As I pondered further, I realized there was another take on the idea of happy crabby.
In many ways, I was a classic ‘observer child’ growing up, and as an adult, I am often described as stoic (or a tactful person may describe me as having a calm demeanor… or a cleaver individual might describe me as wry). All this is to say - How people perceive others feelings isn’t always an accurate description of what’s going on on the inside. For example, I might look unamused or uninterested, but I’m possibly (or probably) having a blast and laughing my ass off (on the inside).