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Matched
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Sallow skin seeming to stretch a little too tightly over a thin face. Small dark eyes that glittered with malice far more often than mirth. Scraggly, oily black hair that hung limply down to the top of black-clad shoulders, several longer strands falling unheeded inside the high collar. A body that was tall and altogether too gaunt, the fact of which was only accentuated by those habitual form-fitting black garments. A prominent, hooked nose, surely the most dominant feature of a face that was certainly never regarded with anything but fear and loathing. The figure in front of the mirror snorted indelicately and shook it's head, about to turn away.
"Never knew you to be vain before, Severus."
"Lupin." No one else spoke to him in that tone, at the same time both respectful and warm, and in this instance, playful as well. Of course, no one else was currently sleeping with him either.
"Remus," the other man corrected easily, stepping up behind him and wrapping his arms around his lover's thin waist. "You'd think after half a year you'd remember what I prefer you to call me. No, don't move, just stay still. What were you contemplating here in front of the mirror, anyway?"
Severus remained motionless as requested, but scowled at the smiling face reflected over his shoulder. "My appearance. Which, I assure you, I do not do often. Perhaps I was simply looking at myself in terms of what you could possibly--"
"What I could possibly see in you? My dear Severus, do you really consider me that shallow? What you look like makes no real difference to me. Besides, if you didn't look the way you do... well, you wouldn't be Severus."
Severus regarded him flatly, obviously unimpressed. "Really."
"Really. It's not like I'm a particularly dashing man, myself. Let's see..." Remus pretended to examine himself critically over Severus' shoulder; Severus rolled his eyes in disdain but waited in any case. "Face is peaky and pale... too many lines around my eyes and mouth... hair all shot with gray... quite a bit more gray than there was six months ago, come to think of it... ow! Er, sorry... body's covered in hideous self-inflicted scars... and to top it all off, a wonderfully elegant wardrobe," he concluded in a laugh, shaking out his patched robe with a flourish. "So you see, we are matched to each other in a way, if that makes you feel better."
"It never bothered me in the first place," Severus muttered darkly.
"Everything is fine then," Remus replied, his tone softer as he moved closer to Severus' back. "I always rather thought we were perfect for each other."
Severus was acutely aware of the feel of his lover's hips pressed against him, the warmth of a face nuzzling into the hollow between his neck and shoulder, teeth gently nipping at the skin there. He turned abruptly, catching Remus off-guard, and lifted the other man's chin higher to accomodate a kiss that lasted long enough to leave them both breathless afterward.
"Ahh... but you know, Severus..." Remus said slowly, looking up at him with a sparkle of mischief in his eyes that Severus had quickly learned to be wary of.
"Yes?"
"Actually... your looksare rather attractive to me. In that strong, defiant, mysterious way you have... How many of your female students do you suppose are secretly fancying--"
"None," Severus snarled, bending down again to silence Remus' laughing mouth with his own.