murder
James has no idea what is happening. One second Regulus is standing frozen in front of him, the next he is frantically pacing around their apartment, muttering nonsensically.
“You can’t be serious. Sirius. Oh, I’m going to murder Sirius,” Regulus vents with one hand tugging at his hair, the other waving around in front of him. James doesn’t know if he should stay down on one knee or get up to try to stop him. To be honest, out of all of the possible reactions to his proposal he had anxiously gone over in his head this past week, this was not one of them.
“Erm, Reg?” James says hesitantly, still unsure of what he’s supposed to do here. Regulus continues treading holes into the floor.
James makes out the words “this cannot be happening” a few times and a frantic “he said you weren’t proposing yet!” Against the backdrop of rose petals, candles, and the soft classical music, it almost makes for a humorous scene.
“Angel?” James decides that it’s kind of stupid that he’s still on the ground and his legs are starting to lock up a bit. He gets up and slips the ring box back into his front pocket.
“I had this whole plan! And everyone helped- oh god, everyone is waiting for us,” Regulus gasps.
“Regulus,” James interrupts, stepping right into Regulus’ path causing him to halt suddenly.
“What?!” Regulus shouts at him. His eyes are wet and his face is splotched with red.
James takes his face between his hands and brushes away a stray tear with his thumb. “What’s going on, baby?” James questions gently.
“It’s dumb and it doesn’t matter anymore,” Regulus sniffles, breaking out of James’ hold and wiping at his eyes furiously.
“If it’s making you this upset, it matters to me.” James catches hold of Regulus’ hands to stop him. He squeezes three times and waits for Regulus to explain.
“I was going to propose tonight,” Regulus confesses, averting his eyes. “At Sirius and Remus’ apartment. They helped me decorate the roof, and there was going to be music and all of our friends should be there now. Lily, Mary, Marlene, Dorcas, Peter, Pandora, even Evan and Barty.”
“Hey Reg, can you look at me?” He pauses until Regulus reluctantly meets his gaze. “You did all that for me? I’m sorry for ruining your plans, my love. But, I thought you’d want it to be just us.”
“I mean, I did, but I knew that you’d like for everyone to be there, and you mentioned a few months ago that you wanted to celebrate with them,” Regulus responds nervously, eyebrows drawn together and bottom lip caught between his teeth.
James has to take a moment to calm himself before responding. He loves this man so much.
“Well, I can pretend like I don’t know. I am great at acting,” James teases, letting his grin take over his face.
“Your performance during charades at the last game night is evidence to the contrary,” Regulus says.
“That doesn’t count,” James corrects hastily, but it gets a small smile out of Regulus so he’ll count it as a win.
“Why didn’t you tell Sirius you were proposing? He assured me that you’d be waiting a while.”
“I wanted to make sure that you could tell people about the engagement when and how you wanted to. I didn’t want to pressure you into a specific timeline.” James had made sure to drop the red herring when he asked Sirius for his blessing last month, but he hadn’t anticipated Regulus asking Sirius about it.
Now it’s Regulus’ turn to look surprised. He stares at James for a second before his face drops.
“Engagement! You were proposing! I’ve totally fucked this up, haven’t I?” Regulus groans.
“Hey no, you didn’t. Actually, I don’t think this could have gone more like us if we’d tried. I did have a bit of a speech prepared but,” James says, getting back down on one knee and pulling the ring box out. “Regulus Arcturus Black, will you make me the happiest man in the world by agreeing to marry me?”
“Well, I suppose I’ll say yes. But I will have to fight you for that title.” Regulus’ smile as James slips the ring onto his finger could light up the entire world. It’s the best sight James has ever seen.
“Of course you will,” James laughs and shuts him up with a kiss.
(Regulus proposed later that evening, James’ acting convinced no one, and they did indeed celebrate with all of their friends.)