Work Text:
Deserving
Unapproachable.
That was the word to describe Severus as he sat alone at a table for two. His lips were set in an angry thin line, dark eyes narrowing predatorily at anyone who even entertained the idea of sitting down across from him in the busy cafe. He’d always been the type to convey his meaning with body language rather than waste his breath on speaking. That skill served him well now that he no longer had the option to speak.
Luna considered it one of his more endearing traits honestly.
Endearing was not a word that anyone else attributed to Severus.
She supposed it was because no one had truly taken the time to know him, to understand him like she had. The world was fascinated with Professor Severus Snape; the myth, the murderer, the martyr. Very few were equally interested in learning about Severus, the man. Not that she truly fancied the idea of sharing that side of him with anyone else.
Just as no one understood Severus like she did, there wasn’t anyone she could point to who understood her as well as he did. It only made sense with what they’d gone through together that they’d be this close.
Severus had been left mute from his injuries during the final battle. Most of his communication means were severed by a serpent's bite, and it only allowed him to further isolate himself.
Luna was alone in the world, her father passed from curse complications after the battle, and was now fighting to reclaim her ancestral home from a Ministry that was going through a huge upheaval. The laws were no longer clear, and she'd been listed as a blood traitor, and on the other hand a hero. While everyone else gathered around what family they had left, Luna didn’t even have the rubble to reminisce about what she’d lost. Her friends, whom she loved as dearly and as fiercely as ever, were tending to their own wounds.
It had been fate that they’d ended up shuffled off to the same waiting room in administration one day. Severus didn’t believe in fate, so he called it chance, but Luna had her own ideas.
It was just after his probation release, and he wanted his personal effects back, and yet no one was willing to read what he’d written down. Luna, having just been told for the second time there was no will when she’d clearly been there when it was written, walked up to the desk to file a petition for probate when she realized what was going on.
“How can you claim you are willing to help him if you refuse to read what he asks you?” she’d questioned.
Luna stepped up next to the obviously angry Severus and plucked the parchment he’d put down on the desk. She then proceeded to read it aloud to the woman behind the desk. Severus and the clerk had both looked at her as if she were insane, before the woman went to retrieve the box that had his name on it.
Luna didn’t mind the looks shot her way as she stood up for Severus. It was true that she’d been known as a very non confrontational person, but she was not about to sit there and watch them blatantly ignore him. Unlike everyone else, she didn’t hold a grudge against him. He was like them, fighting in a war and trying to make it to the other side alive. Part of her was sure that Severus did what he did to help them win, in his own way, within what he was allowed to do, and that made him alright in her books.
After he’d been given his things and tucked them into his pocket, Severus nodded in thanks as he walked past.
Luna signed at him that he was welcome and that she hoped he had a good day.
It had caused Severus to pause, his own hands slowly asking her if she understood BSL.
Her father had taught her growing up how to talk with her hands. It was crucial when you needed to be silent while observing faerie dragons in misty morning glades. Luna told him as much, and she’d happily talk to him if he didn't have anyone else.
He declined, and thanked her for her aid.
But fate kept bringing them to the same places, over again. As the world continued to swirl around them, a storm brewing over their heads, they became somewhat friends. For Luna, it was all the peaceful interaction she had at the moment, and while she wasn’t sure, she thought it was the same for him.
They were like two broken ships after the war, desperately seeking a port and finding only the vast cruel ocean—and each other. Amidst the waves of his trial and her burying her father and fighting probate for her home, they found solace in each other’s loneliness.
A camaraderie was built around saving the other. Luna sacrificed her barely torn sails for his shredded and burned ones. In turn, Severus salvaged what he could from his ship to keep her from sinking.
By the time the tempest had passed, there was only one boat left above the waves, but miraculously, both of them had survived. He was acquitted, and she’d been granted her family's land in the probate court.
What had started as a temporary arrangement of him living there with her to help her fix the place turned into a permanent cohabitation and, eventually, the best relationship of their lives. Luna had read every book on Severus’ night stand, and he’d learned exactly how she liked to have her favorite pudding. Who had fallen for whom first was up for debate, but the end result was the same. Together, they’d found a safe harbor and built a life that brought them both happiness.
Taking the two mugs from the counter, Luna walked over to her partner, smiling with every step. Where everyone else saw someone to be afraid of, she saw the safest person she knew.
Severus’ expression softened when she set his cup in front of him, quietly mentioning that it was hot. She sat down and watched as he breathed in the aroma of the drink before sipping it carefully. His lips quirked at the corners in a smile only she recognized.
In that moment, Luna was sure she didn’t want to share this side of Severus with anyone else. She didn't think that anyone else deserved to know that hot apple cider was his favorite drink.