Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The gremlins were screaming again.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise seeing as they yelled over every other thing but after hours of complaining of the hot, un-air-conditioned air inside the car they would shut their traps for a little while after getting what they wanted. Yet now they were complaining of the hot, un-air-conditioned air outside of the car and Remus was at his wit’s end.

“Moony, please. Please with a cherry on top.”

“No.”

“Mom said you had to.”

“Your mother told me to keep you right where you are so you don’t get run over by a speeding BMW that wouldn’t look twice to your two atom-sized bodies pancake-shaped on the ground.”

The twin seven-year-olds huffed angrily and resigned to plopping themselves down on the bench and glaring down at the ground with an expression that could have counted as satire. He wasn’t going to feel guilty - he wasn’t. He was a sweating pig himself and would do anything to slip into the pool as well but his Aunt Druella was still inside the town building getting them their keys to the rooms. 

“Can we go to the park at least? It’s right there!”

“No,” he huffs, swiping a bead of sweat away from his forehead. He’d forgotten how unforgiving the Florida heat was. “Your mum should be out any second and you can ask her.”

Taking the straw of his god-knows how sugary drink in his mouth, he takes in the tall orange and red villas surrounding them and the shiny brand new cars bumper to bumper on the road, eager to start their vacation. Their 2005 soccer van he was leaning up against in the shade stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was like this every year since before he was born. Frankly, Remus had no idea how his family afforded such a place when most of them were either working blue-collar jobs or unemployed altogether. He’d asked once when he was smaller and got a vague answer that his grandma had bought a timeshare years before the company started taking off meaning his mother’s side of the family all shared the five suits offered to them for two weeks a year. It would make sense to sell the share now and get the probably thousands offered for it now but his grandmother was a mean old bitch and refused. He should thank her for that, he supposed, because it was practically the only time he ever got to see his family anymore now that he was in university.

“What the hell is taking her so long?” Madaline swore under her breath right next to him. Her vivid purple hair was pulled up in a high ponytail with loose strands sticking out all over the place and her tank top was beginning to become soaked. 

“I can go in and check if you keep an eye on the demons.”

She side-eyes him. “You just want to go inside for the air-conditioning.”

Remus raises an eyebrow at her, looking down. She was shorter by half a foot despite being half a year his senior. “And what if I do?”

“You’d have to beat me to it.”

“Leave me here alone with them and I hold no responsibility if I end up strangling one of them.”

She watches her little brothers talking excitedly under their breaths to one another. They were tearing apart the fan palm bushes placed on the side of the building for decoration now. Remus would never understand how they were able to jump so quickly from one thing to another.

 Madaline’s nose scrunched up before sighing dramatically. “Drama queen.”

He wiggles the melted slushie in his hands in front of her tauntingly. She eyes it greedily. She’d been asking for a sip the entire ride. “I'll let you have the rest.”

 “Fine, then. Get the keys from her if you can. I swear I’m gonna evaporate into mist and absorbed into some rich guy’s gourmet ice cubes before she gets out.” She says with a huff. She reaches out for it excitedly but he pulls back just in time. 

He tsks. “Except, you still owe me from the crisps incident.”

“Chips, you mean. ”

Remus gave her a smirk before slipping past her and into the large double doors that led into the building. Immediately a large gust of air blew at him from above in an attempt to keep the bugs out. Remus was tempted to just stand in the doorway and let the cool air rush past him until some guard kicked his poor ass out, but people were coming in behind him. Madaline smirked at him through the glass doors knowing exactly what he was thinking. She mocked him fainting causing him to playfully flick her off. (He hopes the little ones didn’t see it. His aunt will have his arse. Snitches.)

The grand room was dozens upon dozens of people waiting in line at each and every welcome booth on top of the families and luggage taking up every available seat. Large overhead signs were overhead advertising discounted tickets to the dozens of attractions around the city. The beady eyes of Mickey Mouse stared at him tauntingly. He glared back. (He’d never actually been to Disney World despite it being around the corner. They’d never had enough money to go due to medical expenses.)

He was immediately able to pick out what was taking so long. A pale, primly dressed woman with her hair fitted into a tight bun on the top of her head stood front and center of the floor as if she owned the place and judging by expensive clothes and jewelry, not practical for the weather, she just might.

She’s yelling at a couple of feet away from her who return it with the same fierceness. 

“- no right!”

“He’s not your son!”

“He’s as good as!”

He takes notice of the two boys standing behind the couple. A boy with dark hair cascading a little past his shoulder and sharp, angular features that matched the screaming woman was holding tight of the boy with the glasses’ arm. Neither looked much older than himself.

“He’s his own person!” The women of the couple hissed. “ You have no right! I swear I’ll sue you to pieces if you touch so much as a hair on his head again!”

“How dare you-!”

The crowd had thinned around them. Some were trying to mind their own business while others tried to discreetly get it on tape. Remus cringed at the insensitivity. He looked around for his aunt to get out of there as quickly as possible to find that she was stuck behind the commotion. 

If there was one thing Remus Lupin hated, it was attention. He’d tried to live most of his life away from it but the double-takes seemed to follow him regardless. The second was rich assholes. Remus wanted to barf at the drama. 

Remus managed to weasel his way through the people over towards her trying his best the block it out. His aunt’s eyes lit up with relief at the sight of him. “Sorry hun,” she says, “they’re still processing our reservation. If I’d known it’ll have taken this long…” She side-eyes the fight with the same distaste as him. 

“Maddie is losing her shit.”

“Yes, well. Not much of a surprise there.” She sighs. She reached into her bag and pushed her keys into his hands. “I told him to call ahead and look at what happened. That man… The rooms are in building 5800. Go ahead and drive over there and we’ll meet you. Though I don’t know how long that’ll be. The audacity of people these days.” 

His Aunt Durella was nearing her late forties and took the same attitude as her mothers in old-fashioned ways of keeping your affairs private. Evidently, that had rubbed off on him over the years. He kept his mouth shut from yapping some snarky reply that got him in trouble far too often and pocketed the keys. 

He spins around eager to get out of the crowded space (he hadn’t been good with a large number of people since he was a child) and into the cool comforts of the king-sized mattress of their rooms. Perhaps it’s his own impatience on that part that was to blame for what happened next, though he wouldn’t admit it on his dying breath.

He pushed through the crowd using his free hand not caring for the snobbish complaints. He’d expected them living the life he had. What he hadn’t been expecting was for one woman to shove her side right back at him, tipping him over just slightly enough for his prosthetic to give in and into a burly-looking man who flicked him off his side without so much as a second glance. He reeled backward with an apology on his lips, but the dramatic shift in weight had him tumbling once again. His hands flung out to his side in a helpless attempt to steady himself. With widening eyes he realized an unexpecting toddler was in his path (fall) of travel. In a desperate attempt not to fall over them and cause a scene, he skidded to the side where his weight tipped dangerously just as a woman shoved her trailing luggage back behind him. He’d accepted his fate when the drink slipped from his hands into the air as he started to finally take his not-so elegant face-plant to the ground. 

It seemed to happen in slow motion just to taunt him. The primly dressed woman from earlier had turned around abruptly in an attempt to get the last word from her screaming match. You could almost see the fumes leaving her nose from her nasty temper. She’d pushed through the crowd at exactly the wrong moment causing her to come in full contact with a faceful of the bright red, sugary slushie. Unadulterated terror overflows from Remus and takes the colour out of his face as he jerks his head up as the foam cup clattered to the floor next to him.

Any other time seeing a pretentious snob get their worth of hell would have made Remus shit his pants in laughter. Only that he realizes oh shit I’m in so much trouble as the shocked expression on her stained and dripping face begins to mix with pure fury. A few people around them who noticed the accident are now laughing slightly under their breath after a minuscule silence. The embarrassment now feels as if it’ll permanently burn onto his face.

 He tries to scramble upwards with the help of a nearby luggage case ignoring the pounding in his skull and his hip from the fall. A quick glance now made sure nothing had fallen or broken. That wasn’t his main issue though. Holding a hand to his bleeding nose, he met the eyes of the frozen woman right in front of him. She seemed to be in so much shock that her mouth opened and closed like suffocating fish without a word being muttered. 

“Oh my god. Oh my god. I’m so sorry. It was an accident, I swear it. Are you okay? I can help you if you need me to-” Remus’s apology comes tumbling out of his mouth but it’s quickly cut off with an outrageous howl of laughter that rises above all the rest. Remus’s eyes dart behind her shoulder and notice it was the same teenagers behind the couple from earlier.

“You- You-” The woman seethes at the flustered Remus. The hand at her side twitches as if she wanted to smack her. Subconsciously, he dared her to. Go on, knock me upside the head. I need to cover college tuition somehow.

“Go on, mother! Tell him off! I’m sure a firm lecturing by the Kool-Aid man will keep him up at night!” One of the boys taunted loudly with wheezing laughter. He’s doubled over, holding his stomach with a stupid grin. She whips around, bristling with rage. Still, she does nothing but let out what can only be assumed as a strangled sort of growl. She wipes her face with the handkerchief she just so happens to have in her designer purse then decides to display her wrath even further by crushing the foam cup beneath her feet in a singular movement of her shoe pumps.

Remus is just thankful the murderous glare is longer on him. He backs up hesitantly in an attempt to flee the scene in case she starts to demand he pay for the damage. 

A cool hand is placed on his shoulder from behind. He immediately recognizes it as his aunt and his anxiety lessens just the smallest bit. 

“I’m really sorry,” Remus tries again as his aunt takes the place next to him. “It just kinda slipped-”

She doesn’t bother to let him finish. In fact, she doesn’t even look at him. She turns on her heel and flees through the front door while keeping her walk brisk to regain some of her dignity. She glares at everyone with her head held high on her dramatic exit, yet her dripping dress makes it lose some of its obvious power she’d used to having. A shaky smile etches into his face at the trail of red footprints she leaves behind.

Remus lets out a heavy sigh of relief. Hesitantly, he moves a hand up to his upper lip where blood flow has started.

“Oh dear,” she mutters softly. She’s smiling too as despite trying to hide it for her nephew’s sake. “They do say karma’s a bitch.”

🌣🌣🌣

“Come on, already. You can’t do homework on vacation. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”

“Leave me to my misery.”

Madaline flops down on her back beside him on the bed. Her untameable mass of curly hair falls around her like a halo. “You can’t sit here all vacation.”

Remus flips the page of his book raising an eyebrow. “I’ll leave. When the entire world forgets.”

Madaline turns around on her stomach to face him. She gives him that head tilt and irritated glances she always did. Her own bed on the other side of the room was perfectly lay-able but he was beginning to suspect she only was on him to irritate him further. “It’s not like you’ll see any of them again. Excuses.”

Fair point. He’d gotten over the fiasco hours ago. In all honesty, he was taking a break from applying more weight to his leg. His grandfather had seemed to forget that 1) he was a scrawny wimp with no muscle mass and 2) he was missing an eighth of his body. Ok, that might have been dramatic but carrying heavy boxes up and suitcases up three flights upstairs on a prosthetic leg because they just had to be given the only building with a broken lift, hurt.  He wanted to take a break from it before he was pulled into some other strenuous activity insisted upon him by his smaller cousins. Of course, he couldn’t say that outright without his aunt causing a scene with his grandparents, and after the events from earlier today, he’ll rather avoid as much of those as he could. 

Currently, it was detached underneath the blanket as much as it could without looking suspicious. It was one of the below-knee ones so it wasn’t that hard. 

“You caught me.”

She sighs dramatically and shimmied herself off the bed and into their shared bathroom after grabbing her bathing suit. “You better be ready to go in twenty.”

“Hooray,” he mutters under his breath once she closes the door. He lays down the thick biology textbook on his lap and looks around the room. It was a shared suite that hung off of his aunt’s larger one. Their own bedroom that held a balcony over one of the pools slid into a kitchen and living room. To the right of the kitchen counter was the door into the large shared living area with the rest of the family.

He decides to say fuck it as he hazardously tosses the book back in his overstuffed bag. Normally he always skipped the ‘owners barbeques’ that the company threw every couple of days. He’d realized early on that most of them were either filled with old people (which mixed into the slippery poolside was not usually a good result) or snobs. 

He was hungry as hell though and there was only so much granola bars could do. It wasn’t as if he had to swim, really. He didn't like doing so in front of many people anyways - too many stares. He could easily convince Madeline into slipping away for some ice cream.

Remus slips off the edge of the bed and fixes the liner and sockets the leg. He always preferred to add a matching shoe on the shell of it for a bit of normalcy. It made walking harder than normal but it was something he was willing to suffer for. He side glanced at his beat-up sweatpants that were his usual go-to in public. It would be too hot to suffer through today without the chances of a heat stroke. That was one thing he loved about his school, Princeton. No matter the time of year, it was always cold enough to wear pants. He didn’t have much of an option here. Shorts it would be.

Thirty-minutes and a Thomas-the-Train-themed shuttle later, he’s laying under the shade of a flamboyantly large beach umbrella by the poolside. There’s vibrant music playing from inside the outside bar and fake Hawaiian leis and grass skirts covering the area in an attempt to make the place seem more lively than it already was. Madaline is sitting criss-cross from him on the end of the long beach chair with a plate of food and pina colada in her hand. An alcoholic one of course - just to try it. She’d turned twenty-one a couple weeks ago and was enjoying her new-found liberty. 

“I told you it’ll just be old people,” he says, stealing a sip of it when she’s not looking. The mist-blowing fans were keeping him cool but the heat was starting to get to him. The breezy, gray tank-top was beginning to soak with sweat again.

 “You could get in the pool.”

“I could .”

“And I’ll death-glare anyone who much as looks at you too long.”

A small grin appears. She’d been the same way since he was eleven and first got the damned thing. She once 'accidentally' locked someone who asked him how it happened in the bathroom for two hours when they were in ninth grade. He could take care of himself yet it was a nice change of things.

Remus waves her off leaving her to jump in by herself. She had a fluid sort of grace in the water that was more animal than human as she weaved through other party-goers like a natural. With a small pang, it reminded him of when his father had taught him to swim in this same exact pool at four years old.

Remus sits there on his own, fairly content as he watches her. His uncle and aunt and a couple of other family members were off somewhere else and came to check in on him every couple of minutes. They tried to get him to join in but politely refused. He was about to see if he could sneak off to smoke a quick fag when he spots them. The same Indian couple and the two boys from earlier that day. 

God fucking dammit.

There had to be some sort of god laughing at him from up above because there was no way his life was naturally such a badly-written sitcom. Out of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in the entire resort and it just had to be the people that would make forgetting that morning that much harder. It doesn’t help that the paler-one meets his gaze at the exact moment he tried to look away. He can tell by the way his eyes light up immediately that he recognizes him and his stomach starts to form knots.

It was just his luck when he started to make his way to exactly where Remus was sitting.

“You’re that bloke from the town hall this morning, aren’t you?” He says, taking the lounge chair right next to his. The British accent immediately stands out and makes Remus perk up seeing as he was welsh himself.

Remus wasn’t going to lie to himself. The boy was hot. Really hot. Both literally and metaphorically. He hadn't noticed it from the distance earlier, but now that he was up close he could see his bright gray eyes and delicate features. Remus had gotten over his sexuality troubles ages ago, yet this was just another double-whammy to the face.

He picks at a loose string at his shorts. Remus wouldn’t say he was a timid person usually, just that the cards that he’d been dealt with at the moment weren't very ideal. Subconsciously he rubbed his hands over the dozens of scars that littered his arms and everywhere else of his body. “Yeah. I suppose that’s me. Rather not advertise it.”

“Why not? It was bloody brilliant!” The boy grins. It’s rather infectious, he realizes, because it almost makes him want to as well. “The best thing I've seen in weeks, I tell you. I think my mate pissed his pants in laughter.”

“Good to know it provided amusement for the audience,” he mutters slightly. He takes another bite of his food to avoid talking.

The boy hesitates. “That came out wrong, didn’t it?”

“A bit, yeah.” Remus is only having him on but it was funny. His aunt always was lecturing him on his people skills. It wasn’t his fault though when most of them walked into it. 

He gave a small smirk to let him know he was only joking and the boy automatically reinflates. 

He held out his hand. It hung heavily in the air between the two seats as Remus eyed it oddly. He was obviously posh - or just more so better off than him. He’s what his grandmother would call ‘well bred’. 

“New start then? Names’ Sirius Black.”

“For real?” He asked. That was nearly as pretentious as his own. 

“That’s what's written on my underwear. Why, what's yours? Please don’t be something like William, you’re way too badass for that.”

Remus raises an eyebrow as he reaches for the hand. That was the first time he’d ever been described like that other than from little children. Then again, the boy seemed much like a kid himself. “We’ve been talking for less than a minute. You don’t even know me.”

“Do I have to? You poured your drink all over my bitch of a mother. That’s good enough in my book.”

“On accident.”

Sirius shrugs indifferently. “Humour me, then.”

He sighs as he takes a bite out of his fruit salad. “Remus Lupin.”

Sirius’ eyes light up once again. “Oh, this is too good.”

Chapter Text

Dog Days; Part Two

[Pier Pressure]

The rest of the barbeque passed in a blur. Remus surprisingly found himself enjoying the company of the absurd boy with the absurd name. A breath of fresh air he should call it. Sirius didn’t hold back much. He jumped from one topic to another like candy, and while usually this would be something that wore Remus’ patience thin, it only sharpened the wit on his tongue. Sirius didn’t seem to mind this. In fact, he looked to be enjoying it a little too much with the permanently drawn boyish grin.

“I’m Welsh, actually.” Remus corrects when Sirius asks him where he’s from. “Up in Conwy. I moved to the states when I was thirteen. I’m only visiting here on an annual family vacation.”

Sirius tilts his head in a puppy-dog manner in a silent urge for him to continue. 

“I’m from New-Jersey if you know where that is. Up north. I go to Princeton.” 

Sirius’s eyes widen slightly. “University?”

“No, the bat dung farm,” Remus deadpans. Sirius laughs despite it not being that good of a joke. Regardless, he finds himself staring inconspicuously at the boys bobbing Adam's apple.

“Oh, you’re a goody-two-shoes then.”

Remus’s face scrunched up in the center showing his wave of disgust. “How did you come up with that conclusion?” He asks harsher than intended. He used to be called that in primary school and has hated it ever since. It made him sound stuck up. Just because he knew when to pick his battles didn’t make him anything. If it did, it only granted him his freedom because he was sure as hell wouldn’t be here today if he hadn’t learned that skill early on. 

Sirius straightened his band and held his hands in the air. “I didn’t mean to offend you! Honest! I’m just saying isn’t that one of those really cult-like uni’s that only accept the elite? My brother applied there last year and got rejected despite being the top in his class!”

His shoulders slouched, losing their tension the question had caused him. “Dunno. My dramatic backstory probably gained me a few points with the admissions team.”

It wasn’t a lie. If you looked up the name ‘Lupin’ you’d come up with hundreds of different search results. You would find his father’s anti-gay legislation he’d worked tirelessly to defended up until his untimely death to his mother’s overdose. It was the sob story of the century the media couldn’t get enough of. Though, he had a couple creative insults to tell them where else they could shove their cameras.

He hadn’t even intended to apply in the first place. He would have been plenty content sitting in community college taking classes with a part-time job at the theater. It had been his cousin’s push to just ‘test the waters’ that forced him to apply and ending up with a near full-ride. He almost didn’t accept, refusing to take the pity money but his aunt went into tears every time he brought it up.

Sirius is biting his lip and Remus is afraid he might have scared him off. Instead, he stretches out on the chair fully. Content, he gives another smile. “Never went myself. Uni I mean. Just wasn’t my forte.”

“Wouldn’t have guessed.” He teases with the same mocking tone.

Sirius faked gasped. He flung a chip off his plate at Remus. “Now what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Dunno. Seems like you’re the kind who would drop out at sixteen and start their own underground drug operation.”

‘I’ll have you know I graduated third in my class! With honors!” Sirius huffs. “It seems we both aren’t what we seem, huh?”

Remus pauses. God he really needed to learn how to shut his mouth, didn’t he? “I suppose so.”

He wanted to ask why he hadn’t chosen to go, but Sirius was switching the conversation before he could wrap his head around it fully. “-hey you said annual family vacation. Does that mean you know you’re way around here well?”

“I would say so,” he says. He looks down and realizes with a pang that all of his food was long gone.

Remus knew this place like the back of his hand. From where the swans on the lake liked to hang out to the best pools to break into overnight. What could Remus say? He was a restless night owl. Every nook-and-cranny had a story he could tell.

“Brilliant!” Sirius exclaims, then at Remus’s raised eyebrow, hesitates. “Err- I mean, I’ve never been here before so maybe you could show me around? ‘Cause this is my first time in the states and I’m only here for a short time and want to make the best of it, you know?”

Remus stops and stares at the exceptionally hot boy in front of him. For a second, he swears he’s being asked on a date. Except, with all common sense, it shouldn’t be possible. There was no fucking way that Remus could be so lucky to have this god-like creature interested in him, let alone swing his way. That’s just not how things happened for him. He automatically thinks it must be a joke, but one look on the other’s face told no malice. He was genuine. 

But, there was also the possibility he was reading way too much into it (just like he always did). And that Sirius might just want to hang out with a bloke. Sirius seemed like that kind of guy - too friendly and extroverted for his own will. He probably had no idea of the implication of his words. 

“How much are you willing to pay me?” Remus tries to snap back but immediately cringes internally. God that made him sound like a prostitute.

Sirius’ finger taps against his chin in consideration. “Free ice cream?”

“Fair enough,” Remus smiles. Meanwhile, his head is a continuous monologue of confused screaming. What the fuck did he think he was doing? Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to end nicely for him. He could feel it. “There’s a Herhesy’s one. It makes the best caramel drizzle.”

“Much more of a fruity person myself.”

Remus gives him a hard stare. Sirius does it right back, eyebrow raised. Right. There was no misinterpreting that. 

Sirius slides the sunglasses off the top of his head and over his head, allowing the long strands of silky black hair to fall loose. His attention has turned to watch the people splashing inside the swimming pool but Remus doesn’t miss the faint smile that comes with it.

The party slowly starts to wound down around them to Remus’ favor. He’s been twitching for a fag for hours now and hadn’t found the time. He doesn’t want this conversation to end though. It had been a while since someone had taken interest in just him, and while he wouldn’t admit it, he was enjoying it.

Tentatively, he shakes the box of Marlboro’s still making sure his aunt won’t see it. Sirius eyes it with curiosity. 

“Want one?” He asks. He’s already standing up, not waiting for his answer so Sirius pops up quickly beside him. 

“Sure.”

Remus finds Maddy sitting with a boy at the edge of the pool before they go. Someone would freak if they didn’t know where he was. She merrily winks at him before making an obscure comment that makes Remus shove her face-down back into the water and soaking the boy to her left. He doesn’t need to see her to know she’s flipping him off as walks back to the brunet. 

“Who’s that?” Sirius asks as they slip past the pool’s gates into the disgustingly perfectly green cut grass that itches his foot.

“My cousin. She’s a dick, really.”

“Oh,” is all that he says. For a second he thinks he was right and that the boy really was a straight tosser, but then he opens his mouth again and surprises him. “She looks a lot like my cousin. Seven now I think. Lights up the room.”

“Yeah?”

“I haven’t seen her in ages, though.”

Sensing that the subject was teetering towards subjects that neither of them wanted to sway into, he points out one of the villas next to them. 

“See this? No cameras and full roof access. The best place to watch the Disney firework at night.” Remus leaves out the part that the only reason he knew that in the first place was because he was running from the security after vandalizing some douchebags BMW with window markers at thirteen and was too afraid to come down.

Sirius lights up. “Really? They do fireworks?”

“Every night if you catch them on time. Nine-thirty, I think.” 

They find a small alcove after that. It’s tucked in between some more perfectly cut bushes and the backside of a building with no windows facing their direction. Sirius doesn’t seem to mind that he’s been taken to a completely isolated location with somebody he’d just met. Again, he supposes that he doesn’t make out to be a very imposing kidnapper. 

“So,” Sirius asks when they’re sitting on the ground and backs to the wall. “Have you been?”

Remus had almost forgotten what they had been talking about. “Disney? Nah. Too many kids.”

“I’ve always wanted to. ”

Remus couldn’t help himself. He laughs with his head thrown back. 

“What?” Sirius asks but he’s also smiling. 

“I was right. You really are just an overgrown kid.”

“You barely know me!” He says, repeating Remus words from earlier. Sirius doesn’t seem to be fighting against the claim, though. 

Remus holds the filter between his lips as he lights it. “I have a good judge of character.” A small puff of smoke trails out after the words and he blows it away from his face. Sirius watches him with what he could only write off as fascination. 

He lets Sirius take one although he knows he shouldn’t. It's obvious he’d never done it before. Remus might have been a little bit of a sadist watching him try to fumble through it. 

Sirius takes a couple tries to light it right. He tries to hold back his cough at first but ultimately gives up and releases a cloud of grey. 

Maybe he was a bit of a dick. “You good?

“No- no, I’m fine.” He says through a coughing fit and fanning the smoke around him. “It’s good.”

Remus smiles then looks away and off into the distance where the small pond shimmered in the heat. “Alright, then.” Then, feeling bad he adds, “don’t take it in all at once. Lightly. You’ll become sick like that.”

Sirius rubs his watery eyes which he tries to pass off a bug in his face. “I think I already am.”

Remus laughs again. He spends a few minutes teaching him how to properly. Later he would laugh at the picture of his scrawny, disabled person trying to teach this 70’s punk rip-off how to blow smoke rings. It was about as cliche as you could get.

A comfortable silence falls over them as Sirius tries to fall into the steady rhythm of it. Remus had finished his own ages and was now stretching his legs out in front of him. Sirius tries to keep his staring to himself but was failing terribly.

“Go on, ask about it. You aren’t the first.”

Sirius bites his lip. Remus realizes it must be a habit. “I don’t know. That seems kind of rude, doesn’t it?”

“And I said you could ask,” Remus says having to withhold his urge to roll his eyes. Another one of pet-peeves. 

Sirius sits up a little bit straighter. “Well…. I’ve never actually met someone with one before, you know.”

He doesn’t know actually, but he lets him continue.

“Does the bone stick out?”

Remus had his lips already parted to say some generic answer to a generic question he’d been asked a thousand times, yet this time he has to stop and pause. “I- what?”

“I mean I watched this movie once and he got his leg cut open and they had to amputate it with like the cool bionic one. It showed the surgery and everything. Really gory. My mate had nightmares for weeks.”

If Remus hadn’t been so confused he would have laughed. That had to be the most obscure question he’d ever got. “Well - no. I don’t actually remember the surgery. I was kinda knocked out of gas.”

“Wicked,” Sirius gives a rugged smile. “Does it come off?”

“Why - planning on kidnapping me? Because I can assure I’ll make a terrible prisoner. Every single one of my report cards says ‘does not work well with others”.

“I’m sure you’ll make a dazzling one,” Sirius says with a wink. “But it seems just a bit of a lag. Can you swim?”

“I gotta take it off but I can manage. Not exactly an Olympian.”

It was a touchy subject. He still had some of the medals he’d won in primary school on the children’s regionals swimming teams before the accident happened. He’d moved on since then but obviously, it still held a small twinge of pain. 

“How about sex? How does that work?”

Remus sputters. Jesus Christ, the boy surely wasn’t a prude. “You realize you’re asking me about my sex life. A stranger. I’m pretty sure this counts as harassment.”

“You said I could ask. This is on you.”

“You know, most people keep to the same questions of ‘ How did it happen?’ or ‘Does it hurt?’”

“I am a curious man.”

“You’re a pervert. You probably have some weird amputee fetish thing.”

“Oh shove off.”

The conversation had taken a weird turn that Remus was feeling as if he’d locked himself into the corner. It was to his best of luck when the loud guitar intro of ‘Howling for You’ by The Black Keys breaks through the odd atmosphere. Sirius quickly slips the phone out of his back pocket and curses whatever name shows up as the caller ID. 

“Hold on,” He says sheepishly as he answers it. Remus overhears music and unintelligible mumbles from the other side of the line. 

“Yeah- yeah. Yes. You’re worse than Mrs. Potter, you know that?” There's a pause where the other person must be talking, then Sirius turns to give Remus a once-over that makes his stomach tighten nervously. “Yeah, no. I’m good. Stop worrying. Seriously- don’t even start. See you later.”

The call ends with a ‘click’. 

“Heading back? He asks before Sirius can beat him to the punch. He just sighs dramatically and kicks loosely at one of his loose laces on his Doc Martens. It reminds him of his younger cousins.

“Ya, just my mate again. Really pushover with safety.” Sirius pretends to barf but Remus can hear the traces of appreciation miles away. Faintly, we wished he had a friend who was the same. 

“I wouldn’t have any clue.” He jokes and Sirius laughs.

“You’re an alright bloke, Remu.”

“Remus.”

Sirius pushes himself off the wall using his half-bent leg. Remus tries not to stare at how his sunglasses start to slip off his nose from the action. “We’ll see about that.”

They quickly exchange numbers at Sirius’s insistence. He’d almost forgotten about showing him around. A hot guy being interested in you did that.

It almost saddens him to see him go. And - okay he would admit it - that magnificent arse too.

Remus takes out another cigarette. Alright bloke indeed. 

🌣🌣🌣

7:42 PM Rat Boy: Please tell me you have the chemistry homework. 

8:04 PM Remus: No dice.

8:05 PM Rat Boy: You’re cruel.

8:06 PM Remus: I was gonna bug Marlene for it. 

8:09 PM Rat Boy: I already asked. She called me rat boy 

8:09 PM Rat Boy: :(

8: 10 PM Remus: ha

8: 14 PM Rat Boy: i hate you

8:14 PM Remus: me too 

Remus looked up from his phone to see the twins, Noah and Ben, bickering about something out of the balcony with the glass door wide open and letting out all the cool air. Beside him lay Madaline in an oversized Diamond Dogs t-shirt (which he was certain she’d found in his room after he moved out) and pajama bottoms. She lazily stuffed ice cream in her face from their shared container sitting between them as they watched The Great American Baking Show. 

He knew he really ought to be catching up on his schoolwork but he generally couldn’t let himself bother with it. The thought of reading fifty pages on the formation of ATP synthase made him want to bang his head against a brick wall. The peaceful bliss of pretending he had nothing to do was much more preferable.

He was about to suggest they should go down to the pool that should be emptying by now when a small ping caught his attention. Thinking it must be Peter tormenting him so much, he swipes it open once again but instead comes up with an unknown number. He immediately knows who it’s from.

8:20 PM Unknown: who knew welsh boys had so much balls.

8:20 PM Unknown: [picture] 

Remus chuckled to himself, remembering the absurd nickname he’d put inside the other’s phone. It all caps, it said hipster with a big dick ;) It was childish, he knew it. He couldn’t help himself with it. As they said, ‘go big or go home.

8:25 PM Remus: is that supposed to be a pick-up line? It’s lacking, really.

8:26 PM Hoy Boy: wait hold on 

8:26 PM Hoy Boy: I can do better

8:26 PM Hoy Boy: On a scale of 1 to America, how free are you tonight?

Was Remus really prepared to start a summer fling? He thought of the boys peeking collarbones and boyish grin. Yes. Yes, he was.

He could hear the lecturing from her from his aunt coming in already. (He didn’t even know she was gay yet but he could feel it in his bones). On the other hand, he said fuck it. He wasn’t a child and he could take care of himself. 

But then with jarring realization, he remembered he was in charge of the little ones. He was sure Maddy could handle them herself, but it wouldn’t be fair to leave her all alone on their family vacation when he already saw so little of her. Then there was the matter of having no idea when the ‘adults’ (obviously they didn’t consider 20 old enough) would be returning. They were at Medieval Times - some themed dinner show they went to every year - and if they came back to see him gone there would be hell to pay. Family came first.

8:28 PM Remus: North Korea 

8:29 PM Hoy Boy: my ego is devastated :(

8:29 PM Remus: I’ve got homework :/ How about tomorrow night?

8:35 PM Hoy Boy: nerd.

8:35 PM Hoy Boy: deal.

🌣🌣🌣

As it turned out, he didn’t have to wait until then. 

Remus had woken up at six am because some third cousin of his had shown up and his grandpa had fussed at him to help them up, completely forgetting he’d only been able to fall asleep at three. So now he was running on less than three hours of sleep and an itching feeling to snap at the next sorry person who spoke to him as he walked to the small store for an energy drink. Just another thing his health-crazy aunt would freak about. He wondered if she really understood what just so happened in college after hours. It might just give her a heart attack. 

He stood in the back of the line filled with other grouchy guests ready to retreat back into the comforts of the rooms when, once again, a debate upfront of the line caught his attention. He was almost tempted to ignore it completely and go back to glaring at his frayed pajama pants but the voice was familiar.

“-Oh come on, it’s not like I haven’t any before.” Said the boy in front of the counter that laid a 12-pack of beer and separated him from the cashier. Remus couldn’t see his face but knew it was Sirius immediately. It was hard to forget that cheeky accent meddled with aristocracy and silky, black hair even if had only been a few short hours

“I don't care, kid. Read the sign: 21 years or older. No valid ID, no booze. Now beat it. You’re holding up the line.”

“It’s allowed where I live so-”

“The law is the law.”

Sirius turned around with a resigned huff. He gathered the box in his arms to place it back in the fridge in the back of the store and turned around. Remus considered saying something but dismissed it quickly. Looking down at his paint-stained jumper and pajama bottoms he hadn’t cared enough to switch out before his drink, he suddenly felt self-conscious. (Not something that happened very often, mind you.) He very much wanted to disappear before he could be spotted. Unfortunately, his famously bad luck had other plans. 

“Remus?”

He winced. Of course. 

Maybe I should pretend I have a twin. That's what Marlene does. But it was too late - he’d already responded with a small wave. He reluctantly opens his mouth. “Hey.”

“Shit, I almost didn’t see you.” Sirius sets down the pack of beer in the corner and, to his terror, comes up next to him. He didn’t have a hair out of place. Remus suppressed a snort. Of course, he would be a morning person. Looking as if he’d come straight out of a magazine wasn’t enough. “You don’t happen to know where I could get some of this?” He asks, gesturing to the alcohol. He didn’t bother to lower his voice despite blatantly asking him something illegal. The cashier hadn’t even blinked, too busy with the next customer. Daily occurrence he supposed. 

Remus tried to act casual despite his insecurity. “At six-thirty in the morning?”

Sirius scratches the back of his head with a shy smile. It’s aggressively endearing. “Well, I exactly know it was so early…”

“You stayed up all night?” Remus asks ludicrously. 

Sirius playfully shrugs. Remus finds it hard to believe at first but on closer look, he realizes Sirius is wearing make-up. It’s light yet enough to cover what-ever exhaustion he must have. That he should have. He still doesn’t seem to show it, though. How can someone be so filled with energy all the time? “Lost track of time is all…”

Remus stuffs his hands in his pockets and whistles. “I’d be biting off someone’s head by now.” 

“Come’s naturally to me I guess.”

The line moves forward and Remus finds himself in front of the cashier. He pushes forward four cans of Redbull and a pack of M&Ms as he swipes his card. 

“Hi again,” Sirius says to the man. He merrily gives a grunt in return and hands Remus his bagged items back. 

“Rude,” Sirius mutters under his breath when they’re heading out the door together. The dewy, humid air hits him on full blast.

“You did just try to buy illegal underage alcohol and then argue about it.”

That was rather hypocritical of him. He paid his roommate to get him his cigarettes. Still, that was better than the blatant stealing he used to do in his adolescence. He was lucky he was never caught.

 “Oi, don’t look at me like that! How was I supposed to know you maniacs have to wait until twenty-one?

“Not all of us are teenage alcoholics.”

Sirius’ smile falters for a fraction of a second before it’s back up again. Guilt immediately eats at him. He really really needed to learn to think before he spoke if his past experiences were anything to learn by. He should know better than anyone that some things were off-topic to joke about. 

“Maybe I was providing my elderly grandmother on her deathbed one last whoo-rah before she kicked the bucket. You wouldn’t deny a dying old lady, would you?”

Remus snorts. “If she’s anything like mine I’d say go ahead.” 

He’d only met his father’s mother once and that was right after the incident. She’d cried and yelled, blaming everything on his mother when it was in fact her own son who’d been targeted. On bad days, he swore he could still hear the screaming accusations and fights ringing through his ears.

“Probably right. She’s a mean old bugger. She’d probably be happier in hell, to be honest. Like calls to like and all that.”

Remus laughs. He hadn’t even noticed his cranky mood had started to drift away without ever cracking open a can.

Chapter Text

Dog Days; Part Three

[Shell we dance?]

Sirius offered to walk him back to his room but he'd politely denied. Stranger danger and all that. Besides, it was obvious Sirius was procrastinating going to sleep and he wasn't going to be held responsible when he suddenly dropped dead. And me too.

He didn't say that of course. He didn't know the boy well enough to chastity him, yet an itching feeling told him it was a common occurrence. Remus knew the type well enough that he was bound to wreck eventually. Though, Remus hated thinking about it so clinically as if he wasn't a real person he'd thought this about.

"Remus! It's been so long! I swear it's been ages since I saw you!" His aunt-in-law hugs him around the side. Her arms were held down with dozens of bags despite her stay with them only being a couple of days. Behind her heaving under his weight load, Arthur rolls his eyes and pretends to gag.

She fusses over him for the next couple of minutes before losing interest in the 'shocking' view as she called it. She tries to lure Madaline into the conversation who's displeasure is permanently drawn on her face. Arthur takes the advantage of it and sits down on the plush leather sofa with a huff.

The boy was five years younger than him at fifteen. He was tall, almost as tall as him, and just as scrawny. They weren't necessarily very close growing up because of the age difference and because of how little they saw each other. Not to mention the very obvious change of personality. His corn-silk-colored bangs that ran in the family were pushed back underneath the cap he always wore. There was a confederate flag emblazoned on it and a fishing hook slid on the bill that Remus thought was ironic at first.

It wasn't.

"How's the leg?" He asked. They already exchanged their forced greetings earlier where they had an audience to please.

"Still chopped off," he says plainly. He wiggles it for extra measure.

"Bummer."

He's forced to sit with his family for lunch. Remus tries to be on his best behavior, he really does, but he can't help but make tiny snorts whenever the discussion of politics comes up. Madaline eyes him sympathetically across the table.

Remus really did love his family, they'd taken him in after all, but he really wanted to strangle them once in and while. Any time politics came up was a plain example. They weren't stupid per se (most of them anyway) just that their family had been set up on a certain set of ideas and were too stubborn to see the facts for other perspectives. At least he didn't want to think otherwise.

"- I know! Darling, I know. They've taken over this generation, I swear it. Artie here says that there's even been talk of a club at the high school."

"Really?" His aunt asks over a glass of wine

His uncle shakes his head with disdain. "They're brainwashing them. Don't know what they want anymore." And then, to his dread, faces Remus sitting next to him. "That's your generation. Don't let them get to you, you hear me?"

"Nah, he's a smart boy. He knows better than that."

Remus politely nods and smiles despite the strong grip on his fork. Carefully, he places it down on the placemat and asks to be excused.

The chatter fades out as he escapes to the kitchen. His heart is beating in his chest like a wild rabbit gnawing its cage to be released. He places his forehead against the cool tile wall and closes his eyes in an attempt to stifle his urge to throw something.

Madaline hadn't wasted a beat hurrying to his rescue. She comes up behind him and places a hand on his shoulder that takes some of the tension out of his body. She doesn't say anything at first. There were too many instances like this that any comforting words had run dry long ago.

"I think I can convince mom to let us skip. I don't know about you but I'm itching to go beat some rich punk's ass in mini-golf, yeah? Aunt Lisa won't even notice us gone."

He pulls his head back and peaks over the corner. She's smiling at him. Remus runs a hand through his hair to cool himself down. "You're kidding yourself if you think you're going to win."

She shrugs. He doesn't know where she got it but suddenly she's shoving chocolate into his hands. It's semi-melted from the heat. He eats it anyway.

They're slipping out the doorway, Arthur giving them a side-eyed glance when his aunt Durella called after them. "Don't forget to eat, dear. If you're going to go out later today you'll need your energy. Oh- something other than chocolate for the last time!"

He gives her a small smile. "Of course."

"Holy shit, that's him?"

"You saw him at the pool."

"Yeah but not up close. Holy shit. He's like a Greek god or something. Are you sure he was flirting with you because if not..."

Remus elbowed her in the side. "Oi, let me have one good thing once in a while you spoiled brat." He popped the melting candy into his mouth and continued to scroll down the Instagram page. Madaline was squished up to his side with the excuse of the small tram benches when they both knew she just wanted to get a look in at his screen.

She'd insisted he look him up before he met up with him later that night. While he agreed to the safety aspect (he really could have a weird fetish for all his luck), he still felt like a creepy internet stalker scrolling through his social media. It wasn't something he did often. He kept as far away as possible from it just for this very reason - he didn't want anyone poking their nose in on his life.

Sirius Black did not seem to have the same thoughts.

He was popular, he'd give him that. That little blue checkmark next to his name irked him at first sight, but as he filtered through the posts it was quick to see why. Not only was the boy hot - he was an activist. Dozens of photos had been taken at pride festivals, charity events, and protests, some of which had him decked out in so many colours he might as well have become the pride flag itself. Links to donations and other movements also decked the page. Others were just him hanging out, usually at some party, with what he supposed was his friends. The dark-skinned boy with round eye-wear he'd seen on the first day was the most frequent.

Suddenly, Remus wasn't hungry for chocolate anymore.

" Fuck , dude," Madaline said next to him. "You've hit the jackpot."

Remus takes it a step farther and opens a new tab (not without screenshotting a few pictures, mind you), and quickly types the boy's name in. The results are instantaneous.

Dozens of photos of the boy flash at him like traffic lights. There's a couple from his Instagram mixed in, but nearly all of them gravitated to the same photo: a small boy with a hand-shaped bruise on his throat staring down a camera. He couldn't have been more than fifteen and the large mansion doors behind him did nothing to help. Nearly all of them had the same caption.

'Duke of Westminster Disowns Heir; Abuse or Sham?'

Remus' throat goes dry.

He really shouldn't. Really shouldn't, seeing as he would hate anyone doing the same for him, but he reads on anyway. He was already going to hell anyway so what was the harm.

Shocking outrage spreads across the nation as the oldest son and heir of the Duke of Westminster, Sirius Orion Black, is caught fleeing Eaton Hall at a party dedicated to his turning sixteen. Dozens of bruises littered his face and neck, none of which had been caught by the cameras hours before.

It wouldn't be the first time the beloved troublemaker had been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. He's known to be provocative in the community, especially with those in the Duke's household. The excuses have been tossed up hazardously as a result of stunts the reckless teen was known to pull. The question is: where is the line between fact and fiction drawn?

The same night as the photo was taken by an unsuspecting journalist, it was declared the youngest child was to take over the family. A curious thing to announce on a birthday for the discarded son. The young Black has not publicly made a stance on this. In fact, he has not made a stance on anything since that fateful night. He's been silent on all matters except that he wishes to be excluded from his family.

Orion Black is notorious for his temper in debate. Could this be tied into his silence of his son's departure from the family? It was then in the silence that reports came tumbling through. Dozens of workers of the household came forward to admit the violent behaviors inside the household. Sirius has also not made a public claim about this either b-

Remus clicks off. He doesn't think he can read anymore without being sick. He really doesn't know why it leaves him with an uncomfortable rock in his stomach. What had he been expecting, anyway? He didn't even know this boy, yet some weird mixture of fear and a connection settles deep inside him.

The hand-shaped bruise on Sirius' throat burns into his retinas, and with that, came another. A little boy with mousy brown hair hiding underneath the bed, a fimble knife in his hand to protect himself against invisible monsters.

The shuttle bus comes to a jolting stop. Remus blinks twice before he realizes where he's at. Madaline either hadn't noticed his dissociation thankfully. She's picking up their bag filled with towels and sunscreen and faces him with a smile. Other people are filing out into the hallway behind her yet she remains to wait patiently.

"Coming?"

"You're not my type, unfortunately."

She shoves him playfully. "Mom would be upset she hadn't washed your filthy mind out yet. You'd think a childhood with soap in your mouth would sort you out a bit."

"Glad to disappoint."

The ice cream shop was at its busiest time of the day as visitors scrambled in life after dinner. Most of them were either young couples on honeymoons or rich elderly enjoying their retirement. Seeing as Remus was neither, he faded into the background on the heavy leather couch in the corner of the room. The bustling chatter calmed him as he waited for the other - desperately hoping he hadn't been stood up. Though that was crazy seeing as Remus himself was half an hour early. (He wasn't an anxious person. He really wasn't. Who wouldn't be in his situation?)

And despite his worry and constant scanning of the crowd, Remus didn't see him approach. Sirius had come up from behind him, peering over the back of the couch.

"Miss me?" The boy asked. He had a smile that was contagious even if you were in the worst of moods. Remus' second thought was that, yep, still hot. Pictures really didn't do it justice. It was like taking a picture of a sunset; you couldn't truly capture the essence of it.

"I would be lying if I said no," Remus replies just as Sirius swings in next to him. He leaves a good foot between.

"You're rather cute when you're flustered." He says as if he has no filter. He probably doesn't. The boldness of it makes Remus blink at first then hits him upside the head.

"Jesus Christ," he laughs, "okay then."

"What?"

"I don't- okay. Nothing. It's just- I don't know really."

"Would you rather me lie? Say your haircut makes you look like a straight tosser and not the most gorgeous man on earth?"

His usual sharp-wit tongue has been dulled at the compliment and he doesn't know what to say. He'd never met someone so confrontational, so much like an open-book. Remus' own style preferred hiding in the shadows, alluding to the truth until the other caught on. Not to be noticed until he ought to. Sirius had torn right through it.

So instead of some smartass response back, he tilts his head to the line. "You could win me over with the ice cream you so desperately asked me out for."

Sirius mocks bows causing loose strands of his hair to fall in front of his face. A funny twist happens deep within him. "Anything for you m'lord."

Before he can't blink Sirius has grabbed his hand and pulled him up into the crowd. The boy is wearing the same leather jacket covered in patches and pins (most of which are rainbow-themed) as the one that most frequented his posts online.

It looks even better on him in person , Remus thought to himself.

"So, Remus," Sirius asks as they stand in the line. "Favorite movie?"

Remus smirks. "Not so fast. I still owe you a tour of the place, right? Deal is a deal. Don't go skipping on me now."

"Multi-tasking. There's a movie theater here, right?"

"Well - sort of. It only plays old Disney movies. It's in the visitor's building."

Sirius flashes him a perfect, cheeky smile. "Well if I'm a little kid then it's perfect."

They're up next in the line. True to his word Sirius supplies him with his favorite: rocky-road. Sirius gets sherbert for himself ("That's not real ice cream, you know." "Don't tell him that! You'll hurt his feelings!"). They're walking back to their seats when he says, "Fight Club."

Sirius' nose scrunches up in confusion before it dawns on him. "Oh! I don't think I've seen that one before, actually."

Remus pulls a face. "You're joking , right? It's a classic."

"I don't watch very many movies, honestly." He says as they sit down at one of the only free tables. "Or shows."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Curiosity? You strike me as the movie critic type."

Remus laughs. "Far from it." He'd chosen a science degree for a reason after all. Any time analyzing fiction made him want to bang his head into a brick wall. He really was only in it for the fight scenes seeing as they were the only thing that kept his attention span long enough. He says as much to the other who throws his head back in a laugh with him.

Somehow Sirius pulls him into a conversation about himself, something he hated. Sirius sits and lets him talk about his favorite movies - and before they know it the conversation has been swiped off its feet. He doesn't even know how they bounce from one subject or story to another. Somehow they get from talking about all the swimming pools in the area to avoid in danger of toddlers' faulty bladder systems to the time Remus kicked a fake foot at an old lady's face. All he does know is that it's easy - almost too easy.

For a non-smoking pacifist, he sure soaked up cynical characters and grim tales surprisingly well. He's sure there's a part of him that wants to be just like the tough "dames," perhaps without the chain-smoking.

He catches Sirius side-glancing the arcade through the glass wall separating the two rooms. Caught up in the moment, Remus' face brightens with the possibilities setting themselves out in front of him.

He throws back the rest of the ice cream before gesturing to the flashing game tables with a smirk. "Ready for that tour?"

"From you? Always."

Just like the rest of the resort, Remus knew this room like the back of his hand. Years of cheating and sleight of hand from his youth had promised him that. Every machine had something to them if you watched them close enough whether that be employee back-entrances or a hoop just-so misshapen you missed every time. The trick was never getting caught.

They dumped their empty cups into the nearby over-flowing trash cans. Remus was grinning like an idiot and Sirius just raised an eyebrow. That stupid eyebrow. But he hadn't cared - this is where he shined.

"Got more secrets to share with me, Lupin? You are a man of mystery." Sirius winked, "So just my type."

Remus just held open the door. "After you, then."

The vivid, neon lights rise to ignite the hues to a vivid playfulness as they step inside the atmosphere of chiming bings from pinball games and the smell of hot electronics. Kids are laughing and cursing in every corner, their faces alight in the dark room with glowing screens. Rows of machines with colorful pictures on the sides with their pre-recorded dialogues of cheering picks at an old flame inside him begging to be released. He obliges without fuss.

"What the hell are you doing here."

Sirius' head jerks up at the sound of a dragged, feminine voice behind the counter. Remus' doesn't even look, already smiling internally. He gives the brunet a soft nod to tell him it was alright.

"Hello, Lily."

The frustrated girl leans up against the ticket counter she stood behind. Her fiery, red hair was tied up in a bun and hiding behind the ridiculous visor cap her uniform required. "I thought you were finally gone."

"You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Er-," Sirius says, obviously confused by the new interaction. This hadn't been on the agenda for him. "Hello, there."

Remus shakes his head with amusement. He can practically feel Lily's glare without even looking.

"Sirius, meet Lily Evans."

Lily rolls her eyes and slips off the counter blatantly ignoring them as she pretends to count some kid's tickets. Just how he liked it.

"What did I do?" Sirius whispers. "I didn't offend her, did I?"

Remus shakes his head again. Evans and he had a history together. That being his consistent progress at making her job a living hell whenever he came to town since they were both fifteen. She'd been a new employee on a summer gig and he was a frequenting juvenile delinquent with a hand in knowing things he shouldn't. He was careful about what he did though, never enough to get her in serious trouble with her boss (he wasn't a monster after all), but just enough to piss her off. "Nah, she's just like that. I'm a wanted criminal here if you didn't know. Now c'mon."

Sirius looked rather dashing with his pale skin and face illuminated by the blinking lights of games they passed. The dozens of metal pins of his jacket reflected the light and sent colorful arrays of beams everywhere he walked as if the light bowed down to him instead of the other way around.

"How about this one?" Sirius asks eagerly while hovering over a center roulette game. The speeding light circled the table as if taunting him. "Seems simple enough. I could beat it."

"Cocky."

"You like it."

"Rather bold of you."

"Am I wrong?"

"Maybe I have a thing for other nerdy movie critics."

Sirius' laughing was like ripples in a still pond after a stone had been thrown in. It radiated outwards through the other excited yells of the room. Now they too began to titter and soon the ripples of laughter became great waves of hilarity as they hopped from game to game. Each one gave the same results: Sirius' ultimate failure and Remus' unsurprising success. Each time Sirius demanded him how he had done it.

"A magician never reveals his secrets. Especially not on the first date. That would be ludicrous."

The slippery, cold coins in a sweaty palm settled the swirling in his stomach at the feeling of the boy's attention on him. He really wasn't typically a nervous flirter. He'd had his fair share of lovers who came and left. He'd known Sirius barely less than a day and he could already tell there was something different about him. If that was a good thing or bad thing, he had no idea.

"This is no fair. I'm feeling out-sparked here." Sirius' hand slips off the joycon to the modern Pacman game. As the screen goes back to the leaderboard he catches the new name at the top of the list: Moony. "I'm starting to hate this guy,'' he says, staring down at it. It was the game he swore up and down he could beat anyone at while blind-folded but had spent the last twenty- minutes of futile attempts to beat Remus. His nickname shone proudly on the screen everywhere they went.

"I don't know. He seems like an alright bloke. Rather talented."

"Who's the cocky one now?"

Remus hums happily under his breath. "I built my talent from the ground up and know where they lie."

Sirius tilts his head then gives him a look. "So you're a geek as well as a nerd."

"Unless you're going for reverse psychology, you aren't doing well with this flirting thing. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to flatter me."

"You're immune to my charms. Had to weasel my way in somehow." Sirius throws the ball towards the Skee-Ball machine. It's the only one Remus can admit that they can match evenly on. "Is it working?"

Remus cracks his fingers nervously against his thigh. "I guess we have to wait and see."

Remus managed to win nearly a half-thousand tickets with the few meager quarters that were in his wallet. The grin on his face seemed nearly permanent. Sirius' was too.

Their last stop was a rickety claw machine in the back of the room. Sirius's smooth hands had circled his to pull him towards it, the large stuffed animals inside catching his attention. The contact had caught him off guard at first, but the way he would have thought. He'd only noticed when the warmth slid off.

The tip of Sirius' tongue sticks out as he tries to focus on grabbing the prize trapped inside the game's glass prison. It's adorable, he thinks. It's bright, like his name's sake. And he wonders what is being reciprocated if energy never really dies out because he was full of it. A star gives and gives until it eventually explodes. It was as inevitable as life.

In the dark of the fire, all Remus had seen was the brunette's high cheekbones and mischievous eyes. He danced like no one was watching, but of course, they all were and he looked like a fool. He just hadn't cared. His eyes were on the scrawny boy refusing to join him.

The oversized stuffed animal of a dog sat in Remus' lap as he watched from the sidelines. There were other teens and young adults gathered around the fire in the middle of the courtyard laughing loudly as they danced. Huge benches comforted those sitting down with warm embraces and cool sweets.

"You've got your mother in a whirl, She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl."

"C'mon Moony! It's my favorite song!"

"I never allowed you to call me that, you know."

Remus refused to dance. There was no way. He was plenty content watching Sirus though. He was a sight and everyone else around knew it.

"You're avoiding the point! Have some fun!" In one sudden movement, the boy yanked Remus upwards with surprising strength. The front of his body was thrown forwards, knocking the toy dog from his lap. His eyes went wide trying to regain his balance with the prosthetic before Sirius' unwavering grip steadied him on his feet.

"I'm really bad at dancing-"

"Who cares? You're never going to see any of these people again." He grabbed both of Remus' wrists and was moving them back and forth with his own to the beat of the music. "Why so uptight?"

"Sirius," he says, a little more strict this time. "I really can't dance." Technically, he could, but with the shoe over the shell meant he was more prone to falling and he wasn't ready to trip face-first into the fire.

Yet.

With his leg covered it took the boy a little longer to process the words. However, the moment's clarity was a brief one. "Well, you're fine right now, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I-"

"Then let's just do this then," Sirius says casually. "It's still dancing. And with me! Look, you're smiling! I told you you'll like it."

Remus was indeed smiling.

So they jived and shook to classic music like it was thirty years previously, every move a throwback to an era that had belonged to their parents. Remus didn't do much but shake his hips and arms whereas Sirius flourished.

The tour Remus had promised was long forgotten as the night got darker around them. The others around them slowly started to retreat back to their rooms to sleep the night away like normal people. Eventually they were alone.

"Hey babe, your hair's alright. Hey babe, let's stay out tonight!"

Chapter Text

[Good Morning, Sunshine!]

The air wasn’t his friend, and yet he gulped it down as his only salvation. The acidic, sick sting of gasoline burned his lungs from the inside out with every wobbly breath. Lips and cheeks tasted of salt from his desperate screaming that had long died out hours ago.

The darkness was the worst - all-consuming without a trace of remorse for the little boy. Every second it seemed it closed in on him more. It kept him locked into his own pain and fear that takes over a portion of his brain, as if dealing with it is energy expenditure enough, without the effort of new thoughts.

He couldn’t feel his body anymore. If he died and this was hell, it wouldn’t make a difference to him. He was forgotten the moment he was buried beneath the earth and screams that could rattle a nation.

A small hand, coated in a thick mix of blood and dust, scraped against the rugged wall pinning him to the ground. His knuckles were burnt and bruised from slamming his fists into the unforgiving stone for hours on end.

“Help!” He yelled, and yet it came out barely a croak. It trembled like the rest of his weak body. The slowness to his brain was accompanied by a diminishing heartbeat. By now it was a race on which would kill him first: blood loss or suffocation? He prayed for whatever would keep him alive just the smallest bit longer.

No one would hear him. Why couldn’t they hear him? Did they not care? His dad was out there somewhere. They would be looking for him, they must be. “I’m in here! Please! Please. Somebody h-”

Remus jerked awake feeling as if the soul was being stolen from his body. Sweat clung to his shaking body in embarrassing layers. His eyes were wide in paranoia and fear installed in him. His breathing becomes labored again when he realizes it’s dark. Someone had shut off the lights - and fuckfuckfuck he couldn’t - why would they -

Ignoring his weak body, Remus threw himself off the bed in a single movement. It was the adrenaline that pulled him towards the window and push aside the vertical blinds that hid the bright morning sun behind them. Distantly, he recalled his room didn’t have glass walls.

With one arm supporting his weight against the floor beneath him, he pushes the ball of his palm into his eyes. “Fuck. Fuck.”

He knew it was a nightmare. He’d had enough of them to be familiar with the deep ache it left inside his bones. Yet the suffocating darkness kept him just as trapped as it did back then. He couldn’t breathe with the shadows of the past closing around him.

He sat there for a moment to catch his breath. His leg was bounding up and down uncontrollably. Where was his prosthetic? He needed to go for a walk. A cigarette maybe. He didn’t know. Just out, and immediately.

Looking down at his hands made him realize the soft velvet carpet beneath him. That certainly wasn’t his own. One glance around the room told him what he needed to.

It was certainly nicer than his own. There was a huge couch and television near the corner of the room, and through the open bathroom doorway, he could catch a glimpse of a jacuzzi. In the middle was a king-sized bed. On top of it was the king himself, rustling around after being awoken.

Remus didn’t take long to admire the scenery that was Sirius Black shirtless with bed hair. He spotted his prothetic peaking out from underneath the blankets that had followed him onto the floor and made his way to it. As he was fumbling through the carelessly discarded liner, a voice above him spoke.

“‘ou good?”

“Fine,” Remus cuts stiffly, hoping his nerves didn’t seep in. “Just didn’t expect to sleep in this long.”

Sirius groaned and pushed his face back into the pillow. “Too early...”

Remus glanced at the clock and his heart rate spiked again. Ten-thirty. His aunt was going to fucking kill him. “I have to go.”

That got Sirius’ attention. There was ruffling followed by his head poking out from the edge of the bed. “Already?” There was a tone in it that Remus could have sworn was insecurity.

Remus propped himself up with the bedpost and began searching for his pants and trousers. Had he really let himself tumble this man on the first date? Was he that stupid? Perhaps it was just the fear already in his veins talking. “I told my cousin I’ll be back last night. She’s probably searching half the country by now.”

Sirius mumbled something under his breath. “I already dealt with it.”

Remus paused. “What?”

Sirius was fully awake by now and was sitting crisscrossed on the bed and straightening out his hair. “After you went to sleep, I couldn’t so I… I found your cousin online and sent her a message. Madaline Howl, right? She seemed pretty understanding.”

“So you cyber-stocked me is what you’re staying?” A twinge of unearned annoyance found its way in the words. He buttoned up his shirt with shaky hands and ran a hand through his hair. Hypocrite.

“I mean, you think you would do that before you invite one back to your room. I could have very well been a serial killer.” Remus plays it off with a laugh and Sirius seems none the wiser. He had always been a very good liar.

“Let's just say I took my chances.” Sirius rolls of the bed, the milky white sheets making him look angelic, and pulls on a shirt from his luggage across the room. He’s naked all except for a pair of black briefs. From this perspective, he can see the stretch of tattoos across his back. The Remus from last night would have drooled, but all he can think of now is the quickest way out of the room.

“I need to go,” Remus repeats, throat dry. If Sirius knew about him - about his past - that meant this thing was over. Icecream and arcades be damned, he couldn’t think clearly with a near-stranger knowing him like that. It made his skin crawl that anyone to be able to find their way into the deepest part of himself and he couldn’t stop it. An open book for anyone to read. Made him want to vomit.

He can only hope that Madaline had come up with an excuse for him. That was another whole problem by itself. If his aunt knew, if his grandpa knew, he couldn’t think of the casualties that would unfold.

Despite the newly lit-up room, Remus swore the walls were closing in on him again. Guilt and nerves set him on the edge. It made him dizzy and any sudden movement would have him throwing up on a rug worth his college tuition.

Sirius notices his expression and pauses. “Oh bugger, I didn’t even think- Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m great,” Remus says, leaning against the wall not great at all.

Sirius bites his lip. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No.” Remus sighs, “I just… really need a smoke.”

“Oh. Well, you can use the balcony if you want. I need to take shower anyways so-”

“Great. Thanks.” Remus knew he was being rude, but it was like someone else was controlling his jerky, erratic movement right then.

The moment Remus stepped into the shared space on the suit, he was startled by the huge difference in atmosphere. While Sirius’ room was quiet and empty, the Potter’s were already buzzing with the afternoon joy. A man stood behind the elaborate kitchen island with a spatula in his hands as he cooked something that was heaven to his nose. A woman sat crossed-legged in a floral dress by the table talking with two other men, both dressed equally as smartly. Remus suddenly felt conscious of his own plain sweater, worn-out jeans, and oily hair.

“Maan! Pita! Ve jaag rahe hain!”

The infamous James Potter he hadn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting just yet smiled at him from his spot on the couch. The rest followed his lead just as quickly and gave him a warm smile before going back to their business.

“Morning!” The young Potter greeted him. He was eating something that faintly resembled a burrito as he got up to shake Remus’s hand. Surprised by the gesture, he warily returned in. “Wondering when you two were going to get up. I’m James if you didn’t know. Remus, right?”

“Er- yeah.”

“Great!” James smiled. “Dad made you a plate if you wanted something to eat.”

The person he assumed was Mrs. Potter, the same man from the visitor's entrance days before, waved at him. “I didn’t know if you would be here so I made you some just in case. Come eat! There's more than enough, son.”

Remus hesitated from the doorway. Whatever it had been expecting, it wasn’t this. When he and Sirius had come through this way the night before, Remus had been filled with adrenaline and the room was dark. He’d just assumed everyone was out. Did that mean all them had - ?

“I’m fine, sir,” Remus said with an apologetic smile. “I really ‘ought to be going. My family will be worried about where I am.”

“Would you like to take some with you?”

Remus was a mix between nervousness and confusion on why this man was being so nice to some random kid who just walked out of their son’s friend's room. Was this a normal occurrence for them?

“Of course he would!” Remus looks over his shoulder. Sirius had made his appearance to save him. One of his arms wraps around his shoulder in that casual way Remus would never be able to pull off. He smells unfairly good, Remus thinks, like strawberries and lemon.

He pulls Remus in close. It’s only a whisper, but his words couldn't be mistaken. “Stay?”

That could mean a million different things.

Don’t embarrass me, please.

I’m just trying to be polite.

Be more than a one-night stand.

You’re the best night I’ve had in a while.

“I can’t,” he responds softly only for Sirius’ ears. ‘I’ve got… homework.”

It pains him to say the words. He didn’t know what to expect with Sirius - was this was he did every time? That's why no one was surprised.

It shouldn’t have mattered anyway. This was a summer fling and no more.

Sirius falters, grip loosening. “Okay,” he says, “Okay. Call me?”

Remus smiles, hope filling his chest. The pressure that was there lessened for a second. “Yeah.”

🌣🌣🌣

The fastest way to a man's heart was through his stomach.

Mrs. Potter had taken those words to heart, he thinks, as he chows down the small tupperware box the woman had given him from the park bench. He hadn’t had the time to ask what it was called and was begging to regret it. Actually, he was beginning to regret a lot of things right about now.

“Wait wait wait, you’re telling me this rich, handsome, almost-royal-but-not-quite boy took you on the best date of your life and you’re thinking about ghosting him?” Marlene nagged him through the phone. “Remus John Lupin, are you out of your fucking mind?”

Remus groaned and looked up at the bright blue sky above him. Any more of it without sunscreen might just give him a tan. “You don’t understand. I-”

“Slept with him?”

“How did you know?”

“Honey I’ve known you since you were eleven. I know your guilty voice,” she huffed. “ I known you suck at commitment but that doesn’t give you the right to lead him on like that.”

“Jeez, thanks.”

“You know what I mean. You owe it to yourself too. From what you told me you really like him.”

“Does it even matter? I’ll be gone in a week and a half anyway and he’ll be in a whole other country drinking gourmet wine or some shit.” Remus says, wiping the sticky-ness off his fingers onto his dirty pants. He hadn’t had time to go back to his room just yet. He was procrastinating the lecture he’d receive despite being a full-grown adult.

“Lupin. Get your head out of your ass. You know fair well what you just said was hypocritical.”

Remus lays his head down on the hot table with a sigh. Through his cracks, he could see his scruffed tennis shoes and a couple ants battling for a few crumbs he dropped. “Yeah, I know.”

“I know I am.”

“Marls. He knows, though. And I think I made a fool of myself this morning.”

“I doubt it’s any worse from the time Pete licked shaving cream off Emmeline Vance’s forehead.”

“When he did what?”

“Doesn’t matter. Point is - I want you to be happy, Remus. If keep sabotaging yourself like this I can’t help you despite how much I want to. I don’t want you to end up like back then.”

Remus doesn’t reply. She sighs.

“If there's one thing I’ve learned, you’re not dramatic over things that truly matter. You wouldn’t even tell me until it ate you alive. So you telling me this - and I think you know this too - means that there's something salvageable there despite what you might think.”

Remus rubs his eyes. They were sore for some reason. “I just - I barely know him. I slept with him.”

“Somehow that doesn’t help your case. When has it stopped you before?”

“I know.”

The conversation dwindled after that meaning Remus’ excuse was now void. He didn’t have any money on his either to blow at some shop to waste the hours either. So with great reluctance, he headed back home.

He tucked the fancy tupperware under his arm and brought out his phone to check his ignored text messages as he waited for the shuttle. There were fifteen from Madaline & four from his aunt. One missed a phone call from his uncle.

10:43 Maddy: hows it shaking ¬‿¬

11:02 Maddy: No response. Good answer.

11:02 Maddy: Unless you’ve been murdered. Then can I have your vinyl collection?

11:09 Maddy: Either bring me home a bottle of vodka or caramel icecream cause uncle ford has dragged me into a conversation about fishing lures

11:32 Maddy: haha by the way that was a joke. You were supposed to be back ten minutes ago. Please don’t be dead.

11:52 Maddy: yo missions blown ma knows somethings wrong. Get your ass back here asap.

11:55 Maddy: I’m definitely owed ice cream after this. Also expect to be questioned about a girl named Sam with thick eyebrows and black hair.

12:32 Maddy: I’m totally getting the story tomorrow. I want it to be filled with a dramatic adventure with stealing some rich guy's car.

12:32 Maddy: or heart ¬‿¬

4:57 Maddy: [picture of Instagram DM’s. Sirius’ message to Madaline. There's a picture of Remus sleeping soundly for proof.]

4:58 Maddy: YOU SLY FUCK YOU SLEPT WITH HIM. I was right. You really are a playboy. Glad you’re okay though. Unless you’re actually dead in that. In that case, I’m drinking the rest of your energy drinks <3

A sliver of a smile came to Remus. He didn’t bother to open his aunt’s messages.

11:32 Remus: His eyebrows aren’t bushy.

Her response was instantaneous.

11:32 Maddy: that's what you comment on? No ‘sorry for putting you through the stress of lying to my own mother like that.' Wow. That's low, even for you Lupin.

🌣🌣🌣

Luck really was not the Lupin family's forte. The fact there were now forces conspiring against him as well now didn’t make it any better.

“I am not ‘conspiring’ you drama queen.” Madaline throws a pillow full-force straight at his head from the other side of the room causing him to stumble back a few steps.

“What else would you call it?”

“A helpful nudge. A wingman. Getting yourself off your sorry ass.”

Remus throws the towel over his shoulder as he waits for her to finish up in the bathroom. Her black and white swimsuit was underneath the odd match of converse and a sundress she had chosen for their escape.

Remus felt underdressed in his plain black swim trucks. She had invited Sirius to join them after discovering Remus hadn’t texted him back all day. He was half-grateful half-angry at the gesture.

“I didn’t even invite you.”

Madaline’s face whipped out from the wall and gave him that are-you-kidding-me look that he was all too familiar with. They both knew what kind of trouble he got up into when he was out alone.

Moments later they were heading out the door when his aunt stopped the both of them. “Take the boys with you before you go.”

“Ma, I’m twenty-one. Can’t we have some time to ourselves?”

“My house, my rules.”

“We aren’t in your house right now technically.”

“Listen to your mother!” His uncle calls out from the living area causing her to throw her head back in a groan. “When you move out and you can do what you like.”

Remus wanted to point out the fact he technically didn’t live with them, but decided against it at the last minute. See? He could learn.

And so, the second train-wreck of the week began.

Sirius is already there when the four of them arrive at the pool. James is there too, shirt off and sunglasses on, as he lounges on one of the beach chairs. Remus tries not to stare at the boy’s body, but unfortunately, that means meeting Sirius’s eyes.

“Hi,” he says awkwardly, setting down the pool bag in the chair next to him. The twins had run off into the pool immediately on site, causing Maddy to run after them with sunscreen so the three of them were alone.

Sirius either didn’t notice his tone or ignored it. He had a bright smile on his face as if he’d just bought him an entire candy shop. “Bonjour.”

“Hey mate!” James grins infectiously, ignoring the fact they had practically never talked. “Wanna see me do a flip?”

Remus crooks his head as he lays his towel by the lounge chair. “Do a belly flop.”

If it's possible, James grins harder. “I like this one.”

Sirius playfully smacks his friend in the gut, causing the other to laugh. “Oi!”

“Fine, fine. I’m going!”

Remus’s eyes follow the young man as he runs and jumps in, splashing every kid in the pool in a ten-foot radius. Sunlight plays upon the surface of the water as if sweetly inviting play and Remus wishes anything to go right in after him. Except he’s now alone with Sirius - and he knows he should say something - but his mouth stays frustratingly glued shut.

He didn’t owe him anything, he thinks. He doesn’t have to be here at all. Summer fling and no more. Normally he would have ditched by now, but he hasn’t, and that scratches a nerve he can’t seem to soothe.

“For some reason, I’m getting the sense you don’t want to be here,” Sirius says, pushing his sunglasses back on top of his head so he can get good luck at Remus. There's a hair that’s out of place that makes him look like some 70’s rock singer he can’t remember the name of and so he uses it as a way to avoid looking at the man’s eyes. “I get that. I wouldn’t have come either if it weren’t for your cousin.”

Remus looks back at the pool to see her floating on her back like some sort of beached whale. She’s not looking at him directly but he can feel her glare. “It’s cool.”

Sirius arches a perfect eyebrow. “It’s cool?” He laughs for a second, then, “You know I’ve had some embarrassing next-day hookup scenarios. If you think this is bad, you don’t know anything.”

That breaks the tension. Remus knows it’s not bad, but his fucked up brain always has something to say about every goddamn thing and it makes it hard to move on from the tiniest things. And he wished he could be nervous about it, like a normal person would, except he’s not - it’s just a detached, static TV channel with why would you do that why would you do that on repeat until he crashes and burns.

A part of him thinks it’s written in his blood to be this way. He thinks about his mother, mind and body stitched together only with the cigarette smoke that bleeds into her skin and took the last part worth living from her. So far in her own head that the line between drunken daydreams and sober horrors blended into a pungent blur. He was his mother's son and there was so escaping it - he saw it in every mirror he passed. The same hair, nose, fingers. Same mind.

Remus is fumbling for a cigarette, ignoring the pool rules sign, when Sirius says, “Is this because I looked you up? I’m really sorry mate if it's about that. I didn’t want to wake you and-”

“No no. Would be hypocritical of me if that's why.” Remus tries to shrug it off with a laugh near the end, but judging Sirius’ facial expression it doesn’t make the air any less rocky.

“Ah,” his face falters for a second. “It seems you’ve discovered my troubled, bad-boy past. My reputation precedes me, even here. There's nothing like a runaway to really make you real punk, eh?” And then he laughs. Laughs as if it can brush away years worth of doubt and fear. But why can’t he? He’s Sirius-Fucking-Black.

It’s almost believable too - only if Remus didn’t know the same weight himself.

In the end, Remus rolls his eyes and flicks Sirius on the arm. “Dick.”

“Does that mean I get a second date?”

“Don’t push it.”