THE SCARS ON MY BODY ● JEGULUS |MARAUDERS|

✹FIFTY SIX✹

GOSH, THIS IS TERRIBLE-

*BEEN EDITED SINCE ORIGINAL PUBLISH*

_____________________

✹ Think of how many

love stories there must be

in this one room

alone ✹

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"I bloody love you, I always have." Regulus' lips parted slightly, he wanted to say something, but what? "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for lashing out I just-"

Regulus kissed him. He was so mad, so, so mad. But James had just said the words he had been craving to hear for so long. And James kissed back, weaving his fingers in his hair.

His hands moved up to James' top button and tugged it off. James pulled away, just a little bit, and raised his eyebrows at the smaller boy.

"Y' sure?" Regulus nodded vigorously and James shrugged in response, reattaching their lips as if they'd never parted in the first place.

The Gryfinddor grabbed the bottom of Reg's hoodie and pulled it off over the top of his head, the shirt beneath coming off at the same time. He paused for a second to admire his scars. Regulus took a deep breath and allowed it to happen. James loved him. "I love you." He mumbled. See?

He tugged his red, button-up shirt off too, then picked up Regulus to lay him down on a nearby desk. Their lips hardly ever left each other and were beginning to swell. James climbed on top of him, resting a hand on either side of Regulus' head to hold himself up. Regulus smirked.

"What?" James asked, out of breath.

"Nothin'." He chuckled and shook his head.

"Don't make me laugh, I'm supposed to be mad at you."

"So you're kissing me even though you're angry?"

"Pretty much." Regulus laughed but was stopped by a pair of lips on his. "Love you." He mumbled.

"Love you too."

Outside, a loud creak echoed through the house. James' eyes widened and he ran over to Reg, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a row of bookshelves, behind a sofa.

They had left all their other clothing pieces on the ground, Regulus wanted to warn James, but a hand was placed over his mouth. The creaking neared closer and closer until the door opened and footsteps made their way into the room.

"Oh, wow. Lovely. I come downstairs to make sure the pair of you are doing okay and this is what I see?" Sirius. "At least put your clothes away, I almost tripped!" Reg wanted to laugh but James signalled for him to be quiet. "Where are you guys? Wait- no. I don't want to know that...Use protection!" He called out as he left the room, closing the door behind himself. When he was definitely gone, James let go of the Slytherin and they both cracked out into laughter.

"Use protection." James mimicked, dropping his head onto Regulus' shoulder as he laughed. Reg fiddled with James' hair, kissing the side of his head every now and then too. "I love you, Reggie." He murmured.

"You see all of these books?" James looked around and nodded, a puzzled look on his face. "Think of how many love stories there must be in this one room alone. I've read plenty, and you know what?"

"What?"

"Ours is my favourite."

"Our love story is your favourite?" James repeated, Regulus nodded in return. A smile broke onto James' expression and he leaned into another kiss. They pressed their foreheads together, breathing deeply and unable to open their tired eyes.

"I love you too, Potter...I love you too."

***

"You two had fun last night, did you?" Sirius asked the next morning as they ate their breakfast. Regulus almost spat out his entire mouthful of cereal and everyone turned to stare at him and James.

"Hm? Had fun? What do you mean, Sirius?" Mrs Potter questioned, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Nothing, Mum! He doesn't know what he's talking about!" James exclaimed, glaring warningly at his best friend. Remus snorted from the opposite side of the table, clearly, Sirius had told him.

"No, no! I'm sure Mum would love to know, Jamsie! And Dad, when he wakes up!" Sirius continued to tease. Regulus held James' hand under the table, hoping to calm the boy down, it worked.

"I don't know what this is about, but leave him alone, Sirius. I'm sure it's none of your business." James and Regulus sent Mrs Potter kind smiles of gratitude and then helped her to wash the dishes.

Peter arrived not long after this, much to everyone's delight and so Regulus spent the rest of the morning cleaning James' messy room. James was the type of person to stay outside all day so when he came back to his room, he threw his belongings onto the floor and went to sleep. Cleaning. He'd missed it. He hadn't had the chance to clean since the last summer when he would clean Sirius' room.

James gave him an incredulous look each and every time he spotted him cleaning, so did everyone else, to be quite plain.

He had completely forgotten about Humphrey and Bailey's letter, and so opened it up and read its contents.

Regulus,

Hey, love. Why'd you leave our birthday party? You didn't even say 'hello'.

I'm sure you did it with good reason, so I won't pry.

Can't wait to see you at the platform in September, it seems too far away.

Stay safe, love you lots,

Bailey (And Humphrey)

It had been incredibly rude of him not to have said 'hello' to the twins on their own birthday. He hadn't even gotten them a present.

"Why do you look so down, then?" Regulus was startled at the sudden burst of noise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Remus said, placing a plate of lunch onto the desk.

"Thank you, that looks great."

"You're avoiding my question. What's wrong?" Regulus showed him the letter, keeping a close eye on his facial expressions. "Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad. They're your best friends, I'm more than certain that they'll forgive you if they haven't already."

Reg let out a long sigh, he hoped that was the case. Remus shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at him pityingly.

"The others are playing Quidditch, want to come on a walk? You can bring your sandwich."

_____________________

✹ Think of how many

love stories there must be

in this one room

alone ✹

_____________________