“Okay, so you clearly know where I’m meant to be. Think you could point me in the right direction?”
He sounds genuinely tired and Regulus, for one long second, considers being helpful. Pointing him back toward the main road, giving him a few turns, maybe a landmark or two, and letting him be on his way, tail between his legs, hot and lost and a little flustered.
But then the wind cuts sharp through his coat again, and he remembers that total of £27.43 in his bank account. Remembers the 41% of rent he’s managed to scrape together and how he’s still short a week’s worth of groceries. Even if Sirius manages to find him a shift, it won’t be enough. Not in time. Not for the fifth overdue notice sitting unopened in his inbox because he can’t look at it without panicking.
He needs the money.
So he taps the ash off his cigarette, then leans in slightly, resting one arm on the open window frame.
“Sure.” Then, with the smallest, most delicate smile: “For a fee.”
Or: A modern-day Pretty Woman AU with an art auction house CEO James and a broke grad student Regulus, approximately ten days of chaos and exactly one (1) poorly made attempt to pretend it's all just business.