the_debt_of_time

"I know, I know." Remus let out a long sigh of relief. "I just... needed to hear it,
I guess." He ran a hand through his hair and frowned. "When you're with me, do you think
about him?"
"Merlin, no!" Mia answered almost immediately.
She recalled a few times, years earlier, that she had compared their kissing, and she
had even gone into slight detail with Lily over what it was like to be with each of them, but
never once had she thought about Sirius while she was with Remus.
"Do you wish I were him?"
She frowned and reached over to kiss him chastely, trying desperately to get him to
understand her. "No. Remus, you're perfect, and I love you."
"I love you too, and we've always known that," Remus said after returning her kiss,
closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against hers before speaking again, "but you
dream about him?"
"Sometimes," Mia whispered sadly.
"You dream about.. ." he started to say but then hesitated a moment. "You dream
about when you were with him?"
"Sometimes." Mia sighed, knowing that Remus could not understand that it was not
the Sirius he knew that she dreamt of. "I don't do it on purpose, and there doesn't seem to
be a trigger of any kind. It's more... future him."
"You see Sirius in your future?"
"Of course I do. You're there as well. We've known about this for years. You have
a mate out there somewhere, and Sirius is―"
"I know," Remus interrupted her. "We've had this conversation before, but we also
promised him we'd find out on our own. That we wouldn't let fate trick us into anything
we didn't want, and we've been doing that pretty well, I thought, but... maybe we've just
been avoiding the inevitable."
He took her hand, tugging her up against his side and wrapping his arm around her
shoulder. It made her feel safe with him despite the horrid conversation they were having.
She suspected he did it purposely for that exact reason.
After a few minutes of silence, Remus kissed the top of her head and whispered
into her hair, "Are we in love?"
"Of course I love you," Mia replied, pulling back to look deep into his eyes.