POV James
Regulus and Sirius were back. James had seen them when them and their mother were moving back into their house.
Regulus and Sirius had been gone for about 9 months. Sirius had missed their entire third grade and Regulus had missed his entire kindergarten year here, but now it was summer which meant they could play all day. They had a lot to catch up on.
James was really excited to see Regulus again. He had thought they would be coming back but now Regulus was sitting on his front porch. James was beyond excited to see Regulus. He didn't really know why. 9 year-olds weren't supposed to be really excited to see 6 year-olds, but Regulus was a really cool 6 year-old so it was okay. He was like if Batman was a 6-year-old. And you would be crazy not to want to hang out with Batman.
"Hi, Batman!" He waved to Regulus as he reached their porch.
"What?" Regulus turned to see him. "James!" He jumped off his porch swing and ran to him. The second he reached James Regulus wrapped his arms around him. "I missed you."
"I missed you too Batman." He said, hugging Regulus back as tight as he could.
"Why are you calling me Batman?" Regulus questioned.
"Because you are really cool like Batman." He said with a grin.
"Oh. You're really cool too!" Regulus said as he detached from him.
"I know." He smirked at the six-year-old as Regulus rolled his eyes back at him.
"You're like Batman, too." Regulus gave him a sweet smile.
"No, I'm not." James frowned.
"Yes, you are. You're cool, so you're like Batman." Regulus said.
"But you’re Batman, I can’t be Batman, only one person can be Batman," James said.
"So?" Regulus asked
"So I can’t be Batman." James continued
"Why not?" Regulus asked obstinately.
"Cause you’re Batman," James said with a small smile, he had missed arguing with the small boy.
"So?" Regulus said.
"So you’re Batman and only one person can be Batman at a time, so I can’t be Batman."
"Why?" Regulus smiled seeing James get a little frustrated.
"I can't be Batman 'cause..." James leaned in close to the other boy's face. "I'm Superman. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. It's my secret identity." James said with raised eyebrows to underline the importance of his confession.
"Ok. I won't tell anyone." His face became gravely serious.
"Promise?" James asked with a smile.
"I Promise." Regulus nodded.
"I missed you a lot Regulus," James said as he reached up and messed up the other boy's curly hair.
"I know." Regulus smiled sweetly at him.
"Really? How do you know?" James asked.
"Cause you told me you would before I left." He said as he grabbed his hand and they started walking towards his house.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Sirius?” James asked, looking around for a hint of the other boy's whereabouts.
“Oh, he’s already at your house,” Regulus explained as James laughed. It was always difficult to get Sirius to stay away from the Potter’s house, not that he ever tried.
"So how was your kindergarten?" James asked.
"It was good. The other kids were really stupid though." Regulus said confidently. “I’m way smarter than all the other kids.”
"I thought that in kindergarten too! All the other kids even made Sirius look not stupid. Then Remus came and a girl named Lily. They’re the best students in the entire grade. "
"Really!" Regulus laughed. “I can’t imagine anyone thinking that Sirius was smart.”
"Yeah, me neither,” James joked, “Are you going to start the first grade at the same school Sirius and I went to?" James asked.
"Yup. I'm really excited to start school with Sirius. You must be super excited too, he is your bestest friend! Or- he was your bestest friend. A year is a long time, is he still your best friend?" Regulus asked with worry on his face for his brother.
“Don’t worry, I made friends but none of them were as fun as Sirius. He is still my best friend" James said.
"Okay. That's good." Regulus breathed.
"So if Sirius is my best friend, what are you?" James asked with a smirk.
"Hmm. I’m- I’m your..." He thought for a few seconds, "I’m your Reg!" He exclaimed, referencing the nickname that James used to use for him.
"You’re my Reg?" James asked as his smirk turned into a smile.
"Yup," Regulus responded with a nod.
"And I’m your James, right?" James asked in confirmation.
"Yup,” Regulus paused. "You didn't find another Reg when I was gone right?"
"No," He shook his head while biting back a laugh. "I don't think there are any other Regulus's like you. Or at least I’ve never met another Reg. Did you find another James in England?"
"Nope." He sighed. "There were no James's in England," He paused for a moment and then added, “Me and Sirius both looked.”
"Well, you are back in Chicago and there is a James in Chicago." He said.
"My James is in Chicago!" Regulus exclaimed.
"And now my Regulus is in Chicago, too." He said, then he continued, “Come on, let's go find Sirius.”
“Sirius missed you so much,” Regulus said with exasperation. “He whined and whined about it. It was really annoying. He even tried to run away once, but then he got into big trouble.”
James laughed, “How did he try to run away.”
“He climbed out the window, but then when he was sitting on the ledge of the roof, he got too scared to jump, which is good because it was a million feet in the air,” Regulus exaggerated. “When he was sitting there trying to convince himself to jump, a woman on the street saw him and knocked on our door and told my mom that there was a boy on the roof.”
“Well, I’m glad he didn’t jump,” James said through laughs.
“Me too,” Regulus said, “I just wish Mom didn’t find out. He wasn’t allowed out of his room for a week.”
“A week?” James exclaimed. “How did he go to the bathroom.”
Regulus bit his lip, “Sirius says I’m not supposed to tell people about punishments.”
“Yeah, but it's me,” James responded confusedly.
“Sirius said I’m especially not supposed to tell you about them,” Regulus refuted.
“Oh,” James said solemnly. He didn’t think that Sirius kept secrets from him.
“Can you pretend I didn’t say anything,” Regulus said, still chewing his lip, “I don’t want Sirius to be mad at me.”
“Yeah, of course,” James replied, with a fake smile on his face. One day, he was going to protect Regulus and Sirius from their parents, or just Mom now. He was Superman after all.