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“Padfoot, for the love of god, stay still!” The dog responded by wriggling out of Remus’s grasp, and Remus cursed loudly.
“Padfoot!” He shouted. But Padfoot ignored him in favour of running in circles around the dog park, wagging his tail enthusiastically. Remus sat down on a bench and decided to wait until Padfoot calmed down before making another attempt at leaving.
On the other side of the park, Padfoot had stopped to sniff at a small boy holding a dog treat. Remus watched, ready to call Padfoot back if the child seemed scared of the massive dog, but he just giggled and held out the treat. Padfoot licked it out of his palm, and the boy patted the dog’s head. A man called out from another bench near the boy, and he gave Padfoot one last pet before running back to his father. Padfoot made his way back to Remus, and this time Remus managed to get his leash hooked up to the collar, and they left the park.
Remus opened the door, unclipped Padfoot’s leash, and shouted, “I’m home!”, loud enough that not only could his roommate hear him, but the neighbors almost certainly could as well. Peter shouted from the kitchen—not words, just a vague noise to let Remus know where he was—and Remus headed in that direction, Padfoot following close behind.
Peter was sitting at the table eating lunch, and when Remus came in, he looked up with a smile. He patted his leg to call Padfoot over, and then frowned.
“Remus?”
“Mhm?” Remus was digging through the fridge, looking for the leftover lasagna.
“I think Padfoot’s limping.”
“What?” Remus emerged from the fridge, alarmed, and watched as Padfoot walked—no, limped, definitely limped—over to his food dish.
“We have to get him to lie down.” Peter stood up from the table, abandoning his food (that’s where the lasagna went, Remus thought, then gave his head a quick shake. Now was not the time). He gently convinced Padfoot to lie down, always better with animals than Remus ever had been, and examined his paw.
“There’s a big gash in this paw,” he said, “and it’s already bleeding a lot. He must have stepped on a sharp rock or something?” Peter looked at Remus questioningly. Remus shrugged.
“I don’t know. That’s the only thing I can think of though. Should we take him to the vet?”
“Probably. I’m sure it’ll heal on its own, but you never know.”
Remus nodded. “I can take him. You seem….busy.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Sorry about the lasagna, but it’s first come, first served in this house, Lupin. We’ll both go. You drive, I’ll keep him company in the back.”
And that’s how they ended up in front of the hottest vet Remus had ever seen.
To be fair, he hadn’t seen that many vets, but really, no one else could compete with this guy. His long dark hair was pulled into a bun, and his sharp cheekbones, straight nose, and full lips would have made for an absolutely breathtaking face had he not been making kissy faces and little cooing noises at Padfoot. It was adorable. Remus was so caught up in staring that Peter had to elbow him in the ribs to get him to tune in to the conversation.
“Sorry, what?”
The vet laughed, a deep bark that Remus actively didn’t think about because you can’t do this right now, Lupin. You can be thirsty later, but right now you need to focus. “I said, do you know how it happened?”
“No. Well, not for sure. I took him out for a walk to the dog park about an hour and a half ago? And when we got home Pete noticed he was limping.”
The vet nodded. “And Pete is your...?”
“Roommate.” Remus said, ignoring Peter’s snort and wondering what the hell that had to do with anything.
“Excellent,” the vet said, then added, “I’m Sirius. Black. Doctor Black, really, but I prefer Sirius.”
“Lupin,” Remus said, “Remus. Er, no, Remus Lupin.” He could feel his face burning, and fought the urge to kick Peter, who was sniggering next to him. Sirius’s eyes stayed fixed on Remus for a moment before he shook his head and turned his attention back to Padfoot.
“So, uh, there’s not much I can do with something like this. I’ll disinfect it, and you guys should keep doing that as it’s healing, but the best you can do is try not to let him walk too much over the next few days.” Peter nodded, and asked a few more questions that Remus didn’t hear even a little bit of, because he was too busy trying very hard not to be disappointed that he wouldn’t have an excuse to come see Sirius again. As if reading his mind, Sirius pulled a business card out of his pocket, scribbled something down on it, and passed it to Remus. “My personal number. If you need any help with….the dog.”
Remus blushed bright red and took the card. He thought he thanked Sirius before leaving, but honestly, everything was a blur until he found himself back in the car, with Peter at the wheel this time.
“Remus!” Peter jabbed Remus in the ribs, “Mate, he was absolutely hitting on you! Text him right now!”
“He said it was for the dog.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “He was looking at you like he wanted to eat you up. It wasn’t for the dog.”
Remus looked at the number on the card, looked at his phone, and sighed.
were you hitting on me or did I just make that up?
this is remus, by the way
lupin
With the dog
He got an answer in seconds.
Hello, Remus Lupin with the dog
I was hitting on you, don’t worry
How do you feel about sushi?
i feel great about sushi
Excellent
How do you feel about sushi with me? ;)
even better
Want to go out for dinner tonight?
I’ll pay
well, if you’re paying
absolutely :)
Excellent