WAKING UP BEFORE the sun had even risen was not one of Remus' favorite things to do. He turned off his alarm and removed his feet from under the warmth of his blankets, already disheartened by the fact that he'd be parting from his bed for the week, and rushed across the hardwood flooring of his bedroom to the bathroom. The white light in the room hurt his tired green eyes, and the man removed his pajamas sluggishly before stepping under the scalding hot water of his shower.

Really, Remus shouldn't have been moving so slowly. He was expected at the airport in a little over two hours, and still he stood in the shower allowing the water to cascade down his tense muscles, curving in the dips of his hips and splashing to the tiles his feet stood on. He scrubbed his hands over his face and finished washing himself before regrettably turning off the water and stepping out to dry himself. The towel was white and fluffy, and he took his time in making sure he was completely dry before wrapping the piece around his waist to traverse back across the hallway to his bedroom.

Thankfully, he'd been smart enough to lie out an outfit for himself for his flight to Vence. After agreeing to actually go on the short vacation the previous day, he and James had headed out to retrieve his tickets and had spent the rest of the day packing for the aforementioned trip. Now, he was dressed in a light blue sweater – as it was springtime and therefore slightly chilly but starting to feel warmer – and a pair of dark trousers that revealed his skinny ankles and a pair of white toms. He'd also grabbed a neck pillow and a thicker novel to skim through to prevent complete boredom.

Once he was dressed and had decided himself to be ready for the flight, he headed towards James' room and knocked twice before entering. His black-haired roommate was sound asleep on his side; it was only a little before six in the morning, and soft puffs of air escaped the man's pink lips every time he exhaled. Remus sighed and placed his hand on James' shoulder, shaking him awake.

He awoke startled and moved to pull his blanket further up his bare chest, peering sleepily into the dark bedroom. "Wha- ?"

"It's just me, James. I was seeing if you'd want a bit of breakfast before I left?" The brown-haired lad asked, crossing his arms over his chest. James huffed and disentangled himself from his duvet.

"I should kill you for waking me up this early," the grumpy man claimed once he'd taken a glance at his bedside clock. Remus only smirked before heading out of the room and towards the kitchen. He prepared some toast and fried eggs while he waited for James. When his roommate finally arrived, the pair had only about ten minutes together before Remus' cab was due to arrive to take him to the airport.

"Excited for your holiday?" James asked, taking a large sip of coffee from the Keurig stationed on their breakfast bar.

Remus shrugged. "I'm getting there... Excited to have the flat to yourself for a week?"

"Overjoyed." James smirked. "I'll have parties every night, and Lily and I might just shag in your bed."

"If I come home to find the both of you have been shagging in my bed, I won't be the one getting killed." He stares seriously, eyeing his watch before grabbing his plate and placing it in the sink. "I've got to go. You can do the washing up."

He went to grab his bags and stopped at the door, James following behind him and pulling him into a big hug. "Have fun, Remus."

The two parted ways for the week.

—————

When Remus finally arrived at the cottage-sized house he'd been staying in for the week, it was nearing evening-time. He'd been tired from the long flight and asked his cab driver just to drop him straight at 'home,' and the man kindly obliged. Now, however, he was regretting not asking to stop somewhere for a bite to eat.

He lugged his bags to the front step and, unsure of whether he should knock or not, stood awkwardly there for a moment. Then, realizing this was his house and not just some stranger's for the week, he grabbed his key from his pocket and slotted it into the lock. The door opened easily, and he made his way slowly inside.

The sitting room was what he saw first: a room slightly on the smaller side but with a certain cozy feel to it. There was a large stone fireplace against one wall, not currently lit, and a tellie stationed onto it with style. The couches were plush and pastel, covered with cute little sayings in French and some English. A coffee table held tasteful magazines in bilingual languages, giving the place even more of a lived-in vibe, and yet Remus had yet to see his new 'roommate.'

"Hello?" He called out, not knowing what kind of a voice would respond to him. Would he be sharing this place with a woman? A man? He set his bags down by a bookshelf containing small novelties and traveled further into the house.

The next room he saw was the kitchen and dining room. The layout was similar to his own flat, with marble countertops and a Keurig on the breakfast bar. He opened the refrigerator and noticed it to be empty, realizing with a sudden dizziness that he would most likely have to go shopping with this stranger for groceries unless he wanted to just not eat for the whole week. The 'dining room' really just consisted of a two-person square table with dark wooden chairs and a cozy cover over the table. A floral arrangement rested in its center; whoever was responsible for this house had really gone all out for the guests' arrival.

Down a small hallway, Remus took note of a bathroom which really wasn't anything special. The walls were done in a navy blue coloring and the bathtub, sink, and toilet were all porcelain white. There was no definable features to it, not that Remus really minded that part.

A door across the hallway stood slightly ajar, and Remus realized that really, his roommate could just be behind that door. For a moment, he'd considered maybe the person hadn't arrived yet, but that wasn't the case when he then took notice of a certainly masculine voice talking assumably on a telephone, and the brown-haired man caught his breath.

He peeked through the opening in the doorway and saw that the man had his back to him, leaning out over a metal railing with one hand clutching a mobile device as he gazed out to the sea at twilight. The man's hair was longer, and midnight black in the dim lighting. The only light cast upon him came from a bedside lamp, and the light from outside. White curtains rustled in the wind around him as he paid no notice to Remus.

Then, clumsily, the green-eyed lad leaned too hard on the door and it swung open, causing him to crash to the floor and alert his roommate of his presence.

"Reg, I'm gonna have to call you back," the man's voice claimed and then the small snap! of his phone closing could be heard. "Who's there?"

Remus climbed to his feet again awkwardly, gripping his arm in an embarrassed manner as his eyes slowly went from the floor to the piercing silvery color of the stranger's. He gasped audibly, and the man remained with his arms crossed, looking uninterested at the newcomer.

"I take it you're my week-long roommate then, huh?" The man asked, eyeing Remus up and down skeptically. He cleared his throat when the man failed to speak again and the brown-haired boy blushed.

"I uh- Hello, I'm Remus. Remus Lupin." He extended his hand for the man to shake. "And you are?"

The stranger stared at his hand for a moment before taking it gingerly, giving it a firm squeeze. His fingertips were like ice, and again, Remus gasped. "Sirius Black."

"Sirius," Remus said slowly, testing it out. "That's a-"

"A constellation, I know. My family's weird when it comes to naming their children. I've got second-cousins named Draco and Nymphadora. It's odd." Sirius finished, huffing out a breath. "So, do you like snooping around people's private conversations, or... I'm just trying to get a feel for what kind of person I'll be dealing with these next few days."

Remus blushed again. "I'm not a nosy person, I swear. I thought nobody was home, but then I heard your voice. I didn't mean to intrude on your conversation, I-"

"It's fine, Remus." The black-haired man sighed. You know, Remus isn't really a common name either..."

The green-eyed man smiled then, relieved that the tension was slipping away. He cleared his throat then, realizing he'd left his belongings in the front room and made an awkward gesture.

"I guess I should uh, go unpack." He didn't want to overstay his welcome. Sirius only looked at him as he walked back out of the man's room and back to the sitting room, grabbing his luggage and hauling it into the other bedroom he'd noticed right beside Sirius'. Thankfully, it seemed, the two wouldn't be forced to share.

He quickly set to unpacking.

—————

Around seven that evening, Remus heard a quick series of raps against his door and stood quickly from his bed, abandoning his book in order to let the person in. Sirius stood on the other side, hands inside the pockets of a leather jacket as he rocked back and forth on his heels.

"I was figuring we should get some dinner. We've both had long flights and I'm rather famished and there's nothing in the house to cook..."

Remus nodded quickly, grabbing his sweater to place back over his white t-shirt and his wallet from his bedside table. "Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"Pizza?" Sirius suggested. "I know, not very uh... adventurous, but I'd rather not get sick on my first day here."

Remus smiled. "I think pizza's a great idea."

The two walked outside into the ever-darkening skylight and inhaled the scent of sea-spray heavily. Remus had forgotten how nice it was to be staying in a seaside town, as he hadn't done so in a long time. The air felt remarkably fresher than the city's. However, the moment was soon ruined as Sirius lit a cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke outwards — the wind causing it to smack the brown-haired man directly in the face, making him sputter and cough.

The town was relatively small, and so the two decided to walk around and get a feel for it. As the sun had gone down, night life came into existence and many beach goers came up from the dunes with surfboards and towels, drying their feet and greeting them as they passed. They found a promising restaurant soon afterwards and headed inside, standing awkwardly just in the doorway as they waited for someone to bring them to a table.

They soon realized this wasn't one of those kinds of places however and grabbed a two-person table off on one side of the restaurant and soon a waitress with white-blonde hair came by and placed red and white checkered menus before them. She spoke in rapid French then, and for the first time, Remus realized 'oh shit, we're in a smaller, not as touristy town in France and I don't know a lick of the language.' Then, Sirius surprised him.

"Bonjour mademoiselle, nous sommes d'Angleterre. Parlez vous anglais?" He looked at her hopefully.

"Oui," she smiled kindly. "I am Kathleen and I'll be your server tonight. What would you like to drink?"

They both ordered waters, and she returned a short moment later with tall glasses for each of them, turning to Sirius quickly and saying something in French to him: "Ton copain est très mignon."

His gray eyes widened greatly as he spat something back at her and she blushed awkwardly, Remus all the while confused as to what was happening. "Il n'est pas mon petit ami."

"So," Kathleen began again slowly. "What would you like to eat?"

They ordered two pizzas: one vegetable pizza for Remus, and the French resemblance of a meat lover's pizza for Sirius. When the waitress walked away, Sirius refused to meet Remus' eyes. This gave him the opportunity to look at him for the first time in actual lighting and not the light from a lamp.

He was broad-shouldered with long black hair and gray eyes. Under his leather jacket, he wore a gray tank top and Remus could just see the black top of what he assumed was a chest tattoo. For a moment, he pondered on what it was and then thought the notion to be inappropriate and focused instead on his fingers tapping absentmindedly on the checkered tablecloth.

"So," he tried at conversation, hoping to make things less awkward between them. "Where did you learn French?"

"Where did you learn to be so nosy?" They were back to this again, and Remus sighed tiredly. If this was the kind of behavior he was going to expect from Sirius for the entirety of this vacation, he was in for a long and tiresome week.

When their pizza arrived, they ate in silence and boxed up whatever they couldn't finish. They each paid for their own pizzas and then made their way out of the restaurant, Sirius walking two paces ahead of Remus as they made their way back to the cottage. Once home, Sirius made a straight beeline for his bedroom, abandoning his cardboard pizza box in the kitchen. Remus picked it up and placed it in the refrigerator with his own and then headed to his own room.

He needed to call James and update him on everything before he decided to retire for the night.