wonderwall

Three months ago, Regulus had left his family’s manor in the middle of a night after a big fight with his parents. It was March and pouring rain, Regulus was freezing. His first instinct he had at that moment, on the steps outside of the house that was no longer home, was that he wanted to see Sirius. That he needed to see Sirius. So, he went.

Sirius had moved in with the Potters a year prior because apparently driving the heir to their fortune into running away was a fond pastime of Orion and Walburga. 

When Regulus arrived outside the Potter’s home, he froze. He wasn't sure if Effie and Monty, James’s parents, would be willing to welcome yet another member of the Black family, especially at 1:32 in the morning. Quickly, Regulus realized he would rather knock than freeze to death, so he lifted up his fist, and tapped 3 times on the large brown door.

Regulus waited for what felt like hours, slowly starting to think that no one would come to the door. Why would they? They were probably asleep. 

Then, the door slowly creaked open. 

In the doorway was James, wearing baggy pajama pants, and no shirt. His dark hair was messy. He was standing at approximately 6’0, being around half a foot taller than Regulus. His tan skin looked pale in the moonlight. 

“Reg?” He asked half consciously.

“James,” Regulus stared forwards at his brother’s best friend in front of him.

“What are you doing here so late?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Regulus said shyly, “Can I stay the night?”

“Of course,” James had led them inside. It was dark, yet somehow Regulus could still feel the warmth that radiated off of this house. He felt a twang of jealousy in his chest. “You should come to my room and change into dry clothes.”

“Alright,” James brought Regulus up the stairs to his bedroom. On the way they passed what Regulus assumed to be Sirius’ room, based off of the black decals on the door. 

Even though Regulus had been to the Potter’s house countless times to hang out with Sirius and James, He had never been upstairs. They always stayed in the living room.

James’ bedroom was large and rectangular. The walls were painted crimson, covered in band and soccer posters. His bed was made with a deer stuffed animal on top. Regulus definitely did not love this about him or think it was cute. Definitely.. He wasn’t about to go to sleep when Regulus got there because his computer was on and the screen looked like he was playing some sort of game.

“You can borrow anything you want,” James said, quickly scurrying back to his computer and putting his headset on. Regulus opted for a pair of pajama pants and a Cage the Elephant shirt that James had bought at the concert that he, Regulus, Sirius, Remus, Mary, Lily, Marlene, and Peter all went to together. 

“Hey James?” Regulus walked over to him, trying his hardest to not trip on the way-too-long pajama pants, and tapped James on the top of his shoulder. James looked back at him with an uneven smile. “Where should I sleep?”

“Oh! Umm..” James was thinking, “I'm gonna be honest I hadn’t really thought about that. You can take my bed if you want. I can sleep on the ground or on the couch or something.”

“It’s fine. I don’t want to kick you out, I'll go to the couch,” Regulus offered.

“Trust me, the couch sucks. Don’t feel bad, I'll make a pallet bed for me to sleep on.” Regulus could tell that both the ground and the couch were both less than ideal sleeping places. Even with all of the money that the Potter family has, they still have an old couch that permanently has James’ fathers butt imprinted on it.

“I mean we could just share?” Regulus compromised.

“Sure,” James was fighting a smile.

That night when James finally got off of his game at two in the morning, both of them shared James’ queen bed, clinging to the outsides and lying flat on their backs in fear of accidentally touching one another. 

The morning after at breakfast, James’ parents, Effie and Monty, offered for Regulus to move in, at least just for the summer. Regulus had been offered a guest room that James had forgotten about in his sleep deprivation daze. Regulus agreed.

His parents never came looking for him.

~*~

“Wake up lazy, it's already nine!” Regulus could feel large hands shaking him awake. When he opened his eyes, he saw James standing in front of him.

During his time here, Regulus had come to the realization that James was hot. Really, really, hot. 

Regulus, half asleep, let out a slight growl, “it’s summer, why are you waking me up so early?”

“Get up everyone’s down at the beach already we're going surfing,” James got off the bed, where he was sitting, and started fidgeting with the trinkets on Regulus' shelf. He was wearing a wetsuit, which Regulus had only realized seconds before. It was only pulled up halfway, leaving his muscular upper body exposed. 

Regulus quickly scrambled about his room and put on his wetsuit too. Again, not pulling it up all the way, so he wouldn't die of heat exhaustion on the bike ride there. 

The boys left Regulus’s room and went to the porch, where both of their boards were sitting. James’ was a custom Al Merrick, with red colored hexagons on the print. Regulus’ board was the same, but in green. Even though both were crusted over with old wax, they still applied a heavy layer before strapping their boards to their bikes and starting their journey to the beach.

The bike ride was 4 blocks, so not far. They arrived to Sirius, Remus, and Peter sitting on a blanket next to Lily, Marlene, and Mary. Well, Remus, Peter, Lily, Marlene, and Mary were sitting on the blanket. Sirius was sitting on his boyfriend, Remus’ Lap.

“Potter,” Sirius called, “We’re over here!”

James spotted the rest of them and turned his head towards Regulus’. He nodded in the direction of Sirius’s voice, and started a slow jog towards them.

When they arrived at the blanket, everyone stood up and Sirius playfully tapped Regulus’ back with a smile. He returned the gesture while the rest of the group was greeting them.

Everyone slipped their wetsuits up the rest of the way, grabbed their boards, and sprinted into the water. 

Sirius’ board was black, with stars on it. Remus’ plain white, with a couple decals and band stickers. Peter's board was yellow. Lily’s was white, with detailing of flowers on it. Marlene’s was purple, with indigo marks in some areas, like claws had gotten to it. Mary’s board was a bright shade of hot pink.

The waves that day were 4-5 ft. Remus caught the first, performing flawless cutbacks on the wave while simultaneously trying to dodge his boyfriend, who was attempting to cut him off, while laughing maniacally.

Regulus looked down at his sharkwatch and realized that it was 10:45. Him and James had a shift at the surf shop that the Potters owned, across the street, at eleven. So, they had to get out of the water. 

The boys were walking across the hot sand together, brushing arms occasionally, and finally made it to their towels to take off their wetsuits.

“Wanna go swim before work?” James asked.

“Your Mom would kill us if we showed up wet.” Regulus responded.

“Well it's a surf shop, do people expect the workers to not surf?” James said, eager to persuade Regulus.

“I guess that makes sense,” Regulus was convinced. Honestly, James Potter could convince him to commit arson and Regulus would do it with a smile on his face. James had started his walk back down to the ocean and Regulus quickly caught up.

“So Reg, what's the plan for tonight,” James asked excitedly, “You throwing again?”

“Potter, I quite literally live in your house. If anything it would be you throwing the party,” He responded, looking up at James.

“Well..” James started, “My parents are leaving in an hour or two. Can Barty get us drinks?” 

Every summer Effie and Monty went away to visit Effie’s sister in Copenhagen. This meant that James’ house was basically where everyone lived for three months.

“Yea probably,” Regulus looked up at James, making eye contact with him

“Good,” James returned, smiling down at him. The two boys were now standing next to each other, feeling the cool water lap against their feet. James broke the silence and ran in first, yelling. Regulus closely followed behind him. 

The water was cold, Regulus looked over at James to gauge his reaction, and saw him already looking into his eyes. 

The expression on James' face was confusing.