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The ghost light is barely enough to illuminate the area that James sneaks in through, a large break in the wall that they found one of the first times they came to the building. It’s just down the hall from the auditorium but the vague reflections from the light just barely illuminate the hall. It’s enough that James can see what they’re doing as they pull out their flashlight and turn it on.
They meander around the hallways outside the auditorium for a while, looking for changes as they usually do before finally heading into the main theatre. The ghost light is on like always, illuminating the proscenium stage and all it’s glory with chipped black paint, tattered red curtains, and broken golden crown molding. It also illuminates the figure that walks out onto the stage as James enters the area. They immediately turn off their light and take to the shadows, unsure of who is in the theater with them.
It doesn’t take long to figure out as the golden ghost light reveals the features of the figure, showing the familiar dark curly hair and gaunt face. They turn their light on again and slowly walk from where they were hiding, pointing it at themself so he can see who it is. James, despite the light shining in their eyes, watches him tense and untense as he walks to the edge of the stage and sits down.
James slowly makes their way down the decline of the aisle, passing old wooden chairs that have been carved into and taken apart until they make their way to the stage and the wood plank-covered orchestra pit. The planks creak under their weight as they fully make it to the stage and jump to sit on it a bit away from the man.
This close, he’s beautiful under the ghost lights. His curls look on fire under the golden hue of them, his -- what James would assume -- pale skin is tinged with that same tone. The colour and height of the lights make his face gaunt, his eyes look sunken in and the slight hollow of his cheekbones become obvious, shadowed by the curve of his elegant nose. His eyes are unique in this light -- James knows they’re gray, they’ve accidentally shined a light in his eyes before and saw a small flash of icy gray-blue in the light before he closed his eyes in reaction, James had profusely apologised, not realising that their flashlight was still on while they were talking animatedly -- swirling with golden specks that make the colour of his irises darker.
He doesn’t say anything, he almost never does. James does say anything either, just watches him take in the area around them as though it’s completely new to him.
It’s not, James knows it’s not.
They don’t know his name, nor does he know theirs. But they do know that he’s been coming here for at least a year, perhaps longer but that’s how long the two of them have been accidentally crossing paths.
It had terrified James the first time they came across him. They’ve been coming to this theater for their entire life, once when it was lively and showed off shows, then later sneaking it when it had been abandoned for reasons that were never released to the public and they’ve never been able to figure out. At first, that was the reason they would sneak into the theater, wanting to find out the reason for its sudden abandonment, but then it became a place of comfort for them so they just kept going and stopped focusing on the reason.
But almost a year ago, James had been meandering around as they normally do, hoping to clear their mind and come down from the stressful and overstimulating day they had. That’s when they saw a figure at the end of the hall turning a corner. James had hidden immediately, sure that they were just seeing things until they saw the figure again, venturing into the auditorium through the doors furthest from them. It had startled James to starting to leave, slipping out of the crack in the wall that they came in from.
James encountered the man again a couple days later, but they were already in the auditorium when he stepped out from the wings of the stage, both freezing and rushing off at the sight of the other. They had done it again the next month, but were less panicked this time since they both recognised the features of the other person.
Through days of meeting and peacefully weaving around each other in the small theater, the two of them got more and more comfortable with existing around each other, and that turned to what it is now. A few words exchanged on occasion and sitting next to each other but not too close somewhere on the stage or in the audience seating.
The man doesn’t say anything this time, and it’s clear that he’s anxious. He’s picking at his bracelet and staring off with a glazed over look. James doesn’t say anything either. Instead, they choose to fall back and lay against the stage, watching the gentle curve of his silhouetted figure.
The man doesn’t stick around for long, soon standing up and nodding at James then turning and walking back into the wings on stage left, disappearing through an entrance that James has never been able to find but knows it’s where he comes from. James stays behind for a while, laying on the stage and letting the silence wash over them.
They leave soon after, thrilled for their next encounter with the man.
…
“Are we ready to head out?” Sirius asks, slinging the backpack he just closed over his shoulder and looking at his friends. James is just securing their own things in their backpack and Remus is double checking that he has all of his braces and his folding cane should he need it. Pete walks out of the kitchen, signaling that he has the snacks and water all packed. The group agrees and they don their jackets, heading out of the flat.
“Is Regulus going to meet us there or are we picking him up?” James asks as they hop into the car, needing to know where they’re headed first.
“He’s meeting us there, lives right next to the place.” Sirius hums, “That’s how he knows about it.”
“And it’s safe to explore if it’s right next to a neighborhood of some sort?” Remus sighs.
Sirius nods, “Yeah, he and his friends go all the time. I think they know the owner and he usually lets them get in.”
“If you’re sure.” James breathes, typing in the address that Sirius gives them and taking off in the direction.
It’s a thirty minute drive, bringing them out to a rural area that’s mostly open land and hills. There are a couple houses out here, larger ones that remind James of the place they grew up but seemingly much newer than their own childhood home. The building that they pull up to is in the middle of nowhere, barely popping out of the woodland around it. James pulls off onto a dirt road that Sirius told them to and makes the bumpy ride until they approach another car parked in a grassy area. Sirius instructs them to pull up next to the car, claiming that it’s Regulus’ so James complies.
Sirius hops out of the car before James can even turn it off, throwing the backpack around his shoulder and walking up to the other car, knocking on the window of the driver's side. James has turned off the car and started getting out, Remus and Pete having already done so, when the door to the other car opens and Regulus steps out.
James feels the breath punch out of them at the sight of him. Sirius and Regulus have had a pretty rocky relationship up until recently so Sirius had been hesitant about his little brother meeting his friends -- he had met Remus, but that’s because Remus played a part in them reconnecting -- so when he proposed that they go out urbexing with him, James and Pete had been shocked but agreed.
”How was Regulus?” James asks gently, taking a bite of their food and pulling their fork between their mouth to make a shink sound.
Sirius hums, “He and I were talking about him meeting you and he suggested that we go to one of his favourite abandoned places to explore.”
“What a first meeting that would be,” Pete snorts.
James hums, “I didn’t know he did urban exploring.”
Sirius shrugs, “I didn’t either, but his lockscreen is him and his friend in an abandoned building so I asked him about it and we got talking about the places we’ve explored.”
Pete shrugs, “I’m down, so long as it's safe.” The rest of the group agrees and Sirius tells them that he’s going to get in contact with his brother to find a time.
But James is captivated by the man that steps out of the car, because it’s the man from the theatre.
He’s just as striking as when under the golden hue of the ghost light or the bright shock of James’ flashlight. His gray eyes are fully illuminated in the fading light of day and his pale skin is striking against his black clothes -- something James has yet to be fully graced with since his skin is almost always tinted by the ghost light. His silhouette and posture are similar despite the lighting changes and James knows there’s no doubt that this man and the man from the theatre are the same person.
Regulus finally turning his calculating gaze on them and his eyes widening only marginally before being schooled back into their half-lidded state that allows him to make a show of looking everyone in the group up and down is the final confirmation that he knows them as well.
Neither of them say anything. Regulus turns to his brother and hums, “I wanted to invite my friends but Barty and Evan decided that they wanted the flat to themselves, so…”
Sirius shrugs, “That’s alright, those two are overwhelming.”
Regulus nods, then casts his gaze towards the other three once more, “Are we ready?” They all agree and Regulus nods once more, turning and guiding them to the entrance he uses to get into the building.
They have to walk through a broken chain link fence to get through to the building, walking through a door frame that has long since lost its door since it doesn't seem to be anywhere nearby. The room that they walk into is both clean and messy in that all of the actual items from the room are in order and neat but there is debris lining the room and littering the floor, but James isn’t sure where exactly the debris is coming from since the room seems entirely intact.
“Did you want to tell us about this place?” Sirius asks, looking out a window that has half of the glass shattered on the floor.
Regulus hums, “I’m not a tour guide.” Then, after a couple seconds, he walks over to the table and couch in the far corner, “I don’t know much about it other than the layout.”
“Well can you tell us what you do know about it?”
He’s silent for a long while, watching the group go about their adventures in looking around the building and snapping pictures of each other. Then, as they’re about to move into the next room, “I think this was a home of some sort. The owner’s been pretty vague about what it was used for, but it was for the community. He doesn’t know what happened to it, only that he and his wife inherited it from his wife’s grandmother when she died and that it had already been abandoned and ransacked before he got to it.”
“So you do know the owner.”
Regulus nods, guiding them down a hallway with old, dusty pictures and peeling wallpaper into a kitchen, “He was one of my art professors, his house is near my complex and he told me about this place when I was working on one of my portfolios for a different class and getting his opinion on them.”
“Does he watch over it?” Remus asks, “This place looks trashed.”
Regulus nods, gesturing to a camera in the corner of the kitchen, “There wasn’t much he could do about the damage done to it when he took it over, so he just cleaned it up the best he could and installed cameras. They’ve got mics on them so he can yell at people, but he doesn’t mind my friends and I coming in here. Be respectful and don’t trash the place.”
Sirius hums, crouching down to look into some of the cabinets, “You act like this is our first time going out to places like this.”
“You seem like the sort to cause trouble.”
Remus shakes his head, “I don’t like messing with places like this and James wouldn’t let us even if we wanted to.” Regulus doesn’t seem shocked about the information as he turns to look at James, watching them for a moment. He doesn’t say anything else but nods, then turns away.
Regulus strays into the next room with Pete, James following them after deciding that the dust on the table wasn’t that interesting. Sirius and Remus are still talking in the kitchen when they go off into another room than the one Pete and Regulus slipped into.
This one is a bedroom, small and lightly furnished, but the sheets are still on the bed and there are still objects on the vanity -- though sparse, indicating that they’ve been picked through. There’s a dresser nearby with one of the door swings open and James snaps a couple pictures with cool angles on their camera and their phone before heading out of the room.
Remus is standing in another room as Sirius enters the one they just left and James joins Remus in it. He’s standing near another vanity and looking over at the things on it, humming. Jame walks up to him and talks to him for a bit before they move into another room. The group continues to do this down the hallway of individual bedrooms before coming up to a doorway that likely once held sliding doors leading to a parlor room.
The furniture in the room is nice, if a bit ratty, stained, and dusty, and there’s a large silver-framed mirror on the wall opposite to the doors. There are several tables with vases and various other decorations in the corners and other random assortments of objects along the walls in the room. Another set of sliding doors is on the room’s right wall, allowing James to peak into it.
Regulus is sitting in the room, doing something on his phone. But then he turns it off and closes his eyes, letting his head fall back. Remus goes to look at the bookshelf and all the titles it still holds and Sirius goes to stand by his brother while Pete and James just choose to look around.
“You said you and your friends come here a lot?” Sirius asks Regulus.
The younger Black nods and hums, “We enjoy hanging out and drinking here. There’s also a warehouse that we go to, which is where my lockscreen comes from, that we go to all the time.”
“Why, though? Don’t you all live together?”
Regulus shrugs with one shoulder, “I like being in places like this…” He doesn’t explain, but James knows what he means. They understand, because they’re just like him. But they also understand because they’ve spent time silently sitting and absorbing the calm, unusual atmosphere of the abandoned places. They also know that the other three, on some level, also understand. It’s how they met and got to know each other, spending most of their early friendship eating together then going out to explore abandoned places.
Sirius hums and hesitates with his hand over Regulus’ shoulder, just hovering. After a couple seconds, he reaches out and squeezes at the slim feature then pulls his hand away and moves to talk quietly to Remus.
The rest of the exploration of the place goes similarly, with the group splitting off at certain points and doing what they normally do in these places while Regulus moves around comfortably, answering the occasional question sent towards him. It also includes a lot of Regulus and James dancing around each other, making eye contact, directing their gaze towards the other should they find a comment applicable to the other person, and otherwise existing with a mutual understanding between them.
When they’re on the second floor and James has gone to take pictures in another bedroom, Sirius comes into the room. He poses for a picture then closes the door behind him until it’s just crack -- this group has been locked into or gotten stuck in enough rooms from closing doors all the way enough that they never fully close a door anymore -- and steps towards James, keeping his voice low when he speaks, “Are you attracted to Reggie?”
James stares at him shocked for a moment before lowering their camera from their face, turning to fully look at him, “Maybe, why?”
“You’re just staring at him a lot.” Sirius hums. The two of them watch each other for a while, both seemingly unsure of what else to say, before Sirius nods and walks out of the room. Used to Sirius’ half-finished thoughts, James shrugs it off and continues to take pictures.
They find Regulus in another room a couple doors down, sitting on the bed. He’s sitting on the seemingly clean fitted sheets with the top sheet and the duvet thrown gently to the side, looking off at something in the room, but not actually seeing. His eyes snap to James when they walk in and his shoulders relax at the sight of them. James nods, “These beds seem clean.”
Regulus nods back, his hand reaching out to the touch at the sheet below him, “The owner keeps them clean in case anyone he knows needs to stay here, so long as they’re respectful about it.”
“Have you stayed here before?” Regulus nods, but he doesn’t elaborate. James doesn’t push. They hold up their camera as if to ask him if they can take a picture of him sitting there. Regulus thinks for a moment, watching them, before nodding. He closes his eyes and tilts his head to the side while James puts the camera up to their face, ready to snap a picture or two. Regulus opens his eyes while they move to get another angle of him, looking at James.
“You take pictures a lot.” Regulus observes. It’s not a question, more of a curious statement. James knows that he’s not just talking about tonight, but the other pictures that James has taken while at the theatre together. One of James’ favourite to this day is a picture they got while the two were silently walking through the props and costuming rooms in the back of the theatre with Regulus’ shadow just visible against James’ flashlight beam shooting down the hallway.
James hums, going to angle a picture of the dresser, “I studied photography and journalism in school.”
“And you chose to photograph abandoned places.”
They shrug with one shoulder, “I think there’s a lot of beauty and things to say in a building like this.” Regulus hums, and James assumes that he nods. They push on, “You mentioned that you’re an art student, and that you’ve done a line about abandoned places?”
Regulus hums once more, “I did. It was a study on shadows and silhouettes and I wanted to combine it with what my friends and I enjoy doing.”
James nods and neither of them talk for a while. It’s not until they’ve both left the room at the same time and Regulus has led James to what seems to have been an office of some sort and James has started taking more pictures that they finally ask, “Have you ever taken your friends to the theatre?”
“Have you?” Regulus asks. It’s answer enough. James smiles as they focus the camera.
“When did you start going there?”
Regulus hums, “I found it a couple months before we first saw each other.” James doesn’t tell him that they saw him before their first real -- albeit as fleeting as they were with the sight of each other -- encounter. Regulus continues, “We saw each other the second or third time that I had been in there, which was part of the reason I was startled. I wasn’t sure if you were security or something.”
James huffs a laugh, “I doubt I need to tell you that they don’t have any security there.”
“Other than maybe you, you creep.” Once again they laugh and turn to see Regulus hiding the edges of a smile before he schools himself, “How long have you been going there?”
“I went a couple weeks after it first got abandoned,” they shrug with one shoulder, “I wanted to learn what happened to it.”
“A fire evacuation.” Regulus hums.
James furrows their brows, fully turning to him, “What?”
“That’s what happened. There was a show going on and there was a fire evacuation. I think it was something to do with the boiler. I don’t know why no one ever went back.” He shrugs, “I think because it’s an older building, the owners just assumed the damage from whatever happened wasn’t worth repairing and they should just… not reopen it.”
“How do you know that?”
“One of the rooms near where I go in leads to the basement. There are logs down there of building safety and code, and the fire evacuation is in there the day that it put on its final show. I put two and two together.”
James nods, “That would make sense…” then they ponder, “How have I never found the basement? I’ve been into most of the rooms in that place.”
“It was locked when I got there. I picked it.” James won't admit it, but they feel their ears begin to warm at the idea of Regulus knowing how to lock pick. “I’ll take you there next time we run into each other.”
James nods again and watches him for a moment, “Are we going to tell Sirius now that we know each other.”
“Have you not told Sirius already?”
“He doesn’t even know I go to the theatre.” They shake their head. Regulus hum and James knows the answer to their question.
The group finishes up with their exploring soon after and decide to all head out to go get some food. So they all load up into their cars after agreeing on a restaurant and head out in that direction. Dinner goes well, with the five of them talking about the place they were just at and learning what they can about Regulus’ life.
When they’re all done eating and have paid for their food, they head in their own directions with Regulus going on his own back to his place and the four piling in the car so James can drive them back to their own place.
…
The next couple of times James gets the chance to head to the theatre Regulus isn’t there. But the third time they go, they’ve already settled on the stage and laid down upon it when the door to the stage wing creaks. James sits up, despite assuming that it’s Regulus, and turns to look at the figure ready to run. They calm down when they see Regulus come out onto the stage and move to settle next to them.
Neither of them talk for a while before Regulus clears his throat, “Sirius said you think I’m attractive.”
James closes their eyes and lays back down, “You are.”
“Hm,” Regulus is silent for a while before he puts his hand on James’ arm gently. They can feel both the knit of the fingerless gloves he always wears and the cold of his fingers against their always overwarm own skin. Then, “I told you that I would show you the basement.” And he stands up, outstretching a hand for James. They take it and allow him to help them stand on the stage. Regulus takes them backstage and down the hallway with all of the behind the scenes rooms and to the door at the far end of the hallway from them, kneeling down and grabbing out a black packet from his pocket. He makes quick work of the lock and pushes the door open just a moment later, standing and slipping the lockpick set back into his pocket.
Regulus grabs James’ hand and pulls them into the room and down the flight of stairs it opens to. James doesn’t comment and he doesn’t let go of their hand. They don’t let go either.