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Regulus had lost his lucky pen — the one his brother gave him when he went to take his first college exam — and even after searching every single inch of his room and Sirius’s right after, he still hadn’t found it. He was about to pull his hair out. He had an exam at 8 a.m. the next day, it was already past 10 p.m., and the damn pen was still missing. Sure, he could technically use any other pen, but he had never taken a test without his lucky one, and he refused to tell his brother that. Sirius kept insisting he just grab one of the many pens lying around.
“No, Sirius, I’m not using another pen! It has to be that one, okay?!” Regulus crossed his arms, sulking, as he threw himself onto the armchair in his room. He hoped he had sounded firm enough for his brother to get the message — and probably had, judging by the smirk already forming on Sirius’s face, the one that always came right before he said something annoying. That’s when Regulus cut him off: “Don’t you dare say anything or I’ll make you swallow one of these pens.” He pointed at his pen holder and sighed, closing his eyes and mentally retracing every possible place that damned pen could be.
“Well... you should ask Prongs” Sirius said, as casually as if he hadn’t just said something absurd. I mean, how the hell would James know where he had left his pen? “He always knows where you hide your crap” he added with a mischievous grin as he walked out the door toward the living room — probably to watch one of his stupid shows. Regulus sometimes enjoyed them too, but right now he was mad enough to find everything stupid and ridiculous.
Reluctantly, Regulus picked up his phone and sighed. Wednesday, 10:36 p.m., and he hadn’t replied to any of James’s messages since Sunday. Yeah, maybe he was a terrible boyfriend, but he really hated texting — and his dumb boyfriend knew that better than anyone. He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the chat with James, not really sure how to ask. Sure, he could just type something, but after ignoring three days’ worth of updates from James’s life, it felt kind of selfish to message now just because he needed something.
He was definitely about to spiral when he saw the little “typing...” bubble appear on the screen. He couldn’t help but smile at the phone and roll his eyes before the message even came in — and his smile widened even more when it did.
My sun at 10:39 p.m.: You should check inside the notebook Moony lent you last week — the one with his notes on that subject.
Regulus frowned, not understanding how the hell James knew what he was looking for. Before he could even ask, the next message popped up:
My sun at 10:41 p.m.: Pads may or may not have told me you were driving him insane, and I just knew that was the reason.
My sun at 10:41 p.m.: I’ll pick you up after your class tomorrow. Wait for me in case you finish your test before I get there.
Regulus smiled. Sometimes, he really wondered if he deserved someone as thoughtful as James. Ever since he met him — two years ago, when they bumped into each other at the library while reaching for the same book (which, as it turned out, James had been grabbing as a favor for Remus) — he hadn’t been able to get the guy out of his head. Things moved pretty fast after that, especially since his brother had started dating Remus, James’s best friend. The three of them quickly developed a weirdly intense co-dependency — so it was hard to see one without the other two.
Regulus did, in fact, find the pen exactly where James had said it would be. He immediately snapped a picture of it and sent it to James with the caption:
“I don’t know what I’d do without you...”
He put the pen inside the pencil case he’d take to university the next day and glanced at his phone again. James had already replied — this time with a voice message, in Portuguese, that infuriating language that somehow made James’s voice sound even more beautiful. Regulus may or may not have listened to it three times before fully understanding what he was saying:
“Fico feliz em te ajudar, amor. Mal posso esperar para te ver amanhã. Estou com saudades.” (I’m happy to help, love. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. I miss you.)
Regulus reacted with a heart and hugged the phone to his chest, sighing as he flopped onto the bed, kicked his legs in the air, and felt his face flush — as if he were 17 again, receiving the very first message from his sun.