#lobstering

Working Harbor Morning Maine

@wolfstarmicrofic August 19, word count 773

Previous part First Jegulus part

The bath was lobster hot, just the way Sirius liked it. His porcelain skin turned bright red as he sunk into the water. He splashed some of the water onto his face to remove the tear tracks and let Remus’s soft words gently lull his swirling thoughts into nothingness as he read Call of the Wild by Jack London to him from on top of the wooden laundry box. It was Sirius’s favourite book. He read it a lot as a child. He saw himself in Buck, being a sweet dog who was ground down and nearly killed by horrid people until he found a kind trio of people and was finally free. Luckily, the Potters weren’t murdered, unlike Buck’s friends, and he hadn't run off into the forest to live like a wildman, not that he hadn't thought about it, but something about the story of the giant bear-sized dog resonated with him.

In the morning, Remus agreed to ride in the sidecar of Sirius’s motorbike after fixing him breakfast. Remus hated the bike with a passion, so his agreeing to go in it showed Sirius how much he was willing to do to cheer him up. 

When they pulled into the long gravel drive of Effie and Monty’s house, the emotions and hurt from yesterday began pushing to the front of his mind again. He needed an Effie hug. He parked his motorbike beside the 500 and hopped off, holding out his hand to help Remus get his long body out of the tiny sidecar. 

Effie was waiting for him at the door with her arms wide open. He flung himself into her soft embrace and felt the tears slipping from his eyes again.

"Mum," He cried.

“Shh, my darling, shhh, don’t worry, we’ll get it sorted,” Effie cooed and walked him into the house where Monty was just putting the finishing touches to mugs of hot chocolate. Effie deposited him on one of the kitchen chairs and pulled hers up close so she could continue to hold him. He used the back of his hand to wipe away the tears and realised there were others at the table. 

Regulus and James sat opposite them. Sirius choked back a sob as his eyes darted to Effie. “Remus, messaged us all last night, my darling, telling us what that awful man had put up,” He looked at his brother and James and sniffled at them, trying his hardest to smile at them for coming. 

“Erm, I have something to confess,” James said sheepishly, dropping his head so he couldn’t make eye contact. “I knew about the videos, and there are other people that have filmed you,” He looked up then and met Sirius’s eyes, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I honestly thought they were just a bit of fun. I didn’t even see the ones where he’d gone into the back. If I had, I would have told you, I swear,” Sirius gritted his teeth, ready to spit something venomous out, but he couldn’t. He could admit that some of them had been slightly funny. When he had a go at that student trying to blame them for missing his exam, that was good, but the stuff between him and Regulus, there was a line, and it had been crossed. 

“Give me your phones,” Remus ordered, holding his hands out to everyone. “Monty, Effie, you’re about to join the world of tictok,” 

“What are you going to do?” Sirius asked, handing his phone over without a second thought. 

“I’m going to report every single video I find of you or our café on all of our phones,” With much scrabbling, everyone handed their phones over. 

“I’ve already got tictok, so you won’t have to download it,” Monty smiled, unlocking his phone for Remus.

“Oh, so do I,” Effie laughed, “Here you go my love,” She said to Remus as she placed her phone beside Monty’s.

Remus had a determination about him that Sirius had never seen. He sat there at the Potters’ kitchen table with all six phones and reported every single video of Sirius or the café he could find. Sirius had been hurt and Remus was protecting him. Sirius felt a surge of love for his lanky boyfriend. He pushed his chair back and leant across the table, grabbing the front of Remus’s knitted jumper and dragging him to meet him before planting a hard, love-filled kiss on his lips. 

“Thank you,” He murmured to Remus, and Remus’s golden, honey eyes became molten and burned into Sirius’s and, for the first time that morning, he wished they were alone. 

Lobsters play an important economic role in the coastal villages of Nova Scotia. Fifty thousand tons of lobster are harvested each year. While traditional lobster traps were made of bent wood and slats, contemporary lobster traps are rectangular-shaped metal cages that come in a variety of colors. Inside, netting funnels the lobster into the trap, but cleverly prevents the lobster from getting…