And now, the end is near
Regulus wouldn’t consider himself impatient. I mean he waited 8 years to finally prove his father worthy of his kingdom. A kingdom he made more successful than others before him because he had the grit to look the ‘devil’ in his eyes and take it. But sitting in a dark office on the highest floor of his brother's company. He grew restless.
He had been waiting since 5 in the morning when his plane landed in London he came straight here. As the night greeted the morning the sun came through Sirius’ window that overlooked the city. Regulus was beginning to regret coming. Granted Sirius only got texted by him a couple of hours earlier. He was also anxious about the fact that it had been 15 years since he and Sirius were running along the stream behind his house.
Thoughts circulated in his mind, ‘I should've let him come to me’ he thinks multiple times during the first 15 minutes he was there. Now as the hour mark approached, Regulus decided to do what he said he wasn’t gonna do. Snoop.
Sirius’ office was far too bright for his liking. He had a desk that circled the window and took up the whole wall. It was very modernized with white walls. The room was dimly lit with warm lights that were built in all around, some even in furniture. Regulus was extremely thankful they weren't turned on.
He was sitting at his brother's desk looking around, at first glance he noticed a few things. One, Sirius’ chair was far more comfortable than his. Two, his brother had his oddly attractive friends in picture frames on his desk. The third was that his brother was an idiot who didn't have locks on his desk.
Regulus questioned his brother when all that was in it was a stack of letters, sealed but unnamed, and a half-empty carton of cigarettes. He pulls one out of the container before closing the top drawer as he reaches into the black wool coat hung on the back of the chair grabbing his zippo.
Regulus placed the cigarette between his lips as he ran his thumb over the initials ‘R.A.B’ he had the company brand in after Barty kept taking them. Which he still does now Barty can't say it's not Regulus’. He hesitates because he's not sure if he should step out to the balcony to smoke or if he can in here but he lights it anyway. Fuck Sirius. If he cared that bad then he shouldn't have taken forever.
Regulus has a look at the other six drawers that are divided on each side. As Regulus takes a look at the compartments he takes slow drags from his brother's stashed cigarette. By the he's at the last drawer Regulus has already grown bored of searching so when he opens it to find a stuffed dog, he is a bit surprised. It was an adorable black-furred dog until he picked it up and a high volume of noise filled the room.
Regulus blames the annoying toy dog that started barking for not hearing the door open revealing Sirius.
“My best friend got me it. Just some stalking stuffer.” That's the first thing Sirius tells Regulus as he glides off his coat and hangs it on the metal rack. “You looked at my desk,” he stated amused.
Regulus scoffs as a scowl forms on his face, “Wasn't going to but you took too long.” He pushes Sirius’ chair back, grabbing the cigarette from his mouth and exhaling the smoke in the air.
Regulus studies Sirius as he finishes his smoke. His brother has changed a lot. It makes sense since it's been years but he can still see the scar on his eyebrow that he got after collapsing on the pavement as Regulus chased him.
After a minute Sirius clears his throat, “Thank you for coming. I know it must have been trouble getting away from-,” he pauses looking a bit troubled before continuing, “Work.”
“They can handle themselves. But I didn't come to talk about that. Let's just get to the point.” Regulus puts his cigarette out on the thick metal ring lacing his thumb causing Sirius’ face to flicker with wonder before going solemn. Regulus stands grabbing his coat.
“Right,” Sirius gestures to the sitting area he has in a corner of his office, “Take a seat.”
Regulus nods before walking past Sirius and sitting on the red leather chair as his brother takes the one opposite of him. “Well?” Regulus pushes wanting to to hurry so he can check on Evan’s progress with the new shipment they have coming in tonight. Truth was he didn't trust Barty as far as he could throw him. His friend was too irrational to be in charge, so he left that to Evan.
“We're waiting for someone,” Sirius replies. His brother stands back up, walks to the coffee pot that oddly matches the room that sits hidden away in another room, and starts it.
Regulus grits his teeth, “Who is it?” And to feed the irritation already surging through the Regulus.
Sirius comes back with a small smirk. He takes his time answering, “James, the friend who got me the dog. He's a P.I. He used to be a lawyer but still, he's good. I think you could help each other.”
Regulus was losing his tolerance for his brother. Who gave Sirius the right to doubt him? Fuck that. “Help? I never said I would help you,” Regulus glares at Sirius as his smirk widens. Asshole. “I told you I would hear you out. Not help you. Don't get this twisted.”
Sirius pauses, “Right, of course, Reggie.”
“Don't call me that,” Regulus' voice doesn't waver, staying cold and stoic causing Sirius’ throat to tighten a bit. Regulus could tell by the way he gulped. But still, an angry ambiance came off Regulus as a knock filled the silence.
After 15 years, Sirius still dared to think he could call him that.
10 minutes in his brother's presence for the first time in 15 years and he already wanted to kill him. He probably would've had Sirius not opened the door revealing his brother's best friend. James potter. A true sight for sore eyes with chocolate skin Regulus would love to lick. Regulus hadn't seen anyone have features so bright—the sun would have a run for its money. Regulus was willing to become an Icurus to see all of James. Every scar. Every photo. Every story. Everything that made James Potter whole.
James walks in with a bright smile on his face which Sirius matches in a way that shoots envy in Regulus’ nerves. He catches himself staring far longer as the two of them catch up like he and Sirius should be doing. I mean Sirius was his brother, not James’. But he’d rather drop into the ocean with a weight tied to his foot than admit he was jealous of a man he hadn't even spoken to.
He pulls out his phone, it had been buzzing quietly in his pocket for the past few minutes. He unlocks it to see 10 texts from Evan and 24 from Barty.
EVAN
6:17
Somethings wrong.
EVAN
6:18
Call me ASAP!
BARTY
6:19
Reg, it's bad.
Regulus didn't even need to read the rest to know that Barty messed something up. Regulus sighed and ran a hand down his face resting it on his chin. Evan was supposed to deal with this so Regulus could get his brother away from his business. His thoughts quickly spiral trying to figure out what happened. Regulus almost jumped at James' voice as he was pulled from his thoughts.
“You must be Regulus?” James walks to him with a hand extended for a handshake. Regulus eyes his hand, his eyesight slowly moving to James’ body. He took a second to look at James, especially because he wasn’t entirely sure he could trust him. And, James was nice to look at.
Regulus doesn’t respond with anything but a subtle nod. James gets the hint and moves his hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it as blood rushes coating his cheeks. The color of his blush reminds Regulus of a sunburn. Maybe that's why his hands have slightly started to sweat or his heart rate has increased. To anyone but Regulus, it's thankfully undetectable.
Regulus doesn't feel bad for turning down James' introduction. He's known about James since he was 13, the boy who made Sirius start rebelling. When he first learned about James Potter, he first learned about jealousy. His mother had just disclosed her distaste for her son's new companion, ranting about his private school friends to her husband in a letter. The same letters that Regulus used to sneak a read at just to learn about his brother. So while Regulus would have a piece of paper with a brief mention, James had all of Sirius. And for that, Regulus would always resent James. But if Regulus had known that the same boy who would start taking over his brother would look like his kisses could take you to heaven. Maybe, just maybe Regulus would've tried to understand his brother's bond with him. But that was only fantasy, and he had been staring for way too long.
Regulus blinks away the longing look in his eyes as a voice fills the room, “Right, now we can start,” Sirius explains before asking, “Coffee anyone?” James jumps up pouring himself a cup rather quickly but he seems to be fully aware because the amount of sugar he has added is surely not an accident. Regulus would die if he drank it but death by James’ veined hands would be a great way to go.
Shit. Regulus needed to get together. He was here to help Sirius to keep him away from Lotus. Thats it. But god, his brother's best friend was distracting.
“I'll take one. Make it black,” Regulus replies as he makes a silent vow to avoid looking at James.
“Wow, how original.” Sirius mocks Regulus before placing the coffee cup in front of him. Sirius eyes his brother's preference for coffee making a scowl of disgust. He, like James, had preferred a sweeter drink to start the day off.
Regulus scoffs, “Can you talk now that you have your codependent puppy?” At the insult they both just grin. Assholes.
“Yes, our friend Peter went missing last week. We've tried to get a hold of him in every way but nothing seems to work,” Sirius' tone switches to a serious one faster than Regulus expected.
“What's that got to do with me?” Regulus asked. He wasn't gonna stick his neck out for Sirius. He did that once already but that was something Sirius could never find out. It had been a struggle to even get free today and look how bad that turned out.
His phone hums on the table drawing James’ and Sirius’ attention. It was probably Evan panicking about something. This is ridiculous because the only thing they had to do tonight was confirm a shipment but then again, those two are incapable of keeping their hands off each other for five minutes. Regulus grits his teeth before declining the call. It didn't help much because Evan called again, and again.
“Something wrong?”James questioned. “You can take the call if you need to,” he shines Regulus’ a smile.
“No, it can't be too important. It's probably just-” Regulus’ body freezes as he looks down seeing a new name, ‘Orion’.
Regulus stands from his seat walking away from the seating area where James and Sirius eyed him. As he answered his body got a chill from the feeling of James’ eyes.
“Pa, I can- Wait Kreature? Slow down.” Sirius furrows his brows at the mention of his father's assistant.
“No- I know but that's impossible. Okay, I'll be back as soon as possible.” Regulus ends the call with a sharp breath. His lungs suddenly starved for air.
“Fuck. Sirius, I need your help.”