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Somewhere in the comments on this post about the invisibility cloak, we got way off into talking about Snack:
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raisin_gal: I mean, with Sirius long gone and now Severus dead, Snape/Black fodder is so thin on the ground to begin with... I'd clutch at any straw, at this point, but your idea just sounds so fantastic.
aras_fixation: Unfortunately it is. Lots slashers either tend taking the easy route, sticking to short PWPs with hate sex. Or to their but-they-hate-each-other thesis and then turning toward more easy pairings.
ETA: Writing Snape/Black is a challenge. It often requires from the writer to like both characters in equal way, see all their strengh and weaknesses all at once, while keeping this all in ballance. Not an easy task, since most of the writers are, on a personal level, deeply emotionaly involved either with Severus *or* Sirius to keep themselves in check during their writing.
esmestrella: Not that I have a problem with hate!sex. It's fun. I don't like rape/abuse scenes, though (although that's a little more common with Severus/James). I do like Severus/Sirius smut!fic which is about scrapping with each other, dominance, snarking, etc. This pair is just ripe for clever banter, which makes me squee. But I like it best when either or both finds they have a genuine physical attraction and/or discover sparks of tender emotions.
Getting Severus and Sirius past tensely tolerating one another can be a long journey, though. Fic which has them in domestic bliss I tend to find kind of ewie. These people do not call each other "cupcake"! Usually the warmest relationship that I still find plausible is that Sirius has accepted Severus's attitude and finds it more endearing than irritating ("that's my Severus"), while Severus, though still prickly and sour, has discovered that there is something to be said for having someone in his life who is as faithful to the death as, well, a dog. Severus has had precious little of anyone sticking up for him in his life, and if you got Sirius to a point where he considered Severus worth defending, you can be sure he would do it with his whole heart, which would touch Severus deeply in ways he would never dare to articulate.
They are both very passionate people, so once you get past the hate!sex, there is the possibility for other wonderful emotions going on there, as well. And while Sirius is often portrayed in fanfic as a dim pretty boy, I think he is in fact quite intelligent, just that he has a disregard for things like schoolwork and rules, and tends to follow his first idea without thinking about it very hard (i.e. he lacks foresight). So there's potential for resonance there if you can just get Sirius to calm the hell down and Severus to loosen the hell up, lol.
Lastly, two skinny guys with long black hair = total aesthetic win. ;)
Additional: They're both kind of screwed up emotionally if not mentally. That isn't always the greatest way to build a healthy relationship, especially since in this case, they both exhibit arrested or stunted emotional development, but it can foster seeing eye-to-eye on some things. "I may be screwed up, but you're screwed up the same way, so at least we understand each other."
Severus has had, erm, kind of a pisser of a life, from day one as far as we know. He is bitter, withdrawn, angry, possibly depressed, and I'd bet on abandonment issues. The man desperately needs approval, friendship, and love, but has got so used to carrying on mostly without these things that his shell is close to stone by now, and only crackable with quite strong emotion. He has a lot of that simmering down below, though, and because of their mutual past, Sirius is a pretty big hammer.
Sirius started out fairly well, but was vehemently rejected by almost his whole family when still fairly young. This was at least somewhat precipitated by his own actions, but it's still got to hurt, even if he wouldn't have admitted it. He soon loses all his close friends/surrogate family through a terrible betrayal, a violent attack, and after that ending up Azkaban, where he sits alone with his thoughts for 12 years. If you don't think you'd wind up with anger and trust problems after all that... ahem.
On the subject mentioned above of Sirius being a faithful friend and protector, this is a trait we know Severus shares as well.
For Sirius this would probably include coming to like Severus, or at least feel neutral about him. Sirius seems to have a moral disconnect about people he doesn't like; they don't matter very much. He is short on compassion, in other words. In the case of Severus, whom he hated, that apparently meant a complete disregard for the other boy's life. (I don't think the Shack incident was an active murder plot, despite what Severus pleads to Dumbledore; I think Sirius just didn't care what might happen to Severus.) So wanting to protect him would have to come along with liking him. Sirius isn't the type to do something like that just because someone told him to.
Severus, on the other hand, can cheerfully (*koff*) dislike or hate someone while still keeping faith, whether for his own reasons or because he has entered into an agreement and given his word. In fact we see a hint of this in OotP where he checks on Sirius based on Harry's hints. We know Severus doesn't like Sirius a bit, and gets pleasure out of finally being in a position to taunt the man who helped make school life hell for him, but he still seems to want to keep Sirius alive if at all possible.
(Perhaps that was related to his duty to protect Harry as well, as suggested in the original comment that started all this, with "Dumbledore fostered their hatred and prevented them from joining forces on this". I guess Severus perceived the rapport between Harry and Sirius, and maybe thought "if Potter won't listen to me, maybe he'll listen to Black." I.e. that Harry needed all the help he could get, even if some of it had to come from someone like Sirius.)
raisin_gal mentions in a further comment that they both seem to love unconditionally, and will/would reject evidence of negative qualities or experiences. Although Severus seems have a scared little voice inside him questioning whether Lily really is his friend, if someone tried to tell him she was not worth his time, I imagine he would have turned a deaf ear (if not something more to the point) to such a suggestion. Sirius, similarly, won't hear a word against James or Harry, for example. (In a way, really, this is arrogance, on both their parts: "My judgement about this person is perfect and you are wrong if you try to tell me otherwise.")
raisin_gal: I mean, with Sirius long gone and now Severus dead, Snape/Black fodder is so thin on the ground to begin with... I'd clutch at any straw, at this point, but your idea just sounds so fantastic.aras_fixation: Unfortunately it is. Lots slashers either tend taking the easy route, sticking to short PWPs with hate sex. Or to their but-they-hate-each-other thesis and then turning toward more easy pairings.ETA: Writing Snape/Black is a challenge. It often requires from the writer to like both characters in equal way, see all their strengh and weaknesses all at once, while keeping this all in ballance. Not an easy task, since most of the writers are, on a personal level, deeply emotionaly involved either with Severus *or* Sirius to keep themselves in check during their writing.
esmestrella: Not that I have a problem with hate!sex. It's fun. I don't like rape/abuse scenes, though (although that's a little more common with Severus/James). I do like Severus/Sirius smut!fic which is about scrapping with each other, dominance, snarking, etc. This pair is just ripe for clever banter, which makes me squee. But I like it best when either or both finds they have a genuine physical attraction and/or discover sparks of tender emotions.Getting Severus and Sirius past tensely tolerating one another can be a long journey, though. Fic which has them in domestic bliss I tend to find kind of ewie. These people do not call each other "cupcake"! Usually the warmest relationship that I still find plausible is that Sirius has accepted Severus's attitude and finds it more endearing than irritating ("that's my Severus"), while Severus, though still prickly and sour, has discovered that there is something to be said for having someone in his life who is as faithful to the death as, well, a dog. Severus has had precious little of anyone sticking up for him in his life, and if you got Sirius to a point where he considered Severus worth defending, you can be sure he would do it with his whole heart, which would touch Severus deeply in ways he would never dare to articulate.
They are both very passionate people, so once you get past the hate!sex, there is the possibility for other wonderful emotions going on there, as well. And while Sirius is often portrayed in fanfic as a dim pretty boy, I think he is in fact quite intelligent, just that he has a disregard for things like schoolwork and rules, and tends to follow his first idea without thinking about it very hard (i.e. he lacks foresight). So there's potential for resonance there if you can just get Sirius to calm the hell down and Severus to loosen the hell up, lol.
Lastly, two skinny guys with long black hair = total aesthetic win. ;)
Additional: They're both kind of screwed up emotionally if not mentally. That isn't always the greatest way to build a healthy relationship, especially since in this case, they both exhibit arrested or stunted emotional development, but it can foster seeing eye-to-eye on some things. "I may be screwed up, but you're screwed up the same way, so at least we understand each other."
Severus has had, erm, kind of a pisser of a life, from day one as far as we know. He is bitter, withdrawn, angry, possibly depressed, and I'd bet on abandonment issues. The man desperately needs approval, friendship, and love, but has got so used to carrying on mostly without these things that his shell is close to stone by now, and only crackable with quite strong emotion. He has a lot of that simmering down below, though, and because of their mutual past, Sirius is a pretty big hammer.
Sirius started out fairly well, but was vehemently rejected by almost his whole family when still fairly young. This was at least somewhat precipitated by his own actions, but it's still got to hurt, even if he wouldn't have admitted it. He soon loses all his close friends/surrogate family through a terrible betrayal, a violent attack, and after that ending up Azkaban, where he sits alone with his thoughts for 12 years. If you don't think you'd wind up with anger and trust problems after all that... ahem.
On the subject mentioned above of Sirius being a faithful friend and protector, this is a trait we know Severus shares as well.
For Sirius this would probably include coming to like Severus, or at least feel neutral about him. Sirius seems to have a moral disconnect about people he doesn't like; they don't matter very much. He is short on compassion, in other words. In the case of Severus, whom he hated, that apparently meant a complete disregard for the other boy's life. (I don't think the Shack incident was an active murder plot, despite what Severus pleads to Dumbledore; I think Sirius just didn't care what might happen to Severus.) So wanting to protect him would have to come along with liking him. Sirius isn't the type to do something like that just because someone told him to.
Severus, on the other hand, can cheerfully (*koff*) dislike or hate someone while still keeping faith, whether for his own reasons or because he has entered into an agreement and given his word. In fact we see a hint of this in OotP where he checks on Sirius based on Harry's hints. We know Severus doesn't like Sirius a bit, and gets pleasure out of finally being in a position to taunt the man who helped make school life hell for him, but he still seems to want to keep Sirius alive if at all possible.
(Perhaps that was related to his duty to protect Harry as well, as suggested in the original comment that started all this, with "Dumbledore fostered their hatred and prevented them from joining forces on this". I guess Severus perceived the rapport between Harry and Sirius, and maybe thought "if Potter won't listen to me, maybe he'll listen to Black." I.e. that Harry needed all the help he could get, even if some of it had to come from someone like Sirius.)
raisin_gal mentions in a further comment that they both seem to love unconditionally, and will/would reject evidence of negative qualities or experiences. Although Severus seems have a scared little voice inside him questioning whether Lily really is his friend, if someone tried to tell him she was not worth his time, I imagine he would have turned a deaf ear (if not something more to the point) to such a suggestion. Sirius, similarly, won't hear a word against James or Harry, for example. (In a way, really, this is arrogance, on both their parts: "My judgement about this person is perfect and you are wrong if you try to tell me otherwise.")