I Will Follow You Into The Dark || Jegulus

4. ...well, better than the alternative

The group all gather in a circle in the center of the common room.

"It's so dark and cold in here. You guys live like this all the time?" Marlene asked, looking out the window to the lake, which in the night was pitch black.

"Unfortunately." Regulus mumbled, "Wait till you see the hallway to the dormitories." The Slytherin dormitories were along a dark and even colder hallway with a metal walkway that overlooked even more lake water, which was likely what made it so cold. That sight made the common room look much more welcoming. Regulus actually quite liked the look of the Slytherin common room despite the darkness and the cold, but he did envy the other houses. He had never seen their common rooms, but just from the descriptions, they all seemed much more welcoming. Before him and Sirius drifted apart, he remembered when Sirius got home for holiday and described everything to him. His friends, his classes, his common room and house, it all seemed so nice. It made Regulus excited to go to Hogwarts, not that Regulus hated Hogwarts, he loved his friends; but regulus wanted more. He was jealous of his brother. He always had been. And here he sat in a circle half full of strangers, one of those strangers being one of his brothers supposed best friends. Regulus had no idea why he was here or how he knew Evan, but he was sure he would find out eventually.

"What are we playing first? a fun game of never have I ever to get to know each other? Or straight into truth or dare?" Barty asks with a shot of tequila already in his hand.

"I say we could just... introduce each other, then play truth or dare." peter suggested, and that is what they ended up doing, introducing themselves in the circle. It was just Regulus, Barty, Evan, Pandora, Marlene, Dorcas, and Peter. It was an odd group to have gotten together, but strangely, it worked.

"so lets do truth or dare, but if you don't do it, you take a shot." Evan suggested, "I'll start. Regulus truth or dare."

"Wow, okay, I feel targeted. truth." Regulus frowned.

"What was your most physically painful experience?" Evan asked without hesitation. Clearly he was expecting something more tame, like a broken bone, not the cruciartus curse done by members of his own family, and not wanting to share that with strangers, he decided to down a shot of tequila, letting the clear liquid burn his throat.

"Fuck you Evan." He glared, "Truth or dare Pandora?"

"uhm I think Ill go with dare." She smiled softly. Regulus couldn't be harsh on her like he would with Barty and Evan, so he gave her one he thought she would find fun.

"name a famous person that looks like each of us" he said

"Oh well you look like Kevin Grimmet" She smiled

"Who the hell is that?" Marlene asked

"oh nobody, he's just some muggle musician" She said in her normal singsong tone, "You look like Evan Peters" she pointed at Evan

"hey he has my name!" Evan said

"Are all the people you're naming going to be muggles?" Barty asked

"Now they will be" She smiled, just wanting to tease him, "Barty you look like David Tennant, Peter you look like Lewis Capaldi, Marlene you look like Olivia Osby, and Dorcas you look like Precious Mustapaha." She finished, surprisingly naming all muggles. "Now Marlene truth or dare?" She asked

"Ill go with truth surprisingly enough." Marlene said.

"What's the biggest lie you've ever told someone?" Pandora asked

Marlene laughed, "oh that one's easy, it was telling everyone I was straight." That one definitely caught Regulus off guard. He looked around the room to see surprisingly no bad responses to that. The one he was worried about was Evan, and even Barty, but they both were silent.

Eventually the group stopped playing truth or dare, most of them had drank at least one shot, and they were ready for spin the bottle. To regulus' dismay, he was voluntold to go first. He didn't know how to feel, so he buried it deep inside him and told himself not to feel, just to get this all over with, and hope it wasn't too bad.

the first person the bottle landed on was Marlene, regulus subconsciously relaxed. He didn't know why, but she was easy to be around., and she was gay. Regulus got up and walked over to her, pecking her quickly on the lips before retreating back to where he sat next to Barty. Next Barty spun, which landed on Evan. Regulus watched Barty's face go bright red for a moment, and Evan shrugged, practically jumping on Barty, dramatic as always. He found it weird, watching his two best friends kiss, even just for a moment. He didn't like the game spin the bottle, thought it was pointless to kiss a person you were friends with, or a stranger if even only for fun. It definitely was not fun for Regulus. He sat quietly as people around the circle spun the bottle. Dorcas and Marlene, Peter and Dorcas, Regulus and Pandora, Evan and peter, and Regulus tried not to think about it until he spun the bottle again and it landed on Barty. It was different when Regulus kissed girls, there was an aspect of faking that he assumed was evident when guys kissed their other guy friends, but when Regulus was kissing boys, it was different. Especially boys like Barty.

Barty's face went red for just a second, barely noticeable, just as it had for Evan, and Regulus truly wondered what was going on in Barty's head. he got it over with quickly, and let the game continue on. It wasn't until well into the night when everyone was drunk or tipsy when they finally finished playing games and talking, and decided to head back to their respective common rooms. Evan offered to walk Peter and Marlene back, along with Dorcas who tagged along, not trusting Evan to get back to the common room in his drunken state. That left Regulus and Barty alone in their dorm.

"During truth or dare, you mentioned liking someone and I heard you mumble something under your breath about them never liking you back, what's with that?" regulus asked, laying face down in his bed, Barty sitting on the foot of it. "How could she not like you back?"

Barty was fidgeting with his hands, something Regulus had never seen him do, he was nervous, even when drunk, but after a few moments Barty replied, "Because I know how he feels about boys liking each other..."

"Evan." Regulus sat up, looking at Barty. He had him figured out. At least a little bit.

Barty almost fell backwards, "how did you know?"

"I've lived with you both for years its hard not to notice the way you look at him." Regulus said, and it was true, but as he said those words, there was something in the back of his throat he wanted to say, but couldn't.

"It's hard not to love him." Barty mumbled.

Regulus shuffled next to Barty and wrapped an arm over his shoulder, " I know how you feel."

"You do?" Barty asked, a look of shock on his face. Regulus nodded. "it would be so much easier if I just liked girls." Barty practically whispered.

"I know. I know better than anyone else. I'll get married off to some broad by my mother. You know how the pureblood families are. Especially mine."

Barty just nodded solemnly. "What if we just... y'know. I'll never get over Evan. I don't think ever, and you, who knows what's up with you, but we could be there for each other even if we don't well, you don't" Barty ended up drifting off mid sentence after spewing nonsense, but Regulus knew what he meant.

All Regulus did was grab Barty by his tie and kiss him, and when they pulled away, Barty looked to be in a daze.

"I just think you're dashing, you know" Barty said with a stupid smile on his face.

"You are really bad with words, you know that?" Regulus smiled before backing away from Barty slightly. He heard footsteps approaching and knew it was Evan. Barty gave a solemn smile before their friend walked in.

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I cant believe I'm actually consistent in my updates rn