kissed her without thinking about it, and it felt right: one hand clutching Sirius, his lips on Dora's. It was good, it was nice. Dora had gotten dressed before he'd found her, and Sirius had managed to scrabble together some rags out of his imagination. When he broke the kiss at last, Dora's eyes caught Sirius's.
"Sirius? Wotcher!" With a grin, she dove at him and wrapped him in a fierce hug. He looked thunderstruck, and hugged her back.
"Tonks, you're here, too?" He suddenly looked shamefaced. "Er. D'you...You and Moony, then?"
"Yeah, he's my husband." She grinned over her shoulder, eyes dancing as they met Remus's.
"Well, congratulations, then, I suppose." He sulked, a teenager again, and Remus felt a flare of the desperate love he'd always felt when Sirius pouted.
"Don't be a baby, Sirius, he loves you more than he ever loved me." She said it lightly, like a joke, but the pain in her eyes told the truth.
"I don't-Dora, it's not like that." There was the rasp and the creak in his voice, the one he'd missed earlier in this timeless time. "I mean-" He looked back and forth between them. The family resemblance was faint, just touches around the eyes and a certain tilt of the chin. They were cousins, somehow, Dora'd explained it but he'd forgotten. "I love you, and I love you, too. If I could have you both, that would be. Um. That would be what I would want. But I can't, and I'm not." He shrugged ineffectually.
Sirius shot Dora a look. It was full of depth, full of things Remus couldn't understand, and it lasted forever and no time at all. They turned, then, as one, to face him.
"Sirius is gay."
"I'm not-" He broke off. "It doesn't matter."
"Anyway." Dora glared at Sirius. "The point is, Sirius is gay, and I love you, and, um. We're all here. Really here, we're not imagined." She gestured idly around the empty space. "So what does that mean?"
Remus remembers, clearly and suddenly, his last thought before dying. "I think...I think maybe it's my fault? Because I was thinking about you, and about Sirius, and about how I'd like to be with you. Both of you, I mean. Um." He loses his thought, distracted by other memories from his last few moments of life: fear, and pain, and anger, and sharp terrible joy.
They shared another look, the two of them. It was annoying, actually, because they were clearly having a conversation, and Remus is no Legilimens. "What are you talking about?" He sounds like he's whinging, which is not fair at all, but it doesn't seem to matter because they just ignore him and continue talking silently.
Eventually, Sirius turned to him. "Dora thinks," but he was interrupted.
"I think we should try it. A relationship. The three of us."
Remus's eyes boggled. "You want to have a-" he choked on the word, "a threesome?"
Dora looked thoughtful. "Not right away, no. I'd rather wait for a while, until we get a handle on this whole thing. But eventually, maybe, why not?"
He was, as should be evident, incredibly confused. "But. Um."
"Moony, it's fine. Dora's, well," a soft sound like he was gasping. "If I wanted women, I'd want Dora. Or someone like her." He looked almost normal, for the first time in years, and Remus unconsciously reached for his hand.
Dora took his other hand, and Sirius's as well. They stood in a circle, hands joined in the silent void. "Remus, it's good. It'll be good. Don't you think?"
He looked at their hands, at the way they fit together. Sirius's face was open and soft, the way it was once upon a time when they were young and stupid and happy. Dora was not smiling, exactly, but she looked relaxed and calm. There was no doubt on her face, no fear in her eyes. That's what sealed it, in the end: Dora, strong and sweet and true.
"I think so. Maybe. Sirius?"
"Yeah, all right." He smiled, ducking his head bashfully. "I'm in."
"Me too."
"And me."
Dora loosed Sirius's hand and they strode, a straight line, into whatever came next.
