Sunset
Remus walked into the dorm room to see a mess. That was the only way it could be described. There were clothes thrown everywhere, books strewn about the room, blankets and pillows on the floor, and thrown over the beds. And at the center of it all stood Sirius, his hands fisted in his hair and eyes squeezed shut.
“Sirius?” Remus approached his boyfriend calmly, almost like how one would approach a scared and skittish puppy. “Are you okay?”
Sirius’ eyes snapped open and Remus could tell that he wasn’t there, he wasn’t in their dorm room, he was trapped somewhere deep in his own mind. The werewolf watched in agony as the older boy screamed and pulled painfully at his own hair.
“Shit.” Remus turned away from Sirius and grabbed the map from where he had last seen it resting on James’ nightstand. He tapped his wand to it and muttered their clever phrase before watching the charmed ink spread across the parchment, he wasted no time watching the artwork they had spelled to appear on the front of it as he opened it and searched for James or Regulus. James was shown heading up the stairs to the dorm and Regulus was sitting in the library, most likely reading.
James opened the door and stopped just short of the barrier, looking over the carnage Sirius’ meltdown had wrecked over the room they had spent the whole day previous cleaning. “What the-”
Remus cut him off with a short. “Regulus is in the library, get him.”
James saw the serious look in the other boy's eyes before running off to retrieve the younger black from his hiding spot in the library.
~~
Regulus’ protest caught in his throat when he saw just who was grabbing his book out of his hands and reaching for his wrist. “What do you want, Potter?”
James tried not to be offended at the name, he had just started dating Regulus and they had put calling each other by their last names behind them a short while prior. However, he ignored it, considering the serious matters at hand. “It’s-” He took a deep breath, despite being active and working out, running across an entire castle would leave almost anyone out of breath.
After he caught his breath he tried again, “It’s Sirius.”
“What’s the matter with him?” Regulus knew that if they were coming to him it would have to be something important and serious.
James shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know, the room was a disaster when I opened the door. It looked like Moony was trying to talk to him but he had his hands in his hair and was screaming.” Regulus yanked his book back from James’ hands and was already walking swiftly towards the Gryffindor common room, James following quickly behind him as the brunette continued talking. “If it wasn’t for the muffling charms on our room the whole house would’ve heard.”
He kept talking but Regulus wasn’t listening. They had both received letters from their parents that morning, Regulus saw Sirius get his at breakfast and he knew something would happen to Sirius later that day, he had spent almost the whole day waiting in the library for one of his boys to come get him.
~~
Regulus was at the portrait of the fat lady and speaking the password before he knew it, running through the garishly decorated red and gold room and up the stairs. He almost ripped the door to his brothers’ room off the hinges and would’ve if he hadn’t taken a breath before opening the door.
He smelled the blood before he saw it, red streaks running down Sirius’ arms and thighs, a knife brandished at Remus who had his hands up in mock surrender, pleading with Sirius to put the weapon down.
His brother was sobbing, tears streaming down his face and leaving tracks in the eyeliner he insisted on applying every day faster than the blood running down the cuts on each of his extremities.
Regulus walked through the door calmly, or as calmly as he could force himself to pretend to be. “Siri…” He started, his voice even and soothing. “Sirius, look at me.” His brother turned to him, a wild look in his eyes and his hair even wilder. “Sirius, I need you to put the knife down.” Regulus kept his tone serious but gentle.
Sirius hesitated before Regulus heard the knife clatter to the ground. He heard one of his boyfriends accioing it to them before he approached Sirius, his hands outstretched to his brother. “Sirius. I need you to breathe with me.” When Regulus finally got close enough he took one of Sirius’ hands in his and put the other on Sirius’ heart, gesturing his older brother to do the same to him, which he did. He took a deep breath and watched as Sirius echoed his actions.
After a few moments of that, he finally felt like Sirius was calm enough to start cleaning his wounds which had mostly stopped bleeding by now. “I need to clean this up. Okay, Siri?” He kept his eyes on his brother's face as he ran a thumb over one of the lowest cuts on Sirius’ arm. “Remus, I need you to get some sterile cleaning pads and some antiseptic.”
The werewolf nodded and got up, going to the bathroom, and grabbing the muggle first aid supplies they kept in there for these exact moments.
He came back and set the items down next to the brothers. Regulus put some of the antiseptic on the pads and began cleaning the blood off of Sirius’ arms. James made sure the door was shut and locked before he moved to sit on one side of Sirius, running his hand up and down the older boy's back while Remus came to sit on Sirius’ other side and put his hand in the oldest brother's hair, gently playing with it and offering gentle praise and comforting words.
Regulus finished cleaning one of Sirius’ arms before spelling the wounds shut and moving on to the rest, ignoring the hisses and sharp intakes of breath signaling the pain the antiseptic was causing his brother.
When he had finished cleaning and closing the wounds he set to getting himself and his brother comfortable lounge clothes while James and Remus did the same for themselves. Regulus changed himself as Remus and James ducked into the bathroom to do the same and give the brothers some privacy so Regulus could change Sirius, it wasn’t that they didn’t want to see Sirius naked as they had done that plenty of times but they knew that he was in such a vulnerable position after what had just happened that they didn’t want to intrude on such a private moment.
After Sirius was changed and Regulus had helped him into the large bed the boys had transfigured months ago the younger black gave Remus and James the all-clear to come back in. The other two boys entered the room and saw Sirius cradling Regulus to his chest and smiled. Remus made a mental note to speak to both of them about what had happened later or tomorrow but right now what they all needed was comfort. James had done a small bit of cleaning while Remus admired his boys in the large bed and threw Remus a cocky grin before climbing in bed behind Regulus and motioning for the Welsh man to join them, which he did, snuggling behind Sirius and playing with his hair.
They all drifted to sleep shortly after, Remus with his hand still tangled in Sirius’ hair and James’ hand running up and down Regulus’ back. The two brothers curled around each other and held the other tightly.