WARNING: This is a slash story, which means it contains male/male erotic content involving consenting adults. If you're not of legal age or are offended by such material, please go find something else to read.

Title: Remus Rhododaktylos
By: Becca
Email: BeccaSnape@aol.com
Rating: NC-17
Category: PWP
Disclaimers: I do not own Severus and Remus. They belong to JKR. I don't intend to make money with this. But there're other, um, things that can be at least equally as satisfying. Fun is one of them.
A/N: The fourth spin-off to Sal Si Puedes. Again, it doesn't fit in the chronology of my series. But imagine it set during a `happy' period of their relationship. Or don't read it as a part of SSP. Just assume that Severus and Remus have been lovers for quite some time. And Remus is also living at Hogwarts. That's all.

To Carrie, for giving This Room a View

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."

(John Keats, "Endymion")

It was one of the rare days when Remus woke up before Severus. He usually was a sound sleeper and he liked to sleep long, quite contrary to his lover who used to rise in the early hours of the day. He would find Severus already dressed, sitting behind his desk most of the mornings, reading, working, sometimes even brewing some potion, cutting things, stirring a cauldron. But today he was still asleep when Remus awoke. Remus couldn't remember the last time that ,had happened.

He propped himself on his left elbow and looked at the sleeping figure next to him. Severus was lying perfectly still on his back, the covers outlining the features of his body and the black hair framing his face. Remus noticed that Severus' hair was a little unruly, and his gaze followed the black lines flowing over the pillow, like rivers in valleys, like spilled wine on a tablecloth. Last nights' sweat had dried and taken some of the shininess from those slowly greying black strands.

Remus smiled. He knew that nightmares had troubled Severus' mind after they had fallen asleep, but he also knew that some of the traces of exhaustion had been left by what his lover used to call his 'good dreams'. They hadn't bothered to shower last night, a quick cleaning spell had removed the sticky liquid of their semen from various regions of their bodies, hands, cheeks, chests, bellies, cocks and from Severus' cleft. For Remus had been granted the bliss to be inside his lover last night. Another rare event.

The smile on Remus' face broadened. Then they had fallen asleep in each other's embrace. From time to time they enjoyed showering together after they had made love, cleaning each other, caressing the other one's body along with the running water, but not last night. Somehow it had seemed more important to keep arms wrapped around one another.

Remus closed his eyes and inhaled the scent that seeped from Severus. Sweat and sleep and some faint note of fatigue, anxiety and satisfaction. Severus' scent. He listened to his lover's breathing, calm and even. It told him that Severus was at peace, utterly at peace, and he allowed himself to be carried away by that sound, musing if he preferred it to the ragged panting he had heard last night when Severus had been lying underneath him and he had stopped all movement. He wasn't sure. He wasn't sure either if he liked the hitch in Severus' breath better that his lover rewarded him with when kissed unexpectedly or the complete pause of respiration when he entered Severus. This steady rhythm of air streaming in and out of Severus' lungs seemed to be preferable for the moment.

When he opened his eyes again, they focused on Severus' face. The sallow skin stood out against the dim light in the dungeon. It had to be very early in the morning, Remus realised, looking around. The hour between night and day, before the sun rises over Hogwarts, the hour of blue light. It was the moment when the contrast of black and white grew weaker and colours began to appear out of the darkness, for he could just barely make out the patterns of gold and orange on his waistcoat that hung over the back of a chair on the other side of the room. Fixing his eyes on Severus' features once more, he saw how the colour of his lover's lips became more distinct as well, a pale shade of red, still slightly swollen from last night's kisses and tender, playful bites.

Remus brought his face closer to those lips and inhaled deeply. The scent of Severus' lips. Last night, Severus had licked his lips and he had bitten them, successfully stifling moans and cries at first but failing as Remus' administrations had grown bolder and more demanding. Then Remus had kissed and licked and teased those lips, smelling and drinking the moans, feasting on the sound of passion streaming from the now silent and relaxed mouth.

He was about to place a kiss on those tempting, rosy lips when suddenly something happened that he had never seen before. A ray of dusty early morning sunlight found its way through the small window high above in the dungeon's wall. Remus hadn't thought it possible that sunlight ever entered Severus' quarters, for the windows were very narrow, mere slits in the thick stone, cuts in an armour that had been erected centuries ago to protect the inhabitants of the castle from even the severest attacks. The sun had risen over Hogwarts and had surely painted the castle's roofs and walls the same rosy hue as Severus' lips.

Remus watched the small patch of sunlight move from the centre of the bed towards the top until it rested on Severus' face like a see-through silk cloth. It sharpened Severus' features and washed almost all the shadows from his face. The lines that were carved into the pale skin were still visible, though. Especially the deep vertical furrow between his brows, but also the thinner wrinkles around his eyes or the sharp ones that led from his nose to the corners of his mouth on each side of his face. Nearly none of them were wrinkles of laughter, but Remus drank in their sight, as he would have enjoyed the well-placed lines of a coal drawing or the minute ink traces covering an ancient parchment.

"SeverusÉ" he whispered. "My beautiful, beautiful SeverusÉ" Lashes black as the legs of a spider, half moon arcs touching marble cheeks. Defiant eyebrows, stained with silver, rising and falling like the silhouettes of slopes against the winter sky. And back to the lips, back to the lips. Only the slightest hint of early morning dew, rosy but pale, curving lines forming neither the shape of a heart nor a freshly broken fruit but his lover's well guarded mouth, stern, pensive, a closure, a wound and a promise.

The sun rose further and the light moved away from Severus' face. Remus tried to hold onto it, to catch it and make it stay, but it moved away and climbed up the wall behind the bed and sneaked out of the narrow opening above them.

He sat up a little and his fingers hovered where the sun had been just seconds ago. He could still feel the warmth radiating from Severus' face and he traced those lines and slopes without making contact with the skin underneath his hands. With slow, careful movements he sketched the features. His hands parted and cupped the face below, not touching it yet but caressing the nose, the cheeks and eyelids and the forehead, the temples and the jaw lines, the chin. Then Remus withdrew his left hand a little and let his right index finger trace the contours of those lips, carefully, carefully, so as not to wake the sleeping face. His fingers followed the lines of Severus' throat as if they wanted to wrap around it, to stroke it, down to the breastbone and the clavicles. They spread and moved to Severus' shoulders, nearly grabbed hold of the upper arms, retreated.

The blanket covered his lover's chest and the rest of his arms and his nipples and the rest of him. Hesitantly he moved his hand back to Severus' face and tenderly touched a cheek. He had seen the fine hairs on it in the sun and he touched only them at first before his fingers brushed lightly against the skin.

Severus stirred and he withdrew. When his lover opened his eyes, the intensity of their gaze drew a low moan from Remus' mouth.

"Remus", his lover muttered. "Touch me, please."

Quickly Remus averted his eyes and shook his head. "I can't." He felt Severus' hand closing around his wrist and heard him ask: "Why not?" There was an anxious note in Severus' voice and when Remus looked at him from underneath his lashes he noticed that Severus' body had tensed and that Severus was holding his breath.

"Because", Remus whispered and freed his hand from Severus' tight grip, then he slowly moved it towards Severus' cheekbone, "because you're far too preciousÉ" His fingers caressed the air close to Severus' skin, the thin layer of warmth, the no-man's land separating their bodies. "IÉ IÉ my touch willÉ you will break. Like china. A thousand pieces."

Once more Severus' fingers wrapped around Remus' wrist. This time the touch was gentle and careful and Severus brought Remus' hand to his lips and kissed his fingertips. "I won't break, Remus. I will *mend*." Remus shivered when his palm made contact with Severus' skin. Severus' hand covered his and stroked its back lightly. "Touch me, Remus. Please, touch me. I want you to touch me."

Hesitantly Remus began to move his hand. He cupped it slightly, letting its form adjust to the rising bone that shaped Severus' cheek, the rise that made the darkness around the tired black eyes seem even deeper and the sockets more hollow. Remus smiled as the thought of defence lines crossed his minds. Without a doubt Severus' eyes were the most private part of his face, as guarded as his mouth, but even less telling than the pale lips as long as Severus wanted them to be like that. But Remus had seen passion in those eyes, love, pain, hatred, disgust, shock, terror and tenderness. Severus had allowed him to witness fear, pity and astonishment, lust and rejection, joy and sadness cloud or brighten his eyes and Remus recalled all those shades of black as he let his fingers stroke the now closed eyelids cautiously. The skin was so very thin, the protection so very fragile and he could see the veins in the lids, a dark shade of blue, small elevations on pale, wrinkled parchment. A secret language that Remus couldn't decipher but which he loved nonetheless.

He lowered his lips until they rested on Severus' eyes, his hands cupped his lover's face and his thumbs kept caressing the cheeks and temples. After he had placed a light kiss on each eyelid, he lifted his head again and continued to trace Severus' features. He didn't try to even out the lines or to smooth them. He let his fingers run along and across them and tried to imprint the words they wrote into his fingertips, to memorise them, to learn them by heart and by skin.

"So preciousÉ" he murmured, his lips close to Severus' ear. "So precious, my love, so wonderfulÉ" His lips moved over Severus' skin while they formed the words, his breath making the fine hair on the now slightly flushed cheeks vibrate and bend. "You're wonderful, Severus, wonderful to touch, so beautifulÉ"

"Yes, Remus, yes, touch me, touch me, yes, touch me everywhereÉ" Severus' voice was hoarse and low, reverberating against Remus' parted lips. He pushed down the blanket and then pulled Remus' head a little closer so their lips finally met. At first they merely brushed against each other, but then Severus opened his mouth and ran the tip of his tongue along the line of Remus' upper lip. "Your lips taste like the early morning dawn", Severus said. "And how can I not brighten up when the sun kisses me awake?" Their kiss deepened and Severus' hands reached for Remus and pulled him on top of himself. He closed his arms around Remus' body and started to stroke his back.

Remus couldn't hold back a moan when their chests touched. He felt how his chest hair curled against Severus' almost hairless skin, he felt the wiry hair bend and fold and he could imagine how Severus would experience that sensation. Shifting a little he exposed his still sensitive nipples to arousing friction. "Look, they're still swollen", he whispered, lifting Severus' hand to touch them. "Look, here, you can still see the mark of your teeth." Severus frowned. "Shh, Severus, it's beautiful, a beautiful markÉ They still long for you, for your touch and your mouth. They always do. I always doÉ"

Severus reached for Remus' neck and brought their mouths together again. He parted Remus' lips with his tongue and caressed his lips, his teeth and his tongue languidly. His teeth caught Remus' lower lip and tugged at it gently. "Would youÉ do you want toÉ would you like to take me again?"

Remus gasped. "I want you to touch me everywhere, Remus. I want to feel your rosy fingers everywhereÉ" He guided Remus hand to his lap. "EverywhereÉ"

Remus' fingers wrapped around Severus' erection and squeezed it playfully. "Everywhere?" He touched the tip of Severus' cock and dipped his finger in the precome already glistening on the pulsing head. Slowly he raised his hand again and licked his finger clean. He kept it in his mouth a little longer, sucking on it in a suggestive way.

"EverywhereÉ" Severus breathed. "Everywhere, Remus, everywhereÉ Oh, pleaseÉ" Their gaze locked and Remus moaned as he saw the desire and longing in his lover's eyes.

"Yes", he muttered, "yes, yes, everywhere, yes, SeverusÉ" As if in trance he parted Severus' legs and knelt between them. He brought his hand down and traced the cleft between the buttocks with his wet finger. When he touched Severus' anus, Severus' hands clutched the blanket and he let out a stifled cry. Remus circled the tight entrance with his finger before he bent down and let his tongue run along Severus' straining shaft, following the prominent vein leading from base to head. Severus arched his hips and Remus parted the cheeks with his thumbs, then he moved a little further down and ran his tongue over the opening, drawing another cry from his lover's lips. "You're still looseÉ" he smiled, looking up at Severus, whose head was thrown back, eyes closed, and whose hands were still fisting the bedclothes. "I can enter you easily, seeÉ" His tongue licked and probed Severus a little longer, then he withdrew and inserted his right index finger. "EasilyÉ still so loose and openÉ" A second finger joined the first and Remus began slowly stretching the opening, scissoring his fingers, curling them, pushing them in and pulling them out, again and again. "So beautiful, SeverusÉ See?"

"Yes, Remus. Yes. Please. Now, please. I'm ready, I want to feel you, my rosy-fingered lover, my love, now, please!" Severus was panting and his face was flushed. He disentangled his fingers from the linen sheet and reached for Remus' face. Pulling him up he spread his legs wider and lifted his hips. "Let me feel you."

Remus reached for the white porcelain jar on the nightstand with trembling fingers and opened it quickly. He dug his fingers into it and coated them deliberately with the clear gel. Suddenly his movements became impatient. He closed his hand around his own erection and covered it with the lubricant by stroking himself twice. Then he guided the head of his cock towards Severus' entrance and positioned himself. He held his breath, as did Severus, and entered his lover in one smooth thrust.

Both men exhaled sharply as soon as Remus was buried in Severus' body. They looked at each other and moaned. Remus remained still except for his one hand roaming Severus' chest and upper arms. Severus tried to buck his hips, but Remus' weight pinned him down onto the mattress. They stayed motionless for another couple of seconds, then Severus suddenly clenched the muscles of his anus. Remus cried out in surprise, but he still didn't move.

"I love you, Severus." He caressed Severus' cheek with his free hand. "I love the way you struggle against me, impatient to moveÉ" Slowly he pulled out a little and stopped again. "I love the way your breath hitches when I move inside of youÉ" And he pushed back in again. Even though it was just a small thrust, Severus' body seemed to be seized by a sudden bolt of electricity. "Just like thatÉ"

"I love the way your breathing quickens when my thrusts grow bolder." In opposition to his words he remained completely still. "Or when you're waiting for me to move. Just like thisÉ"

Severus closed his eyes again and tried to relax. His hands rested on the small of Remus' back. "You're so beautiful like this, Severus. So calm and yet so moved, so touched, so close to me, so closeÉ" He moaned and bit his lips. "I want this to last foreverÉ But I don't think I canÉ IÉ I want to move. I want to touch you, I want to break you and watch you shatter in my armsÉ" He hissed. "Oh, gods, I want to *move*É I need to moveÉ" And he started to pull out, agonisingly slow, almost all the way out, then he paused. "Oh, yes, I *need* to move, I need to be inside you againÉ nowÉ"

Severus cried out as Remus thrust back in, hard. And withdrew. And thrust back in. Harder. He sped up his movements and Severus matched them with thrusts and arching of his own. Severus' hands moved to Remus' buttocks and his nails dug into them and made Remus scream. He pressed his body against Severus and stopped moving.

"WaitÉ pleaseÉ wait, I want to wait a little longer, last longer, just a little longer, please, Severus, don't move, don't moveÉ don'tÉ moveÉ" But he couldn't keep still anymore, he resumed his movements, in and out, faster and faster. "Oh, gods, I *can't*É I can't wait, I can't stopÉ oh, so good, so deepÉ easy, I need toÉ yes, touch you, touch youÉ"

"Don't stop, Remus, don't stopÉ" Severus seized Remus' hand from his chest and lifted it to his lips. "Don't stopÉ" he moaned and kissed the sweaty palm. He entwined their fingers and brought their hands to his throbbing erection. Remus' fingers closed around it and Severus' hand covered his. They started pumping Severus' cock along with the increasing rhythm of their thrusts.

Suddenly Severus' body tensed and he stopped breathing. One more thrust and Remus was on the edge as well. Severus clenched his jaws and tried to cover his mouth with his other hand, but Remus slammed into him once more and he came, screaming Remus' name, his cock twitching in their hands and his come gushing over his belly. Remus felt the muscles in Severus' body tensing, Severus' arse clenching around him, and he climaxed, spilling his seed into his lover's body. Their orgasm seemed to last for eternity. They clutched each other as if they were drowning, moans and cries and hissed words filling the air, finally Remus collapsed on top of Severus, still shuddering.

Severus kept his arms wrapped around his lover until their breathing had become more regular and their heartbeats steadier. After some more minutes had passed, Remus rolled off Severus and lay on his back next to him.

"That was wonderful, SeverusÉ" His voice was still husky and coarse. "Thank you."

Severus smiled. "If I had to chose between the sun and you, I would choose you. You and your rosy fingers. Your love."

"You don't have to choose, Severus. You can have both."