The Sweetest Fall.

[pekeleke]

Title: The Sweetest Fall.

Author: pekeleke

Rating: G

Pairing: Severus/Harry

Genre: Slash.

Word Count: 1863

Challenge: Written in response to sweetandsourpickle's prompt challenge: Bells and Whistles.

Warnings: None. Unbetaed.

Disclaimer: Don't own these characters. No money is being made out of this work.

A/N: I want to dedicate this particular story to sweetandsourpickle, who regularly complains about my apparently irritating penchant for writing 100/365 word drabbles, claiming that she likes my longer stories better and I don't write as many of those as I probably should.

In an effort to show her my appreciation for both, her constant support of my work through comments and her endless patience with my short stories, I offered to write her a fic in response to a challenge of her choice. The only rule we set at the time was that the resulting story had to be longer than 365 words.  So here it is, pickles: a longish fluffy oneshot just for you.  This is my answer to your challenge prompt: Bells and Whistles.  I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it, my friend. :D

Summary: “I'm not dreaming this up, then.  You must be really here, on my bed.  Looking as gorgeous as I've always imagined a sex-rumpled and invitingly naked you would look like.”

The Sweetest Fall.
read on rue16

 

The amber colored rays of early morning sunshine filtered in through the flimsy cloth of Harry's bedroom curtains, bringing him gently into wakefulness.  Long dark lashes twitched twice before fluttering slowly apart, and he smiled with delighted wonder as soon as his sleepy gaze settled over the slender figure of the dark-haired man loosely curled around him.

“Severus...”  He sighed, closing his restless fingers in two tight white-knuckled fists in a conscious attempt to stop himself from touching the relaxed curve of a pale and reedy shoulder.  He desperately wished to make contact with that marred bare skin, but the fear of having it vanish into thin air before his very eyes kept him paralyzed and on edge.  He was unwilling to do anything that may kill this lovely vision, if it turned out that he was still asleep despite all outwards appearances.  He'd do anything in his power to keep himself firmly anchored inside the sweet bliss of this constantly longed for scene for as long as he could.

“That sigh could have woken up inferi, Potter.”  Despite the wariness turning Severus' gorgeous eyes into bottomless wells of black ink, his sleep-slurred rasp was uncharacteristically soft.

Harry couldn't help smiling at the snarky comment and propped himself up onto his arm in order to stare thoughtfully into carefully blank features.
“I'm not dreaming this up, then.  You tend to be a lot less talkative and a hell of a lot more passionate whenever my mind is in charge of these proceedings.  You must be really here, on my bed.  Looking as gorgeous as I've always imagined a sex-rumpled and invitingly naked you would look like.”

Severus shifted uncomfortably on the mattress, rolling as far away from Harry's Quidditch hardened body as the width of the bed would allow and searching the floor for his robes.
“I can't stay here.”  He stated in a tone gone so harsh with unwavering determination that Harry's pounding heart came dangerously close to breaking point.  “This shouldn't have happened. I can't believe how reckless I've...”

“Maybe it shouldn't have happened, but it did.  I don't regret it and I never will, so there's a chance that this isn't the right time for you to wrap that magnificent armor of yours around your shoulders and cast me out of your life.  We could be wonderful together, if only you'd stop trying to run away for long enough to let us get closer.  You are everything I've ever wanted in a partner, Severus.”

“Do not mock me!  I may not be dream-lover material, but that doesn't mean I'll let you get away with rubbing that fact in my face, Potter.” Severus snarled so defensively that Harry sat on his side of the bed and lifted his hands, palm upwards, in a hastily crafted gesture meant to soothe his ruffled feathers.

“I'm not mocking you.  I'm telling you the truth and nothing but the truth, I swear it.  I fancy you for real.  I've been dreaming about waking up in bed with you for a very long time now.”

Severus recoiled further away, looking absolutely stricken.
“That has to be the most abominable falsehood I've ever heard.  How stupid do you think I am?  Look at me, Potter!  Nobody in their right mind will ever dream of waking up to this.”

Harry suddenly leaned forwards, calloused hands reaching out to frame Severus' distressed face as gently as he could.
“Hey, hey... you need to calm down, sweetheart.  You are hurting yourself and you are hurting me with all this awful suspicion.  I don't care how many bastards it took to convince you otherwise, but you are not unworthy of being in this bed right now.  You are not unworthy of the leading role you have in most of my dreams, either.  You.  Are.  Beautiful.  To.  Me, Severus, and I resent the unwarranted implication that you are not.”

Severus swallowed, clearly uncomfortable with both Harry's fantastic-sounding reassurances and the delicate touch of those strong fingers on the sides of his face.
“You are blind, then.  You've gone crazy.  Someone's cast a terrible spell on you and I'm going to be blamed for it when...”

“Stop it, Severus.  Please, just—stop it.  I may be blind, but the glasses I wear allow me to see you as clearly as I see everybody else.  Wanting to keep you around doesn't make me the crazy one.  It makes me the only sensible lover you've ever bedded.  I have a thing for you, OK?  I've had it for a very long time now and everyone I care about is aware of it.  Nobody is going to accuse you of anything, I swear.  If last night wasn't a dream, if it was glorious reality, I don't want it to end here.  I want it to lead us some place better.”

“That is not possible, Potter.  I was a weak fool last night.  I shouldn't have dared to...”

“Sshh, my Prince, just—sshh.”  Harry whispered, lowering his head ever so slowly to kiss him silent.  “Don't do this to me, please.”  He pleaded earnestly carding worshiping fingertips through tangled locks of long dark hair until their owner's rigidly-held body relaxed into a soft and pliant mass of twitchy long limbs that nestled awkwardly in the circle of his arms.

“Potter...”

“Harry.  I'd love for you to call me Harry.”

“Harry, I...”

“It's going to be alright.  I swear that this -us- will work out as long as you give us the chance.  I want more than this, my love.  I have always wanted more than this.  I want everything you have to give, in fact.”

“You can't be serious.”

“But I am.  I love you with every breath I take, Severus.  Don't ask me how I know that you are the one for me, because I don't have a single clue of how I know it, but I do.  We don't have to rush into anything right now.  We can do this at whatever pace will keep you here, beside me.  I'll even let you get away with banning sex for a while, if the idea of us becoming so intimate this fast scares you.  I just—please don't walk away from what we could so easily become out of fear.  I'm begging you, sweetheart.”

Severus looked like a thoroughly startled doe as he stared right at him, positively pale with shock and shaking like a wind-battered leaf.
“Love...  You.  Love.  Me.”  He whispered dazedly.  “Why on earth would you love me, Potter?  I'm not...”

“Perfect at all.  You're as messed up in the head as I am, if not more.  You won't care if I don't live up to the ridiculous name the press has given me.  You already know that I'm not extra-brave or more powerful than anybody else. I can be myself around you.  I can be little ordinary Harry, a young bloke who isn't all that fucking special after all.”

“I'm sure you can be 'yourself' around plenty of people, brat.  There must be someone better suited for you than me among the less idiotic boys of your generation.  Not everyone out there is a Harry Potter groupie.  Why Draco Malfoy himself would be a perfect candidate for...”

Harry covered Severus' mouth with gentle but determined fingertips, pressing carefully against his lips in order to force him into silence before muttering uncomfortably:
“I'm afraid that wouldn't work at all.”

“Why not?  There is nothing whatsoever wrong with my godson, Potter!”

Green eyes widened almost to capacity as their owner flinched at his tone.
“No.  Of course not.  It's just—I'm one of those weird creatures who finds more beauty in the sight of a trampled down jungle than in the artificial neatness of a carefully pruned garden.  I don't want a cool, aristocratic facade, perfect hair and trimmed fingernails.  I want passion, courage, grit.  I want genuine humanity with neither artificial frills nor obviously fake bells and whistles.  I don't want manufactured perfection.  I want you.”

Severus laughed.  The sound was small and wavered uncertainly, but brimmed with such genuine pleasure that it coiled around Harry's heart and settled deep inside it. Making him feel warm and delightfully carefree all at once.
“I suppose you won't find a better example of natural imperfection than me, if that is what you truly want.”

“It is.  You are what I want the most in all the world.  Tell me I can have you, Severus.  Tell me that you'll give us a chance to become more.”

“I'd have to be an idiot to walk away from you after you've told me that you love me, and I'm no idiot, Po—Harry.  Regardless of whether you live up to the Savior hype or not the truth is that you are the Boy Who Lived.  There are undeniable advantages in any sort of association with you for a pariah like myself, and if that association happens to be romantic in nature then that's all the better.”

Harry laughed, amused.
“Are you implying that you'll have me for my fame?  Shame on you, my Prince.  And here I was under the mistaken impression that all you cared about was my awesome prowess in the sack...”

Severus rolled his dark eyes playfully.
“Don't be crass.  I'll have you for you, Harry.  Your fame is too good an advantage to ignore, though, and your supposed prowess in the sack is something I look forwards to see, when it finally decides to make its appearance.  You'll need a lot more practice to make good on that boast, by the way.”

Harry beamed, looking right into the Slytherin's slightly flushed face with blatant adoration.
“Oh, I'll practice, professor Snape.  I'll practice so much and so hard that I will leave you most impressed, Sir.”

Severus chocked in his own laughter even as his dark eyes widened in unutterable horror.
“Stop that this instant, Potter!   There will be no kinky professor-role play, ever.  Do you understand me?  I don't want to taint whatever grows between us with unpleasant insinuations about my already questioned enough sense of morality, not even if they are meant in jest.  I don't want to feel uncomfortable in the presence of my own partner.”

Harry sobered at once and his hand rose very slowly to pull the long lock of hair that had fallen across Severus' face out of the way, looping it carefully behind a slowly reddening ear before leaning forwards oh-so-very-slowly to plant the sweetest of kisses upon the older man's lips.
“Your partner... Yes. That's exactly who I want to become, Severus.  I solemnly swear that if you find the strength to let yourself fall in love with me you will never touch the ground again.  I won't ever let you down.  Not for any reason.  You won't become be the most easily sacrificed piece in a man's life ever again.  You will be—No.  You already are my most beloved treasure and, now that I finally have you in my life, I will never let you fall into danger.  I will never let you falter.  I will catch you every time you stumble.  Every.  Single. Time, my love.”

The End.

Comments

[scarlet_bohemian]

Very nice.:)

[pekeleke]

Thanks so much! :)

[fallconsmate]

oh this was REALLY lovely. you caught the pain and sorror and hurt that severus felt at thinking harry was teasing him, the anxiety that harry had at thinking "he isn't BELIEVING me!", the horror of severus at being called Professor in bed, and the sweet tenderness of "i love you" being spoken for the first time.

*wild applause* i like, i like! JUST what the doctor ordered when one is recovering from a broken arse. (seriously.)

[pekeleke]

I'm thrilled that you enjoyed my latest incursion into the world of fluffy oneshots so much, fallcomsmate. Thanks, as always, for taking the time to both read and review another work of mine, even though you weren't in top form at the time.

Just out of curiosity, my friend, how exactly does one break their arse? It may turn out to be an interesting plot device for future fics. I can definitely see Harry cheekily offering himself to look after Sev's broken arse, if I ever manage to find a way to figure out how to break it in the first place, then I'll blame you for the madness. You know I will. I can't possibly take the fall for writing that kind of hilarious nonsense all by myself, can I? ;D

Huge, tight, get-better hugs
pekeleke

[fallconsmate]

TheEngineer took me out to dinner...and when i went to sit down on the bench-style seat, i lost my balance (i can NEVER see severus doing that!) and fell, hard, on the seat. there's a 2x4 support beam at the back of the padded leather bench, and the way i landed put the considerable force of a roly-poly woman right on her tailbone, because despite my roundness, i just do NOT have much padding in the back and never have.

therefore, i am sitting and standing very gingerly. would you believe that even COUGHING, all those torso muscles seem to connect and run down to the tailbone area? of course, i can see the humor in it, TheEngineer had to leave for business the next day (and is on his second week gone...he was home for 2 weeks, came home for 2 days (in which i did laundry LOL) and left again.) and so every phone call begins with "how's your butt, sweetheart?". :D

[adafrog]

Very good, thanks.

[pekeleke]

Thanks so much, ada! :)

[patolozka]

Oh, any time I see Severus in such a role, I feel sad for him. It´s very hard to think about someone who is so broken and full of fears. And hard on himself at the same time. Then I´m grateful for Harry - because he can see what only he is able to see. It´s very good to know that someone like that exists for our beloved Potion Master;-) Thank you very much for this tale and have a nice weekend!

[pekeleke]

I'm thrilled that you enjoyed this tale of mine despite how sad this particular portrayal of Severus made you. I know that my version of him tends to be a lot more insecure than most people are comfortable with, but that allows Harry to be extra-romantic. :D

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to both read and review another work of mine, my friend. And yes, I had a lovely weekend and I hope yours was equally wonderful. May the rest of your week be just as nice too, pat! :)

Hugs
pekeleke

[keyairreem]

Beautiful! Full of passion and promise and love! Thank you for sharing.

[pekeleke]

Oh, thanks so much for this truly generous review. I'm glad that you enjoyed this story. :)

[lav123]

Now this is a romance. There is love in every word.

[pekeleke]

Thanks so much for such lovely comment. I'm really thrilled that you enjoyed this story. :)

[myk_myk]

Yay, you have no idea how happy you made me with this story! I have a soft spot for your insecure Severus, you know? And I love when Harry is so persuasive. Only a fool won't believe him. And Severus is not a fool, right?
Thank you so much for this sweet and lovely story!
Hugs,
myk

[pekeleke]

Hello there myk!

It was wonderful to hear from you again, my friend. :) I agree with you on the point that this particular version of Harry was very persuasive, and Severus is not foolish enough to reject his chance at happiness when it is being so freely offered.

I'm thrilled that reading this story made you so happy. Thanks, as always, for taking the time to both read and review another work of mine. Your beautiful comment meant the world to me. :)

Hugs
pekeleke