Cruel Summer

When Regulus opens his eyes, he feels as if his muscles are being pulled by the weight of Mount Olympus itself. They feel heavy, and it takes a conscious effort not to groan in annoyance when he realizes he is sick.

A couple of weeks ago, James had been sick. Regulus decided to be a chivalrous boyfriend for once and help take care of the idiot. He even resisted the urge to call James “Potter the red nosed reindeer” the moment he realized his boyfriend had a blocked nose.

And this is what he gets in reward!

“Baby?” James croaks from next to him. A couple of days ago, they'd left harry in Barty and Evan’s care —against their will, the toddler was persistent— and travelled all the way to Alexandria, Egypt to spend two weeks with Effie and Monty in their beach house —more like villa— during the nice summer breeze.

Since their arrival, James had been thinking about how “we need to get our own villa too, Reggie! When Harry grows a bit, it’d be fun to spend time there! But if we were to get one it’d be around the red sea, since it's cleaner than the Mediterranean!”.

Regulus had agreed but that conversation feels so far away now. Mind you, they had this conversation literally last night.

Regulus hates colds, they make him feel vulnerable and weak. If there is one thing Regulus Black detests with his entire soul is being viewed as weak .

How unseemly! He can almost hear his mother’s shrill screech in his ear if she were to ever see him in such a state.

“Reggie?” He hears James ask again, but this time his voice is a bit far away, like he has climbed off the bed and is now standing next to Regulus instead of on the bed with him. Unacceptable!

“Come back,” he groans. He barely has his eyes open and his lashes are disgustingly clumped together. 

James chuckles and Regulus feels him move so he is seated next to Regulus on the bed. He starts gently kissing Regulus' cheek, his jaw, his neck, his exposed collarbone. Despite himself, Regulus blushes a flaming red which makes James run a comforting hand over Regulus's arm.

Regulus is in one of James’ hoodies. Black with no design at all, he forgo wearing trousers in favour of letting his legs brush upon James’ in his sleep. A small act of intimacy that makes him giddy with happiness.

“I'm so fucking tired,” he says, James only nods in understanding, “how about I run to the pharmacy and bring you something?”.

Regulus nods, with the motion, he feels his head spin. It feels like he has been put in a blender and a toddler is controlling the machine.

He feels James move from next to him, getting up and rummaging in the wardrobe until he settles on something Regulus can't see, he hears rustling of clothes as James changes.

A minute later, a quick kiss is planted on his cheek as James hastily says “I'll be back real quick”.

★★★★★

James leaves the bedroom with worry clouding his mind. Regulus is the type to hide his vulnerability, but right now, he lets James go without a complaint about how “he's fine” or whatever bullshit James had thought Regulus would say.

When he shuts the front door behind him he realises both his parents have already left for work, leaving the garage empty. James has to walk, it's not like he brought his car here from London.

It feels strange to be back here. Sure he spent the better part of his life in London but no matter what, it's never really been his country.

He might not have lived here long. But unlike London, here they speak his language, they have his skin. He had feared for a long time that he had become  ‘too white for the Egyptians but too Egyptian for the white’. he still has this fear of course, but the more time he spends back here the more he starts to dismiss that sinking feeling.

The pharmacy is a five minute walk, the air is sticky and hot. Whatever bipolar shit the weather has been up to lately needs to stop. One day it's breezy and nice and the next there is sweat racing down his back as he walks down the street.

Fifteen minutes later, he has acquired the Panadol cold and flu —the only thing he trusts himself to give Reggie because he may be a doctor’s son but that doesn't change the fact that he knows nada about medicine— and when he sees his mother's car in the garage he frowns in confusion.

“Knt fain?” His mom asks once he enters. She's in the kitchen, drinking water, still in her white coat and scrubs. 

“Eh elly mrga3ek bdry awy kda?” He asks with a raised brow as he takes off his shoes, joining her in the kitchen.

“Neseet el mobile”.

James hums and then answers her first question, “I was out, Reggie is sick”.

“Oh, poor boy” she says as she grabs her keys from the counter, heading out the kitchen and remembering to grab her phone this time as she puts on her shoes to rush back to work.

“Feed him well, make sure he's rested and give him something to ease the pain”.

“Sure”.

“Anything you need, call me, love you, bye,” she quickly kisses his forehead before rushing out the door.

Making his way back to his bedroom he finds reg still curled up in bed. He chuckles when the younger man hides underneath the covers as James turns on the light. It's adorable. The way Regulus gets when he's sleepy, fucked out or allowing himself to be open for once.

“Hey, baby. I got you something— it should help”.

Regulus slowly peeks his head from underneath the thick covers, his eyes are glassy and his eyebags prominent. The skin around his eyes is red, a stark contrast to his pale skin and James guesses his eyes must burn when he opens them.

“Here," the water bottle on the bedside table is snatched and presented to Regulus along with the pills. That's when Regulus finally decided to sit up, his raven curls messy and sticking up at odd angles. James runs his hands through them, the soothing gesture well received as Regulus hums approvingly.

“You're gonna force me to bathe and stuff like how I did to you?” Regulus asks grimly and James gives his boyfriend a shit eating grin.

“Oh, but baby, it's good for you, no? I'm not forcing you I just want what's best for you, love,” James says in a mocking-ish tone. But he's not really kidding, he can feel the heat radiating off Regulus without even touching him, so jokes aside, Regulus needs a cold shower or something.

“How about you shut your eyes for a minute while I run you a bath, yeah?” James suggests and Regulus nods sluggishly before burrowing underneath the covers like they'll defend him from all evil.

His parents’ beach villa is beautiful, vast with so much more space than they know what to do with. They have their own bedroom and bathroom here and both aren’t modestly sized, the bathroom is probably bigger than Sirius’ ego and the bedroom is its own floor. The potted plant right next to the sink in the bathroom will never fail to creep James out though, he might discuss removing it with his mother.

The bathtub is far too big for just Regulus. It’s porcelain white against the beige tiles. He turns it on let it fill in, there is a shower stall too. James usually prefers showering over Regulus' fancy baths.

Once it's all filled up, James adds all the bath bombs Regulus had left here since the last time they visited. Effie has also added a bunch of fancy bottles James has no idea how to read.

Effie got on with Regulus the moment they met, James knew that would happen. But what was very surprising was that his father had gotten along better with Regulus than his mother.  

Heading back to their connected bedroom, he walks to the bed and gently shakes Regulus awake. Grumbling, Regulus cracks an eye open, when he sees James he starts to sit up and James helps.

“Want me to carry you like a princess?” James asks, Regulus huffs out an annoyed breath but lifts his arms. James hooks his arms under his boyfriend’s thighs and head then lifts him up, carrying him all the way to the bathroom.

“You really went all out, huh?” Regulus asks as James helps him undress. The younger man shivers in the cold but James helps him into the fizzy bath and Regulus’ body sags in relief.

James sits on the edge of the tub as Regulus starts to relax. 

“Want me to help?” 

“No, I'm just gonna…” Regulus trails off as he closes his eyes and rests his head on the wall.

“Darling, you’re gonna sleep like this”.

“Shhhhh—shut up”.

“Shushing me is very rude, you know?”

Regulus frowns and opens his eyes to glare daggers at James. “How about you leave me alone? You’re being very annoying to someone who’s sick”.

James chuckles but doesn’t move, they sit in silence for a while, Regulus in the bath and James staring.

“What are you looking at?”

“You”.

Regulus’ cheeks burn and it’s not because of his concerningly high fever.

“Shut up”

“I love you”.

Regulus’ face softens and the corners of his lips lift up in a small smile. “I love you, too.”