Timeless

James

It took me barely a moment to register I'd made my way back to India when the late morning sunrays peeking through the blinds woke me. It took me a bit longer to recall how I'd made it here and why.

For Reggie, it was all for Regulus, but the bed next to me was empty and as I looked around the room he was nowhere in sight. Shit.

I stumbled out of bed (literally, hit my toes against a chair in the process, it was very painful), “Regulus?”

No response. I walked through the house, hoping he hadn't run off. It's not like any bags' disappearance could indicate it, we'd left with nothing on us, disappeared in the middle of a wedding. Merlin, Sirius would murder me whenever I next saw him.

An empty plate sat on the kitchen table, another one was shattered on the floor next to it, “Reg?” I called out again, getting really worried now. Nobody knew we were here so it's not like anyone could've found us, but a small what-if voice remained, wondering whether it was actually as certain as I believed.

No response. 

As I walked back out of the kitchen I noticed an unusual background noise. Water was running and I sped up my steps to check the bathroom. The water was most definitely running in here. “Regulus?” I knocked on the door but still didn't get a response. When it was still silent after a few louder knocks I tested the door and found it unlocked. I peeked inside.

The shower curtain was drawn before the tub and the water was on. I called out his name another time but still didn't get a response so I went to pull away the curtain.

“Don't” his voice, small and broken yet a weight off my shoulders, sounded through the waterfall, “please,”

“Are you okay in there?”

“Yes…” a pause, “no.”

“Darling, what's wrong? Is there anything, anything at all I can do?”

“I-” I think I heard a sob and my heart broke with it, “I'm bleeding. Like a girl, I-”

“Oh, Reg. I wish I could make it stop, take the burden on my own shoulders, but I don't think that's-” I sighed cursing my scarce knowledge of the magical ways regarding this issue, “I'll look into it. But for now. Can I bring you anything? Do you need pads, tampons.. chocolate?”

“Chocolate?” 

“Well, Remus says it helps with everything and my mum did confirm before she- well, she used to say chocolate helps with handling it. I mean you're no woman so maybe you need the opposite of chocolate, who am I to tell, but Moony seems to think it's quite universal and well-”

“James.”

“Yes?”

“Choclate's fine.”

“Alright. And tampons or anything?”

“I got that,” he sighed. 

“Okay. I'll be back in two minutes. And then, um, well you can stay there if you want and I'll feed you all the chocolate in the world. Or if you want to curl up in bed I can draw the blinds so you could nap. If you need some distraction I may have a few ideas as well. Just.” I sighed, “Regulus?”

“Mm”

“It will be okay. You will be okay. I promise.”

He didn't respond and I took that as my sign to go fetch the chocolate. I hated that he was right there, just behind a layer of fabric, feeling alone and not like himself and miserable and all I could do was offer sweets. It sucked. It was unfair. I wanted to climb in there with him and take away his pain and here I was on my way to the supermarket across the street. 

By the time I returned, Reggie had gotten out of the shower and dressed, though his hair was still wet (Which was the most damn attractive thing I had ever witnessed by the way. Like. Damn.). The spark I'd seen ablaze in his eyes yesterday was gone, not even embers left behind from it, and I was on a mission to build a new fire that'd keep him warm. Of course, on his terms and timeline. If he was in pain I was not going to make him do anything he didn't want to. 

I placed a bagful of chocolate in front of him and offered a soft smile in addition.

“Don't pity me,” he bluntly stated.

“I'm not,” I pulled a drawer open where some of my parents' medical potions were still been waiting for a use and pulled out a pain-killing one, pushed it to him “The opposite actually. I think that you are the strongest person I've ever met, if not literally the strongest one. The burdens you carry on your shoulders every single day are enormous and I'm pretty sure I don't even know half of them. So I have no reason to pity you, you badass superhuman, but I do want you to know that you don't have to always carry all of your burdens on your own. Don't have to push through the pain when you can ask a friend for a painkiller,” I pointed at the bottle at that. 

He stared at me, eyes unreadable yet full of emotions. I don't know where he'd learned the skill or why, but it made him quite a mystery sometimes. “Is that what we are?” he asked finally after taking a sip from the potion, “Friends?”

Oh. Did I accidentally just friendzone myself?! Shit. Fuck. “Um. Do you want us to be?”

He tilted his head to the side and studied me (I got goosebumps wherever his eyes landed. If that's eyes then what would a touch do?! Oh Merlin was I in deep…). “Sure. Yes. Friends,” my heart sank. Yet I don't think a no would have been better, not unless wanting more than that would be vocalised alongside it. And considering the missing spark and the lost state of him I didn't think he would've been able to admit wanting anything more, even if he did. So friends was fine. Cool. Peachy.

“So,” I didn't allow the silence to last long enough for it to get awkward, “What's the plan? Sleep all day? Chocolate and movies? Elephants?”

“Elephants?”

“Yup. I made friends with this wizard who's trying to protect them a couple years back. I could introduce you to the baby Elephant I helped deliver last summer?”

“Okay. Sure. Elephants sounds doable. Should we put the groceries away first?” he pointed at the bagful of chocolate.

“That's chocolate, Reggie,”

“That's- All of this is just chocolate for me?!”

I shrugged, “Didn't know your favourite type so I brought every type they had in stock,”

“You-” he looked between me and the bag then shook his head, “Unbelievable is what you are,”

“I take that as a compliment,” I grinned as he pulled a KitKat from the bag and forgot to hide the smile it brought him immediately. 

Of course, a moment later it was gone and he muttered “Take it however you want, Potter,”

It had been there though. I'd managed to make him smile through all of it and it was a win, however small, still a win.