I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss
the Gates of Love they budged an inch
I can't say much has happened since
CLOSING TIME
"Closing Time" by Leonard Cohen

Sirius had the idea to look up Pica Scribit first, though he had been unable to remember the name.

"Pickle… scribble?" Sirius said, sounding unsure and no doubt knowing he wasn't right at all.

"Pica Scribit," Remus said. "It's Latin. It means 'the magpie writes'."

"She said to Google her. How do you Google someone?" Sirius asked.

Remus smirked at Sirius. He thought he'd Googled Sirius pretty fucking well last night.

They decided to venture back out into Seattle. They had gone to Starbucks a few times since they'd been here. They had both noticed the resemblance one of the baristas had to a young Frenchman they'd know many years ago named Alexandre, only older now. It was eerie, Remus thought. Even eerier was his name: Alex.

In order to discover what Googling really was they asked Alex. It turned out it required something called a computer and something else called the internet. Eventually, Alex directed them to an Apple store where they marched in and bought a laptop, which apparently could be brought to Starbucks to connect to the internet.

While using the keys on the laptop was a simple enough matter, trying to understand how the hell to use the bloody thing was another. Luckily, Alex was there to help them. Neither Remus or Sirius had talked about Alex's resemblance to Alexandre but Remus could tell by the way Sirius looked at him that he could see the resemblance.

It had been a dark time in their lives, near the end of the first war. Remus had gone on a mission to France. It ended badly and Alexandre died. He then came back to Sirius who believed Remus had cheated on him with the young man. Even now, Remus wondered what could've happened differently. He supposed he would never know.

Finally, thanks to Alex, they figured out how to use Google. Remus typed in 'Pica Scribit' and quickly found her fanfiction on something called Archive of Our Own. Reading her writing was an altogether very different experience from reading JK Rowling's. In many ways her work felt even closer to their lives. And not just their lives… their sex lives. Merlin, she knew everything about them.

"Moony! She must be responsible! Look at this!" Sirius said pointing at the screen like an excited puppy.

"I know," Remus said. "It's uncanny."

Eventually, Alex pointed out that their hotel probably had something called Wifi and they might prefer to read the fanfiction there in private. And so in the privacy of their hotel room they once again read about their lives. Though… some of this stuff never happened. Remus sure as hell had never been Scottish. And while some of the details were close, much closer than JK Rowling ever got, they weren't always exactly right.

"This is really good," Sirius said. "The care she puts into us… it's beautiful." Remus glanced at Sirius and saw that his eyes were damp.

Remus and Sirius devoured Pica Scribit's work. It might've been an uncomfortable experience but reading the Harry Potter books had numbed them to that sort of strangeness.

"So other people do this? They all read the books then they write more stories?" Sirius asked.

"It seems so, Padfoot. Maybe out of a love for the original work and also a desire to create things they thought were missing. Certainly, Pica Scribit, rightly, believed our relationship was missing from the books," Remus said.

"We need to contact her," Sirius said. "I admit when we met her she seemed genuine! But maybe she can help us understand how we are here!"

"Does it matter?" Remus said.

"What do you mean, does it matter? Of course it matters, Moony!" Sirius said.

"Maybe this is just fate. Or maybe… maybe this is another story," Remus said.

Sirius looked stunned.

"Oh, come on, Padfoot. Surely, it must've occurred to you by now. We're stories. We don't exist outside of stories. Or maybe we do but… I think we're in a story. Seeing Alexandre at Starbucks… that was the moment when it solidified for me," Remus admitted then stood up off the bed, setting the laptop down.

"Someone put Alexandre there so we would know… it's a sign," Remus said.

"A sign of what, Moony?" Sirius asked.

"That this is their version of a happy ending for us," Remus said. Remus turned around and looked at Sirius and saw awareness dawning on his face.

"Pica Scribit?" Sirius asked, his voice quivering.

"No. It's not her style. We've read everything she's written about us. This isn't her. It's someone else. Merlin, knows who," Remus said.

Sirius fell back onto the bed, clutching his forehead.

"My head feels too full," Sirius said.

"Yes, it's a lot to take in," Remus said.

"What do we do? If this is our happy ending… what do we do?" Sirius said.

"Whatever we want, Padfoot. We've been given money, identities, and an understanding of our situation. The writer, whoever they are, even put us directly in the path to meet Pica Scribit which led us to the books so we could have closure, such as it is," Remus said.

Sirius looked up at the ceiling. Remus thought how beautiful he still looked after all these years. For a moment Remus felt like his heart would burst and he wanted to cry and hold Sirius forever and tell him a thousand times how much he loved him. For once he felt like it would be OK to let himself go. To let go of the restraint he'd been holding onto all these years. He wasn't sure he'd ever been so happy.

"We could travel," Sirius said.

"Yes."

"You could become a teacher!"

"Yes, that too."

"I could work at Starbucks!"

Remus shrugged then said, "If you like."

Sirius bounced off the bed then stood in front of Remus. He put a hand on his face then leaned in to kiss him, softly. He then held Remus tightly. In spite of himself, Remus began to sob. Shortly after, Sirius joined him.

Remus wasn't surprised when they began to tear off each other's clothing. He wasn't surprised when they tumbled onto the bed. And he wasn't surprised when they made love. For the first time in awhile they didn't just fuck; they made love. And after Remus came euphoria washed over him and held him in its grip much longer than it usually did.

Neither of them even said another word that night. They fell asleep holding each other and for the first night in a long time Remus slept a deep, dreamless sleep and in the morning he woke up with a great sense of well being and a possible bright future ahead of them.

They didn't talk about fanfiction, or fate, or the Harry Potter books at all that day. They roamed about Seattle and instead talked about the things they wanted to do. They both decided that they should go to school and learn about Muggles. After all, they were Muggles now for all intents and purposes.

It wasn't until dinner that night when Sirius finally brought up the subject of their new found destiny again.

"Moony… this is a good ending?" Sirius asked as he cut into his steak.

Remus pushed a piece of meat into his own mouth and considered this question while he chewed.

"I don't know. I'm okay with it. I suppose maybe it would've been better if we could be happy in our own universe. It doesn't seem that was ever in the cards for us though," Remus said.

Sirius nodded, seemingly in agreement.

"Do you suppose there are other happy endings we could be living? There's a lot of fanfiction out there," Sirius said.

"Yes, definitely. And no doubt there's universes were things went much worse," Remus said. He didn't say anything but he had snuck a glance at other fanfic and saw things that disturbed him. A great many people seemed to really want Harry and Snape to be together. The very thought made Remus want to vomit. He intended to keep Sirius from learning about that for as long as he could.

"Remember before… how you promised after the war we'd try to adopt," Sirius asked.

"Of course. I don't know about laws in this universe or country, not yet. But we'll look into it," Remus said with a sincere smile. He hadn't thought about it before now but his heart began to race at the thought of raising a child with Sirius.

"What happens when the story ends, Moony?" Sirius said, chewing and looking worried.

"I have no idea," Remus said.

"Will we stop existing? Will we go on?" Sirius said.

"I… I don't think we exist outside of the stories," Remus confessed. It was a heartbreaking admission but he needed to be honest.

"What if it just ends here? With us eating steak in this restaurant," Sirius said.

"Then that's where it ends," Remus said. "All life ends, Padfoot. We all die. Everything dies. Everything ends."

Sirius looked sad at hearing this but nodded in acknowledgment.

"Now, if you ask me it's better to end our existence having a good meal together then dying by getting blasted into a mysterious veil," Remus said gesturing at Sirius with his fork then continued, pointing the fork at himself, "Or getting killed in battle, leaving your son an orphan."

"You're right, I suppose," Sirius said.

"The writer could always continue our story later if they wanted. It looks like Pica Scribit does that. She seems to want to tell our whole lives, multiple times over," Remus said.

"That would be nice," Sirius said.

Remus smiled and shoved another piece of steak in his mouth. It was rare and absolutely delicious. Not a bad way to end at all.