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Never believe anyone who said that Remus Lupin hadn't tried.
Alas, there wasn't much a father could do when his son begged and begged him for sweet treats. Especially when the father in question had quite a sweet tooth himself.
"If he ends up needing to go to the dentist, you're going to have to pay the bills," Tonks had joked when Remus told her what was going on. Deeply unhelpful of her. Teddy never gave her puppy eyes while begging to stop by the candy shop, for some reason. It was almost like kids knew which parent was more easily swayed by fluttering lashes and little pouts. Who would've known.
Enough was enough. Remus would have to take a stand against his son, no matter how politely and innocently—
"Da?"
"Yes, Teddy?"
"Can I have that chocolate pastry you got me last time?"
And damn him, Teddy had tilted his head sweetly and smiled. To make matters worse, he'd asked for the chocolate pastry Remus himself had been daydreaming about since the last time they'd bought it.
While they dug into the chocolate pastry, Remus wondered if maybe denying Teddy sweets was an unrealistic goal. He had to come up with a compromise before his son's teeth started to suffer. Kids' teeth were delicate at this age, weren't they? Teddy was quite good about brushing his teeth regularly, but it didn't hurt to be extra careful.
Remus pulled out his phone and did a search: how to restrict my child's sugar intake without cutting out desserts. Most of the results were completely unhelpful, like make your child eat more fruits or put your foot down. As if Remus didn't already know that.
On page two of the results, he struck gold. Healthy homemade desserts. Now that was an excellent idea! Remus wasn't a bad cook, surely he could make healthy versions of the treats Teddy (and he) craved?
"You know, Teddy, I want to learn how to make things like this pastry at home," he said to his five-year-old son, who was currently wiping chocolate frosting off his face with a tissue. "Do you want to help me? We could bake together."
Teddy stared at Remus thoughtfully. "You'll make this cake? And I can eat it?"
Remus nodded. "Not the same cake, but similar. Do you want to help me?"
Teddy hummed contemplatively. Then he shook his head and said, "No."
"You don't want to bake with Da?"
"I will eat the cake when you make it," Teddy reassured him.
________
Remus had heard people say that cooking and baking were completely different skills and being good at one did not guarantee you were good at the other; but he hadn't believed them. They were very similar tasks—you took a bunch of ingredients, prepared, mixed and then heated them up until they became edible. Simple enough.
Baking was not simple. Remus hadn't been forced to do so much maths since he was in school. He was an English teacher! He didn't need to do algebra! Unless he was baking, apparently. For some reason, most of the recipes Remus found needed tweaking in regards to the portion sizes and the maths required to adjust the recipes based on how much flour he had at hand was much too advanced for him. The sink was covered in cocoa powder and the dustbin smelt sickly sweet. It was almost enough to put Remus off sweets. Almost.
________
After the fifth failed cake, Tonks felt the need to intervene.
"You could just buy him healthy sweets, Remus," she suggested when he called her tearfully about his latest oven-related mishap.
"I don't trust those things!" he protested. "I saw an article the other day saying that the 'organic sugar' in pancake mixes is actually made of lead. Is that the kind of thing we want in our kid's system? I'd almost rather he ate junk food that honestly marketed itself as junk food."
"Remus, you need to stop believing everything you see on the internet," she said with the long-suffering tone of someone who has repeated the same sentence far too many times. "Remember when you disabled dark mode on all your devices, even though light mode hurts your eyes, just because someone online joked that dark mode was for serial killers?"
"I didn't know she was joking!" Remus said. "Kids these days come up with new meanings for so many things. I mentioned the American state of Ohio the other day in class and all my students burst out laughing. I'm trying to avoid things like that."
Tonks sighed. "Are you going to give up on the baking?"
"No."
________
"Mum said to give you this." The next time Remus went to pick Teddy up from Tonks' place, he handed his father a flyer.
Become a Cake Master in Only 2 Months! was printed at the top in bright red letters, under which was a picture of an—admittedly—gorgeous cake. He flipped the flyer over and address and number.
What the hell, sure, he thought, and dialled the number while waiting for Teddy to fetch his bag.
"Hello! This is The Blapo Bakery, how can I help you?" said a pleasant, efficient-sounding woman's voice.
What kind of name is Blapo? Remus thought and quietly chided himself. What kind of name was Remus Lupin, after all.
"Hi, I found this number on the back of a flyer… Baking classes?" he asked.
"Ah, yes. Are you looking to join? It's a 2-month course with classes thrice a week for one hour each. We've got morning classes, afternoon classes and evening classes, all taught by our professionally trained founding chefs. "
"Oh," Remus replied, a little overwhelmed. The lady on the phone seemed very efficient and professional. "Yes, please. Evening slot. When can I start?"
"Perfect. Your trial class will be on Monday, at 6pm. You can decide if you want to sign up for the entire course after that. Thank you for contacting us."
________
Remus approached the cafe not knowing what to expect. He wondered if the woman he'd spoken to on the phone would be there and hoped she wouldn't. She'd sounded so polished and intelligent that Remus couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. This was probably a course for culinary students or people who wanted to open cafés, not pushover dads who would rather learn a new skill than say no to their child.
The door was the same cheerful red as the text on the flyer. A flashing neon sign above it said The Blapo Bakery in block text. When he pushed open the door and walked in, the first thing Remus registered was the smell. The bakery smelt like heaven. Well, most bakeries did, but this one smelt like heaven had just come back from the spa. It was strong but not overpowering. The second thing that struck Remus was red. The people at this cafe really loved the colour red, apparently. The walls were wallpapered in red stripes and the floor tiles were maroon. Little tables were set between chairs that were upholstered in—you guessed it—red.
"Wow, red," Remus said, out loud for some reason. He heard a chuckle to his left and spun around to face the source of the laugh. It was a woman sitting behind a counter that seemed to double as both a reception area and a billing counter. She had red hair tied back into a bun and her piercing green eyes bore holes into Remus's own when he made eye contact with her.
"It is, isn't it?" she remarked and Remus realised she was the lady from the phone call. Her crisp pant suit was definitely intimidating enough.
"I'm Lily," she said, holding out a hand. Remus walked over to her and grasped it. Her handshake was firm and confident, her hands soft and probably moisturised with a fancy cream whose name Remus couldn't pronounce. "And you are?"
"Remus," he said. "I'm here for the… the class. Baking class."
She pointed at a door he hadn't noticed earlier. "Straight through there. You're just on time. Class will begin in two minutes."
Remus had barely taken a step towards the door when it burst open and a man in a red apron entered the room with his arms up in a defensive motion.
"Alright, Lils, I've set up for the class, but I'm still not quite sold on—"
Lily cleared her throat frantically and pointed in Remus's direction. Remus gave a weak wave. The man straightened up immediately and beamed at him. He had the messiest hair Remus had ever seen—managing somehow to outdo Tonks when she'd had a DIY Mohawk—and square, gold rimmed glasses. He had a name tag that read 'James' attached to his apron.
"Oh. Are you a student here for the cake workshop?" James asked. Remus coughed uncomfortably and nodded. "Ah! Alright, then—straight through this door. I'm James and I will be your teacher for today."
"He saw one of our flyers," Lily said, giving James a meaningful look. He nodded, chewing on his lip thoughtfully, then motioned for Remus to follow him.
Remus was not intimidated by James like he was by Lily, but he was slightly overwhelmed. Following him through the door, he stepped into a warm room with a long, marble counter in a U-shape, surrounded by stools. There was a smaller, square counter at the mouth of the U, with a neatly packed bag of ingredients on it. James's spot, he guessed.
At first, Remus thought the room was empty, but then a man popped up from where he'd apparently been crouching near James's stool. He held a bag of ingredients, which he then hoisted onto the counter. He wiped his forehead and turned towards the door.
Remus inhaled sharply. The man was gorgeous. He had long, dark hair tied in a ponytail and he wore a white t-shirt under a red apron much like the one James was wearing. His nose was long and straight, unlike Remus's, which had rather an unfortunate bump along the bridge. What really caught his attention were the man's eyes, which seemed to be a shade of grey that Remus hadn't thought humanly possible.
The man smiled (Remus had to take a deep breath about that) and waved at them. "Are you here for the class?" he asked. (Even his voice was pretty.) (Remus was fucked.)
"Yep!" James said. "This is… What's your name?"
"Remus," Remus said. "Lupin. Am I the only student?"
"No!" James hastened to say. "No, we've also got Sirius." He pointed at the pretty man, who frowned at James but waggled his fingers at Remus nonetheless.
"Oh," Remus said, blinking. He'd deduced from the apron that the man (Sirius) was James's coworker or something. "Hello, Sirius, I'm Remus."
"I know. You said," Sirius said with a laugh and Remus bit his lip, looking at the floor. "Come over here, there are bags of ingredients under every stool."
Remus took a chance and selected the stool right next to Sirius. It was quite forward of him, he thought, but Sirius just smiled and started unpacking his ingredients.
It turned out that Remus had been over-complicating every recipe he'd tried. There had been no need whatsoever to do all that maths—all he had to do was follow the recipes as closely as he could and buy a bigger cake tin.
That wasn't to say Remus didn't learn anything helpful from the class; quite the opposite. James was full of helpful tips about what angle to hold the bowl at while beating the batter and the best way to wash a cake tin after you were done with it. Not to mention, he was charming and lively, full of jokes and funny anecdotes that had Remus laughing and smiling along.
Apparently, Lily from reception was James's wife. She popped her head in a few times during the class to check on them and she was actually a lot nicer than Remus had initially thought her. She brought him a glass of water unasked for when she heard him cough and patted him on the shoulder kindly. It was a little embarrassing, but he was grateful for her help.
Having his spot next to Sirius, unfortunately, was very distracting. Up close, Remus noticed many little things about him. He had, at first glance, thought that Sirius was in his mid-twenties, but the grey at his temples and the crinkling of his eyes made Remus realise that Sirius was actually much closer to his own age. He was broad; a fact that Remus lamented every time Sirius stretched and his shirt pulled tight against his shoulders. He was not as tall as Remus, but not short, by any means. His laugh sounded a bit like a bark and he always made eye contact when he spoke. Remus didn't know he managed to focus on what he was doing, but he must've done reasonably well, because James was clapping him on the shoulder and saying 'good job' when Remus finally put his cake into the huge oven built into the wall of the room.
"Thank you," he said, leaning into James's hand carefully. "I've been trying to learn how to bake, but it's not gone well at all so far. This was my best attempt yet."
"You did great!" James said, smiling at him. "What made you decide to take this class?"
"Oh, well," Remus started, glancing at Sirius, who was listening to the conversation. "I have a small son… He's very fond of sweets, so I thought maybe I could make healthy desserts for him at home. His mother gave me the flyer for this class."
"That's cute," Sirius said, a corner of his mouth twisted up in a teasing smirk. "You're a doting dad."
Remus ducked his head, embarrassed. Sirius had breezed through the class, barely even looking at what he was doing. He clearly was here just for fun, maybe to support James, with whom he seemed to be close friends.
"You're saying that like I'm not a doting dad, too," James protested.
"You're a dad?" Remus asked.
This prompted James to show Remus a picture of Harry, who looked just like his father, but had Lily's eyes. "He's eight, the little menace," James said, affectionately. "He gets it all from his godfather." James jutted his chin in Sirius's direction.
"He gets it from us, James," Sirius said, laughing.
Remus had the distinct impression that he was the odd one out in the middle of a family. He smiled politely and listened to James and Sirius talk about Harry, not adding any more to the conversation.
When the oven finally ding-ed, Remus was glad to pull his mitts on and take his tray out of the oven. His cake looked… Good. Tempting, even.
"It's too hot to try immediately, right?" he asked, just in case.
James nodded sympathetically. "I know how you feel. Your cake looks great! We—I can put it in a box for you and by the time you get home, it should be cool enough to eat."
Remus nodded and James set to work. He had some sort of special knife and spatula to handle cakes straight out of the oven, apparently. Sirius opened his mouth as if to offer help but James waved him off. Sitting back down on his stool, Sirius turned to Remus and grinned.
"So, how'd you like the class? D'you think you'll come back for the next one?" He leaned forward, his elbows on the counter and his cheek rested in his palm. The eye contact was a little disconcerting, and Remus averted his gaze.
"Yeah, it was good. I'm signing up for the full course." Remus glanced back up at Sirius, who was nodding his approval.
"Me too," he said. Remus heard a loud sound from the other end of the room and turned to see James coughing loudly and unnaturally.
"You'll be joining the full course, will you, Sirius?" James asked. Remus frowned at the mirth in his eyes. It was probably an inside joke he wasn't privy to. He turned back to Sirius, who was flushed—likely from the heat. The room was kept warm for some food-related reason that James had explained but Remus had not fully understood.
"Yes, James, I will be joining the full course," Sirius said, his eyes wide and oddly frantic. Remus sighed quietly. Being a third wheel to close friends was always so awkward.
________
The first cake was delicious. It was a plain vanilla cake, perfect for beginners. Remus finished three-quarters of it by the end of the week, only able to leave the last quarter because he was excited to have Teddy taste it. The same thing happened to the other two cakes he made that week, too—a chocolate cake and a marble cake.
Tonks came by to drop Teddy off at noon on Saturday. She'd coloured her hair again since Remus had last seen her—lime green, this time. A colour that usually made Remus wince, but Tonks pulled it off.
They had a system—Tonks had Teddy during the week and Remus had him on the weekends. Remus also worked at the school Teddy went to, so he dropped him back home to Tonks's afterwards. Teddy used to spend his lunches with his father, as well, but he seemed to have outgrown that.
"I joined that course you gave me a flyer to," he said to her, after Teddy hugged Remus and ran in to find the plushie he'd forgotten last weekend. "I've attended a few classes."
Three classes in and Remus already felt much more confident around an oven. The recipes they were attempting were fairly simple, but Remus wasn't spilling flour and doing unnecessary algebra anymore.
No other students had joined ("They're all in the afternoon slot," James had said), so Remus was starting to get used to James and Sirius's company. James, especially, had a welcoming energy to him, which made Remus feel less anxious. He wasn't scared of Lily anymore and actually had a lovely chat with her when he showed up early for his third class. She was efficient and professional, but she was also funny and a good listener. He narrated anecdotes from his classroom to her and she told him how James hadn't wanted to advertise the bakery at all ("He believes in fate, or something.") and that she'd only made around ten sample flyers in an attempt to persuade him to change his mind. ("I think I'm getting somewhere, thanks to you.")
Sirius was hard to get a read on. There were times when he grinned a little too wide or laughed a little too hard and Remus wondered if he was being made fun of. But then he'd ask a thoughtful question or give Remus a baking tip without a lick of condescension.
There were also a lot of looks passed between James and Sirius: furtive nods, eyebrow raises, suppressed smiles. Remus tried to pretend he didn't see them.
"Oh!" Tonks said, sitting down on his sofa. "Oh, that's excellent. That's my cousin's bakery, actually. I thought it a wonderful coincidence when he pulled a flyer out of his bag. He said he didn't know what to do with it. No wonder the bakery's got no customers." She scoffed lightly.
Was James Tonks's cousin? Or maybe James wasn't the owner at all and was just the head chef? No, Lily had said 'our founding chefs' on the phone. James was definitely one of the owners of the bakery.
"Oh, James?" Remus asked. "He's the instructor. Very nice man."
Tonks frowned. "No, silly. Sirius. Was he not there?"
Remus gaped. "Oh. He was there… He's—he's your cousin, you said? And a co-founder?"
"Yeah," Tonks said, confused about why this piece of information was so shocking. "He's Mum's little cousin, really. He used to babysit me occasionally as a child."
"I didn't know you were related," Remus said, still digesting what Tonks had told him.
"We look so alike." Tonks snorted. "We practically have the same face."
"Don't say that," Remus said, distressed. He was confused. Why was Sirius pretending he didn't own the bakery? Why was he a student in his own class? Was it weird that Remus was attracted to his… ex-cousin-in-law, apparently?
Tonks blinked and sat back. She narrowed her eyes at Remus. "Why?"
"What? No reason." Remus tried to backtrack. She opened her mouth to argue, but just then, Teddy walked into the room.
"I'm hungry," he announced. "What's for lunch?"
Remus saw his chance and escaped, taking Teddy with him to the kitchen to show him the various leftovers he had in the refrigerator, so he could pick what he wanted.
Tonks, however, wouldn't let it go. "What's up with you?" she asked, once Remus had emptied Alfredo pasta into a pan to warm up and Teddy, satisfied that lunch was on the way, had wandered off.
Remus rubbed a tired hand across his face. "Fine. It's just. Well, you see—" He proceeded to tell Tonks everything, from how he spoke to Lily on the phone, to how James introduced Sirius as a student, to how Sirius joined the course and how they'd all become quite friendly with each other.
"And the worst part of it is that he's… obscenely attractive," Remus finished, slightly red in the face. "So yes, it's a little weird when the handsome new bloke you've met turns out to be your ex-wife's cousin and also a liar. What the hell?"
"Oh my god," Tonks mumbled and buried her face in her hands. When her shoulders started shaking, Remus was struck by the thought that this must've been strange for her too. Her ex-husband had suddenly confessed to fancying her cousin while also complaining about him. It didn't get much stranger than that.
Then he heard a wheeze and Remus realised she was laughing. He swatted her on the shoulder. "Stop laughing at my suffering. You're so mean."
"Sorry, sorry," she said, looking back up. "I actually have a suspicion about this. I'm going to phone Sirius right now. Can you save some pasta for me, too?"
"Don't phone him! What the fuck, Dora?" Remus did save her some pasta, though, despite her evil actions.
She raised her phone to her ear and put a finger to her lips. "Shush. It's ringing. Hi, Sirius!"
Remus heard Sirius's voice faintly through Tonks's phone and turned his back to her. He had pasta to stir.
"So, funny story," Tonks said and Remus could hear her trying to hold back laughter. He shook his head in disapproval. "You know how you gave me that flyer for baking classes? Yeah. No, I'm not joining. But I did give it to my ex-husband. What do you mean, when did I get married? Didn't Mum tell you about that?" She was silent for a while. "Five years ago... Oh shit, yeah. That was around the time Uncle Alphard… Right. No, you didn't miss the invitation, we eloped and then got divorced six months later." Remus heard laughter through Tonks's phone and internally groaned when his heart skipped a beat. "You do know that I have a son, right? Yeah, okay. I'll send you pictures! But getting to the point—Sirius, why have you been taking a course that you teach?"
Remus wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but he heard a loud gasp on the other end of the phone line. "Yes, Remus is my ex-husband. I know, I know. He's not my type." She shot a wicked smirk at Remus when he gave his lesbian ex-wife an unimpressed look. "What I want to know is why you're a student at the bakery that you own."
Remus plated the pasta and left Tonks in the kitchen to set the table. He called for Teddy, who ambled in and plopped himself down in his chair. Remus sat down next to him with his own bowl of pasta.
"What's Mum doing?" Teddy asked, between mouthfuls.
"She's on the phone. She'll join us in a few minutes. Say, Teddy, do you want some cake after this?"
Teddy's eyes went round. "Yes, please!"
Remus bit his lip, excited. "I've baked cakes for you. I joined a class to learn how."
Teddy tilted his head, intrigued. "There are classes for that? Like how Mum takes me to classes to learn to draw?"
Remus nodded. "Mum's cousin has a bakery. He and his friend teach people how to make cakes."
"Cool," Teddy said, resuming his meal.
"I'm back!" Tonks crowed as she emerged from the kitchen. "Apparently, it was James's fault. You're the only student and he thought you'd leave if you found out they were lame like that, so he panicked and made Sirius sit in class, too."
Remus frowned. "They told me there are other students in the afternoon slot."
"There aren't any. You're the only one."
"Huh." Remus considered this while he stabbed pasta with his fork. Teddy was uninterested in the adults' conversation, engrossed in his lunch. "But why did he join the course, then? He didn't have to do that. And he'll probably have to teach at some point, right?"
Tonks shrugged, but the suppressed smile on her face made Remus think she knew more than she was letting on. He narrowed his eyes at her. She laughed and shrugged again.
Once they all finished their lunch, Remus brought out three boxes. He set them on the table and opened them each with a flourish, revealing what was left of the cakes he'd baked. Tonks ooh-ed and aah-ed. Remus stood up straighter, feeling proud of himself—when he looked at his son. Teddy was frowning at the cakes.
"What's wrong, Teddy? Do you not want the cake?" he asked.
"That's not cake," Teddy said firmly. Remus gaped. Tonks turned towards her son.
"Yes, it is," she said, breaking off a small piece and popping it into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed, groaning appreciatively. "It's great cake. Remus, good job!"
"Thank you," he said, distracted. "Teddy, what makes you say this isn't cake?"
"It doesn't look like cake. Cake has that creamy stuff on top. This is dry," Teddy said, poking the surface of the vanilla cake.
"Frosting," Remus murmured. "He wants frosting."
Tonks gave her son a stern look. "Teddy, some cakes have frosting and some don't. Your father has made these. Try them."
"No," Teddy shot back. "I don't want it."
"Teddy—"
"It's fine, Dora," Remus said, wearily. "He's five, of course he wants frosting."
Tonks pursed her lips, clearly unsatisfied by this. She frowned at Teddy, who crossed his arms—he had recently figured out how to do that and was employing that little trick as often as he could. What probably added to the appeal was how it always made his mum huff and roll her eyes, something that Teddy seemed to delight in. He was a strange child, Remus thought, and if he only wanted to eat cake with frosting, then Remus was going to learn how to frost a damn cake. Was he spoiling his son? Maybe. Only time would tell.
________
When Remus showed up for his next class on Monday, Lily wasn't at her desk. Curious, he pushed open the kitchen-turned-classroom uninvited.
James was sitting on a stool with his head in his hands. Lily was making soothing noises and stroking his hair. Sirius was standing near his usual seat, his face pinched and uncomfortable.
"What's wrong?" Remus asked. Everyone's heads shot up.
"Remus!" James said. "You're here!"
"Er, yes?" Remus wasn't sure why James sounded so surprised. Sirius had a hand on his chest like he was breathing a sigh of relief and Lily was smiling apologetically.
"Sirius just told us that you're his cousin's ex-husband," Lily explained, like that answered anything.
"Oh. Yes. I am," Remus said. "She's the mother of my son."
"For whom you were learning to bake," Sirius murmured.
Were? "I still am, right? The classes haven't stopped or—"
"No!" James stood up. "The classes will continue for as long as you want to learn."
"It's a two-month course, James," Lily said quietly, resting a hand on his elbow.
"I'm sorry—did you not expect me?" Remus asked. "Am I here at the wrong time?
Sirius rolled his eyes and gave James a look. "James was panicking because he thought you would quit because we sort of got you to join under false pretences."
Remus frowned, taking his usual seat next to Sirius. "I don't see how Sirius not actually being a student affects whether I'm a student here or not. It's not as though James secretly didn't know anything about baking or Lily was using my money to fund… Animal torture. Or something."
Sirius choked on his own spit. Lily had to thump him on the back before he could start breathing properly again. "Yeah. S'pose that does put things into perspective."
James still looked sheepish. "I'm still sorry," he said. "It must've been awkward to find out."
Remus waved a hand dismissively. "Don't bother. Now, are we going to bake or…?"
They did bake. Lily slipped out of the room a few minutes later.
Curiously, Sirius remained next to Remus instead of joining James in his demonstrations. They slipped back into their dynamic of the past week, except Remus felt a shift. James and Sirius were making more of an effort to include him in their conversations, explaining inside jokes if they came up. It felt… nice. Less like he was outside looking in, and more like maybe he had a key to come in and leave whenever he wanted. He didn't feel like Sirius was making fun of him anymore. There were more genuine laughs and fewer furtive, significant glances. Remus wondered if the newfound comfort came from realising he and Remus were… not related, but connected in a way? Maybe it was because they'd assumed he'd quit but he hadn't? He wasn't sure, but he was grateful for it.
"How did you not know your own cousin was married?" he asked Sirius, once they set the cakes in the oven to bake.
Sirius sighed. "Well, you didn't know I was her cousin until a few days ago, either."
Remus hummed cautiously. "Was there a falling out or…?" He noticed James giving Sirius a quick glance, eyebrows furrowed. Fuck, was Remus being invasive? "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."
"It's not a big deal, really," Sirius replied, nodding subtly at James, who turned back to the oven he was fiddling with. "We've got a bit of an odd age gap. Her mum's my first cousin but she's quite a bit older than me. Not sure if you know but our family's a little—" he twirled his finger near his head "—so I didn't really see her until I was maybe twenty-two? And then life got in the way…" He trailed off. "We've only recently started reconnecting. I knew she had a son but I suppose we never really talked about—" he grinned, suddenly and waved his arms towards Remus in a flourish "—the father!"
The answer brought up more questions than answered them, but Remus didn't push. He just smiled and ducked his head with a chuckle. James crossed the room and plopped down on a stool across from them.
"Did your son try the cakes you made last week?" he asked.
Remus cringed. "Dora liked them, but Teddy… He's going through a bit of a phase right now where he doesn't believe cake is cake unless it has frosting."
This made James and Sirius burst into laughter in a way Remus hadn't anticipated. He grinned nervously and chuckled along. James had his head in his hands, shoulders shaking from silent laughter. Sirius, on the other hand, had thrown his head back and was laughing that barking laughter of his with his whole chest. His eyes were crinkled with mirth, his hair coming loose from its ponytail as he rocked back and forth on his stool. Remus didn't think it was that funny, but his heart caught in his chest. I want to make him laugh like that again, he thought.
"And Tonks was annoyed so Teddy crossed his arms and turned away like this—" Remus imitated Teddy's head toss "—just to annoy her even more."
"Harry had a phase just like that," James said, Sirius still recovering his breath. "It's a rite of passage. They grow out of it eventually, but it's hell trying to keep their little teeth from rotting until then."
"Exactly!" Remus flapped his hands uselessly in the air. "I don't know how to make frosting healthy! With cake, I can—I can use millet flour and honey or something. With frosting, the only thing I can think of is brown sugar and that's not a huge upgrade."
Sirius patted Remus on the shoulder (Remus did not cringe away in surprise, but he did think about that contact for a few seconds afterwards and try to recreate the feeling in his memory) and gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid we're of no help at all. Harry has terrible teeth. We're just hoping the new ones are better when they all grow in."
"The… new ones…" Remus stared for a moment, mouth hanging open.
Just then, the oven rang and James rushed off to take the cakes out and pack them. Sirius turned to Remus and asked (in a conspiratorial whisper that made Remus struggle to not blush), "You forgot that milk teeth fall out, didn't you?"
Remus nodded weakly, prompting Sirius to burst into a fresh peal of laughter.
________
Was it a little pathetic that Remus, at his age, had a crush? Maybe. He definitely thought so.
He just couldn't stop thinking about Sirius. While marking essays, he found himself daydreaming about grey eyes and how they crinkled in merriment. While dropping Teddy at Tonks's place after school, he wondered if Sirius liked children or if his godson was an exception. While sipping his evening cup of tea, he imagined Sirius sitting in the armchair across from him, his hair falling out of a bun.
Remus hadn't felt this way about someone in a long time. The closest he'd come to it was with Tonks; a burning desire to get to know the stranger he'd accidentally married while they were drunk in Vegas. They'd gotten on so well they'd decided not to get the marriage annulled—but skipping the normal stages of a relationship hadn't worked out for them. And, of course, Tonks had realised she wasn't attracted to men. That was something of a deal-breaker.
"Dora," he whined to her over the phone. Remus had been trying to work on his lesson plans, but he kept getting distracted, trying to reconstruct the feeling of Sirius touching his shoulder. "I fancy your cousin."
She just laughed, the evil woman. "I know."
"I feel like a teenager. I've known the bloke for three weeks. He touched my shoulder and I thought I was going to cry." He heard her snort. "Don't make fun of me! I'm being vulnerable!"
"Do something about it, then!" she said, stifling more laughter. "Ask him out for dinner or a drink."
"I can't just do that," Remus protested. "I don't know if he's interested or even single—or gay! What if he's homophobic, Dora? What if I make things really awkward and I have to quit baking class? Teddy's birthday is soon. I can't quit baking classes if I want to bake him a birthday cake."
Tonks sighed so loudly Remus could almost hear her rolling her eyes. "He's not homophobic. And you won't know about any of the other stuff unless you ask."
"You can't just… tell me what you know?" Remus asked, hopefully.
"No," Tonks said, so firmly that he cringed. "Because that would be an invasion of privacy. Ask him yourself, Remus."
________
Remus did not ask. He didn't miss a single class and he got steadily better and better at baking to the point where James didn't need to demonstrate the recipes anymore, only helping if Remus didn't recognise a term used in the recipe. He exchanged numbers with Lily, who was quickly becoming a close friend. He joked with James and sat next to Sirius and stared at him and tried to make him laugh (occasionally succeeding) and talked to him and learned little things about him: his favourite colour was emerald green, because it had been his brother's favourite when they were young, but the two of them didn't talk anymore. He'd briefly tried colouring his hair black when he'd begun to go grey, but had given up after spilling hair dye in the sink for the fourth time. He'd run away from home at sixteen and had been unofficially adopted by James's parents. He preferred silver jewellery over gold. He had three leather jackets. He tapped his foot against the floor when he was nervous. He had a quieter, more restrained laugh for when he was too aware of himself. His lips quirked up a little higher on the right when he smiled.
Remus did not ask.
________
"Today's the day we've all been waiting for!" James announced when Remus entered the room for his tenth class. "Well, the day I've been waiting for." He took off his chef's apron and bestowed it upon Sirius. "I'm passing the torch."
Sirius caught Remus's eye and shook his head affectionately in James's direction. "He's so dramatic. We're decorating cakes today. That's my area of expertise."
They'd made frosting and they had slathered it onto cakes before; cakes that Teddy had grudgingly accepted were, in fact, cakes. Cake decorating was a different beast altogether and Remus was nervous. He'd never had much artistic skill.
Sirius looked rather domestic and sweet in an apron, though. If Teddy's upcoming birthday wasn't incentive enough to hone his cake decorating skills, that certainly would do it.
They used the cakes they'd made in the previous class. Raspberry and chocolate, delicious and very easy to fuck up with bad frosting. Remus was determined to at the very least make his frosting properly, even if he didn't do a good job applying it prettily to the cake.
His determination didn't get him very far.
Sirius and James swapping roles posed a set of problems Remus hadn't anticipated. James kept knocking his elbows into Remus's and then apologising profusely and Sirius—
Well, Sirius liked to handle the first layer of buttercream with his fingers, apparently. "You're supposed to use a spatula or something similar," he explained, "but I prefer it this way, at least in the beginning. I just make sure to wash my hands very thoroughly first," he finished with a playful wink.
Remus liked to think of himself as a respectful man. He'd tried very hard to keep his thought of Sirius innocent, at least while in his presence. (What happened at night, under Remus's sheets, was between him and his bottle of lube.) But Sirius's long, elegant fingers covered in buttercream were not easy to tear his eyes away from.
**********
"Remus, be careful!" James called and yanked him away from his bowl. Too late, Remus realised that he'd got his fingers momentarily caught in the fast-spinning whisks of his stand mixer. The shock paralysed him, at first, his brain barely able to compute what was happening. His stomach churned and then the pain hit him.
"Fucking hell!" he shouted. James had saved him before anything too severe had happened, but his left hand was already covered in blood. "What the—what do I—Help?"
"Lily!" James bellowed. "We need the first-aid kit!"
Sirius had gone pale—paler than usual. He was just staring in shock, his fingers still covered in buttercream. Remus chided himself for noticing.
"What's going on?" Lily asked, hurrying into the room with a small box in her hands. "Oh, Remus! What happened? How did you—"
"Stand mixer," he groaned. "It hurts."
She examined his hand carefully after wiping most of the blood away with a damp cloth. "First-aid won't cut it. You need the ER. Do you have a car? James and I took the train today—"
**********
"I'll drive him," Sirius said, suddenly coming to his senses. "James, clean up today's class. We can't leave the ingredients out in the open." In record speed, he washed his hands and found the keys to his car in the pocket of a jacket hanging from a hook on the wall. Wrapping a gentle arm around Remus, he guided him out through a hidden back door into the parking lot.
Lily stuck her head out as Sirius nudged Remus into the passenger seat. "Drive safely!"
"Always do," Sirius said, like a reflex, but it sounded half-hearted and distracted. Remus's heart clenched. He didn't want his new friends worrying about him.
"I'm sorry for disturbing class," he said, once they were on the road. Sirius glanced at him and frowned.
"You got hurt, Remus. Don't apologise for that."
"I should've been paying more attention to what I was doing…" but I was too distracted by my own foolish, filthy thoughts.
"It happens," Sirius said with a shrug. "Nobody's perfect. We have limited attention spans. Blame it on those damn phones."
Remus chuckled weakly at the joke. "I'm serious, though—"
"No, I am."
Remus turned towards the driver's seat, the throbbing in his hand momentarily forgotten. "I can't believe you've never made that joke before. I'm sure there were opportunities."
Sirius shrugged, a smug smile pulling at his mouth. "I used to all the time, but then Lily threatened to tape my mouth shut if I didn't stop. That woman is scary." He spoke of her with such affection that Remus found his words hard to believe, but he let it go.
"My index finger is swollen," he mentioned, conversationally. "And I can't bend it."
Sirius swore quietly. "We're almost at the hospital, Remus. Hold on."
Remus stumbled out of the car, his sense of balance weak. Sirius guided him gently by the elbow and Remus went along with him blindly, barely aware of his surroundings until he found himself sitting on a chair in a waiting room. Sirius was talking to a nurse at the door.
"Ouch," Remus mumbled when he tried to flex his fingers. His left index finger was the most affected, but his middle and little fingers hurt, too.
"Wait won't be too long today," Sirius said, sitting down next to Remus. "Fifteen minutes and you'll be in."
"Thank you for this," Remus said earnestly. "You didn't have to."
Sirius looked at him, grey eyes wide. "There wasn't a second when I considered not doing this. It just took me a while to process what was happening. I'm sorry I couldn't help immediately—"
"Sirius, no," Remus argued weakly, turning towards the floor. He couldn't be injured and maintain eye contact with Sirius at the same time. Be realistic. "You were in shock. I'm fine. James and Lily helped."
"Thank God for James and Lily," Sirius agreed fervently, hands clasped as if in prayer. Remus looked at them, the unknowing perpetrators of his injury.
"Are you religious?" he asked.
Sirius snorted and unclasped his hands. "No. My parents were. They took great pleasure in telling me I was going to rot in hell for glancing at a man every now and then."
Remus's breath caught. "Me too," he said.
Sirius looked up and tilted his head. Remus had to look at the wall behind him to avoid making eye contact with those uncanny grey eyes. "Yeah? Your parents awful too?"
"What? No, I—"
"Remus Lupin?" the nurse from earlier called. "Just head to the second room on your right. A doctor will see you shortly."
The doctor, it turned out, was a lovely woman called Poppy. She called Remus 'dear' and patted him on the head and honestly, made him miss his mother. He'd have to give her a call soon. Poppy put his index finger in a splint, saying he was lucky the fracture wasn't more severe.
"How'd you get hurt this badly, dear?" she asked, while jotting down instructions on how to take care of the finger.
"Got my hand stuck in a stand mixer," Remus mumbled. "I was in a baking class."
"Oh, dearie." Poppy tutted. "Alright, then. Here's what you'll need to do to take care of the other fingers. You can buy some of these medicines right outside. I trust you'll take care of him?" She directed her last question at Sirius, who had been quietly watching the whole thing from across the room.
"Oh, uh—" Remus began, hurrying to correct her.
"Yes, of course," Sirius cut in, smoothly. "Thank you so much." Remus gaped at Sirius, who just shrugged and smiled. Rude. Nausea and butterflies weren't a good combination for Remus's stomach.
When they finally exited the room, Remus was greeted by the blinding sight of lime green hair in the chair he'd been waiting in.
"Remus!" Tonks rushed up to him, checking his face and patting him down. "I got a call and rushed over."
Remus blinked, taken aback by her sudden appearance. He had forgotten that Tonks was his emergency contact. "I'm okay. Sirius is with me." He gestured towards Sirius, who raised a hand in greeting.
Tonks turned to her cousin, having not noticed him before. "Sirius!" She wrapped him in a quick hug. "I guess I arrived too late on the scene. What happened? They didn't give me any details, but—"
"Remus broke his finger," Sirius said, before Remus could wave aside her concern. "His hand got caught in a stand mixer during class, so I drove him to the ER. He has a splint," he finished, pointing at Remus's splint.
Tonks huffed. "Distracted during class, were we?"
"Dora!" Remus hissed. Sirius cocked his head in interest, but Tonks didn't push her luck, thankfully.
"I took the bus here, so I can't drive you home," Tonks said. "Sirius, could you—"
"I was going to, anyway," Sirius said. "I can drop you home, too."
The car ride was mostly silent, for which Remus was grateful. He felt better, but his finger still throbbed and his stomach hadn't stopped churning. He looked over at Sirius from the passenger's seat.
"Thanks, again," he whispered. Sirius didn't look away from the road, his profile outlined by the streetlight they just passed. He looked tired, but not unhappy.
"Nobody's thanked me," Tonks piped up from the backseat, before Sirius even opened his mouth to reply. Remus winced and turned to look at her.
"Thank you, Dora," he said. "You needn't have come, but you did, anyway." Satisfied, she nodded. Remus sat straight in his seat again.
Sirius chuckled—his self-conscious laugh. "I'll be checking in on you to make sure you're taking good care of your finger."
"You—why? I can handle it myself," Remus argued.
"I promised Poppy, didn't I?" Sirius said, glancing at Remus. "What kind of a monster would it make me if I broke a promise I made to Poppy?"
________
"Da, how did you break your finger?" Teddy asked when he came over on Saturday.
"I was learning how to make frosting," Remus grumbled. "Have you seen those stand mixers Gran uses sometimes? The ones that have the spinning shiny bits?"
Teddy nodded. "They're cool. They go so fast."
Remus winced. "Yeah. My hand got stuck in one of them. So I don't want you using one until you're at least twelve, okay? Promise me, Teddy."
Teddy frowned at his father. "I thought you wanted me to bake with you."
"I changed my mind. Not until you're twelve. Maybe fifteen."
________
Sirius had texted Remus the day after he broke his finger. He didn't know where Sirius got his number from—probably either Tonks or Lily, though both of them refused to admit it.
Lily had caught onto Remus's crush. She was much kinder about it than Tonks—who chose to tease him relentlessly in support—and was, therefore, the recipient of regular Sirius-related updates. At first, Remus had thought it would be awkward, since the object of his affections was more or less Lily's brother-in-law, but she was an excellent listener and could even be cajoled into answering questions sometimes. He'd begged her to tell him if Sirius was single, to which she'd finally relented and told him that yes, Sirius was indeed single.
Knowing that Sirius was gay, or at least interested in men, and single, was a whole different level of torture. Classes had stopped until Remus's finger was better, but that hadn't stopped Sirius from texting him every day. He'd start by asking Remus if he was icing the injury correctly and if the splint was in place, but then the conversation would stray to other topics. A friendly football match Sirius and James had played with their old friends from school. A play Harry had gotten a role in. A pair of boots Sirius had been eyeing in a shop window. Remus couldn't help but feel like they were just excuses to talk to him.
The worst part was that Sirius occasionally sent Remus photos. Innocent things; Sirius holding up a bagel sandwich he'd made for breakfast. Sirius at work in the bakery, giving the camera a thumbs-up. Sirius outside, taking a walk, the picture taken from a high angle. Sirius, Sirius, Sirius. He was the subject of the photos and that was what made them not so innocent. Because Remus had not so innocent thoughts when he saw them. Some evenings he'd just browse his phone's gallery, thumbing between pictures of Sirius, observing the way his hair tumbled over his shoulders or the curve of his cupid's bow.
Giving Remus (who famously suffered from inappropriate thoughts about Sirius Black, to the point of injury) photographs of Sirius Black (to peruse at his heart's content at all hours of the day and with any manner of objects in his hand) was not the smartest idea. Or maybe it was? Maybe Sirius was flirting with Remus?
This crush was getting out of hand. He'd ask Sirius out once the course ended, Remus decided. That way, if he got turned down, they wouldn't have to see each other ever again. The thought of that made Remus's heart heavy, though. Not seeing Sirius ever again would be bad enough, but it would also mean not seeing James and Lily ever again, or at least not without an awkwardness they'd struggle to shake off. He'd grown to cherish his new friendships and the prospect of potentially losing them was an unsettling one—but simply not doing anything wasn't an option either. In his youth, Remus might've shied away from taking a risk, but now? Remus liked to think he was braver now.
________
Once Remus's left hand was usable again, the baking classes resumed. He made sure to pay close attention to what he was working on and managed to not get distracted by Sirius and his hands again, though there were a few close calls.
"Teddy's birthday is coming up," Remus said as he carefully frosted a tiny rose onto his cake. "In a couple of weeks."
"Oh! Just in time!" James pointed at Remus's cake. "You're getting really good at that. Are you going to make him a birthday cake?"
"That was the plan…" Remus murmured, choosing not to contradict James's kind and completely untrue compliment. His rose looked more like red poo than a flower.
Sirius nudged him, careful to not jostle Remus's arm and ruin his cake. "Nervous?"
Remus sighed. "Very. Teddy's a picky child and I'm not good at putting my foot down. If he doesn't like the cake, he just won't eat it."
Sirius hissed sympathetically. "And you can't say 'I don't care if you don't like it, you have to eat it anyway' on his birthday."
"Exactly!" Remus groaned. "You understand me." Sirius smiled at Remus, who had to look away. Uncanny eye contact.
"I worry that I'm spoiling him," he continued, trying to salvage his rose. It just wouldn't flatten.
"Hey," Sirius said. "Better that way than the other, right?"
Remus looked up at him. He thought of Sirius's homophobic parents, the family he'd called crazy, the brother he didn't speak to anymore. "Yeah," he said, nodding. "Better that way than the other."
________
Teddy wanted a chocolate cake. He truly was Remus's son.
It was Teddy's birthday and Remus was panicking. He'd baked the cake the night before, but he'd foolishly volunteered to host the birthday party at his house instead of Tonks's and he was far from finished with the frosting. After that, he'd have to clean the kitchen, set out plates and cups, decorate the house, put on an outfit that wasn't pyjamas and an apron—
His phone chimed. You poor thing, read a text from Lily. He'd sent her a picture of the cake. The frosting dripped awkwardly down the sides and the flames Teddy had asked him to pipe on did not look like flames at all. Tonks had suggested he just buy a cake instead, but Remus had told Teddy that his Da would bake his birthday cake for him. He couldn't let his son down like that.
He glanced at the clock. Three hours left. He could do this.
Remus wiped off the spilt frosting and started again. He'd just managed the base layer with only one drip when his phone chimed again.
How's it going? Sirius had asked. Remus smiled. Sirius was so thoughtful. He'd been one of the first people to wish Teddy a happy birthday that morning (via Remus, via text) and now he'd checked on Remus unprompted.
Terrible, he replied. Too much to do, too little time. And the frosting is driving me up the wall. I mean, flames, Sirius. Flames! I haven't even finished the course yet! Teddy wanted me to do flames!
He returned to wiping away the dripping frosting, already feeling a little lighter after having spoken to Sirius.
His phone began to ring and Remus groaned. How was he supposed to get anything done in time?
"Hello?"
"Hey, Remus! How's it going? We might be there a little early if that's okay with you? Teddy's getting antsy," Tonks said over the phone.
That was Remus's last straw. He cut the call, not caring if it was rude or unfair. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed. The house was a mess, the cake looked awful and he was going to let his son down. Sweet, darling Teddy who was excited to celebrate his sixth birthday at his Da's house.
As if Remus's day couldn't get any worse, the fucking doorbell rang.
"What?" he snapped, opening the door.
"Um, hi?" Sirius stood at the door. Remus blinked, clearing the tears from his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, unable to come up with anything more intelligent.
Sirius was wearing a black t-shirt and well-fitted jeans, looking unnecessarily handsome, as usual. All the blood rushed to Remus's face, painfully aware of his tear-streaked cheeks and floury apron.
Sirius coughed. "Thought I could help, maybe. Flames aren't easy to pipe."
"Oh." They stood in the doorway for a minute, Remus still in shock at Sirius's impromptu visit. He hadn't even realised that Sirius remembered where he lived from the time he'd dropped him home from the ER.
"Can I… come in?" Sirius asked, eventually. Remus started and stood aside, ushering him in.
"I'm fine, really," Remus lied. "I think I'll get it this time."
"It's no trouble, Remus," Sirius said, flashing Remus one of his crinkle-eyed smiles. "You've probably got other stuff to do and you baked the cake already. I'll just dress it up a little." He bustled off to the kitchen, not giving Remus a chance to argue.
Having no say in the matter, apparently, Remus began tidying. He dusted the shelves and set out enough plates and glasses for the children and their parents to use when they arrived. He put away the book he'd left on the sofa and plugged a Bluetooth speaker in to charge.
He found the box of decorations he'd bought a few days prior and began blowing up the balloons by hand (mouth?). He tied off each one and taped them up to the wall, trying to make sure they were evenly spaced. He hung up streamers and a banner that said 'Happy 6th Birthday!' which had been attached to another banner that Tonks had painted to read 'Teddy' in red and blue letters.
Satisfied with how the living room looked, Remus put the box away and retreated to his bedroom to get dressed. He even managed to find a shirt that looked fairly wrinkle-free, which was a sign that things were looking up. Once he had tugged on his favourite nondescript brown trousers and done something to his hair, he checked in on how Sirius was getting on in the kitchen.
"Hi, how's it—whoa." Remus took a step back and took in Teddy's birthday cake, to which Sirius was currently adding finishing touches. It was perfect. The base was smooth and the flames looked gorgeous. Sirius had managed to find the packet of cherries Remus had bought—and misplaced—a few days prior, and had decorated the border of the cake with them. Best of all, he'd used frosting to write the words 'Happy Birthday Teddy!' on top in a particularly lurid shade of vermilion. Teddy's current favourite colour.
"Good?" Sirius asked, actually sounding nervous for some reason. "I wasn't sure by what time you needed it done, so I kept it simple."
"It's perfect," Remus croaked. He noticed for the first time that Sirius was wearing his apron and had a smear of bright frosting on his cheek. "That's Teddy's exact favourite colour, you know," he added, pointing at the words piped onto the cake.
"I know," Sirius said. "You mentioned it once."
"When—? I don't even remember telling you that."
Sirius shrugged. "I like listening to you."
Remus couldn't take it any longer. He reached for Sirius, cupped a hand behind his neck and pressed their lips together.
Not exactly one of Remus's more intelligent moments. Any other time, he would've been able to realise that he should've asked first, that he'd had a plan to ask Sirius out once their classes had ended, that he didn't know when Tonks was arriving with Teddy.
But in that moment, all Remus could focus on was the sweet, sugary scent filling his nostrils, the silky hair brushing his hand and the lips that were kissing him back. He pressed in closer, wrapping his other hand around Sirius's waist. He felt Sirius slip his fingers into Remus's belt loops.
"My hands aren't clean," Sirius murmured against his lips. "Don't want to get your nice shirt dirty." Remus inhaled sharply and pulled back, panting.
"Fuck," he said. He wiped his sweaty hands on his trousers and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, that came out of nowhere."
"Yeah, but lucky for you, I didn't mind at all," Sirius said and pulled Remus back in, tilting his head up to kiss him again. Remus met him with gusto, hands cupping his face. He wiped the frosting off Sirius's cheek with his thumb and parted their mouths briefly to pop the finger into his mouth and suck it clean.
"You're so fucking hot," Sirius said, his voice giving away a barely suppressed hunger that startled Remus.
"Me? Have you looked at yourself lately? You're unfairly gorgeous," Remus retorted. "You drive me to distraction."
Sirius didn't reply, just kissed him again. Remus nipped at Sirius's kiss-swollen bottom lip and sucked it into his mouth with a satisfied sigh.
Remus's phone began to ring. He reluctantly pulled away from Sirius and glanced at the contact. Dora.
"Are you feeling better now?" she chirped when Remus picked up her call. "Because Teddy and I are on our way."
Remus glanced at the clock. Yes, everything was done just in time. The kitchen was still a mess, but he'd just instruct the children to stay out of it. "Yeah, I feel better," he said. "Sorry I hung up on you."
He could almost see Tonks flap her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Teddy's friends will start arriving in another twenty minutes or so. Did the cake turn out okay?"
He glanced at Sirius, who was leaning against the kitchen counter, trying to catch his breath. "Yeah," Remus said. "It turned out okay."
Sirius left before Tonks and Teddy arrived, kissing Remus goodbye at the door. Remus wasn't ready to explain what was going on to his son and ex-wife, especially since he himself didn't know what was going on. Did Sirius return his feelings? Was it a one-off thing? Would they talk about it? Should Remus call or text him or should he ask in class? But wouldn't that be awkward, with James and Lily there?
Luckily for Remus, the doorbell rang, announcing Tonks and Teddy before he could spiral too badly.
________
The birthday party went smoothly and Teddy loved the cake. When he announced his approval, Remus hugged his son so tightly that Teddy had been forced to say, "Da, I can't breathe!" much to Tonks's amusement. She had congratulated him on a job well done and patted him on the back. Seeing the guests enjoy the cake as well made Remus's heart swell.
He didn't feel comfortable taking all the credit, though. He told Tonks and Teddy that he'd made the cake entirely by himself—he couldn't explain Sirius's role in everything to them, not yet—but when the parent of one of Teddy's friends asked him where the cake was from, he said, "The Blapo Bakery. Have you seen it? It's a new place on the way to the mall." It wasn't that big of a stretch—yes, he'd baked the cake, but from whom had he learned to bake in the first place? It was James's recipe and Sirius's handiwork on the icing. Remus just hoped his differing stories didn't cross paths.
He didn't call or text Sirius; and Sirius didn't call or text him.
When he showed up to his next class, Lily beamed at him from her desk. "You're a fucking godsend, Remus," she said, with no prior greeting.
"Oh—Thank you…? What did I do?" Remus asked, looking around uselessly for answers.
"You did the impossible! I've been trying to get it to happen since we moved to town, but you've finally done it!" she continued, rather mysteriously, in Remus's opinion. She was waving her arms dramatically, like she was about to present him with an award and Remus wondered why he'd ever found this sunshiny woman intimidating. But what had he done? The only thing he could think of was that he'd kissed Sirius; maybe Lily had been trying to set him up with someone, but he had been unwilling? Remus hadn't thought Sirius would tell Lily about their kiss, but he, James and Lily were practically family, so it made sense that he had.
"Oh," Remus said intelligently. "I just, um—"
"I've been trying to do it for a while myself, but you went and did it in one day! You absolute marvel, Remus Lupin—"
Now that didn't sound right. He didn't think that Lily had been trying to kiss Sirius for years—or maybe she had? Did James know? Remus mentally shook himself.
"Lily, thank you so much—I don't know what you're on about."
She paused, took a breath and beamed. "You convinced those two louts in the back room to care about actually marketing this place! A bunch of ladies and a man came in the other day, placing orders and saying they were here on your recommendation. After around five 'wow, I had no idea this place existed!'-s, James finally caved and let me make Blapo social media accounts."
It took Remus a second to catch up to Lily's fast talking. Then he gasped. "No way? The parents from Teddy's birthday! This is huge—Lily, I'm so happy for you!"
"So am I!" Lily beamed. "I actually have things to do, now. I run the social media pages and I have actual customers to tend to—no offence, Remus—and Sirius had the idea of having baking classes for kids, instead! I think it's the right way to go. Things are looking up."
Remus leaned across the counter and hugged Lily, who eagerly hugged him back. "You deserve this and more," he whispered.
"Cuddle session? I want to join!" boomed James's voice and Remus pulled away from Lily with a chuckle. James walked up to them, beaming.
"Business is picking up, I hear," Remus said. "Congratulations."
"It's all thanks to you," James said, gripping Remus's hand in two of his warmly. "Why the fuck did you say Teddy's birthday cake was from us when it wasn't, though?"
Remus coughed and avoided James's eye. "I learned to bake from you… 'Twas your recipe, too…"
"Modest as ever, Remus," James said, wrapping an arm around him and dragging him off to the back room. Remus twisted around enough to wave at Lily.
________
Class, anticlimactically, was the same as usual. The only thing that kept Remus from thinking he'd made up the kiss was Sirius pointedly avoiding making eye contact with him. James seemed to catch on, frowning between the two of them, but neither volunteered any answers.
That wasn't to say they didn't talk. Conversation carried on as always, Remus narrating how Teddy's friend spilled his juice on a girl he'd been trying to befriend the whole party, carefully leaving out any mention of Sirius's visit. Sirius detailed his plans for the new baking class for kids they were planning to hold at the bakery and James talked about how they were finally going to implement Lily's marketing strategies.
"I held this belief that whoever was meant to walk into our bakery would walk in, you know?" James said, nonsensically. "But after that group of new customers, I realised that maybe there is some merit to putting effort into making our business known. I was still sort of right, though!" James interjected. "Because whoever was meant to walk in did walk in." He pointed at Remus, who ducked his head and huffed a laugh.
"The only reason I walked in was because I got a flyer. A flyer that your wife made, putting effort into making your business known," he said, giving James a teasing smile.
"Touché!" James agreed heartily.
________
"Did you drive here?"
Remus whipped his head up from where he'd been packing his newest cake into a bag. Sirius stood in front of him, hands in his pockets, rocking on the balls of his feet. The gesture made him look younger than he was.
"No, I took the bus," Remus replied.
Sirius nodded decisively. "I'll drive you home then." Despite the surety in his tone, he looked at Remus with a clear question in his eyes. He unconsciously bit his lip and let it go, drawing Remus's attention to the mouth he'd tasted just a few days ago.
"Okay," Remus murmured.
They didn't talk for the first few minutes of the drive.
"I don't actually know where you live," Remus said eventually, breaking the silence.
Sirius told him the name of the street he lived on, jutting a thumb behind his back. "Little flat on the third floor. Nice place."
Remus didn't reply, thinking about how Sirius lived in the opposite direction but offered to drive him home anyway. That had to mean something, didn't it?
"I meant to ask you out after the course ended," Sirius said eventually, so quiet Remus almost thought he made it up. Almost.
"Me too," he said.
Sirius turned to look at Remus so suddenly that he lost his grip on the wheel and the car swerved. He hurriedly grabbed the wheel and righted the vehicle before any real damage was done. He blew out a breath.
"I've fancied you since the first class," Sirius confessed, with half a smile. "You were so bloody charming, with all your blushing and stuttering. So earnest and genuine. You have this habit of playing with the hair behind your ears when you're nervous—" Sirius took one hand off the wheel to demonstrate "—and I just wanted to grab your hands to keep them away from messing your hair up any further and maybe kiss your fingers while I was at it," he finished with bark of laughter.
Remus felt warmth curl in his stomach. "I was a mess that day," he said. "I didn't know what I was doing and you were so cool. I wanted to make a good impression on you and I thought you were making fun of me."
"What?" Sirius asked, sounding pained and almost swerving the car again. "Why the fuck would you think that?"
Remus sighed. "I don't know. I felt like you and James kept exchanging looks and making inside jokes. Which is fine, obviously! You've been friends for ages, of course that's fine. I just felt kind of left out and I was worried that maybe I was the butt of jokes I didn't understand…" He felt somewhat mortified to even admit how he'd felt.
Sirius groaned. "You were not the butt of any jokes, Remus. I was. James was teasing me because my crush on you was so horribly obvious."
"It was not! I had no clue!" Remus said. The relief of having not been made fun of and the exhilaration that came from knowing that Sirius Black had a crush on him had him biting back a silly grin.
"You were the only one," Sirius grumbled. "I came onto you so hard the first few days before James told me to tone it down."
Remus ducked his head and bit his lip. "I like you too. Thought you were insanely fit the second I walked in, of course. Big fan of the little grey bits in your hair," he said, gesturing towards Sirius's temples. "You're a very interesting person. I feel like I could learn new things about you everyday."
The car stopped and Remus looked up to see that they'd parked in front of his house.
"Come in?" he asked, unclasping his seatbelt.
________
There hadn't been much talking since they entered the house. Remus didn't know who'd reached for whom first, but they'd been kissing now for at least half an hour. Sirius had his hands in Remus's hair, petting that spot behind his ears. Remus had reached for Sirius's arse in a burst of courage at some point and was unwilling to let go now.
"As lovely as this is," Remus whispered against Sirius's lips, "we need to talk."
Sirius whined and nibbled on Remus's bottom lip, making him sigh in pleasure, but he pulled back.
"We fancy each other," Sirius said, tilting his head to one side. "And you're an incredible kisser. I'd like to continue, now." He leaned in again, but Remus chuckled and turned his head.
"Yes, we'll continue, after we talk," Remus clarified. "Trust me, it's taking a lot out of me to hold back."
"You're not really holding back," Sirius grumbled, nodding at Remus's hands, which were still on his arse. He wound his own arms around Remus's waist and pecked his nose. "Go on, then. Talk."
Remus smiled at the tender gesture. "Like you said, we like each other," he said. "But you need to understand—I'm a father. I can't date casually. I might not always be able to meet you on weekends or have you stay over sometimes—if that's something you'd like to do." Remus added quickly. They'd barely kissed a few times and there he was, making plans for the future.
Sirius laughed. "Teddy is your first priority. I know that. I'm willing to be a part of his life to whatever extent you're okay with. I am related to him, anyway—" Remus grimaced at that and Sirius laughed again "—so I'll probably be around. Uncle Sirius. I am technically his cousin, though. You'd have to meet Harry too, eventually," he mused.
Remus bit his lip. Sirius's eyes dropped to it immediately. Remus let it go and sighed. "I was about to ask if you'd like to be my boyfriend, but that sounds a little juvenile in our thirties."
Sirius shrugged and pressed his lips to Remus's quickly, before Remus could protest that they were talking. "I like it, but we can use another word for it if you want. Partners. Significant others. Whatever you want. I just want to be yours."
Remus stared at him. "That was so fucking romantic."
"It'll be even more romantic if you kissed me again," Sirius said, bumping Remus's nose with his own.
And who was Remus to disagree?
________
The next class was Remus’s last. He'd still visit the bakery after the course ended, of course; it wasn't like he'd never see his new friends again. But it was a bittersweet feeling, knowing he'd never return to that backroom and pull out a bag of ingredients from under the counter.
Lily hung up a closed sign and sat in on the class. James teared up once when someone brought up that Remus wouldn't return next week for class and needed to be patted on the shoulder before he could continue baking. Remus's frosting was still a mess, but Sirius bumped their shoulders together and whispered that if he ever needed a cake frosted again, he knew whom to call.
They hadn't planned on making a grand reveal of their new relationship. It was all Sirius's fault, really. They'd just put their cakes in to bake and Lily had brought up ideas for the bakery's TikTok page.
"We should film funny videos together," she suggested. They sat in a circle on the floor, like children discussing whether they should give their newest friend the password to their secret club. "We've got something of an older audience now, thanks to Remus, but if we want teenagers to come here after school, we'll need to do the stuff they're into."
Remus didn't bring up the fact that Blapo's prices were rather more than what the average teenager popping in for a snack after school could afford. "What are teenagers into these days? Do you know any teenagers?"
None of them knew any teenagers. "You could ask your students?" James suggested.
Remus paled. "Absolutely not. They'd eat me alive."
"We could just scroll on TikTok," Sirius said, shrugging. "If we search long enough, we should be able to find something."
"Your for-you page is cooking videos and biking footage," Lily grumbled, but Sirius pointedly ignored her and patted the pockets of his trousers for his phone.
"Where the fuck is my— Have you seen my phone?"
"Jacket pocket," Remus said, pointing to where Sirius's leather jacket hung alongside the aprons.
Sirius fetched his phone and sat back down, absentmindedly pressing a kiss to Remus's cheek. "Thanks."
"Oh!" Lily shouted, pointing at the two of them triumphantly. "I saw that!"
James gasped and joined his wife in pointing. "That was not a friendly kiss!"
Remus buried his head in his hands and groaned.
"Oops?" Sirius said.
________
A year later:
"I think I've done it," Remus said, wringing his hands. He peered into the little oven in his kitchen, bracing himself in case anything exploded.
"You have. Relax," Sirius assured him, wrapping an arm around his waist. He turned Remus's face towards him and kissed him deeply. "You came up with a recipe. You're not combining dangerous acids."
"It might taste like shit," Remus argued. "Healthy things usually do."
"This was your idea," Sirius said. "Stick to it."
Remus twisted in Sirius's arms and pressed their foreheads together. "What if Teddy doesn't like it?"
"We can get a backup cake from the bakery, if that'd make you feel better. I think he'll like it, though."
"Thank goodness he's outgrown his frosting phase," Remus said with a chuckle. "I don't need to keep pestering you to come over and do the honours."
"I'd pay good money to have you two pester me all day long," Sirius said, eyes crinkling.
"Good thing we do it for free, then," Remus replied drily.
Tonks popped her head around the kitchen door. Her hair was tied up in a simple ponytail, albeit in electric blue. "Is the cake ready, yet?"
Remus checked the timer. "It needs another ten minutes."
Tonks nodded. "James, Lily and Harry are here. Teddy's other friends are on the way. Why don't you lovebirds join us? The bell's loud enough to hear from outside the kitchen."
Remus cast a nervous glance at the oven, but agreed.
"Hey," Sirius whispered, grabbing Remus's forearm gently as he started to walk away. "I'm proud of you."
So was Tonks. So was James, so was Lily. But none more than Remus himself, when he saw his newly seven-year-old son blow out the candles on the special birthday cake his father had baked him, before taking a bite and grinning widely, showing off the gap in his teeth. The party guests sang happy birthday and when the kids' parents asked Remus where he got the cake from, he said, "Oh, I can give you the recipe if you'd like." Teddy asked for fifth helpings and Remus had to intervene to explain to him that even healthy cake was still cake, and needed to be eaten in moderation.
"Let the boy eat cake, Remus. It's his birthday," Tonks teased.
Remus gaped at her. "You're the one who brought up his eating too many sweets in the first place!"
"Was I? I don't remember," she said, flippantly. "Teddy's friend's mum has been flirting with me and I'm feeling rather generous. Sirius, give my son a slice of cake!" she called to her cousin, who was in charge of serving cake to the guests.
"Yes, ma'am!" Sirius saluted her and cut Teddy another slice.
And if Remus asked for a slice, too— well, there was no shame in that.