Will-o'-the-Wisp

James sighed and stretched. "Ah, this is the life!"

"For what?" Sirius grumbled, slapping at a mosquito. "A masochist?"

"Oh, quit complaining," Remus said, nudging him. "I'm having fun. And you have to admit, this is relaxing."

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Sirius said sarcastically. "If I get any more relaxed I'll be dead."

James rolled his eyes. "Shut up, mate. You didn't have to come, you know."

Remus tugged up his fishing line. James had decided, almost spur-of-the-moment, to have a Marauder's fishing trip. Peter had begged off, claiming he couldn't get time off work, but both Sirius and Remus had come along.

"Yeah, I know I didn't," Sirius said, running a hand through his hair. "But you were going, and Remus said he wanted to go...I figured someone's got to go along to keep you two from going nuts."

James snorted. "If you're the one who's got to keep us all sane, we're doomed."

"Like you do any better, you--"

"Sirius, you've got a bite!" Remus interrupted. "Can't you see your line pulling?"

Sirius looked in surprise at the fishing line, which was in fact jerking. Remus dropped his pole and grabbed Sirius's. He played the fish for a minute or two, then hand over hand pulled the line in, holding up a brown fish with long tendrils on its face.

"That is one ugly fish," Sirius commented.

"It's a catfish. They're everywhere in these sorts of lakes." Remus unhooked the line from the fish's lip and glanced at James. "We keeping these or throwing 'em back?"

"I don't know how to gut fish."

"Neither do I." Remus tossed the fish back into the water.

Sirius frowned. "If you're not going to keep the fish, what's the point of fishing?"

"Well, when you aren't complaining the whole time, it's quite relaxing," Remus said with a teasing smile.

Sirius tried to glare at Remus, but he started laughing. "Okay, okay, I get the picture. I'll shut up."

James stretched. "Glad you guys could come along. How'd you manage to get time off work?"

"I've stuck with the job for a year, most barkeeps don't last more than a few months," Sirius shrugged. "My boss was more than willing to give me a week off."

"I got fired," Remus said softly. "Again. Missed too many days."

James frowned. "How many days did you miss?"

"Three this month. Three last month. Three the month before that."

"Oh, right. Jeepers, you're sure pulling the lottery on lousy bosses."

"Or really good ones, who don't want to see their workers taking off time every month."

"No, lousy ones," Sirius said with surprising vehemence. "Any decent boss wouldn't mind as long as you weren't missing weeks at a time."

Remus shook his head. "Need I remind you that your boss fired me too?"

"Never said my boss was decent." Sirius shook his head. "Remus, you ought to try to get a job with someone who won't mind so much."

Remus blushed slightly. "Well...er...your dad offered me a job, but..."

"What? Remus John Lupin, you cannot honestly tell me you were considering a job with--with him?" Sirius yelped, jumping to his feet in surprise.

"No!" Remus protested. "No, of course not. You know there's no way I'd take the job...it'd mean having to denounce my mother...and you. I can't do that."

Sirius relaxed and sat down again. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," he said softly. "I just...you didn't grow up with him, you don't know what he's like. He might pretend to accept you but he'd just treat you awful and pay you as little as he could...just because he knows you'd have trouble getting a job somewhere else." He took Remus into his arms, fishing poles--and James--forgotten. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm sorry, too," Remus said, looking up at Sirius. "I shouldn't have brought it up...I just wasn't thinking. You know I wouldn't consider it for a second."

"I know." Sirius brushed Remus's hair out of his eyes, then leaned over and kissed him tenderly. Remus kissed him back, slipping his arms around Sirius's waist.

They probably would have stayed like that longer, except that James's voice brought them back to reality. "Do you two realise this is the first time you've displayed affection for each other in front of me?"

Sirius drew back and turned to James, looking both embarrassed and concerned. "Oh, gosh. Is it making you too uncomfortable? Because..."

"No, no, you're fine," James said, smiling at them. "It's just that I've heard you two talk about how much you love each other, but it wasn't until just now that I actually saw it. For that matter, Siri, I've never heard you call anyone 'sweetheart', let alone Remus."

Remus blushed. "He doesn't...not very often...usually when we're both kind of stressed."

James gave a crooked sort of grin to his two best friends. "I won't lie...I wondered for a while how I would feel if I saw you two snogging or whatever, if I would feel...uncomfortable...having tangible evidence that my two best friends were not only gay but madly in love with each other. But when I saw you two a second ago I realised...you aren't that different from Lily and me. Except that if either one of you tells me that you want to go on a camping trip because you want one last chance to be a kid before you grow up because the other one is going to have a baby, I might get a little freaked out."

Sirius's eyebrows shot up. "Lily's pregnant?"

James blushed. "I didn't tell you? Yeah, we found out just before I asked you guys to come camping with me. She's due in December."

"Well, congratulations!" Sirius jumped to his feet. "This calls for a celebration. Who's up for a swim?"

~~~

Sirius rolled over and reached for his watch, then brought the face up close to his so he could see it in the almost non-existent light. Four o'clock in the morning. Damn. I didn't know they even had a four o'clock in the morning.

Sighing, he set his watch down and stared at the ceiling. He'd been waking up off and on through the night, unable to get a good night's sleep. Not used to the quiet of the country--and having grown, in the last year, accustomed to Remus's skin against his--he simply couldn't get comfortable.

A smile crossed his face as he thought of Remus. Turning his head towards the sleeping bag his lover had been sleeping in, the smile faded when Sirius realised that Remus's sleeping bag was empty.

A little worried, Sirius struggled out of his sleeping bag and crawled towards the door. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Remus sitting on the rock they'd been fishing off of, one knee drawn to his chest, studying the stars. Smiling again, Sirius scrambled out of the tent, carefully zipped it behind him, and approached the rock.

"Hey."

Remus turned, startled, and smiled warmly when he saw who it was. "Morning, Siri."

"Is it really?" Sirius responded, and Remus laughed. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"No." Remus seemed surprised. "I mean, I slept fine. I usually wake up this early."

"I didn't know that." Now it was Sirius's turn to be surprised.

"You didn't notice that I'm always the one who wakes you up in the morning, never the other way around?"

Sirius blinked. "Well...I mean, I did, but...I didn't know it meant you'd been up for hours already."

Remus chuckled. "Oh, I love this time of night. I guess...I guess I'm just a creature of the night. I love watching the stars, especially on a clear night. And out here..." Remus waved his arm, indicating the unspoiled forest and lake surrounding them. "No lights to spoil the view. I mean, you can see them all. Look up there..." He pointed to a very bright star just above the horizon. "That one you can see, even from our front porch...it's the brightest star in the heavens, and it's my favourite, always has been."

"What's it called?" Sirius asked, looking down at Remus.

Remus smiled. "Sirius."

A slow smile crept across Sirius's face. He sat down behind Remus and gathered him onto his lap; Remus leaned his head back against Sirius's chest and looked up at him. Sirius put one arm across Remus's chest and gripped his hand tenderly, placing his other hand on the top of Remus's head. Remus reached up and put his free hand on Sirius's arm. The two sat that way for a while, watching the stars and the stillness of the night.

Finally, Remus broke the silence. "So. James is to be a dad."

Sirius chuckled. "Looks like. I'm glad...he always wanted kids. He's got to be thrilled."

"I bet Lily is too." Remus grew quiet. "Adonijah would've been proud."

Sirius's smile faded slightly. "That he would have."

"It's too bad he couldn't live long enough to see his grandchildren," Remus said softly.

Sirius was silent for a minute. Finally, he said, "Rem, there's something you have to understand. Adonijah and Hope found each other late in life, and they'd been married for several years when James was born. Both of them knew all along that they might never live to see their grandchildren. In all honesty, Adonijah told me at the wedding that he was surprised he'd lived long enough to see James's graduation, let alone his wedding. I don't think Hope expected that she'd live long enough to become a grandmother...and you and I both know she still might not. If I were you, I wouldn't bring him up around James or Lily...they might get a wee bit upset."

"I won't," Remus promised. "I just...I don't even know why I was thinking about him tonight."

"I understand," Sirius said softly. "It's okay. Let's just...I don't know. I was never any good at astronomy or astrology...is Sirius part of a constellation?"

"Yeah, Canis Major." Remus began pointing out the constellations and stars, and the two lapsed into a comfortable conversation.