Chapter 1
Regulus learned early in his life that silence was always safer than words. He knew which old floorboards creaked under his weight, and he knew he never dared to slam the doors in his house unlike his brother.
Yet tonight was different. The air was thicker, heavier. The kind of quiet that came before a storm. It was never really quiet with- when Sirius was home which was rarely. He curled his fingers into his sleeves and just prayed that sirius hadn’t done anything bad.
It happened so quickly regulus barely registered it until Sirius came into his room. Regulus had seen bruises before. They bloomed like ink stains on his and his brothers skin, dark and quiet, fading only to make room for more. He knew the words that came from his mothers mouth that cut deeper than any knife would though he would never admit that Its his family.
But this time was different. This time, Sirius wasnt just bruised-he was broken.
His brother sat on the edge of the bed, one arm wrapped around his ribs, his breathing shallow. Their mother’s voice still echoed through the house, sharp as glass, but Sirius was done listening. Regulus could see it in his eyes—somewhere between exhaustion and decision.
“I’m gonna leave, Regulus. I dont care if you come or not but i cant stay anymore. She’s fucking nuts and i hope you see that too.”
Regulus never could scream.
Not when he fell off his bike as a child, not when his father slammed a fist against the table, not even now—when Sirius sat in front of him, ribs bruised, lip split, shoving clothes into a backpack with shaking hands and hoping for an answer from his.
God he wish he could scream right now.
Regulus wanted to beg him to stay, to reach out, to do something—anything—but the words were trapped in his throat, locked behind the silence he had never been able to break.
Regulus wanted to believe this was just another bad night. That Sirius would leave, cool off, and come back like he always did. But something in his brother’s eyes told him this wasn’t like before. There was no fire in them, no reckless defiance. Just a quiet, simmering kind of grief. The kind that meant he had already made up his mind.
Sirius zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, flinching slightly at the movement. Regulus clenched his fists, nails biting into his palms, trying to will his body into action. He wanted to grab Sirius’ arm, to shake his head, to do something other than just sit there. But the silence was a weight pressing down on his chest, making it impossible to move.
Sirius sighed. “I know you won’t come.” He said it like a fact, not a question. Like he had already accepted the answer before he even asked. “But you don’t have to stay forever, you know. You can get out too.”
Regulus’ throat tightened. He wanted to believe that. He didnt even know where he would go. He wanted to believe there was a world outside these walls that he could belong to. But Sirius had always been different—stronger, braver. Regulus had never been good at fighting back. He had only ever known how to endure.
Sirius hesitated in the doorway. “I’ll wait,” he said, voice quieter now. “For as long as I can.”
Then he was gone.
Regulus didn’t move for a long time. He sat in the heavy, suffocating silence of his room, staring at the empty space where his brother had been. The house felt colder without him. The air thinner.
And for the first time in his life, Regulus wondered if silence had ever really been safe at all.