Sexual Education (closed RP for Hook and Snape)

[methleigh]

Severus works in his office, preparing more supplies of the more commonly useful potions, waiting for a chance to see Hook. An owl would at this point be further embarrassment

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[doctor_hook]

Hook has some level of professional respect for Snape (though the overall respect level has gone down a couple of notches, thanks to that bizarre sex ed class Snape held earlier this month). He knows, objectively, from what he's read, that Snape is probably one of the most competent potions masters working in Europe today.

It's because of this that he's not entirely sanguine about the prospect of accepting Snape's scotch. He comes in with the mug of coffee he's been drinking. "Sure, let's drink together, each to his own," he says jovially, holding up his mug, and takes a seat in Snape's office. "Should I ...?" He indicates the door. He'll nudge it closed at a word.

[methleigh]

The scotch is just scotch. Severus needs fortification.

"Please." He is grateful for the understanding - too proud to mention it, but grateful. He pours himself some of the scotch, a little disappointed to be drinking alone, as it were. He had meant it to be mutual, so it would seem hospitable rather than weak. Perhaps butterbeer. It is unlikely that he and Daisy would consume all three bottles remaining. "Would you prefer some of this?"

How can he begin, or broach such a subject? How much has this man guessed? He begins with facts. "I read your posts on the computer. And I have been seeing a... lady friend. The diagrams, on the other hand, are largely informative and only the few for the class were of sexual organs. I have enjoyed creating them all, including the latter few with which I was not obsessed but diligent." In fact, he had been proud of them, their detail, correctness, the number of small explanatory labels. So much is easy.

[doctor_hook]

He sees Snape pour for himself from the bottle, so he grins and takes the bottle to pour a tot into his coffee. "Skål." He leans back in the chair and crosses his long legs at the knee.

"The diagrams. Right. Are they an artistic endeavor for you? Because quite honestly, they come across as creepy. Now, good art can be creepy, I'm well aware!" He finds himself feeling badly for the potions-master-turned-head-nurse. On the present subject Hook expected from him an aggressive defensiveness along the lines of his old nemesis Stig Helmer, and instead is getting a vibe of embarrassed self-justification from the poor old guy. "Now, you could order a painstakingly accurate set of laminated diagrams from any medical supply house in the 'Muggle' world. I don't know what the wizarding world offers in that department, naturally."

He sips his coffee, glad of the scotch that further warms it.

"So, your lady friend, she's quite a looker. Is she your first?"

[methleigh]

There is a part of Severus that is still a jilted sixteen year old. He really needs some help, so he does not make even more of a fool of himself. It is one thing to broach sexuality on what should, and must still be assumed to have been, an anonymous computer. It is another before colleagues, students, and worse, Daisy. There are these small awkward misunderstandings that make him ashamed. He will not admit them to Hook, but perhaps he has insight Severus must resentfully admit he does not

[doctor_hook]

"She needs to respect you enough to accept your fears," says Hook simply. "Even if she privately doesn't think they're very well-founded." He uncrosses his legs and leans forward. "Let me be a cautionary example. For a while, I thought my girlfriend was a ghost. She looked transparent to me. I was avoiding her because of it, because I didn't know how to tell her that in a way that she'd believe. We were both busy in our work so it was easy for me to avoid her, but she finally cornered me and made me talk. Of course, when I told her I thought she might be a ghost, she understandably thought I was daft." He sighs. "However it turned out there were other psychic phenomena at work, and I should have told her what I saw, and she should have listened to me."

[methleigh]

Severus thinks about this. "Thank you." He says it simply, for the confidence. He recognises it. "In this case, perhaps as in yours, she is right to be alarmed. She wishes to know the truth, but it is perhaps darker than she imagines any truth could be. For I am gentle, considerate with her, in the present if not in the past. But both are... true, and it is wrong to hide such a large thing."

He pauses, then says defensively, taking some more scotch, "I can be, you know. Gentle." The liquor is beginning to affect him.

"She should listen to me, but..." But he wants her and still thinks that will be impossible, if she listens. As it will be false if he doesn't tell her.

[doctor_hook]

"Dark truths are hard to share," Hook agrees, rubbing his forehead with splayed thumb and forefinger. "Maybe there are some truths people don't need to know about one another. My situation was pretty idiosyncratic, what with both Judith and I working in a haunted hospital."

[methleigh]

"But in your cautionary tale, it seemed critical. And if I am serious, if this is not flippant or casual, she should know who I am, what I am. What... betrayal... to find out afterwards!" 'Betrayal' is not an easy word, but he finds it is the apt one.

"It is not this only, but perhaps fear of my manner being offensive, small things as well as large ones." He manages to get this out, thanks to the slight but present effect of the liquor.