Chapter 11: A Happy Morning
Notes:
oh my god i am so bad at keeping on schedule I'm so sorry
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
James woke up before Regulus again, the sunlight streaming through the curtains on the windows. James pulls Regulus closer, feeling him grip James harder in return.
Last night had been terrifying, James had been woken up by a loud thump, and he'd gotten up to check on the noise, but when he'd walked in, he saw Regulus on the floor, crying, and then his body started shaking. James had immediately run to him, pulling him up and trying to comfort him, he'd woken up and tried to run away from James, but eventually, he fell into James' arms, crying silently into James' bare chest, silent sobs wracking his body. Once Regulus had calmed, James had pulled him into bed and laid down beside him, Regulus had curled up in his arms and that was the last thing James remembered.
He felt Regulus start to stir, and started petting his hair again, trying to lull him back to sleep. Regulus woke slowly, looking up at James and smiling at him, leaning into the hand that was running through his hair, the sight made James' breath catch in his throat. They laid there like that for a while, Regulus laying on James' chest and James running a hand through his hair, eventually, Regulus tapped James' bare chest and looked up at him with a confused face. It made James remember what Regulus had told his brother, he felt his cheeks heat up.
"I usually sleep without a shirt, sorry." Regulus shook his head with a small smile on his face. And went back to laying on James' chest, this time tracing random patterns onto James' stomach, the touch made James' heart speed up.
Eventually, Regulus got up, reaching for a piece of parchment and the pen.
'Sorry about last night, I had a bad nightmare.' Regulus' writing was messier than usual, he was obviously still tired from the night before,
"It's fine, I didn't mind, if you ever have a nightmare you can come wake me, Sirius says I'm great at comforting people." James smiled at Regulus, Regulus nodded and began writing again.
'You are, you're also very warm.' James laughed,
"Thank you, I'm taking that as a compliment." James watched as Regulus chuckled, he'd always been self-conscious about his laugh, James thought it was the best sound in the world.
"Reggie! Wake up! It's breakfast time!" Sirius' voice suddenly came through the door, he was knocking loudly and yelling, James saw Regulus roll his eyes. Regulus stood and walked over to the closet, presumably to get changed, before he froze and looked at James, his face was red, and James immediately jumped up from the bed.
"Alright, I'm leaving to get changed, I'll see you downstairs?" Regulus nodded, looking grateful, and James smiled and walked out, closing the door behind him, and immediately running into Remus.
"Walk of shame?" Remus raised his eyebrow at James, and James felt himself blush, it must've looked odd, James walking out of Regulus' room without a shirt and his hair a mess.
"No– Remus! Merlin!" Remus laughed as James ran to his room, and James felt as though his face was on fire.
~
Regulus smiled at James when he sat down, and James smiled back, Mrs Potter looked glad to see her son happy again, and Sirius looked relieved as well. Remus smiled at the both of them, and James' face lit up red, Regulus felt confused but thought it better not to ask.
He sipped his tea, and then Sirius handed him a piece of parchment with a sentence in French on it.
'So, did you tell him?' Regulus sent a look across the table at his brother,
'No, I had a nightmare and he helped me. Stop asking I know what he'd say.' He handed the note back to Sirius, James looked confused, probably because they were writing in French.
'Merlin Regulus, you won't know what he'll say until you ask! Who cares if he doesn't have Words, you clearly still like him.' As Regulus read, James started choking on his tea, Regulus moved to help him and saw his brother with a shocked look on his face, as if he'd just realised something. After Regulus had stopped James from dying in the most embarrassing way, he ignored his brother's note, and Sirius seemed oddly fine with it, chatting happily with Remus and Peter, they were making plans to go out shopping in muggle London, Mr Potter agreed to take them and a loud cheer came from the table,
"Do you want to come with us?" James turned to Regulus, and Regulus felt shocked he was being asked, everyone assumed he hated anything muggle due to him being in Slytherin, he nodded, he didn't have any money, so he wouldn't be able to buy anything, but the trip would be nice.
They went the next day, Mr Potter leading them out of The Leaky Cauldron, Sirius and Regulus were under the invisibility cloak, and they ducked into the first alley they saw, taking it off and putting it into Sirius' bag, then they rejoined everyone else.
Regulus was shocked to see how many shops there were, and they went into almost all of them, Mr Potter pulling them away from the ones with 18 signs on the doors. They bought a wide array of things, Mr Potter went grocery shopping, and the boys stopped into a book shop for Remus, Regulus wandered around in there, more than a few of the books caught his eye, but he didn't dare ask anyone to buy them for him. The next shop they stopped in was selling clothes, and Mr Potter bought Sirius and Regulus some new outfits, Regulus wanted to refuse, but he did need some new clothes. They also stopped into a shop with stationery, Remus buying a large pack of muggle pens and a few notebooks.
They didn't get back until late afternoon, they'd eaten at a muggle restaurant, Regulus had gotten a few dirty looks for not replying when someone asked him a question, James always tried to reply for him, but they still thought Regulus was being rude. Once they got back to the Potter House, everyone went their separate ways, they all had bags of things to sort through, and Regulus went back up to the library, not coming back down until dinner, he'd had fun, more fun than he'd had in a while.
Notes:
James is going to have a heart attack next chapter ;)