Chapter Text
Chapter Forty
Regulus – April 30th
Sunlight dripped in through the glass in gradual streaks. The two of them awoke entangled, if it weren’t for the stark differences in their skin tones, one would not have been able to tell where one man ended and the other began.
“Morning.” James croaked, voice low and rough with sleep.
“Morning.” Regulus parroted coyly, nuzzling his head into the crook of James’ neck.
“Sleep okay?”
Regulus only hummed and nodded, then slid an arm around James’ middle and pulled himself tightly against him.
James chuckled. “Wanna get any closer?”
“Mm. Not close enough.” He mumbled into James’ neck, hooking his leg over James’ hip and clinging on for dear life.
James smiled fondly. “Okay.” He whispered and pulled the covers up over both of them, then wrapped his arms around Regulus, holding him just as tightly. Regulus smiled to himself, practically melting as James pressed a kiss to his forehead, his hands splayed possessively across Regulus’ back.
An indeterminable period of time later, as the sun lifted higher, Regulus drew back and looked up at James with a perfect smile, etched on perfect features.
“Are you here the whole summer?” he asked, not willing to part with how afraid he was of the answer.
James inhaled slowly and sighed.
“No.” He said weightily, regretfully. “I’m here all of May, but I fly to Philly on the first of June for five weeks. Then I’ll be back for maybe two weeks in July, but after that we’re into pre-season games.” He paused and thought, then frowned gravely. “I might not even get back in July honestly.”
Regulus’ face clearly didn’t hide how he felt about that because James’ expression crumpled with guilt.
“I know,” James sighed apologetically. “But hey. Why don’t you invite your college friends up here for a few weeks?”
Regulus’ face fell into a faint smirk and he raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You’re okay with Barty being in your house? Talking to your parents? Snooping. Because Jesus Christ that man will snoop.”
James smirked and pretended to reconsider. “I’m happy with anything that makes you happy.”
A moment of quiet.
“You’re a sap.” Regulus said almost to himself with a shake of his head and casted his eyes down.
“For you. Endlessly.” James murmured as he tipped Regulus’ face back up to his and kissed him chastely. “And don’t worry about Barty. My parents won’t be here in June anyway, they’re going to Italy for a month. So please ask your friends. Okay?”
Regulus nodded, but the disappointment festered. Of course, he loved his friends, and it would be brilliant to have them up here all summer… but if he had to choose, he’d choose James. In this bed. All summer.
Changing the subject, James stiffened and grimaced. “There’s something else we need to do.”
Regulus paled, dreading whatever was coming next and yet, part of him already knew exactly what his ridiculous lionhearted boyfriend was about to say.
“What?” he grumbled, hiding his face between James’ pecs.
“We need to tell Sirius.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, nuzzled his head against James’ chest and groaned. “I know.” he muttered into it.
“Baby, he has a right to know.” James said. “Everyone else knows at this point. It’s not fair to keep this from him any longer.”
“Fine. Next week then, when everyone gets here.” Regulus said decisively and looked up at James sheepishly and patted him on the chest. “We’ve had a good run, you know? When he guts you and hangs your remains up in the boathouse, just remember that we had a good run.”
James laughed nervously. “Oh god.”
Then they were both laughing softly.
And then they were kissing.
And then James was on top of him.
“Move to Philly with me?” James whispered, and it sounded accidental, like he hadn’t meant it to come out yet, not in the way it had anyway.
Regulus froze, and stared at him wide eyed. “What?”
James winced. “I-err. I want you to move to Philly… with me.”
Regulus’ jaw dropped and for a moment he didn’t say anything. “Permanently?”
James nodded, a huffed laugh of relief escaping his throat. He sat up, and Regulus sat up with him.
“I mean... yeah. If you wanted to… This.” He paused, and Regulus watched him, still in shock, trying to process what was happening. “Look, I love you. Regulus. I want everything with you. I want a house. A life. Hell anything you’ll give me. If you’re there, I’m right there next to you.” He paused. “If you’ll have me.”
Regulus was nodding before he knew he was. “Yes. Yes, I’ll come with you!” And launched himself at his boyfriend, kissing him and sending him backwards towards the foot of the bed. “In that case. We really need to tell Sirius.”
James chuckled nervously. “Fucking hell.”
********
After breakfast, they went out on the boat. Regulus sat on the bench at the back, wearing James’ new Eagles hoodie watching him drive at the helm, shirtless because according to James it wasn’t right to captain in a shirt, despite it not actually being summer yet.
Although it had been unseasonally warm over the last month, the wind was still pretty biting. Still, the lakes had thawed entirely by early April, everyone knew to blame climate change, and the temperature had risen steadily throughout the month, though not quite to the pleasant warmth that Regulus craved. It was still April after all, barely, but nowhere near the height of summer. His idiot boyfriend, however, was acting like he was sailing across the Mediterranean in August.
James sped out of the little bay out towards the cove that they had loosely coined as theirs. It was the cove where they’d almost kissed three years ago. The cove where they’d eventually made out for what felt like hours in the shallows, the cove that after that day, had been a setting for far too many of Regulus’ dreams.
They had a lunch packed in the cooler, towels, extra hoodies and Regulus of course had brought his book because there wasn’t a chance in hell that he was getting in that water. He looked out across the water as the boat bounced over little waves in the surface, slapping against the hull enthusiastically. James steered the boat out towards the rock outcrop, and beyond that, towards their cove, flashing a smile over his shoulder.
Regulus looked out again across the water and wondered whether this could be it? Whether they’d actually made it? Whether he was free of his parent’s clutches? Whether everything had gone to plan? Whether he’d be able to breathe again? Whether he’d really get the chance to move to Philadelphia with James…
The wind seized his hair and tussled it violently. Regulus pushed his sunglasses further up his nose, and yanked the hood over his hair, holding it taught under his chin. When James had convinced him of this unseasonal boat trip, Regulus had hoped it would feel warmer once they stopped, and the sun had a chance to warm their skin because right now he was fucking freezing. If James thought he was jumping in the lake today, he’d be entirely disappointed. There was no way on earth Regulus was getting in frigid lake water in April. Yes it was nearly May, but it was still Baltic in the water.
The engine cut with a low, satisfied hum as James eased them into the cove. The sudden quiet felt thick, broken only by the soft slap of water against the hull. The boat drifted gently as James dropped anchor, the chain rattling before settling with a dull clunk.
“Home sweet home,” James said, turning slightly, one hand still resting on the wheel.
Regulus didn’t move from his spot at the back, arms folded tightly across his chest, hood still up, sunglasses firmly in place like a shield against both the wind and James’ inevitable nonsense excuses that it wasn’t that cold. He scowled.
“It’s freezing,” he said flatly, grumpy and stubborn and already wanting to go back to the warmth of the house.
“Love.” James glanced over his shoulder at him and smirked. “You look like you’re about to file a formal complaint with the weather,” he said with a well-meaning chuckle.
“I might,” Regulus replied. “This is unacceptable.”
James grinned. “Don’t be dramatic.”
“I’m not I’m just fucking freezing.”
“You’re being a wuss,” James shot back, stepping down from the helm. “It’s unseasonally warm!” James echoed the news anchor that morning as he’d successfully convinced Regulus to join him on the boat.
Regulus scoffed, drawing his legs up slightly onto the bench. “No. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to get hypothermia. If anything, I’m the sensible one here.”
James stopped in front of him, dripping lake light and smugness, utterly unbothered by the temperature and still bloody shirtless. Regulus tried his best not to drool over the firm ripple of his torso, the sharp lines that disappeared into a v below his waistband.
“Get in with me,” James pleaded, those stupid dimples creasing his cheeks.
Regulus stared up at him, fuming. “No.”
“Come on.”
“No,” Regulus repeated, slower this time, like James might be struggling with comprehension. “Absolutely not.”
James tilted his head, studying him, then took another step closer. “It’s not that bad.”
“It is that bad.”
“You haven’t even tried.” He cooed, bracketing Regulus’ shoulders with his arms, hands braced on the bench behind him.
“I don’t need to,” Regulus said coolly, looking from James’ lips to his eyes. “I can see it. It looks hostile.”
James laughed, tugging lightly at the edge of Regulus’ hood. “Don’t be such a spoil sport.”
Regulus swatted his hand away. “I’m not. I just have self-preservation instincts. You should try it sometime.”
James’ grin widened. “Or,” he said, voice dropping slightly as he kissed just under Regulus’ ear, nipping the skin. “You just don’t want to get your hair wet.”
“You’re unbelievable.” He huffed.
“Am I wrong?”
“Yes.”
“Mm,” James hummed, unconvinced, nudging Regulus’ nose up with his own, so that their eyes met.
There was a second or two where neither of them moved, the water rocking gently beneath them, the air cool but bright. Then James threatened to close the distance, lips almost touching.
“You’ll be fine,” he said, softer now.
Regulus narrowed his eyes, whispering back. “I will not.”
James leaned in. The kiss was quick at first, just a press of lips that stole the argument right out of Regulus’ mouth. But then James lingered, just slightly, warm despite the cold air, familiar and always welcomed. Regulus exhaled quietly against him and hummed involuntarily.
Then, James pulled back just enough to speak. “Get in the water with me,” he murmured.
Regulus pouted. “No,” he said again, but it lacked some of its earlier bite.
James huffed a laugh against his mouth and kissed him again, a bit more deliberate this time, hand sliding lightly to the side of Regulus’ neck.
“You’re very persuasive,” Regulus muttered when James finally pulled back.
“I know,” James said easily.
“But. It’s still not happening.”
“We’ll see.” James said arrogantly, cocking his head to one side and winking at him.
Regulus gave him a withering glare. “We won’t.”
James stepped back, hands lifting slightly in mock surrender. “Alright,” he said. “Stay here. Be miserable. I’ll go enjoy myself.”
“I’m not miserable.”
“You look miserable.”
“I’m comfortably warm actually.”
“Baby, you’re curled up like a pensioner,” James said, already moving toward the edge of the boat.
Regulus watched him, unimpressed. “And you’re about to regret every life choice you’ve ever made.”
James turned back, walking backwards now, grinning recklessly. “Worth it.”
And before Regulus could say anything else, he dove. The splash was loud, like a clap of thunder against the quiet of the cove. There was a moment of nothing then,
“Jesus Christ!” James’ voice broke through the water, half-laughing, half-choking. “That is cold! Fuck me!”
Regulus sat up straighter, arms still crossed but satisfaction curling faintly at the edges of his mouth. “I did warn you!” He called stubbornly.
James surfaced fully, slicking his hair back, eyes immediately finding him. “Get in,” he called back, like nothing had changed.
Regulus shook his head, settling back against the bench. “Absolutely not.”
James just grinned, treading water. “Wuss.”
Regulus pulled his hood tighter, entirely unbothered. “Idiot.”
James disappeared under the surface again, then came up a few feet closer to the boat, water slicking his hair back, grin already forming.
“Reg!”
Before Regulus could brace, James flicked a handful of water up at him.
Regulus recoiled instantly. “James!” he shrieked, face a picture of pure fury.
Another splash.
“Stop!” Regulus yelped, jerking back, nearly dropping his sunglasses. “What are you doing?!”
James was laughing now, properly laughing, head tipped back, completely unrepentant.
“Come on!” he called, kicking lazily to stay afloat. “Regggiiiie, come swim with me, I love you!”
Regulus stared at him, affronted, lips parting in disbelief before pressing into a thin, unimpressed line.
“I love you too moron!” He shot back, voice tight with cold and indignation. “But I value my toes, and I do not wish to lose them to frostbite!”
James laughed harder at that, splashing the water again just to be obnoxious. “You’re so dramatic!”
“And you’re soon going to be hypothermic!” Regulus snapped.
James only grinned, treading water easily, eyes fixed on him. “Just get in,” he said, softer now, coaxing threaded through the teasing. “It’s not that bad once you’re in.”
Regulus deadpanned, distrustfully. “That is exactly what people say before it is, in fact, that bad.”
“Trust me.”
Regulus huffed, crossing his arms tighter, but his gaze flicked down to the water, then back to James. Still, James didn’t push, he just watched him patiently. Regulus rolled his eyes.
“God, you’re insufferable,” he muttered, already reaching for the hem of the hoodie.
James’ grin widened instantly. “Yeah?”
“This is your fault.” Regulus added snidely, pulling it off and tossing it onto the bench. “Entirely your fault.”
“I’ll take it,” James said, delighted that his stupid plan had worked, and Regulus was mortified that he’d been stupid enough to be taken in by those damn curls and ridiculous dimples.
Regulus kicked off his shoes, peeled off the rest with quick, efficient movements, because he knew that if hesitated for even a second he would come to his senses and bail. He stood at the edge of the boat in just his trunks, glaring down at the water in disgust.
James watched, practically vibrating with anticipation. “Any time, sweetheart.”
Regulus shot him a look. “If I die James Fleamont Potter.”
“I promise you won’t.” James chuckled.
“I’m haunting you.”
“I would never let that happen. Just, come on. Jump.”
Regulus exhaled sharply, then he jumped and the cold hit him like a wall.
It stole the breath straight out of him. His body seized, lungs locking as he plunged under, the shock sending a violent, brutal jolt through him. Surfacing with a gasp that turned immediately into a string of curses, he splashed frantically.
“Jesus-fuck-James-what the hell?!” he gasped, already moving, arms instinctively reaching, grabbing onto the nearest solid thing. James.
Regulus latched onto him, fingers gripping tight around his shoulders, body pressed close without a second thought. James steadied him instantly, hands firm at his sides.
“Hey, hey.” James’ voice dropped, all laughter gone, replaced more serious tones. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you, you’re okay.”
Regulus sucked in another harsh breath, eyes wide, body trembling hard against him. “It’s freezing! Jesus! You’d better run when we get back because I am going to decapitate you! Save Sirius the trouble!”
James chuckled. “Just breathe, deeply. You can stab me all you want later, you have my word.”
“It’s so fucking cold!”
“I know,” James murmured, one hand coming up to the back of his neck, grounding and steady. “I know, love. Breathe. It’s just cold water shock.”
Regulus shook his head slightly, still clinging. “I can’t, I need to get out!”
“You can,” James said gently. “You can.” Then firmly. “Slow it down. In through your nose, slow…there you go.” His smile crept back, guiding him through his breaths.
Regulus tried, breath hitching, uneven. This was it. This was how he was going to die. He scowled at James who dutifully stayed pressed close, one arm braced around him now, keeping him afloat effortlessly.
“Good,” James murmured. “That’s it. You’re alright, sweetheart. It’s just the shock.”
Regulus pressed closer without thinking, forehead brushing James’ shoulder, teeth threatening to chatter. “This was a terrible idea,” he muttered weakly.
James huffed a quiet laugh, softer now, fond. “Yeah, maybe a little,” he admitted. “But you’re doing it. You’re in.”
Regulus let out a shaky breath, still gripping him hard. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t,” James said easily.
A beat of quiet hovered between them and still Regulus’ grip didn’t loosen. “…no,” he admitted quietly. “I don’t hate you. But I’m really fucking mad at you.”
James smiled, pressing a quick kiss to his damp temple. “Give it a minute,” he said, voice low and warm against his skin. “Your body’ll catch up. You’ll stop feeling like you’re dying.”
“Comforting,” Regulus muttered.
James laughed softly, tightening his hold just slightly. “I’ve got you, baby,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
*******
Hot showers were compulsory. Along with a hundred layers of clothing, fluffy socks and slippers. Followed by Regulus declaring grumpily that he was going to make brownies to curb the onset of hypothermia. He’d protested the entire way back to shore, across the lawn, up the stairs and the entire time they were in the shower all whilst James chuckled to himself and ducked as Regulus swatted at him.
Now, James lay on the couch, scrolling through his phone, answering emails and still bloody shirtless. That man ran like a damn radiator. Regulus left him to work, as he busied himself with finding ingredients, tins and spatulas.
Apparently, James had already received three brand deals, and he hadn’t even started training with the Eagles properly yet. But Regulus wasn’t surprised, he knew he’d make it, that was just who James was. He looked up fondly and studied the way James’ foot tapped along to the song playing from the speaker he’d placed on the coffee table, biting his lip as he hummed along.
Regulus smiled, and tried to keep his mind off Montreal, and the shit show that awaited him up there. Tried to keep his mind off what was coming, tried to stop worrying about when he would hear, when he would receive that inevitable phone call from the police, summoning him back home. It wasn’t over. Even though up here, tucked away and amidst the joys of playing house, they felt safe, Regulus knew none of it was over. Not yet.
He replied to a text from Dora, asking how things were, he promised that he’d call her later. James hummed, Regulus followed a recipe on his phone, the music hovered around them, quiet enough that Regulus could hear the way the wind battered up against the doors. Clearly, a storm was drawing in. James had even docked in the boat house because of it but there were no clouds to be seen quite yet. Though no doubt they were on their way.
Pouring the batter into a tin, Regulus scraped around the edges of the bowl and hypnotically watched it ooze over the rim. He was warming up, he found he could feel his toes now, but they were tingling faintly with each step. At least his lips weren’t blue anymore. He lightly shook the tin back and forth, observing the mixture seep into each corner, before lifting it and sliding it into the oven, a timer already set on his phone which was speckled with flour and cocoa powder.
Then, he marched over to James, plucked his phone from his hand and climbed on top of him, lying with his head on his chest and smiled mischievously up at him.
James chuckled. “It’s okay I wasn’t reading that or anything.” He said sarcastically.
Regulus just hummed. “Good. I’d hate to think you had prioritised your phone over me.”
This made him laugh, jostling Regulus around before he placed a kiss to the top of his head. “Never.”
Regulus nestled in, sliding his arms under James’ armpits and holding onto the back of his shoulders.
“You heard anything?” James asked after a couple of minutes of silence. “From your uncle or…?”
Regulus shook his head, face still pressed into James’ neck. “Not yet. Obviously, my father hasn’t been…rearrested or… well. We’d have been told if anything had happened.”
“You think he’ll make a run for it?”
Regulus inhaled and considered. “I think he’s too arrogant for that. I think he thinks he can still control me even from a prison cell. But he’s a coward at heart. I know that now.”
“I won’t let that happen.” James said, stroking Regulus’ hair, pulling it off his forehead.
Regulus smiled, but it was barely there. Still, he knew James meant every word.
“I was looking at houses in Philly.” James said with a smile, fingers still in Regulus’ hair.
“Yeah?”
James nodded and pulled out his phone. He leafed through endless tabs of houses until he found the one he was looking for. Regulus slid off to lie beside him, James’ hands coming round in front of him so they could look through the photos.
Regulus frowned. “You can afford this?!”
“Just.” James hushed. “Look at the photos, let me worry about the money.”
“Geez the Eagles really wanted you.” Regulus shook his head as he admired the glass, the modern slopes of the roof, the double bedrooms, the fireplace in the centre of the living room, chimney ascending up through the ceiling.
He flicked to the master suite. Floor to ceiling windows overlooking the woods. Ensuite. It looked like it belonged in a magazine, or in a photoshoot. Regulus had never seen anything like it.
“This would be our room.” James said in a low voice, kissing just below Regulus’ ear.
The alarm on his phone interrupted them before he could respond. Pushing himself up to straddle James’ hips, he turned it off and looked down at him.
“Brownies are ready.” He said softly as James sat up to, nudging him into a kiss which was both chaste and entirely corruptive, James’ tongue teasing his own. Regulus let out a soft noise and allowed his fingers to trace the hard lines of James’ jaw before standing up.
“Do you like it?” James asked, seeking approval, like a loyal dog, begging for praise.
“I do, Jamie.” He smiled and leaned down to kiss him again. As he turned, James smacked him hard on the ass and Regulus yelped with laughter. “Hands to yourself Potter!” he snapped wittily, throwing a flirtatious grin over him shoulder. James just beamed at him, leaning back on the couch with his hands linked behind his head.
“Can’t help myself sweetheart!” James called after him, laughing harder when Regulus just gave him a middle finger.
Back in the kitchen, Regulus placed the steaming tin onto a cooling rack and took off the oven gloves, leaving them beside the steaming brownies on the worktop. He turned around to close the oven and spotted James in his peripheral.
“Don’t touch that, it’s hot.” He said flippantly, turning off the oven and walking towards the fridge when he heard a hiss and a curse from behind him.
Immediately, he knew.
Regulus turned to see James sucking on his finger, a pained and wounded expression in his eyes.
The damn idiot had touched the tin.
“Are you stupid?” Regulus bit with a fierce roll of his eyes, stomping back towards him and snatching his hand out of his mouth to inspect it. “Jamie what did I just say?”
“I’s hot.” James mumbled childishly.
“I don’t know if hot means something different in Ontario, but in Montreal, it means don’t fucking touch the tin.” He said as he dragged James by the hand and shoved his finger under the cold tap.
When he looked up, his idiot boyfriend was grinning.
“Love you.” James said stupidly
“You’re going to turn me grey.” Regulus grumbled, squawking when James kissed him with aggressive affection.
*******
That evening they spent forty five minutes in the hot tub, making out, Regulus in James’ lap, arms around his neck, skin slick and covered in goosebumps from the cold night air. It was April after all, despite the weird heatwave.
Heatwave coined lightly though because sixteen degrees celsius was hardly anything to write home about.
Padding inside in towels, they went upstairs to change and came back down in sweats and hoodies, Regulus wearing James’ Eagles one of course. He had completely commandeered it, but he suspected James had secretly hoped he would. He knew James loved seeing Regulus in his clothes.
Regulus wandered into the kitchen whilst James put some music on, and began to cut the brownie into squares after popping it out of the tin, now completely cool. Unexpected arms around his waist and a chin on his shoulder sent pleasant shivers down his spine.
“Woah woah woah. Hang on?! Those are the tiniest pieces of brownie I have ever seen?!” James protested.
“That is a normal size!” Regulus laughed, squirming as James ducked close to his ear, laughing with him and positively fuming.
“Baby I could fit three of those in my mouth at once!” James’ arms tightened around his waist.
“I think that says more about you than my brownies.” Regulus poked, smirking to himself.
Outside the evening swelled into a deep orange sunset, the light weakening, the last rays of sunshine stretching like tendrils through the windows lining the back of the house. James started to sway them from side to side. The lake ripped, waves sucked and collapsed. The clouds crept in towards the retreating sun. the wind clattered on. This storm wasn’t waiting for anything, barrelling toward them with everything it had.
The next song started. Regulus placed the knife down beside the brownies and placed his hands atop James’, relaxing into the warmth of him at his back.
“I love this song.” James whispered in his ear.
I am not the only traveller. Who has not repaid his debt.
“Dance with me.” James murmured, hands splayed across Regulus middle.
Regulus closed his eyes for a moment, leaning back against the firm chest, allowing himself to be rocked, before turning in his arms and looping his hands around James’ neck.
“What are we dancing for?” he said, through a very un-Black smile.
James shrugged. “Because I’m in love with you. Because we’ve never danced, and quite frankly, that should be a crime.”
Regulus huffed a shy laugh and looked down at their feet. He’d thought himself a good dancer, but every ounce of knowledge had flopped out of his brain the moment James’ hands touched his stomach. He was nothing more than a mushy mess attempting to remember how to move his feet.
“Love, look at me not your feet.”
Regulus flushed red, and looked up. James’ eyes bore into him, Regulus studied him right back, the soft hazel of his eyes, the perfect line of his lips, the stubble on his jaw seemed intimately unshaven, for no one else’s eyes but his own.
Then James ducked his head low, lips a breath away from his own and sang quietly. “Take me back to the night we met.”
They moved slowly, eyes locked, James’ hands on Regulus’ waist. Regulus looked up at him, meeting hazel eyes, tangling his fingers in brown curls at the nape of James’ neck. Eyes locked, as they swayed, James’ hands on his waist, thumbs under his shirt, caressing the skin. Foreheads brushing, James kissed him and Regulus surrendered to it, mind blissfully blank, body taking over, relishing in his safe place, clinging to his person. His everything.
He never wanted to leave, he never ever wanted this week to end. Regulus pushed up onto his tiptoes and James arm looped around his back, holding him there, feet barely touching the floor and deepened the kiss, little sounds of contentment passing between them.
Back on his feet, the kiss broke and their eyes met again. James watched him, mouth slightly open, lips shining, crookedly smiling as they swayed. Regulus looked up through dark eyelashes and tried to hide the way his face was trying to grin from ear to ear. He bit down on his lip and tried to contain it.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do, haunted by the ghost of you.
“You look just as devastatingly beautiful as you did that night on the jetty.” James said in a low voice, hips pressed to Regulus’ as they swayed.
A small smirk crept over Regulus’ face. “Oh you mean tear-streaked and snotty? Soaked to the skin in biblical rain. Is that what you mean?” He narrowed his eyes playfully and dropped his voice to almost a whisper. “Sounds so sexy.”
James hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I couldn’t just leave you out there. Besides I think I was already half in love with you.”
When the night was full of terrors. And your eyes were filled with tears.
Regulus’ heart thumped and he exhaled through his nose, trying to hide the blush on his neck, on his cheeks, in his eyes.
He rolled his eyes sassily, but spoke softly, voice cracking a little. “Hey. I didn’t ask you to come and interrupt my breakdown.”
James raised a stiff eyebrow. “You were stood on a jetty in the middle of a fucking thunderstorm, love.”
“And you.” Regulus paused, glaring at him. “Have a hero complex.”
“Only for you.” James said softly.
Take me back to the night we met.
Their lips met again, and he was pulled flush against James, not a breath between them, the song dwindling and forgotten in the background. Then he was picked up, and the brownies were a distant thought, pushed aside in favour of obsession.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do, haunted by the ghost of you.
Take me back to the night we met.