Mars (RAB's version) ☆★

James was a steady force, a hand to hold onto, a lifeline. He was safety, he was a breeze of cold air on a hot day and the fireplace when the chill approached without warning. He would make sure the people he cared about knew they could reach out for him whenever they needed, without shame or judgment.

The times when they did reach out, he kept his words like an oath. James listened, held, comforted, distracted and gave advice– whichever was either needed or wanted the most at the given time. And it was always fine, really. Fine.

Until the moment prompted him to be the one opening up.

He gets it, he really does. Baring your soul open for someone feels less scary when the energy is matched. Trading secrets, a story for a story, all of that.

At these times, he feels like he mastered the art of deflecting. Whether it is tossing it off with a joke, circling back to the subject they were beforehand or straight up lying with a small everything is fine, don't worry.

Unfortunately, there's only so much you can keep within yourself before it overflows, or so he learned.

When it happened, he wasn't alone, though he was supposed to be.

His and Regulus' shared flat was meant to be empty until monday, when Regulus would come back from Narcissa's place after spending the weekend to meet his newborn cousin. Only some minutes past two of that cloudy sunday, instead, Regulus showed up to find James still on the bed of their bedroom and a stream of seemingly endless tears wetting his cheeks.

What felt like ages of spilled tears and slurred words through sobs and hiccups filling the bedroom eventually turned into soft spoken words of encouragement while James spoke his mind through whispers that Regulus could only hear because James had his head buried in the crook of Regulus' neck while he was curled into his embrace.

It was a steady– as steady as getting better can be, with all of its ups and downs – development until they got to the point they were, where James spoke instead of whispered that he wasn't feeling well, where he would ask to be held instead of reaching out for touch and crossing his fingers in hopes that Regulus randomly wanted to hug him for hours on end as much as James needed to be hugged then.

So, when James came home early from uni after skipping half of his classes for the day, finding Regulus sitting on the couch with a book and a green highlighter on hand and the TV long forgotten on a show he was rewatching, he didn't hesitate to ask.

"Can you lie down with me for a bit?"

Regulus nodded and closed his book with the highlighter between the pages. James leaned down to take off his shoes and put them aside, and was met with a warm hand caressing his cheek and a chast kiss at the corner of his mouth when he looked up again.

Regulus smiled softly at him. "Want me to make some tea before we go to bed?"

He shook his head, putting his arms around his boyfriend. "I'd take some hot chocolate when it gets colder tonight, though."

James felt more than heard Regulus snort, but he would feel his body relaxed near his to know there was probably a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Once he let go of the embrace, Regulus held his hand and pulled him all the way to their bedroom, leaving the light off and closing the curtains to keep them in the dark after a questioning glance to James, who just nodded at the silent question.

"How do you want me?" he asked, gently pushing James down until he was sitting in the bed and he was looking down at him, hands toying with the overgrown hair at the back of his head.

James put his hands on each side of Regulus' waist and maneuvered them around until Regulus ended up leaning on his back with his legs spread, James fitting right in the space between them, lying face down, head resting on Regulus' chest and his arms around his midriff. It took no time at all for Regulus' hands to busy themselves with his hair, playing with his curls while James hummed softly to the feeling.

It didn't take long until words were flowing out of James' mouth. He told him about the rude teacher, who seemed to take pleasure in humiliating half of his class during the presentation of a project – James included –, the way the team was on edge after their keeper got injured and everyone seemed to be taking the stress of the situation out on each other, a disagreement with Marlene thanks to it…

Regulus listened quietly, humming and dropping comments every once in a while and offering to hex said teacher and maybe ask Peter for advice and prank him like you and the boys did back in Hogwarts.

That got a laugh out of James, and when he looked up to meet Regulus' eyes, he knew from the smug smile that that was exactly the reaction he wanted to pull out of him.

And, damn it, James loved him for it. And for a whole lot more, too.

He let go of Regulus to brace himself on the bed and reach up to kiss him, slow and gentle, just a warm brush of lips that had James feeling weak all over.