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"Reggie-Baby? Where are you?" James calls, padding around the kitchen where everything is already set up, but Regulus and the laptop are nowhere to be found.
"In here," Regulus calls from upstairs.
James traces Regulus up and into the computer room. He leans against the door frame. "Why aren't you ready? I thought…" James trails off, watching as Regulus frantically flutters from the monitors to a laptop and then back again. "What's wrong?"
Regulus glances up from fiddling with the laptop. "The recording system decided to update."
"Can we use a different computer?"
"No, Jamie, the system, not the app—the programme itself. So all the apps are updating." Regulus pushes a few more buttons before grumbling. "They usually send an email, but I must've missed it."
"We can always move the stream to a different time, love; don't stress," James says, pushing off the doorframe, walking over to Regulus, and wrapping his arms around his waist.
"Yes, but", Regulus whines, tossing his head back onto James's shoulder, "I don't want to. I want the stupid system to—" Regulus is cut off by a soft 'boo-dah-boop' coming from the monitor. "There we go," Regulus coos at the computer.
"What?" James asks, hooking his chin over Regulus's shoulder to watch the start-up screen pop up.
"It's coming back," Regulus says, typing his login when the screen comes up. "Can you hook this up in the kitchen while I finish getting ready?" Regulus asks, holding out his laptop for James.
"Yeah, of course, baby," James says, taking the laptop while pressing a kiss to Regulus's nose.
Regulus is (not surprisingly) still ready before his brother, who skids into the kitchen right as Regulus is turning the cameras on, even though they are already a whole five minutes late—which might as well have been an hour to Regulus.
Sirius slides around the island and right into Remus, who huffs in mildly exasperated fondness. "Do you have to slide around everywhere?" Remus teases.
"That's the whole point of having hardwood floors everywhere," Sirius beams cheekily.
Remus pinches his side, but before he can speak, Regulus interrupts. "And… we're starting."
The light on the camera flicks to red, and Regulus turns one of the screens around so that James, Sirius, and Remus can read chat, while Regulus watches the laptop from the other side of the kitchen island.
"Hello everyone, welcome back—or welcome in if you're new here. Today is our baking and gaming stream, but we have a slight change of plans…" James starts before trailing off, reading the steady stream of chat comments.
"Regulus?"
"Where is Regulus?"
"I thought Regulus was going to be here????"
"Regulus is here; he's just behind the camera. As we said in the update, we were having some tech difficulties, and as our resident tech genius, Regulus wants to be behind the camera—monitoring everything—making sure the stream is running smoothly, and he'll join us on camera for gaming later."
"I'm gonna need proof of life"
"Our boy, Regulus, would never change plans so easily"
"Not buying it"
"Am I the only one who thinks it's adorable that James is talking for Regulus?!?!"
"No, we love a gentleman😌"
James shoots Regulus a look that says 'save me', while Regulus shoots one back that says 'this is why I don't want them to know'. James huffs and rolls his eyes as chat continues a steady stream of enquiries about Regulus.
"Reg, just come say hi really quick. The stream won't die in two seconds," Sirius says, pressing his palms onto the counter-top and pressing his weight down on them. "I'm getting bored."
Regulus huffs and slides off the stool he was sitting on. "Whatever." He grumbles, walking around the island just enough to poke his head into the frame. "Hi, hello, we will still be baking today but…" Regulus shuffles a bit more into frame when James grabs his belt loop to pull him closer. "Instead of us baking in teams and comparing our outcomes to the inspo pics you guys sent in, we are going to be doing that deaf, blind, or mute baking challenge from TikTok. But we will do the other event on a later day."
"Wait, I thought we were filming the baking challenge for TikTok," Sirius asks.
"We were, but I needed an idea for the baking part that didn't involve me."
"But I wanted it for my TikTok."
Regulus glances over at the chat, scanning for a few usernames he recognises as TikTok editors. "Some of our editors are in the chat—ask them nicely to screen-record and make you an edit to share later."
"We can still record one just for TikTok, Cariad," Remus suggests.
"Thank you, Moon-pie." Sirius smiles, leaning up to kiss Remus. "At least someone cares about my ideas," Sirius huffs, glaring at Regulus.
"Whose bright idea was it to start streaming with these two again?" Remus asks teasingly, looking at James.
"I believe it was yours," James responds, nodding in a faux-sombre way. "The boys can be a nightmare when they get together," James chuckles.
Regulus jabs James in the ribs with his elbow.
It knocks James back a little with a soft oof. "I'm only kidding, darling. You know that I think you're a dream."
James's flirting starts chaos in the chat. All different levels of speculation on their relationship—remarks that Regulus should 'give James a chance', a few comments that they've got to already be dating, some commentors even telling others to 'give the boys their privacy' and they'll 'confirm or deny when they're ready' and a few saying to just 'let the boys be'.
James finds the speculators funny and loves giving them fresh lines and actions to edit and speculate over. Regulus doesn't quite mind the speculation, but he likes the commentors that defend his privacy for him.
Sirius's loud and dramatic gagging noises drag their attention away from the chat.
Regulus shoots him a quick glare. "Alright, let's get a move on. Sirius, because it was your idea, who is deaf, blind, and mute?"
"Ooooh, I hadn't thought that far," Sirius hums, tapping a finger against his chin. "James should be deaf, Moony should be mute, and I can be blind."
"Lemme go get my headphones," James says, wandering off to his room to retrieve them.
"You'll need over-ear ones, Jamie!" Regulus calls, watching as James comes back into view, hanging over the rail of the stairs to avoid walking further down them.
"I don't think I have any that are cordless."
"I have a pair in my room that you can borrow."
"Ok," James smiles, padding off to Regulus's room.
Sirius flips his head over, gathering his hair in a messy bun. He flips his head back up, reading chat. "Wow, not a single comment about James being in Regulus's room… I'm impressed."
Remus snorts as comments start again. "And they were probably trying so hard to behave since you're here."
"We share an account; I read what they say even when I'm not here." Sirius turns to the camera. "I'm always watching all of you. I might not be there, but I am there. I see all… I hear all."
"Uh-huh, ready, love?" Remus asks, holding up a strip of pale blue silk fabric.
Sirius looks at it for a minute before scrunching his eyebrows together. "That's not ours."
Remus looks from the fabric to Sirius. "No, Regulus gave it to me for the blindfold."
Sirius stares at Remus with one eyebrow raised until Remus gasps, raises his free hand to his mouth and giggles. "Oh my god."
Remus looks over to Regulus, who is helping James connect the headphones to his phone.
Feeling Remus's gaze on him, Regulus quips, "It is not a sex toy, and I abhor any implication that I'd give you one to use on my brother," without looking away from his task. He slaps James's arm when he laughs.
"I wasn't implying— I was just— I didn't say— I'll just go get one of ours," Remus stutters, trying not to giggle. He sets the fabric on the counter but only gets two steps away before Regulus snaps his fingers at him.
"If you come back into this kitchen with something that has been used during sex, I will throw myself out that window, that one specifically," Regulus says, pointing to the stained-glass window by their breakfast nook.
Remus looks at the window for a second before shrugging. "You'd live. You would only fall... what? Two metres until you hit the porch? I'll risk it."
"I'm not threatening suicide here. I'm threatening breaking the glass."
Remus gasps. "You wouldn't."
"I would. Imagine it; the pretty green glass that you love so much shattered on the porch. Gone. Poof. And imagine the clean-up. Plus, we'd probably never find someone who could replicate it right, so it'd be replaced with regular, ol', clear glass."
"Let's be sensible, Regulus," Remus says, pretending he's actually negotiating a hostage situation (it sort of feels like it when the window depicting a dense green forest is what sold Remus on the house).
"Do not bring something you have used in sex into this kitchen, or so help me, Remus, the window gets it."
Remus sighs and looks at Sirius in defeat.
Sirius grumbles. "Fine. But if I start wondering where that thing has been, I will be the one tossing myself out a window, and it will be for suicide purposes." Sirius gestures to the innocent strip of fabric lying on the counter.
"Sirius, do you hear yourself?… Do you think before you speak?" Regulus asks, aiming his signature bitch face at his brother.
"Not usually, no," Sirius says, beaming at Regulus.
"Ok, then hear this," Regulus starts, turning to face Sirius.
"Uh-uh, no, no, nope." Sirius shakes his head, eyes going wide as he covers his ears.
"It is not a—"
"LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!"
"SIRIUS"
"NO! LA LA LA LA!"
"Reggie, let me just," James laughs, grabbing Regulus's waist and moving him away from the island.
"Sirius," James starts.
Sirius stops shouting but doesn't uncover his ears.
"It is not a…"
Sirius takes a deep breath, readying himself to start shouting again.
"Toy."
Sirius breathes out. "What is it?"
James looks to Regulus for an explanation.
"One of Pandora's silk handkerchiefs; she left it after our last crafting night, and I haven't got it back to her yet."
"Oh, that's alright then," Sirius says, dropping his hands from his ears. "Glad that's settled; I almost lost my cool there."
"Almost," Regulus mutters to himself, rolling his eyes.
"Right, if that's settled," Remus says, holding the handkerchief up.
Sirius turns around as Remus folds and wraps the fabric around his eyes, holding Sirius's waist until he adjusts to the darkness—brushing a kiss against his ear when he does, muttering a soft, "Does it feel alright? Can you see anything?"
"Yep and nope," Sirius says, popping both p's playfully.
"And it's comfy?"
"Yep."
"Right then." Remus grabs the duck tape Regulus laid out on the counter, cuts a strip and puts it over his mouth before aiming a thumbs-up at the camera.
"So, I'll do the reading, Remus can do the measuring, and Sirius will stir," James suggests.
"Sounds like a plan!" Sirius says, patting his hands around the counter, searching for the bowl.
"Alright, putting my headphones on and starting some music, I will be deaf from here on out."
"Wait, all of you, wash your hands again," Regulus says.
"Right," James slides his phone across the counter to Regulus. "Can you start the music when we're ready to start?"
"Of course, Jamie."
The nickname is followed by a series of overlapping buh-doops from chat, various comments about their relationship that Regulus ignores.
Remus leads Sirius over to the sink and helps him wash and dry his hands—doing his best to ignore the string of comments calling them adorable so he doesn't blush too hard. After washing and drying his own hands, he leads Sirius over to the kitchen island again.
James quickly washes and dries his own hands before giving Regulus two thumbs up to start the music, only flinching slightly at how loud it is.
He grabs the cookbook, flipping through it. "WAIT! WHAT DID WE DECIDE TO MAKE AGAIN?"
Remus flinches and covers his ear that James just shouted in. He pulls the cookbook out of James's hands and flips to a cake-brownie recipe.
"Ok! We're making cake brownies, Sirius!"
"Ok", Sirius says, patting around for the bowl again.
"First, we need to gather ingredients!"
Remus looks at Regulus behind the camera as James continues to shout the ingredient list instead of letting him read it.
Regulus laughs and points to the chat, which is full of commentors laughing that it feels just like watching The Office.
"Oh shit! Moons, we gotta use the stove for this one! Sirius can't do that."
"I know how to work the stove, Prongs!" Sirius shouts back at him, finally locating the bowl and sliding it towards him.
Remus looks at Sirius with his eyes wide and flicks his temple, the feeling dulled by the blindfold.
Sirius laughs as he understands it as a 'You're not using the stove blindfolded, dumb-ass.'
James continues as if Sirius hadn't said anything—mostly because he cannot hear him. "Remus, we need a small pan to melt 170 grams of butter! Wait, is that melted grams or solid grams? Does butter change weight when melted?"
Remus drops his head to his hand and shakes it, shoulders hitching like he's laughing. He swipes his hand down his face before pulling out a small pan and weighing out 170 grams of butter. He chops it into tiny cubes and puts it over the stove to melt on medium heat.
James shouts the measurements for sugar and cocoa next. Remus weighs it into the bowl and then gives Sirius the bowl back, along with a wooden spoon.
Sirius takes the bowl and begins whipping it. Immediately, the cocoa poofs into a small cloud around them that makes them cough. "A warning next time."
Regulus holds his head and laughs from behind the camera, thinking of the mess their kitchen is going to be later. "Mix it slower next time."
"You aren't supposed to be helping."
"Alright, I'll just watch."
Remus pushes Sirius's hands away from the bowl, pours the warm butter into it, and then puts Sirius's hands back on the bowl.
Sirius mixes it again, much gentler this time.
"Ok, now add the eggs one at a time!"
Remus cracks the eggs, letting Sirius mix them in between additions and washing his hands when he's done. He tosses the dish towel over his shoulder when he's done drying his hands.
Regulus laughs and then whistles, pointing to chat with a steady string of comments about 'hot chef Remus' that make him flush bright red.
The tap, tap, tapping movement of Regulus's finger draws James's attention. James screeches. "NO! DO NOT! DO NOT SAY THAT!"
"What?" Sirius asks, pointlessly turning his head towards James.
"DO NOT GO CALLING MY BEST FRIEND'S BOYFRIEND HOT! HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS TO CALL REMUS HOT!! THAT'S NOT ALLOWED! BAD! BAD CHAT!" James shouts.
Remus doubles over, clutching his stomach as he tries to breathe through laughing with tape over his mouth.
"No! What is he doing that's hot? What am I missing!?"
"He just put a dishcloth over his shoulder, Sirius," Regulus says through laughter.
"No," Sirius whines. "That is hot. I didn't think the blindfold through. I wanna switch."
"Too late," Regulus says, laughing when Sirius stomps his foot.
Remus straightens up and taps the cookbook in front of James before adding the vanilla and prompting Sirius to start stirring the batter again.
While Sirius stirs, James reads (shouts) out the dry ingredients for Remus to put in a new bowl. Then Remus switches out the wet bowl for the dry one and prompts Sirius to stir that one too.
When the dry ingredients are well mixed, Remus switches the wet and dry bowls again before measuring out the milk and slowly alternating adding the milk and the dry mixture to the bowl while Sirius stirs.
When everything looks well-combined to Remus, he shows it to James. "PERFECT! Now, we just have to put it in a pan and bake it! Should we make a frosting too?"
"YES," Sirius shouts.
Remus nods at James to communicate Sirius's agreement.
James starts the oven while Remus butters the baking pan and directs Sirius to pour the batter into the pan. The whole time chat bah-doop, bah-doop, bah-doops about how cute Remus and Sirius are, bringing back Remus's blush that had just started to die down. James puts the pan in the oven while Remus washes the butter off his hands.
When Remus is done drying his hands, he goes to flip the towel back over his shoulder, glances at chat, watches the quick, anticipatory comments start. He smirks, pausing for a minute, contemplating. He moves to set it on the counter, and watches the comments turn to disappointment, begging, and promises to behave. He pretends to be confused and goes to loop the dish towel over the oven handle—getting more disappointed comments. He goes to put it over James's head—more comments.
"YOU KNOW WHAT WE WANT!!!"
"He's teasing us!!😭😭😭😭"
Remus chuckles and makes a show of tossing the towel over his shoulder, fanning his arms out and giving a little spin as chat blows up with feral comments.
"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! EVERYONE SETTLE DOWN!!" James shouts as the comments continue.
"What's he doing? Is it hot again? Never mind. It is. I don't even need to see it to know." Sirius says.
"THEY'RE JUST STROKING HIS EGO AT THIS POINT!"
"I can stroke something for him."
Remus huffs a laugh through his nose, grabbing Sirius to nuzzle his face into Sirius's hair and then into his neck until Sirius laughs too.
Regulus gags. "And let's remember your brother is in the room before I throw up."
"You were so quiet, I almost forgot," Sirius teases, grinning in the direction he thinks Regulus is but missing by nearly a metre.
"FOUND IT!" James shouts.
"Found what?" Sirius asks as James is already lifting the cookbook to show Remus.
"Buttercream!"
"It'll melt," Sirius says.
Remus tries to find a way to mime that for James when Regulus slides him a sheet of paper with the words already written on it.
Remus shows James the paper, and he pauses for a second. "WE CAN COOL THE BROWNIES WHILE CLEANING THE KITCHEN AND THEN PLAY SOME MARIO KART AND TAKE A BREAK TO FROST THEM AND THEN PLAY AGAIN AFTER!"
They both look at Regulus for confirmation. Regulus nods for James. "Yeah, I can switch us back and forth like that," Regulus says for Remus and Chat, who can't see him.
James pumps his fist in the air with a loud "WHOOP."
The process of making buttercream is much messier than the brownies since the powdered sugar refuses to behave for a blindfolded-Sirius with a hand mixer, and Remus ends up taking over beating it.
The brownie timer goes off, and Remus has to nudge James in the direction of the oven while still mixing the frosting.
By the time the frosting is in the fridge and the brownies are cooling in the freezer, the kitchen is covered in so much powdered sugar that it looks like a blizzard tore through it, which Regulus moans about while sliding James his phone.
"Aww, poor baby," James coos. "I'll help you clean up."
"Who says I'm cleaning any of it up?" Regulus asks, crossing his arms over his chest from behind the camera.
James shoots him a teasingly condescending look. "Do you really want him," James nods towards Sirius, "in this kitchen any longer after the mess he made?"
"Hey! I might not've seen that, but I felt it," Sirius says, swiping at James and knocking all of the bowls off the counter, sending batter splattering across the cupboards and floor—perfectly illustrating James's point.
"Let's get this off before you cause any more damage," Remus chuckles. "Close your eyes, Cariad," Remus tells Sirius as he unties the blindfold.
Sirius slowly blinks his eyes open, tilting his head back to give Remus the sweetest puppy-dog eyes. "I don't make messes."
"You don't," Remus says, giving Sirius a quick kiss.
"I just make fun."
"You do," Remus says, giving Sirius another kiss.
"Enough, both of you, out of the kitchen!" Regulus demands, already fiddling with the computer. "The living room is all set up, so just shout when you're ready, and I'll switch the stream over."
"Got it, baby bro," Sirius says, tossing up a set of finger-guns on his way out. Remus waves to the camera as he follows Sirius.
Regulus waits for a shout from Sirius before he presses a button. The indicator light on the camera goes from red to white; he presses another button to mute the chat and confirms everything is turned off and properly switched before looking around the kitchen and sighing.
"The kitchen's a mess," Regulus moans, sliding off his stool to pad around the counter and press his head into James's chest.
"I know, love. I'm sorry," James says, wrapping his arms around Regulus's waist.
"I'm going to ban cooking streams… The kitchen deserves better than this." Regulus continues as if James hadn't said anything.
James hums, not quite in agreement but not just placating either, as he presses soothing kisses to the top of Regulus's head. "We can start cleaning whenever you're ready."
Regulus nods, wrapping his arms around James. They stand there, holding each other in their wreck of a kitchen for a few minutes before Regulus pulls back. "Might as well get to it."
"Want music?" James asks, brushing their noses together as Regulus pulls back.
"Aren't you sick of music?"
"Yeah, my ears are still ringing."
They both laugh, and it's warm and soft, like the kisses James presses to Regulus's nose, forehead, and cheeks before finally kissing his lips. They pull away and start cleaning the kitchen, neither noticing when the indicator light flips from white back to red.
James starts with dishes as Regulus puts ingredients away; then Regulus dries the dishes and puts them away while James wipes down the mixer (and its cord).
"Seriously, Regulus, how did we get that much frosting on the cord but none anywhere else?"
"It was your bright idea to make the blind one mix."
"Well, I couldn't ask him to measure, now could I?" James asks, flicking some of the soapy water at Regulus when he rinses the sponge.
Regulus squeals, whipping James with the towel in retaliation.
"Oh, you little—" James catches the end of the towel and pulls Regulus forward, holding him against his chest. "I'm going to dunk you in for that," James says, picking Regulus up.
"I won't even fit!" Regulus shouts, struggling all the same.
"I'll make you fit!"
"Yeah, I bet you'd like that."
James starts laughing, setting Regulus down as he folds over, clutching his stomach through full-bodied giggles.
"There is no way that made you laugh that hard," Regulus says through giggles as James falls to his knees, laughing.
"You are such a middle schooler, Jamie!"
"I am not!" James says, wiping a tear from his eye. He gazes up at Regulus from his knees, fingertips teasing the hem of Regulus's shirt before his hands slip underneath it to grab Regulus's waist and pull him in. "I just never expect you to make those comments so they're about ten-times funnier," James says, rubbing his face against Regulus's stomach to smother a few more giggles.
Regulus cards his fingers through James's curls before patting his head. "Whatever, chop-chop, or my brother is going to start without us."
"Aye-aye, Captain," James says with a cheeky mock salute that makes Regulus huff to avoid giving James the satisfaction of making him laugh.
While James finishes wiping down the counters and cupboards, Regulus sweeps.
And when James pulls out the Swiffer, Regulus moans, "That is not real mopping."
"We don't have time to mop right now, Reggie-Baby, so it's this or sticky floors."
Regulus hangs his head in defeat. "Go ahead, I'll tolerate it."
"Thank you, baby," James coos. He quickly swiffers the kitchen, having to change the pad half-way through when it gets too sticky; then he does it a second time just to be sure there's no lingering sugar for ants to find.
When he's done, he puts everything away and tosses the reusable pads into the hamper with other dirty cleaning cloths before washing his hands. When he turns around from folding the dish towel over the oven handle, Regulus is right behind him. James wastes no time wrapping Regulus in a hug and nuzzling into his hair.
Regulus rubs his face into James's chest for a minute before tucking his face into James's neck. "Do you think anyone minded the stream being different?" Regulus mumbles into James's skin.
"Not at all, Reggie-Baby. I'm sure everyone is having a blast," James whispers, nuzzling into the side of Regulus's head and rubbing his hands up and down Regulus's back.
In the living room, Sirius and Remus have already played two rounds of Mario Kart, and they're starting a third when chat starts going crazy again.
"Chat, Chat, calm down. I know it was super-duper sexy when I got from 13th to first by strategically driving off the track there, but I'm not even doing anything right now," Sirius says, stretching out as he turns to actually read the chat.
"ARE THEY KISSING???!??!?!?!?!?"
"I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY'RE KISSING!!!!!!"
"IT'S HAPPENING!! I CANNOT BELEIVE IT'S HAPPENING"
"OMG OMG OMG OMG OHMYGOD"
Sirius slowly looks over at Remus. "You're not kissing me."
"No, would you like me to be?" Remus asks, still deciding which track they should play next.
Sirius looks over to the camera and finds the indicator light, which should be red, has switched back to white. He clicks around the computer screen so he can see what chat appears to be watching and finds that while the gaming stream is still set up, the active camera is the one in the kitchen, where James currently has Regulus pressed up against the counter and—
"Merde. I gotta go tell Reggie," Sirius says, scrambling to stand before running into the kitchen.
Both men jump, pulling apart, when Sirius bursts into the room, Regulus's cheeks heating as he slides out from between James and the counter.
"We just finished cle—" Regulus starts.
"The cameras—" Sirius interrupts.
"The cameras are what?…" Regulus trails off as he realises the camera indicator light, which should be white, is red. Regulus looks at Sirius and shakes his head. "No."
Sirius sighs and unmutes chat, turning the computer around for Regulus to read.
Regulus only reads a few comments before he slams the laptop shut and storms off, the indicator light finally turning white again.
James opens the laptop again, the indicator light turning red again. "Sorry, Chat. Guess the cat's out of the bag," James nervously laughs as he and Sirius try to divert the stream back to the living room for gaming.
After a few (painstaking) minutes of trying and failing to divert the stream, Sirius calls for Remus.
"What's going on? I saw Regulus storm out a few minutes ago and was too scared to come check," Remus jokes as he pads into the kitchen.
"Should I?…" James asks.
"No, I will. You two get us back on track." Sirius says, handing Remus the computer and going to find Regulus.
He finds him sitting on their porch swing, one leg tucked under his chin, using the other to rock the swing back and forth.
"Hey, Little Star. Are you alright?" Sirius asks, plopping himself into the seat beside Regulus.
"Yeah, just embarrassed."
"Of James?" Sirius asks just a little warily.
"No," Regulus says, shaking his head with a soft smile. "Never of James."
"Never?" Sirius teases, knocking his shoulder into Regulus's.
Regulus smiles, rolling his eyes fondly. "Yeah… just… I've been so specific about staying private, and I ruined it with a tech glitch when I'm the tech guy—it's embarrassing."
Sirius hums. "Understandable."
They sit in comfortable silence for a minute or so before Sirius speaks again. "You know your relationship can still be private. No one has to know more than you two are together if you don't want them to."
"Fair enough," Regulus nods.
They sit in silence for another minute before Regulus whispers. "But what if we break up? What then?"
"Do you think you will?"
"No, but what if…" Regulus asks.
"Then you say 'we broke up' and move on, I guess," Sirius says with a shrug.
"Is it that easy?"
Sirius looks at Regulus with a fondly exasperated expression. "Of course it is—Evan and Barty do it every other week."
Regulus laughs. "They are not that bad."
"Yes, they are! And they get messy about it too! They'll trash each other on their shared accounts, Reg."
"Yeah," Regulus giggles. "They do push it with that."
"See, nothing to worry about." Sirius laughs and then sighs. "Ready to go in?"
"Yeah, you go ahead… I'll be in in a minute," Regulus says, grumbling when Sirius ruffles his hair.
"Is Reggie ok?" James asks as soon as Sirius walks in the door.
"He's a bit embarrassed, but he's fine, James; don't worry."
James sighs. "Good, good."
Regulus joins them in the living room a few minutes later. He picks up his controller and sits down beside James, blushing slightly whenever his eyes dart over to chat—even though everyone has (thankfully) calmed down.
They play two rounds before they remember their brownies and go off to frost them. Regulus stays behind the camera again, making sure the cameras that are supposed to be active stay active and the ones that are not supposed to be active aren't.
This time, when they go back to the living room, the cameras switch over without a hitch, but Regulus still monitors it from the corner of his eye.
"You know the good thing about doxxing our relationship?" James asks, leaning over to whisper in Regulus's ear.
"What?" Regulus asks, nose brushing James's when he turns to look at the man.
"I can give you victory kisses now," James says, pressing forward to give Regulus a kiss just as his cart passes over the finish line first.
Regulus finds himself kissing James back; it tastes like brownies and buttercream, and Regulus can't find it in himself to be embarrassed about loving James so publicly. In fact, he nearly—just a bit—finds himself grateful for the glitch.