Not Sappy
by Darth Stitch

DISCLAIMER: Not mine, alas and alack. But hey, I'll be good and put them back where I found them. Okay? Oh yes, this is a companion piece to Not Cute – the Severus ficlet. This is the Harry ficlet for that. Hee. Be warned for much fluff and sweet stuff again! :D

This story was also inspired by Gwyllion's gorgeous piece of Snarry art "Lost in Love" – which can be found at the livejournal community snapepotter. It's absolutely beautiful. Go see it. The artwork is also linked at my livejournal darthstitch.

DEDICATION: For the kind souls who've given me the wonderful gift of paid LJ time and for Gwyllion, who created such a beautiful artwork.

You are not sappy.

Er. Just because you're gay doesn't mean you're a bloody girl, damn it!

Um. That didn't come out right at all, did it? You bury your head in your hands, feeling like you're all of fifteen again, awkward, utterly clueless and tripping over your own tongue. You're a grown man, a respected teacher for Chrissakes, quite happily married and the proud father of three wonderful children. So, really, you know you should be outgrowing this tendency to put your foot into your mouth.

"Idiot," Severus would tell you, only that you know that the word won't have the sting it might have had years earlier. More likely than not, the word would be an endearment and if no one was looking, it would be followed by a kiss that would make you tingle all the way down to your toes and....er, other places as well.

You find it well, kind of sweet, really. Not sappy. You don't do sappy and neither does your husband, as the entire world will attest, because Severus Snape going "sappy" was surely one of the Signs of the Apocalypse. There's no fine lines of distinction here - there's an entire textbook devoted to the differences between "kind of sweet" (which is much different from being completely sweet) and "sappy."

You don't care if it doesn't make sense to others, it makes sense to you and damn it, that's the whole point.

You're used to that, actually. After leaving the Wizarding World reeling from the revelation that "The Boy Who Lived" was quite gay, thanks ever so to bloody Rita Skeeter poking about in your private business, falling in love with one Severus Snape, former Death Eater and all-around greasy git, capped off everything.

What on God's green earth did you see in him? Does he have you under Imperius? Why Snape, for Merlin's sake, couldn't you find anyone better?

The questions angered and hurt you and you only thank God every day that your closest friends, especially Ron, who you thought would hit the roof, were the ones who actually understood you the most. Ron surprised you the most, that day when you decided to come out to them, only to find out that they knew all
along and were only waiting for you to speak up. Ron still offers a token "eww" at the thought of you and Severus doing anything remotely hormonal but you understand that Ron, like Severus, has a reputation to uphold. He will always play the supposedly judgemental, oblivious, dense Gryffindor just as Severus maintains his role of the sly, cunning, snarky Slytherin.

And as for the questions - well, you've managed to give those stupid and rude enough to ask a good blistering about the ears. There are the surface answers of course - that Severus Snape is indeed a good man, a hero of the War Against Voldemort many times over, who's saved your life time and again, almost at the cost of his own.

But the deeper answers to those questions are between you and your husband alone. The crankiness, sheer cantankerousness and sarcasm are a part of Severus Snape and are not something he affects to hide a supposedly soft exterior. You snort at the mere thought of it. The wit, keen intellect and courage are also an integral part of him but they're not the only things that define him. You love him for all his faults, not in spite of them, just as he loves you for yours. You love him for all his virtues, many of which he indeed keeps carefully hidden from the rest of the world, reserving them only for you and for your children. Mostly, you love him just for being Severus as much as he loves you for just for being Harry.

So it is perfectly understandable for you to cherish each and every day you have together. That you're not being sappy when you start each morning returning his "wake-up Harry" kisses and happily giving in to him wanting to cuddle and er.... more besides. That you take every opportunity to make him laugh - whether it's out loud or just that particular look he gets when he's vainly trying to maintain the stern Potions Master facade and you're not letting him get away with it.

That you're not being sappy when you carefully store in your mind and heart all the good memories of Severus bantering and playing with the children, teaching Arthur potions, helping Waverly tend to her many pets or succumbing quite helplessly to Katerina begging him to read just one more bedtime story, even if he half-heartedly tells her she's old enough to read for herself. You understand your daughter's reasoning - you rather love that distinctively velvety purr yourself.

And you're not being sappy when the mental picture that makes you smile the most during the day is of you blissfully stretched out on the soft living room rug, your head pillowed on Severus' thigh and him looking down on you, delightfully mussed and dishevelled from a rather good snog (one that you're looking forward to repeating again and again and moving it on to more interesting pursuits once you've both got the time).

And what makes that moment so memorable is that faint, sweet smile on Severus' face, that rare smile that hardly anyone gets to see. That smile that he only reserves for you and you alone.

And that smile makes you catch your breath because while everyone else says that Severus Snape is not the most handsome man in the world, you know that the truth is that he's beautiful.

And everything else makes complete and perfect sense.

Love is like that. It just Is.

And you're not being sappy when you say that. Not sappy at all.

-end-