[snippets of coziness]

humming quietly to herself, sirius turns the key and hears the familiar ‘click’ that the door to their home makes, always an indicator for either of the black-potters that someone’s coming home. sirius blows a busy curl out of their eyes as she closes the door and fumbles with the few grocery bags on her arms, keys plus loads of little chains jingling in her hand.

it was an incredibly close thing, her rushing to the last open grocery store in their neighborhood at this hour. usually most stores close way earlier than 11pm but luckily the little 24/7 store down two streets never disappoints after all.

“reggie, im home” sirius lets stars brother know it’s them and not his boyfriend. even though regulus probably already knew that james had taken on a busy night shift and wouldnt come home til 2am.

not hearing any grumpy response, sirius huffs out a little blow of air. they kick off their shoes and slip into their beloved house slippers. “its not nice to ignore your older sibling,” she begins to scold after hanging their keys to the little decorated hooks in the wall. “where have you left your manners, hm?” star grins and steps into the living area of the spacious apartment. “dont wanna know what james wou-“ sirius stop themself mid sentence.

the headlight is off, only the fairy lights on the big window and the decorative lamp next to the couch are on and the fluffy carpet is dwelling in a little ray of light that peaks through the half opened door to the kitchen.

regulus is seated on said carpet, comfy between the couch and the matching little table that is littered with books. some closed, some open, all marked with little post-its here and there. the only thing sirius can make out of her little brother is his hair, splayed out everywhere on the beloved books.

his face must be squished between a book and his hand, arms resting on the table next to his head.

quietly, sirius lets the bags slip from stars arm. a little thud on the floor as she gets rid off her leather jacket and places it carefully on the armrest of the armchair closest to her. theres a little warm sparkle playing with her heart as she steps closer to their brother.

“yeah, this is way past your bed time, baby brother anyway” sirius mumbles with a teasing, loving smile and softly strokes through regulus’ dark curls that are so so similar to their own, yet by far not as luscious and soft of course!! sirius will never let that happen, she‘ll make sure of that!

“why are you so like remus anyway?” sirius continues to whisper with a little shake of stars head as they gently loosen regulus’ grip around the red pen you will always see him annotating and scribbling away in his books or journals with. a gift from james, obviously.

as if regulus can sense one of his most priced possessions is being taken away from him, his fingers curl around nothing in the air and a grumpy little huff is leaving his lips.

“relax oh my god, im not taking it from you” sirius laughs quietly and pats regulus hand comfortingly. “and now please cooperate, big baby” star sighs, crouching down next to the younger to gently maneuver him onto the couch.

still sleeping regulus grumbles a few times, smacks his lips drowsily and turns immediately to his side to hug a couch pillow after sirius tucks him in with the weighted blanket that’s always either in regulus’ and james’ room or the living room. it helps regulus sleep more peacefully, especially when james isn’t around to rest half of his weight on him from behind.

softly carding through his hair, sirius makes sure for another moment that regulus is indeed still deep in dreamland before they tidy up the table. careful not to make too much noise that could disturb regulus’ peace, sirius closes the open books, of course making sure the pages are properly marked before stacking them and putting them onto the carpet right next to the table.

she turns off the lamp, decides to leave the fairy lights on because regulus loves them and she does too and quietly makes her way to the kitchen to take care of the grocery bags. before sirius enters the kitchen, star turns around again and whispers a “i love you, reg. hope you sleep well.”