I'm suing Conan Gray for emotional damages, I can't stop listening to Family Line and I can't stop crying with every single listen

INSECURE CONFRONTATION

Anne wished she was a better person. A better person would end up sitting down and talking about why it was so hard talking about what she was feeling and why her throat seemed to close up.

She had never been one to jealousy. As she grew up, she learned that her brother wasn't only hers when he had good friends that were as good as siblings to him as well, she didn't mind her flings talking to other people (even though she didn't really love them) and when her father had girls over (that were not her mother) she had been angry, but not enough to make her choke down tears by just remembering the scene. No. Regulus had a power over her that left her a pathetic mess. Just the memory of a girl's hand over his shoulder as he twirled her around with his best charming smile made her stomach churn and her eyes tear up as if she was a child.

She couldn't eat and she barely slept that night. It was pathetic. He had unofficially proposed to her, promised his faithfulness and she believed him completely – why was she so hurt as she poked the grapes on her plate still couldn't be answered. She trusted Regulus, but she was still hurt. She knew his mother hated her and she knew that she wanted to find someone to continue the family line soon enough; she felt like her time was running out.

War was coming.

Regulus was expected to walk away from her.

"You're acting weird ever since you came home," James said, sighing in breakfast. "What happened?"

His question called attention from everybody in the table. Sirius and Remus were watching the exchange in silence, also having noticed the change in behaviour and the sudden quietness in her ways. Monty looked slightly confused, he had assumed the girl was just with a hangover, but she was acting weird every since she had gotten back, then something was wrong. Mia, however, looked concerned as well, she had noticed the sad glint in her eyes and the way she refused to talk about the party at all.

"Nothing happened," she said. "I'm just tired."

"You slept for almost ten hours, Annie. Just tired doesn't cut it with us. Something happened," Sirius insisted.

Remus sipped his tea before putting the cup down on the table.

"You are aware that you're considered pack to me, correct, Anne?" Remus asked. She looked up, confused by the sudden question, but nodded. "You are aware that I can feel when you're hurt, and not just physically."

She blushed.

Strong emotions were felt by the alpha, she knew, of course, she had enough research about it, but it didn't make any less embarrassing that her godfather had known she was crying herself to sleep once she got to her bedroom. It was close to the end of the month, which meant the next full moon was approaching (June's Moon having been in the first day of the month).

"Did Snivellus do something?" Sirius asked, gripping his fork tighter. "He left you here and went away so fast. I knew something was wrong."

"Don't call him that and he did nothing wrong," she said, putting her own fork down with a bit too much force, the noise echoing around the silent room. "Severus did what he could to keep me entertained. I ended up hurting myself, nobody did anything – my expectations did it by themselves."

James' eyebrows shot up.

"Something in your plan went wrong?" Monty asked.

She hated how quickly her mind whispered that she would rather have something in her plan go wrong, as long as Regulus would be by her side, and her side alone.

"No," she said.

"I think this is a more... teenager problem than a war problem, my dear," Mia said to her husband. "Anne, did Regulus did something? Something you weren't ready for or wanted to do?"

She scoffed.

"No, of course not, Regulus is a good man. He would never do something like that. He's a good person," she insisted.

"And yet, here you are," Remus said, looking at her up and down.

"As I said, I hurt myself," she dismissed. "I created expectations in my head that cannot be fulfilled and now I'm hurt because I lied to myself over and over again, now I'm just... being hit with the truth that Regulus is a pureblood Heir and expected to fulfil some duties that don't align with my fantasies."

James frowned.

"I don't follow," her father said.

But Sirius did.

"Walburga put him out there to get him a wife," he guessed.

Hearing that from someone else other than her own mean mind made it a lot more real and her eyes filled with tears once more. Just the simple thought of Regulus dressed up waiting for another girl dressed in white made her nauseated.

"Oh, Annie," cooed Remus, getting up from his seat and running to hug her. She sniffled, not wanting to end up a sobbing mess at the breakfast table. "We both know that he would never go through with anything, we both know he would never go to anyone else but you for anything."

"But his mother expects him to," she said. "And I knew that from the start. I don't even know why I'm crying about it!"

"Because you're a teenager in love, darling," Mia said from her place. "You will cry about a lot of things that in a few years won't make a single ounce of sense, but that doesn't make it hurt any less right now."

It was a comfort for Anne for someone to say her feelings were normal, but that didn't make them go away.

The distraction of the 'pop' of Coco popping into the breakfast room smoothing down her pillowcase and clearly unsure if it was the right moment to pass the message she had for them.

"Mistress, there is a young man outside for Miss Anne," Coco announced. "He brought gifts."

"So he does know he messed up," Monty said, eating his last piece of melon.

"Do you have a name, Coco?" Mia asked.

"Regulus, Mistress," she answered.

"Tell him to come in and lead him to the parlour, please," Mia said. Coco popped off, quickly following the orders. "You don't need to talk to him if you don't want to, Anne, just so you know. You can ask for more time."

She knew that and she knew that Regulus would understand to some extent, but he didn't seem to know what he had done and came to her house to talk to her.

"I'll talk to him," she said.

Mia nodded as she watched Anne getting up and fixing her robes around her pyjamas and walking out of the room towards the parlour.

The parlour was surprisingly shadowy since it usually got good light in the mornings, but the rainy day outside made it hard for any sun to venture for more than a few minutes. In there, Regulus was standing near the window with two boxes in hand and bouquet of beautiful flowers. He turned around towards the door when Anne walked in, slippers making no sound, but the door creaking a bit.

"Good morning," he said. "How are you feeling today? You seemed a little tipsy yesterday."

"I'm fine," she dismissed. "How may I help you?"

He blinked in surprise by her curtness before taking a breath and giving the flowers to her.

"I got you this. Picked it up along the way, saw it and was reminded of you," he explained.

Doubtful, she thought. Still, her heart seemed to skip a beat as she recognized the white jasmines amongst the red carnations. She was pretty sure he had looked for those flowers well enough to find them fully bloomed, after all, she couldn't find any magic as she reached for them. Those were muggle flowers. He had gone to Muggle England to get them.

"Thanks," she choked out.

"Look, I talked to Severus and he commented you were a bit off yesterday. I wanted to come here and apologize if I did anything or to listen to what happened, so I can fix it," he explained. "Was it something I said?"

"You didn't speak to me, so it's not something you said," she said.

She knew it was mean and unnecessary, she knew he had no guilt on this. And yet the pettiness made it hurt a bit less.

"Wow," he whispered, surprised by how her words stung. "Alright, I feel like I'm missing something here. You might need to get a bit specific so I can follow here, Anne-Girl. I'm completely lost."

"You're either making yourself underhand, or you're just plain stupid," she grumbled to herself and Regulus didn't react to her painful words at first, so she looked back at him, wanting a reaction. "Please, you're very smart, Regulus, you know very well what you did and you know it was wrong because you came to my house with flowers and presents."

The boy in front of her.

"You're being quite rude," he warned. "The presents are not for you, though. I came here because I noticed and then Severus confirmed that you were upset over something yesterday, so I came to check on you and give these presents to my brother."

She blushed, humiliated for how conceited that made her sound, but she pushed her pride forward.

"Now, you're making me feel silly," she complained.

"Because you're acting silly. You're complaining and getting angry at me when I don't even know what I've done."

She put the flowers over the table and sat down on the sofa, crossing her arms, watching as Regulus walked across the room to sit on the other sofa right in front of her, not daring to sit beside her.

"I shouldn't have thought this would work, I was being silly," she said, looking down at the flowers, nose and eyes already burning as she did her best to hold back her treacherous tears. "I should've focused on my original plan."

"Ow, ow, wait up. What?" he asked, putting the two small boxes on the table beside the flowers. "What are you on about, Anne? What's happening? What did I do?"

She looked up at him, startling him with the tears.

"Your mother is trying to marry you off already, Regulus. I'm not stupid, I noticed that in the moment I walked in and she dragged you away to make you dance with those girls, all of them falling at your feet, and you were enjoying yourself," she said. She hated how bitter she sounded.

He seemed shocked.

"Anne, I know those girls ever since I was small. Most of them came from other countries to congratulate me, most with their brothers and parents, none of them were important to me. They were important to the cause," he said. "You can't be mad at me for doing my job."

"Job? Sure!" she scoffed.

"My mother wants me to find a wife, yes, I won't deny and lie about it to you. You're not stupid, you know how things work in my family and in other families like mine," he said, eyes becoming colder and firmer. "But I didn't dance with them because I happen to enjoy dancing. I actually dread dancing – but the Dark Lord asked me to make a wider social network because I mostly walk around with Severus and you in school. I need that for my future with him."

"Oh, so now it's my fault?!" she said too loudly, jumping up from where she was sitting, slapping her hands on the sides of her thighs in annoyance.

"Well, yes!" he said, getting up as well and frowning, clearly upset. "And do not scream at me."

She looked at him once more. Regulus hated when people screamed, but she could barely control herself at that point.

"How is this my fault?" she asked.

"Because I'm doing this for you! Why else?" he answered. "Anne, you told me to hold, climb up the ranks as fast as I can and hold on for as long as I can and I'm doing exactly what you told me to. Don't you dare pull that on me as if I'm a horrible person for that. Chose a bloody side!"

She looked away from him, tears finally escaping her eyes as she forced her hands to go up and dry them as fast as she could before he could think she was using those tears against him.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked.

"The real problem!"

"I'M JEALOUS!" she screamed. "I'm jealous that they get to dance with you. I'm jealous that they get to have your mother looking away as if they were not going to attack you at some point. I'm jealous that they get to be seen as girls and not objects. I'm jealous that they get to walk around and talk and not get horrible looks as if they were nothing but dirt under their shoes!" she took a deep breath. "And I'm jealous that you paid more attention to them then you did to me," the last sentence jumping from her lips in nothing but a whisper.

Her honesty seemed to take him aback. He had expected lies once more – he was too used to Anne lying to him and then backing down and throwing all the truth at him at once and him having to deal with it.

"Anne, I cannot help you with those feelings," he said. "All I can say is that you have my stone in your neck and, one day, you'll have my ring on your finger. But I cannot do anything more about it now."

"I know," she whimpered. He walked around the coffee table to get closer to her. "But you looked so happy."

"I'm good actor, Anne-Girl, I need to be a good actor to survive," he said, standing near, but not daring to touch her. "Remember whenever you feel angry at me, however, that you don't have the right to aim it towards me because you made sure I was in there, you told me how to get in and you helped me through the worst part of it up until now."

"I'm a horrible person," she whimpered, walking forward. She walked right into his arms as he embraced her and she cried. "They were so much prettier than me and they knew how to use those horribly small cups."

He chuckled against her hair.

"Don't worry, I didn't know how to use those cups either," he admitted. "And you were the prettiest girl in that room by far."

Once she was calmer, he pulled away much against her will. He still had things to say, she knew by the way he was looking at her as he sat her beside him on the sofa she had been originally on. "Anne," he licked his lips and took a deep breath, trying to find the words. "This isn't a scolding..." he started.

"Alright?" she said, hesitant.

"But you can't be immature as this or insecure like this... I know it sounds harsh but a lot of things are coming and I need to make sure I can count on you and you won't be mad at me for doing something you told me to do," he said. Her lips wobbled again and he took a deep breath. "Please, don't cry. I don't mean to sound rude."

"I know," she said, trying to swallow down her tears.

"All I mean to say is that you told me to be a Death Eater. To be the perfect Death Eater, I need to be the perfect son and for that I need to keep my mother relatively happy. I need to dance and go to parties and try my best to not throw up on someone's shoes when I dance too much," he explained. "You can't keep of hurting yourself like this – it's not healthy. It's not good for you and it's not good for me, because when you're hurt, I hurt as well."

"I'm sorry."

"When I'm with them, be sure I think of nothing but you," he promised. He took her hand and held it on her lap before using his other hand to push some of her messy hair away from her face and kiss her cheek. "Your skin," he mumbled, near her ear before kissing her lips. "Your lips," he put his forehead against hers. "Your mind, your words, your smile..." he smirked as he pulled back just enough. "Your sounds." He kissed her lips once more. "You are the only thing keeping me sane at the moment, please, don't turn away from me for something I didn't do."

Before the guilt settled in her stomach or she could as much as apologize once more, his lips were swallowing her whole – she couldn't think, she couldn't speak, she could only feel. Every inch of his body was against hers as she straddled him on the sofa, holding him by the hair and pulling him closer to herself.

His hands were resting on her waist, caressing her under the robes, but over the thin dark grey shirt she had on. His hands touched her breasts over the bra, cupping them gently midst the chaotic kiss they shared.

"How dare you say they were prettier, when you look like this on top of me?" he grumbled as he helped her shrug the robes off. "If only you could see yourself through my eyes, Anne, you'd love yourself so much you wouldn't look away from the mirror. I'm enchanted by you," he passed his kisses from her lips to her neck. "I can't look away from you even when I want to, I have to consciously remind myself to not look all the time. I was caught staring more than once yesterday. You looked divine in that dress."

"I love you," she said. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry I didn't notice before," he said back.

"I'm sorry," she said once more.

"You're the most alluring woman I have ever seen," he pushed the spaghetti strap down her shoulder to kiss her shoulders, the freckles there making him smile. "More divine that the statues I've seen in temples. Your words and mind are charming and fascinate me, I can hear you talk for a whole night and will be even more in love with you. You're magnificent, Anne. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, not even yourself," he insisted.

Through happy tears, she tried to find something witty to say.

"You've been brushing up on your reading," she teased.

"You're pulchritudinous" he insisted.

"Did you eat the dictionary before coming over?" she teased.

"No, but I did reread Anne of Avonlea last night before the party," he teased.

She smiled at him as he reached up and cleaned her tears. She sniffed, trying to make herself look a little less like a mess, but he didn't seem to mind much.

"Are we ok?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "I think we've talked this through."

"I'm sorry for being immature and jealous," she said.

"I was jealous as well," he admitted. "Severus had the honour of standing next to you and whenever he walked away from you, somebody congratulated him since you were so exquisite, and all I could do was smile. And then Yaxley –"

"Creepy man," she said.

"You smiled at him your best smile and I was terrified you thought him to be charming," he admitted. "I almost broke character, had to tell him to back off and then pretended to be tipsy. I was lucky enough Severus was just as fierce in protecting you as I was, otherwise I would've been seen as ridiculous."

She hated how it made her feel better that he, too, had been slightly hurt and fearful in that party. She hated how more confident it made her feel that he had been jealous of her, though he did handle it a lot healthier than she had, not choking it down and just blindly trusting her. Regulus often did that, she noticed at once, he often blindly trusted her after that day in Pandora's party and even more after she told him the truth – she though it might have been the passion, the love they felt, but no... it was more, it was friendship and loyalty to a fault.

At least she knew he and his brother shared something.

Loyal to a fault. Deep, passionate feelings that could lead them to their heaven or destruction with the same easiness.

She leaned down and kissed him as passionately as she could, thanking him for sharing his feelings.

"Hey, Reg, are you – Oh, Merlin's Beard!"

Anne jumped from Regulus' lap and landed on his side.

Sirius stood in the doorway with a cringing Remus behind him that clearly had gone after him to stop him from opening the door.

"What?" Anne asked, sounding between confused and rude.

"I was just going to ask if Reg was going to stay for lunch, but I guess he's already eating," Sirius said, lips curling in disgust, but not missing the joke. "Be grateful it was me and not James."

"James caught us in worse situations," Regulus said. "Ask him about the Astronomy Tower."

"Do not ask him about the Astronomy Tower. What the fuck?" Anne said, blushing. She turned to her boyfriend. "Are you staying?"

"If it wouldn't be a bother, I did tell Mother I was going to Severus' and I usually spend the whole afternoon there," he said. "If I went home too early, she would find it odd."

"What would you have done if we hadn't offered?" Sirius asked, curious.

Regulus smirked.

"Get Anne to help me sneak back in," he admitted.

Once lunch was on the table, Regulus sat a bit stiffly in front of James and beside the head of the table where Monty was.

"Anne, still in your pyjamas?" James asked, frowning. She shrugged, finally eating after the night and the morning sulking on an empty stomach. Seeing that, James didn't dare to say anything else about it. "So, what are you doing here, Regulus? And why did Anne cry the whole night?"

"James!" Mia scolded, looking up in shock by her son's behaviour.

"Just a question!" he said, raising his hands in surrender.

"I'm sorry, but my problem with Anne was already solved and certainly not something I'd disclose without her permission, especially in the middle of lunch. I'm not that insensitive," Regulus said. "And I was here to solve the problem."

"You solved that alright," Sirius grumbled from his place into his cup of juice.

Anne glared at him, but James had caught the meaning and was now glaring at his own plate.

"And, though my brother is an idiot, I had a few things for him, that now I'm regretting going after for him," Regulus added, also glaring at his brother, though not all that effective as he blushed.

Monty had to take a deep breath before looking at a silently-laughing Mia to calm himself from doing something against the boy sitting beside him.

"What did you get for me?" Sirius asked, putting his cluttery away, suddenly uninterested in the meal.

Regulus had to get up just a bit to get the small boxes from his back pocket.

"Here," he said, pushing it across the table.

A box was red and the other was white.

"Are those --?"

"Father's?" Regulus offered after a moment of silence. "Yes."

"You're so getting in trouble for this," Sirius said.

"Once upon a time, I would've heard that as a threat, now I hear it as concern and dismiss it. Father allowed me to. He agreed with me in this. Those two belong to you – neither has a curse and both are aimed at the oldest son, not the Heir... the son," Regulus said. "The one in the red box is given after graduation. The one in the white box is given when the oldest son in a relationship for a Promising."

Sirius looked up.

"Promising? So old-school," he teased. "Who does that?"

"I do," Regulus said.

His glance at Anne neck made Sirius follow his eyes and raise his eyebrows.

"You --! James, he –"

"I knew it, already," James said before his friend could make a big deal out of it. "Don't worry, Annie, he didn't ask for permission."

"Good," she grumbled, feeling a bit exposed as she blushed a bit. "Otherwise, the stone was going to go back to him."

"He sent Severus Snape to get me a letter and warn me with the following sentence: 'He told me to tell you that he's only after your blessing and he'll follow through even without it'. So, he's fine, mate, don't freak out."

"Does Lily know?" Remus asked. "She's going to be so mad when she finds out."

"She knows, I sent Barty to talk to her," Regulus said.

"And I told her everything later before I got my NEWTs," she added, blushing a bit still. She remembered the parts she had to cut from the very detailed explanation she had to tell her mother, quite happy that she didn't know Legimency as she skipped all the parts that made her squirm in bed alone.

As Regulus talked to her family, laughing and joking around as if he was comfortable with them for years, she felt her insecurity slipping away from her mind as she reminded herself that there was no way anyone would ever have Regulus the way she did because there was no way anyone would ever have her in the way he had her. Equally. Balanced. Genuinely. Nothing would one day get to her heart as his smile did, not even his momentary anger as his sharp words had been before.

Anne smiled, but said nothing, just watching the whole interaction as her heart swelled with pride.

She was so focused on her boys that she didn't notice Mia watching her.

PLEASE COMMENT. I USUALLY WRITE QUICKER WHEN I HAVE FEEDBACK BECAUSE THEN I CAN CUT OFF THINGS THAT PEOPLE DON'T LIKE AND MOVE FASTER WITH THE PLOT (I'M SORRY I'M FOCUSING A LOT ON ANNE'S MENTAL STATE, BUT IT'LL BE IMPORTANT IN THE FUTURE AND IT HELPS ME UNDERSTAND THE CHARACTER A BIT BETTER).