KNOWING ME KNOWING YOU ⇒ jegulus one shots

TO BE SO LONELY

"C'mon, Harvey, honey, eat your cereal for me, please?" Regulus urges softly. "You know that mummy hasn't been feeling well lately, so just make it a little easier for me, mmh, love?" Regulus presses a soft kiss to his five year old's cheek.

Harvey pouts. "But I don't like my cereal anymore!" He protests.

"Well you liked it yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that too, so why don't you just give it one more try and then you can go do some colouring, hmm? You could draw uncle Sirius a picture if you'd like to," Regulus reassures.

Harvey smiles toothily at this. "What should I draw for uncle Sirius, mummy?" He inquires.

Regulus hums, pretending to think for a moment. "How about the beach? Uncle Sirius loves taking Remus to the beach, doesn't he?"

Harvey nods quickly at this. He begins to take small spoonfuls of his cereal and Regulus is all too pleases with this. Ergo, he keeps going. "You could draw some seashells, some birdies, maybe some crabs too, doesn't that sound lovely?"

"Yes, mumma," Harvey answers, gleefully. He finishes his cereal, like a champ, Regulus' little champ.

Regulus smiles, clearing his empty bowl from the table. "Alright, m'little love, all finished with breakfast. You can tot off and do your coloring now, if you'd like, baby. Thank you for making such a great effort with your cereal,"

Regulus speaks to his son like he's an adult. He finds explaining and thanking his son for simple things furthers Harvey's education on why trying to engulf the rest of his cereal was important. Regulus is struggling to make money for them and he hates to waste things that are so hard to come by.

Regulus has worked in the café ever since Harvey was a little bump against his body. He works long hours, most of the time entrusting Sirius or Andromeda with his baby boy so that he can meet ends.

It's where he had first properly met James Potter, Sirius' longtime friend.

It isn't necessarily that Regulus and James hadn't been familiar with one another. They'd talked once or twice in passing. But Regulus had never been face to face with James without Sirius or Remus or Marlene nearby.

James had been running late to work one day and, having left his portable coffee mug at home, had ended up even later by entering the café. His shirt was crinkled, his tie uneven, his shoes unshined and Regulus had smirked at this.

"You look such a mess right now, the coffees on the house, Potter," Regulus had retorted as he had rolled his eyes. 

James had answered him with a lopsided grin. He tipped Regulus at least thirty percentage extra than he should have that morning.

James had returned the following morning, his clothes properly prepped for his ministry job and his hair untangled a little more than usual. He had continued to return, morning after morning, until eventually he had shyly popped the question of "Eh, what time do you...um...get off at, Regulus?"

Regulus had bashfully shaken his head, replying with, "Seven, but I've got to go collect Harvey from Andromeda's," He hadn't said yes or no. "So I wouldn't have the time to get dressed up for you, James Potter," Regulus had simply snorted. "But thanks, m'flattered, you're sweet, I suppose,"

James had grinned. "Dressed up or dressed down, come over for dinner at mine, yeah? I mean....if you want to, I'd be more than happy to cook for you,"

Regulus had never placed his finger on just what James Potter had seen in him that afternoon but nevertheless, he had agreed. He enlisted Sirius and Remus as a babysitter and had woken up in James' bed roughly an hour or so after they had became slobbery, drunken teenagers all of a sudden. Regulus had sat up, sighed and gotten dressed, wordlessly. He didn't wake James. He simply left.