Regulus is sitting on the couch in the Potter’s home during the annual Christmas party. He’d been enjoying himself at the beginning while everyone was showing up but as the night went on, people became tipsy and drunk and with that the people kept getting louder and louder.
Regulus tried to ignore the sounds and focus on James and Sirius’ conversation as much as possible (even commenting and butting in every now and again) but with the people talking, the christmas tree lights, the regular above head lights, all the smells of foods and beverages, the feeling of the suit he was wearing touching his skin and scratching him, he just couldn’t take it.
He slowly stopped engaging himself in the conversation so he could focus on not having a breakdown but even that was hard with everything going on. Regulus ended up spacing out, fidgeting slightly with the hem of his jacket and Sirius seemed to notice.
”Hey, Reg, you alright?” Sirius asked. Regulus looked up at him and forced himself to speak.
”Yeah, I’m all good.” He gave Sirius a smile. Regulus was praying he could make Sirius think he was okay but they’re brothers. There’s no fooling him.
”Hey, James, I think Regulus left something upstairs. Maybe you two should go up to his room and look for it.” Sirius told James who immediately looked to his side to see Regulus clearly overstimulated.
”Yeah, thanks for noticing that Sirius,” James shot him a smile to say thank you. “Let’s go upstairs Reg.” James gave him a soft smile and Regulus nodded, immediately taking a hold of James’ hand and walking upstairs with him.
As soon as the door to Regulus’ room was closed he sat on his bed and reached to the side table for his headphones and the Tangle that Evan had gotten him for his most recent birthday. He turned on the noise cancellation and looked at James.
”Would you like me to sit with you?” James asked. Regulus nodded immediately. “Non-verbal?” James asked as he sat beside regulus.
Regulus nodded again, this time looking almost ashamed to have gone non-verbal.
”That’s okay, Reg. I’ll just stick to yes or no questions. Is touch alright?” Regulus nodded and James wrapped his arms around him applying pressure because that’s been known to help Regulus in the past.
Regulus took a deep breath and relaxed slightly, although something was still off. Regulus wordlessly stood up, grabbed his pajamas, went into his bathroom to change, and turned the lights off, only leaving the moonlight from outside and the light from under the door to light up the room.
Regulus sat back down beside James and laid both of them down. James wrapped his arms around Regulus again with the same amount of pressure as before. Regulus almost fully relaxed in James’ arms until he fell asleep.
The next morning when Regulus woke up, James wasn’t in his bed anymore. Regulus went downstairs to the kitchen to find Effie Potter making breakfast and James sitting beside her on the counter.
”Morning Baby,” James smiled at Regulus when he entered the kitchen. “Feeling any better?” Regulus nodded and sat at the island in the kitchen. “Still non-verbal?” James asked and Regulus nodded again. “Alright.” James smiled again and continued to help his mom with breakfast. In no time Sirius and Remus had made their way down stairs and then breakfast was served.
Regulus noticed that it was pancakes with bacon and fruit. He had expressed years ago to Effie that these were his ‘safe foods’ for breakfast. He smiled at her as if to say thank you.
After eating Regulus and James sat on the couch and Regulus could feel the ability to speak creeping back up his throat as he began to doze off.
”I love you, Jamie.” He murmured as he closed his eyes.
”I love you too, Reggie.” James said back and kissed his forehead.