favorite liar | jegulus

two

james hadnt been serious in anyway about going after regulus. hed only mentioned it because he was trying to get on sirius's nerves. despite what sirius thinks everyone knows he doesnt really hate his brother. he just doesnt know how else to express the way his heart aches at the thought of his little brother becoming one of them

secondly, james had no indication he was even into guys in that way. hed never met a guy he liked or did anything with. in his mind he was straight and that was that

it was later in the day after classes were through and james was headed to the library. remus and sirius wanted time alone. they werent as slick as they thought they were. peter was studying with a girl in the hufflepuff common room, he couldnt remember her name. either way the point being, james was on his own

the library was a lot less crowded that hed anticipated it would be. he got to choose his favorite spot in the back corner near the windows

when he took the time to study he preferred to be alone and take it as seriously as he could. he usually found it hard to get anything done in between sirius whining, peter asking questions non stop and remus not putting up with either of them, causing an argument to spark.

despite popular belief james enjoyed his alone time. he liked being able to relax when he was alone and find joy in his own company. being an only child he had found plenty of ways to entertain himself. so being alone for long period of time was actually relatively normal not to mention comforting for him

he sat there tucked away going unnoticed for maybe half an hour or so as he did some reading for potions when inevitably he was interrupted

"hey uh, do you mind if i sit here?" a small voice asked politely

james peered up from his book and nearly shit himself when he saw regulus black standing before him. how ironic

"go ahead," james smiled softly. regulus looked utterly terrified. his lip looked as if it was shaking from just asking to sit down. if it werent for sirius's constant remarks about how regulus flys under parents radar completely, james would have suspected he was ill due to his slim almost fragile build that was nothing like sirius

"i wont bother you or anything," he said quietly sitting down across from james quiet smoothly for the nervous wreck he appeared to be

"just didnt wanna sit alone?" james guessed crooking his eyebrow

"yea," regulus nodded as he opened one of his many books. the kid clearly loved his reading. james recognized some of the books to be muggle which surprised him a little but not enough to ask about it

"im sure youre brilliant, really. but i am older so if you need anything just ask," james added before returning to his readings

the rest of the day flew by silently. regulus was not kidding in the slightest when he said he wouldnt bother james

at one point james at completely forgotten he was even there (until he looked up and saw him) the boy was so quiet he barely even heard him breathing. it made james smile for a moment before the realization of why hit him

it was clearly a result of his horrid parents that he could keep so quiet for so long. regulus made himself invisible, that must be how he survives. along with his impeccable ability to conceal his emotions

james dropped the thought before he let it go too far and turn too dark

it was quiet a shock for james to be around a black who wasnt the loud sarcastic funny whinny arrogant and dramatic black sirius was. regulus was the direct opposite of everything james had grown accustom to; quiet timid reserved self-providing and introverted

nevertheless, it was comforting to exist in silence with someone. it was nice to just not be alone. and even if he had wanted to, james wouldnt have known where to start a conversation with reg

parents were a touchy subject, so was sirius, family in general for that matter, he wouldnt dare bring up the news or anything related to the war either, school was a long shot, (truthfully james wouldnt have wanted to talk about school anyway) he also didnt read nearly enough to start a conversation on a book and he had no clue at all what regulus was even interested in

well, thats a lie actually. they had one single thing in common, qudditch

with one snappy movement on regulus part, james was pulled out of his thoughts. his eyes darted upward at reg who was looking at his watch

it was the first time regulus had moved in hours

"dinner time," regulus said quietly looking up from his watch to catch james's stare

"incase you lost track of time," he added with a nervous shake in his voice

james looked over at the clock on the wall, "godric. its been hours. thanks reg," he said sincerely

how did i sit here for hours in silence?! it felt like only a few minutes

"dont mention it," regulus replied standing up and stacking his books in some particular order that appeared to require a lot of thought

"same time tomorrow?" james asked only half joking. he wouldnt mind it at all, but obviously he had things hed prefer to do and people he preferred to be around

which is not to say he didnt like regulus because in a way he did. just james would always default to the marauders

"if you want," regulus answered not even looking up from his task of stacking his books

james caught off guard said, "oh. well brilliant."