WHO: Peter and Regulus WHAT: Regulus is looking for a new home away from his brother and Remus and all the reminders of where he doesn't belong. Peter quite literally drops in. He takes his own advice for once. WHERE: Just off the big square WHEN: 5 March RATING: Low
Since Cap’s little impromptu BBQ, it seemed like everybody had started moving in closer, making the area around the big square something like a group settlement. Peter, for his part, had told Dick about Tony and the others he knew, saying that he was going to move closer and that he should come too. Living next to Tony Stark and Captain America, especially with Steve’s willingness to hunt and Tony’s ability to fix things, had to be better than out where they had settled. So he found himself a place close enough for Tony to see him whenever he wanted and set himself to whatever task needed doing, be it helping Tony with his technical skill or simply just lifting really heavy things, he was eager to work.
But being eager to work didn’t mean he wasn’t spending some time goofing off. Sure, he’d call it training if asked, but really he was just distracting himself as best he could.
It was back to flipping, as usual. He ran along the street, building up momentum before launching himself into the air over the houses. He did flips, and springs and everything else that came to him, trying his best to limit his web use for now. On the last house he clipped the roof with his foot and so landed roughly, something that would have been fine if he hadn’t ended up face to face with someone he’d never seen before, barely inches away from smashing into them.
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Regulus looked decidedly non-plussed at the boy in front of him. He was nice before, but this was- Ridiculous, honestly. “Are you quite done or will there be an encore?”
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“I- I’m so sorry.” Peter’s eyes were wide but apologetic. “I didn’t mean to land like that. I didn’t see you there. I, uh, yeah. I’m done. I’m done. Sorry. Are you okay? I didn’t hit you, did I?” He was fairly sure he would have noticed if he hit him but Peter was put off guard by how close he’d come to hitting him and that accent that made him feel like he was getting lectured by Mary Poppins.
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“You did not,” Regulus affirmed, half tempted to levicorpus the other boy just to prove he wasn’t in any real danger, though it probably only would’ve confused him more and those were questions he had no intention of answering. Still, no Ministry of Magic meant no statute of secrecy or anything similar. Not, of course, that he wanted to show off to the muggles. And really, making the boy float wouldn’t’ve been a proper demonstration of his reflexes anyway.
“I am a bit concerned about whether anyone in any of those buildings you just tromped over was trying to take a nap, though.”
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“I only hit one of them.” He said, like that meant he wasn’t making plenty of noise. He did finally take a step back though, letting himself relax and come down from off his toes. “I- I didn’t mean to wake anybody. Just, you know, trying to stay fit or whatever.”
He cleared his throat, feeling smaller the more this guy talked. “Sorry.”
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Regulus arched a thin brow. “There aren’t many of us here,” he said, trying not to be as intimidating as he’d worked to be just so he didn’t have to deal with letting anyone in. “You can stay fit without being inconsiderate. What would help you accomplish that?” There, see, he could be a team player, Sirius.
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“Uh, going out a little farther, I guess. I didn’t figure anybody lived in these since I’ve not seen anybody around here.” He scratched the back of his neck, beginning to feel a little embarrassed. “I’ll not do it again, not unless I’ve checked first.”
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“Hm, I was going to offer to help you build a place where you could do...that sort of thing, but if you’d rather move on that way, then be my guest.”
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“I-” Peter frowned for a moment, dropping his hand. “It just seems kinda wasteful. I mean, we’re trying to survive, right? Shouldn’t waste time and resources on something like that, right? Priorities and whatever.”
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With a flick of his hidden wand and a breath of a spell, Regulus sent the boy floating into the air and carried on walking. “Suit yourself.”
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“Holy shit!” Maybe it was a stupid, knee-jerk reaction but as he had his little mild freak out over spontaneously floating he shot out a web to keep himself from floating away. A web that gripped the guy who he guessed had sent him flying, even thought that felt like an insane thing to think. “Oh my god. Oh my god, I’m flying. Little help?”
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Regulus had heard something trigger, ear twitching as it did and moved to step out of the way only to have what appeared to be spider webbing catch him in the forearm as he turned to parry. He blinked at it several times. “I suppose that does explain the smell,” he said mostly to himself. “You’re not flying, you’re floating. There is a difference.” Still, he dispelled it anyway. This was why there were laws, but it appeared the boy was very much not all he seemed either.
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And then he was falling. Thankfully he’d fallen enough since being bitten than he was able to land correctly. He was up on his feet a moment later, letting go of the web. He could have taken it off this guy but he wasn’t feeling particularly charitable. “So did you just try to murder me? Is that what happened there?”
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“Yes, lifting someone a metre off the ground absolutely qualifies as attempted murder. Honestly, what was I thinking?” He rolled his eyes and disapparated the webbing off of his clothes, clearly unbothered by it. “You gave me a start. I gave you a start. If I had wanted harm to come to you, harm would’ve come to you. As it stands, I think we’re somewhere on even footing again?”
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Peter frowned again, “Maybe. You- You can’t just run around doing magic to people, dude.” He still wasn’t used to magic, sure, that stuff Strange did was handy in the fight against Thanos, but the wizard had never treated him like a balloon.
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“And you can’t just run around on people’s houses,” he replied, gaze turning sharp like an annoyed cat that was thinking about biting the next hand that came near.
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“I was jumping ov- Yeah, okay, fair, whatever.” Peter said, pulling his sleeve back down over his webshooter.
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“It was to demonstrate that time and resources might not be as scarce as you think,” he said, forcing himself to be calm, “That if you want a place to act like a lemur, we can make that happen.”
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“I- Can you use that magic to get us home instead?” He asked like it didn’t occur to him that the guy likely tried that already, unless he was the one keeping them there. That would have been wild.
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Regulus’ expression shifted to something distant and sad. Home meant death for him. He was prepared for that then and he still was now. If it would help…
He shook his head. “That’s something I don’t think even the wizards in our stories can do.”
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“Yeah, it seemed like a long shot. I’m sorry.” He said. “Look, uh, thanks for the offer but, I don’t know. That doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to settle in.” He wanted to go home but the more days that passed the more he worried that wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t ready to lose hope yet.
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“You have family here,” Regulus said. “The man with the...unfortunate facial hair, the blonde one, the man you live with.” He paid attention. He had to. It was the only way to survive. “Perhaps it’s not the family you left wherever you were, but you’ve already settled in some.” He looked back towards the main square. “Nothing stops you from having more than one home but you. Whatever you have to go back to...perhaps you’ll learn things here that will help you there. You just might not see them if you’re so resistant to this crossroads we find ourselves at.”
He let out a heavy breath. “You were kind to me, once. I would see that repaid.”
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Peter’s eyes went as big as fishbowls. “I- What?” He did make a little face when the guy said something about Tony’s facial hair. Though he did wonder if this was just how wizards were, Strange didn’t know anything special about him, but he did put off the air of knowing everything like this guy was currently doing. “Have we met?”
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Regulus gave him a gentle approximation of a smile, something he found hard to manage as he felt himself torn between the homes he didn’t have. He looked at the fountain for a long moment and then briefly back at Peter. He walked away.
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That was weird. Weird enough for Peter follow after him, staying on the ground this time. “Hey, wait, man, come on.” He called after as he followed. “You’ve gotta tell me what is going on.”
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“We have met, yes,” Regulus said, wishing that he had the proper ingredients to make himself an invisibility potion just to avoid this tension and the possibility of Sirius seeing it.
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“When? Where? I- I feel like I would have remembered the accent. I don’t have a lot of British friends, you know? The accent would stick out at least.” He said, catching up with him.
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“We didn’t speak,” he said, calmly.
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“Was it while I was dead? I don’t remember being dead.” He searched his memory for this guy but nothing was coming to mind. He was beginning to wonder if he was losing it.
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Whatever was said about Regulus (and there was quite a lot, another side effect of listening,) he was more than what any of them thought. So much more.
He’d just told this other boy that there was nothing stopping him from having a second home but himself. Maybe it was time for him to try to step away from the worlds his brother kept tearing down before Regulus could even get to them?
“Can I trust you?”
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“Yeah.” He said quickly. “I- Yeah, you can trust me. I’m decent, aside from the running over rooftops thing.”
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No one knew him. No one really saw him. He couldn’t let himself turn completely in front of the boy, but he let his eyes change and a quiet, timid little purr rumble in his throat.
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Peter jumped back a little. Not quite like a spider jump, just a little one of shock. “You- You’re a panther? You were the cat? I mean, I’m a little disappointed that I’m not a cat whisperer like I thought, but that’s kinda cool.”
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“Tell no one,” he whispered. “Please.”
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He held up a hand while drawing an x over his heart. “I swear. Is that like magic too or are you like a were-panther?”
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“There are some wizards with enough patience and practice and raw power that they can turn into an animal. They do not get to choose that animal. It is a representation of the deepest parts of that wizard made manifest into this other self. Becoming an animagus is a choice. Lycanthropy is not.” He sat under a tree, looking back to the little town.
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Peter raised an eyebrow. “So you’re like a panther on the inside. I guess that’s lucky for you, I mean, it’s better than being a pomeranian, right?”
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“I know of someone who is a rat,” he said, because there was no way he was going to claim any kind of relationship with Pettigrew.
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“Oh man, that must suck for that guy. Or I guess suit him? That’s probably worse.” Peter said before moving to sit down next to him. “Why is no one else allowed to know?”
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“It suits him,” Regulus said. “No one is allowed to know because it’s something I’d very much like to keep private. Isn’t that reason enough?”
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“I mean, yeah, sure it is. But, I don’t know, it seems like one of those cool things you show off at parties or whatever.” Not that Peter went to a lot of parties.
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Regulus looked down. “I’m unregistered,” he said softly. “I went through it all by myself. No authorization. No assistance. No warning the ministry of the potential of things going very wrong. I didn’t speak for a month and not a soul noticed.” He looked up at the boy again. “I’m not… I know the ministry isn’t here or anything, but this...this part of me is very, very illegal.”
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“Oh.” He said with a nod. “I’m sorry.” It felt like he was supposed to say that. The guy was clearly unhappy about it and it was never a good thing to have a part of you declared illegal. “You’re probably safe here at least.”
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“That remains to be seen.”
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“I’m not going to tell anyone, but I’m pretty sure the people I know would take up for you if someone found out and made a stink about it.” Cap would, he was like that.
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“My older brother and his friend are here. I was out looking for a new home for myself.”
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“Oh.” That could be a problem, though he was a little sad to hear that his brother wouldn’t try to protect him. “Uh, I know a place, if you don’t mind having to walk.”
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“Okay,” he said, getting up again. “Lead on.”
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Peter nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets as they started off. “This way. Oh, I’m Peter by the way.”
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“Regulus,” he said. It was a start. He was trying. That had to count for something.