ROCKSTAR ⇒ jegulus

THIRTEEN

Three entire days have passed since James' pregnancy had been announced to the world and it has been radio silence on both he and Regulus' end. He didn't reply to Regulus' text, and Regulus has not made any sort of contact since.

James caves and texts Regulus when it reaches the late afternoon. Do you mind if I drop by your office? I think we should talk about what happened the other day, I can bring you a coffee if you'd like.

A peace offering, or at least James hopes that it will be. He doesn't wait for a response, he just needs to get out of his apartment, just for a little while; and so he begins his walk to downtown London.

James grabs his headphones on his way out, placing them in his ears and locking his door behind him. Music hums through his headphones as he begins to stroll down the street.

His mind races with thoughts to what he could even say to Regulus. Will Regulus even want to see him? Or hear him out? James just may have gotten himself permanently banished from Regulus' office on his very first visit there.

The walk is longer than it had been the first time, but James puts this down to being a lot less motivated by anger and betrayal this time; and perhaps deciding to stop to pick Regulus up a coffee. He reaches the building's entrance and lets himself in through the large revolving doors.

The icy blonde receptionist, Pandora, is sitting at her desk, her fingers gliding across a keyboard. She looks up as he enters, trying to disguise the way that her eyebrows raise as soon as her eyes land on him.

"Oh," Pandora says, halting her typing. "I didn't think that you'd be back anytime soon,"

James shrugs. "We're going to share a kid. I can't exactly stay away, can I?"

"Well, do you need to be reminded where his office is? Or can I help you?"

James shakes his head. "I think I'll manage. But thank you, Pandora," He smiles softly.

James steps into the elevator and presses the button for the fourth floor. The elevator eventually dings and he steps out, looking down the hallway for Regulus' office.

The door is closed and James can hear shouting from inside. He furrows his eyebrows as he steps closer to the door.

"Realistically, this should cost you your entire job, just so you know," Regulus' voice echoes. It is much, much louder than James has ever heard him speak. "I...I think that you're pathetic. What's especially pathetic is that I never ever brought up what went on between you and Sirius all those years ago, and you still found a way to take it out on me, and...and now you've brought my unborn baby into it too? Brining James and my baby into this is completely unacceptable,"

The voice replying back is muffled and quiet due to the door apparently blocking any other sound that isn't yelling, but given Regulus' words, James feels something inside of him sink as he realises that it must be Snape that Regulus is speaking too.

"This entire thing has been hard enough without you bloody meddling," Regulus snaps. "How did you even find out about the baby? How did you even connect me to it all?" He grits.

Snake's voice raises and James can hear it more clearly now. "A local reporter mentioned seeing a black Ford Thunderbird leaving Potter's residence, and then I recalled seeing that doting little, framed image of a sonogram in your office. It wasn't exactly hard to put two and two together," Snape snarls.

"And signing the article in my name? What was that? Adding another two to your fucking equation?" Regulus brisks. "Get out. Or I'll seriously take this further. You're so beyond lucky that I'm genuinely too tired to have you fired," Regulus snarks.