The sound of socks shuffling against the carpet was what woke Remus up on Saturday morning, he turned around from facing the window and looked at the door. There Teddy stood in Winnie the Pooh pyjamas and orange striped socks, clutching the duck lovie he'd had since he was a baby. He looked at his dad with tired eyes but didn't move from where he stood.
"You okay ducky? It's still a little bit early to have breakfast yet but you can lay here and cuddle for a bit, how's that sound?" Remus sat up a little bit and put his arms out to help Teddy onto the bed.
Slowly he came forward and allowed Remus to lift him up and place him between him and Sirius, who had yet to even stir at the disturbance.
Teddy played with the fabric of Remus's t-shirt, stoking the soft material and putting it to his face. He'd always had odd tendencies to say the least, even when he was a baby, always putting things on his face or refusing to touch something all together if it felt 'wrong'. Whenever he got new clothes Sirius had to sit and cut all the tags out of them to be wearable.
Speaking of, Sirius turned to look at his husband and son, smiling slightly and rubbing his eyes. "Mornin' Moons, hiya baby" he kissed Teddy on the head and sat up to kiss Remus's cheek.
"Morning Pads" Remus answered as Teddy stayed silent, still happily fisting at his dad's shirt. "Sleep okay?" Sirius nodded resting his head on his shoulder, watching their son play. Well play is a bit of an overstatement, more feeling is anything.
After five minutes of silence Sirius's phone started to ring, the sudden noise making Teddy jump and cover his ears. "Sorry baby I know it's loud" Remus pulled Teddy onto his lap, holding his close, as Sirius answered the phone. "Prongs, mate why are you ringing me at ten to nine in the morning? on a Saturday no less" swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and standing he took the phone call down to the kitchen, planting a final kiss on Remus's lips.
Remus cradled Teddy close to his chest, rocking them slightly from side to side in a comforting motion. "Shall we get up now and make some breakfast?" Remus asked a now calmer Teddy, he nodded, taking his duck back from where it was left in the middle of the sheets. "Come on then"
Remus stood up, cracking his back in the proses then lifting Teddy to rest on his hip. Little curls tickled his neck as he carried the three year old downstairs to the living room and putting him down on the brown leather arm chair.
"What was wrong with James?" Remus asks once in the kitchen.
Sirius looks up from his tea, handing a cup to Remus before going to the fridge to fill a beaker of milk for Teddy. "Nothing important, just wandering if we are doing anything today, I told him Teddy's being a bit funny so we're probably just staying in but I'd text if that changes. Was that okay?"
"Yeah that's fine. I think it's going to be an off day today, I could just tell by looking at him this morning" he bit his lower lip, worry seeping into his eyes.
"I know what you mean, we'll just have to keep an eye on him, try and make him as comfortable as possible" Sirius squeezes his shoulder as he walks passed to go into the living room with two cups, Remus following close behind, stopping at the door.
Sirius crouches down next to the arm chair, waving his free hand next to the boys face, who seemed to be stuck in a trance, chewing the corner of his little blanket.
"Do you want some milk? It's in your pooh cup." He offered the beaker for Teddy to take and watched him take a few sips then hold it back out to be taken away. Sirius takes it and puts it on the coffee table in front of him. "Well done. Would you like some toast? Or some fruit maybe?" Teddy shakes his head, no. Sirius looks over at Remus, brows knitted together in confusion.
Remus sips his tea and thinks, yes this is definitely an off day. "Do you want to go with daddy and have a look yourself?" He asks, leaning against the door frame. He shakes his head again. "Okay well, we'll leave it for now and you can have a snack later if you get hungry, okay ducky?" He nods.
Remus comes into the living room fully now, sitting on the couch opposite Teddy and Sirius, he watches Teddy point at him, making little noises so Sirius picks him up and sits next to Remus, Teddy on his lap, face tucked into his neck.
"I don't think he's in a talking kind of mood today" Remus said, stroking the baby's hair.
"Maybe he's just overwhelmed from yesterday? It was quite loud and busy in town" yesterday they took a trip into town to get Regulus a birthday present, Teddy adored his uncle so of course begged to come with them.
It only took an hour and a half for him to get overwhelmed and want to go home, luckily they had gotten all that was needed.
Teddy had only been diagnosed with autism a few months ago but there had always been small things that pointed to it, the biggest one being Regulus straight up telling them to get him assessed, Reg being autistic himself, so they took his word and went through the proses. Sirius didn't realise that the things he did were traits of ASD as he'd seen them all in his brother growing up and just assumed that was just how children behaved.
He'd never been much of a talkative child to begin with so the days that he didn't speak at all were tougher because neither of them knew what he needed when he couldn't communicate it, today would be one of those days.
"Do you want me to get those cards that Harry gave us from his friend? You know the ones with different activities on" Remus asked, putting his mug of tea onto the coffee table.
"Yeah that's a good idea, we can lay out the day, make a visual routine for him" Sirius shifted to lean away from Teddy, who still had his head nestled in the crook of his daddy's neck. "Teddy, can you look at me and dad for a second" he lifts his head "well done love, your Moony's going to get your cards that Harry gave you and together we're going to make a list of everything that will happen today. How does that sound?"
Remus had went back to the kitchen once Teddy nodded, retrieving the cards from the drawer under the toaster and returned to the couch, setting them on the table. Sirius put Teddy on the floor and slid off the seat to sit next to him. The cards got spread out and Remus wrote different timings of the day on the glass tabletop with a whiteboard pen.
"Okay lovely, it's half past nine now, it's been breakfast time, so what would you like to do the rest of the day?" Regulus always said let him take the lead so they waited as he weighed up the options, seemingly taking in all the pictures as he couldn't yet read properly. After a little while he picked up the one that had a book on.
"Good choice, when would you like to do that?"
He put the picture next to seven thirty pm which is around bedtime or at least when they start the bedtime routine of bath, story, pyjamas and so on.
Over the next fifteen minutes they had put together the days routine, it was to go as follows:
9:30-11am: Breakfast, brush teeth and playtime.
11am-1pm: Get dressed and go to the park with uncle Regulus.
1-2:30pm: Have lunch, feed the ducks and come home.
2:30-4pm: Wind down in the sensory corner, nap time and snack.
4-6pm: playtime, dinner and bath time.
6-8pm: pyjamas, brush teeth, story time and bed.
The park was a bit of a shock but it was welcomed, it's not too cold for it just yet. The routine was the almost the same everyday but sometimes it was nice to have it visualised and besides Teddy enjoyed ticking off the different things once completed.
Breakfast ended up being two custard creams but it was better than nothing, he brushed his teeth with his yellow toothbrush and played on the sitting room floor with duplo blocks, building little towers on the sandy coloured carpet, Remus sat across from him while Sirius showers upstairs.
"Can I play with you Teds?" Remus asked, crossing his legs, knees cracking. The little boy hummed in agreement. "Could you pass me the red block please?" Remus being a teacher of course saw everything as an educational moment, today's lesson: colours.
Teddy looked at his dad with big brown eyes before leaning forward on his knees and picking up the red block Remus requested, passing it over and going back to his tower.
"Well done, clever lad" Remus leaned forward and ruffled the toddlers hair, he leaned away from the touch making a small noise of protest. "Sorry baby"
They played like this for another thirty minutes before getting ready to go out and meet Regulus.
Teddy was dressed in dark blue dungarees, a long sleeved striped top and a little pair of wellies to go along with his rain coat, it wasn't raining but the boots were his favourite pair of shoes and it wasn't worth a tantrum this morning. Remus wore his usual outfit of an 'ugly jumper' (as Sirius would so kindly call them) and corduroy trousers.
Remus crouched infront of Teddy to help zip up his coat when he heard his husband behind them.
"You look like a nerd Moony" he chuckled, tying the laces on his combat boots.
"And you look like a criminal gang leader" Remus smirked; taking his fleece lined denim jacket from the coat hook. "Okay, are we ready to go see uncle Reggie?" Teddy nodded enthusiastically, bouncing slightly on his toes.
"Do you want your headphones on Teds before we leave?" Sirius asked holding up Teddy's yellow ear defenders. He thought for a second before nodding so Sirius placed them on his head and offering his hand to hold.
The walk to the park was pleasant, not yet cold enough for numb fingers and red noses, Teddy walked quietly between his parents, swinging his arms back and forward, they both looked down fondly at him.
Regulus was already at the park once they got there, sitting on a bench near the entrance, he looked up and waved, smiling at Teddy, when he heard his brothers voice.
Remus offered a polite nod in his direction and Sirius said hello but was ignored in favour of his son who was jumping up and down and flapping his hands excitedly at his uncle who picked him up.
"Hi Teds, how are you today" Regulus looked at the toddler with a small smile, he giggled and nodded. "Not talking today? Thats okay, your daddy talks enough for the two of you"
"Hey! I'll have you know I've barely spoken today thank you very much" Sirius gave a dramatic gasp. Remus raises his eyebrow.
"You spent half an hour showing, belting Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of your lungs pads, and talked all the way here about how stupid cults are" he deadpanned, looking at Sirius who was now stood mouth open in shock pretending to be offended.
Regulus put Teddy down and he immediately ran off to the duck pond near by, the three men followed close behind.
Ducks had become a firm favourite of Teddy's since March last year when Sarah and duck came on the telly, he'd started waddling around the house and funnily enough, quacking. The waddling stopped when he'd got the hang of walking but the quacking quickly became a vocal stim, it was no problem since they had all just taking to quacking back at him, making him laugh.
"Shall we go into the play park for a bit then we can have lunch and feed the ducks?" Remus asked a happy Teddy as Sirius and Regulus bickered behind them. The small boy nodded, holding his dad's thumb and going into the park.
Sirius went to go get cups of tea from a near by coffee shop as Regulus and Remus sat on a bread by bench and watched Teddy play on a spring horse.
Soon Sirius returned, three disposable cups in hand, two teas and one coffee. The three adults chatted while Teddy played, mostly rocking on the horse or spinning in circles on the grass. Odd little child.
Eventually, as all children do, Teddy got bored of playing by himself and wandered over to his dads and uncle and tugged at Regulus's wool coat sleeve.
Looking to his side he set his coffee down next to him to give the toddler his full attention. "Whats the matter bud?" Teddy pointed towards the orange swing on near the slide "do you want to go on the swings?" A nod "okay, come on then and I'll push you" Regulus stood up and offered his hand to his nephew, who took it and they walked over to the set of orange cradle swings.
"He's good with kids, isn't he" Remus said once they were out of ear shot.
This snapped Sirius out of his trance looking at his wonderful brother play with his son. "Hmm? Oh yeah. Was great with Harry when he was younger as well. It's like he's finally getting the chance to be a kid too, you know?"
Remus simply nodded, pulling him into a side hug and kissing his temple.
After about half an hour of swinging they decided to get lunch at a café nearby, Teddy having a bowl of chips while the others have cheese toasties.
"Do you want to feed the ducks when we're done Teds?" Sirius asked, handing Teddy a carton of orange juice.
He nodded and picked up a chip, giving it to Remus, making a little 'Ah' noise. "Thank you love" he took the chips down put it on the side of his plate.
Feeding the ducks was a quiet affair, Teddy flapping his hands excitedly every now and then. Soon though it was time to go home, Regulus needing to go back to work and Teddy getting tired and starting to become overwhelmed as the park filled up and got busy.
He was carried home and once there his boots, coat and headphones were removed and he was sat in his bedroom with the lights off apart from his bubble tube in the corner, sat in Sirius's lap.
Remus worked on tidying up the house before coming to the bedroom door and leaning with his back against the wall. He looked at his husband and son sat silently on the floor.
Teddy looked at the bubbles moving up and down in the tube while rubbing his hands together with his blanket between them, his head lolled against Sirius's chest, eyes growing tired.
Sirius ran his hand through the mass of brown curls and wrapped his free arm around his stomach pulling him closer. "Shall we go to bed now ducky? You're falling asleep on me" he whispered. Teddy nodded sleepily. "Come on then"
He eased them both off the ground slowly and laid him down in the stripy bed sheets. Remus pushed off the wall and made his way over to the end of Teddy's bed. Sirius looked up, feeling another presence near him and smiled whispering a small 'hi'.
Remus took off his dungarees and pulled the blanket over him, pressing a kiss on his forehead.
They sit at the small dining table in the kitchen with a cup of tea, Sirius filling in a crossword and Remus writing the shipping list for the next day. They don't talk much but they don't need to, sometimes it's nice to just be close to each other.
"Anything else you want to add to the list? I have the usual stuff down" Remus asked pushing the note pad to Sirius, looking over his reading glasses.
"Nah that'll be fine Moons. As long as you've got grapes and yogurt on there so we don't have a screaming, hungry Teddy" he laughed slightly, filling in another question.
"Oh Christ don't remind me" Remus sighed "that might've been the worst thing to happen when he was already upset because his shoes were to tight" he smiled slightly at the memory as the radio drawled on quietly, playing the same new pop song for the third time that day.
Sirius put together a snack when Remus went to go and get Teddy up, he ate it without much complaint. He played silently on the rug while Remus made dinner, Sirius finished his crossword, set the table and watched Teddy until it was done.
Dinner was simple, tuna pasta and garlic bread, Teddy having plain pasta and no bread due to his disdain for fish and things that are green so both were off the table. They let the radio play in the background, Remus and Sirius chatted on about work or what they'd do tomorrow, reminding Sirius to phone Lilly to make sure it was still okay if she watched Teddy on Wednesday.
Teddy got down from his chair and went into the living room, coming back a few moments later with the card that had a photo of a bathtub on it, he put it in front of Remus and pointed at it. "Your turn tonight dad, I'll do the dishes" Sirius chuckled.
Remus rolled his eyes and shot him the V when Teddy wasn't looking. "Come on then mate, bath time"
He filled the bath a quarter of the way up with warm water and a few bath toys, two rubber ducks and a cup he's taken a liken to, filling it up and emptying it out over and over. There was a mishap once when Sirius had been in charge of bath time and by the end there was a cup full of soap, a very slippery, but clean baby and a dripping wet Sirius, along with a minorly flooded bathroom.
The bath was done without much fuss (Remus remaining dry), Teddy now having been washed and wrapped in a white towel, Remus lead him to his bedroom and collected clean pyjamas from his chest of drawers, red and blue Spider-Man ones. Not that he'd seen Spider-Man or had any interest in it but they were red so Teddy decided he had to have them.
Getting him to settle had never been a problem, not since he was a baby at least when he used to cry almost constantly, now all it took was a story and a tight squeeze from each of his dads.
Speaking of, Sirius came in at sat at the foot of his little toddler bed, he'd be needing a new one soon but Remus decided to leave it as long as possible to keep from the emotional idea that yes, Teddy was indeed growing up and far to fast for his liking at that. Remus sat with his back to the wooden head board and began to read 'the tiger who came to tea' one of Teddy's favourites and a classic for the house,Lilly had bought it for Harry when he was little, then Harry had given it to Teddy the year prior now being to old for children's books.
The busy day had certainly tired the young boy out because he was struggling to keep his eyes open part way through.
"Okay, I think we should leave the story there for tonight Moony" Sirius nodded his head towards the now sleeping toddler and smiled. "He's fell asleep, love"
Remus looked down to his left, seeing a peaceful Teddy fast asleep hugging his duck lovie. "Christ I didn't think I was that boring while reading, cheeky bugger" he eased off the bed and kissed his forehead before putting the book back on the small bookshelf in the corner.
"You have a calming voice" Sirius whispered, stroking back the curls from Teddy's forehead and standing up. He draped his arms around the taller man's neck and lightly kissed his lips. "Come on, I'll make us some tea, yes?" Remus nodded, following him out of the room, leaving the door cracked open just a bit.