Chapter 2
“Prongs, Prongs, calm down, it's just a game.” James scowled back from across the monopoly board, last few dollars in hand, his peice clearly on one of Sirius's most expensive hotels.
“You're cheating.” Leaning back in his chair Sirius rolled his eyes.
“How the fuck am I cheating?” James stared at him for several long moments.
“I don't know. But you are.” Letting out a small chuckle he stood.
“Well, you enjoy your loss and I'm going to go get a drink of water.” He headed into the kitchen, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he did. Glancing at his notifications he saw three from Marlene complaining about who knows what, one from Peter asking when he and James would be done bitching at each other so he and Remus could come back downstairs, and a DM from a user he didn't recognize, @reggie. Frowning slightly he opened it.
Hi Sirius. I know you won't recognize this user so I don't know if you're going to open my message at all. My name's Regulus but you know me as (censored deadname) Black. You're probably not reading anymore but I'm sorry for everything that happened between us. I was scared and I took that fear out on you because I didn't have anything else to do with it. And I know that it doesn’t excuse my actions or what I said to you but I want you to know that I've spent every waking moment regretting the decisions I made, not being a good brother, not telling you that I loved you before you left, not going with you, so many things I didn't do and everything I did do was so wrong. You don't have to reply, you can block me if you'd like, but if you don't hate me too much then I wanted to know if I could get a second chance maybe.
The world spun and he suddenl6 realized he was on the floor leaning up against a kitchen cabinet. Rereading the message he tried to wrap his head around the whole concept. He clicked the user profile and saw it was set to private but still had a few posts he could view. He recognized one man from the few group photos he had and the profile picture, even after so many years it was without a doubt his little sister (brother?). His hands shook violently and his phone clattered to the floor.
“Pads?” He managed to look up and James was standing in the doorway to the kitchen a few feet away. “Pads, is everything alright?” Shaking his head slightly he put his head in his hands and started to cry.
“Fuck, its okay Pads.” James stuck his head out the door. “Remus! Get down here please! Quickly!” He turned his attention back to Sirius. “Just take some deep breaths okay? It's going to be alright.” There were footsteps on the stairs and Remus appeared behind James.
“What's going on?” Realizing Sirius was on the floor crying he quickly pushed past James and sat next to him. “Hey, Love, can you take a few deep breaths with me?” Sirius just shook his head, mind racing through far too many thoughts.
It had been years, how many? Six? Seven? Regulus must be… twenty-one now? Regulus. It felt strange to think of his little sister like that but it also felt weirdly right. He'd always questioned if there was something different about him but he got so fucking defensive whenever he tried to press. That bitch. He nearly smiled, girl or not he still thought of his little sibling as a bitch. Realizing Remus was still talking he snapped out of it and looked up at him.
“-Need to know that you can hear me Siri. Can you take a breath for me Baby? You're not breathing and you need to.” He took a shaky breath and Remus let out a soft sigh of relief. “There you go, you're doing such a good job, go ahead and keep breathing.” It took him a minute or two to become fully grounded again and he realized that James and Peter were standing a few feet away and everyone was staring at him concerned.
“There you go, back with us all the way Love?” He nodded slightly and earned a smile from Remus. “Wonderful, can you tell me what upset you so much?” Hesitating, he glanced at his phone for half a second too long before shaking his head. It felt private and personal and he wanted to figure out how he felt about it before he told Remus and his friends. Unfortunately Remus was watching him like a hawk and when he shook his head reached for his phone, unlocking it and glancing at the screen. He was silent for a moment, frowning slightly.
“Can you tell me who this is Love?” He hesitated for a moment.
“He's um… Regulus.” Remus pursed his lips.
“And who's Regulus?” Sirius shook his head slightly. “Love, if he's upset you I need to know who he is.” There was a moment of silence.
“I'm not… upset. Just too many big feelings.” Remus’s frown deepened and he glanced at James and Peter before looking back to Sirius.
“Can you tell me what feelings those are?”
“I… I'm confused and scared and excited and a bunch more but I think those are the big ones.”
“Alright, and can you tell me what all those feelings are from?” He hesitated. There was no real harm in telling them and he knew that refusing to talk would just make them more worried. “Siri?”
“Um… do you guys remember my sister?” Remus hummed but James spoke up.
“The homophobic asshole who spent years trying to get your mother to beat you for blaming her fuck ups on you? Yeah I remember.” Sirius scowled.
“She didn't blame them on me I- It's not important. She texted me and um, it's not entirely… her anymore. She's Regulus now. And he apologized and wants to maybe try again.” There was dead silence and Sirius studied the floor.
“What do you think about that?”
“I… I don't know.”
“Do you want to talk about it, do you want to be left alone to think, or do want a distraction?” Pursing his lips he contemplated for a moment.
“To be left alone I think.”
“Alright, do you want to go lay in bed?” He hummed softly and Remus stood, offering a hand. Accepting he pulled himself up and went on his tiptoes, giving Remus a small pouty face.
“Kiss?” Remus pressed a gentle kiss on his lips and James made an exaggerated gagging noise before they pulled apart.
“I'll check on you in a little bit, okay?” Sirius nodded and slipped through James and Peter to head upstairs. Once he made it all the way he flopped into bed, curling up in the sheets. Pulling the message back up he studied it, rereading it several times before typing a response.