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—IT WAS NOW SUMMER. Rigel had been ignoring Tom, due to many reasons; the main being that his worst fear was coming true, and he had no way of stopping it, so he just went along with it.
Right now, Rigel and Remus were in the Black library, reading in silence. The occasional sound of pages turning made Rigel feel relaxed.
The feeling of somebody touching his knee made him look down from his book, eyes immediately softening when he realized that a pair of wide brown eyes were looking at him.
"Hey, Cierra." Rigel said, pulling her on his lap.
The four-year-old stayed quiet, merely snuggling into the boy, earning a soft chuckle from her brother.
Sirius walked in, making his son look up from the toddler in his arms. "Hey." Sirius greeted, sitting down next to him.
"Hey." mumbled Rigel.
"How are you feeling?"
Remus glared at his husband, already knowing exactly what their son was about to say. He was right when Rigel said, "That's all you've been asking ever since I got diagnosed, Sirius. Can't you just treat me like a normal person?"
"I'm just trying to make sure, Ri—"
"Well, you're trying too hard." Rigel huffed. "And it's not like I'm going to be talking about my feelings, anyways. You wouldn't understand. Nobody does."
Sirius sighed, watching his son walk out of the library.
••
"You've been ignoring me for days now." said a voice behind Rigel, who was at the rooftop of the manor, looking at the stars.
Rigel stayed quiet.
"I could've sword I did nothing wrong." said Tom, walking over to his side. "But, then again, this is becoming normal."
"Normal?" Rigel finally spoke up. "What do you mean 'normal'?"
"I mean you treat me like—" Tom cleared his throat, not wanting to say the word he hated but knew he had to "—a friend one day, but the next, you ignore me."
Rigel's face fell. "A friend.." he nodded. "Right."
Tom looked even more confused. Did Rigel hate that word as much as he did? "Ri.. can you stop confusing me? I honestly have never been so confused and it is extremely frustrating."
"I'm sorry." said Rigel, not looking away from the stars. "I didn't mean to... to ignore.. you. I tried not to. I really did."
"And what's the reason?"
"No reason. It just happened."
"Right." nodded Tom with a small frown. "You've been ignoring me because you wanted to."
Rigel gave him a smile, then went back to looking at the stars, not noticing how Tom's eyes lingered on his lips.
"You've changed.." The older boy mused, looking thoughtful. "What changed you?"
"Many things." answered Rigel, looking thoughtful as well. "Especially the fact that.. I don't think I'm afraid anymore."
Tom sucked in a sharp breath, heart beating faster in hope. "You're not afraid of love?"
"No, I don't think so."
"What changed that?"
"..I dunno."
"You're not scared?"
"He's making me brave.." whispered Rigel inaudibly, he almost couldn't hear himself.
"What?" asked Tom in confusion, due to not hearing what he had said.
