"I know." Remus smiled that soft little smile he didn't even realise his lips had created just for thoughts of Regulus.
Cocking his head to one side as he listened, he thought how odd it seemed to think of Regulus being so much younger. Remus forgot how young his lover was much the same way Regulus forgot he was a werewolf. "I know the times he grew up in. I grew up in the same ones." Sighing again, Remus turned to look down at the library, remembering the day he'd first seen it, how scared Regulus had been of his own feelings. "Yet, it took my coming to this one to figure out things most people figure out at sixteen, or younger judging by my students. When I was nineteen, I was lucky to have figured friendship out as much as I had. The whole boys and girls thing? Or boys and boys in this case? That took Regulus.
"Maybe you're right and it's rushing things." He smiled back at James. "Of course, you'll have to forgive my amusement at hearing that from the young man who got married after six weeks? Two months? I'm actually trying not to push him on any of this. But, it's difficult when the idea of his marrying someone else comes up at least once a week." And each time it did, it hurt just a little more.
Again, he had to laugh warmly as James went on. The younger man had to be the epitome of Gryffindor fearlessness. "You don't think being the first werewolf to attend Hogwarts, the first to teach there...twice, was enough history making? You want me to be the first werewolf to marry the first openly gay Black Heir? Entire generations of wizards just turned over in their graves."
Sobering he shook his head. "I'm not the one that needs convincing, however. All I want is what you and Pads have," he said honestly, more open than he would have been with most people outside of that house, "but with him. And I don't know how to convince him it's not just a shared pipe dream."