Regulus fiddled with his silver cufflinks in the mirror. He smiled fondly at the engraved R and P on respective buttons for Regulus Potter. He knew James was standing in the next room over at the end of the aisle with a nearly identical gold set of cufflinks with J and B carefully engraved on them for James Black. The gift was one of Remus Lupin’s finest ideas.
He gave himself a final and careful once over in the mirror, rocking nervously on the balls and heels of his feet. His suit was nice, incredibly tailored and extravagant. He had spent several hours with Sirius picking out the perfect one. Sirius had been more high maintenance than him that day and demanded that he try on nearly every suit in the store and rank them against Sirius’ incredibly meticulous criteria, but it was well worth it. Regulus thought he had never looked better than in this moment.
He heard the music play, and knew that it was his cue to enter. He took a deep breath in. His heart was beating with reckless abandon. Foolishly, Regulus found himself regretting the decision to walk down the aisle alone. He wanted it to be dramatic, he wanted everybody’s heads to turn and look at him with awe. He wanted James Fleamont Potter to see how lucky he was to be marrying the hottest man in the world, and he didn’t want to be inhibited by another person walking him down the aisle. But now that the moment had actually arrived, all he really wanted to do was hold James’ hand to calm his beating heart. God, he even wanted Barty and Evan to walk him there, one on each side, just to make sure he would actually make it, just to make sure he wouldn’t do something ridiculous like trip and fall. Sirius was out of the question, he already walked James down the aisle, and while he insisted he could also walk Regulus down the aisle as well, Regulus was still very much committed to making the walk solo.
The old wooden doors flung open with a flourish and by some stroke of luck, Regulus willed his feet to move forward, one step at a time. There was a lot to look at, a lot to take in. First were the flowers, everywhere and in full bloom. They were stunning and filled the entire chapel with the sweet scent of Spring. Tulips and hyacinths, snapdragons, and primroses, Spring flowers for a Spring wedding. Then there were the people; friends and family and friends who were family gathered in their bright colours and nicest attire. Familiar faces in the crowd, Pandora and Dorcas, and Barty and Evan. Lily was already crying and Marlene and Peter sat amicably side by side. James had invited everyone he knew and then some. Regulus was fairly certain he was inviting people off the street to attend. And then there was the sunlight filtering through the stained glass of the chapel. It bathed everything in a myriad of soft hazy colours, creating light patterns and rainbow fractals of colour splotches.
With so many splendid things to look at, Regulus thought that he would be overwhelmed, but he wasn’t. He was only focused on the most splendid thing in the room– James. Realistically, Regulus knew that he had achieved his intended dramatic entrance. He heard people turn and shuffle in their seats to look at him as he began walking down the aisle, he heard their soft gasps and little murmurs to one another but he didn’t care in the slightest. Each step he took got him a little bit closer to James who was standing at the end of the aisle with his hands folded nervously, absolutely beaming with love at the sight of Regulus. His usually wild and unruly hair was styled perfectly and his gold rimmed glasses would glint as they caught the light. He couldn’t be real, there had to be some mistake that someone so beautiful was standing at the end of the aisle waiting and wanting to be married to him.
When Regulus had finally made the interminable walk to stand across from James, he nearly collapsed at being in such close proximity to him. James was smiling so radiantly at him, Regulus felt it warm his entire body and he smiled back.
“Hi,” James whispered ever so quietly, his eyes misty with tears.
And Regulus didn’t think he could take it. He needed to sit down, he needed to burst into a million pieces and scream into stars and the vastness of space. He needed to do something because there was so much love. Just pure, unfiltered, unrestrained love, that had filled Regulus entirely to the brim and the excess had nowhere else to go, he was certain it was going to burst out of him at any second.
“Hi,” he whispered back. It could’ve been seconds later or hours, time was no match for the power of James Potter’s love. He was proud of himself for keeping it together. He was proud of himself for not crying, which is more than he could say for James at the present moment, but Regulus knew Evan and Barty would never let him live it down if he cried so soon into the ceremony.
The officiator was there. He was a short, kind man with wrinkles that indicated years of laughter and smiles and mirth. He had fuzzy white eyebrows and James adored him and the way he would talk with an enthusiastic lilt.
Regulus was aware that he was speaking, he was addressing both James and himself, and sometimes the crowd, but Regulus couldn’t hear a thing. He was only focused on James. James and the way his eyes would twinkle and the small smiles he would send Regulus and the slight nose scrunches. All things that would say ‘ I love you. Did you know that? I love you .’
Quickly, it was time for wedding vows. Regulus would’ve been happy with traditional ones. The ones that talk about to have and to hold and in sickness and in health for richer or poorer. Those seemed to cover all the bases, but James was a hopeless romantic. A hopeless romantic who insisted they write their own vows and who also insisted that Regulus go first.
Regulus took a nervous gulp and then a steadying breath in. He was now hyper aware of everyone’s eyes on him, of the stillness of the room around him, of his slightly shaky hands.
“I love you,” James mouthed silently across from him. As if Regulus needed a reminder. As if the way James was looking at him left any room for doubt. Still, it calmed him down slightly. It was just him and James, and the rest of the world melted away under his saccharine brown-eyed stare.
“I am someone who always wants everything to be perfect,” Regulus began, his voice wavering slightly. “When you told me that we’d be writing our own wedding vows, I wrote and rewrote them. I rehearsed and memorised them and then scrapped the whole thing and rewrote something new. I wrote these vows as you read to me on the couch in our flat. I wrote them as you cooked dinner and hummed along to the Beastie Boys and as you chased the moth out of our house screaming because we’re both terrified of bugs but you’re the one who’s brave enough to fight them. I wrote them from our bed as you slept next to me on a Sunday afternoon, basking in the warm sunlight, and as we laughed loudly with all our friends over breakfast. These vows consist of all of these instances, all of the time, everyday, in little and big ways that I love you. Endlessly. Endlessly and wildly and without fear that I’m doing it perfectly because the one thing I have always been certain about, is the fact that our love is perfect. You were the one to show me that love is unconditional, that love is its own form of magic that fills a room and warms your bones. A love that is bright and warm and more golden than summer. You love with the passion and radiance, and immensity of the sun. You are the sun, James,” Regulus choked out. James was crying again, which of course made Regulus begin to blink the tears out of his own eyes. ”You showed me a love that transcends time and exists in the infinite. You showed me love is forever. And now there is nothing left for me to do other than to lay myself down and be honoured to be in your orbit. So I, Regulus Black, promise you, James Potter, to love you every single day without fail, without fear, and as fiercely as I can. I promise to give you a lifetime of laughter and everything that I am. And today, I promise you, that if you give me your hand in marriage, I will give you forever.”
James wiped the tears from his eyes and took a shaky breath in before letting out a small laugh. “I’d apologise for crying but I am not at all sorry,” he began with a watery smile. “I actually wrote mine down, I couldn’t memorise them,” James said, pulling out a small folded note from his pocket and unfolding it carefully. His hands were shaking too as Regulus eyed the inky black words on the paper. “Regulus my love,” he started and Regulus felt his knees go dizzyingly weak. “You came into my life with all your wit and charm and wonder and I knew, before I even knew you were named after a star, that you were ethereal. You trusted me enough to be yourself, to let me in, and to do me the ridiculous honour of loving me. You leave me breathless at every glance, speechless at every smile, and absolutely and utterly devastated with every laugh. You make me better everyday and I am so indescribably lucky to know you and to love you and to call you mine. My hands were made to interlock with yours, my arms were made to hold you, and my heart was made from the very beginning with you in mind. I am completely enamoured with you, Regulus Black, and I will be until every last star in the galaxy dies and the sun fails to rise above the horizon each morning. I know that one lifetime will never be enough for us, and I’ll love you in every single one after this, but I am so lucky to share this one lifetime, this one singular moment, with you. What a beautiful place to start.”
Regulus was definitely crying now. He couldn’t help himself. He was too full of love and sheer happiness that all of the feelings needed somewhere to go. He couldn’t contain all of it within himself, and the feelings leaked out of his eyes and rolled down his cheeks.
Carefully, as delicately as he could, he placed a silver wedding band on James’ ring finger. Then, with the same care, James placed a gold wedding band on Regulus’ finger. It was no secret that James was a gold person, just as much as Regulus was a silver person, but this was the one exception. They would have a small piece of each other amongst their respective jewellery colours.
“Everyone gathered here today,” the officiant's voice rang out. “It is with great pleasure that I announce the official unification of Regulus and James Potter-Black. You may now kiss the groom.”
The entire room erupted into loud cheers and clapping as Regulus rushed forward and kissed James with everything he had, with everything that he was. He felt James smile against the kiss and he did the same.
A star collapsing into another star.
This was the perfect day, this was the start of their forever.