hide and seek
Regulus woke up and looked around his room. He looked at the area of the bed where James had once been asleep next to him. Since the last time Sirius almost caught them James had decided that he needed to leave Regulus's room by 5AM to make sure that Sirius wouldn't catch him. Regulus felt the side of the bed where James once was with his hand. It was still warm meaning that James had just gone back to his own room. Regulus slowly climbed out of bed and got dressed. He put on his Slytherin sweater and a pair of loose fitting jeans. Then Regulus put his hair into a neat ponytail and grabbed his book before leaving his room to head downstairs. Regulus looked out of the window in the living room and saw that it was raining heavily. Most people would see a rainy day as gloomy or sad but not Regulus. Regulus saw rainy days as a good excuse to curl up in a cozy sweater and read a good book without anyone telling him that he was 'wasting all of his time by sitting inside instead of enjoying the sun'.
"Hey Reggie," Sirius said, turning his head towards Regulus. Sirius was already sitting in his seat on the couch watching the rain fall outside the window. "Hey siri," Regulus said, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Why are you always up so early?" Regulus asked, looking at Sirius as he sat down across from him in his usual spot. Sirius shrugged his shoulders "I don't know. It's just the time that I get up at. it's not like I set an alarm for this time, I just wake up early naturally." Sirius explained. "Ok, but during the school year you barely wake up in time to make it to your first class on time." Regulus said, pointing out the obvious flaw in Sirius's logic. "That's because I don't go to bed until 3AM during the school year." Sirius explained. Regulus simply opened his book and began reading, not wanting to argue with his brother anymore.
"Why are you always reading?" Sirius asked. Apparently rainy days didn't stop Sirius from bothering Regulus while he was reading. "I like reading." Regulus said in an annoyed tone, only looking up from his book for a split second. "ya, but don't you ever wanna do anything else?" Sirius asked, clearly not getting the hint to leave Regulus alone. Regulus sighed heavily, lowering his book. "no." Regulus said firmly with a look on his face that screamed 'fuck off' "really?" Sirius asked, still not getting the hint. "That's it, I'm going to my room so that I can read in peace." Regulus said as he stood up from the couch and walked upstairs. When Regulus reached the top of the staircase his eyes caught on James's door. He looked back as if to check that Sirius couldn't see him and then he looked down at his book. Regulus looked between his book and James's door before finally thinking to himself 'fuck it, I can read later' and quickly walking to James's door.
Regulus turned the door knob and opened the door gently so that Sirius wouldn't hear the door creek. Then he slowly walked into James's room shutting the door behind him. James was sitting on his bed writing a letter to Remus. He was wearing an ABBA T-shirt and a pair of jeans that were so worn down that they were covered in patches and tears, He was also wearing a tall pair of socks that had cats all over them. James looked up at Regulus smiling when he saw who it was. "Hey love," James said softly, "what's wrong? you look tense." James continued a look of worry washing over his face. Regulus looked at James with a smile and said "nothing, I just wanted to see you." Regulus didn't want to talk about the minor fight he had just had with his brother. In fact Regulus rarely wanted to talk about anything that was bothering him. He never wanted other people to worry about him.
James smiled at Regulus again, putting the letter he was writing on the desk next to him. Regulus walked over to James and laid down next to him, resting his head on James's chest. Regulus felt at peace. He was never really a heavy sleeper until the first night he had spent at the Potter's. Back at his parents' house he felt on edge and never really slept great as a result, but here he felt comfortable enough to let his guard down and sleep soundly.
After about half an hour there was a knock on the door. Regulus and James's eyes shot open. "Hey Prongs, It's Sirius, can I come in?" they heard Sirius shout from behind the door. Regulus quickly climbed over James and dove off the bed making a loud thumping noise when he hit the ground. "Mate? What's going on in there?" Sirius shouted. James's eyes widened as he tried to think of something to say to stall so that Regulus could hide. "uh, I'm just... falling cause... It's... fun." James said almost as if it were a question. Regulus looked at James with a look on his face that said 'is that really the best you can come up with'. James looked back at Regulus and whispered "I'd like to see you come up with something better." "James, who are you talking to in there?" Sirius shouted. "uh, no one, I'm just... talking to... myself" James said. "alright mate I'm coming in there." Sirius said, flinging the door open. Regulus quickly crawled under James's bed in a desperate attempt to find somewhere to hide.
"Have you seen Reg? He's not in his room." Sirius asked, walking over to James's bed and sitting down. "Sirius, is that ALL you barged in here for?" James asked, squeezing the bridge of his nose in frustration. "ya why? you weren't doing anything important were you?" Sirius asked. "no" James said with a heavy sigh. "no you haven't seen Reggie or no you weren't doing anything important?" Sirius asked. "both." James said, fixing his glasses. Honesty James did consider cuddling with Regulus to be quite important but he didn't want to have to come up with another lie to tell Sirius. "Well good cause I need your help deciphering my latest letter from Moony." Sirius said, pulling out a folded up piece of paper from his pocket and showing it to James. "weren't you just looking for Reggie?" James asked, desperately trying to get Sirius to leave. "ya" Sirius said. "Then why don't you go try and find him?" James asked, pointing towards the door. "Fine," Sirius said, folding his arms and pouting as he walked away as if he were a child throwing a tantrum.
Regulus quickly climbed out from underneath James's bed as soon as he heard the door shut behind Sirius. "So I'm not important?" Regulus asked James with a slightly pissed off look on his face. "What?!" James asked Regulus with a confused look on his face. "When you just said you weren't doing anything important, and I'm what you were doing, sooo" Regulus said. James laughed, wiping a bit of dust off of Regulus's cheek. "of course you're important, love. I just needed to get rid of Sirius." James explained with a big smile on his face. Regulus smiled up at James, resting his head on his hands which were resting on the edge of James's bed. "It's filthy under there you know. You should really clean under there if I'm gonna be down there this often." Regulus said with a big smile across his face. James laughed and simply asked Regulus "What makes you think that you're gonna be down there all the time?" "Number one I know I'm gonna be in here a lot since you can't see to keep your hands off me, and number two Sirius barges into your room like twenty times a day." Regulus said, standing up from the floor and sitting on James's bed.