"I'd be more open than you, considering you were the one who wouldn't even kiss me without knowing about Nymphadora," he said with a smile. "You can see the family history and I'll make arrangements so that you can read them without risking your life nor needing James' helps, which might get him dead." He already had thought of that before Remus had even asked. He'd ask Dolan to make copies and then enchant them so that only Remus could read them. They'd make a nice present.
Regulus gripped Remus' hand and squeezed. "I'm a realist; that's who I am. I have plans and timetables and this sounds like one of those castles in the air you wanted me to build, but that doesn't mean that I don't want it, too. I want you and I love you, but this sounds so... impossible." That was the easy part, the rest wasn't.
"Sirius? He just complicates this. You are asking me to rely on him for this flimsy plan when he's shown time and time again that I can't rely on him. Loving him doesn't mean that I've forgotten the past or that I'm oblivious to his faults. I've done my part and his since I've been old enough. I'm not sure I have it in me to do it all over again. In fact, I'm not sure I want to," he said.
He didn't like talking about Sirius in this context, because he can only pretend that everything was fine when there was nothing at risk, but their family name was too important. "He is twenty-eight and it's time that he does something to show me that I should have some faith in him, and it'd better be good, because I will not put the fate of this family on his whim. But doesn't he understand that? Of course not. He just comes in and tells me that he's going to have children so that he can father the next heir. He even expects me to be happy about it. God, how fucked up is he?"
Regulus shook his head. "He doesn't get to say that now he wants to be the head of the family and bring up the next heir while acting the way he does. In fact, I'm not sure that there's anything he can do to convince me to release control. I will fight him tooth and nail over it, because I will not let him ruin this family. Head of the family," he answered annoyed. "He didn't think about Belvina, couldn't be arses to send condolences to Narcissa. Those are examples, small examples, of things that he should worry about and he doesn't. He won't get the privileges and money that go with the title while I take on all the responsibilities. So I don't really care what he needs. At his age, he needs to finally grow up and stop acting like a child. It's always I want and I need with him, and I've ignored it so we could have a family, but he will take over this family over my dead body. Now I hope that makes it a little clearer why I don't give rat's arse how many children they will have. They could reproduce like Weasleys and the next Head of the family would still be my son."
He glared at Remus. He really wasn't in the mood to take orders from anyone at the moment, but he still moved.
"I don't know why you're even asking me if I'll give us a chance. I already said that I can give you six months and I will not engage in any negotiations for possible marriages during this time," he answered. "I'm not sure why you would even bring it up again unless you think I'm lying and I assure you that I'm much better than that and asking a second time wouldn't produce a different answer.
"It's not just a leap of faith. I'm not such an optimist and I could die tomorrow leaving this family in serious trouble. The fact that I offered to wait six months should tell you what this means to me. I'm risking the future of my family for you. I think that says more than words could," he said, "but... It's going to take a lot longer for me to accept that two men can be parents together. In fact, it will take a bloody long time for me to accept that anyone would interfere with the way I bring up my children, and that would include an hypothetical wife. It would be different with girls, but I would bring up the Heir. So right now, I'd say that we should stop with the six months, and not discuss anything else, because I doubt you will like me answer."