InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "...Always."

Sirius O. Black (pad_foot) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2011-07-18 17:00:00

Entry tags:

regulus black, sirius black

WHO: Sirius and Regulus Black
WHAT: Sirius barges back into Regulus' life after the experiment, with all the subtlety and tact of a small bomb. But at least he's trying.
WHERE: Regulus' flat.
WHEN: This lunchtime.
RATING: TBD
STATUS: Closed/Incomplete.

It was still a relatively new experience, being worried about Regulus. Or, rather, being worried about Regulus and not hating himself for it. There had been years, when Sirius was trying to tear himself away from anything related to his family, where he would worry and wish he wouldn’t, because Regulus had chosen that path and the younger boy was probably not bothered about him at all… But that had been then and things were different now. Everything was different now. And Juno was gone, which was very weird in itself - the garage seemed very quiet, suddenly. Sirius rather missed her. But he imagined that was nothing compared to how his brother was feeling. You had to be as blind as Mad-Eye without his disgusting removable eye and an eyepatch to have missed how Regulus felt about her. It had been a bit on the soppy side, really. But then Sirius imagined how he'd feel if Remus vanished suddenly, and remembered his brother's old coping techniques, and he was suddenly so worried he could hardly stand it.

He’d meant to come and visit sooner, but the end of the experiment had matched quite neatly with the full moon, one which again lasted longer than normal because Remus had the girl he’d bitten to deal with, who had changed for several nights thanks to the magnetic pull of the swollen moon, leaving Sirius to worry himself into an early and not-very-manly grave. Then there had been pregnant Lily and worried James and finally, after what seemed like years, poor, exhausted Remus again, who had smelt like dog and had leaves and mud in his hair. Sirius might care for his self-destructive brother, but he was still a victim to his own hierarchy, and the fact of the matter was that in that strange little pyramid James, Harry, Remus and Lily were still stubbornly at the top of the pile when it came to Sirius’ priorities. Anyway, he had Morgana and everyone keeping an eye on him, and Sirius trusted them with Regulus.

He’d sent a text to his brother, but hadn’t got a reply. So here Sirius was, hovering outside Regulus’ front door. At least his name was on the door, which meant he hadn’t been sent home along with everyone else who had vanished recently. Sirius had checked from time to time, on everyone from home he cared about, but it had been a few days. Sirius didn’t bother knocking – he never did – instead he tried to handle and found, with a certain smugness, that the door was open. A moment later the animagus was strolling into the main room, recognising a foot that dangled off one end of the sofa, and allowed his head of perfectly-arranged hair to pop cheerfully up from behind the back, peering down on his brother.

“Hello.” Sirius stared down on the younger man, his dark eyes narrowing before he fished a hand into his pocket and pulled out a small, unopened cardboard box, which was promptly dropped onto Regulus’ chest. “I brought you some fags.”

That was comforting talk, right?

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arrogant_black
2011-07-20 07:32 am UTC (link)

Despite a vacant expression and the new sloth impersonation skills he’d taken to hone over the past two weeks, Regulus was actually very aware of his surroundings and the passage of time. The shadows on the wall, cast by the sun’s travel through the sky gave him a strong point of reference. Though, he’d long since discarded the common time-telling vernacular in favor of something that more accurately included his sitting room furniture, half passed chair, or quarter to lamp, or end of side-table. Right now it happened to be mid-coffee table. And he knew it had been a handful of ‘mid-coffee tables’ since the end of the latest mind fuck the person in charge of this place had put them through. One of them was too many.

He heard his phone go off and he didn’t move to answer it. He heard the door open and his brother’s heavy footsteps and he didn’t move to greet him. He heard the hello and he didn’t respond. The TV blared some obnoxious infomercial but he didn’t shift his gaze. When the cigarette carton fell on his chest he finally did move, but only to shove them off to the floor with a sluggish hand.

He understood where he fell on his brother’s list of priorities and it still stung knowing his station only garnered him a visit after days, after everyone 'important' was seen to first. It was his return from the dead all over again. He didn’t have a thing to say.

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pad_foot
2011-07-20 09:47 am UTC (link)

Well, that was helpful.

Sirius rolled his eyes and clambered over the back of the sofa, narrowly avoiding standing on his brother as his foot came down on the cushions and he bounced onto the floor on the other side. Sirius slumped down onto the carpet, sat childishly with his legs crossed underneath him. Regulus was on one side, and on the other the TV was blasting some irritating bloke who was apparently trying to decapitate some girl with a mop. Sirius pulled a face and waved his wand in the direction of the muggle box, and it turned off immediately. No'one loved pointless muggle gadgets more than him, but for some reason Sirius couldn't stand those bloody televisions.

Sirius twisted back to look at his brother, resting his chin on the edge of the sofa to give him an intense stare, his face only a few inches away from Regulus' own. "Hellooo?" he tried again. "Regulus?" He resisted the urge to poke the younger Black in the face, finally pulling away again and reaching down to pick up the pack of cigarettes he'd just delivered, unwrapping it deftly and sliding one out. Sirius lit the small cylinder with a silent charm, then waved it vaguely in front of his brother's face like a really crap smelling salt. A smelling salt made of chemicals and tobacco. Then he lifted it to his lips and took a drag, exhaling loudly and a little frustratedly, all the time wriggling akwardly on the carpet to try and get comfortable.

"Come on dickhead. Talk to me."

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arrogant_black
2011-07-20 12:49 pm UTC (link)

Regulus blinked at his brother when Sirius leaned in, his expression unchanging. And he did move - his eyes - for the briefest moment they focused on the older Black but then cast down at something, nothing really, disinterested. He just looked away because he couldn't be bothered to care about Sirius' need to be noticed and recognized when the other man took three days to check on him.

It had been a nice feeling, being at the top of someone's lists of priorities once more. When Juno left it was like sinking, like being eleven all over again. Sirius hated it when Regulus ignored him, well, Regulus hated being left behind and ignored too. Hadn’t they established months ago? Maybe not? As it had been since the two brothers had gone their separate ways at Hogwarts, it was all on Sirius' schedule.

But that cigarette being shoved insultingly in front of his nose was annoying as hell.

“Fucking Salazar, Sirius!” he spat back, shoving the thing away. He wasn’t some fainted woman on a couch, he just didn’t want to move, dammit! “Maybe I don’t want to talk right now, ya?”

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pad_foot
2011-07-20 01:08 pm UTC (link)

Well, it was movement, commented a little voice in Sirius' head, at least he wasn't paralysed. Sirius stared for a moment as his hand and helpful cigarette was shoved away, and you could practically see the indecision in his eyes as he tried to figure out the best thing to do here. Or, at least, figure out whether to go with that or his initial, emotional overreaction. There was a long silence. Then Sirius shrugged and stuck the cigarette into his mouth.

"Fine." He twisted around, sitting with his back against the sofa, leaving Regulus with the back of Sirius's head a short distance from his nose. Which was actually a very bloody good back-of-head, actually. So he should be pleased. And his hair smelt good. "I'll wait here until you do then."

Sirius leaned forward as he spoke, thumbing through the few objects neatly arranged on the coffee table - it was a stark difference to his flat, which seemed to accumulate odd bits and pieces at an alarming rate. Not finding anything of interest, Sirius settled stubbornly back against the sofa again, feeling the faint brush of Regulus' breath against the back of his neck, and pulled his PDA out to check the network.

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arrogant_black
2011-07-24 11:12 am UTC (link)

Regulus almost sighed with relief when his brother seemed to acquiesce to his desire to be left alone. Relief turned to disappointment shortly thereafter when it became all too clear Sirius had no actual intention of respecting his wishes. How could he have expected anything more from his brother? He groaned then, in exasperation and grabbed the blanket draped over the back of the sofa and pulled it over himself, over his head, blocking out the sight of the back of his brother’s head.

Both Blacks were stubborn individuals, and when Regulus was feeling in the mood for it he could give his brother a run for the money. And he was definitely in the mood to be as uncooperative as a jack ass stuck in a mire. Regulus was fueled by the thought that his brother didn’t actually want him to talk about his feelings, and neither did Regulus want to. Talking about how he missed Juno wouldn’t bring her back.

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