Regulus couldn’t believe his luck.
Since finding out each other's identities, he and Jay, or James, have started dating. And kissing. And cuddling. And Regulus loves it.
The only problem is that they’ve become even more protective of each other, meaning that they often take blows for each other during fights, making the other upset that they got hurt. They’ve been seeing it like a competition. Like who can protect the other more. They’ve even been keeping track of points. Jay’s in the lead, has been for months. And it’s been pissing Regulus off.
In case you’re wondering, they often still call each other by their previous nicknames. All though, Regulus still doesn’t know why he’s called Ziggy. And they’ve told Sirius and Remus. But they won’t explain the nickname to Regulus either, even though they clearly know what it means.
Currently, he’s on his way to his and James’ apartment. He unlocks the door, takes off his shoes, and walks into the sitting room. James is fast asleep, mouth open, glasses askew on his face. Regulus can’t help but smile as he sits down next to him, cuddling into his side slightly, pressing a kiss to his nose.
Usually Regulus has issues with affection. He’s fine with receiving it, but giving it can get a little hard for him. But if James is sleeping for example, he can’t keep his hands to himself. He wants to cuddle and hug and hold and kiss him so bad, it makes him crazy. And it’s not that Regulus doesn’t kiss James normally, it’s just those little domestic kisses on the forehead, or the nose, that he doesn’t do very often.
Regulus turns on the TV, then rests his head on James’ chest, lying between his legs, as he watches. His head rises and falls as he listens to James’ heartbeat. After a while, he shifts, now lying next to James, who is still fast asleep. He props himself up on his elbow, watching James. Gently, he brushes the hair from James’ forehead, then kisses the spot where it had been. James makes an incoherent sound, seemingly about to wake up. Regulus smiles as his eyes start to blink open, immediately focusing on him.
“Oh, hi Zig”
“Hey”
“When’d you get back?”, he slurs, still sleepy.
“Hmm, a while ago”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“I like watching you sleep”
James just smiles, his eyes closed again. He slips his arms around Regulus’ waste, pulling back onto his chest.
“We have to do our rounds soon, Jay”
“Ugh, but I wanna cuddle”
“We’ll cuddle later, promise”
“Pinky promise?”
“Pinky promise”
“M’kay”
Regulus chuckles and stands up, James doing the same. They change into their suits before slipping out the window together.
Heading towards Westminster, they swing through the streets casually, bickering on the way.
They get to Big Ben, sitting in their spot for a while and checking the news, before heading north.
Two hours later, they haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary, apart from a few petty crimes they took care of in less than ten minutes.
They get ready to start heading back when Sirius texts them that there’s something going on in Richmond park.
They head there immediately, swinging through the street as fast as possible.
They get to the park within twenty minutes, heading for the big lake. There’s a giant light beam coming from there, purple and flashing. Once they get closer, it becomes clear that the light beam is some kind of death ray, operated by a person wearing an equally purple suit, aiming for the people that are on the boats in the lake.
Regulus and James immediately head for the people, doing the best to get them back to shore. Regulus tries to ignore his fear of water.
The purple person spots them, now aiming the beam at them, so they try to get as far away from the civilians as possible.
They head back for the shore, and when they realise the beam thing is portable, they head away from the park completely. There’s a huge building site that's completely empty of any people, so they try to get the villain to follow them there.
They slip into one of the giant holes, pressing themselves against the wall, waiting for the purple guy to arrive.
“So, what’s the plan here exactly?” James asks, panting.
Regulus looks around frantically, “I don’t know! We need something the break that weird death ray thing”
“Like what?”
“Some kind of rod or something. Something that won’t be affected by the beam, so it can break it. We already know it doesn’t destroy metal, so any kind of metal rod should do. We just have to find one, it’s a building site, there’s got to be something”
“Zig!” James points at a big pile of junk across from them. There, Regulus can barely make out a big pole, probably made of copper or something.
“Oh, that’s perfect! Okay, I’ll distract him, you go get it”
James nods and starts running towards the pile, it’s a good 500 metres away.
Regulus swings outside the hole, to see where the purple guy is, but just then, he starts blasting the beam into the hole. Regulus jumps back, startled before shooting a web to a half built building. He swings in front of the death ray, focusing the purple guy on himself. The beam chases him, but he’s a lot faster, ducking and swinging out the way with plenty of time.
He manages to distract the guy for a good ten minutes when he gets bored.
Ignoring Regulus, he aims the beam straight for James.
Regulus’ heart skips eighteen beats when he realises, shouting for James to move, but he doesn’t hear. He’s at the pile, trying to pull the pole out from all the rubble.
Regulus doesn’t even think about it, just starts to run as fast as he can.
James manages to dislodge the pole and turns around, just as the beam is about to reach him.
Regulus sees the change in his expression, the fear in his eyes, but before the beam can reach him, Regulus jumps in front of him.
***
James’ heart stops.
And it doesn’t start again when he destroys the ray.
It doesn’t start when he kneels in front of Regulus and tries to shake him awake.
He doesn't think it ever will.
James can’t breathe.
He can’t breathe without waking up to Regulus watching him with a smile in the morning.
He can’t breathe without sitting with Regulus, legs dangling out the window, drinking coffee together.
He can’t breathe without kissing Regulus goodbye and hello everytime they see each other, even if Regulus is only going to the bathroom.
He can’t breathe without his star, the love of his life, James can’t fucking breathe.
He pulls Regulus' limp form closer to his chest, holding him there while he chokes on his sobs, drowning in his own tears.
“James what the fuck?”
James practically rips Regulus away from himself to see his face, his beautiful eyes, his adorable nose, his softs lips.
Lips that are moving.
“Jamie, why are you crying?”
A small hand wipes a tear from his cheek and James feels himself brake all over again, “Reg?”
“What, baby?”
James sobs, “I thought you- I thought-” he can’t get the words out, can’t even think.
“I’m okay, baby. I promise, I’m okay”
James hides his face in Regulus’ neck, still shaking.
“Did I win the game?”
Despite himself, James chuckles. “If you ever do anything like that again, I will kill you”
Regulus smiles at him, “Sorry”
Regulus kisses him, and James melts, completely falling into Regulus’ embrace, exhausted.
James sighs, “I love you, Ziggy”
“I love you, too, Jay”