Chapter Text
Nymphadora Tonks loved it when her man picked her up at work.
The pink-haired woman was sitting in the back office, replying to emails, when her colleague came in and told her that someone is here for her. She squealed delightfully before logging off the inbox and stood up to grab a studded leather jacket hung on the door. As she passed by, she informed the colleague of all the appointments that she had set for next week --they just have to reconfirm before D-Day.
Walking out of the makeshift, stuffy office behind the registration desk, she immediately beamed at the sight of Remus John Lupin standing inside the tattoo parlour.
He wore a dark brown long coat with speckles of raindrops on his shoulders. It seemed like he had once again forgotten to carry an umbrella, for his soft brown, greying hair was also slightly damp.
Beneath the coat, Tonks could see the tweed suit that he likes to wear for work, with a white shirt peeking from underneath his favourite dark purple jumper. He carried a leather bag in one hand and a canvas bag in another. She knew that they contained test papers or some assignments he had given to his students.
The school teacher’s eyes lit up with curiosity as he stood facing a wall filled with photos of past clients and samples of tattoo designs.
In a room filled with the buzzing of needle machines and muscular men with tattoos all over their bodies, Lupin could not look more out of place, despite his equally wild and rebellious past in the rock band. But he was either oblivious to this fact or refuses to see this as a problem.
“Good evening. How may I help you?” Tonks approached him.
Lupin slowly turned towards her direction, eyeing her from head to toe. She had her usual work outfit on --band T-shirt, torn jeans with fishnet stockings underneath it, and combat boots-- and it brought a tender smile to the gentleman’s face.
“I am looking for one Ms Nymphadora Tonks.”
“And how can she be at your service?”
“Well … There are a few things …,” he moved closer to her direction. “That only she can do …”
He stopped just as he was about to bump into her, with his voice slowly turning into a whisper. "But I am not at liberty to disclose it.”
The couple stood in silence as they stared into each others’ eyes, both expected the other to say something. Eventually, their laughter broke.
At this point in their interaction, one tattoo artist, who was busy colouring a design on his client’s arm, sighed rather too loudly. “Oh, the beauty of young love.”
“Oh, shut up,” Tonks shouted at him, but the colour on her cheeks had almost matched that of her hair. “I’m leaving. Bye! See you on Monday.”
“Bye! Remember, do it safely.”
Lupin waved at his girlfriend’s colleague as they walked out of the shop. He only got to see her again outside; it was raining quite heavily, but Tonks already had a rainbow-patterned umbrella in her hand.
“Your customer service voice is on point,” Lupin commented, taking over the umbrella from her.
“Years of practice,” she replied. “Have I told you about that time I work at customer service, and told one to sod off? Apparently, that kind of attitude was not acceptable.”
“Interesting insight.”
It was a Friday night, and there was an air of freedom among the crowd that filled the streets. The rain had been pouring all day, but it failed to dampen the spirits of those who were looking forward to being free, after a week of hard work and restraint.
The same went for our couple, walking down the street under the rainbow umbrella. Everything about them seemed to be made of contrasts and differences, from their age to the way they dressed, that it was no surprise some pedestrians were staring as they passed. But even these strangers could not help marvelling at the bubble of joy that seemed to be impenetrable by anyone --but the two of them.
The couple eventually stopped in front of a fast-food chain. Gasping in surprise, Tonks turned towards her man.
“You said you’ve been craving cheeseburger,” Lupin responded with a smile.
“But you don’t eat junk food.”
It seemed like Tonks did not feel too good about this offer, but her man just shrugged. “They have salad.”
Soon after they found themselves sitting at a table with high stools that faced the window. While Lupin was already busy with his dinner, Tonks had hers relatively untouched. Instead, her attention was completely taken by a furry pink toy that she just received together with the meal.
“You're just here for the toys,” Lupin commented.
“It’s a Pygmy Puff! I love them so much,” Tonks answered, bringing the thing closer to her face.
Lupin swung his fork around. “My students are crazy about them. I think they have this game or something? These kids are trespassing and stepping into ponds to catch these monsters. The school had to issue a warning.”
“Pygmy Puff Go! Yeah, I play them too!”
“Oh, God."
Before Lupin could say anything else, a woman with her daughter came in and took a seat beside them. As soon as they settled in their place, the little girl immediately asked for the exact same toy with her meal.
While the mother went off to get their dinner, Tonks offered her toy for the little girl to play with. At some point, she even allowed the girl to touch her hair, which "looks very much like a real Pygmy Puff."
She only got to start eating once the little girl had gotten hers.
"You two get along so well," Lupin commented with a chuckle.
"She's very well-behaved! I screamed at Mum to buy me things when I was her age," Tonks said, taking a second bite. “I was such a nightmare."
“All kids do that. It’s a phase.”
“No, I think I was quite terrible. We once sat in this ice cream parlour, and I got hysterical because she wouldn’t let me have a second helping.” Tonks put her cheeseburger down.
“I was also very, very impulsive. One time I almost got killed because I saw this dog across the street, and ran off just to pet it,” she continued.
Tonks then proceeded to finish the meal, but her man had stopped eating. Turning his head towards her direction, Lupin was drawn by how her tone changed just before she ended her story.
They were only five minutes apart, but the woman who was sitting next to him looked completely different than the one who would not stop gushing about a fluffy toy.
So he reached out to place his hand on her back. “Are you alright?”
“Oh, no … Nothing … It’s just …”
She waved her hands around; a piece of lettuce fell out of her cheeseburger. Then a painful expression showed up on her face as if she had to force a smile. “It’s just that … I get mellow when I talked about Mum.”
Avoiding her man’s gaze, Tonks then picked up two strings of French fries and pretended to be busy with them.
But Lupin was much too perceptive of other people’s body language to let it go. While he never forces people to talk about their problems, he has a habit of giving them a moment of silence to think through things. With the hope that they would eventually start talking --without being asked to.
“Have I told you about that time I ran away from home?”
There you go.
“No. Not yet,” Lupin answered softly. “When was that?”
Tonks took another bite of her meal. Stopping for a moment, she licked her fingers off tomato sauce and grease before continuing her story.
“It was an embarrassing story. Embarrassingly sad.”
Sighing deeply, the woman then stared at something outside of the restaurant's window. “And it happened on a rainy night like this.”