And When The Sun Came Up (i was looking at you)

chapter one

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James wakes up startled, breathing quickly, panting. Images of Regulus Black still dancing around in his head. Pictures of them sneaking out after dark to the Forbidden Forest. Knowing they won't get caught lying down watching the stars. James knows he won't get caught listening to Regulus' stories about the stars, the constellations, and what they mean.

Photos of them walking back to the castle hand in hand, pulling the invisibility cloak over their heads and sneaking back up the stairs. Holding the map, making sure if anyone woke up, they couldn't check it and possibly ruin their secret.

Before James climbs inside the portrait, he grabs Regulus and pulls him into a goodnight kiss. Regulus grips James' shirt, not letting go. They could've kissed forever, they should've kissed until the sun came up. But everything good must come to an end, so James wakes up. On one side, James feels scared and worried about his mental well-being. He's afraid of what Sirius and Regulus might think, as if they can look into his head, at his dreams. The other side of James is praying that he can tell the future.

"PRONGS"

James groans and pulls the covers over his head. "Prongs, I know you're in there," Sirius swishes the bed curtains open, flooding the light in. "Can't hide from the outside world forever." Sirius pulls the covers off of James' bed. Sirius stands there with a massive grin on his face, way too energetic this early in the morning. James rubs his eyes, still blurry from the sudden flood of light. Sirius rarely wakes up this early in the morning. Usually, he's the last one awake, so it was weird having Sirius wake him up in the morning.

"Yes, yes, good morning Pads." James groans out.

"Good morning? More like good afternoon," Sirius says.

Confused, James brings up his arm and checks his watch. 1:30 pm? No, that can't be right. He gets out of bed, slowly, but surely. It's so light outside. Wow, he can believe he's slept through almost the whole day. As he hears his stomach grumble, it reminds him of how hungry he is. He silently thanks whoever's up there that it's Saturday and he doesn't have classes today.

He grumpily puts on his jeans and hoodie, saying "Goodbye" to Sirius and getting a "Byeee" in response. He trudges down the stairs to the common room.

It's already packed with students, and he says a friendly "Hi" to everyone who says "Hi" to him. As soon as he climbs out of the Fat Lady portrait and it closes behind him, he throws his head back, yawning. It feels way too early, even though he slept through half the day.

He shakes off his tiredness and walks down the hallway, greeting nervous first-year students with a smile and wave.

He walks to the kitchens and opens the doors. But before he walks in, he sees someone already sitting on the kitchen island talking to the house-elves. Someone who wasn't the best to see right now. Regulus. He looks so peaceful sitting there, reading his book. James wants to be a part of it.

James puts on his best "I didn't just have a dream about you" face and smiles at him. "Reggie!" Regulus just rolls his eyes, not even bothering to correct him about his nickname. Regulus goes back to talking with the house-elf about, James thought he heard something about swimming. Now, James won't tell anyone this, but when Regulus rolled his eyes at him. Something small, something so small, James pushed it away as his imagination. Broke inside of him. So he uses Regulus' name instead of his nickname.

"Sooo, what are you doing here, Regulus?" James walks towards the kitchen island.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Potter?"

"Reading." James hops onto the kitchen island with Regulus and takes the book out of his hands.

"Hmm, what are you reading?" He reads the front cover, 'The Iliad'. "I haven't heard of that one," James says. "Of course, you haven't," Regulus clips, snatching the book back. James looks around the kitchen, observing how the house elves are constantly working, cleaning plates, putting food into the ovens, obviously prepping the food for dinner tonight.

He looks back to Regulus, finding him looking at him like, 'What are you still doing here?'

'Well, I was coming to get food before I was rudely insulted.' Just as James says this, an elf comes over with a plate of jam toast and hurries off before James can say thank you.

'There's your food. You can go now.' Regulus says, looking at him expectantly.

'Oh, yes, sorry, bye!' James most literally throws himself off of the counter, grabs his toast, and waves to Regulus as he leaves. He was sure he could see a smile on Regulus' face but he was tired and he was wishing too much.

~*~