Title: Odeon Leicester Square: May 25, 1980
Author: westernredcedar
Pairing: Remus/Severus
Rating: mild NC-17
Warnings: off-screen violence discussed
Themes/kinks: Pheromones, insufflation (if blowing in ears counts...?), public sex
Word count: ~2000
Summary: Remus doesn’t need to be able to see in the dark cinema. He can smell Severus anywhere.
Author’s Notes: Thank you to the wonderful blpaintchart for the beta. Sorry my fic is so short this month! This is related to another fic of mine, Why Severus Snape Might Have to Shout “Yoda” in the Midst of Battle, that I wrote for bronze_ribbons, but you certainly do not have to read that one to read this one! This stands alone.
Oh, and one more Important Fact: The Empire Strikes Back premiered in London at the Odeon Leicester Square on May 21, 1980. :D





The theatre was already darkened when Remus finally made his way inside, but he was able to walk directly towards Severus. The sullen man was hunched down in the last seat in the corner of the last row.

Remus didn’t need to see. He could smell him.

Severus’s scent, musky, sour, herbal, and sharp, cut like a...well, like a sabre through the popcorn and sticky sugar odour that filled the cinema. It wasn't a good smell, but inhaling it was like a kick to the core of Remus's being. Remus had never told Severus how easily he could identify him by the telltale chemistry of his body; Severus was paranoid enough already. Once, the year previous, Remus had been stopped on the street by the smell, and followed the trail of alluring scent markers along the crowded pavement for five and half blocks until he stumbled into a surprised and disgruntled Severus, trudging in the rain towards his flat.

As Remus eased past the knees of their fellow cinema-goers, Severus pulled his wool coat out of the seat next to him, his only acknowledgment that he knew Remus had arrived to join him. A loud fanfare announced the beginning of the film just as Remus took his seat.

“Sorry I’m late. The line was very long,” Remus whispered, now close enough that his head was swimming in Severus’s scent, making him dizzy.

Severus was quiet, but in the thin light from the screen, Remus could see him roll his eyes.

“These are the perfect seats,” Remus continued in his quiet voice, “for us.”

“Indeed.” Severus’s hands were folded maddeningly in his lap.

“How did you…?” Remus stopped and gave Severus a long stare, his eyes narrowed. “Severus, you didn’t…arrive early and wait in line, did you?”

“Shhh!” A balding man the row in front of them spun in his seat and held one finger to his lips.

“Sorry!” Remus whispered. Severus already had his wand out, held low and out of sight of the audience members surrounding them, and Remus could feel the cool rush of Severus’s unique sound muffling spell surround them.

“You are upsetting the Muggles, you uncouth canine,” Severus sniped, tucking his wand up his sleeve.

“You did wait in line, didn’t you?” Remus said with a grin, shaking his head. “You git. How long have you been here? I have no interest in seeing that piece of trite drivel, you said. I should have known…”

“Shhh!” Severus said, his finger to his lips as well, his hiss drowned out by the beeps of an Imperial probe echoing from the screen. Severus had not yet looked towards Remus; his dark eyes were fixed on the screen.

“You think you are going to get to watch the film, do you?” Remus asked, one hand sneaking past the armrest and resting on Severus’s knee. Severus jerked away.

“That is the point of being at this miserable event, Lupin.”

Remus leaned over until his lips were almost touching Severus’s ear. “Is it? I thought seeing me was the point,” he replied, letting his warm breath tickle into Severus’s sensitive ear before sucking in his soft ear lobe and taking a nibble.

Severus shoved Remus back into his own seat with one arm, still keeping his eyes on the snowy landscape projected in front of them. “Get off. It’s a silencing charm, not an invisibility cloak, you idiot,” he snarled.

Remus looked next to him, where a Muggle couple, the only people they could possibly bother, were staring in unblinking fascination at the screen in front of them, shoving popcorn in their mouths.

“No one is watching, Severus.” Remus let his wandering hand ease behind Severus’s thin neck. The feel of his smooth skin was almost as stimulating as the scent that filled Remus’s nostrils, and made him reckless. He applied gentle pressure, attempting to pull Severus towards him and into a kiss, but Severus let out a startled hiss and pulled away so violently that Remus was sure there was more to his resistance than his natural stubbornness.

“What’s the matter?” Remus asked, suddenly serious, sitting up in his seat.

“Nothing.” But Severus was rubbing his own neck, and when the screen flashed bright again, Remus was able to see the dark bruises like fingerprints impressed against the pale skin of Severus’s throat.

Remus inhaled hard, the overwhelming intoxication of Severus’s scent now enhanced by a surge of anger that blasted through him. Every hair on his body was standing on end.

“Who did that to you?” he asked, keeping his voice steady, leaning closer and attempting to run his fingers over the ugly bruises. Severus knocked his hand away. On the screen, Remus’s favorite characters, Leia and Han, were sniping at each other, and Remus didn’t even care.

Severus’s dark gaze finally turned towards Remus. “I did, Lupin. I was careless. I brought the trouble on myself, so take that vengeful fucking look off your face. It’s pathetic.”

Remus lost all sense of where he was for a moment, grabbing Severus by the arm and yanking him around in his seat. He could smell Severus’s anger simmering below his skin, adding an acidic tang to the air. “You are not supposed to get yourself hurt, Severus. You promised.”

“I am not hurt,” Severus said, his voice stiff and calm, in a way that bordered on danger. “You are missing your dear Captain Solo, so I suggest you sit back and…”

Severus was not able to complete his suggestion, however, as Remus smothered out his sarcasm by grabbing Severus's jaw and pulling him into a violent kiss, hoping in the deepest part of his mind that no one was glancing over at them at this moment, but desperate to relieve the throbbing pressure that had been building in him since the first moment he caught Severus’s scent as he walked into the theatre.

Severus pulled back, breathing deeply, and Remus let his lips drift down onto his injured throat, dragging kisses over the livid wounds. “Someone will see, Lupin,” Severus hissed. “Sit. Back.” He shoved him away, but Remus could both smell his arousal and sense his regret at their separation. Remus flopped back into his seat, crossed his arms over his chest, and attempted to focus in on the moving images on the screen. Severus similarly cocooned himself in his own arms, and crossed his legs. Remus sighed, his heart pounding, his mind lost in a haze of scent, his body eager for touch and taste. But that would have to wait, it seemed.

Just as he was finally relaxing and becoming vaguely interested in where Luke was and whether he would survive the night out in the ice and snow, Remus felt a light hand come to rest flat on his lower belly, and then inch lower. He glanced over at Severus, who was watching the film with intense focus, as if his fingers were not currently pulling open the buttons of Remus's jeans.

"No more kissing," Severus muttered, not turning his head.

Remus grinned. "Your coat," he whispered, his body immediately back at attention. Without a word, Severus passed the coat across their laps like a blanket.

Remus inhaled and closed his eyes. He hoped Luke would be fine without him.

Severus's hand crept under the coat and back to work on Remus's flies. Remus let himself slide down in his seat to give Severus further access, while also snaking his own arm under Severus's and grappling at the growing bulge at Severus's crotch. He tried not think about Severus's unknown assailant, but his blood rushed through his veins when he pictured those bruises coloring Severus's throat. As always when they managed to find a few moments together, Remus wondered how they were both possibly going to survive this damn war.

"I told you you were here to see me," Remus muttered, letting his fingers trace the shape of Severus's prick under the thin fabric of his trousers.

"I do not need to see you at all, Lupin. I'm watching this frivolous film, in case you hadn't noticed." Remus groaned as Severus pulled his prick free of his confining pants and wrapped his long fingers around him, giving him a firm stroke. The couple next to them continued to chew their popcorn.

"You loved the first one," Remus replied, reaching down to cup Severus's balls.

Severus did not reply, just gave Remus's prick an extra tug that made him jump a little in his seat.

"You did!" Remus said, his breathing growing strained.

"The dialogue was tolerable," Severus replied, his voice husky as Remus continued to gently knead and rub at him through his clothes.

Remus would have laughed at him if his mind and body were not rapidly becoming completely overwhelmed by the rough, rapid rhythm of Severus bringing him off under the coat.

"Fuck, Severus..." Remus moaned, and opened his eyes just as a crazed snow monster of some sort flashed on the screen. Remus yelped, and the added scare took him closer to the edge. Severus paused for a moment to spit into his own palm, still feigning focus on the film, before he brought his slick hand back down to Remus's weeping prick, and used his wiry arm strength to settle into the fast pace that Remus loved.

Remus hovered on the edge of orgasm for a long moment, his prick aching and shocks of pleasure radiating through him to his fingertips. Not losing any of his rhythm, Severus leaned over and exhaled hard into Remus's ear, the warm breath and the nearness of his agonizing, seductive scent tightening Remus's balls. The screen flashed bright light into the theatre again, and Remus pictured hot hands closing over Severus's throat, marking him, and then he was coming, coming, pulses of sticky spunk landing in his belly and Severus's hand and on the inside of the coat.

On screen, Chewbacca gave a loud and passionate howl, and Remus heard himself echoing him, hoping Severus's muffling spell held. Remus let his head drop against the back of his seat, his breath coming in deep huffs, aftershocks of his orgasm making his body twitch.

Sneaking a peep at Severus, Remus smiled. He was watching the screen with a stern gaze, and no one glancing at him would ever imagine his hand was still slowly massaging Remus's softening prick in the seat next door.

"I didn't finish you off," Remus whispered, pulling himself upright, and moving his hand up to Severus's flies.

"Shhh! I'm trying to watch this, Lupin," Severus sniped, knocking his hand away. Then he leaned over, and Remus had to shut his eyes against the tide of scent that washed over him, Severus's thick, heady fragrance. "That is for later," he whispered in his deep tones. "I hear the end of this film is worth waiting for, and I paid good money..."

Remus turned his head and caught Severus's lips in mid-sentence, and this time, Severus didn't complain when Remus let the kiss linger. When Remus broke off the kiss at last, he ran his fingers over the marks on Severus's throat and said, "I'd kill whoever did this to you, you know."

Severus grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his neck with his hot, firm grasp. His eyes met Remus's in the dark. "Which is why you will never find out," he muttered.

On the screen, Han was gathering Luke up from the snow, cradling him in his arms.