THE SCARS ON MY BODY ● JEGULUS |MARAUDERS|

✰FIVE✰

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✰The way he laughs makes

me smile

And the way he talks gives

me butterflies

And everything about him makes

me happy✰

_____________________

James was with Sirius and Remus (he had been staying over in Sirius' room) playing a short game of Quidditch in the back garden, when he heard a loud crash coming from inside of the house. Both his mother and his father were at work so the only other person at home was-

"Reggie!" James yelled, flying directly down to the ground. When he landed, he threw his broom off to the side and sprinted towards the door. He searched the house before finding Regulus sat on the bottom step, massaging his ankle with his hands. "Reggie, what happened?"

"I fell down the stairs, sorry if I scared you." He replied with a strained smile.

"No, don't be sorry. Are you hurt?"

"Just twisted my ankle, it's fine." He tried to stand up, holding on to the railing for support before letting out a cry of pain and falling back down.

"You're clearly not fine, come here." James held out his arms and supported Regulus against his side as he led them to the kitchen. He made Reggie sit on top of the counter while he checked one of his mother's healing books. Once he had found the correct spell, he grabbed his wand and pointed it at Regulus' ankle. "Episkey."

"Shit! A warning, maybe, James?" Reg groaned, rubbing his ankle.

"Sorry! How does it feel?" James helped Regulus stand up and gave a stupid smirk as he watched Regulus' shocked face.

"Amazing, thank you."

"No probl-" James started but he was cut off by a dramatic, sweaty Sirius running into the house.

"REGGIE? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? ARE YOU DEAD? OH GOSH, WHAT IF HE'S DEAD, MOONY?" Sirius yelled.

"I'm sure he's not dead, Pads." Remus sighed, following behind his boyfriend as he tried to hide the grin threatening to appear on his face. When the couple appeared in the kitchen doorway, Sirius let out a sigh of relief.

"Reggie! You're not dead!" He shouted, running over to hug Regulus.

"Urgh, get off of me, Sirius! Of course I'm bloody alive! And don't call me Reggie." He finally managed to get Sirius off of him. James looked at Reg through the corner of his eye. Just last night Regulus had let him call him Reggie and he hadn't even corrected him. Usually he would get groaned at, or earn an eye roll, but last night he had smiled. Regulus Black had smiled when James called him Reggie. He actually smiled.

"Leave your brother alone, Love. I'm going to go and finish some reading." Remus walked out and Sirius ran after him yelling, 'Don't abandon me Moony! I'll come with you!' The room was quiet after that. James was staring at Regulus and Regulus was staring at the floor. The silence wasn't weird it was....oddly comforting. But all good things come to an end.

"Why were you coming down the stairs anyway?" James asked. Reg looked up with a shy smile.

"I finished my book and didn't know what to draw so I was coming out to watch you play." James raised one eyebrow.

"You hate watching us play, you said it yourself." Regulus cheeks flushed a bit and he moved his eyes back down to watching the floor. "Wait, wait, wait. You were coming out to watch me play? I'm flattered, Reggie, really very flattered."

"Oh, shut up, you great poof." He said with a grin, walking out of the room. What in the name of Merlin was a poof?

"Hey, wait up!" He jogged after the younger boy and grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Where you going?"

"I don't know, away from you, maybe?" James' mouth dropped open in mock offence.

"And why would you want to do that when I could show you the home library?" Regulus instantly perked up at that.

"Library?" James grinned and pulled Reggie along behind him as he walked down the corridor towards the family library. As they walked in James took a long, deep breath, taking in the familiar smell of the wooden shelves and hundreds of books. The smile on James' face grew when he saw Reggie. His smile....oh god, his smile.

"What do you think?"

"I- Wow." James could see in Regulus' eyes that he wanted to look around, and so he laughed.

"Go on, I'll be over here." Reg gave him one last smile before running off to look at the many books. When he was younger, James used to get bored very easily being that he was an only child, so starting at the age of 7 he found himself in the library day and night reading as many books as he possibly could. I know right? James Potter in a library?

"Hi." Regulus was back after about 25 minutes, book in hand.

"Hey. Which book?" He handed over the small book and James laughed. "Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare."

"Have you read it?"

"Of course I have! It's my favourite book!"

"James Potter can read?" James smacked him around the back of the head with the book before handing it back to him. "It's my favourite too." They both shared smiles before James led him over to a large, comfortable red sofa sat him down beside him.

"Tell me about yourself. You like Shakespeare, what other secrets do you have?" James teased.

"There's not much to tell."

"Not true. Tell me everything about you, you can go on for hours I don't mind."

***

"And that's when I told him that I had spilt my coffee all over his shirt...I'm surprised that he didn't kill me while he had the chance." James' face was red from holding in his laugh as Regulus told the story of how he had spilt coffee on Sirius' favourite shirt as kids. Reg let out a long yawn causing James to smile. Shit, why was he so adorable?

"Tired? C'mon." James stood up, holding out his hand. Reg took it gratefully, standing up and following the older boy out of the library. They made their way back up to the bedroom, Reggie sitting down on to the bed. "Go to sleep, I'll be over here." He sat down in front of his canvas, paintbrush in hand.

"Okay." He grabbed his pajamas out of his little bag and made his way into the bathroom to change. James stared at the half done painting in front of him, the snitch. He had started it about a week ago but he hadn't been in the mood to finish it recently. Now, all he wanted to do was paint. Regulus seemed to love the painting and he wasn't about to give up when it meant that Reggie would be happy.

"You're so bloody cringy, James." He muttered to himself, giving his focus back to the painting. He didn't even hear Reg come back into the room, only the quiet, 'Goodnight, James.'

"Oh, night night, Reggie." There it was again, the smile.

At about 11pm, James made his way to bed. He found himself wondering about why he felt so happy. They were in the middle of a war, two Black's had moved into their house after running away from their home, Remus' full moon was coming up. There was nothing really to be happy about. Well....except him. Shit.

_____________________

✰The way he laughs makes

me smile

And the way he talks gives

me butterflies

and everything about him makes

me happy✰

_____________________