take them to see your band-mates
Remus didn't know what to do. He had gotten a phone call last night saying that Marlene was in the hospital with a broken wrist, and he now had to somehow manage a toddler, a job, and a band all at once. To make it worse, in a day it would be time for the concert that the band and him (they had decided on the name Marauders ) had been preparing for.
Then, straight after the phone call, he had literally lost his child. There were no words for the absolute terror that he had felt when he couldn't find Teddy anywhere, and when he finally did appear, he had felt such an immense relief that he was surprised he didn't kiss Teddy's saviour right then and there. It was pretty lucky that he didn't, though, because it was the one and only: Sirius Black.
He and Teddy had headed back to his and Marlene's apartment after talking with Sirius, both feeling lonely without her there to cheer them up.
They had fallen asleep together on the sofa, and when Remus woke up, he was once again confronted with the problem of what he should do.
Remus had spent that day with Teddy, calling in sick for work (which was met with an "Ah, 's fine, Remus. God knows you spend more time working here than any of us."). They had decided to spend the day at the zoo, because Teddy loved the wolf enclosure to bits. Honestly, Remus would never understand why. Personally, he disliked the animal. And then they went to see Marls.
But the next day was going to be a problem. Because it was the day of the concert, and how in the world was he going to have someone watch Teddy? Other than Marlene and Oliver, he didn't really have any close friends (which he was fine with! He preferred it, even!). He eventually settled on a colleague from his work, who he had known for long enough that he could trust her.
Unfortunately, she was only available after 6. At least for the concert, which started at 9, Teddy would definitely be taken care of. Until then, Remus could watch him.
He headed upstairs to Ted's bedroom and shook him gently awake: "C'mon, bear, breakfast is ready. And after we can go see Sirius, if you want?" Remus wasn't sure what he was saying, there was little chance that they actually would see Sirius.
"Urmf," Teddy groaned, voice was smushed from the pillow it was pressed against.
"C'mon, buddy!" Remus lifted his kid up and balanced him on his hip, smiling when he felt the boy's head rest on his shoulder.
"Pancakes for breakfast today, special treat?"
"Yeah!" Teddy lurched up with a newfound energy, and ran to the kitchen as Remus laughed. Teddy always had the most intense moods.
He followed suit and chased Teddy, with the younger laughing as his dad caught up and began to tickle him.
Remus decided to use the number Sirius had given him and ask if they could head over to their place eventually to hang out. He couldn’t deprive Teddy of hanging out with his new best friend, Sirius, any longer. Also, his begging to see him was starting to get unbearable.
[CHAT WITH “Remus” AND “Sirius”]
Remus: hey sirius! this is remus
Remus: was wondering if me and teds could come over to you and james’ apartment later today?
Sirius: o hi !!
Sirius: hold on
[“Sirius” changed their name to “padfoot”]
[“Sirius” changed “Remus” to “remmy-bear🥺”]
[“Sirius” changed the group name to “two gays sitting in a tree..”]
padfoot: much better
padfoot: anyways
remmy-bear🥺: fuck you??
padfoot: i don’t see you changing it
[“remmy-bear🥺” changed their name to “remus”]
padfoot: i shouldn’t have reminded u
padfoot: but ANYWAYS
padfoot: ya sure just hold on a sec lemme ask jamie
padfoot: he says that u can come on over at any time
remus: thanks! address?
When they arrived at the address Sirius had given him, Remus was surprised to see that, holy shit, they had a nice place. What the hell? This looks much nicer than two 20-year-olds should be able to afford. Absently he wondered if this was the right place, but honestly? He was 99% sure it was – it even had lilies planted in front. If that’s not something that screams James Potter lives here , he wasn’t sure what did. But still.
Like, he had known they were rich, but not rich rich. Damn.
Whatever. He shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts, and rang the doorbell.
James appeared almost immediately, looking very excited with his chaotic hair and crooked glasses that were sliding down his nose.
“Hiya, Remus! This must be the kid?” He didn’t hesitate before picking Teddy up into his arms and spinning him, much to the delight of the three-year-old.
“Hi! Dada says that I’m supposed to call you Pr-uh-ngs, but that is a silly name. So I will call you.. Umm.. Messy Hair Dude! Hi Messy Hair Dude!”
James threw his head back and laughed, and he looked at Remus with a glint in his eyes (that never seemed to go away). “Me and him? We’re gonna get along just fine.”
Remus grinned. As much as he hesitated to admit it aloud, James had become a close friend to him over the time they had known each other, and it meant something to him that he was so willing to hang out with Teddy.
He followed as they headed to the kitchen where James and Sirius had been eating earlier, judging by the stuff on the table.
“Sorry about the mess, guys! Didn’t get a chance to clean up last night.”
“Nah, it’s fine. Mind teaching me how to make something sometime, though? I remember Sirius talking about your amazing cooking skills.”
“Ah, my dear friend, I would absolutely love to grace your mind with the beauty of my dear mother’s recipes!” James put a hand on his heat, looking utterly sincere, making Teddy giggle.
“Where is Sirius, anyways?”
Teddy jumped up at the sound of the name, and started chanting “See-rus, See-rus, See-rus!” much to the embarrassment of his father.
“God, sorry, James. He met Sirius a couple nights back and has been waiting to meet him ever since.”
“Please, I’m sure Sirius’ll be charmed by the little monster.” James said with a smile. It was more than a little crazy, the amount that that man smiled. How did his cheeks not hurt?
“Speaking of Sirius. Where is he?”
“Getting ready, probably. You know what, why don’t you go knock and let him know to hurry? Otherwise he’ll get us late.”
“James. It’s literal hours until the time we have to go?”
“You underestimate him, Remus. That man’ll take up a whole day getting dressed if we allow it.”
“Okay, okay, I’m going.” Remus held up his hands as he walked backwards to the hallway, inwardly rolling his eyes.
“Oi, James? Which door?” he said, eyeing the long hallway.
“Third on the right!”
What the hell, why do they have so many doors? At least eight are in this hallway, what do they have in this house??
Ignoring himself, he rapped on the door James had described, waiting for Sirius to appear so he could tell him to hurry the hell up.
What he didn’t expect was Sirius to slam open the door, looking flustered as hell, rambling about Prongs this and Prongs that.
Remus blinked.
Sirius was fucking shirtless, with fucking eyeliner , with the cutest fucking hair ever.
Remus desperately wished Sirius didn’t notice him blushing.
“I- uh- gotta go- um- hurry up or something I-” Remus mumbled, but he would be surprised if Sirius heard anything, the way he was just staring at Remus.
Apparently only now realising his state of dress, Sirius slammed the door shut in Remus’s face, saying something about getting ready. Remus didn’t really take it in, he was more than a little flustered at that point.
“James, um?” Remus called, making his way slowly to the kitchen.
“YEA?” James responded with (a lot) more volume than necessary, making Remus wince.
“I um? Does he do that often?”
“Do what?”
“Open the door half naked? Because if he does, you should’ve fucking warned me, I don’t think I’ll survive another, um, encounter like that without embarrassing myself.”
James laughed good-naturedly, and his laugh was so contagious, Remus couldn’t keep up the act of being annoyed.
“What does fucking mean?” Teddy asked, looking up at them.
“Shit, wait, I’m not supposed to say ‘shit’ right? Um, ignore that, Teds. Also don’t say fuck, it’s a bad word. Like, um, stupid? Stupid, yeah it’s like that. So we don’t say it, right Remus?”
Aw, James, bless his heart, so sweet that he’s trying so hard.
“Yeah, Messy Hair Dude.” Remus winked at James before continuing. “That’s one of the bad words I told you about, remember bear? Like stupid, we don’t say that.”
“But why did you say it, Dada?”
“Um. I wasn’t thinking properly, Teds. I was surprised by, um, something.”
“Oh! Okay!”
“Yeah, buddy.” Remus bent down to ruffle Ted’s hair, while James watched fondly.
“Wow, mate, you’re so good with him.”
Remus smiled. “I should hope so, been doing this since I was about 17.”
“It shows, man. When’s the little guy heading off to school anyway?” James asked as he poured himself some coffee.
“This September, actually! I’m a little nervous, but I think he’ll be fine. He’s been pretty excited for it too, no doubt planning all the chaos he’s going to be causing.” Remus nudged Teddy with his toe, making him giggle.
“That’s great man!” James sighed as he took a sip. “Well.. I should probably go tell Sirius to hurry up.. if you never got the message across.”
“Oh, yeah..”
Remus watched as James arrived in front of the door and proceeded to have a conversation with an obscured Sirius with a shit-eating grin on his face, with Remus smiling as he overheard the conversation between them.
Sirius sighed after making a dramatic exit, and plopped down on the seat across from Remus.
Remus was (more than) a little disappointed to notice that Sirius had taken off his eyeliner and had toned down his hair. But he ignored that and continued to talk with Sirius while Teddy played with James. Eventually the time came for him to drop off Teddy.
“Well, guys,” Remus sighed. “I think it’s time for us to go. Ready Teds?”
“No! I want to stay here! These people are fun!”
“Maybe you’ll see them tomorrow if you’re good, Teds. But right now we have to go, aren’t you excited to see Mary?”
Teddy jumped up. “Yeah! I rem-eber her! Let’s go!” He immediately started pulling Remus towards the door.
Remus shook his head. He was going to get whiplash from how drastically this kid changed his mind.
“We really do have to get going, guys.” Remus directed these words to Sirius and James, who were smiling softly at Teddy.
“Yeah, see you tonight, Re.”
Remus quickly looked at Teddy, to see if he had realized that his dad would be seeing them sooner than he would, but Teds hadn’t noticed apparently.
“Yeah, see you tonight!”