"Scars"
"Regulus, I need you to open the door,"
Silence.
"Reg, please open the door,"
Still no response.
James had been pleading with Regulus - more like Regulus's door - for nearly thirty minutes for him to open the door; growing more and more desperate.
"Reggie.. please.. open the door. I am worried about you. Please love, open the door."
Nothing still.
James had had enough, he whispered "Alohomora" and carefully opened the door.
He held his breath, scared of what he might find.
James then saw what he had been looking for: his dear Reggie.
Sitting on his bed, eyes red from tears presumably for his face was wet, staring off into space, seemingly unaware of James's entrance.
Then he noticed, it.
Blood running down the length of Regulus's forearm, cuts lacing on top of old scars.
A small blade held in Regulus's other hand.
James said nothing, just carefully walked over to the bathroom to fetch some bandages and returned a few minutes later, very softly walking over to Regulus who still sat and stared into nothing, his mind a thousand miles away from here.
"Hey.. Reggie.." James whispered as he kneeled in front of Regulus.
Regulus says nothing.
James, very hesitantly, took Regulus's bleeding arm in his hand and examined the bleeding cuts.
Regulus says and does nothing.
Almost as if he was a statue.
This was worse than having Regulus be screaming at James, in James's option.
James carefully wrapped Regulus's arm up, and took the blade away from Regulus.
"Regulus, hey, hello? Are you there..? Please say something for me baby.. please.." James begged in a whisper, looking into Regulus's unfocused eyes.
Very slowly Regulus's eyes focused, locking onto James's.
"... I am so sorry.." Was all Regulus says, his voice quiet as a mouse's a breaking, before he broke the eye contact and stared at the ground, tears welling in his eyes once more.
"No, no, no.. nothing to be sorry for, Reggie.. I love you so much, we'll talk about this later.. Right now, all that matters is that you are still here, and still alive. I got you. Come here, sweetheart.."
Regulus didn't have the energy nor the will to tell James to never call him 'sweetheart' right now.
He just crawled into James's arms and wrapped himself tightly around James, never wanting to let go.
James felt his shirt become wet as Regulus buried his face in the crook of James's neck; but he didn't care.
James just held his star as he wept.
. . .
James made sure Regulus went to Madam Pomfrey after dinner to make sure Regulus's arm didn't get infected.
And James, sure as fuck, would always kiss those scars the minute he could; wanting nothing more than to make sure that, even with his scars and battles, he was still loved by James if no one else, and was still beautiful.
[Word count: 455]