"I look bad... Do I always look this bad?"

Esme tugged at the neck of her jumper and added, "Don't answer that."

Piper folded her arms across her chest, trying to come up with the best way to say what she was thinking. Esme didn't look bad. She never looked bad - the girl was stunning.

It was just... She didn't realise it.

Esme wore the same rotation of old baggy jumpers over and over again and never did anything to her hair other than brush out the knots.

"Maybe try a nice top? That jumper looks about sixty years old." Piper suggested, standing beside Esme and checking out her own blonde hair in the mirror.

"It is about sixty years old." Esme grumbled, "I don't think I have any nice tops."

Piper laughed, "Want to borrow one of mine?"

She sighed, "But your clothes are so... Bright."

"Well we can't all dress in exclusively shades of grey." The older girl muttered under her breath, "Besides, I probably have a black top somewhere."

Esme turned away and collapsed backwards onto her bed, sighing dramatically, "This is the worst."

When she initially agreed to a first, official date with Regulus, Esme hadn't quite thought it through. In the moment, she hadn't considered what she was getting into. Sure, they'd practically been dating for almost a year, so at this point a date would just be the two of them hanging out and having a nice time.

Yet... Esme and Regulus had seemed to do the whole relationship process backwards, and this put a lot of pressure on their first date.

Or so Esme thought.

Regulus, honestly, just wanted to have lunch.

Standing outside in the cold, spring air, Regulus was beginning to regret not wearing a coat.

Though he couldn't get the thought of a warm lunch out of his mind. He had spent the whole week fantasising about having a bowl of chips and a Butterbeer, and now the only thing between him and lunch was Esme.

For some reason, that had at no point been explained to the boy, Esme had insisted upon meeting outside the Three Broomsticks instead of walking down to Hogsmeade together.

It didn't make much sense, but then again not a lot of what Esme did made any sense to Regulus.

"Okay, it's not my fault I'm late, I promise!"

Regulus turned to see Esme jogging towards him.

He had to take a deep breath to stop from choking on the air in his lungs.

"You-I... Oh-No, I don't-wow, you..." He struggled to even form a coherent sentence as he tripped over his words. He had seen Esme dressed up at parties before, but never had she looked like that.

"Piper insisted I try on every single item of clothing she owns." Esme grumbled, tugging at the bottom of the skirt she was wearing.

Regulus tried not to stare too much, but it was difficult, "Piper knows what she's doing." he mumbled.

"What?" Esme asked.

"Nothing. I just... You look unbelievable." The words fell past his lips.

She groaned, "Is it really that bad? I feel like people are staring."

"Possibly because they don't recognise you."

She was wearing a dark skirt and tights, paired with an tight aubergine-coloured top that greatly pleased Regulus. He was fairly sure he'd seen Piper wearing it last year whilst she flirted with a seventh year Gryffindor boy in the hopes of getting him to do an essay for her.

"Bloody lucky I brought my coat with me." Esme complained as she adjusted the jacket folded over her arms, "Piper tried to tear it out of my hands. She was shouting nonsense about it being ugly. I think it has character."

"I..." Regulus forced his gaze up to the sky as he tried to figure out what exactly it was he wanted to say.

"Reg... Is everything alright?"

"A-absolutely perfect." He nodded.

Esme tugged her coat on over her shoulders as Regulus held the door open for her and they entered the Inn.

"I'll go get us some drinks. Butterbeer?" He offered.

Esme smiled softly, "Great. I-er, shall I get a table?"

"Sounds good."

Needless to say, they were both a little all over the place.

Regulus was feeling a little insecure that Esme was completely out of his league. He'd always thought it, but it was another thing if Esme realised it. She might actually realise that he wasn't as exciting as she was and then Esme would definitely get bored of him.

Esme, on the other hand, was completely certain that she was going to ruin this date. She had been building up the expectations of this date to astronomical heights and now, was dreading the fact that she was going to destroy everything. Typically she wasn't a super warm or charming girl and, now that Death Eaters and war were off the table for conversation, perhaps Regulus would realise that she just wasn't good enough girlfriend-material for him.

"There you are." Regulus placed down the two drinks on the table, sliding one across the wood towards Esme.

Where they sat, in a booth in the far corner of the Inn, they were almost out of sight of everyone else in there.

The pub was very warm, with a noticeable layer of smoke coating the air and a blanket of tipsy laughter and chortling embracing the atmosphere.

For a minute, Esme and Regulus just stared at each other. Both of them feeling surprisingly nervous having worked themselves up so much.

"You... Er... I don't know how to say this." Regulus ran his hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck.

"How... How was your day?" Esme asked, immediately frowning to herself as the words slipped past her lips.

Regulus looked at her, "Excuse me?"

"Anything interesting happen?" Esme hated small talk. She hated to waste her breath on conversation she simply didn't care for, but she wanted to show Regulus she could be kind and thoughtful.

"Er... I don't think so." He replied, "Why?" Regulus, on the other hand, was very adept at small talk on account of having spent much of his youth being forced to socialise with his extensive family that he didn't particularly care for. "Is something going on?" Regulus asked.

"No!" Esme stammered, "I'm-I'm just making pleasant conversation."

"Esme..." Regulus sighed, "It's been about four hours since I last saw you, not a lot has happened."

"Right." She nodded, looking down at her hands in her lap.

Regulus leant forward, resting his elbows on the table, "Are you alright? You're acting... Different."

Esme sighed, leaning back in her seat and looking up at the ceiling now. It didn't take much to crack her as she finally exhaled, "I'm afraid you don't think I'm nice enough, so I'm trying to be more teenage-girly."

"What? Why?"

"Piper was telling me all these things that girlfriends are supposed to do, like smile, giggle, compliment, and make pleasant conversation and... I suck at that." Finally, she lowered her eyes to meet Regulus' stare.

His shoulders slumped down as he insisted, "Esme, if I wanted to date someone like that I'd ask Piper out."

"She's gay."

"That's not the point."

Esme smiled softly as Regulus continued, "I like that you have strong opinions and you voice them. I was never allowed that and it's amazing that you have such confidence and freedom. I like that you're straight up, you say what you mean and I don't have to second guess with you. You do know I love you, don't you? That means I don't want you to be someone else."

"Alright, I'll never be nice again." Esme nodded with a big grin now.

Regulus let out an airy laugh, "I'm glad that's what you took from that."

"So, then..." Esme picked up her drink and swirled it around before taking a small sip, "Why are you acting weird?"

"I'm not." Regulus blurted out a little too quickly to be casual.

She pursed her lips, "You're lying."

"Well... I really should have said this to you outside but... I can't really work out the perfect way to say it." He admitted.

"Say what?"

Regulus took a deep breath, "I mean, you look absolutely breathtaking. You always do, don't get me wrong... But, wow."

"Oh." Esme replied, her voice cracking slightly. A small blush emerged on her cheeks but, thankfully, it was too dark for anyone to notice in the corner of the pub.

"I don't... I don't know what to say." She finally mumbled after a quiet moment.

He chuckled again, "You never did know how to take a compliment."

"So..." Esme thought for a second, "That's why you were acting a little awkward?"

Regulus grimaced as he continued to admit, "Partly... You're absolutely a million miles out of my league. Like, look at you. Why would you possibly want to date someone like me?"

Esme reached across the table to take ahold of his hand, "Looks like we've both been feeling a bit insecure."

"So you don't think I'm dull?" He asked.

"Of course not! Are you kidding me?" Esme laughed suddenly, "Reg, we're literally fighting Death Eaters together. That couldn't be further from dull."

Regulus sighed, leaning back in his seat and taking a swig of Butterbeer, "That's a relief."

"Can we... Hang out? You know, not get in our heads about stupid worries and not obsess over the Dark Lord and war. Can we just have a nice time like normal teenagers?" Esme suggested.

He nodded with a grin, "I'd love that."

-

i adore writing these cute chapters with just esme and regulus

they're so cool and the minute that it's just them they become absolute dorks