Bad Skittle

Chapter 17

Over the past couple days, Regulus had spent all of his time with his friends. James and Sirius didn't really hang out that much with Evan and Pandora, so he was either with his boyfriend and his brother or with his two friends.

Right now, he was walking to the great hall, between James and Sirius. He was gripping James's hand tightly.

They hadn't questioned why he was suddenly spending so much more time around them, but Regulus knew it was a question that lingered in their heads.

Regulus wasn't listening to their conversation, he was more interested in looking around to make sure the nameless Ravenclaw wasn't around, he hadn't seen him since that other time at the bathroom. He stopped in his tracks as he saw him sitting at a bench, laughing with some other Ravenclaws.

"Reg, what's wrong?" James asks after he had almost fallen down when Regulus stopped walking.

Regulus didn't answer, he heard the question, but his panicked brain didn't quite process it.

His breaths started to get shorter, and he couldn't look away from the older student.

Sirius followed his brother's gaze and furrowed his eyebrows when it landed on three Ravenclaws.

"Reggie, why are you panicking after a group of Ravenclaws?" His brother asks, but his breaths keeps getting shorter and he can't bring himself to answer.

James looked over there too.

"Regulus, what's wrong?" He asks and Regulus wants to answer, but he feels too overwhelmed, so he just lets go of his boyfriend's hand and runs away, nowhere in specific.

He found an empty hallway and just let himself slide down the wall before he even tried to control his breaths, the panic from seeing him and not being able to breathe properly is getting to him, and he starts to cry, but it only makes it harder to breathe.

He hears hurried footsteps going towards him, but he doesn't look up, recognising them as James's and Sirius's footsteps.

"Reggie, what's wrong?" Sirius asked, sitting down in front of him before James did the same.

"It's nothing," Regulus answers, but he's starting to feel anxious, and so the answer comes out in a harsher tone than he intended.

"Woah, I just asked what's wrong, no need to be so defensive," Sirius replied, but the younger Black isn't really with patience right now.

"And I said it's nothing," Regulus repeated before he added more, "besides, since you came you Hogwarts, you never gave a flying fuck about me, and now you're all over me, stop pretending to care." He regrets saying it as soon as he finished, but it's already done, and Sirius is getting up.

"Y'know what? I was constantly worried about you, about what our parents would do when I wasn't home. I tried to take you with me when I ran away, but you were the one to say I'm insane. Now, you're having a panic attack and I'm worried because you've been through hell and back, but you think I don't give a flying fuck about you. If you really think that, then goodbye, if I don't care, like you say I don't, then I don't need to stay here and help you." Sirius just walked away before his younger brother had the chance to say anything, and James was looking at him like he was insane.

Regulus knew how much his brother cared, but the words just slipped, they didn't mean anything, but now Sirius was gone, and he started crying harder.

"Can I hug you?" James asks, not knowing what to do. Regulus nods, and as soon as he feels James's arms around him, he grips them and keeps crying.

"I didn't mean it," he whispered and James soothed him with soft words and passing his fingers through his hair.

"I know, and so does he, but you know how reactive Sirius is. He'll come to his senses, don't worry," James tells him, wanting to tell what his brother had told him at the hospital, but he doesn't.