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Remus
It was around noon and groups of children and families crowded the aquarium. Remus had just finished a tour and was sitting by the shark tank, enjoying his short break with a cup of tea. It was his favourite kind, Earl Gray with a dash of milk.
He usually spent his breaks outside, lounging in the sun or having a coffee with Alice in the staff’s room while they shared a box of doughnuts, but it was pouring outside and Alice was still on sick-leave.
He stretched his long and lanky legs out and wiggled his toes inside his worn-out shoes and took a sip of tea as he continued to look around, watching the visitors.
Two of them stood out to him in particular.
A tall dark-haired man holding the hand of a younger child with big and round glasses and dark curly hair. The child held tightly onto a whale plushie with his other hand, eyes excitingly dancing from tank to tank, asking questions and laughing loudly.
The man was talking to him in an equally loud voice, his Scottish accent curling around the names of the fish. He looked handsome in the blue light of the aquarium. Pale skin and high cheekbones, a straight nose with a silver septum piercing, dark scruff along his jaw.
Remus quickly averted his gaze back down to his cup and quietly took another sip, eyes slowly darting back to where the man was standing by the shark tank.
The child had his nose pressed against the enclosure, breath fogging up the glass.
It wasn’t an unusual sight but it still stood out to Remus a lot more than it usually would, and he wasn’t quite sure as to why.
Sirius
“Have you ever petted a shark, Sirius?” Harry asked and shortly turned his head to look up at Sirius, who was squatting beside him before Harry resumed to stare at the sharks, imitating their faces and the movements of their fins.
Sirius laughed and shook his head. “I haven’t, Harry,” he said. “But it wouldn’t be like petting Padfoot, you know? Sharks have very rough skin and it feels more like sandpaper. I don’t think you would enjoy petting them that much.”
Harry nodded and then continued, “I still think sharks would like it if you would pet them. They always look so sad.”
Sirius laughed loudly and gently patted Harry’s curly hair.
He reminded him so much of James, and Sirius thought back to the first time he had taken James to an aquarium. It had been a lot smaller than this one but they still had spent hours inside. James had pointed at random fish and Sirius had talked about their species for a while before James picked out another fish. They would each point at fish and say “he looks just like you”, laughing and gently shoving each other.
“I can ask them if you want,” he suggested with a smile. Harry turned and beamed at him, nodding his head.
Sirius proceeded to press his face against the window in the same way Harry did just seconds ago and began making strangled noises—groans, gurgling, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
To Sirius’ delight, Harry was laughing loudly and trying to imitate him, waving at the sharks and telling Sirius what else he should translate for him.
“Can you ask them if they like baked beans?”
“And do they prefer their eggs scrambled or poached?”
“What do they want to be when they grow up?”
“Do they have best friends? Do they want to be my best friend? And can I make them friendship bracelets?”
Sirius patiently translated all of Harry’s questions and after he was satisfied, Sirius got back up, took Harry by the hand and they continued to walk down the aisle, leaving the shark tank behind.
Remus
Remus watched the man and the child with a fond smile.
Remus himself was an only child and never planned on having children himself, but this scene warmed his heart a lot.
Not many adults actually took their time to listen to their children so this whole scene was a nice change of pace. Most of them would take their children to the aquarium to have them run around on their own for an hour or two while they get a coffee and a pastry from the café.
Remus emptied his cup and got up from where he was still sitting on the bench and, unknowingly or not, started following the man and the curly-haired child.
His break wasn’t over for another ten minutes and Remus figured he might as well get a few more steps in before having to squat down besides tiny tables in the arts and craft section of the aquarium for another birthday party.
They entered the coral reef exhibit next. It was one of Remus’ personal favourites with its bright colours, beautiful fish and corals, soft music and colourful lights.
Remus sat down on another bench, pretending to be very interested in the little infographic to his feet while he watched the man and the child out of the corner of his eyes.
Was this creepy? Maybe. But it’s not all day that a literal god walks around the aquarium who does not only have the most beautiful laugh Remus has ever heard but is also very caring towards children.
Remus bit his lip, anxiously chewing on it. The man, who Remus assumed must be called Sirius since the boy repeatedly called him that, was probably married to an equally gorgeous woman and probably lived the most perfect life that Remus could only dream off.
He was too awkward for dating apps and even more awkward on the blind dates that Alice would drag him to at least once a month, but also too awkward and anxious to simply approach people or shoot his shot, no matter how long he has been crushing on someone.
In summary, his love life was an absolute tragedy.
Sirius’ laugh focused Remus’ attention back to where he and the child were kneeling by one of the aquariums, watching the clownfish and the sea anemones.
“Did you know, Harry,” Sirius said and pointed at a clownfish, “that all clownfish are called Nemo? Their scientific name is Nemo clownonium.”
The child, apparently called Harry, started laughing and shook his head, curls dancing around his face. “Not true,” he protested and pointed at the info board to their right. “They are called Amphiprion ocellaris,” Harry read out with much trouble but grinned at Sirius triumphantly after he was done.
Remus hummed, watching the scene with a fond smile from the distance. It reminded him a lot of when his dad used to take him to the aquarium and he would spend hours teaching Remus all these complicated names, but Remus had been very eager to make his dad proud. He would often write all the names down in a little notebook and practice them in his bedroom long after bedtime.
“Okay, Professor Harry, then what are these called?” Sirius pointed at a sea anemone. “And no cheating!” He covered up the info board with his hand and patiently waited for Harry’s answer.
Remus huffed and shook his head before pushing himself off of the bench and slowly walking over to them and coming to a halt beside Harry. Remus pretended to drop his key and once he was squatting beside Harry, whispered, “They’re called Actiniaria.”
“Actinaiaia,” Harry repeated with another triumphant smile that lit up his entire face.
Remus picked his keys up with a chuckle. “Close enough, kid.” Then, after a second, he said, “Oh, I’m Remus, by the way. I… I work here.” He cleared his throat, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
He clearly didn’t think this one through well now, did he?
“That would explain the nametag and the funky lanyard. Do they sell these here? I’ve been dying to get my hands on one with manatees. You see, I did my PhD on manatees,” Sirius said, nonchalantly with a bright smile.
Remus couldn’t believe his ears.
This man, this absolute Adonis did his PhD on manatees and he thought that Remus’ lanyard looked funky. No one has ever called his lanyard anything even close to that.
Probably prompted by Remus’ fairly puzzled expression, Sirius quickly extended his hand and said, “I’m Sirius and this is my godson, Harry. Say hello, Harry.”
Remus, still trying to process the entire situation, grabbed Sirius’ hand and gave it a short but firm shake. “Remus. Well, it does say that on my nametag and I already introduced myself so… uh, yeah. Welcome to our aquarium, I guess.” He laughed quietly.
So Sirius wasn’t Harry’s father like Remus first suspected, but that still left the marital question unanswered, and even though his little approach was very brave in and of itself, Remus wasn’t feeling even remotely bold enough to just ask if Sirius was single.
This wasn’t some cheesy rom-com movie after all.
Harry, stuffed animal clutched to his chest, looked up at Remus with a goofy smile and waved at him. “Hello, I’m Harry. Do you like manatees?” he asked, pointing at Remus’ lanyard and the little manatee keychain he had attached to his trousers.
Sirius
He couldn't believe that Remus actually approached them and Sirius cursed himself internally for not following through with Harry’s plan until today.
When they first came to the museum about three months ago for Harry’s birthday, Sirius had been awestruck by Remus who was taking the kids around the aquarium from the very first moment.
It was a bit of a chliché moment, Sirius had to admit. The world seemed to slow down around them and he could feel his heartbeat vibrating through his entire body, a pang in his chest.
Since then he had taken Harry to the aquarium at least once a week, hoping that Remus would notice but apparently he didn’t so they all came up with a foolproof masterplan together.
Or rather Harry and James came up with it while Sirius listened patiently, as patiently as Sirius could, and Lily provided them with biscuits and orange juice.
“I do, actually. I like them a lot, in fact. They are right at the top spot of my favourite animals,” Remus said, his voice pulling Sirius back to reality. “Manatees are great. I’m pretty sure that we still have lanyards like this at the shop but I could also grab one from the back for you if you like. As a… gift for, uh, being so…” He vaguely gestured, trying to find the right words.
Sirius chuckled, finding his whole demeanour very endearing, and waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll check the shop out in a bit either way. I promised Harry a new stuffed animal for his collection.”
Sirius took a deep breath, running a hand through his ink-black hair before facing Remus with an unnerving fluttering in his chest and stomach. He wasn’t going to fuck this up after he spent hours practising this exact scenario. He could do this.
“Would you like to point us in the right direction? I think we got a little lost and, if you are free later, maybe I could thank you with coffee? Something from the gift shop? Dinner?”
Remus
Was Sirius… asking him out?
During all of the years that Remus has been working at the aquarium, no workday has ever been as strange as this one.
But it wasn’t strange in a way that made Remus want to crawl out of his skin and hide in the staff’s room for the rest of his shift.
No, it was strange in a way that was exciting and fun, making Remus’ stomach flip whenever his and Sirius’ eyes met in a clash of the grey sea and driftwood, rocking back and forth with the push and pull of the waves and the wind.
There was warmth blooming under his sternum, right by his heart, and Remus couldn’t help the big and goofy smile that began spreading across his face. He tried to hold it back by biting his lip but it was no help.
It was weird, the way Remus couldn’t stop himself from smiling, the way his heart was racing inside his chest. It felt familiar but still so different from everything Remus had ever felt before.
“I have to get back to work in a moment but I’m free in two hours. Maybe we could meet for some coffee? ” Remus replied, fumbling with his lanyard to keep his nervous hands busy.
Sirius nodded and smiled. “Coffee sounds good. Perfect, actually.”