First Christmas

565 22 20
                                    

Regulus' first Christmas at the Potter's might as well have been his first Christmas ever.

Growing up with the family that he did, December 25 was like any other day. Regulus rarely went home for it, choosing to instead stay at Hogwarts while all the other kids headed home to spend the holidays with their families. It was a win-win for him, though. He got some alone time, and he got to get away from his bitch parents. Not that they cared, anyway. They didn't care about anyone.

The first Christmas gift that Regulus ever got was when he was 15 years old. The past summer, Regulus had followed his brother out of their house and moved in with James Potter. Both Sirius and Regulus were just about done with their parents, but something happened that summer that sent them both over the edge. Regulus didn't hesitate when Sirius said he was leaving.

Now, roughly 5 months later, both of them have basically been adopted by the loving, overly caring Euphemia and Fleamont Potter. Regulus has grown incredibly close with Sirius and his friends, James and Remus in particular. He'd developed... strange feelings about James since the school year started. They were different than his feelings about Remus. 

Sure, Regulus enjoyed Remus' company. He liked talking about books with him, and shit talking other students as well as professors was always fun. But James... there was something different about James, and Regulus couldn't exactly place his finger on what.

Things that James did often were of more significance to Regulus than when Remus did them. For example, when Remus accidentally brushed his hand against Regulus', Regulus didn't think twice. However, when James did it, Regulus got all nervous. When he met Remus' eyes, it didn't matter much. When he met James' eyes, he would again get all nervous, and his face would heat up. He didn't know why, but James doing something as meaningless and stupid as those things, and by accident too, meant a shit ton more to Regulus than it probably should've.

And so, Regulus was thrilled when James asked him to come home for Christmas. 

However, Regulus had zero experience with Christmas gifts, and hadn't had money to get anyone anything. So, all he had on Christmas was himself.

It had been James who'd assured him that was enough.

That statement had made Regulus' stomach feel very weird. Almost nauseous, but... in a good way? There was really no other way to describe it, and Regulus had no fucking idea what it was. So, he just decided to ignore it.

That didn't work out very well. It came right back when James gave him his first ever Christmas gift.

It was about 2 in the morning on December 25. James and Regulus had wandered into each other at some point, both unable to sleep. So, they'd just sat together on the big window sill in the living room and talked. They had been talking for hours, about nothing and everything. Mostly Quidditch, because James was obsessed, and Regulus loved to hear James talk about Quidditch. He was so passionate about it, and Regulus could hear that in his voice when he talked about it.

At some point, James had returned to his bedroom to get something. When he returned, he handed Regulus a small box wrapped messily in green paper. Definitely James' own work, Regulus could tell by just looking at it. "Happy Christmas," James had said, and Regulus was positive that the sideways smirk on James' face was the single most attractive thing he had ever seen.

Regulus' stomach did the thing again, and he found himself uncontrollably smiling back.

"Go on, open it," James insisted.

Regulus ripped the paper off and revealed a small, grey box. "Open it," James repeated, chanting it like a prayer.

"I'm trying!" Regulus replied quietly, laughing. James laughed too. And god, if James Potter laughing wasn't the most beautiful sound in the world, Regulus didn't know what was.

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