Best read following Chapter 7 of Seirios Aster's Some Nights, "Some Sunglasses Asking 'Bout a Scar".

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Minor Thing

"To read a mind, you've got to redefine the lines to make your circle sing, he knows everything. You make a sound the spell is bound to come around, it's just a minor thing ..." ~Red Hot Chilli Peppers

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To say that Sirius was upset would be an egregious understatement. To say he was panicking like a headless chicken on speed was slightly more within the realms of accuracy, but still an understatement. Why, you ask? Well, to explain that we'll have to back up a little.

Blurry blue eyes had sort of opened before clenching shut again, and he bit back his displeasure at the excess light hitting him in the face. Someone really needed to do something about the sun ... Wait a second ... Why is the sun so bright ...? he'd questioned himself hazily before it occurred to him that, oh fuck - I'm late for work. That in and of itself was a perfectly acceptable reason to behave as if the world was ending and the only way to slow its inevitable destruction was to do the world's most awkward tap dance around the apartment ... However shortly thereafter, he remembered that he in fact did not need to go into the office because he was on a short medical leave. As that occurred to him, he also reclaimed the memory of why precisely he had been given that leave - namely because his cousin was a kidnapping looney - and then, he proceeded to recall what he had seen, or rather thought he had seen, during that incident.

And so we came to the actual reason that Sirius had leapt out of bed like it was ablaze and started flailing about in a manner that really could only be termed as 'festive'. His only sibling, who apparently was not quite as deceased as he would have the world believe, had shown up on his doorstep the night before, drunk as a skunk, had a good whinge at the Eldest and Moste Unstable Black, and then proceeded to pass out. And Sirius had organized him so that if Reg moved, or even really breathed differently, he should have woken his older brother up. So, when he'd checked the space next to him that had a Regulus sized indent in the mattress and was still something approaching warm from residual body heat, but was otherwise empty, he had been understandably upset.

Sirius hadn't relapsed back into thinking that someone had spiked his drinks with high grade Valium or something the night before to cause these vivid hallucinations - there was at least enough evidence to tell him that what he remembered happening had really happened, to some degree. The problem was where his brother had gotten off to. It literally did not occur to him to check and see if his brother's wand was where he'd halfheartedly stashed it the night previous to at least stall his departure. Nor did it occur to him that the trousers and shirt that did not belong to him and were strewn on the floor may have belonged to his fake-zombie brother, which meant that Regulus intended on returning to the apartment to collect up those belongings.

What did occur to him was the fact that he had no idea where Reggie had gone, what he was doing, or how to follow him where. Either to help or ream him for his unannounced departure was anyone's guess, but the fact still stood that he didn't even have the option. So, when the apartment door opened to Regulus coming in with a brown paper bag, suffice to say Sirius jumped half a mile and nearly had a heart attack. He tripped over the back of the couch, legs getting tangled up and falling flat on his back onto the cushions - which were thankfully more forgiving than the floor or coffee table would have been, and they were really the only other options for landing pads.

He caught the eye roll his brother shot in his direction, and before Sirius could express why he was flopping around like an idiot, more so than usual in any case, the younger son of the House of Black beat him to the punch with an explanation.

"I went out to buy us breakfast." It was a simple, innocent enough statement - but how was Sirius supposed to know that? In fairness, he could have literally gone anywhere to do anything with any intentions, and there was no way he would have had any idea. Struggling for a few moments, he twisted his legs a bit so his feet reached the floor and managed to right himself, sitting up on the couch and eying his brother.

"You could have woken me up to say something ... I thought you'd run off." The statement was delivered with a slightly more annoyed tone than he had meant, but he was a little defensive ... Mostly because he'd been caught having a spastic attack instead of a calm and reasonable reaction to the current series of events ... But then again, when did Sirius ever respond calmly or reasonably to just about anything?

"Sirius, do you really think I'd just swan off somewhere like that? I left my wand, wherever it went, and dirty clothes here; I thought that was obvious enough for you to realize I was coming back." Remaining seated where he was, the older brunet watched as Regulus fished something out of the bag he was holding before tossing said sack at Sirius. Without his bidding, his hand snapped up to catch it before he even really realized what he was doing - being beater for the Quidditch team tended to teach you to have sharp reflexes or you tended to land in the hospital wing more often than was strictly comfortable ... "I'm sorry, Sirius. I didn't mean to worry you. I was hungry, you have absolutely no food here, and I didn't want to wake you up. You look like you barely get any sleep as it is." Speaking of being hungry, now that he was looking at his brother - who was wearing Sirius' clothes, which hadn't escaped his notice - Reg was looking pretty scrawny ... Not the lean, lanky sort of scrawny he'd been at school either; it was more the skin and bones type of scrawny, which made Sirius frown. His brother could give a black hole a run for it's money in an eating competition on a bad day; the fact he was so skinny meant that either he was stressed, so he wasn't eating, or he didn't have the means to feed himself while he was in hiding ... And either way, Sirius didn't like it.

However, the next problem was the fact that he couldn't press that issue, now that he'd noticed it. The kid already looked stressed out of his mind and about to keel over for real this time - if Sirius irritated him too much or upset him, he might well really leave this time. Normally he'd go into protective big brother mode and interrogate him about what had happened to cause that breakdown now that Regulus was in his right mind, but ... If he pushed too hard, he'd never get any real answers.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black, Reggie," as he said it, Sirius bit back a sigh; the vague attempt at a tease hadn't worked ... He wasn't even fooling himself. After a pause in which he bit back a sigh, he eventually continued with, "you look like crap. The hell's been going on?"

"Nothing's wrong, Sirius." The older of the two could have told you that was a lie from a mile away. Regulus wasn't even trying - on rare occasion when he was in particularly good form he managed to pull one over on his older brother, but he was not playing his A-game at the moment, and Sirius wasn't for a second convinced. "I've not been feeling well, and I've got the mother of all hangovers, but I'm fine otherwise. I mean, I'm worried about you, and I'm sorry I passed out on you last night. It wasn't one of my best moments." The look on his face must have told Reg he wasn't fooled, because his younger brother didn't seem surprised when he heard what Sirius had to say next..

"Regulus, you're lying," Regulus cringed at the words, most likely because Sirius couldn't keep the disappointment from his voice. He couldn't help it though - why was it necessary to lie to him? Biting back another sigh, eventually he continued with, "you know, last night, when I asked you the same thing, you lost it. Took a fair amount of time to get you to calm down, and when I think you're about to be able to reasonably talk about things, you go and faint on me. So, yeah, I know something's wrong."

"Sirius, it's not important." Another tell; Regulus wouldn't look Sirius in the eye. That was a surefire sign that he wasn't telling the truth, and the blue eyed male wasn't sure if he was irritated or upset that he was being lied to so unconvincingly. It was like he didn't want to lie to Sirius, but he didn't want to tell the truth either - so he lied poorly so that Sirius would know he was doing it ... Except that unfortunately, the older occupant of the apartment knew that this wasn't the case; his kid brother was out of practice as far as twisting the truth was concerned, and it showed.

"Right; whatever's making you that upset isn't important. Why exactly don't I believe you?" He was getting to him. Sure, it had taken a little bit to fall back into the habit of talking to Regulus, but once his brother, always his brother. Almost like talking to James, but completely different - he knew how they thought, so he knew what they were the most likely to do in a situation ... Like redefining the lines of thought to suit each one; he just needed to put the pieces together to make everything come full circle in the end. At this point Sirius had him on the fence; it was almost like he could read his younger brother's mind.

"I was overreacting," Regulus tried to admit, "I overheard you and Lupin talking, okay? When he said you were drinking yourself into an early grave because of me, I freaked out and spent the rest of the day obsessing over that. I was just really upset. I wanted to try and knock some sense into you, but I of course got too wasted to do that properly, didn't I?" Frowning slightly, he once again valiantly fought down the sigh that threatened to erupt from his lips. Instead, he just took a breath and looked up at the ceiling for strength before he got a hold of himself and responded with a voice dripping liberally in sarcasm,

"Right, you look like shit because you were upset yesterday. Hey, it's not like I can't tell what's wrong isn't just a hangover. You're practically skin and bones, though it's beyond me why you—the human vacuum cleaner—aren't eating enough. Don't think I didn't notice you favoring your right leg, either. What have you gotten yourself into this time?" It was a little more blunt than he'd strictly meant for it to be, but it was true. He'd seen his brother coddling that leg - all telltale signs of him being on the run and possibly having gotten into a fight. Sirius just wanted to know when and with whom so he could go and make their face(s) into a new work of art ... As expected, Regulus became defensive almost immediately, and Sirius remained where he was seated on the couch, looking at him almost impassively.

"I am fine, Sirius." Yup; sure he was fine. Completely - totally, even. And Sirius was the ruddy king of England. "Yeah, I'm a little underweight, and my ankle's fucked up, but it's not like I didn't almost die five months ago," there was a pause here, and Reg still wasn't looking Sirius in the face ... Admittedly, the last part of that sentence was painful to hear; so he hadn't just faked his own death - he really had almost died... "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said that." His brother grimaced after the forced apology before apparently deciding to explain in a little more detail what he meant.

"Look, Sirius, this—none of what happened to me was your fault. Really." Oh boy, here we go ... "Bella roped me into going to a Death Eater meeting one night when Mum and Dad were out. She was drunk off her ass at the time, so I figured I'd just humor her," he was glossing over the details; Sirius knew he wasn't spilling probably even the half of it, but he was in so much shock from what he was hearing that it didn't matter much. Regulus was allowed to continue his explanation unhindered. "Turns out Bellatrix thought I was volunteering to join, so there wasn't really anything I could do but say yes. The Mark hurt like hell, and that's why I was out of my mind on morphine when you and Potter got called to St Mungo's. Do you understand now? It's not your fault I got in this mess. Besides, I found my own way out of it. Yes, things went a little sideways, but I'm alive, so the details don't really matter, right?"

Blue eyes stared at his younger brother for a very, very long time. Bellatrix had ... what? Sirius had stopped breathing without realizing it; he had always suspect that Bellatrix had had something to do with his younger brother's joining up with the Death Eaters ... But he had never gotten any confirmation; not from Regulus and certainly not from Bellatrix herself, or anyone else for that matter. Most likely in part because if he saw the crazy bitch he raised a wand first and didn't intend to ask questions later. But this ... He had always known it was completely insane that Regulus had joined up with that lot - it was why he had had such a near psychotic break when he had found out that his younger brother had the Dark Mark. When he and Jamesy had gone to the wizarding hospital to collect him, they'd thought he was drunk or had taken some sort of muggle drug or something to get in the state he'd been in. Reg often had pills in his possession - though Sirius to this day hadn't the foggiest idea where he'd gotten them from - that he claimed were to deal with Quidditch injuries when he didn't feel like going to see Madame Pomfrey. Of course, some injuries couldn't help being tended to by the school's medwitch, like when some idiot beater on the Gryffendor had smacked a rogue bludger away from one of his own teammates and had gifted his younger brother, who was on the Slytherin team, with a broken arm ...

That was neither here nor there though, because eventually the rest of the auror's body caught up with his brain, and his fists balled tightly at his sides, he growled, "I'll kill her ... That fucking bitch I'm going to murder her!" It was time for Regulus' face to don a shocked expression as his older brother stormed into his bedroom. "What the fuck is her problem!? Insanity is an excuse at this point; she's just sick." More expletives escaped him as he started throwing things around the bedroom loudly, not seeming to care at all that he had probably just cracked the nightstand when he'd upset it and it clattered to the floor, the lamp on top suffering a similar fate.

The dog animagus didn't even notice the nervous tone in his brother's extremely quiet voice as he said something; Sirius instead continued throwing things around without acknowledging he'd been spoken to. Honestly the older brunet had no idea what he himself was saying; the volume of his voice escalated and fell sporadically as he went through the room like a whirlwind, swearing about Bellatrix and Voldemort and the Death Eaters and anything else that came to mind.

"... Sirius - what are you doing?" That time he did hear the inquiry, but he didn't stop what he was doing as he started nearly tearing drawers out of the dresser, the items on top of it rolling and clattering to the floor. Something fell onto the agitated male's foot, which only caused him to swear in even more vivid technicolor before he registered that he'd been asked a question and should probably at least make an effort to answer Reg.

"Looking for my wand; I'm going to go commit murder," he nearly snarled as he threw something violently over his shoulder that landed on his bed. Where the hell had it gotten to? He had thought he'd put it on the nightstand, but it hadn't been there, which was why he'd been so angry he'd overturned it.

"Sirius! You can't go after Bella you shit!" Regulus didn't seem to want to get too close to his brother; Sirius' explosive temper was showing its true colors, which was not something that happened often. It took a lot to well and truly set him off, and the notion of Bellatrix strong arming his younger brother into joining up with He Who Must Not Be Named had apparently done so sufficiently. As if trying to appeal to Sirius' penchant for protecting him, the younger son of Black nearly pleaded, "she doesn't know I'm alive, jackass! If you go after her and start screaming at her about me, how are you going to explain why you know that? The only ones who know she forced me to go to that meeting are her and I-"

"She won't know anything when I'm through with her!" He was the visage of an angry attack dog baring its teeth as his upper lip curled when he spat out the words. And then, he saw it - sticking out from under the bed. Bending down and snatching his wand up quickly, untangling it from the blankets it was stuck in. Probably he had forgotten to take it out of his pocket when he'd laid down to go to sleep, and it had fallen out at some point in the night, but he wasn't thinking of that now. All he was thinking was that he was seeing red, and he wanted to see more of it - in the form of their cousin's blood splashed festively around the shops in Knockturn Alley, or any other place really, he wasn't picky.

"No!" the nearly wild dog turned human stopping dead in its tracks was likely enough to tip Regulus off that his brother had found the weapon he was looking for - and the desperate tone in his voice was the only thing that made the older of the two pause and listen. "Sirius you stupid bastard - look at me!" Some part of Regulus' flailing and elevated tone got Sirius to turn slightly, and he paused, the wild thoughts that raced around his mind about how he was going to end their cousin slowing for a moment. There was a frighteningly hectic, berserk look in his blue eyes as he looked at his brother's gray ones. He was ready to completely annihilate that stupid, crazy bitch ... And with the way he was acting, it would be obvious to any observer that going up against Bellatrix like this was a good way to get himself killed, kidnapped, or far worse.

"Promise me," his younger brother said, taking a few steps forward, tone firm, "promise you will not go after that psychopath!" He heard the words, but that didn't mean he wanted to acknowledge them. Of course he wasn't going to agree to that! She had been allowed to roam free unchecked for far too long someone needed to do something about Bellatrix. Reggie wasn't safe - hell, no one was - while she did as she pleased. However, he paused a moment when he felt something on his arm, and glancing down he saw that it was Reg's hand. No; he was not stopping - not until she paid for what she'd done. Everything she'd done; ever Cruciatus she'd cast on them growing up - every time she'd picked a fight with him or Regulus. Everything. He was going to make her wish she had never even met either of them. Pulling his arm away from his brother's grasp and Sirius turned so that he wasn't facing his brother any more. There was a long pause; and just before he was about to raise his wand to apparate, the one once presumed dead spoke.

"Sirius ..." the tone in Regulus' voice made Sirius' blood run cold - because immediately, even as the younger Black trailed off, the older one's mind dubbed in, 'You going somewhere ...?' Tilting his head slightly and looking at his brother, the dog animagus' expression softened just slightly. What was he doing ...? Sure, he could hold his own in a fight with Bellatrix, but ... not when he was this worked up. Sure if he cast a Crucio on her right now it would be more than deadly, but ... First it would have to hit her. He looked at his brother's slightly gaunt face, and his tired grey eyes and let out a long, slow breath, tension seeping out of his body bit by bit.

"... ... Fine," he eventually relented, but he wasn't finished. He wasn't going to give in without some sort of a condition. He wanted Regulus to be safe, and he wasn't so long as Bellatrix was out roaming the world like a deranged vulture, preying on the dead (even if they weren't as dead as everyone thought they were). "... But only if you stay here." The look on his brother's face would have been priceless if not for the complete contrast of the non-joking expression on Sirius'. He wasn't kidding even slightly; there was no hint of sarcasm, no subtle nod towards a joke ... He was being, in a word, serious. Dead serious.

"... whut?" Eventually that was Regulus said after a long silence, still staring at Sirius like he had six heads. The older Black waited a few moments to see if there would be any more - but when he said nothing, the older brunet thought perhaps he should elaborate on what he was saying. Of course he thought it was a perfectly candid request, but perhaps there was some kind of confusion?

"I promise I will leave Bellatrix alone - if you promise me you'll stay here. In this apartment. With me." The clipped statement had become more specific as he continued speaking because he was still being stared at as if the unrelenting gaze would somehow bore a hole into his skull so Regulus could see the inner workings of his mind. Apparently it wasn't helping though, because a moment later Regulus made what almost sounded like an irritated noise and decided to just ask plainly.

"Sirius, what the fuck are you-" A little of that old anger flared back up again from a few moments ago, and Sirius cut him off before he could say anything else; he wasn't listening to this. It was either Regulus stayed safe here or he made it safe out there for him - he wasn't losing Reggie again, and he sure as fuck wasn't losing him to that sadistic lunatic.

"Oh come on Reg, it's not like this place isn't big enough for both of us; the second bedroom doesn't have a bed in it right now but we can work that out. My friends and the ministry already think I'm barking mad, the Death Eaters obviously don't know where I am or else our lovely cousin would already have me on a short leash." There was a pause as Sirius winced internally - he hadn't meant to make that pun - but he continued on after a breath with, "so really, this is the best place you can stay."

"No - Sirius, no I'm not staying here; that's crazy-" Yeah; great. Crazy. There was a word that as of late he was sure had been thought of him, though so far no one had said it to his face. Bravo for being the first Reg; Sirius was just glad the teenager was around to say it. He wasn't upset by it or anything ... but, why not cut off whatever other thing his brother had been meaning to argue and show Regulus just how completely barmy he'd really gone?

"Fine then," he interrupted with a nonchalant shrug, raising a hand palm up in a dismissive gesture, still tightly gripping the wand in his other, "I'll go blow up half of Knockturn Alley until she comes calling, staring with her favorite dress shop. You know the one - Msaw Ætare. (1) Followed by that betting shop she frequents, and the White Wyvern for good measure; shouldn't take her long to track me down at that point, right?"

He wasn't sure if the look on Reg's face meant his younger brother wanted to scream, sigh, cry, or perform some combination of all three. But Sirius pressed on - Sirius knew he would come around from the lack of resistance Regulus was exhibiting now. The grey eyed Black hadn't immediately jumped in and vehemently started arguing, as he would have if he really wanted to fight the idea. It was an unfair advantage Sirius had, being able to read his brother like this, but ... When he knew he had an advantage, he pressed it, and right now he was fairly laying on it. Which was why he continued speaking.

"Reggie, look - I'm not trying to strong arm you into this," the dog star relented after a moment, lowering his voice as well as his wand, though not letting go of it or putting it down, "but if you're looking for a safe place from the Death Eaters, and somewhere that no one will find you, then you can't find a better place." After another breath's pause, he grinned slightly, though it was slightly forced and there was a hint of nervousness to it that he tried to brush off, he added as an incentive, "and, I promise to buy actual solid food ... I'll even eat said solid food regularly if you want - scout's honor, or whatever." He knew he was probably going to have to argue, and the likelihood that his terms would be accepted was slim to none but ... Maybe Reg thought he was crazy enough right now that he really would go after their cousin? To be fair at the moment, even though he seemed to have hit a measure of lucid sanity in the cloud of crazy that had taken him over, this might have been the eye of the storm - Sirius didn't know, which was a sort of frightening thought, but he didn't really want to dwell on the fact that he literally didn't know what he would do if his brother didn't accept his terms.

"... ... ... ok fine." At first Sirius thought that he really was delusional - that he had officially completely lost his mind, and was now making up hallucinogenic responses to himself in Regulus' voice so that he would get what he wanted to spare himself having a psychotic break and hunting down Bella. Except Regulus' exasperated grey eyes were on him, and they no longer seemed to be showing any of the tell tale signs of resistance he had been exhibiting at his last protest. Did that mean ...? He had to be sure.

"... ... Really?" He didn't mean to exhibit the disbelief he felt, but let's be real about this - he had never in a million years though the boy would agree. Hell, Sirius might have been able to content himself with just seeing Regulus periodically to make sure he was alright. And eating properly. Because that was mainly what Sirius was worried about now that he understood and had sufficiently wrapped his mind around the fact that his brother was in fact alive. The older sibling just wanted to make sure it stayed that way, and that meant making sure his brother was healthy and safe ... But with the threat of Bellatrix LeStrange constantly looming, and knowing that his brother was alive and out there by himself, it was very likely that Sirius would snap simply from not knowing if the teenager was alright, especially with this damned leave of absence he'd been given ... He'd drive himself insane in a matter of hours, if it even took that long.

Regulus sighed heavily in defeat, looking back down at the ground, hands shoved deep into the pair of pants he'd presumably nicked from Sirius' dresser drawer ... After a hesitant pause, as it did occur to the older Black that this might have been a ploy to get him to put his wand down and then tackle him and stop him from going ... He eventually did set it down on the nearby dresser once he'd heard the next thing Regulus had to say.

"Yes, really ... for a little while anyway. If it keeps you from acting like more of a colossal git than you already do."

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The End ..?

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Footnotes:

1 - This is an actual shop in Knockturn Alley, but it is never said in the books what it is, and the name doesn't mean anything. So I made it whatever I needed it to be xD In this case it's a dress shop.