Thank you to I Got Tired of Waiting for doing yet another excellent job on beta reading my story.
Communication
By, Redrum
"Oh, yes! Right there! Harder, harder!"
Harry frowned, wondering if Severus was experimenting with another voice altering potion, because, surely, he wouldn't have brought home one of them now would he?
Cautiously walking forward, he reached out and nudged the door open. Leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, Harry watched the two men on the bed, controlling his expression to remain impassive.
Severus had obviously complied with the order and was now thrusting roughly into the nameless brunet beneath him. "Ohhh... so fucking -- uh. So big!" This man sure was vocal. "Oh Merlin, oh yes!" he hissed, arching back against Severus, his hands curling around one of the pillows, Harry's pillow in fact, as he buried his face in it.
Harry resolved to burn the now tainted object as soon as possible.
"Come. Now," Severus breathed, his rich voice oozing seduction, his hips pumping shallowly as he reached his own orgasm. The nameless man came soon after the order.
"Finally," Harry snapped, crossing the room to stand by the bed, nose crinkled at the smell of sex. Severus didn't seem surprised by his entrance as he pulled out of the young man and moved to lie down on his back.
"Get out," Harry ordered, addressing the other sweaty man. Blue eyes shot up to meet his, impossibly wide in their surprise.
"Harry P-Potter," he whispered.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm the Boy-Who-Lived-Again. Now get the fuck out of our house."
The brunet scrambled off the bed, running around and collecting his clothes before the slamming of the door announced his exit.
Harry aimed his wand at the bed and Severus and performed the strongest cleansing spell he knew. Severus grimaced slightly in discomfort at the rough spell.
Shedding his clothes, he flung them to the floor carelessly. Harry grabbed his pillow and promptly burnt it, cleaning away the ashes with a flick of his wand. He stole Severus' large and plump pillow out from underneath the man's head and put it on his side of the bed. Harry slipped under the covers, back turned to his older lover, who continued to lie naked on top of the comforter.
"The next time you fuck someone, kindly do it somewhere else. Preferably not in our house," Harry spoke quietly, his eyes fixed on the nightstand where his glasses took up residence. His hand curled in a loose fist under his jaw.
"It was spur of the moment. And since when do I need your permision as to where I can sleep with someone?"
"Not in the house," was all Harry said, voice weary.
Severus was silent for sometime before he shimmied under the sheets and rolled towards Harry, curling his body around the smaller, tense, frame. "Why must you sulk?" the older man snapped when Harry didn't respond as he usually did by burrowing closer.
"Because it's hard to want to be near you when I just saw you fuck another man."
"He doesn't mean anything, you know that. At least, if you possessed half a brain you would. We agreed--"
"No!" Harry exclaimed, furious. "No, you are the one who came up with your stupid idea of 'no locks on the door.' You're the one who said we both needed our freedom; I didn't decide anything."
"Of course you did!" Severus scoffed defensively. "What else do you do when you go out every night? No, don't answer that. I don't want to hear any idiotic excuses you might come up with."
Harry rolled over, pushing Severus onto his back as he loomed over him. "I don't fuck--or get fucked--by anyone but you, you greasy git! You're the one who jumped to your own conclusions, even after you told me I needed to get out more so I could stop dwelling on the war, since it's in the past and long since over."
Severus scowled up at him, dark brown irises calculating in their appraisal of him. "What do you do when you go out, then?" his voice was pitched low, obviously no longer wishing to continue their argument.
Harry sighed, letting his upper body rest on top of Severus'. "I go to the local Muggle pub and listen to the music." Severus blinked, disbelief clearly written across his face as his upper lip curled. "They have nightly acts and some bands are even pretty good. But it's something that lets me relax and stop thinking about the wizarding world and everything associated with it."
Severus' arm wrapped around Harry's waist. He was silent for several moments. "You go to a pub." Harry nodded. "By yourself." He nodded again. "Why didn't you tell me this when I said that nonsen-- when I said what I did?"
"Because you didn't give me a chance to. And you seemed as if you had a reason to want to... sleep around."
Harry let his cheek rest against the lightly furred chest. Long fingers combed through his hair silently for a moment.
"Essentially... I cheated on you," Severus murmured.
Harry moved his head slightly in agreement.
Severus sighed softly. "You're not angry?"
Harry raised his head, meeting the other's gaze. "Of course I am! But I figured that you hadn't got much chance to sleep around when you were younger... so now was as good a time as any."
Severus frowned, causing the permanent crease between his brows to deepen. "That is the most idiotic explanation I have ever heard come out of your mouth, Potter. I'm old enough to know what I want. I'd merely thought, with you being in your prime, that you would want the... experience before settling down with me." Dark brows furrowed further. "At first, I didn't... sleep with anyone, but I started getting jeal-- agitated at the thought of you sleeping with someone else, so I finally gave in to an old friend's plea and slept with him. Since then, I've slept with quite a few men, but this is the first time I've brought someone home."
Harry shook his head with a soft sigh. "I think we lost communication somewhere along the way." He leaned forward, giving a sloppy kiss to the tip of Severus' large nose.
"I despise saying it, but you're right." He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, wrinkling said nose in distaste.
"So, we're in agreement then? No more sleeping with other people and no more keeping our thoughts to ourselves?"
Severus smirked up at him. "You're asking to be insulted each and every day?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "You do that anyway, with or without my permission."
The other man's thin lips curled in a soft and rare smile. He leaned up, but his attempts were halted by a wand aimed at his mouth followed by a whispered cleansing spell and the simple words, "I don't want to taste the other man." His cheeks flushed lightly, nearly invisible on his shallow skin, before he pressed Harry to him, capturing his lover's pliant lips with his own.
-End-