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It's their daily routine at this point.
It has been happening ever since they started dating in school and James has a feeling that Regulus isn't planning on stopping any time soon. He stays up all night reading or consuming whatever information he can find about all kinds of arts, goes to bed a lot later than it’s recommended, scrunches up his nose and starts grumbling when he feels James trying to wake him up because, apparently, according to James, he can not stay in bed the entire day.
However, all of that annoyance and grumbling disappears the moment he feels James’ hands starting to run up and down on his back, gently touching his shoulders before his finger start to make their way down on his arm, reaching his hand and then James intertwines their fingers together and brings Regulus’ hand up to his lips, leaving small and soft kisses on his knuckles before he leans forward and does the same to his face.
Regulus knows that James watches in victory as his actions cause Regulus’ pout to disappear and the corner of his lips twitch upwards - he knows it because he knows James - and, no matter how much he adores and values his very well deserved morning sleep (because not everyone is a morning person, thank you very much), opening his eyes and seeing James’ warm smile and bright eyes filled with love is worth so it.
“Hi, love.” James’ eyes sparkle as wraps his hand around Regulus’ naked waist and brings him closer until their chests are pressed against each other. He offers him that James Potter grin before leaning down and pecking him on the lips. “Hello, love.”
“Hi, James.” Regulus whispers and his eyes flutter closed again when James slides his hand in his hair and gently scratches his scalp. “Hello, James.”
“Love…” James mutters and sadness in his tone causes Regulus’ eyes to snap open again.
James is pouting.
“James?”
James is still pouting.
“ Love. ”
Ah, okay, Regulus gets it now.
“Hi, baby.” Before James can react, Regulus leans in and gives him a kiss. “Hello, baby.”
James grins at him, his cheeks slightly red.
Suddenly, something black sitting on the floor catches Regulus’ eyes and he quickly pushes James away, letting out a loud gasp.
“Oscar!”
James furrows his eyebrows.
“I’m James, actually…”
Now Regulus is the one grinning
“I know, baby, I know. Move .” Regulus is quick to peck James on the lips before, quite literally, pushing him away and moving forward to outstretched his arms. Some part of his body makes contact with James’ lower half at some point because James lets out a breathy gasp before hissing Regulus’ name under his breath.
“ Oscar! ” Regulus coos at the black cat that jumps into his waiting arms and Regulus giggles, he literally giggles , as he returns to his previous position in front of James but this time, with a ball of fur in his arms.
James rolls his eyes.
Oscar was a gift from Pandora when they announced the big news and the second Regulus took the cat in his arms, they became inseparable. James, however, hates the goddamned thing and he knows that the cat hates him too but Regulus adores Oscar, so James tolerates him for the sake of Regulus’ happiness.
However, choosing a name for him was quite complicated, hard and annoying. That was until Remus offered Regulus to name him after the author whose book he was reading by that time. Luckily for this evil spawn, Regulus had finished reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky a few days before that and he was in the middle of rereading The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
“What would you do if you were still reading Dostoevsky’s book?”
“I’d name him Dostoevsky, but call him Toe.”
“... That’s– Are you sure you love that poor thing?”
Regulus smacks a kiss on Oscar’s head.
“Hello, little guy– Hello, bab–”
The betrayed gasp James lets out almost causes Regulus to jump out of his skin. “ Reg?! ”
“No, no, don’t do that.” Regulus leans in slightly and tries to kiss the pout away from James’ lips. He does it once, it doesn’t work. He does it twice, it still doesn’t work. “I’m sorry, baby, I love you.”
James huffs and glares at the cat in Regulus’ arms.
Oscar glares back at James, growling.
James squints his eyes at the cat.
“Stop that, both of you.” Regulus orders with a firm voice, trying his best to stop himself from letting out a loud laugh because a grown man and a cat are fighting like children over him.
James crosses his arms in front of his chest and rolls his eyes before continuing to glare at the cat, which, by the way, is still in Regulus’ arms.
Oscar suddenly hisses and almost falls out of Regulus’ hold as he reaches James and starts smacking and scratching him in the arm with his paw.
James lets out a loud gasp and snatches his arm out of the cat’s way before he decides that he wants to bite it off as well.
“No, no, no! We’ve been over this!” Regulus quickly turns Oscar in his hands and holds him up so he can stare at him in the eyes. “No smacking, scratching or biting James, Oscar!”
The cat meows at him and Regulus rolls his eyes.
“Anyone but James. For example, my brother. You could eat his ear off and I wouldn’t ca–”
“Regulus!” James exclaims and starts waving his hands in the air, his way of saying what the fuck without using the words.
Regulus blows out his cheeks and rolls his eyes again. “Fine, don’t eat my brother’s ear off either, not that he uses it but–”
“ Regulus! ”
“Fine!”
Oscar meows and buries his head in the crook of Regulus’ arm as soon as his back on the spot he was a couple of seconds ago. Regulus mutters something under his breath as he leans down to smack another kiss on the top of Oscar’s head, that, again, meows.
“I feel like I’m witnessing my fiance being stolen from me right in front of my eyes.” James grumbles out and throws the covers over him, hiding away from Regulus even though they’re literally in the same bed.
“Wait for us in the kitchen, okay?” Regulus tells the cat with the hint of amusement in his voice, looking over at the lump on the bed. The cat hisses. “Okay, fine, wait for me in the kitchen, please?”
Oscar purrs quietly and jumps out of Regulus’ arms directly onto James’ stomach, earning a quiet oof from him before jumping to the floor and making his way out of the bedroom.
“James.”
Regulus tries but gets no answer.
“James…”
Still no answer.
Regulus sighs out and moves closer to James.
He removes the covers from James’ head and suppresses the urge to laugh when he sees that James is lying on his back with his arms crossed in front of his chest and he’s pouting , like a little kid. However, Regulus can’t stop himself from smiling when he slides down on the bed and lies next to James on his side, his chin on James’ shoulder as he starts running his fingers across James’ exposed stomach.
James still doesn’t say anything or even acknowledge the fact that Regulus is right next to him.
Huh, fine then, Regulus is going to play dirty.
“Baby, come on.” Regulus says and exactly like he thought, that one word is enough to get James’ attention. It always works.
Regulus smiles as he reaches out with one hand to cup James’ jaw and starts to ghost his thumb over his bottom lip. He continues doing that for a couple of seconds before he leans forward and connects their lips once again.
As soon as he feels James smiling into the kiss, Regulus simply can not stop himself from letting out a small sigh himself and a few seconds later, he slowly wraps his one hand around James’ waist, still holding his face with another one, and tugs him forward.
James, being James, quickly gets what Regulus is hinting him to do, he always does.
He breaks the kiss the same time he pushes Regulus down on his back, getting comfortable between his thighs before he moves his hands on Regulus’ sides and starts kissing and biting and marking the skin on his neck. Another soft sigh escapes Regulus’ mouth as his fingers make their way to James’s hair, tugging the ends of it harshly.
He doesn’t even realize that he closed his eyes till they fly open the second he feels James’ mouth leaving his skin. James is staring at him like he’s waiting for permission to continue. James is looking at him like that and that’s exactly why Regulus can’t stop himself from pushing James toward him and giving him a fast and messy kiss.
“Did I tell you to stop?” He mumbles against James’ lips and honestly, that sentence, his hoarse voice, the blush on his cheeks and half-lidded eyes are enough for James to continue. Oh , does he continue–
Regulus slightly sits up on the bed, leaning on his elbows simply to watch the show his fiance is putting as he makes his way down on Regulus’ body, leaving kisses and bites and marks and stopping only when he reaches his inner thighs.
“James.” Regulus hisses a couple of seconds later when James still doesn’t move.
Regulus loves his fiance, he really does, but sometimes he wants to strangle him.
“Go on, love, tell me.”
“Fuck you.”
“I’m the one trying to do that right now, love.” Something in James’ eyes twinkle mischievously. Regulus needs to fuck him. “Come on, sweetheart.”
“James, baby, for fuck’s sa– ah .”
Regulus’ cursing gets cut off and turns into a broken moan, his hands giving out and his body limply falling back on the bed the moment he feels James’s mouth exactly where he needs him the most. James’ tongue flicks at his clit and Regulus’ world fucking turns upside down.
All he can simply do is to slide his hands in his finace’s hair and hold on for his dear fucking life as whimpers and moans spill out of his mouth because of James’ sinful mouth doing indescribable things to him.
~•~
James groans out in his sleep and furrows his eyebrows when he tries to reach out to Regulus next to him and all he gets instead of his fiance is cold sheets next to him.
He lazily opens one eye and tries to adjust to the light before sitting up on the bed and looking around in the small room, waiting for a couple of minutes to completely come back to earth before checking the time on the phone.
Regulus is usually always there when James wakes up from his very well deserved afternoon naps, but whenever he isn’t, James knows where to find him.
He yawns as he gets up from the bed and walks out from the bedroom, crossing the living room and taking only two more steps forward before he’s standing in the kitchen because their flat is very small and cosy, just like they always wanted it to be.
Oscar is sitting on one of the shelves, James knows it’s his favourite spot so he and Regulus are simply not allowed to put anything there, not tearing his gaze away from Regulus.
James’ lovely fiance is standing by the counter, he’s only wearing his boxers and unzipped jacket (he has been doing that ever since his top surgery and James loves him), he has his hair tied back.
James can’t stop himself from smiling at the sight of the tip of Regulus’ tongue sticking out from his mouth as he tries his very best to flatten the second dough with the rolling pin all while humming the soft melody of a Georgian song that’s currently playing on his phone.
Look, James knows which one it is, he really does, but he can not for the life of him say the name or the lyrics in Georgian, no matter how many times Regulus tried to teach him.
“What’s going on here?” James asks softly, making his way towards Regulus and stopping to stand behind him. He wraps his arms around Regulus’ waist and smiles softly when Regulus leans back to his touch and relaxes.
“I’m making something for you.” Regulus answers and rolls the rolling pin once more before putting it away and smacking James in the hand when he tries to steal the cheese from the plate. “No stealing the cheese.”
“But–”
“No buts.”
“Love…” James gives Regulus those puppy eyes and Regulus actually has to look away and nudge him in the ribs to stop because he knows that if James continues doing that, he will give in; he always does.
If James’ weakness is Regulus calling him “baby”, Regulus’ weakness is James looking at him with those big, brown, incredibly adorable puppy eyes.
Regulus is so in love.
“You’re not stealing the cheese.” James mutters something under his breath and Regulus slightly turns into his arms to press a small kiss on the corner of James’ mouth, simply to stop him from being grumpy. He has to leave a few more before he sees the corner of James’ lips twitching upwards and then he knows it's safe to go back to work.
Another song, a lot more upbeat, comes on and Regulus starts nodding his head along the beat, even singing a couple of words every here and there. He grabs a bowl of baked and mashed beans and starts putting a few spoons in the middle of the flattened dough.
“What are you making?” James asks, resting his chin on Regulus’ shoulder and feeling a wave of victory wash over him when Oscar meows from the shelf in annoyance. “Are you putting cheese there too?”
“Nope.”
James squints his eyes at him.
“Do you know what Sirius’ favourite Georgian dish is?” Regulus asks and puts the bowl back on the counter. James stays quiet behind him and Regulus has to bite the inside of his cheek so he doesn’t laugh. “James.”
“I do know it, I swear, I just– I can’t pronounce it!” James exclaims, clearly in distress. “Your language is so complicated , why is it so complicated?!”
“Go on, try, say it.” James shakes his head. “Baby–”
“Okay, I do know what Sirius' favourite Georgian dish is,” James interrupts before Regulus can continue. “what about it? You’re making it?”
“ Khachapuri .” Regulus says effortlessly, watching as James rolls his eyes and huffs.
“And you expected me to say that.” James mutters under his breath and looks down at the floor and Regulus knows why James is being like this. He knows that James wants to learn Georgian simply because he knows how much it means to Regulus but he’s struggling because, well, it really is a hard language, Regulus understands it very well and the fact that James is trying means a lot more than he knows.
“It’s okay, you’re going to get it right soon, I know you will.”
“Easy for you to say, you’ve been speaking the language your whole life.”
That’s not exactly true.
There was a time when Regulus could barely say a sentence properly in Georgian because Walburga didn’t allow him and Sirius to speak to each other in a language other than French and English, simply because those two were the only ones she knew and Orion never said anything about it, like always. That continued for a lot longer than Regulus wants to admit and it caused him and Sirius to almost completely forget the language.
However, when Sirius and Regulus finally got out, together, they spent countless nights sprawled on the floor of their tiny flat that their uncle bought for them; horribly talking to each other, reading, listening, watching movies all in Georgian, simply to remember everything they’d forgotten. It took them a while but they finally got it all back and it made both of them feel like they’d finally found a piece that has been missing for so long. Things got even better when they visited Andromeda and her family in the country.
Regulus doesn’t tell any of this to James though, and he’s sure Sirius hasn’t said it to Remus either. It simply feels like something that’s theirs . Walburga managed to take a huge piece of their identity once and it took a lot of time to get it back, and even though James and Remus would never do such a thing, it’s nice to have something between them; something only they know about.
Something that makes their bond as brothers even stronger.
Suddenly, he hears James’ voice. “Love, are you here?”
“Hmm?” He replies automatically, pecking James’ lips when he sees concern in his eyes. “Of course I’m here, where else would I be?”
“So, you’re making Sirius’ favourite dish?”
“Yes,” Regulus confirms and then points at the counter behind him. “and mine too.”
James squints his eyes at him again.
“Why are you making both your and Sirius’ favourite dishes, at the same time?” Regulus stays quiet and bites down on the bottom of his lip to stop himself from grinning, watching as gears turn in James’ head before the light bulb suddenly goes on. “ No! ”
“You have to, baby, it’s time!”
“No, Reg, love, don’t make me do this…” James groans out, desperation written all across his face and Regulus somewhat feels bad but it’s fun .
Plus, he needs his answer (and James’ opinion too).
“You have to choose, that’s the only way.”
“Can’t I just settle for saying that I like both equally ? Both of them are good, I swear they are, just don’t make me pick one.”
“No, you can not settle for saying that.” Regulus quickly shakes his head and leans back against the edge of the counter. “First, simply because your answer will determine our future marriage and second, there’s no way that someone likes khachapuri and lobiani equally; trust me, when a Georgian person tells you that you have to have favourite, then you have to have favourite.”
“Is this what Evan feels like everytime you pull out that card on him?”
“I simply can’t let him win an argument when I can make him shut up that easily.” Regulus grins mischievously because honestly, nothing is funnier than seeing Evan tiredly give up in the middle of an argument whenever Regulus brings up that "remember what your country did to mine?" card on him.
“You’re insane.” James lets out a small laugh and moves forward to kiss Regulus softly, who quickly breaks the kiss and answers with the sappiest thing he could ever answer,
“Insane for you .” He takes a better look at James’ face and he physically can not stop himself from letting out a loud laugh, causing James to blush and tighten his grip on Regulus’ body. “That was horrible, I’m never saying anything like that ever again."
James lets out another laugh and Regulus is only human and he’s hopelessly in love with the man in front of him so all he can do is cup James’ cheeks, leaving white marks of flour on his brown skin, and lean in until their lips are pressed against each other. Regulus melts the second he feels James taking a soft breath in and smiling into the kiss as well.
Regulus is so, so madly in love that he feels like he might explode .
He’s wrapped in the arms of the man he loves, the man he’s soon going to be able to call his husband . He's standing in the middle of the kitchen, kissing him while soft music plays in the background and he’s simply so, so happy.
This is everything he has ever wished for.
This is everything he ever wanted.
As much as Regulus hates the idea of having to move away from James, he knows that he has to, unless he wants all his hard work to go down the drain.
"Baby, I have to–" His sentence is cut off by him letting out a soft whimper when James moves to his jawline from his lip.
"Go on, you were saying?" James murmurs quietly against his skin and if Regulus wasn't very distracted by everything James is doing to him, he'd definitely nudge him in the ribs but now, all he can do is to melt into James' arms and pray that the oven doesn't end up in fire.
Honestly, Regulus doesn't know how much time passes or later, how he finds the strength within to slightly push James away and give him another soft and short kiss before telling him that he needs to go back to the food.
“What do you think, where should we go for our honeymoon?” James asks after a couple of minutes of silence, his gaze glued on Regulus, who simply shrugs.
“I personally think we should go to multiple places,” He answers simply and he focuses and ah, there it is, the tip of his tongue sticks out again before he continues to speak. “we have money, so why not?”
“Alright then, what is on the top of the list?”
“Denmark.”
“Did you just choose our honeymoon destination randomly?”
Regulus shrugs again, a mischievous smile on his face. “What can I say, Copenhagen is quite a beautiful city after all.”
“You–” James laughs, tugging Regulus’ hair softly before asking, “Okay, what next?”
“We should visit India and Georgia too,” Regulus answers, tilting his head to the side slightly to look at James. “It’s been a while since we’ve been there.”
“That sounds amazing.” James whispers, looking at Regulus like he hung the moon and the stars in the sky. It makes Regulus’ cheeks redden. “Another country and city in the list?”
“Italy, specifically Milan.” Regulus says without even missing the beat which actually has James raising his eyebrows at him in confusion before the realisation hits.
“The kiss?”
“ The Kiss .” Regulus covers his face with his hands as he groans out, stomping on the floor a couple of times. “It’s there , James, it’s literally there in the Brera Art Gallery of Milan– Please– I need to see it.”
“Of course, love, of course.” James says softly with a smile on his face and reaches Regulus to place a small kiss on his temple. “We will go to Italy and you will be able to stare at the painting for as long as you want and when you turn to look at me, I will softly grab your face and kiss you in front of your favourite painting.”
James remembers the first time Regulus told him about that painting.
They were on one of their museum dates, their fingers interlocked and James only looking at Regulus as he kept telling him random details about the painting in front of them. It continued even after they left the museum.
Sometimes Regulus even switched to talking to James about the books he was reading and had read and James simply stayed quiet, feeling the warmth blooming in his chest every single time Regulus looked at him with excitement shining in his eyes.
On their way home, Regulus told James about some of his favourite paintings:
The Storm On The Sea Of Galilee by Rembrandt, The Angel Standing In The Sun by William Turner, Embrace by Peter Wever, Pyramid Of Skulls by Cezaane, Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog by Friedrich.
However, when he reached his all time favourite one (Regulus’ words, not James’) - The Kiss by Francesco Hayez, what James saw in his eyes was far more than simple excitement. It was something James couldn’t even put a name onto.
Regulus told him every small detail about the painting.
He told him that there are three versions - the first one, the most famous one, is currently in the Brera Art Gallery of Milan; the second version, the one where the girl is wearing white dress, is in private collection and finally, the third one, Regulus’ personal favourite because of the white veil on the stairs, is probably the one Hayez himself loved the most because, apparently, he kept it with him until his death.
Regulus told him that the painting is a metaphor which helped the artist survive being accused of the conspiracy against the Austrian Empire and Regulus finds that admirable, James knows, but he always knows that it’s the scene of two lovers that mesmerises Regulus more.
The two lovers give each other the one final kiss before they part because it’s clear that they’re in a rush. The man kisses and gently caresses the woman’s face who might be holding onto the hope of her lover returning; maybe she knows that he won’t but still, she hopes that he will.
Honestly, James understands why Regulus loves that panting so much. Maybe he doesn’t get it as well as his fiance does, but still, it never fails to see Regulus get so excited about the things that were created so long ago.
James can’t wait to witness Regulus seeing it in person.
The song changes and James snaps out of his thoughts, an exclaim escaping his mouth when he realises which song it is. "Oh, I love this one."
"Kancheli?" Regulus asks, even though he already knows the answer. This isn't the first time James says that he loves Kancheli's music and Regulus completely understands.
James hums in response. "The melody is so– it's simply beautiful."
"All of his melodies are, really." Regulus agrees and wiggles out of James' arms (much to his dissatisfaction) to take care of the oven and take out khachapuri before it could turn into ashes. "I think I should be able to play some of them on piano, it's been a while but there's a chance I still can."
"What about singing?" James asks, pushing one of the chairs back to sit down and stare up at Regulus as puts lobiani in the oven now and starts cutting khachapuri in six triangle pieces.
"I never liked singing that much, that one always fell on Sirius, he's always had the nicer voice than me, a lot stronger in some ways." Regulus shrugs and puts the pieces on the plate. "You haven't lived if you haven't heard Sirius singing this one, it fits his voice so well. I think it's his favourite out of Kancheli's work too."
James makes a mental note to demand Sirius to sing this one song for him.
"I've always preferred playing the melody but there's one I still love to sing, yellow leaves in English, if you might." Regulus says with a small smile on his face, starting to clean up the counter as he continues talking and James continues staring at him. "The melody is soft and it doesn't need a strong voice or high notes that much and it also reminds me of Autumn, for obvious reasons, and I just love it so fucking much."
James can't help himself, of course he can't. Regulus can't just stand there and talk about things he loves that much and then simply expect James not to jump up on his feet, wrap his arm around Regulus' waist and kiss the living daylight out of him, he can't do that.
"What was that for?" Regulus asks breathlessly when James pulls away, resting his forehead against Regulus'.
"Just because." James answers simply.
Sometimes, only sometimes (okay, maybe more than sometimes), Regulus gets the urge to bite James. He can’t explain why, he doesn’t know why himself, he just does.
James is just so– he’s so .
Regulus feels so much love for him whenever he’s doing something as simple as brushing his hair, or humming some melody under his breath, or furrowing his eyebrows while focusing, or as breathing that it makes Regulus feel like he’s going to explode. He feels so much love for James that he doesn’t know what to do with it all.
Regulus Black never believed that it was possible to feel such love for one person, but all of that disappeared the moment he met James Potter and felt the warmth of him, the warmth of the sun. He has been feeling nothing but pure, unconditional love for this man ever since and he doesn’t plan on ever stopping, he will love James Potter till the day he dies and when he does die, he will continue loving him in whatever comes after death too.
“Love, you’re staring.” James’ voice brings him back to the earth and Regulus wants to smack him in the head for dragging him out of his sappy thoughts.
“I’m not.”
“You literally are.”
Regulus leans in and kisses him once again, not pulling away until he physically has to.
Now it’s James’ turn to breathlessly ask, “What was that for?”
Regulus smiles softly at him, cocking his head to the side and pressing his temple against James’ shoulder. “Just because.”
James groans out and removes his hands from Regulus’ body to cover his face, hiding away like a little kid and honestly, there’s no way that Regulus can stop himself from laughing at that. Obviously, he doesn’t, he laughs as he moves away from James and walks towards the oven to check if the dish is close to turning into ashes by the time Good old-fashioned lover boy by Queen comes on and James’ eyes absolutely light up.
When Regulus makes sure that the dish, oven and their flat is safe, he turns around and leans back against the fridge, watching as James grabs the rolling pin to use it as a microphone, clearly not minding the flour getting on his hands, and he starts singing because of course he does, he’s James .
“ Come on and sit on my hot-seat of love ,” James sings, letting go of the rolling pin with one hand and pointing his finger at Regulus who physically can not fight back a smile. “a nd tell me how do you feel right after all,”
“You are ridiculous.” Regulus laughs when James grabs him by his wrist and pulls him closer until they’re face to face again. He leaves a small kiss on the corner of Regulus’ mouth as his arm makes its way around Regulus’ waist. “Absolutely, unbelievably ridiculous.”
James puts the rolling pin back on its place and uses his now free hand to push Regulus’ up, placing them around his shoulder as he continues to sing.
“ I'd like for you and I to go romancing, ” James spins them around and a breathy laugh breaks out of Regulus’ throat before tightening his grip on James’ shoulders. “ Say the word, your wish is my command,”
James continues singing while spinning both of them around in the kitchen and Regulus simply lets him because he will always let James do whatever he wants.
“ When I'm not with you, think of me always ,” James half-dips him and Regulus can’t stop himself from letting out a small yelp at that which gets quickly muffled because of James pressing their lips together for a split second before continuing. “ Love you, love you– ”
Regulus simply rolls his eyes at the way James drags out that final you and he is about to make some kind of sarcastic (but, in James’ opinion, still sweet, because James loves it when Regulus is sarcastic) comment when they get interrupted.
“What have I walked into?!”
Regulus is going to kill his brother and no one can stop him.
“Why do you always feel the need to interrupt us while we’re in the middle of something?” Regulus grumbles out and stands up straight again, leaving a small kiss on James’ lips before turning to Sirius and Remus. “Why do you never knock? What if we were on the floor, naked, James’ cock ins–”
“Can you not ?!” Sirius cuts him off by loudly shrieking and throwing his hands up in the air and starting to wave, kicking Remus with his feet when his husband chuckles beside him. “I get it, I don’t need that image in my head!”
“I gave you keys for emergencies, not so you can waltz into my home whenever– Sirius, are you even listening?”
“Reggie–” Sirius says, dumbfounded, as he stares at the plate on the counter. “Is that what I think it is? Did you make–”
“Yes, Sirius, I did. Don’t make a big deal out–” Before Regulus even has a chance to finish the sentence, Sirius is already running towards him and pulling him into a hug that Regulus truly can not escape from. “–of it.”
“You are the best brother anyone could ever ask for.” Sirius exclaims and smacks a wet kiss on Regulus’ cheek which has the latter scrunching his nose up in disgust.
“James,” Regulus whines out. “can you please free your fiance?”
James does, in fact, free his fiance and Sirius gets too distracted by ranting to Remus about his favourite Georgian dishes for god knows how many times to actually focus on that.
After around ten minutes, two plates get placed in front of James.
“The moment of truth.” Regulus smiles, shrugging at James’ helpless expression. “You have to choose, baby, I’m sorry.”
“Choose your answer wisely.” Sirius says, squinting his eyes at James.
~•~
“Sirius is never going to speak to me ever again.” James groans out as he flops down on the bed next to Regulus and buries his head into the pillow. His next words come out muffled and Regulus actually has to bite down on his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling. “This is all your fault, why did you make me choose?”
“Just so– you know.” He answers simply, turning the page of the book he has in his hands before returning to playing with colourful tabs while reading.
James groans out again and turns his head around, his cheek squished against the pillow as he looks at Regulus. “You’re being mean.”
“Sirius has separation anxiety.” Regulus says and doesn't even bother to remove his gaze from the book. “The best he can do is not answer your texts for what? Two hours?”
James can’t hide the amusement that sparks in his eyes. “You just enjoy causing drama.”
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” Regulus shrugs and James is about to complain about Sirius leaving without giving him a forehead kiss when Regulus snaps the book shut and leans down to capture James’ lips with his for a couple of seconds. “Do you want me to read out loud? I know it calms you down.”
James stays quiet for a moment before nodding and curling up against Regulus’ side, placing his head on his fiance’s chest and the corner of his lips twitch upwards slightly when Regulus wraps his arm around James’ body, holding him while opening the book again with his free hand.
“If Shakespeare had never existed, he asked, would the world have differed much from what it is today? ” Regulus starts and James is physically unable to stop himself from letting out a small sigh as his eyes flutter closed because of Regulus’ soft and smooth voice. ” Does the progress of civilization depend upon great men? Is a lot of the average human being better now than in the time of the Pharaohs?”
James stays still, listening to his fiance reading but not quite being able to comprehend whatever he’s saying. He truly can’t but he can not be blamed, not when Regulus is running his fingers in James’ hair and his voice is making James want to melt into him.
He doesn’t know how long he stays like that, floating and simply feeling Regulus’ cold fingers scratching his skull but suddenly, Regulus closes the book and shifts underneath him to put it on the bedside table and that’s exactly what has James returning to reality.
“What?” He asks sleepy, his eyes a lot heavier than they were before. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course, baby, but I have to change my clothes.” Regulus says, his voice filled with softness and James can make out the fondness in his eyes as well.
Oh, James is so in love with him.
A small whine escapes him when Regulus frees himself from his fiance and reaches out to the chair close to the bed to grab his (James’, actually) shirt and start taking off his clothes, quietly telling James to do the same who grumbles, but still does it.
Regulus is always freezing and even though he does have his personal heater (James Potter) in his bed every night, he still likes to sleep while wearing a shirt which always happens to be his fiance’s. James, on the other hand, simply can not stand the feeling of clothes on his skin unless he’s taking a small nap.
They return to the bed, crawling under the covers and it takes them not more than two seconds to press their bodies against each other.
James is lying on his back and Regulus is, quite literally, half-lying on the top of him, his face hidden in the crook of James’ neck, enjoying the feeling of James’ strong arms wrapped around his body.
James slightly turns his head to press a kiss against Regulus’ temple. “I love you.”
Regulus buries his face in James’ neck even more and hums. “I love you.”
As Regulus slowly drifts into sleep, he prays to the gods above that there are more lifetimes ahead of them, waiting for them, simply because he can’t settle for only one; only one is not enough for him to love and be loved by James Potter; he wants more, he always does.
Somehow, deep down he knows that no matter where they end up after death, what they feel for each other will always be there, existing as long as their souls do.