Black Brothers have a Moment
Naptime. The best time of the day. Or times.
Asher was four months now, and not only was he sleeping through the night, but he was also taking two naps a day. They were only a couple hours, but it gave them time to do whatever they wanted.
No, that doesn’t mean sexy times… Well sometimes it did. But mostly it was catching up on laundry or dishes or whatever chore had been put off. Then when they finished that, they got to take a nap of their own until Asher woke up.
Remus had just finished throwing the last load of laundry into the dryer and now he was waiting in their room, scrolling through Instagram. He wanted to wait till Sirius came back from putting Asher down, but it was taking him awhile today. Making his way down the hall, he peeked into the nursery to see Sirius in the rocker, still holding a sleeping Asher.
Knocking softly on the door so he didn’t startle his fiancé, he came into the room, “Pads, why don’t you put him in the crib?” He asked, rubbing a hand over the other man’s shoulder.
His eyes widened as a soft sniffle answered him, Sirius wiping at his face with his free hand. Remus squatted down in front of him, frowning as he saw tear-streaked cheeks, “Baby, what’s wrong?”
Sirius shook his head, “Non, nothing’s wrong. It’s just-” He cut himself off with a huff, looking down at Asher’s sleeping face. “I remember when I was little, and our nanny let me hold Reg for the first time. He looked a lot like Asher, same dark hair, same pale skin. He was so small. And I-I told him that I would always protect him.”
Watching Sirius’s face, Remus waited. He knew the topic of his childhood was hard for Sirius to talk about, but when he started it was best to let him get it all out. Sirius got up carefully, moving Asher into his crib.
“I didn’t protect him, Re. I just left him there with them, knowing how bad they were, knowing how they treated us. My baby brother.” He croaked out, a broken sob falling from his lips.
Remus quickly pulled Sirius to his chest, a gentle hand rubbing over his back, “Baby, no. You can’t blame yourself for how they treated him. Treated you. You had to get out of there. And you did get him out. He’s out now, Pads. You did that. You helped him.” He murmured, pressing a soft kiss to the top of his head.
Nuzzling into the other man’s shoulder, Sirius let out a shaky sigh, “I could’ve done more.” He whispered.
Remus led him to their room, pulling him under the covers with him, “I’ve got you, baby.” He said softly, tracing gentle shapes over Sirius’s back as he dozed off, unaware of the text Remus sent out.
An hour or so later, Sirius woke when there was movement next to him, “Re?” He rasped, voice rough from tears and disuse.
“Close.”
Sirius turned to face the unexpected voice, “Reg?”
Humming softly, Regulus nodded, “Salut, frère.” He was sitting in their bed as if he belonged there, leaned back on the headboard in a pair of sweats and a frayed Snakes hoodie. Sirius blinked at him slowly, as if he still wasn’t sure what was happening.
“What’re you doing here?” Sirius asked as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he leaned on the headboard next to his brother. He asked the question, but now that he thought about it, Sirius knew why he was there. “Did Remus call you?”
Regulus glanced over at him before fiddling with the frayed edges of his hoodie sleeves, “I know we don’t talk about these kinds of things a lot, we go to therapy for a reason. But I suppose there are some things we should be saying directly.” It sounded practiced. Rehearsed, but not in a robotic way. More like he had been thinking it for a while.
“Probably. But we’ve never really been the best at saying things that should be said.” Sirius said with a sad smile.
A soft exhale came from next to him, making Sirius turn to face his brother again. “Siri, you know I don’t blame you, right?” The old nickname hurt, opened a few old wounds he thought were healed. Or at least scarred over. “I-It was a bad time, bad situation for both of us. I was angry, but I couldn’t be mad at you. You needed out of there. I know that.”
Sirius let out a shaky breath as the tears filled his eyes again, “But I should’ve gotten you out too. I shouldn’t have just left you with them.”
Regulus shook his head, “That wasn’t really an option back then. I see that now. What were you going to do? Kidnap me? Hide me in Dumo’s basement? They would’ve found me. You were 18, Sirius. I’m glad you got out when you did. And you did get me out. Even if it was years later, you got me out. And it’s the best thing that’s happened to me. That’s because of you. A-And I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough.” A tear fell down his cheek, his hand automatically coming to wipe it away.
Before he could catch the next one, Sirius had pulled him in for a hug, “Je t'aime tant, mon étoile.” He whispered, squeezing Regulus close. The younger boy let out a shaky breath, leaning into his brother.
“I love you too, Siri. No one could ever change that.”