familiar
Most days at the school are quite boring. Maybe not boring in the traditional sense because the children are always up to something, but it’s boring when that’s all that happens. Andromeda has Lily who works in the classroom with her as of a few months ago. It’s been going quite well. Much better than the last teacher she worked with. At least Lily is interesting and seems to have fun stories to tell when they have time to themselves while the kids are working.
Today is one of those days. It’s a hands off day, which she likes much more than she should. Most teachers really like the days when they get to work closely with their students and help them with everything. Andy, on the other hand, prefers when they can work independently. It rarely happens because the children are all only nine years old. They need help with nearly everything and have questions about every single thing that either of them say.
Lily doesn’t have nearly as much patience as Andromeda does, but she knows that’s because she spent so much of her childhood raising her siblings and cousins. Not that she was significantly older than them, not even because she was the eldest, she wasn’t. She took the burden of doing it because she was better at it than Bellatrix.
She just had to grow up faster than the rest of them, because she had to take care of them in ways that their parents couldn’t. Or well more so in the ways that they wouldn’t. They were all perfectly capable of raising children, they just never wanted to. They wanted to raise adults, soldiers, subordinates. As long as they did as they were told, that was all they cared about.
None of them were given the chance to be a kid, except for whenever Andy tried to get them out of the houses for a day or night and let them freely be themselves. She did as much as she could, even if it was never enough.
It was hard on her, being the responsible one. She had more weight on her shoulders than any child should ever have and there was no reason for it. The problem was that she never had any interest in living up to what Druella and Cygnus wanted from her. That’s why she left as soon as she was able to, even if it meant leaving her sisters behind. They were old enough by the time Andy left, and they had each other. If she only had one sister, she would have tried to stay, she thinks. But there are two of them, they could survive together. Maybe they never even missed her.
She doesn’t think of them as much as she used to. It’s been ten years, there’s so much else for her to have on her mind. Certain things will remind her of them, and she lets herself have those moments, but then moves on. It’s not worth dwelling on. Not now. Not after all this time.
“What are you thinking about?” Lily pulls her from her thoughts, making sure to not talk loud enough to distract the kids.
“Oh, nothing. Just thinking back to when I was a kid. When I was their age.” She motions to the classroom.
Lily nods, and seems to let herself think back to what Andy can only guess is her own childhood. Her face begins in a smile, but contorts as the moments pass. It’s not something she often wonders about others, much less something she asks about, but she finds herself thinking about what Lily’s childhood was like. Does she have siblings? Did she grow up in a loving home? Does she still talk to her family? All things that Andromeda can answer about herself; yes, no, and no.
“I miss being that young. Back when nothing seemed to matter.”
“Do you have siblings?” She asks before she realizes she’s asking.
After a moment, Lily’s smile drops. “A sister a few years older… We don’t talk much anymore.” Andy expects that to be it, for them to move on to something else, something less painful, but she continues. “We were the best of friends when we were kids. She was so wonderful and always checked in on me. We were inseparable, until we grew up. I still try to reach out sometimes, but she doesn’t seem to care anymore.”
The words hurt. An older sister who would give the world to her siblings when they were young, and now is distant and practically a stranger. If Andromeda didn’t know any better, Lily just described her. She did everything she could for her little sister when she was still there. All she hopes is that her older sister looked after Narcissa without her there.
Her distance was never malicious. It may be intentional, because she couldn’t take being in that house with her parents any longer, but she didn’t want to lose her sisters too. It’s just too late to get them back at this point. She wouldn’t even know how to get them back, or even how to find them.
She hasn’t looked though. After leaving, she never tried. Not right away, not months later, not years later. Once she was gone, Andromeda could never get herself to look back. At first she had to tell herself it was for the best, that they were okay without her because they had each other. It would have been bad for her to stay there, she simply couldn’t continue to put herself through all of that torment when she was old enough and capable enough to leave. All she can hope is that they left too.
“Oh, that’s hard. I had sisters too, I get it.” Andy doesn’t want to dive much more into it with her. There’s no telling what memories would come unlocked or how it would all feel, and doing that at school is definitely not the right time or place.
She barely notices how she spoke in past tense about them.
“Yeah, but it’s alright. I have a friend who understands it too. He and I will talk about our siblings anytime we are having hard days.”
Lily’s bright smile comes back and it puts her more at ease. They can move on from talking about siblings and go back to their usual lunch time conversations about what they did over the weekend or what books they’re currently reading. The two of them aren’t close by any means, but they could be. Even though she’s a few years older, Andromeda could see them becoming friends rather than just coworkers. There aren’t many teachers at the school that she would willingly spend any extra time with, but that’s just because a lot of them are a lot older than her.
“Good, good, that’s good. So how was your weekend? Anything exciting?”
“I went out with this girl. We’ve been seeing each other for a while now actually, but we just haven’t labeled it. We got dinner and then she came back to my flat and we watched TV with my flatmate. They get on really well, honestly probably just as well as Pandora and me.” The name rings a bell, though she isn’t sure why it would.
“Do they like each other? Or just friends? Having your significant other, or whatever you want her to be, get along with your friends isn’t a bad thing you know…” Andy says, though she spends much more time with just Ted than any other friends, so maybe she isn’t an expert in this.
“I have no idea. I’ll just have to see how things go with her I guess. Anyway… What about you? Another lazy weekend in with Ted?” Lily playfully asks.
“That was the plan. But then Ted insisted on going to see this local band play. It was more fun than I expected. They played a lot of covers of songs I love.”
Before she can continue, Lily stops her. “So you do go out! I knew you could have fun. You’ll have to come out with me and my friends sometime. They’re all so much fun. I think you’d get on with most of them.”
She has nothing against going out, really. It’s just never her first choice of how to spend a free night. Staying home and having a glass of wine or watching a movie is just so much easier. Working with kids all day every week is much more tiring than she ever expected. By the time she gets home each night, even if it is technically still afternoon, Andy is utterly exhausted. Despite how much experience she has and how many years she’s been doing this, the kids can always find new ways to tire her out. When she was younger, there is no way she was that annoying to her teachers. But that may have been for other reasons.
It’s been a rule of hers, for herself to never be hard on any of the kids she teaches. At this point in her life, she could easily have kids, but she doesn’t know if that’s something she wants. Ted would if she wanted to, but it’s up to her at this point. That being said, the kids she teaches are like her own. She misses them when the school year is over and they move on to the next year with a new teacher. While they are hers though, she spoils them as much as a teacher can. They all ask her a million questions and she always answers them. If someone wants to color instead of do maths, she lets them.
Once a sweet girl asked to complete an assignment entirely in an invisible ink pen she had, and Andromeda couldn’t find it in herself to say no. The following week while grading it, it took her hours to find the right kind of light to shine on it to be able to see her answers. It’s not that she’s a complete push over, but she wants the kids to feel comfortable and happy in her classroom. It’s the least she can do.
“Alright yeah, I guess I could get a drink with you lot. No promises on going out for a full night, you know how I love to get a good night's sleep, but I could get a drink. Just let me know when, yeah?” She reluctantly agrees.
“Perfect! I promise you’ll love my friends. Some of them can get crazy, but in a good way. Nothing to worry about. You won’t have to act like the mum or the big sister all night, they can handle themselves.” Lily smiles at her, clearly excited about their future plans.
By the time that’s settled and Andromeda promises once they make plans that she won’t bail at the last minute, their free time abruptly comes to an end.
“Miss Andy? Miss Lily?”
“Yes, Thalia?” Lily answers.
“I finished the sheet. Can I have a coloring book?” She smiles up at her, and there’s an innocent twinkle in her grey eyes.
“Of course, any particular one you want today?” Andromeda easily complies.
By her request, Andy finds the book filled with dancers for her to color in. She can’t help but feel her heart beat a little bit harder. This little girl is secretly one of her favourites in the class this year, the one she will miss the most come June. With her grey eyes and bright blonde hair, there is something all too familiar about her. When Thalia asked for the dancers, it was the cherry on top of it all.
She is the spitting image of Andy’s baby sister when she was that age. The rest of the day, she allows the memories of Narcissa to flood her mind. She hopes that she is doing well and is somewhere living her life to the fullest with Bellatrix at her side. They always were a great pair.
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Keeping their relationship a secret lasted all of three days. Not that he thought they could hide it for very long, Regulus just thought it would be a little bit longer than this. He thought they were doing so well and that no one could tell anything was different between them. For four weeks. Nearly an entire month, he believed they had kept their dating a secret from everyone in their lives. He was sorely mistaken. It wasn’t even close.
When it was coming up on a month, and they both knew that it was the real thing and not some fluke, they figured it would be time to let their friends know. James had been so great about not being extra touchy or flirty with him unless they were alone. Which honestly only made Regulus want them to be alone more often and led to canceling plans quite often. The day they finally decided to tell Barty, Evan, and Pandora that they have been dating, all three of them look entirely unphased.
“Is that all?” Pandora asks.
“What do you mean is that all? I just told you I’m dating James and you don’t even care.”
Barty just laughs. “Reg, mate. We already knew. How long has it been? Close to a month right?”
“How did you know?”
“You stopped bitching about him coming around. I don’t think you’ve managed to form a real complaint about him in weeks.” Evan explains, only causing Regulus to groan.
So suffice it to say, their relationship is no longer a secret and instead they are making it everyone else’s problem. If their friends thought their bickering before they liked each other, or well, before Regulus liked James, was annoying, they have no idea what’s coming for them now that he does like him. It’s not even just that he likes James, he’s quite honestly a bit obsessed with him. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone, but he is. And he cannot be blamed for that, because James is literally the best person to ever live. No competition. He still gets on his nerves and can be insufferable at times, but he looks good doing it.
“Love, it’s okay. They know, we don’t have to hide anything anymore.” James sweetly says, pulling Regulus in close to him.
“Get off of me. I hate you.”
“See! Even that sounded disgustingly cute. You’re so gone on him. Didn’t we tell you that ages-”
“If you finish that sentence, I will cut off your tongue and feed it to you, Crouch… Shut the hell up.” He gives him a glare that says he is not joking.
As much as he really likes James, their relationship is still new and now simply isn’t the time for his friends to air out the fact that he had an impossible to contain crush for far too long. Or the fact that everyone knew about it except for him. Or the disappointing fact that Regulus was most definitely the one to kiss him first. None of those things need to be discussed.
One of the good things to come from officially telling their friends about them, is that they don’t need to cancel plans and make sure no one puts two and two together. Now they know that as hard as they tried, they were never actually successful, but it was worth a shot. They can easily blow them off to hang out alone. At least that’s what Regulus thinks will happen.
Instead, Barty and Evan are fine, just all of them hanging out and James being his incredibly touchy self that has no regard for Regulus’ personal space, even with them around. That’s another thing he’s getting used to. The touching. As someone who has never been one for hugs or unnecessary touches, he got into a relationship with the worst possible person. Regulus’ personal space no longer exists. It is now Regulus and James’ combined personal space.
He really should say something about it, James would understand. The thing is, he just can’t. James loves always just having their legs bump against each other or their knuckles brushing. What he likes most of all is wrapping his arms around Regulus when he leans back and laying together like that. It’s incredibly comfortable for him, so he won’t complain about that either. It’s the constant physical touch that makes his skin crawl.
If it were anyone other than James, he thinks he would have burst into flames by now. But for James he can manage. Anything to keep a smile on his face. With James, the touch burns like he’s gotten too close to the sun. He should hate it, but he somehow doesn’t.
Tonight, after telling them about their relationship earlier in the day, they had planned to go out. James supposedly set up an entire date for them and well, Regulus is very excited to see what it is. They have spent so many date nights curled up on the couch together or having dinner, but they have rarely gone out and done anything, much less something that requires real planning. Suffice it to say, Regulus is looking forward to it, but in another part of his brain he is dreading it.
James has always been romantic, not just with him, but in any past relationships that Regulus has seen, he’s just a pure romantic at heart. Regulus is never going to be able to measure up to anything he does. And it kills him. James deserves the entire world for how he treats Regulus, and what can he give him in return? A mental breakdown and a panic attack on the couch?
They’re never going to last if Regulus doesn’t find a way to do something special for him. After tonight, if they can escape their friends, that is, he will start planning something so disgustingly nice. It’s already well past James’ birthday and there are no other big days coming up to do anything special for, so it will just have to be on any ordinary day. Maybe once they’ve been dating longer, he can plan a holiday for them. Take James to France or somewhere or somewhere. All of the places Regulus loves and wants to share with him.
“So what are we doing tonight?” Evan asks after seeing the conversation die down.
“Well, I invited you over here five hours ago and you’re still here. Let’s think about that.” He wants them to leave, oh he really wants them to leave. Not that he doesn’t love his friends, but he would much rather be with just James right now.
“It’s a Saturday night, let’s do something. Pandora left to go see her girlfriend, I think. She tells you more things than me, her own brother… and anyway we are your only friends, you couldn’t possibly have anything better to do.” He complains, hoping to get Regulus to cave.
“What Reg is trying to say… is that we have plans. So we’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” James thankfully cuts in, and they back off.
“Breakfast tomorrow?”
“I have to work for most of the day but you’re welcome to come hang around here. Unless I go to a cafe to try and focus. Alice might want to meet and I have a call with Dorcas too. Actually can we just not hang out tomorrow, I have too much-”
“You got it. Don’t worry about it Reggie.” They both offer smiles, knowing how stressed he has been lately.
“Have fun you little love birds.” Evan teases as he heads out the front door.
“Remind me again how you became friends with them?” James cocks his eyebrow.
It’s funny. They are his best friends, but damn they really can get on his nerves. Maybe it’s just that they’ve been around for everything. Since before his cousins left, since before Sirius left, since before he transitioned. They stuck by him through everything, never wavering even once. Regulus appreciates them greatly. He wouldn’t still be here if he didn’t have them all those years, that much he knows.
However, they seem to only get more annoying with age. Or Regulus just is tired of their same jokes and constant teasing. No matter what, they are still his friends and they would do anything for him and he would do anything for them. There are still plenty of times that Regulus joins in and is just as immature as them, they are all young after all. He just thinks that they sometimes need an extra reminder or a push to chill out every once in a while. That’s all.
“I wouldn’t trade them for the world.” He responds with a smile. There’s only one person he would trade them for, he thinks to himself. That’s not possible so he will happily have just Barty and Evan for now.
“I think they’re worse together than on their own. Evan was loads of fun in uni, Barty seems to make him a bit crazy.”
“You might be right, darling.” Their lips lightly press together, except it’s less of a kiss and more their smiles meeting in the middle. “Now, whisk me away on this secret date you planned.”
James planned an entire night without telling him any of the details. It’s awful, though he’s putting a smile on his face because he knows how much James wanted to do this. He seems very proud of the plans he made and Regulus isn’t going to ruin it, despite the fact that he hates surprises more than anything and has been nervous all day.
Regulus keeps telling himself that it’s just a date and James knows what he likes and dislikes, so it will be fine. He wouldn’t plan something that would make him uncomfortable. All he needs to do is trust James. Which he does, he really does, but it’s hard for him to trust anyone completely.
The last person he trusted 100% with no question about it, other than his best friends, was Sirius. And that went to shit the moment he left. It’s been incredibly hard for him to let anyone else into his life like that. He never meant for James to know everything about him, but now that he does, he wants to trust him wholly and completely. Even Alice and Dorcas who know everything about his books and far too much about Regulus himself, don’t know everything. They only know the names of the characters in the stories, not the real names of his family. They know everything that he has written, but not everything that has happened to him. Not in the same way his friends and James know.
There has never been anything that has happened that would cause Regulus to stop trusting James. He is just currently toeing the line of giving himself over to him. Once he crosses the line, everything he has and everything he is would belong to James, and even if they have only been dating a month, he’s almost certain he wants that.
He would be happy with that. The problem is actually crossing the line. He trusts him, but what if he were to break that trust? That’s something Regulus couldn’t handle. He wouldn’t know what to do if James betrayed his trust and hurt him.
He’d like to think that would never happen, but it could. Sirius leaving was never something that crossed his mind as a possibility, but that happened. And he knows James less than he knows his brother, so really, anything could happen. Regulus imagines that he could get past something small with James, but anything big happening between them to call into question their trust, might be too much. He only hopes he never has to cross that bridge.
“I know you hate surprises, but I think you’ll like this one. I promise. I can tell you if you want, before we leave.”
“No, I trust you.” He does, he does trust him. “Do I need to bring anything?”
James smiles at him and he seems to be glowing with happiness. “Everything is already in the car. I’ve got it all covered. Just bring your pretty little face.”
“You’re such a sap.” Regulus can’t help the slight blush that enters his cheeks, so instead he looks down and turns his head away from view.
The entire drive James sings. Which would be fine, if he didn’t sing louder than the music itself, and entirely off key. He belts out every song that plays. He should know all of the words that he sings, because the playlist is his, except he doesn’t. There isn’t a single song he sings on the way to the secret unknown location that he sings correctly.
All of them are filled with incorrect words, many of which don’t even make sense in the lyrics, and complete and utter tone deafness. Regulus spends the entire time holding back laughter and biting his tongue so as to not make fun of his boyfriend. Who by the way, looks really hot when he sings, even if it sounds awful.
Something about the drive feels familiar, though he doesn’t know why. James hasn’t taken him here before. That’s mostly because the majority of their dates have been getting take out and watching a movie at one of their places. This will be the very first official date they go on, one where it’s fully planned and romantic. At least that’s what Regulus is expecting based on how everything has gone so far tonight.
Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t know how to be romantic and after this he will have to plan something for James. The hard part is that James loves surprises and Regulus doesn’t have any good ideas for a date. So whatever he ends up planning will pale in comparison to tonight’s date. Even if Regulus’ eventual plan ends up being entirely lame, James will grin like an idiot and beam at him in only the way he can and tell him how lovely it is. He would think that the way James would tell little lies like that would bother him. It doesn’t. He knows that those lies are padded with love and have no malice behind them.
“Are we almost there?” He questions.
The city is far behind them now. There’s no reason for Regulus to have ever been here before, but something is knocking at his brain trying to tell him he has. Some memory is clawing its way to the surface, but he doesn’t quite want to let it come out. Anything from his past that is buried, should stay that way. Regulus locked those parts of him away for a reason. There are some memories that are simply too painful to relive. Whether it’s painful in the moment, or it’s painful because of all that has happened since.
“Almost. Don’t be impatient.” James looks over at him and teases him, smiling the whole time.
“Impatient is my middle name.”
“No, your middle name is Arcturus.”
He bites back the smile that is trying to form. “Remind me again why I ever told you anything about myself?”
Things are just so easy with James. Even now, with his mind fighting him with the unknown memory, everything just feels easy. Regulus is somehow always at peace when they’re together. As if nothing could hurt him. Everything is brighter with James around. He’s like the sun, except he just follows Regulus around and shines on the world around him. Not that they’ve been together for long, but he knows that James makes things better. He makes it so that Regulus can relax into himself. He makes him feel safe.
“Because you like me.” He says very matter of factly. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to… How did you choose your name? You’ve never said.”
He actually has never told anyone that. James has come to learn a lot over the years, and even more over the last month, but not that. It doesn’t bother him to be asked, he just never has been. Evan, Barty, and Pandora knew him before, so they probably could figure it out a bit for themselves, but they never bring it up. They know that it could be a hard topic and don’t ever want to push him.
“Stars is a family thing, if you couldn’t tell. That’s why the books are titled that way. Regulus specifically came to me because it’s in the Leo constellation. It’s the heart of the lion.”
“Represents bravery, right?”
“Yeah. S- My brother used to tell me I was brave, so did my cousins. It stuck with me once everyone was gone and I was on my own. Would’ve been better if there was a star that represented a wolf for me to choose that had one that would sound good as a name. There’s Lupus, but that would be a ridiculous name.” He laughs to himself, covering the nervousness in his voice when he brings up his family.
“Why a wolf?”
“Lone wolf.” His smile is only a half smile now. “Lions travel in packs, and I lost mine. I became a lone wolf when I was 15.” This isn’t what he expected to be talking about tonight, but he’s happy to tell this to someone. It feels nice to not have it rattling around in his brain.
“Well I think Regulus suits you.”
“I think so too. The middle name is technically after my grandfather, but it just sounded good with Regulus, so it stuck.”
“Oh so you intentionally gave yourself the most posh and obnoxious name you could think of?” Now he’s laughing too, which to be fair, it is funny.
The car comes to a stop in front of a building that he knows he’s seen before, but he can’t remember when.
“It’s much better than yours. Do tell, what your parents were thinking with giving you such a boring name like James?”
Before he can get an answer, James is out of the car and coming around to the passenger side to open the door for him. Once he’s out, which he didn’t need help with because he’s a normal person who has gotten in and out of a car hundreds of times before but accepted the help anyway, James leaves him to go to the boot to grab everything that he packed. There’s pillows and a blanket and far too many snacks. Seriously, there’s enough snacks to last them a few days.
He manages to carry everything, not letting Regulus lift a finger. James claims this is the only fair way because he planned the date, so it wouldn’t make sense for Regulus to help set it up. Normally he would jump at any opportunity to bicker with him, but he’s already winning by not having to do anything tonight. All he ends up asking Regulus to do is close the doors and lock the car which is easy enough.
He smiles to himself as he walks into the abandoned building behind his boyfriend who looks incredibly ridiculous trying to carry far too many things. “Watch where you’re going, Potter.”
The message gets across too late and James is bumping into a box that is in the way. He couldn’t see it around all of the things in his arms, which are all now scattered on the ground. Regulus laughs to himself for a moment but does eventually go to help his boyfriend pick everything up.
That’s when he sees it. That’s when the memory clicks into place in his mind like a puzzle piece snapping into place.
On the wooden pole in the middle of the room, there is a carving of a constellation. Canis Major. That’s why he knows this place. It’s been at least 8 years since he was last here. This place was never his, but he came sometimes. Mostly when he was looking for Sirius. Without fail he would be here. Not necessarily hiding, more so escaping.
Anytime things got rough for him, he would sneak out and come here. It wasn’t everytime, just the bad ones. One of the first really bad nights that Regulus had, he was probably eleven or twelve, Sirius took him here. His brother could tell how badly he needed to get out of the house, and they were both so young and there was almost nothing they could do or anywhere they could go. Andromeda had already left, Regulus thinks, though it’s been so long that he isn’t sure. Most of the time when he needed to go somewhere else, he would find an excuse to go see Narcissa. She was always there for him, she would do anything for him. But so would Sirius.
He took Regulus here and they stayed for hours. No one could get to them here. It was a world without pain and hurt and sadness. It was a world that only they knew. This building has been abandoned since at least then, but probably longer. No one ever found them here. Regulus was the only one Sirius ever told about it, so he was the only one who could find him here.
In the back of his mind he wonders how James found it. It’s so far off the main roads, and quite a bit out of the city. He isn’t even sure how they got here when they were younger. Maybe it was always a coincidence that no one was here at the same time as the brothers. Surely other people know about this place. It’s been years since he came, so perhaps some people, including his boyfriend, found it in the time since.
“Reg? Earth to Regulus!” James taps his shoulder, and it seems like he’s been doing it for much longer than he noticed. He entirely zoned out, staring at the constellation Sirius carved into the wood.
“Sorry, what?”
“I have a projector all setup. It’s a movie night! Surprise!”
Before fully turning to see the room set up, Regulus brushes his thumb over the stars. It’s almost as if he can feel Sirius as he does it. Quickly he pushes that from his mind. It’s been over seven years. He’s not going to see him again. There’s no point wasting time thinking of him, when he likely isn’t thinking of Regulus.
Behind him, he finds the floor scattered with pillows and blankets with a sheet acting as the movie screen. The snacks that James brought are in a bag off to the side to keep the blanket from getting messy, though that’s already a lost cause because it’s laying on the ground of an abandoned building. Regulus chooses against calling that out and decides to just enjoy the planning that his wonderful boyfriend put into their date.
It’s not his fault that Regulus’ mind is elsewhere. Except that isn’t exactly right. His mind is here, just not in the present. As much as he tries to push Sirius out of his head, he’s always there. He always has been. The air still feels like him, it’s not his fault that everything about this place reminds him of his brother. Maybe tonight James can cover that up. They can make new memories in this place so that any time he thinks of it, it’s James that he sees and feels.
“Where are you?” James asks as he lightly touches his arm.
“I’m here. I’m right here.”
“I meant in your mind, but you’re back. Hi.” And he smiles that dumb James Potter smile that makes him melt. “Ready for a movie?”
He feels okay, he feels more present with James holding onto him. “That depends. What movie?”
“Well I thought you might say that. So I have options. There’s Love, Actually, or The Proposal, or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” He holds up the discs to show him.
This time he can’t hold back his laughter. Of fucking course James would be the type to find actual DVDs of movies rather than just bringing a cable to stream them. Only he would do that, and Regulus will be damned if he doesn’t find it so utterly charming and romantic. He wishes he could go back and never stop pretending that he hates James. If he keeps doing things like this then Regulus is completely fucked. He’s already toeing the line of falling head over heels for him, and he would like to keep just a touch of decorum if he can.
“All rom-coms? Really? What about me made you think that was a good plan?” The thing is, he doesn’t hate romantic comedies, it just doesn’t look good for his whole personality. Though he actually doesn’t like Love Actually. That one isn’t a lie. The other two options are great movies and James is pouting until Regulus will admit it. “Fine. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
“I knew you would pick that one!” He shouts confidently.
“Is it because you knew I would want to get tips on how to get you to break up with me? Because that is most certainly the reason.” He flashes a smirk in James’ direction.
He smirks back, though it’s more of a smile than a smirk. “Jokes on you, they end up together.”
With that, James puts the DVD in the projector, which Regulus has no idea where he got it from. He hasn’t seen a projector in he doesn’t know how long. No normal person has one on hand just in case they want to have a spontaneous movie night in an abandoned building. No, that’s only James Potter. The one and the only. They settle onto the blanket, and despite having multiple pillows to choose from, Regulus immediately chooses his favourite pillow. James.
Together they lay in near silence. The movie plays but they don’t talk over it. Whenever they are together they spend so much time talking, that is if their mouths aren’t otherwise preoccupied. So it’s quite easy to let the movie do the talking. There’s only occasional quiet murmurs between them when James wants Regulus to reach over and grab the packet of crisps or a chocolate. Which is much more frequent than it needs to be, but Regulus won’t stop him. Or if James is moving too much and disrupting how Regulus is sitting, he’ll nudge him and quickly tell him to stop.
Every time that James laughs, Regulus can feel it vibrate through his body. He had no idea that another person’s laugh could bring him so much joy, yet here he is. The sight of James’ smile, the sound of his laugh, the feeling of his chest, just all of it makes Regulus want to smile for the rest of time. He’s never felt that before. Maybe he just never knew what it was to be happy until he found James.
That’s what this is, it’s pure happiness.
Nothing is around to ruin it. When there are a million different outside factors, Regulus struggles to find the happiness in things. But this? Well this he knows is good and he won’t let anything ruin it. Not even the carving of Sirius’ constellation on the post behind him, not the memories he has from the previous times he’s been here, not any of the ghosts haunting his past. Regulus is content living in the moment, especially when it’s filled with James. He doesn’t need anything else right now.
Not even his big brother.