Regulus couldn’t stop crying.
It wasn’t the first time he’d felt this, of course. He remembered the last time—it had taken him a week before he could see the bright red in James Potter’s stupid Converse again. He felt like he was drowning every time he had to remind himself that James wasn’t a dull grey. That he really was sun-kissed, that his lips were pinkish from holding back one too many laughs, and not that dull, faded color.
He had read about it vaguely—the Star Tear Disease, which only affected those unlucky souls destined to be doomed by unrequited love.
He hadn’t stopped crying those shimmery tears since his fifth year. Next year James wouldn’t be there anymore, and Regulus was doomed to crying those ironic tears of stars while his life faded to dull greys and eventually into pitch black.
As he patted his face dry and tried to ignore the loss of color, he heard the door barge open and that unmistakable booming laugh that lifted every room. James. Here—right now—
He turned around and froze. Roses. In James Potter’s arms.
“Baby Black.” An easy grin.
“Don’t call me that. I’m not in the mood to hear you groan about how wonderful Evans is and how beautifully the red roses bring out her lips—” A prepared snarky response—
“But they aren’t red.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit—
And at the most inconvenient time of all, his golden tears spilled down his cheeks. God dammit.
What Regulus didn’t know was that James Potter hadn’t been in love with Evans for over a year. His eyes had been set on someone rather… grumpy.
Oh—don’t worry. He found out. In that stupid prefects’ bathroom—with Potter’s stupid grin as he realized—and that great kiss—and—
And the fact that he never had to cry those starry tears again, once stupid James Potter filled his world with color.