heirloom - jegulus - @into-the-jeggyverse - word count: 446
“Why d’you still wear this?” James asked curiously, making sure his voice was light and nonjudgemental. He and Regulus were sitting in front of the fire at James’s parents’ place, Regulus leaning back into James’s front, James playing with Regulus’s hair, stroking up and down his jawline, fiddling with his fingers as the shorter man read lazily.
Regulus frowned thoughtfully, looking at the ring on his right middle finger that James was referring to. His eyes, which had been so focused on the words on the page, grew troubled and hazy as he held his hand in front of his face so they could both gaze at the Black Family Crest stamped in the metal. “I…I mean, it’s a family heirloom,” he muttered.
James felt his boyfriend shrug, his shoulders shifting. “But…” he sighed, trying to decide if she should push. “Family isn’t…that.”
Regulus turned to gaze up at him. “It’s not like you can choose your family, James,” he murmured flatly, though he didn’t seem angry. “I…I just need to belong to something.”
But even as Regulus turned back to his book, James pondered this. Then, after a few moments, he shifted, easing Regulus forward so he could stand. “Be right back,” he mumbled.
He found his father in his parents’ bedroom. “Dad?” he asked softly, making his father look up from the paperwork he was scribbling on at his desk. “Do we have family rings? Like, with our crest on them?”
Fleamont furrowed his eyebrows, then stood, walking over to a dresser, on top of which a chest resided. Opening it’s mouth, he pulled out a slightly-tarnished ring. “I never wear it. It’s old-fashioned,” he grinned. “What, you want it?”
“Can I…give it to someone?” James asked hesitantly, taking the ring from his father’s palm.
The older man smirked as he nodded. “Anyone important?” he asked teasingly.
James just flipped him a finger, ignoring his laughter as he walked out again.
When he returned to Regulus downstairs, he took a moment to gaze at him. To appreciate his beauty. He looked ethereal, sprawled on the sofa, his dark hair shining in the low light of the fire. Something deep and passionate curled in James's stomach, and he wondered if anyone else in the entire world was as lucky as he was.
He moved to sit down next to his boyfriend and gently took his hand, dropping the ring in his palm. “You don’t have to wear it,” he whispered, looking into Regulus’s shocked eyes. “But you…you belong here, Reg. If you want to.”
Regulus didn’t answer with words, but he didn’t have to. The way he threw himself into James's arms said it all.