James Potter (snitchnicker) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-08-18 18:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, james potter, regulus black |
Who: James Potter and Regulus Black
What: Meeting for the first time
Where: Regulus's place
When: Shortly after James moved to the OC
Rating/Warning: Low/none
Status: Complete
It had been years since James had last seen Amycus - a few years before his twins were born, in fact - though they’d kept in touch through social media. And now that they were both in the same place again, it only made sense for James to go pay his upperclassman a visit. Calling ahead would have ruined the surprise, and he couldn’t imagine anyone not being pleased to see him, so it was without notice when he rang Amycus’s door.
*****
“COMING!” Regulus called towards the door, all the while trying to get Aslan and Chip to calm down. They followed him to the living room barking, so he opened it just enough so he could wedge his body between the door and the frame. “Sorry about that, they get excited about visitors. How can I help you?”
*****
James couldn’t help but smirk a little at the trouble the man who answered the door was having with what sounded like the large dogs behind him. The problem was, he didn’t recognize the American who answered the door. Someone with Amycus’s means probably didn’t need a roommate, and James wondered if he’d come to the wrong house. “I think I might have come to the wrong house,” he admitted. “I was looking for Amycus Carrow.”
*****
Regulus shook his head at the other man’s question. He didn’t recognize the other man, but since it was someone who presumably knew what his boyfriend looked like, it had to be someone he knew personally. “No, it’s the right place. He’s just at the office right now. Want me to let Am know you were here? I’m Regulus, by the way.” he said, extending out his hand.
*****
At least James was at the right house. He smiled and took Regulus’s hand. “I guess I should have known he’d be at work.” The burden of not having a job typically meant that most of his friends were busy during the daytime hours. “James Potter. We used to go to school together, and since I was in the area I thought I'd pay old Amycus a visit.”
*****
“It’s okay.” He said as he shook his hand. “Like I said, I’ll let him know you were here. Or I can give you the address of his office if you just really want to surprise him. Just be aware his secretary may or may not let that happen.” Which Regulus got. That was ...sort of her job. But he didn’t want to send Amycus’ friend on a wild goose chase either. “Are you in town very long?”
*****
James frowned as he thought over that option. It would be nice to see Amycus again, but he didn’t know if he wanted to see him bad enough that he’d go all the way to his office to do it. Especially not if he was just going to get turned away at the door. “I’m already here, if you think he’ll be back soon I could just wait. But I bought just bought a house over on the beach, so I’ll probably be around for a while.”
*****
Regulus thought about it a second, he didn’t like the thoughts of letting someone he didn’t know in on one hand, but he was Amycus’ friend. He nodded before stepping back, still holding the door because of the dogs. “Just be careful coming in. Chip’s still small, just energetic. Aslan’s capable of bowling you over, though. He tends to take us for walks more than the other way around.” Apollo, at least, would probably just sit perched from the top of the couch, watching. “Do you want anything to drink while you’re waiting?”
****
“That is a big dog,” James said, with no small amount of surprise when he saw just how big the dog behind Regulus was. He gave it two-handed scratch behind its ears. “If you’re offering, I’m not going to turn down a drink. So, how do you know old Amycus?” he asked, looking up from the Aslan.
*****
Regulus laughed at James’ reaction to Aslan. “There is a reason Am calls him our lion dog. He is a lovable giant, though.” he continued as Aslan leaned into the scritchings. “Anything in particular you want to drink?” he asked him as he made his way to the kitchen. He gave him a look of confusion at the question. “You mean how we first met? I’m an author, he was my PR agent. I mean, he still is. But that’s how we met.”
*****
“Rum and coke, if you’ve got it,” James said. “But I’m not too picky.” His brows furrowed a little when Regulus talked about how he and Amycus had first met. It almost sounded like… “Wait, you and Amycus aren’t, you know, together are you?” James asked, surprised.
*****
“I think we do. We just have it up where the girls can’t ever accidently get hold of it.” Top shelf in the cabinet above the microwave. Even Regulus had a hard time reaching it himself without climbing the cabinets a bit. He opened the one below it to step up and reach the bottle. He looked over his shoulder at James when he heard the surprise in his voice. “I know his ex made it hard to trust people again, but it has been a few years now?” And Regulus had been determined to break through the walls Amycus had built up around himself for his and the twins’ safety.
***
“Even if I did, I’m pretty sure they’re still at the age where they’d think it was gross,” James said cheerily. His parents had never hid their liquor at least. Then again, he’d been away at boarding school for most of the time once he was old enough to not want to spit it out every time he tried it.
“Oh, no, I just meant, I didn’t know he fancied men. He never showed any interest when we were in school.” Then again, James had flirted with Amycus about as seriously as he had flirted with anyone in school, which wasn’t very.
***
“Just not willing to take the chance of them mistaking it for something else.” The bottle and color of the liquid just looked too much like maple syrup to risk it. He poured the drink for the other man before putting it back away. “I know they’re way too young to be all that curious about it.”
Regulus turned to look at James in confusion a bit. Am’s parents were wonderful and accepted him without question. Unlike with his own parents, he didn’t understand why Amycus would have needed to hide who he was. Then again, boarding school might have had to do with part of that. “...I just assumed you knew. I guess since his parents are so different from mine, I couldn’t imagine he wouldn’t have been out in high school.”
***
“Cheers,” James said, taking the drink and taking a sip. “But no, Amycus kept that firmly under wraps in school. Missed opportunities,” he lamented, a touch dramatically, but he winked at Regulus to let him in on the joke. “So, what kind of books do you write?”
***
Regulus was very confused by the wink James added to that. Did he just… hit on his boyfriend through him? Or maybe he was joking, he wasn’t sure. People had never been his strong suit. “Historical fiction. I’m starting on my second book right now. I was a Lit major in college, but I minored in History. I just want to write about the lives of people in all the different time periods I loved learning about. Each time I write something in a new era, it also gives me an excuse to dive more into that era. I’m also a library assistant, that’s my day job.”
***
“Really? I can’t say I’ve ever been much of a reader,” especially not something like historical fiction, “but I’ve also never met an honest to goodness author before. Are you working on anything right now?”
***
Regulus nodded at the question. “Yeah. When Am took me to England for Christmas and I got to see all the really ancient sites, it got me inspired to set one in Roman Britain. So I’ve been doing research on it while I outline my plot.” Each time he set something in a new place or time, he wanted to do as much research as possible to get it as historically accurate as he could. “The girls keep giving me input on what to write about next, but it changes after every episode of Horrible Histories we watch together.”
***
“Ah, the attention span of babes,” James said. “I’d offer to help, but Amycus might be better at that. History always bored me to tears.” It didn’t help that Professor Binns was probably the single most boring person on the face of the planet, with a voice that could lull even the most dedicated of students to sleep, let alone James Potter.
***
“I guess it’s not a subject for everyone. I mean, everyone should take it, otherwise people keep making the same mistakes others made before them. But it’s not one that everyone enjoys. I guess it’s also part how it’s presented, too. Have you ever seen Drunk History? It’s like horrible histories, except after you gave the writers a few glasses. ...That one we don’t watch with the twins.” Regulus added, even though it should probably be obvious.
****
“Now Drunk Histories sounds like the kind of history that I could get behind,” James said, taking a sip of his drink. “Sounds infinitely more entertaining than Professor Binns, though to be fair, watching paint dry would be more enthralling. I’ll have to check it out.”
*****
“Just who was this professor that he ruined history for you?” Regulus asked. He loved history, there was so much to learn. And sometimes it was... honestly hilarious. People in the past were just… people, after all. “Was he one of those that made it nothing but a lists of dates to memorize?”
Regulus’ attentioned turned as he heard footsteps running into the kitchen. “Daddy Reg, is Daddy home?” Madison called out as she turned the corner, stopping when she saw a stranger, ducking to hide behind Aslan.
“Not yet, he’s still at work. He should be home soon, though.” he tried to hide a smile at the way she was hiding. She was their shy one. “Do you and Laurel want to draw him something for when he gets back?”
***
“That, and he delivered all his lectures like this,” James said, doing his best at delivering his sentence in a droning monotone, but he didn’t think he quite captured the sleep inducing quality of Binn’s speech.
James’ gaze was drawn by the new arrival, and he smiled. He always had liked kids. He was too young right now - he still had at least five more years of partying before he was ready to settle down - but he hoped to someday have one of his own. “Hey there, you must be Madison,” he said, offering a bit of a wave. He’d seen a bit of the girls from Amycus’s Facebook, and since Regulus had mentioned Laurel he figured that she wasn’t her. “I’m James, an old friend of your dad’s.”
****
Madison hid further behind Aslan as she gave a small wave from behind him before looking over at Reg and nodding. “We need new crayons soon. Chip tried to eat the purple.”
“Okay, we’ll get some soon…” Thank god Crayola is nontoxic, he thought to himself. He turned back to James as Madison went back out of the kitchen to start working on her picture. “She’s our shy one. It took her ages to warm up to me. ...Also Chip is going through the puppy ‘need to explore the world by chewing it’ stage.”
****
James hid his amused smile behind his hand. She was pretty cute. “I’ve never had a dog,” or any pets, really, “but I bet you're glad he’s taking it out on the crayons and not all of your shoes.”
****
“I never did, either, until I moved in with Amycus. I always wanted a cat, but I just. Wasn’t ever allowed to have them. Even my old apartment had a no pets rule. But yeah, as long as the crayons aren’t toxic, I’d rather him chew them than something that could hurt him. The leather might be alright, but the soles would be hard to digest.”
****
“Not to mention the loss of perfectly good footwear,” James said with a grin. He pulled his phone out from his pocket to check the time, quietly wondering when Amycus would be home so James could surprise him proper, and slipped it back as he took a sip of his drink. “Well, how about a tour while we wait? It’s bound to be more interesting than just sitting around.”
****
Regulus laughed at that. “That’s true. I’d hate to be ready to leave the house to find my shoes in pieces.” He nodded and motioned for James to go on ahead. “Unless one of his clients are keeping him over, he’s probably got… about 20 minutes before he’s on his way home. Let me show you the house in the meantime.”