When the Sun and Stars Unite (Jegulus Oneshots)

i'd give anything to balance your conviction with certainty

James has a panic attack. Regulus helps calm him down.

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It was so cold.

The temperature dropped ridiculously low for the time of year, and stupidly enough, Regulus wore only a thin jacket over his shirt. He could already hear the loud, exaggerated gasp James would let out when he saw him; could hear his mother's matching tone over the phone as she reminded him that times like these made people more prone to catching colds due to the fact that they'd get tricked by the weak sun smiling down with teeth over the course of the day, and the chilling cold that'd set in as soon as they stepped into the shadows would take them by surprise.

Well, you could count Regulus as fooled.

He looked briefly at his shaky hands as he let the elevator door close shut behind him.

Maybe there was still a part of him that was used to dressing to impress. Sometimes he could almost hear his mother yell at him that appearances were more important than comfort, that presenting well was a priority. To her, even if your limbs felt numb and your feet hurt, you had to stand straight and plaster on a dashing smile, so convincing that you'd mark it as being genuine if you passed by a mirror.

It was such a crystal clear memory that if it wasn't for the four walls surrounding him so closely, he might've looked around to make sure she wasn't next to him.

His knuckle pressed excessively hard on the button leading to his floor.

It was just a memory.

Regulus met his own eyes in the reflection of the elevator mirror, a dirty surface with fingerprints all over. He clicked his tongue softly, almost soundlessly, his cheeks were flushed red from the cold and the curls on his head were out of place, tangled to hell and back.

It was a face that despite being so similar to those that hurt him, it was loved. It was a face you'd see in photographs with his friends, a smile or an annoyed, but loving frown ever so present, a face that his boyfriend liked to hold and kiss until he was out of breath.

He let out a harsh exhale, spreading warmth over the mirror, fogging it up before the elevator let out a soft ding sound and he turned around, pushing the door open with his elbow.

The hallway was silent, bathed in a warm glow, unlike the cold one from the elevator.

He nodded absentmindedly to himself as he fumbled around for his keys and pressed the pad of his finger against the hard ridges. The keys jingled quite sharply in the quiet of the evening as he turned them around, searching for the one with the black tab. There were two locks on the apartment door, and he'd grown accustomed by now that when James was home, he had the habit of only turning the deadlock knob.

He smiled to himself when the door opened. Predictable. He pushed it closed with his foot, yet another action that his mother would reprimand him on, and turned the deadbolt knob as well as sliding his keys into the second lock and turning them over.

Only when he blindly reached for the light switch did he realise something seemed off. No pitter patter signalling James was making his way over to welcome him home, no TV turned up way too high for the late hour, nothing.

It was awfully quiet, the kind that made goosebumps rise over your skin, the electric kind.

He toed off his shoes almost carefully, as if he risked breaking some sort of spell if he made too much noise, and discarded his jacket in a similar manner.