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Chapter Text

Remus Lupin had no idea how he'd gotten himself in this situation.

How the fuck had he gotten to a point in his life where he could, not only afford to attend YouTube events, but be invited as a fucking creator?

That TikTok had been a joke, for god's sake. He had no idea how it had escalated to over a million subscribers on YouTube and almost double that on TikTok, for both him and all of his friends.

The festival was packed with life and the smells of a million different foods wafted around Remus. He recognised the band playing as the Marauders, consisting of James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black.

Oh god.

Sirius Black was in the vicinity of Remus Lupin.

Sirius Black- as in the hot, tattooed, pierced, drums playing Sirius Black- was in the vicinity of Remus Lupin. This wasn't good.

"Remus?" Lily tugged lightly on his jumper. "You okay? Do you need to sit down, or-"

"I'm fine, Lil," Remus interrupted. "You wanna go get some pizza or something? I saw a stall a few minutes ago."

"I was gonna go get some sushi with Marls, actually."

Remus frowned. "I really don't understand the appeal, it's literally raw fish."

"It's good!" Lily insisted.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Marls is here?"

"According to Dorcas they got through check in about five minutes ago. Mary says she'll be here in twenty minutes, she got stuck in traffic leaving the hotel."

Remus nodded. "Okay then, you go get your raw fish, I'll go to get my pizza. Reconvene in half an hour at the entrance, we can meet Mary there?"

"Deal," Lily walked off into the crowd as Remus turned back around to head towards the pizza stand, relying heavily on his crutches. He quickly arrived at the stand and joined the back of the line, as the Marauders finished their song and a new singer came onto the stage. Remus grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened up Instagram, taking a quick picture of the scene and uploading it to his story, before checking through some of the others' stories. Lily's had the familiar pictures from the hotel breakfast and their arrival at the event, Marlene's had a picture of her and Dorcas snogging, and-

Fuck

Sirius Black's had one of the Marauders getting onto the stage and another of him backstage, his hair sweaty and falling into his eyes, his eyeliner slick as always, the glitter on his cheeks catching in the sunlight...

Oh god he was shirtless.

Remus felt his cheeks warm. Wow, this guy was attractive. Like, insanely attractive.

"Um, sir?"

Remus looked up from oogling at Sirius Black to see he was next in line. "Oh, right!" He cringed, putting his phone back into his bag. "Sorry. I'll have a mini pepperoni, thanks." He pulled out his card and tapped it to the machine, taking his pizza from the cashier. He was about to head out towards the entrance when he felt a stabbing pain in his residual limb.

"Shit," he muttered, unable to use his crutches properly thanks to the pizza box. He looked around for the nearest bench, but it didn't look like any were in sight. "Shit," he repeated, looking around for anything he could sit on safely, just to put the box in his bag. He considered grabbing his phone to text Lily, but he didn't trust his balance to get his bag out.

He had one final, desperate look around for anywhere he could sit, but the best place he could find were a set of stairs, about a hundred metres away, presumably leading to backstage. Better than nothing, Remus decided, and attempted to push through the crowds, wincing as he felt the pain in his leg intensify.

Finally, he reached the steps that were, mercifully, clear of all people. He sat down and pulled his limb out of the prosthetic and rolled down his liner, inspecting the now bare skin for any bruises, blisters or a specific sore spot that could have been causing the pain. After a thorough check, he turned to look over his leg sleeve for any holes and-

"Shit," he cursed, finding a tiny hole in the sleeve, just big enough to let in the air and throw all the suction out the window. "Oh shit."

"Are you... okay?"

Remus jumped, reaching for his crutches to make a move if necessary.

"Woah!" Someone had come out of the door at the top of the stairs. "Careful! I'm not gonna hurt you."

Remus turned around to see whose path he was blocking and all air left his lungs. Sirius Black was standing there, in a black shirt patterned with white suns and stars, the top few buttons undone, revealing a deer and dog tattoo on his right pectoral, his sweaty hair up in a messy bun, held up by a drum stick, with a few locks falling into his eyes. He looked even hotter than in the pictures, this close.

Okay, Remus, you can do this. Don't say anything stupid, don't go red as a tomato, don't pass out from the sheer beauty of the man standing in front of you.

"I-" Remus started, feeling heat rise to his face. "Sorry, I just- I needed to check my leg and this was the only place I could sit without being trampled but I can go-"

"Don't worry," Sirius Black said, kneeling down to Remus' height. "Take as long as you need. Can I help?"

"Uh- Pardon?"

"Do you need any help?" Sirius repeated. "Should I call someone or-"

"No! It's okay- I can do it." Remus grabbed his bag and rummaged through it for his spare sleeve. "Um, I'll be a while if you wanna jump over me?"

"Nah," Sirius sat down on the step next to Remus. "No-one will be coming down here 'till he finishes his set," Sirius motioned to the singer on stage. "That'll be a good hour or so."

Remus nodded, looking through his bag one last time, going as far as to dump the contents on the stair in front of him. "Fuck," he muttered. "Oh, fuck me."

"What's up?" Sirius asked, frowning in what looked like concern. "You good?"

"Just-" Remus groaned. "So, there's a hole in my leg sleeve and it's letting in just enough air so the leg isn't suctioned on properly and when that happens it causes me a lot of pain but I forgot my spare sleeve so-"

"What can I do?"

"Pardon?"

Sirius chuckled. "I don't think I've ever met someone who says pardon unironically before," he said. "Can I help you?"

"No," Remus looked around. "Unless you have magic powers and can conjour me a sleeve out of nowhere, I'm slightly stuck."

"Do you need to head back to your hotel? Do you have one there?" Sirius asked, to which Remus shook his head.

"I don't need to go back, I have my crutches, this is just gonna be uncomfortable cause I have nowhere to put my leg so I kinda just have to live with it until we get back."

Sirius looked thoughtful. "You could keep it with our equipment?" Remus must have looked surprised and probably nervous, because Sirius turned red and continued quickly; "I mean, the room we keep it in is always locked, only we have the key and, I'd have to check with Pete and James, but they should be okay with it-"

"I can't," Remus interrupted. "If it gets lost and my clinic finds out I left it in a room alone they won't cover it and I'll have to pay for a new one, which I cannot afford right now."

"If it gets lost, I'll cover every penny," Sirius insisted. "It would be my fault, right? Mine or someone I trusted with it. You're being told it's safe, I promise, I will pay for the whole new leg if something happens. And I don't break my promises."

"But-" Remus stared at him, trying not to focus on how drop dead gorgeous he looked in that moment. "Why would you want to help me? You don't even know me."

"You're Remus Lupin, right?" Sirius asked and Remus' eyes widened.

"You- You know my name?" He said, instead of, 'Oh my god, Sirius Black knows my name!'

"I- I've seen some of your pride speeches," Sirius said, not quite meeting Remus' eye. Oh god, was he blushing? "I just- You've helped a lot of people, I've seen some of the work you've done. I wanna help you."

Remus felt his face grow warm. Sirius Black knew him. Sirius Black thought he helped people. Sirius Black wanted to help him.

Sirius fucking Black was offering to help Remus Lupin.

"Um- Yeah, actually," Remus said, putting his liner into its bag and into its own pocket in his rucksac, and pulled out a pair of fluffy green socks, patterned with lillies (yes they were a present from Lily) and put one of them over his stump.

"You carry fluffy socks and not a spare leg sleeve?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"I keep a pair of socks in every bag I own," Remus said stiffly. "The sleeve I have to move around because, unfortunately, you can't buy them from Sainsbury's." Remus grabbed his pizza box and put it in his bag, along with everything else that he'd dumped out on the stairs.

"Don't you wanna eat that?" Sirius asked, frowning.

"I can't unless I'm sitting."

"You're sitting right now," Sirius pointed out. "Can you eat it now, while it's still hot?"

"I- I shouldn't," Remus said. "I'm already taking up the stairs."

"I told you, no-one's gonna come by for an hour, you've got time," Sirius insisted. "C'mon, eat the pizza. Take a risk in life."

"I've taken many risks in my life," Remus said, wiggling his nub. "Though technically my parents took this one."

Sirius' brows furrowed. "You didn't get to choose?"

"I was four," Remus explained. "Imagine trying to explain the pros and cons of having a leg chopped off to a four year old."

Sirius chuckled as Remus opened the pizza box and took a bite. "Do you mind me asking what happened?" he asked.

"I stepped in a bear trap on holiday in America."

"You- what?" Sirius' face was a picture, so much so Remus couldn't keep up the act and he burst into laughter. "You're having me on," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry," Remus said through his laughter. "I've been wanting to try that one. Got a bit bored of the 'shark bit it off' story after fifteen years." Remus took another bite of his pizza. "The real story's much less interesting. Some guy Fenrir Greyback crashed into our car, right next to my seat. Broke my arm and a couple ribs but my leg was mangled, apparently. I've never seen a picture."

Sirius grimaced. "Fun."

"I know right?" Remus ate his pizza as he and Sirius continued lazy conversation, where Sirius remembered he hadn't actually told Remus his name yet.

"Oh god, where are my manners? Mother would be horrified!" He said, mock shame pouring onto his face. "Sirius Black," he stuck out a hand.

"I know," Remus said, before internally kicking himself. "Sorry, that was weird."

"I mean, I knew your name, it can't be that weird," Sirius joked.

"True." Remus finished up his pizza and wiped his hands on his jumper.

"I'll put that in the bin for you," Sirius said, grabbing the box and running over to the nearest bin, before running back. "You wanna come with me so you know where the leg is?"

Remus nodded. "That's such a weird statement out of context," he said, smiling.

"It is, isn't it?" Sirius grabbed the leg as Remus swung his bag on his back and reached for his crutches. Usually, he would never walk around in public without either his prosthetic or wheelchair, but there didn't seem like much of an option here. He'd become quite good at using crutches at home, but not in public, so it was a very odd experience, climbing the stairs and heading backstage while the only thing covering his nub was a fluffy sock. Sirius led him through the dark hallway and to a door labelled 'The Marauders'. He opened the door to reveal a small room, with a drum kit in one corner, next to a bass guitar leaning against the walls and two guys sitting on tables- one with warm brown skin and dark messy hair, wearing a pair of round glasses and one with a light dusting of freckles over his nose and fair blonde hair. James Potter and Peter Pettigrew.

"Hey Pads," James said. "Why are you holding a robot leg?"

"It's our new roommate," Sirius said, putting the leg on a table.

"Is there more of it?"

"It's usually attached to a human," Sirius said. "But it's broken-"

"Only the sleeve is broken," Remus corrected.

"Who's that?" Peter asked. "I thought we weren't allowed to bring people backstage."

"Yeah, but if you were leaving your limb in the care of someone else, you'd want to see where, wouldn't you?" Sirius said, leaning against the doorway.

"Why exactly is he leaving his limb here?" James looked over at Remus. "Everything okay?"

Remus tried to think of a way to simplify the situation, before deciding just to explain it. "So, there's a sleeve that keeps my leg attached to my stump, for lack of a better word, and the sleeve has a hole in it so it's really painful and Sirius very kindly offered to let me leave my leg in here to make my life a little easier."

James nodded. "Well, you're welcome to keep it in here while you're here. Just, maybe arrange a time to meet one of us so we can let you in and you can collect it?"

"Your bag is flashing," Peter said, causing Remus to frown.

"Can I sit?" Sirius nodded and Remus leant his crutches against the table and pulled himself onto it, taking his phone from his bag. "Shit," he muttered, noticing the time. He picked up the call from Lily, noticing three missed ones already.

"Remus, where are you?" Lily's frantic voice came from the other end of the phone. "We were supposed to meet ten minutes ago, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Remus told her. "My sleeve just has a hole in it-"

"What? Are you okay? Where are you? Do you have a spare one on you?" Remus heard the concern rise in Lily's voice and Marlene, Dorcas and Mary suddenly talking in the background.

"Woah, Lil, I'm okay," Remus said. "I, um- Okay, this is gonna sound weird, but I'm backstage right now."

"Excuse me?"

"Basically, I went to sit on the stairs leading to backstage to check my leg and Sirius Black came across me and basically offered to let me keep my leg in his dressing room for the rest of the day."

Remus could practically hear Lily frowning. "Are you sure that's safe?" She asked.

"I'm going to pay for it if anything happens," Sirius chimed in.

Lily made a low humming noise. "We're coming, Remus," she said. "You're sure you don't have a spare sleeve?"

"I emptied my bag out twice, I'm one hundred per cent sure."

"Then..." Lily sighed. "This does seem like the best option to keep you out of pain, but you know we can't afford a new leg. We're gonna need proof that Sirius has promised to pay for a replacement, just in case. If we don't have a video of him saying it or something in writing, this isn't safe."

"Okay," Remus said. "We'll get that video while you guys are coming."

"Where should we go to?"

"Uh, gimme a sec," Remus said, turning to Sirius, James and Peter. "Could one of you wait on the stairs to let my friends in?" James nodded and headed out the door. Remus turned back to his phone. "Go to the stage and walk a few metres back, there's another set of stairs, James Potter should be waiting there for you." Remus knew Lily was rolling her eyes, she found James endlessly arrogant, but, from the very small interaction he'd had with him, Remus thought he was okay. Better than he came off in the vlogs, at least.

"Okay," Lily said, and Remus heard rustling on the other side of the phone and her explaining the plan. "Remus, will you be okay 'till we get there?"

"Yeah," Remus said. "I'm not on my own, I'm inside, I'm sitting down, I just ate. I'm good, Lils. I'll see you in a few minutes."

"See you." With that, Lily hung up the phone. Remus stared at the messages she'd sent before Peter had noticed the light flashing.

Lily:

Remus, where are you?

Are you okay?

You're five minutes late

1x missed call

Remus please answer the phone

1x missed call

Remus

Remus please pick up

Remus where are you

1x missed call

I'm really worried, please answer me

Marlene:

Hello

Please answer Lily's calls

She's getting worried

I am too tbh

2x missed calls

Mary:

Remus, you good?

1x missed call

Answer someone please

1x missed call

"Oh shit," Remus muttered.

"You okay?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Remus put his head in his hands. "Just scared the shit out of my friends."

"You were only ten minutes late, right?" Sirius frowned. "If you were gone an hour, I'd get it but-"

Remus shifted uncomfortably. "I just..." He sighed. "Lily's been my friend literally my whole life and... There have been times where I've gotten into accidents or gotten hurt or just gotten stuck cause of a problem with my leg. One time when we were sixteen I texted her from an ambulance cause I'd fallen over and broken one of the bones in my nub-"

Sirius snorted. "Nub."

"Sounds better than stump, doesn't it?" Remus rolled his eyes. "Lily came up with it. Anyways, I was rushed into emergency surgery but, in her eyes, if she'd found me sooner, I wouldn't have been."

"How on Earth was it her fault?"

"I may or may not have been pissed."

"You were sixteen!"

Remus stared at Sirius, unimpressed. "You're telling me you never drank before you were eighteen?"

"I just mean, did the hospital not figure it out and fine you?"

"We were on a skii trip in Austria! Legal drinking age for beer and wine is sixteen there. Mum was a little pissed at me for getting myself so drunk that I fell so hard on the pavement that I broke my nub but we laugh about it now."

"Except Lily?"

"Except Lily," Remus confirmed. "As you can probably tell." He hesistated. "Also, it's not like me to not pick up my phone, I usually send a text if something's happened so that probably didn't help."

"Sounds like she cares about you."

Remus nodded. "She does," he murmured.

Sirius hopped off the table he was sitting on. "Well, guess we should get that video she wanted." Remus pulled out his phone and hit record. Sirius picked up the leg. "I, Sirius Orion Black, solemnly swear that if anything happens to this leg while it is in my dressing room, I will pay Remus..." He paused. "What's your middle name?" He hissed.

"John," Remus said, holding back a laugh.

"I will pay Remus John Lupin every penny for a replacement and any other costs that come with the loss of the leg."

Remus ended the recording, just as the door to the dressing room opened and Lily stormed in.

"Remus?" She said, her red ponytail swinging wildly. She looked around before finally laying eyes on him. "Remus!" She took the distance between the table and the doorway in two strides and reached Remus, pulling him into a hug. "Oh god, never do that again!"

"Lil, it was ten minutes."

"You always pick up your phone, I thought it was Austria again or something!"

"Okay, Austria only happened because I got too pissed, pretty sure there's no alcohol here."

"Not the point, Remus!" Lily groaned. "Did you get the video?"

"Yep," Remus said, showing her his phone. She plucked it out of his hands and Marlene, Mary and Dorcas each gave him a quick hug.

"I've sent myself the video." Lily handed Remus back the phone and turned to Sirius. "Anything happens to this leg, you're responsible."

Sirius nodded, looking ever so slightly (see: very) intimated by her. Remus decided to step in (well, as best as he could, considering he couldn't walk)

"When should I come back to collect it?"

"Um..." Sirius paused. "Y'know what, gimme your phone."

"Pardon?"

"I'll put my number in," Sirius clarified, looking over at Lily nervously. "You can text me when you're ready to leave, we're around 'till they kick us out."

"We're on from three to four!" James added. "So not then."

Remus gave Sirius the phone and he typed in his number, before handing it back. Lily grabbed Remus' crutches and helped him stand.

"Need any help getting out?" Sirius asked.

"No, we're good," Remus said. "Thanks though."

Sirius smiled. "See you around, Remus."

"See you around, Sirius."

Chapter Text

Remus

Lily still scares me

She's not that bad

Did you see that death glare she gave me? Petrifying

You are so dramatic

You'd like Marlene

I do like Marlene's chaotic gayness

Reminds me of myself

Somehow that doesn't surprise me

Also you're both short

How very DARE you

You are just OBSCENELY tall

"What are you laughing at?" James flopped down onto Sirius' bed, peering over his shoulder. "Remus?"

"Oh, fuck off," Sirius quipped, putting his phone face down on the bed. "I was just making sure his leg's okay."

"That's the fifth time this week you've checked, you'll put him off at this rate," James ruffled Sirius' hair, causing a noise of complaint.

"Hey! I spent a long time on that!"

"I could smudge your eyeliner if you'd prefer?"

"Nope!" Sirius shielded his face from James. "Nope, nope, nope! Do not touch my eyeliner unless you want to die."

"I'll take my chances," James rolled his eyes. "How's the collab going?"

"I..." Sirius paused. "Haven't asked yet," he added quietly.

"Just give it here!" James put his hand out and Sirius, though reluctantly, handed him the phone.

Remus

Up for a collab any time soon?

"James!" Sirius snatched the phone back. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I did."

Sirius glanced down at the phone and contemplated deleting the message, until he saw the two ticks. Read. Then, three typing dots appeared on his screen.

Fuck.

"James Potter, I officially hate you," Sirius stared at the screen, waiting for the response to come through.

Remus

Sure :)

Then a second message.

When?

Sirius quite possibly was about to die.

He, James and Peter were standing on the doorstep to Remus Lupin's house, and his fist was raised, about to knock.

"Padfoot, just knock on the damn door," James rolled his eyes. "I know you have a big fat juicy crush on him and all, but that's not an excuse to stand there like a lemon waiting for the door to open itself."

"I do not have a crush on him!"

"You really do," Peter said lazily, stepping forwards and pressing the doorbell. "There you go, done."

"Gee, thanks Pete." Sirius considered lighting a cigarette, before deciding that it would probably be rude considering they were just about to enter someone's home. They waited at the door for a few moments before it swung open and the face of Lily Evans revealed itself.

"Come in," she said, smiling at them. Sirius tried not to act too surprised. She'd probably only been acting scary that day because she was worried about Remus, she obviously cared a lot about him.

That being said, Sirius would be lying if he said he wasn't a little scared of her.

Lily led them through the house to a room which lay at the very end of the hallway. It had two plush, forest green sofas, covered with black cushions patterned with sunflowers, a television above a brick fireplace and many framed pictures adorning the walls.

Remus sat on the right sofa, his prosthetic leg nowhere to be seen, his nub covered by a wolf patterned sock. He was fiddling with something on his camera and the Hunger Games was playing on the TV. Lily tapped his shoulder.

"Oh! Hey Sirius," he said, looking up from the camera. "James, Peter. Don't suppose any of you know why this thing isn't bloody working, do you?"

Peter put a hand out for the camera and, within two minutes, handed it back to Remus.

"Behold our cameraman," Sirius said, nudging Peter. "Remember those days, Pete?"

"The days before you two forced me to learn bass? I long for them."

"You love it really," James looked over at Remus. "What's the plan then?"

"Well, I put up a very cryptic instagram story asking for Ask Me Anything and Never Have I Ever suggestions with three special guests yesterday so we'll do those. Then we can do whatever you guys want, then order a Chinese or something."

Sirius smirked. "I know what we can do."

"Sirius, no," Peter said, fear seeping onto his face. James grinned mischievously.

"Sirius yes!"

"Does this involve drugs, alcohol or rooftop jumping because, if so, you are not doing that in my house," Lily said, crossing her arms over her white vest, patterned with small blue rosebuds.

"Drugs, no, rooftop jumping, no, alcohol yes," said Sirius, checking them off his fingers. "I've had Say It or Shot It questions in my notes for AGES, we need to do them."

"We don't even own shot glasses," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "So that's out either way."

"Actually," Remus said, raising a hand sheepishly. "Remember that night last month when I got a little too pissed with Marlene?"

"You mean when I found you sprawled on the sofa because you threw your leg into the garden? Yes I remember."

"Well, before you got home, we may have made some... impulse purchases, on Amazon."

"You what?" Lily looked as if she was teetering between frustration and laughter. "So, we've had shot glasses lying around the house for a month that I didn't know about?"

"Pretty much, yeah," said Remus, grabbing the crutches that were lying next to him on the sofa and opened a draw, pulling out a box of six, unopened shot glasses.

"You kept them in your leg draw?" 

"You never look in there!" Remus protested. "Anyway, there's so much empty space in there when my leg isn't."

Lily just rolled her eyes and snatched the glasses off the counter. "We're doing this last, you're not filming anything drunk."

"Oh, Lily," said James sympathetically. "That's what we do, some of our best hits were written drunk." Lily glared at him and put the glasses away.

Remus left the room and returned a few minutes later, balancing a tripod with his crutches. Lily shot him a look which he either didn't see or ignored and he sat back down, setting up the tripod and camera. "Oh shit, Lil could you grab my phone? I left it in my chair!" He said, pushing back the tripod. He looked up at James, Sirius and Peter expectantly. "Are you three gonna sit down, or?"

"Oh, yeah. Go on Padfoot, sit down," James said, shoving Sirius onto the sofa next to Remus. Sirius shot James a glare as he slid down on the sofa, and Peter followed, sitting on James' other side.

Lily re-entered the room and handed Remus his phone, sitting on his other side. Remus clicked it open.

"Oh, Lil, one of Dorcas' friends is in town for a couple weeks, she wants us to meet him," he said, before switching from WhatsApp to Instagram. "Okay, so, Ask Me Anything or Never Have I Ever?"

"Never Have I Ever," Sirius replied, without missing a beat. "Much, much juicier."

"Okay then." Remus leant forward to press record on the camera. "Hello there! My name is Remus and today I have not one, not two, not even three but four special guests with me today. Starting off with the wonderful Lily, who you guys have met before," Lily waved at the camera. "-And three boys who you may know. Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, also known as the Marauders."

marauderslover18

Okay hear me out- Remus and Sirius? Anyone else see it?

mentallyillchicken

6:32 R: "Never have I ever gotten so drunk I hurt myself." 

James and Sirius: *look of pure terror*

Peter: *look of pure joy*

randominternetstranger

The way I SQUEALED when I saw the Marauders! Collab of the century right here!

olivia(maraudersversion)

The chemistry between Sirius and Remus here is unmatched! Love this!

edit: Mom I'm famous!

padfootsgirl

new follower here! always loved the marauders and love remus now too

taylornation1989

Babe wake up, Remus posted!

i_like_u_have_a_cupcake

8:09 Anyone else catch the way Sirius is looking at Remus here? New ship alert?!

anonymouse

This is the collab we've all been waiting for! My life is complete

marauders_lover_forever

5:48 Lily's face 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

rabidshipper3478

Remus did WHAT?! Also how did Sirius know about that?!

Sirius felt his face grow warm as he scrolled through the comments on Remus' Never Have I Ever video. They'd decided to upload that one first to see how it did before putting the other ones out there and, safe to say, it was a resounding success.

Unfortunately, Sirius hadn't been quite as subtle as he thought he had been because it seemed people had picked up on his big fat crush on Remus. When he opened TikTok, he found himself tagged in approximately a thousand 'wolfstar' ship edits.

Sirius would never cease to be amazed by the quality of ship edits people could get from one single thirteen and a half minute long video.

His phone pinged and a text popped up on the screen.

Remus

You can post the shot it video whenever you want :)

Damn Remus Lupin and his obsession with using smiley faces when texting. Not even the emoji ones, for fuck's sake, just the colon and bracket, which was more attractive for some reason.

He shot back a quick reply and threw his phone across the room.

"PADFOOT!" James yelled from the hallway.

"PRONGS!" Sirius yelled back as James ran into the room and collapsed on the bed.

"I am in love."

"Oh, yeah?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Who with?"

"Lily Evans."

Sirius scoffed. "Good luck there mate."

"What? I think I have a shot."

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Lily Evans?"

James paused for a second, before slumping on Sirius shoulder, sighing in disappointment. "I can still dream."

"I mean, as long as it's not Pete, I'm okay," said Sirius while shoving James, who stared at him blankly for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

"Yeah-" he said through wheezes. "Not gonna happen, Pads. I love Wormtail but- No."

Sirius shrugged and grabbed his notebook from his bedside table and a pen. He looked through the lyrics he'd written so far, before grabbing the edge of the page, tearing it out, crumpling it up and throwing it to the bin, getting a perfect shot.

"I always said you should have played basketball in school," said James, nodding at the shot.

"I'd get kicked off the team," said Sirius. "I got kicked off the football team easy enough, didn't I?" 

"To be fair-"

"Shut up Prongs." Sirius groaned, staring down at the blank page. "So apparently I can't write songs any more."

"Try Chat GPT," James suggested and Sirius shot him a look.

"Hm... No."

"We haven't done a cover for YouTube in a while," James said. "We could do some of those?"

"Yeah, but I still need the ability to write something, we promised a new album at some point in the next year."

James stood up and grabbed the crumpled paper from the bin and reading it through. "This is pretty good."

"But it's not-" Groaning, Sirius snatched the paper from his hands. "It's not right."

James raised an eyebrow, grabbing Sirius' phone from where it was discarded on the floor. "What's wrong with it?"

"I-" Sirius rubbed at his head with his hand, sighing. "It's not- I'm trying to actually put feelings and stuff into it and I'm not very good at it."

"You've never put feelings into songs before," James pointed out.

"Switching it up?" Sirius said lamely and James raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay, fine!" He took a deep breath, not meeting James' eye. "I'vebeenthinkingaboutRegulusandIkindastartedwritingasongabouthimbutIcan'tgetittosoundright."

"Woah, woah, woah, Padfoot, I didn't understand a word of that! Slower this time," said James, putting Sirius' phone on the mantelpiece and sitting in the black leather armchair Sirius had been given for Christmas by Effie and Monty.

"I've been thinking about Regulus," Sirius repeated, slowing down. Unfortunately, if he slowed down, he could hear what he was saying, something he was trying to avoid. "I'm trying to write a song about him but nothing sounds right."

James frowned. "What brought this on?"

"Writing a song?"

"Thinking about Regulus," James said, no longer joking. "You haven't thought about him in ages."

Sirius paused for a moment. "I saw him."

"Where?"

"I mean, I think it was him."

"Where, Sirius?" James repeated. "Where did you see him?"

"He was in Zizzi," Sirius said. "I was walking past and saw him in the window. He was- I don't know."

"When was this?"

"Saturday." It was Tuesday now.

"So you've been thinking about him since Saturday and didn't say anything?" Sirius shook his head. "Why not?"

Shrugging, Sirius opened his notebook again. "Can I try and actually write something?"

"As long as you promise to talk to me later," said James firmly. "I thought we agreed, no more bottling everything up. Then, we can talk about setting you up with Remus."

"Wha- I don't have a crush on Remus."

Chapter Text

Lily ferried Remus out of the house as Mary pulled up outside.

"Let me get my shoe on, bloody hell!"

"Hop!"

"I can't hop!" Remus pulled his shoe on his prosthetic and stood up. "Right, now I'm ready."

Lily grabbed her bag- a small black one that couldn't fit much in it- and slung the strap over her shoulder, grabbing Remus' arm and dragging him out the door. They made their way down the drive and loaded themselves into Mary's car.

"I call shotgun!" Lily yelled and opened the passenger seat door, sliding in. Remus stuck his tongue out but got into the back either way. Mary laughed as she turned the key, starting up her car.

"You two act like you're five most of the time."

"In our defense, it was only fourteen years ago." Remus said, pulling the seatbelt over his shoulder and strapping himself in.

"Where are we going again?" Mary asked, as Lily got up the satnav on her phone.

"Zizzi," Lily answered. "Take the next left."

Remus' phone buzzed in his pocket and he clicked it open.

Sirius

pick a number between 1 and 10

Remus snorted. Sirius loved playing little games like this and Remus quite enjoyed obliging. He'd never admit it- especially not to Lily, who'd become insufferable since Remus and Sirius had become friends- but he found it quite hot.

6

okay

pick a letter

M

pick a colour

Red

tell me a secret

Every time, Remus thought. Every time Sirius played one of his games, he tried to trick Remus into telling a secret and every time, Remus shot back with something stupid. No secrets were getting past these lips.

I'm a werewolf

"What are you laughing at?" Mary asked, looking over at Remus as they hit a red light.

"Sirius, probably," said Lily. "They've been texting non stop, it won't be long before they confess their love for each other."

"Oh shut up," Remus rolled his eyes and watched the screen as another message popped up on the screen.

whatcha doin

Making someone else a werewolf

Dorcas, Marlene and Dorcas' friend were already at a table by the window when they arrived.

Marlene waved them over and they took up the three spare seats at the table.

"Hey guys," said Dorcas. "This is Regulus. Regulus, this is Lily, Mary and Remus," Dorcas pointed to each of them as she spoke.

"Nice to meet you, Regulus," Remus put out his hand and shook Regulus'. Regulus had black curls cut to his ears and pale skin, his eyes a piercing silvery grey, not dissimilar from Sirius'. Remus found himself comparing the two of them quite a lot. They had similar sharp cheekbones and a slightly aristocratic way of speaking, Regulus slightly more than Sirius, who tended to drop a few letters here and there.

"So, Regulus," said Lily as their food came out. "What do you do?"

"I work in a bookshop," Regulus replied, taking a forkful of his pasta.

"You two will get on then," Lily said, nudging Remus. "Our house is full of books, in every single room."

"Oh, you two live together?" Regulus asked, looking between Lily and Remus.

"Yeah," Remus put down his slice of pizza and gulped down some water. His phone buzzed but he clicked it to silent under the table, not checking the screen for who the notification was from.

"How long?"

"Just over a year," Lily answered. "After we finished Sixth Form, it just made more sense because someone can't keep his shit together half the time."

"Oh, shut up Lils," Remus slapped her gently and she snorted. "It's only like a quarter of the time."

Everyone cracked up at that, before the conversation moved on and they ordered dessert. Remus always thought you could learn a lot from someone based off what they got for dessert.

Remus got a chocolate melt, Lily got lemon swirl cheesecake, Mary got a zillionaire's fudge cake, Marlene got dark cherry and amaretto cheesecake, Dorcas got a salted caramel chocolate brownie and Regulus got the vanilla gelato, which came with a shot of Aluna coffee liqueur.

Mary took a bite of her cake and looked at Regulus. "Do you have any siblings?"

Regulus stiffened, spooning some ice cream into his mouth, which Remus knew was a cue to avoid answering. "I don't speak to my brother," he finally said, in such a way that no-one dared to ask a follow up question. Remus studied Regulus carefully. He sat quite straight and, when he'd been eating his spaghetti, he'd always put it onto the fork and used the spoon to curl it around the prongs, in the way someone who'd been raised to never ever slurp spaghetti would. His shoulders were always pushed back, his head held high. He had very good posture for an eighteen year old, Remus thought.

If he was to guess, Regulus had been brought up by some rich, upper class family and they'd become estranged over the years, probably because they had stupidly high expectations that Regulus couldn't fulfill. His brother either stayed with the family or left before Regulus did, creating some bad blood.

Remus ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth, licking up the final dregs of chocolate from his melt as Dorcas called over the waiter for the bill. Remus pulled out his card but she waved it away.

"My treat," she said, smiling as Remus got ready to protest. "If it matters that much, you can pay next time."

Remus let out a breathless laugh. "Thanks, 'Cas."

"Course Rem."

In the two weeks Regulus was in town, Remus met him a total of six times.

The first was at Zizzi, the second at Dorcas' place, the third at the market with the gang, the fourth and fifth at Dorcas' place again.

The sixth, however, had been completely unplanned.

Remus was browsing at the small business bookshop in their area, currently balancing three paperbacks and one hardback in one hand, his phone in the other, reading Sirius' latest rant, this time on how he had no clue that penguins could be gay.

Sirius

I'm just saying

How could you have known this fact and just not said ANYTHING

Like I always liked penguins

They're like me

Small and dramatic

Pretty sure they're only dramatic in Madagascar

But now they're GAY as well!

It's official

penguins are my spirit animal

I thought a dog was your spirit animal

yeah well

James came up with that

We need to change my name from padfoot to finfoot

brb gonna tell james we need to change my name

Remus looked up from his phone just in time to avoid walking into a guy, also carrying a load of books and looking at the blurb of a bright yellow one. "Oh, I'm so sor- Regulus?"

"Oh, hi Remus," Regulus put the book back on the shelf quickly, before Remus could see what it was.

"What're you- what're you doing here?" Remus asked, before cringing at himself. "That's a dumb question, buying books obviously."

Regulus snorted. "Yeah. It's my friend's birthday soon, I'm looking for a present for her." Remus scanned the pile of books.

"She's into astrology then?"

"That's the mild way of putting it," said Regulus, smiling fondly. "I'm hoping to find a colouring book or something, she likes fairies as well."

"You wanna check out Laila's," Remus suggested. "It's a few doors down from here, full of fairy trinkets and books."

"How do you know-"

"Lily had a fairy phase when we were fourteen." It was Remus' turn to smile, remembering. "She also had an astrology phase, so I could probably ask her for some recommendations if you want?"

"I-" Regulus paused for a moment. "Yeah, actually. That would be helpful, thanks."

"Any time. I'll just go to pay, then we can go to Laila's." Remus couldn't help but slip a glance at the book Regulus had been looking at. The T in LGBT, by Jamie Raines.

Remus had been considering checking that one out for a while, but left it behind. Just in case Regulus wanted it.

Once they'd paid, they both headed out and walked across the pavement to Laila's Fairy Teashop. It sold the best fairy cakes and had a whole section in the front filled with fairy gifts. Books, statues, moneyboxes, clothes, you name it, they have it.

Regulus looked around, finally deciding on a colouring book and small ornament with a fairy sitting on her legs, wearing a cornflower blue dress and matching wings, a blue, purple and yellow flower crown sitting atop a head of pale blonde curls. He went up to the till and paid for them, while Remus bought a box of fairy cakes to take home for him and Lily to demolish in less than an hour.

As they were leaving, Remus got his phone out and opened a new contact, handing it to Regulus. "Here," he said. "Put yourself in. I can text you the astrology stuff when I have it."

Regulus began typing in when he looked up at Remus. "You have a message."

"Who from?"

Regulus ran his finger from the top of the screen downwards to reveal the notification and a look flashed over his face. Only for a moment though and, before Remus could even begin to decipher it, it was gone. "Sirius."

"Oh, he's probably just talking about gay penguins again, it's not important," Remus said as Regulus handed the phone back.

"Yeah, um. Thanks, Remus," Regulus nodded and began to walk away. Remus frowned, confused by the sudden getaway, but shrugged it off and headed back home.

Remus glanced up at the clock. Eight and a half minutes until three o'clock and he could go home and get to his editing. His video was due up tomorrow at noon and he hadn't even begun on editing.

This was why Lily kept telling him to hire an editor to do it for him, like everyone else, including her. Remus refused, partially because he was a stubborn arse and partially because he quite enjoyed his editing. It was one of his favourite parts of the video making process, even if he always left it to the last minute.

"Oi, Lupin!" Fabian snapped his fingers in front of Remus' face. "Less than ten minutes left, mate, concentrate."

"He's probably just dreaming about some hot guy," Gideon chimed in from where he was wiping down some tables in preparation for closing. "Remember when Molly met Arthur for the first time?"

"Wha- It's not always a guy, you two!" Remus protested as the door opened and in walked-

Remus almost choked on his own saliva as Sirius Black walked into the cafe. Where Remus worked. Well, shit.

Gideon and Fabian exchanged a look as Remus straightened himself out. He was somewhat relieved to see Sirius was having a similar reaction to seeing Remus.

"Oh, hi," he said, clearing his throat.

"Hi," said Remus as Fabian shot him a questioning glance. It was true, Remus had been caught stalking Sirius' Instagram on his break. Possibly more than once. Which meant that this recent development was probably quite surprising for Gid and Fab. They didn't really watch Remus' channel so they wouldn't have seen the videos he'd filmed with Lily and the Marauders and they probably didn't check his Instagram enough to see his few stories with Sirius.

"Um, I didn't know you worked here," Sirius said, absent mindedly twirling a loose strand of hair between his fingers. His black curls were, as usual, up in a bun with a drum stick stuck through them. He was wearing a licensed maroon Marauders t-shirt with Padfoot written underneath the logo, jeans and a black leather jacket.

"Yeah," Remus looked up at the clock. "We close in a few minutes though so-"

"Oh, god, sorry," Sirius cringed. "Peter and James sent me to get some coffee, we've been up since five." Remus whistled under his breath. "Yeah, I know right?"

"What could you possibly be doing that requires you to wake up at five in the morning?" Remus asked, getting three cups ready.

"Practising a couple new-" Sirius was cut off by a yawn, which he stifled behind his hand. "New songs," he finished. He opened his phone and read from the screen. "'Iced brown sugar oat milk double shot espresso', and two very large, very black coffees, to go."

"Who's the espresso for?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"James," Sirius pulled a face, pulling out his wallet. "He has an aversion to plain coffee, white or black, to the point he went to Starbucks near our house at nearly eleven at night and ordered three chocolate double shot espressos instead of just drinking the homemade stuff."

Remus snorted as he and Fabian started on the drinks. "I thought Peter didn't drink coffee?"

"Most of the time, he's a tea guy. But as soon as we have a concert or practise, he'd downing more caffeine than what's probably healthy," said Sirius, tapping his card to the machine.

Remus and Fabian finished up the drinks and handed them over to Sirius on a cup tray, before hanging up their aprons and Gideon began to lock up. Remus grabbed his bag from the back room and slung it on his back, holding the door open for Sirius as they walked out together.

"Why thank you good sir," said Sirius, before yawning again, and Remus bowed, before beginning his walk to the bus stop. "Oh, we're going the same way, awesome."

"You live around here?" Remus asked, looking curiously at Sirius.

"Nope," he replied. "But lovely old Dolores downstairs would throw a fit if we used my drums and Pete's bass and the microphone in our lounge and there's not enough space anyway. We rent a studio down the road from here when we need to practise."

Remus nodded. "I don't suppose you're allowed to tell me what the new songs are?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I heard your management's quite strict about music."

"Nah, we're not with that bastard any more," Sirius pulled a face. "Albus Dumbledore has one, a dumb name, and two, a really shitty management company. We got out of there as soon as we could. My cousin's husband does some of the stuff for us, but, on the most part, we manage ourselves now."

Before Remus could get an answer in, his phone buzzed.

Lily

Your bus was cancelled, I'm gonna come get you

"Who's that?" Sirius asked, a little too quickly.

"Lily," answered Remus. "My bus isn't coming." He quickly typed out a response before putting his phone back in his pocket.

I can walk, dw

"So who wrote these new songs then?" Remus asked, scratching an itch on his nose. It was pretty common knowledge that, though James sang the songs, every Marauder wrote their own music.

Sirius swallowed awkwardly before answering; "Me."

"Oh cool," said Remus. "What're they about?"

"Oh, just, y'know," Sirius gestured awkwardly with the hand that wasn't holding the tray. "Life and stuff."

"Yes, that's the best thing to write a song about. Life and stuff, so inspiring."

"Oh, shut up," Sirius elbowed him gently in the ribs. He was quiet for a minute, before sighing. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"One of them's about my brother."

"Oh?"

"We don't really... Talk. Any more," he said, and Remus noticed the way he didn't meet his eye, the way his free hand fiddled with a loose strand of hair. "He's trans. And gay. And I'm gay, but you knew that already. And our parents are really, really homophobic."

Remus nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

"They sucked anyway, homophobia was just another part of their shitty personalities. They hit us and stuff when we were kids, but he kind of sucked up to them, thinking they'd... I don't know, like him more. They treated him better, he played the part of their perfect daughter well, I was just the rebellious son. I would have moved into James' house when I was thirteen but I didn't because I knew my brother would never come with me, he loved them too much. He was so convinced they'd change for him, he actually came out when he was fourteen. They, as expected, flipped out. He eventually managed to weedle them down and agree to go to their 'therapy', just to stay in the house and went back in the closet. When I was sixteen, we, my mum and I, had a really bad fight and I ran away to James' and I tried to bring my brother with me but he refused to go. He stopped talking to me after that, even at school, I think he blocked my number or something, cause that's the last I heard from him."

Remus swallowed as Sirius kicked a silver diet coke can lying in the middle of the floor, scowling.

"I'm sorry," Remus said finally, before groaning. "Sorry, that was a dumb thing to say. What I meant is, that really sucks and... I don't know, I'm not really good with words."

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, me either." They walked in silence for a few metres before Remus spoke.

"My dad killed himself when I was five."

Sirius choked on thin air. "What?"

"You told me something," said Remus, fiddling with his fingers. "So I'm gonna tell you something, if you want me to?"

"Seems fair."

"Yeah," Remus cleared his throat. "It was eighteen months after the accident. I could walk again but, I don't know, I guess it got too much for him? I was on my... second? Yeah, that's right, second leg and I came out of a surgery to fix some bone overgrowth to find out he was dead."

"Ouch," said Sirius. "And you were five?"

"Yup."

"Did your mum... Like, tell you what happened?"

"Not till I was fourteen. Actually, I worked it out. Because they told me it was a heart attack, but Dad didn't have Coronary Heart Disease or anything, but that's not the only way it happens, but then I heard someone say something about him being selfish and that didn't make any sense because he didn't do anything wrong to cause a heart attack and then I remembered something my mum told me when I asked why he didn't talk to me as much after the accident and she said he was feeling kind of sad and then I just asked Mum outright if he'd killed himself. There was a lot of crying and some yelling and that conversation ended in me going upstairs and slamming the door and I didn't talk to her for a week unless I absolutely had to. I hadn't been that pissy ever, and I was a very pissy kid."

Remus couldn't quite believe he was saying all this. Only Lily and his mum knew this, he'd never dared tell anyone else. Not even Mary, Marlene and Dorcas. Not even his ex, when they'd been together. Why was he telling Sirius, who he'd known all of a month?

Maybe Sirius felt like he was safe to tell? Like he wouldn't judge? But the girls wouldn't judge him, and he hadn't told them.

Maybe it was because Sirius had told him something personal? Yeah, that was probably it.

"Wow," Sirius said after a moment of silence. "So we both had pretty shit childhoods then?"

"Guess so," Remus said. Silently, he was curious about Sirius' brother. Did he ever get out of the house? Was he living as himself now? He hoped so.

Eventually, Sirius turned the corner and Remus continued on straight. "Well, guess this is where we part," Sirius said.

"Seems that way," said Remus. "See you around Sirius."

"See you around Remus."

Chapter Text

The Marauders

Thorpe Park Vlog

James is holding the camera in the living room in a white top and brown plaid shirt, Peter is in the background sitting in a sea of shoes and Sirius is nowhere to be found

James: Why hello there Marauder apprentices, we are here in our flat but we will not be for long, we are going to the wonderful place that is Thorpe Park and you lovely lot are obviously coming with us.

James pans the camera around the room where three small suitcases are open, two full of clothes and one completely empty.

James: Sirius retreated into the bathroom at approximately seven thirty and we haven't seen him since. It's now nearly nine and we have to leave in less than half an hour and he isn't even packed yet. And Pete can't choose between his fifty pairs of shoes. You only need one pair y'know Wormy?

Peter: Oh har har.

James: Just wear the black ones, we need to find Pads. There's no way he's still in the bathroom.

Peter: This is Sirius we're talking about, right?

James: No-one needs an hour and a half in the bathroom, how long does it take to shower and brush your teeth? SIRIUS WE'RE GOING IN TWENTY FOUR MINUTES, IF YOU ARE NOT HERE AND PACKED WE'RE LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!

Sirius enters the room wearing leather trousers and a black and white star patterned shirt, the top two buttons undone, revealing his tattoo. His hair is in a french plait and he has winged eyeliner on.

Sirius: No need to shout Prongs.

James: You need to pack.

Sirius: Excuse me, I just filmed a very in depth get ready with me where I discussed LGBTQIA+ rights and my gayness, I'm allowed to not be packed.

Sirius turns to the camera

Sirius (stage whispering): I'll link it up in the i button

James: Seriously? Pads we're leaving in twenty two minutes, why on Earth were you filming a get ready with me?

Sirius: I wanted to. I'm making content for this channel, you should be grateful! You're acting like your mum, all my clothes are on my bed.

James: So put them in the suitcase and hurry up or we will leave you behind.

Sirius is standing on the front step of Remus' house, filming himself

Sirius: We are here picking up our fourth adventure go-er for this weekend, who, as some of you guessed on our Instagram story, is in fact, the one and only Remus Lupin. Who has not yet opened the door. So, I will give you the run down of what the hell is going to happen this weekend. We intend to skip all the queues and go on as many rides as possible in the two days we are there. Basically we're just gonna wing it and hope for the best, in usual Marauders style chaos.

Suddenly, Sirius turns the camera on the door where Lily is standing.

Lily: REMUS HURRY UP! SIRIUS IS HERE AND MARLS AND MARY ARE GETTING HERE SOON SO YOU NEED TO BE GONE!

Remus (from the top of the stairs): REAL NICE LILS! I'M COMING!

Remus comes down the stairs and Sirius grabs his suitcase as he is carrying a blue duffle with patches on it, including a pride flag, disability pride flag, 'Disabled isn't a bad word', 'I'm not broken-just missing a few pieces', 'Some assembly required' and 'Well I'm stumped' patches sewn on. He grabs his crutches from where they're leaning against the wall.

Remus: Thanks Sirius.

Sirius: No problem Moony.

Remus: That is not becoming a thing

Cuts to the boys entering the car

James: Hey Moony

Remus: You made it a thing didn't you?

Sirius: Wow, if looks could kill I'd be dead the moment you glanced at me Moony.

Peter: Leave it Remus, as soon as they have a nickname in their head, it's stuck forever. Did you think I chose to be called Wormtail?

Remus: See now I'm curious.

Sirius: We'll link the video that explains our nicknames up in the i, you guys have heard this story before.

The boys are in the car, James driving, Peter in the passenger seat and Remus and Sirius sitting in the back. Remus is asleep, his head leaning on the window.

Sirius: Our dear old Moony here has fallen asleep twenty five minutes into the journey. We'll keep you updated on how long he sleeps for.

Cuts to Sirius sat in his bedroom, wearing a plain black hoodie with Padfoot written in bold white letters.

Sirius: Hi, it's future Sirius popping in here because we forgot to give you the Moony update. He did, in fact, sleep for the entire remainder of the journey and I had to shake him awake five minutes before we got to the park. Okay, back to the vlog.

The camera shows James focusing on the road, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.

Sirius: Wow Prongsie, and I thought I was the drummer of the group. Also, your rhythms all wrong, you should stick to singing.

James: Fuck off Pads.

Sirius (gasping dramatically): You simply cannot use that language in front of our followers! We might have some innocent little eleven year olds watching.

Peter: No eleven year old is innocent Padfoot. They're all corrupted to some capacity. And you've called them 'little shits' before so you really don't have room to talk.

Sirius: Oh piss off Wormy. How long left James?

James: Just over half an hour.

Sirius: Is it too soon for lunch?

James: We eat lunch when we get there, we've been over this Pads.

Sirius: Yeah but I wasn't listening.

James: Of course you weren't.

Sirius: In my defense, you talk a lot of shit sometimes, I've learnt to tune out your voice.

James: This is why we need Remus here, he's a good influence on you.

Sirius: Correction. I am a bad influence on him, I hope to have him well and truly corrupted by the end of this weekend.

Peter: Lily would kill you.

Sirius: Okay, Remus is a good influence now.

James and Peter burst into laughter and Sirius crosses his arms grumpily.

Sirius: What? She scares me.

James is holding the camera. Peter is walking next to him and Sirius and Remus are a few paces ahead.

James: Hello, we have arrived at the one and only Thorpe Park, and we are headed to... Where are we going Pete?

Peter: SAW.

James: Oi! Moony, Padfoot, wrong way!

Sirius swerves around and Remus follows him, slightly less dramatically.

Sirius: I was just following Remus!

Remus: Wh-why would you do that, I haven't been here in like four years?

James: WHAT?

Remus: Yeah, not since Lily threatened to beat up the next person who brought me here solely to use my fast pass.

Sirius: Wow. People really did that?

Remus: Yup. But I was actually winning because I got about eight free trips to theme parks in the space of about six months.

Sirius: So you basically scammed people for trips to Thorpe Park.

Remus: It's not scamming if it's freely given.

Sirius: I think I underestimated you Remus John Lupin.

Remus: Wait till you see me on the roller coasters.

Remus suddenly speeds up and is now walking several paces in front of everyone.

Sirius: Wait- Wait, what?

Camera cuts to everyone stepping off the rollercoaster

Sirius: So Remus is superhuman.

Peter: How did you do that?

Remus: Do what?

 James:You kept a straight face the ENTIRE TIME!

Remus: Oh, yeah. That one isn't that bad.

James makes a small whimpering noise and Sirius is staring at Remus, impressed.

Sirius: You are my new favourite human being.

James: I thought I was your favourite human being!

Sirius: Yeah, but- Remus can keep a straight face on fucking SAW.

Remus: I have been known to keep a straight face on Colossus before.

Sirius: Excuse-a-me?! Even during the fucking loops?

Remus: Even during the fucking loops.

Cuts to Sirius holding the camera with Colossus in the background.

Sirius: Remus did, in fact, keep a straight face during the fucking loops.

The boys are in a hotel room. Sirius is drumming on the headboard with his sticks, James is listening to something with headphones, Remus isn't wearing his prosthetic and is typing on a laptop while Peter is holding the camera.

Remus: Sirius why did you bring your drumsticks?

James: He brings them everywhere.

Peter: He tried to bring them into our Maths GCSE.

Remus: I once got told I couldn't wear my leg in an exam, the invigilator thought I had hidden the answers in it or something.

Sirius (stopping drumming): Wait, wait, wait, they thought you faked your disability to pass Maths?

Remus: English lit A level and they said I should have brought a wheelchair or something. Mum was livid. Me and Lily just found it funny, the lady went red in the face and made me full on take it off to prove there were no answers hidden in it.

Sirius: Yes, ma'am, I graffitied on my medical device to pass an exam I could do in my sleep.

James (snorting): You couldn't do English Lit in your sleep.

Sirius: Talking about Moony. I couldn't do English Lit if I'd been studying for it my whole life.

Peter (turning the camera back on himself): I can confirm that you guys.

James: Sirius, when have you ever studied?

Sirius: I studied for Minnie's class!

James: Yeah, cause you liked her.

Sirius: Why wouldn't I like Minnie! She was incredible. 

Sirius turns to the camera.

Sirius: Minnie, I'm like eighty per cent sure you watch our videos so hi, we miss you, call me.

James: Did you just flirt with Minnie?

The boys all collapse into laughter and Peter drops the camera.

Camera cuts to a compilation of polaroid pictures from the rollercoasters.

Sirius has his arms in the air, while Remus is smiling but not screaming.

James is screaming, his eyes scrunched up in terror while Peter is grinning, his arms up in the air.

A selfie with James holding the camera in front of Colossus, a picture of all four of them very, very wet in front of Tidal Wave and a picture of Remus and Sirius laughing at the breakfast buffet.

Finally, a polaroid takes up the whole screen. It's a picture of the boys in front of the Thorpe Park entrance sign, all smiling. And, at the bottom is written

The Marauders Were Here

padfootsgirl

THE MARAUDERS POSTED!! AND REMUS IS HERE

i_like_ducks

sorry this video is wolfstar central did you guys see the looks these two are giving each other the entire time

WolfstarFan07

1:21, 3:09, 6:53, 8:03, ect, ect. Okay Sirius I see you staring at Remus.

          lilaholiviareynolds

          2:59, 4:01, 5:48, 6:52, 7:09, ect, ect. And we see Remus staring at Sirius

                    eighteenyearold_disaster

                     thank you for your services

                              WolfstarFan07

                              🫡

bowiefan2003

Remus Lupin is superhuman, how did he not scream on COLOSSUS

anonymouse

remus's middle name is JOHN???????

rockmusicrocks99

James is such a mom friend and its very nice to watch

annabethch8se

sirius not being packed because he decided to film a get ready with me is such a sirius thing to do

imdedsomeonereviveme

Heard it here first, Remus Lupin scammed his classmates for free tickets to Thorpe Park

lilyevans3001

Nice to know you're scared of me Sirius

          The Marauders

          Oh shit you saw that

kayla1234327

WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR

elijahwozhere76

MOONY! REMUS IS MOONY! REMUS HAS A NICKNAME!

olivia(maraudersversion)

God Remus and Sirius have to be dating right? There is a whole ten thousand kilograms of homosexuality between those two.

oneleggedcat

Is Remus becoming a Marauder? If so, I am happy about that.

eggs_and_bacon

GUYS THERE'S A COMPILATION OF ALL THE WOLFSTAR MOMENTS IN THIS VIDEO GO WATCH IT NOW

Chapter Text

Sirius threw the sticks down hard on the drums as he watched James singing into the mic. Singing the song he wrote.

Sirius knew he was being selfish but he just couldn't bear to see someone else singing his words. His thoughts. This was for Regulus, every word of it. He threw his sticks on the drums, trying not to feel it.

He was in a band, for fuck's sake. He wrote songs for the band, he couldn't just decide to keep this one for himself.

As James sang the last note and Peter and Sirius played the final notes, Sirius shook his head, ridding himself of all those stupid thoughts.

"Hey, Pads," James tapped Sirius on the shoulder as they were leaving their studio. "You've got a look on your face."

"A look?"

"A look," James confirmed. "We don't have to add it to the album if you don't want to."

"What? No," Sirius said. "No. We write songs so they can go on albums, what are you talking about?"

"But this one's a lot more personal than the others. You're allowed to keep it to yourself if you want to."

Sirius shook his head. "No. We are releasing this song."

James nodded and grabbed his rucksack. "You can sing it if you want?"

Sirius stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"You can sing it if you want. Or you could release it as a solo single. Me and Wormy don't mind."

Sirius' face wavered. He could. But what if people thought he was leaving the band? He'd seen the theories people had made from basically nothing that actually could make sense.

"Just think about it mate," James said. Sirius nodded, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He stepped out onto the streets and began to make his way to the coffee shop, where he'd started making regular stops after rehearsal.

Remus was sitting behind the till when he got there, his head planted down on the counter.

"Moony?" Sirius asked, walking through the door. "You oka-"

His brown head perked up and he rubbed at his eyes. "Oh hey Sirius." He squeezed his eyes shut before opening them fully and shielding his eyes from the light. "Sorry, I just-"

"Oi Lupin, you're still here? Go home for God's sake!" One of the Prewett twins said, coming out of the back room. "We can manage without you."

"Gid, I told you, I'm fine."

"Yeah, sure," Gideon rolled his eyes. "Go home, Remus."

"I'm still on clock for two hours-"

"Go fucking home," the other Prewett twin come out of the room. "Sirius, please help us. Drag him out the door or something."

"I'll call Lily," Sirius suggested, which caused Remus to shoot up.

"No!" He protested.

"Right," Sirius walked back behind the counter and wrapped his arm around Remus' waist. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Your place."

"Sirius I'm working."

"Not any more," Fabian chimed in, standing behind the counter in Remus' place.

"I hate all of you," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, yes, now let's go," Sirius noticed that Remus wasn't wearing his leg and looked around. "Where's your leg?"

"Back room," Gideon piped up.

"Sit down," Sirius instructed Remus, grabbing the leg from the back room.

"I can't wear that," said Remus. "Phantom pain."

"So I carry it," Sirius shrugged. "Easy solutions for simple problems." He put an arm around Remus (and definitely did not think about possibly putting his hand anywhere near Remus' arse) and helped him stand. Remus leant most of his weight against Sirius' side, and, once Sirius had the leg in his other hand, they were on their way.

Usually, it would take about five minutes to walk from the coffee shop to the car park but this walk took a good fifteen. Not that Sirius minded, because Remus was very good for conversation. And the fact this was probably the closest they'd ever been and Sirius' stomach was fluttering the entire time.

When they got to the car, Remus whistled under his breath. "Not bad for a... That's from the seventies right?"

"Sixties," Sirius said proudly. It was an Alfa Romeo Spider, done up to be fitted with a bluetooth radio, new black leather seats and a shiny red paint job. Sirius was very proud of that car. "My uncle left it to me. He fixed up old cars for a living before he died. Drove our family mad, they wanted him to work for their family business, like my mother and my uncle and their parents and their parents and so on. And my dad's side actually, I'm like eighty per cent sure I'm inbred."

Remus pulled a face. "Ew."

"I mean, Walburga didn't change her name when she got married so that's a pretty big clue."

"Walburga?"

"My mother. Not my mum, my mother, there's a very important distinction there." Sirius was quite eager to move on, so he opened up the passenger's seat for Remus before going to the boot and quickly put Remus' leg in it, alongside Pete's bass and the amps.

"Usually we'd bring the van to rehearsal but it's in the shop for repairs," Sirius said, mostly to fill the silence that otherwise would have taken over. "James has my drums in his boot cause it's bigger and I've got the smaller bits."

Remus nodded, rubbing the end of his leg.

"Argh, motherfucker!" He said through gritted teeth.  

"You okay?"

Remus shook his head, his eyes squeezed shut. His fists were balled and he kept shaking his head like he had water in his ears. "Gimme a sec," he said, before breathing out a sigh of relief. "Till the next time."

"What-"

"Phantom pain," Remus said, looking at his nub with such distaste Sirius thought he was going to sear it off. “Basically, my brain doesn’t know I’ve lost my leg so it sends signals to it and that really hurts. Usually I get it like five to ten times on a good day or like ten to fifteen times in two or three minutes, then I’m good for hours. And then you have days where it lasts for hours. Sometimes, like today, it just keeps coming back every like two to five minutes.”

“Is there anything you can do about it? Like surgery or something.”

“Technically, yes. But I was the one in ten who that surgery did not work on,” Remus grimaced and balled his fists again. “Ow, ow, shit!”

Sirius dashed forwards and tipped up Remus’ head so they were looking in the eyes.

Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him.

Shut up brain, not helpful!

“Today, James started singing the complete wrong song, while me and Pete were playing the music for another one and it took us like two verses to realise something was wrong,” Sirius said, hoping to take Remus’ mind off it all. It seemed to be working because Remus snorted and his muscles relaxed a little. "And once, when we were twelve, James and I tried writing a song and it ended up being about McDonalds cheeseburgers." At that Remus burst out laughing.

"Why cheeseburgers?" He asked, snorting. "Why not like sweet chilli chicken wraps or something?"

"No idea," Sirius said. "I don’t even like McDonald’s cheeseburgers and James is vegetarian."

Remus laughed in the back of his throat, his fists balling again. " Fuck," he muttered, swallowing harshly. "This hurts. Like, a lot."

"That's why we're getting you home," Sirius walked around to get into the driver’s seat, sticking the key in and starting up the engine.

Remus grabbed a fistfull of his jeans in his pain and Sirius’ heart panged for him.

Stop. You’re not even dating this guy, you’ve known him all of three months, he told himself, but it didn’t work. He wanted to pull Remus in and hug him tight, tell him that he was okay and that he was there and he was never leaving.

But that would be very weird to do to someone you weren't dating, so he kept his mouth shut as he drove to Remus' house. 

When they got there, Remus fumbled in his back pocket for his key, which Sirius turned in the lock and swung open the door, before heading back to the car to help Remus inside.

"Hello?" Lily's voice came from the living room. "Who's there?"

Then, possibly the best moment of Sirius' life. Lily Evans entered the hallway brandishing an umbrella at him.

Sirius tried not to laugh as he grabbed Remus' leg from the boot.

"Sorry, how much damage did you think you could do with a fucking umbrella Evans?" He asked, his voice laced with laughter.

"Remus?" Lily completely ignored Sirius' joke and looked at Remus. "Why are you- Are you okay?"

"Phantom pain," Remus said in explanation.

Lily nodded and ran into the house, coming back out with a wheelchair, with a black seat and metal painted forest green. She set it up by the car seat and helped Remus situate himself in it.

Sirius tried not to stare at the chair; he hadn't known Remus used one until now. He'd never even spoken about it on YouTube before.

Lily went to grab the handles of the wheelchair but Remus waved her aside and wheeled himself up the path. It suddenly made sense to Sirius why there were no stairs anywhere, not even leading up to the house.

Lily watched Remus wheel himself into the house before turning to Sirius.

"Thanks for bringing him home," she said, still glancing nervously over her shoulder. "I take it he didn't go easily."

"Practically dragged him out the door," Sirius said and Lily rolled her eyes fondly.

"He's a stubborn pain in the arse sometimes. Get used to that if you're planning on sticking around."

"Yeah- Wait what?"

"Don't insult my intelligence by thinking I haven't picked up on your feelings for each other. Most of the internet has worked it out, Sirius." Lily paused for a moment, looking Sirius up and down. "I assume I don't need to give you the hurt him and I kill you speech."

Sirius put his hands up. "Yeah I know the drill."

"Good," Lily nodded. "You better ask him out soon, he's going mad. Not that he'll ever admit it."

Sirius didn't meet Lily's eye as he bowed his head slightly and turned back to his car.

"Leaving? I reckon Remus would like to have you around for a bit. He hates days like this, having others around helps."

Sirius looked at the door then back to Lily. "You want me to…"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."

Sirius stopped for a second before pulling out his phone.

James

Hey mate im at remus's place

dont expect me home for a couple hours

James' response came through almost immediately.

Okay see you

Good luck 😉

Sirius rolled his eyes and locked up his car before following Lily inside.

"Want a cuppa?"

"Sure," Sirius said. "White, two sugars."

Lily grimaced. "I've never understood people who put sugar in their tea. It's too sweet for me." She flicked the kettle to boil and grabbed three mugs from the cupboard, one with a silver wolf with deep green eyes, one with a pattern of lilies on and a final one with two hands and a foot with slogan on it, which, at closer inspection, said 'you can count on me but only up to 15'.

Sirius snorted when he saw that and Lily shot him a knowing look. "Marlene loves buying Remus shit like that."

Lily went into the cupboard under the kettle and pulled out two tea bags and put them in the wolf and the lily mug, before walking over to the fridge and pulled out a tray. She popped it open and took out a ball of chocolate and put it in the third mug. She took the carton of milk and put it into a ceramic jug, which she then put in the microwave.

The kettle finished boiling and Lily poured the water into the two mugs with the tea bags and then poured milk into them, and then two teaspoons of sugar into the wolf mug and mixing them. She handed the mug to Sirius just as the microwave pinged.

She poured the milk into the final mug and the chocolate ball exploded and marshmallows floated to the top. She went to a cupboard and brought out a 100g Cadbury's bar.

"One thing you must know about Remus; he is a chocolate addict."

Sirius snorted and took a sip of his tea. Lily grabbed the hot chocolate in her left hand and the Cadbury's in her right, leaving the room before coming back a few minutes later to drink her own tea.

She leant against the counter, taking a sip from her mug, her green doe eyes looking Sirius up and down.

"Lily, please stop staring at me."

"Stop being so interesting then," Lily said, causing Sirius to raise his eyebrow.

"Interesting am I?"

"Yes," she narrowed her eyes slightly, as if studying him.

"Could you elaborate?"

"No."

Sirius made a small noise in the back of his throat, taking another gulp of tea.

"If you're worried about being turned down," Lily said, looking Sirius straight in his eyes, slightly intimidating him. "Don't. He'll say yes, I can promise you that."

Sirius didn't say anything and diverted his eyes from Lily's, no longer wanting to look at them. He nodded, looking out of the window of the kitchen.

Now he was trying not to think about Remus, he started thinking about Regulus.

Or, more accurately, considering James' offer.

"Sirius?” Lily asked. “Where’d you go?"

"Just… Thinking."

Lily was looking at him again, something like quiet contemplation in her eyes. Like she was trying to figure him out.

"About what?"

"Oh, y'know," Sirius said, gesturing vaguely out the window. "Stuff. Things. Overthinking probably."

"Ah yes, stuff and things, I overthink about those all the time."

"Oh, har har," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Wanna talk?"

Sirius frowned for a moment, and Lily snorted. "I'm not always scary, Sirius. And I've been Remus' therapist for years, because his actual one is shit. His prosthetist is better than his therapist, for god's sake."

"I haven't really found a good therapist yet either," Sirius said. "My mum's mine."

Lily tilted her head slightly. "So, what are you overthinking about?"

"Just…" He paused, wondering if he really wanted to tell Lily this before realising; he trusted her. When did that happen?

"So, I wrote this song and it's really personal," Sirius started cautiously. Lily made a humming noise in the back of her throat, signalling for him to continue. "And James said I could release it like, as a solo single, instead of putting it on our album and like, I think I want to, but I also don't know and I just-"

"So you want to?" Lily asked.

"I don't know!" Sirius said, running a hand through his hair.

"Do you want to release it? Just, do you want the song to be out there?"

"Yes," Sirius said, without hesitating. He really did. If there was the slightest chance Regulus could see it, he wanted to take it.

"Do you want to be the one to sing it?" She said and, when Sirius said nothing; "Do you want someone else to sing it?"

"No," Sirius knew the answer to that one too. He didn't think he could watch someone else sing his deepest thoughts.

"I think you've got your answer then," Lily said, downing the last of her tea and leaving Sirius to think.

"Just ask him out already!" James snapped as Sirius typed out a message to Remus and deleted it for what seemed like the eighteenth time in the past five minutes.

"I'm trying!" Sirius snapped back, his heart hammering in his chest.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Peter snatched Sirius' phone from his hands, ignoring the protests, and suddenly the sound of ringing came from it.

"Pete!" Sirius yelled, going to grab the phone back, but Peter jumped onto the bed and held it aloft as Remus' voice came through the other end.

"Sirius?"

"Remus, hi," Peter said, bringing the phone down to his ear. "Sirius has something to ask you."

"I am going to fucking kill you Wormtail," Sirius hissed but took the phone either way. "You two, get out!"

James and Peter exchanged delighted looks and left the room, closing the door behind them.

"Sirius?" Remus asked, a mixture of amusement and- was that hope?- in his voice."Yeah, um. Hi, I have something to… Wait no Pete already told you that-"

"Get on with it!" Lily's voice came from slightly further away.

"Lily!" Sirius could almost hear the scowl on Remus' face. "Carry on Sirius."

"Um, yeah, so… Do you want to go out?"

There was silence across the line for a couple minutes and Sirius felt dread rise in his throat. Had Lily been wrong?

"Like… On a date?" Remus' voice came through the line finally and Sirius breathed a sigh of relief.

"On a date," he confirmed.

"Yes," Remus said and Sirius' face broke out in a smile. "Yeah. When?"

"Uh- I didn't get that far to be honest," Sirius said and Remus laughed. "Um, y'know what, I'll text you? Yeah? Yeah, I'll text you."

"Okay," Remus sounded breathless on the other side of the line.

"Okay."

"Okay."

"I'm going to hang up now."

"Yeah. Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Sirius sighed and let out a breathless, almost giddy, laugh.

He turned the knob on his door and James and Peter fell out, stumbling and falling on Sirius' feet. They must have been listening at the door.

"Really?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"You have a date! " James said, scrambling up and hugging Sirius. "With Remus fucking Lupin!"

I have a date with Remus fucking Lupin.

Four days later, Sirius' alarm rang at 9am (too early in his opinion) For a moment, he wondered why the hell he was waking up at nine, until he checked his phone.

Monday the 20th of April.

Remus day.

He sat upright in bed, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light streaming through his window; he never bothered to close the curtains at night.

He flicked through Spotify and clicked on Lover, putting it onto shuffle play. London Boy began blasting through the speakers as Sirius went into his wardrobe.

He grabbed his favourite black skinny jeans, with rips in the knees and a silver chain hanging from the belt loops on the left side (not real silver, Remus had mentioned once that he was allergic and broke out into a rash every time he wore it. Not that he thought himself wearing silver would do anything but he didn't want to take the risk)

Then he pulled open his T-shirt drawer and flipped through them, eventually deciding on a white Sex Pistols vest. The antlers of his deer tattoo stuck out of the side and the stars that ran up his right arm and across his collarbone were fully visible.

He'd repainted his nails last night, all black except for the ring fingers, which he'd painted with a black and silver glitter Effie had gotten him for Christmas.

He grabbed his clothes and headed into the bathroom as London Boy finished and You Need To Calm Down started playing, one of Sirius' personal favourites.

He actually put clothes on (he slept nude unless it was really cold) and pulled out his eye palette, swiping black across his eyelids, then some silver glitter. He grabbed his eyeliner pen and lined his eyes, finishing off with a wing, then grabbed some star glitter and stuck it around the eyeliner, so there were two or three stars and a moon, about the size of his pinkie nail surrounding each wing. 

Paper Rings began to blast through the speakers and Sirius couldn't help but dance a little to the beat as he began to run his brush through his hair.

Kiss me once cause you know I had a long night

Kiss me twice cause it's gonna be alright

Three times cause I've waited my whole life

One two, one two three four

"I like shiny things but I'd marry you with paper rings," Sirius sang along under his breath and then the brush was in front of his mouth like a microphone and he was belting out to Taylor instead of getting ready for his date.

"In paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams-"

"SIRIUS!"

The door flung open and Sirius dropped the micropho- hairbrush on the tiled floor.

"Stop listening to Taylor Swift, you need to leave in half an hour," James said, looking between Sirius and the hairbrush.

Sirius' eyes widened and he looked at his phone. He did, in fact, need to leave in thirty three minutes if he wanted to be at the bowling place before Remus. He'd seen online that you should try and get to a first date early.

"Well, there goes my plan to plait my hair," he said, groaning. He'd wanted to try and french plait his hair, but it took him twenty minutes on a good day, so that plan was out the window.

James grimaced. "What d'you want for breakfast?"

"What's on offer?"

"I dunno mate like cereal? Toast? Normal breakfast stuff?" James sniffed the air. "Hang on, I think Pete's putting bacon on."

"I'll have a bacon butty," Sirius said, ignoring the way James screwed up his nose. Sirius would have gone veggie with him, if he wasn't so attached to his bacon.

James nodded and yelled for Peter to put the bread in the toaster and grab the HP. Sirius grabbed a couple thin hairbands and plaited two tiny pieces of hair so his ponytail would look slightly less bland.

Sirius looked at himself in the mirror, pleased with what he saw. He looked, in his humble opinion, very good.

"SIRIUS! TOAST'S POPPED!"

Chapter Text

Remus' phone began to play his Bowie ringtone and Sirius' name flashed on the screen. He frowned and picked it up, as Lily shot him a curious look.

"Sirius?"

"Remus, hi," Peter said from across the line. Remus was about to ask why Peter was calling him from Sirius' phone when he followed up. "Sirius has something he wants to ask you."

There was a commotion over the line and Lily's face broke out in a grin as she watched Remus.

"Put it on speaker," she told him quietly and he did.

"Sirius?" He asked as the noise died down.

"Yeah, um. Hi, I have something to… Wait no Pete already told you that-"

"Get on with it!" Lily yelled and Remus turned to her, scowling.

"Lily!" He hissed. "Carry on Sirius."

"Um, yeah, so… Do you want to go out?"

Remus could have sworn in that moment all the air left his lungs and his heart hammered against his ribcage. Lily, however, looked delighted and Remus couldn't help but wonder if she'd meddled slightly.

Before he got too excited, he just needed to make sure; "Like, on a date?"

"On a date."

Remus' heart skipped and he tried to keep back the giddy smile. "Yes. Yeah. When?"

"Uh- I didn't get that far to be honest." Remus broke out into a laugh, shaking his head fondly. Sirius began onto a ramble about texting him as Lily and Remus began to do a happy dance around each other.

"Okay," Remus said breathlessly, as Lily threw her arms around him.

"Okay."

"Okay."

"I'm going to hang up now."

"Yeah," Remus said and Lily slapped him lightly around the ear. "Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

The line clicked off and Remus turned to Lily.

"Pinch me." She did, hard. "Ow! Bloody hell that hurt!"

"You told me to pinch you."

"Yeah but not that hard!"

"I thought you didn't have a crush on Sirius?" Lily raised an eyebrow and Remus stuck his tongue out at her.

"Yeah, like you don't have a crush on Mary."

He and Sirius eventually decided on going to the bowling place about twenty minutes away from Remus' house, meeting at ten fifteen for their slot at half past.

But Remus was always early, so he was sitting in his and Lily's shared Toyota (much less cool than Sirius' Alfa Romeo) parked in one of the disabled spots, his blue badge resting on the dash, outside the bowling alley at quarter to ten, wearing khaki green cuffed jeans, the pair that didn't have one leg chopped off that he saved for occasions important enough that he could be bothered to pull it over his prosthetic, and a brown t-shirt from Saltrock, some abstract print in a creamy beige on the front.

Bowie blasted through the speakers as Remus read through and replied to comments on the video he'd uploaded the night before. It was a Remus hummed along to the music as he noticed the many comments from people asking about Sirius, which were now regular, no matter what the video was. Remus tended to ignore these ones, people had shipped him with Lily at the start, before they both came out.

Remus was so engrossed in his work, he didn't notice Sirius pulling into the car park, or walking up to his car. He only looked up when a loud knocking on his window caused him to jump out of his skin.

"Fuck!" He muttered as he looked up and saw Sirius peering in through the window. And then, much quieter, " Fuck," because fuck he looked good.

His eyelids were black and sparkly, the silver matching his eyes and he had fucking stars and moons stuck around his eyeliner. How could someone look more perfect?

Remus opened his car door and stepped out into the car park, where Sirius was standing, in a sex pistols vest and leather jacket.

"Have you grown?" Remus asked, noticing that the four inch height difference between them appeared to have been halved in the week since they'd seen each other in person.

"Yes," Sirius said smirking, and Remus raised an eyebrow. "Okay, no I didn't. But look at my shoes." Remus looked down and noticed Sirius was wearing ankle boots decorated with silver chains. 

And these boots had a good two inch heel.

"Is that really practical for bowling?" Remus asked, amused.

"Probably not but I can always take them off, right?"

Remus snorted as he checked his watch. "You're early."

"I was trying to get here first," Sirius said, crossing his arms.

"I've been here like fifteen minutes already," Remus said, putting his phone in his back pocket. "I'm always early to everything, I over budget how long it will take me to do stuff. Marlene's started telling me stuff starts later than it does so I'm not sitting in a car park for twenty minutes waiting for everyone."

"I'm usually late," Sirius said. "Maybe we'll balance each other out then."

"Maybe," Remus shrugged and they walked towards the door of the bowling alley.

Remus felt the weight of the ball in his hand. He shifted it slightly, narrowed his eyes in aim, swung his arm back and released.

The ten pins all went down in one, beautiful motion.

"You've got to be cheating!" Sirius insisted as Remus stood back and let him take his turn.

"How does one cheat at bowling, Sirius?"

"I- I don't know but you're doing it!"

" Right," Remus raised an unconvinced eyebrow as Sirius released his own ball, knocking down seven of the ten pins. He groaned and grabbed his second ball.

Remus looked up at the scoreboard. After Sirius' turn they had one each, then it was over. And, unless Sirius managed a strike, Remus had won.

After four rounds of bowling, they'd covered favourite school subjects, biggest life achievement, favourite TV Show, favourite books and a million other things.

Remus walked up to the balls and grabbed one, swinging his arm back and knocking down nine pins. With his second throw, all ten were down.

"You're too good at this," Sirius said. "You've got to be cheating."

"Mum took me bowling a lot as a kid," Remus shrugged. "Once I could walk again, it was our favourite thing to do."

"Well that explains why I'm shit at this, the only fun thing I ever did to do with my mother was running away from her." Sirius snorted and Remus shifted awkwardly. He had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that, which Sirius picked up on and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry," he winced. "Humour as a coping mechanism, y'know?"

Remus tilted his head in agreement as Sirius threw his ball and-

"YES!" He yelled, throwing his hands up in victory as all ten pins fell down. Remus raised an eyebrow, impressed.

"Wow, you win," he said, offering Sirius a high five.

Sirius grinned happily as he stepped down from the lane. "I knew I could do it!" He did a little dance and began humming along to the song that was playing. His voice was low and Remus watched, slightly (see: very) attracted to him in that moment.

" I like shiny things but I'd marry you with paper rings."

"Taylor Swift?" Remus asked.

"Yep," Sirius said, still smiling like a madman about his win. "I listened to this while getting ready this morning."

"Oh yeah?" Remus tried not to read too much into that. Maybe it had just come on the radio? Maybe he'd just been listening to the album? Which album was it on? Remus searched his brain but he couldn't quite work it out.

"Yeah," Sirius grabbed his drink and offered Remus his arm. He swallowed nervously before taking it and they began to walk out to the cars.

Once they reached Remus' car, Sirius looked at Remus, his face apprehensive. "So… I'm having a lot of fun. With you."

Remus nodded. "Same."

"And I'd like to, maybe, not finish this now?"

Remus felt a warm smile grow on his face as he nodded.

"So do you want to, like, go get lunch or something?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure," Remus ignored the fact it was half past eleven and certainly not lunchtime to grab his blue badge from the dashboard, following Sirius to his car and sliding onto the black leather passenger seat.

“Bowie is not better than Queen!” Sirius looked horrified by the notion. “Bowie is an incredible singer, but no-one is better than Queen! Not even Miss Taylor Swift!”

“Well this isn’t going to work if that’s your opinion,” Remus said, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. “Bowie is a god.”

“Oh no, I’m not disagreeing,” Sirius nodded. “Just saying that Queen is better.”

“Except it’s not.”

“Except it is.”

Remus rolled his eyes and shoved Sirius in the ribs. “Oi!” He said, rubbing at the affected area. “That’s domestic abuse!”

“We haven’t gotten that far yet Sirius,” Remus said.

Sirius seemed to notice what he’d said and looked down awkwardly, scuffing his boots on the pebble path. “Wanna get ice cream?” He said finally, as Remus binned discarded his hot chocolate cup in the bin on the side of the path.

“Oh, my teeth are gonna kill me for this,” he said, nodding and Sirius stuck his hand out. 

“Race you!”

“Can’t run Sirius! Not wearing my running blade!”

Sirius looked down at the prosthetic. “Well this missing a leg malarkey isn’t as fun as six year old Sirius thought it would be.”

“I could’ve told you that,” Remus said dryly, taking Sirius’ hand and leading him towards the ice cream stall.

Sirius snorted, squeezing Remus’ hand.

Oh god, oh god, he’s touching me. Oh god, don’t go bright red, please Remus. 

The butterflies in Remus’ stomach began to play tag or something as Sirius’ fingers found the rings on Remus’ fingers and began to fiddle with them as they walked.

Sirius was practically bouncing up and down as they walked, while Remus took each step carefully, not wanting to drag him along or slow him down. He inspected the way Sirius walked confidently in his heels, not wobbling like Remus certainly would. He looked more sure of himself dressed like this, Remus noted. Or maybe it was just the fact that the date was going well.

At least, Remus hoped the date was going well. Not that he had a whole lot of experience in the romance world.

“What d’you want?” Sirius asked Remus as they neared the front of the line.

“Chocolate in a tub please,” he replied, not missing a beat. This ice cream place did it best, their ‘chocoholic’ was by far Remus’ favourite of all ice creams.

Sirius ordered for Remus, then; “Bubblegum with a flake and sprinkle cone please.”

Remus turned his head slowly to gape at him. “ Bubblegum?”

“What?” Sirius asked, like he hadn’t just ordered the most atrocious thing known to humankind. “Do you not like bubblegum?”

“No, I like it,” Remus said. “Just not as an ice cream.”

“Well then you’re wrong,” Sirius said simply. “Bubblegum is the superior ice cream flavour.”

“It’s really not,” Remus said, watching in disgust as Sirius took his ice cream and ran his tongue around the edge of it, taking some of his own on one of the tiny plastic spoons they give you. “It’s disgusting.”

Sirius gasped, looking genuinely offended by the mere notion of bubblegum being anything other than heavenly. Remus laughed. “Oh, sod off.”

They walked on for a bit, Remus pointing out a couple birds that flew overhead, when Sirius asked him; “Can I have a taste?”

“What, of my ice cream? Yeah, sure,” Remus put some of the ice cream on the spoon and held it out to Sirius as he leaned forward to eat it when-

His lips touched Remus’ and the breath fell out of Remus’ lungs.

The kiss was soft and gentle, not hungry like the ones he’d gotten from random experimenting teenagers, but careful. Wondering.

Sirius pulled off first, but Remus wasn’t letting it end. He leaned back in, grabbing Sirius’ chin in his hand and bringing it closer.

“You’re gorgeous Moony,” Sirius murmured before he reattached their lips. Remus’ stomach fluttered with the compliment and he smiled into the kiss.

God I’m kissing Sirius Black.

Remus ended the kiss this time, and put his hand on Sirius’ cheek, admiring his silver eyes.

Oh my god.

"Soooo," Lily prompted the second Remus opened the door. "How'd it go?"

"Were you watching at the window?"

" We were watching at the window!" A voice came from the kitchen and Remus poked his head around to see Mary and Marlene leaning against the counter.

"Oh wow, very mature guys," Remus rolled his eyes and helped himself to a glass of water.

"So, what happened?" Lily asked again. "I thought you were only booked in until half eleven."

"We were. And?"

" And it's currently 2pm!" Marlene looked at him with wide eyes and a gleeful expression. “Which means, you spent an extra two and a half hours on a date with Sirius Black, the hot drummer of the Marauders who you have been crushing on since you were sixteen! Tell us everything!”

“It’s really not that special,” Remus said, helping himself to a couple squares of his favourite belgian chocolate.

“That chocolate says otherwise,” Lily nodded towards the bar. “You only eat that on special occasions.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine, I’ll tell you if it stops your prying. We went bowling, then we went for lunch, then we just walked around the park for a bit. Nothing special.” He paused for a moment, grabbing a tea bag from the cupboard. “Oh, and we’re going out for dinner on Saturday.”

Lily was very obviously concealing a delighted grin as Remus put his tea bag in a mug and began to let his tea steep. He pulled his phone out from his pocket and bit his bottom lip to avoid a smile spilling across when he saw the message on his screen.

Sirius

see you on Saturday

ps your a good kisser

*you’re

And right back at you

Chapter Text

Dating Remus Lupin was easy.

Sirius had been in three relationships before Remus, not counting his playground wife.

The first had been mostly to spite his parents, with a random guy in Year 8, whose name he couldn’t even remember any more. It had lasted all of six weeks and hadn’t been serious at all.

The second was slightly more real, but still not all that, when he was fifteen, with Daniel. They’d dated for seven months, but never gotten around to the ‘love’ phase. Sirius has always said Daniel had been essential to him discovering himself. The first guy had literally just been spiteful, Sirius hadn’t even considered he might actually like boys. So, when he actually enjoyed it… Safe to say he was surprised.

The third relationship was the hardest. Henry.

Henry was… Well, Henry. The casanova of British secondary schools, a real player, who surprised everyone by coming out as gay in Year Eleven. Sirius had run away, he didn’t have to be careful any more. So, when Henry asked him out in the second term of Year Eleven, he accepted. They dated for seventeen months and nineteen days. It was always quite high stakes with Henry, he had to impress him because he could leave in the blink of an eye. Henry had so many options, people falling over themselves to date him. And he was a people person, so he’d ‘playfully’ indulge them in their flirting, though it had never gone beyond, Sirius was sure.

James had never liked Henry. Sirius had never understood why. Sure, he had a flirty personality but he’d never actually do anything right?

Wrong.

Sirius walked in on him and… You guessed it, fucking Daniel, snogging each other’s faces off in a bloody toilet cubicle! They forgot to lock the bloody door and Sirius of all people walked in.

Henry tried to explain, tried to apologise, but Sirius shook him off and left without a second thought.

James never once said I told you so. He should have, to be honest. Sirius deserved a bloody smack around the head for being so stupid. Hell, some of Henry’s ex girlfriends had told him he’d cheated on them and Sirius had still been naive. But James let him cry into his shoulder, scream into his pillow then pummel it into oblivion. James listened to all of Sirius’ rantings, his tearful questions of ‘why?’ and ‘was I not enough?’. James helped Sirius plan a prank war in revenge, which went down in history.

Over the next year or so, about three other guys came up to Sirius and admitted to having been with Henry at some point during the year and a half they were together, and he was convinced that there were more not at their school.

And after each confession, Sirius went home to James and cried himself dry.

It took him six months to stop constantly wondering what he’d done wrong. It took him six months to start hating Henry instead of himself.

But Sirius never dated after Henry.

He flirted, had one night stands, snogged strangers at parties, snogged James at more than a few parties.

But never dated.

So he was slightly rusty when it came to Remus.

But he didn’t make it difficult to date him.

Like Henry, Remus had fans. People completely thirsting over him in his comment sections and people making full on edits of him on TikTok.

But Remus never indulged them. Not once had Sirius ever seen him flirt with anyone other than him. Not once had Remus made Sirius think that he wasn't everything he wanted and more.

And, for once, Sirius let himself believe that maybe, just maybe, he was enough.

“Hey Sirius?” Remus said one day, while they were in his bedroom, Remus typing away on his laptop and Sirius watching wolfstar theory YouTube videos with one headphone in.

“Hm?” Sirius hummed, pressing pause on the video.

“How would you feel about, like, telling people?”

Sirius’ head jerked up as he stared at his boyfriend. “Like, about us?”

“No, about the weather,” Remus shot him one of his famous ‘seriously?’ expressions. “Yes about us, you numpty.”

“Like, the public?”

“Only if you want to,” Remus said quickly, beginning to quieten down. “Like, if you’re not ready, y’know, that’s fine, but…” He trailed off, as he always did when he became less sure of himself. While Sirius would begin to ramble and overcompensate, Remus would retreat into himself and just pray he hadn’t made a horrible mistake.

“Yeah,” Sirius said, feeling a smile grow on his face. “Yeah, I want to.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Sirius confirmed. “I’d love that.”

Remus nodded and Sirius didn’t miss the blush creeping up on his face. He grinned like a little kid and Sirius’ heart warmed. I did that.

He stood up, taking the headphone out and shuffled over to Remus, kissing the back of his neck softly. “Sirius,” Remus said, trying to sound stern, but Sirius could hear the grin in his voice. “I need to get this done.”

“No you don’t,” Sirius said, leaning over and shutting the lid of his laptop down.

“Padfoot,” Remus almost sounded stern, but he was clearly getting a kick out of using the nickname.

“Moony.”

Remus groaned, turning around and facing Sirius, their faces practically touching. “You’re not leaving until I give in, are you?”

“Nope,” Sirius grinned. “You’re stuck with me.”

Remus rolled his eyes, but brought Sirius in for a kiss. “You’re insufferable.”

“Why thank you,” Sirius said, grinning like a madman. “It is my goal in life.”

“What, to torment your boyfriend?”

“To torment everyone,” Sirius said, wrapping his legs around Remus’ waist. “But especially you.”

Remus snorted and kissed him again. “I hate you sometimes.”

“Nah, you don’t.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I don’t.”

Sirius smirked and kissed him again. Remus tangled his fingers in his hair, as he deepened the kiss.

“You could never hate me,” Sirius said smugly and Remus rolled his eyes, but a small smile passed through his facade.

“You’ve brainwashed me or something, I really don’t know why I put up with you.”

“Because I’m brilliant!” Sirius insisted. “And you,” he pointed his finger at Remus’ heart. “Are very lucky.”

“My heart’s on the left, not the right, if that’s what you’re trying to do.”

“Dammit.”

Remus laughed and wrapped his arms around Sirius’ neck. “You’re right,” he said quietly. “I’m very, very lucky.”

“Thank you,” Sirius said, straightening up and kissing Remus again. “And, for the record- so am I.”

Remus kissed him softly on the corner of the mouth. “You’re amazing.”

Sirius leaned in when the door burst open and they sprung apart.

“Lily!” Remus said, whipping his head around to see the woman standing in the doorway. “Knock, please!”

“Pizza’s here,” Lily said, tossing her sheet of red hair over one shoulder. “Oh, and your mum called.”

“Why’d she call you and not me?”

“Said you weren’t answering. Text her would you?”

Remus leant over to grab his phone and tried to click it on. “It’s dead,” he said. “Forgot to charge it last night.” He leaned over to the charger he kept on his bedside table, plugging it in, before grabbing his crutches leaning against the bed and heading out into the kitchen.

“Oh, just use the chair-” Lily started, but he was gone. “Stubborn prat,” she muttered.

“Is he always like that?” Sirius asked.

“Nah, just when people are around. It’s a miracle he uses the crutches, a few years ago he insisted on putting the leg on every bloody time.”

Sirius looked down. Was Remus not comfortable enough to use his wheelchair in front of him?

“It’s not you,” Lily said, breaking his train of thought. “Remus… He struggles to accept that he needs these things. He wants to be like everyone else. It’s not that he’s not comfortable, he just doesn’t want to be viewed as weak.”

“I would never!” Sirius said. “He’s- He’s one of the strongest people I know!”

“ We know that. But Remus is Remus. You could tell him that a million times and he still wouldn’t listen. But, he’s more vulnerable with you than most other people, y’know? He let you drive him home that one time. Usually it takes Gideon or Fabian ringing me to come get him for him to come home when he needs to.” Lily watched Sirius carefully. “He really likes you Sirius. If I was to guess, it won’t be long before he treats you like he treats family.”

Sirius swallowed, nodding. “So… There’s nothing I can do?”

“I think you’re doing everything you can do without realising it,” Lily said. “You talk to him when he needs someone to talk to but you treat him like he’s human.”

“What else would I treat him as?” Sirius asked incredulously.

“People…” Lily trailed off. “Objectify disabled people a lot. Ask Remus for his medical records, stare at his leg. He’s been told multiple times by complete strangers that they would have killed themselves if they were in his position.”

Sirius couldn’t believe his ears. “People say that? To his face?”

“It’s not even uncommon,” Lily said, looking just as disgusted as Sirius felt. “Almost every amputee has been told that at least once in their life.”

“Oh my god,” Sirius said in disbelief. “That- That’s horrible.”

“People suck sometimes,” Lily said, nodding her head towards the doorway. “C’mon, Remus will be wondering where we are.”

Sirius, still in shock, stood up slowly and followed Lily out to the living room.

Remus Lupin

6 hours ago

New video up at 3pm GMT today. Points if you guess what it’s about.

Hint: You lot were very right about something

anonymouse

REMUS JOHN LUPIN YOU CANNOT ATTACH THIS PHOTO WITH NO FURTHER CONTEXT

marauderslover18

IS THIS A FUCKING WOLFSTAR ANNOUNCEMENT OMFG

randominternetstranger

If this is wolfstar I’m gonna scream

pandaboy

WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR

You Guys Were Right

Remus Lupin

14th July

I may or may not have been keeping a small secret for the past couple months.

mentallyillchicken

IS THIS REAL???? OMG THIS IS REAL!!!!

padfootsgirl

Wolfstar is real everyone spread the word!!!!!

marauderslover18

My mum came in just as I saw Sirius’ face and said, “Eli, what on Earth are you doing?” I then told her that wolfstar was together and she watched the video with me- that shows how much I’ve spoken about this couple

          pandaboy

          your mum slays

jenniferthomas632719

i’m sorry this is the cutest thing ive seen in YEARS congrats boys

anonymouse

This is the singular best news I have received in my whole life, even better than getting into my top uni choice

dannislife

AHHHH CONGRATS!!

lilakatherine

My girlfriend came into my room and chucked the phone at me on this video and then we screamed for a solid twenty minutes, this is AMAZING

          chaoticgayvibes

          why cant i have a wolfstar shipper girlfriend??

Chapter Text

“HURRY UP SIRIUS!” James yelled as Remus watched on, bemused. The four of them- James, Peter, Sirius and Remus- were renting a cottage for the week near where James, Sirius and Pete had a show booked for half way through the week. “WE’LL LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!”

“NO YOU WOULDN’T!” Sirius yelled back from the bathroom. Peter shot Remus a glance.

“Why do you put up with him?”

“Y’know, I really don’t know,” Remus said. “I just feel bad that you have to live with them.”

Peter snorted and James shot them an offended look. “I’m telling Sirius about that.”

“Please do, he’s heard it all before,” Remus laughed as Sirius entered the room, looking very offended. “Oh, shut it you.”

“I’m being bullied by my boyfriend,” Sirius chucked a pillow at Remus, who caught it and threw it right back. “See?”

“That was kind of deserved Padfoot,” Peter said, shrugging. “Let’s go Remus, leave the idiots to their idiocy.”

“Good idea,” Remus said. “Stop moping, we’re just playing,” he told Sirius and kissed his cheek. He instantly perked up and Remus chuckled under his breath. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I know.” Sirius looked all too pleased considering the nature of that statement. He kissed Remus again, on the lips this time.

“Stop snogging my best friend!” James said, scowling.

“He’s my boyfriend!” Remus protested, rolling his eyes.

“And he’s my best friend!”

“Do you snog your best friend?”

“We did once,” Sirius piped up.

“Ehhh, twice.”

“No, wasn’t it three times?”

“It was at least six I think-”

Remus watched the exchange, his eyebrows getting progressively higher up his forehead. 

“I think we all kissed each other at one point,” Peter added as James and Sirius continued with their… Whatever you wanted to call that conversation. “Y’know, key developmental stages, self discovery, all that shit.”

Remus nodded, though he was inwardly cringing at himself, thinking about that time he’d kissed Lily in Year 8, part of his- very embarrassing- self discovery journey.

“Aha!” Sirius said. “I remember! There was that time in Year 7 where we were both idiots and pretended it was nothing and that we were both one hundred percent straight , then at the end of Year 8 after I realised I might actually like boys, then the like two times over that summer, then in Year 10 when you realised that you like boys, then we did it three times for truth or dare over the years and the… What, six parties we’ve snogged at? So that makes…” Sirius counted off on his fingers. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… Fourteen times!”

Remus and Peter exchanged a look and hid their snickers as they headed out of the door, grabbing the suitcases. “We’ll be packing up the car!” Peter yelled over his shoulder. “Try not to burn the place down.”

“Or get yourselves killed!”

“No promises!”

“Moony.”

“Sirius.”

“Moony.”

“Sirius.”

“Moony.”

“Sirius.”

“I’m bored.”

“I can tell,” Remus looked up from his book and over at his boyfriend, who was pouting at him.

“Can we do something please?”

“What exactly do you want us to do, Pads?” Remus raised an eyebrow. “We are currently sitting in the back of James’ car, as we have been for the past hour and will be for the next two hours.”

“I don’t know, you’re supposed to be the smart one!”

“I- What?” Remus laughed and put his bookmark in his book.

“Kiss marry kill!” James piped up from the driver's seat and Remus snorted.

“With each other!” Sirius added and Remus pulled a face.

“Yeah, I’ll pass.”

“Moony!”

“I haven’t played kiss marry kill since the fateful night when I was fifteen that we do not talk about. I made a vow that day never to play again.”

Sirius suddenly looked interested. “You shouldn’t have told me that,” he said. “You know I’m going to find out what happened.”

“Shit.”

“Remus, have you learned nothing?” Peter asked, exasperated. “We don’t tell them anything they could use against us!”

“I’m sorry!” Remus said, but he was laughing. They all were.

“MOONY! COME HERE I WANNA SHOW YOU OFF!”

Remus laughed as he set his book down on the picnic blanket. “YOU COME HERE!” He yelled back at Sirius. “I’M THE ONE WITH A LIMB MISSING!”

Sirius ran over- which would make for a very shaky camera angle, Remus thought- and sat down next to Remus on the picnic blanket, setting the camera down on the tripod he’d discarded a mere twenty minutes ago. “This is my boyfriend,” he said, looking all too pleased with himself. “This is the boy I get to kiss all the time!”

Sirius grabbed the camera and put it up against Remus’ face, doing a full 360 around him. “I won you guys,” Sirius added, zooming in on Remus’ eyes. “I won the boyfriend game.”

“It’s not a competition Sirius,” Remus said, holding back an incredulous laugh.

“But I won.”

Remus laughed and Sirius kissed the sound away. “Look guys, this is me snogging the winning boyfriend, okay? Watch.”

Sirius wrapped his legs around Remus’ waist and kissed his jaw over and over again, until Remus grabbed his chin. “I thought you wanted to show them a snog?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Then, he lifted Sirius’ chin and kissed him deeply.

Sirius grinned into the kiss and, once they both came up for air, he turned back to the camera. “This is what I mean when I say I won.”

“OI ARE YOU TWO SNOGGING AGAIN? NO-ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT!” James bellowed as he came up, shirtless and in sopping wet shorts, his glasses nowhere to be seen (later found in the food bag after five minutes of panicked searching) and his hair falling flat for once. Only, that wasn’t as good of news as Remus would have thought, because it was falling into his eyes.

“James, please tell me you didn’t jump into a lake,” Remus asked. “And where did your t-shirt go?”

James looked down, obviously squinting because he couldn’t see- how blind was he without the glasses?- before realising his mistake. “Shit I left it at the lake.”

“So you did jump into a lake?”

“It’s just so hot, it’s meant to be September-”

“That would be Moony’s fault,” Sirius added and Remus elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow!” 

“Padfoot, simp over your boyfriend later, we need to find my t-shirt.”

Remus frowned. “Can’t you just go back to the lake?”

“I…” James trailed off and Remus groaned.

“You don’t know where it is?”

“It took me ages to find you guys again!”

“James!” 

“It’s not my fault!”

“Whose fault is it then?” Remus asked, grabbing his leg and putting it on, standing up carefully. “Why Pete put up with you for so many years, I have no clue.”

“Moony!” Sirius whined and Remus shot him a look, kissing the side of his head. Sirius grabbed the camera and walked in the direction James had come from. “Let’s go on an adventure!”

“Or…” Remus said, pulling his phone from his pocket. “We could look on google maps for the nearest body of water, instead of just walking in a random direction and hoping for the best?”

Sirius frowned, faux-pensive, before nodding. “This is why I won.”

“Still not a competition.”

“Still won.”

Dorcas

When do you get back from your trip with your BOYFRIEND

Stop you’re just as bad as Marlene

And Friday

What can I say, she’s my girlfriend and she rubbed off on me

Regulus is coming back into town cause he’s starting uni here and I wanna have a celebratory dinner on Sunday. Sirius is invited too

I can come

I’ll ask Sirius when he gets back

Where is he?

He and James went to get the take out

Chinese?

Obviously

Sweet and sour?

Yep

Enjoy

I will

I meant the boyfriend

But I hope you like the take out

Goodbye cas

“Oi, who’re you texting?” Sirius asked, bursting through the door of their rented cottage.

“Dorcas,” Remus looked up and frowned at the lack of take out in Sirius’ hands. “Did you leave James to bring it all in on his own?”

“No! I’m going back now!”

Remus snorted and Peter looked up from what he was reading on his phone. “Once again I’m questioning your choices, Remus.” Sirius shot him an offended look, sticking his tongue out as he headed back out the door. “Yep, just… Proving my point more.”

Remus opened his phone to a text from Lily, asking if he was going to Regulus’ party. He sent her a thumbs up and grabbed his leg to grab plates and cutlery and set them out on the counter. Sirius came out from the car, carrying a white plastic bag that the take-out place gave them and Remus leant against the counter, taking the bag from him and taking each pot out and handing it to Sirius, who read out what it was.

“Prawn crackers, spring rolls, duck pancakes, prawn toast- Alright, who ordered prawn toast? ” He asked and Peter raised a hand. “Ew,” Sirius answered. “Prawn toast is rank Pete. No offence of course.”

“I take full offence to that,” Peter said stiffly, but Remus saw through the facade and snorted.

“Fine then,” Sirius said, snatching up the bag of toast. “I’ll hold his hostage then.” He stood on his tiptoes and put the bag on the top of the cabinet, which Peter definitely would not be able to reach as the shortest of the group. Remus, feeling especially annoying today, picked it up with ease and held it aloft before walking around the counter and giving it to Pete.

“ Thank you Remus,” he said and Sirius pouted.

“You’re supposed to be on my side, Moony!”

Remus stared him dead in the eyes.

And began to eat a slice of prawn toast.

“ Moony,” Sirius whined. “I don’t want you to kiss me now! How could you make kisses unbearable?”

“You should know I’ve been filming this!” James chimed in from the doorway and Remus jumped out of his skin; he hadn’t noticed him standing there.

“Jesus, don’t do that!”

“I can do what I want, thank you.”

“I have enough medical problems as it is, I don’t need to add ‘James Potter induced heart attack’ to the list,” Remus said, taking out the veggie egg fried rice. “That’s yours,” he said to James.

“Why thank you Moony.”

Remus stuck his tongue out and took out the rest of the food from Sirius’ plastic bag before taking James’ from him and unpacking that one too. He loaded his plate up with egg fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, prawn crackers and chips, before pouring some sweet and sour sauce over it and sitting down on the sofa.

“You cannot get more British than a Friday night Chinese,” Sirius said, bringing his own plate over and sitting next to Remus.

“It’s Tuesday, Sirius.”

Sirius frowned, pulling out his phone to check the date. “Why are we having Chinese on a Tuesday?”

“You suggested it!”

“Oh yeah,” Sirius took a mouthful of his duck pancake. “I did, didn’t I?”

“Please don’t talk with your mouth full,” James said, sitting down on the armchair and eating a forkful of his food. Remus watched as Sirius swallowed and stuck his tongue out at James, who grinned and stuck his out right back. Peter shot Remus a fondly exasperated look and Remus returned it.

“Sirius?” Remus asked the next morning, after realising that he’d completely forgotten to ask about Dorcas’ dinner. “Are you free on Sunday?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said, tying off the first of the two dutch plaits and starting on the second. “Asking me out?”

“No,” Remus hummed. “Remember when I went out with one of Dorcas’ friends?”

“No?”

Remus frowned for a moment. “Oh, yeah, it was back in March. We weren’t together yet. Anyway, he’s moving ‘round where we live for uni and Dorcas is having a dinner for him and you’re invited.”

Sirius turned around- he’d gotten to the nape of his neck on his plait and was able to look away from the mirror. “Okay,” he said, finishing the plait quickly and tying it off.

Remus nodded and typed out a message to Dorcas.

Sirius can come too

Sirius slumped down on the bed and looked up at Remus. “So, tell me about Dorcas’ friend. If I’m meeting someone, I wanna know what they’re like.”

Remus laughed under his breath. “I don’t know him that well, Pads. Just that he works at a bookshop.”

“And how about his name?” Sirius raised an eyebrow. “That would be useful for me to know, right?”

“Oh, it’s Regulus.”

Chapter Text

“Oh, it’s Regulus.”

Sirius almost choked on air. What Remus had made out to be such a simple, unimportant sentence had caused Sirius’ heart to beat even faster in his chest.

How many people are there called Regulus? In the whole world? Probably not that many.

“Cool,” Sirius said with forced nonchalance. He sat there long enough to not be suspicious before standing up. “I’m gonna use the loo,” he told Remus, who hummed under his breath.

“Okay.”

He left the room and, instead of going to the toilet, headed straight towards James’ room and knocked on the door four times fast, then waited a moment before adding one final knock. They’d made it up years ago, as a way for James to know if something happened at home. Whenever he had a fight with his parents and needed somewhere to stay for the night, or when he needed an ice pack or a plaster from one of their ‘punishments’, or when he just needed someone to talk to. It had been tapped on James’ leg under the table during class, on his bedroom door whenever he went over after an argument and rapped loudly on the front door in the pouring rain as Sirius left everything- including Regulus- behind.

He hadn’t needed that knock for nearly four years.

Not since he ran away.

James opened the door immediately, wearing a t-shirt and boxers, halfway into a pair of jeans. “Padfoot?” He asked, concern written all over his face. “What’s- What’s wrong?” He lowered his voice.

Sirius pushed him back into the room and sat on the bed. He sat in silence for a few moments before opening his mouth, trying to find the words. “Remus knows Regulus,” he said quietly.

“What?” James’ voice was soft. “How?”

“He- He’s Dorcas’ friend and he’s moving near us. Remus met him in March- remember when I said I saw him in Zizzi?” As Sirius spoke, the pieces fell into place. “And I got invited to dinner with him by Dorcas and I said yes before I knew it was him and I don’t know what to do because how the fuck am I supposed to explain this to Remus? ‘Oh yeah, I can’t come because it’s my fucking brother and he hates me because I left him’ and if Remus is calling him a he that means that he’s socially transitioned, at least, and I missed that so he probably hates me even more for that-” Then Sirius had another realisation. “And I can’t tell Remus that Regulus is my brother without outing him because I told Remus my brother was trans! Ugh, and gay, so I can’t even tell-”

“Padfoot,” James put a hand on Sirius’ shoulder and sat down next to him on the bed, now fully in his jeans. “Please calm down. You’re not fixing anything by panicking.”

“But- But what am I supposed to do James? Why is there no handbook for this?”

“What the ‘my boyfriend just invited me to dinner with my brother who I haven’t spoken to in years and also my boyfriend doesn’t know he’s my brother and I can’t tell him without outing my brother’ handbook? I’m sure that applies to most people.”

“Oh, har har,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “So, what do I do?”

“That depends,” James said. “But I think it starts with telling Remus.”

“But-”

“Sirius, do you really intend to do this without telling your fucking boyfriend? Tell me, exactly how would that work?”

Sirius shot James a look. “I hate how right you are sometimes.”

“Yeah, but you love me.”

“I really fucking do,” Sirius groaned. He thought over it for a moment. “Wait,” he said, suddenly excited. “I can just say I forgot we had something booked for Sunday! Come on, book us a day somewhere, so I can get out of it.”

James shot Sirius a look. “Are you serious?”

“I’m always Sirius.”

“Padfoot…”

“It’s just until I work out another plan that doesn’t involve outing Reg!” Sirius insisted. “I’ll tell him eventually, I promise!”

“Solemnly swear?”

Sirius nodded and James, though reluctant, pulled out his phone. “So, where do you want to go?”

The flat would be empty for the next week, leaving Sirius at somewhat of a loose end.

In a bout of very unfortunate timing, Peter and James were both out of the country- not just country, continent- at the same time. They’d both booked to go see family for two weeks- Pete going to New York to be there for his sister’s college graduation and James to India for his cousin’s wedding- without realising the dates overlapped, leaving Sirius home alone for a week after James had left but before Pete came back.

That morning, Sirius had waved him off at the airport then headed back home, wondering what the hell he was going to do with himself for the next week. Remus was busy with Dorcas today (and presumably Regulus, but Sirius tried not to think about that too much) and he didn’t really have that many other friends. He wasn’t particularly good at making them in all honesty. How on Earth he’d managed to get James and Peter to like him when he was in his moody, ‘I hate everything and everyone except my brother and occasionally my cousin’ phase he had no idea. He was surprised he’d managed to get Remus liking him enough to agree to a date was a mystery. What was honestly baffling was that somehow Sirius had managed to get Lily to like him. How the hell had that happened?

Eventually, Sirius decided to pay Andy a visit. Maybe she could offer some advice on the whole… Situation.

That idea, however, quickly went out of the window once he arrived at her house. James would say he was ignoring his problems, as would Effie, but Sirius called it prioritising his mental health by not thinking about stuff that upset him. They were always telling him to prioritise himself, so they couldn’t say anything. Not that he was going to tell them.

Just in case.

Sirius was bouncing on his heels, as he did most of the time. James said it was one of his ‘human embodiment of a puppy’ tendencies, which Sirius had completely brushed off as James being annoying, until Remus referred to him as ‘my hyperactive puppy of a boyfriend’. Then, and only then, did Sirius start to consider the possibility that he was, possibly, a spaniel in the wrong body.

The door opened and Andy’s face appeared, looking slightly harassed and yelling something over her shoulder.

“Oh,” she said, letting out a breath as she pushed some of her hair out of her face. “Sirius.”

“Is this a bad time?”

“Huh?” Andy frowned, before understanding crossed her face. “Oh, no! Dora’s just found the sled we got her when it snowed last year and has decided she wants to ride it down the stairs and now we can’t get it off her.”

Sirius would have laughed if it wasn’t for Nymphadora catching a glimpse of him and ultimately deciding that her uncle was more fun than the sled. She dropped it (and Ted very swiftly picked it up) and ran towards Sirius, jumping at him, barely giving him any time to respond.

“Oh, hey there troublemaker,” Sirius said, lifting her up and grinning. “Heard you’ve been terrorising your parents again today, hm?”

“No!” Dora insisted. “I found my sled! Mummy’s just being a worry- rorry wa- wo-rry wart ,” she got out eventually, fumbling with her words.

“Well, your mummy is a bit of a worry wart isn’t she?” Sirius asked, bouncing his five and three quarters (the three quarters was very important) year old niece on his hip.

“Don’t encourage her!” Andy tutted, but she was smiling. Dora jumped down from Sirius- nearly giving him a heart attack- and ran to get her sled, before realising it was gone.

“Mummy!” She yelled. “My sled’s gone!”

“It’s dangerous for you to go down the stairs, Dora,” Andy said, leaning down on one knee so she was at her daughter’s height. “There’s a wall right there and you could crash. How about we go to the indoor ski park on Saturday and go sledding there? Does that sound good?”

Dora thought for a moment. “Can we get ice cream after?”

“Yes,” Andy said and Dora nodded, deciding it was a suitable compromise. She ran upstairs and Andy looked over at Sirius.

“Joys of motherhood?”

“Joys of five year olds,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Come in.”

“Five and three quarters,” Sirius told his cousin. “Come on Andy, get your child’s age right!”

Andy laughed and, after making sure Dora wasn’t watching at the top of the stairs, stuck her middle finger up at him.

“So, let me get this straight,” Andy said, before realising exactly what she said and horror fell over her face. “ Don’t.”

“Nothing about me is straight, Andy,” Sirius wiggled his eyebrows, causing Andy to slap him lightly with the back of her hand.

“So let me get this gay, then,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Peter and James are both in other countries at the same time because James has terrible planning skills and forgot that Peter would be away and booked to go to his cousin’s wedding over a week before the actual wedding?”

“Yup.”

“And you’re not using this time to shag your boyfriend in your flat?”

“Andy!”

Andromeda’s face was the picture of innocence. “What?”

“You’re five and three quarters year old is in the house,” Sirius hissed, mock strict. “What if she overheard?”

“Oh, I’m like ninety percent sure she already knows what shagging is. Some kid in her class has a teenage brother.”

“Oh, right,” Sirius took a sip of his coffee. “Remus is busy with his friends right now anyways. He’s free the rest of the week.”

“Hm. So, then you’re gonna shag him.”

“Stop with the shagging Andy!”

“What? Most of us do it. I’ve done it, Dora’s the proof.”

“I really hope you don’t call her that,” Sirius said, holding back a laugh. “Come here, Physical-Proof-I-Shagged-Ted-Tonks Tonks, it’s time for dinner!”

Andy rolled her eyes but burst out laughing, as did Sirius. “God, Sirius, why does your brain work like that?”

“I’m just special,” Sirius shot her a flashy grin before doubling over laughing again.

“Jesus, your mother would have a heart attack if she saw you now.”

“Hopefully a fatal one,” Sirius crossed his fingers above the table and managed to control his laughter enough to have another sip of his drink. Andromeda, however, doubled over, unable to control her wheezes.

“Sirius, you’re going to kill me one day, I swear to God.”

“Nah, you’re a Black,” he replied offhandedly. “We don’t die very easily.”

“If we did, Bella would be long gone,” Andy said, lifting her mug to her mouth. “Remember that car accident?”

“Which one?”

“The one where she kept weaving between the cars because ‘chaos is fun’,” she punctuated the last phrase with air quotes and Sirius blinked at her, before repeating;

“Which one?”

Sirius’ guitar sat there staring at him.

Okay, logically he knew it wasn’t staring. But it was watching him, calling him.

No.

Yes.

No!

Yes!

No!

Yes!

N- Oh, fuck it.

Sirius stood up and grabbed the guitar, settling it in his lap. He only had one song he played on that guitar, frequently at least.

He hummed along the tune as he played, not singing. Never singing. If he started to sing, he’d start to miss Regu-

Don’t think his name, Sirius told himself firmly. You’ll start to miss him even more.

Sirius played the final notes of the song, humming them as he did so. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he sang… Would it?

No.

But… Maybe?

No.

James did say…

No.

He could…

No.

And if he saw…

No!

He might come back…

No! Sirius, stop it!

Could it really hurt?

Yes!

But, what if…

No! Stop!

But-

Y’know what? Fuck it. Sirius’ brain gave up arguing and he grabbed his camera from his wardrobe, fumbling with the tripod as his hands trembled with nerves. He felt hot and cold all at once, fucking terrified but also, in some weird way, excited.

He got the camera set up -finally- and hit record.

“Hi Apprentices. Um, this is a very impromptu video with something that… Well, means a whole fucking lot to me. Not to get sentimental or anything but- Y’know what, I’m gonna ramble if I don’t stop now, so let’s just get started. This is Brother.”

Sirius began to play once again, this time consciously aware of the camera watching him, as he sang the first lyric. His voice was soft, testing the waters, before he let himself get louder, more confident as the chorus started up and he felt tears prick his eyes, which he pushed down to keep singing, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to look at the camera.

His tears built up against his eyelids as he got to the second verse, his hands shaking as he strummed, letting the emotion build up as he reached the chorus once again. This time, he could hear it rip through his voice, dripping off every word.

His eyes stung with the effort of holding back the tears as he opened his eyes and they began to spill down his cheeks.

The song slowed and his voice became soft, thick with tears. It sped up once again and suddenly he wasn’t singing, he was shouting. Shouting the words he wished he’d been able to say. He wished he’d drudged up the courage to go to that stupid dinner, to talk to Regulus sooner. He wished with all his heart he hadn’t let himself leave without his brother under his arm. He wished for it, he dreamed of it, he wanted it.

God, he wanted it so fucking much.

All his pent up longing spilt out as he practically screamed the last few lyrics, letting the emotion consume him the way he’d never let it before.

Then, the song drew to a close and he nodded at the camera before leaning forwards to stop recording.

Right.

He uploaded the footage to his laptop and didn’t even watch it through, just uploaded it to YouTube and, barely thinking as he clicked post. He then promptly turned off his phone, changed into his biking leathers and headed downstairs to the garage.

Time for a long, long motorbike ride.

Chapter Text

Sirius wasn’t picking up.

Remus had seen the video. The fucking song that Sirius was so worked up about, and now he wasn’t picking up.

Remus paced the living room as Lily watched from the sofa, her legs and arms crossed and her face in her thinking expression. “Have you tried James?”

“He’s in India.”

“Peter?”

“America.”

Lily pursed her lips. “Maybe you should go round to their flat?”

“Passed by on my way here,” Remus said. He’d been at his mum’s for lunch when the video notification popped up on his screen and, though he’d meant to stick around for a bit, she’d insisted he go. “No-one’s in.”

“Sure he wasn’t just hiding?”

Remus shook his head. “He keeps his bike keys out on the side table, you can always see them through the window in the door. They weren’t there, so he took his bike out.”

“Right then,” Lily said, standing up and heading out into the hallway, coming back with Remus’ jumper. “You’re going to the bookshop.”

“ Wh- What? Lily, my boyfriend-”

“Is currently unreachable and you cannot do anything for him. So, instead of sitting at home worrying, you can go and do something you enjoy.” She pressed a couple notes into his hand. “This is a present, okay? Go relax, Sirius will call you back when he’s ready.”

Remus frowned but Lily’s face remained stern, so he resigned himself to his fate, grabbing his house keys and heading out towards the bus stop.

It arrived almost ten minutes late, to the grumbling of some woman with a little kid at the same bus stop. When Remus walked up, the kid, who looked maybe five or six, tugged on his mother’s coat. “Mummy!” She said excitedly. “Look, he’s like me!”

The woman looked over and her eyes flicked down to Remus’ leg at the same time his flicked down to the little girl’s. She too was wearing a prosthetic.

“I’m sorry,” the mother told Remus as the girl ran up to inspect his leg. “She’s never seen another amputee in public before.”

“No, it’s fine,” Remus said. “When I was her age I would have acted the same way.”

“Tibial Hemimelia,” the mother said, cocking her head as if asking Remus if he’d experienced the same thing.

“Car accident,” he answered. “When I was four.” Remus smiled at her and knelt down to the girl’s height. “Hi,” he said softly. “Can I see yours?”

“It’s green!” She said, grinning. “Green’s my favourite!”

“Mine too!” Remus switched the leg he was kneeling on to show her his prosthetic. “My leg’s just black though. Kind of boring. I like to wear colourful socks on it when I’m at home though.”

The girl nodded enthusiastically. “Everyone at school thinks it’s really cool I have a robot leg! And I get to skip all the queues!”

“My friends think it’s cool too,” Remus told her. “My boyfriend took me to a theme park and we went on all the rides.”

“Mummy doesn’t let me go on the big ones,” the girl said, crossing her arms grumpily.

“The people at the park would tell you you’re too little,” the mother said, smiling fondly down at her daughter, who was reaching up to trace the scars on Remus’ face.

“I like these,” she said, her finger making its way clumsily along the one crossing his nose.

“Lola!” The mother said, and Lola looked up suddenly. “We don’t touch people without permission, remember?”

Lola looked down in shame. “I’m sorry,” she said to Remus, who smiled gently at her.

“It’s okay,” he said, standing up as the bus pulled up at the stop. “It was nice meeting you Lola,” he said and her face broke out into a huge smile.

“You too!” She said, as she hopped onto the bus and settled into a seat with her mother. Remus sat in one of the disabled seats, looking anxiously out of the window. Now that he didn’t have the distraction of adorable little girls, he found himself worrying about Sirius again.

The bus was moving incredibly slowly, even after being late. He heard the person sitting behind him, talking loudly on the phone. “I’ll be a bit late Cheryl, I think there’s been an accident on the main road, blasted bus is taking forever.”

The person sitting on the seat opposite her was glaring daggers as Remus dug out his own phone and opened Instagram. His own DMs were completely flooded with messages about Sirius. He scrolled through them, when a text popped up from James.

James

Sirius with you? He’s not picking up

Me neither

I think he’s gone out for a ride, he’ll call us back when he’s ready

Yeah

He always does that when he makes impulsive decisions

Scared me half to death in year 12 when he didn’t pick up for like seven hours

My parents were another missed call away from calling the police

I can believe that

Hope you’re enjoying India

I am thanks

If you hear from him, give me a shout?

Course

As long as you promise to do the same

Course

Remus sat back in his seat, a headache blooming at his temples. He put in one of his earbuds and clicked on his playlist, feeling every movement of the bus until, almost twenty minutes later, it halted at his stop. He stepped out onto the pavement and quickly made the five minute walk to the second hand bookshop.

“Oh! Hi, Regulus,” Remus said, noticing Regulus standing behind the till.

“Hi Remus,” he said, suddenly slamming his phone down on the table. “Looking for something?”

“Nah, Lily just forced me out of the house,” he said, rolling his eyes fondly. He headed over to the shelves to peruse them, running his fingers along some of the titles. He’d just picked one up when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and an unknown number showed up on the screen. He clicked accept and a female voice rang through the line. She sounded like she had been crying.

“Hi, is this Remus?”

“Yes,” Remus said, panic swirling in his chest. “Who- Who is this?”

“Andromeda, I’m Sirius’ cousin,” she said, confirming a fear in Remus’ gut. “He’s um- He’s been in an accident. On his bike.”

Remus felt his entire body begin to tremble and he leant against one of the shelves, closing his eyes. “How bad is it?”

“I don’t know, I’m sorry,” Andromeda said. “They’re not letting me in.”

Suddenly, a horrible thought hit Remus like a bullet through the heart. “Andromeda-”

“Just call me Andy.”

“Okay, Andy. Have you seen the video?” Remus asked shakily.

“Yes,” she said. “And I know what you’re thinking.”

“Could he have…”

“He was hit,” Andy said and Remus breathed out a sigh of relief. “It wasn’t his fault at all, the car ran a red light. Drunk driver.”

Remus rubbed at his head, feeling tears prick at his eyes. “Wait- Does James know? What about his parents? And Peter-”

“My husband’s calling Effie and Monty right now. James is currently looking for a flight back to England and Peter’s switched with his cousin who was heading to Heathrow today for a holiday. They should both be back in the country within the next twelve hours.”

Remus sighed in relief. “Okay,” he said. “Um, where are you, I’ll come-”

“I’ll text you the address,” Andy said. “Don’t worry if it takes a while, I’m here for now.”

“Okay, thank you,” Remus breathed, leaning his head against the bookshelf. “I’ll see you soon.”

“See you Remus.”

The line clicked off and Remus took a deep breath in, then back out, wiping away the few tears that had started to slide down his cheeks.

“Remus?” Regulus asked, hurrying over from behind the till. “Is everything okay?”

Remus swallowed, before shaking his head. “My- My boyfriend’s in- in hospital, I need to- Grab the bus-”

“Yeah, no, ” Regulus said firmly, heading out into the backroom for two minutes before coming back out. “Right, I’m driving you. Have you got the address?”

“But-” Remus started. “You’re working, I can’t let you do that-”

“We get time off for family emergencies,” Regulus said. “And I’ve got my car out back.”

“But it’s not a family emergency,” Remus said, confused. “It’s not even your emergency-”

“Remus,” Regulus said, his voice hard. “Let me come, please. I’ll drive you, and I’ll explain. The next bus doesn’t come for over twenty minutes anyway.”

That was a good point. Remus wanted to get there as soon as possible and Regulus had already told his manager he was going.

“Okay,” he said finally, not liking how weak his voice sounded. Regulus nodded and nodded towards the door, leading Remus out to where his car waited.

“Come on,” he said, opening the passenger seat before walking around to the driver's side and sliding in.

“Thanks for this, Regulus,” Remus insisted. “Really.”

“I don’t mind,” Regulus said, looking straight ahead at the road. “Um, if you don’t mind, I’d like to come in.”

Remus felt a frown flicker across his face as his phone buzzed.

Peter

Are you okay?

On my way to the hospital

You?

At the airport. Take off soon, eta eight pm

Probably only able to see him tomorrow

Have you heard from James

He called me after we found out

Sounded pretty upset

He got a flight, takes off in two hours

If you get an update on S before then message him

A good one, at least

Will do

Regulus tapped his fingers against the wheel as they stopped at a red light and he glanced over at Remus. For the first time, he noticed that there were tears in his eyes.

Why was Regulus crying?

“Remus,” Regulus started, sounding nervous. “Has Sirius told you anything about… His family?”

“Yeah,” Remus said, quietly, his mind running a thousand miles an hour as suddenly, the dots connected.

Sirius cancelling on the dinner.

Regulus leaving suddenly when Sirius’ name popped up on his screen.

The eerie similarities between their faces.

Regulus buying the Jamie Raines book. Sirius’ trans brother.

Regulus driving him to the hospital.

A soft oh was all Remus managed to get out as he stared straight ahead, the red traffic lights blurring as his eyes clouded with tears.

“Yeah,” Regulus said and they drove on in silence, now with a new, silent understanding.