#uneven

@jegulus-microfic January 30 Word count 995

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“James?...James?” Regulus’s voice was small. 

“Do you really mean that?” James was trying very hard to stomp down the feelings that were slowly beginning to bloom through him.

“Yes. James, I want to come home.” 

“Then come home, Reg.” He knew the words had more meaning behind them, but he couldn’t examine that right now. 

“Okay,” Regulus said, the hope clear in his voice. “I’ll call you when I have a date.”

“Okay, Reg.”

They’d stayed on the line, not saying anything until James had said goodnight, and they both hung up. James stroked Leo. 

“What am I going to do, boy?”    

———————————————————————————

“Is it because of me?” Barty asked seriously when Regulus went to him on Monday morning to ask about breaking his contract. Regulus shook his head. 

“Not in the way you think. You made me realise that what I really want is back home.” He waited for Barty to ask about it, but he didn’t. 

“I really don’t want to lose you as an employee.” Barty had recovered quickly, moving on to the next task. “Let’s spitball some ideas and see if we can figure this out.” Regulus hadn’t even thought of that as an option.   

They spent most of the morning agreeing on a compromise.

He and Barty had discussed him working remotely back in England and flying to New York every three months for a few weeks. It was a good plan. But at the end of the day, it was his father, Bartemius Crouch Sr, who had the final say.

He was called into Crouch’s office that same afternoon. He was nervous. This man was the one in control of his future. He knocked on the door and waited to be called in.  

———————————————————————————

Sirius had told him the date that Regulus was returning two weeks ago, and Regulus had messaged him the night before to say he’d landed and asked if he’d come over for dinner this evening. He’d agreed instantly, only remembering about Lily when she got out of the shower and joined him in bed. 

He fretted over what he was going to say all night. He tossed and turned, eventually leaving the bed, worried he would wake her. 

The sun rose, and he hadn’t slept a wink. He heard movement upstairs as Lily woke. He put down the whisky he’d been nursing when he heard her coming down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen and went straight to the kettle for a cup of tea. 

“Erm—Lily—We need to talk.” He needed to get this over with. He’d been putting it off. Not quite believing that Regulus would come back. But now it was real. He was back in Grimmauld Place, and James had run out of time. He didn’t know what would happen between him and Regulus tonight, and he didn’t want to lie to Lily. She deserved better.  

He cleared his throat and continued. “Regulus is back.” She barely reacted. She just nodded slowly as she stirred the teabag around her mug. 

“For good?” She asked. Something flashed in her eyes, but it was gone so quickly James couldn’t tell what it was. 

“Yes.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.  

Lily nodded again. 

“Are you getting back together?” Her lips were pursed, and her shoulders had squared. James felt very small and found he couldn’t meet her eyes. 

“He wants me to go over tonight for dinner. So we can talk.” He still couldn’t look her in the eyes. She folded her arms across her chest, holding herself tightly. 

“I don’t want to upset you, Lily. But Reg he—” Lily cut him off. 

“James, I need to tell you something.”

———————————————————————————

Regulus looked at the table he’d just set. Something was off. He walked around it, scrutinising his place settings. His eyes narrowed in on the culprit. The knife and spoon on James's side were uneven.

“Well, we can’t have that, can we? It has to be perfect.” He told the offending cutlery as he carefully rearranged them. He smiled down at the now beautiful table. 

‘Knock, knock.’ His eyes flashed in horror as he looked at the clock and realised he’d lost track of the time and James was here. 

He hurriedly removed the apron and smoothed down his shirt. The door sounded again as he jogged up the steps out of the kitchen and towards the front door. He paused for a moment to check his reflection in the hallway mirror. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and his eyes were too wide, but he doubted James would care. 

He took a steadying breath and opened the door.

James stood there illuminated by the porch light and looked just as mouthwatering as he always had. Regulus had to concentrate to not jump into his arms and start kissing him.

“Hi,” He breathed. 

“Hi,” James replied just as breathy. 

They stood and stared at each other until Regulus realised they were still in the doorway and he hadn’t invited James in. 

“Come in. Dinner’s nearly ready. I made chicken Kievs. Hope that’s alright?” He babbled as he led James down into the kitchen. 

It was warm and cosy in there. Regulus busied himself with opening a bottle of wine while James shuffled from foot to food behind him.    

“Reg. Somethings happened.” He froze, hand hovering over the wine bottle. He looked up at the devastated expression on James’s face. 

“What is it, James?” His voice came out quiet and cracked. He could have sworn the temperature of the room had dropped. 

James swallowed repeatedly, wringing his hands together. All manner of scenarios played in Regulus’s mind. “James, I need you to talk. My imagination is going wild here.” His heart was thundering in his chest. He could feel it in his ears. 

James finally looked him in the eye and took one last shuddering breath before he answered. 

“Lily’s pregnant.” Regulus felt the blood drain from his face. “I’m the father.” 

Just a fun little growth-filled tale for the wonderful @goattrain Author Icon by the lovely https://www.furaffinity.net/user/redband.jackalope

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Alice grumbled, staring at herself in the bathroom mirror. The poor goat was covered in bright green goop from horn to hoof. Wincing, she pulled off her shirt as she felt the gunk soaked into her shirt sucking at her skin and tugging at her fur.

“Never thought I would have to wear a hazmat suit into the company greenhouse.” She grumped out loud as she finished peeling off her clothing. Apparently they had been testing some sort of plant food int the sprinkler system designed to magnify the plants' photosynthesis. However instead of coming out as a fine mist it blasted out right on top of poor Alice as a thick green slime.

Tugging off the last of her clothing and tossing it straight into the trash, she stomped off to the walk in shower. Her little hooves clopped cutely on the tiles. Throwing open the glass door she stepped inside and closed it behind her.

Reaching for the faucet handle, the one thing to go right today was that the new water heater was working perfectly. There was no waiting for warm water as her fur was doused by a warm, steamy blast. She turned slowly in the downpour for a few moments, rubbing her three-fingered hands over herself, relieved when the gloop seemed to be water soluble. She looked down at her hooves to see it gurgle and slurp away down the drain.

Rubbing the water out of her eyes, she reaches out a grabbed her bottle of deep cleaning shampoo that was ironically also a dark green color. She popped open the lid and took a sniff, enjoying the scent of tea tree oil and cucumber. Squeezing a hefty dollop into her hand, she started scrubbing it through her fur, working up a nice, thick lather.

She let out a soft baa as she was enveloped and warmth and scrubbing the thick, wonderful smelling soap through her fur, scrubbing every last inch of herself until she felt the fur squeak through her hoof tipped fingers as it rinsed clean. She could barely see anything through the thick cloud of steam that followed her dripping form as she stepped out of the shower.

Drying her soft fur on a towel that covered up most of her body, she made her way back over to the mirror. Not paying too much attention at first, she reached out to wipe away the condensation, then gave out a bleat of dismay.

“Wha.. wait.. WHAT?! I'M GREEN!!!” She practically shrieked, looking down at herself. Her fur was indeed a pale mint green and her hooves were a much darker shade. Looking back into the mirror she could see that her little horns were the same shade of deep green and even her normally pink eyes had taken on an emerald hue.

“Al! When I get my hands on you I'm gonna… I'm… ah, forget it… I'm tired…”

Not even bothering to wrap the towel around herself, she dragged it dejectedly down the hall to her bedroom. She tossed checked to make sure that there were no green stains on the white terry cloth and tossed it into the hamper. She took a moment to slip on some comfy flannel pajamas, buttoning the shirt up the front before just flopping onto the bed on top of the sheets. She'd overheated a little in the shower and needed to cool down. Before she knew what was happening, she drifted off to sleep.

Morning came, the sun rose, and the birds began to sing in the branches outside of Alice's home. A beam of sunlight fell in through the open curtains of the window beside the cute goat's bed, landing on the back of one of her hands.

The fingers splayed out flat as though trying to soak up as much of the sun as they could. The fur thickened a little, looking shaggy before her hand grew. Her fingers lengthened and thickened and the palm expanded. Her forearm stretched out of the cuff of her shirt before the arm within it inflated a little. The growth spread up her shoulder and through her body. Her breasts blossomed and ballooned out a little causing gaps to form between the buttons of her top as it stretched up, pulled away from her bottoms and exposing her soft belly fur.

It spread to the other arm and up to her head, her horns scraping against the headboard before spreading downwards. Her rump widened a little, straining the durable flannel cloth a bit. Her thighs bulged outwards a bit as her growing hooves stretched away from her cuffs.

The sun continued to rise, pouring more of its light into the room, bathing her in its warm, inviting glow. She gasps, squirming in her sleep, smiling as she feels a warm, comforting energy flowing through her, settling into the pit of her stomach. It was like she had just eaten a bowl of the most wonderful, comforting soup you could imagine.

The growth was more powerful now, more evenly spread throughout her body as she stretched and swelled. Buttons snapped off and were scattered across the bed as her breasts burst forth. Her thighs shredded through the tough cloth, as did her rump. Her fur thickened and took on a lovely shine. The more of her body that was exposed to the sun's rays, the more it seemed to speed up.

It was the crash and the sudden drop to the floor that finally awoke her. She looked around the room, finding that her bed had broken underneath her giant form. Not the first time she had experienced this, she took it in stride and pushed herself up off of the floor. Her horns immediately stuck up into the ceiling. She sighed and prepared to duck out of the room when she felt her horns push upwards, deeper into the plaster of the ceiling. She hadn't just grown, she was growing, and fast!

Gripping the tattered rags of her clothing about her as best she could, she rushed through the house towards the front door. Every window she passed she wanted to slow down for a moment as the wonderful sensation she felt in her sleep returned, but she didn't know how fast she might be growing and didn't want to ruin another house! Each doorway she passed through she felt like she needed to duck down a little more until she finally reached the door to the back yard.

She threw open the door and was bathed in bright sunlight. She gave a soft bleat as the last strands of her pajamas burst and fell away and she was forced onto all fours by the ceiling! Crawling as fast as she could, she squeezed her upper body through the door, barely. She shifted onto her side as her hips wedged in the opening, swelling rapidly as she placed her expanding hands on the outside walls and hauled herself out with an audible CRACK! She shivered and whined a little as she felt her hooves sliding farther back INTO the house as her legs stretched and grew. Crawling rapidly, she pulled herself free of the house and stood up in the morning sun.

She felt herself filled with that wonderful energy again as her fur fluffed out even fuller. She wanted to stop growing, but it felt so good at the same time. She was so conflicted as she slowly backed away from the shrinking house. There was a loud crunch as her deep green hoof came down on the wooden fence at the back of the yard.

“Why is this happening?!”

She suddenly froze. The warmth of the sun replaced by a cold chill as she watched the world around her shrink. The goop that she had been doused with, that turned her green was supposed to increase the photosynthesis of plants. Meanwhile she was stuck outside on a gloriously sunny day. Taking a deep breath, she opened her giant maw to bleat:

[ FREE CLIP STUDIO BRUSHES ]

This bathroom owes it attractiveness to several unconventional features. The uneven surface of the tiles gives the walls an importance not often found in this most utilitarian of spaces, an effect marked by quick accents in cream in the shower-and-bath.

GAAAAHHH I LOVE THESE TWO!!

Actual Shipname is [Unbalance], hehehe. Idea by @redplanetroswell :•3 He has helped me a LOT.