we have to stop meeting like this
Sirius had a problem. And that problem came in the form of a sexy bassist who knew how to push his buttons just enough to get him all worked up.
When he invited the guy into the band, all he was looking for was a shag and maybe a friendship. But he didn't expect to be catching feelings, no he did not expect that at all.
He realized it when he met the kid, he presumes.
The moment he heard about the kid went like this:
Remus, the guy, he was getting ready to leave, and he says something like, "Oh, yeah, my son would be wanting his dad right now, so I have to leave," and then everyone's looking confused at him, and then he explains, and then he leaves, and then Sirius has a problem.
Because he didn't say anything about the kid. He'd just gone silent, and Remus probably thought that he wasn't interested anymore. And that was a problem. Because if anything, it made him more interested in him.
And now he's lying in his bed, wishing he could just walk over to James's room and ask him for advice. But Jamie brought someone over and now they were shagging, quite loudly. And Sirius was wishing that he had somewhere to go or something to distract him, but nope. He was being subjected to the torture of sitting in his room and plugging his ears shut the best he could.
Ugh, fuck you, Prongs.
You know what? You know what ? This is too horrible to listen to. Ugh. He has to do something. He has to get out of here.
He grabs a journal and pen off his bedside table. If all goes to plan he'd be getting some peace and quiet sooner rather than later. He opens his bedroom door cautiously. After making sure there were no snogging couples in his path, he left their apartment and stepped outside, for what felt like the first time in days.
It was slowly turning dark outside, and the moon was shining brightly.
Huh, full moon today. That's nice. he thought absently.
He was slowly making his way to his destination when he eventually arrived.
It was a park, (not the kind with a playground, it was the kind with flowers and gardens), but it was more or less abandoned at this time of night. Perfect for clearing his mind and getting some much-needed fresh air.
He walked around the flowers and trees for a bit before finding somewhere to sit. He took a seat in a nook created by a dent in a large willow tree. He settled in, content with his spot, and was about to start writing down his thoughts, to clear his mind, when a kid trips and falls right next to him.
"Oh! Are you okay?"
"Yeah," the kid sniffles. "My foot hurts."
He looks slightly familiar, Sirius thinks. That's stupid, though, because he was quite sure he'd never met a child with bright blue hair before.
Sirius leaned forward and looked at his knee. The kid was wearing shorts, unfortunately, and he'd gotten scraped by some rocks in the grass and was now bleeding lightly.
"Am, am I going to die?" He said, looking up at Sirius with watery eyes.
"Aw, no, kid, this is just a scrape. Here, I bet I can help it." He got out the handkerchief he kept in his pocket (because he was that posh bitch who kept handkerchiefs in their pocket), and dabbed at the blood, while the kid winced and "ow"-ed.
The scratch looked much better clean, and the kid was much calmer.
"Can I have a band-aid?"
"Oh, sorry, buddy. I don't have one right now." The kid pouted adorably and Sirius laughed.
"But I wannttt one!"
"Where are your parents, buddy? They might have one."
"I only have one parent! He is the bestest dad ever, he always plays with me and watches movies too, and when Auntie M is home, then we have the best time ever and play Mario Kart! You should come too!" Aw, how cute! He rambled on about his dad, that's adorable.
"Aw, that sounds fun! But where's your dad, bud?"
"Oh, um, I think he went on a phone call, he said it was im-pore-tench . Do you know what that means because I don't know what that means! He said to stay in one place but then I saw a butterfly and I wanted to see where it went to see all its butterfly friends so I followed it but I fell and now I'm lost!" The kid looked like he was going to start crying again, so Sirius tried to distract him.
"Okay, buddy, okay, it's okay, I found you, right? So I can help you find your dad. Do you know his phone number? Wait, forget that, you're too young, I think. Do you know where he was when you left?"
"Um. I think it was, um, that way." The kid pointed over, behind Sirius's shoulder.
"Okay, let's start walking that way, okay? Hold my hand, buddy, I don't want you to get lost again."
"Okay!" He grabbed Sirius's hand with a too-cute-to-be-true grin. Whoever's kid this was, they were lucky.
They were walking for a bit, the boy talking enthusiastically about his friend named Victoire when they saw someone calling out "Teddy!" over and over.
The kid let go of Sirius's hand immediately and ran towards the stranger. He leaped onto his back, latching himself onto the guy's legs.
"Dada!"
The guy immediately swiped Teddy around and lifted him into a tight hug. “God, bear, you scared me! Oh my god, I thought I was going to have to call the police. Love you, I love you. I love you so so so much."
"Love you too, Dada!"
Okay, Sirius felt weird, he shouldn't be here anymore. At this point, he was just eavesdropping on two strangers. He turned to leave.
"Wait, Dada, guess what? I met someone and his name is Sarus and he wants to come play Mario Kart at our house!"
Sirius froze. Oh shit.
"What?"
"Yeah, and he fixed my knee, look! He said it was all better now. And I was telling him about my friends, do you remember my friends?"
"Hold on, honey, what did you say? Where is this person?"
Oh no, oh no, do not say anything, kid, please, he does not want human interaction right now, please no.
"Oh, um, I think that is them. Sa-rus! Sa-rus!" The kid called out with his hands cupped around his mouth.
Shit.
Shit shit shit.
Is it too late to just keep walking and pretend I didn't hear?
"Sa-rus! Do you hear me, I think you can hear me, Sa-rus!"
Yep, definitely too late to keep walking.
He turned around and began to head over to them, trying to look more confident than he felt, because he just knew this kid's father was going to think he was a kidnapper or something, and that was not a conversation he was too eager to have.
"Hey, buddy, what's up?" Sirius said, avoiding the father's eyes.
"Dada wanted to talk to you! Say hi, Sarus, say hi!" The boy was practically vibrating in his dad's arms with excitement.
Sirius hesitantly looked up.
Oh motherfucking shit.
It was Remus Lupin. Remus-Fucking-Lupin. This was Remus Lupin's kid. It was Remus Lupin's kid who he had bandaged up (not really but you get the meaning), it was Remus Lupin's kid who he had spent half an hour talking to, it was Remus Lupin who he had spent, like, 20 minutes searching for.
Oh motherfucking shit.
Oh Lord, someone save him now.
"Uh," Sirius, so eloquently, said.
"Um, hi." He sounded relieved that it wasn't a stranger that his child had met, at least. That was something. "Er, meet my kid, I guess. Thanks for helping him?"
"I, er."
"I have to say, this is much better than Teddy meeting some random stranger and inviting them over to our house to play Mario Kart."
"Sarus, Sarus, pick me up!" Teddy said, reaching for Sirius.
"His name is Sirius, bear. See ree uhs," he sounded out, keeping Teddy in his arms while looking at Sirius apologetically. Seems like he was sorry that his kid took a liking to Sirius, how absurd. Meanwhile, Sirius was astounded at how tender his voice seemed, and how patient he was with the kid. Different from the sarcastic, flirty voice he'd gotten to know.
"Seerus?" The kid tried.
"Close enough," he laughed.
Holy shit, that laugh. Ugh, Sirius, you useless gay idiot, think properly.
"You really do have a cute kid, by the way. I wouldn't be opposed to playing Mario Kart with him – and his dad." he paused to wink. "If they're free, of course."
"Uh." Aw, he seemed flustered, how cute. "Yeah, that'd be great. We're free Saturday, if you are?"
"Remus. The concert's Saturday."
"What?"
"The gig with the producer?"
"Oh, right, argh, sorry. My mind's been all over the place lately and I haven't been sleeping right and–"
"It's fine, Remus, you don't have to explain why."
Remus offered him a shy smile, which mirrored his son’s. "Thanks."
"Here, you can take my number – which is something long overdue, by the way. I can give you James's and Peter's if you want, later. – and just, like, text me or something, I don't know."
"Will do. C'mon Teddy, let's head back.” Remus placed him on the ground and took his hand.
"'Kay, Dada!" Aw, the kid (Teddy?) called him 'Dada,' so cute.
"Bye, Sirius. Say bye, bear."
"Bye, Seerus!"
"Aww, bye, buddy!" Sirius waved at their retreating figures before sighing and heading back to where he was sitting earlier, hoping his notebook was there.
Two days later, it was time for the concert. Sirius was getting ready at his and James's flat. He was applying eyeliner and trying to pick out a shirt to wear when someone knocked on his bedroom door, startling him and causing him to mess up the eyeliner.
They knocked again, which for some reason, annoyed Sirius very much.
"Really, Jamie? Ya couldn't have waited until I was done? What's so urgent," he paused to actually open the door, before continuing to speak without so much as a glance up. "that it couldn't wait until I was ready, huh?"
He finally looked up to see a stunned Remus.
Wow, we have to stop meeting like this .
"Um. Sorry, thought you were Prongs."
"Yeah, yeah, it's fine." Remus rubbed his neck as he looked away, avoiding looking at Sirius.
Why? he thought.
Ah. Sirius was suddenly acutely aware of his state of dress. He didn't have a shirt on, his hair was a positive mess and his eyeliner was practically a disaster. He wouldn't be surprised if his fly was down either.
"Hold on, give, give me a second."
Why am I so flustered today? It's not like he hasn't seen me like this before.
Sirius slammed the door shut, picked a random shirt from his pile of "maybe's," grabbed a hairbrush and attempted to tame his hair before giving up entirely, wiped off the eyeliner completely (suddenly he felt like a fool for even trying it on), and double-checked his fly before opening the door to a very amused James Potter.
"What the fuck?"
"Ready, Padfoot?"
"What the hell? Where'd he go?"
"Where'd who go?" James said with an – untrustworthy – innocent face, batting his eyelashes at Sirius.
"You know who, you prat."
"Do I?"
Sirius pushed past him and entered the kitchen, where Remus was, indeed, waiting. He also looked very amused, and Sirius would, if he had to guess, say that he witnessed the entire conversation between him and Prongs.
Gah.
How did he manage to look so perfect? He's just so, like, effortlessly cool, whereas Sirius had to get ready for hours to feel completely and perfectly confident and at ease. This is not fair. Not fair at all.
Sirius pushed aside his thoughts and allowed himself a seat across from Remus.
"So, what're you doing here?" he said, not adding on the 'darling,' he usually would.
"James's giving me a ride."
"Wow, and he refused to give me one!"
"Maybe just turn up your trademark charm?" Remus winked.
Why why why why why am I subjected to this absolute torture? Sirius thought. He's going to be the death of me.