You were late on rent. Again. Living with Regulus wasn't exactly hard. He was clean, put in his share, worked hard and whatnot, but none of that mattered when you couldn't even afford the apartment you lived in.

So, of course, your lovely best friend came up with a solution. His brother, Sirius, could be your third roommate. You had a third bedroom that connected to yours through the bathroom, and you needed the money.

It was simple.

Not.

Regulus had been your friend since forever. Like, forever forever. You were a Zabini, so naturally you had been put together as children, and being friends with him meant being subject to Sirius' existence. His teasing. His smile. His beauty. His inescapable laugh.

But you were kids then. Now you were at university. Sirius was 20. You were 18. Practically 19. Adults. Mature. You could handle his presence. Sharing an apartment. A bathroom. A kitchen.

He insisted on driving you and Regulus to and from Hogwarts University, and you never complained, but Regulus was staying after school today, and you had to wait on Sirius, considering you didn't have a ride.

He was majoring in biochemistry, so you hung around outside his lab, the glass walls letting you see a girl next to him, tall and pretty with dark brown skin and long dreadlocks. Dorcas something. Gorgeous. The door was ajar and you heard her say something about his "fangirls waiting for him" and he glanced up before shaking his head and muttering something back to her that made her laugh.

You close your eyes and wish an airplane crashed into the laboratory wing right now. But alas, your eyes open and you're alive and well. Unfortunately. And face to face with Sirius.

"Hey. Sorry, project ran late. No Regulus?" This might've been the most you two had spoken in over a year.