atypicalsnowman (atypicalsnowman) wrote in severus_sighs, @ 2010-07-16 03:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | ficlet, member: atypicalsnowman, pairing: severus/draco, rating: r |
Coward by atypicalsnowman
Title: Coward
Author: atypicalsnowman
Pairing: Snape/Draco, because WhiteCotton demanded I keep Harry away from him. It was just as well, because Severus would never do this to Harry!
Rating: R, to be safe
Word Count: 500-ish
Warnings: Darkish, mentions of past chan but no actual chan, crossdressing
Theme: Overcoming Adversity
Prompt: Always a Woman to Me
Summary: Draco is a man now, and he's not going to take it anymore.
A/N: Written in a flash before WhiteCotton wakes up. In a trade, she asked for a happy Severus and for a non-Snarry pairing. Well...he is happy, darling.
Draco sat at the dinner table and tried to eat, but his stomach was churning. Staring down at his roast, he pushed his potatoes around his plate, running the argument over and over again in his head.
He'd turned seventeen yesterday, he thought. He was a man now. A man, he thought forcefully, and he wasn't going to do this anymore. He was a Malfoy, after all, as his father's letter reminded him this morning.
As if he needed a reminder. His humiliation was that much harder to bear when he thought of who he was—a pure blood and heir to a vast fortune—against what Severus was: a half-blood, a teacher and ugly as sin.
In more ways than one.
"Is something wrong with your dinner?" Severus asked and Draco's blood ran cold.
"No," he said quickly. "No, it's fine."
The time was coming, he thought. He needed to hold his ground. He wasn't the same boy anymore, he didn't need some pseudo-father figure to love him. Not anymore.
He would put his foot down, he thought. He couldn't—wouldn't!—do this anymore. The comfort and pleasure it had given him in the beginning had faded long ago, leaving only shame in its wake.
"I bought you a gift, Draco," Severus said as he picked up a black box and slid it over the table. "Something to celebrate your...coming of age."
The box was adorned with a red ribbon—a lacy red ribbon—that screamed obscenities at Draco; of things he'd once thought were love, but now realized couldn't be further from.
His breathing became erratic as he told himself to toss the box to the floor and walk out of the room without a word, never to return again. He'd find...someone who would love him for who he was. For the man he was becoming. For the man he wanted to be.
"Are you going to open it?"
His fingers betrayed him as they automatically fumbled with the ribbon at Severus' command. His heart pounding, he opened the box and pushed back red paper.
There, amidst the flower-scented tissue, were a pair of red high-heeled shoes.
His eyes did not leave them as he heard Severus stand up from the table, then come around to stand in front of him.
"You've always worn just dreary shoes," Severus said, running his hands down Draco's dress and pulling the simple, black flats from his feet. "But...you're a woman now. It's time to dress like one."
Draco swallowed and let a single tear fall as Severus was distracted with the shoes' leather strap. As he felt the fine leather embrace his feet, he realized he'd been trapped all along, that Severus had set him up to fail. That he couldn't leave Severus; he had no idea who he was without him.
Long-hands ran up his legs as Severus admired his feet, and Draco prayed for strength to end it all now.
But he was stopped at the look Severus gave him. There, kneeling on the floor between his legs, Severus looked up at him, saw the fear and self-loathing in his eyes, and smiled.