Chapter Text
Prologue
Regulus had always known he’d hate James potter. Sirius left for boarding school on the coast at age 11 abandoning Regulus with their busy and emotionally empty father and emotionally irregular mother. Two years later Regulus was set to join him until their parents found out Sirius had begun surfing. He had never seen his mother so upset, going on about how this was an activity for degenerates who smoke weed and have no life goals. He heard his mother yelling at Sirius on the phone about how he was supposed to be focused on his studies and not playing in the water. Regulus personally never understood why she was so upset.
Regulus wasn’t planning on riding the waves with his brother, he was more excited about getting out of his house and getting to start the marine biology program there even though his parents were set on real estate, he could do two things at once. Regulus didn’t personally understand why she was so super until he heard his mother yelling on the phone.
“Sirius, I will not accept any of this behavior! You are supposed to be setting an example for Regulus! Instead you are playing in the water with James and neglecting your studies. That’s it I have made my decision, Regulus won’t be going to Hogwarts this year or any year! He will go to St. John’s and that’s it”
Regulus felt his stomach shrink and lost sense of his own body. His legs felt numb and he was suddenly aware of the blood coursing through his veins and willed it to stop. Anything to not go to st John’s
The boys at St. John’s were disgusting and he hated playing with them when he was younger he couldn’t imagine what the next seven years with them would be like, and now Sirius had given him the cursed opportunity to know exactly what that would be like.
He hated surfing
He hated Sirius for leaving him
He hated St. John’s
And most of all he hated James
This James who Sirius would not stop talking about for two whole years. James who showed Sirius how to surf. James who stole Sirius from him. James who had sentenced him to a 6 year prison at St. John’s.
He cursed James and dragged himself to his room, locked his door, and quietly cried into his pillow and fell asleep dreaming of the ocean.
7 years after prologue
Remus leaned over the railing watching Sirius float in the water while bright blue waves lapped against the boat and the sun settled its heat permanently on his back but Remus didn’t mind the sun if it meant he got to be on his boat. This is it he thought to himself, there’s nowhere else I need to be. Back at Hogwarts, Remus was out on a Jon boat everyday. That tiny boat was the love of 15 year old Remus’s life. James, Sirius, and Remus would spend hours out on the intracoastal finding small coves to sit around for hours, James who is ever so the multitasker would finish up an assignment while Sirius would channel the same amount of energy into (successfully) distracting him to play soccer and go swimming around on paddle boards into other coves while Remus studied oyster beds and checked in on the school’s wildlife reserves. Hogwarts was very active in conservation efforts which is what drew Remus to the school all those years ago along with his father going there as well, he knew it was the place for him.
Then he met James and Sirius his first day and immediately became friends in the way that only 11 yr olds can declare someone they know for a few hours their best friends. 7 years later, they enrolled at the same college on the coast with James and Sirius pursuing surfing with occasional attention paid to their business degree, Remus spent most of his time in the lab and out on the water on the lab's boat. When Sirius wasn’t surfing or pretending to do schoolwork he was out on the boat with Remus. He didn’t mind the company, Sirius always joined Remus on the boat when he could and loved asking him questions about anything and everything. So when Sirius came up the boat’s ladder Remus was caught by surprise when Sirius asked
“Remus you’re looking a bit dry for the first day of summer” Sirius smirked at him, shaking the water out of his hair and onto Remus.
“I think you’re right Sirius, I mean we can’t have our moony feeling dry on the first day of summer” James echoed back from the deck where he slowly began to stand up, trying to hide a mischievous grin Remus knew all too well.
“Absolutely not, don’t even think about it or Sirius I swear I will ruin your new Mayhem board” Remus warned not even bothering to look at them from his spot at the railing.
Sirius gasped and dramatically threw himself onto James “Prongs did you hear what our looney moony threatened me with? He’s lost it!” Sirius wailed out.
“I’d listen to him Padfoot, you wouldn’t want to mess up your new board before Regulus gets here” James supplied to the sprawled figure on the boat’s bench.
Sirius perked up at the mention of his brother whose flight was scheduled to land this evening. Remus hadn’t seen Regulus in about 3 years right before the three of them were about to graduate Hogwarts. During their spring vacation while James was visiting family in California, Regulus had come to visit Sirius for that week at Hogwarts and Remus doesn’t think he heard more than one word from him the first day. As the week went on he talked with Remus about Marine Biology and his research and the two had gotten on well. Sirius and Regulus spent most of the week together, trying to enjoy their small amount of time together as Sirius hadn’t exactly been encouraged to go home by his family. Regulus was an interesting guy but Remus always liked interesting people. The two of them got along well and he was excited to finally get to know Regulus better now that he was spending the whole summer with them. Remus checked his g-shock watch, a birthday gift from James, and realized how long they had been out on the water.
“We should probably head back soon” Remus said, heading up to the steering while James went to get the anchoring.
“What time is Regulus' flight landing? I’m excited to finally meet your little brother” James said while easily heaving the anchoring back into the boat only pushing his messy curls out of his face. Sirius all but rolled off the bench onto his feet, slowly stretching out his back. Remus couldn’t help but watch Sirius' back muscles flex as he stretched longer than a normal person would care to, all to say, it was no secret Sirius Black was an attractive man. Throughout their time at Hogwarts, Sirius would flirt with girls, guys, girls with boyfriends, and even their boyfriends. But never enough to follow through, he would simply leave it there. Even Remus was at one point the subject of Sirius’s flirting schemes at some point in fifth year.
That year was a lot different for Remus than it was for Sirius though. When the school year began, Remus had just come back from summer break in Mal Pais Costa Rica where his dad was researching birds for the summer and took Remus and his mom with him. Remus spent most of his time exploring anything the ocean had to offer, all its colorful creatures, plants, and most importantly of all, sting rays.
Remus had been learning about stingrays for as long as he could remember and after spending a whole summer learning about them, Remus had an idea of where he wanted to take his studies after graduation. Remus was swimming after curfew which was not a common occurrence but it was the beginning of the school year and he had just gotten into a fight with Peter, their old suite-mate, about his loud alarm clock which didn’t seem to bother Sirius or James but sent Remus’s brain to the final circle of hell. So to cool off, he went off to the ocean where he always felt brought him back to center. While he was still a few years from being able to start boating, he could always just go for a swim. He can still remember the cool touch of the water, how calm the waves were for a August night.
“Careful Remus, something could be lurking in the water waiting for you” Sirius said from the beach. Even at 15 Sirius knew how to get Remus’s attention.
“Oh yeah? Is that why you aren’t getting in the water? Sounds like someone is scared” Remus sang back to Sirius, knowing exactly how to get his attention. Sirius wasted no time taking off his shirt and running into the water, splashing Remus in the face and Remus echoing his actions but he was no match for Sirius’s relentless splashing. All of a sudden Remus froze. “Sirius something touched my leg” Sirius stopped splashing and immediately began to look around. His hesitancy gave Remus the perfect amount of time to grab Sirius and wrestle him into the water. After clearly winning their unofficial water war they began to wade back to shore.
“I can’t believe you Moony, you managed to get one over me, and now you’re somehow taller than me?” Sirius spoke in a shocked tone but his features showed nothing but pride. “Costa Rica did you well this summer, in more ways than one” Sirius glanced his eyes to Remus carefully. Before Remus could say anything, Sirius' arm shot out before him, grabbing the side of his stomach, and stopping him in his tracks to a stingray flying by right in the shallow end of the beach. Sirius let out a gasp of fear and surprise but Remus felt his heart surge. For the first time since arriving at Hogwarts, Remus felt that this was exactly where he wanted to be.
“I’ve never seen one of those in my entire life, it’s beautiful” Sirius let out an exhale that he had clearly been holding in. Remus was still in a daze and the wonder was far from over with Sirius still holding his abdomen. Remus knew this is where his life would lead — to stingrays.
“Remus?” Sirius was now standing next to him on the boat. “Huh? Yes, Regulus at 8:15, you’re getting dinner with him then bringing him back” Remus racked off his brain hoping he caught all the information thrown at him.
Remus turned the boat around and began to make the trip back to their dock with James and Sirius trying to recreate the scene from Titanic only to have them end up wrestling each other for who got to be Rose. Remus tried to hide his smile but watching James slip on a puddle while trying to reach the mast ultimately cracked him. After driving out from the water and into the intracoastal, they finally approached their dock. James immediately sat up and jumped onto the dock and began to tie off the boat, always taking his duties as boat hand seriously. The sun was slowly starting to set and Remus didn’t know if it was the sun or the lack of food but he was exhausted, dizzy, and most of all, hungry. Remus knew the answer to only one of those problems.
“James, I know it wasn’t a surf day but could you still make some surf soup tonight?” Remus asked with only a slightly whiny tone. James Potter was good at a lot of things; surfing, being an amazing friend, fixing things, but the only thing Remus cared about was James Potter’s Signature Surf Soup. A recipe he refuses to share with anyone and forces Remus and Sirius out of the kitchen while he makes it, which infuriates Sirius to no end but Remus is just happy it's on the table. If Remus could pick James’ magnum opus, it would be his surf soup. Reserved for the days they all get back from a nice day of surfing or just paddling out, James would cook up the soup while forcing Sirius to use the outdoor shower. Once he caught Sirius trying to climb through the kitchen window that looks out into the shower, and was sentenced to no soup for the night. Needless to say, James takes his soup seriously.
James stood on the dock “you know the drill Remus, if you want the soup on a non-surf day, you must do the soup dance” he said in a motherly tone of voice with his hands on his hips.
Remus jumped onto the dock and sighed, “please James, my head hurts and i'm starving don’t make me do this” He tried to plead with James but he knew the answer; he would have to do the soup dance. James only shook his head and Sirius could do nothing but cackle as Remus helped him off the boat. Remus took his stance and began the soup dance. “Oh Captain James might man of the soup, please bring us yummy soup” Remus chanted in a monotone voice while twisting his hips and moving his arms in and out of intricate circles, “we are hungry for the soup of our Captain, may he choose to grace us with his soup tonight” he ended the dance kneeling before James, awaiting his answer.
“Upon discussion with my council, I have decided to grace the people with soup tonight!” James shouted as if he was a king of a small country. Remus couldn't care less as long as he was getting soup tonight. “You’re lucky man, I don't do my soup for just anyone on an off-day” James gave him a slight shove as they walked off the dock and onto the porch.
Finally, Remus was home. “Oh but when I do the soup dance I always get denied!” Sirius ran up to the two of them, clearly offended by the decision of the council to grant Remus soup tonight. “That’s because Moony has passion in his dance, he clearly wants the soup while you just want the recipe, are you forgetting the time you almost broke a table trying to get to the kitchen while i was making --” James continued to argue with Sirius while they walked inside the soft blue house.
Remus loved their home and every time he came back to it, his heart was full. It was a small home with washed out blue vinyl and wide windows that surrounded the entire place. From first glance you could hardly see all the small details from all the foliage but once you took a second look, it was clear this home was loved. With a cactus-lined sand path leading to the garage and front steps, Sirius’ motorbike sat in the outdoor garage next to James’ vintage red Jeep, each of the vehicles honored and treasured by their respective owners. The outdoor shower sat on the side of the home, next to the front door which housed a metal sign reading ‘shoes and shirts? no service’ a house-warming gift from their friend Peter who was currently in New York working at a consulting firm with his long-term girlfriend from Hogwarts.
While Sirius had claimed the outdoor shower area as his personal safe haven, Remus claimed their porch. The porch had four wooden rocking chairs which were permanently covered in salt as well as roughly 15 surfboards, a workbench covered in supplies for James to repair old surfboards and a pile of wetsuits hanging from the railing which Remus reminded himself to put away now that the water had finally warmed up. There was a swinging bed which could comfortably hold two people and a small rattan table with a few empty bottles of Corona that needed to be recycled. Remus walked over to the other side of the porch which overlooked the ocean with nothing but a few chairs. While James stored his workplace on the front side of the porch to be able to people-watch the tourists during the busy season, Remus had settled in around the corner so he could watch the waves and be left alone. He had an old boat engine he was still messing with after a couple of months and few other supplies for his boat but other than a drying line, the back porch was relatively empty, capturing the last remaining light from the sun.
“Moony” James stuck his head out from the sliding doors onto the back porch, “I’m done so shower is all yours, also Sirius is heading out to pick up Regulus” Remus follows James into the living room, leaving the sliding door open on an unusually cool summer night.
“Are you just rushing me into the shower so you can make your soup with no one watching?” Remus inquires watching James slowly creep into the kitchen.
“I will not tolerate these ridiculous questions” James states simply in defiance.
“I can’t believe you would make surf soup on the one night I won't be home for dinner, also James I need to take June to pick up Reg, his suitcase won't fit on my bike” Sirius asks picking at the sides of his nails, a habit Sirius has had since they were at Hogwarts, clearly very nervous about seeing his brother for the first time in about a year.
“Yeah no problem, I washed and waxed her today so all good to go” James throws him the keys to June. June is James’s Jeep which was a graduation gift from his parents before they all moved up and out of Hogwarts. The drive from Florida to North Carolina was a killer with them running out of gas because James was too excited to try Buc-Ee's for the first time so he completely forgot to fill the car up. They ended up stuck on the side of the highway for about two hours with nothing but a bag of boiled nuts from Buc-Ee's and two bottles of diet coke, until a nice couple helped them out and gave them enough gas to get to the nearest station. The trauma tied them all eternally to June and Remus is sure that car will follow him into the afterlife.
Sirius catches the keys and sprints out the door yelling a goodbye before hearing the screen door slam shut behind him.
After his shower, Remus heads downstairs to finally reap the benefits of his soup dance. He can still hear James chopping in the kitchen so he throws himself onto the couch and turns on the TV trying to find something to watch on one of their million streaming services. He settles on an old season of Survivor before hearing James walk out of the kitchen.
“Soup done?”
“No, just simmering on low right now for about 20” James says while also throwing himself on the couch, fixated on Boston Rob talking to Amber, “Hey” James says while turning to Remus.
“Hey”
“You’ve met Regulus before, what’s he like? I didn’t want to ask Sirius since I know it's a touchy subject but seeing as he’s spending the summer with us I wouldn’t mind some background” James asks, trying to keep the tone as casual as possible.
This is genuinely the last discussion Remus wants to have with James. He would rather throw himself off the dock and pray James drops the topic. While he knows a few things about Regulus, he remembers one major thing; Regulus Black Does Not Like James Potter.
Why? Remus has no clue but he remembers that week that Regulus spent at Hogwarts and the phone conversation he accidentally overheard three years ago.
Remus was heading up to his room after dinner which Regulus politely declined to join. Sirius was stuck in detention after trying to impress Regulus by setting off fireworks in the beach volleyball courts, needless to say Regulus did not look impressed but Regulus didn’t ever look anything, carrying a face and tone of neutrality at all times. As Remus went to turn the door handle he heard Regulus sounding very upset and most likely on the phone. ‘Seems like a more private conversation that I do not want to get involved in’ Remus thought to himself as he went to turn around and maybe head to the docks for a bit.
“I know Evan, it’s not as bad as I thought, at least that dickhead James isn’t here, I swear I can’t stand him” Regulus sighed into the phone.
Remus immediately stopped and turned around. That’s strange, he didn’t even think Regulus had even met James. Besides, James can be an insistent and impulsive idiot sometimes but it all came from a pure heart, anyone could see that. How could someone who hadn’t met James think of him as a dickhead? Especially Sirius’ little brother who had probably only heard great things from Sirius.
“Oh tell me about it, I swear he probably just walks around this school thinking he’s too cool for anyone except his idiot friends. Get this, Sirius got stuck in detention tonight for a stupid prank, probably something he learned from James” Regulus said in a sharp tone. Even though the little shit was talking about his friends like that, Remus had to admit, it was nice to finally hear something besides boredom in his voice.
After that Remus decided to take his leave to be able to excuse himself from hearing any more of a conversation that was not meant for his ears. He decided not to tell Sirius about that conversation.
“Does he like to surf? Maybe we could take him out on the boat tomorrow afternoon? Oh maybe we could go on a short hike?” James exclaimed cheerfully, bringing Remus’ attention back to the conversation at hand. It was honestly endearing seeing the effort James was putting in for his best friend’s brother, too bad Regulus probably hated him.
“Honestly not sure, he seems like a pretty reserved guy from what I remember, maybe we could just let him do his own thing” Remus tries to casually steer James away from playing trip advisor for Regulus.
“I mean he had to have said something, I feel like I know next to nothing about the guy.”
“Is the soup ready yet?” Remus tries again to change the subject, feeling himself getting hungrier as the seconds pass.
“Maybe he’s an artistic guy, I could take him to the studio and show him around?” James wonders seemingly more to himself than Remus.
“James please the soup” Remus finds himself practically begging at this point, his stomach audibly growling.
“Oh maybe we could-”
“James oh my god, from what I heard, Regulus doesn’t exactly like you” Remus yells out in a mess of hunger and headaches. James goes quiet and leans back, putting his hands into his lap and looking down with furrowed brows.
“He doesn’t like me? I’ve never even met the guy!?” James exclaims, “Remus tell me what you heard or you aren’t getting any surf soup and I’ll eat the whole pot out of spite” James threatens.
Remus gives a quick summary of the phone conversation he overheard all those years ago. “That’s it man, he was probably like 15 or 16 at the time, I doubt he’s like that now” Remus says trying to soften the blow.
He sees James tuck his head down and he shrugs it off. “It’s fine, whatever he thinks at least now he’ll get to meet me and actually form a real opinion which I’m sure will be much more positive” James says in a hopeful tone, standing up and heading back to the kitchen to finish the soup.
Remus leans his head back and gently closes his eyes, willingly his hunger-induced headache to ease itself for just a little longer. Just as he feels himself slowly drifting off and the pounding in his head slowing down, he hears a car pull into the gravel driveway, two doors slam shut, and a stream of arguing coming from two different voices. Why did Remus think he could ever rest?
“Brotherly love” Remus mumbles to himself, slowly sitting up on the couch.
He can hear Sirius’s voice right outside the door. “How was I supposed to know that they had a private event tonight? I’m not the damn keeper of everything related to the island” Sirius says while opening the front door and carrying in a suitcase with a shadow following him inside pausing at the threshold of the door. “Hey Moony, please tell me there’s some soup left, Beach Circle was having a private event tonight so I couldn't get Reg and I dinner” Sirius asked while Regulus is still waiting at the threshold like a vampire needing to be invited in. “Reg I swear if you start getting weird on me, I’m sending your ass on the first flight back to San Diego” Regulus rolls his eyes and steps inside with a small duffle shrugged onto his shoulders, walking from the hallway into the living room.
The poor kid looked terrified and Remus wasn’t sure if it was because of Sirius’s threat or if he genuinely hated their home.
“Hey I’m Remus, how was your flight?” Remus craned his neck around to get a better look at him. He was barely taller than Sirius with jet black hair that curled slightly at the ends, sharp features with blue eyes that rivaled Sirius’s grey ones, the two were clearly related but sported different manners. Regulus held a neutral gaze on Remus, not giving him a single emotion that Remus could use to get a read on the younger brother.
“It was fine, the airport here is less busy than the one in San Diego” Regulus spoke politely. There was a monotone voice Remus had remembered.
“Moony as much as I love you two becoming besties, soup? Yes, no?” Sirius signals with his hands to the kitchen.
“Yeah man, James is just finishing it up” Remus responds, not missing the flare of Regulus’s nostrils and the grimace he makes at the mention of James.
“Perfect” Sirius claps his hands together. “Reg, your room is upstairs on the left, Remus has graciously allowed you his room with AC so your west coast ass doesn’t melt” Regulus heads towards the stairs. Sirius turns towards the kitchen “Oh also if you need to shower before dinner it’s the door next to yours, James is across the hall so you won’t get your own bathroom this time” Sirius says before heading inside the kitchen and hearing James yell for Sirius to cover his eyes.
Remus doesn’t miss the way Regulus freezes at the mention of sharing a floor with James, and when Regulus turns around with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows, seemingly ready to argue with his brother, he pauses when he sees Remus watching.
“I wouldn’t bother arguing with him, unless you want the downstairs room without AC and trust me, you’d be better off sharing a bathroom with James” Remus says while slowly getting up from the couch.
Regulus flushes red and turns around with his bags, heading upstairs.
“Sirius get out of my kitchen or I swear I’m covering all your shit in sex wax!” James yells while Sirius sprints through the doorway with a bag of Cape Cod chips.
Remus had never been so excited for summer to start.