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“Since when did you wear rings James?”
Shit. He’d been caught. Sirius had noticed the matching ring he had with none other than Sirius’s little brother. Regulus had bought one for each of them on their one year anniversary. It was just a plain silver ring each with something engraved onto it. James’s said ‘starchaser’. Star for Regulus, as he was named after one, and chaser as that was the position he played in the Gryffindor quidditch team. Regulus’s said ‘sunseeker’ on it. Sun for James, as everyone tended to call him ‘the sunshine happy boy’ (though Regulus always called him his sun because he lights up his life), and seeker as that was Regulus’s position in the Slytherin quidditch team.
“Hello? Earth to James! When did you start wearing rings? I thought you hated them?”
“I do.”
It was true James hated wearing rings. He found them uncomfortable, as if they were suffocating his finger. However he made an exception for his Reggie.
“Then why are you wearing it?”
“It’s… uh- matching with someone…”
“Oh? Who? Is it Lily?”
James sighed, he was going to have to come clean. He didn’t know how Sirius would react. He didn’t know how Reggie would feel about James telling his brother without talking to him first. He took a deep breath, he had to do it.
“No it’s not Lily…”
“Who then?”
“Regulus.”
“Regulus? As in my brother, Regulus? As in my little brother, Regulus? As in my baby brother, Regulus?”
“Yes.”
Here it came. His death. Sirius would kill him for sure, and he wouldn’t even get to say bye to his Reggie.
“What the fuck James! Why the hell are you fooling around with my baby brother.”
“I’m not fooling around Sirius! I love him!”
He didn’t mean to yell. He’d tried to stay calm. But Sirius telling him that he was just ‘fooling around’ with Regulus.
“What? You love him?”
“Yes… I have for a year and a half…”
“Y-you two have been a thing for a year and a half? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“We were scared!”
James watched the expression on Sirius face falter. Maybe he’d been to harsh, saying that they were scared. He’d made it sound like they were scared of him rather than that they were scared how he’d react.
The boys remained in an awkward silence until the door creaked open. Remus entered, followed by Regulus. Remus went to grab a book and Regulus stood by the door keeping his gaze from James and Sirius.
“I didn’t know you were gay Reg.”
“W-what?”
Fuck. James was officially the worst boyfriend in all of history. Not only had he told Sirius about him and Regulus without talking about it to him first, but he’d outed him too.
“I didn’t know you were gay. Let alone gay for James.”
“O-oh… yeah. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you Siri.”
“No, no, it’s fine. I don’t care that my best friend and little brother hid that they were in-” he faked a gag, “-love with each other.”
Regulus took a small step closer to James, which Sirius saw and glared at him for. Regulus hesitated but took a few more steps towards him. James wraps an arm over Regulus’s shoulders.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Kiss or something.”
“Why? He’s my boyfriend”
“I know Reggie… but… it’s James.”
“I know it’s James. But I love him.”
“Really? Do you truly love him?”
“Yes.”
“Yes? Just yes?”
Ten minutes later and Regulus had finally finished his rant on all the reasons he loved James. Tears welled in James’s eyes at hearing Regulus talk so fondly about him. He pulled Regulus to his chest and buried his face in his dark curls. He lightly kissed the top of his head, not caring about Sirius. Regulus wrapped his own arms around James and let himself relax into his chest.
“You really care about each other, don’t you?”
Both boys hummed in agreement. James rubbed the top of Regulus’s back as he planted another kiss on his head.
“Take care of him, Prongs. Don’t hurt him, please…”
“You can trust me, Padfoot. I wouldn’t dare hurt him. I love him with all my heart. To hurt him would kill me.”
Sirius nodded at him and Regulus pulled back to look up at James, tears in his eyes. James looked down at him, wiping away the tears then kissing his nose.
“Love you Reggie baby”
“Love you too mon soleil”
Regulus let go of James completely and turned to Sirius. He was quiet, looking nervous. The brothers stared at each other for a long time. A tense silence between them.
“You can hate me all that you want Sirius, for hiding this from you, for going out with your best friend, for being your brother in the first place. Just please don’t hate James. I don’t want to be the reason you two aren’t friends.”
“Hate you? No. I don’t hate you Reg, I could never hate you. I’m just upset that you felt you had to hide it from me and yes maybe it’s a little weird for me. But that’s only because James is like a brother to me and you’re my brother and it’s honestly giving our family wreath.”
“So you don’t hate us? Either of us?”
“No. Of course I don’t Reggie.”
Regulus breathed a sigh of relief and the brothers once again stared at each other, not speaking a word. In the end Regulus ran forward, wrapping himself around Sirius. Sirius looked shocked at the sudden contact and stood there awkwardly as Regulus hugged him. Eventually Sirius returned the hug and Regulus seemed to relax further.
“Guess we’ll have you in our dorm a lot Reg” Remus commented. He’d been lying on bed watching the whole scene unfold. He somehow had a bucket of popcorn with him, which when he saw everyone staring at him he offered to them. “Popcorn anyone?”