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Hands pressed uncomfortably into Regulus’ eyelids as he was awkwardly led across the metal platform of the Astronomy Tower.
“This better not be an elaborate scheme to off me, Potter.”
James laughed so forcefully that the hands covering his eyes dug into his skin. “Oops, sorry.”
He elected to ignore the obvious attempt on his life. “Are we there yet?”
“Almost, just a little bit further…” They moved several more steps in a slightly diagonal direction before he was abruptly halted in his tracks. “Okay, one moment. I just need to—”
As James stepped away, Regulus reflected on their many differences. Namely, James was a trusting, foolhardy Gryffindor, and Regulus was a sharp, underhand Slytherin. The moment he knew James’ back was turned, he peeked one eye open and immediately froze as his other eye opened, eager to drink in the sight.
Laid out across the otherwise plain floor of the Astronomy Tower was a sparkling emerald blanket complete with two plump, ruby red cushions placed opposite each other with a tiny candle on the outer edge. Between the cushions were a pair of crystal glasses, already topped with bubbling lemonade he could tell was freshly hand squeezed by the tang of citrus in the air. Fragrant honey bloomed from a carefully prepared bush of sweet alyssum draped across the railing of the tower’s viewing platform. Aside from the pearlescent glow of the half moon above them, the only other light in the tower came from a string of glowing orbs he recognised as James’ magic. The nearest one pulsed as he brushed his fingers over the outer edge and he couldn’t help but think that for as beautiful as they were, they had nothing on James Potter’s eyes.
Those very eyes had turned to face him, probably sensing Regulus’ inability to follow instruction.
Instead of calling him out on it, James only slowly raised the basket in his hands. A wicker basket he must have stashed behind a pillar, the reason he stepped away.
“I prepared some food,” James said carefully. He flipped open the top and began pointing as he shuffled over, dark brown skin beading with sweat as he showed off the treats. “Obviously it’s too late in the evening for a proper dinner but I thought you could take back whatever you don’t eat. There’s some sopes, pajeon, and samosas as savoury treats and then egg tarts, pan dulce, and a box of peppermint toads.”
“James…” Regulus’ breath hitched in his chest as he pulled out a transparent box. “Is that…”
“Delizia al Limone,” James said carefully. His pronunciation was almost perfect. “Barty said they’re your favourite.”
“He introduced me to them back in first year,” he said numbly. “I stole the whole box his mama made.”
“I had him ask her how they’re made. I made these myself. Hopefully they’re at least passable—”
“You…made these?” The box in his hands suddenly felt more precious than the emerald ring he inherited from Grandmother Melania.
“Yeah, sorry they’re not as pretty as Mama Crouch’s. She sent a few to taste along with the recipe. I think they’re decent.”
“My standards are quite a few notches above decent.”
James smirked and gestured to himself. “Well, I should hope so.”
Regulus rolled his eyes and set the box back in the basket. Smoothing down his robes, he sat primly on the plumper of the two cushions and gestured. “Are you going to sit?”
Someone must have hexed James with a vertigo spell as he seemed to lose all balance as he tumbled onto the blanket. Regulus quickly levitated the basket to save their food but wasn’t fast enough to rescue James’ glass of lemonade. The spill soaked half of the blanket and splashed the bottom hem of Regulus’ trousers. Gasping, he looked down at his shiny shoes, dripping with lemonade.
“These are new!”
“I’m so sorry, oh my— Merlin, fuck—” James tried to reach over to pat his shoes dry with the dry edge of the blanket only to somehow catch his sleeve on the flame from the candle on Regulus’ left. Frantic hands flapped at the blazing garment and Regulus could only stare in shock as James stole his surviving glass of lemonade to douse the flames, unintentionally splashing both of them.
In the ensuing silence, all Regulus could do was bite down on his lip as James' head bowed in mortification.
“Erm, I’m sorry. I’ll pay for your shoes…and your robes. Um, would you like me to walk you back to your dorm?” James asked quietly.
Regulus snorted.
James’ head snapped up. Wide, dark eyes peered at him helplessly. “I mean it. I’m so sorry.”
Regulus covered his mouth, weakly suppressing the fit of giggles which overcame him, and suddenly he was howling with laughter.
“It’s really not funny,” James said mulishly. “I put so much effort—”
Snickering, he fanned his burning cheeks. Stars, if anyone else made such a fool of themselves and him he would have backhanded them off the Astronomy Tower and stormed back to his dorm, then he would have spread all sorts of malicious rumours about them just for the sake of it.
But this was James Potter.
Silly, charming, adorable James who reached out to Regulus’ best friend to learn his favourite treats and spent hours his free time learning how to make those recipes himself.
How could he be anything but endeared?
“Oh, James,” he sighed, wiping at some of the lemonade splashed over James’ gold-framed glasses with his sleeve. “Why don’t you transfigure some glasses for us while I clean up the blanket?”
“I can do that!”
“I highly doubt you know many household cleaning spells.”
James sniffed. “Mama insisted I learn. In the Potter household, everyone does their part.”
Adorable. “Even still, you can do the glasses. I’ll handle the rest.”
Huffing, James did as instructed and Regulus pretended not to notice he was taking extra care to make the new glasses even flashier than before. Ridiculous boy. Regulus was so gone on him it wasn’t even funny.
Once the lemonade was flowing and the mood lightened, Regulus let himself giggle once more, and finally James joined with a hearty chuckle of his own. After nibbling on a samosa, he chased the spice away with some delizie al limone and some pan dulce. James ate most of the pajeon by himself before shyly holding up a peppermint toad for Regulus to bite.
They bickered slightly over the last of the sopes. Not over who would get it, they ended up splitting it, but over who would get the bigger half. Regulus insisted James deserved it since he made it but James refused to entertain the idea. At long last, Regulus ate the bigger half and once their hands were wiped clean, James offered up his glass and gently clinked the rims together.
“To us,” James said softly.
Regulus tapped his glass against James’. “To a successful first date,” he said shyly.
The floating baubles of light flared brightly enough to blind him and he snickered as James hurried to control his magic. Peeking through his eyelashes, he waited for James’ lights to dim before smirking outright.
“You disagree?”
“No!” James gaped. “Never, just…I didn’t realise we were using that word.”
“Oh, well, if you think it inaccurate—”
“No, no, no. Definitely a first date. Definitely a date. This is a date. We’re on a date. Hopefully the first of many. So many. Maybe too many. But not too many because we’re both happy to be here, even though I stained your shoes and set fire to my shirt and maybe caused you retinal damage—”
Regulus hid a smile behind his glass. James was stupid, and adorable, and adorably stupid.
“James?”
“Yeah?”
Setting his glass down, Regulus tilted his head. “Kiss me?”
James dropped his glass and vanished the shattered remains as he shuffled closer on the blanket. Unable to contain his giddiness, Regulus giggled again as they shyly leaned in. Mercifully, James was just as eager as he was so there was minimal awkwardness as their lips clumsily pressed together.
As he pulled away, he felt a vicious tingling on his lips and couldn’t help but brush his fingers over them with his fingertips. Who knew kissing could be so thrilling? His heart raced as their lips met again, and then again, and it was only after several minutes had passed with them exchanging a series of brief and lingering pecks that he realised something was wrong.
His heart was hammering so loudly in his chest he could hardly hear the murmured words of adoration dancing on James’ tongue. The tingling in his lips hadn’t abated in the slightest, if anything the sensation only grew more intense. A sudden urge to cough overwhelmed him and he abruptly turned away, shielding his mouth as his throat began to spasm in a way he was only vaguely familiar with.
Oh no.
“Regulus?”
Panicked, he clutched his throat and tried to breathe steadily as he wrapped his mind around what was happening. Trying to remain calm was almost impossible as his heart rate began to increase but he fought against the urge to choke on his own tongue and waved frantically at James.
“Oh, Merlin, what’s happening?” James sounded as terrified as he felt. “Have I cursed you? Are you okay? Is this normal for you because I have to admit that makes me really worried for our future wedding—”
Regulus flapped a hand, trying to gesture with his fingers for James to calm down, or at least slow down, but his throat spasmed again and he started spluttering in earnest.
“I can’t believe it. I’ve killed you!” James howled.
As distracted as he was with trying to breathe, it was a little comforting to know that James was worse in a crisis than he was. James was somehow even worse than Barty, which was truly saying something.
Carefully, he timed his breathing as James began trying to cradle his face. Forcefully pushing his hand away, he gripped James’ shoulder and choked out the words, “Get help.”
“Help,” James repeated, then his eyes bulged. “Of course! Oh, Godric, stay here. Or maybe you should come with me— No, no, stay here. I’ll just go and—” Before he could finish, James flew from the room as quick as a Thunderbird in flight.
Ridiculous boy. Regulus couldn’t believe he still found the time to be charmed by the idiot even as he was actively dying.
Fuck, he was so gay.
James skidded around the bottom of the staircase and bolted left. Each footstep would have stung with how hard he was pushing his legs but it was impossible to feel anything aside from a numbing sensation of pure terror as his mind lingered on Regulus.
Oh, Godric…Regulus.
Finding help was suddenly the single most important thing in the world to him. Nothing else mattered, but for some reason he didn’t find himself going further along the hall, then down to the Hospital Wing, rather he came back to himself just as he twisted around the base of the nearest staircase. Flying up the stairs, he hissed this week’s password to the Fat Lady and lunged for the first person he saw.
“Where is he?” he breathed heavily.
The fifth year he accosted stared at him with wide eyes. “Who?”
“Prongs?” a familiar voice called from behind him. James spun around and saw the person he needed perched in front of the fireplace with a quill tucked behind his ear. “I thought you were in detention—”
“No time.” James seized Sirius by the arm and hauled him towards the portrait.
“Wait, Remus and I are in the middle of—”
“No time,” he repeated, ignoring Remus’ confused call of his name. This was too important. “Regulus is dying.”
Sirius stiffened. “What—”
“I kissed him,” he explained breathlessly as they ran down the hall. “We were…I lied about where I was.”
“Obviously. How does kissing him turn into him dying?”
“I don’t know! Everything was going great…well…I mean, there was a small fire and some broken glass and some temporary blindness—”
“You really aren’t helping yourself.”
James grimaced as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Halfway there. “Things were going brilliantly. He was smiling…looking beautiful…he even asked me to kiss him. I’ve never kissed someone before. Are they supposed to start choking afterwards?”
“No, James, they aren’t supposed to choke when you kiss.” Sirius exhaled sharply as they passed through the celestial archway marking the entrance to the Astronomy Tower staircase. “What did you do?”
Metallic thumps marked every step up the tower. “Nothing! We were just kissing and then he started coughing and wheezing like he couldn’t breathe.”
Faintly, he heard Regulus’ choked coughs over the sound of his own pounding heartbeat. Once they landed on the metal platform, Sirius flew past him and dropped to his knees by Regulus’ side. Hands fluttered uncertainly over Regulus’ face.
“Reg, have you eaten anything you shouldn’t have?” Sirius asked in an eerily calm tone.
Face bright red, Regulus weakly shook his head.
Sirius’ expression pinched with agitation as he removed a slim vial filled with bright red liquid from the inside of his shirt pocket. “James, what have you eaten today?”
“Huh?” James’ head snapped up.
“Answer the question.” Sirius coaxed Regulus into sitting up. Regulus wheezed loudly as his body was puppeteered by his brother. “Support his chest with your body.”
James moved into position. Last night, he dreamed about this date. Having Regulus perched in his lap was literally a dream come true but the circumstances made it impossible to enjoy feeling the boy he loved so close to him.
“James,” Sirius snapped, pressing the edge of the vial to Regulus’ lips. “What have you eaten?”
“Oh, er, scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast, tuna and cucumber sandwiches for lunch, then I had dinner with you.”
Frustration lined the edges of Sirius’ mouth. Regulus coughed weakly. “Is that all?”
“I haven’t eaten anything else. I didn’t want to fill myself up before tonight’s picnic.”
Sirius glanced at the basket as he set the empty vial on the floor. A drop of the crimson liquid spilled out over the edge. “Is there anything with strawberries in that basket?”
“Er, no.” James frowned deeply. “I don’t like strawberries.”
“So, you haven’t eaten any today?”
“No…”
Sirius hissed through his teeth. “Help me move him. He needs his head elevated.” Together, they moved Regulus onto the blanket with both cushions under his head.
The thought of strawberries sparked a realisation in his mind, especially as he pulled back and saw Regulus’ pouty mouth flushed bright red from the potion. A faint cough spilled from those plump lips which he now knew were as pillowy soft as they looked.
“I tried a new lip balm,” James blurted. “Strawberry flavour.”
Sirius rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, that would do it.”
“Do what?” he begged.
“Regulus is allergic to strawberries.”
James’ eyes widened in disbelief. “So…”
“You could have killed him. With your stupid, strawberry lip balm.”
A weak hand flapped at Sirius’ chest censuringly. “Don’t…say that…”
Sirius scowled down at Regulus. “It’s true.”
“He…didn’t…know…” Regulus panted, then coughed again. His lungs crackled like fireworks.
“We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey,” James said. Now that Regulus was speaking again, his eyes burned with tears. He could have killed him. All because he wanted his lips to be smooth for Regulus in case they happened to share a sweet kiss before the night was over.
“He doesn’t need her help,” Sirius said sharply.
Regulus whimpered. “Siri…”
“You’ll be okay,” Sirius said, his tone softer than demiguise hair as he brushed Regulus’ hair out of his face.
“You…aren’t upset?”
Sirius aimed a glare at James, one poisonous enough to stop any man’s heart. “Nope, I’m cool as a cucumber.”
“Nobody says that.”
“Remus does.”
“Siri, please.”
“Fine, I promise not to hex your new…boyfriend…inside out.”
“We haven’t decided if…” Regulus cleared his throat. His face was no longer ruddy.
James breathed a sigh of relief, then Regulus’ word registered. “I mean, I’d like it if we were.”
“Boyfriends?”
James shrugged shyly. “If you’re okay with dating someone who almost killed you.”
Regulus gave a breathy giggle. “Are you mad? This is the most thrilling date I’ve ever been on. You certainly made an impression.”
“How many dates have you been on?” James asked, and only when he finished did he realise Sirius asked the exact same question in the exact same demanding tone.
Delirious, Regulus laughed.
“The anti-anaphylaxis draught takes a lot out of him, he needs to go to bed.” Sirius rose and carefully lifted Regulus into his arms. James felt a pang of envy. He could have lifted Regulus just as easily, probably even easier. “I’ll take him to our dorm. I don’t trust his snake friends to look after him. Clean up here.”
James nodded glumly. He couldn’t argue with that. And maybe this way he would get to see Regulus tomorrow morning, all sleepy and ruffled.
“And James, if you ever put my brother in danger again, I’ll do worse than kill you.”
Stomach flipping uncertainly, he nodded.
“Tired,” Regulus said sleepily.
Sirius hummed and pinned James in place with a look. As they went to the staircase, he saw Regulus peering at him blearily over Sirius’ shoulder. When they descended the staircase, James breathed easier. Sirius would take care of Regulus. There was nobody he trusted more with his wellbeing.
“Excellent work, Potter,” he muttered to himself as he waved his wand to clear up the picnic. “Almost kill the boy you’re in love with.” The blanket folded itself neatly into the basket, scraps vanished from their plates which then stacked themselves atop the blanket. “Piss off your best friend.” The basket settled onto the crook of his elbow. “Couldn’t have gone better.”
Regulus’ body felt heavy as he was pulled from a feverish dream of a dog mauling the most beautiful stag he had ever seen in his life. Sniffling, he squeezed his eyes shut before peeling them open only to see a river of red.
“Morning.”
Startled, he saw Remus Lupin peering at him from the end of the bed. His mind worked to piece together what he was seeing. Red curtains, a four-poster bed, and Remus Lupin…
“Gryffindor Tower,” he murmured to himself. “Why am I here?”
“Your brother brought you in late last night. You were pretty out of it so I’m not surprised you don’t remember.” Lupin passed him a goblet of cool water which he gulped greedily. “Careful.”
Batting his hands away, he sat up against the headboard. “I’m not a child, Lupin.”
“You’re sixteen. Quite literally a child…and please, call me Remus.”
“Oh, shut up,” he grumbled. “I’ll call you whatever I want.”
Remus snorted. “Do you remember what happened?”
Before he could respond, a door on the other side of the room swung open to reveal his brother. Sirius flew through the doorway to immediately settle onto the floor beside the bed he assumed was his.
“You’re awake! Moony, you were supposed to tell me when he woke up.” There was no time for Remus to defend himself as Sirius shot him an angry scowl, then turned back to Regulus, smiling softly. “How are you feeling? Why were you on a date with James? Is your chest okay?”
“Nice to see you have your priorities straight,” Regulus said tiredly. “I’m fine, why am I here instead of the Hospital Wing?”
“Because your brother is a control freak who is convinced only he can ensure your safety,” Remus said glibly.
“Well, clearly I am!”
“I can take care of myself,” Regulus said.
“Evidently not. Why were you going around kissing boys and almost dying?”
Regulus huffed. “How was I supposed to know the soppy idiot would use strawberry lip balm?”
“Is that why he wanted to borrow my new chapstick?” Remus murmured to himself.
“I thought I threw that away,” Sirius said unhappily.
“Wait…” Remus narrowed his eyes. “Are you the one who keeps throwing my lip balm away?”
“Well, why do you insist on always buying strawberry! Regulus is allergic to strawberries!”
“It’s not like I’m the one kissing him!”
“No, but I do! I can’t have your nasty strawberry taint on my lips when I kiss my baby brother goodnight, can I?”
“When do you ever kiss me goodnight?” Regulus huffed.
“Every night!”
Regulus gasped. “Are you the one who keeps tucking me in to bed?”
Sirius shrugged.
“You realise I’m sixteen years old, right? Not sixteen months.”
“You sleep better tucked in. Don’t deny it.”
Regulus couldn’t argue, so he didn’t. He just folded his arms and pouted. “I can’t believe I had my first kiss and it almost killed me.”
“Proof you shouldn’t be dating. Why don’t you try again when you’re seventy-three?”
“Sirius,” Remus said reprovingly.
“I object to that notion,” a meek, muffled voice said from the other end of the room. Confused, Regulus looked around before realising the voice was coming from the wardrobe.
Sirius whirled around. “Don’t talk to me, traitor!” He thrust his wand towards the wardrobe and a muffled shout of pain followed.
“Sirius, please can I come out.”
“No!”
“Is that James?” Remus asked. “I thought you said he went to get breakfast.”
“He’s currently thinking about the consequences of his actions.”
“I’d really like to come out,” James said sadly. “It’s dark in here. And my wrists are numb.”
“Good!”
Regulus tried to leave the bed only for Sirius to push him back. “Sirius! Let him out!”
“He almost killed you. This is the least he deserves.”
Remus slipped around him and opened the wardrobe door. Out tumbled James, clad in Puddlemere pyjamas with his wrists tied behind his back and a Gryffindor tie wrapped around his eyes.
“I’m blind!” James howled.
Remus snatched the tie away and James heaved with relief. Regulus reflected on the fact that his attraction to the bumbling idiot hadn’t waned in the slightest.
So, so gay.
“Why did you tie him up and blind him?” Regulus asked tiredly.
Sirius sniffed. “He said he blinded you. Black justice.” Also known as, an eye for an eye.
“He hardly blinded me.”
“James said—”
“James is emotionally compromised and therefore an unreliable source.”
Remus sighed as he tore the bindings around James’ wrists. “Are you sure you want to deal with this for the rest of your life?”
“Huh?” James asked.
“Dating a Black is a lifetime commitment.”
James frowned thoughtfully, then met Regulus’ eye. A swoop of excitement flopped in his gut and he bit his lip when James sent him a soft smile. “Yeah…he’s worth it.”
“Then I’d suggest investing in some headache reducing draughts and a large bottle of Firewhiskey if you're determined to see it through.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Sirius demanded with a flip of his glossy hair. Regulus shot his long curls an envious glance. He didn’t regret cutting his hair but he couldn’t show disdain with a hair flip anymore. That used to be his signature. “Remus Lupin I am a treasure.”
“One I am bound to forever.” Remus nudged James. “Seriously, mate, this is your final warning. You think they’re normal and prettier than the stars, then they start stalking you and putting gravel in your food when you piss them off.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Regulus said sharply. “Ash works much better, it can be disguised as black pepper.”
“Oh, that’s brilliant!” Sirius gasped.
Remus moaned. “Please don’t give him ideas.”
“Wait, he’s joking, right?” James asked. “You don’t do that, do you?”
Sirius laughed. “Of course he’s joking. I don’t do that to him.”
Remus prodded James to get his attention. “He does it to whoever he thinks I’ve spent too much time talking to because he’s fucking crazy. He once sent a bouquet of flowers my grandmother is allergic to straight to her house because she kept sending me letters.”
“Well, why was she sending you letters at midnight?”
“She had dementia!”
A memory sparked in Regulus’ head. Didn’t Benjy Fenwick get rushed to Madam Pomfrey’s office complaining about rocks in his sandwiches only last week? Or maybe he was misremembering…
“Had?” Sirius frowned. “Nanna Nour died?”
“Yeah.”
“Because of the flowers?”
“No… Did you send her more flowers even after learning—”
“She was being annoying! And also, it’s not like I killed her, so I really don’t know what you’re complaining about.”
“Would you do that to me?” James asked as he sat on the edge of Sirius’ bed beside Regulus.
Regulus nodded. “Without hesitation, so don’t upset me. Okay?”
“Okay,” James said, a goofy smile on his face.
Disappointed, Remus shook his head. “Honeymoon phase. Another soldier lost.”
Sirius thumped him on the shoulder. “I don’t think I like how you speak about me.”
“I think you’re somehow the best and worst thing that ever happened to me. And I’m a werewolf.”
Tapping his lip, Sirius smiled. “Much better.”
“Is that a compliment?” James asked.
“To a Black, yes,” Regulus said as he took James’ hand. “James, darling, could you be a dear and read to me? I’m going to spend the day in bed recovering since my chest is still a little sore.”
James’ eyes bulged. “You’re in pain?”
“Only a little. The password to the Slytherin common room is ‘Basilisk’, you need to get my satchel and the green wash bag with my initials stored in the bathroom cabinet. Tell Barty ‘James is only having a good day because Regulus is having a good day’. He’ll know what it means and he won’t give you any trouble, but take your wand just in case he hexes you.”
“Your wish is my command,” James said dutifully, then he pecked Regulus’ cheek and fled before Sirius could do more than screech like a banshee.
“This is officially the worst week of my life,” Sirius said forlornly.
Remus patted his back consolingly.
“Hard disagree.” Regulus fluffed the pillow before snuggling deeper into the duvet. “Now, unless you two would like to observe James and I on our second date, I suggest you make yourselves busy somewhere else.”
“Hold on, about what Moony said earlier—”
“I already knew he was a werewolf, you imbecile. He’s hardly doing a good job of hiding it.”
“I think I’m doing alright,” Remus said sullenly. “Maybe if your big brother didn’t keep blabbing about it to our enemies—”
“Ugh!” Sirius threw his hands up. “Like, one time, I did that!”
“One time too many!”
“Honestly, you try to feed a slimy Slytherin to your werewolf boyfriend once and nobody ever lets you forget it!”
“You almost made me a murderer!”
Regulus shot them both with a stinging hex. “Go flirt somewhere else, I have no interest in watching your bizarre foreplay.”
“This isn’t foreplay.”
“Speak for yourself,” Sirius said lowly. “You know, I really like when you get riled up.”
Remus’ eyes narrowed. “Is that why you’re always pushing my buttons?”
Smiling wryly, Sirius shrugged.
“Alright, let’s go. I think we have some things we need to discuss.”
“Thank the stars,” Regulus said loudly.
“Feel better soon, agaya,” Sirius said, ruffling his hair and tucking the edges of the duvet around him. “Don’t let James off the hook too easily, okay?”
“He’ll spend the rest of the day reading to me and hand feeding me.”
“Excellent, then make him give you money.”
“Okay.”
“And nice shoes!”
“Obviously, he ruined my best pair.”
“Two of them,” Remus said quietly. “Why did there have to be two of them?”
Sirius pecked his forehead, then took his boyfriend’s hand. “Come on, I want us to have that discussion you promised. But first we need to burn down Hagrid’s strawberry patch.”
“We can’t do that,” Remus said sharply. Before Sirius could argue, he said, “It’s broad daylight. We can plan, but anything we do will have to be completed at nighttime.”
Sirius sighed dreamily.
Regulus hid a smirk as they left the room. As much as Remus liked to complain, there was a reason he and Sirius were perfect for each other. They were equally as nutty.
Barely thirty seconds later, the door opened again.
“I’m back,” James said, panting as the door closed behind him. “Why did I just see your brother trying to climb Remus on the stairs? Actually, don’t answer that. I can guess.”
“I’m sure you can. Sharing a room with them must be nightmarish.”
“Oh, it is. You won’t believe what I’ve endured.”
“Please, keep the details to yourself. Did you get everything?”
James held his bounty high. In his left hand was Regulus’ satchel while his wash bag was tucked under his arm. Looped around James’ other wrist was a familiar basket.
“Are those our leftovers?”
“I had a bunch spare in the kitchen so I stopped there to pick them up. Figured if you wanted a day in bed, we would need food.”
Regulus’ cheeks burned hot enough to cook an egg on his face. “How thoughtful.”
“Yeah, Crouch said the same. In a very different tone. It was sort of threatening, actually.”
“He always sounds threatening to those he dislikes. Did he give you any trouble?”
“Well, I had to ask Dorcas to reattach my thumb but otherwise, no. Your code word worked.” James peered at his right hand thoughtfully. “That’s a weird spell, by the way. Why does he even know that?”
“Hard to cast magic if you can’t hold a wand.”
“Oh…that’s…actually quite brilliant, then.”
“I taught it to him. My aunt created it. Now, may I?” He held a hand out and James didn’t hesitate to set Regulus’ things on the bedside table and offer up his hand for inspection. There was only a faint line stitched at the base of James’ thumb on his right hand.
“Dorcas did a good job.”
“She did, although you’ll have a scar.”
“Eh, I did almost kill you.”
“Accidentally.”
“Still, though.”
Regulus rolled his eyes and tugged the idiot closer. Meeting his gaze, he pointedly cupped James’ face and tipped him down to press their lips together in a kiss that was just as exhilarating as the last, although thankfully his lungs hadn’t seized as they did the first time.
“Merlin,” James breathed against his lips as they parted. “Okay, can we do that again, please?”
Regulus laughed. “No, you have to read to me first.”
James whined.
“A kiss for every chapter.”
James summoned the book from his satchel and climbed into the bed beside him. Flipping open the pages, he awkwardly shifted until Regulus lifted his large, toned arm and snuggled into his side. There was a stilted pause as he felt James stiffen before melting.
“I believe I was at chapter eleven.”
Inhaling shakily, James cleared his throat as he scrambled to find Regulus’ bookmark. Once he found the correct page, he sniffed. “Okay, um, chapter eleven…”
Regulus rested his head on James’ chest and closed his eyes, letting the sweet sound of James’ heartbeat carry him away with the words he spoke. Just his luck that he had been indulging in a fluffy romance novel yesterday morning. Listening to James Potter recite the flowery poetry of his favourite leading gentlemen was a dream come true.
Yeah…he was just…so gay.