Severus' movement was tentative at the first glance, but there was a slow underlying deliberation to it; it was as if Al was watching Septimus as the spider tasted the walls step by step, with the taste buds on his feet.
Al reached out with his other hand to smooth the hair off Severus' forehead, to trace the line of his jaw across skin rough with five o'clock shadow which went additional two-and-a-half hours unattended since five, the habitual tension around the mouth and the eyes.
"I'm happy when I'm with you," he observed. "Is it common to be affected by someone to this extent and with such frequency?"