gone - october 12 - jegulus - @taylorswiftmicrofic - cw: walburga is a POS - word count: 518
Sirius, who had just answered his phone, winced. He should have known better than to answer unknown numbers. “Hullo, Mother,” he said flatly, shooting Remus and James a pained glance. The three of them were spending the afternoon at James’s flat.
“Don’t you play dumb with me, young man! Where is he?” The older woman’s demand was a screech, and Sirius had to pull the phone from his ear in order to save his hearing.
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, Mother, but I assure you that even if I did, I wouldn’t help,” he replied sweetly, earning good-natured grins from his boyfriend and his best friend.
“Sirius! This is not a laughing matter! Regulus is gone!”
Finally, Sirius was speechless. His eyes blurred over, his thoughts faraway. Regulus? Gone? Had his brother finally seen sense? Had he finally escaped? Or was he just being the same stuck-up brat he’d always been, throwing a fit about one thing or another just to get something from their parents. “I…I don’t know where he is,” he whispered, much more breathless than before. “I really don’t.”
Immediately, Walburga went on a tirade, blaming Sirius for everything. He stopped listening after the first bit, as it was so familiar–he was used to being told he was the root of all of the family’s problems; the bad influence; the proverbial black sheep. Plus, he was much more distracted by James, whose phone was ringing.
“H-hello?” James muttered into his phone, eyes flitting suspiciously from side to side. “Er…shit, love, I…yes, of course, and I’m so proud of you, but–no, love, but–”
Sirius furrowed his eyebrows, ignoring Walburga’s increasing volume from his own phone. Really, she would go on for hours if she wasn’t stopped. But who was James talking to? Since when did he call someone ‘love’?”
“--absolute failure, utter disappointment–”
“--yes, baby, you’re always welcome, but you don’t–”
“--disgusting how you choose to live, makes me si–”
“--can’t really say, because…well..okay, just be ready–”
“--makes me cry every time I think of how much you’ve hurt m–”
A noise at the door made everyone jump.
James, who had hung up his phone, turned red.
Remus looked entertained.
Sirius, for his part, was utterly confused. “Gotta go,” he muttered, hanging up on his still-screaming mother. “James, who were you talking to? Who’s that?”
But as he spoke, the door opened, revealing..
“Regulus?” Sirius gasped, half-thrilled, half-shocked. “You’re…you’re okay? Mother just called…you really ran?”
Regulus stood at the entryway looking just and confused, his eyes flitting between Sirius and James, his rather exhausted frame a bit sagged. But as Sirius spoke, he started to slowly realize where they were.
“Oh my God, that’s amazing, I–wait…” Sirius looked from James to Regulus, then tilted his head. “Why are you here?”
“Remember…remember when I told you I went on a date recently?” James asked nervously, standing and moving to wrap a protective arm around Regulus.
Sirius nearly shit his pants. “Oh…fuck,” he murmured, feeling like the ground had just been stolen from underneath him.
He was going to need several drinks.