InsaneJournal

[Fic] Obey (Lucius/Regulus, R)
Title: Obey
Author: Envinyatar (aka envinyatar15)
Pairing: Lucius/Regulus
Rating: R
Highlight for Warnings: *canon character death, underage*
Canon-compliance: up to Deathly Hallows
Word Count: 1,535
Summary: No apology could have saved Regulus from his fate. Still, Lucius feels like he should be the one apologising.

Notes: Written for the first wave of the luciusfqf, prompt: "Lucius tutors new recruit Regulus Black in Death Eaters 101." The plotbunny ran in a slightly different direction but, I hope, still remains true to the prompt. With many thanks to the ever-amazing zebraspots05 for her beta-work; I'd be lost without her. Any remaining mistakes are my own. A couple more notes can be found at the end.

For 50scenes: #06 violence, challenge_the: #133 end.


Lucius asks for Narcissa's hand in marriage in late August '79. It's a surprise to almost everybody after his long refusal to look at her with more than a passing glance. They're married mid-September at Lucius' urging for a quick joining. The hurried timing of the ceremony is frowned upon by traditionalists, but Lucius doesn't care. He wants his wife - wants her in his bed without the year-long engagement period.

He wants the momentary escape from reality she provides. The success of her methods is presented to the world at large on June 30, 1980, in the form of a baby boy.

*~*~*

There's a green flash, and Regulus Black, the golden boy of the Blacks and family heir, falls to his knees; glazed, dead eyes staring at Lucius - then the last of the tension seeps from his body, and he lands on the floor in a heap of unmoving flesh. An air of peace lingers around the fallen body.

Lucius stares; stares like he's never seen the other man before, thinking he really hasn't; a litany of Regulus, Regulus in his head. There are no tears to shed in the face of a betrayal so ultimate. No apology could have saved Regulus from his fate. Still, Lucius feels like he should be the one apologising.

It's almost nineteen years later that Lucius realises with a sudden burst of clarity that all he's ever believed in is a cobweb of lies, and that's when he finally breaks.

Nineteen years of grief and guilt is a heavy burden to bear.

*~*~*

Their last time together is desperate, rushed, and a far cry from how Lucius wanted this last encounter to play out. He comes with a whispered scream on his lips, "Regulus," and Regulus kisses him deeply and satisfied, as if they had no other care in the world.

Lucius lies still for a while, only breathing, breathing around the ache in his chest he's pretending isn't there, until he gets up without turning to Regulus. He dresses with quick efficiency, his every muscle moving on autopilot. Breathe.

When he finally turns around, his eyes fall on Regulus. He's still sprawled on the bed sheets, the naked glory of his lean body shown off, glistening with sweat and dried come splattered on the younger man's stomach.

Lucius isn't deterred by the sight.

"Lucius," Regulus half asks, half says, and something must have shown on Lucius' face. There's a slight pause, hesitation and confusion displayed as tension in Regulus' stomach, thighs. Then Regulus relaxes. Lucius tenses, calling up all the hatred and rage and anger he's got inside as he readies himself. It's time.

Regulus gets up from the bed, walks over to Lucius. A small kiss to his lips that Lucius can't answer, and Regulus steps back, his eyes locked with Lucius'. "Do it quickly," Regulus says, his expression a mixture of sadness and goodbye. So Lucius does as he's asked. He feels he owes at last that to Regulus.

*~*~*

Regulus Black has turned. Make sure to initiate the necessary steps.

Things become clear to Lucius upon hearing the order. The fidgeting, the tension, the paranoia. Betrayal, his mind screams at him as Regulus' behaviour is cast in the right light for Lucius to believe it, and he engages protocol without a second thought, the need for revenge, white-cold instead of red-hot, overpowering everything else. They say it's a thin line between love and hate, and this counts doubly for Slytherins.

When Regulus returns home a week after he left, a little pale and wobbly on his legs, Lucius is there to meet him.

*~*~*

They have almost two months of happiness that summer of '79. They celebrate Regulus' graduation with urgency, intensity, fire, and they don't get out of bed for two days. It would have been two weeks if there hadn't been more urgent matters. There's a war going on. Loving in wartime may be dangerous and ill-timed, but Lucius can't help himself.

Lucius loves the glow of Regulus' body, the beauty enhanced by the look of I've been fucked, the marks on his body that scream I belong to you - the way Regulus seems to bask in Lucius' attentions.

Lucius gets hard again and rolls over, eases into Regulus' waiting body. Every thought is abandoned as pleasure takes over and sweeps them away.

By mid-August that year, however, something changes. Lucius doesn't know what exactly, but there's a tension in Regulus now that hasn't been there the previous months, not since they'd seen each other during Easter break and finals had been looming over Regulus. Regulus doesn't let go as much as he used to; sex seems to be the furthest thing from his mind. Lucius thinks he's actually seeing the wheels turning in Regulus' head. He doesn't know what's the cause for this change, but he watches Regulus; watches him watching doors, looking over his back as if he's expecting a knife in his back any moment.

He leaves only a couple of days later.

Later Lucius wishes he'd done something, anything; that he'd not trusted Regulus as much as he had, because clearly whatever Lucius had been feeling had never been returned. It had been a ploy, all of it.

Later still, he wishes he'd paid more attention to Regulus' attachment to the house elves and figured things out himself.

*~*~*

The time between the first summer and that last one is spent with letters sent from and back to Hogwarts. Lucius can't bring himself to let go; especially not when every time Regulus returns to his arms his body has matured more fully, and the air of innocent prettiness changes to an air of confident beauty.

Yes, Lucius is enchanted. Being attached to someone is a distinct weakness, something that can cost you your life, but Regulus strips him of his defences with his sharp directness, and he's deep inside Lucius' heart before Lucius has time to realise it. One moment Lucius is sure that once it goes too far, he will be ready to take the necessary steps to get rid of Regulus, whatever they might be - the next he comes with his cock buried inside Regulus for the very first time, and there are three words echoing in his mind that never make it into the air.

*~*~*

The summer of Regulus' initiation, the Dark Lord asks Lucius to marry Narcissa Black, the beautiful middle daughter of the pureblood family. "Tie the Blacks to us once and for all," the Dark Lord says. Lucius shakes his head. He is, by now, one of the privileged. He can disagree without repercussions.

Not yet. Not yet.

Later Lucius thinks that maybe the heart does count after all. It will only take so much ruthless stomping.

*~*~*

The seduction of a boy so young, innocent and naive is easy; the quickness with which Regulus gives in doesn't come as a surprise. Their first kiss is slow, careful, the second heated and primal.

Their first time is unhurried. Lucius has to control himself not to scare the boy away - the way Regulus' body moves underneath his is enchanting, all eagerness to please and abandon in the moment. Lucius comes hard.

Their second time Regulus demands, and Lucius gives what he's wanted all along.

What does come as a surprise is that Lucius is intrigued by Regulus despite himself. A young, lithe body he can tarnish and teach everything he knows, an eager lover, the easiness with which Regulus gives and takes and everything's in balance.

That last one Lucius hasn't known before. There have always been expectancies tied to his previous affairs - the expectancy to advance someone's standing with the Dark Lord or help them with monetary matters, or, when Lucius allowed things to progress too far that one time, the expectancy of marriage, too.

Nothing of that is the case with Regulus. Regulus has money, he will be included in the inner circle before too long, and he can't be looking for marriage.

In the beginning Lucius tells himself that's why he doesn't cut Regulus loose just yet. After the initiation.

Later he tries to do the same. When he becomes too attached.

Later still, he knows better.

*~*~*

Voldemort asks Lucius to initiate Regulus into their circle. Lucius has shown little interest in the Black heir previously; when he left school the boy had only been in second year. Now, however, he has to do a job he thinks Severus is much better suited to.

Bring him in deep. We need to secure the Black family's sympathy to our cause. We need your charm, is the Dark Lord's order during a private audience, and that's when Lucius gets it.

Seduce him.

Who knows, today, how much of what happened later was destined to happen, a means to ensure the Dark Lord would fall. Without Lucius, Regulus would have never joined the Death Eaters, like the rest of his family; would have just watched from afar; would not have gotten the information about the Horcrux.

Everything might have played out differently.

Everything.

*~*~*

Their story begins in summer of '77. Lucius still isn't sure whether it ever really ended - twenty-one years later.


ETA 9/1/08: As of today there is a stand-alone follow-up posted, Follow Me Down.

A/N2: Yes, the timeline is a little far-fetched, I took use of my creative license. Let's pretend Regulus was born relatively late in the year; entered Hogwarts when just barely 11. That way he could join the Death Eaters at the end of his sixth year when he's still 16; and one year later could still be August, when he is 18, yes, but just turned 18. "One year later" isn't that exact a date, is it? Lalala.