- Day 70 of 366 Days of Writing Challenge: Moonlight

- Written for A Sirius Crush on Moony for winning the Eurovision Competition 2016!

- The Emotion Challenge: Homesick

- Hogwarts Summer Funfair/Hedge Maze: Go Right: (word) Scared

Pairings/Characters: Sirius/Regulus

Author's Note: This is a BLACKCEST piece. You have been warned. Please move on if this is not for you.

Word Count:746


Along for the Ride

I didn't really mind because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted, and then losing it to know what true freedom is.

It was three in the morning when Sirius heard rustling on the other side of the bed canopy. He sat up bolt upright, knowing who would be on the other side of that curtain. Slowly, he pulled open the curtain, and his younger brother, glad in green pyjamas, blinked up at him. The moonlight was streaming through the window nearest to Sirius's bed, and it was shining an ethereal, milky light on Regulus's face.

"What are you doing here?" Sirius muttered groggily. He groaned as he remembered. "Sometimes I regret showing you the way to the Gryffindor common room. If anyone else catches you up here—"

"It's okay, I'm always quiet," Regulus whispered. As if in answer, a sudden, loud snore erupted from Peter's bed.

"What do you want, Reg?" Sirius murmured, rubbing his eyes.

"I had a nightmare."

"So you came all the way across the castle just to tell me?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're fifteen now, Reg. You can't get scared of dreams and act like a kid."

Regulus nudged Sirius over and clambered into bed besides him. Sirius groaned, but he secretly didn't mind. A little company in his cold Gryffindor bed was always appreciated—but he wasn't going to openly admit that. He turned onto his side, waiting for Regulus to nestle down in the crook of his arm, like he used to do when he was just a little kid. Sirius closed his eyes, breathing in the smell of coconut shampoo in Regulus's hair. He always smelled so good...

"I just feel homesick," Regulus mumbled. Sirius couldn't see his brother all that well now that they were pressed together in the little bed, but he could tell that Regulus had his thumb in his mouth. Another childish habit that had followed him into adolescence. "It feels like forever since we were at home."

"Why on earth would you want to be at home?" Sirius whispered. He hated being at home—their mother was a constant source of violence and anger. At least, she was to Sirius. She doted on Regulus, unsurprisingly. But surely Regulus didn't really enjoy it when Sirius was sobbing in his bedroom, covered with the evidence of Walburga's cruel curses and other methods of the torture she called 'punishment?' "It's horrible there. I love being at Hogwarts. It's the only time I can be free," Sirius paused. "It's the only time my bruises heal without her making fresh ones."

"You know why I want to be at home, Sirius," Regulus said so quietly that Sirius almost missed it. His voice was nothing but a warm breath, which he breathed carefully against Sirius's collarbone, sending a shudder through his body. "We don't get caught at home."

"We nearly do," Sirius murmured. "And we will definitely get caught here, if you make a habit of it."

"I know. I'm sorry. I just had a nightmare."

"You said." Sirius reached out and combed a hand through Regulus's hair, enjoying the sensation of his silky tresses against his palm. "Who was it about this time?"

"Mother. She hurt you. She always hurts you. I hate it when she hurts you." Regulus tipped his head suddenly, and Sirius could see down into his dark eyes. Dark, familiar eyes, which were almost a mirror of his. "It was worst when she hurt you and your eye was bruised." He leaned up and pressed a slight kiss to Sirius's left eye. "Or when she broke your cheekbone." A kiss landed tenderly on his cheek, which sometimes still ached to touch. "Or when she split your lip..." this time, the kiss was fuller, warmer; it landed squarely on Sirius's mouth.

Sirius closed his eyes, allowing himself to fall into Regulus's kiss. The younger boy probed his mouth passionately, heatedly, stroking his bottom lip with his tongue and gasping into his mouth. "I love you," he breathed softly, and Sirius swallowed Regulus's words immediately.

"I love you too," he whispered back, feeling his eyes roll into the back of his head as Regulus's hands began to push up the front of Sirius's shirt.

oOo

By morning, he would be gone. Nothing but a trace of coconut shampoo in the air, and a familiar dent in the pillow beside Sirius. But he didn't mind. Soon, they would be home again.