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“Are you ready for this, baby?” James asks, packing the last of their things into the trunk.
Regulus hums, “As ready as I’ll ever be.” And with that, he goes around the car to hop into the passenger seat. It’s not long before James is in the driver’s seat and is pulling away from their building.
“Don’t be like that, love.” James hums, “I know that you’re not a big fan of camping, but this will be a nice break. We’ll be away from our phones, from our assignments, everything. It’ll just be us.”
“Sleeping on the ground.”
They smile softly, reaching one of their hands out to rest on his leg, “I’ve got a sleeping pad so we won’t be sitting immediately on the ground. It’s not going to get too cold, and it’s not going to get too hot, we’ll be fine.”
“Except you’re taking me on a hike.”
“You just like to be argumentative,” James hums, squeezing his thigh, “It’s an easy hike that should only take us half an hour to do either way and we can stay at the top for a while. I know that you’ll like the view. And we’re not going to be there for very long, just a couple days. It’s going to be fun.” Regulus sighs, but lays his head back against the headrest and closes his eyes. He lets James play whatever music they feel like and drifts off while they drive, enjoying the comforting warmth of James’ hands.
Before he knows it, James is gently waking him up, rubbing their hands over his shoulder, gently shaking him, then bringing their hand down to his hand to squeeze and back up. Their gentle ministrations lead to him having a lovely experience waking up -- this is something that James has learned, how to wake him up, since he’s not very happy upon waking -- which he is incredibly grateful for.
When his eyes are clear and his mind is a little less foggy with sleep, James smiles gently at him, “Good morning, my love. Did you have a nice nap?”
Regulus hums, “Yes, thank you. Are we here?”
“Even more, I’ve already found a parking spot and hauled most of our things to the spot we’ll be staying. I haven’t set anything up and we’ll have to bring our bags, but that’s it.”
“Thank you,” Regulus hums again, “You could’ve woken me up to help you.”
They shake their head, “This is your vacation. You’ve been the one stressed with all your assignments, you’re getting pampered out here.”
“But you’re the one that wanted to go camping,” Regulus isn’t sure why he’s arguing. He knows that he would have to force James to let him help, even if he was awake. That’s just how his lovely partner is.
“And I like setting things up for camping,” They lean forward to press a gentle kiss to his lips, “You don’t. Want to get out of the car and head to our campsite or do you need a minute more to wake up.”
“If I take a minute more, I’m never going to leave the car.” James laughs softly and moves to get out of the car, heading towards the open trunk and pulling out their bags, handing Regulus his. After that, they lock the car and take Regulus’ hand, guiding him to their campsite.
It’s a nice place, far away from all the other campsites but not too far from their car, so it’s not a long walk. It’s an opening in a clearing of thick trees, with plenty of space and a pre-made fire pit and a picnic table for them to lounge on. Their cooler is sitting next to the table and their bags are resting on it. James puts down their bag and sets to work on setting up their tent. Regulus is more than happy to sit at the table and watch them work, taking in their flexing arms and the way that their muscles twist with each movement -- thank every god out there for putting James in a tank top today.
But they’re finished with that not long after and they’re immediately getting out to hand up the hammock that they brought, asking Regulus to spread out their sleeping bag and pad in the tent. Regulus does so, then he takes a second to grab all the things that can go in the tent to put it in there. By the time that he’s done, James has finished with the hammock, grinning at him. They move the cooler to a nearby tree that they can set it and their other foodstuffs against.
Then they make their way to where Regulus has perched on the end of the picnic table, slotting themselves between his legs, their hands going to rest on his waist, “I really only have two things planned while were out here, the hike we’re going on tomorrow and the day at the lake. So we’ve got all day for the rest of the day and we can laze around as much as we want.”
“That sounds perfect, Jamie, thank you.” Regulus hums, leaning into the warmth of their touch, “What time do we have to be packed up by.”
“Noon, so we can lounge around a little bit on Sunday as well.”
“Perfect, James. So we’ve got time to just laze about today?”
James nods, “I was thinking of going out and looking around for a while before it gets too dark, then we can start a fire and have some food.”
“Did you bring marshmallows?”
Once again, they nod, “I know how to satiate your sweet tooth. I have two packs.”
“Do you really think that we’ll need two packs?”
They shrug, “You can always eat them in the middle of the night when we get back.”
“I didn’t realise you knew I did that.”
“You’re not subtle about it, love.” They grin, “That’s why I always buy marshmallows when I go out.”
“You’re too sweet.”
“Which is why you like me,” they wink, pulling away from him, “Did you want to join me for a walk around the area? See the parts of the forest.” Regulus agrees and slides from the table, taking James’ hand and letting them guide him into the forest around them.
It’s a lovely little walk, with just the two of them wandering around the forest near their campsite for a while, looking over the chipmunks and the squirrels and the birds that they come across. Then they’re heading back to the campsite and James is setting out to start a fire, having Regulus take the time to chop some wood for them while they get the fire to spark.
Not long after that, the fire is started and they’re making themselves some hotdogs over the flames, laughing and joking. James turns on some music to play quietly in the background and Regulus pulls out one of his books while James works on cleaning up dinner and getting ready to bring the fire to coals for Regulus to roast marshmallows on -- he’s very particular about his coals and they’ve both found that James makes damn good coals for optimal marshmallow roasting.
Once that’s done, James and Regulus get ready to make their s’more and they set out to make their marshmallows. While James is nowhere near to the level of expertise that Regulus is, they've been learning in the years that they’ve spent time with their boyfriend. And when they’re all done with their desserts and can’t eat any more sweet things, James stokes the fire once again and the two of them settle in their hammock, taking the time to huddle into each other against the chill that the night has brought and looking between the stars and the fire.
“Are you out this time of year?”
“How many times have I told you that Leo only shows in April and May, not during the summer.”
“And I’ll keep asking you,” James smiles, taking a second to press their nose into his cheek, “Tell me about what constellations we can see, then.” And Regulus hums, pulls James closer to his body, and points at the sky to tell them about the stars that they can see.
They don’t do much else that night, just sit by the fire until it’s late enough for them to start yawning. Regulus ties up their bag of food not in the cooler and locks the cooler while James puts out the fire. When they’re done, James throws their arm around Regulus’ shoulders and guides the younger into their tent. Regulus is quick to change while James zips up the tent and changes themself.
The lantern hanging from the top of the tent is only on for a while longer, long enough for them to get settled in their sleeping bag before James is turning off the lantern and encasing their boyfriend in their arms. The two of them are quick to fall asleep, happy with their day.
The next morning is relaxed. James wakes up with the sun, like usual, and they take the time to watch over their boyfriend. They take in his pretty sleeping face for a while, trying to hype themself up for the day. They knwo they have it all planned out, they know that Regulus will love it, they know everything will be fine. They just have to do it.
But until their hike, James is alright to just keep watching their boyfriend when he’s at his most relaxed -- even when he’s awake and it’s just the two of them, there’s also a tension to his shoulders, a result from the constant unpredictable mood swings of his parents. Watch the way that his body moves gently with his breaths, air flowing from his slightly parted lips onto James’ chest. Watch the soft flutter of his lashes as his eyes move. Listen to the soft sighs as a result from his dream.
He’s so fucking pretty, and James is more than ready to have him forever.
It’s not long until Regulus is beginning to wake, letting out a hum and pulling James more to him like he always does when he’s waking. James smiles softly and brings their hand up to run through his curls and across his face. Regulus hums again and James watches as he cracks his eyes open, smiling softly when he meets James’ eyes, “Good morning, my love.”
“Mornin’.” Regulus hums, “What time is it?”
“Does it matter?” James smiles, leaning forward to pull their boyfriend into a kiss, “I can set up our gas stovetop and make us some breakfast and tea.” Regulus nods so James pushes themself up and throws on a hoodie, heading out of the tent and into the cold -- not that the tent keeps from the chill much anyway -- leaving Regulus alone.
Regulus, only a couple minutes later, changes into some pants and puts on a hoodie himself and leaves the tent as well. James is still in the process of setting up the grill on the picnic table and connecting it to the propane tank that they brought, but they don’t start up the grill. Instead they grab the pot they brought and turn to Regulus, “Did you want to walk with me to the bathrooms so we can fill this and brush our teeth?” Regulus nods and they grab their toiletries, beginning the walk through the campgrounds to the little bathroom that they have, where a spout is near the side of it. They head into the bathroom and brush their teeth. Regulus starts to mess with and sort through his hair while James goes to fill the pot.
When they’re both done, they head back to the campsite, which Regulus realises is actually completely isolated from all the other campsites in the area which is incredibly nice and he’ll have to thank James for getting them the spot that they did. When they’re back to their campsite, James sets to work warming the pot of water up and quickly whipping up some pancake batter for the two of them while Regulus goes about setting up one of the camp chairs and pulling a blanket from inside the tent to curl up under with his book.
Once again, James puts on some music and dances around a bit while they’re making the food, pausing for a moment to pour the boiled water into two mugs and steeping Regulus’ favourite type of tea, prepping it how they both like it and handing one of the mugs to their boyfriend, who takes it gratefully. It’s peaceful, and Regulus finds that he really isn’t thinking about all of the work that he has waiting for him back at home. He’s not thinking about the test that he just took a couple days before they left. Right now, it’s just him and James and the chill morning and the wonderful cup of tea warming his fingers, and his book.
It’s perfect. As much as Regulus was making a fuss about it and being dramatic, he can’t deny that he’s enjoying it, and that he loves it when James takes him out on trips like this. Partially because of the isolation, but also partially because he gets to see his partner work and in their element.
Regulus is just finishing his chapter when James hums, “Breakfast, baby.” Regulus hums, bookmarks his book, and sets it down in the chair after he stands up and heads to the table where James has set out some plates and cutlery and has stacked pancakes onto one plate and bacon onto another, covered with a paper towel. There’s eggs on the stovetop as well. Regulus is quick to serve himself up, James following just after and turning the propane down. The two of them sit down at the table, Regulus’ blanket stretched over both of their legs, and begin eating.
“Fuck, I love your cooking,” Regulus hums after taking a bite of one of the pancakes.
James laughs softly, “Thank you, my love.” And with that, they lean down to press a kiss to his lips, wrapping their free hand around him.
“You’re touchy this morning.”
“It’s the fresh air,” James smiles, happy with the quick lie, “And we’re alone, no pressures of society. Of course I’m going to be touchy.” They grab one of their pieces of bacon and take a bite of it, “When did you want to go hiking?”
“Sooner than later.” Regulus hums, “I don’t want to be walking when it’s hot as hell.”
James nods, “How about I clean up breakfast and we can go hiking after that.” Regulus nods and they finish their breakfast. Regulus takes their plastic container they brought to clean their dishes and takes it to the water spout near the bathrooms while James turns off the propone and starts to clean up. Together, the two of them wash and dry the dishes then store them back in their containers.
After they’ve finished, they head back into their tent to get changed into their hiking clothes and make sure that they have all they need for their adventure. It’s not long until they set out for the trail that James knows like the back of their hand.
True to their word, the trail takes them only forty five minutes -- it would be thirty minutes, but Regulus isn’t good with inclines -- and it’s fucking stunning. James brought along their camera and stopped several times to get pictures of the world around them, partially for themself but also for references for Regulus, which adds to the time that it takes them. And before long, they’re at the top of the mountain that they’ve been climbing and are looking over the valley, where they can see the top of the waterfall that leads into the lake they’ll be going to the next day.
“This is…” Regulus breathes, looking over the view.
“That’s why I love it here.” James hums, walking up next to him, a couple feet away from the edge, and wrapping their arm around his shoulder, “Did you want to start a drawing? I can get a picture before we leave if you don’t finish by the time we want to go down.” Regulus nods and settles down on a nearby fallen log, pulling out some of his art supplies and setting to work on sketching the outline of the view. James wraps themself around his back for a while before pulling away and doing something else that Regulus isn’t paying much attention to.
And when they’re done with whatever it is, they move to sit with their legs dangling over the edge of the cliffs. And it’s only when Regulus has started to incorporate them in his drawing, do they stand up again. They walk over to Regulus and offer him a small, shy smile.
Wait, shy?
Yeah, they look nervous.
So Regulus puts down his sketchbook and puts his pencil into its case before bringing his full attention to his partner, “Is everything okay, Jamie?” James nods and takes a deep breath and before he knows it, they’re sinking down to one knee and pulling something out of their pocket. And Regulus can feel himself freeze at the realisation of what’s happening, “James?”
And with that, James takes a deep breath, “Regulus. Reg. My love. The light of my life.” another deep breath, “I love you like the sun love the moon and her stars. I would set every night for you to be able to shine and have everything that you’ve ever wanted. I would give up seeing you every day to see you once every eclipse if that meant that you could shine at full potential, and I would take only seeing you from afar, even if-” they take a shuddering breath, “Even if I know that you’d never let me do that. I- you- okay,” they close their eyes and take another deep breath, centering themselves then letting out a gentle huff of a laugh, “I had a whole speech planned and I’ve practiced it so many times but I-” they take another deep breath and focus on keeping their hands from shaking, “We’ve known each other for years, we met through Sirius, and even if it took forever for us to get our shit together, it’s been us from the first look, from the first touch. We’re written in the stars.
“We both know that I don’t believe in coincidences, and I genuinely believe that the fates brought us together and-” they shake their head, and Regulus finally moves forward to cradle their face.
“You don’t have to finish this, Jamie. I get it.” There are tears streaking down his face, “Don’t overwhelm yourself trying to remember what you wrote.”
James shakes their head, though they do lean more into his hands, “I need to finish it.” They take another deep breath, “The past years where we’ve finally gotten our shit together and have been dating, the months that we’ve been living together, they have been the best years of my life. You have been the best thing to come into my life, and I can’t live anymore without you being mine. So Regulus,” yet another deep breath, “please, will you do me the honours and make me the happiest person literally on Earth and be mine?”
Regulus sniffs and slides from the log to kneel on the ground with James, guiding them down to sit on their ankles instead of holding their weight on their knee. He presses their foreheads together, “Fuck, James. If you don’t get that ring on my finger in two seconds.” James laughs wetly and blindly pulls the ring from the box -- it’s fucking beautiful -- and pulls his hand from their face to put the ring on it.
Regulus stares at the ring for a while. It’s got three bands that swirl around each over, two silver ones that sandwich a golden ring and that lead up to hold a small sapphire while the golden band just goes around, “Fuck, James. How long did this take to make?”
James smiles, “Doesn’t matter.”
“No,” he shakes his head, finally tearing his gaze from the ring to look at James, “It doesn’t. I love you.”
“I love you.” They hum, “So much. So fucking much.” And finally, finally Regulus pulls James in for a fierce kiss.
The two of them sit like that for a while, maneuvering so they’re leaning against the log, just being in each other’s arms. It’s only after about an hour does Regulus finally stand up, complaining of his limbs and his arse hurting. James joins him quickly and they rush over to grab their camera from where they had set it up to record the proposal by a tree while Regulus packs up his art supplies. James hands off their camera to Regulus and moves to sit in the same place they were sitting before so their boyfriend can get a picture of the view to finish his drawing with.
When they’re done, they wipe the last tears from their face and gather their things into their backs, clasp hands, and make their way back down the mountain and to their campsite. It’s just past two in the afternoon when they get back to their campsite and they take time to drop all their things in the tent and grab whatever they want to entertain themselves with for the rest of the day, Regulus with his artwork from before and James with a crochet project that they’ve been meaning to work on but haven’t gotten around to putting much time into.
They pull out some alcohol around dinner time and James puts a pause on their project before starting to prepare some food that they wrap in aluminum foil and toss into the edge of a fire that they started. It’s about this time that Regulus finally puts his sketchbook down and moves to settle in James’ lap. Their arms immediately go around his waist, “Hello, love.”
“James,” Regulus hums, leaning into their body.
“How far along are you on your drawing?”
“I have the mountains done for the most part, but now I need to take a break from it before I start to hate it.”
“Do you have anything else that you can work on in the meantime?”
“Do you count?”
James grins at him, pulling him towards them just a bit, “Dinner first, my love.” Regulus hums but curls into their body until James kicks them off their lap so they can fish the food out of the fire and puts it on the table to cool so they can check it. And when they do, they decide that it’s good and calls Regulus for dinner.
Dinner is delicious and James’ eye gets caught on the ring shining on Regulus’ finger several times throughout the meal, grinning to themself everytime they see it. Regulus seems to catch onto this and begins showing off his ring more often, showing the one gold ring that sits on his fingers -- he’s not wearing any of his rings right now, but James is thrilled at the idea that this one will stand out against all the others.
The rest of their night is wonderful, with them finishing up with their dinner and settling back down near the fire, drinks in hand. They laugh, they joke, they kiss, and James just delights in being able to call Regulus their fiance everytime that they see his ring. They clean up, kill the fire, and finish the day with a lovely little night of gentle intimacy, relishing that it’s just them.
And the next morning, James slots their hand with Regulus’ right hand, delighting in the feeling of the cold metal against their skin. They’ve always been obsessed with Regulus’ rings, something that he is more than aware of and uses all the time against them, for literal years and…
“You’re going to obsess over it for weeks, aren’t you?” Regulus hums, shocking James. They hadn’t realised he was awake.
But James hums and grins at him, and brings their intersected hands up to kiss the ring, “It’s going to get worse when I get to call you my husband and you have that ring on.” And that makes Regulus’ cheeks go bright red, “Oh, that got you.”
“Shut the fuck up,” He says, but he’s smiling, “Just… realising that I’m going to be your husband… I never-” he shakes his head and clears his throat, “I’ve told you that I was a huge romantic when I was younger, so I always wanted to get married. But, I always thought that I’d have to be a girl for me to be able to get married and I wouldn’t find anyone that would want to, one, marry me, and two, call me their husband.”
“Baby,” James hums, leaning forward to pull him into a gentle kiss, bringing their free hand to run along his cheekbone, “I love you so much, and I’m so glad that I got to show you that your younger self was wrong. Thank you for letting me love you how you deserve.”
“You’re going to make me cry again,” Regulus groans, breaking away from them and rolling onto his back, blinking rapidly, “Don’t do that.”
“You’re already going to deny crying when we tell everyone, why not one more time?”
“Because you love me and you wouldn’t want to do that to me.” Regulus hums, “And when you upload that video to your computer, I edit it to make it look like I’m not crying in the video that you send out to people.”
“My sweet boy and his iron-caged heart.”
“Most cages are made out of steel since it’s stronger.”
James hums, “But your cage isn’t that strong, is it? You let your friends, your brother, Remus, and I in. We were able to manipulate the bars just enough to get in.”
Regulus groans, “I hate that you’re right.”
James laughs, but pulls Regulus closer to them by the waist, “Let’s have some breakfast, yeah?”
“What do we have for options?”
“I don’t want to make anything, so just… cereal? And some tea? I think I left the water that we got yesterday in the pot so I can boil it.”
“That sounds perfect. Mind if I stay in here?”
They shake their head, “Not at all, I won’t be out there for long.” And with that, they’re kissing him once more, throwing on a hoodie, and disappearing through the flap in the tent. Regulus watches the vague shadow of them through the fabric until they're entering the tent with a bowl and a mug that they hand to him before heading back out to get their own bowl of cereal and tea, closing the tent and settling down next to them.
Several minutes into their food, James hums, “We’ll head to the lake closer to noon or one? That way the water is a bit warmer and the sun is fully out.” Regulus nods but doesn’t otherwise say anything, just leans into them more.
Their morning is lazy until James finally gets the motivation and get up. They get changed into swim shorts and a random t-shirt and put on some sandals, slipping out of the tent shortly after. It prompts Regulus to get ready as well, joining them shortly after.
When he gets out, James is putting some food into a bag for them to take to the lake and putting a couple drinks into a smaller cooler. After that, they’re guiding Regulus back to the car and hopping in so they can drive down to the lake area. While not a long drive, Regulus puts on some music downloaded on his phone and rolls the windows all the way down, taking in the lovely atmosphere it creates.
And soon, they’re pulling up to a small dirt parking lot and James is turning off the car. The two hop out of the car and grab some camp chairs and their food and drinks, bringing them to a nice spot near the water that they can set up on. James goes to pump up their paddleboard with the pump that connects to the car that they brought while Regulus sets up the chairs and organises all their things.
It’s not long after that that the two of them are all set up, the blown up paddle board just settled on the shore, half-in the water. Regulus forces James to put on suncream, even though they’re insistent that they don’t need it, then puts some on himself. After that, they take some time to eat some sandwiches for lunch, then James is pulling Regulus into the water.
“James!” Regulus shouts upon entering, “It’s fucking cold!”
“You have to get used to it.” They laugh, “And the best way of doing that?” They let go of his hand and wade further into the water, coming to a stop when it’s at their waist. After stopping, they make a show of throwing their arms out to either side of them and falling back into the water. When they come back up, either hair is stuck to their face in all sorts of ways, then sticking up weirdly when they push it all away from their eyes. They give Regulus a charming grin and dip forward in the water to start swimming towards him.
“You’re ridiculous.” Regulus hums as they near him, reaching out his hand, which James takes and uses to help them stand up. With that, James pulls him into a hug, making him cry out, “James!”
“You have to get used to the cold!” James laughs, “This is the best way, isn’t it? Come with me.” And with that, they start walking backwards, bringing Regulus with them slowly.
“At least you’re not throwing me into the water.”
“I’m not your brother.” James laughs, “I would totally throw you into the water, but I know you don’t like it. So we’re working towards it.”
“Can’t you just take me out here on the paddleboard.”
“I wanna make sure that you’re more used to the water if you fall in from the board.”
Regulus hums, “Are you planning on pushing me into the water?”
“You have the balance of a baby bird, Reg.” James hums, leaning down to pick up Regulus when they’re in water that reaches their waist. Regulus goes easily, jumping up a bit and wrapping his legs around their waist, “And you’ve fallen several times from my paddleboard.”
“I hate that you’re right.” James grins at him, “we can go get on the paddleboard right now, if you want. I can take you further into the lake.” Regulus nods and hops from James’ waist, the two of them wading back to the shore. James pulls the paddleboard into the water and holds it steady for Regulus to get onto, straddling the back end of it and holding it still for James to sit on as well.
They get onto the paddleboard and attach the cuff to their ankle, pushing them out into the water a bit more before standing up and beginning to paddle them out towards the center of the lake, the sound of the waterfall getting louder and louder as they approach it. James stops moving them when they’re about centered, sits down, and gently pulls their phone from its waterproof bag that they had it sitting in to snap some pictures.
That’s when they notice that Regulus has pulled his phone out from its own waterproof bag to take a picture of James against the waterfall. They smile at him gently, “What are you doing, love?”
“Enjoying the view.” Regulus smiles softly back, laughing gently when James quickly snaps a picture of him before leaning forward to kiss him quickly.
It’s when they pull back from that kiss do they realise that Regulus is holding a box.
A small box.
A small, red, velvet box.
“What the fuck,” James mutters, flickering their gaze from between Regulus and the box.
Regulus, just like James the day previous, takes a deep breath as he gently opens the box to reveal a ring, then he laughs nervously, “You beat me to it… but I still wanted to do it. I still wanted to…” he shakes his head, “The speech that I had prepared wasn’t as… glamorous as yours but I guess I’ll still give it to you, I don’t know why I’m so nervous. You’re not going to say no, I mean I’m already your fiance but-” he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and shakes his head before opening his eyes again, “I told you last night, but there was a time where I thought the only way that I could get married or experience the love like the one in my stories was in the wrong body.
“I mean, I only knew of straight love stories at the time, and so I didn’t realise that I could love someone as a man. I’d have to be a girl to get married, because who else was going to do it. But I wasn’t a girl, I’m not a girl. You’ve shown me differently. You and my brother introduced me to the idea of being able to love a guy as… not a girl. You opened up my eyes to the possibility of me not having to stay a girl that night when we were drunk in the Astronomy Tower. You helped me pick my name. You proved that gender really didn’t matter that much when you kissed me after saying my name for the first time.” Regulus hums, feeling his eyes grow warm -- the tears streaking down James’ face aren’t helping at all -- but not caring to blink the tears away when they start to build up.
He meets James’ eyes, slowly reaching his hand to pull the ring out of the box, setting the box down on the board, “You and Sirius were the ones that cut my hair, and you spent hours in the library and sending letters to your dad to figure out a hair-lengthening charm that I could use when I went back home while Sirius and I were panicking. You took me and Sirius into your home when we couldn’t take it anymore. You taught us love, how to be loved, how it feels to have a family that loves us. You showed me a different definition for love than the one that I had been allowed to read and see and consume.” James gently reaches out their hand so Regulus can slip the ring onto it, there doesn’t have to be a question, they can do this during the speech. The answer is yes, it always will be.
Regulus licks his lips, intertwining their fingers together and bringing them to rest against the paddleboard, “Like you said yesterday, we both fell in love with each other from the day that Sirius introduced us. I acted like I hated you for so long, and a part of me did. I hated you for taking Sirius from me, I hated you for making me feel the way that you did, I hated you for being happy and having everything that I didn’t. I just didn’t realise that I could have that too, that you would give me that, if I just got over my fucking issues and let you in.” He swallows, “I love you, more than life itself. I’ve loved you from the start, and I’m fucking thrilled at the idea of getting to be called your husband.” He lets out a watery laugh, “You’ve done a very good job at just letting me talk, thank you Jamie.”
And James gives him a wobbly smile in return, “This was important to you. I didn’t- you really planned to propose to me on this trip too?”
Regulus nods, pulling his phone from where he had it recording and sitting against his stomach to turn off the recording and put it back so he can move closer to James, “I’ve had the ring for months, I went with Pandora and Lily to get it, I was just waiting for the right time. When you told me the plans for the trip, I knew I wanted to do it on the water because you love this lake, and you love being on the water on your paddleboard.”
At his words, James surges forward, pulling him into a fierce kiss. Regulus can feel their tears dripping between them, falling onto the board below, but he doesn’t care. When they finally pull back for breath, James gives him a dopey, lopsided grin, “You’re perfect, and I love you so fucking much Regulus.”
“I love you too, James.”
Then their face contorts, “I fucking told Lily that I was proposing on this trip, did you tell her too?”
Regulus nods, “I uhm… this sounds stupid as fuck, but I asked her permission. Don’t say that I didn’t have to, I know I didn’t and she laughed at me about it, but she was your first love. I know that you guys are just friends and that’s all you were meant to be, but it felt important.”
“You’re so sweet,” James smiles, cupping his face, “And if it makes you feel better, I asked both Barty and Sirius for their blessing.”
“I get Sirius, but why Barty?” Regulus hums, finally beginning to wipe the tears from his face.
James does the same, “Because he’s your brother. You’ve told me yourself that he was the person that took Sirius’ place when you two weren’t talking, so it was just as important for me to have his blessing as it was for me to have Sirius’.”
“I’m sure that was a fun talk,” Regulus laughs gently, failing to stop the second wave of tears at the information, “Barty’s a right bastard when he wants to be.”
“Not as bad as I was prepared for. He sure laughed in my face about it, but he told me that he just wanted to see you happy, and he knew that I was the one that could do that for you.” They smile, reaching forward to help him wipe his tears, “He did send me two threats everyday for a week after I asked him, though. Once in the morning, as soon as he woke up, and once in the evening.”
“Sounds more like him.”
James smiles softly, then nudges his foot with their own in the water, “Who else did you ask?”
“Your parents, obviously. And funnily enough, Marlene.” Regulus hums, “I thought about asking Pete, but I knew that he’d tell Remus and Sirius, and Sirius can’t keep a secret for the life of me. I’m honestly surprised he didn’t let it slip that you were planning to propose.”
“I think Remus helped with that.” James laughs gently. Then their face lights up with an idea, “It’s cruel, but how about we don’t mention any of this when we get back. We can tell Lily, because she’s going to pester us. But we just tell people that it was good when they ask about the trip and see how long it takes for them to notice the rings.”
And that gets Regulus. He throws his head back and cackles at the idea, and it’s the most glorious thing that James has ever seen. When he calms down enough to speak, he grins at James, “They’re going to fucking kill us when the find out.”
“But it sounds like you want to do it.”
“I would love nothing more, Jamie.” Regulus smiles. Once again, linking their hands and turning them so he and James can gaze at the ring. An ornate thing with two silver bands that look rather like antlers meeting in the middle to hold a sapphire. James grabs Regulus’ other hand and does the same thing, bringing their left hands together so they can look at the rings.
The rest of their day at the lake is spent with them on the paddleboard smiling and laughing and talking and kissing, just delighting in the events of the previous two days. Eventually, the water gets too cold and the sun is going to start setting soon, so James paddles them back to the shore -- which gives Regulus the wonderful opportunity to get a picture of his fiance’s arse -- and they begin to clean up and pack everything in the car.
When they get back to the campsite, they put away the food and drinks that they didn’t finish, hang up their swim clothes and the paddleboard on some nearby branches, and settle down. They have a quick dinner, some more drinks, and end the night staring at the stars and eating s’mores and roasted marshmallows before Regulus pulls James into the tent and tells them to ‘kiss me like you did in the Astronomy Tower’ which James is more than happy to do.
Then next morning, they’re up and at ‘em with the sun, eating breakfast and packing up their things so they can leave. When everything’s all packed up, James starts bringing things to the car while Regulus searches around the campsite to make sure that they’re not leaving anything behind before he starts to help James. And soon enough, they’re loading into the car, turning on some music, and driving away from the campground.
Regulus once again falls asleep during the drive, lulled by the sound of the road, James’ hum, and the early morning. And when he wakes up, they’re just about to pull up to their flat building. He starts to rouse himself while James parks and they’re both quick to bring everything into their flat.
James goes to make them food while Regulus starts unpacking their things -- only now, as he puts their clothes into the laundry basket, does it occur to him that they both agreed to pack separate bags quicker than they normally would. He takes a break when James calls him for food and they both finish up shortly after that.
“Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be?” James asks when the two are curled up in comfortable clothes on their couch.
Regulus groans, his head falling back against the couch, “We both know that I was being dramatic. I knew that it would be good.”
“It turned out much better than I thought it would.” James grins, pulling Regulus more into their body.
Lily texts them as soon as James posts some of the pictures of their trip online. Remus finds out about their engagement when he, Regulus, and Lily have dinner together and he promises to not tell Sirius. Pandora texts Regulus because Lily told her and Mary about it shortly after the dinner. Marlene, Pete, and the Potters notice James’ ring when they go to dinner with them. Barty actually screams in Regulus’ face, telling him that he’s been looking at Regulus’ left hand every time they’re together since James asked his permission, which is how Evan finds out.
Finally, Sirius nearly tackles them both to the ground when he notices the gold on Regulus’ ring. He scolds them for not telling him immediately and begs them to let him plan the wedding.