Remus stared wistfully at his mother's tan Ford Taurus as it skidded away, leaving nothing but dirt and luggage in its wake. He had begged for her to let him spend his summer before University in peace, but to no avail. She had only looked kindly at him and said, "You might as well do something productive!"

So it was official: Remus Lupin, an 18 year-old boy was going to Camp Featherhawke for two months. Again. The only difference was that this time, he was a counselor.

Remus walked into his private cabin feeling disgruntled. Since he was a counselor, he had no help with his luggage and the campus seemed to stretch for miles. Also, as counselor, he had to direct all of the obnoxious prepubescent boys to their living quarters before he could settle in himself. He even had to share a cabin with another counselor, which he found personally ridiculous.

Looking at his watch, he realized he still had another hour before orientation. Sighing, he took a book out from his luggage and began to read. He got exactly three and a half pages before he heard a knock on the door.

"It's open," Remus answered tersely. After a two hour drive and lugging pre-teens' shit around, dealing with feuding twelve year-olds before a good night's sleep did not sound enjoyable.

To his surprise, the God of Shitty Preteen Boys was looking the other way.

"Remuuuussssss!" Sirius Black jumped on Remus' bed and promptly snatched the book out of his hands. "Looks like we're roomies!"

And there he was: the only decent thing about Camp Featherhawke. "Your mom make you come here too?"

"Yup. Says I should earn some cash before studying full-time next year. Blowy huh? At least you're here! Where's James and Pete?"

Remus snorted. "By fall we'll be in the same city, a reunion hardly justifies this place. And James and Pete's parents actually love them, so they'll be working at the same restaurant this summer."

"It's called optimism. You should try it sometime."

"After almost seven years of friendship, you should know that won't happen."

"A man can try! Hey, I have an idea. Let's sneak out of orientation early and get drunk in our cabin. I brought some beer, and no one will notice anyway." Sirius' bright eyes shone with conviction.

Normally, Remus' sense of responsibility would have taken over and he would have refused. However, his general resentment and inability to say no to Sirius after an entire school year apart won over his common sense. "Shit, yeah!"

Sneaking out of orientation early was significantly easier than they had anticipated, and Remus found himself on his fourth beer, at eleven o'clock, before he realized he had even left the group. "This is, indeed, the best way to start the summer," He slurred.

"Ha! You're drunk. You've only had three beers, Remus. Pussy!" Sirius, now on his fifth beer, was still steady as a rock. Maybe it had to do with his significant muscle…

"What did you just say?" Shit. He had not realized he said that out loud.

"Uhh….."

Sirius regarded him for a moment, cocking his head to the side. Suddenly Remus realized that Sirius' hand was on his thigh. When had that happened? "Remus?"

"..Yes?" The air had, at some point, become very thick. Through his drunken haze Remus realized this was incredibly awkward, and he should do something to rectify the situation before Sirius caught on to his well-guarded secret concerning him.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" Sirius asked. His eyes had not left Remus for what seemed like hours, and he was beginning to panic.

"I think..that's a loaded question."

Clearly that was the wrong answer, because Sirius' incredibly warm hand suddenly snatched away from Remus' thigh. "Are you really that fucking thick?"

"Can we start over?" As if that would do any good.

Sirius grabbed Remus' hand. "Look at me," he said. "and listen. Why do you fucking think I come to this stupid place every summer? Do you really think my parents would make me come here if I didn't want to? You know they don't give a shit about me. You fucking know it. You also know that I come visit you in Surrey every month. So I'm going to ask you again. Are you really that thick?"

Remus couldn't actually answer, because Sirius punctuated his tangent with a rough (although not unpleasant) kiss on the mouth. In his drunken state, Remus tried to ask, "What?" but it was muffled by a very determined tongue darting into his mouth. After a time of hesitantly kissing back, he realized what it all meant and guffawed straight into Sirius' mouth.

"What was that for?"

"All this time I didn't want you to know!" Sirius looked perplexed for a moment, and then chuckled too.

"I guess you really are that thick."