James
It’s been a few months since that fateful night. Since that day Regulus swore to James that he would love him. It took James a long time to trust Regulus again. Each time an article that had Regulus' name on it popped up on James’ feed, he prayed that no one else was with him.
And thankfully there wasn’t… until there was.
“Regulus, babe, I need you to call down,” James said, gripping his shoulders.
“I’m sorry, James. I didn’t know people were following us,” Regulus was hyperventilating.
The headline was: Regulus Black Seen in London with a Mystery Man. Fans were quick to point out that it was James Potter, an Instagram Photographer.
When James saw Regulus on the floor of their hotel bathroom, shaking, he didn’t know what was happening.
“I’m so sorry. I wanted to keep you away from the media. Fuck, people won’t stop talking about it for weeks,” his voice shook, and he rocked back and froth on the floor beside the tub.
“Hey, it’s fine. Nothing is going to happen,” James tried, soothingly.
“Yes, it will! This whole thing is going to blow up in our faces!” Regulus yelled, throwing his hands out.
Then he got quiet again, “This is my fault…I should’ve thought about it before we agreed to date. If I had even thought about something like that then I would have never even considered it.”
“Excuse me?” James stared at Regulus with a hurt expression.
“Oh. No! James, no I didn’t mean it like that…all I meant was–I mean–I should have been more careful,” Regulus said, grabbing his face in between his palms, “I will never regret you. I just should have been careful, okay? I swear that’s what I meant.”
James nodded, his face still in Regulus’ hands.
“I am sorry I dragged you into all of this,” Regulus said sadly.
“Reg,” James said firmly, “I knew what I was getting myself into. I love you, Regulus. I love you, like, a lot and this is just a bump in our road. We’ll be okay.”
Regulus looked at James so fondly that James felt his cheek heat up. Regulus threw him into James’ arms, and buried his face against his shoulder. James tucked his nose in the soft black curls of the younger man.
“I love you,” Regulus’ voice was muffled, “You’re too good for me, I’m not really sure how you can love someone like me.”
James laughed as he planted a kiss on his head, “I waited too fucking long to give you up.”