"Give me up?" Remus repeated softly, wondering what was going on inside his lover's head. Lifting their joined left hands, lay them to rest over the mark on Regulus' hip. "I think you don't fully grasp the definition of forever. You don't ever have to give me up.
"We're going to get out of here and go home. You'll build your learning centre. One day, there will be children to call you father and eventually carry on your legacy. You'll live a long, happy life and grow old with me right here by your side through all of it, sharing every minute -- possibly a few million of them in the library," Remus teased with a gentle smile, annoyance forgotten in the wake of building castles in the air with Regulus. Love seemed almost too small a word for the fierce emotions he carried inside, all centred on this remarkable man who had come to represent everything good and hopeful in Remus' life.
"I wouldn't know how to keep going if you gave me up," he added with all sincerity, the words muffled by the press of lips against the curve of Regulus' neck. He might never understand how it happened, but Regulus was so much a part of him now, a part he never wanted to lose. The first and only thing in his own life he knew he would fight to keep, no matter what the odds. "Don't give me up."