The man was waiting for him, just as Severus had ordered. Carefree and relaxed, usually his grin would light up the room… but in this particular space, it would take much, much more than a smile. The room was cold, dead, suffocated by silence and dust, the old shelves and floorboards not even bothering to creak anymore. Thick books with yellowed pages rested everywhere, in piles on the spindly writing desk, strewn on the floor as if somebody had dropped them long ago and left them in the hopes that somebody else would pick them up and put them in order. The curtains looked ready to crumble. The man shivered, goosebumps raising on his arms, as though a breeze had drifted into the silent chamber and stroked its cool fingers along them, and yet he didn't hide his naked body beneath the covers. He had been ordered.
He didn't know Severus was even in the old house until he'd entered the room. Footsteps muffled, the pale man walked to the bedside, reaching out to trail a long, tapered finger down the man's chest, flicking a nipple, tracing the outlines of ribs and tattoos.
The man's eyes closed and he sighed. Fingertips brushed his eyelids. When he opened them again, Severus was unbuttoning his white shirt, his trousers, dropping his garments on the floor. He walked slowly around the bed, his eyes never leaving those of his visitor. Settling beside the man, he continued to play with the man's nipples, and with a whisper, slipped into his mind.
Years flashed by. Bottles of Zonko's week-long rainbow hair dye slipped discreetly into certain bottles of the prefects' bathroom. Quiet afternoons in the library with a sickly Remus Lupin. A younger, foolish version of himself, the hook-nosed nemesis, hanging upside-down in midair. Sparkling hazel eyes in a handheld mirror. Sixth year, looking at his own hands clutching those of everyone's idol, trust me, Severus, I've got a surprise for you. Trust me. A flash of fangs and fur and fear.
Severus broke the stream of memories as soon as the man mustered up enough of his mind to make it all backfire, and forced a fierce biting kiss on the lips of the man next to him. Clearly, Black was in too deep to notice any other quiet lie.