Chapter 1
If Remus Lupin was sure of anything at all in his seventeen year old existence, it is that Arizona heat was something he was definitely not going to miss.
The truck sagged under the weight of multiple thick leather luggage piled in the trunk. His stepdad, Phil, was currently in the front seat, fiddling with the faulty air conditioner.
"Why even own a car in Arizona if it can't even keep you cool?" Remus wondered to his mother, Reneè.
Renneè, who in Remus' opinion could do far better than Phil, just clicked her tongue adoringly. "It gets you from A to B without failing. Isn't that enough?"
Not really, Remus thought, pinching the back of his sweat-soaked shirt. It was an hour and a half drive to the airport, and his mom couldn't make the trip. It was some work conference she claimed. Reneè worked as a customer service rep to a fitness company in the center of town. Luckily, the job was mostly remote so she was able to spend as much time with her son before he left for Forks.
After the news was broken that Remus would be moving with his biological father down in Washington, he had spent all the nights after researching the town. In every picture, there was not a hint of sunlight, and he had seen the same people in every photo. A quick google search was all it took to find out there was only 3,120 people. Which was good, he supposed. Remus wasn't a social person by any means, but had promised his mom that he'd try to make some friends.
And to make peace with his father, but he hadn't been in Remus' life since he was five.
"Car should be cooled enough now," Phil said gleefully, rubbing his hands together as if he just finished the next NASA project. "Shall we say our goodbyes Remus?"
Remus nodded, and reached for Reneè, who immediately crushed him in between her arms. "Be safe Remus, call us when you arrive." She murmured into his unkempt hair. It was the same tawny shade as hers.
Phil stood back, holding the passenger door open for his step-son. No one was able to say the two were best of friends, but they got along well enough. That is...if 'getting along' was enjoying each other's silence.
Remus nodded to his mother and climbed into the leather interior. His legs were already sticking to the seat, so he starting lifting them each up individually, creating a weird sunctioning noise.
"Hey now, don't you pull at my leather, I paid a lot of money for that!" Phil said hastily, eyeing Remus anxiously. If his mother hadn't come along, Remus was convinced he would've found a way to marry his beloved Chevy truck.
Remus gritted his teeth, but he could see his mother out his passenger window, so he simply nodded as the ignition was twisted on.
The duo pulled slowly out of the long, winding driveway at an exceedingly slow speed. Remus' eyes never left the shrinking frame of his mother and house. It was a simple two-story home with a wind around porch and a maroon front door. He couldn't help the tears that pricked his eyes as they drove away—but he wouldn't let them escape down his cheeks. Instead, he busied himself with his rucksack, plopping it in between his legs and squinting into the fabric.
"Whatcha got there sport?" Phil asked lightheartedly. Apparently, he believed the usage of the word 'sport' would solidify their father-son bond. Phil had never been anything close to a father before he met Renneè, and it shows.
Remus shook his head. "Nothing, Phil." He muttered, half out loud and half under his breath. Still, Phil heard it and was silent for a good while. Remus pulled out a digital camera, along with a large Tupperware with enough film to last at least the next month if he used it sparingly. But Remus knew that if he used it at his normal rate it would be gone by the end of the week...he could only hope there was a store that sold some up in Forks. The camera was his mother's, and he had a photo album of hers as well. That was packed very carefully in the front pocket of his bag. Inside was an expansive collection of his own baby photos, all the way through middle school. It was when Remus reached freshman year that he had started his own album full of high school pictures, that Renneè kept with her.
"What do you think, airport food or should we stop somewhere along the way?" Phil asked suddenly, stopped at a red light and looking thoughtfully at Remus. "You'd wanna eat now before you board the plant."
Remus nodded, and looked ahead. "There's a McDonald's down the road." He said, pointing. Phil nodded.
"Sounds good kiddo." The light turned green and they sped forward, soon turning into the parking lot.
***
Phil and Remus ate in silence for a while. Phil had ordered a salad with grilled chicken, while Remus took to stuffing his face with a double cheeseburger, a large portion of fries and a Coke. Phil had been generous when offering to pay for his new step-son's meal, but had certainly not expected Remus to order that much.
"Well," Phil said, gently placing his plastic fork down on a napkin. "Are you thrilled?"
" For?" Remus asked, spitting out bits of bun as he spoke.
With a shrug of a shoulder, Phil replied—"For Forks of course. Aren't you...somewhat excited to see your father?"
Remus took another bite of his burger, thinking hard. His memory of his father was slim, the only thing he could recall was this one time he took Remus to the town library. Nothing particularly exciting happened...there was no 'life lesson' Remus was taught. All he remembered was dragging his father to the comic book section to grab a Spider-Man comic.
"Good choice!" He remembered his father saying as the librarian checked the book out.
"I know right!" A nearly toothless Remus squealed, hopping on the balls of his heels. "I love Spider-Man!"
"And why's that? His father asked, taking the book from the librarian and gently pressed it in his grubby little hands.
Little Remus truthfully had no idea. He thought his powers were cool, sure. But everyone thought his powers were cool. Remus really liked the pictures though...and being five he didn't have a choice as his reading skills were practically nonexistent...he could stare at photos of Peter Parker for hours and not get bored, and he told his father so.
Snapping back into reality, present Remus shook his head. "It'll be nice to see him again I s'pose." Remus plucked a fry from its red container and tossed it in his mouth, suddenly feeling very closed in. Phil noticed, and was nice enough to not bring up the subject of fathers again. They instead went back to awkwardly staring at their food until Phil checked his watch.
"We should get going, you still have three hours till your flight takes off but we should still hurry."
Remus nodded and scraped what was left of his meal into the trash. The mid-day heat was as excruciating as ever, causing sweat to immediately coat every inch of Remus' tanned skin.
"Damn it, should've kept it running." Phil muttered to himself, fiddling angrily with the air conditioning for the second time today.
Turning away, Remus pulled his digital camera out of his pocket. He scanned the surrounding landscape carefully, trying to notice the little things, as if her were an artist. But Arizona had primarily one color with many different mundane shades—brown.
On both sides of the parking lot were aging buildings and people smoking on the street. There was nothing photo-worthy in Remus' opinion. And it wasn't worth wasting the film.
Remus placed his camera back into his cargo pants pocket just as a familiar buzzing started from inside the car.
"Bingo!" Phil exclaimed, happily slapping the gray hood. "Works as well as ever, just as I've always said."
Remus said nothing as he climbed back in the passenger side. He didn't dislike Phil, but always found it awkward when it was just the two of them. Usually, it was Renneè that was the mediator, she was the one who instigated most conversations between them. Phil tried his hardest, but there was little more than a few words spoken between the two every time.
* * *
Terminal 47 was quite crowded for a Wednesday morning. Phil and Remus sat in the oddly tiny seats. Remus' leg was shaking, his hands zipping and unzipping his rucksack. Nerves struck every vein like an aggressive guitar pick. He had only been on a plane once when he was twelve, on a trip to Disneyland in LA—and that time his mother was with him. Now, he'd be facing plying tens of thousands of feet in the air in a metal tube all by himself surrounded by strangers.
"We are beginning boarding for Group A, if you are in Group A please prepare to board," the man next to the gate muffled into the intercom. He repeated the sentence as travelers, Remus included, stood to line up. Remus paused to wave sheepishly at Phil who winked and nodded in the same motion.
"Be safe alright? Call your mother as soon as you get to your father's." He said, standing to shake Remus' hand.
Remus pulled his sweaty hand away as quick as he could manage. "Right. Thanks...uh, bye then." He started to walk off, placing himself behind an older woman dressed in a navy jean dress. After taking his ticket out of his pocket, he scanned the gate for Phil again, but between the sea of people it was nearly impossible.
The line moved slowly, each moment agonizing on Remus' feet. He had chosen his most comfortable pair of sneakers, but it was something about the airport that made his feet hurt ten times more than usual.
Finally, it was his turn. He hastily stuck the barcode of his ticket under the black scanner. It beeped and the flight attendant nodded him forward.
As he headed into the terminal, the sound of the roaring engine did nothing to calm his nerves. He entered the plane to see two stewardesses look him up and down, not unkindly.
"Are you traveling with anyone today sir?" The blonde one asked sweetly.
Remus shook his head, unsure of how to feel about being called 'sir'. "No, but my dad is gonna pick me up when we land." The answer seemed to pacify the two, and he shyly walked down the aisle. He tried to keep his eyes trained forward toward the back of the plane but it was hard not to accidentally catch the eye of random strangers as he passed.
His was lucky enough to get a window seat, but was unlucky enough to be right above the right wing. He inwardly cringed, that's how these last few years had been for him...so lucky yet so anticlimactic.
He shoved his carry-on under the seat only because the gentleman next to him did. His seat-neighbor was an older man, wearing a freshly ironed suit and tie. He smiled at Remus briefly, then proceeded to ignore him the rest of the flight.
The plane sat in the terminal for a good fifteen minutes with the door open, then another thirty with the door closed. Every moment was excruciating for Remus, as he just wanted to feel the sensation of take off and get it over with.
The plane did eventually take off, after the captains wry attempt at humor during the safety demonstration, and the feeling was what Remus would compare to as being tossed around by a giant hand yet being strapped to the seat at the same time.
After nearly two-hours and a half, the plane landed in the Seattle Airport. Feeling a little shaky on his knees down, Remus scurried off the plane and into Gate 53. His mother had told him to look for his father, Charlie, somewhere among the mass of people.
Finally, there he was. Charlie wasn't much different than what Remus could remember, if only a bit older. He had graying black hair, pale skin and squinting, yet not unkind, eyes. Eyes that had just noticed him.
Charlie smiled, and Remus waved bashfully. Slowly, he made his way over to his father and received a very awkward embrace.
"Remus!" Charlie said, his voice was quiet and deep, but it seemed excited to see him.
"Hi." Was all Remus said. He bit his lip...he wasn't sure what to say. "Uh, how have you been?"
Charlie nodded. "Well enough. You?"
"Alright." Remus agreed.
Charlie checked his watch, it was old leather but it worked. "We should go get your bags. We have a four hour drive ahead of us."
Remus nodded, and followed Charlie out of the airport.
Authors Note—Just wanna say that I have not edited yet. Please let me know any suggestions or comments and I’ll try my best to fix things along the way. After the story is finished I’ll go back and edit it. I’m on summer break rn (going into first year of college) so I’ll write as much as I can :)