Chapter 6
“I'm heading out guys, don't burn the place down please.” Sirius got a few vague dismissive waves but aside from that no one really acknowledged him. It was fine, he trusted his employees, he wouldn't have hired them if he didn't, but just in case…
“Hey,” He poked his head in the backroom where his piercer was sitting with a client. “Can you make sure nobody dies? You've got the most brain cells of the lot.” That earned a polite chuckle.
“You got it boss, have a good night.”
“You too.” Grabbing his phone, he checked his notifications one last time before he left. Regulus still hadn't responded to him and he mentally swore the air blue. Of course he had to bring up seeing each other face to face and scare the fuck out of him. He was probably going to be lucky if he even heard from him again.
Scowling something fierce he pulled his jacket on and headed out the front door. He was planning on just walking home when someone from across the street pushed off the wall they were leaning against and crossed the street a dozen paces in front of him. The part of town he was in wasn't particularly shady but there were a few pubs around and he was familiar with having drunks wander to the shop looking for a fight. It was dark but the light from the street lights illuminated the figure as they made it to his side of the road and his jaw dropped.
“Hi.” Regulus stood only a few paces away from him looking nervous and a little lost but he gave Sirius a small, hesitant wave. “Sorry if this is weird but I didn't know if I'd actually be able to follow through with any plans and-” Sirius didn't let him finish, practically tackling him with a hug. “Oh. Uh, okay.” Regulus awkwardly wrapped his arms around Sirius who only squeezed him tighter.
“You're actually real and alive and you're here. You're here, holy shit. Hi.” He knew he was grinning like an idiot but he didn't care.
“Mhm. I can't really… breathe though.” Releasing him immediately, Sirius laughed, shaking his hands a little to rid himself of a little nervous energy.
“Sorry, sorry I'm just excited. I already thought I accidentally scared you off yesterday and then you didn't respond to any of my messages today and I didn't know if you were upset.” He gave Regulus an up-down, he was wearing black jeans, a dark green long sleeved shirt, and… were those piercings? Several silver hoops on each ear peeked out from under his ruffled hair and a pendant hanging around his neck.
“You done examining me like you're assessing my ability to run away from you?” Laughing, Sirius focused on the conversation again.
“You look happy. And healthy. Probably couldn't outrun me though, you're still shorter than me.” Regulus shot him a glare but his smile diminished the effect.
“I will leave, right now.”
“What? No, don't leave! I just got you back!” Regulus rolled his eyes but Sirius could still see the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Here, come on, we can go for a walk.” Seeming hesitant Regulus let Sirius lead him along.
“So, how'd you find me brother dearest?” Humming slightly, Regulus shrugged.
“I feel like a creep.” He laughed.
“Go on, tell me.” He let out a long sigh.
“So you told me that you’re a tattoo artist right? So I searched tattoo artists with your name and found an account with the address.” He nodded several times, allowing himself to press his shoulder against his little brother, just enough to test if he'd shy away. He didn't and Sirius had to fight down another ridiculous grin.
“So have you just been waiting here all day to see if I showed up?” Regulus's gaze fell to the ground and he mumbled something Sirius couldn't understand. “What?”
“I had my friend call and ask what hours you worked earlier.” He let out a loud laugh that seemed to startle Regulus.
“You sneaky ass bitch.” Sirius let out a small, humored breath. “Some things never change it seems.”
“Sorry.” Sirius looked over at him, entirely baffled.
“Why are you sorry?” He shrugged, uncomfortable under Sirius’s scrutiny.
“Because I was an asshole back then and I wanted to change.” Sirius stopped walking and made Regulus stop too so he could face him.
“You weren’t that much of an asshole, you had lots of good parts of you. All things considered you were a good brother, sure you bitched about me and said some shitty things but you were also always there to get me back on my feet no matter how much we were fighting. You don’t have to be sorry about things that you said years ago, we were both kids. I said a bunch of shitty stuff to you too, do you hate me over it?” Regulus hesitated.
“No, I guess not.”
“Alright, so you can stop this whole, everyone hates me and I’m horrible, thing. You shouldn’t talk about yourself like that, it’s not healthy.” There were a few moments of silence where Regulus studied Sirius.
“Alright.” Sirius let out a small sigh.
“Good. Come on, there's a park down this way.” Regulus gave him a strange look.
“Why are we going to a park?” Sirius shrugged.
“Neutral and open location. I figured since you waited until after I left the shop to approach me you wouldn’t want to be somewhere enclosed or that I have a… higher standing.” Regulus was staring at him and his voice faltered. “What?”
“I was… I was just waiting until you were done working. But that’s both really sweet and really, really sad sounding. I’m fine if you want to go somewhere else, I can handle a little bit of discomfort.” He frowned slightly.
“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” He shrugged slightly.
“I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” Studying Regulus’s face he watched for any sign of discomfort but he just nodded.
“I’m sure.” Sirius frowned but gestured down the street.
“The apartment’s down this way. Peter should be asleep and I think Remus and James are watching a movie, I can tell them to fuck off so we can talk.” Regulus hummed and followed Sirius.
“I’ll admit I’m not an expert on romantic relationships, I did leave my fiance at the altar, but I don’t think telling your boyfriend to fuck off doesn’t sound very nice.” He chuckled.
“Yeah, yeah, Remus-” He choked, realization hitting him. “Wait, you left your fiance at the altar? You had a fiance?” Regulus just chuckled.
“Yeah.” Sirius stared at him for several moments but he seemed content to walk in silence.
“You can’t just say that and not explain!” He just shrugged.
“Mother arranged for me to marry some guy and I ran away on my wedding day.” There was a moment of silence before Sirius laughed.
“Badass little bro. Nope, don’t like that either.” Regulus sent him a death glare.
“If you call me little bro ever again I will absolutely murder you.” Chuckling Sirius pulled out his keys.
“Well be careful about what threats you make because this is my apartment and there’s about to be witnesses. You ready?” Regulus shrugged as Sirius unlocked and opened the door.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”