Sweet Tea In The Summer (Cross Your Heart Won't Tell No Other)
Regulus is sitting in his bed, cramped up with Casper, his cat, laying by him and he's scrolling through his phone. He desperately needed a distraction from what happened earlier that day.
He scrolls through TikTok, videos of his siblings' tour popping up. Sirius wrapped up his tour 3 days ago and Regulus hadn't had the strength to watch any videos or he might break down again. He knows that Sirius announced an album, though. It's apparently called Family Jewels. Regulus definitely won't listen to that one.
Another video pops up. Sirius is in a beautiful outfit and he doesn't seem as happy as he was in the other videos. Regulus decides to finally let go of his fears and listen to what his sister is saying.
"So this next song I'm about to sing is called "Seven" and it's a very emotional - and - and important song to me because in it i directly quote things that happened to me or that somebody said to me. I associate it with my brother."
And Regulus is already gone. The beautiful melody starts -
Please picture me,
In the trees
I hit my peak at seven feet
In the swing
Over the creek
And then the memories start. Their swing. Sirius and Regulus used to sneak out of the house during their parents' fights. They would go far, far away into the woods behind their ancient, fancy house, and once, they found a swing. It was just over a little stream and they named it theirs.
When Regulus was ten - Sirius eleven - he admitted to Sirius that he felt like a boy sometimes. Then Sirius found the courage to say that she felt different all the time. How sometimes, he wants to be more feminine and sometimes - she doesn't. He remembers sitting across from her on the swing, the Sun was setting, and he thought about how he wished he looked like Sirius. He wished he was a boy.
They had found eachother that day. That was one of the last days of summer before Sirius went off to the Hogwarts Academy and from then on - they would drift away from eachother.
I was too scared to jump in
That's a quote. Regulus whispered that to Sirius one time, when they wanted to rebel against their parents. Regulus wasn't afraid of their parents' reaction - no - he had an irrational fear of the water. He knew that nothing could happen to him - Sirius was there - he just didn't like water.
Are there still beautiful things?
Sweet tea in the summer
Cross your heart, won't tell no other
And though I can't recall your face
I still got love for you
Reg starts tearing up. How does Sirius remember all this? Did it mean this much to her too? Their secret promises and tea parties with garden gnomes - which might sound silly - but they had no one aside from each other then. And how the last part is what Sirius said to him after his transition. Sirius packed their childhood into a 3 minute song and Regulus couldn't feel happier and sadder at the same time. He remembered.
Your braids like a pattern
Love you to the moon and to Saturn
Passed down like folk songs
The love lasts so long
They used to say that to eachother all the time. Sirius now associates the Moon with his boyfriend, Remus, but Regulus knows deep down that she recalls their late night conversations where Regulus would rant about the planets and the moon whenever he writes about it.
And I've been meaning to tell you
I think your house is haunted
Your dad is always mad and that must be why
Oh.
Oh.
Well, he said that there would be quotations. Regulus doesn't even have to guess who said that because he knows.
Because he has been told that too. By James.
And I think you should come live with
Me and we can be pirates
Then you won't have to cry
Or hide in the closet
Fuck. And those lyrics hit straight home. Because Sirius meant that both metaphorically and literally. Regulus literally used to hide in the closet when his parents would beat Sirius. He knows that's selfish and - even though Sirius said it didn't matter - Regulus always felt responsible when Sirius would take a beating for him. Then again, he sometimes feels like he never left that closet.
Sirius goes through the verse and chorus again and Regulus thinks she might as well kill him after this. Maybe he shouldn't have listened to this. Or maybe he's now gonna go through a rabbit hole of all of Sirius's previous songs and will get 3 hours of sleep.
Who knows.