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For the past few minutes, James had been cooing over something on his phone so much, Regulus began to think the cute cat video compilations must have gotten out of hand. He'd been trying to read a particularly sad scene in his favourite book, Frankenstein, and the noises his boyfriend produced in the background did make for a unique sort of distraction.
"What could possibly be this adorable?" He asked, slightly exasperated as he put his book off to the side.
James looked rather sheepish as he took out his earbuds. He had the habit of sometimes forgetting anyone could hear or see him while he was fully immersed in any form of media.
"Nothing," he mumbled, "just a thing on TikTok." His arms emerged from under the covers and immediately pulled him into a hug.
Regulus melted into his side, as he let out a content sigh.
He got to have this every day, every night. The sort of trivial conversations and hugs that happened just because and had no ulterior motive to them. It was odd sometimes, to think the only thing that disturbed his nights nowadays, was James cooing at ten second clips of cats rolling around on the floor.
"What thing?" He asked, trailing a finger over James' neck almost absentmindedly.
"A trend. People call up their family or friends, in some cases also their colleagues or exes, just to say good night to them."
Regulus snorted. Of course James Potter would watch random strangers saying good night to their family and find it cute.
"That's what you do regularly," he remarked. "Want to film you giving Effie a hundred kisses over the phone and win the trend of being the sappiest person alive?"
James let out a laugh. "That would be cute—but it's really about the surprise of it all. Mum wouldn't be surprised by me calling her to say good night, would she?"
Regulus doubted anyone would question it if James called them to say good night. He could already hear it in his head. Remus would wish him sweet dreams, Sirius would joke about James missing him so much—or him missing James—they were co-dependent like that. Even if he called, say Alice, who'd just begun working with him, it would probably be filed under James Potter's approach to life.
"Nobody would be surprised."
"Right," James agreed. "Except, maybe…" he paused for a second. "No, never mind."
"Hm?"
What did he mention before? Exes? The last relationship of his partner had been over a decade ago. He sincerely doubted James still had their number.
"It's stupid." James shifted a little so he could look at him directly. "I just—Can you imagine me calling up anyone in your family to announce I'm going to bed now? 'Hey Narcissa, have a good night.' Or 'Yo Wally—"
The face of his mother came to mind immediately, as she looked down at her phone in utter disgust, like it had offended her by letting a call from James through.
Regulus burst into laughter at the thought.
"She would think you've planned her murder and not sleep a wink."
"Oh," James said, lightly. "Perhaps I should do it then. Good riddance."
They were only joking, about the call at least. It was better not to be in any contact with his mother unless absolutely necessary, which only included very few events in the past, none of which had been pleasant.
"I could do it," he said, after calming down again.
Regulus was very much the type for scheduled phone calls only, and only if he was feeling up to it, which wasn't very often. He only ever called someone spontaneously if it was urgent.
"What," James spluttered. "You want to call your mother?"
"No, not her." He rolled his eyes fondly at the indignation in his boyfriend's tone. "I was thinking Sirius, maybe? Or Barty? He's in the States, so definitely awake right now."
"Please call Sirius!" There was so much enthusiasm, it warmed his heart. "Oh this would be so perfect! My favourite person doing wholesome things? Sign me up."
"Dork."
"You love me."
He really did.
He glanced at his watch. Half past ten.
"Okay, since Sirius has gotten old and likes his sleep now, I doubt he's still awake."
"Nah, they have their weekly movie night today," James reminded him. "At most, he tried to nap."
So, uncharacteristically, he opened the phone app, which displayed his last few calls chronologically. James, three times last week and then Dorcas, the weekend before, when she needed his live reaction to an outfit.
Regulus didn't call Sirius often, mostly because they lived so closely together, his brother turned up at their house every day anyway. Half of their used glasses standing around everywhere belonged to Sirius.
It was the sort of bliss they'd often longed for as children, just going to each other's places and living their life. They had each other's keys too.
"I can't even remember the last time I called him," he huffed, scrolling down in his list of calls.
"You called him when we were in Portugal last summer."
"No, he called me back then. I think it's been ages since I called him."
"Do you think he'll be worried?" James asked, resting his head on top of Regulus'.
"Worried? Why would he be worried?" He furrowed his brows.
"Some people on TikTok got worried. Don't you think he'll find it odd?"
He imagined Sirius sitting on the sofa, getting a phone call from him to say good night—scratch that. James was right, even just getting a call from him at all would probably be a surprise to his brother.
Now he wanted to know.
Would Sirius pass it off as a joke immediately, like he did whenever James called him for random declarations of love out of the blue? Or would he suspect something was wrong?
Regulus had tried his best to give him no reasons to worry about him his whole life, and yet, by the nature of their upbringing, Sirius tended to worry about him a lot regardless.
It was touching to have someone you grew up with care so much.
Now that he thought about it, there had been quite a few times over the years that he'd spent on the phone, pouring out his heart to his brother in ways he couldn't bring himself to, in person.
The first time he'd failed to hand in an assignment in uni because he'd been so exhausted and had pushed himself too hard. Or the time he'd finally confessed to him that their mother had continued sending him letters, some sweet, some cruel and that Regulus had kept them, for some reason. He'd been scared Sirius would be angry, or laugh at him, maybe. But none of those worst case scenarios had ever come true on these calls.
As the phone began to beep, James intertwined a hand with his free one.
Regulus smiled. This would be nice and wholesome, just another thing healthy people did if they felt like it. He, too, could call his brother and say good night. No problem.
"Reggie?" Sirius did sound alert. So no nap then.
He put it on speaker phone.
"Hello Sirius."
"Is—em—is everything alright?" In the background he could hear some shuffling. Remus, probably.
"Yes, of course. It's your movie night, right? Sorry to disturb, I—"
Before he could say anything else, Sirius interrupted him.
"Forget about movie night, what's wrong?"
James squeezed his hand in an told you so manner at the concerned question. Regulus squeezed back just wait. He would be able to convince his own brother there was nothing wrong, of course he could.
"There is nothing wrong, really," Regulus said, trying not to giggle at the absurdity. "I just wanted to call and say good night, that's all."
"You call me to say good night?"
He could practically hear the gears turning in Sirius' head.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"You—" Sirius spluttered, clearly out of his depth already. "You don't just call me to say good night."
"Well today I am, so, good night Sirius. Sleep well."
A beat of silence, before there was more shuffling and someone, Remus, saying something incomprehensible in the background.
Then, "Wait. Do you need me to come over? Is this about your—Is James there?" He sounded rushed now.
Regulus exchanged a confused gaze with James before replying. Who knew what things were currently going through Sirius' head. He already felt a little bad.
"Yes, he's here and I'm fine, I promise. You don't need to come over." He tried his best to emphasise on the being fine part.
"Oh," Sirius was clearly relieved, but still didn't sound entirely convinced. "I just thought maybe you couldn't sleep again and… I know you don't do well with being alone sometimes and—"
A warm feeling spread through his chest.
As a child, Regulus had often had trouble sleeping in the dark, big room of his with the ugly wallpaper that looked like it was moving. Mother didn't allow him to keep on a light and on many occasions, he'd ended up in his brother's room, seeking the feeling of safety.
"I was seven," he squeaked, but still felt touched by the sentiment.
It was nice to know Sirius would still do that, even today. Sometimes, not too often, Regulus got this irrational fear of his brother abandoning him. Not in the cutting all strings way, just in the way some siblings drifted apart through the course of their life. Nothing dramatic. The slow kind of separation that you didn't notice until it was too late.
So his heart clenched at the knowledge that Sirius was fully prepared to leave behind his partner for a night just in case Regulus had trouble sleeping, to give him company.
"Never too old for a sleepover," Sirius joked, still giving him the option to take him up on the offer.
"Thank you," he whispered, his voice strangely hoarse now as the nostalgia had caught him. "But I'm fine. Just want to say good night, really."
"Okay," Sirius said, and then, down to a whisper, "You know you can always talk to me, right? About anything. I'm here for you."
"Yeah, I know," he whispered back. "You too."
These sentiments were the kind they only repeated in the dark, or in whispers. It made them feel more precious, like the words were worth being protected. Whispers could truly stay a secret, even if you were in the same room as your parents.
Next to him, James had taken off his glasses and was wiping his eyes that had begun to fill with tears. Oh. He should have predicted this.
"Have to go," he told his brother, "James is crying."
"What!? Why is James—"
"I love you both so much," James practically howled. "Can you be nice to each other more often?"
Regulus pulled him into another hug, hiding the bright smile in James' shoulder as Sirius finally caught up with the situation.
"You could've led with it being James' idea."
Regulus finally let out a chuckle. "Is it really that unreasonable that I call you for—"
"Yes!" This time it was Remus' voice, significantly closer to the mic. "You had us pretty worried, I thought—just don't do that again!"
He huffed. "Fine." His heart sang happily. Remus cared too.
"Maybe switch to good morning calls," Sirius suggested. "Would be a nice change to the usual alarm clock. Hey, if you take requests, I'm thinking you could take out your violin and—"
"Good night!" He said, and promptly hung up the phone.
Idiot.
James let out a sniffle. "This was better than any video."
"You're so sentimental," Regulus said, though he couldn't help but keep grinning.
"I love you."
"Love you too."
As Regulus shut off the little lamp on the bedside table and snuggled up to his boyfriend, with the knowledge of the closest people around him caring so much about him, he felt like the luckiest person in the world.