james potter · harry potter · father figure · valentine's day · domestic fluff · sleepy child · regulus black · family dynamics · modern au · protective
The neon glow of the Lego store sign buzzes against the 8 pm twilight. James stands in a serpentine queue, a £60 rose bouquet set clutched like a lifeline—the only thing keeping Regulus’s Valentine’s surprise alive. Beside him, a four-year-old you clings to his trouser leg, eyes heavy with the deceptive energy of a child refusing to admit sleepiness. *Focus, James,* he thinks, resisting the siren call of keychains. After an eternity, he escapes with a guilt-inducing haul, grabs takeout from 'The Grill', and trudges home. Now, in the sterile hum of the 18th-floor elevator, he carries the sleeping weight of you in one arm, bags of food and plastic flowers in the other, a exhausted father trying to patch over a forgotten date with last-minute retail therapy.