Chapter Text
Six years later…
“I’m just saying… if we knock out that wall you could add two, maybe even three more stations!” Sirius shushes Remus, grabs his shoulders, smiles and kisses him.
“We aren’t doing anything, Mr. Lupin.” Sirius starts in an adorably firm way. “You are an investor in my business. And I like it this way for now.” Remus smiles and kisses him again, quickly.
“You know, I could—“
“Help me finish putting the payroll information into the computer? Oh my gosh, thanks babe. I appreciate it.” Sirius shoves his laptop into Remus’s hands and turns around to finish doing… something.
At first, Remus really didn’t understand why Sirius wouldn’t let them just buy the salon. They have the money.
But Sirius insisted on using the money he’d saved from working as a stylist and taking on investors for the rest.
And they got into a big fight about it.
“Sirius, we have millions of dollars in the bank—“
“No, you have millions of dollars in the bank.”
Remus huffs.
“My money is your money and vise versa! We’re married!” Sirius throws his hands in the air.
“Remus, you know what I mean! I don’t want this to be—my rich husband bought me my dream salon. I want it to be something I can look at and know that I could have gotten it… even if… and I’m not saying I don’t love you and don’t want to be with you forever, I do! But I just…” He’s looking down at his feet.
“Want to prove that even if I wasn’t around, you could do it?” Sirius looks up at him.
“I want you to be around… just to clarify.”
Remus smiles and pulls Sirius into him.
“I know, baby.”
“I love that you want to just drop $200,000 on me… but you need to realize that I want to own this as Sirius Lupin. Not Sirius Lupin, Remus Lupin’s husband.” Remus sighs and nods.
“Okay, baby. I understand…”
And he does.
Now.
Remus understands that now. His plays are his. Sure, other people invest in them, produce them, direct them, perform them—but at the end of the day, he can look at them and know: I made that.
Sirius wants that too.
So, Remus is an investor.
Just like Lily.
Who has made it annoyingly clear that they are equal partners in the salon and who is now calling him.
“What’s up, Lil?”
“Jesus, you’re starting to sound like a true New Yorker. No ‘hello’, ‘good day’, ‘how art thou?’ Wow.”
“Never once have I said, ‘how art thou’, you’re ridiculous.”
“And you have been ignoring me.”
“No I haven’t, my sweet angel best friend. I love you dearly.” Remus says, rolling his eyes.
“I’m not calling as your best friend. I’m calling as your agent.” Remus groans.
“Oh, then yes you’re right. I’m ignoring you, bye!”
“Oh no you don’t, Lupin! I will call Sirius and he will answer me!” Remus sighs.
Because she’s right.
“Okay agent. What?” She scoffs.
“What do you mean ‘what?’ You insane person! I need an answer. Frank’s answer is, whatever Remus wants. It’s based on your life, so… what does Remus want?”
Sigh.
Headache.
Sirius walks back over.
Smile.
“Remus wants to kiss his husband.” He says as Sirius plops in his lap.
And he does just that. Sirius smiles into the kiss.
“Is that my girl?” Sirius asks.
“Yes!” Lily yells through the phone. “Tell your husband he’s being—“
“Lily, I told you that I’ll call you back. Love you, bye!”
He’s absolutely getting cussed out later.
So maybe he hasn’t told Sirius yet.
But… the thought of Awakening possibly being made into a movie… it sort of makes Remus feel all… weird.
“Why does your face look weird?” Sirius asks, still perching in Remus’s lap.
“Gee, thanks baby.” Remus says, trying to distract long enough to come up with something.
“Oh shaddup.” Sirius says, grinning. “You know I love your face. But you have your, something is stressing me out look. What did Lily call for?”
Remus sighs.
He can’t hide this from Sirius, he’s no good at it.
“So… last week she called me and said that… some Hollywood producers were interested in adapting Awakening into a movie.”
Remus lets out a deep breath. Sirius’s eyes get wide.
“Babe! Oh, my gosh? That’s fucking amazing! You’re— you’re not acting like this is amazing?” Remus groans and throws his head back. Sirius grabs his face in his hands, pulling his head up again. “Babe, what? You don’t wanna do it?”
“I… would be stupid not to, right?” Sirius’s gaze softens.
“No. Awakening means a lot to you. It’s completely understandable if you want to keep it for you.”
“Really?”
Because… he was sort of thinking he was an idiot for feeling this way. Sirius throws his hands around his shoulders now, sort of half hugging him.
“What’s Frank think? I mean, he knows what it means to you.” Remus shrugs.
“He said it’s up to me.”
“And that’s why I love him.” Remus snorts.
“I just… I feel like I’d be wasting an amazing opportunity.”
“Are you allowed to like… talk with someone? The producer or director or someone? Make sure they know your voice and your vision?” Remus nods.
“Yes, I mean I’d have meetings and shit with a lot of different people…”
“But you wouldn’t be able to control the whole thing.”
Shit.
That’s it.
“I… how do you read my mind?” Sirius chuckles and kisses him quickly.
“Because I’m magical, obviously.”
“Well, that much is completely true, baby.”
“It’s not like you have to decide right now.” Remus laughs.
“Lily wants to murder me. I kind of need to decide soon.”
“Well, you could always go with Frank and Lily and meet with them. See their vision, if you like them. And if you don’t like it, you say no.”
Remus scoffs a bit.
“What? Just… say no to Hollywood? Just like that?” Sirius takes his face in his hands again.
“Babe… you’re Remus Lupin. Hollywood came to you! You can tell them whatever the fuck you want!”
Remus laughs.
And God.
He just thanks whatever the hell is up there that he gets to love Sirius Lupin in this lifetime.
“Mrs. Pomfry, do you think you could add pink streaks in my hair?” Dee asks, sitting in one of the chairs.
“Dee, call me Poppy please.” Mrs. Pomfry says, smiling.
“Deanna, you’re not getting pink streaks in your hair.” Remus says exasperatedly. Deanna rolls her eyes.
She’s been in a huge rolling her eyes phase.
Remus’s track record with his kids turning twelve? Not great.
“But dad! Sophia has red streaks and it’s so cool! It’s not permanent. Plus, you said if I got my math grade up to a B minus, I could earn something! I want to earn this!” Remus ponders this.
“Mrs. Pomfry, could you do it in a way that’s semi-permanent?” Dee lights up.
He’s a pushover.
“Absolutely! And if you don’t call me, Poppy, Remus… I’m gonna freak out. You’re my age.” Remus smiles and shrugs.
“Yeah, but you’re… Mrs. Pomfry!” She rolls her eyes with a smile. Dee runs over to him and hugs him tightly.
“Thanks daddy!” She says.
She says it on purpose.
To make Remus Feel Things.
Pretend like his baby isn’t growing up…
“You’re welcome, angel. I am proud of you for getting your math grade up.”
She walks over to where Poppy is setting up her station and Remus just watches.
His baby isn’t a baby anymore, all of his kids are growing up. Holly is in university, Lukas is about to graduate high school…
And Remus is almost fifty.
But instead of feeling old or tired or burnt out.
He sort of feels like his life is just beginning.
“Remus, hey! Where’s Sirius?” James asks, carrying in a large box.
“His office, I think. Marlene is back there with him.” Remus motions toward the back where his office is. “Need help?” James nods and sets the box down on a table nearby.
“Yeah, I’ve got three more. Harry was supposed to be helping me, but he has a new girlfriend. I guess new girlfriend takes priority over stepdad.” Remus laughs. James isn’t actually mad though, he’s smiling. “Anyway, they’re some kind of styling tool. Either straighteners or curling irons, something like that.” Remus laughs again and follows James out to his car, carrying in the few remaining boxes.
“I can let Sirius know they’re here if you want.” Remus says. James shrugs.
“Nah, I’ll go annoy him.” Remus laughs and nods.
“Be wary. One Week before opening Sirius is different than Two Weeks before opening Sirius.” James just laughs and walks toward the office.
“Dad, thanks for letting me get the pink streaks.” Dee says, walking up to him. “I’m excited.” Remus pulls her in for a hug and she reciprocates immediately.
“I love you, darling.”
“Love you too, daddy.”
Oh, life.
You wonderful thing, you.
“I’ll meet with them. That’s it, Lily. If I hate their energy, I’m leaving.” Lily squeals into the phone and hangs up, presumably to call Hollywood back.
He’s not totally sure how it all works…
“Who’s energy?” Peter asks, setting a tray of tea onto his desk and sitting across from him.
“Hollywood.”
“Sorry, what?” Remus sighs, picking up one of the mugs of tea and taking a sip.
Perfect.
As usual.
“Hollywood producer people want to turn Awakening into a movie.” Peter’s eyebrows raise.
“Holy shit.” He says. Remus laughs.
“I agree. And… I dunno. Sirius convinced me that I could just meet with them and see what they say.”
“Which I’m sure Lily said forty-five times too but you only heard it when your husband said it to you.”
“Shut up.”
“Just saying!” Peter takes a sip of his tea. “You know… Sirius is just… look, I’m going to get sappy for a minute and then you need to delete it from your brain.” Remus rolls his eyes with a smile.
“You’re ridiculous. Fine.”
“Sirius is so good for you. And you’re good for him too, don’t get me wrong. But Remus, it’s… before you met Sirius, before Sirius met us I should say, you were happy. You loved your job and your family… but when Sirius came along… you just got… brighter.”
“I know.” Remus says. His heart is clenching.
He stupidly feels like he wants to cry.
“You’re my best friend. Okay, now forget all of this.” Remus snorts and shakes his head.
“Already forgotten. Actually, who even are you? Get out of my house.”
“Yeah, good luck replacing me.”
“Babe!” Sirius says as he walks in, perching on top of Remus’s desk and almost knocking the tray of tea over.
“Yes, baby?”
“Minnie called!”
“Minnie? She—what did she say?” Remus asks, suddenly a nervous pit in his stomach.
“There’s a six-year-old who needs emergency placement. She asked if we could do it.”
“Of course! That’s why we signed up for it.” Sirius smiles and nods.
“I know, goofy. I already told her yes.”
A six-year-old.
Wow.
“She said that her biological father is unknown and her biological mother wants nothing to do with her.”
Remus’s heart sinks.
That’s horrible… he can’t even imagine wanting nothing to do with his children.
“That’s awful.” Sirius nods.
“She might… be available for adoption… should things go well…” Remus smiles and stands up, kissing the top of Sirius’s head.
“Then we might be daddies to a six-year-old… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Sirius smiles and leans his head on Remus’s chest.
“You know,” Peter begins. “You might need a nanny.” Sirius turns to Peter and scoffs.
“I am the nanny. There won’t be a nanny.” Remus smiles.
“Baby, you’re opening a new business, it could be nice—“
“Getting ahead of ourselves!” Sirius says, crossing his arms and pouting. Adorably.
“Baby?”
“Just… I was the nanny. I’m the nanny.”
“Baby, you were not just a nanny. You are so much more.”
“Remus, Sirius, this is Rosie.” Minnie says softly, a small girl with ginger hair and green eyes is practically clinging to her leg.
Sirius kneels down to Rosie’s level with a smile.
“Hi, honey! I’m Sirius. I’m so glad you’re here!” Rosie smiles shyly but still doesn’t move from Minnie’s side.
“My name is Remus,” he begins, kneeling next to Sirius and feeling about fourteen joints pop as he does it. “You’re six, right?” Rosie nods. “Wow… you’re practically a big kid!” She smiles again, a little less shy than before.
“Rosie, these men are very nice. You’re going to be okay, sweet-pea.” Rosie still says nothing but steps away from Minnie, nodding.
“Honey, one of our daughters is in the other room, would you like to meet her?” Sirius says.
One of our daughters.
Remus smiles. Rosie nods.
“Follow me, angel.” And Sirius leads her into the kitchen.
“Thank you for doing this.” Minnie says. “Poor girl has been through… too much.”
“Of course. We’re happy to. She seems sweet.” Remus says, looking toward the kitchen where they disappeared to.
“She is very sweet. A few things, I think she might have selective mutism. She hasn’t said anything since I picked her up from her foster home… and they were just… anyway, maybe she’ll feel safer here.”
“I hope she does. She’s darling.”
Remus hears the kitchen door swing open and sees Sirius, Dee and Rosie all walking back out.
“Dee, I see you’ve met Rosie.” Dee smiles wide.
“Yeah, she’s awesome and I love her.” Rosie preens at the praise. “She told me she loves My Little Pony, just like I did when I was six!” Rosie nods excitedly.
“My favorite is Pinky Pie!” Rosie says.
And Remus could cry, because she’s talking.
He looks to Minnie and she’s smiling, hand placed over her heart.
“Well, that’s the first thing she’s said all day! And, a very important detail!” Minnie says.
Rosie smiles even wider.
She’s completely perfect.
“Well… I like the green dress Sirius bought me but…” Rosie says, playing nervously with a loose thread on her t-shirt.
“Okay, darling. Then you can wear that if you’d like. We’re just going to visit Sirius at work.” Rosie nods and takes a deep breath.
“Do you think… um… would it be okay with you if I… called my grandma?”
Remus’s heart drops practically to his stomach.
Rosie has a grandma.
“Of course, darling. I… Minnie didn’t mention anything about your grandma. Where does she live?”
“She lives in a big place with lots of people. Kind of like a hospital.” Rosie seems nervous, like Remus’s reaction won’t be a good one.
“Okay, RoRo. I’ll call Minnie and see if she can find the phone number, okay?” Rosie smiles so wide, it almost breaks her face in half.
“Okay! Thanks daddy!” And she turns and skips away, maybe to put her green dress on or maybe to go make someone else in the house cry.
Because.
Daddy.
She called him daddy.
Rosie has been with them for a month and hasn’t called either of them dad or daddy… and Remus feels like he could cry.
Minnie said that it seems like they should be able to adopt her without any red tape in the way… unless this secret grandma somehow wants custody.
But if she lives in what Rosie thinks is kind of like a hospital, odds are that she’s in a nursing home of some kind.
A green dress thrown on, Lukas picking them up and a call with Minnie later, they’re heading to visit Sirius at work.
Lukas needs a haircut, and also wants to see if ‘all the time he spent painting still looks good’.
“Rosie has a grandma.” Remus says as Sirius is cutting Lukas’s hair. Rosie is laughing excitedly with Poppy, who’s adding about a million clips and bows in her hair.
“Shit, cool.” Lukas says.
“Obsessed. What’s her name, where does she live, can she come over for dinner?” Sirius adds, doing something magical with scissors. Remus laughs. Of course Sirius’s heart doesn’t have it in him to be territorial immediately like Remus was.
“Her name is Rosanne, seems like maybe Rosie was named after her…”
“More obsessed.”
“And she lives in an assisted living facility right outside Manhattan. About a 20 minute drive from our house.”
“How did we find this out?” Lukas asks.
“Rosie asked if she could call her and I asked Minnie about her.”
“We have to meet her! Maybe we can take Rosie there soon and then invite her for dinner!” Sirius says, he’s smiling wide.
That Sirius Lupin smile that he fell in love with.
“Okay, baby. Sounds perfect.”
“Remus. You have to hear them out.” Lily says, whisper-yelling as about five people walk toward the conference room. “Frank, tell him.”
Frank chuckles.
“Nope. Not touching that.”
“Baby.” Lily scoffs. “Remus did you hear—“
“Yes, Lily, I’m forty-nine, you know? Not a child.”
“Could have fooled me!”
“Mr. Lupin, Mr. Longbottom, Mrs. Potter! I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, this is Mary Macdonald, and Arthur Weasley. We are so pleased to meet you all.”
Suck ups.
Remus can tell.
“Mr. Shacklebolt, it’s a pleasure! We were so pleased you wanted to meet with us.”
“Are you joking? We are so glad you gave us the time of day! We know movies have a bad rep with the theater community.”
Understatement.
“We want to assure you that we want to make this production true to the story Mr. Lupin and Mr. Longbottom made.” Mr. Shacklebolt continues.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, I have to ask. Mr. Lupin… any relation to Sirius Lupin?” Ms. Macdonald asks. Remus perks up and smiles.
“Uh, yes. I’m his husband.” Ms. Macdonald smiles and throws her hands up.
“No way! He’s done my hair for the past three years! He’s just— amazing! I love him. I followed him to his new salon.”
“He is amazing, that’s wonderful. Wow.”
“Tell him I say hi! I have an appointment scheduled in a few weeks actually!” Remus nods and smiles.
He feels considerably lighter.
“I absolutely will. I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear it.” She nods.
“Sorry for interrupting. I do want to say, I just love Awakening. I do… I mean, I think it’s a masterpiece. Walter and Scott’s story… it’s beautiful, really. The way they both gave each other something the other was missing.”
And wow.
And yes.
And what?
She’s got it. That’s it. That’s Awakening.
“You… well, yes. I… yes. Exactly.” She smiles kindly.
“We want you to know that we’re coming at this as fans of this project. We want a faithful adaptation.” Mr. Weasley adds. “The only changes we’d need to make would be small dialogue changes to clean it up for movie production and obviously just different staging for camera. The essence, the story? We want that to be as it is.”
“That sounds reasonable. And sounds like it alleviates some of our fears.” Lily says.
“And Mr. Longbottom, we were hoping you’d write a new song that would just be for the film.” Frank nods.
“I have about six written.” He shrugs.
“What?” Remus asks with a chuckle.
“I love this musical.” He says simply.
And Remus is pretty sure that everyone in the room feels that way… and so maybe he can relinquish Awakening… at least a little bit.
“Sirius? Dad? I’m home!” Holly’s voice calls from the corridor. “I have the nuggets with me.” Sirius and Remus smile and walk out of the kitchen.
“Holly, I’m not a nugget anymore. I’m twelve.” Dee is crossing her arms defiantly.
“Dee, you’re always gonna be my nugget. Sorry!”
“I like being a nugget!” Rosie says adorably. Dee laughs and rolls her eyes.
“You guys are later than we thought. Lukas has been home for ages and he had soccer practice.” Remus says giving all three of his girls a tight hug.
“We got ice cream!” Rosie says excitedly.
“Oooh, yummy!” Sirius says.
Lukas wanders down from, presumably, his room.
“Hey kiddos.” He says, ruffling Dee and Rosie’s hair. “How was school?”
Holly is on winter break already from university, the kids still have two weeks.
“It was good! I made a picture of our family!” Rosie says, grabbing something from her pink backpack. She hands a piece of paper to Remus and he holds it up so he and Sirius can both see it.
With a pink crayon, “Mi Familee” is written across the top. There’s a generic looking house in red crayon and seven people. Each person is labeled.
Peeter, Daddy, Papa, Hollee, Lookus, D, Rosie, Gramma.
It’s their family.
Remus could cry.
He probably will later.
He looks at Sirius, who has tears in his eyes.
“It’s beautiful, darling.” Remus says. “This needs to go in the Lupin Museum!” Rosie looks confused, Lukas, Dee and Holly all just smile.
Because they know.
“Her first piece in the Lupin Museum!” Dee says grabbing Rosie’s shoulders. “Yay!”
“What’s that?” She asks, furrowed brow. She almost looks just like Dee when she does that.
Which is silly, but true.
“It’s where we put amazing work any of our kiddos do!” Sirius says.
Rosie smiles like it’s the most amazing thing she’s ever heard.
Remus is standing there, looking at some of the people he loves most in the world.
This is it, he thinks.
This is everything.