CANNONBALL ⇒ jegulus

ONE

James wakes slowly, his nose embedded in soft dark hair that seems to tickle the rest of his face. The hair seems sweet, fresh, almost. Like that of mint and vanilla. His head is tingling with an aching sensation, his hangover setting in as his high wears off. He can feel something held close to his chest. Squinting, James opens his eyes slowly to see Regulus; slumbering at ease, entirely unmoved by his waking.

James takes Regulus in, softly brutalized Regulus Black in all of his sullen glory, his long eyelashes like a curtain of ebony lining his eyelids. James sighs softly as he untangles Regulus from his arms, gently and cautious not to wake him.

Slowly and softly, padding lightly out of the room, James goes in search of his discarded clothes. He finds Manon curled atop of them and cringes. "Hey there, cat," James whistles softly. "Sorry to disturb you, but I need those," He gently scoots her away and gathers up his jeans and T-shirt from the night before.

James quickly tugs his clothes onto his tired body. He picks up his glasses that he had tossed away last night and places them firmly on the bridge of his nose, his vision improving dramatically in an instant.

With one quick glance back up the narrow staircase, James leaves through the front door.

Panting slightly, his lungs not as good as they used to be, James opens the front door to his and Peter's flat. "Wormtail, mate, you in?" He calls as he enters the living room.

Remus is lounged across one of their funky red arm chairs, Roxie in his hand and the soft tune of Eleanor Rigby playing gently as he strums his guitar. "Oi, where'd you get to last night? Get lucky, did you?" Remus looks up to his with suspicious eyes.

James shakes his head. "Where's Pete?"

"Showerin',"

"And Padfoot?"

"Pukin',"

James nods. "Ah, lovely morning all 'round then, eh?" He pauses. "You and Pads bunk here last night?" He asks.

Smirking, Remus sets Roxie down into his lap, the soft melody halting. "We did, but you'd know that if you were here. Where the hell did you run off to? Marlene nearly had kittens thinking you and Reg had been abducted,"

At the mention of Regulus, James feels his heart clench tightly. Fuck, he thinks. He remembers vividly his orders to Regulus and Regulus' to him. They had produced two conditions, one condition each; tell nobody along with act like it had never occurred.

James finds himself stuck at a crossroads, Remus' voice pulling him free as he glances up at him, looking between James and where his fingers still sit on his guitar. "Prongs?"

"Mmh, sorry, mate," James apologizes. "Sorry, fuck, my head's a little out of sorts right now," He pauses, trying align a good enough lie before he opens his mouth again. James scratches at his hair. "Er, Reggie and I got a bit high last night at his is all. He's got the good kind of green-"

Remus cuts him off with a small tut and a shake of his head. "Sirius will go mental if he hears that," James feels his heart sink.

God he knows, he knows, he know. Fuck. It's Remus, of course he knows. There isn't anything he doesn't bloody know, James' mind is running wild, rampaging thoughts through his head like bullets.

"Are you even bloody listening to me?" Remus scoffs slightly, cocking an eyebrow and James sighs.

"No, no I wasn't. I'm sorry, what were you saying?"