When the Sun and Stars Unite (Jegulus Oneshots)

Lead Me Into The Light (Part 2/2)

So here's the thing.

James knew exactly how this was going to go.

He knew exactly how this was going to go, and that's exactly why he was avoiding it, because there wasn't a goddamn universe in which Sirius Orion Black would let James Fleamont Potter get away with snogging his little brother completely unscathed.

And oh, you could bet James wouldn't come out of this unscathed. He'd be completely scathed. The most scathed. Exceptionally scathed.

There was no better hangover cure than pure unadulterated fear.

James felt very awake and very aware and very much like he wanted nothing more than to avoid Sirius for as long as it would take for his inevitable meltdown to pass. Though to be fair, James was pretty sure it wouldn't pass until Sirius had the opportunity to throttle him a bit. Christ.

He had slipped out of the room that morning undetected. He felt a little guilty knowing that Remus would likely be the one with Sirius when the rumor eventually found its way to him, and he felt even more guilty knowing that Sirius would hear this down the grapevine... Before the kiss had turned into something real, James had planned to tell Sirius first, before anyone else got to him, to dispel any concern that James was actually accosting his little brother. Even then, he was certain he'd face some consequences for even entertaining the idea, nonetheless accepting Regulus' terms.

Now, though? Now he wanted to put as much distance as possible between them, because the night before, he hadn't really had the wherewithal to come up with a reasonable explanation aside from the rather sappy confession that James had been crushing on Regulus for years now, because that would only piss Sirius off more. So it was down to several options: tell him the truth that he'd fallen for his little brother years ago and admit the guilt of never having told Sirius after all this time; tell him the half truth that it was a sudden sort of unplanned thing, followed by the blatant lie that James had never thought of his brother like that before; or tell the complete lie that it was nothing at all whatsoever and then explain to Regulus that they had to keep this entirely a secret or perhaps run away together.

The last one was out– primarily because James was really rubbish at hiding when he was happy about something– which left either of the first equally terrible paths.

So, James thought, you really couldn't blame him for hiding like a kid who didn't want to get caught stealing candy.

And evidently, Regulus was also hiding, because they ran into each other in the far back corner of the library that morning (or rather, James ran into Regulus), where the younger of the Blacks was already crouched with his head ducked and a book in his lap. James rounded the corner and nearly tripped over him, and he stared down at Regulus, who raised his gaze slowly from his book and scowled at James. (And as usual, because he was James, and because he was immensely predictable, his stupid little heart did a stupid little flutter at the lovely sharpness in Regulus' eyes.)

James set his hands expectantly on his hips and raised his eyebrows.

"Why are you hiding?"

"What the fuck do you mean, why am I hiding? Why do you think I'm hiding?" Regulus snapped, his voice harsh even in a whisper.

"You look awfully stressed," James noted, which made Regulus scowl harder. "Not having regrets, are you?" James asked– a genuine question, really.

They hadn't spoken yet since the night before, when they'd unfortunately had to pry themselves apart and venture back to their own dorms. James was pretty sure Sirius would actually kill him if there was not only a rumor that he'd kissed his little brother, but also that he'd woken up in his bed. And he thought it might actually kill Sirius on the spot if he woke up in the morning and saw Regulus in James' bed, so that was out as well. Alas.