Chapter Text
The mattress was stuck. James Potter stared up at it—and with it—his angry boyfriend.
Neither of them spoke for a beat.
“This,” James said eventually. “Is not my fault.”
Regulus raised an eyebrow. “You carried it up the stairs, turned it sideways, and got it stuck.” He drops his side of the mattress and sighs.
They’ve been in the building for just four hours. In that time, they had managed to break a lamp, lose the box containing all of their cutlery, and get their mattress stuck on the stairs.
They hadn't even unpacked yet.
Regulus looked around the chaos around him.
Boxes were stacked against every wall. Their books were still sitting in uneven piles on the floor. James's trainers had somehow migrated to the middle of the hallway.
And yet, Regulus smiled. Just a bit.
This was theirs now. Their flat. Their ridiculous, slightly crooked little flat above an old bookshop in London.
James noticed and tilted his head towards Regulus. “What is it, love?”
Regulus shrugged, turning his attention to James. “Nothing.” he says dismissively.
“You're smiling. You never smile.” James laughs as a smile grows on his face too.
Regulus turns his head away to hide his growing smile. “I am not.”
“You are!”
Regulus rolled his eyes, turning back to James.
James grinned and pinched Regulus’s cheek. Regulus slapped his hand away. “Alright, come on.” James looked back at the mattress.
“Where are you going?” Regulus asked.
“To get the mattress unstuck.” James answered nonchalantly.
Regulus gave him an odd look. “We’ve already tried multiple ways.”
“I have a new strategy.”
“Which is?”
James smiled wide. “More confidence.”
Regulus stared at him. “That’s not a strategy.”
“It’s worked for me so far!”
“It absolutely has not.”
James disappeared around the corner before Regulus could answer.
A second later, there was a loud thump.
Regulus closed his eyes. “Are you alive?”
“Define alive.”
“James.”
“I’m fine!”
Regulus sighed. He loved him. Unfortunately.
Eventually, after another twenty minutes, the mattress made it upstairs.
James collapsed onto it dramatically. “We did it.”
Regulus stood in the doorway. “We?”
“Yes. We.”
“I did nothing.”
“You provided emotional support.”
Regulus laughed. James smiled at the sound. For a moment, neither of them said anything.
The flat was quiet.
Downstairs, they could hear the faint jingle of the bookshop's bell as someone opened the front door. Somewhere outside, a bus rumbled down the street.
Their windows were still bare. The walls were empty. Half their belongings were still packed away.
It didn't look like home yet. But maybe it would.
James reached into his pocket. “I've got something.”
Regulus looked over. James pulled out two small keys. He held one toward him.
Regulus took it. He turned it over between his fingers. Their key. A stupid little piece of metal.
But somehow, it felt important.
James nudged his shoulder against Regulus's. “So,” he said. “We're officially adults.”
Regulus looked at the boxes surrounding them. “We have no cutlery.”
“We can eat with our hands.”
“The kitchen is missing an entire cabinet door.”
“Adds character.”
Regulus smiled. James smiled back. Then Regulus slipped the key into his pocket. “Come on, Potter.”
“Where?”
“Let's order dinner.”
James immediately sat up. “Now you're speaking my language.”
They left the boxes exactly where they were. The mattress remained crooked. The wardrobe was still unopened. And somewhere downstairs, the bell above the bookshop door rang again.
For the first time in a long time, neither of them had anywhere else they needed to be.
They were home.