A brother! Cool
Once Regulus got Poet rinsed, fed, and watered, the group decided to stick around for the pleasure class because Pandora loved to examine the horses and tell Regulus what kind of flowers each horse reminded her of. It was rather sweet, and Pandora was too nice to say no to (even if she was really good at being threatening).
They stayed until the end of the pleasure class before making their way back out to the stalls to check on Poet one last time before heading home for the night.
That’s when Regulus saw him. There his brother was, right in front of him.
It was odd. The split second between Regulus spotting Sirius and his brother noticing him. That split second between Sirius hanging all over who Regulus could only assume was Remus and his brother’s voice ringing out as he vaguely recognized the face in front of him.
“***?” Sirius gasped, peeling away from the other boy and taking a step towards him. Regulus held his arm out to stop Barty, who he knew was already on his way to intervene.
“Not anymore dear brother,” he muttered, shooting a glare towards Sirius.
“Cool, I have a brother. I know that much, but do I at least get to know his name?” Sirius quipped, earning a groan from Remus.
“Regulus.” He muttered even quieter, looking away. ‘Weakness…’ He forced his mother back out of his head once more before dropping any emotion in his face and looking straight at his brother. Regulus stood planted firmly in his spot as he waited for Sirius’ reply.
“Why thank you Reggie,” Sirius chirped, relaxing his posture, “I’ll be seeing you around… especially if you’ll be sticking around in the horse world. Maybe you’ll be here when the barrel racing champs roll around,” he added before waving and taking a step back and leaving again.
“What the fuck just happened?” Regulus whispered to himself, staring at the floor in disbelief.
“I think you and your brother just connected again for the first time in six years,” Barty replied, also in shock at the situation.
“well I knew that you dumbass,” Regulus snapped, shaking his head as he also began walking out, not caring if his friends were following or not because he needed something to drink after that interaction… even if it wasn’t entirely terrible.
•~•
“-And I just left! Again!” Sirius complained, waving his hands about as James tried to calm him and Remus couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head.
“At least you both know that the other is alive,” the taller boy hummed, moving to sprawl out across the couch in their trailer. He was obviously relieved to lay down after walking around all morning with his bad joints.
“Yeah, but still. I still feel guilty for leaving him behind even if I know that I would’ve died if I did stay,” Sirius mumbled, sitting on the raised level of the trailer that holds the bed. “I left.”
“Padfoot you- “James started.
“I know. Its just a lingering guilt that I can’t get rid of no matter what I do,” he snapped, running his hands through his hair before taking a breath, “Sorry Prongs, I just- it hurts me. I cant even imagine how he felt.”
•~•
Regulus sat in a booth, tapping his glass aimlessly as he stared at nothing. Evan and Barty were ‘dancing’ alongside everyone else in the building. He would hum along to a song every now and then, but generally stayed in his own mind.
“-Reg, are you good?” Pandora broke him from his self-inflicted trance, tilting her head slightly—a habit she passed over to him somehow.
“hm? Oh, yeah. I’m as good as I can be I guess. Just… reflecting on today.”
“Understandable.”
She tapped the table a couple times before stepping out of the booth. “Want to head back to the trailer? So you can get some sleep before those two roll in for the night,” she asked, her voice asking, but her intent telling.
“Yeah, I probably should…” Regulus muttered before stepping out of the booth as well. All the drinks were on Barty’s tab because he was determined to spend as much money as possible.