Marauders Short Stories

“Regulus!”

“Huh? What did I miss?” Regulus slurs, wiping sleep from his eyes as he sits up, propping himself up on one hand.

“I said, what type of music do you listen to?” James huffs, crossing his arms. “I want to make you a playlist.” He mumbles the last bit. Regulus is confused, why would James want to make him a playlist? It’s not like he did anything particularly special for him. Unless making playlists for people is his love language, and if it was, Regulus would listen to that playlist every day for the rest of his life. He would never admit that, though.

“Oh, crap. Give me a sec,” Regulus mumbles, desperately trying to think of what music he likes, because being woken up in the middle of the night does not provide many opportunities to think clearly straight away. He ponders for a moment, and settles on his answer.

“I listen to…” Regulus rubs his eyes again. “Arctic Monkeys and Cigarettes After Sex. Mainly songs with those kinda vibes, y’know?” 

James nods slowly, his usually-bright hazel eyes serious with thought. “Okay… I’ll get back to you on that one.” He says, sitting up with his legs crossed, reaching out for his phone, which is on the bedside table, alongside a million other things. It’s three o’clock in the morning. Why is James Potter making him a playlist at three in the bloody morning? He wants to sleep. And he wants James to sleep. He wants everyone to sleep.

“James,” Regulus starts, before his breath gets knocked out of him by the way James turns his head to look at him, excitement plastered on his face. He smiles, and it’s like the sun re-found its shine, without ever really losing it in the first place. Somehow, and feeling very proud of himself for it, Regulus manages to remember what he was going to say. 

“James, why are you making me a playlist at three in the morning?” He looks at James, who is now hunched over his phone, furiously typing and clicking away as if he’d been doing this his whole life. He looks up at Regulus, a confused expression on his face, as if trying to say, Are you serious? “Why wouldn’t I make you a playlist at three in the morning?” However, James just sighs and says:

“Because I want you to be able to listen to the songs you enjoy and think of me. You know, your boyfriend? You’re amazing, and you deserve a playlist that someone you love has made for you.” James says simply. 

Regulus can quite literally feel the flush crawling up his neck and onto his face. Of course. It was James. James, his boyfriend. James, who always held the door open for random strangers. James, who did every gallant and selfless thing one could ever think of and still deem it not enough. 

“Oh, I forgot. I’m dating James: Big Ball of Sunshine.” A small smile plays on Regulus’ lips. He shifts closer to James, who instantly closes his phone and puts it back on the bedside table. Regulus crawls over to him, settling down again, this time, curled into James, who instantly drops his arm over him, thumb drawing circles on his back in a repetitive motion.

“Damn right you are,” James says into Regulus’ hair, his voice muffled. “And I don’t intend on changing anything. You’re mine and I’m yours. That’s how it will always be.”

They fall asleep like that; Regulus curled in a ball, leaning into James’ torso, James’ arm wrapped protectively around Regulus, his other arm playing with Regulus’ curls. They fall asleep like that and they wake up like that and they fall asleep like that again. It’s a restless night, but it’s also easier when they have each other. Regulus will never not love the feeling of James’ hand in his hair, and James will never not love the feeling of holding something so delicate.

Either way, he thanks his lucky stars to be able to hold such a beautiful thing. And he’s grateful such a beautiful thing could love him too.