There was a knock on the hotel room door and Remus hoisted his backpack and went to answer. His sister, Natalie, was standing there, brimming with excitement.

"Hey, you," she said and leaned up to hug him.

"Hey," Remus said.

Sirius came over, and gave Remus a kiss, eliciting an, "Aww," from Natalie. Remus felt himself blush. Natalie knew he wasn't straight and that he had a boyfriend. Today, if he found the courage, his parents would know as well.

"Take care," Sirius said, giving Remus a hug.

"I will. Enjoy Mary and Dorcas. You're going to love them. Tell them I miss them and said hi," Remus said.

"Sounds like a plan," Sirius said and Remus exhaled, following Natalie down halls, an elevator and stairs to get outside and into Natalie's car.

"So how was the road trip?" Natalie asked.

"Good. Long," Remus replied.

"That's good."

"You enjoying summer vacation?" Remus said.

"Sort of. It's nice being home and seeing old friends. But I miss my new ones out in Cali," Natalie said.

"Makes sense."

"Things going well between you and Sirius, I take it?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah. Really well, I think. There's still a lot we need to talk about but… Yeah, I think it's good."

"I've been seeing this guy. It's not too serious but I like him a lot," Natalie admitted.

"That's good," Remus said.

"Yeah."

Shortly they arrived at his parents's home. Nothing had changed while he was gone. It was funny. He hadn't even been gone nine months but his life had changed so much it felt like he had been gone for years.

His mom stepped out onto the porch with a bright smile.

"Mom," Remus said and dashed up to hug her tightly.

"Oh, Remus," his mother said, letting out a pleased sigh in his ear.

He hadn't known how much he missed her until he saw her standing there. The screen door squeaked and Remus opened his eyes to see his father standing there with a grin.

"Hey, dad," Remus said.

Remus and Natalie had divided their parents looks up. He had their mom's golden brown hair and Natalie had their dad's black hair. He had their dad's face and Natalie had their mom's, though they both had their dad's eyes.

"Come on. Come give your old man a hug," his dad said and Remus let go of his mom to give him a hug instead.

His father squeezed fiercely as he always did, then lead him inside for lunch.

Mary and Dorcas were waiting outside when James, Sirius, Lily and Peter arrived at Mary's apartment.

"James Potter, pleased to meet you," he said, offering his hand to them both in turn.

To his surprise, Mary rejected the handshake in favor of a warm hug.

"Oh. Nice," James said and Mary chuckled in his ear.

"Hi, I'm Sirius."

Sirius shook Dorcas's hand then Mary's, both of them introducing themselves.

"Let's go in!" Lily said.

James was prepared to fight any jealousy he might experience from seeing Lily being flirty and affectionate with her other partners but he found that even as she sat on the sofa with Mary leaning against her shoulder, he didn't have much of a problem. It was nice. He liked it.

The next several hours involved recounting the road trip. At some point Peter and Dorcas got to chatting over video games, drifting off to their own corner of the apartment. Sirius was doing a fair bit of texting, probably with Remus, who was spending time with his parents today.

Mary seemed very interested in hearing every detail about the trip and then eventually their lives together in Oregon.

"So… I guess now is the time to tell you guys… Mary's moving in," Lily said with a small smile.

"Cool," James said.

"Nice. It'll be cool having another trans guy around," Sirius admitted, Mary smiling at him.

"Well, my lease here is up in August. I'm ready for a change. And I miss this one," Mary said, giving his girlfriend a smooch on the cheek.

"After spending all these months with her… Well, I wouldn't want to be separated from her either," James said.

"You guys are gonna make me blush," Lily said, looking back and forth between them.

"Good," James said and winked.

Peter and Dorcas laughed about something loudly, wherever they were.

"Well, they're hitting it off," Mary said.

"Good. Peter could use a good distraction," James replied.

"Remus is about to come out to his parents," Sirius said, holding his phone in his hands.

"Oh. Hope that goes well," Mary said.

"His parents have always been nice. I guess I'd worry a little about his dad but I think it'll be fine," Lily said.

"Yeah, he's sitting down for dinner with them right now," Sirius said.

Natalie had helpfully set Remus up by talking about her new sort of boyfriend, allowing his mother to say, "Are you seeing anyone, Remus?"

Though in truth, his mother knew that he never did any dating and probably wasn't expecting a response.

"Yes, actually. I… I have a boyfriend," Remus said, unable to look either of his parents in the eye.

"You're gay?" his mom asked, seeming confused, no longer cutting her steak.

"No. I identify as queer but you can say I'm bi if anyone asks," Remus said.

Remus glanced at his father. He smiled and nodded at Remus in silent approval. That was funny. He'd been worried that his father might have a negative reaction, being the more stern and conservative of his parents.

"You're not serious," his mom repeated.

"Mom, of course, he's serious," Natalie said in his defense.

"Actually my boyfriend is Sirius. I want you to meet him," Remus said.

"He's serious? What does that mean? It's a serious relationship?" his mom inquired.

"Mom, his boyfriend is named Sirius. Like the star… or the radio," Natalie said.

"Who in the world would name their child Sirius?" his mom said.

Remus was starting to feel rather uncomfortable.

"Have you heard about the drought in South Korea right now?" his father asked, probably trying to change the subject.

"Don't change the subject, Marcellus," Remus's mother said sharply.

"Sylvia, let the boy be. I think it's great that he's getting out there and meeting people," his father said, not realizing that wasn't exactly what happened.

"Don't you want children?" his mother asked.

"Umm…" Remus said, unsure how to reply.

"Well, he can get married now. That's nice, isn't it?" his father said, referring to the Supreme Court decision from two days before that made marriage equality the law of the land in the United States.

Sylvia Lupin just gave her husband a glare and turned back to Remus, "Do you need some help? Some therapy or something. Is this my fault?"

Remus sighed and looked down at his plate, hot tears filling his eyes.

"No, mom. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me," Remus said.

"I always thought you were gay," his dad observed.

"I'm not gay. I'm bi," Remus mumbled as tears fell down his face.

"You are not bi. You're just confused," his mother said, sounding confused.

"Yes I am! I'm me! I know what I feel!" Remus insisted, wiping his face with his napkin.

"I'm bi," Natalie said and Remus looked up at her.

She smiled at him then frowned at her mother who was glaring at her like a deer caught in the head lights.

"That's right. I like girls and boys. You gonna try to fix me?" Natalie said, looking ready for a fight.

"Excuse me," their mother said and left the dining room, then headed upstairs.

Things were silent for a moment, aside from the distant sobbing of their mother in the house above.

"Well, I'm proud of you both. I'm sure your mother will come around," their father said.

"She better," Natalie said.

"I should talk to her," Remus said, feeling bad that things went the way they did.

Remus stood up from the table and went upstairs. He went to his parents's bedroom door and knocked.

"Yes?" his mother's voice weakly called out.

"Can I come in?" Remus said.

"OK," she said and Remus opened the door.

His mother sat on the side of their bed, wiping at her eyes with a tissue.

"Have you come here to rub it in my face some more?" she asked.

Remus sat on the bench at the end of their bed and said as gently as possible, "No. I don't want to rub your face in anything. This is just who I am. Let me help you accept it."

His mother side and glanced over at him with sadness. She looked so hurt and disappointed that it made him want to evaporate. It was like he had done something to her and that feeling stabbed him in the heart.

"I don't know. I just want to be a grandmother someday. It's part of why I had children," she said.

"Mom. I'm twenty-one. I could have children one day," Remus said.

"Do you want children?" she asked him and he froze up.

Remus liked children but he thought the idea of him taking care of any anytime soon was laughable at best. He struggled with caring for himself sometimes. But still… he liked the idea of being a parent. With the right person.. the idea was nice.

He wouldn't allow himself to think about having children with Sirius. They had only been kinda sorta officially dating for a few weeks. It didn't feel appropriate and he had no clue what Sirius's feelings on children were.

"Yeah. Someday. My own if I can or I could adopt. Not anytime soon. Besides, Nat has always talked about how much she wants kids. You'll get your grandkids, I promise," Remus said.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could be OK with this. I love you so much, Remus. I don't want this life for you. I don't want you getting murder or dying of AIDS or something horrible," she said.

"Mom. I'm fine. Also, no one dies from AIDS anymore. Not if they get treatment and especially if they get it early on. Most don't ever develop full blown AIDS anymore. The AIDS crisis is long gone," Remus said, realizing he was going to need to spend a lot of time educating his mother going forward.

Remus also realized he was going to need to explain to his mom that his boyfriend was trans, if only because he wanted to be able to ensure that she wouldn't treat Sirius in an inappropriate way. He would have to talk to Sirius about that first, however.

"Do you think you'll ever date a girl again?" his mom asked.

"I've never dated a girl before but, sure. Gender isn't a factor for me. I'm just attracted to people," Remus said.

He could try explaining that he did have a slight preference for men and masculinity but thought it best not to over complicate things.

"I kissed a girl when I was your age," his mom said suddenly.

"At college?" Remus asked.

"No. She was a girl I knew at church. I thought she was so pretty. I invited her over to my apartment for dinner. I had some excuse or the other. I wanted to talk about Jesus and the Pharisees or something, Lord, I can't remember."

"Weren't you dating dad?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, I was. But he didn't know about her. I mean I didn't know what I was doing. Not a clue. I just wanted to get to know her. Really bad. Of course, I didn't know she was a lesbian. I'd never known any lesbians. I guess she thought I was one. She was… so nice. So sweet and funny. You should've seen, Remus. It was like she was… made of stars."

Was… his mother describing a crush?

"She sounds neat," Remus said.

"Oh, she was more than neat. I knew I was completely straight but when she tried to kiss me I didn't stop her. I let her kiss me and it was wonderful. And I let her stay the night. Never told your father," she said.

Remus couldn't believe what he had just heard. He was pretty sure his mom had just confessed to cheating on his father with a woman.

"Wow," Remus said, definitely understating things.

"I stopped going to that church. She wanted to see me again and I couldn't… I just couldn't. I was seeing your father and… No, I couldn't be her friend. It wouldn't have been right," his mom said, wiping at her eyes.

"So you never saw her again?" Remus asked.

"No, I see around town. She still lives here. She and her wife. I've met her wife. Don't care for her," she said with a frown.

Remus was stunned. If Remus didn't know better he might think his mother was still in love with this woman. He decided not to pry, thinking he should leave well enough alone now that his mother seemed to be on the path to acceptance.

"Do you want to go back downstairs with me?" Remus asked, offering his mother a hand as he stood up.

"Yeah. Let's do that," she said and stood up, taking his hand.

Remus guided his mother out of the bedroom but she stopped and embraced him.

"I love you, Remus. So much," she said, clearly crying.

"I love you too, mom."

"Hey, Sirius," Mary said as he stood outside, watching the sunset.

"Hey," he said, turning and smiling at him.

The sunset had pink and orange hue that was striped by wisps of cirrus clouds. It was quite lovely.

"Enjoying the sunset?" Mary asked.

"Yeah. I was thinking about all the different sunsets we saw on the road. The sky looks different depending on where you are. It's hard to put into words. In Oregon… it's usually too overcast to see much of a sunset, though it's nice when it is there," Sirius said.

"Yeah, I feel ya on the sky thing. It's part of why I've always loved traveling," Mary said.

"I could see myself being like that. Maybe if I could take Remus with me," Sirius said.

Mary giggled.

"I don't know, man. I want to plant my feet somewhere for a while. Find some work that keeps me more stationary. Build a community. A network that isn't so chaotic and scattered," Mary said.

"That makes sense. It's like… now… I've never had this before? I never got along with most my family and that's putting it mildly. And then there was James and his parents but that was still… not much of a network. Now there's Remus, James, Lily, Peter… even you and Dorcas," Sirius said.

"Aww. Sweet that you'd include me," Mary said.

"James and Remus are family. Which makes Lily family. Which makes you family," Sirius said, grinning at him.

Mary chuckled, shyly looking away.

"And you're trans. That makes you pretty special too," Sirius said.

"I don't know, man. I still feel like a fuckin' imposter, you know? Did you go through that?" Mary asked, frowning.

"Did I go through that? When have I ever stopped going through that? That's the hardest part. That feeling that you might be fooling yourself. But you have to keep telling yourself that you know yourself better than anyone. You know what you feel," Sirius said.

"When did you know?" Mary asked.

"God. When did I not know? That's the terrible thing? I never doubted it as a kid, though every time I'd want to present as a boy or say I was boy… I got punished. Badly. So I learned to keep it quiet. But when you're a kid… you don't see the world in the same way. You don't know what it's going to be like to have people not want to believe or accept you for who you are. It sows doubt in your mind," Sirius said.

"Fuck man, that's so… much," Mary said, astonished.

"Yeah. Wearing a binder and taking hormones helps. I was nervous before I started T. But it's been good. Anything that decreases the chance that I'll have to explain and defend myself feels good. I just want to exist, you know? I want to say that I'm a man and be believed," Sirius said.

Mary smiled at him.

"Yeah, I want to get on hormones after the move. I don't hate my body. I guess I've always… had a deeper voice and been seen as a boy. But I don't mind my tits. I guess like you I just want to decrease the chance that I'll not be seen as who I am," Mary said.

"If you have any questions about being on the hormones I'd be happy to share, though I gather that some things can be different for different people," Sirius said.

"Oh, would you? I have so many questions," Mary replied.

"Have at it. I'm happy to help," Sirius said.

Lily opened her eyes and looked around. She had apparently fallen asleep on James who was, himself, also asleep. No one else was around Mary's living room.

"Where'd everyone go?" Lily whispered.

"Hmm?" James said, stirring awake.

"We're alone apparently," Lily said but the front door opened, Mary and Sirius laughing at something and looking as thick as thieves.

"There's two of them," James said.

"Peter and Dorcas left. They said they would be back," Sirius said.

"Weird," James said.

"Sirius and I were just outside chatting. Actually, Lil, could I talk to you?" Mary asked.

"Yeah," Lily said, standing up and stretching before following Mary outside where it was now quite dark.

"So yeah. Had a nice chat with Sirius. He's something else, isn't he?" Mary said.

"I'd certainly say so," Lily said.

"And hot, right? He's fuckin' hot," Mary said.

"Very," Lily admitted.

Mary scratched the back of his head, looking towards his apartment in thought.

"Yeah. I uh… definitely am looking forward to getting to know him better. I mean don't worry… I'm not going to like… I love Remus and I would never do anything to hurt him. But… mmmm. Gonna enjoy crushing on that boy," he declared.

"That's fair. At this point, I pretty much have a crush on everyone I live with, except maybe Peter," Lily admitted.

"That sounds like you. Too bad they aren't all poly, right?" Mary said.

Lily awkwardly chuckled and wondered whether it would be appropriate to reveal the secrets she knew to her boyfriend. She needed to tell someone or she might burst.

"If I tell you something… Some… things, you have to promise to never speak a word to another living soul," Lily said, lowering her voice.

"I mean, obviously, but I wouldn't want you to betray anyone's trust," Mary said, looking concerned.

"Fuck. I'm gonna die if I don't tell someone. Surely, they'll understand," Lily said, bouncing with frustration.

"I'll listen to anything you have to tell me… I mean I guess if no one said you couldn't tell me…"

"No, that's not an issue. They just don't want each other knowing," Lily said.

"Who?" Mary asked.

Lily whispered, "James and Remus. They both have crushed on each other."

Mary's face lit up and he covered his mouth as he tried to laugh.

"Dude! That's amazing," Mary said.

"Right? Oh my god, Remus told me about his crush yesterday and I was trying to encourage him without saying that I knew what I knew. And now I have to play some absurd game where I know what both of them don't know but can't tell them that I know everything I know," Lily said.

"That's rough, buddy," Mary said.

"Thanks, Sokka," Lily said, elbowing him in recognition of his Avatar: The Last Airbender reference.

"Damn, dude. That's some wild shit, though. It'd be pretty sweet if they hooked up though, right?" Mary said.

"Yeah. I mean… assuming Sirius didn't get hurt. I told Remus to talk to Sirius but obviously he's busy today," Lily said.

"Maybe Sirius is poly?" Mary said.

"That'd be perfect. But… I don't want to get excited," Lily said.

"That's fair. Do you like him?" Mary said.

"Who?" Lily said.

"Sirius."

"Oh. I mean, I've already admitted to crushes all around. But yeah. He's hot. I'd date him if he was interested and available," Lily said.

"Same," Mary admitted.

"Pretty soon we're gonna need a flow chart for all these relationships," Lily joked.

Mary loudly chuckled.

"Probably," she said.

The front door to the apartment opened and James stepped out.

"Peter texted to say that he and Dorcas are on their way back. They went to see a movie, apparently," James said.

"What movie?" Mary asked.

"I don't know. He didn't say," James replied.

"Weird," Mary said.

"Good night," Remus's mom called out from the other side of his old bedroom door.

"Night," Remus echoed.

Even though he had moved out three years ago to live with Lily, his room remained largely untouched. He had left his Smiths, Cure and Paramore posters up on the wall precisely for a moment like this when he could return and feel those particular emotions.

Nostalgia was funny. He remembered the day they moved into the house and he put up The Smiths poster next to the window. There was nothing particular special about that moment. It wasn't the first house he had moved into. But thinking about the moment made him feel things. It made him happy. He liked the… continuity of it. His fingers graced the poster, thinking it seemed nearly as good as new.

Even the stupid, ugly floral pattern of the wallpaper gave him feelings. He never liked it but he missed it all the same.

His phone chimed:

Back at hotel. Gonna cuddle with Peter since you're not here.

Remus smirked. He knew Sirius was joking but was curious what would happen if he didn't react with jealousy.

Nice. I'm about to get into bed too.

I… was joking. I'm not really cuddling with Peter. Lol

I know. :P I'm just not the jealous type, I guess.

Sirius didn't reply for a couple of minutes. At first Remus was worried until he received:

Oops. I passed out for a sec lol. Gotta sleep. Love you 3

Love you too 3