#it's one thing if SHE wants to be a layabout and mooch off my parents who really can't afford it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

remywrites5 · 4 years

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THANK YOU FOR INDUCTION ME INTO JEGULILY!!!!! I LOVE YOUR SNIPPETS! AND I LOVE THE THREE OF THEM TOGETHER!!! AND THEY HAD KIDS?! I CAN'T EVEN!!! I'M GOnna go weep with joy now bie bie I love you 🌷💛

Hi! You’re very welcome! This isn’t really a prompt but I don’t have many in the way of Jegulily so I’m going to treat it like one. Thank you so much for your kind words and I hope you like this as well!

***

Regulus had needed to get away after his mother died. He’d never exactly been close with his brother considering their apposing views on their parents, so after his mum died Reg had no one. He’d always been horrible at dating, too severe and not romantic enough. And his friends were the kind of people you realized you didn’t want to be associated once you were out of the bubble of school. He truly had no one.

He had thought getting away would be good for him. As the sole inheritor of his parent’s estate, since Sirius had been written out of the will, he had enough money to go anywhere or do anything he wanted. So he’d bought a house by the seaside, always having been a little obsessed with water. He kept his family home in London but he’d thought the country air would do him good.

It had been a horrible idea. He’d never felt so alone and isolated in his life. The people were friendly compared to the people in London and he’d never had so many people say hello to him every morning. But with that came the feeling of being an outsider, reminded on a daily basis of just how different things were here.

Fueling his melancholy, Reg walked down to the beach and sat down in the sand, looking out at the water. There was a family a little ways down the beach and Regulus couldn’t stop staring at them. The woman had red hair that whipped around her face in the breeze, a large straw hat on her head threatening to blow away. She laughed at her own misfortune, holding onto the top of it determinedly. Her husband laughed along with her, leaning in and kissing her sweetly, his own unkempt mop of hair blowing wildly in the breeze. When the hat finally escaped, the man went chasing after it.

Their son, who looked to be about three, ran after his father with his arms outstretched. The husband leaped and managed to trap the hat underneath him. The son gigged and leapt onto his father. The husband soon brought the son and the hat back to his wife, the top of the hat having been squished under his body. The wife merely laughed and pushed it back out from the inside before depositing it on her head and beaming up at her husband.

Regulus realized he’d been staring for quite some time and quickly looked away. He felt something ache inside him and he had no idea what. Perhaps it was just loneliness. Before he could think better of it, Regulus pulled out his phone and called his brother.

“Reg?” Sirius said as he picked up. “You never call me! What’s up?”

“Hi,” Regulus said, covering his face with his free hand as if ashamed. “I thought maybe you could come visit me.”

There was silence on the line and Regulus was about to take back his stupid request when Sirius finally spoke up. “I’d love to! Text me the address and I’ll be there by this evening.”

“You don’t have to come that soon,” Regulus told him quickly, not wanting to be an inconvenience. Christ, he still felt like a child sometimes, needing his brother to come and rescue him. “This weekend will be fine.”

Sirius sighed heavily into the phone. “Reg, you’re calling me of your own volition. I’m coming up tonight.”

Sirius rang off before Reg could argue with him about it. He texted Sirius his address before he forgot, even though he wasn’t sure he even wanted his brother to come. Groaning to himself, Reg tugged his fingers through his hair and buried his face away against his knees, pulled up towards his chest. He was going to be twenty-five soon. That was a quarter of a century and what did he have to show for his life?

“Hey mate, you okay?”

Regulus lifted his head up and the husband he had been watching earlier was standing in front of him with an easy smile on his face. Regulus blinked a few times and tried to remember how human speech worked. “Not really, but I’ll be fine.”

The husband laughed and held out his hand. “I’m James Potter.”

Regulus shook his hand quickly. The guy – James – was really intimidatingly good looking. His glasses framed his handsome face perfectly, his just slightly lopsided smile was hopelessly endearing, his body fit and toned underneath his t-shirt. The wind was whipping just right to pull the t-shirt across his chest and stomach and Reg was fairly certain he could make out abs. Regulus stopped himself before he went overboard with ogling this stranger. “Regulus Black.”

“Well, Regulus Black, you’re coming over for lunch,” James said as if it were a done deal, brokering no argument, tugging Regulus to his feet. “You new to this area?”

“Just moved in a week ago,” Regulus answered, walking side by side with James back to where his family was. His wife was packing up their stuff while their son kept grabbing a new toy to play with immediately after she’d put it away.

“Well welcome!” James said, clapping Reg on the back. “Lily, my love, this is Regulus. I’ve invited him over for lunch.”

Lily glanced up at her husband, her eyes searing with murderous intent. “James Potter, if you don’t help me pack all this shite up I swear to God –“

James snickered and went over, giving his wife a quick peck on the lips and then helping pack up their stuff. “Can I help?” Regulus offered, feeling a bit awkward just standing there.

“Oh yes!” Lily said, picking her son and depositing him in Reg’s arms. “You can hold Harry. He’s a troublemaker just like his father, I’m afraid.”

Regulus blinked in surprise and shifted them around until the three-year-old was sitting comfortably against his hips. Harry had a little sand shovel that he was flying through the air and making plane noises for. He then flew it into Reg’s chest and made an explosion noise.

Regulus had no idea what to do so he let Harry continuously crash a tiny plastic shovel into his chest. Lily and James finished packing up their things and smiled at Reg triumphantly. “Thanks so much for your help,” Lily said, slightly out of breath.

“We just live a block away if you don’t mind walking,” James said, nudging Reg lightly with his elbow.

“No, I don’t mind.”

***

By the time Reg got home that evening he was so utterly confused. The Potters had been wonderful, kind and inviting, and James’ cooking had been to die for. They’d laughed easily and made jokes at the others’ expense and they hadn’t even minded if Reg didn’t always laugh along with them. But what had really thrown Reg off was the amount of touching.

It was all perfectly innocent, a hand on his elbow here, a guiding hand on the small of his back there, but Regulus had noticed and savored every press of warm skin against his own. He couldn’t recall the last time someone had touched him. Had it been when he’d held his mother’s hand in the hospital? Was that really the last time someone had touched him?

He’d gotten so distracted by the Potters and his whirlwind of an afternoon that he forgot about having called Sirius to come up for a visit. It was only when he heard knocking on his front door that he remembered his earlier phone call. For a brief moment he had hoped it might be the Potters but that was stupid. They had their own lives.

“Little brother!” Sirius said once Regulus opened the door. Sirius threw his arms up and pulled Reg into a hug. “How are you?”

“Better than I was when I called you,” Reg said honestly. “I think I made some friends.”

“That’s great!” Sirius said, dropping his motorcycle helmet down on one of the kitchen tables. “I think I made a friend as well.”

Regulus’ mouth dropped open in shock. “But you’ve only just got here!” he said, unable to keep the tinge of envy out of his voice.

Sirius laughed. “I got lost on the ring road,” he explained, sliding his gloves off. “Nice stranger named Remus was kind enough to help me. Fuck, he was so cute I nearly proposed to him right then and there.”

Regulus rolled his eyes. He’d always been a little jealous of Sirius – cool and confident – self-assured in a way Reg never could be. Despite all that he was glad his brother was there with him. “How long are you staying?”

Sirius shrugged. “Took some time off work. Told them I had a family emergency. So I can give you two weeks at least.”

Regulus shook his head. “You can’t do that!” He could not believe his brother’s recklessness sometimes. “Sirius – “

Sirius turned towards Reg and crossed his arms over his chest. “I hate that job anyway. It’s boring and tedious and I don’t even like working in a call center! If they fire me then who cares? I’m only twenty-six –“

“Nearly twenty-seven – “ Reg interjected.

“And I’m not dead yet! They’ll be other jobs,” Sirius finished with a self-satisfied grin. “Besides, maybe I’ll be a worthless layabout and come live with you and mooch. I think I’d be a great moocher.”

Regulus sighed, already exhausted from being around his brother, and went into the kitchen. He pulled out two beers and slid one to Sirius, who had followed him. Regulus grabbed the bottle opener from the drawer and opened his before sliding it to Sirius as well.

“Cheers,” Sirius said, popping open his beer and taking a long pull from it. “So have they got a pizza joint we can order from in this town or what?”

Regulus shrugged. “I have no idea.” He pulled out his phone and texted James, figuring he might know the best place.

James answered right away, which was surprising, and gave the name of the best pizza place in town but also an offer to come over for dinner instead. Regulus explained the situation of having his brother with him. He was shocked again when James said to bring him along.

***

“Ten quid says he fucks it,” James said, taking a bite out of his ice cream cone and munching it loudly.

“No way,” Lily said, shaking her head. “Even if he fumbles it he’ll get the date.”

Regulus eyed her warily. “I sense some insider knowledge,” he said, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Lily.

Lily grinned. “I happen to know of a certain librarian who is smitten with a certain motorbike driving weirdo.”

“Cheater!” James said, pointing at his wife accusingly. Regulus couldn’t help laughing at their antics. They were sitting together at the ice cream parlor across the street from the library where Remus worked. It had been two weeks and Sirius had been coming to the library pretty regularly to try and chat up Remus. So far it hadn’t resulted in a date.

Now watching Sirius’ bumbling attempts had become almost a spectator sport for them. Regulus was going to have to switch to frozen yogurt if this kept up much longer. He’d been consuming an alarming amount of ice cream as of late. That or he’d have to finally go on that jog James was always suggesting.

Two weeks and Regulus felt like he truly belonged somewhere, all thanks to the Potters. They’d accepted Regulus and Sirius completely even from that first dinner they’d all had together. Maybe they’d been able to sense just how much the Blacks needed a family or perhaps they were just wonderful people. Regulus had a feeling it was a bit of both.

Sirius stuck his upper half out of the main door of the library and gave them a thumbs up, grinning like an idiot. The three of them broke out into cheers and applause with little Harry joining in even though he had no idea what was going on.

“Hey Reg,” James said, nudging him slightly, not wanting to knock his ice cream cone out of his hand. “Lily and I had something important we wanted to talk to you about.”

Regulus sat up a little straighter, his stomach churning with anxiety. “Okay,” he said softly, chewing his bottom lip.

“See Lily and I were kind of hoping we might get a date of our own,” he said, glancing over at Lily and then back at Reg.

“Oh,” Regulus responded, his brow furrowing in confusion. “Did you want me to babysit Harry? I’m sure it can’t be easy to find time – “

“No!” James said quickly, interrupting Reg before he could get his sentence out. “No Reg, you don’t understand! That would completely defeat the purpose – “

“Oh my god, James, let me handle this,” Lily said, putting a hand on James’ arm to stop him babbling. James’ mouth clicked shut and he physically deflated. Regulus looked to Lily to explain because he was completely confused. “We don’t want a date with each other, we want a date with you. All three of us.”

Regulus looked between the two of them, scratching his head. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to!” James spoke up again, dropping the remnants of his ice cream cone in favor of taking Reg’s free hand. “We’ll still love you no matter what and you’re always welcome at our house even if you don’t want to date us. But we’d like to love you a little more completely, if that’s something you’d be interested in.”

Regulus blinked a few times, dropping his ice cream on the ground in complete bafflement. “I don’t understand.”

Lily chuckled and got to her feet, standing in front of Regulus and cupping his face in her hands. “James and I have had a nice long talk about this,” she explained, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of Reg’s nose. “And we’ve both quite fallen for you, Mr. Black. If you think you could find a way to love us in return we would both like that very much.”

Regulus felt his breath catch in his throat. “I already do,” he whispered, staring up at Lily a little helplessly. He was so in love with them, afraid to even think it for fear that it might rip him apart from the inside. He’d thought it was the dumbest thing he’d ever done, falling in love with a married couple. He’d convinced himself it was just his loneliness and his desperation to have someone. He’d clung to the Potters in his time of need and told himself what he was feeling was just affection for friends – some of the first true ones he’d ever had in his life.

He’d told himself all that to protect himself from the fact that he couldn’t have them. But as Lily held his face and James held his hand, it felt like the invisible wall he’d been carrying around him was simply floating away, stone by stone, being lifted off him.

Little Harry came and crawled into Reg’s lap, wanting to be included. He was a sticky mess of Strawberry ice cream but Reg couldn’t even care. It felt right, being surrounded by the Potters. Reg brought his free hand up and held Harry around the middle so he didn’t fall.

“So,” James said, giving Reg’s hand a squeeze. “About that date?”

Regulus laughed. He thought he might have laughed more in two weeks with the Potters than he had in his entire life up to that point. “You two pick the day and place. I’ll be there.“

#jegulily #I write things #long post #fluff #Polyamorous relationship #background wolfstar #modern day au #I just want regulus to have nice things okay?#kid harry #kind of unprompted #abstractundefined

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