“nope nope nope nope nope” james muttered as he paced the cereal isle of the grocery store. the lights were burning his eyes and his heart was beating out of his chest.
he felt silly. this was such a silly thing to be freaking out over.
firstly, regulus had left him with their cart to grab something from another isle, and that would be fine, except james wasn’t feeling well.
the lights were too bright and it was loud. oh so loud.
next, he was supposed to be picking out his favourite cereal, the same one he’d been eating everyday for a decade.
but- oh. it’s different.
fuck??? it’s ??? different???
no that won’t do. not at all.
thats where regulus finds him, anxiously shaking his hands and pausing to bite his knuckles as he paced the length of aisle three, muttering to himself as passing people stopped to stare.
“honey?” regulus called out to him, tipping his head in question as he took note of the anxious pacing. sure, james had been anxious since they’d walked in- but he’d not been this close to a meltdown.
james only wined in response to his questioning glance, biting harshly on his knuckles as he tried his best not to cry. this was silly, he wishes in this moment more than anything that he felt emotions like everyone else did.
a shiver rips through his body and james rolls his shoulders three times in a quick progression.
“reg it’s not the same, its not the same,.. it’s not the same” the troubled boy spoke, moving towards his boyfriend quickly, shaking his hands out again as he did so, trying to shake off the feeling that had settled in his stomach
until that moment, regulus was confused about what had set him off so quickly, as he’d only been gone for thirty seconds.
that was until he saw the box of cereal in the cart, the familiar, yet slightly different than usual packaging.
“oh love” regulus sighed gently, moving to stand infront of his james,
“touch?” he asked quickly, moving to grasp james’ hands in his at his partners quick nod.
“james honey, can you listen to me for a moment?”
james nodded quickly, his eyes darting across his boyfriends face.
“i know this is really overwhelming, and you’re not feeling well right now, but it is going to be okay” he attempted to soothe, hoping to get him calmed down a bit before they could leave.
“here’s what we are going to do honey,” regulus started, speaking as softly as possible.
“i’m going to give you a biiiggggg squeeze” he exaggerated the word big, smiling at the way his distressed boyfriends lips quirk,
“and then we are going to leave our cart with the nice lady at the front, and drive home okay?” regulus knew james liked to know exactly what their plans were.
james squeezed his eyes shut at that moment, and regulus could tell he was trying not to freak out,
“but it’s wednesday. we cannot leave because it’s wednesday and that is grocery day.” he spoke firmly, averting his eyes from his boyfriends gaze.
regulus softened at his boyfriends attempt to self soothe, “once we get home, i’m going to ring sirius, and him and remus will go pick them up for us okay?”
james seemed to think for a moment, a tear slipping down his cheek as he lets out a hum, rolling his shoulder again and nodding tensely at his boyfriend.
the pair made their way to their regular cashier lady, whom over the two years the couple had been doing their weekly shopping trips, had come to know them quite well,
she was wearing a frown when the pair made it towards them, already spotting the overwhelmed boy.
regulus made quick talk with the women as james rocked back and fourth on his toes, arms up in the ‘t-rex’ position as reg had nicknamed it.
once regulus quickly thanked the women, the pair made their way to the car, driving quickly home as james got more anxious as they drove.
“let’s get you tucked into bed love,” regulus started, guiding a twitchy james through the house.
“everything going to be alright jamie, we’re gonna have a nap and hopefully we will be feeling better to fix this alright?” regulus spoke as he climbed in next to his boyfriend, who made quiet humming noises as he wiggled around the bed.
the room was filled with comfortable silence as james tired himself out with his little movements and noises,
“love you reg” he spoke finally
regulus smiled softly, kissing the top of his head, “i love you more james.”
he watched james smile softly, and he knew that they would be ok.