Charleston
James was used to a life of luxury, he was the first to admit he was spoiled. His parents were wealthy, he had gone to an expensive private school, he had never properly struggled a day in his life, not in a way that had any relation to money. And, James liked his life. But he was suddenly very sure that he was just meant to live in a van.
The moment he saw it parked outside the hotel he fell in love, simple as that. The exterior was all black, not anything exciting. Mary told them that maybe if there was time in their schedule, they could get it decorated, but James didn’t even care.
They had a tour bus.
Them.
Marauders.
He resisted the urge to jump up and down, but just barely. He was so excited for the next couple of weeks to come, nothing could dull his shine, not even Regulus Black. He was a bit pouty, which was sort of justified, James had to admit. They had literally forced him onto the bus, but they had no other choice. He wouldn’t come willingly, and they wouldn’t leave without him.
They hadn’t planned for him to be joining them, so their bus only had four bunks, but they could figure that out later.
“Prongs! Come look at the bathroom!” Sirius yelled, as if he were excited about it. James’s smile faltered slightly, and Sirius laughed at him. He was genuinely too tall to comfortably stand in the bathroom, which meant that Remus was too. “It’s genius.”
James shoved him lightly, ducking his head out so that he could stand up straight again. “Yeah, alright Padfoot. You’re just jealous cause you’re short.”
They probably would have stayed up had they not already been awake all night, James slept for maybe half an hour while at the hospital, and that was it. So, he couldn’t be blamed for just climbing into the top bunk and falling directly asleep, not bothering to close the curtain.
James greatly valued his sleep, or he used to at least. In school he did sports, so he always had to go to bed early and wake up early and it just became a natural pattern in his life. These days? James slept when and where he could, even if it was in an uncomfortable hospital chair or at 6am on a tour bus. If he didn’t sleep enough he tended to get a bit cranky, at least until he got a coffee.
For that reason, when Peter woke him up just a couple hours later, he couldn’t be mad. He was holding out a cardboard cup that was from a local coffee shop close to where they had stopped for some food. He couldn’t very well drink it in his bunk, there wasn’t nearly enough space to properly sit upright.
Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all in the front part of the bus, and James was slightly upset that he had missed the stop. He wanted to get out a bit and stretch his legs, although he supposed he would have plenty of time on stage that night.
And there were the knots.
It was close enough to eight pm that James was able to start getting nervous. He always got nervous, no matter how much they had practiced in rehearsals, and no matter how many shows they played, James felt butterflies.
At first he had hated them, but now they just made him excited to feel the pulse of the music through the soles of his shoes, the energy emmanting off of the crowd and going right for his heart. It was the good kind of nervous where you were restless with thoughts of what was to come.
“Good, you’re up. Mary called again,” Remus said the moment James hopped out of his bunk. Overnight he had overheated a little bit and thrown off his shirt. He almost stopped to pick it up as he made his way to the front, but he was too tired, and he was comfortable without a shirt on.
James smiled. “She misses us.”
“She yelled at us for being ten minutes late.”
“Yeah, sounds like her,” James said, taking the only open seat next to Sirius. He looked just as tired as James felt. “When is she coming?”
“Umm, two weeks I think she said.”
Remus offered James the bag of goldfish he was eating, but he shook his head. He wanted something sweet, like pancakes or french toast. Oh, James would absolutely love a french toast. He had a huge sweet tooth, not quite as bad as Remus, but he would choose sweet over savory any day.
His attention was drawn to the back of the bus where Peter had just woken Regulus up. His hair was all mussed and his clothes hung slightly awkwardly off his body. Sirius hadn’t guessed his size properly so they ended up being a bit too big.
He looked sweet, James found himself thinking. He knew better, he knew Regulus hated him and that he tried hard to be anything but sweet.
Still, James wanted a bite.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Sirius said to him.
There was a coffee awaiting him, and he at least mumbled a small thank you to Peter for going to go get them.
James had to look away. Sirius would never forgive him for even looking at his brother in this way. So, he just simply would not look. He had plenty of other things to occupy his mind with.
That first day on the bus had been awkward. They were all trying to figure out how to work around each other without getting in their own ways.
Remus stayed to himself, he tended to get cranky in close quarters like this. Peter himself was slightly claustrophobic, so he hung out in the back room because it had the most space. Also because Regulus said he would only deal with one of them at a time if they were insistent on the whole kidnapping thing.
James and Sirius played card games in the front and drank a couple of beers. Really they were just trying to pass the time before they got to the venue.
At one point Regulus had just stood in front of them and asked if they had any more beers. Well, he asked Sirius. He was still hating James apparently. Which was fine, he was totally fine with that.
Their bus finally stopped, meaning they were at the music hall. It was supposed to be another big one, they were playing to almost 2,000 people. Seeing the concert hall empty was one of James’s favorite things. He loved the juxtaposition, of right now when the only people there were them and the tech crew, to in a couple of hours when their fans were there.
Still, he couldn’t quite get used to the idea of having fans.
It was ridiculously cool. He had signed a couple of autographs randomly on the street, although his signature had changed every time since he couldn’t decide which variation he liked best. He had to try out every one, which ones were easiest to do quickly, or which ones looked the best, but he liked all of them.
“Hey!”
James looked to see Marlene McKinnon, the lead singer of their opening act Lion’s Head, shouting at them through the microphone. She was still wearing her pajamas, a pair of shorts and a large sweatshirt that advertised a band that James himself had never heard of. The rest of the band consisted of bassist Emmeline Vance, drummer Alice Fortescue, and guitarist Benny Fenwick. Marlene was the only one on stage at that moment though, which meant the rest of the band was likely busy with instruments or something similar.
Sirius lifted himself onto the stage easily and James followed suit, the two of them crowding Marlene into a huge bear hug. She was also one of their good friends, and she had a voice that was made for pop rock music.
Remus and Peter took the stairs, therefore missing out on the group hug.
“How did you get here before us?” Peter asked, giving her a hug anyway, he was a very affectionate person with the people he loved, and they all adored Marlene.
She hadn’t been able to be there for the first show, so their opening act was a twenty something named Shawn Mendes who had a very high vocal range and some very catchy songs. He was alright, but he wasn’t Marlene.
“It’s called punctuality,” she told them.
“We’re punctual,” Sirius defended.
She gave them a look, one that made James immediately start laughing. They were never on time, no matter what they did. But, Mary gave them enough lectures about it.
“It wasn’t our fault though,” Peter said.
“It never is.”
The very loud sound of microphone feedback interrupted their conversation, and they all looked up to the box where their sound tech was either messing with them or- Well no, that was the only option. Lily Evans absolutely loved to cause trouble, that much they had learned at their show in New York.
Lily was a short red-head who had stolen all of their hearts the moment they met her. She was the main sound technician, responsible for making sure every inch of the hall had good sound quality, and to also make sure that their in-ears were working properly. It was her pre-recorded voice that they would hear counting down the seconds before the backing track started.
James hadn’t known just how many people were needed to get a tour off of the ground, there was the sound crew, the lighting crew, hair and makeup, security, stage managers, etc. The list went on and on forever, and James was still in the process of learning everyone’s names.
Marlene put the microphone back on the stand, taking a couple of steps back. “Alright, your turn then boys.”
The four of them got set up, and James slung a red electric guitar over his neck, letting it rest there while more microphones were getting set up.
“That is the sexiest guitar I have ever seen,” Sirius told him. His was sleek and black and, in James’s opinion, just as sexy.
“That is the sexiest guitar I’ve ever seen,” James repeated, but he was pointing at Sirius’s guitar that he named Stevie.
Peter leaned forward into his mic slightly. “This is the most homoerotic thing I have ever seen,” he announced to the entire music hall, hitting the cymbals on his kit like he just made the best joke ever.
“Clearly you don’t spend enough time around them, then,” Remus said, tuning his bass.
“It’s intentional,” Peter told him with a smile.
James and Sirius tried to look offended, but they couldn’t when Peter was laughing. It was the kind of laugh that was so, so bad that you just had to laugh with him. Remus had a small smile playing on his lips as well, although he turned away to try and hide it.
It was mostly a mic and sound check, so they just played whatever they wanted, and Peter sang with them a little bit. James knew it was hard to play drums and sing at the same time, which was why he almost never sang live.
Sirius went behind Peter and literally took the sticks from his hands, trying to play over his body while he sang Another One Bites The Dust . It sounded horrible, since Sirius was not keeping time well at all. Remus had to try and keep up with him, since Sirius wouldn’t, but they were all lost by the second chorus.
“And this, ladies and gentleman, is why Peter Pettigrew is our drummer,” James said as the music slowly faded out, only Sirius still pounding on the drums without any rhythm.
In the back of his head he could practically hear Mary yelling at them for messing around too much when they should be rehearsing, but what was music if it couldn’t be fun? Peter had to yank the sticks away from Sirius before he stopped, and he was grinning widely.
“What an adrenaline rush!” Sirius said, picking his guitar back up from where he had left it in the middle of the stage.
“That hurt my ears,” Lily said through a microphone she had up in the box.
Sirius squinted his eyes to try and see her, flipping her off.
———
Lion’s Head did a lot of covers still, not having that many of their own songs written and recorded just yet. James’s favorite to listen to was Valerie, and while he should have been getting ready to go on stage, he was standing in the wings and just watching them.
Marlene had a way of enchanting the crowd, and even though most of them weren’t there for her, she got their attention. She had changed out of her pajamas into a mostly leather ensemble. She had black leather shorts, a cropped black tank top, and the same oversized leather jacket that she wore almost every day. She was wearing black boots too that made her a couple of inches taller, and she commanded power with them.
Sirius came to stand next to him, and James noticed that he was all ready for the night too. He had gotten the makeup team to do some eyeliner on him, and he had glitter highlighting his cheekbones. He looked like rock and roll personified, and that was exactly what James told him, which of course made Sirius grin widely.
“My mother would be rolling in her grave if she saw me like this,” he said proudly.
James hated Sirius’s family, and every time they were mentioned he was filled with that same anger he had felt when Sirius showed up at his doorstep, bruised and bloodied and still trying to put on a brave face. To this day, there was still nothing that had ever been able to top the rage he had felt, and if it hadn’t been for Sirius begging him not to, James would have showed up to their house and showed them a piece of his mind.
“Alright Prongs, we’re doing shots,” Sirius said when James went quiet, dragging him to the back rooms where Remus and Peter still were.
Peter had slicked his blonde hair back with gel, and James resisted the urge to muck it all up like he usually did.
Remus didn’t have to do anything, really and truly. There was always something behind his eyes that just proved he belonged up on that stage. It was when he was most confident, when James and Sirius crowded around him, the three of them playing their instruments together without a care for the crowd in those moments, because it was only them and Pete, carrying the tempo.
Peter loved Jaeger Bombs, and he made them all take a shot of it before every show, refusing any other type of alcohol until after. He called it their tradition, James called it absolute torture. He had never liked Jaeger Bombs, but he took the shot with everyone else, resisting the urge to scrunch his face up in disgust. Another thing, Sirius simply did not believe in chasers.
Remus took it all like a champ, he had the highest alcohol tolerance out of any of them. James was sure he had only ever seen him truly drunk a total of one time, because other than that he was still lucid and in control of himself. It was an enviable quality, but Remus just had an effortless coolness about him.
Sirius did one more shot than everyone else. They tried not to go on stage drunk, it made their music worse. Just a little bit before for confidence, and then a lot afterwards to celebrate.
James couldn’t get him alone until they were on the wings of the stage, about to go on. But, something was going on and the music could wait an extra minute or two if it meant making sure Sirius was okay.
“What happened?” James asked.
Sirius looked up at him, eyes slightly dilated and blurry. Had he done more shots than James had noticed? “He isn’t coming.”
“Who?”
“Reggie. He’s not coming to the show.”
Sirius left to go on stage before James could say anything, and James had to take a couple of seconds to reorient himself and follow him on, playing the first chords of the song over the roar of the crowd. His thoughts became one with the music, and for seventy eight minutes all he knew was G, E Minor, F, A Minor, F.
James sang like it was all he knew how to do, he played the guitar like it was what he was born doing. He was sweaty and gross, and he was high on adrenaline, not getting tired once as he ran around the stage and interacted with the crowd. Oh, he absolutely loved interacting with the crowd. If it wasn’t for their security banning it, James would jump down in an instant and shake every single one of their hands.
With each passing day, James was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He was waiting for the rough side of fame, the price of selling your soul to be adored. Everyone told them there was a shadow monster that followed around famous people, a darkness that wanted to swallow them whole. Whatever it was, it hadn’t caught up to them yet.
Had it been a normal night, James would have gone out with everyone else. But he had something he needed to do before he could let loose. He was buzzing with energy when he got off the stage, and he was planning on using it to do something good. Or, something that he really hoped would end up being good.
“You aren’t coming out tonight?” Sirius asked, a tiny pout on his lips.
James shook his head. “Sorry mate, not feeling it.”
“Are you sick?” Peter asked.
He knew this would be a problem, trying to get his friends to understand that they didn’t need to go out drinking and smoking after every single performance. It could just be pure art without the pressure of falling into alcohol and drugs.
And, even if James did want to go out with them, he really did have things he needed to fix. They entertained the crowd to the fullest extent, they had done their job beautifully, but it was at least obvious to them that Sirius was off.
James needed to fix it.
What kind of a person didn’t go to their brother’s show? Especially a person that was literally on the tour with them? James knew better than to think that the Black brother’s were simple. They argued so passive aggressively sometimes that as an outsider looking in, it just appeared as though they were having a normal conversation.
“No, Pete. I just…I’m tired tonight, is all,” he lied. If anything, they would understand what it meant to be tired. When they were still in school, the only gigs they could get sometimes were ones on random Thursday at almost midnight, and that was after a full day of school and Remus trying to get them to do their homework.
“Stars don’t need homework, Moony,” Sirius had told him over and over. Even at sixteen, Sirius Black knew that this was the life he was destined for, nobody dared try to contradict him, they knew it was true too.
Sirius and Peter, with their arms thrown over each other’s backs, started walking towards a nearby bar, kicking their legs up high and singing a song that they hadn’t actually finished writing yet, being as loud and obnoxious as they possibly could be.
“So, what’s the truth?” Remus asked him, waiting back for an extra beat. James pressed his lips together. If he couldn’t lie, he could just say nothing. “Prongs?”
James sighed, losing his guard. He could tell Remus anything because he actually knew how to keep it a secret. “To talk to Regulus.”
He didn’t look surprised in the slightest, like maybe that was exactly what he had been expecting. “What about?”
“You’ll find out when I’m successful,” James said confidently, starting to walk backwards in the opposite direction. The bus was parked around back, and hopefully that was where Regulus would still be waiting.
Remus smiled. “Sounds a bit like wishful thinking, no?”
Before James could answer, Sirius was yelling for Remus to join them, standing impatiently about fifteen yards away with Peter.
“Lupin? Now or never darling!” Remus rolled his eyes, but there was a tiny blush on his cheeks.
“Take care of him tonight?” James asked even though he didn’t need to. When Sirius was sad or disappointed, he tended to go way overboard during a night out. Remus took care of all of them, even if he pretended he hated it when they called him mum, they knew he loved them.
James pretended that he waited until he lost sight of his friends because he wanted to be sure that they were able to get where they were going, but in truth, he was a bit scared. There was something about talking to Regulus that made James a little bit stupid. He had noticed it that very first night, when his music had been too loud.
But, he turned on his heel and walked around the back of the venue. Albeit, he walked slowly, but progress is progress either way.
***
After five hours, Regulus decided he absolutely hated touring. He could not get comfortable on the couch, particularly with the inability to lay on his side because of his wrist. The ride was not smooth, it was hot, there was no space, it was very loud, and it smelled like exhaust.
Really, he did try not to be miserable, but it was hard to find any good in a bus with four other guys. He heard when his brother and the tall one woke up, they talked loud and didn’t have any problem with waking him up again because of it. So, he couldn’t help but be grumpy.
Plus, optimism had never been his strong suit.
He hated it even more when after barely any on and off again sleep, Peter came to wake him up officially, saying that there was breakfast and coffee. And he was going to have to eat it even if he wasn’t hungry because Sirius was now watching his food habits like a hawk.
Another thing Regulus hated?
James Potter without a shirt.
What the fuck was he doing? Regulus could only see his back first, but he could tell that James was fit, and he couldn’t look away, not for a long time.
He looked sinful.
Regulus pretended he hated it, for his own sake. He refused to look at James and grabbed the coffee, saying a general thank you since he didn’t know who had gone to pick it up. It was crowded up there though, and getting increasingly hard to breathe, so he made his way to the back of the bus again and shut the door.
It wasn’t any easier to breathe.
His mind was already starting to curate a very long to-do list, and there was a reason Regulus had yet to even plug in his phone. Unfortunately, he couldn’t just disappear from the world, even if he had been kidnapped, (God, he still could not fucking believe that his own brother literally stole him out of the hotel. It was insane, he was clinically insane.) Regulus still had responsibilities.
When Peter asked if he could hang back there with him, Regulus just saw it as another excuse to wait on all of that, and he said yes.
He found Peter to be a little bit odd, if he was honest. His demeanor was overall kind, although it was clear that he didn’t take much bullshit. He was funny but in an unassuming way, he made people laugh without trying to be funny, and most of the time didn’t know what they were laughing about. He also liked to talk. A lot.
Every single thought that popped into his head, he just shared it with Regulus. He didn’t seem to be affected when Regulus didn’t answer, or said something rude or sarcastic, he still just kept talking. It was easy for him to understand how Peter and Sirius were friends right then, they probably just talked at each other for hours and never got bored.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Regulus didn’t look up from the book he was reading. He had no idea who it belonged to, just that he saw it sitting out and was bored enough to give it a try. So he obviously was not actively listening to Peter. He knew he was saying something , he just didn’t know what it was.
“No.”
Peter threw his hands up in frustration. “I was telling you something important.”
“Doubtful.”
Peter grabbed the book out of his hands, and Regulus slowly brought his eyes up to see Peter staring at him. He noticed his blue eyes first, and they almost scared him a little with how purely blue they were. And then the light dusting of freckles that was probably from hours spent in the sun that summer made Regulus realize he had never actually looked at Peter.
“Are we gonna make out right now?”
Regulus fought a smile as he looked away. “You’re not my type,” he said. “And don’t lose my page.”
Peter kept his finger in between the pages that Regulus was reading, but of course now he was intrigued. “Because I’m a man?”
“Because you’re blonde.”
Peter started laughing, a loud sound that came bubbling out of him with no warning. It was so… pure, almost. He didn’t know how to describe it, just that it was real and it was obnoxious and it made Regulus smile despite himself.
“Can I have the book back?”
“No,” Peter said, dropping all the humor on his face to speak flatly.
“No?”
“I told you that I was telling you something important.”
“So tell me then.”
“We have to go to soundcheck.”
Oh?
“Is that all?” Regulus asked.
Peter smiled at him, handing Regulus his book back (still open to his page, thankfully) as he started to stand up. “Want to come?”
He was bored out of his mind and starting to get incredibly claustrophobic, but he still said no. He didn’t want to intrude on more space that wasn’t his, he already felt so uncomfortable in a bus full of stuff that didn’t belong to him. And Regulus knew he didn’t belong at a concert, let alone a soundcheck.
It was another part of the reason he couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel welcome, although he didn’t really feel that way either. It wasn’t any of their faults, in fact they had gone out of their way thus far to treat him like he was supposed to be there, but Regulus knew when he wasn’t wanted. So, he would eat a muffin for breakfast in front of Sirius, he would take care of his body and his wrist, and he would be back home within the week.
But still, it wasn’t so much that he didn’t feel welcome, it was that he didn’t feel like he belonged there. He wasn’t like Sirius or his bandmates. He wasn’t loud, or spontaneous, or any good at singing. He didn’t do drugs, he hadn’t smoked weed in years, he only drank occasionally, and never during performance season.
He just didn’t fit in there.
After they all left for the soundcheck, Regulus decided to go on a walk. He found out they were in Charleston, although he didn’t know what that meant outside of the fact that it was a city in Carolina. Peter had mumbled something about a North and a South, but he hadn’t been listening very well.
He brought his phone with him, and it was charged now. He was just absolutely dreading the moment that he was going to turn it on. He imagined there were going to be calls and texts from Pandora, asking if he was okay. There were going to be hundreds of voicemails from Dorcas as well, which he would delete before listening to he was sure. She would be saying the same thing in all of them anyway, asking him if he was okay, what happened, call her back, etc. etc.
And he would have an e-mail from his company, probably firing him or inviting him to their office to fire him in person. That was a sure thing that he did not want to think about yet. During a performance last year one of the girls stumbled out of a turn and she was fired within the hour.
It was terrible and cruel, but it was ballet.
First, he texted Pandora back. He thought about never answering her, but he didn’t want to lose the few friends he did have, and she was always kind to him, even when he was being an asshole. He let her know he was fine and that he just fainted, sugar coating it as much as possible and breezing right past the injury.
His finger hovered over the call button as he tried to calculate what time it was in London. He knew he needed to call Dorcas, she was probably worrying about him, and she was just as much his friend as Pandora was. Except, she was much scarier and he knew he was going to be lectured for not answering his phone for twenty four hours.
He pressed call before he could think better of it and brought the phone up to his ear, kicking rocks on the sidewalk as he went. He thought that America was a bit odd, they did everything backwards.
“Regulus Black what the actual fuck?”
He grimaced slightly, stopping at a bench and taking a seat. “Hey Cas,” he said, trying to keep his tone as light and airy as possible.
“You are literally the worst.”
“I know.”
“I got a phone call at like 2 in the fucking morning telling me you passed out on stage?”
“Yeah, that’s true,” he mumbled, like maybe if he talked quietly enough she wouldn’t hear him.
An old couple walked by him and they both gave him big smiles. Regulus couldn’t even attempt to return it, his stomach was entirely unsettled when Dorcas took a long time to answer him.
“Are you firing me?” he asked, hoping to relieve the tension.
“You fucking idiot.”
“I didn’t mean to pass out,” he defended.
“What? No, God. Fucking idiot, proving it yet again.”
“Wow, really feeling the love.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” he said automatically. He didn’t stop to think about it, he hadn’t really. His entire life just sort of changed, and his feelings about the whole thing were still very conflicted.
“Regulus?”
“I don’t want to talk about that.”
“Okay.” She paused for another beat. “So, where are you then? Back in town?”
He had to tell her, he knew that. He just didn’t want to explain how he let himself be kidnapped by four of the most annoying people he knew. Really, he should have put up much more of a fight, but (and he would never admit this out loud) it was nice to be cared for.
“I’m on tour,” he said.
“Tour?”
“I broke my wrist when I passed out,” he said, deciding to not answer any of her questions until the end. “My brother forced me to go on tour with him for a week so that he can clear his conscience.”
“Your brother Sirius Black?”
“Yes.”
“The Marauders?”
Regulus paused. Was Dorcas a fan and he just simply hadn’t known this entire time? “Are you about to ask me for concert tickets?”
“Wait, did you say you broke your wrist?”
Regulus explained what happened, in his own ‘sugar coated not all that bad except it’s actually very dramatic and I’m dying’ sort of way. It was a lot better to talk about it than he thought it would be, especially because Dorcas at least understood in a way his brother or his friends ever could.
They talked for a long time, long enough that Regulus got up to start walking again so that he didn’t really know where he was anymore. Very purposefully, Dorcas was not saying anything about the state of Regulus’ job.
He knew he was brilliant at ballet, it was his entire life, he was one of the most (if not the most) well known name at the moment. By now though, his reputation was completely tanked. He messed up at a professional ballet, there was simply no coming back from that.
There were people that had just been waiting for him to tank, for him to mess up and do something wrong. He was sure there were people who enjoyed it as well, they enjoyed that the man who could simply do no wrong had fallen, literally.
“Cas?”
“Reg.”
“Just say it.”
She waited a beat. “They don’t want you back.”
It was exactly what he had been expecting to hear, so he didn’t understand why it felt like she had just reached in and ripped his heart out. He had only ever done ballet to make his parents happy, he had succeeded in it to make them proud, and that had never even worked. It was his whole life, and now he was nobody.
———
He had to use GPS to find his way back to the tour bus, and he almost didn’t make it when his phone was about to die on him just before he got back.
It was empty, not even the driver was there, and Regulus realized they were probably on stage. He had completely forgotten that they had a show that night. Was he supposed to go? He wasn’t sure if Sirius would even want him there.
And he was exhausted.
He really had gotten no sleep the night prior, and he was planning on using the fact that the bus was empty to actually sleep. He left the door to the back of the bus open, trying to make himself feel less caged in. Regulus had no idea how Sirius was planning on doing this for months.
When they were younger they had to spend hours locked inside tiny cupboards or closets. Their parents would just put them in there if they acted out or threw a tantrum and sometimes forget that they were in there. They used to have to sneak each other food if it went well past dinner time. Regulus has hated tiny spaces ever since then.
He opened the windows as well, not caring that the air was sticky and humid because it was helping him breathe.
Regulus must have only been asleep for an hour or two, and even that hardly counted since he kept floating in and out of consciousness, when he heard somebody get on the bus. A small part of him thought that maybe someone was coming to murder him, and he welcomed it until he saw the figure of James Potter walking towards him.
Regulus froze, he couldn’t help it. James was wearing bell bottom jeans and a t-shirt that was tight around his arms. His hair was damp and sweaty, and his face was glowing from it. There was no doubt in his mind that he had just finished playing the show, and his breathing was still a little uneven like maybe he had been working out.
Another thing he noticed? James was angry about something.
He stood in the doorway of the backroom, his arms crossed and his gaze narrowed. It was enough that it made Regulus sit up, mostly in confusion.
“Have you just been here the whole time?” James asked him.
Regulus blinked, wondering why James would even care where he had been. They weren’t exactly friends, in fact they had only spoken to each other maybe a grand total of ten minutes since they met.
“Not the whole time, no.”
“You didn’t come to the show.”
“I wasn’t invited.”
“Bullshit.”
Regulus sighed, he wasn’t exactly in the mood for this conversation, he wasn’t in the mood for anything, and that was exactly what he told James.
“Go away, Potter.”
“It’s my tour bus.” Regulus clenched his jaw, because yeah, it was his tour bus. Regulus was all too aware of that fact and it wasn’t making staying there any easier. “Are you going to say something?”
“What do you want me to say? I’m here against my will, my arm is a hindrance in my daily life, I can’t sleep for more than twenty minutes at a time, I lost my job, my only friends are overseas, and I have to fucking deal with you for the next week. So, really James, what do you want me to say?”
James opened and closed his mouth, and Regulus immediately regretted every single word he had just said. Because, oh fuck why did he do that? He didn’t want to open any sort of lines of communication with James, and Regulus could just tell that he was the kind of person who actually talked about their feelings.
So, in his usual style, Regulus avoided that at all costs and left the bus as quickly as he could.
James followed him.