped his finger against the mattress in an inconsistent pattern as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He was fairly certain that if Regulus's touch wasn't leaving burning trails across his skin, he wouldn't be able to stay awake at all.

Regulus nodded. "I've been planning for weeks. I mean honestly, if I focused this hard on my revisions I would probably have higher marks than you." Barty breathed a laugh and Regulus's heart stuttered inside of his chest.

"Care to tell me what these mysterious plans consist of?"

Regulus shook his head. "It's a surprise. I can't spoil it for you. That would be like if I just up and told you exactly what gifts I got you. It wouldn't be any fun."

The smallest of frowns marred Barty's face and Regulus wanted to wipe it right off. Peel back his skin and uncover that heavenly smile once again. "Reg, I told you that you didn't have to get me anything for my birthday. Just having you here is going to be enough my love, trust me."

"Well that's too bad Barty, because I already did. There's no point in keeping them to myself and allowing them to collect dust." He changed the path of his fingers. Instead of the small hearts that were scattered across his skin, Regulus wrote his own name. Again and again.

Barty's smile returned. He wasn't sure he could've kept it off of his face if he had tried. "I suppose that you have a point," he mumbled. There was a bit of defeat in his voice, though the happiness was certainly shadowing it. Regulus's heart did another somersault. "Will you at least tell me how much of today will consist of this? Honestly Reg, if it were up to me we wouldn't be leaving this bed once for the next twenty-four hours."