Written for Hogwarts' Romance Awareness Challenge, Day Twenty-Eight: Soulmate finding agencies/matchmakers/websites etc.
Word count: 1518
The Agency
"Cupid Agency, we find your soulmate for you, how can I help you today?"
"Cupid Agency, we find your soulmate for you, how can I help you today?"
It felt like the day had been going on forever, an endless sea of calls from customers worried that, oh surprises of surprises, relationships took effort even when they were with your soulmate.
Honestly, if Regulus heard any variation of 'my girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other won't put out yet, I don't understand, we're meant to be' it would be too soon.
And god, their answering message? It sucked. Badly. He was so thankful his parents had gotten him this job, but seriously, he couldn't wait to get out of customer services.
"Cupid Agency, we find your soulmate for you, how can I help you today?" Regulus half-said half-moaned into the phone, mentally preparing himself for another round of 'you have no right to your partner's body, talk to them about this'.
"Wow, rough day today?"
Regulus froze on his spinning chair, the pen he had been playing with falling out of his hand with a clutter.
"James, hi," he breathed out, desperately hoping he sounded at least somewhat smooth and not as hopeless as he felt.
Suddenly, his day didn't seem as bad as it had. He tried to keep himself from smiling, but failed miserably. "Yeah, it was a bad day." He managed to cut himself off before he could add something embarrassing like, "Better now that you're here", but only just.
James' laughter, even distorted as it was through the phone line, sounded warm and contagious. It was lucky Regulus' smile couldn't any wider, because his cheeks were already starting to hurt and nothing had actually happened.
"I see you still find my misery amusing," Regulus drawled.
"Sorry, sorry," James said, sobering up. "I hope your day gets better."
"Well, it is nearly over, so I don't really think it could get any worse," Regulus pointed out.
"I think you just jinxed it," James replied dryly. "Now it has to get worse."
Regulus groaned loudly. "Don't say that. Please, don't say that."
James' smirk was actually audible, and Regulus sighed. "Anyway, did you have an actual reason for calling or do you just like to harass me?"
"Since when do I need a reason to call you?" James replied, voice full of fake hurt. Regulus would bet that James was currently batting his eyelashes and filling his brown eyes with fake tears.
"Since you call me on my work line," Regulus replied dryly, fighting off a smile. Quickly, he cast a searching look around the room, but no one was paying him any attention, ro if they did, they didn't care.
"Oh, is this your work line then? I didn't know that."
"What, the 'Cupid Agency' thing didn't give it away?"
James chuckled again. "Fine, you got me there. But maybe I just wanted to talk to you."
"And you couldn't wait until I got off work?" Regulus asked, eyebrow raised questioningly.
"Come on, this is serious," James said.
Regulus bit back the "No, Sirius is my brother" joke that popped up on the tip of his tongue almost immediately. He had a feeling James wouldn't appreciate it right now - not that anyone ever did, but Sirius made that joke so often that Regulus had kind of absorbed it through osmosis.
"Yes?" he said, voice strangled, ignoring the way his hands suddenly felt clammy. Whatever James wanted to talk about, it did sound serious."What is it?"
James heaved a great trembling sigh in the phone. "I, er, I got my letter?"
It took Regulus an embarrassingly long time to realize what letter, exactly, James meant.
"Oh," he said.
"Yes, oh," James repeated. "I just, Regulus, we've never talked about this. About us."
"Oh," Regulus echoed, blinking rapidly. "I-"
"I haven't opened it yet," James added, speech rushed as though he couldn't wait to get it out. "And if you don't want me to I won't. But, er, do you think that maybe I, that you, that we could be…" he trailed off, the silence between them growing awkward.
Regulus' heart felt like it was trying to beat its way out of his chest, and he was painfully aware that he was so nervous he was sweating. He felt trapped.
He had known this moment was coming, of course he had. James was older than him, so obviously he'd get his letter first, and find the name of his soulmate that way. And yes, technically there was a chance that the name inside that envelope would be Regulus', but the odds weren't in their favor. And once the envelope had been opened, James would be duty-bound to at least try to make things work with whoever his soulmate was.
Regulus didn't know how well he'd handle that if the name there wasn't his own.
"Hello? Regulus, you're still there?" James' voice, tiny though it seemed through the phone, snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Yes, I'm still here," he replied, forcing his voice to hold steady.
James' voice grew softer. "We can wait until you get your own letter to decide if you want to. I won't mind."
And somehow, the truthfulness he could hear in James' voice was what made the decision for him. "No, it's fine," Regulus said, half-surprised that he meant every word. "You should open it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Regulus replied, rolling his eyes. "And stop frowning, I can hear it. I said it was fine. We'll figure it out. We'll make it work."
James sighed. "You really think so?"
It was odd, for James to be the uneasy one in their relationship, when so often Regulus was the one who doubted his own worth in intimate matters such as this.
"I know so," Regulus stated, injecting as much confidence in his voice as he could.
"Well then, if you're sure… Here goes nothing."
In that moment, Regulus was sure he had never heard anything more terrifying than the sound of that enveloped being ripped open. Had he not known James to be as anxious as he felt, Regulus would have accused him of prolonging the suspense on purpose.
"So?" Regulus asked after the silence grew heavy, licking his lips nervously.
James remained silent for a moment. When he spoke at last, his voice sounded oddly strained, but luckily Regulus knew him well enough to tell that it wasn't bad. His heart started beating even faster, pounding in his chest.
"So, do you want the bad new, or the good news first?" James asked.
"Are you seriously going to do this right now?" Regulus asked indignantly, though his lips twitched into a smile.
"Yup. So, good news or bad news?"
Regulus sighed. "I don't know, bad news?"
"Why am I not surprised you'd pick the bad news first?"
"It's more logical that way, James, I know I told you that before. That way, you still have something good to look forward to after you get the bad news!"
"Yes, but then the good news are tainted by the bad," James argued. "But we're getting off track."
"I wonder why that is…"
James snorted. "Anyway," he drawled, "bad news is - and are you ready for this? - that you're stuck with me. For good, according to your good and wonderful employers."
"I don't think 'wonderful is the term you're looking for," Regulus replied automatically, before the words even registered. "Wait, does this mean what I think it-"
"But good news is, insert appropriate drumroll here, that you're my soulmate!"
"Oh my god," Regulus breathed out, otherwise speechless. He simultaneously felt faint and like he could jump for joy. "Oh my god," he heard himself repeat.
"My name is James, thank you very much," James replied.
"I know your name," Regulus said urgently. "But did you mean it? That you're, that we're…"
"Soulmates? You can say it, it's not a dirty word, you know," James teased lightly.
But if he said it, it would make it real. After years spent trying not to get his hopes up, doing otherwise left Regulus feeling terribly vulnerable.
"So we really are," Regulus swallowed thickly, "soulmates?"
"Yes," James insisted, "we are. Now, onto more important matters…"
"What's more important than you telling me we're soulmates?" Regulus asked disbelievingly, relishing in how every time he used it the word soulmate became easier to say.
"Well…" James teased, "many things. Such as: how quickly do you think you can leave your job today and get back here?"
James' word surprised a laugh out of Regulus. He looked around the room again, taking in the drawn, passionless faces again, and faked a cough in his hand. "You know what, I think I'm coming down with something, I should leave. Right now. Immediately."
"You do that," James laughed. "I'll be waiting." And with that he hung up.
Ten minutes later, Regulus was out of the building and on his way. He couldn't wait to get back home.
James and he had, after all, quite a few things to celebrate now.