July 20: Response | @jegulus-microfic | Word Count: 242

july 20: response | @jegulus-microfic | word count: 242

Regulus walked out of the coffee shop with not only a coffee, but a handsome bloke's phone number and a small smile quirking his lips up.

The barista— named James— had taken the initiative to write his number on Regulus’ cup and to add a note that read: 

Text me later if you wanna go out.

-James

p.s. My shift ends at 5pm ;)

When Regulus arrived back at his flat, he sat at his desk and merely stared at his coffee cup.

What if the number was fake?

What if James was teasing him?

What if—

Regulus shook his head to shake his ‘what ifs’ into the back of his mind. Without thinking he grabbed his phone, punched in James’ number, and sent the first message:

Hey, it’s Regulus from the coffee shop.

Regulus internally screamed for the whole five minutes where there wasn’t a response, until:

Hey! This is James but you knew that already :D

Regulus typed and re-typed his reply 5 times before he settled on:

So, what did you have in mind?

For what?

You said you wanted to take me out somewhere?

OH. LOL rightttt xD

So..?

My shift ends at 5 so I can swing round yours and maybe we can have dinner at this restaurant near my flat?

That sounds great

See ya then gorgeous ;D

Regulus turned off his phone and threw it. 

He had a date to get ready for.

Oh god.

June 27: heal | @jegulus-microfic | word count: 799

*surgeon x patient au*

Part one, previous part

If you asked Regulus, he'd say he was completely fine. But after he took the tiniest fall of course his idiot surgeon of a brother made him go to the hospital to get it checked out. But then of coursethe hospital in question doesn't allow family to treat family. So, now, of course Regulus is stuck with the hot, dumb doctor. Of course. And for the past 10 minutes that hot, dumb doctor, who introduced himself as James, has been talking non-STOP. 

“Okay, you know what? Stop, just stop talking,” Regulus snapped suddenly, pinching his nose bridge and closing his eyes for a second. “I’m fine. I don’t need surgery. I’m only here because my brother forced me. You can just give me some painkillers or whatever and I’ll leave.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest and frowned at James. “Come on, doctor,” he continued, “do me a favor here or something.”

“Oh— er, yeah, well,” James’ face flushed a bright shade of red, “your X-Rays aren’t looking great, and the only way to fix your knee is with surgery so, ah, I— well you can’t leave, basically.” James shifted his feet nervously from where he stood next to Regulus’ bed. He flashed Regulus an apologetic grin as if it might help comfort him or something. It did not.

“I’m fine,” Regulus gritted out between his teeth. The nerve of this doctor, honestly. 

“No, you’re not, but you will be once you get surgery. I promise the surgery is perfectly safe, and I’ve done plenty of them before. There’s nothing to worry about,” James said, voice softening. “And you’ll be able to heal in as little as 3 months.” James sat on the edge of Regulus’ bed and put his hand of Regulus’ leg under the blanket. Regulus decided he would let him stay there for now. “And, uh, not to brag, but I’m a pretty good surgeon,” James added as he leaned in closer to him, “so you’re in good hands, love.” James patted his leg. 

Regulus felt his cheeks grow hot as James flashed him a cocky, lopsided grin. Regulus was trying to look anywhere but James’ eyes. He was dumbly scowling down at his own hands, which now lay in his lap, threaded together. Oh he felt so stupid for this. He would not  be manipulated into this surgery by just a nice man with a nice smile. No. Absolutely not. He felt his cheeks flush harder. 

Regulus risked looking up to meet James' steady gaze. His eyes showed a little concern but were otherwise lovely to look at, not that Regulus would ever admit that to James though. The other man's lips curled up in the corners just slightly, and his thumb was tracing circles where it lay on Regulus' thigh. 

He decided to would probably be okay to share a small smile in return so that's what he did as he still held James' piercing stare. His eyes were so deep with varying hues of dark, chocolatey brown and warm amber.

James opened his mouth like he had been about to say something, then closed it, then opened again slightly, then closed. He drew his lips in a thin line and finally looked away from Regulus. He turned to look at the clock on the bedside stand and abruptly cleared his throat.

Regulus snapped out of his daze immediately at the noise and, instinctively, pulled back from where he was, apparently, leaning in. He trained his eyes back on his hands in his lap again quickly. 

"Um, well, ah, I got to- I have to- uh, paperwork," James mumbled awkwardly, giving Regulus' leg a firm squeeze then letting go and standing up. 

"Oh." Regulus merely stared at him, not really taking it the words yet. "Oh, yes, you.. go do that, uh, yeah."

"Hey," James said, walking to the door, "If you need anything or feel anything weird, just call a nurse and tell them to page me, and I'll be right over. I'm serious, don't hesitate if you need something." 

Regulus nodded, breathless at the moment for some unknown reason.

"And," he added, now already standing in the doorway, "if you could hopefully decide about surgery before tonight, that would- well, it would save me from some difficult conversations. And if you decide sooner, rather than later, you can out of pain sooner. Again, just tell a nurse to page me once your mind's all made up."

Regulus snapped out of his daze... again. "Yeah, okay."

"Alright, see you later, love."

"Later."

As soon as James was nowhere to be seen, Regulus let out a tremendous sigh and flopped back into his bed. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. What was happening to him?

next part

july 17: fee | @jegulus-microfic | word count: 406

Regulus was aware that he was going about 20 over the speed limit. But he was so, so late for his meeting. He didn’t care that he was being a tad reckless. He had to get to that meeting.

When Regulus saw the flashing lights and siren in his rearview mirror, he cursed as he slowed and pulled over. He felt like he might cry. He’s never gotten pulled over before.

He heard the door of the cop’s car shut and he shakily pressed the button to roll his window down. The cop took the hat he was wearing off his head when he reached Regulus’ door, and Regulus really wished he had kept the hat on. Because underneath the hat was probably the most handsome man Regulus had ever seen. Perfectly tanned skin, dazzling grin, piercing eyes, and a mess up dark curls on his head. 

“So,” the cop started, “you know why I pulled you over?”

Regulus nodded, probably too eagerly and managed to choke out, “I was, ah, speeding.”

The cop put his hands on his hips. “Indeed you were, love.” A smile was pulling on his lips. “Before I write a ticket, I’ll need to see your license and registration.”

Regulus dug in his glove compartment and handed over his papers and license. “Is this going to take long? I have a very important meeting to get to,” Regulus pleaded. 

The cop laughed, pulling out a notepad and pen, and Regulus’ heart did a flop in his chest. “Writing the ticket right now, love, don’t worry about that meeting.” 

He handed back Regulus’ papers, fingers brushing slightly. Regulus was ashamed that the small touch had sent lightning bolts up his arm. Regulus quickly stashed the paperwork away, and turned quickly back to the cop. 

The cop tore a piece of paper off his notepad, folded it, and handed it to Regulus, brushing their fingers again. “Make sure to watch your speed in the future, love.” The cop winked. “I’m James by the way.” And with that, the cop retreated back to his car.

Regulus put his window back up and slowly unfolded the paper, expecting a hefty fee.

He blinked. There wasn’t a fine written in the paper. Just a phone number and a note that read:

Let me take you somewhere fancy.

And don’t speed.

Call me- James

p.s. Charming your officers out of a ticket doesn’t work every time, love. 

july 13: owl | @jegulus-microfic | word count: 283

“-and you can tell James that if he wants to be on speaking terms again, he’ll have to stop leaving his dirty shirts all over the house!” Regulus snapped at Remus, who rolled his eyes.

Remus shuffled to the other side of the living room to relay Regulus’ message to James. After a couple seconds, Remus came shuffling back.

“James said you guys could talk when you stop going to bed late.”

“We can talk when he stops setting his alarms for 4 in the morning!” Regulus huffed.

Remus went to James, then came back with his lips pursed. “James says to remind you that you like it when he goes on morning runs.”

Regulus pinched the bridge of his nose. James got him there. Regulus did like to see him in a tight tank top. Perfect morning view if you asked him. He let out a groan of frustration. “Well, tell him—“

“Yeah, you know what?” Remus interrupted sharply, speaking loud enough for both Regulus and James to hear him, “I’m not doing this anymore. I’m not an owl. You lot can figure this out on your own.” Remus gathered his things and left out of the front door of James and Regulus’ flat.

Regulus looked across at James who was smirking. 

James’ smirk turned into a loving grin. “Come here, love,” James opened his arms and Regulus went to him, “Can we make up now?”

“Yeah,” Regulus whispered. “And, for the record, I don’t mind when you go on morning runs, darling.”

James pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Yeah, you’ve made it obvious, Reg.”

Regulus laughed then pouted up at his boyfriend. “But, seriously, James, please pick up your shirts.”

July 2: doctor | @jegulus-microfic | word count: 1,036

*surgeon x patient au*

Previous part, part one

James smiled to himself softly, replaying the day's events in his mind like a movie. He was convinced that this was definitely the best day of his life. James has, of course, had many great days, such as his 21st birthday, and the day he graduated med school. He might be overexcited about this all, but he was sure that this day ranked on the list for best days ever. Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes.

"Potter."

James' head snapped up at McGonagalls' sharp voice. "Yes, Minnie?"

"Are you done daydreaming or will be getting your work done today?" She raised an eyebrow skeptically. 

If he was honest, James had forgotten where he had been. He took snuck a glance of his surroundings and saw he was sitting at a computer with an article on knee bones and joints opened. "Minnie," he scoffed jokingly, "of course I'm getting my work done." He raised his hands innocently. "Just doing a little research, that's all. Plus, I've finished my charts already," James grinned at her.

"Alright, Potter but to let you know, your darn pager's been going off for a while now, it might be important," McGonagall told him curtly, leaving the little room afterward. 

Sighing, James lazily picked up his pager then jumped to his feet when he saw the room.

Regulus. 

James' breathed out in relief that it wasn't a 911 page, nevertheless, he still had a snippet of worry tugging at the back of his mind. However, despite his worries, James was ecstatic. Regulus wanted to see him. Regulus wanted to see him. James smirked. His plan had worked. 

After Dorcas told him that Regulus liked him, James decided to play the card he knew always worked: playing hard to get. And, oh, was it working. 

James was so pleased with himself that he made the grand decision to beatbox as he sauntered to Regulus' room. He bobbed his head to the tune he was making up as he entered the lift. He turned, back to the still open doors, and scanned the papers on the tiny bulletin board in there. 

"James!"

James whipped around at the sound of his name to see Sirius standing behind him, hands on his hips. The doors to lift were closed and Sirius had already punched in the floor number he was traveling to. 

"Christ, Sirius, you scared me!" James blurted out with a chuckle.

"Well, I wanted to have a word with you, actually," Sirius said, smiling, though his eyes told a different story. He took a step towards James. "Dorcas told me." Sirius' eyes flashed dangerously.

James heart seemed to do some sort of backflip inside his chest. "Uh, t-told you, um, what, exactly?" James choked out, scratching his head nonchalantly and suddenly becoming very interested in the bulletin board again. 

Sirius sidestepped and stood in front of James face. James had to look down at him because he was a few inches shorter than he was. If he was honest, Sirius looked hilarious like that, glaring up at James through his curly black bangs with the rest of his long hair tied up in a knot on his head. 

"She told me you've been making lovey-eyes at my little brother!"

"I-"

Sirius fully just put his hand on James' face to stop him from talking. "Mate," he started, "I know that us Black brothers are very, very pretty, but when you're operating on my brother, please try not to focus on our dashing family genes and focus on the surgery at hand and do your job as a doctor." Sirius grinned. "I'd tell you you're picking wrong brother, and I'd tell you that out of the two of us, I'm the one with the magically delicious looks, but, frankly, I'm quite taken with your friend, Remus," Sirius waggled his eyebrows. 

"You're not mad?" James ventured as soon as the shorter man slid his hand off of his face. 

"As long as you don't hurt him in any way, shape, or form."

"Are you, like, giving me permission to snog your brother?"

"Hey!" Sirius gasped dramatically, hand on his chest. "You are talking about my brother! I do notwant to hear whatever nasty plans you have for him!" Sirius placed his other hand on James' chest and gave him a tiny shove. 

James laughed and copied the eyebrow waggle Sirius did. 

"And the eyebrow thing is mine!" Sirius moved his hands to press his palms on James' eyebrows and pushed his head back playfully, laughing while he did so. 

For the rest of the ride, Sirius and James continued to play around and joke with each other. When the lift doors opened, they stepped out in sync and glanced at each other, before bursting out laughing again. 

Sirius made his face solemn. "James, this lift ride has been nothing but utterly life-changing, and, now, I'm afraid I've no choice but to bestow upon you the greatest title of my best friend." He gripped his shoulders. 

James settled his face and responded with equal seriousness, "And I guess I've no choice but to accept." He shrugged with a frown, then couldn't hold his grin for a second longer. 

"Well, best friend, I have got to rush my arse down to the operating room, so, how about we arrange for some drinks later after you get my number from Remus?" 

After that last remark, Sirius took off in a skip to a different hallway. James made a mental note to himself to later ask Remus for apparently his new best friend's phone number. James liked Sirius. He was funny. James liked that. Actually, scratch that. Sirius was hilarious. Even though Sirius seemed to have a habit for invading other's personal space, James really didn't mind. He found it somewhat endearing. 

James slowed to a stop in front of Regulus' door when he reached it, deciding to click his heels on the ground for a dramatic flair. James could be a diva when he wanted to be as well. Before entering, he slapped on his most dazzling, practiced smile that always got onlookers swooning and he ran a hand through his hair quickly. 

His plan: continue playing hard to get.

next part

a great big tragedy