Work Text:
“Did you buy me something?” Bilius asked, holding the wrapped present. It was from Severus and very obviously a sweater of some sort. It was heavy like one and felt like clothing overall. Severus didn’t say anything. He just sat in the armchair, eyes intense on Bilius.
Bilius hooked one finger into the hole between the wrappings and pulled. Tearing the wrapping off, he found a sweater. The absolute ugliest sweater he’d ever seen. Tan with garish poms all over. There were holes in some areas and it slowly dawned upon Bilius this was homemade. Well, shit. Forcing a smile, he looked back at Severus.
“You made me this?!”
“I did,” Severus said with a small smile. “Molly gave me some tips of course.” He gestured for Bilius to put this on. Bilius resigned himself to a long while of pretending he loved the sweater. Maybe a year at most before he could ditch the sweater or palm it off onto Arthur. Putting it on, he braced himself for how Severus would react.
“Whaddya think, See?” Bilius struck a pose. Severus stared at him with an inscrutable expression. Funny, you’d think after years of being on and off, Bilius would’ve gotten the hang of Severus’ expressions. “I like it.”
“It looks fucking horrible.”
Bilius didn’t say anything, watching Severus deflate. Now he’d be beating himself up for the rest of the day. Just another thing to add to Severus’ list of failures. But Bilius would be putting a stop to this.
“Aw, come on, it’s good! I’ll even wear it to the Burrow!” Bilius gestured towards the floo powder set aside for when they left for the party. “They’ll all love it, I swear, Severus. You put in a lot of thought and effort in this.”
Severus lifted his head, hair falling to reveal teary eyes. “You don’t need to lie. Don’t embarrass yourself like this. It’s not worth it.”
With a sigh, Bilius got down on his knees to clasp Severus’ hands and look up at him. “You’re worth it, See. Tell you what, I won’t wear this. But next time when you make your even better sweater, we can pull this one out. See how much you’ve improved.” Bilius hesitated but kissed Severus’ hand. “A hobby’s good for you. God knows how much we both need a life outside of… everything.”
Severus moved to grip Bilius’ hands. “We’ll do that.”
Thank god he wouldn’t have to face the rest of his family making fun of him. Fred and George would’ve been relentless, the little shits.