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Severus had visited Prince Cottage but a few rare times since he’d learned of his inheritance, but now especially it held a strange sense of welcome. It felt calmer, and so blessedly different from the hellscapes in which he’d been required to reside all his life. Now- now it was all over. Quite literally, in fact, as everyone in England thought him dead, and not a soul would think to seek him here. From here on out, his life was just- this. Just quiet, and peace, and the gentle fog that forever permeated the valley outside. Oh, Severus could get used to this, though he was sure he would come to doubt its reality, eventually, or some disaster would happen to drive him out- his life never stayed peaceful for long.
But for the time being, he fully intended to take advantage of it. Several cleaning charms had the place fixed up just right, and a few more charms had the wizard-space trunk he’d brought unloading it’s contents in perfect order on the shelves ( he’d go and tweak things later, ensure all was exactly as he liked, but this would do for now ) . The next step was ensuring the kitchen would be properly stocked, and after that came assessing the garden space out back, and by the time that was done it was getting quite dark, and Severus finally stilled, simply looking out over the hills and mountains around him. It had been over two weeks since the battle in which the wizarding world believed he’d given his life.
It had also, unfortunately, been over two weeks since he’d stopped do do more than clean off the blood from Nagini’s attack, and he was sorely in need of a bath. Heading back inside, he was thankful that the plumbing magic was quite up to date, and he was able to fill the( alarmingly large ) old tub with steaming hot water. Generally, Severus wasn’t one for indulgences, however he saw no reason not to when it affected nothing- and sitting in cold water would hardly do his joints any good, since the place wasn’t outfitted with a shower- only the bathtub. Perhaps this was a small luxury he’d allow himself to grow used to, he thought, eyeing the steaming water as he carefully unbuttoned his coat, and then the blouse underneath.He was paler than usual, he realised, as he bent to remove his boots and trousers. His skin had taken on a slightly waxy tone, and in many areas it was still covered with mottled bruises ranging from blue to green to yellow. He had to suppress a sneer when he caught sight of himself in full, and made a mental note to remove the damn mirror from the bathroom; he didn’t need it reminding him of what he already knew.
At first, sinking into the water was more of a shock than a relief- the strange weightlessness of his limbs, combined with the disturbing way the water made his body look ( he really didn’t have anywhere else to focus his gaze- perhaps this was why so many people added unnecessary suds and bubbles to their baths ) was completely disorienting, and that was without taking into account the sudden feeling of his entire body being encompassed in warmth that wasn’t scalding. In the end he shut his eyes, so as to at least block out the rather unpleasant sight of himself as he adjusted to the rest of this, and after a short while he found his muscles relaxing rather against his will, leaving him practically melting into the tub so that his chin was just barely above the water and his hair floated around him in a mockery of a halo.
He hadn’t felt this good in- well when had he felt this good? Even sunny summer days spent laying in the grass had been tainted by the feeling of old breaks healing, but the bruises on his body barely registered now, and he was, strangely enough, healthier than he’d ever been thus far in his life. And he felt calm. Not the sort of calm that came of hiding himself away behind layer upon layer of Occlumency shielding, but truly- at peace.
It was some time later that he opened his eyes and became aware of a difference in his body( never mind the fact that he’d actually lost track of time just soaking here like an idiot ) , and not only in the strangely loose, comfortable feeling in his limbs, but also in the heat that tingled in his gut, and the fact that one particularly neglected limb now stood at partial attention. He actually spent a few moments just staring at it unthinkingly, as if it weren’t even a part of his own body. Severus had never had a particularly high libido- it simply wasn’t a priority for him or his body when food was so scarce, and pain so common as it had been in his life. For a moment, he considered using the spell that nearly every young wizard learned in his adolescent years to banish the need to even think about it, but- well. What had he to lose? What would he suffer for, just this once, indulging in the relief of tension from his body this way?
Severus’s tongue darted out to wet his lips as he contemplated the idea before him, drawing his bottom lip between his teeth as he made the decision and reached out almost hesitantly to brush his fingertips over warm flesh, gasping sharply at the sensation that shot through him. He’d experienced arousal so seldom in his life, and the last time he’d physically dealt with it rather than forcing it away by spell he’d been- still a teenager, that much was certain. His own body was foreign to him, after so much time, and he had to fight just to control his breathing as he loosely wrapped his fingers around the shaft. His lips pressed together, and for a fleeting moment he thought about abandoning the entire thing, of casting the spell and getting out before he’d even had a chance to do more than rinse off and not so much as looking at the damn tub for at least a day.
But he was already this far, and he forced his mind to calm, shutting his eyes and letting out a slow breath as he started with a few slow, experimental strokes that had the warmth in his core growing more intense. He became slightly more confident as he continued in this manner, sliding his hand up and letting his palm drift over the head of his cock- and oh, that had his lips parting in another gasp as he learned, after so many years, what his body liked.
The warmth of the bathwater helped to ease him along as he began to relax, taking his time and adjusting his grip, even daringly brushing his fingers lower, over his sac. His hips canted up into his strokes, causing the water to slosh around almost obscenely, obscuring the sound of his panted breaths. In time, his heart rate continued to climb, and keeping his breathing even became impossible, and he sped up, losing the ability to care how indecently the water splashed dangerously close to the edge of the tub as he moved now, feeling himself grow tense and his cock grow taut under his hand, and then- it was like a rubber band had snapped, and the tension that had been building seemed to shoot through him.
Severus lay back, head resting on the rim of the tub as he took deep, shaky breaths, his whole body trembling lightly in the aftermath. Eventually, he forced himself to open his eyes, taking in the bits of white floating in the water from his release. After a few moments of simply taking in that he’d done this- that it had felt good and now his body was filled with a pleasant buzzing, he finally leaned forward, draining the tub and re-filling it. He needed to actually clean up, now, if nothing else.