London Boy

Remus kept Teddy off school for the rest of the week, as he wasn’t due to work until Sunday anyway. For a six-year-old, Teddy was very smart and far too observant.

“So you’re friends with the nice firefighter?” Teddy asked.

“I’ve seen him at work a few times,” Remus answers vaguely

“Why did you call him London? His name is serious.” Teddy said, “He didn’t actually say what it was, but I do know that it’s serious.”

Remus tried to suppress the laugh but ended up almost choking. “Teddy bach, his name is Sirius. He was named after a star. Not that he has a serious name, cyw.”

“Well, he should have said that then.” Teddy frowned. “But why do you call him London?”

“He’s from London, and the first time I met him, he wouldn’t shut up about how great it is there.” Remus looked down at Teddy, “He’s got a nephew not much older than you actually. He’s almost eight. He’d be in the juniors, right?”

“Yeah, y’have to be seven to go there,” Teddy said as he looked at his drawing, appraising it carefully. “I’ll go there soon.”

“You will. One more year and you’ll have a whole new school to explore.”

“I only just explored this one!” Teddy huffed, “Maybe they’ll call me Teddy at the new school.”

“Mrs Sinastra still insisting on calling you Edward?” Remus asked. When Teddy nodded, he said, “I’ll have a word with her.”

“Why did you call him cariad?”

Remus’ mind went blank. Why had he called him cariad? He’d met the guy four times, but there was something about Sirius that made him feel… well, not like a widower with a six-year-old, that’s for sure. “Because he was so kind to you.”

“Hmm,” Teddy said, “I never heard you call anyone that. So he is your friend then?”

“No one’s ever patched you up after a fire before, have they?”

“No, I s’pose not.” Teddy sat back. “Do you think he’ll like this?” He held up the drawing for Remus to see. It was… scribbly. Remus suspected that the two blobs in the middle were Sirius and Teddy, and the orange around the outside was, worryingly, possibly fire.

“Oh, cyw, that’s beautiful!” He gushed, “He’s going to love it!”

“Can we take it to him?” Teddy asked, eyes wide.

“I don’t know when he works. He might not be there today.” Remus quite liked the idea, almost as much as he didn’t want to like the idea.

“We could try?” Teddy pleaded, “I’m tired of being in the house.”

“Let me give them a call, and see if he’s in. How about that?”

Teddy nodded and hopped down from the table. “I’ll get dressed then.”

“Ok, love,” Remus called after him. If Sirius wasn’t working today maybe he and Teddy could go to the park or the cinema. Teddy hadn’t wanted to leave the house for months after his mum had died; screaming bloody murder every time Remus tried. So his expressing that he was tired of being in the house meant a lot and Remus, naturally, would indulge him.

He picked up his phone and googled the number for the fire station. When someone answered on the other end, he panicked slightly, “Oh, hello. This might be a weird thing to ask. My son was looked after by one of your firefighters at the infant school a couple of days ago and he’s drawn him a picture to say thank you. Are you able to tell me if he’s at work today?”

“What’s the name?” The lady on the other end sounded bored.

“Er, mine or his?”

“His name, please.”

“Oh, right. Right. Of course. It’s Sirius Black.” Remus stumbled over his words.

He heard keys clacking in the background. “He’s here today. Would you like me to let him know that you’ll be coming?”

“Oh, yes please.” Remus grinned.

“And your name is?”

“Tell him Moony and Teddy are coming.” He swore he heard the woman sigh.

“Alright, I’ll let him know.” She said.

“Thank you. Thanks. Bye now.” Remus hung up and smiled. He should probably go and get dressed too, then.

🌙✨🌙✨🌙

“Message for you, Black. Someone coming to see you this afternoon.” Benjy Fenwick threw himself into the armchair opposite the TV.

“Who?” Sirius frowned, James and Lily would both be at work, Harry at school, and everyone else he knew was in the building. One of his cousins lived in Wales, but he hadn’t seen her for over a decade, and he was pretty sure she had no idea he’d moved.

“Moony and Teddy, apparently.” Fenwick shrugged. “What’s that, a kid’s TV show?”

Sirius grinned, Moony and Teddy. “A kid from the school fire this week and his dad.” Sirius explained, “His dad patched up my arm… and my hand… and Harry’s wrist.”

“I see,” Benjy smirked at him. “Oh, oh no. Wait! Not the hot nurse?”

“Does everyone know about that?” Davey wouldn’t let him hear the end of it. The journey back to the station after the school fire had been torturous. Thankfully only Davey, Benjy and Arthur were in their engine, so it was all pretty good-natured teasing, but now Davey had moved on from calling him Newbie to calling him Loverboy. Which was definitely worse.

“Yep, even Kingsley.” Benjy laughed. “He said maybe fucking a nurse would make you less accident-prone somehow.”

“I’ve been to the hospital twice!” Sirius was stunned.

“In less than four months, loverboy.” Davey appeared over the back of the sofa. “Have you considered just getting his number so you don’t have to hurt yourself to see him?”

“Fuck off! Anyway, I’m not fucking him.”Sirius turned back to Benjy. “He’s just a nice guy with a sweet kid, so please don’t be arseholes when he gets here.”

“Nah, we love to wind you up, but not in front of the kid, don’t worry.” Davey laughed. “Maybe he’ll call you cariad again and look at you longingly as he leaves.”

“I hate you both.”

“Sure you do, loverboy.” Davey grinned. “You should show them around the station. Give them the grand tour. Kids love that shit.”

“That’s not a bad idea actually.” Sirius mused.

🌙✨🌙✨🌙

Sirius got called down to the front desk of the station and grinned as he saw Remus and Teddy standing there hand in hand. He still couldn’t get over how good Remus looked out of his scrubs. The more he learned about Remus and the more time he spent around him, he logically knew that nothing could happen between them. But the more he learned about Remus and the more time he spent around him… well, he wanted nothing more.

“Teddy! Moony!” Sirius beamed at them as soon as he came into view. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I drew you a picture!” Teddy waved a piece of paper at him. “To say thank you!”

“You did?” Sirius took the piece of paper and looked at the drawing. Remus helpfully turned it ninety degrees so that he was looking at it the right way. “It’s amazing. That’s me and you, right?”

Teddy nodded, “And lots of fire.”

“I can see the fire. This is so good! Would you mind if I kept it, and put it inside my locker? So I can look at it every morning?”

“Yeah!” Teddy smiled. “Sirius, do you have a pole here?”

Sirius chuckled, every child asked the same question. “We do, actually. Would you like to have a look around while you’re here?”

“Can we, Dad?” Teddy looked up at Remus.

“Are you sure? We’re not interrupting?”

“The only thing you’re interrupting is time I should be doing chores.” Sirius smiled at him, “So really, you’d be doing me a favour.”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Remus nodded, “That’d be nice.”

Sirius spent the best part of an hour showing them the fire station, letting Teddy sit in the engine and slide down the pole. Marlene came out of the gym and did a double take when she saw Teddy, then Remus.

“Remus Lupin, what the hell are you doing here?” She squealed, running across to pull him into a hug.

“Marly!” He grinned as Teddy came running over to wrap his arms around Marlene’s legs.

“Well, I’m hoping you know each other,” Sirius said, yelping as Marlene gave him a gentle shove.

“Remus works with Dorcas.”

“Yeah, she held my arm together when Moony glued it up,” Sirius said, feeling like he was missing something.

“Dorcas is married to Marlene,” Remus said slowly.

“She’s what?” Sirius gasped. “No! Dorcas is Cas?”

Marlene blushed slightly, “Yeah. That’s my girl.”

“Well, wow. Small world.” Sirius said, not liking the look in Marlene’s eye as she was slowly piecing together who Remus was to Sirius and why he was there.

“Apparently.” She turned to Remus. “Why have you never invited Sirius to drag brunch?”

“You go to drag brunch?” Sirius asked.

“Sometimes. Teddy’s gran and grandad have him for the day every other Saturday, and I like to let them have their time with him without me monopolising him, so rather than be a sad loser at home on my own, this pair have invited me to drag brunch a few times. I love it.”

Sirius nodded, that would probably be Teddy’s mum’s parents then. He’d have called them mum and dad otherwise, probably. “Well, I’m glad you have such a fun distraction.” Sirius smiled, “I miss drag nights. When I lived in—”

“Does he do this a lot here?” Remus asked Marlene, “Wax lyrical about how magical London is and how much he misses it? First time I met him he wouldn’t shut up about it.”

“I believe you found that endearing, Moony.” Sirius said, “Endearing enough to come up with a nickname based on it, anyway.”

Marlene looked like she couldn’t wait to speak to one or both of them alone, and Sirius was not going to give her the satisfaction.

"Endearing? or Baffling?" Remus shrugged. "One of those, probably."

Marlene rolled her eyes, "So what brought you here today, Remus?"

Remus, keeping an eye on Teddy as he played Mariokart with Benjy and Davey, thought for a moment. "Sirius patched Teddy up the other day at school."

"Shit, Ted got hurt in that? is he alright?" Marlene's face dropped. "I didn't see him so I assumed he wasn't hurt. I'd have called otherwise!"

"Marls it's fine. He got a couple of burns on his hand and arm. They're sore but they're clean and he's fine. Dorcas had a look at him, did she not say?" He smiled at her, "He drew Sirius a picture to say thank you, so we brought it down."

"You patched up his arm and his hand, right?" Marlene asked slyly.

"And his nephew." Remus met her eye. "Is there any point in being a paramedic firefighter when you send everyone over to me anyway?"

"If Teddy wasn't here, we'd be having words, Lupin." she laughed.

“I’m sure you’ll text me any thoughts you have the next time you have half a glass of wine.”

Sirius liked this new side to Remus. He was funny, this much Sirius already knew, but seeing him take the piss out of someone he clearly knew very well was somehow kind of hot. Sirius groaned internally.

“I’ll text you my damn thoughts the second you step out that door, boy!” She grinned at him. “Got much planned for the weekend?”

“Teddy wants to go to the museum tomorrow so I’ll probably end up taking him, even though Saturdays are the worst.”

“The museum?” Sirius asked.

“National Museum, there’s a few but I think Cardiff’s is the best. Ted loves looking at the dinosaur bones. You should come and learn about how much better Wales is than your precious London.” Remus realised what he’d just said and did his best not to let the panic he was feeling show on his face.

“If that’s a genuine offer, I’d actually love to.” Sirius said, “If not, no worries, I can—”

“No, it was genuine. We’d both love for you to come.” Stop talking, Remus, “We were thinking of going about ten, is that good for you?”

“I can do ten.” Sirius did his best not to look at Marlene, who had been watching this interaction unfold with the most insufferable look on her face. “Let me give you my number, and then you can give me a heads up if anything changes.”

Remus pulled out his phone, unlocked it and handed it to Sirius, who typed his number in and saved it under ‘London 🚒🖤’. He called himself for a second before hanging up and giving the phone back to Remus.

“Right, well we should probably be going. I promised Teddy lunch. Bloody kid’s going to bankrupt me via McDonald's.” He smiled. “Teddy!” He called across to the sofas. “Time to go, cyw.”

Teddy frowned, “But I’m winning! Just one more race, please?” Teddy pleaded. Remus sighed and nodded. “Thanks, Dad!”

“I feel like I let him get away with murder sometimes.” Remus said quietly, “But he’s a good kid, and it’s just me and him so occasionally there’s no harm in it, I suppose.”

“Teddy told me when I met him that his mum died.” Sirius didn’t know why he was bringing this up. “I’m sorry.”

“Of course he did." Remus sighed, "He was only three, he doesn’t have that many memories of her anymore. Her parents and I do our best to keep her memory alive, they're great, truly. But it’s hard to know what the right balance is sometimes.” Remus looked at Sirius, “Sorry, cariad, I didn’t mean to come in here and trauma dump on you at work.”

“It wasn’t a trauma dump, it was a conversation, Moony,” Sirius said gently. “He’s a good kid, and from what I’ve seen, you’re a good dad.”

“Thank you.”

“He also told me you used to have your septum pierced,” Sirius added, to lighten the moment.

“Yeah, I did.” He chuckled. “Didn’t feel much myself for a good while after, got rid of a lot of things that reminded me of her in the spur of the moment.”

“Understandable.”

“That, and Teddy kept trying to yank it out.” Remus shrugged. “I suppose you’re to blame for him saying that we’re going to go and get tattoos together when he’s eighteen.”

“Oh, yeah that was absolutely me, sorry.” Remus shook his head and laughed, “In my defence, I didn’t know you were the not-tattooed dad when I said it. He’s got twelve years to forget about it.”

“I’m done!” Teddy appeared next to them. “I won!”

“You did?” Sirius gasped. “I’ve never won against Benjy! You must be really good!”

“Next time I’ll race against you!” Teddy grinned. Next time, thought Sirius.

“Alright, you’re on.” Sirius high-fived his tiny hand. “Also, I was talking to your dad, and he pointed out that I don’t know anything about Wales, and that’s just not good enough because I live here now. So would you mind if I came with you to the museum tomorrow?”

Teddy’s entire face lit up and he nodded, “You should definitely come! There’s so much to learn. There’s dinosaurs and a shark and lots of paintings and some rocks from the moon!”

“That sounds amazing. I’ll be there.” Sirius smiled at Teddy, then at Remus. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You will.” Said Remus with a wide smile. “Hwyl am nawr, cariad.”

Sirius felt himself blushing, “See you, Moony. Bye, Teddy.”

“Bye!” Teddy raced out of the room, dragging Remus by the hand.

🌙✨🌙✨🌙

The museum trip was amazing, and so was the trip to the park, the second visit to the fire station and the afternoon they spent playing mini golf and eating pizza. It never got beyond friendly, maybe a little flirtatious banter here and there, and Sirius was starting to come around to the idea of friendship. Remus was a good friend, and he genuinely loved spending time with him and Teddy.

When Sirius had mentioned wanting to go and see the Cardiff Devils play since he’d been ice skating with Harry, Remus said to leave it with him. He surprised Sirius with two tickets less than a week later claiming to ‘know a guy’. When Sirius asked if he wanted to go with him, he got adorably flustered and said he’d see if Teddy’s gran or his mum could watch him.

This led to Sirius turning up to Remus’ house on a Saturday evening to pick him up to go and watch some ice hockey. Remus was wearing another oversized cardigan, this time navy and Sirius wanted desperately to reach out and see if it was as soft as it looked.

“Teddy! Are you ready?” Remus shouted up the stairs. “Mam-gu will be here soon.” Teddy appeared at the top of the stairs, wearing an Elsa dress and carrying a tiny suitcase. “Are you going to be warm enough in that?” Teddy lifted the bottom of the dress to show fleecy pyjama bottoms underneath. “Alright, cyw, good job.”

Teddy expertly held the bottom of his dress with one hand as he came down the stairs. “Mam-gu gets too hot sometimes and her house is cold,” Teddy explained, seemingly for Sirius’ benefit. “Got extra socks, too.” He yelled as he skittered off into the kitchen.

“Sorry, she’s usually early.” Remus said, “Do you want a—” He was interrupted by the doorbell. “Teddy!”

He opened the door and Sirius noticed the smile on his face tighten slightly. “Hi Andy, thanks for doing this.”

Sirius looked over his shoulder as the door opened, and then froze. As he turned around slowly, he saw the same bewildered look mirrored back at him.

“Andy?” He said quietly.

“Sirius?” She looked like she might cry and Sirius flew at her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug that she clung onto. Remus was utterly baffled, as was Teddy when he skidded into the hallway.

They separated and Andy took a moment to take Sirius in. “God, look at you!” She smiled, “I didn’t know you’d left… London!”

Sirius read between the lines, “They kicked me out when I was sixteen. Too gay to be of any use, apparently. Haven’t seen them since. I’ve only been here a few months, though. My friends moved here and I missed them too much to stay in London alone.”

“And Reg?” Her smile fell slightly, “Is he still there?”

“Last I heard, yes. Maybe two years since I last saw him.” Sirius sighed, “I tried, but, you know what they’re like.”

“I’m sorry, I do.” She squeezed his arm, “Still, you look so good.”

“Thanks, so do you!” Sirius suddenly seemed to remember where they were. “Wait, you’re…”

“Mam-gu!” Teddy saw an opening and threw himself at Andromeda who spun him around. “How do you know Sirius?”

“Sirius is my cousin. My mum and his dad are brother and sister.” Sirius looked over at Remus whose eyes were wide, the rest of his face unreadable. “I haven’t seen him since he was a stroppy little teenager, though.” She looked over at Remus, “How do you know Sirius?”

Remus just blinked at her.

“He’s patched me up a few times. I’m a firefighter and… cuts and burns. You know.” Sirius’ mind was slowly realising the depth of the situation here. If Andy was Teddy’s gran, then Remus must have been married to Nymphadora, who was also now dead.

“And he put bandages on me when the plug sockets exploded at school.” Teddy chimed in from Andy’s hip. “He has a tattoo of Bambi.”

“Does he now?” Andy was looking between her cousin and her son-in-law who both looked stricken. Yet Remus had looked so happy when he opened the door. “And the two of you are… friends?”

“Yeah, I think we can call it that now.” Sirius glanced at Remus, who nodded. "He thrashed me at mini golf and insisted I buy him pizza, and I think that's the threshold."

“Lovely.” Andy smiled, wondering if when she left they’d even be able to look one another in the eye. “Well, I believe you have a game to get to, and Teddy and I have cookies to bake.” She set Teddy down. “We’ll have to find you an apron so you don’t spill anything on your lovely dress.”

“Bye Sirius, Bye Dad,” Teddy said, throwing his arms around Remus as he crouched down.

“See you tomorrow, Teddy Bach. Be good for your gran.”

“He always is,” Andromeda said as she picked up the tiny suitcase and ushered Teddy out of the door. “Have fun, boys.”

As soon as the door shut, the silence was deafening.

“So Teddy’s mum. Nympha—”

“Tonks, or Dora, she never liked her full name. But yes, I— Tonks was Teddy’s mum.” He paused, “And my wife.” He paused again, “And your… second cousin? First cousin, once removed?”

“Something like that. I just called her my cousin too, honestly.” Sirius’ eyes were out of focus. “So that makes Teddy…”

“Your first cousin, twice removed. Well, he’ll be chuffed with that.” Remus huffed. “I can’t say I saw that coming.”

“You and me both.” Sirius nodded.

“You knew her well when you were younger?” Remus leaned against the wall. "She never really talked about her life before they moved to Wales."

“Yeah, Andy tried to spend a lot of time with me and Reg when we were little because our parents are… not great. So once she married Ted and had … Tonks? Yeah, I probably saw her a few times a week until I was thirteen maybe. She was the same age as my little brother. I can’t believe I didn’t know that she’d… I’m so sorry.”

Remus nodded, “Car crash. It was quick at least, I guess. It was… it is still really hard to talk about her.”

“Then we don’t have to.” Sirius tried to smile. “We can go and watch some hockey and maybe we talk about it another day.” Remus looked at him, “Honestly, I’m struggling to talk about her. Or... even hear about her. I don't know.”

Remus nodded, “Ok, let’s go and watch some hockey.”

The evening wasn’t bad, more just slightly awkward. There was nothing that could be considered flirting between them, and when Sirius’ hand accidentally brushed Remus’ on the way back to Sirius’ car, he jerked it away like Remus’ hand was the scalding metal of a burning barn. Remus definitely noticed and Sirius’ inner monologue was determined to continue screaming gibberish at him which was thoroughly unhelpful.

Remus thanked Sirius for driving, said goodbye, and exited the car without looking back at him.

Sirius drove home in silence.