Disclaimer: J.K. owns most of the characters and settings and stuff, the happy italics are David Usher and the title is a sort of twisted version of this brutal L/J fic I started reading that desperately needed rewriting, a.k.a. a different EVERYTHING, it was HORRIBLE. And so if this is too angsty, or too dry, or too fast or too slow, hello world help me out!

Haaappy reading….

Girl in a Yellow Dress

don't think so hard just smoke your cigarette

and fade off in the blue

cause people fade as people always do

The first time Remus saw his father he had just turned six. His father brought a new broom. He put an arm around his son and pointed down the street, squinting into a bright summer's day.

"See that, Reme?"

"What is it?"

"The corner of a sidewalk." Remus resented the condescending tone. "That's where I met your mother."

"She told me it was in Illinois."

Remus listened to his father's laugh and was appeased. "Smart boy. I don't mean that corner. But it was the corner of a sidewalk. I looked up and – " He took in a quick breath. "Ah. Lovely. I wish I'd known about you sooner, boy."

Remus held his father for a long time, and then he went to fly his broom. After he had gone Remus held on to that memory, through nearly ten years of letters, and the exchange of photographs. Another week – two – then he would be there.

Eventually he came. Remus was with his friends, engrossed in the idle passage of time. By then he had so twisted the single real sight of his father that when a short, balding man approached him at an outdoor café Remus didn't recognize him.

It took a few moments for Remus's friends to alert him to their guest. Remus looked up in surprise.

"What's up?" he said, a little unnerved as the man continued to stare. He waved a hand. "You alive in there?"

"Remus?"

The man's voice was ragged with surpressed emotion. Remus rolled his tongue across his teeth and smacked his lips. "Yeah."

"Don't you know me, Remus?"

Remus put down his glass and thought. "Nope, sorry. Got a name?"

"I'm your father, Remus."

Remus looked at the ground, licked his lips. "Uh-huh."

"Remus –"

"You sure like my name, don't you? That's, like, the fourth time you've used it."

"I'm sorry." A whisper. Remus smiled tightly.

"Okay." He cracked his knuckles. "Very good."

"Want us to meet you back here in an hour?" James asked, picking up his jacket. Remus shook his head.

"Nah. Let's roll."

"Rem – son – can we talk? Just for a minute?"

"You can owl, can't you?"

"It's not the same."

"Sure," said Remus, "well. What can you do."

James and Sirius had gone on ahead. Remus waved good-bye and ran to catch up.