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Waking up is a slow process this morning for Regulus. He’s lost in that space between waking and dreaming for a long time before he finally musters up the energy to open his eyes. The first thing he notices is that there is a weight on top of him pinning him to the bed, the second thing he notices is that his shirt is wet. He glances down at his chest and feels a rush of fondness when he sees messy black hair. James is sprawled half on top of him, his mouth open and drooling onto Regulus’s chest.
He turns his head to look for Lily and finds her lying about a foot away, on her stomach with her face turned away from him. Her fiery red hair splayed out across the pillow and the space between them. His eyes land on the soulbond tattoo all three of them shared and he can feel a grin threatening to spread across his face. He takes in the sight of the sleeping stag, and the magpie and red tailed hawk roosting in his antlers. The magpie peeks an eye open and ruffles its feathers at him when it sees him looking. He snorts softly, of course his soul animal would have an attitude first thing in the morning. He reaches out to trace the outline of the soulbond tattoo on Lily’s shoulder blade, ignoring the way the magpie gives him the stink eye as he does.
He marvels at the fact that he has both soulmates in bed with him. A lot of people don’t ever find their soulmate, so for Regulus to have both of his… He’s interrupted from his musing by his bladder making itself known. He groans softly and then works to slowly maneuver James’s sleeping form off of himself so he could go use the bathroom. Once he’s relieved himself, he returns to the bedroom to find James is now starfished on the bed. His mouth is still wide open and he’s still drooling. Lily hasn’t moved at all from her position on her stomach.
Regulus rolls his eyes fondly and wipes the trail of drool from James’s chin. Then he pulls the sheets up to his husband’s chest and leans down to plant a gentle kiss to his forehead. He walks to the other side of the bed to do the same to Lily, and then busies himself with getting ready for the day. He slips out of his drool covered shirt and into one of the band t-shirts he’d stolen from Sirius last time he’d visited – not that he’d ever admit that. He puts on a clean pair of briefs and a pair of sweatpants. Shooting one last glance to his sleeping partners, he leaves the room, shutting the door silently behind him.
He makes his way down the hall to Harry’s room and pokes his head in to check on him. Harry – much like his father – is starfished on his bed. He’d kicked the covers off himself at some point in the night and Regulus can hear his soft snoring from the doorway. Regulus closes the door and continues down the hall. Perhaps he’d make everyone breakfast this morning.
Regulus is half way through breakfast before anyone else wakes up. James comes stumbling down the stairs, yawning widely and only wearing his boxers.
“Mornin’.” James drapes himself over Regulus’s back and plants a kiss on his jaw. “What’re you making?”
Regulus flips the pancake over in the pan. “Pancakes.” He says, pressing the spatula down into the pancake. “I’m going to make eggs and sausage as well, maybe some toast.”
James nuzzles into Regulus’s neck and hums. “That sounds delicious. Did you make coffee?”
Regulus waves toward the coffee maker. “You’re more than capable of making it yourself.”
“My husband is so cruel.”
“Yes, how evil I am for telling you to make your own coffee when I’m in the middle of making a big breakfast.” Regulus deadpans, slipping the now done pancake out of the pan and onto a plate. “Are Lily and Harry awake?”
James moves over to the coffee maker and grabs one of the french vanilla k-cups. “Nah, Lils was still asleep when I got up.” He puts the cup into the machine, fills it with water and then takes his favorite mug – one Sirius had gotten for him one year. It has the silhouette of the head of a stag printed on it – and puts it under the spout. “I woke up with her hair in my mouth.”
Regulus snorts and slips the final pancake out of the pan. “Better than waking up with your drool all over my chest.”
James glances over his shoulder. “I do not drool.”
“You do.”
“I do not!”
“What are the two of you arguing about now?” Lily yawns from the doorway, holding a half asleep Harry on her hip.
“Our husband is accusing me of drooling on him!” James whines.
Lily gives him an unimpressed look. “You do drool.”
“I do not! Harry, tell your mother and father that I don’t drool.”
“Papa. Mummy. Daddy doesn’t drool.” Harry slurs, burying his face into Lily’s neck.
“Good boy! If our son says it’s true, then it has to be.”
Regulus and Lily share an amused look.
“Well, Harry isn’t the one who woke up with a soaked shirt this morning, is he?” Regulus grabs the eggs and sausage from the fridge. “Harry, love, do you want pancakes or toast this morning?”
Harry blinks his eyes open. “Pancakes.”
“Do you want eggs and sausage as well?”
“Please.” He says as he rubs at his eyes with the backs of his hands.
Regulus is struck with the sudden urge to plant a kiss on his son’s face, and so he does. Harry just blinks blankly at him, still not quite awake yet. Regulus drops a kiss to the side of Lily’s head as well.
“Breakfast will be finished soon.” He tells them as he returns to the stove. “You can eat the pancakes while you wait.”
After breakfast and the subsequent cleaning of the kitchen, the four of them go get dressed. Harry chooses Regulus to help him get dressed for the day. Regulus encourages him to pick out his own clothes. Harry thinks very hard, his little hands resting on his hips and his face screwed up into a pout. He finally chooses a yellow shirt with dinosaurs and a pair of black shorts. Regulus helps him put his shirt on, but Harry tells him he can put his shorts on by himself.
“Am a big boy, Papa.” Harry says, gently pushing his hand away. “Can do it.”
“I believe you.” Regulus tells him, dropping his hands to his lap. “Go ahead.”
Harry determinedly grabs his shorts and slips them on. He does stick both legs in one leg hole at the beginning, but manages to get his other leg into the other leg hole right after. He stands to finish putting his shorts on and makes a triumphant noise once they're on properly.
“See Papa! I telled you!”
Regulus smiles softly at his son and pulls Harry’s shirt out of the waistband of his shorts. “You did tell me. I’m very proud of you.”
Harry gives him a blindingly bright smile and Regulus is once again struck with the urge to plant kisses all over his son’s face. He settles for one on Harry’s forehead. “Let's grab your shoes and go find your Mummy and Daddy, they’ll be done getting dressed.”
Harry grabs his black and white shoes with the velcro straps and Regulus grabs a pair of socks. The two of them make short work of putting on Harry’s shoes (Harry insisting he was the one to velcro the straps into place) and Regulus ushers him out of the room. Once Harry is in the living room with Lily and James, Regulus goes to get changed. When he’s finished, he returns to the living room to Harry’s loud, bright giggling. His son is currently sitting on James’s shoulders, hands gripping his father’s hair as he’s paraded around the room. Lily is watching the two of them from the couch, a fond look on her face. James brings one of Harry’s legs to his mouth to playfully bite and Harry squeals in delight. His cheeks are red and he kicks his legs out to get them away from James. Regulus’s chest feels light, filled with so much love for his family he’s almost choking on it.
James suddenly looks up from where he’s pretending to eat Harry’s leg and his eyes are bright. Regulus loves him. “Reggie! Look at our son. I could just eat him up!’ He turns his head to start making eating noises against Harry’s leg again and Harry laughs and tugs at his hair.
“Alright you two.” Lily stands from the couch. “James, if you keep eating him, there will be none of him left to go to the zoo.” She gently takes Harry from James’s shoulders and plants a smacking kiss to his bright red cheek. “You know how much Harry loves the zoo.”
“Zoo! Zoo!” Harry claps. “Want to see the snakes!”
James pouts playfully when Lily takes Harry from him, but smiles just as easily when he hears their plans for the day. “I wouldn’t want our son to miss the zoo.” He pinches Harry’s cheek. “We can go see the lions!”
Regulus grabs the car keys from the hook by the front door and slips his shoes on. He slings the bag he’d prepared last night for this trip over his shoulder. “Let’s get going then. We can’t keep Harry waiting.”
Regulus tucks Harry into bed with his new plushy snake. They’d spent all day at the zoo, and James had insisted that they visited the gift shop before they went home. Harry was ecstatic and had looked around at everything on display before deciding on a yellow snake plush.
“Look! It’s yellow like my shirt!” He’d said proudly as he held the snake close to his shirt.
He’d also fallen asleep on the car ride home. Regulus had offered to bring him to his room to put him in bed. Harry woke up in the middle of Regulus changing him into his pajamas and blinked sleepily at him, clutching his new snake to his chest and wobbling in place.
Regulus brushes Harry’s hair out of his eyes and plants a kiss on his forehead. He turns the bedside lamp off, and then turns the nightlight on and sends one last glance to Harry before gently shutting the door. He makes his way to his own room, rolling his eyes fondly at the sight of James already asleep. His face is buried into one of their pillows and his glasses are resting on the nightstand beside the bed.
“He’s going to suffocate himself.”
Lily looks up from her book and then turns her gaze to James. She sighs when she sees him. “I don’t know how he manages to sleep like that.”
Regulus moves over to the dresser and pulls out a pair of James’s tracksuit bottoms. “He’ll learn his lesson when he wakes up in a puddle of drool.”
Lily huffs and sets her book on her own nightstand. Then she reaches over to poke James in the side. “James, turn your face so you can breathe .”
James doesn’t move. Lily pokes him again, harder. “James Fleamont Potter-Black. If you suffocate yourself, I’m going to be very angry with you.”
James makes a muffled noise into the pillow before he turns his face towards Lily. “Hmm?”
“You were going to suffocate yourself.”
“Mm.”
Lily rolls her eyes. “Goodnight, I love you. Don’t suffocate.”
“Love you too. Love you Reg.” James says, and then promptly goes back to sleep.
Regulus snorts and crawls over Lily to get into bed. “Love you too, James.”
Lily cuddles into his side once he’s settled into the bed. Regulus’s hand comes up to cup her shoulder. “I had a good time today.” She says and he hums in response, rubbing her shoulder. “Next time we go to the zoo, we should invite Sirius and Remus. Make a day out of it for Harry.”
“If that’s what you want.” Regulus agrees, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sure my idiot brother will jump at the chance to see Harry.”
Lily swats at his chest. “Be nice, I know you miss him.”
Regulus did, but he’d never admit it. “We don’t need to go to the zoo again to see him. Just invite him ‘round.”
“Hm, good idea. I’ll call him tomorrow and see when he’s available.”
The two of them fall quiet. Regulus continues rubbing his hand up and down her shoulder and Lily makes a drowsy noise against his chest.
“That feels nice.” She says, nuzzling deeper into his side. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Regulus says into her hair. Soon enough, her breaths against his bare chest slow and deepen, finally asleep. He glances down at her, her lips are pressed against his soulmark. The magpie once again ruffles its feathers at him, but doesn’t do any more than that. Seemingly content in being cuddled up to the side of the red tailed hawk. The two of them are once again roosting in the sleeping stag’s antlers. He watches the magpie preen the feathers of the hawk and lets out a little puff of breath. He sends one last glance over to James just to make sure his husband hasn’t turned his face back into the pillow. Once he confirms that James is likely not going to suffocate himself, he closes his own eyes. Today was a good day, and he was hoping for many more with his soulmates and his son.
He’d never give this life up for anything.