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“Just sleep, it’s really not that hard.” James thought to himself as he laid in bed. He looked over at his nightstand to check the time, and Merlin's beard, it's 3 am already. Clearly just laying here isn’t working. James reached for the map on his nightstand and checked the astronomy tower. Good. No one there. “Time to go back to the oldest trick in the book,” he thought as he climbed out of bed and grabbed his invisibility cloak. He didn’t take the map with him due to how late it was and the safety his cloak provided.
James walked out of the portrait hole and started heading towards the astronomy tower. He always stargazed with his dad whenever he couldn't sleep. “The stars are always awake to calm you whenever you need it,” Fleamont would always say. James repeated those words in his head anytime he couldn’t sleep, this time included.
James turned the corner and bumped into a small figure. He looked down and saw none other than Regulus Black.
“Reggie? What are you doing here?” James asked as he reached out to steady Regulus.
“Don’t call me that.” Regulus snapped, swatting James’ hands away.
“Okay. Sorry,” James said, now feeling quite awkward. He’s never really had a full conversation with Regulus. Most of the time, when James would show up while Sirius was talking to Regulus, he would just leave, which was admittedly nice when he really needed to talk to Sirius, but still. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Well, I was going to the astronomy tower but it looks like you're going. So, I’ll leave you to that and head back to my dorm.” Regulus turned on his heel and went to walk back towards the Slytherin dorms.
“Wait!” James grabbed Regulus’ hand to stop him. “Come sit with me.” James always admired the Black brothers, but Regulus especially. His features are so similar to Sirius yet so different. He was beautiful, really. At least James thought so.
Regulus just stared at James for a few seconds before answering. “You can’t sit there and talk all night.” And then he was off, walking towards the astronomy tower, leaving James standing there. James was surprised Regulus actually agreed to it.
“Yeah, okay!” James grinned and ran to catch up to Regulus.
They sat at the top of the tower, sitting on the ledge looking out at the main courtyard. James was staring at the sky, a bit lost. Even though he would stargaze with his dad often, he never really learned how to find constellations when he wasn’t at home. At home they would sit in the same spot and his dad would always point out different stars and how they connect to make constellations. But now, looking at the sky, James couldn’t recognize anything. He was starting to get a bit frustrated.
“Why are you making that face?” Regulus asked, startling James a bit.
“What? What face?”
“You look frustrated.”
“I can’t find anything.” James threw one of his hands up and waved it at the sky. “It’s just a bunch of dots.” James grumbled and put his hands in his lap, pouting at his dangling feet.
Regulus didn’t know what to do. He’s never really talked to James before. He always pretended to hate him, even though he never really did. In fact, Regulus was amazed by James, by the way he was confident about everything he did, by the way he glowed everytime he smiled, by the way he didn’t care what anyone said and lived his life how he wanted to, which was something Regulus had never been able to do. And now James was sitting next to him, pouting, and Regulus didn’t know what to do. “Um… Well… If you look there,” Regulus pointed his finger at the sky “That’s Vega.” James turned and looked at him, his face still frustrated, then turned and looked at where Regulus was pointing.
“Which one?” James asked, straightening up.
'Well, at least he’s not pouting anymore,' Regulus thought to himself. “That one, the bright one.”
“Wait, that one?” James asked as he scooched closer to Regulus on his right and pointed his finger up next to his.
“Um, yeah.” Regulus turned away, flustered. “That’s Vega. She’s the brightest star in the constellation Lyre.”
“Oh, cool.” James was, clearly, very tired. He was now sitting right next to Regulus, their thighs touching. He leaned into Regulus so their shoulders were touching as well. James looked over at Regulus at the same time Regulus went to look over at him. James just grinned while Regulus’s face turned a bright red. They were almost nose to nose. “You’re very pretty,” James whispered into the small space between them. Regulus’ eyes widened, turning his gaze away quickly.
“Why’d you say that?” Regulus grumbled
“Because it’s true and I wanted to.” James leaned his head down onto Regulus’ shoulder. He could feel James breathing, the heat that radiated off of him. This was it, this is going to end Regulus. He was going to combust if this continued. His heart was going to beat out of his chest and he didn’t even want to think about James being able to hear it. Regulus turned his head back to try and look at James. He could see his eyes slowly blinking, like he was going to fall asleep any second.
“James, don’t fall asleep.” Regulus poked James’ arm. “Why don’t you go back to your dorm?”
“No, I want to stay with you, Reg.” He was starting to slur his words together. What is he supposed to do? He can’t leave James to sleep on the Astronomy tower, he would freeze to death, and he, most definitely, couldn’t carry James back to his dorm. Regulus decided to just try standing up and hopefully James would wake up some and go back to his dorm. Regulus went to stand but at that moment, James wrapped his arms around him, holding him as if he were a teddy bear.
Well. Now Regulus was properly stuck. “Think Regulus, think,” Regulus whispered to himself. Got it! “Okay James, come on, let's go back to your dorm. I’ll walk with you.”
“Okay, Reggie,” James slurred. This time when Regulus went to stand James went with him, arms still around his waist and head on his shoulder.
They started their journey to the Gryffindor dorms.
They finally made it back to the dorm after many issues, from having to dodge Filch and Mrs. Noris to James almost falling from stumbling over his feet. Regulus quietly opened the Gryffindor sixth year dorm door, trying to stay as quiet as possible as not to wake anyone else up.
“Are we there yet?” James slurred into Regulus’ shoulder.
“Shhhhhh!” Regulus turned his head to whisper to James “You’ve got to stay quiet.” Regulus walked James over to his bed. Regulus went to slide James off his shoulder and onto the bed but James had a different idea. Instead James held onto Regulus’ waist and pulled him down with him. “Oomph.” Regulus landed almost completely on top of James.
“Stay. Please,” James whispered as he turned on his side and slid his arm around Regulus’ waist. Regulus didn’t know what to do. What if James was just so tired he thought he was talking to someone else? Or what if he was actually asleep and was just talking in his sleep? But when Regulus turned around in James’ arms, James’ eyes were open and looking right at him.
“You… want me to stay? But why?” Regulus was so confused. He just had his first actual conversation with James that night, and it wasn’t even a very long conversation, at that.
“Because I like spending time with you.” James closed his eyes and pressed his forehead into the pillow. James was clearly very tired still. Sleep was also starting to take over Regulus’ brain and he decided that he would just stay here for the night and figure everything else out in the morning.