wonderwall

“Move your fatass Mary or I'll move it for you.”

“Oh fuck off Marlene I was here first.”

“We’re like one big happy family!” Regulus exclaimed sarcastically, suddenly appearing at the bottom of the staircase. 

“Reg I saved you a seat,” James patted the empty spot on the couch next to him. Sirius and Remus were laying down on a large bean bag chair that they had brought down from Sirius’ room. Mary had been convinced by Marlene to share the floor and sit next to Lily, who she was cuddling with at the moment. Sirius had said that that was.. a thing now? Peter was also sprawled on the floor, but he was closer to Sirius and Remus.

Regulus sat down next to James who immediately scooched in further and offered to share a blanket, since everyone else had taken all of the others. 

Yes, it was the middle of summer and they all had blankets. James ‘runs hot’ and is convinced the thermostat has to be at 55 degrees at all times.

The blanket was so tiny that James and Regulus had to be pressed up against each other to both be able to fit, which neither of the two said anything, or complained about. 

Remus had picked the movie, so they were watching ‘Call Me By Your Name’. The movie was hard to focus on between the background noise and the fact that James ‘I run hot’ Potter was actually shivering.

Regulus tried to sneak quick glances at James’ beautiful face and was successful the first couple of times, until James caught him and gave him a smirk. 

“Are you cold?

“Nope! No, I'm fine- hot actually.”

“Really? Because I can literally feel you shivering. Come here,” With that they both squirmed on the couch until Regulus was lying face up across the length of the couch, and James was next to him, with his head on Regulus’ chest.

Regulus released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. James Potter was lying in his arms right now. James Potter.

James was tracing the outline of his shirt that was on Regulus' body.  It was the Cage the Elephant shirt that he had got at the concert. Regulus had never given it back after the night he had shown up because James had never asked for it back and both of the boys had come to a silent agreement that it was now his. James could’ve taken it back any of the times that he had done the laundry, but he didn’t. Part of Regulus liked to believe that James enjoyed seeing him in that shirt. 

Soon, the movie came to an end. Everyone stood up, but Regulus had stayed put in fear of waking the asleep James on his chest.

“Bye everyone!” The girls exclaimed.

“Bye guys Siri and I are going upstairs,” Remus added.

“Okay,” Peter said, “Reg is James asleep? I'm going to steal his bed.”

“Uhh,” Regulus looked down to double check, “Yea, looks like it. See you in the morning.” Peter left up the stairs and for a while James was the only thing that existed.

James.

James.

James.

“Mmmmmph,” James whined and looked up at Regulus, burying his face in his chest.

“James?”

“What time is it?” He muffled out.

“11:42,” Regulus responded.

“Damn,” James started stirring, “I’m going to go to bed.”

“Oh,” Regulus had almost forgotten about Peter, “Um, Peter kind of told me he was stealing your bed for the night. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind sharing though.”

“Sharing?” James let out a breathy laugh, “Sharing with Peter is like a death sentence. His snoring is so loud, I'm surprised we can’t hear it from here.”

“Yeah you’re right,” Regulus added.

“Well can we share yours then Reg?” James looked back up and locked eyes with him.

“You can go and take it. I don’t feel like getting up.” 

With that, James stood silently. For a second, Regulus really thought that James would take him up on that offer. However, James turned around to face the couch, bent down towards Regulus, and picked him up. 

“Ahhh!” Regulus squealed, “Put me down! You’re gonna drop me!”

“No I'm not, you weigh like two pounds.” James said in a tired voice. He carried Regulus up the stairs and to his bedroom. He walked over to the green bed and dropped him on top of it. Then, James peeled back the comforter and both of the boys went under it.

Regulus was flat on his back, and suddenly felt a familiar warmth on his chest. James’ head had found its way on top of Regulus once again. 

Unable to control himself, Regulus moved his hand into James’ hair, giving it a quick scratch and then stopping to just rest his hand on James’ head.

James let out a whine in response and nodded his head once to nudge Regulus’ hand. He was like a needy cat.

Regulus started to play with James’ hair and James quickly fell asleep in Regulus’ arms.

Regulus let his mind wander. He found his thoughts at a familiar memory. 

~*~

Everyone was at the Potter house. Monty and Effie were out at dinner. James and Sirius were getting ready in James’ room, Marlene and Mary were in Sirius’, and Regulus and Lily were in Regulus’.

“Oh my God Lily I need help. What do I wear?” Regulus was panicking. The concert was a month after Regulus realized James’ perfectness and he wanted to impress him.

“I’m sorry but James won’t care what you’re wearing, babes,” Lily answered. She crossed the room passing the full bookshelves and joined Regulus in his closet. She put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s going to be dark and he’s gonna be way too focused on everything else.” 

“I guess you’re right but still.” Regulus couldn’t grasp why she didn’t understand that it was the concept that mattered.

“Just wear this,” Lily handed him black baggy jeans from his closet and a ‘Fleetwood mac’ t-shirt from her backpack, “This is like one of his favorite bands. If you wear this he’ll think you’re cool.”

“What if he asks me about it? I don’t even listen to them.” He pleaded.

“I think you just gotta hope he doesn’t.” The two of them finished getting ready and met everyone downstairs. 

James looked really good. He was wearing blue jeans and a Cage the Elephant shirt from one of their past tours. 

“Alright guys we gotta go. I want to get there early so we can get barricade.” James was shaking with excitement. Cage the Elephant was one of his all time favorite bands. He had seen them live countless times.

“What if we all just stay here? I don’t drag you guys to Phoebe Bridgers concerts.” Remus suggested.

“That's because Phoebe isn’t on tour right now. Try again,” James let out a laugh at his own quip and then led everyone to the car. 

Sirius, Remus, Regulus, James, and Peter were all in Sirius’ black Jeep. Mary, Marlene, and Lily were all in Lily’s navy mini cooper. 

In the car, Remus was in the passenger seat, Sirius was driving, and the other three boys were all squished in the backseat. 

The drive wasn’t too long. About 45 minutes.

When they arrived, the parking lot was mostly full. There were people everywhere.

“James, I thought you said we would be getting here early,” Peter complained.

“We are early!” James defended.

They walked past the entrance gate and met the girls at a merch stand.

“Who wants to get food with me? I'm starving,” Lily asked.

“Yes please,” Sirius answered.

“Wait but I really want a shirt,” James pleaded, “Will someone stay with me in line?”

“I will,” Regulus answered, “I’m not hungry anyways.”

“Thank you Regulus, for being the only one who loves me,” James pouted. Regulus blushed, hard. The rest of the group disappeared to a food line.

“So which one do you plan on getting?” Regulus asked, in an attempt to break the awkward silence. Even with all of the voices in the background, it was still deafening.

“That one.” James pointed to a black graphic shirt. It had the ‘Neon Pill’ album cover on it and said ‘Cage the Elephant’. The back had all of the tour dates on it.

“Good choice,” Regulus said awkwardly, “What’s your favorite song of theirs?”

“Definitely Rainbow,” James answered eagerly. Regulus could tell that this was fun for him to talk about. 

The trick to talking to James was that you could mention one of his favorite things and he would just ramble about it. One time, Regulus got James to talk about Star Wars for three hours just to make the shift at work go by faster. “Do you listen to them?” he added.

“I know a couple of their songs but not really,” Regulus grinned, a little embarrassed.

“That’s okay,” James smiled at him, “Most of the people here are just posers too.”

“I’m not being a poser!” Regulus laughed, “You dragged us here. There's a difference.”

“Sure..” James didn't buy it and laughed in return.

After that, the two talked for a while about music and other things. The line ended up speeding up a lot and James successfully got his shirt.

The two of them wandered off to the floor of the venue, trying to find the rest of their group. Unfortunately, it was crowded. People were everywhere and they had no service.

“Shit,” Regulus cursed, “Where could they be?”

“I have no clue,” James returned, “It’s fine, if we don't find them we’ll meet them at the car afterwards anyways.”

“If you say so,” Regulus was annoyed. The thing about going to a concert with James alone was that he would stop at nothing to get to the spot in the crowd that he wanted. This meant standing directly at the squished barricade while people tried their best to squeeze their way next to you.

The two of them weaved through the crowd during the opener and were in the front row. James was happily dancing in place while Regulus could only watch him. He looked good when he was having fun.

Soon, the concert started. The band came onstage and played a few songs. 

James had said “That’s us!” excitedly about eight times whenever the singer, who was wearing red, interacted at all with the drummer, who was wearing green.

Suddenly, at the intro of the next song, James whipped his head to face Regulus, and gave him an excited smile.

“THIS ONE'S MY FAVORITE!!” James yelled, trying his best to be heard over the loud intro.

The lyrics started. 

Let's lay it out, lay it all on the table

Straight from the top, you called my hand, and I felt labeled

Saw the one past whispers that I hated

Trapped inside a mirror

Changing shapes to shake those labels

James looked inexplicably happy. His smile was wide while he sang along. Regulus had heard this song before. He guessed it was probably from James singing it around the house.

You lift me up when I get down, right 'round

Got me floating like a rainbow

I need your touch, your touch right now, right 'round

Got me floating like a rainbow

Now, most of the crowd was singing along. Lights flashed on the stage and Regulus looked over to see James’ reaction. James was too distracted to catch the lights. He was looking at Regulus. Instead of singing the lyrics back to the stage, like the rest of the crowd was, James was singing the words to Regulus.

You are more vibrant than a technicolor flower bloom

Worth more than any sunset that I ever even knew

As far as east is to the west, there is no flaw in you

It's you I want, it's you I want, it's you I want, and only you

A huge smile grew on Regulus’ face and he felt it get hot. There was no doubt that James could see how flattered Regulus was.

You lift me up when I get down, right 'round

Got me floating like a rainbow

I need your touch, your touch right now, right 'round

Got me floating like a rainbow

Regulus spent the rest of the song watching James. That was the point that he knew that he was too far gone. He knew that he wouldn’t like anyone like he liked James. 

Regulus wondered if that was what love felt like.

~*~ 

Now, Regulus knew that that was what love felt like. With that, he drifted off to sleep.