Chapter Text
Your heart was throbbing in your throat, the rapid pulse of blood sending adrenaline coursing through your veins. The night air was cold and sharp in your laboring lungs, and the sweat beading on your face felt like it was freezing to your ruddy skin. Frosted grass crunched under your feet, and the full moon overhead was bright enough to cast a shadow on the ground as you ran through the darkness. The sound of rapid footfalls from behind were gaining on you. Even over the pounding of your heart in your ears, you could hear raged breathing over your shoulder, but you couldn’t spare a moment to look back. It only made you pump your legs harder, move faster, feet pounding into the ground as you ran. It was only when you felt the brutal clutch of a hand around your bicep that you looked behind you…
“Can we please stop running?” Severus gasped, and you tried not to laugh out loud as you finally started to slow down. He only released your arm when you finally came to a stop, and he doubled over with his hands on his knees as he struggled to get air into his lungs. “I think I’m dying,” he panted, clutching at his chest, and this time you did laugh, rubbing your hand over his back as you tried to calm your own breathing.
“You’re fiiiine,” you insisted, but a sudden, wheezing coughing fit had you a little concerned. You smiled piteously as you slipped your wand out from kangaroo pouch of your hoodie, using it to Accio your gym bag from the other side of the Quidditch pitch. When you’d fished out a sports bottle and a spare towel, Severus had snatched both from you before finally succumbing to his exhaustion, falling back on his arse onto the ground as he guzzled the water greedily. You sighed between soft panting, still smiling down at him with your hands on your hips. What were you going to do with him?
“You do this every night?” he asked once he’d finally managed to regulate his breathing, rubbing the towel over his dripping face, the few strands of black hair not captured by his pony tail sticking to his forehead. There were dark, wet patches on his own black sweatshirt, and you weren’t sure you’d ever seen him so red-faced and sweaty. The sight undoubtedly conjured up certain images, but even lovemaking wasn’t typically quite as strenuous as running laps, you supposed.
“I try to,” you confirmed, finally accepting that he wasn’t going to get back up, so you slid down to sit beside him on the grass. Stretching your legs out in front of you, you bent over to touch the toes of your grubby trainers, enjoying the dull ache on the back of your thighs. “As long as it isn’t raining. How do you think I maintain such a cute butt?” you asked, surreptitiously peering over your shoulder to see if he was looking.
Which he was, and you smirked as he reluctantly pulled his eyes away from your backside, the flush on his face not fading in the slightest. Mission accomplished. “Cute as it may be,” he relented, and you chuckled as you sat back up beside him. “Why do you have to do it at night?”
Ah, so there it was. You hadn’t exactly been keeping it a secret from him, but your absences in the evenings, typically right after lights out for the students, had finally been noticed by your ever observant partner. When you’d explained that you were just running a few laps around the pitch after dark, he’d been rather insistent upon joining you. You had been dubious if he was really up for it, but he had been quite adamant. He’d even procured muggle clothing for the outing, which was simultaneously endearing, and hilarious, because you were certain that the sweatpants and shirt that he’d come up with had been used exclusively for doing the opposite of exercising before now.
“When else would you have me do it?” you enquired, leaning back on your hands and staring up at the starry sky overhead. “The Ravenclaw’s are out here for practice damn near every morning at dawn. Not that I would even contemplate getting up that early anyway.” You saw him roll his eyes out of the corner of your own, and you smirked as you flopped backwards, grabbing his collar to bring him a long with you. He yelped, shooting you a glare over his shoulder, but he reluctantly followed suit, laying back on the freshly trimmed grass. The moon and stars overhead gleamed brightly in the azure tinted void, and you sighted contently.
“Besides, it’s cooler at night. And quiet. I can actually hear myself think when I’m out here.” You glanced over at him, and you were pleased to see his face returning to its usual pale shade in the cool night air. He sighed heavily through his nose, his breathing finally back to normal as he lay beside you. But you could tell he was still troubled. “I can take care of myself, Severus,” you assured him quietly, scooting closer beside him and lacing your fingers through his. He answered the touch by squeezing your hand in return.
“I know you can,” he murmured, though there was a hint of guilt in the admission. “I never meant to imply that you couldn’t. I just…” He trailed off, and you smiled a little as you gazed over his profile, before rolling onto your side to press a kiss against his shoulder. He was too protective for his own good, you knew. He was just trying to look out for you, like he always did. But it was clear that actually joining you was not really going to be on the table, if he could barely keep up for two laps.
“You could watch me from the stands,” you suggested lightly, and you saw one of his eyebrows shift, though he kept his eyes on the sky overhead. You smirked, and rolled over further, hooking one of your legs over his and pushing yourself up onto one arm to look down at him. He stared up at you in bewilderment as you waggled your own eyebrows suggestively. “You know, make sure I maintain my…” You wiggled your hips against his, and you saw a little color return to his face. “Good form.”
Severus rolled his eyes with a loud snort, and you burst into squealing giggles and he feigned trying to push you off of him. You clung on tightly, refusing to let go even as your legs ached from the effort, before he finally joined you in your mirth.