Regulus POV
Regulus threw his books onto the table and announced, "I need to graduate middle school, like now." Then he plopped into the seat. James laughed.
The idiot was laughing at Regulus’ misery. "Oh you think this is funny, do you?" He asked.
"In fact, I do." He said as he continued to read from his textbook.
"And why is that?" Regulus glared at him.
"I remember a certain sixth grader being extremely pissed at a certain innocent middle school graduate for deciding to go to high school," James said in an annoying sarcastic tone.
Regulus smirked at him. "It's not my fault you were a wimpy eighth grader who needed a sixth grader to defend you. I was worried for your well-being"
"Hmmm." James smiled down at his textbook as he continued to study.
Regulus officially had a full-blown crush on James. It was a really alarming moment when he realized that he was gay, as in had absolutely no interest in girls. Why couldn’t he just like girls, that would have made his life so much easier, they’re too round and mushy. Plus who could look at a boy like James Potter and not have a crush?
He really hated the word crush. All the annoying girls in the grade talked about their crushes on the dumb boys in the grade.
Even Pandora had a crush on Xenophillius, but that one was very on-brand for Pandora because Xenophillius is by far the weirdest kid in the entire school. He once told Regulus that aura of a fish. What does that even mean? Regulus had just glared at him in response. Honestly, Pandora could do better. However, Regulus could not. He had a crush on James and there was no doing better than that boy.
And it sucked. He was a junior in high school who dated other juniors in high school, who were all girls. Granted the girls he dated were always some variant of horrible.
Regulus happened to be very proud of the fact that none of James's girlfriends had lasted more than three days after meeting him. Although he had gotten a lot smoother about chasing them off than he was with the first girl James tried to introduce to him. Maybe if James had brought home a girl who didn't suck, he wouldn't chase her off, but there was no guarantees.
James had to have had some sort of self-esteem issues. Regulus didn’t understand why, he had all the qualities that made people popular in high school. In his eyes, there was no one better. He had warm brown eyes and a really big smile. James was always smiling. He had a large crooked nose that Regulus loved. It made his face look more Jamesy.
His hair was always a giant mess but he honestly thought it was cute. He was really smart too. He was always studying for AP tests and the ACT and SAT because he really wanted to go to NYU. Probably mostly because that's where Sirius also wanted to go.
It was completely across the country, but Regulus was really proud of him. It always felt good to be around James. He would listen to Regulus complain about school and his stupid classmates or teachers or mother. And James always would return some snarky comment that didn't actually help but made Regulus laugh.
Whenever he complained to Pandora about anything, Pandora would try to comfort him and give some weird advice that Regulus had never once taken.
But both options were significantly better than telling his mother anything. Whenever he complained to his mother, it just ended in a long lecture about working harder in school and not being distracted. Regulus didn't know what his mother wanted from him. He had never not gotten an A in school, and he had never gotten in trouble. He wasn't a teacher's pet or anything, but he really didn't need to try in school to get A's and the teachers were generally not paying close enough attention to him to catch Regulus doing anything wrong. But his mother still thought he was unfocused. His mother probably only thought that because she wasn't around enough to even notice Regulus's grades or reports.
"I quit," Regulus announced as he shut his textbook.
"You quit?" James asked.
"I do," Regulus said as he stood up from the Potter's kitchen table.
"Well if you’re quitting, then so am I," James announced as he let his head fall into the textbook. Regulus grabbed his hand and said, "Come on." As he dragged him to the living room. "TV time." He let go of James’ hand and flung his body onto the couch, then James did likewise... on the same couch... On top of him.
"James!" Regulus cried as he tried to squirm out from under him. "What?" He responded pretending that he didn't know what was going on. "This couch is much less comfortable than I remember it. It's all bony and movy."
"But you're just as assy as I remember," Regulus said as he tried to move from under him.
"What did you say to me?" He said pretending to be angry. Regulus took this chance and moved slightly to the side, almost escaping, until James held onto him right at the side of the couch.
"You're an ass," Regulus said as he moved slightly, finding a comfortable position lying next to him.
"That is a very rude thing to say, Regulus Black." He said as he grabbed the remote and flicked the TV on.
"It's accurate." He said as he nuzzled himself closer to James and quietly watched the TV. After a few minutes, they were both fast asleep, in each other's arms. Regulus knew that James saw him as a kid, but in this moment he could imagine that this was real. Regulus could pretend they were pressed next to each other because they were in love, but he knew that it was one-sided. Well, not fully one-sided. Regulus knew that James loved him, not the way Regulus wanted to love him, but he definitely loved him.