candles
Candlelight flickered and glowed, illuminating the room around Regulus. He wanted to touch it. Feel how it burns and engulfs him in a warm embrace, warmer than any touch he’d ever gotten. It’d hurt, he knew that. He wanted to touch it anyway. His fingers twitched, itching to move closer. He slowly inched closer flames lapping at his fingertips and slowly encircling his hand and stinging his skin. It doesn’t burn. It’s… nice. Comforting, even. Grounding Regulus to the world as we know it. The flames seem to engulf him entirely, lapping at his skin and pressing hot kisses against each inch of flesh on his body. It feels like he’s drowning in fire, comforting and suffocating all at once.
He suddenly gets pulled back out of the flames, the heat leaving his body like a whoosh of wind. His eyes snap open to see James above him, pressing a cold compress against his forehead.
“Hey, Regulus, you okay?” his voice comes softly but all too loud.
“Yeah, mhm I’m alright. What happened?” He’s so very confused. The only thing he can remember is being surrounded by flames and spontaneously yanked out.
“You were screaming, something about fire, I think, and you’re burning up. I think you have a fever.”
It’s all Regulus can do to not burst into tears. Scrambling into James lap, he closes his eyes and attempts to steady his breathing.
“Nightmare?” James asks soothingly, stroking his hair gently as Regulus nods, whispering words of reassurance to his boyfriend as they steadily fall back asleep.