Mon Soleil
James was up by 6 the morning of the big game between Gryffindor and Slytherin, already filled with anticipation for the day ahead. He and Regulus had planned to meet on the pitch to fly around a bit and spend some time together before everyone else was up. While both their small circles of friends knew about Regulus and James, they still kept it a secret from the rest of the school and avoided any public displays that would tip other students off. Regulus had been the talk of the school ever since he ran away from Grimmauld place with Sirius a couple of months ago, and he was still getting harassed by Slytherins for it, so he and James decided to not give everyone else another reason to talk about him just yet.
James quickly changed into some warm sweats and a maroon quarter zip, humming to himself and listening to the background noise that was Peter’s snoring mixed with Sirius’ sleep-talking. It always amused him that Sirus and Remus slept in the same bed now, given how tiny their four poster beds were. But he had to admit it was kind of sweet the way Remus, who’d been way taller than all the marauders since third year, gave up his bed to curl his gangly limbs around Sirius every night, who already slept all scrunched up anyway. James smiled as he laced up his beat-up red Converse, decorated lovingly with Sirus’ crude drawings, and closed the door behind him quietly, the other boys still fast asleep.
He bounced on his heels as he made his way down to the pitch, Regulus already waiting for him on a bench, writing something down in his journal. James stopped a few feet away from him, broom in hand as he observed his boyfriend before greeting him. Regulus’ hair was longer than his parents would have ever allowed before, not nearly as long as Sirius’, but his dark curls wound around his ears and down his neck, often hanging in his eyes. He was wearing a few silver rings on each hand, one that was a snake winding around his middle finger and another with a repeating sun and star pattern that he always spun when anxious.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me all morning or are you going to say hi?” Regulus said teasingly, closing his journal and giving James a fake look of exasperation, a tiny smile tucked in the corner of his mouth.
“Sorry love, can’t help that my boyfriend’s so pretty I just want to stare at him all day,” James responded with a wink, striding forward to pull Regulus off his feet, hands resting on his forearms. He bent down to kiss Regulus languidly, shuddering at the feeling of the frost in the air and Regulus’ cold rings resting on his cheeks. James pulled away, a bright grin spread across his face, “Good morning,” he said smugly.
“Good morning, mon soleil,” Regulus murmured back, moving to rest his hands on James’ shoulders, relaxing into him.
“Ready for a fly? You’re going to need the extra practice to beat Gryffindor,” James baited, flicking him on the nose and taking off on his broom before Regulus could respond, laughing freely when he heard his boyfriend curse from behind him.
~
The score was fairly matched, 20-30 with Slytherin in the lead, Regulus watching from his perch above the hoops, ordered not to do anything about the snitch until they had a major lead so that they could beat out the other two houses for the cup. He watched his boyfriend expertly weave around the pitch, dodging bludgers and yelling plays at his team, Sirius watching his back and redirecting bludgers toward the Slytherin keepers. James scored a goal assisted by Marlene, earning them another 10 points, evening the score, Marlene fist bumped James and whooped when he passed her. Regulus loved the absolute joy the Gryffindor team had when they played, every player brimming with energy and eagerness because they loved the sport, not just winning.
It was a plus that he got to watch James play too, he was mesmerizing, stunning, and completely in his element, glasses spelled onto his face and brown curls wildly blowing in the wind. Regulus had to force himself to look away, pressing his smile into his shoulder to hide it. He didn’t used to be a smiley person, most people would call Regulus Black intimidating and moody, or cold and detached, but definitely not smiley. But James was like his own personal sun, his smiles and laughs were infectious and addictive, and everything about him was warm and bright. It’s why Regulus calls him mon soleil.
The game went on, the two houses trading off scoring often, neither able to get a significant lead on the other. Mulciber, the Slytherin's team captain, was more infuriated with every point, bellowing plays at his team and trying to break up the tight Gryffindor formations while James taunted him, his cockiness throwing Mulciber off, making him sloppier as he got angrier.
“Split them up!” Mulciber spat at his team, flying up next to Marlene and sending a kick to her broom in an attempt to get her to drop the quaffle. They spun through the air in a downward spiral, wrestling with the quaffle and throwing sharp elbows into ribs. Marlene pulled up abruptly, the sharp change in direction giving her a small lead and an out to throw the ball James’ way. He flew under Sirius, who was shooting a bludger toward Avery the Slytherin’s other keeper as they flew up next to Marlene trying to block her off. James caught the quaffle and tucked it under his arm, leaning forward on his broom to accelerate faster, Avery and Marlene on his heels. “Give me that!” Mulciber growled, yanking the bat out of a disgruntled Barty’s hand and leaning back on his broom before swinging as hard as he could at an incoming bludger, launching it towards where James was currently flying towards the hoops.
James’ back was turned, he couldn’t see Marlene next to him so he assumed she was being blocked, chancing a glance over his shoulder to locate his other teammates. From Regulus’ perch above, it looked like it happened in slow motion, the bludger rocketing past Sirius before he could reach it with his bat, past Avery and Marlene who were still fighting to throw the other one off, and eventually colliding with James’ temple as he turned his head to look in Marlene’s direction.
His head snapped to the side with the force of it, his broom pausing mid-flight as James lost control, his grip on his broom loosening as his eyes fluttered shut, body slumping over, sending him tumbling into freefall. Regulus thinks he might have screamed in pure terror, but it probably went unheard amongst the other shouts of surprise and panic in the stands. He tightened his grip and pointed his broom down to where James was still falling through the air unconsciously, flipping over and over. Regulus willed himself to go as fast as he possible, leaning into his broom, the frosty wind whipping at his hair and cheeks harshly.
Regulus let go of his white-knuckled grip on his broom when he got close enough to grab James, trying desperately to balance and letting out a punched-out sound as they collided at full speed. Regulus got an elbow to the jaw as he tried to wrap his arms around his unconscious boyfriend and slow their chaotic descent, the broom jerking underneath them. He could hear Sirius shouting in the background as they toppled over onto the sand, a lot more gracelessly than intended, Regulus trying to protect James’ head and groaning as he gained several unwanted bruises, sprawled out on the sand. Barty landed next to the pair, seconds later, abandoning his broom on the ground and hovering around them.
Regulus heaved in a breath, righting himself and cradling James' head in his lap, his glasses askew and blood running down James’ cheek, eyes closed like he was asleep. Regulus used his sleeve to dab at the blood, trying to stem the flow as he held back tears. “Jamie, mon soleil, wake up please,” He urged, warm blood running past his fingers faster than he could stop it, the image reminding him of the night he and Sirius ran away. Blood had stained his hands that night, too. His ears were ringing and he felt tingly everywhere, like his whole body lost feeling. He began to rock back and forth as he fought to stay calm, "I don't know what to do, Jamie, wake up."
“Reg,” Barty said carefully, discomfort twisting his gut as he eyed the battered pair, hand landing on his friend’s shoulder when he didn’t respond. “Reg,” He repeated, shaking him slightly and kneeling next to him, studying Regulus’ face. Barty would’ve gone after Mulciber first, if he hadn’t seen Regulus crash into James at break neck speed, he needed to be sure Regulus wasn’t hurt too badly first, before he beat the crap out of Mulciber for taking his bat.
“Barty?” He said a bit dazedly, watching an unreadable expression cross Barty's face, one that almost looked like fear. That didn't make sense to Regulus because Barty was never afraid, he was angry and impulsive, and brash, but hardly ever afraid.
Barty hummed, scanning his friend for obvious injuries or any blood that wasn’t James’. Once he was satisfied that Regulus didn’t appear to be seconds from death he snapped, fear turning quickly into anger.
“You idiot, why would you do that? You could've killed yourself!" Barty hissed, shoving his shoulder.
"I... James," Regulus said dumbly, as if that explained everything. He felt like he was in shock, forming thoughts seemed hard, like clarity was just barely beyond his reach. Regulus turned gaze back down, trying to wipe the blood off his boyfriend’s temple again.
Barty sighed loudly, "Are you hurt?” He asked, only to get no response, the question falling on deaf ears.
Regulus had heard Sirius shout and was peering curiously over Barty’s shoulder, just in time to see Sirius sucker punch Mulciber in the jaw. Mulciber barely seemed phased, shoving him back roughly with a sneer. He must have said something awful because Sirius went rigid all of a sudden, eyes darting towards where Regulus knelt over a still James, before lunging at Mulciber again, pure fury on every inch of his face. Mulciber wrestled him to the ground as their teams surrounded the pair, all yelling over each other. Regulus could barely make out Remus shoving his way through the crowd towards Sirius as he was scrambling to get the upper hand. Mulciber threw a punch that caught him on the cheekbone, close to his eye. Sirius recovered quickly, reeling back a fist to hit him when Remus burst through the crowd, strenuously pulling a flailing and screaming Sirius away from where he had Mulciber pinned on the ground. Dorcas and Evan swiftly blocked Mulciber from getting up and going after him again, their faces hardened and determined.
“Reg, are you hurt?” Barty repeated, stressing his name. Regulus brought his attention back to his friend who seemed to be getting antsier by the minute. He shrugged, and then winced at the motion, glancing back down at James, who hadn’t moved since they landed, and at the blood on his hands. He gnawed on his lip anxiously,
“I don't know... I can’t really feel anything right now,” He answered honestly, and Barty frowned, looking like he wanted to press him on the issue before Pomfrey came running towards them, a stretcher levitating next to her.
“Mr. Black,” Pomfrey’s surprise was plain in her voice as she recognized him holding James, “I would’ve expected the other Mr. Black to be with Potter here. Has he been awake at all? Any sign of awareness?”
“No,” Regulus breathed, relieved and simultaneously more stressed, tightening his hold on his boyfriend, “He’s been out the whole time. Is that bad? Is he-”
Madam Pomfrey held up a hand to cut him off, “I need to take him to the infirmary, have Mr. Crouch here escort you as well. That was an incredibly dangerous stunt you pulled trying to catch Mr. Potter,” She scolded, waving her wand over James’ head. She levitated him onto the stretcher and rushed back to the infirmary without another word.
Regulus felt frozen on the ground, staring at the blood that painted his hand and sleeve bright red, spots of red staining the sand below them too. James’ blood. Suddenly, his head felt very clear. He staggered to his feet unsteadily, shrugging off the hand that Barty placed on his shoulder again, and turned on his heel, stalking towards where Mulciber was now getting told off by Madam Hooch. He heard Sirius call his name as he passed, but Regulus ignored him, didn’t so much as look at him as he pulled his elbow back and punched Mulciber across the face as hard as he could, feeling his nose crunch under his fist. Madam Hooch shrieked in disbelief, while Sirius let out a crazed laugh from somewhere behind him, sounding like a true Black in its hysteria. Mulciber groaned, his nose gushing blood and dripping through the hand that covered it. Regulus watched it drip onto the sand and felt satisfied, although he could do much worse.
"Regulus Black! I have never in my years of teach-" Madam Hooch began angrily, but Regulus only shook out his sore hand, knuckles now cracked and bloody, and walked off the pitch, past his teammates and friends, ignoring them all as he made his way to the infirmary.