Saving the Sun

-5-

Just want to mention that there is more talk about James' eating disorder in the second half of this chapter that may be distressing to some readers. Please be nice to yourselves :)

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The first day was not very eventful for James and Regulus. Actually, the first two months were not very eventful. They were both stubborn and mostly kept to themselves. James hid his struggles and felt as though he was barely making it through the day. He kept up his show and ensured everyone saw him as happy and confident. Regulus was actually doing pretty well. After coming to terms with his disownment, he was starting to feel better. He still had nightmares, but he was getting better.

The reason they were both stubborn was that neither of them sought out the other. They both thought that the other would seek them out first if they wanted to talk. They didn't see each other until November 13th when they both found themselves in the astronomy tower.

It was exactly a week after the November full moon, and James couldn't sleep. He got restless and needed to move. His friends had gone to bed, so he decided to just sneak out. It was better to get his anxiety out by walking than just laying in bed. Either way, he wasn't going to get any sleep. When he got up there, however, he stumbled across none other than Regulus Black.

James hesitated for a moment. He wasn't sure if he wanted to interrupt Regulus. He was considering turning around when Regulus turned to look at him. For a moment they just stared at each other, not sure what they should do. They didn't know what to say. They hadn't spoken in two and a half months. Eventually, James caved to the silence.

"Um, hi," was all James could say.

"Hi," Regulus said breathlessly before regaining his composure, "What are you doing up here?"

"I could ask you the same question you know?" James grinned, "But, I couldn't sleep. I got restless," It was the truth, he would have considered turning around again if the exhaustion from walking up all of those stairs wasn't catching up to him.

"I guess we have the same reason," Regulus said before turning back to look at the sky.

"Is it alright if I stay? Because I can go if you -"

"You can stay," with that James made his way over to Regulus' side, and enjoyed the view of the sky and grounds from the tower.

For a while they were quiet. Neither one of them wanted to be the one to break the silence. It was a comfortable silence, and it helped that they weren't up there alone. After a while, James got a little restless.

"It's good to see you again," James whispered not willing to truly break the silence, "I haven't spoken to you since we got here. I've missed you," the last three words were so quiet Regulus had to strain his ears to hear it.

"I didn't know if you wanted to talk to me or not," Regulus looked down, and that made James turn to actually look at the younger boy.

"Why wouldn't I want to talk to you?" those words made Regulus' heart flutter a bit.

"I don't know. Why would you want to talk to me?" James was kind of offended that Regulus would think such a thing.

"You're my friend, you live with me, and I care about you. There are so many reasons why I would want to talk to you." both of the boys' hearts were racing a bit, and neither of them really knew why.

"Then why haven't you?" that question made Regulus feel small. He was worried about the answer he might get.

"Because I was worried you wouldn't want to talk to me," that answer shocked Regulus.