Chapter Text
At this stage, it was impossible to ignore.
Remus Lupin had started to plague Severus’ mind. What started out as innocent - barely innocent - ‘What Ifs’ soon progressed and distorted into full-blown fantasies. They assaulted him at various intervals of the day, usually after seeing the Professor in the staff room or during dinner.
Severus wasn’t a spiritual man, but for once, he thanked God that Remus wasn’t an extremely powerful Legilimens. There was no doubt that he’d be sporting a black eye or a red handprint on his cheek if that were the case.
Severus stalked through the lower levels of Hogwarts, eager for the impending end of his night shift. His hours had increased ever since Sirius Black had broken into the Gryffindor Tower, but the extra pay wasn’t worth the lurking sense of dread that lingered around every corner.
And the extra pay certainly wasn’t worth the shock he felt when he spotted a figure at the end of the second-floor corridor. The slightly slouched figure of Remus Lupin. Severus’ pulse picked up. He would have rather encountered an Inferius.
Remus seemed to spot him at the same time and walked towards Severus. Half a minute later he was by his side, sporting a wary look. Severus turned back to walk the other way, not eager to converse with the man in the middle of the night again. He didn’t relent.
“Should we really be around each other?” Remus hissed, as though any higher volume would alert the nearby ghosts of their presence.
“Don’t forget that you’re the one following me,” Severus stipulated, not looking to the side as Remus fell in step beside him. Severus quickened his pace.
“Anytime we’re together, something bad happens. You’re a liability.”
“Are you saying it’s my fault?” Severus asked, voice a tad louder than Remus’.
“Well, the last time certainly was,” Remus argued.
Severus scoffed. “If I knew any better, I would say you’re asking for something bad to happen by tailing me.”
“That’s not true-”
And the universe, with all her cosmic, omniscient mysteries, picked that exact moment to interfere.
Peeves’ laughter echoed down the corridor as he materialised through the roof. Before Severus could draw his wand to throw any kind of desperate spell at the apparition, Peeves knocked them back with a strong gust of wind.
As Severus tried to stop himself from falling over, he looked around for an escape route. On the wall behind them was a rickety wooden door, and if Severus’ memory served him right, it led to a disused History of Magic classroom. It seemed like Remus spotted their only escape at the same time as Severus, for he grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe and dragged him to the door.
“In here,” Remus commanded as he threw open the door. Remus pushed Severus into the room and pulled the door closed behind him. It was dark and Severus could barely move. Over the commotion of the two trying not to fall on top of one another, the clicking of the lock echoed in the small room.
“Lupin, what have you done?” Severus whispered gravely. The man didn’t respond, he tried to shift a bit but something metallic clanged to the ground. “What is this?”
He kept talking to distract himself from how Remus was pressed up against him, unable to move in the small space lest he sent what Severus believed to be cleaning supplies tumbling to the ground.
Peeves cackled from outside the broom cupboard, a sinister sound that set Severus further on edge. “Snivelling Snape and Loony Lupin are trapped in the closet, how deliciously ironic.” After another laugh, the outside corridor fell silent and they were left alone.
Severus tried to back away from Remus to no avail, his back was flush against the wall, as was Remus’. In their hasty retreat into the closet, they didn’t have time to rearrange their position, so Severus’ footing was tangled with Remus’. The result was an awkward amalgamation of limbs, Remus had both his hands braced on the wall on either side of Severus, further trapping him in an effort to support his balance.
“Are we really trapped?” Remus asked.
“It’s unlikely. Can you reach your wand?” Severus answered. Now that his arms were trapped at his sides, he didn’t have a chance of finding his own wand.
“No, I think I’ll fall over if I move.” That was not the answer Severus wanted to hear.
“This clearly wasn’t made for two people,” Severus said icily.
“There’s not much I can do about that now, Severus.”
“Spare me.”
They lapsed into silence, and with their chests flush together, Severus noticed that they breathed in tandem. This room was far too skinny. Remus’ breath fanned out down the side of Severus’ neck, tickling the skin there. There was no end in sight to this torturous treatment.
“How long do you think we’ll be here?” Remus asked, voice low and strangely stuttered against Severus’ ear.
“Until someone finds us. No one checks these cupboards except-”
“-Argus,” Remus finished with a groan. His head lolled forward and his forehead collided softly with the wall behind Severus as he let out an exasperated sigh. Remus’ body seemed to lean just that much more into Severus’, but he couldn’t exactly push him away.
He didn’t want to.
The minutes passed in near silence, save for Remus’ breathing near Severus’ ear, and the rustling of fabric every time one of them shifted minutely. The latter was becoming more prevalent on Remus’ behalf; he shifted his weight around as though his legs were getting restless, and his hands changed from their bracing position against the wall every few minutes. It was as though his moves were set on cyclic rotation.
“If you don’t stop moving, I’ll personally remove your legs when we finally get out of here,” Severus threatened into the hollow of Remus’ throat. His nose was inches away from his skin, and the faint smell of cologne rose from the area on his neck. The scent was masculine and rugged and Severus didn’t know why but he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from the smell.
“I can’t help it,” Remus complained, almost juvenile in his words save for the way it was breathed in a ragged sigh.
All the little factors were starting to wear thin on Severus. The scent. His constant shifting movements. The sounds Remus was making - those little, stifled moans every so often-
“Quit that,” Severus snarled.
“What?” Remus asked.
And just as Severus was about to explain exactly what was wrong with those erotic, little sounds, Remus shifted once again. His thigh dragged across the outside of Severus’ leg, their chests realigned, and a foreign, warm weight pressed against Severus’ hipbone.
Oh.
“What is that?” Severus hissed.
“I’m sorry, it’s-”
“Are you-”
“It’s just-”
“Can you move-”
“I would if I could-”
“Enough,” Severus interrupted their clashing conversation. “I don’t care how you got yourself into this situation-” Lie “but don’t even think about rutting against me like some kind of wild animal.”
In his limited movement, Severus brought his hands to Remus’ hips and pushed back lightly in an attempt to put distance between them, but Remus made a sound of disapproval. “I wouldn’t do that, Severus,” he weakly protested.
“Why?”
“You- ah, it’s your proximity that’s…” Remus trailed off, but Severus filled in the blanks. He didn’t pull his hands away. It was him?
Although the possibility of that had certainly flickered in the back of his mind, Severus wasn’t foolish enough to indulge in the belief and see it as the truth. But that was what it was, according to Remus himself. Severus would be lying if he said the thought of that didn’t please him. He felt the buzz of arousal low in his torso, manifesting itself as a faint pulse, like a misplaced heartbeat.
And now he had Remus in front of him, the object of his recent desires, hard and wanting. Severus’ blood rushed south with every passing second, and it was harder to hold himself back while he tried to decide whether this was a good idea or not.
The only light in the room was coming in through the crack along the bottom of the door, a weak moonlight that barely illuminated the closet. Although Severus could barely see the man in front of him in this light, he could picture how his cheeks would be flushed, how his eyes would be squeezed shut and his lip bitten with the effort to hold himself back from acting on desire alone. At that moment, Severus decided.
“I take it back,” Severus groaned. He sunk his fingers into Remus’ hips and pulled him in impossibly close. The movement aligned his dick with Remus’, and although they were fully clothed, the sensation was still erotic in its own way. He rolled his hips into Remus’, who let out a groan and connected his lips to the junction between Severus’ jaw and neck. “Lupin-”
“It’s- fuck- it’s Remus. Call me by my first name, Severus,” Remus asked, breathing staggered and sharp against the side of Severus’ neck. He brought a large hand down to cup the bulge growing at the front of Severus’ trousers.
“Why- why would I do such a thing?” Severus shot back, pressing forward into Remus’ hand. He moved his hand slowly up the outline of Severus’ cock and his hands paused at the line of buttons on the front of his trousers.
“Say it,” Remus demanded. Severus fought back a groan at the confusing demand.
“What?”
“Say my name,” he repeated.
“This is ridiculous,” Severus sneered, voice faltering slightly as Remus returned his hand to his dick. The pressure was light, too light and Severus needed more. He reached out to pull Remus in close by the belt loops on his pants, but Remus swatted his hand away.
“This is long overdue. Use my first name,” Remus insisted.
“You’re being idiotic,” Severus argued.
Remus ghosted his hand over Severus’ clothed cock, featherlight and purposefully minimal. Bastard. “We can just continue like this until someone finds us if you don’t want to listen to me.”
“You conniving little-”
“What was that?” Remus cut him off before he could say something he would regret.
“Remus,” Severus muttered, the name barely left his lips.
“Speak up.”
“Remus,” Severus repeated, a little louder. “Are you finally sated?”
“I think so,” Remus said smugly. His hands instantly returned to Severus’ buttons and he worked on undoing them. Severus’ heartbeat thumped in his ears, he tried to keep his breathing steady as Remus kissed his way up his neck.
A moment later, Remus took Severus in his hand and Severus’ head rolled back. The callous on the palm of Remus’ hand felt heavenly as he slowly stroked his dick. It had been far too long since Severus had let anyone do this to him. Remus’ grip tightened and a moan fell from Severus’ mouth before he could stop it; Remus chuckled low by his ear at the sound.
Through his haze of arousal, Severus reached forward to unbutton Remus’ pants, and this time his hand wasn’t swatted away to prove a point. Remus sighed as Severus wrapped his hand around Remus’ length. He was hot and heavy in his hand, and Severus swiped away the bead of precum that had pooled at the tip.
“Fuck,” Remus growled and pushed up against Severus. He all but attacked his mouth, biting his lip and kissing with need. Severus adjusted his grip, as did Remus, so his hand fit around both of their cocks.
Remus pushed his hand away. “I’ll do it,” he said, breaking away from Severus’ mouth. Severus conceded and relished in the sensation of the slide of Remus’ cock and hand against his own aching dick. He couldn’t help the way his hips bucked in time with Remus, chasing even more pleasure. Remus’ next question caught Severus off guard.
“How long have you been thinking about this for?”
“What?” was all Severus managed to say before he moaned again. Remus’s thumb circled the tip of Severus’ cock, the movement coaxed another lewd sound from his throat.
Remus scoffed lightly, the sound wasn’t malicious, rather an expression of disbelief. “All those little occurrences that have happened since the start of the year, you didn’t play a part in setting them up?” He asked.
“Why would you think that- fuck,” Severus moaned as Remus’ wrist fell into a particularly pleasurable pattern. He sped up, and his thumb caught the bead of precum that drooled from the tip of Severus’ dick.
“Because it was all rather convenient, and I wouldn’t put it past you to humiliate me,” Remus’ voice shook as he spoke, and his movements were growing more and more frantic.
“Are you forgetting that I was being humiliated in the process? Why- why would I do that to myself?” Severus shot back.
“Okay, you're right,” Remus agreed and punctured his words with another rut of his hips against Severus’.
“Fuck, do that again,” Severus moaned, head dropping forward to rest on Remus’ shoulder. Remus responded by thrusting his hips forward again and repeating the movement over and over. The drag of Severus’ cock against Remus’ and the surrounding fabric was getting to be too much to bear. He could feel his release building, and there wasn’t much he could do to stop it.
“Remus-” There’s that blasted first name again, “I’m close, I-”
Remus shushed him and picked up his pace. Severus met every movement, rolling his own hips and relishing in the feeling of Remus’ hard cock straining against his. He was only one harsh thrust away from falling over the edge, and Remus wasn’t relenting despite his previous warning.
“Fuck, I’m- ah,” Severus tried to warn Remus one final time, but he fell short of finishing his sentence. He came hard, spilling against Remus’ cock and onto his own robes. His head lolled to the side as he panted, riding out the rest of his orgasm. Remus returned to the side of Severus’ throat and bit into the skin there as he reached his own climax. The hot liquid painted Severus’ dick and likely other areas of his trousers and robes.
As they both calmed down, Remus pressed one final kiss to Severus’ mouth.
“And how long have you been waiting to do that?” Severus finally returned the question.
Remus chuckled, “Quite some time now.”
“And only three months ago did I balk-”
“Wait, be quiet,” Remus interrupted. He pressed a clean thumb over Severus’ lips, physically stopping him from talking. They waited in silence a moment longer before Remus whispered, “Footsteps.”
Severus’ stomach dropped. With a wave of his hand and a whispered, “Evanesco,” their cum vanished and they both did up their pants. A moment later, a greasy man unlocked the closet and swung the door open.
“Gentlemen,” Filch’s voice rasped over the first syllable. “Got a bit lost?”
“Stuck, more like it,” Remus corrected, and Severus watched as he tried to limit how much his chest was heaving.
“Peeves told me as much, he found me on the Seventh Floor and said that ‘a surprise’ was waiting for me in this closet,” Filch said. His eyes traipsed over both of their rumpled clothes and halted on a spot on Severus’ neck. No doubt it was a blasted bite mark. “You’re both lucky you aren’t students anymore, I’d have you strung up for this.”
Neither of them came up with a retort. It was exactly what it looked like this time.
“Sorry about your closet,” Remus offered. “Promise it won’t happen again.” He offered the man a calm smile, and Filch screwed his face up at it.
“Of course, gentlemen. I won’t hold you two up any longer.” Filch waved them away and set off in the opposite direction.
Severus was mortified. At least Argus wasn’t a gossip, there would be no wandering eyes or sly remarks from the rest of the staff at Breakfast tomorrow.
Once Filch was out of sight, Remus turned to face Severus. “Well, that was nice,” he said rather awkwardly, “save for the interruption at the end there.”
“Let’s not speak of this again,” Severus demanded as he smoothed his robes over one final time.
After some hesitation, Remus complied. “Agreed.”
But that only lasted until the next time they found themselves alone together.