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Someone who'd like him regardless of how he acted, how much he hated himself, regardless of someone better who came along.

That never happened of course.

Sirius left him the moment he could, to be with Potter and Cissa was gone too

Sirius had Lupin, Barty had Evan, Dorcas had Marlene, Dora had Xeno. They all had people who'd always pick them first and always be on their team regardless of anything. Regulus was sure of the fact.

At the end of the day, Regulus Black was always alone, and he was okay with that regardless of how his heart ached when he thought he'd maybe one day die that way.

He was pulled out of his miserable train of thought as he felt someone's outer robe on his shoulders. Regulus looks up and there he was

James

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 was cursed.

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.

He was so tired of it.

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—

“Regulus?”

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—

But the truth was he didn't.

He only had chocolate in hopes that one day, when he had too much, It would destroy his inner wolf. It was after all a known fact- Chocolate is dangerous to wolves.

It never worked.

No matter how much chocolate he had, it never once worked. He was always stuck as money like clockwork during the full moon.

That was all until Sirius Orion Black heard of his chocolate addiction one bright day. Padfoot murmured under his breath that must be why Mooney is so sweet - and looking immediately embarrassed hoping Remus didn't hear him.

Except he did.

However, to James Potter, the thing that stood out the most was his piercings. Merlin knew how he got them with his hag of a mother. Silver piercings - five on each ear along with his many rings adorning his fingers...James was a goner.

7 years into their relationship, Regulus was a goner when James got a tattoo of "His Reggie's" name in his beloved's very own handwriting right over his heart.

Not when his mother deemed him too old for stuffed toys.

Not when Sirius left him in that hell-hole of a house.

Not when Andromeda's name was blasted from the tree for marrying tonks.

Not when his mother put him under the cruciatus curse for not being pristine enough.

He thought he had forgotten how to cry.

That lasted until James Potter stood in front of him with a completely annotated version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray", all because he had mentioned once how romantic it would be if someone annotated a book he liked for him to read and know their thoughts- That was an year ago when they first started going out together. James had remembered and had done it for him.

James expected to catch the scent of Lily Evans while brewing the infamous love potion. After all, he had been captivated by her firey red hair and fearless personality for years. Except, as he sat there, his mind reeling in Slughorn's class, he could only recollect one thing—the distinct rich cologne that he had ignored for years—Regulus Black.