Posted 3/4/2001

Rating: NC-17

Pairing: Lupin/Snape

Summary: Remus and Severus discover their failing and their strengths when working together on a project.

Distribution: List archives

Feedback: Please, heaven knows I need it. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Author's note: I've decided to keep my two favorite boys trapped in the theater a little bit longer....

"I can't find a damned thing!" snarled Snape. He was scattering paper everywhere, shoving bottles of stuff on already overloaded shelves, stacking cauldrons and spilling powders as he ransacked his own desk in a fury.

"What the devil are you looking for?" asked Lupin. Lupin, sitting in old armchair by the fireplace, had hiked his feet up on the coffee table and was writing on a large piece of parchment.

"For my Dark Potions book. You remember that book, don't you, Lupin?" growled Snape. "Why don't you get off of your lazy butt and help me look for it."

"Because," answered Lupin, "I don't know where it is."

Snape stopped his frantic search to look at Lupin. He shook his head and resumed the search. "I'm sure that answer made sense to you, Remus, but it doesn't find my book. What the devil are you working on anyway?"

"A play," answered Lupin, with pride showing through in his tone. "..and I'm giving the lead part to you, old boy."

"Oh, no....I'm not getting involved with anything you're connected with...especially when it involves my theater."

"Your theater. Fine. The play will survive without you. But I think you'll like it just the same!" answered Lupin.

"I don't think so," grumbled Snape, still rummaging through papers and piles of things on the floor, "Besides, you don't write worth a damned."

"Thanks for the encouragement, Snape. But I'm sure," Lupin continued on in an enthusiastic voice "once you read it, you'll want to do it. And what the devil do you mean I can't write?"

"Just what I said. Aha!" exclaimed Snape, holding up a book. "It was under your stuff, I'll point out. Can you please, Lupin, watch where you throw your junk!?

It had been going on like this for almost a week. Lupin was stay in the old rustic cabin outside of the castle while his room was being remodeled. Snape found himself in the same cabin after an explosion (that a particularly clumsy student was involved in) demolished his room adjacent to the lab.

They only had to last a couple more weeks together - if they didn't kill each other first. And then they could each return to their own orderly worlds.

Snape sat down in a deep cushioned chair that nearly swallowed him up and opened the potions book with a sigh of contentment, but Lupin continued to look at him with a mixture of resentment and amusement on his face.

"Are you going to tell me why I am such a bad writer, Severus, or am I going to have to hold you down and beat it out of you?"

"You wouldn't dare." Snarled Snape.

Lupin continued to glare. Snape finally closed his book with a snap and inhaled deeply.

"Because, you big fairy," answered Snape, "you've got no passion in your blood."

Lupin got up smoothly from his chair and in three long strides was standing in front of Snape, hands on either side of the arm rests, leaning down and in Snape's face.

"I'll show you passion, you little..."

There was a knock.

"Yes," Lupin and Snape answered at the same time. They exchange menacing glances.

"Severus, it's me, Minerva!"

"Oh, for God's sake!" spat Lupin.

Sneering, Snape struggled out of his chair, pushing Lupin out of his way. He walked briskly over to the door and opened it.

"What can I do for you today, M-" Snape stopped when he seen the look on her face. Her lips were pressed into a thin line and teeth were gritted behind them.

"SNAPE!" Accused Minerva, "Your actors are at the theater supposedly getting it ready for a play. Your actors are squabbling like a bunch of first years, Snape. In fact, I don't think that they're working on the scenery at all. They're tearing the place apart!"

"*My* actors? What the devil are you talking about woman?" bellowed Snape.

Snape stood glaring at Minerva and she stood her ground glaring back him. Behind them a soft chuckling could be heard.

"Kids will be kids, Severus." Laughed Lupin. "I'll go and see how they're coming along." Lupin strolled past Snape and Minerva, leaving them both staring at him.

"What are YOUR actors doing in MY theater?!" demanded Snape, stopping Lupin at the door.

"Relax, Snape," Lupin answered sternly, then stole a look at Minerva and winked at her. She blushed. "I'll take care of it". And with the swish of a billowing black robe trailing behind him, Lupin was out the door and gone.

"Oh, great!" bellowed Snape as he spun around and plopped down in the cushioned chair, fingers rubbing aching temples. Minerva, rolling her eyes, softly closed the front door of the cabin and left.

The theater was full of laughter and noise; wood scraping against wood, the smell of paint and glue, and the constant shuffling of feet. Lupin stood at the stage door leaning against the wall, eyes closed, smile on his lips, taking it all in. When he finally decided to proceed the rest of the way in, all activity halted as soon as the first student spotted him.

"This is amazing!" Lupin's voice seemed to boom in the theater, bouncing off of gilded walls. The students looked at each other, smiling, chests swelling in pride. "The set looks great! Let's put down the hammer for a while, thespians, and work on Act One."

As the young actors shuffled to get to their places, Lupin bounded down off of the stage to the second row and took his place in a theater seat, watching with anticipation as the Act began. As lines were spoken, the actors, HIS actors, stumbled over them. They were clumsily expressing what was supposed to be passion. The act was supposed to show anger, fear, tension....anything but this...a clumsy clatter of lost voices.

He let it continue for almost fifteen minutes before standing up, effectively stopping all of the action on the stage. Lupin spoke kindly, "That's enough. That's enough for today. Go home and get some rest. Get some time to yourselves. I'll speak to you later this week."

The students looked at each other inquiringly. They sensed a degree of sadness in Lupin's voice. Slowly they each drifted off of the stage, whispering to one another in reverent tones, shaking their heads, not quite understanding. When they were all gone, Lupin sat back down in his seat gingerly and lowered his face into his hands.

From the shadows of the heavy, velvet curtain, Severus Snape stepped out. "Remus?"

"Don't you dare say another word." Spoke Lupin, almost too softly to be heard. Lupin stood up, walked to the isle, and approached the stairs of the stage. He hesitated for a moment, then climbed them and stood beside Snape surveying the haphazard scenery before them.

"It sucks. I know it. You know it. You were right. I can't write worth a damn. And you were right about why." Lupin continued, "Because I have no passion."

Snape didn't know quite how to respond. This would normally have been the perfect opportunity to torment Lupin, to take advantage of insecurity, of simmering uncertainty, but today he could not.

"You have all of the passion, Severus. You have the heat, the lust, the frenzied touch of lovers. You have the hate and the fire and all that it takes to make a man feel. You have the passion. All I have are empty shadows."

Snape grabbed Lupin's shoulders, holding them hard. "You have the COMpassion, Remus." Snape spoke slowly and deliberately while looking into Lupin's eyes, searching for a lifeline for his lost friend.

"You have compassion for these students, I heard it come from your very mouth when you spoke to them. Stroking them, encouraging them. I could never do that. I would rather kick them down if they didn't do their jobs, but you, you thank them, compliment them, get them to do what you want."

Snape released Lupin's shoulders and brought both hands up to Lupin's face cupping gently.

"They love you and respect you and they yearn to please you. You have more power over them then you realize. You can make them do anything, be anything, feel anything."

Lupin looked at Snape, returning his steady gaze, realization coming into his eyes. "Just what do you have in mind, Severus?" Lupin asked. Snape's intense face slowly broke into a maniacal grin.

Snape released Lupin and walked a few steps away from him, carefully choosing his next words. He stopped and spun around to face Lupin. "Let me take a look at your play, Remus. I'll pour a little of that Heat, you say that I have, into it. Meanwhile, you do your thing with those *actors* of yours. You handhold them, cuddle them, and mold them into real actors. Between the two of us, we'll have those kids of yours producing one hell of a play."

Lupin stared back at Snape unable to speak. He felt like he was on the very edge of making a deal with the devil, and yet he could not resist. "Ok, Severus, the play is sitting there on that chair. You take it, and tear it to shreds if you want. When you're ready for me, let me know. I'll tell the students, if they ask, that it be under construction...just like the rest of my god-forsaken life."

Lupin turned to leave walking slowly off the stage feeling as if he had just given away his first-born. Snape walked swiftly up behind him, catching up to him and grabbing him from behind, arms wrapped around his neck and chest holding him, stopping him in his tracks.

"You have passion as well, Remus," breathed Snape in Lupin's ear, "and heat. I have felt it before. Just because you can't put it on paper doesn't mean it isn't there."

"But I can't feel it anymore, Severus," Lupin replied quietly, whispering in defeat. "I haven't felt it for a long while."

"Let me help you find it," said Snape, breathing the words hotly onto his neck. "I think I remember where we left it last...." he said, teasing.

Snape released his grip enough for Lupin to turn around and face him. There was a sad, tired look in Lupin's eyes. Snape reached his hand to Lupin's face. He touched the fine lines around his mouth trailing fingertips over trembling lips. Lupin parted his lips to speak, but could not find the words. Snape continued to touch pressing himself up against Lupin.

"I can feel it building. Can you?" whispered Snape, speaking so softly it blended in with the winds that howled around the rafters of the old theater.

"Yes," came a strangled reply.

"Let me inside, Remus, inside *you*. Let me feel your passion; I know it's there. I can smell it now, I can feel it..." Snape kissed him deeply on the mouth, tongue slipping inside, exploring. Snape pulled slowly away. "...I can taste it."

Almost breathless, Lupin allowed Snape to undress him, nimble fingers deftly undoing zippers and clasps. Lupin, desperately working Snape's robes down with trembling fingers paused. "Aren't I the one" spoke Lupin, trying to catch his breath, "who is supposed to pull you out of *your* despair, Severus...I seem to be laying down on the job."

"You're not laying down now, Remus," said Snape. He stopped touching Lupin and looked at him sternly. "Lay DOWN, Remus!"

Smiling faintly, Lupin lay down, shakily, on the robes, shirts and pants that lay in puddles at their feet. Snape pounced on him pinning him down kissing him without boundaries, without rules. Lupin pushed Snape away gasping trying to get air. Snape immediately moved to Lupin' neck, biting it, scratching his chest with his nails. Was it pleasure or pain? Lupin's answer was pleasure as he bucked to meet Snape's teeth and animalistic growls.

When Snape entered him it was like a powerful wave of fiery heat for them both. Both lost in passion and lust, screaming each other's names, climbing into each other's souls.

"My God, Severus!" screamed Lupin once, his body trembling, muscles straining and he lifted himself roughly to meet Lupin thrusts, abruptly spilling his seed in a flash of blinding light.

Snape felt Lupin close tight around him and felt the pulse of his thundering orgasm that immediately pushed him to the edge his own. Driving into Lupin, Snape gripped those strong shoulders belonging to his deep, compassionate friend and he met his release as well. Snape collapsed on top of Lupin and buried his face in Lupin's shoulder and wept.

In time, their personal lives were back to normal, each man was back in his own world; Lupin in his book-lined Sanctuary and Severus Snape in his dark, damp, cave of a bedroom, next to the Potions lab. But tonight they were together, side by side. Tonight, the play opened.

As Severus and Lupin sat next to each other in Row Two, their thighs barely touching, the play progressed before them. Snape had barely changed it, but had somehow managed to breathe passion into it. The play literally leaked love and hate and heat and fear. It radiated intensity and vulgarity. It throbbed with wanting and was fringed in insecurities...and was sprinkled with hopes and dreams and guilt. The perfect picture of mankind. It was Lupin's play, but it had Snape's soul. They both knew it and loved it. And neither of them would ever want to change a single thing about it.

-fin