“Morning, lazy bum.” James smiled when he saw Evan looming over him, hair tangled and cheeks rosy. He squinted and reached to grab his glasses from the bedside table but Evan picked them up after he missed them the first time, placing them on his face and kissing his nose before standing up and walking over to the wardrobe.
“I’ve been waiting for you to wake up, thought you were slipping into a coma or something. Why do you have to be such a deep sleeper? It’s terrifying.”
James laughed and sat up, leaning against the headboard and watching as Evan picked out an outfit, waiting for him to turn around and say what James was waiting to hear. But he didn’t.
Regulus walked in a moment later and shuffled past Evan, kissing his cheek as he did. He walked over to the dressing table and picked up an eyeliner, ducking his head slightly to apply it in the mirror.
“Thought I’d lost this, I was searching the other bedroom thinking I’d left it in there from when Barty and I stayed there last week.”
James nodded and hesitated. “Reg?” Regulus looked at James’ reflection in the corner of the mirror.
“Yah?”
“Where is Bar? I can’t hear him crashing around downstairs”
Regulus capped the eyeliner and put it down, turning around and leaning back against the dressing table.
“He went out. Left at 4 in the morning.”
“Why were you even awake at 4 in the morning?”
Even sighed and Regulus grinned slyly. “I dunno, ask Evan.”
James coughed and Evan turned around quickly, pausing from fastening his buttons. “Oh, no, no we weren’t…whatever, don’t listen to Reg, he’s a nightmare.” He jabbed a threatening finger at Regulus and scowled. “Keep it shut.”
He didn’t. “Ev here decided it would be a wonderful idea to smother me whilst I was sleeping and wake me up when I was half dead.”
Evan rolled his eyes and looked at James. “He’s exaggerating. I didn’t smother anyone.”
“Oh, I don’t know, I’d say that waking up out of breath with your hand over my face was pretty smother-y, wouldn’t you?”
Before they could start bickering, James decided to cut it. “Right, well, why was he leaving at 4?”
Regulus shrugged. “Dunno, said he had to do preparations for the best day of the year and left.”
James smiled at that, at least one person had remembered.
“Oh?”
Evan nodded. “Yeah, he left a note on the counter saying he was going to visit his mum to surprise her for Mother’s Day, must be nice, having a good mother. At least we have you and Bar’s mums to spend the day with though. Never really cared much for Mother’s Day myself though to be fair. In my eyes, March 27th is just the same as any other day, right Reg.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
Oh.
Of course, Mother’s Day.
Well, it would be too awkward to bring it up now, he didn’t want to make them all feel guilty, he could just wait it out and see if they remember. Or pretend nothing was wrong and never bring the day up again.
-
“Pads?”
“Jamie! Happy birthday! How are you?”
James couldn’t help but smile at that. If anyone was going to remember, it was Sirius. He didn’t think he’d ever been as grateful for his best friend in his life as he was in that moment.
“Hey Pads, erm, thanks! I’m gre- yeah, no there’s no point in lying, I feel shit.”There was a beat of silence and James saw Regulus come in from outside and put his thumb up as a question. James smiled and nodded and Regulus walked off, not seeming the slightest bit bothered.
“Why? What happened? Did you get a crap gift or something?”
James sighed and flopped into the armchair behind him.
“Oh, I wish. They forgot, Pads, they bloody forgot.”
A pause.
“Eh? I’m afraid you’re gonna need to be a little more specific, there, mate.”
James closed his eyes and tightened his grip on the phone in his hand, resisting the urge to scream and throw it across the room.
“My fiances, Sirius. My bloody fiances all forgot my fucking birthday! All of-...they- Reg and Bar and Ev…they forgot.”
Saying it out loud made it feel even worse. His fiances, the people who were supposed to love him to the ends of the earth, had forgotten his 26th birthday.
“Oh, shit, Prongs. I’m so sorry, fuck. I swear I am coming down there right now to beat my sorry excuse for a brother right in the-”
“No, Sirius, don’t- I don’t want to cause a fuss…can I just come over please?”
He heard shuffling and a muffled conversation, then Sirius responded, sounding slightly pitiful but not without excitement in his voice.
“Of course, you can. You know you’re welcome any time. We’re practically brothers, aren’t we? I mean, we will actually be brothers-in-law soon, won’t we? Unless you call off the engagement for Reg forgetting your birthday, that is.”
“Sirius.” He muttered and heard Remus do the same thing somewhere behind Sirius.
“Yeah, no, sorry, not helpful. Anyway, we were gonna invite you anyway but thought you might be spending the day with your little snakes. Remus said he can cook and I’ll ask Pete to come rond, maybe Lils and Pandora too. Sound good?”
James smiled and nodded, despite knowing Sirius could not see him.
“Yeah, I’ll be there soon. Thanks.”
“No problem, see ya.” Sirius hung up and James put his mobile back in his pocket, walking into the kitchen.
“Hey guys, I was gonna go round to Sirius and Remus’ place for lunch. Remus is cooking a big meal and everyone’s gonna be there so…”
Evan turned around and smiled and Reg nodded from where he was sat at the breakfast bar.
“Ooh, that’s nice, why’s he cooking? Any special occasion?”
Yes.
“Nah, just a nice meet up, it’s been a while.”
Regulus nodded again, looking back down at his phone. “Well, have fun.”
James nodded and hesitated before kissing the two of them quickly and turning to leave.
Regulus called out behind him and James turned around again.
“Love?”
“Yup?”
“Me and Ev were about to pop down the street to get some bits so we might be back late. Make sure you take your keys with you so you can let yourself back in.”
He nodded and turned back around, Regulus said ‘See you soon, love you.’ after him but Jams ignored it, thinking ‘If you really did, you would have remembered.’ but he kept it to himself and left silently.
-
Lunch went well, everyone had remembered and brought gifts for him. It wasn’t the gifts he was glad of, though, it was the fact that at least some people had remembered it was his birthday apart from his parents, from whom he had received an essay length message from a few minutes before he pulled into the drive at his friends’ house.
It had gone so well that he had almost forgotten about how sad he was. That was, until he got an incoming call from ‘Homicidal soulmate <3’.
Had Barty remembered what day it was? Or was he just going to say something that would make the whole situation even worse?
“Baby, hi. Yeah, erm, I’m out at the moment and I left my wallet at home. I’m at the shop around the corner from my mum’s place, she went to take a bath after dinner so I decided to get her some flowers but my wallet isn’t on me and phone pay isn’t working so would you mind grabbing it for me and bringing it along? They close in 20 so I don’t have enough time to go back and get it myself so it’s easier if you grab it for me. It’s on the dining room table, right in the middle.”
“Erm, Bar, love, I’m actually-”
“Thanks, baby, you’re a lifesaver. Love you,” With that, Barty hung up and it took every ounce of strength in James not to punch the wall and message Barty back, telling him to fuck himself and get his wallet himself.
“Erm, guys, I actually need to go now.”
-
When he got back, the lights were all off and the others were clearly not in, he flicked the switch for the main dining room light and waited for it to flicker on before walking up to the table and looking for the wallet. It wasn’t there, in fact, the only thing that was there was an envelope addressed to ‘Idiot.’
He sighed and flipped it over, seeing the small writing in the bottom that said ‘Yes, Jem, that’s you.’
He hesitated, then slid a finger into the gap at the top of the envelope and tope it open, taking out the paper inside.Before he had too much of a chance to read them, he heard giggling from the kitchen, followed by shushing and then the kitchen light flickering on, revealing Evan, Barty and Regulus standing under the doorframe, each with a completely different expression.
“Oh, well done, you fools, you spoiled the whole thing!” Regulus stepped out from under the doorway, raising his arms and letting them drop to his sides in exasperation. He then turned to James.
“Sorry, love, the surprise is ruined now. We were supposed to jump out after you read them but these two seemed to have other ideas.”
Evan gawked and pointed at a smirking Barty. “It’s his fault! He’s the one who decided to start kissing my neck whilst I was trying to focus on not laughing!”
James only stared.
“I am…very confused.”
Barty stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “Read the papers, baby.”
He read them through, then looked up at the three others with a slight frown.
“Tickets to Sweden?”
Regulus nodded and pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek. “Yup, the four of us will be going to the airport tomorrow morning and won’t be back for 4 weeks. Don’t worry, I’ve already called into work and told them you’d be off.”
“They were okay with it?”
Regulus opened his mouth and paused for a few seconds, thinking over what to say. “I mean, it took a bit of persuasion but-”
“You blackmailed them?!”
“No! I didn’t blackmail them…I just did a bit of light bribery, that’s all.”
Barty raised his hand. “I helped.”
Evan scoffed then and stepped out so he was also crowded around James.
“Fucking hell, stop taking all the credit, you two. It was my idea to pretend we forgot his birthday in the first place, was it not?”
James gasped and turned to face him. “Oh, you clever, nasty little madman! Do you realise how much you fucked with my brain? I will never be the same again!”
Evan only shrugged. “It was worth it, though. You should have seen your face when you realised we weren’t going to mention your birthday! You looked like a kicked puppy! I swear, it took all I had in me to not run over and hug you right then!”
He chuckled and lifted James’ face, cupping it gently in his hands and smiling at the glare he was shooting him. He gently kissed his forehead, then his nose, then his lips, succeeding in turning James’ glare into a small smile.
“It was quite funny.” Regulus added and James groaned. “When you just ignored me saying I loved you, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I almost did both, so it was a good thing you didn’t turn around.” James closed his eyes, groaning again and letting his head all heavily onto Regulus’ shoulder, burying his face in his neck as his fiance pulled him closer, still laughing softly.
“Happy birthday, Jem.” Barty whispered from beside them. “We love you.”
James smiled and muttered back. “Unfortunately, I still love you all too.”