in which 2 bros do bro things
Pandora was sitting beside Regulus’ cot. She was reading a dark teal, thick book; ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott. Sometimes she would stop reading for a moment to talk to Regulus: “Aunt March is being incredibly rude to Jo again, I feel pretty bad for her. I almost relate to Jo in a way, I don’t get along with my aunt either.” She audibly annotated, “I too feel like an outcast sometimes, you know?” She glanced up at Regulus, as if she was expecting a response.
He lay still, his face pale, but with a calm expression across it. It had only been a few hours since the incident, but apparently Madam Pomfrey had him on a pretty heavy sedative while the potion she had given him settled. Pandora huffed and set down the book, looking into her best friend’s face. It had been long enough, she wanted him to just wake up already.
That’s when she noticed his hand twitching slightly. “Reg?” she questioned. His eyes started to lift up, though he felt just opening them was as hard as lifting a whole stack of books. “Hey, Dingolay.”
When they had first become friends, Regulus had explained to Pandora that he was named after the star in the Leo constellation. She thought it was a bit strange. “They might as well have named you ‘Dingolay,’” she had said.
“Dingolay?” he had replied, eyebrows furrowed together.
Pandora grinned at that. “Dingolay is another star in the Leo constellation. I think they should have named you that, it fits you better,” she teased.
Regulus had scoffed at that. “Dingolay does not fit me in any way. It sounds like the name of a— a bloody bell or something!” he complained.
She laughed at his annoyed expression. “Whatever you say, Dingolay.”
“Don’t call me that,” he slurred out. Dora’s mouth widened ever so slightly, but it seemed to warm up the room. “How long have I been out?” Regulus inquired, still struggling to keep his eyelids lifted.
Pandora spoke softly. “About three hours, I think. Sirius just popped by again, actually.”
Regulus perked up at the sound of his brother’s name, “Sirius?” He itched his arm, a bad habit he has when confused or stressed.
“Mhm, he tries to be sneaky about it, just glancing in real quick and then walking right back out.” Pandora answered. “I’m going to go let Madam Pomfrey know that you’ve awoken, I’ll be back later.” She ruffled his hair a bit, careful not to touch the bandage.
“Bye, Dora,” he muttered. A sudden thought occurred to him. “Oh! And don’t let Barty or Evan know that I’m awake yet!” he shouted. She gave him a thumbs-up before exiting. He might as well take advantage of the peace and quiet while stuck here. Barty and Evan won’t mind if he is strangely still asleep for another hour or two.
James had been struggling to keep his relationship a secret since the quidditch game. He couldn’t seem too anxious, but he couldn’t seem like he didn’t care. Luckily, Sirius was too focused on pretending he himself didn’t care to notice James’ fidgeting.
He sat in his dormitory before finally deciding to peer at the map. Sirius and Remus were both in Professor McGonagall’s classroom (who was taking a weekend trip to Diagon Alley). James nearly gagged imagining what was happening in there. All James cared about was that Sirius was busy (very busy).
He briefly glanced at Marlene and Dorcas’ names in the astronomy tower, but didn’t pay attention to it. James started towards the hospital wing, wanting to make the most out of Sirius being too busy to notice he was gone.
When he reached his destination, he peeked in, and saw there was nobody sitting beside Regulus besides Madam Pomfrey. He relaxed a bit and continued over to the cot.
Regulus’ head turned to look at James. “Hey, Potter,” he grumbled out.
James was frozen in confusion for a moment. “You’re — you’re awake,” he said, mostly to himself.
“Nice observation, genius.” Regulus quipped.
Madam Pomfrey finished wrapping the new bandage around Regulus’ head. “You two can have five minutes. Then I want you to try and sleep s’more,” she ordered. James nodded silently, knowing she was probably being stern with him due to the countless times he tried to visit Remus after full moons. She hated that, constantly reminding him Remus needed his rest.
She turned around and walked away, leaving James and Regulus in an awkward silence. James cleared his throat, “So, uh— how are you feeling?”
Regulus broke the silence with a laugh. James narrowed his eyebrows. “What? What did I do?”
Once Regulus collected himself, he replied, “Nothing, nothing; I’ve just fallen from the sky and been unconscious for three hours for you to ask how I’m feeling.”
James was taken aback by the honest feelings from Regulus; they were quite uncommon. He guessed that it was likely from some of the drugs he was still getting out of his system. James audibly scoffed at him. “Well… seriously, though, how are you feeling?”
Regulus gave a light shrug. “Mostly embarrassed. Do you know if they’re going to call my parents?”
James inhaled sharply when the subject of Walburga and Orion was brought up. He had comforted Sirius about his parents too many times to count over the years, but Regulus tried to say nice things about them, or just avoid the topic altogether. “Probably. I’m not sure though.”
Regulus nodded, looking down at his hands.
James thought for a moment about how different Sirius and Regulus were. If Sirius had been in the hospital wing for a quidditch incident, it would’ve been all, “Oh, Moony! I need you to kiss me, it hurts!”
“Why embarrassed?” James asked, causing Regulus to look back up at him.
Regulus stared at him like he was crazy. “I fell off my bloody broom, Potter.”
James rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but everyone saw it, it wasn’t your—”
“Everyone saw it?” James was cut off. He looked at Regulus, who had a faint mist in his eyes that James hadn’t noticed before.
“No! Not everyone! But the people who did know you were knocked off, it wasn’t your fault.” James tried to clear up, but he hesitated too long. Regulus would never believe it.
“You’re really good at cheering people up.” Regulus grumbled, looking down at his hands again.
“I’m good at cheering most people up, you’re just…” James trailed off. “… a special case,” he finished, causing Regulus to snicker. It was true though. James had comforted Remus after full moons, Sirius about his parents, Peter about missions his sister went on. Almost any of his friends could vouch for him being a great comfort to them, but Regulus was more difficult.
For starters, he didn’t care for being touched, so a magical Potter Hug(inc.) would not work. Regulus only seemed to shut people out, other than maybe Pandora.
The only time James had ever seen Regulus cry was in fourth year. Regulus had wished Sirius a happy birthday, and Sirius had simply walked away from him. James of course walked on with Sirius, but when he glanced over his shoulder, he thought he had seen a tear roll down Regulus’ cheek. Later, both him and Pandora hadn’t been at dinner.
Sometimes it made James a bit jealous of how close Pandora and Regulus were. They had been dating since the start of fifth year, and still, whenever Regulus seemed sad or frustrated, it was always, “I’m going to go speak with Pandora” or, “I’m fine, Potter, just going to hang out with Dora.” When would Regulus feel okay with talking to him?
James knew what it was like to have a best friend. He and Sirius were incredibly close, but Pads still was comfortable with Remus, and talked to Remus just as much, if not more.
“Reg, I really do mean it. I want you to feel like you can talk to me.” James held an uncommon sincerity in his voice, something Regulus wasn’t used to.
He nodded. “Let’s talk about this later, please.”
James knew Regulus most definitely would not bring it up later, but he just nodded, knowing that it really wasn’t the place or time. “‘Course, love.”
Regulus was usually the one to initiate the kiss; he would always look up a bit and set his arms on James’ shoulders. He enjoyed the little bit of control of being the one to press their lips together.
Regulus looked over at James, the same way always did before kissing him. His eyes seemed to see right through James, like they knew every little thought, detail, and feeling that James had ever felt.
James smirked a bit. “What is it?” He spoke with sarcasm dripping off the words.
Regulus, who couldn’t sit up enough to do anything simply rolled his eyes, “Just get over here, you prick.”
James lightly snorted, but complied, moving closer and softly pushing their lips together. As the kiss deepened, James’ hand found its way to Regulus’s cheek. He kissed with passion and depth, but tried to be gentle, especially due to Regulus’ concussion.
“Oi!” Shit. James jumped back from Regulus and turned to find who had yelled at them.
Sirius Black.