Chapter 9: Problems
Notes:
yall are so nice istg 3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
When James woke up, he was warm, and he was curled around something. He opened his eyes slowly, feeling whatever was under him breathing, he looked down and saw the blurry black hair, James rolled over and grabbed his glasses, sliding them on his face, and once he could get a clear look, he saw he was hugging a sleeping Regulus, the night's events came flooding back, and he smiled down at the sleeping boy with a sad smile. James got up slowly, trying not to wake Regulus, and made his way to his closet to start changing, unfortunately, as he was pulling pants on he fell over, hitting the floor with a loud thud when he stood himself back up and looked at the bed, Regulus was sitting up, his hair messed by sleep and his eyes taking time to adjust to the light. James finished pulling his pants on, he walked over to sit on the edge of his bed, next to Regulus,
"Hey," He was whispering, not wanting to overwhelm the boy by being loud right after he woke up, "Sorry for waking you, you okay?" James asked, he was shirtless, and it was starting to get a little cold, but he wanted to make sure Regulus was alright. Regulus nodded, and then looked away, his face red. He looked around for a second before he found a piece of parchment and a muggle pen Andi had sent Sirius that had ended up living in James' room.
'I'm okay, you can finish getting dressed, I'm going to check on Sirius.' James read the words quickly and nodded at Regulus.
"Alright, I'll be downstairs." With that, James walked back over to his closet to find a shirt and Regulus got up and padded down the hall to Remus and Sirius' room.
Once James finished dressing, he made his way downstairs, seeing his mother cooking and his father standing behind her, he smiled.
"Mornin' Dad, how're you?" James jumped up onto the counter, smiling at his dad when he turned around.
"I'm pretty good, how're your friends, I heard we got a late-night delivery?" His dad pulled James off the counter and floated two cups of tea behind them as they sat at the table.
"Yeah, Sirius showed up last night with his little brother Regulus, he was in pretty bad shape, Mum said he had a broken leg." James sighed as he drank his tea, Regulus had been so scared when he'd shown up, and the fact that Walburga wanted her son to take the Dark Mark hadn't escaped his focus, James was just glad that they'd gotten away before Walburga could take her anger out on the boys. As James thought about the circumstances of the Black brothers running away, Remus, Sirius and Regulus made their way down, Sirius leaning on Remus for support, his leg obviously still hurting, and Regulus had changed out of his sleep clothes, into a comfortable looking long-sleeve shirt and some well-worn muggle jeans.
"Heya Monty, how're you doing on this fine morning?" Sirius asked, getting help sitting down from Remus, smiling at his boyfriend.
"I'm well, and I hope you and your brother can say the same." James' Dad looked at both the boys at this, Sirius giving him a bright smile, but Regulus looked down awkwardly as he sat next to James.
"Regulus was fine last night, mostly just worried about Sirius." James quickly replied before his dad could start to think Regulus was being rude.
"It was my first time apperating with someone else, I'm quite proud I managed to only splinch one of us," Sirius proclaimed, sending James' Mum a smile when she floated some tea over to him. "And please, forgive Reggie for not introducing himself, he can't talk." Sirius sipped his tea happily as his little brother glared at him.
"That's quite alright, you're both welcome here, that wicked woman can try her best but she can't come here without our permission." That made both Regulus and Sirius relax, knowing they were safe from their mother coming and dragging them both back to Grimmauld.
"I reckon we should invite Wormtail, get all the Marauders here." Remus said, changing the topic, trying to keep his soulmate from worrying.
"Do you think we should tell Reggie about all of it? He's going to be living here, he'll figure it out eventually." Sirius asked, being purposely cryptic, Regulus looked at James with a confused expression.
"Sorry Regulus, I can't say anything without Moony's go-ahead." James smiled at his friends, they both knew he'd never tell anyone, but it always helped to remind him.
"Alright, I don't see the harm, he'd find out anyway." Remus looked exasperated, but he had a small smile on his lips, Regulus looked back at James, pointedly this time.
"We, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter, are the Marauders, and we all have animal counterparts, Remus is a wolf, a werewolf, Moony, Sirius is a dog, a big black one, Padfoot, Peter is a rat, Wormtail, and I am a stag, Prongs." James smiled down at Regulus as realisation dawned on his face before anger took it over and he hit James' arm, glaring at him. James laughed, and Regulus pulled out a folded piece of parchment and the muggle pen from James' room.
'You little shit, that's why you freaked out when I asked about Sirius' nickname.' He shoved the paper into James' hands, and James chuckled as he read it.
"Christ, how long has this been going on did you say?" Remus asked, facing Sirius who was smiling at his best friend and brother.
"A few months, remember when Prongs ran in asking if Reggie was scared of people?" Sirius looked between the two boys, and Regulus glared at him, Remus just laughed and shook his head, Regulus took the paperback and started scribbling down in what looked like French.
'Can you blame me for running? When he looks like that? Have you seen him without a shirt? I almost died.' James read the words, and had to fight down a blush, was Regulus talking about how attractive James was in French? Sirius just laughed as he read it, throwing it back at Regulus, and James got another look at the parchment, yep that was definitely Regulus gossiping about how hot James is right next to him. Sirius looked at James from across the table and raised his eyebrow, James almost choked on his tea.
After that, James' Mum bought out breakfast and the previous conversation was forgotten, instead, it was taken up by planning and ideas of what to do for the rest of the holidays, it was fun.
James didn't think about what Regulus thought of him shirtless until later that night, when he felt himself flush and he covered his face, was he really getting a crush on Regulus?
Notes:
Yes James. You are.