Oh how Regulus wishes nothing more but to just go and drown himself in the Black Lake. He just had to go and fall in love with James Potter. James fucking Potter. Mr. Little Sunshine himself.
Now all his friends are sitting in his dorm, laughing at him. The audacity. Regulus is fuming. His face is hot, his hands are clammy, and he is very much not laughing along. And he’d rather just drown, but he’s in love. Oh so in love.
Dorcas and Pandora are on the floor, clutching each other as they come down from their laughter. Evan and Barty have taken to mocking Regulus, and he’s trying his best to ignore their taunts.
“Oh James! This isn’t going to end well, none of my relationships do. I won’t be the same if you break my heart!” Evan wails out dramatically, flinging his hand over his eyes.
Barty sticks his hand out to tug on Evan, pulling him closer. “But Reg, I could never love another as I love you! I would never break your heart.” Barty gets on his knees to cradle Evan’s face.
“Don’t you love me as much as I love you?”
Evan frowns and leans into Barty’s hands. “Oh Jamie, you’re the only one I have ever truly loved.”
Regulus stands up abruptly, tired of the overdramatic scene happening in front of him. “If you two are done being dickheads, I could finish what I was telling you.”
Dorcas sits up, disbelief taking over her face. “What more is there to tell us? You and Potter declared your love for each other and shagged afterwards. You’ve been dating for months. At some point in a relationship you fall in love.” Evan and Barty bark out laughing, the noise filling up the dorm.
Regulus' face burns and Pandora gives him a sympathetic look. Oh how he wants to just drown his friends then himself afterwards.
He clears his throat, cutting off the laughter, once again. “What is so important about this is,” he sighs, knowing he has to tell them. If they hear it from James, the teasing will be much worse than it is now. “What’s so important is that I said it first.” Suddenly the room is dead silent.
A moment later Barty gasps dramatically and Pandora launches herself at Regulus, wrapping her arms around him fiercely.
“I’m so proud of you,” she whispers in his ear, making sure no one else can hear except the two of them. He hugs her back, appreciating the comfort she gives him. The moment is ruined too soon when a pillow is launched at them, knocking them down.
Regulus untangles himself from Pandora to glare at the other three. They all share similar looks of disbelief, and if he wasn’t pissed, he would find it funny, but he doesn’t.
“What the f-”
Evan cuts him off. “No, you shut the fuck up! You can’t just drop that and not expect us to flip out! You, Regulus Black, told James Potter, James Potter,” he drags out his name slowly for emphasis, “that you love him first?”
Evan looks around to stare at everyone in shock. “Why is no one saying anything? This is huge!”
Dorcas smiles at him sweetly, and he finds it disgusting. Overdramatic gits. “Look at you Reg, finally getting your fairytale romance,” she reaches over to pinch his cheeks and he slaps her hands away.
“Oh piss off the lot of you!” Regulus looks at Pandora, “except Pandora. But the rest of you can piss off!”
Everyone just erupts into more laughter.
—
Regulus is sitting in the back of the library, writing his potions essay when Sirius confronts him. He throws himself into the chair across from him dramatically, knocking over his ink pot. He sends his brother an irritated look as the ink gets all over his parchment.
He looks up at Sirius to see that his brother is pouting. He’s come to the library to pout. Regulus ignores him and charms the ink off his paper, sighing when it takes off his essay as well.
They sit in silence for twenty minutes while Regulus works on his essay. Sirius just sits in the chair and pouts quietly.
Sirius clears his throat and Regulus continues writing.
“Reggie?”
“Don’t call me that,” he snaps, still irritated about his essay.
“How come you never tell me you love me?” Sirius whispers out, as serious as ever.
Regulus drops his quill, the question catching him off guard. More ink splatters all over his parchment, but he doesn’t care.
He scans Sirius’ face, which holds no trace of humor or mischief. His throat feels froggy, like he can’t speak. Even if he could, he wouldn’t know what to say. Sirius is looking at him with so much hurt on his face, Regulus doesn’t know what to do.
“Sirius, of course I love you,” he croaks out, feeling just awful, “you’re my brother.” Sirius ducks his head down, and an awful wheezing noise leaves his brother.
Regulus scrambles around the table to Sirius, to capture him in a hug, not caring if anyone sees. “I’m so sorry,” he murmurs into Sirius’ hair as he cries. Regulus doesn’t know what to do. This is more of a James or Remus situation. But his brother came to him. He needs him.
Regulus just holds Sirius as he cries. It feels like forever. The sobs keep coming and when he shakes, Regulus just holds him tighter. When his cries turn into sniffles, he pulls back to look at his brother. He did this to him. He made his brother cry.
“Sirius…” Sirius just shakes his head and holds up his hand.
“I know you love me. Sometimes,” he sucks in a sharp breath, “sometimes I can’t help but believe that Mother was right. That I’m simply not lovable.”
Regulus hates their parents. He hates that they put them against each other. He hates the lies they fed him. He hates what they did to him. And he really hates what they did to Sirius.
He grabs Sirius’ face to make him look at him. “No. Don’t ever say that again. She’s wrong. She’s always been wrong. You are so lovable, do you hear me? As your brother, I know that well, yeah? Because I love you, Remus loves you, James loves you and Peter loves you. You are so loved. So none of that. When has Mother ever been right, hm?”
Regulus gives him a look, daring Sirius to test him. Sirius nods, his eyes softing. “I know, I know. Sometimes she just breaks through.”
And Regulus nods because he understands. He really fucking understands what that’s like.
He smiles softly at his older brother. “That’s okay. Sometimes people just need reassurance. I’m glad you came to me. I love you. Of course I do.”
Sirius gives him a soft smile and pushes him away, the moment officially over. “I love you too. Sorry about your essay, again.”
Regulus just huffs and makes his way back to his chair. His essay, ruined once again. As he restarts his essay, he and Sirius talk quietly about their week, catching up with each other like brothers do.
They walk to dinner together and split off when they get to the Great Hall. As soon as he sits down, a note falls delicately into his lap. He opens it softly, trying not to tear it.
Astronomy Tower after dinner?
– J <3
He looks up quickly to find James already looking at him from across the room. His eyes are soft and love is so evident on his face that it’s sickening, but Regulus doesn’t mind. In fact, he greatly encourages it. Regulus nods softly in response and James sends him a grin and wink.
As soon as dinner is over, Regulus heads straight to the Astronomy Tower, forgetting his jumper like always. It’s Friday, so they don’t have to worry about a late night class being there.
When he gets there, it’s raining softly. The sound of the rain hitting the roof relaxes him immediately. He sits on the edge, letting his feet dangle and swing softly. The stars are as clear as ever. He can see Sirius shining brightly in the sky, as beautiful as ever.
A few moments later, he hears the swoosh of a cloak and feet softly walking towards him. He looks up to see James folding the cloak neatly as he makes his way to him, smiling tiredly. His glasses are crooked on his face and his hair is unruly like always, but Regulus thinks he’s beautiful.
James takes a seat next to him, sitting as close to him as possible. Regulus reaches up to readjust his glasses then wastes no time in reaching out to pull James in for a tender kiss.
Everything else fades out as their lips move together softly. There’s no rush or urgency, just the soft touch of their lips together. When they pull apart, James pulls him back in to rest their foreheads together, keeping them as close together as possible.
James has a funny grin on his face and a soft glint in his eyes. “What was that for?”
Regulus just shrugs and gives him a small smile. “I missed you,” he murmurs softly, like it’s a secret.
James pulls back to laugh, and he loves it. He wishes he could bottle the sound up and listen to it forever. Like a record on repeat. “Oh Reg, you’ve gone soft.”
“I know, but we’ll keep that between me and you, yeah?”
James nods quickly. “Of course love. Anything for you love. We couldn’t have anyone finding out.”
“Oh what a true horror that would be. People would start expecting kindness from me all the time.” Regulus just rolls his eyes and scoots closer to James, the light wind making him shiver against James.
James frowns when he notices that he didn’t bring his jumper. “Love, are you trying to freeze to death on me? It’s raining and the wind is blowing.” He just huffs and pulls off his own jumper to hand to Regulus.
“James…now you're going to be cold,” he protests lightly, letting James pull the jumper over his body anyways.
James narrows his eyes at him playfully. “Oh so now you’re worried about the cold, huh? I’ll be fine, I brought my robes, unlike you.” Regulus just hums and lays his head on James’ shoulder.
As they cuddle closer, James wraps his arms around Regulus, like he’s trying to shelter him from the rain. It's not raining that much anymore, just a light sprinkle that occasionally gets blown their way by the wind.
They sit huddled together and talk about their day quietly, under the moon and the stars. When Regulus drags James’ hand into his lap to hold, the butterflies in his stomach let him know that this is right where his heart belongs.