Chapter Text
James had been to the sex shops of Soho twice. Once with Sirius on a night out, after many drinks, both young and giggly, then once with Lily, after she'd got with Mary and wanted someone to go with her to look at…options. He knew Sirius had been there far more often, but he wasn't about to ask his best friend where the best place to buy his little brother a dick would be.
They cleaned themselves up and got the tube from Sloane Square to Embankment, walking out of the station to the bustling street and deciding to take a stroll though Victoria Embankment gardens so they could cut the corner and avoid the worst of the crowds.
Leaves littered the ground, the trees bare and the sky a traditional overcast London gray.
"Do you want lunch after?" James asked, reaching to hold Regulus' hand.
"Yeah, yes actually." Regulus agreed. Despite the previous lack of success with eating out, he thought maybe today it would work, if he picked where, "Can we go to sticks and sushi?" He suggested carefully, still a little scared that James might say no.
"Course we can," James replied enthusiastically, instantly settling most of Regulus' nerves.
"Could we maybe… have dessert too?" Regulus said very quietly.
"Yes," James smiled, "please don't look so scared when you ask for things love, because the answer will probably be yes," James tries to reassure him. "What do you fancy for dessert?"
"Oh, could we get matcha ice cream?"
"Sure!" James answered, then paused, "Uhm, what is matcha ice cream?"
Regulus snorts as they walk past the savoy, "You dont know what it is?"
"I mean I've heard of matcha, but…isn't it just green?"
"No its this Japanese green tea, and its really rich and earthy, although Evan says it tastes of grass, and I think Barty just likes it because it matches his hair."
Covent garden was bustling as usual, a lonely street performer attempting to entice a crowd of tourists, and a busker playing surprisingly good, but overly loud guitar which forced Regulus' hands to his ears.
They marched swiftly through the french students all with matching backpacks milling around aimlessly, and made their way in the direction of Soho. London, to Regulus, felt less like a city, and more like a collection of villiages, all squashed together, and whilst Covent Garden and SoHo were supposedly nearby, the atmosphere was decidedly different.
Where Covent Garden had light, open squares and little boutique filled roads fanning out from a central round about, Soho had people liotering, fagging away, in doorways or allies, women in high heels perched on pathments and shops with huge adverts for vibrators or men in jockstraps filling the windows.
James and Regulus eventually make it to Brewer Street and come to a standstill in front of "Prowler" with its prominent pride flags and far from discreet advertisments.
"Ok?" James checks, attempting to read Regulus' facial expressions.
"Mhm…" Regulus hums, looking everywhere but at the men in the window.
"Sure?" James checks again, he'll happily sack this whole thing off if Regulus is in the slightest way uncomfortable.
Regulus just rolls his eyes fondly, and nods, "Yes, I'm sure. Are you sure though? We don't have to."
"Yes, Im sure, come on," James pulls him forwards lightly, "Lets just go in, or we're standing around in the street in front of a sex shop."
Finally, after far too much dilly-dallying, they walk into to shop. They're instantly greeted by socks saying "SLUT" and "Daddy's Boy" and "CUNT". Regulus quietly thinks the "Daddy's Boy" socks are rather…nice. But nice is the wrong word, and they aren't here for that, and James surely wouldn't…like that.
As they moving further into the dimly lit room, smelling latex, rubber and plastic, a big wall of dicks becomes visible. Regulus is not shocked, no. Part of him wants to look, to pick and choose and imagine scenarios. And the other part of him wants to leave, and go back to where he feels he belongs, a bookshop somewhere, quiet and polite, not full of obscenities.
The range is…vast to say the least. Regulus isn't stupid, or anywhere as innocent as some people like to believe, but he wasn't wholly aware some of these things existed. Dildos that were bright red and appeared to end in a little fist, for example. Or violently neon blue and green situations that look far more like some sort of tentacle then a dick. Others are just comically huge, almost the size of Regulus' admittedly narrow forearm.
Regulus just sort of stands, looking over the selection. A lot of them look far too much like fake cocks for his liking. He doesn't object to real dick, but the thought of attaching a fake impersonation to himself, fills him with some sort of…discomfort or dysphoria.
James takes a rather different approach, taking the example dildos off the shelves, to look and feel and examine, before placing them back with an air of reverence Regulus has only previously seen him award to his Sylvanian families.
Eventually, James' eyes land on a simple, quite smooth purple dildo, which advertises itself as compatible with the harness or boxers on the other shelf. It seems…safe. Doable. Not overwhelming.
"Reg," He nudges the seemingly stuck Regulus very gently, "What do you think of this?"
"Hm?" Regulus looks round, slightly spaced out, "What? Oh."
"Not the right one?" James asks immediately, worrying he's screwed up somehow.
"No sorry, I was just spacing out, let me see." Regulus replies quickly, regaining composure.
James hands him the purple silicon and Regulus takes it very gingerly from him. "So I'd…" He trails off, his brain trying to plan a sentence first, before he blurts out an uncontrolled mess. "So I'd attach this, to a harness and then have the harness on and…etc etc." He finishes looking down at the dildo.
"Yeah," James nods, moving a grounding arm round Regulus' waist. "But only if you want to. No pressure. Even if we buy it, it can sit in the cupboard and never be used, and that's okay too."
"Ok, okay." Regulus agrees, feeling better, safer, after James' reassurances. "Lets buy it, and the harness, just those for now."
"Sure!" James smiles, excited now he knows Regulus feels okay, is on board. "But, maybe some lube too…just in case…lube is needed in life."
Regulus snorts at how coy James has suddenly gone, explaining why he might buy lube, and faced with the prospect of going up to the sales assistant and buying all this. A task that Regulus very much lets James get on with, holding in giggles at his boyfriends stuttering and bumbling as he accidentally drops his black card, then doesn't tap it for long enough for the transaction to go through, so he ends up forced to stand there typing in his pin, whilst Regulus watches his ears go a startling shade of scarlet from behind a fan proclaiming "BOYCUNT IS BEST". (A statement which both James and Regulus firmly agree)
After a mortifying/hilarious 4 minutes, depending on who you ask, James and Regulus leave the shops rather stuffy interior, for the breezy street, tote bag far more full then when they entered.