Not in text
Remus
Sirius
James
Lily
Peter

By the time Remus got his phone back from Peter it was time for him to leave to the Potters house for dinner. It bothered him that he only had five minutes to throw on some decent clothes instead of wearing the dirty hoodie and grass stained sweats from earlier. He slipped on some comfortable jeans and a Star wars t-shirt. He worried it was too casual for dinner. What if Sirius decided last minute to go to a restaurant instead of eating whatever concoction James whipped up?

Remus' hands tightened around the steering wheel of his car, his knuckles turning white. He took a deep breath. He needed to calm down. It was going to be fine. There is nothing to worry about. It's not like he's having dinner with Sirius and James' parents or anything. That would be awkward. 'Hi, I'm Remus and I have a crush on your son who I only just met formally two weeks ago. By the way, love the chicken.' Yeah, not his idea of fun.

"You'll be fine," Remus muttered to himself one last time before stepping out of the car and walking up the Potters sidewalk for what had to be the sixth time that week. He raised his hand to knock on the door when a scene flashed before his eyes.

Suddenly he was small again, maybe ten years old, and his hand was reaching up to push the sliver door bell. He could feel jitters bubbling in his stomach as he pressed the button. The door immediately swung open to reveal a beaming boy with black hair down to his shoulders. He was missing a tooth Remus noticed as the boy smiled so widely his eyes crinkled at the corners. "Remus!" The boy exclaimed as launched forward to hug him.

"Remus!" Lupin snapped back to reality at the sound of his name being called. He blinked twice. What was that? A memory of some sort? Maybe, the doctor did say he might experience some random flashbacks after his accident but he hadn't had one in months. Why here, at the potters house? There was nothing memory triggering about the place, it didn't make sense.

"Remus? You okay mate?" Sirius asked and poked his shoulder. Remus met Sirius' gaze. He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't even realize Sirius had been the one to call his name. Black stood on the threshold of the door, a look of worry flashing across his features.

Remus forced a smiled. "Yeah, just lost in thought today I guess."

He only then took the time to admire Sirius' well put together appearance. His hair was in a bun, as per usual, and a clean paintbrush stuck out from it. His shirt was a simple plain black tee hidden beneath his typical leather jacket. Remus had to force himself to look away from where his black ripped jeans hung a little too loosely without a belt.

Remus cleared his throat feeling his cheeks flush slightly. "Uh, so um, can I come in?"

"Of course!" Sirius reached out and grabbed Remus' wrist, pulling him into the house and shutting the door behind them as they made they're way into the living room. Remus felt more comfortable in the Potters home than he probably should. It felt like he'd been coming there for years when really it had only been a few mere weeks.

"I hope you don't mind," Sirius started to say as they sat down on the couch. "but there was a last minute change and now--"

"Siri!" A higher pitched voice called out from the kitchen. "Get your brother to come down here and help with potatoes! He needs to come out his room every once and a while or he'll turn into a potato himself!"

"-we are eating with my parents." Beside Remus, Sirius groaned in annoyance. "Mom!" He called out. "We have company!"

Remus heard from the kitchen what had to be the sound of a pan dropping to the ground. A figure stepped into the living room, their eyes wide. The woman's hair was twisted into a bun, the apron she wore around her neck somehow spotless. Frantically she glanced between Sirius and him, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Remus...?" She asked as if baffled.

The poor boy brought his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it. "Uh, yeah?"

"Oh!" The woman rushed forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Remus. He stumbled back a bit from the force but the woman barely noticed. Awkwardly he stood there as the woman gripped him tighter. He glanced at Sirius who only shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'She's always like this'.

The woman pulled away and beamed at him. "Sirius has said so much about you! I was starting to worry you were never going to come around and visit."

"I visit all the time, ma'am," Remus corrected her, thinking about all the days after school he's lately been spending with Sirius.

"You do, do you?" She side eyed Sirius and the boy grimaced. "And please, no ma'am's in this house. Please, call me Euphemia, Mia for short."

Euphemia Potter, Remus thought. Quite a mouthful.

"It's nice to meet you Miss Mia," Remus said, not being able to help the adding the 'Miss' in front of Sirius' adopted mothers name.

Miss Potter laughed and took Remus by the arm guiding him into the kitchen. It was hard for Remus not to let down his walls and feel comfortable in the Black-Potter house. He could feel Sirius' presence right behind him the entire way to the kitchen, whether that was comforting or made him even more nervous he did not know.

"You're not against chicken are you?" Mia asked as she released him to pull something out of the oven. "Sirius had a vegetarian phase a while back."

Remus snorted as the lovely woman laughed and Sirius whined, hiding his face behind his hands. Sirius jumped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "He's fine, Mum. Rem, let's go upstairs and leave the madwoman to her cooking."

Sirius dragged him out of the kitchen and he faintly heard Mrs Potter yell that she doesn't have to feed Sirius if she's as mad as he says. Remus chuckled under his breath earning a weird look from his friend. He raised his eyebrow. "What?"

"It's nothing." Sirius shook his head. "You just are so... never mind."

Remus but continued to follow the boy up the stairs and into his room. What was he going to say? He was so what? Was it bad? Was it good...?

Sirius yanked open the door to his room and gestured for Remus to enter. He did so and sat on the floor looking over at the long haired boy who decided to sit down next to him. He had to hide a smile as he noticed out the corner of his eye a new painting on the easel. It looked at this point just a swirl of colors but Remus had no doubt it would turn out spectacular, whatever it was supposed to be.

"So, Black," Remus snickered. "You used to be a vegetarian, huh?"

A pillow came flying at his face and he had to duck to avoid it. Sirius grunted as he crossed his arms. "I'm punk rock," he mumbled.

A smirk quirked at his lips. "Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Prick!"

"You love me!"

-:-

"What do you do at Hogwarts, Remus?"

His head snapped up at the question from Mr Fleamont Potter. He quickly swallowed the chicken he'd just put in his mouth. "Uh, I major in astronomy and music studies."

Mr Potter nodded his head. "Interesting."

"Umm, yeah, I guess."

Ever since Sirius and Remus were called down from their rooms he had been forced to engage in awkward interactions with the Potters over dinner. Remus had hoped having two familiar face, both James and Sirius, would help clam his nerves but he still felt like he was going to combust any second now.

He couldn't take it anymore, he had to take a break. He slowly stood up, placing his napkin on the table. "May I excuse myself?"

"Oh certainly," Mrs Potter said, eyes squinting from how bright her smile was. Remus nodded, feeling sick.

Hurriedly, he rushed to the washroom where he locked the door behind him and leaned over the sink. He got the tap running and splashed cold water on his face, telling himself to take deep breaths.

This was a horrible idea. A horrible horrible horrible idea. What was he thinking! Meeting Sirius Black's parents? His crush's parents.

Oh Merlin, this is bad. This is really bad. What is he going to do? He can't just leave, that would be rude. What if he offends the Potters and they never want to see him again? What if he offends Sirius? He just got him as a friend, what if he goes away just as fast?

Remus leaned his head against the cold surface of the mirror. "Damn it," he whispered to himself. "You are such an idiot."

A buzz from his phone caused him to jump nearly falling into the shower. He glared at his phone after pulling it out of his pocket. The glare slowly faded into a small smile when he saw the contact name.

Padfoot <3 : 6:23 p.m, Sunday

Hey bro!
I know you're at that Sirius kid's house or whatever but knowing you, you're probably panicking or already getting prepared to drive back home and just ditch but listen up.
You are so amazing! You got me to fake marry you without me even getting to see your face! You got me to use grammar in my texting! That takes skills! You are one of the most amazing people out there! It would be no surprise if everyone liked you! And if they don't, that's their loss because they are missing out on getting to know one of the most amazing people I know.

Remus stared at the message, his eyes welling up with tears as he started to furiously type.

I'm not you Pads, I can't suddenly make people want to be my friend like you can. You haven't even met me. You don't know what you're talking about.
I'm not the same guy in person.

I doubt it. You are amazing both online and in person!

No. I'm not.

You. Are. Wanna bet?
You are going to go talk to this guy and whoever's with him, you're going to wow them and then you'll see I'm right.

Remus chuckled to himself. Leave it to Pads to make serious situation into a game.

Fine.
But only because I want to prove you wrong.

I'm right.

No.

Yes.

Whatever.

Go get 'em!
I have your back.
Ily <3

He stared at the screen for a few moments. Maybe Padfoot is right. There's no point in not trying... right?

He shook his head. He was to do this. If not for himself than for Sirius and Pads who were both there for him and encouraging him to step out of his comfort zone.

He glanced at his phone again. One last thing.

Ily 2 <3

He smiled. Now he was ready.

Remus walked out of the bathroom, gathering his confidence in a pile, though there still wasn't very much of it it there was enough to get him back in his seat at the dinner table.

Sirius smiled at him. "You good?"

He nodded and allowed a smile to stretch across his own lips before turning to the Potters. "Sorry about that."

"About what darling?" Miss Potter asked, clearly confused. She shook her head as if to clear her kerfuffle. "What were you saying dear before you left? About studying astronomy and music?"

He fidgeted with his hands in his lap. "Oh um, I have always been fascinated by the stars and all that so I thought it would be nice to you know, have a job that deals with them."

His palms started to sweat again and he was debating going back to hide in the bathroom once more when he felt another hand slip into his own. His eyes widened for a moment as he realized what was going on.

His gaze slid to meet Sirius' as the other boys hand squeezed his. Remus tried not to think to much about how gross and clammy his hands must be at that moment and instead focused on how nice this felt. Sirius shifted his fingers so they intertwined with his own.

I'm here, the gesture seemed to say and it did everything to help Remus then. Sirius Black was holding his hand. He blinked once, twice, three times, still not able to fully comprehend the situation.

"It's so nice you're following your passion like that!" Mr Potter exclaimed and continued cutting into his chicken. Remus glanced at him and his son sitting next to each other, his gaze lingering on James encouraging thumbs up.

Sirius stared at him, his grey eyes wrapping him in comfort and telling him that the situation isn't as scary as it seems. Remus stared back knowing he was safe. He looked back at Mr Potter, a real smile now on his face. "Thanks."

Just as Padfoot said, he would make it through the night.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I finally updated! Yay! Hehe, thanks for the patience. Have a nice day everyone!

Stay healthy!
Last update: 25/12/2020