visible (june 22) @jeggyverses-jegulus-microfic
jegulus | 842 words | implied NSFW
“Merlin, Prongs. What’ve you done to your wrist?”
James forced himself not to look. The bruise was only visible because his sleeve had ridden up when he reached for the toast.
“Pranged it,” Sirius repeated in disbelief. “What on? A bear trap?” He leant across the table and narrowed his eyes. “Come off it. What actually happened?”
James quickly took two bites of his toast and shoveled in a forkful of eggs for good measure. The mouthful bought him enough time to stall, but James had never been good at lying to Sirius. He chewed, swallowed, and sat there hopelessly before he dredged up the courage.
“Right. Er. Well. It was handcuffs,” James said plainly. He lifted his other hand and placed his wrists side-by-side as if the visual demonstration would allay the need for any further elaboration.
Sirius’s brow pinched as he stared down at the matching visible bruises, thick and purple-blue with their newness. They looked fresh, because they were. James had done a fantastic job hiding them until now.
“Handcuffs? You mean you got nicked? What for? And why didn’t I know about it?” James watched, helpless, as Sirius worked himself up into a huff. “I can’t believe this. Arrested without me. Who else are you out with, then? I know it isn’t Regulus, the bastard hardly leaves the flat despite the fact he doesn’t even live here—“
“Now hang on a minute! I didn’t get arrested!”
“Oh, don’t give me that! You’ve clearly been out gallivanting with some tosspot who doesn’t know the first thing about being your best mate!” He scoffed. “Letting you get caught by muggles like an amateur. Come on, then. Let’s have it. Who is he?”
“Pads. I don’t have some illicit best mate on the side, and I did not get arrested. You’d quite literally be the first person I’d call from the cells and you know it!”
Sirius drummed his fingers on the table with poorly-disguised pleasure as he considered this.
“Regulus would let me rot overnight just to teach me a lesson. He’s done it before.”
“Mate,” said James patiently, “you’re going to be my best man. Believe me when I say I’d call you first.”
That seemed to placate Sirius, if only for a moment or two. “… But the bruises?”
“But someone put you in them? Why would they do that?”
James didn’t answer this time. Instead, he simply stared him down, hoping that would be enough. It was. Sirius’s expression shifted from confused amusement, to dawning realization, to outright horror.
“No,” he said, though it was only a whisper.
James tsked sympathetically and went back to his breakfast. “‘Fraid so, mate.”
“You’re taking the piss.”
“You mean—?” He sounded ill. “You can’t possibly… Regulus? He does that sort of thing to you? I mean—Merlin, Prongs, you’re twice his size, do you honestly—”
“Sirius,” James interrupted. “Have a think, just for a moment, and ask yourself if you really, truly want the answer to that question.”
Sirius blinked at him. His mouth turned down. Then his whole face twisted in disgust and he turned away, waving off the man he’d called his best mate for nearly fifteen years.
“Fine. Fine! Keep your secrets. In fact, I insist. I am one forgotten silencing charm away from begging you to obliviate me. I’m telling you, I cannot stomach any more—”
The sound of a door opening cut him off. Sirius shot James a sour look. James gave a sheepish grin.
“I thought he wasn’t staying over,” Sirius hissed.
“You try telling him that,” James countered just as Regulus padded in barefoot, hair rumpled and wearing a shirt far too large for him. Without a sound, he crossed the room and crawled onto James’s lap, arranging his too-long limbs in an exceptionally inconvenient knot.
Sirius made a strangled, exasperated noise before he swore colorfully and stuck two fingers up at the couple on his way out of the kitchen.
James ignored him, folding Regulus in with a murmured, “Hi, love.”
Regulus shifted until he was comfortable, tucked his face against James’s throat, and sighed. Only then did he speak.
“They probably heard Sirius’s dramatics all the way down in Kent. What’s got into him now?”
James smoothed a hand down Regulus’s back and couldn’t help but smile when he heard the happy little hum.
Regulus chuckled lowly, sleepily, and James didn’t think he’d ever heard him laugh before midday.
“Unfortunate. Hilarious, but unfortunate.”
“Yeah. Well. In any case, it looks like we’ll be needing more bruise paste,” James offered. “Let me finish this and we’ll go, yeah? Reckon the apothecary should be open by then.”
With a sigh, Regulus slipped his cold hands up the back of James’s shirt and made it clear he had no intention of moving for at least twenty minutes.
“No,” he said, voice strangely gleeful. “No, darling, I don’t think we will.”
