I Can't Have Anything Nice

Severus is having one of the few good moments he gets in a day, pushed against the wall of an abandoned room in the castle, fingers tangled in the robes of his sort of, maybe, boyfriend. It isn't the first time he had let himself be dragged off to the particular room for this particular activity, and gods willing it wouldn't be the last. The world around him is quiet, except for the sound of their robes rustling against each other, fingers in hair, soft sighs and almost words against lips. He can't imagine a better way to spend his time.

Neither of them are exactly experts at this, he'd kissed Lily once as a child and had gotten some hands on experience with Rosier the first time he was allowed to drink at a Slytherin party, but nothing like this. Nothing as close, as constant, nothing he kept coming back too. But they fit together nicely. So nicely, so finely, he doesn't want to stop. If he could stay in Regulus' arms forever, he would, without a doubt. 

They separate, just a bit, enough for him to groan and for Regulus to dip down to mouth at his neck. He tries not to think about how close they are in height, especially when Regulus isn't exactly the tallest in his class. Instead, he focuses on the warm breaths on his skin, the chill of the air as he opens the top of his robes, hand moving across his skin. Regulus never said anything about how he could still feel his ribs so late in the year and he never said anything about the curse scars that peppered his chest and stomach. 

Severus pulled him back by the hair, careful not to hurt him, to bring Regulus back to his lips. The feeling of a smile against his mouth brought the flush in his cheeks back with a vengeance, the same smile he gave him before bets and during Quidditch games and after they left their little corner to get back to the dorms before curfew. He would do anything for that smile (though he wouldn't admit it). Regulus broke first, pulling away with a peck and laying his head on his chest. 

"Sev," he smiled, looking up at him through long eyelashes and loose hair, running his thumb across his cheek, "Sev, I-"

"WHAT The Actual FUCK."

And, of course, like every other glimmer of light in Severus' life, it gets ruined.

 His heart stops, his gut drops and he kind of wants to die.

"WHATS GOING ON HERE!?" The voice is obnoxiously familiar, one he hears in his nightmares, sleeping and waking. 

It takes him a moment to try and calm himself, to ignore the cold sweat building on his brow, to look over Regulus' shoulder. He sees the exact person he didn't want to, but knew he would, standing in the opened doorway, some ravenclaw girl hanging behind him, looking very much like she wanted to leave. His eyes are wide, taking in the sight of them, disgust so clear on his face it makes Severus want to vomit. Or run away. 

"I thought you said no one comes through here," he doesn't mean for the whisper to sound harsh, but this isn't the best position to be put in.

"I thought no one did, I heard it from-" he tightens his grip on Severus' robes, wincing, "from my brother." The realization that he sort of set them up to get caught isn't a nice one.

It takes Regulus a second to collect himself, hiding his embarrassment or fear, Severus couldn't tell, to turn around, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand like it wasn't obvious what they were doing. He kept in front of him, keeping him as out of sight as possible, even though they've already been caught. 

"Sirius," he starts, standing straight, holding onto his robes nervously, the same way he does on the train platform and before he was sorted, "what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that! I came here to have some fun with a cute girl, not see my brother getting felt up by a creep," Sirius steps closer, eyeing the both of them like rotting meat, "I mean, if I knew you would stoop this low, I never would have told you about this place at all!"

The girl, Severus recognized her just vaguely from charms, mumbles that she should go and books it, not looking back. 

"I-," Regulus stops what he was about to say, rearing back to look his brother in the eyes, "What do you mean stoop this low ?" His hand finds its way to his, holding on tight. 

"I mean, I'm no stranger to trying to get a rise out of our parents, but come on," Sirius sneers, "Cut your hair, buy a bike, you don't have to go kissing up to muggleborns for mom to finally get after you."

Severus isn't surprised he doesn't know about his blood status, Slytherins don't tend to spread things like that without a reason. His hand is being crushed, though. Reg is a lot stronger that he gives himself credit for. He moves forward to press against Regulus' back, crouched low enough that he's basically hiding behind his shoulder.

"You think this is some... game? To mess with mom?" Regulus almost hisses, chilling the air around them, "You think I go around playing with people for kicks? That I use people to get a cheap laugh? Like you?"

"Well, I'd like to assume you have at least some taste." He kept walking closer, arms crossed in front of him, "Or at least some self preservation.  What good do you think is gonna come from hanging off that little freak?"

"It will never cease to amaze me how far you'll go to hurt someone over your own prejudice then pretend you're some bastion of tolerance for sleeping with muggleborns," he scoffed, fingers laced between Severus', "For someone who seems so desperate to ignore his family, you sure do care a lot about who I decide to date."

"I just know that nothing good will come of it!" Sirius was right in front of him, hovering inches above them both, finger twitching towards his wand, "How do you think moms gonna feel when she finds out her precious son is shaking up with an ugly, dirt poor little greaseball, huh?"

"I don't know, Siri, how did she feel when you brought Remus home?"

Sirius moved to grab at them, to do what, he didn't want to know, but Regulus pulled them away, weaving through the desks and chairs, just a step ahead of their attacker. They hopped around the border of the classroom, trying to avoid Sirius' anger, too caught up in not getting caught to process whatever he was yelling at them.

They were running out of obstacles to sidestep and were across the room from the door. Through his mental screaming, Severus looked around for an exit strategy, wishing desperately that they were old enough to apparate, before sliding his eyes to the window. He hopped up onto one of the windowsills, kicking open the glass and hopping out, dragging Regulus with him with a rushed apology midair. This wasn't his first time escaping out a window, not even his first on the second floor, but it was never exactly fun. 

They fumbled down into the bushes growing against this side of the castle, thankful to whoever allowed the conveniently placed plants and that Sirius was too chicken shit to go after them this once. Severus rolled out, not giving his body a chance to scream at him, pulling Regulus up with him. He brushed them both off, hissing in sympathy at the scrape on his... boyfriend's? knee. 

"That was quite a fall, Sev," he smiled, picking a leaf from his hair, not allowing them a moment of silence, "I don't know how I'll make it back to the common room."

He held back a snort, turning like he was going to walk away, "Reg, you weigh more than me, I'm not going to carry you." 

"Come on, just this once? Sev!"