Written for:

Ultimate Battle:

Market: Invisibility Cloak [Upper Body Armor] (It's invisible. Equip Effect: Shields you from up to 3 pts of dmg if you or your opponent write about a Potter.) - Price: 1,000 words, Marauder era - [Due: Saturday, March 7th, 7pm EST/midnight UK time]

Meet-Cute-March

A always bakes a cake for new neighbors on their floor. B just moved in.

Writing Club:

Character Appreciation - (22) Write about someone who always says what they're thinking

Showtime - (25) - Who Loves You – (color) Grey

Elizabeth's Empire - (7) - The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: Write about something too good to be true. Alt: (character) Remus Lupin

Liza's Loves - (1) - Moon Shimmer - Write about Remus Lupin

Trope of the Month - (16) - Action: Knocking on something

Marvel Appreciation - (12) - Colour: Black

Lyric Alley - (10) - No matter what, no matter what

Wacky Wandmakers

Wood - Ebony: (emotion) curious

Core - Jackalope Antler: (trope) soulmates

Crazy Cone Contraptions

9. Fried Fudge - (pairing of choice) Remus/?

Fortnightly - Mario Day - 1. (word) unsteady

Unsteady

Soulmate!AU - Timers that count upwards and stop upon meeting a soulmate.

When Remus goes to meet his new neighbour, he doesn't expect to find his soulmates.

1411 words

Remus stands at the door, a chocolate cake in his hands and a smile on his lips. Someone has moved in - he had seen the moving van the previous day, and seen the two men going back and forth with belongings.

There had been banging noises from next door all morning - not too loud as to disturb him, but enough to make him curious. He's waited until early afternoon though before knocking, not wanting to distract anyone if they're too busy. There's silence now, all Remus can hear is the sound of the timer on his arm ticking away, though he knows he's the only one that can hear it.

He taps firmly and waits a moment, wondering who has moved in. When he first arrived in the building, he had a lovely woman called Minerva living next to him, but she moved back to Scotland a few years later. The woman who took over the flat had been Dolores Umbridge… Remus shudders at the thought of the horrible woman.

He hopes this new neighbour is nicer.

The door swings open and a man with messy dark hair and glasses stands there. He stares at Remus for a long moment, slightly confused. "Hello?" The man looks at his arm and frowns, and Remus follows his gaze. He's looking at his timer, and Remus urgently looks at his own.

His eyes widen at the sight. Where the numbers had been counting up in one timer, it's suddenly splitting into two, as though the ink is alive. One timer sits above the other, both smaller now, occupying the space where the one timer had previously sat.

"Hi, I live next door," Remus blurts out. Hazel eyes are on him again and the man is staring. Remus doesn't understand why he has two timers. Perhaps there's some sort of fault? He knew taking so much medication for his illness would have some sort of side effect, and suddenly he feels weak. One hand comes up to steady himself as his head feels fuzzy and his legs shake. He feels unsteady and knows he won't make it home in his state.

"I… I'm just here to welcome you to the building," he adds, his voice sounding far away.

The cake is taken from his hands and an arm is holding his, guiding him inside.

"You don't look good," the man says. "I think we've got something to talk about, but let's get you some water first."

...oOo...

Remus sips the water, feeling slightly better. He watches the bespectacled man as he walks over to a door and taps on it. "You… you should come out here."

Remus knows that room is the bathroom - the flat is laid out the same as his own, though the walls are bare and ready for painting, and the furniture is all over the place. There's tins of paint lined up near the door and dust sheets and brushes and rollers still in their packets.

The door opens seconds later. "Or you could come in. Join me in the shower, love, we…" Remus looks over at the man who is only wearing a towel, wet curls falling down his back. "James?"

"Did your… did your second timer stop?" James asks, and the man glances at his arm urgently as though he's been waiting his whole life for this moment. His eyes widening is enough to tell Remus the answer, but he glances at his own arm once more.

The timer is barely two minutes difference to the first one, but it's stopped. He's met his soulmate - only to find out that there are two of them.

He's distracted from his arm by someone sitting down next to him. He hears the bedroom door shut, and turns his head, only to meet James' gaze.

"We've been waiting for you for years. I'm James - James Potter."

"Years?" Remus murmurs.

James nod. "Yeah. Me and Sirius met when we went to boarding school together. We were eleven at the time. Our timers split like yours - quite the head-rush, right? Well, we've been waiting twelve years for you."

"You've been together for twelve years?" Remus murmurs, trying to take things in.

There's a loud laugh from the hallway as the other man walks towards them. His curls are soaking the shoulders and back of his t-shirt, and he's now wearing pyjama bottoms though Remus secretly prefers the towel he was initially wearing. Grey eyes study him as the man draws closer.

"Sirius Black," he offers, sitting down on the other side of Remus. "We were alone when the timers stopped, and agreed not to talk about it until we were older. We didn't go on our first date until we were sixteen. You've really kept us waiting."

"I'm… sorry?" Remus offers, uncertain. The man's chuckles so softly.

"But I guess we made you wait too," he adds in a murmur. "So… how did you find yourself at our door?"

"He brought over a cake to welcome us to the building," James says. "Should I cut us all a slice?"

Sirius nods. "Yeah. Then maybe we can all go out to dinner or something? Celebrate today?"

"Wait," James insists, causing Remus' gaze to finally leave Sirius' face, turning back to the other handsome man. "We can't just assume that our soulmate wants this." James' gaze moves from Sirius to Remus. "We most certainly want this though," he assures Remus. "What are your thoughts on soulmates?"

Remus doesn't respond straight away. He's gone through phases. There have been times where he's been too eager to find his. But as his health got bad, he didn't want to because his fear is becoming a burden to that other person in his life.

But these two men are his soulmates. They want this.

"I have bad health," Remus murmurs softly. "I can't burden you both with that."

"You are our soulmate," Sirius insists gently. "For better, for worse, in sickness and in health."

James grins. "Wedding vows, darling."

"Is this how you propose? You know I'll say no if there's no big romantic gesture. You aren't even down on one knee," Sirius mutters.

James laughs. "This is what you're letting yourself in for," he tells Remus. "We're not going to see you as a burden, even. You're our soulmate." He hesitates. "There's no rush to commit to us, love. How about we take this one day at a time, see how it goes?"

"Yeah, James is right. No rush - but we should all agree to be exclusive. I mean…" Sirius trails off at the stern look James gives. "No rush - let's start with dinner and go from there? What's your name, love?"

"Remus. I'm Remus Lupin," Remus offers. "And dinner sounds wonderful."

"I'll get us some cake to celebrate us meeting," Sirius says, standing up. "What would you like to drink?"

"Tea," Remus murmurs. Sirius nods his head and goes to the kitchen, leaving James and Remus alone.

"Are you sure I won't be a burden?" Remus checks, unable to stop himself from asking that question.

"We all have our own burdens that we carry," James tells him softly. "We don't 'burden' each other with them, instead we share the load and help and support each other. You are our soulmate - the universe picked you as the perfect person to be with us both. You will never be a burden. We've waited so long for you, and now you're here and we couldn't be happier."

"How do you know?" Remus pushes. "That I'm right for you both?" He wants to be part of this, but he's still scared.

James reaches for his hand. "Because the universe told me that Sirius is my soulmate, and based on what me and Sirius share already... I have faith in the universe. I have faith that we'll both have that with you too, and hopefully you'll feel that for us. We're all yours, Remus."

Sirius returns with three plates and gives the one with the biggest piece to Remus. "Now, we want to know everything about you. Do you have a big family, when we can meet your parents and how many children you want to adopt."

James shoots Remus an apologetic look, but Remus smiles back. He's not been there long, but he's already taken a shine to these two men. Perhaps this soulmate thing will work out after all. He just needs to have faith like James and Sirius do.

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