Re: Part 2
I love the moment Snape kisses him, which is full of ice cracking and sparks lighting up again, but especially I adore the image you use of the picture tilting, the angle changing, so that Harry's not really in the kiss because he's caught instead in the moment of seeing everything new. Or of realizing the deeper meaning of what he's been staring at all along.
And then the staggering rush toward the truth, the breaking-open of buried secrets: "It has never seemed like a good idea. . . You don't know me half as well as you think you do," followed by:
"It's about a long-standing and highly inappropriate fixation," said Snape. Harry, who'd thought of Snape nearly every day of his life, found that he understood.
Oh my, this. Yes, this. It gave me goosebumps of pleasure. Also a totally idiotic leap of response: It's as if this fic were written just for me! And of course, it was. Which is amazing. Because you've given me that moment I search for in Snarry fics and rarely see: that moment when the emotional pressure snaps, only for once it doesn't break them. It's more of a breakthrough, a mutual recognition. And in this pairing, that's incredibly hard to pull off. But you've done it here, in the midst of the sea and wind, and it feels like the answer to so much left unspoken.
"I'm not nice."
"I'm not even sane."
"You also talk too much."
Oh, how this makes me grin. So them. And the way you end it: "No," said Snape, and Harry could see the real answer in his eyes. It's the way it should be, that stubborn No, Snape unable to believe or simply unable to admit it, but also unable to hide the truth.
So, short version: I love this fic to pieces. The mood, the descriptive sharpness, the wintry sensation of them sheltering together, the subtle, amusing dance of their conversations, in which they echo and confess to each other. The sexual intensity and the unhealthy need, which obviously isn't going to stand in their way. Thank you so, so much, dearest author. You've given me a fic to cherish and re-read, and an unforgettable version of both Harry and Snape. I feel absolutely buoyant with the beauty of my gift.