Countdown

A/N: In response to the fifth challenge in sl_duel on Livejournal. Thanks to tarotgoddess108, ldybastet and lysa1 for their continued belief in my capabilities. If you liked this, I suggest you go take a look at the Livejournal community sl_duel.

Countdown

"Lucius!" Severus growled at the hand sliding lightly over the small of his back "Stop it. I'm working."

"Mm," Lucius hummed distractedly, not really paying much attention to his lover's tone or current preoccupation with potions brewing. The wonderful spicy scent of the potion currently bubbling away in the cauldron was just too enticing and enthralling and made him want to touch and feel and taste. Taste Severus' neck to be more precise, which he did, licking the very thin sliver of exposed skin between Severus' ear and high collar.

"If you don't stop, I'll throw you out of here." Severus snapped, trying to conceal just how much his body reacted to Lucius' touches. At least he'd been clever enough to cast a dampening charm on his nose to prevent the fumes from affecting him. With clenched teeth, he continued stirring the potion, counting the turns and hoping

"Of course." Lucius mumbled, lips still tantalizingly close to Severus' skin. He knew Severus wouldn't throw him out. Knew only too well – and using that fact unashamedly – what a strong effect he had on the man. And right now, even if he objectively knew Severus would be annoyed with him and would likely botch up the potion, he just couldn't help himself. His hand moved to rest more firmly just above the curve of Severus' arse, feeling the warmth through the robe.

"I mean it!" Severus couldn't move to push Lucius away though, since that would interrupt the clockwise steady stirring of the potion, and he'd be damned if he'd let Lucius push him into destroying hard work that easily.

"Mm hmm."

Severus clenched his teeth again, biting his tongue and gasping when Lucius' hand slid lower to cup a buttock. "You're an insufferable prat, Lucius! You'll cause the potion to fail."

With a low chuckle Lucius nuzzled against Severus' hair, ignoring the fact it was slightly greasy from an entire day in the potions lab. He knew he was a prat. He made a point out of being a prat, when it came to Severus. One prat deserved the other after all. Years of practice made it easy for him to use one hand to slowly pull the fabric of Severus' robe up, bunching it against the man's hip. The other hand had found way to Severus' stomach, just caressing slowly.

Reaching the correct count, Severus' muttered a low spell to lower the heat of the fire under the cauldron and then started stirring slowly counter-clockwise. Only fifty-four strokes more and he would be able to kick Lucius out of here like the obnoxious horny hormonal teenager he seemed to have turned into.

"How many?" Lucius breathed against Severus' ear, knowing exactly what his grumpy lover was thinking about. And then he smiled, when his fingertips finally were rewarded with the smooth skin of Severus' arse. At least he wouldn't have to get rid of more clothes then. To reward Severus as well, he let his fingers trace the tempting cleft and his smile widened at the pronounced hitch in the man's breath.

Fifty-one… "Fifty…" Severus answered in a lower voice, suspecting he wouldn't reach the end of that count, which made him angry enough for another attempt "Would you just leave and stop acting like a foolish teenager? Didn't you cast the charm I told you to before entering?"

"What charm?" Lucius muttered, not really caring anymore or even listening to what Severus said. Having bunched up Severus' robe, he had free access and wasn't planning on backing down or leaving. And the only charm he could think of right now was a lubrication charm. Which he adeptly cast, causing Severus to jerk and gasp out a surprised "ah!"

"Keep stirring." Those commanding words accompanied by Lucius' fingers sliding further down between Severus' buttocks, tracing over his entrance, made Severus shudder and close his eyes briefly. His hand kept stirring though, faithfully tracing lingering circles in the silvery viscous and gently bubbling fluid.

"You can't be serious." Severus' voice was breathy now and he couldn't help being glad that Lucius was so damned stubborn and singular in his way of thinking some times. When one of those determined fingers pushed inside him, Severus moaned, reaching the count of 42 in his head and wondered if there wasn't a connection between that number, the feeling inside him at Lucius' breaths against his skin and attentions, and the meaning of life.

Lucius was very serious. He was always serious about fucking Severus. It was a serious matter after all, demanding all of his attention and all of his devotion. He bit at his lover's ear to emphasise that and withdrew his finger again to open his own trousers just enough to ease his own cock out and position it against Severus.

Using his hand on Severus' stomach to steady them both, Lucius hesitated for a moment and with a wicked smile asked "How many?"

The head of Lucius' cock pressed teasingly and temptingly against Severus' sensitive flesh and he restrained himself from pushing back against it, restrained himself from wanting it as much as he truly did, just to keep the count steady in his head.

"Thirty-eight," Severus breathed, no longer looking at the potion and not sure if he cared about it either.

Damn you, Lucius.

"Thirty-seven," Lucius breathed in return as he pushed inside, so slowly, so deeply, feeling the small hairs on his body stand on end at the sensations.

With a groan Severus let his head fall back on Lucius' shoulder, eyes still closed. His hand and arm seemed to have a life of its own, without flaw stirring the right way and in the right pace, and sometimes Severus wondered if not that was the truth.

Lucius' eyes were fixed on Severus' hand. Now that he had what he wanted, the lovely tight heat of Severus around his cock, he could focus on more things. He started moving in tune with the stirs, fucking Severus more slowly than he ever had before as far as he could remember. So languid, so good and hot to slide almost entirely out, only the very tip still penetrating Severus and then push inside again until he couldn't go further. He moaned with pleasure, turning his head slightly to kiss and nip on Severus' jaw.

The fingers of Severus' free hand dug hard into the edge of the table next to him, even if he didn't need to steady himself at all. Lucius' hand on his stomach and the slow fuck combined made his stance incredibly stable. Well, apart from the effect the strokes of Lucius' cock inside his body had on his muscles, melting them.

"Lucius, you're insane… Azkaban must have … addled your brain…." Severus groaned and shuddered when the head of Lucius' cock stroked over his prostate.

"Count."

"Wh-at?" Severus was so consumed by sensing – and stirring – he didn't understand what Lucius meant. Was he in some convoluted way referring to the insanity that had befallen the Count of Monte Cristo while he had been imprisoned?

"How many!" It was Lucius' time to growl, although it was more out of pleasure and the strain of holding back than anything else. But Severus' temporary lapse of comprehension should be rewarded – since it was such a rare thing – and Lucius kept his current angle, aiming for the prostate with every thrust now.

"Ah! Thirty-three!" It was strange, but the count was still there in his head, right next to the growing pleasure and the feel of his hardening cock rubbing against the slightly coarse fabric of his robe, and his helpless love for the man behind him who was currently doing his damned best in botching up a terribly complicated and expensive potion. And Severus loved every moment of it, no longer truly bothered.

"Count!" Lucius repeated his command, sliding his hand down Severus' stomach until his fingertips encountered the hard bulge of his lover's cock. He cupped it through the fabric, squeezing instead of stroking, finding the head with his thumb and pushing against it.

"Thirty-two…. Thirty-one…" Severus moaned again and turned his head to meet Lucius' lips, not kissing though. The hand massaging his cock was evil, he hated it for pushing and pulling him so efficiently towards his climax it made it hard to count. He didn't want it to end.

The pace was maddening, making every single small sensation even more intense, making Lucius want to let loose and fuck Severus hard, take and give all he knew they both wanted so much from this.

"THIRty!" The word was almost a cry out of Severus' mouth, when Lucius thrust in hard once and it took every last scrap of willpower to not continue like that and forget about the damned potion. But now it was a goal, to prove Severus wrong, that he could fuck his lover senseless without that causing the potion to fail.

And it was so fucking hot to hear Severus' voice strained and rough with pleasure while counting slowly down through the twenties, between low moans and hoarse groans. And to feel the tension build in his lover's body, muscles clenching lightly around his cock and increasing the friction.

"Nine-te..en," Severus' voice cracked at a particularly wicked flex of Lucius' fingers around his straining cock. He couldn't do this much longer yet. His stirring arm was shivering lightly although still describing the required circles.

Lucius was amazed, impressed with his lover, and enjoying himself so much. He couldn't help that the force of his thrusts had increased. There was no resisting Severus and the way he was almost drawn inside every time, pulled by his desire and lust and love that was far more insatiable than was proper for old men as they were. Right now they were young though, younger than Lucius had ever felt, and more alive.

"Fifteen… Fourteen…" Severus welcomed the increased force in the thrusts. It was grounding at the same time as it was mind blowing, increasing the pleasure and relentlessly making it more and more impossible to keep that bloody count. At this point he was more than ready to scrap the potion, but he had a feeling that Lucius wouldn't let him, that Lucius would stop fucking him when he stopped stirring…

"Thirteen," Lucius added in a slightly strained voice, just to be helpful and because Severus' whispered word was almost intelligible and drowned in a moan. He was getting closer, strangely enough, so turned on by the entire situation, the taste of Severus' skin in his mouth, the feel of Severus around him, the fucking.

"Twelve."

"Come on one," Lucius growled and bit more hungrily at Severus' lips, tugging at the lower lip as he used both hands to pull his lover's robe up fully, so he could get to the man's cock.

Severus very nearly whimpered, if he was capable of such a sound, and almost forgot eleven existed. Lucius reminded him though when his cock stroked past Severus' prostate again sending a jolt of pleasure through him. Lucius had to imagine him saying it though, because for a few moments Severus couldn't breathe.

Lucius kept the count in his head and didn't mind since his hand finally wrapped around Severus' cock and started stroking at the exact same pace as the stirring and the fucking… and Severus' counting.

"Ten… nine… e-eight…" Only barely managing to push the words across his lips between harsh pants for breath and moans, Severus didn't know any longer if he was stirring. He figured he was, since Lucius hadn't stopped fucking him. And Severus would hex him into next week, if the man dared to stop now.

There was no way Lucius could stop now, his own body demanding more and more of this slow pleasure. And he couldn't allow Severus to stop either, almost willing his lover's hand to keep stirring as he stared at it and the thickening potion. It looked right, it smelled right and by all the gods and goddesses, it felt perfectly right.

Severus couldn't count anymore, but it wasn't necessary, the rhythm now so embedded in their subconsciousness they followed it without thinking, fucking and finally kissing, moaning into each other's mouths.

The tension in the body pressed against his front and the additional hardening of Severus' cock, Lucius knew his lover was close. He kept the kiss, tasting his lover as deeply as he fucked him, until the count in his head reached three and then he draw his head away, now looking at Severus. His fingers tightened around Severus' cock, stroking hard.

"Lucius…" Severus groaned, his tone now very different from earlier, his breaths erratic pants. It was becoming almost unbearable, he was so close… only two strokes more.

"Two…"

"Come for me, love." Lucius commanded, his own voice marked by how close he was as well. When he thrust back in, it was as hard as possible, his fingers squeezing the head of Severus' cock where he knew his lover was most sensitive.

With a loud cry that might've sounded like 'one' Severus jerked slightly within the holds Lucius had on him and came in long bone melting pulses, clenching hard around the cock so deep inside him. The ladle dropped to the floor with an unheard clatter. Through the haze of pleasure, Severus knew he'd actually finished the potion correctly and couldn't help laughing and moaning at the thought.

Lucius groaned and wanted to laugh, but he couldn't, too caught up in milking Severus' cock for the very last drops of come and now fucking him freely, hard and fast, now only in pursuit of his own orgasm and forgetting anything else. Only a few strokes more and he came as well, echoing Severus' cry from earlier. His hand was still tight around Severus' cock as he slumped against his lover's back, shuddering and moaning with pleasure.

"You dolt," Severus grumbled, quite unable to add any kind of anger or even annoyance to his words. The potion in the cauldron in front of them had turned an ugly putrid yellow, although it smelled quite wonderfully. It had failed after all.

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you? Now I have to start all over again."

With a chuckle Lucius lifted his head and looked down at the potion and then at the cock in his hand. The cock that aimed very directly at the edge of the cauldron, telling him exactly what had happened to the potion, and Severus' come.

"Hmm…" Lucius smiled, inordinately pleased with himself "That's too bad, because you will not have time for that. Not today at least." He let his teeth graze along Severus' jaw.

"And what makes you think that, Lucius?" There was a little touch of that well known snarkyness to Severus' voice, as his brain managed to gather itself more firmly.

"Because right now I'm going to haul you upstairs and into our bed and fuck you again and again, until you manage to count all the way to the end." Which would be impossible, the counting, so Lucius figured they would be spending the rest of the evening and night on that endeavour.

"Hmph!" The impossibility of Lucius' demand was obvious but the promise was quite enticing. He couldn't let his conceited lover know that though. "And what if I make you count while I fuck you?"

"Mmm… we could certainly try that as well. We have the rest of our lives to succeed."

A life of love and making love sounded like perfection, and Severus really had to agree no matter how annoyed he was with Lucius for botching up all that hard work. An annoyance he was always looking forward to though, even if he didn't always fully admit it to himself. The sex however, which no matter how often they had it always blew him away - even when they were tired and it was mediocre – he admitted a complete and utter addiction to.

"True. Now get us upstairs so I can make you count." Severus said with a wicked smile on his lips, the one he knew Lucius had no defence against. Equal love, equal friendship, equal power… mostly over each other, since the world outside could take care of itself for a while yet.

Counting to the end turned out to be just as impossible as expected, but certainly not in lack of trying. Again, and again and again…

And again.