A/N: As promised: next chapter :)

Chapter 2 – I Hope You Can Stand the Pressure

Regulus was awoken by the sound of Kreacher's angry voice rapidly approaching his bedroom. He quickly grabbed a bathrobe and stepped out of the room to see what was going on. What he saw was his brother making his way down the hall while the butler adamantly tried to stop him.

When Kreacher spotted Regulus he said, "Sorry, Mr. Black! He pushed his way past me - very rudely, I tried to stop him but... I'm so sorry."

Sirius was wearing a pair of sunglasses even though he was inside, but when he spotted his little brother he took them off, grey eyes shining playfully. "Hello, Reggie. How's my favourite homo?"

"Piss off," said Regulus, tying the belt of his robe. "And show Kreacher some respect, will you? When he says you can't come in, then you can't just push him out of the way!"

"That old git can't stop me from seeing my brother. If I didn't come see you we would never see each other." Sirius eyed the bathrobe. "Caught you in bed, yeah?"

"Yes, you woke me, actually. Thanks for that."

"Where's your boyfriend? I'd love to meet him."

"He's not my... He was sleeping but probably awake now because of all your noise."

Sirius tilted his head and then his eyes widened. "He's in your room? I mean he's actually in your bed?"

"N-no," said Regulus, although not very convincingly. "Come, let's go to the parlour, have Kreacher serve us some breakfast," he said, giving his brother a push in the direction of the parlour.

"He is! He's in there!" Sirius grinned and wolf-whistled. "I thought you said it was just an act, but bloody hell, Reggie; you're going all in!"

"Shut up!" hissed Regulus and practically dragged his brother down the hall. "It's Lily," he said once they entered the parlour. "She's determined to make my life miserable."

Sirius blinked a few times and then laughed. "Oh God, this is the best thing ever. I'm so glad you made that comment about gay people. So, who is he?"

Regulus slumped down on a chair and mumbled. "An escort. Lily thought it was perfect. A professional."

Sirius sat down as well, his eyes glued disbelievingly to his younger brother. "She hired you a hooker?"

Regulus raised his head to glare daggers at him. "Not... no, he escorts businessmen and whatnot to posh arrangements."

"But does he sleep with them? And does he get paid?" When Regulus didn't answer, Sirius leaned back in his seat, laughing. "Fucking hell, Reggie. Oh, Mum and Dad must be so proud!"

Regulus' brother's relationship with their parents had always been strained. He had always been a rebel. His mother had wanted him to be a model like Regulus, but Sirius always did his own thing. Loving the limelight and attention, however, he wasn't interested in a normal job, but had become an actor instead - a quite popular one at that; very handsome and charismatic as he was.

"They don't know he's an escort and it better stay that way, Sirius! And it doesn't matter if he's sleeping with some of his costumers, because that's not a service he will be providing here, obviously."

"Of course not," Sirius smiled and took the cup of tea Kreacher offered him. There was a knock on the doorframe and both looked up, Sirius' face splitting into a grin. "Ah, the boyfriend!"

"Ah, the brother," Remus smiled back.

Regulus cursed to himself. Why couldn't Remus just have stayed in bed?

"Even handsomer than on the silver screen, Mr. Sirius Black," Remus continued in a flirtatious voice.

"You can't speak to him like that!" exclaimed Regulus.

The two others looked at him, both a little stunned.

"I mean - you're supposed to be my boyfriend. You can't flirt with my brother."

"Right. I were simply giving him a compliment."

Sirius whistled and leaned back in his seat. "You get a fake boyfriend and you already got him whipped."

"Shut up!" said Regulus. "This is not a joke, Sirius - it's my career on the line here. If you can't understand that, then stay away from me the next few months, yeah?"

"Easy, tiger. I'm not stupid, and I do know how to keep up an act. It's sorta my profession, yeah?" Then he looked at Remus and patted the seat next to himself. "Come join us."

Remus sat down and Kreacher poured him a cup of tea, then informed Regulus that he would be back with breakfast in ten minutes.

"So, Remus," said Sirius, turning his attention back to his brother's alibi. "How's your impression of my dear baby brother so far? Is he being nice to you? Or is he hogging the covers?"

Remus smiled. "I've tried worse."

Regulus snorted into his tea but didn't comment.

"So you're an escort? As in a fancy prostitute? I mean as opposed the cheap ones on the street corner," asked Sirius.

"Sirius, have a little respect, will you? Of course he's not a crack whore! Do you think I would hire someone like that, let alone share my bed with him?" snapped Regulus.

Remus forced a smile and answered Sirius' question, "Aye, I'm a fancy prostitute."

"I didn't mean any disrespect," said Sirius, holding his hands up in surrender. "Truly, I didn't. I'm just curious. I can think of much more amoral jobs - like businessmen and lawyers."

Remus let out a short laugh. "None taken. I've been called worse, believe me."

Lily arrived, looking as if she had been running from early morning, which was probably not far from the truth. "Oh, hi, Sirius," she said; then smiled at Remus. "Did you have a good night?"

"I did," nodded Remus, smiling back at the redhead.

"Oh, hello, you who keeps my brother in place," said Sirius.

"Yes, my most difficult client," joked Lily. It was true that Regulus would often sulk and complain, but he always ended up more or less doing what Lily wanted. "I've accepted an invitation to the Wednesday Night Show, Regulus, and told all the other journalists that there will be no comments until after the show. That way you will only have to tell the basic story once. Of course there will be a million follow-up questions later, but the foundation has been laid, so to speak." She eyed Remus plaintively. "I can't decide if it's a good idea introducing you on the show, Remus, or if that's too much too soon. We could wait for the next public arrangement to let you meet the public..."

"Might seem a little staged if you bring him on the first show," Sirius cut in. "If you asked me, I'd wait."

"Well, she didn't ask you," snapped Regulus. It was so typical of Sirius always to waltz in and place himself in the centre of things.

"Perhaps we should just let Regulus do this one on his own and then take Remus out to meet the public a few days later," said Lily. "I'm sure you'll be invited to lots of arrangements now that everybody wants to see your mystery lover."

o0o0o

Regulus had refused to let Sirius come with him to the TV station, even if it was just backstage, and Lily had backed him up, arguing that Regulus didn't need extra distractions, so the older brother settled on staying at Regulus' house with Remus and James (Sirius' fellow actor and best friend) where they would watch the show together.

"So, you got the story straight?" asked Lily as she adjusted Regulus' cardigan.

"Yes," sighed Regulus. "We've been over it many times."

"Are you ready, Regulus?" asked the TV-assistant excitedly while the make-up artist put a finishing touch of powder on Regulus' nose.

Regulus walked onto the stage to general applause from the audience, but he could tell that many seemed a bit sceptical. Regulus didn't blame them. This was a mess.

"Regulus Black, everyone," introduced the host and then shook Regulus' hand. She asked a few warm-up questions about Regulus' work, and then got to the part everyone wanted to hear. "It's been a bit of a rough year for you, but despite that, you have found love, our sources tell us?"

"Yes, it has come to my attention that a private date of mine has been made public on front pages and social media," said Regulus, sounding slightly frustrated.

"This is quite a sudden change."

"It's not a sudden change. Remus is not the first man I have dated; I just don't make a public announcement every time I go on a date or start a new relationship."

"So you admit to more relationships with men?" asked the host, raising her eyebrows.

"Just a few."

"Then, what I'm sure everyone would like to know is: why the gay bashing last month?"

Regulus sighed. "As I have said many times - it was not gay bashing, it was a stupid joke. I meant no harm by it. If a stand-up comedian had said it, no one would have batted an eye because it's understood that they're just jokes, and most are far more offensive than mine was. But obviously I'm a bad comedian, and I should not have made the joke. But as you see, I am not homophobic in any way. I have grown up in the fashion Industry - I know more gay people than 95% of the population do. Do you think I would have stayed in the business if I had a problem with it? And do you think I would be caught kissing a bloke?"

"This is the first time you've been seen with a male companion," pointed out the host, "and you have been seen with women lots of times. Why is that?"

"Well, there's a perfectly natural explanation for that. Firstly, Remus is my first serious gay relationship. The others were very short lived. And secondly, the girlfriends I've had were all models, so they were already public figures and it was only natural to be seen together from the start. Remus, however, is a regular citizen who is not used to the media circus that surrounds celebrities, and I wanted to shield him from that as long as possible. Although we are already very much in love, our relationship is only a few months old and therefore still fragile. I didn't want to risk messing it up and scaring Remus off by going public too soon (several awwws arose from the audience); but the bloody paparazzi have made that decision for us. I'm not too pleased with this. I would have liked to wait a bit longer."

"So we have established that his name is Remus," said the host excitedly. "Tell us a bit more about him. How did you two love birds meet?"

"Quite coincidentally, really. He offered to pay for my coffee at Starbucks when I stood at the register, discovering I had forgotten both mobile and wallet. I invited him out for dinner later as a thank you. He didn't know who I was, and that was quite refreshing. Made me feel like a normal person. I liked it."

"That must be wonderful," smiled the host, and the audience let out sounds of approval.

"Yes, I must agree," replied Regulus. "I just hope all this attention will not scare him away. I do hope people will treat him with the respect he deserves."

They talked for another ten minutes before Regulus left, accompanied by loud applause from a standing audience.

Backstage Lily hugged him. "That was brilliant! I think this will boost your image a whole lot."

"Yeah... It went pretty well, didn't it?" he said, feeling very relieved and quite proud of himself. He was rarely good in interviews (which was also what had landed him in this trouble in the first place). They always made him uncomfortable and he didn't really know what to say, so he often ended up saying strange things.

o0o0o

"Well, that went brilliantly," grinned Sirius as he shut off the TV and turned to Remus. "Not bad. They seemed to eat it up. They're going to love you. I hope you can stand the pressure."

"I'm quite used to being around new people so their questions shouldn't bother me too much. And in a month or two I'm out, anyway."

"Well, you're gonna be bombarded with intrusive questions about your personal life and have loads of pictures taken of you. Celebrity life isn't for everybody. Reggie hates it with a passion even though he's never known any other lifestyle. He's been walking the runway just about before he could crawl."

"Really?" Remus said, surprised. "If he hates this life, then why does he do it?"

"Well," said James, "people gotta make a living and this is about the only thing Regulus is good at."

"Listen, Reggie isn't as bad as he can come off," said Sirius. "He's just not very good with people skills. I blame our bitch mother. She's had her claws in him from the start and filled his head with ideas about how special he is and how important our family is just because we're famous. As if we're royalty or something. And Reggie was always mummy's good little boy, dancing to her tune."

o0o0o

Regulus and Lily made their way through a sea of journalists on their way to the car, all shouting questions at Regulus and shoving microphones at him. Lily walked beside him with an arm around his shoulders, both to show her support and remind him to keep his cool. Regulus was never good at massive media attention, and this situation was the craziest he had ever experienced.

On their way home she sat flipping through invitations to arrangements Regulus had received for the next week, trying to determine to which would be a good one to show up to with Remus. "How about this fundraiser on Friday?" she suggested, holding up her iPad for Regulus to see. St Mungo's Children's Hospital. It's a good cause too, and you'll definitely draw a lot of attention to it and get more guests and donations. Especially if we make an announcement beforehand that you are coming."

Regulus nodded. "Suits me. I'd rather support ill kids than some stupid businessman's posh party."

o0o0o

Sirius and James were still there when they came back - to both Regulus' and Lily's irritation, because they were both exhausted. At least Lily could go home as soon as they had talked a bit about the plans for the next few days.

"It was a bloody good interview, Reggie," Sirius said and slapped his brother's shoulder. "You sure you shouldn't be an actor instead?"

James made an attempt to put an arm around Lily but she ducked and went over to Remus.

"Did you watch the interview?"

"Of course," smiled Remus. "I have to know what me boyfriend says about me."

"Well, you and your boyfriend are going to a fundraiser for St Mungo's Children's Hospital on Friday. Sirius -" she turned to the man in question. "Is it possible for you to come as well? It would take some of the pressure off our happy couple so all the journalists won't be on their backs all at the same time."

"Sure," Sirius nodded. "Everything for the kiddies "

"I'll come too!" James beamed and sent Lily a wide grin.

"All right…I suppose you can be useful for once. But you're not hanging on my arm the entire night! Or at all, in fact." She turned to Remus. "How much do you know about drinks, Remus? Have you done some research like I asked you to?" They had decided that Remus' backstory was that he was a bartender with no close family. That way journalists wouldn't start trying to find family members to interview. Regulus had met him on a job up in Leeds a few months ago. It was, in fact, correct that Regulus had had a shoot there at the time. If you want to create a convincing lie, it's good to use as many true components as possible.

"I have, but I hope they don't ask about it too much," Remus admitted. "I haven't had a lot of time to prepare."

"Well… of course nobody's going to ask you to start mixing drinks on the spot. It's just if they talk about some kind of liqueur or cocktail, it's best that you know what it is. And if you get caught saying something wrong or not knowing something, you can just say that you haven't been in the business for long."

"Got it," Remus nodded.

Regulus' mobile rang. It was his mother.

"Well, that went all right tonight, thank God," she said. "I feared that you would mess up again, but you seem to be back in the good books, so what a relief that is! Regulus - Burberry wants us to do a mother/son shoot next week, just so you know."

"Yes, Mother," Regulus sighed. His mother had been controlling his career ever since he was little, and she never seemed to have understood that he was now an adult with the right to make his own decisions, so she rarely even asked if he wanted to do something before saying yes on his behalf. Walburga Black had also been a supermodel in her younger days. She still did some shoots once in a while, such as this. She had married Regulus' and Sirius' father, the designer and owner of the exclusive brand Orion Black, at a young age. Now in her fifties she was still a very beautiful woman; the one her sons had inherited their good looks from - although their father was also an attractive man. Sirius took a bit after their father in his strong built, where Regulus was the spitting image of their mother, with his lithe body and beautiful, almost feminine face.

"And could you try to persuade your brother to join us for once? It would be such a hit with both of you there."

"You know he won't."

Lily came in and upon seeing the expression on Regulus' face, she knew that it had to be his mother. He had a sort of submissive look in his eyes whenever she was around. She stood and waited for him to finish the call.

"A mother/son shoot next Wednesday," he said, putting his phone down. "She already accepted. I hope I don't have any plans you have to move around, Lily. Oh, and Sirius - she wants me to talk you into coming, although I told her to forget it."

Sirius made a gagging face. "You got that right. I might lose some brain cells if I have to spend more than an hour with her."

"Well," said Regulus and got to his feet. "I have a shoot tomorrow, so I best turn in now if I want to look somewhat decent. And if you could try to be quiet when you go to bed, that would be lovely," he finished, sending a glance in Remus' direction as he left the room.

"Don't mind him," said Sirius, seeing Remus' crestfallen face. "He likes to bitch over things."

"I've noticed," said Remus, resting his chin on his palm. "He doesn't seem to like me much, though. "

"He's just moody because of the whole situation of having to live a lie for a while, so to speak," said Lily. "It's not you personally. Although, I would have thought tonight would have put him in a better mood."

"Well, dear Mother did just call and give orders," commented Sirius.

"Yes," sighed Lily. "It's so annoying she makes arrangements on his behalf - without even checking with me. I'm the one in charge of his schedule, after all."