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James isn’t exactly known for thinking before doing things. When he was twelve, he broke his elbow after falling through a window during an intense game of indoor football. When he was sixteen, he tried to stand up on the back of Sirius’ motorcycle as it was moving– leaving him with road rash and his parents banning both of them from coming within twenty feet of the bike for a month. At nineteen he drunkenly fell off a roof at a party, though the tequila made the stitches fairly painless.
Where he always excelled in school for being naturally book-smart, he could be right stupid in the area of safety. A skateboard he had never once attempted to ride in his life and a metal railing along a concrete staircase later, that fact is only further drilled into his head– that, and some ringing.
Sirius frets over James until the ambulance arrives, the amount of tears and snot alone would be enough to convince anyone James was actively dying. As soon as the ambulance stops moving, he flies up to fill one of the EMTs in on what happened, while the other EMT dashes forward with a bag in hand, dropping to his knees beside James.
James feels the breath in his chest catch when his eyes meet the most beautiful ones he’s ever seen. Grey and piercing, a bit familiar but captivating in a way he didn’t know possible. Then, he takes in a stuttered gasp when his eyes flicker over the rest of the man and realizes it's not just his eyes; all of him is like that. Severe cheekbones, an angled jawline, narrow shoulders. Everywhere his gaze lands is sharp, harsh in the most mesmerizing way. His eyes reach their final destination and James wonders if he could soften the hard set of his mouth. He doesn’t know if it’s the head trauma speaking, but he decides immediately that he needs to get injured more often if it means this man will come rescue him.
“Can you tell me your full name?”
“James Fleamont Potter,” Even in his current state, he can hear how breathless he sounds.
The beautiful man gets a crease between his eyebrows when he brings out a little flashlight and shines it briefly in both of James’ eyes.
“Alright James, do you know where you are?”
“Uh, the ground,” James knows it’s the wrong answer when he narrows his eyes and opens his pretty mouth to say something, so he rushes to correct himself, “The stairs in front of the university library.”
“Alright, good. That’s good.” James practically beams. “What’s today’s date?”
“The twenty-eighth? I think?” A nod.
“That’s correct. Are you able to recall what happened here?”
James grimaces, not keen on recounting his stupidity to the man he’d decided may be his soulmate for all he knows. God, he hopes so.
“I was uh, trying to ride down the railing on that skateboard. But I don’t know how to skateboard. So I… fell. Like, halfway down.”
The man rapidly blinks three times in succession. Takes a frankly well-concealed deep breath, and nods his head once. A stretcher rolls up beside them and James looks up to see Sirius standing alone next to the ambulance on the phone, likely speaking to Euphemia or Remus.
“I see. Well I don’t think it’s anything serious, but we’ll have you at the hospital soon where a doctor can get a better idea. Sound good?”
“I’ll go wherever if you’re there.” James says without a moment’s hesitation and almost regrets it when the man freezes, until his pale complexion allows an obvious blush to spread across his cheeks and ears.
The other EMT snorts loudly. James doesn’t know what the guy looks like, his eyes don’t leave the man’s face.
“Alright, James, up you go.” He doesn’t meet James’ eyes as both EMTs move him onto the stretcher. James almost, almost pouts.
“I’ll drive, Reg.” The other EMT slaps Reg on the shoulder, causing his blush to return in full-force.
“Evan, I swear to-” He hisses.
James is making the delightful realization that that means he’ll be in the back of the ambulance with him the whole ride, before his train of thought is interrupted by the sudden paling of Reg’s face. He follows his line of sight to an equally pale Sirius.
“Regulus?”