Photo challenge [TM challenge] (also open to Remus Lupin)

[.livejournal.com]

Venice...

Severus should have left by now, having completed his task. But he couldn't stop looking into the fog rolling in through the canals from the bay, swallowing up the small boats, the houses and the low bridges, already now swirling around his ankles. It moved fast, unstoppable and chilling, not only in its physical temperature, but also in the eerie muffled silence it created around him, and the lack of clear vision.

For a moment he almost longed to hear the tell-tale sharp cracks of Apparition, telling him that he had finally been found. Either by the Aurors or Potter and his little cadre. Neither had found him to date, but he was growing weary and tired.

And every day he spent so far away from Remus, cracked him just a bit more. Severus had never indulged himself in 'what-if' day-dreams. But for short moments he did, as the fog finally reached him fully and all he could see were swirling shades of white going over grey to black. Shadows and light were blurred and all edges gone.

What if he simply stopped? What if he simply stopped heeding the summons? What if he allowed himself the selfish pleasure of living his own life and staying in Brooklyn, close his lover and the simulacrum of normality Severus felt in his company?

What if...

Unsettling the thick fog around him, Severus turned to look behind him, for once not moved by paranoia, but by wary curiousity.

There was nothing behind him, and nothing in front of him. There was only the tiny space in a perimeter of two to three feet around him. How very appropriate in its symbolism.

With a sharp crack he left that perimeter empty as well, Apparating to a dark and sleeping Brooklyn, New York, before he could see hints of red penetrating the fog in the East, from the rising sun.

Taking down the ordinary ward on the door, only cursory making sure nobody had been there since he had left, Severus entered his house, knowing that wishful thinking was just that, wishful and as impossible as clear shapes in a fog.

Muse: Severus Snape
Fandom: Harry Potter
Wordcount: 357

Comments

[moonyblues.livejournal.com]

"I guess they weren't really just excuses."

He gets another cigarette out and lights it, taking a drag.

"Those reasons are valid. Even if I were available, I'd not be with her. She couldn't handle it and she has no idea what she'd be in for. Something tells me she wants sweet and gentle, and just because I might seem that way in general, in pleasant company, she thinks I'd be that way in a relationship. And I know I'm not. So the fact that I'm taken isn't an issue, really. But I told her I'm seeing someone because I thought it would settle it for her for good without having to tell her that her instincts are totally off base and I'm not right for her at all."

He keeps his cigarette out to the other side of him.

"I did my best." He shrugs. "Just letting her walk off didn't seem right, either. At least she got her smack in, that probably made her feel better.

[sev-ensnared.livejournal.com]

Severus silently watches Remus light another cigarette. He hadn't extinguished the other because he was bothered by the smoke. He wasn't. As a potionsmaker he's used to far worse things. But right now Remus apparently needs that more than anything Severus can offer.

And he doesn't feel like getting into a discussion about Tonks and her inability to accept a no for an answer. Especially not when it deprives her of something she wants. The Blacks have always been particularly partial to their own needs.

A discussion of the Black family is even more of a bad idea.

"You did what you thought best. And you should not feel bad because of it. It's not your responsibility how she chooses to feel." He rises to find his wand among the small pile of their clothes. Having found it, he straightens up and casts a cleaning spell on himself. Once more he faces Remus.

"For the sake of the Order, you might want to owl her. But she might be professional enough to keep private emotions and Order affairs separated." He doubts it slightly, but the Order can't afford further weakening.

A weakening of which you crafted the major part, isn't that so, Severus?

No, he refuses to fall into the torment of guilt again. It leads nowhere and will only make him fail.

[moonyblues.livejournal.com]

Remus sits and nods, taking a few more drags before putting his cigarette out and banishing it to his pocket.

"Yeah. I'll owl her."

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, then calls his wand and does a cleaning spell on himself.

Blinking at Severus a few times, he clears his throat.

The other man leaving the bed and not sitting back down makes him think that he's messed up.

"I...Didn't mean to put you off, Severus. Are you coming back to bed?"

He hopes so. They had fast and hard and frenzied, but Remus wants other things from Severus, too.

Remus sits up and gestures hopefully for Severus to join him.

[sev-ensnared.livejournal.com]

"You didn't put me off, Remus," Severus says and means it. "That would take a much more concerted effort than the mention of Tonks and Moody."

His lips quirk slightly as he moves back towards the bed, as always drawn to Remus by the man's eyes, the want, the love.

The need Severus feels for him.

Severus sits down again, putting his wand on the night stand next to the table, then rests the hand on Remus' bare thigh.

"As I said earlier... you're a challenge, and an attraction, I cannot resist."

[moonyblues.livejournal.com]

Remus smiles at Severus and rolls toward him, putting his hand over his lover's.

"And what if I get boring and pedestrian? What if I turn all schmoopy and pliant? Will you leave me? Even if it's Springtime?"

He bats his eyelashes.

[sev-ensnared.livejournal.com]

"I might just have to reconsider my options then, won't I? Especially if it's Springtime." Severus purrs in a teasing manner.

"A damnable season..." Severus grouses lightly and leans in, close enough to kiss but he doesn't.

"Full of rampant hormones..." he brushes his lips over Remus'.

"Little cute flowers..." he does it again, then pulls away with a small smirk.

"So don't you even dare!" Severus arches an eyebrow and slides his hand higher up to rest on Remus' hip.

[moonyblues.livejournal.com]

"I'll do my best."

Remus leans in and kisses Severus properly, his free hand going to his lover's hair and fisting.

"It'll be hard. You inspire such tender feelings, you're so delicate."

[sev-ensnared.livejournal.com]

Severus snorts, at the same time enjoying the hand in his hair "I should hope not!" then kisses Remus hard, pushing closer.

"You will just have to fight those urges." The kiss is resumed.

Severus finally has to lay down properly, only breaking the kiss for short moments.

[moonyblues.livejournal.com]

"You could prove to me you're not the delicate flower you seem to be, you know," he mumbles against Severus' mouth.

Remus kisses Severus again and runs his fingers through his hair as they kiss.

"Not that you have to. But I..."

He sighs against his lover and breaks the kiss, nipping at Severus' neck as he inhales. Jesus, he smells so fucking sexy.

"I want to fuck you so badly," he whispers, then moans a little against his lover's skin. "But if you don't do that, that's okay."

And it is, he'd never want Severus to do anything he doesn't want to do. And he's quite thrilled with Snape fucking him under any circumstances, so it isn't a huge deal. But he dreams about it.

[sev-ensnared.livejournal.com]

"And just how exactly would that prove I'm not a delicate flower?" The last words are sneered, but the heat in his voice and his eyes are unmistakeable. There's no denying the powerful attraction he feels towards Remus, the effect of the man's words and voice

"What would you do, given the opportunity to ... fuck me?" He asks against Remus' ear. Severus has never truly rejected any form of pleasure, even if he does have preferences.

[moonyblues.livejournal.com]

Remus chuckles low and tightens his fingers in Snape's hair.

"It wouldn't prove anything. I'm just trying to manipulate you. But I'm honest about it."

God, the way Severus sounds, the look in his eyes...Remus groans and shifts a little as he feels himself responding to the thought and the environment.

"I would...straddle you on the bed, and kiss my way down your body, teasing and biting. Your cock would be thoroughly sucked after I mutter a prep spell, so I can slip my fingers into you and drive you crazy. Once you really, really want it, I'd lift your hips up and thrust my cock into you, growling and stroking you off while I fuck you slowly, slowly for a while, until I can't help it. I'd speed up and lean down to kiss you, biting you and scratching you, making you feel everything, everything."

Remus is totally turned on now, just describing it.

"I'd sit back up and watch, fucking you even harder until you can't take it anymore, you'd arch back and come hard, screaming my name, if you're coherent enough to do so."

He moves his hand down to Severus' cock, smiling a little to find it definitely interested. He takes it in hand and starts stroking gently.

"Just seeing that would make me come, too, you're so hot, your voice, the way you look, your hair fanned out behind you."

Remus leans in and licks Severus' chest, sucking on a nipple for a few moments.

"But I wouldn't want to stop. I'd stay hard, and I'd fuck you through it, and keep fucking you until your cock stirs again, licking the come from your chest and kissing you feverishly as I rock into you, until it builds and builds and builds some more, until finally we'd both gasp and cry out against each other, almost blacking out because it's just so fucking hot, so fucking good that no one, no one, could withstand it without swooning a little. And when it's all over, I'd lie on you and kiss you gently, and tell you how much I love and adore you, and how I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be with you at all, that sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not just dreaming it, because it's perfect, perfect."

Remus smiles against Severus' neck and kisses his skin lightly, still very gently stroking him.

He looks up, his eyes glowing softly, his voice low and rough with desire.

"Does that sound like something you'd be interested in, Severus?"

[sev-ensnared.livejournal.com]

Severus swallows a moan and looks into Remus' eyes, radiant amber in the low light of the room. As always, a thrill travels down his spine to pool at the pit of this stomach at that sight.

"Honest manipulation... how Gryffindor," he murmurs, quite preoccupied with other things than House traits. Things like enjoying that manupulation fully, Remus' touches and words arousing him rapidly.

His hand reaches up to fist Remus' hair, pulling his lover's head just a fraction back, as his other hand slides down between them to curl around Remus' equally hard erection.

"I expect you to be a man of your words, Remus..." he continues, voice dark with desire. And by Merlin, those words... in that voice. The moan finally escapes him as he pulls Remus into a passionate kiss.