Japan
The plane lands in Tokyo after a very, very long flight that Remus couldn’t even spend reading as he felt sick anytime he tried to read a line. After five hours of staring outside the window across from Sirius who’d begged and begged for the window seat and was now watching a movie and not paying attention to the sights below them, Remus fell asleep for the remaining for the flight, and, to his mortification, found his head on Sirius’ shoulder when he woke, now on Japanese land. He didn’t apologise as he didn’t feel one bit sorry, the fresh, flowery smell of Sirius’ curls filling his nostrils as he woke up being his favourite thing of the day, but he didn’t acknowledge it further than saying “You’re a good pillow” when he woke up as to not raise any suspicion from his very straight best friend.
What a joke Remus’ life has become.
They get in cabs straight from the airport, and it’s all Remus has to do to not fall back asleep in the taxi; instead, he stares at the huge buildings, the colourful streets and the modernity that seems to cling onto everything he sees in his very short ride to the hotel. It’s eleven at night in Tokyo, and Remus feels the jet lag deep in his bones. Despite sleeping for most of the flight, he’s dying to sleep some more, but quickly realises how hard it’ll be as they get in the hotel, and Remus hauls his suitcase inside a couple’s room with just a double bed against the wall and two nightstands on either side.
What a fucking joke indeed.
“I’m so knackered.” Sirius sighs and rubs at his eyes, looking every bit like a toddler. He lets his suitcase on the floor and falls headfirst on the bed, letting out a moan of relief.
Remus sighs, “Gotta take a shower, I’m sure I stink from the plane.” He says in a small voice.
“Don’t wake me when you come back.” Sirius mumbles, and sure enough, ten minutes later, when Remus comes back, Sirius is sleeping atop the covers, his curls splayed on the comforter carelessly. His head is tilted on the left, letting the air come and go through his nose, and displaying his long eyelashes hugging his cheeks. He looks every bit like a dream, and it’s everything Remus can do not to either wake and kiss him into oblivion or cry himself to sleep, thinking of how ethereal he looks. Truly, it’s a struggle. In the end, Remus decides to take a large gulp of water from the sink, have a smoke – which he quickly realises is impossible as it’s forbidden to smoke inside and there’s no balcony – breathe deep and get inside the bed without waking him. He puts the blanket back over himself and, with a blanket in between him and Sirius, he feels better. Less like he’d do something stupid.
But really, he’s being a bit dramatic; it’s not like he and Sirius never hug or cuddle. It’s not like they’ve never slept in the same bed: they have, what with being friends since they were eleven. It’s not weird for them to be cuddly, they just are, even if it’s killing Remus every time it happens. But it’s Sirius for you, the concept of boundaries and personal space doesn’t exist, but it’s not like it ever means anything more than brotherly closeness. Even if Remus’ thoughts after they cuddle are anything but brotherly.
Anyway, as things are, Sirius sees Remus like a brother, and Remus is every bit the lovesick idiot.
Hidden underneath the covers, he’s out as soon as his head hits the pillow.
_________________________________
Tokyo is magnificent. In the daylight, everything looks straight out of a sci-fi movie: the sky high buildings covered in screens and the Tower of Tokyo standing proud and red above them, the unbelievably long crosswalks and the pink cherry trees adding character and beauty to such a modern city.
They spend the first two days walking along the city, following Moody, Fab and Gid across the city who seem to know their way around like they’ve lived there for years, and venture inside stories high grocery, clothes, games and even sex shops and laugh until their cheeks hurt as James gets his head stuck inside a deer head to do a skit with his surname “With the antlers! You know? Like prongs!” he’d said minutes before getting stuck. They try wonderful food, Remus falls in love with ramen and scowls when James and Sirius even try to say that sushi are better.
On the third day, they explore the country out of the city, visit a few temples and walk along a line of pink cherry trees, Remus snaps a few pictures with Lyall’s old camera, thinking that these memories are forever this way. He snaps a few of Peter, Sirius and James standing in front of a temple, grinning like idiots, and asks a redheaded girl to snap one with the four of them at James’ insistence. She smiles and takes his camera, snaps two pictures – one with them smiling and the second with Sirius on James’ shoulders, Peter bent over laughing and Remus grinning up at them. He gets his camera back from her with a smile.
“Cheers for that.” he sees her two friends hoovering behind: a blonde, tall girl and a very short, black girl, “Do you want me to take a few of you and your friends then?” he asks, gesturing at the camera swung around her neck.
“Oh, uh yeah sure, thanks!” she smiles, gives him her camera, “Name’s Lily, by the way.”
“Remus.” He answers and takes the green polaroid camera from her and snaps a few pictures of the three girls doing silly poses in front of the red, imposing temple. She grins at him as she gets it back.
“Thank you, Remus.” The freckles on her face and the green in her eyes are very bright with the sun on her like that, and he thinks that she’s very pretty.
“Sure thing. Don’t hesitate to ask again.” He smiles awkwardly and walks back towards his friends who are all gaping at him.
“What?” he frowns at them.
“Who was that?” James asks with a far away voice, his eyes fixed behind Remus’ left shoulder at the same time that Sirius asks, with a surer voice;
“What was that!?”
Remus looks at them dumbly. What’s so incredible about him talking to Lily? Not talking, mind, exchanging two sentences and their names.
“What was what?”
“This! With the ‘Don’t hesitate’” he imitates Remus in a lower voice, “Since when can you talk to girls?!” Sirius asks wide eyed, looking genuinely shocked.
Remus’ brows furrow, “Since always? Sirius, if you need the reminder, I’m gay as a fucking pole. I don’t need to be nervous around girls or whatever.”
“Yeah mate, Rem has always been okay with girls, I don’t know what you’re on about.” Peter frowns too, supporting Remus.
“No, c’mon he used to be proper awkward.” Sirius justifies himself, though looking slightly embarrassed, “Remember when Emmeline asked him out in seventh grade? He almost vomited on her shoes.”
He shrugs, “I was twelve, you twat. Happens to the best of us. And really, I don’t see what’s so shocking about me and Lily. I was just returning a favour.”
“Still, that was fucking weird.” Sirius mumbles, looking down, at the same time James seems to wake up from wherever he went.
“Lily. Her name’s Lily, is it? ‘S pretty.” He whispers, and everything with Sirius is immediately forgotten as Remus cackles loudly. The besotted face James is sporting is priceless and tears him to pieces. He looks back up to see Peter and Sirius laughing too, James apparently unaware of his friends laughing at him.
The rest of the day pans out nicely, with the group piling up in a bus and back at the hotel to back their bags up again as they’re heading to Nagoya for the next day and then onto Osaka for the 5th, 6th and 7th day. Nagoya is a pretty city, although not as great as Tokyo, in Remus’ opinion, and the sashimi he eats that night are enough to make him love the city. Osaka is as spectacular as Tokyo, with as many freaky shops for the four of them to find their way in and laugh endlessly. They end the 6th day in Osaka in a small boat with a few other people from the Experience, skipping through the water by night and looking at the city from the river. Everything feels so lovely, the sights are wonderful, and Remus cannot for the life of him believe that this is only the beginning, the sixth day of about 182, all the way from Asia, through Australia then both Americas, Africa and then finally, ending back through seven European countries in September, six months from now. He closes his eyes and thinks of who he will be in six months, after having seen so many wonderful things, people and cultures. He sighs and opens his eyes to find Sirius looking at him, James sitting next to him excitedly talking to Peter.
“Fag for your thoughts?” Sirius asks, a small smile playing at his lips, a pack of smokes in his hand. This saying is something they started back in tenth grade, when Sirius was having a bad time with his parents and took after Remus’ bad habits and started smoking. Anytime Sirius would seem distracted, Remus would say that, and Sirius would know that whatever was on his mind, he could say it, and Remus wouldn’t judge, but would simply offer him a cigarette. Perhaps offer a bit of advice or comfort when he knew how to, but Remus being the awkward kid he is, most often than not gave the cigarette wordlessly.
“Just wondering how we’ll be in six months. Like, what if I become an asshole who thinks he’s seen everything and knows everything?” he shares.
Sirius smiles cheekily “Become?”
“Tosser.” Remus chuckles, “No really, I can’t believe what we’re about to do. Six fucking months. Bit surreal, innit?”
“Well believe it. It’ll be over before we know it, and we’ll wish we were back here on this boat.” Sirius raises his eyebrows and looks at him in the eye, “Don’t go overthinking about again, Moony. Just live in the moment.” Sirius flashes him a smile and settles against Remus’ side, handing him a cigarette. Not knowing if he’s allowed to smoke on the boat, he doesn’t light it and simply tucks it behind his ear while slipping an arm around Sirius’ shoulders.
Just live in the moment. There’s a mantra Remus could use.
The 7th day is spent in Kyoto, a dangerously adorable city full of traditional looking houses, big temples, cherry pink trees and a huge river splitting the city in half. They spend most of the morning walking about in the city until they find a huge, bright red temple called “Fushimi Inari-taisha”, and Remus amazed by the grandeur and the over-the-top-ism that’s making him think that this sanctuary is giving off James vibes. They eat there, James trying to catch Lily’s eye and the rest of them acting as though they don’t see him, until Lily comes up to them. Remus thinks that miraculously, James’ stare worked, until she addresses Remus.
“Hey, sorry, I was just wondering if you’d take a picture of me and the girls please? Since you said, last time.” She asks, a little shyly and overly politely, making Remus think of the people of his small town in Wales. She doesn’t seem like the rich asses there usually is at posh schools like theirs.
“Yeah, yeah sure.” He stands up, wipes his mouth off any crumbs from his sandwich and follows her to see the tall and the small girls from before standing near one of the big, red portals. He smiles at them and takes Lily’s green camera, directs it at them. The small one in the middle manages to sit atop Lily and the blonde’s shoulders, throwing her arms up as Remus takes the picture. He laughs as she comes down effortlessly, somewhat amazed by her performance.
“How did you manage to do that? You lot cheerleaders?” he frowns, wondering vaguely if there’s any cheerleaders in the UK, but the small black girl’s response comes before he finds an answer.
“Not cheerleading no, tall guy.” She chuckles, “Gymnastics. For me at least. Marlene’s a footballer and Lily’s a rider.”
“Bike?” he asks, thinking of Sirius. Like always, really.
“Horse.” She grins.
“Well that was bloody impressive what you did. Your name is?” he asks the short girl who looks somehow more fierce than Lily and Marlene.
“Mary. And you’re Remus, right?”
“Why’d you call me tall guy if you knew?” he chuckles as he asks. Odd girl, that one.
“You’re a bloody giant, from where I’m stood.” She gestures, looking like she wouldn’t get past the 150cm bar.
He smiles, “Right, well I’m off. Have a good time, gals.” He gives the camera back to Lily and walks back towards the three guys, involving an indignant looking Sirius, a dreaming James and an amused Peter.
“What now? Gonna accuse me of flirting with them?” he asks Sirius with an eyebrow raised.
“Yuh-uh!” Sirius splutters, throwing a hand towards the girls, “That was some serious flirting there!”
“How?” he asks, completely lost. He just took their pictures and asked for their sport. What’s the big deal?
“Well I couldn’t hear with how far you were, but the small one gestured with her hand about your height. No girl talks about a guy’s height when it’s not to flirt!” he explains with a high voice, like it’s such an obvious thing. Hello, homosexual here.
“Mary.” He supplies, “And everyone talks about my height. I’m tall, what can I say?” he shrugs, “And also, if a girl says you’re short, I don’t think it’s flirting.”
Sirius gasps dramatically, “How dare you.”
“Don’t act like it’s never happened.”
“Don’t talk to me.” Sirius narrows his eyes and looks away, probably going for cross but only looking that much more adorable to Remus.
He sighs and looks at James, who still looks stupid, “Stop looking like that. You look like a right idiot. Lily thinks so.” He lies.
“She talked about me?” James looks right at Remus, a hopeful look in his eyes.
Remus laughs again, “Nah, just taking the piss. You do look like an idiot though.”
Kyoto ends in yet another boat ride on the river, this time not calm but loud as hell as some tourist, American, Remus will wager, plays horribly off key with his guitar, a song that Remus can’t even recognise with how bad it is. He sees Sirius and James wince, and he thinks that it must be even worse for people who do play the guitar.
They spend days 8 and 9 down south, getting a room in Fukuoka and visiting the surroundings, big cities with loads of temples and sights that aren’t worth missing in one’s life – a thought he’ll have often for the next six months – and then the 9th day in Nagasaki where they can watch the sea and smell the calming salt air and listen to Moody ramble on about the history of this place. All thirty of them stumble in a restaurant waiting for them and eat and laugh for hours, for the last few hours they spend on Japan territory.
Soon, too soon, they’re on a bus back to Fukuoka, back at a hotel where they sleep for one last night and amble on a plane at 6:30 in the morning to the next stop: Seoul.