Me & You, Together Forever

"I promise."

"Liar."

"I'll be there for you forever."

"Liar, liar."

"It's called a pinky promise." Sirius held out his pinky, smiling at him.

"Such a liar, Sirius," Regulus thought as he remembered holding out his pinky in confusion. "I don't get it."

"It's a Muggle thing," Sirius said cheerfully.

Thinking back, it felt so fake now, part of Sirius' charade at being—Regulus couldn't put it into words, even now. " Maman will kill us if she finds out!"

"Maman will never find out, Reggie," Sirius said, for it was back when he still called their mother that. She never did find out that they pinky swore. Sirius, in turn, never kept his promise.

"Liar, liar! You're such a…"

…

"Sebastian!"

Regulus found himself snapped back to reality, his entire body trembling as Cassio held out his pinky towards him while he found himself struggling to form the pinky. Hot tears were running down his cheeks.

"Cas, what did you do?" That was Hamlet—or Lettie as the family preferred to call him. Or maybe it was Regulus who'd started that, what with how his voice clammed up when he first joined the Granger family, marrying into the family. He wasn't the one who'd called out his new name.

"How should I know?" Cassio still held his pinky out, his cheeks starting to burn. He wasn't the one who called out to him, that name maman and papa Granger had given him, not once asking questions about his past. It wasn't Cassio who'd called out to him either. "I simply wanted to make a pinky promise with him that I wouldn't hassle him anymore about—you know, making babies with our sister."

Which—Lettie slapped Cassio on the back of his head. "Dummy!"

Cassio's hand that he held out for the pinky swear lowered, much to Regulus' dismay, while the other flew to the back of his head. He glared angrily at the younger of his older brothers. "What was that for?"

"We just got him talking, now that he's a dad to our darling niece, and you want to bring that up?"

Regulus felt a panic rise in his chest. " That isn 't it. "

"I wasn't…"

"That isn't it!" He waved his hands in panic, trying to make them understand as words once again locked up in his throat. He suddenly couldn't see either of them standing there.

"Out!" There. That was the person who called out his name. It was the oldest of the Granger brothers, Richard.

"Hold on…" Hamlet protested.

"Emergency counseling session between our little brother and me, so out!"

The counseling sessions—they'd started soon after he started talking, though Regulus didn't think they'd gotten far. According to the family, counseling was supposed to help , though he didn't understand. The thing was, given how he'd appeared out of thin air before crash landing in a bloody mess on the family coffee table in front of Olivia, Hamlet, and their parents, they knew there'd be a problem with having someone outside of the family do the counseling. It was some rule regarding family not treating family, though Regulus remembered Arcturus Black, who was a healer treating plenty of things growing up.

"Hey!"

Regulus continued to sob.

"Regulus?"

That slowed the tears down somewhat. Richard being his psychobabble partner—which was how Regulus stumbled over the concept of psychology and therapist and everything, so it stuck as what Olivia's older brother called a uniquely Regulus kind of thing. And there wasn't any venom or other form of insult towards something that was uniquely Regulus.

And so Richard also came to know about magic but was the only one other than Olivia to know his real name, which he said was okay—that the family didn't care, leaving Cassio the only one who didn't know who was an adult and not an in-law in the granger family about his magical abilities. Richard ruffled the top of his head. "It's okay, Regulus."

"It's not," Regulus finally said, tears running down his face. Snot as well. Oh, how Walburga Black would have thrown a fit seeing her eighteen-year-old son with a tear-streaked face with snot dripping everywhere.

Richard sighed, pulling out a handkerchief and handing it to Regulus, who blew his nose before wiping tears away with his sleeves, all the while saying. "Okay. I'm wrong for saying it's not okay. I'm going to do what I can to make it okay. That's what older brothers do, so…"

Which was when Regulus literally crapped himself. And he knew from the way Richard stopped speaking that he could see that he'd crapped himself. So now, instead of crying, Regulus found his cheeks suddenly heating up. His hands flew to his face while his legs clamped together, not that would hide what just happened. "I'm so sorry. I'm…"

"Do you…" Richard spoke slowly. "Do you have an older brother?"

And that made a sob escape. "I'm sorry. I'm…"

"What your body did—that's a natural stress response."

"Natural?" Regulus shook his head, still covering his eyes. "It's embarrassing!"

Richard let out a deep breath. "He did a number on you, this older brother of yours, didn't he?"

Regulus lowered his eyes, his cheeks still burning. "Number?"

"You don't have a good relationship with your older brother, do you?"

"Why did Richard have to be spot on like that?" Regulus felt the corner of his mouth twitch, or maybe it was his eye, but this—Richard seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Don't blame Siri for something which is completely my fault. It's my fault…"

"I don't believe you."

"I'm not lying."

"You're on the defensive."

"I'm horrible at lying."

"To everyone but yourself."

Regulus starred. For some reason, the sudden thought of Sirius laughing at him had he crapped himself in front of him—

His stomach clenched, he gagged, and Regulus realized there was something worse than crapping himself in front of Olivia's older brother, and that was vomiting all over himself. And with that, Richard moved, moved away from him, leaving, just as Sirius did, and Regulus started to sob, his entire body shaking. And it came out.

"Don't leave me! Please!" Regulus' eyes squeezed shut, but he felt so pitiful.

Richard paused before coming over and ruffling the top of his head. "I'm not going to leave you."

"But he did!"

The hand continued to ruffle the top of his head. "Your older brother?"

"He promised he wouldn't?" Regulus kept his eyes shut.

"He wouldn't happen to have pinky promised you?"

"Does it matter?"

"Kind of does, given how you reacted to Cassio trying to—you know what. It doesn't matter because none of us are going to leave you, no matter how…" Richard let out a chuckle. "…messy things get. We'll help you get through it. Okay?"

Regulus didn't respond. "Don't leave."

"I've got to let Lettie and Cassio know what's going on, and then I'll be back."

"I can take care of myself," Regulus said, knowing full well that this was a lie. He didn't even know where to begin, sitting there with his hands in front of him covered in vomit, vomit dripping from his mouth, and—it wasn't pretty.

It wasn't Richard who came back, at least not the first person. It was Cassio who hurried into the front room. "Oh god!"

"I'm sorry," Regulus muttered.

"You're sorry?" Cassio muttered, making Regulus flinch. He pointed his finger. "Don't flinch like that! And this is all my fault, though I bloody don't know what I did to set you off like this!"

Regulus looked up, confused.

But then, Cassio hurried over, grabbing onto his arms. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."

"I—wait!"

"Nope. You're coming with me."

Which was why he ended up passing Richard, who was on his way back as Cassio pulled him into the laundry room, suddenly pulling the vomit-covered shirt over his head. Regulus let out a muffled response, confused, humiliated. And with it over his head—yeah, now there was vomit in his hair, and Cassio could see the scars from the Infiri, and Cassio was staring in horror.

"Oh, good grief." That was Hamlet. "Do you know how not to make a mess of things, little brother? Oh. Wait. I should say second littlest brother now, so Sebastian doesn't get confused."

"Those scars!" Cassio was definitely upset. Regulus could tell from his tone of voice, so he turned his head away, not liking it when people were upset with him.

Only, Hamlet had other ideas, dragging him over to the sink and starting up the water, dunking Regulus' head under the water. "Geese. That's not important."

"Not important!" Cassio continued ranting. And then he said, "I'm going to kill whatever did that to him!"

Regulus' eyes went wide and—

He blacked out.

…

He woke up in his own bed, the one upstairs, dressed in clean clothes. And no vomit in his hair, which was still slightly damp. A set of headphones were on top of his head where he was sat up in the bed as if someone went out of their way to make him comfortable, while the music—

Regulus reached out to turn the device off when—

"Don't turn that off!"

Cassio.

"And don't apologize, you moron!"

Cassio sat on the edge of his bed. Regulus let his eyes blink, his mouth hanging open, but then he saw the tray of food placed in front of him. "Chicken soup?"

"Chicken soup helps make you feel better."

"Maman?" Regulus asked.

"You're not the only one mom's taught how to cook. She's still out with the girls while dad's out with his brothers." Cassio took a deep breath. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, kiddo?"

"I…"

"Promise me."

"The scars?"

"I swear…"

"You wouldn't be able to," Regulus responded. "Olivia would be mad if something happened to you."

Cassio reached out and pushed at Regulus' nose, making him go cross-eyed. "And you know what? Everybody in this family would be bat crazy mad if something happened to you. So promise me—hell, I don't know what I want you to promise, beyond the fact I don't want to see you hurt. Like, ever." He turned his head. "Minus, of course, the friendly brotherly teasing that older brothers are allowed."

"Don't follow."

"Didn't…" Cassio paused, then froze. "Did you have any siblings?"

Regulus froze.

"Okay. Okay." Cassio held up his hands. "Off-limit subject. Please, please don't get sick on me again. I thought you were going to die!"

"Last time I checked, people don't die from…" Regulus frowned before muttering. "Making a mess of themselves."

"That…" Cassio frowned. "You blacked out."

"You said you were going to try and kill…" Regulus closed his mouth, glaring at Cassio, but the look he gave him had an effect.

"I…" Cassio stared. "Okay. I admit whatever did that to you is dangerous."

"You think?"

"It's not as if I can, given the fact I don't even know what did that to you!" Cassio protested.

"And I'm not telling you."

"Bloody hell. Did I annoy Richard and Lettie this much growing up?"

"I'm not a little kid, you know."

"You're still my kid brother! And don't take away the fact I've finally got one of my own!" Cassio said while Regulus stared. "You—you're not following, are you?"

Regulus shook his head as he wasn't following. He pointed at the soup. "Can I eat? That was the intent."

"Yeah. Course." Cassio sighed. And for a bit, he was silent. Then, he said, "The intent is that we love you because you're family. Is that blunt enough for you, Sebastian?"

Regulus paused, suddenly wiping a stray tear away. He nodded his head, continuing to eat his soup.

…

"Pinky, pinky," Sirius muttered to himself, looking up at the ceiling of his cell. "Whoever tells a lie will sink down to the bad place, and never rise up again." He frowned as Bellatrix howled out all the theoretical things that could have happened to Regulus as she knew that was one of the few things that got to him. "Sorry I didn't keep my promise Reg, but I'm certainly in hell now."