chapter 3
REGULUS
Morning comes all too soon, and Regulus nearly falls out of bed trying to silence the garish blaring of his alarm. He can hear Plagg beginning to complain from across the room about the early hour and directs a rude hand gesture his way – by now Plagg knows not to talk to Regulus until past 8:00. Or at least until he’s had a cup of coffee. Or, preferably, ever.
He gets up to use the bathroom, pulling on a pair of thick woolen socks as protection against the cold of the morning. The harsh fluorescent lights are too bright for his sleep-heavy eyes, and he recoils from the face suddenly illuminated in the mirror. Regulus’ skin has always been pale, but these days he looks no different than a sheet of paper. Gone are the days when his skin glowed with warmth and a light smattering of freckles dusted across his nose; they have been replaced by ever-purpling eye bags and hollowed cheekbones. He sighs, running a hand over his face, and brushes his teeth before retreating back down the hall.
Doesn’t even think about glancing at Sirius’ door once.
It’s 7:05, which means Regulus has about an hour and a half before he needs to be at school. He’s always been an early riser; the quiet and calm of a slow, early morning comforts him.
Just not now that he spends all his time fighting supervillains.
He’s only had the miraculous of the Black Cat for two weeks, but it’s already taking a toll on his health. Between the time he spends at school every day, the time he spends saving the city, and the time it takes him to do all his homework, he barely has enough time leftover to eat and sleep, let alone have any semblance of a social life. Barty and Evan have been trying to get him to go to some party at Dorcas’ house for weeks now, but Regulus refuses every time. He loves his friends, he really does, but he doesn’t have time for anything these days, parties aside.
Plus, his mother would sniff him out before he’d even make it to the door. Sirius was always sneaking off to some party or another when he still lived at Grimmauld Place and constantly getting in trouble (not that he cared). Even now that he’s gone, Walburga hasn’t caught on that her youngest son has no interest in getting into trouble, and has kept a suspicious eye on Regulus’s comings and goings at all times. Thankfully, she hasn’t found Regulus’s primary way of getting out yet - a small, loose board in the roof above his room. He’s small and light enough that he can squeeze through easily and without a sound as long as he maneuvers his desk chair into the right spot. This makes saving the city a hell of a lot easier.
When Regulus makes it back to his room, he makes sure to close the door behind him in case - God forbid - Plagg gets too chatty, grabs his headphones, and works on some math homework he didn’t have time to finish the day before. The peace of the morning is gone all too quickly, and soon Regulus is pulling on some clothes and grabbing his bag for school, making sure to hide Plagg inside in case of an emergency. He chooses a dark green turtleneck - makes it easier to hide the various injuries he gets as Cat Noir - and black slacks before pulling on his Docs, grabbing a croissant, and heading out the door.
The walk to school is a quick one, and it isn’t long before he’s spotted by Barty and Evan, who wave him over immediately.
“Regulus,” Barty starts, a slight grin on his face, “did you–”
Regulus pulls the math homework out of his bag and hands it to Barty. “This morning,” he answers. “You got lucky.”
Evan sighs. “Barty. You’ve got to start doing your homework. At least try? It’s not like you couldn’t figure it out…”
They walk to class, Evan berating Barty the whole way there. The three of them have been friends for at least ten years; they met in kindergarten when Evan got made fun of for wearing a Batman costume to school every day. Barty went to go yell at the kids who made fun of him while Regulus put snails in their backpacks. Their relationship hasn’t changed much since.
However, Evan and Barty started dating at the beginning of the school year, and while it was sweet at first, the two of them have quickly become insufferable. Which is why, when the three of them make it to their shared English class, Regulus leaves them to their own row and slides into an empty row towards the back of the room. He’s honestly quite happy with this arrangement; most of his classmates are too stupid or annoying to bother with. And as for Dorcas, well, she sits with her girlfriend Marlene, who is usually next to.
His brother.
Regulus shakes the thoughts of Sirius from his head. Taking upper-level classes when he’s still a year below Sirius and his friends was a terrible idea; in hindsight, he can’t remember why he did it. Surely not for his parents’ validation, he hardly gets that anyway. Unfortunately, nothing but his own foolish choices is forcing Regulus to be anywhere near Sirius. It’s not like he misses him or anything. Regulus could live with never seeing Sirius’s stupid, ugly face again in his life. God, his brother is such an idiot. It’s almost painful to watch him and his friends file into the classroom, laughing and joking with one another. And the way Sirius’s arm is slung over Remus Lupin’s shoulder – kill him now. It’s absolutely pathetic. Regulus would burst out laughing if he weren’t so focused on completely ignoring his brother. In fact, he turns his head away and squints at the whiteboard, trying to make out what the lesson will be about so he can hopefully doze off a little if it’s nothing too serious. Hmm, The Great Gatsby. Nothing he hasn’t read before. Actually, he quite enjoyed–
“Is this seat taken?”
Regulus whips his head around so fast it gives him whiplash, because no.
James fucking Potter is standing at the end of his row, gesturing to the empty seat. Regulus must be taking too long to respond for his liking, so James asks again. “Can I sit here? Is this seat taken or something?”
“Yes,” Regulus spits. He would actually rather die than share a row with James Potter, Sirius’s best friend and – as of recently – new brother. Never mind that he’s absolutely gorgeous, with stunning hazel eyes and warm brown skin and a smile that Regulus has been crushing on since he was eleven – he can have nothing to do with popular, insufferable, beautiful James Potter. The boy that stole his brother from him.
“Too bad. Everywhere else is full,” James states matter-of-factly.
Regulus scoffs. “As if. Go sit by my brother. It’s not like–”
“He’s with Remus. And Pete is sitting by Emmeline. She’s new.”
“I know who Emmeline is,” Regulus retorts, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “My head’s not that far up my ass.”
James gives an exasperated sigh, lighting Regulus’s chest up with triumph at frustrating him. “Look, I’m not trying to start anything, I just–”
“Mr. Potter. Mr. Black. Are you two quite done?” Ms. McGonagall, their teacher, snaps from the front. She’s a kind but intimidating woman, and Regulus knows better than to get on her bad side, so he shuts his mouth and scoots down to allow James to sit. James mutters a small “thanks” under his breath but Regulus ignores it, twisting his rings between his fingers. He can practically hear Plagg laughing from inside his backpack, the fucker.
The rest of the class goes by in a blur of trying to interact with James as little as possible, which proves hard as McGonagall has just given them instructions for a group project. Just his luck.
To his surprise, though, James isn’t entirely useless as a partner. “I don’t know,” he’s saying. “I kind of thought Gatsby was too self-absorbed for Daisy. Like, he didn’t love her, he just idolized their love and everything it used to stand for. I think it was just him wanting to go back to his glory days or whatever.” Regulus makes a noncommittal hum and writes it down on their sheet of paper, still avoiding eye contact with James. This is probably the most time they’ve spent together since Sirius left, and Regulus is uncomfortably aware of James’s every movement, their knees almost pressed together with the closeness of their desks. His heart is pounding so loud he’s sure James can hear it. God, he’s pathetic. Forty minutes spent with his crush and he’s reduced to a mute, anxious mess. When the bell rings and class is dismissed, he shoots out of his chair and gathers his things as fast as he can.
“Hey,” James starts, hazel eyes boring into Regulus. “Did I do something?”
“What?” Regulus stammers out, momentarily confused.
“Did I do something?” James repeats. “To offend you. You seem kind of annoyed. Do you hate me or something? I promise I’ll do my part on the project, I’m not gonna slack off or anything like that.” And then before Regulus can stop him, James has grabbed Regulus’s phone off the desk and is typing something into it. “Here. My number. I think I already have yours, but just in case.”
Regulus’s cheeks start to flush, and he snatches his phone back from James. “Thanks,” he mutters, and walks away as fast as he can.
✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩
James has a good day every day. At least, he tries. He knows how lucky he is to have a family that loves him, friends that support him, a roof over his head, enough money to live comfortably. His mother’s parents immigrated to France from Guatemala for a chance at a better life, and it’s something she’s raised him not to take lightly. He really does have everything he needs.
It’s hard sometimes to think about the differences between James’s family and Sirius’s family. Where James was met with unconditional love, Sirius experienced endless comparison and punishment for anything and everything his mother could think up. Sirius would often show up to school wearing long sleeves on the hottest days of the year, trying to hide the cuts and bruises he’d gained the night before. It made James sick to see the way the Blacks treated their children, and how he couldn’t do anything about it. Countless times he’s gone crying to his parents, begging them to do something, but the three of them knew there was nothing to be done unless Sirius acted first.
Which, thankfully, he finally did.
James and Sirius lay sprawled out on James’s bed. They were looking at TikToks together, but now James thinks Sirius has fallen asleep. His breath is slow and even, and his head is slumped over James’s abdomen, black curls creating a halo around his head.
Maybe that’s why James pulls his phone out and searches through his contacts.
James has a good day every day, except something isn’t sitting quite right with him. Regulus. James doesn’t talk to him often, as the Black brothers had a huge falling out the night Sirius left, but he knows how to be civil. Kind, even. James is kind to everyone, as a rule.
So what did he do to make Regulus upset?
It takes him a while, but he finds it. Regulus Black (Sirius’s brother) in his contacts. James isn’t sure why or how he has Regulus’s number – probably a remnant from their days of semi-friendship – but he’s grateful. He taps on the contact and, before he can stop himself, creates a new message.
James [6:20]
Hey just making sure, did I do something
I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings or anything
Oh this is James by the way :)