The Call That Set It Off
Sirius knew better than to just randomly call James, and he was by no means in a rush (he was definitely not stalling his date with Remus), so he texted him asking if he was busy. He was expecting a response in the form of another text, not just an immediate call, but his screen was almost immediately filled with a message saying “Call From: Prongsy” (don’t judge the man), answering the call he did not expect his brother to be the one saying hi to him, but that explains where he was headed off to this morning.
“Hello Regulus. May I ask why you have stolen my best friend's cellular device?” By gods Sirius loved taking like some posh ass rich person who obviously thought they were too good for literally anything .
Regulus let out a light laugh from the other end, “Because he’s asleep Sirius.” It was their way of banter, Sirius would do something ridiculous and Regulus would put emphasis on his name, because he was undoubtedly not being serious.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. He’s on the couch, we were talking and he just like- I don’t know, curled into himself, I guess? And he fell asleep, it was only a couple minutes ago.” Sirius could hear the worry in Regulus’ voice, “Don’t worry little brother, he’s fine.”
“Sirius, it's the dreams again,” was replied back, almost instantly. “I know.”
“Well, can’t we do something? What was it that Professor McGonagall did to calm him? I swear she did something because he always came back to the Common Room calm, like it never happened.” Regulus whispered the last sentence to himself, though it was loud enough for Sirius to hear, “Wait, when were you ever in our Common Room, I invited you all the bloody time and you kept saying you hated being around that many Lions!” There was no real anger in his voice, but Regulus could see his brother's furrowed brows all the way at James’ house.
“Don’t worry about that, just tell me what I can do to at least calm him down.” Regulus would never be able to tell Sirius what he meant, or why he had been in their Common Room so late at night, at least not by himself.
“Fine, we will talk about it later.”
“ No, we will not.” There was venom in his statement, he hated talking to his brother that way but Regulus knew if he didn’t his brother would never stop asking.
“Make him tea.”
“What?” Regulus had begun to get lost in his thoughts after the second of silence he forgot what they had been talking about. “Make him tea. I always did after I found him having his nightmares. I would tell you how but you basically have his favorite memorized by now, don’t you?” Regulus could hear the teasing in his brother's voice, but he chose to ignore it. Opting instead to look through James’ cabinets.
“He doesn’t have any tea.” Strange, James always had tea whenever Regulus came over, he assumed he had a cabinet dedicated to it. “He probably hasn’t been to the grocery store in a while, I don’t know what else to do besides that, I’m sorry little brother.”
“It’s fine I can just go to the store,” Regulus opened the fridge to find very few things inhabiting it, “I will definitely have to go to the store.” Sirius let out a laugh, “Nothing in his fridge either, huh?”
“Why are you talking like this happens too many times?” Regulus knitted his brows together, “Oh dear brother, there are sides to James that even you haven’t seen.”
There was an all too familiar buzzing sound on the other side of the phone call, and Regulus could hear Sirius freeze on the other end, to be honest he froze too. It might’ve been years since it happened but it still scared both of them whenever they heard that godsforsaken sound.
“It’s just Remus, Sirius.”
“Oh...yeah.” Sirius let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding when he heard Remus’ voice come through the speaker, “Sirius? Please buzz me in, it’s rather cold down here.” Regulus could see the smile on his brother's face, “Well I should probably go now, leave you and Remus alone.” Regulus said through a smirk, “Wait no, don’t you wanna say hi? He is your favorite after all, I mean- Oh hi Remus! It’s so lovely to see you! I’m just on the phone with Regulus so if you could just give me second-”
“Goodbye Sirius,” and after a second's consideration, “Actually, give Remus the phone.” There was silence on the other end, until Regulus heard the phone being handed over. “Hello, Remus. Just so you’re aware Sirius spent an hour and forty-five minutes picking an outfit for you, not counting the panic in the middle of it when he realized you would be in our apartment and he had to be cautious of where he threw his clothes. Don’t look in his closet.” He added quickly. Remus started laughing in the middle of his little speech, and he could hear it getting fainter as Sirius took back the phone, “ What did you tell him, Regulus Black I will kick your ass. ” Sirius whisper-yelled into the phone, and Regulus could hear Remus start to calm down from his laughing. It was particularly easy to make Remus laugh, unless it was an actual joke, well unless Sirius says it, anything Sirius does can make Remus laugh.
“Oh my dear it’s fine, he didn’t say anything incriminating. Just to not look in your closet.” Regulus knew exactly how they were standing, it’s the way they always stood when Sirius needed to be calmed, with Remus’ arms around his torso, his forehead on Sirius’ shoulder and Sirius’ head leaning on Remus’. It was endearing, and disgustingly sweet. “I really do need to go Sirius, I have to shop, remember?”
“Goodbye my dear sweet brother. ”
…
Regulus was getting his ass kicked later.
__
Regulus went through James' kitchen, noticing all the things that are usually there, he made a list on his phone. After a couple minutes he went back to where James was sleeping, he set James’ phone on the coffee table and found a napkin to write on,
I should probably buy him a notepad too, he thought, adding it to his notes list.
After writing the note he walked back to his car, double-checking he had everything he needed. He had on all of his rings, strange, normally James kept one if he left for a while, as a promise he’d come back. Remembering that James fell asleep and didn't even know Regulus was leaving, he went back inside and took off his ring, placing it beside James’ phone and added on to his message.
He got in his car, and headed to the shop, the one James always went to, his favorite, because apparently it had the nicest employees, but honestly Regulus didn’t think anyone had the ability to be mean to James, muchless a retail worker . (Yes that was sarcastic but if anyone was mean to James, Regulus would take away their ability to stand.)
__
James woke up to nothing, no posters that belonged to his bedroom wall, no tv that sat near the foot of his bed.... no Regulus, which was the most upsetting to James. It upset him so much he felt like crying, he had no idea why, Regulus probably left a note, but what if he was annoyed that James fell asleep? It felt like someone pressed an anvil on his chest, and he could feel the tears pricking the corners of his eyes. He was being ridiculous, Regulus probably left a note somewhere, or something to tell James he would be back. He moved so his legs were hanging off the front of the couch, and he found his phone with a napkin on top.
I’m going to the store, your shelves seem to be rather empty. I texted you a list of the things I’m getting, call me if you need anything else.
Or please just call me when you wake up, I would love to talk to you and know you’re awake.
James' heart ached when he saw an extra line scribbled near the edge of the paper,
As a promise I’ll come back. ;)
With an arrow pointed at one of Regulus’ rings. He took the note off his phone and looked at the text Regulus sent, a list of maybe 15 things Regulus was buying for him.
He put the phone to his ear as soon as he pressed “Call,” and Regulus answered almost immediately. “ Hello!” James could hear the smile in Regulus’ voice, and it brought a smile to his own, he felt warm again. Today must’ve been a chore day for Regulus, “ Chore day?” James was so tired he hadn’t realized he said that outloud, “Yeah, y’know, a chore day.”
“I don’t know James, please clarify.” He sounded confused, James wasn’t sure how he could be confused by something that he does, but he guesses it’s the same way James gets confused when he doesn’t understand why something he said was funny. “Y’know...those days where you’re excited to do something that other people would see as a chore, like going shopping, or cleaning. A chore day.” James laid down, still tired, “Reggie how long was I asleep?”
“I’m not entirely sure, it was maybe 5 minutes before I called Sirius and I’ve only been gone for around 10, so it’s probably been around 30 to 40 minutes. You still sound tired James, maybe you should go back to sleep.” James had his eyes closed listening to Regulus ramble, he loved hearing Regulus talking, almost as much as he loved tea, or his parents, or Regulus’ eyes, or his hands...His thoughts were brought back by a concerned “James?”
“Talk.”
“What?” Regulus sounded a little startled, “Sorry...that sounded a bit rude, I- I just like it when you talk and I’m tired so I guess that’s all I could say, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that-” James’ rather fast talking was cut when he heard Regulus start to laugh, “It’s fine James, I mean at this point I’ve become a master at talking haven’t I?” That made James huff out a laugh, he loved hearing Regulus talk, he loved how he talked and what he talked about, “Can you, though? Can you...just talk?”
“About what?” Regulus’ voice softened, James loves and he means loves when Regulus talked so softly like this, like they were in bed and Regulus had been awake for longer than James, and he was trying to talk to James while he was still half asleep.
Okay, maybe he thought about Regulus as if he was still in school thinking about their future together, even though James knew he wouldn’t be able to have that future with him, and he also knew that Regulus might not want that future with him.
“James? Are you alright?” He could hear the worry in his voice, James wondered how it would feel to be held by Regulus in the mornings, how light he would hold him, or how hard, as if Regulus would be scared that if he let go James might disappear. James has that feeling sometimes, when he holds people, he felt it when he and Lily were dating, and when he and Regulus.....were doing whatever they were doing back in school, James still didn’t really know what that was, but he didn’t mind that. He felt that feeling after the war a lot more than he used to, and with everyone , Sirius, Remus, Peter, hell even Severus (the one time they had ever hugged, and ever would), he was scared to lose anyone, he lost so many, he couldn’t handle losing more, how selfish is that? He’s scared to lose people for him, not even thinking how their real family would feel-
“James!” How long had he been saying his name? It didn’t feel like long, he looked at the call screen,
10:23
“We’ve been on the phone for 10 minutes? It’s only felt like a few.”
“James, I’m coming home in a couple minutes, okay? I’ve only a couple more things to grab and then I can check-out. Stay on the phone with me,” James let out a low noise in his throat, telling Regulus he was still there, “Now, what would you like to talk about?”
“ You talk about your new album.”
He could hear Regulus stop walking, “Reggie? You alright?”
“Of course I’m alright James, I’m just a little nervous about the deadline.” His voice confirmed that, full of nerves, but he put a facade in front of it, trying to calm James. “You don’t get deadlines Reggie. You get suggestions.” Regulus let out a huff of air, “Yes, and as my production manager I thank you for that,” James was most definitely not Regulus’ production manager, that would be hell for James, Regulus was world-wide known, he had only a couple months in between each tour, and those lasted around 2 to 3 months each, unless he was coming out with a new album, like now.
“James, I told you I have a deadline. I want the concert to be the same night as when the album goes live.”
“I know, and all we need is one more song. And by the way, we don’t have a set date for when the album drops so you have time.”
“James I really don’t. I have to get a venue for the concert and rehearse the songs, I have to pay for all of this and it can’t just happen overnight, I am trying to get this done as soon as possible and I’m scared .” Regulus was more scared when the word left his mouth, he had decided to just wait to talk to someone about it when it no longer needed to be worried about, not randomly confess to one of best friends over the phone in the middle of a grocery store.
“Reggie, please come home soon.” James didn’t press, he didn’t make Regulus talk about it any longer. Regulus loved that. He loved that James just knew, and he didn’t have to say anything.
“I’m heading to check out, I’ll be there soon. Swear.” After a second’s silence, he heard the warmth of James’ voice again, saying his absolute least favorite words.
“Bye Reggie.”
“Bye James.”