*Discontinued* No Longer

We Ain't Superficial. . .

Era Damon White**

Era was wheeling desperately, not knowing what to do. He panicked, and in his panic, wiped the last few seconds of Severus's memory away, ending it right where he said 'It's not what you have done, it's what you will do' and releasing his mind just as quickly.

Upon realizing what he'd done, he felt dreadfully guilty, but somehow kept it from his face. He was going to need to retrain himself, that was a bad gut reaction to have, just wiping someone's memory, but he'd been doing it since he was a baby and that was a longmade hard to break habit.

"What do you mean?" Era asked, rather than jumping to the worst possible conclusion, which he'd already discovered was untrue.

"Exactly what I said. You're all smiles and graciousness now, but eventually you'll turn around and bite me. I know I'm not handsome, beautiful, or good at anything except potions, so there's no reason why you should keep drawing this out before rejecting me," Severus said, exactly as if he'd been the one hurt rather than Era. 

Anyways, Severus was completely off-point. Era had loved him before he was conventionally beautiful, and after all, didn't that mean more than the very superficial only caring about the packaging? Did Severus only consider other people because of how attractive they were? Was that why he was bringing it up? Did he think Era was ugly?

"Are you saying you don't want to be with me because I'm not handsome enough and you're good at potions?" Era asked, very confusedly.

"What? No! That's not what I said! I said that I wasn't handsome. You're really handsome! It's just that- Arggh! Stop doing that! Just reject me already! Stop drawing this out, it only makes it hurt worse," Severus said, likely not saying what he meant to.

Despite his own thoughts on superficialness, a small part of his was made happy by his mate calling him handsome. Era didn't understand how the man could be so dense though. Why did he think that it would all end badly? He hadn't even tried to get to know Era first.

"But I don't want to reject you," Era asserted, "And while you might not be handsome, you certainly are beautiful. And I don't see why that much matters. Unless," Era said in a sad voice, "You would stop caring for me when I got older, because I wouldn't be attractive anymore."

Severus huffed, "I'm not one to be blinded by whether the face I see on the pillow next to mine is attractive or not. It just matters if that person is kind and loving."

"But I am kind and loving! Just ask Lucius or Tom," Era said, feeling wounded. 

What had he done to make Severus think he was unloving? He hadn't even spoken with him before getting rejected! And why wouldn't Severus say more outrightly what was wrong with Era? Unless, had he already said why?

"But that's now! Before we're mated! As soon as we're mated, you'll lose interest."

This made Era finally process something Severus had said earlier, 'You're all smiles and graciousness now, but eventually you'll turn around and bite me'. Had someone in his past broken his heart? Cheating or abusive ex maybe? 

It made Era angry.

"Who dared to hurt you! I swear I'll hunt them down myself!" Era said, furious anyone would dare to hurt his precious mate.

"That won't do much good," Severus said wryly, "He's already dead."

There was something about the quality in the flat way Severus said the person was dead that made Era pause for a moment. From the specific tones, he could extract that it hadn't been an ex that hurt Severus.

When Harry was a baby, he'd never been exposed to Severus, but he had been exposed to Dumbledore. Dumbledore read practically everyone around himself, checking their minds, whether they be a child or adult.