Entry tags:

fic, severus/lucius

Merry Smutmas, lidane!

To: lidane
From: regarde

Title: The Arrangement
Rating: R
Pairing: Severus Snape/Lucius Malfoy
Disclaimer: Characters are most emphatically not mine.
Summary: Lucius Malfoy, for the first time in his lushly privileged life, acutely and intensely hates everything that he has become. Now, he has only one person to whom he can turn to right things.
Warnings: None
Author's notes: Happy holidays, lidane! Thanks to R to making sure all my nouns verbed, and also for being awesome. Mistakes are mine, not hers, because I like commas a whole lot more than I should.

There were things that Severus Snape enjoyed, he wouldn't lie. Granted, most people who even vaguely knew him would be shocked to know that he enjoyed anything, that he was truly more than a vicious shell of a man. He enjoyed a good drink, a good book, a comfortable armchair. Simple things, really; he wasn't extravagant by any means and had no intention of starting down that path this late in life.

He also had to admit that he terribly enjoyed seeing Lucius Malfoy put in his place. They'd always been competitive, the two of them, and a very vindictive part of Severus liked knowing that Lucius had cocked things up, and cocked them up good.

As the saying goes, it's good to be king.

*

A plague of Malfoys. Severus didn't know how they all found out where he lived, but he swore that he was going to make his home damn well unplottable, just as soon as he got enough time alone to actually do it. Anything to keep them from spontaneously showing up on his doorstep demanding favours.

This time, it was Lucius on his doorstep, dishevelled and distracted and looking around a bit in disbelief at where Severus chose to live. He didn't say anything for a moment, a bit overwhelmed by the fact that he was here, here, prepared to grovel to Severus Snape of all people.

Severus eyed Lucius carefully, "Oh, for Salazar's sake, just come in," Severus said, exasperated, when Lucius spent an eternity just stammering at him, not moving to actually enter the dingy little house. He reached out, seizing Lucius by the wrist, and pulled him inside. The younger man twitched his wand at the door, swinging it shut and re-setting the wards.

Lucius stood in the middle of the room, clutching awkwardly at his robes, as though if the hem of them touched the floor of Severus' ugly Muggle house, the clothing would be irrefutably contaminated. If Severus didn't know any better, he'd think that this confused, beaten-down man wasn't actually Lucius; most unfortunately, he did know better, and he'd seen exactly what Lucius' failures as of late had wrought.

"Sit." Severus gestured at the sofa, and Lucius followed the motion of Severus' hand, mechanically going to the sofa and sinking down on it. "What is it?"

Lucius stared blankly for a bit. This was not the Severus that Lucius had spent years idolizing, looking up to with some sort of twisted hero worship. This Lucius was broken and battered and, very clearly, wanted out. He recognised that look of desperation in Lucius' eyes, and he had to admit that it frightened him, just a bit. He'd seen it in a handful of other Death Eaters who came up with genius ideas to leave the Dark Lord's service, and Severus knew that nothing ever ended well for those poor folks.

"Severus," Lucius finally said, pulling himself up straighter on the sofa, trying to recapture that little bit of self-righteous arrogance that he'd let slip away. He folded his hands in his lap and looked squarely at the other man, though he couldn't quite hide the hollow look around his eyes. Not any more, at least. "Severus, this is all wrong."

"Ah." Severus arched an eyebrow. He folded his arms over his chest, though he didn't make any move to encourage the other man to continue. The two men were silent for a while; clearly, Lucius was expecting Severus to immediately bow down and rectify the entire situation without prompting. Well, Severus was done playing that game; he'd finished playing it ages ago.

"Fix it," Lucius demanded abruptly, brows furrowed. "You're in the position to fix it."

"I can fix nothing." Severus paced slowly across the floor, eyes ever on Lucius as he moved. "I can offer no advice to the Dark Lord which will... alleviate your misery." He gestured vaguely at Lucius' dishevelled form.

"Yes you can!" Lucius clutched tightly at his knees. "He listens to you, now. You can help him see--"

"I can help him see nothing!" Severus ceased pacing and turned to stare at Lucius. "You of all people understand this! He is not someone who can be manipulated by you or I. He has made his mind up on you and your family, Lucius, and I can do nothing."

"You can do nothing, or you will do nothing?" Lucius canted his head to the side, looking sharply at Severus.

"Does it matter?"

Lucius pursed his lips. "No," he responded finally. "You spin your lies with me, now, as surely as you ever spun them with anyone else."

Severus laughed bitterly. "Is that what you think?" Severus lowered himself to sit in the armchair opposite Lucius. "You think I lie to you." He looked seriously at the other man. Well, it wasn't that far from the truth; lately, Severus had been keeping as many details as he had in his head as far away from Lucius as humanly possible. There were many things that the other man had no need to know.

"Just like that," Lucius said, "a lie, blatantly." A familiar little half-smile crept across his lips, though it didn't quite reach his eyes any more.

"Lucius, may I speak plainly?" Severus asked, reclining in his chair. He asked out of habit; while his stature had far outstripped Lucius' in the Dark Lord's service, he also keenly remembered a time when Lucius could have had him eliminated for daring to offer his unsolicited opinion about anything.

Lucius didn't respond, aside from a short grunt. Severus took that as a no, really, but he pressed on regardless.

"You have used up all of your chances with the Dark Lord, I think," Severus said. "Lucius, his displeasure with you knows no bounds. I have tried to speak reason to him on your behalf, but he does not listen." As if the Dark Lord would listen to reason in this matter, as it stood.

"Well, do it again," Lucius insisted, as though if Severus simply pestered the Dark Lord often enough, his low opinion of the Malfoy family would suddenly change. "He will listen to you."

Severus snorted derisively. "Not on this matter, Lucius, believe me." Severus folded his arms over his chest.

"Fix it!" Lucius demanded, sitting up rigidly, looking for a moment as though he'd recaptured all of the passion that had slowly seeped out of him ever since he returned from Azkaban. "You must fix it."

"Lucius, I cannot fix anything. Perhaps you could ply the Dark Lord with a word and a promise, but I can do no such thing."

"You cannot, or you will not?" Lucius looked outraged.

Severus sighed. "Does it particularly matter to you?" He suspected that it didn't; Lucius would be irrationally outraged over this no matter what. The older man was running out of battles to fight, so he would apparently just fight Severus on everything now. "If I cannot sway him, you will be furious because I am not exerting this power you believe I have. If you believe I will not try, then..." His voice trailed off and he shrugged. "What would I have to gain from you returning to your position of favour, Lucius? My fortunes, if you've not noticed, have been rather improved since your spectacular downfall, my friend." Severus knew he was goading Lucius; it was part of the plan he was forming in his head.

"What would you have to gain?" Lucius snorted indignantly. "What would you have to gain?" The older man stood up abruptly, taking on a bit of the arrogance and self-righteous anger that had coloured his personality for so many years. He crossed the gap between sofa and armchair rather quickly and towered over Severus, who made no effort to move, which, of course, irritated Lucius even more.

Lucius reached down, seizing a handful of Severus' shirt and hauling him to his feet. "How long have we known each other, Severus?" he asked lowly.

"A very long time, Lucius," Severus responded, glancing at Lucius' fingers fisted in his shirt.

"And how long have I been making transactions worthwhile for you?"

"A very long time, Lucius," Severus repeated tiredly. He knew where this was going.

Both men were silent for a while, Lucius' fingers twitching against the fabric of Severus' shirt. Severus' arms hung limply at his sides, and the two men simply glared at each other. This was... well, this was normal. This was how things like this always worked between them.

In the end, it wasn't really clear who moved first, whether Severus gave in to the unspoken tension that always seemed to linger between them, or if Lucius decided to see if he could just work his charm on Severus. But they both moved, and really, maybe they both moved at the same time, but their lips crushed together, teeth clicking with the impact. There was no passion in that kiss, or at least, certainly no love, but there was years of history, and perhaps just a hint of desperation, as if Lucius knew that perhaps this really would be his last chance to right the mess his life had become.

It occurred to Severus as he stood there, hands awkwardly at his sides, that perhaps this is why Lucius had come to see him: not some desperate need to demand of Severus the impossible, but because Lucius had simply used up his welcome everywhere else, with his miserable countenance and his impossible demands, and perhaps Severus was the last person left now who could remind Lucius that after all this, he was still alive. Well, that Severus could do. He might not be able to convince the Dark Lord to look even the smallest bit more favourably upon Lucius, but if this transaction were to take place, then why shouldn't they both at least somewhat benefit from it?

Severus, finally making a decision to let this thing go where it wished, raised his hands up, fingertips pressing lightly against Lucius' chest. He didn't dare get too close, not without Lucius' express permission, but he was also too old and tired and perhaps a little too needy to just stand there and let this happen without any of his input. He deepened the kiss, letting one hand fall over the clasp of Lucius' cloak. "Will you make my efforts truly worthwhile, Lucius?" Severus whispered the words against the other man's lips, barely breaking apart long enough to truly speak.

"So long as there are eventually results," Lucius cautioned. One hand fell away from Severus' shirt to tip the other man's chin up so that their eyes met.

"I guarantee you nothing," Severus said flatly. "I never have." Their arrangements usually came with the understanding that Severus would achieve results or suffer the consequences, but with Lucius' wand destroyed as surely as his morale, Severus didn't fear much for his life. For the first time in years, Lucius didn't frighten him any more. If anything, Severus felt an overwhelming pity for him, this former golden god who had fallen so far. "I guarantee nothing," he repeated, "but you shall make this worthwhile nonetheless." Severus imagined that his logic was fairly sound here. It always was. He carefully unfastened the clasp of Lucius' cloak, slipping it from the other man's shoulders and letting it fall to the floor. That's what cleaning charms were for anyway, not, he imagined, that Lucius had ever used one before.

They looked at each other for another long moment before this time moving in tandem to kiss again, and this time, this time, there was a little more than desperation in the kiss. This time, it was a reminder of years past, of late nights and elf-made wine and days before everything went all to hell. Lucius' fingers pulled at Severus' shirt, popping the buttons easily. A few buttons fell loose and pinged to the floor, but they went unnoticed as Lucius pushed the shirt off of Severus' thin frame.

Severus was a bit more cautious with Lucius' clothing, fingers deftly working at the buttons and clasps of his shirt and robes. He pushed Lucius' shirt off of his shoulders, expensive fabric slithering down his arms and catching at his elbows. The older man shifted for a moment, allowing the shirt to fall away to the floor, before he pulled Severus in close for a kiss, hard and long and demanding. Their bodies pressed together, and Severus groaned a bit at the sudden movement, at Lucius' warmth and hardness against him.

This wasn't how things were supposed to be; Severus wasn't supposed to be driven to distraction by a man who'd lost all of his power the second that he cocked things up and wound up in Azkaban. But old habits died hard, as the saying went, and this was one old habit that Severus had never really been able to quit.

Lucius wasted no time in dropping his hands to Severus' trousers, fingers tearing at the buttons that held them up. He pulled viciously and pushed Severus' trousers and pants down, the fabric puddling at Severus' ankles. "Sofa," he said roughly, jerking his head at the furniture and releasing his hold on Severus.

Severus stepped out of his clothing, kicking it aside, and walking to the sofa. He was cold and mildly uncomfortable with the extended nudity for something that wasn't even intimate; it was just a means to an end, fucking for a purpose, no matter how misguided that purpose truly was. He stood awkwardly at the sofa, waiting to see what Lucius wanted him to do, precisely.

Lucius paused to pick up Severus' fallen shirt, slipping the other man's wand from the hidden pocket inside. He pressed the wand into Severus' hand, and then spun Severus around and pressed him up against the back of the sofa. "Here," he said lowly, voice taking on a dark colour as he stood behind Severus. Severus twitched his wand once, glad that Lucius was wandless, because his preparation charms were awfully ineffective. If anything was going to go right with this, it would probably be solely because Severus did it himself.

"Good," Lucius said when Severus sighed and dropped his wand on the sofa. Lucius buried his face in the crook of Severus' neck, teeth grazing the other man's skin as he trailed his fingers down his spine, feeling the ridges of bone bump underneath his fingertips. He dropped his fingers lower, index finger nudging for entrance.

"Go," Severus breathed, elbows resting on the sofa as he pushed back against Lucius. "Go, go." Lucius cocked an eyebrow, biting lightly at Severus' earlobe, before pressing his finger in swiftly. Severus hissed, eyelids falling tightly shut, as his body yielded around Lucius. It had been a terribly long time since he'd been in this position last, but he wasn't about to let that get in the way of anything.

Lucius started a slow rhythm, firm and steady, and Severus matched it, pressing back against Lucius' hand. "More," Severus said, knowing that he had to call the shots or else Lucius would just take his grand old time to get anything done. Severus wasn't interested in this transaction taking all day. He had other issues to attend to.

Fortunately, Lucius complied, slipping a second, and then soon, a third finger in, filling and stretching Severus. The other man was largely silent save for the sound of his ragged breathing as he fucked himself on Lucius' hand, canting his hips just so and gasping when a little shock coursed through his body.

Lucius' tongue darted out, wetting dry lips as he watched Severus move against his hand. With his free hand, he freed his own cock from his trousers, not bothering to push them down any further than really necessary.

"Now," Severus said, feeling demanding, because if Lucius was just going to stand there and not actually go through with this, well, Severus wasn't interested in being held responsible for his actions. "Fuck, Lucius, now." He pressed back against the other man's hand again, just for good measure.

"Ah," Lucius said, a slight smile crossing his lips. He dropped his hand away, and Severus bit back an undignified little whimper, before replacing the fingers with his cock. Both men hissed as Lucius pressed in, burying himself slowly inside of the other man.

This may not have been the way that Severus particularly wanted to reconnect with Lucius after so long, but it was... acceptable, he thought as he let his body grow accustomed to the other man's girth. Slowly, Severus started to move against Lucius, taking what he wanted from the other man before Lucius could do much else.

Lucius matched Severus' rhythm and dropped his hand around between Severus and the back of the sofa, fisting the other man's cock in his hand. He stroked Severus in time with his own movements, and soon, they both groaned and cursed together, bodies moving in tandem against one another.

Severus' back arched as Lucius' cock brushed inside of him just so, and he closed his eyes. He gasped, moving more quickly and urgently against Lucius. It had been so long, and he was already so close, and he found that he didn't exactly care that this would probably be over much sooner than Lucius would prefer it, at least.

The older man cursed lowly, fucking Severus hard, trying to bury himself deeper and deeper. His hand moved against Severus' cock, and he groaned, pressing his forehead to Severus' shoulder. "Fuck," he hissed, teeth closing down on Severus' neck as he bore down against the other man. Lucius suddenly thrust forward quickly, groaning as his body went still against Severus'. His orgasm took him by surprise, and he came hard and fast, crying out softly as he jerked against Severus. The other man groaned and twined his fingers with Lucius' around his cock, working to bring about his own release. Severus bit down hard on his lower lip and pushed into their joined hands. He jerked forward a few more times, and then took a deep, shuddering breath as he came, Lucius' name falling lightly from his lips.

Severus pitched forward, sagging against the couch as Lucius leaned heavily against him. They were silent for a while, both of them trying to regain their respective levels of composure and dignity. Lucius slowly slipped out of Severus and moved away after a while. "You will try?" he asked quietly as he took Severus' wand from the sofa, waving it over his body. It took a few times to get the wand to comply with his order, but eventually he was cleaned, and he tossed the wand back down, going then to pull up his trousers and retrieve his clothes.

"I will," Severus said, voice rough with disuse. "Though I still cannot promise--"

"You will try," Lucius said firmly, buttoning his shirt and tucking it back in to his trousers.

"Yes," Severus said resignedly, picking up his wand and cleaning himself and the mess he'd made against the sofa. He crouched to the floor, picking up his discarded clothes and slipping back into his trousers.

"That is all I need to know," Lucius said, straightening his shirt and swinging his cloak over his shoulders. He looked then like the old Lucius, the confident one, the malicious and greedy and inventive Lucius who could get whatever he wanted.

Severus thought, looking at the Lucius that now more closely resembled the one he'd known and cared for so long ago, that perhaps he would try, just a bit harder than he'd anticipated, just to keep Lucius from being his own demise. He said nothing as he redressed, carefully spelling the fallen buttons back on to his shirt.

Lucius nodded curtly at Severus, and they looked at each other for a while as if there was something more to be said, but really, truly there wasn't.

"I will tell you if I am successful," Severus said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Good," Lucius said, pursing his lips and glancing towards the door. "Good luck, old friend." He looked at Severus, a curious look on his face, before turning and leaving, door clicking closed silently behind him.

Would Severus try? Maybe. Maybe he thought, just a bit, that he owed it to Lucius, after all they'd been through together. He'd consider it. For now, though, he was more interested in sprawling out, rather inelegantly, on the couch.

It was just that sort of day.