Saving Each Other

Saving each other

(James Potter / Regulus Black ; Sirius Black & Regulus Black | 697 words)

For @jegulus-microfic prompt: Alive

CW: child abuse (Walburga and Orion A+ parenting)

It was a night James is sure he will never forget. The picture of Sirius, bloody, his hair mass and a hunted look on his face, with unconscious Regulus in his arms, firmly burned in his memory. It was a regular boring Wednesday until late at night someone frantically started knocking on their dorm. And everything changed.

James has never been this scared in his life. His hands were trembling when he wrapped them around Regulus to hold him. His voice broke when he called for his parents to help him when Sirius collapsed on the ground.

It's the morning of the next day. Sirius and James are sitting on the sofa in James’ bedroom talking in hushed voices.

“… after mother raised her wand, I don’t remember much,” Sirius says. James needs to know what happened, but he hates that his best friend has to live through it again. “I don’t know for how long it was happening, but they left me there on the ground in the end. That’s when Reg…” Sirius wipes his wet cheeks. “That’s when Reg came. He snuck out of his room to help me, but our parents heard him.”

James looks at the bed where his boyfriend is still sleeping. He hasn’t woken up since they arrived. But his parents and the healer say he should be alright, his body just needs time to heal. James would gladly take every curse instead of him. Just to spare him the pain. But he can’t. He just has to sit here and wait.

“He locked the door.” Sirius continues. “I could see the moment he made the decision. He pushed me into the fireplace the second our mother stormed in furious. Don’t you fucking dare to come back, Sirius. I got this. He yelled at me. He trowed the floo powder and called the name of an abandoned house we used to play in.”

James wants to burn the world to the ground. And most of all he wants to burn everyone who laid a hand on his best friend and boyfriend. He gave up a long time ago on trying not to cry.

“The last thing I saw was how the curse hit his body. My little brother. Screaming on the ground.” Sirius gets up to check on Regulus. He does it a lot. They both do. As to make sure he is still there sleeping. Sirius sits on the ground next to the bed. “I couldn’t leave him there, Prongs. I went back there in the middle of the night. No one expected me to, so they didn’t see us leaving. But they will know it was me. They will come for us. That’s why Regulus wanted to stay there. So, they would leave me alone.”

James slides down next to Sirius pressing their shoulders together. “You are safe. We will work this out. My parents are already talking to aurors.” Sirius gives him a sad look full of hopelessness that twists James’ stomach.

“I need you to take care or him, James. He will be mad at me when he wakes up. And he will need you.”

“Why would be mad at you?”

“Because I didn’t listen to him.”

“You saved him, he can’t be mad at you.”

“It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that he is here, alive.” Sirius closes his eyes like he has to repeat the last word several times in his mind to convince himself that it’s true. “Will you take care of him for me please?”

“Of course. I always take care of him.” Sirius knows this. But he still looks relief when he hears the confirmation. “I will go to call Remus.” He says and walks out of the room.

James sits on the other side of the bed. He doesn’t touch Regulus. For one he doesn’t want to wake him up, but he also knows it might scare the boy. So even if his arms are aching for him to wrap them around his boyfriend, he doesn’t. He settles for watching Regulus’ chest rise and fall. Each breath is a demonstration of the words: alive, safe, here with me.

Regulus: I hate you

James: *in his head* enemies to lovers, slow burn, angst with happy ending, 300k+ words

Bill me

(James Potter / Regulus Black / Lily Evans | 570 words)

For @jegulus-microfic prompt: Dress

It was a sunny day and all three of them were walking on the street, every now and then stopping by the shopping windows to look in. James made sure he would comment on every piece of clothing or jewellery. Lily on the other hand didn’t spend much time looking until she stopped in front of one shop with a summer dress on the display.

“Lily, you would look great in it,” James says sincerely.

“Definitely.” Regulus agrees. “Do you want to go in and try it?”

“I can’t just go in and try it. The shop looks expensive.” Lily says but her gaze lingers a little too long on the dress. Regulus smiles knowingly.

“It’s fine.” He says and opens the door for both of them. He lets them enter first and closes the door behind them. As soon as the cashier spots them, she hurries to greet them. “Good afternoon, Mr. Black.”

James and Lily immediately turn toward Regulus with confused looks. “Hello,” Regulus answers.

“Please, have a seat. Vincent is in the office; I will call him for you.” The cashier gestures towards the sofa.

“Who is Vincent?” Lily asks.

“The owner.” Regulus shrugs and links their arms so he can lead her to the sofa. James has an amused expression on his face and when they pass him, he wraps an arm around Regulus’ waist and whispers to him.

“Of course, you know the owner, you pretentious git.”

Regulus gives him an unimpressed look. “I shop here.”

James laughs out loud. “Of course, you do.”

“Oi, what does that supposed to mean?” Regulus asks but James’ answer is disturbed by the entrance of Vincent, an older-looking Italian man with his hair slicked back.

“Mr. Black.” He comes towards Regulus, and they shake hands. “I hope you are having a great day. What can I do for you?”

Regulus sits down on the sofa, tugging James right next to him. “My beautiful girlfriend would like to try the summer dress you have in the window.”

Vincent looks towards Lily. “Excellent choice, Ma'am. It’s our new collection. It arrived just two days ago.” He gestures to the door behind him suggesting Lily should follow him. The girl looks back nervously to her boyfriends but both of them nod in reassurance.

When Lily comes out James and Regulus can only stare. Because she looks like a goddess. The dress fits her perfectly. But the most beautiful is the look on Lily’s face when she sees herself in the mirror. Regulus can tell she loves it.

“Lils, you look amazing. They are perfect for you.” James says and Regulus can only nod. Lily blushes and goes back to the room to take them off.

“We should have a picnic date, Reg. Lily would wear this dress and you can braid flowers in her hair.” James says and presses a quick kiss to Regulus’ hair.

“Sure. This Saturday?”

“Great. I will cook for us.” James muses and rest his cheek on Regulus’ shoulder.

“Did you like them?” Vincent asks as soon as Lily comes back.

“Yeah. How much do they cost?” She asks.

Before Vincent can answer Regulus is already standing up, holding his hand towards James to help him. “Doesn’t matter. Send the bill and the dress to my address as usual. That will be all. Thank you, Vincent.” And without another word, he leads them out of the store with satisfied smirk.

Headcanon that Sirius always wants affection from Regulus, but he is also very aware of his boundaries:

It's 4am and Sirius and Regulus find themselves in the kitchen at the same time but they don't speak. They just sort of nod to each other and continue doing whatever it is they came to do.

When Sirius is about to leave the room, he stops for a moment and sets down his coffee, turning around to face Regulus with his arms open wide in invitation.

Sirius half expects it when Regulus simply shakes his head 'no' and he nods in quiet understanding, allowing his arms to fall to his sides.

He's about to pick up his coffee again and leave, but instead, he smiles at Regulus and lifts one hand from his side, offering a fist bump instead.

And Regulus just rolls his eyes, but not without the tiny smile that finds its way to his lips because even as he lazily slaps the top of Sirius' fist, not even putting in the effort to give him a real fist bump, Sirius's face still lights up in that same grin that he would have if Regulus had accepted his offer for a hug in the first place.

Then Sirius picks up his coffee and says, over his shoulder as he leaves, "Love you!"

To which Regulus responds as he always does, in a tone that suggests otherwise,

"Hate you."

The way the second ao3 is down we all flock to tumblr

New torture method: I lock you in a room and play the ‘touch a touch a touch a touch me’ scene from glee on repeat until you claw your own eyes out and die