"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry kept a tight hold of his temper.
"It means that you, of all people, know who and what I am."
Before last week, Harry would have never needed to question why Snape didn't date. Recalling his reaction to what Justin had told him in the club, his shock that Snape would be able to find someone to have sex with at all, he felt abruptly ashamed.
But this wasn't about him. This was about Severus. Trying to understand just what he was dealing with here, Harry softly questioned, "So you don't date at all – ever?"
"Never," Severus stiffly replied.
"Is this a new development or – "
"Must you really ask that question? Do I strike you as having been any more popular in my youth than I am in middle age? What man in his right mind would want to date someone with my cantankerous personality and, shall we say, less than stunning appearance?" Snape sneered the word 'date' out like it was an obscenity.
Harry felt his heart twist in a sympathy that he knew Severus would despise. His own relationship problems could all be traced back to his celebrity status, but what must it be like for someone like Snape, who was considered loathsome by most? How must it feel to know that you were that . . . undesirable?
Harry took a deep breath, caught Severus' angry glare and answered, "I can't vouch for my soundness of mind, but I would."
"You would what?" Severus didn't quite snarl.
"Like to date you, if you were willing. Tonight hasn't been so bad, has it?" Harry asked.
Severus was regarding him as if he'd taken complete leave of his senses, which perhaps he had. The fact that they were here at all, together on a date, was insane to start with.
After a long moment of watching his face, the peevish, pinched look left Severus' candlelit features. Seeming utterly thrown, Severus gave a negative shake of his head.
"Don't look so shocked," Harry said. "We've already established that I'm suffering a head injury of unknown severity."
Severus didn't respond to his attempt to lighten the moment. "The shock is unavoidable. I suppose that I just never considered that anyone would find my company . . . enjoyable."
Severus' ruthless self-honesty was staggering. Harry hardly knew how to respond to it.
"Well, I certainly never thought I would," Harry answered at last.
To his delight, the ends of Severus' lips twisted upwards in a shy, appealing smile before his face smoothed into its usual bland expression.
Something seemed to pass between them as they stared at each other in the ensuing pause in the conversation. It was like what happened at night. They didn't say anything, because there simply weren't enough words in the dictionary to encompass the bizarre situation they found themselves in. Yet, there was some kind of communication going on all the same.
Harry could almost feel how painful the effort Severus was making to be sociable was when he remarked, "Do you enjoy your work as an Auror?"
That was all the opening Harry needed. He mightn't be any less freaked out than Severus was, but due to his celebrity status, he'd had a lot more experience in answering questions when off balance. Severus' forced foray into small talk gave him conversational fodder for the remainder of the meal.
By the time their coffee and dessert had arrived, Severus appeared almost relaxed. To Harry's surprise, the other man had actually seemed to enjoy listening to him talk. But then, if a person were alone as much as Severus was, any voice other than his own was probably a novelty.
Damn, but the man was sexy, Harry thought, surreptitiously studying those striking features. He didn't know what it was about Severus that made him suddenly realize that. Severus was still dressed as conservatively as a monk, cloaked in black from chin to toe. Severus' attitude wasn't the least bit suggestive or flirtatious. He was as buttoned up and repressed as ever, only . . . tonight Harry could feel an almost magnetic pull to him.
As Harry took in that long form, he wondered if the sensual air he was picking up had been there all along and he'd simply failed to notice it or if it were a new development, perhaps related to him. He hoped it were the latter, because he really wanted to try to make Severus happy. He was beginning to realize that no one else had ever bothered about Severus.
The man had never dated. He knew, without needing to ask, that Snape had no friends. Harry could hardly wrap his mind around a life that lonely.
Well, that was going to change. Sitting there, watching Severus eat the last of his tiramisu while that dark gaze roamed the restaurant, taking everything in as though he were memorizing it in case he never experienced something like this again, Harry was resolved to introduce Severus to some of the joys he'd missed out on.
His fingers ached to undo Severus' ponytail and send all that long black hair spilling over his shoulders.
Their gazes met and held. Harry felt as if he were falling into those bottomless, inky depths, drowning in desire. Recognizing a similar heat in Severus' eyes, Harry started in his chair.
Alfonso's was not the place to end up locked in a clinch. He knew how reserved Severus was. That kind of public display would only embarrass him, even if Severus were as caught up in the heat of the moment as he was.
Seeing Maria enter the dining room, Harry caught her eye and gestured for the bill.
Severus reached for the bill when Maria brought it over, but Harry beat him to it. "This one's mine. You can pay next time."
"Next time?" Severus questioned.
Harry raised his brow, holding Severus' gaze until his companion flushed and looked away.
"Thank you, Maria. And please extend our gratitude to your father. The chicken Parmesan was as wonderful as ever," Harry said as he put a bunch of galleons down on the tray she held. Harry knew that two would have been more than sufficient for the meal, but food that perfect deserved proper acknowledgment.
Side by side, they left the restaurant.
Wincing as the sleet blasted them, Harry took Severus' arm outside the door. A heartbeat later, they'd rematerialized in Severus' sitting room.
After the assault of cold and stinging sleet, the room felt wonderfully warm and welcoming. Harry sighed in relief.
Severus' hand was still on his arm. Harry glanced up into Severus' face and didn't look away. For a week now, he'd been hungering to kiss Severus, resisting the urge because he wasn't sure Snape wanted anything that intimate between them. Most of the men Harry slept with didn't care to kiss. But Severus' lack of resistance to his overtures tonight made Harry bold.
Holding that dark, beautiful gaze, Harry reached up, cupped the back of Severus' head and gently guided him downwards.
Severus' eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't pull back.
Recognizing that a disaster was about to occur if he didn't move fast, Harry quickly turned his face to the side, avoiding the painful smash of noses by mere seconds.
Their lips brushed. Severus' were thin and dry, but they didn't resist as Harry's mouth covered them. For a moment, it was as awkward as everything between them was. But then Severus seemed to melt against him and Harry knew that everything would be all right.
Severus' mouth opened to him at the first swipe of his tongue. Severus tasted of the sweet dark espresso that had finished up their meal, tiramisu, and something dark and compelling that was particular to Severus. Harry drank deep of that sweet fountain.
A sense of triumph flashed through Harry when he felt Severus' fingers card through his hair, urging him closer.
As they kissed, Harry eased Severus' wizards robe off his shoulders. Pleased, he felt Severus do the same with his own.
When the need for oxygen forced them apart long minutes later, Severus appeared charmingly flushed.
"Is that the bedroom over there?" Harry asked in a breathless whisper as they gulped in air.
Severus nodded.
"Can we move in there and get more comfortable?" Harry requested, wondering if he were intruding on Severus' privacy too much. For the last week, they'd never left the sitting room. For all Harry knew, Severus might want to confine their activities to one room.
But Severus gave another ready nod and guided Harry towards the closed door.
