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“You’re pretty when you sleep.”
James lay on his side, head propped up on one hand, grinning as he watched Regulus’ eyes flutter reluctantly open. The sun was already beaming outside. James always left the curtains drawn at night at home; it meant that he could wake up to sunlight.
“So you’ve said,” the younger boy muttered. “And I remain concerned that you’re a weirdo.”
In response, James flopped his head down onto the pillow and nudged forwards to kiss his nose.
“Still in my bed, though,” he smirked.
Regulus let out a little snort-laugh, and tugged the duvet up over his face; whether to hide his very obvious blush or to protect his book-sore eyes from the unspeakable evil that was sunshine, James couldn’t tell. He was too busy feeling like his heart might melt or explode or both because Reggie was just so soft like this, all tired and mumbly, yet to put on his impeccably proper manners, beautiful.
When he emerged a couple of seconds later, Regulus slowly blinked twice, glancing past James at the room around them - the walnut desk, the gleaming window, the bedside table - as if noticing all over again that they were here. Then he smiled. That was when he was the most beautiful, James decided happily. When Reggie smiled, it wasn’t one that lit up the room; it was more of a quiet light, the intimate blaze of a candle just before the wax finished melting.
“Yes,” he said softly, poking a hand out from under the duvet to rest on James’ cheek. “I am.”
James leaned forward and kissed him.
There existed many differences between the brothers of the Noble House of Black. Where Sirius was reckless, Regulus was ever careful; where Regulus was quietly observant, Sirius did his level best to pay attention to nothing but himself and his outrageously sexy Moony; and where Sirius left their prison of a house on panicked impulse with only his wand and his fabulous hair, Regulus had spent weeks preparing prior to his escape.
After a month, as he later recounted, of meticulous planning that involved literally teaching himself to apparate from a book, he had turned up at James’ door with neatly combed hair, a fully packed suitcase and a polite apology for the inconvenience of his arrival.
“Good morning,” Regulus smiled between kisses, hand moving down to James’ waist, fingertips like soft raindrops on his skin.
“Yeah,” James murmured. Not pulling away, he reached up and tucked the younger boy’s hair behind his ear. “It really is.”
Regulus laughed, and James didn’t hesitate in using the opportunity to deepen the kiss. He loved with every goosebump on his body the little sigh that slipped from the younger boy’s lips in response. Then Regulus rolled onto his back, awkwardly pulling James on top of him and getting them both twisted in the sheets in the process. Their mouths were clumsy now, more laughing than kissing, and James felt overwhelmed with giddy, stupid joy. One of his hands cupped Regulus’ cheek; the other tangled gently in his hair. Time became theirs for a while.
A dull thud, followed by a muffled groan from across the landing, was what eventually drew them apart. Regulus raised his eyebrows. A little breathless, James beamed back at him.
“Every day,” Regulus said tiredly. “For two weeks. Without fail.”
“Eh,” James grinned. “Moony says it’s the only way he’ll wake up. ‘Feet are pointless before noon.’”
“That doesn’t even make a little bit of sense.”
“Yeah, but it gets him out of bed, doesn’t it?”
“He’s ridiculous.”
“He’s a legend.”
Regulus rolled his eyes, but James could see all of the fondness he really held for his big brother. It had always been there, of course; he was just able to show it now. Watching the two people most important to him in the world reconcile made James happier than his tiny brain could handle. A lot of stuff did that, nowadays.
“We should do the same, though,” Regulus said, glancing at the alarm clock beside them. “It’s almost eight.”
“What, this?”
James rolled off Regulus, taking the duvet with him, tumbled off the bed and promptly landed in a comfortable swaddle on the floor. He snickered to himself as he listened to Regulus slip neatly out of bed and walk around to stand over him, arms folded, eyebrows lifted once more in an expression that heavily resembled that of someone just now realising that they are stuck, for the foreseeable future, with the world’s two largest dunderwhelps.
“...No.”
* * *
The homely clatter of plates and pans echoed up from the kitchen as they bustled around James’ room getting ready. Technically, Regulus now owned the bedroom that Peter slept in whenever he stayed over, but they had been quietly ignoring that fact since he arrived and opted for sleeping together most nights instead. It made James feel better to know that once Reggie was ready to talk about everything - what had happened at Grimmauld Place, the nightmares that still hurt him, the pale and silent fear that sometimes misted his face - he would be there next to him, to listen and warm.
Making James’ bed, brushing their teeth in his en-suite, stepping around each other while last-minute packing their trunks, stopping for quick kisses, talking idly about school stuff, almost going downstairs without getting dressed, in James’ case. It had only been four weeks of Regulus living here, but in that time their routines had slotted together nicely.
It felt right, James thought. Normal.
Except when Regulus pointed out he should wear his school robes to the station.
“Nah,” he said at once, waving a hand dismissively. His and Sirius’ plan for matching Queen t-shirts was not going to be scuppered in the name of looking dapper. “I’ll just change on the train. Always do.”
“You’re head boy,” Regulus reminded him patiently. “There’s a meeting in the prefects’ carriage as soon as the train leaves, followed by rounds. You won’t have time.”
“Bollocks,” James groaned. “Why d’you always have to be right?”
“It’s a great misfortune,” Regulus replied, neatly folding a sock. “And a mystery.”
James chuckled and went over to sit next to him on the bed.
“Oi. Bet you can’t believe you’re going out with the head boy,” he said smugly.
Regulus put the sock in his lap, trying not to smile. “Well, I certainly can’t believe they gave the position to you.”
“Yeah, me neither,” James said, beaming. “It’s gonna be a fun year.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“Will you join in again? You and Moony make a dream team.”
He did smile at that.
“Perhaps.”
“Brilliant.”
They went quiet, and looked at the window. James was pretty sure he could have stayed there forever, next to Regulus, their legs pressed together, the mattress dipping where they sat so that it forced them to be closer.
“James?”
“Yeah?”
“Get dressed.”
James got dressed.
Well, mostly. But if you could already smell Euphemia Potter’s dhokla cooking two flights of stairs away, you wouldn’t bother buttoning your sleeves either. Or tie-ing your tie. Or finding your prefect’s badge that’d been missing since the day you got it. Or-
“Ready!”
“No, you’re not.”
James bounded towards the bedroom door, but just as he reached it, Regulus caught his hand and spun him around so that they were almost nose to nose. With a smug little smile, he pressed something cold and metallic into James’ palm.
“I stole it the day your letter arrived,” he said. “I knew you would lose it.”
“You...” James grinned, shaking his head as he pinned the Head Boy’s badge upside down on the hem of his robe. “I love you.”
Regulus gently took his wrist and buttoned the cuff of his sleeve.
“I love you too,” he said.
He fastened James’ other sleeve, then moved onto his tie, first adjusting it around his neck, then carefully beginning to fold and loop it into place. James forgot about his eagerness to get downstairs. He loved that Regulus fussed over him like this, loved that his boyfriend’s perfectionism gave them a couple more minutes alone in their peaceful bedroom bubble. Loved that, when finished doing his tie, Regulus used it to tug him in for a kiss.
“Are you awake, lovely boys?” Euphemia called from downstairs. “Breakfast’s ready!”
They drew apart, chuckling sheepishly, and James reluctantly looked over his shoulder to call back,
“Down in a sec!”
“Hurry up, son, or I’ll be eating yours!” Fleamont hollered.
“Swear to Merlin, dad, I will lob your Celestina vinyl out of the window!” James bellowed, unable to sound threatening though his laughter.
Then, clearing his throat, he turned back to Regulus, who looked highly amused.
“Ready for breakfast?” he said brightly.
Regulus smiled, exasperated, and threaded their fingers together.
“I have been for twenty minutes,” he said.
“Brilliant. Before we go, though…” James put a hand on Regulus’ cheek, pulling him a bit closer. “It’s going to be okay, y’know,” he said softly. “It might be shit for a bit, but then it’ll be okay.”
A silence, then,
“I know,” Regulus said quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“...And if the Slytherins are arseholes to you-”
“-You’ll set the squid on them,” Regulus finished with a smile.
He squeezed James’ hand, then reached past him to open the bedroom door.
“I know."