Beautiful Boy
Regulus liked to think that he was a relatively smart person. He wasn't impulsive and he thought things through. All of that went out a fourth story window when James Potter looked at him. James looked at him with those dark brown eyes that managed to look so soft even when looking at someone like Regulus.
James shook his shoulder lightly "Hey, you good?" those eyes looked at him directly and every time they did Regulus thought that he would melt into a puddle.
"Yea, always" Regulus smiled lightly and James smiled back at him. If Regulus wasn't melted down before he was now because even as James spoke to him he couldn't hear a single thing he said but he saw that smile loop in his head.
"-never seen it but it looks good what do you think?" James looked back at Regulus looking for an answer
"Yea that sounds great" Regulus had no idea what was asked but he didn't care as long as James was happy he didn't care. As James walked up to the window getting ready to order two tickets for whatever movie he had picked, Regulus got a text.
'Hey! We just finished up at the salon where are you guys?'
It was from Sirius. It took every ounce of control in Regulus to not throw his phone and pretend he didn't get any sort of message. But sadly he showed the text to James. Tapping him lightly before letting him know "Sirius texted me, he said they just finished up at the salon." James looked sad, Regulus envied the fact that he could just wear his emotions like that.
"Oh ok" the smile he had dropped instantly "we should go back then I suppose"
"Yeah I suppose" Regulus texted Sirius back that they would be at the salon soon and went to pick up the bags of their stuff before looking up at James and seeing that he had already grabbed everything. He walked a little quicker to catch up with James who was walking faster than he had been all day. "Sorry we didn't get to see the movie. You seemed excited about it"
"Ah it's not a big deal we'll watch it another day"
The silence continued but Regulus could see that James was thinking about something, deeply. Regulus waited and waited knowing that eventually he would say everything he was thinking. He barely knew James but he could tell James wouldn't be particularly good at keeping secrets. His emotions were always on his face and his heart on his sleeve.
"I noticed that Sirius calls you Reggie or Reg most of the time,"
There it is
"Why is that? Like where did that nickname come from?"
"Oh" Nobody had ever asked him that before "It's just the first part of my name, most people call me that"
"Huh" the gears in James brain started to turn a little again "What about the second part of your name?"
"What about it?"
"Does anyone have a nickname for that part? Regulus sounds so formal but I don't wanna call you what everyone else does."
They had stopped at a crosswalk waiting for the red hand to turn to a white man. They were facing one another and Regulus could see that smile and the sun hit his eyes, you could see how light they actually were, the small specks of green and gold that melded together to make this beautiful shade of brown that Regulus couldn't tear his eyes away from no matter how hard he tried.
"Uh no, not one that I know of"
"Alright then I'll think of one" James looked over and noticed that the light had changed "Come on," James thought hard he didn't think for long, he never did, "You know I could just call you kid" James joked wanting to see Regulus' reaction more than anything "I mean you are my best friend's kid brother"
Regulus didn't know whether to laugh or just stare at James in disbelief, so he did both "Why would that make any sense?" Regulus gasped into the small laugh and James froze. He had never heard his laugh before and now he never wanted to stop hearing it. James' face tinged a little bit pink before he continued
"Well it'll just be a placeholder until I can think of a better nickname for you. Sound good?" James looked at Regulus, not expecting a specific answer just wanting to know if maybe he'd let out that same breathy laugh that made James' heart flutter just a little.
"Yea sure. Sounds good." Regulus smiled and James smiled back at him. They stared at each other like that for a little bit, waiting for the other to break eye contact. The tension rose between them and Regulus didn't know what to do he just mirrored James own movements.
"HEY" they both snapped out of the trance they had put one another in as they saw Sirius jaywalk across the street to them "Hey Reggie! find everything you needed?"
James had immediately looked away and regained his normal composure but Regulus was still looking at where James had been standing before he went to hug his best friend. When Regulus answered he tried his best not to sound like he hadn't just had one of the best experiences ever. "Yeah James helped a lot" Regulus smiled softly before continuing "Should we go back? I'm kinda tired."
"Ooo yeah that sounds good, by the way Remus is coming back with us, I invited him to dinner."
Regulus tried not to laugh just a little at Sirius' obliviousness. They walked back to the car and all piled in. It was slightly more difficult now that Remus was also there, but it wasn't a problem considering how short the drive was. When they pulled into the driveway, Regulus twisted to his right and attempted to open the door. He pushed on it once, twice, and on the third time he fell out of the car.
"I told we child lock the doors" James smiled down at him "You've gotta stop falling like this because one of these days I won't be able to catch you"
Regulus blushed and pulled himself up walking out of the car before muttering a quick thanks to James and speed walking inside. He made his way to the library in the house that he had found on the night he arrived. His copies were in his room but this library had a lot of books that Regulus hadn't read so he spent more time with the books here. He went over the spot in the back corner where he had finished Jane Eyre last night and was shocked to find someone there. They were facing the wall so Regulus only saw their fluffy honey colored hair, but that was enough to know exactly who it was.
"Hey Remus," Remus sat up straight at the sound of his name "What are you reading?" Regulus shuffled in to look at the shelves next to Remus
"I'm not reading I just needed a place to sit" Remus sounded exhausted as he spoke "I've been hanging out with Sirius all day"
At the sound of his brother's name Regulus turned around. He supposed that now was as good a time as any to ask "So what's going on with you and Sirius?" Remus froze up just slightly at the question
"Uh, well we're" Remus thought about his answer "Well uh he's my best friend"
Very convincing Regulus thought "Right, but that's not all you guys are? I mean even an oblivious fool could see how you guys look at each other."
"What about you and James?" Remus retorted clearly very done with Regulus' interrogation
"What about me and James?" Regulus questioned with as little venom as possible in his words
"Regulus, really" Remus raised a single eyebrow "I mean even an oblivious fool could see how you guys look at each other"
Regulus stuttered not expecting to have his own words thrown back at him he tried to come up with a better answer than um but so far he was failing miserably "I-well- that's different he's my brothers best friend and he's engaged, plus he's straight so-"
"You think that James Potter is straight?"
"I- yeah"
"Did you ask him?"
"Well no I just kind of assumed-"
"Ask him"
Regulus silently agreed before realizing that he was in the middle of a passive aggressive interrogation. "What's your excuse?"
"I'm sorry"
"Your excuse for not telling my brother how you feel? What is it?"
"Well we're best friends, I don't want to ruin what we have with each other"
Regulus stared at Remus like he just said the stupidest thing he ever heard, which is in his defense exactly what had happened "Remus are you serious right now? You breathe around him and his entire face flushes, he's constantly talking to or about you, He smiles when he makes you laugh, when you two met I think his exact words were 'Marlene I think I just fell in love' I hate to break it to you but friends don't do that."
Remus stared at Regulus, just stared like he couldn't believe a single word that came out of his mouth. "Yeah, I guess you're right" Remus stood up and went to walk out of the library before turning around "Seriously ask James if he's straight, I would tell you but I think he'd rather tell you himself"
"Alright" Regulus nodded and grabbed the book he hid under the seat last night and propped his feet against the wall before continuing 'Murder on the Orient Express'. Maybe he would regret exposing his brothers feelings but he just wanted a place to read alone. ANd now he had one so maybe not.