Arthur Weasley held a cardboard game piece in his hand, studying it intently.
"Oh, come on, Arthur," Molly urged.
"I'm thinking," he replied, before finally setting it down on a far corner of the board.
It was just a monastery. The piece needed to be set down in an ideal location to be surrounded on all sides in order to be completed.
"And here's a monk," Arthur said, placing a green piece on top of it.
"That's never going to get completed, Arthur," James said with a chuckle.
Arthur shrugged.
"I'll still get a point," he insisted.
"Fair enough," James said as Molly took the bag of pieces, shook it up then reached inside.
Smiling, she quickly put down a piece that completed one of her castles, allowing her to rack up a bunch of points. The bag then went to Marlene who had definitely been giving Lily lots of flirty looks that night. Why did she have to be so pretty? Just a smile from her was enough to make Lily want to melt into a goopy puddle on the floor.
Lily liked to think she was pretty kickass at Carcassonne but she was definitely getting her ass kicked tonight. Marlene was just too damn distracting. Lily wanted to ask her out on a date… but there was no time. Tomorrow she was getting on a plane and flying back out east and wouldn't return anytime soon.
"Looks like Marlene won," Arthur said, after finishing up counting all the farms.
"Congrats," Lily said, smiling at Marlene.
"Cheers," Marlene said.
Lily had come in last place, Arthur just barely beating her for second to last place by two points.
"Another round or should we play something else?" Arthur asked.
After much debate they all agreed to just play another round, switching out expansions. After that game was complete, Molly needed to tend to the twins. Lily took the opportunity to take Marlene aside from a chat while Arthur and James chatted about soccer.
"So… It was cool seeing you at Pride," Lily said.
"Yeah. Was kinda hoping I'd meet someone there… no such luck, I'm afraid," Marlene said.
"Gosh. Lady as pretty as you… hard to see you having much trouble," Lily said with a silly grin.
Marlene blushed and laughed.
"I'm flattered you think that but… I'm trans, brown skinned and Muslim," Marlene admitted.
Lily frowned, feeling bad that she hadn't considered the extra hurdles Marlene had to endure to be accepted even as a human being. She could relate to be brown skinned woman but being Muslim and transgendered… not so much.
"I think I've also… been too internalized in my life. I keep people out. I'm kind of envious of you. You're so… full of light and energy. It's like… people are drawn to you," Marlene said, Lily blushing.
"Just how I am, I guess. Be the light you want to see in the world, I always think," Lily said.
Lily looked over at Arthur and James. There seemed to be no slow in their conversation and Molly wasn't back yet.
"So… I'd kinda like to take you out sometime?" Lily said, turning back to Marlene.
"Oh. I don't know…" she said, looking nervous.
"Oh, if you're not interested… I'm sorry," Lily said, feeling embarrassed.
"No, no. You're really cute and fun… I'm just… not poly?" Marlene said, cringing.
"That's not a problem for me. James isn't poly," Lily said.
"But you live with him. I don't know. Can I think about it? It's a risk, you know? I've had my heartbroken before. The last thing I need in my life is falling for a girl and finding out… we want different things. But I do like you. It… would be really easy to just say yes but…," Marlene said, smiling apologetically.
"That's fair. Maybe we'll talk again after I get back from New Hampshire," Lily said.
"I hope so," Marlene said with a wink.
Molly returned, nudging Arthur who stood up next to her.
"I suppose it's getting late. I just… wanted to make an announcement. I'm pregnant again!" Molly exclaimed.
"Wow. Congratulations!" Lily said.
James patted Arthur on the shoulder as if to say Way to go, Champ! They certainly kept busy.
"Maybe a girl this time?" Molly said.
"Good luck," Marlene said.
Shortly after, they all said their goodbyes, James and Lily getting into his car and driving home.
"I have a such a crush on Marlene, James. She's so pretty," Lily groaned.
"That's fair. These things happen. You never know who you're gonna get a crush on," James said.
"It's funny. I thought you'd be more weird about me getting a crush on someone," Lily said.
"Nah. I knew what I was getting into. And it's not like I'm immune to crushes," James said, looking strangely nervous.
He had been acting odd ever since they got back from Pride. Until now Lily had been chalking it up to pre-road trip nerves but… no. This was something else.
"Oh? Met a cute girl recently? You could tell me about it, you know. It's OK if you want to date someone else. Or someones else. All the someones you want."
James coughed, clearly avoiding answering.
"What is it?" Lily probed.
"It's… complicated."
"Oh, god… is it Charity?" Lily said.
"What? No. God, no. We're just friends. And distant ones at that. And she's marrying some guy I haven't even met. No… it's more complicated than that…"
"I… don't even see who it could be. You haven't mentioned anyone and we've been together for most of since school got out…"
James sighed.
"It's Remus. I… have a crush on Remus," James said, pulling into their drive way.
Lily stared at him in shock, her mouth slowly falling open as if in caught in slow motion. She cackled then clasped a hand to her mouth to stop herself. James slumped over onto the steering wheel, groaning in apparent shame.
"It's terrible, I know," James said.
"Of course, it's not. Dude, if I thought Remus was interested I would be all over that. He's hot and so sweet. You have excellent taste."
"He's dating my best friend, Lily. He's my best friend's boyfriend. How could I do this to him?" James said, sounding genuinely disappointed in himself.
"You haven't done anything to him. But you should tread carefully," Lily said.
"I'm not going to tread at all. I'll just swallow it down. It's not even a big deal. It's just a stupid crush," James said.
"Is it just him?" Lily asked.
"Hmm?"
"Is this a one off crush… or do you think-"
"It's my first crush on a guy but… no. I don't think this is one off. I… I think I'm bi," James admitted, still not removing his face from the steering wheel.
"James! That's wonderful! Oh my god, I'm so proud of you!" Lily said, rubbing his back.
"Yeah. Thanks. I'm still at the part where I have a crush on my best friend's boyfriend," James said.
"That's fair. Let me give you some advice: Don't swallow it down. Make yourself feel it, even if it hurts. Feelings are good. They are OK. But take their feelings into account too. Maybe see how they feel about monogamy. Maybe get to know Remus better. But don't expect anything and if he tells you he's not interested… let it go."
James sighed, leaning up from the wheel.
"I feel like I should be the rock. I'm the one who is strong and has all the solutions," James said.
"That's toxic masculine bullshit, speaking. It's OK to feel things and be vulnerable," Lily said, leaning across the car and planting a kiss on his cheek, as a tear fell from a hazel eye, splashing on both their cheeks.
Lily pulled away and said, "Let's go inside. We'll snuggle up in bed and talk about our crushes."
Sirius was in the living room as they went inside. He frowned at them both and asked, "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah," Lily said, giving him a smirk as they went upstairs.
James didn't say anything.
It was strange not having Lily in the house for a couple of days, Remus thought. Even stranger was waking up on Monday morning and stepping outside to see James's freshly delivered motorhome outside as everyone loaded things into it.
James had ultimately realized that his parents had owned an RV and it was among the assets of theirs that he had never parted with. He still considered rental since he had to have the motorhome delivered from San Francisco, but if he was going to be away so long, it was for the best. They had apparently owned a couple of RVs. The nicest one he had sold but had kept the smaller one just in case.
"Gonna be epic!" James called out.
Peter Pettigrew was standing outside the door to the RV and looking glum.
"Hey, Pete," Sirius said, coming out of the RV.
"Hey," Peter replied.
"What's the matter? Been rewatching that Trump campaign announcement too many times?" Sirius said.
"God, don't even get me started on that fucking guy. I'm instituting a no Donald Trump discussion rule on this RV. This is a Trump free zone," James called out.
"That's fair. At least he's got no chance to win. You can't say that shit and get elected," Remus said.
"Rule starts now! No Trump!" James repeated.
Remus mimed a zipper over his mouth and went back inside to get his suitcase and backpack. The motorhome, by James's admission, wasn't huge, though it was certainly larger than a van. There was easily enough seating.
There was only enough of a bed for two people so they would have to switch out with one extra person on the sofa and another on an air mattress each night. Remus realised that in addition to Sirius, he would also be sharing a bed with Peter and James during the trip. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Personally, Remus would've been fine just staying in hotel rooms but James had his vision and wasn't going to be dissuaded. Remus was the last one out of the house and had to lock the door.
"Stay safe," Remus said, feeling anxious at the prospect of no one being in the house for all those weeks.
Even poor Flitwick the cat was staying with Marlene McKinnon for the summer, after Lily couldn't bear to put him in the vet for all that time. Remus placed a hand on the door then turned towards the RV. He hauled his things inside then flopped onto the sofa.
Sirius closed the door to the RV and James started the engine.
"Hello, I'm James Potter and I'll be your captain for this flight. Please remember to be cool, have fun and dance if you feel like it," James said.
"Sure thing, Cap'n," Peter said, doing what Remus thought was a pirate voice.
"Aye aye," Remus chimed in.
Sirius sat down next to Remus, laying his head on Remus's shoulder and grasping a hand. Music started playing over the stereo system. Mariah Carey, Remus thought.
And then they were off. Day one of their planned five day trip had them arriving in Boise, Idaho that evening. James said he had some cool stops planned along the way, including one today. They could push hard and get there in three or even two days but it was the journey, not the destination that mattered.
"Mroww?" a furry face asked Lily, before licking her.
"Morning, George," Lily said then looked around Mary's bedroom.
"Where is your human?" Lily asked the cat, who instead just purred and bumped his head into her face.
"Merow!" George called out.
"That's fair," Lily said and rubbed his head.
Lily eventually got out of bed, used the bathroom then hobbled to the small kitchen of Mary's apartment where her girlfriend was cooking breakfast.
"Morning, babe. How'd you sleep?" Mary asked.
"Good. I need to check up on the boys. They should be on the road by now," Lily said, looking at her phone.
She had texts from Remus and James. Remus had sent a selfie on himself with Sirius sleeping in his lap accompanied by the message Sleepy boy. Lily texted back: 3.
The night before had been Sirius's birthday and Lily had felt bad about missing it. She had promised to make it up to him and get him a special gift of some sort.
"Did you hear who got engaged?" Mary asked as she piled breakfast onto plates.
"Everyone apparently. James's ex and his old friend with benefits both got engaged recently," Lily said.
"Severus Snape," Mary said.
Lily frowned at a mention of Sev. She hadn't spoken to her former friend in over two years. Things hadn't ended well between them at all. Frankly, she was surprised he would want to get married so young.
"Weird," Lily said.
"Yeah, it's totally random. We should crash the wedding," Mary said, setting a plate down in front of Lily.
"When is it?" Lily asked.
"I don't know. Some time this summer," Mary said.
"Guess it's the season," Lily said, and started in on her pancakes.
By lunchtime it was obvious to James that something wasn't right with Peter. He was barely talking and he seemed to be more interested in playing with his food than eating it.
"You all right, Pete?" James asked.
"Huh? No, I'm fine," Peter very obviously lied.
"You don't look, fine, man. Is there something you need?" James asked.
"No, no. Really, I'm fine," he insisted.
Remus and Sirius on the other hand seemed to be enjoying themselves, though they both looked tired.
"You guys should try out the bed if you want a nap. No sense being uncomfortable on the sofa," James said to Remus and Sirius.
James couldn't bear the idea that everyone wasn't having a maximum awesome and fun time. This was his jam and he wanted all the band to be in tune.
"Will do," Sirius said.
Every time Remus and Sirius gave each other those flirty eyes, James felt a strange sense of pride and jealousy. Having a crush on Remus was ridiculous. Those two were perfect together. Why would Remus ever need anymore than that?
"So… everyone excited for the large ball of string?" James asked.
"Sure," Peter said, still not touching his food.
His first roadside attraction he had planned for was a large ball of string located in a museum near the Idaho border. He couldn't find any pictures of it online but based on similar balls of string he had high hopes.
Alas, when they arrived at the Eastern Oregon located museum, they found themselves unimpressed.
"It barely comes up to my knees," Sirius laughed.
"I mean… we all agree it's large, right?" James said with a grin.
"It's too big really. No one needs that much string," Peter said.
"Too small. I'm disappointed," Remus said.
"Well, size doesn't matter, does it, boys?" James said, elbowing Remus playfully.
The rest of the museum was all right, for whatever it was worth. It was filled with antiques and other local historical curiosities. Even still, they decided not to waste too much time there, since they still had several more hours of driving left to do.
They arrived at their RV park around nine that night. James pulled some beers out of the fridge and put on some energetic music, hoping to lift spirits a bit. Within half an hour James had downed two bottles of beer, Peter had downed three, Remus one and Sirius half of one as he wasn't that fond of drinking.
James was a little tipsy and had somehow found himself dancing shirtless to the music.
"Take me to church! I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies, I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife, offer me that deathless death, good god let me give you my life!" James sang along to Hozier while everyone laughed.
Even Peter seemed to be having a good time. James danced in front of him, almost as if intending seduction. With his hips gyrating, Peter almost seemed to be… staring at his crotch.
"Hey, baby, the eyes are here," James said winking at Peter who burst into uncontrollable fits of giggling then stood up and threw his own shirt off.
"Is this the part of the gay porno where we all slowly get naked and start fucking, telling each other how we've never done this before?" Remus asked.
Sirius gave Remus a mortified look.
"What? I'm joking," Remus said, giving Sirius a kiss on the cheek.
"Damn. Color me disappointed," James said, realizing he was only mostly joking and definitely shouldn't be flirting with his best friend's boyfriend right now.
"It's hot in here, isn't it? A/C in this thing sucks, man," Peter said.
"What if we all like… tear off our clothes and run to the lake," James said.
"What lake?" Remus asked.
"There's a lake. Didn't you see it? It's not far from here. No one will even notice," James said.
"Yeah, OK," Sirius said, surprising James given that he had still barely gotten two thirds of the way through a single beer.
"Wait. Are you sure?" James asked, not wanting to have inadvertently pressured Sirius into a situation where he wouldn't be comfortable.
"I mean, you said it's not far, right?" Sirius said, standing up.
"Definitely not. Probably not," James said.
"OK. I need to take my binder off anyhow," Sirius said.
James quickly undid his jeans, not really paying attention as everyone else undressed. He wanted to desperately avoided leering at any of his friend's bodies. Peter was the first to be fully undressed, seeming rather comfortable and proud of his nudity.
"Hey, remember what I said about those eyes, Pete," James said gesturing with two fingers between his eyes and Pete's.
"Stop flirting with Peter, James. You'll make the rest of us jealous," Sirius said, standing naked before them, his arm covering his chest but not seeming too distressed.
James turned off their music and the lights.
"James, where are you going to put your keys?" Peter asked.
"Up my ass, obviously. No, I'm going to hold them. I'll set them somewhere obvious," James said.
"We could've waited to get naked once we were at the lake," Remus pointed out, standing naked and seeming unbothered by it, neither proud nor ashamed..
James willed his eyes to remain at Remus's eye level. If he looked at Remus's cock, everyone would notice, though he was certain Peter kept glancing at it.
"Yes, I know that," James said, realizing that definitely hadn't occurred to him.
"C'mon. I'm fucking ready!" Peter said, definitely more tipsy than everyone else.
"OK. Let's do it. Haul ass! Literally," James said, as everyone piled out the door of the RV.
James quickly locked the door then ran westward away from the RV park. There was something exhilarating about running in the nude in the summer night air. As they approached the lake they could barely see anything, except for moonlight glinting off the center of water, where there wasn't any foliage covering.
James shouted at the top of his lungs ready to leap in when suddenly there was a pair of screams.
"Jesus Christ!" a woman shouted standing up and turning around to face them.
Another woman turned around to join her. They were both older, perhaps in their late-thirties. They smelled of pot and had joints in their fingers. The first woman started laughing and the other quickly joined her.
"Fuck, man. You boys scared the shit out me!" the first woman said.
"We've been set upon by nude marauders by moonlight, Tracy," the second woman said.
"Marauders. Nice. I like that," James said, rubbing his chin.
"So, out for a swim?" the first woman, apparently Tracy, said.
"Yeah. If you don't mind," James said.
"Are you kidding? Bunch of cute naked boys show up, I feel like God just opened up the floodgates," the second woman said, grinning as if it were literally Christmas morning.
James chuckled while his friends jumped in the water.
"Want to take a hit?" Tracy offered.
"Sure," James said, taking the joint from her.
The weed was good, the euphoria coming fast. He exhaled then said, "Thanks," as he handed the joint back. He jumped into the water, finally joining his friends who were laughing and joking.
"Well, it was nice meeting you boys. Too bad our husbands aren't over there at the park waiting for us. We could have some fun," Tracy said with a wink.
"I'm flattered," James said, returning the wink.
"This feels good," Remus said.
"Yeah. Male bonding shit," Sirius said.
"This is a sacred moment. The four of us have a bond now," James said, bumping fists with them all.
"We're the nude marauders!" Peter said.
"Just shorten it to marauders. One word. Clean and simple," James said.
"Now we just need matching tattoos on our asses," Sirius said.
"What? Where no one can see it? Hell no. I'll get that shit right here," James said, clutching his bicep.
"We should really do it. Imagine what Lily would say," Peter giggled.
Just then James heard a police siren.
"Shit!" James said.
"Is that for us?" Sirius shrieked.
"I don't know. There are lights at the RV park. Maybe we should lay low," James said.
"Fuck that. I'm running," Peter said, dashing out of the lake and heading off into the darkness.
"Pete!" James called out.
"Well, shit," Sirius said.
"I'll get him," Remus said, and climbed out of the lake, moonlight shining off his ass, illuminating all of its perfection.
Sirius nudged James who was transfixed on Remus's ass. Remus dashed off as James turned to James with an embarrassed shrug.
"It was there. C'mon, like you haven't checked out my ass before," James said.
"You didn't check out my ass," Sirius complained.
"I haven't had a chance!" James countered.
"That's fair," Sirius said, chuckling.
Moments later Remus silently marched Peter back to them. The police lights seemed to have disappeared from the RV park.
"Well, guess we dodged a bullet there," James said, climbing out of the lake.
"Yeah," Remus said.
James leaned against the nearest tree. Someone had carved a cross into it with the words Jesus is Love underneath it. James smiled and looked around at his friends. His co-marauders. This had been a great night.
"Time for bed, boys. This trip is only getting started," James said with pride.