It started with a damn patch of ice.
Regulus cursed as his body slammed into the ground, his legs sliding out from under him. In his rush out the door, he hadn’t seen the ice hidden under the dusting of snow.
He cursed again as he sat up, noticing the rip in his pants just below his knee and the blood mark from the fresh scrape.
They were one of his favorite pairs.
After a moment of staring at the sky wondering what entity he managed to piss off in the short amount of time since he’d been awake, he begrudgingly picked himself up and made his way back up the stairs to change.
He should have known it would be downhill from there.
Everything that could go wrong went wrong.
He almost wasn’t able to find a parking space on campus. Once he finally managed to, he missed the bus and had to walk (more like limp thanks to his still throbbing knee) to his first class making him late. When he tried to get himself a coffee as a pick-me-up, he was roughly bumped into. The result was that said coffee ended up all over the sidewalk before he so much as had a sip. Normally, he would read between classes but, in his rush, he had forgotten his current read at home. Along with a few of his assignments. By the end of the day, he came back to his car to find a parking ticket tucked under the wipers.
Each occurrence felt like an added weight on his shoulders, crushing him. Another blow to his mood with no respite in sight.
By the end of the day, Regulus was exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and all but dragged himself back to his apartment. He sighed, leaning his head on the door for a moment to collect himself before going in.
He dropped his things just inside the doorway and kicked his shoes off half-hazardly. Normally, he’d hang his things up neatly and put them out of the way but, at this point, he couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d deal with them later. Or maybe James would when he returned home after practice.
Regulus was tempted to text him. Tell him that he was having a bad day. Beg him to skip practice to come home early and hold him. But the thought made him feel selfish so he dismissed it. He would be fine until James came home. He could handle this. It was just a bad day.
He went to the bedroom and changed into more comfortable clothes, first putting a bandaid on the scrape below his knee. A bruise was already beginning to form making him wince.
Rather than mope in bed, he curled up on the couch like a cat, a blanket draped over him as he attempted to avoid thinking about the day until James got home.
He had grabbed one of his favorite books from the bookshelf, The Starless Sea, in hopes that rereading something comforting would help him hold it together. Instead, he found himself just staring at the pages, flipping them every so often as his brain continued to run through the day like a horrible record on repeat. Tears threatened to fall but he wouldn’t let them.
This wasn’t the worst day Regulus had ever had in his life by any means, but it continued to weigh on him as he sat there with the events running through his head. It’s really not that bad he chided himself. It could have been so much worse.
The sound of keys followed by the lock clicking, roused him from the growing storm of his thoughts.
James was home. Had he really been sitting there that long?
“Honey, I’m ho- oh shit!” James yelled to announce his presence as he walked through the door and almost tripped over the bag still sitting in the doorway from earlier. Regulus immediately felt guilty that he’d just left it there, not even considering they might be in his boyfriend’s way.
That was enough to make the tears start flowing.
“Love?” James’ voice was laced with concern which only made him release an audible sob as the tears continued to run down his cheeks. There was no stopping them now that they started.
Regulus heard the door close and a thud of something hitting the ground before James’ arms were around him, pulling him close.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized through his sobs.
James started rubbing comforting circles into his back. “Shh, it’s okay, love, I’ve got you. What’s going on?”
Of course, James would know something was going on based on his reaction. There was no use hiding it. “I’ve had a really bad day,” his voice cracked and he hated how whiny he must sound, but James just held him tighter. He found himself melting further into the embrace and tucking his face into the side of his boyfriend’s neck.
James hummed in acknowledgment, shifting them so that he could lean back a little and pull Regulus on top of him. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He shook his head. He’d rather get lost in James. Just having him there was calming him down, grounding him. James just had that effect on him and Regulus was forever grateful for it. Everything felt a little bit lighter and safe when he was around.
Eventually, he managed to stop crying and the two sat there in a comfortable silence. Regulus hissed slightly as his knee brushed up against the couch when he shifted to tuck himself further into James’ side.
“What’s wrong?” James asked, immediately on alert.
He blushed in response. “It’s stupid, but I slipped on ice on my way out of the apartment this morning. Everything went downhill from there.”
He went on to recap the rest of his day, calm enough now to do it without breaking into tears again, and James listened intently to him, brow furrowed in concern.
“Aw, Reg, I’m sorry.” He finally said as soon as Regulus finished. “You should have told me. I would’ve skipped practice and made my way over here sooner.”
“I would’ve felt bad if you missed it just for me.”
“I’d do anything for you, you know that.” He pressed a kiss to Regulus’ forehead, making him blush once again. “How about I grab some ice cream from the freezer and we watch Pride & Prejudice?”
Regulus lit up at that. “Really?”
“Of course, love, anything to help you feel better.”
Regulus loved this man. He really did.