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james goes to visit dr. riddle at oscorp the next day.
riddle gives him a tour of the whole place, and since regulus isn't here to unknowingly distract james, he actually gets a lot of helpful and interesting information. riddle gives him a run down of every machine and room in the industry, and by the end of it james has forgotten about everything else in his life.
riddle let's him work on a prototype for animal testing, and it's quite literally the coolest thing james has ever seen. he tries to create a formula so that a mouse can regrow one of it's legs, and after a few unsuccessful attempts, he creates it.
riddle stares at him for a little bit, shocked at his solution before ushering james into another room with real-life test mice. james picks one up and holds it for a moment as riddle prepares his new medecine, and when he injects it into the mouse and it doesn't immediately die, james counts it as a win.
he feels lighter than he has in days.
~
~
james sneaks out of the house that same night.
he feels very guilty about it considering the level of trust he knows his parents have for him, but if he told them what he was doing they would definitely be worried.
james is a little worried himself, but he needs to do this.
he was able to climb out of his window with little disruptions thanks to his new powers.
he's gotta find a better term than that.
he doesn't really know what he's doing as he walks along the streets. he came out here searching for something, but how do you find something if you don't know you're searching for it?
"stop!"
ah.
james turns and looks down an alley where the voice came from and sees a man trying to steal a woman's purse. he feels his body tense in preparation and oh, he gets it now.
he needs a fight.
so, before he can think of any reasons to not get involved, he's walking up to the man and turning him around to punch him in the face.
james gets in about 3 more situations like that before he decides he's had enough for the night and heads home.
he spends all night watching videos about oscorp and it's materials while icing his face and eating leftover chinese food.
~
~
james spends all weekend holed up in his room researching. he watches hundreds of videos about oscorp's web fluid so he can recreate it for himself.
by the end of it, he's had about 20 near death experiences and hasn't had a full night of sleep, but he's created something brilliant.
he materialized indestructible spiderwebs that he can control through a hand built wrist shooter. and a suit.
pretty fucking cool, if you ask him.
now he wants to test them out for real.
he stands from his place on the floor abruptly, very aware of all the supplies on the carpet before snatching up his shoes and putting his web-shooters in his pocket gently and stuffing the suit inside his jacket.
he opens his door and flies down the stairs, stopping at the table so he can slip on his shoes.
"where are you going, love?"
right. it's sunday. both of his parents are home.
"just gonna go skate for a bit," james replies, not making eye contact so he can avoid his parents seeing his face.
"be careful, please. and be back before dinner," his mom says, and out of the corner of his eye he can see his parents holding on to each others hands.
they're still worried about him.
"of course. love you guys, bye!" james agrees, only just remembering to grab his skateboard before he leaves.
~
~
james shuts his locker, about to start heading to his next class. the evidence of his fighting still hasn't fully vanished, so his hood is up to try and hide a few bruises. he goes to start walking through the busy halls when a figure appears right beside him, walking with him.
"hi."
regulus.
"hey," james replies, fingers automatically going up to try and hide a cut on his eyebrow. regulus tracks the movement.
"where you headed?"
"uh... monday, civics."
"it's wednesday."
"it's wed-,"
"what happened to your eye?"
james pauses, trying to think of an excuse.
"what?"
"your eye. it's bruised," regulus says flatly, but james can see a smidge of concern.
"oh. yeah, um. skating," james says, mind unhelpfully blank. regulus and him stare at each other for a minute, and james thinks that's the end of their talk until-
"do you like branzino?"
james stares.
"like a fish," regulus supplies for him.
"no, yeah i know. i know," no he didn't.
"well," regulus states, looking slightly nervous, "do you maybe wanna come over tonight? at 8."
"oh. sure. of course," james says quickly.
"okay. you know the apartment don't you?"
"yes."
"great! so... i'll see you tonight," regulus says, and doesn't wait for james to respond before he's practically running down the hall away from him.
james is sure the smile on his lips makes him look insane as he walks to his next class.
~
~
james drops down from the roof of sirius and regulus' apartment building, landing on the balcony outside of regulus' window. he makes sure his shirt sleeves are still covering his wrist web-shooters.
suddenly brown meets silver, and regulus is smiling so brightly james feels the need to look away.
he can't.
regulus quickly jumps up from his spot on his bed where he was reading and goes over to the window, opening it.
"hi," regulus greets. james grins at him, "how'd you get out here?"
"fire escape," james answers, and regulus moves to let him in, "your doorman's intimidating."
"it's 20 stories."
"it was good exercise."
regulus laughs, shutting the window as james looks around him room a bit. his bed is in one corner, desk right beside it with tons of little knickknacks on top of it. across from that is a dresser with plants surrounding it. in another corner there's a telescope with pictures of stars and constellations flooding the walls surrounding it. on the final and farthest wall, there's a bookcase that takes it up completely, filled fully with books.
"this is your room," james says, and god is that the best he can come up with?
"yes. it is," regulus replies, amusement clear in his tone.
"oh," james says, peeling his backpack off again and pulling out some, now crumpled, flowers, "i... got your mom these."
"they're- they're lovely."
"beautiful, right?"
"absolutely."
"they were nice, i promise."
"no! they're beautiful."
"i'm sorry," james sighs, miserably.
"it's impressive, actually. they held together pretty well," regulus says, trying to make him feel better but failing to hide his smile.
"i'm gonna keep these i think," james says, both of them laughing.
their laughs cut off as a door comes flying open.
"hey reggie, mom said-," sirius starts, cutting himself off with a groan at the sight of james, "are you kidding me? in my house, james?"
"we weren't doing anything!"
"dinners ready. please be decent when you come downstairs. and make sure the stairs are the only thing you're coming-,"
"okay! okay, we got it," james blurts, cheeks flaming. sirius gives him a look, but he doesn't actually look mad.
"we'll be down in just a moment," regulus croaks, and james looks over to see his cheeks are red, too. sirius leaves them, shutting the door behind them and leaving nothing but silence.
james breathes.
regulus breathes.
they both wordlessly agree to head downstairs.
~
~
this is literally the most uncomfortable james has ever been. hes sat at one side of the table with regulus on his left, and orion on his right at one head of the table. sirius is across from him, the seat next to him blank. on the other side of regulus sits walburga at the other head.
walburga clear her throat, setting down her fork.
"so, orion. have you caught that spider-boy yet?"
"no, not yet," orion replies after taking a sip from his glass, "but we will. he's an amateur who's assaulting civilians in the dead of night. he's clumsy, he leaves clues. but he's still dangerous."
"h-he's assaulting people?" james questions before his brain can catch up to his mouth. orion glances at him. james rushes to add, "i just mean... from the videos i've seen, he seems to be helping others."
"yes, well. those videos don't actually show the effects of what he's doing."
"and what are those effects?" it's sirius this time, and he sounds resigned, like he's already heard this a million times. he probably has, considering orion is the chief of police.
"he's scaring the people."
"the people? or you?"
"sirius," regulus cuts in, warning. sirius looks at him, their gazes burning into each other for a moment before sirius slumps, looking over to his dad with fake apology, "sorry dad."
james honestly wants to die.
"what do you think about the whole situation, james?"
damn you, walburga.
"um. i actually think he's kinda cool," james says, unsurely.
"cool? he's a vigilante," orion replies hotly.
"well... yeah but-,"
"would you go out and do the things he does?"
"no-,"
"would you attack random strangers on the streets?"
"no, sir-,"
"would you-,"
"enough, dad," regulus says sharply. he pushes himself away from the table, yanking james up with him, "he's our guest."
"regulus, honey-,"
"we're going up to the roof for a little bit to let you cool down," regulus says, already dragging james with him towards the door. they make one stop so sirius can give him a high-five.
when they make it outside the door, regulus doesn't let go of his hand. even when they're walking upstairs, he doesn't seem to notice they're still interlocked. regulus pushes the door to the roof open, and waits for it to close before talking.
"that was something," he says grimly.
"i'm sorry. i thought he was gonna arrest me for a minute," james says honestly. they both walk over to the edge so they can look out over the city. regulus let's his hand go.
"i wouldn't let him arrest you."
james leans forward, breathing deeply through his nose.
"what actually happened to your-,"
"i wanna tell you something," james cuts him off, turning to face him. regulus looks surprised.
"oh. okay," regulus says after a moment, turning to face him aswell.
"i've been... um. bitten," james starts, face pulling up as he realizes how dumb he sounds.
"so have i," regulus whispers back, leaning forward the slightest bit so james can see the teasing expression on his face. james' breath catches in his throat as he sees how close they are. one more little push and-
"okay. okay okay okay, i have to tell you this one thing about the vigilante and the car theif," james blurts out, and he's disappointed when regulus leans back and the teasing expression goes away.
"...oh. alright," he says, voice quieter then it was before.
"okay, never mind. forget that," james says, stepping forward again so they're sharing the same space, "i'm gonna talk about me."
"what about you?"
"it's hard to say."
"just say it," regulus whispers, tilting his head to catch his eye. james shuts his eyes, because he knows seeing him like that will make him say a whole bunch of things he's not ready to.
"what is it?" regulus presses. james shakes his head. regulus scoffs, "fine. forget it."
he's walking away, and james' hand flies out.
a spiderweb connects with regulus' back.
james spins him until he's landing in his arms with a gasp. regulus looks down in shock, and then looks back up with realization.
"you're...," he chokes, swallowing as james cups his face with his right hand, left arm still wrapped securely around his waist.
he sways forward and kisses him.
regulus kisses back.
regulus is kissing him back.
james removes his hand from his face so both his arms can wrap around regulus. regulus' own arms wind around his neck, a noise of contempt spilling from his lips. he pulls back, and james opens his eyes.
"you're sp-,"
"shut up," james cuts him off, lips already back on his.
james is sure nothing could ruin this moment.
"reggie, mom and dad-," sirius cuts himself off with a groan for a second time that night. regulus and james fly apart. sirius smirks, "mom and dad want you back inside."
"got it," regulus says, voice cracking. james leans over the edge of the roof, breathing deeply.
when sirius doesn't make to leave, regulus huffs and walks to the door, passing him and heading back downstairs.
"james."
"sirius."
"were you defiling my baby brother?"
"nope. not doing this," james replies, turning and striding right past sirius to go back downstairs without looking at him. sirius' laughter rings in his ears.
james can't help the giddy smile thst spreads across his face when what he just did hits him.
he kissed regulus.
he told regulus his secret.
one brother down, one more to go.
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longest chapter yet and definitely my favorite.
-h<3.