Who: Percy Weasley & Oliver Wood What: They finally have a long-overdue conversation When: (backdated to) Friday morning Where: Their house Rating: G Notes: we played this out via email, since that was the faster option. thanks to uni consuming all of my time Status: finished
Oliver had wanted nothing more than to get properly drunk when he'd arrived at the village, but the lack of easily accessible alcohol had pretty much put a damper on that plan. Afterward he hadn't really thought about it, but considering what he planned to do that evening he'd bought himself a bottle of Scotch, some necessary liquid courage before he could confront Percy and have that very important and much needed talk with his best friend.
Oli knocked on Percy's door and then opened it when Percy called him in. "Do you have a moment, Perce?" Oli asked, speaking carefully just in case he'd had so much to drink his speech would slur. He used to be pretty good at figuring out when he'd hit that point, not so much today.
***
Percy was sitting at his desk, balancing his bankbook when he bade Oliver to enter the room. He turned in his seat to face him and smiled, not readily noticing that something was amiss yet. "Come in! What's on your mind?"
Oliver never responded to his question in the journal about the masquerade and he reminded himself that he should ask Oliver in person, now that he had a chance.
***
"Can we... uh... living room?" It was probably silly, that he didn't want to have a conversation of this magnitude in Percy's room, but as a professional Quidditch player Oliver firmly believed in home advantage and the living room was probably the fairest option for both of them. It wasn't as if he was so drunk he couldn't stand on his own, but Oli still found himself leaning heavily against the door frame to Percy's room.
***
Percy frowned. "This seems serious," he commented. "Alright." He shut his bank book and rose from his seat so he could follow Oliver down the stairs. All the while, Percy worried what could be the matter. They'd both been busy, their schedules had conflicted so they hadn't spent much time together. He remembered the awkward morning they'd had a few days ago, and wondered if this might have something to do with the way Oliver behaved then.
In the living room, Percy sat in one of the chairs and looked up to Oliver, expectantly. "What would you like to talk about," he asked, sounding professional to mask how anxious he was about the answer.
***
Oliver barely bit his tongue before he said something along the lines of 'It is'. It was obvious, apparently, at least enough that Percy noticed something was up. Although Oli probably shouldn't be surprised. He knew he'd been acting a little off around Percy recently and Percy was his best friend for a reason.
Going down the stairs felt like more of a task than it should and Oliver's legs felt shaky enough that he had to hold onto the rail for support. That, at least, he was sure was a result of his being nervous rather than the alcohol. Even drunk Oli had enough control over his muscles to move normally.
"Aye, well..." Oliver slumped down in a chair, keeping some distance between them. "I found out some things," he began. "And I figured out some more and..." He blinked. He had planned out what to say, but somehow the memory seemed more than a little fuzzy.
***
"You've been drinking," Percy declared, noticing how Oliver slumped into the chair, the same way he would do after he'd had a few. This was most disconcerting and it worried Percy even more. Found out some things? What could Oliver mean?
Then it dawned on him... there was something he'd been keeping from Oliver... he couldn't mean that? The color drained from Percy's face and his eyes reflected a kind of horror. He asked, nervously, "And...? Those things... they don't happen to be things from our future, would it?"
***
Oliver fixed him with a look. So Percy had an idea. Oli wasn't sure if that was helpful or not or what it said about Percy. "Aye, it is. I mean... mostly your future, I guess." Albus hadn't told Oliver very much, but a few things were easy to guess from what he had said. "I'm a bit upset, I think..." he trailed off and shook his head. He had known he was upset before he'd started drinking.
"You could've told me about the divorce, if you knew." It seemed like the better topic to start with.
***
The mention of the word 'divorce' confirmed what Percy had feared. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose while muttering, "Merlin, I need a drink." It took a moment for him to pull himself together. He kept his glasses in his hand because he thought it might help him to talk about the subject if he couldn't clearly see Oliver's reactions.
"It's a complicated issue," Percy began, miserably. "You weren't aware of this, but my marriage to Audrey was on shaky ground, even in my time. I stayed together with her for the sake of the children. I'm not sure what it was exactly that finally had the divorce papers signed, since that's far in my future, but I have a fairly good idea." After a sigh, he continued. "I didn't tell you because I wanted to talk to my daughter, Molly, first. And I haven't told her because.. well... I have no excuse. I was dragging my feet."
***
"I have Scotch upstairs," Oli said, even though he was unsure whether Percy really wanted a drink. Oliver obviously could understand the wish for a drink. The divorce thing, as big as it was, wasn't what made him crave more Scotch though. The fact that Percy got a divorce twenty years in the future, Oli still wanted to laugh at the fact that he could know such things, didn't directly affect Oliver. Not as much as the things he thought might followed it.
"So... uh..." Oliver didn't want to make Percy feel bad about not telling him. Under different circumstances Oli might even have let it slide, but not now. "So... I heard you moved in with me after that." That hadn't been exactly what he'd meant to ask, but it was a start.
***
All the way upstairs? Percy placed his elbow upon the armrest of his seat and leaned his forehead upon his open hand. He didn't want to stand up and get it himself, thinking that Oliver might believe he was trying to evade the questioning. If it had been in the kitchen, that would be a different matter. Depending on how Oliver reacted, Percy considered going to the pub later would be necessary.
"Yes. I heard that, too." Percy said with a sigh. "Did you also hear we ended up living together for quite some time?" A pause. "My niece, Lilu says that we made a cute couple."
***
Oliver didn't want to rat Albus out. The boy had seemed pretty upset about letting something like that slip and apparently he'd made a promise to Percy not to tell. "Aye," Oli said. "Uh... well, I kind of figured it out. From what I heard." It surprised him how not surprising he found it now, after he'd had a few days to think about it. It even seemed almost natural. "Not quite a Quidditch player, but I guess I could've done worse, eh?" he grinned a little then. Percy seemed okay and that helped Oli to feel a little more at ease. The alcohol also played a part in that.
***
Without his glasses on, Percy couldn't see Oliver's reaction, but the tone of his voice sounded positive.
"You're not upset, are you?" he asked, to be sure.
***
Oliver blinked. "Should I be?" He had thought about it, after he came home from meeting Al in the park. He could be upset that Percy knew and hadn't told him, but apart from that? Oli himself didn't know if, had he been in Percy's position, if he'd have told the other. "Not upset," he clarified. "Surprised, though. Or well, at first. Not much anymore."
***
Percy slid his glasses back on to look at Oliver, clearly. "I... didn't know how you'd react. When I told you a while ago... well... anyway." Percy couldn't bring himself to even mention how he'd revealed how he was physically attracted to Oliver because it brought such uncomfortable memories. "We already went through a number of awkward days. I didn't want there to be any more."
***
"Aye... I understand." Oliver paused again. "But I was surprised. I mean... Audrey and me... there's a bit of difference, eh?" He grinned at that, almost boyishly, as if he still couldn't believe that Percy actually meant that. "And I didn't... don't want us to be awkward," he said, just so Percy knew "That's why I wanted to talk."
***
Percy thought about Audrey; was it terrible of him to be apart from her for so many months now and to barely miss her company? "Quite a difference," Percy sadly agreed. He might as well come clean by telling Oliver... well, not everything, but close enough.
"I love Audrey, but I'm not in love." He looked at Oliver for his reaction, feeling guilty. "I wanted a picture perfect wife and family to go with my Ministry job, though I don't think I consciously made that decision. My colleagues and especially my mum would drop direct or indirect questions about me being single and when was I going to get married. I knew Audrey from the office. We worked together well on projects together. I thought there was a chemistry. She was attractive, but I wasn't attracted... do you understand?"
From experience, Percy knew that sometimes Oliver didn't catch the point if it was too subtle, so he took a deep breath and miserably said, "I'm gay."
This was what Percy had already suggested to Oliver when he told him that he thought he was attractive, but to flat out and openly confess his sexuality was something he'd never done before up to this point, especially to himself.
***
"I know... well.." Oliver sighed. His brain was starting to be slow with alcohol and possibly also relief. "I mean you told me, about liking men." He looked at Percy with what he hoped was a comforting smile. Doing all these things because he thought they were expected of him sounded so much like Percy. Oliver didn't feel the same way, but he'd always been good at understanding Percy and his motives.
"I don't mind, obviously. Just..." He shrugged. "When you told me you were kinda into me... that was a surprise. It makes sense now, though," he admitted. He was trying to come up with a way to tell Percy that he was starting to feel the same way, now that he could see things a little differently than before.
***
From the way his friend was talking, Percy unfortunately didn't pick up on how Oliver might be starting to have the same feelings as himself. To Percy, it just seemed that Oliver had simply accepted the facts as they were presented. He sighed out of relief.
"Thank you," he said, then added, "I.. don't want you to think that I said that because I found out our future together." This was Percy overthinking again. "I... even back in our real world... I was. Well. Felt the same way." He found it difficult to even to say out loud again that he was attracted to Oliver.
***
Oliver would have had to lie to say he'd felt the same back home. In his time Percy had been out of reach and Oliver had never given himself the opportunity to venture into thinking about a possible relationship with him. Besides he'd been sort of busy with his boyfriends. But over the last few days he had thought about it and picked up all the little ways in which they were already dating, pretty much. It was easy to see Percy as a potential boyfriend now, with all the additional knowledge he had of their future. Even just knowing that Percy was an available option put things into perspective a little.
"Maybe I... I mean I thought about it?" He felt his cheeks flush and didn't know how to continue.
***
Percy's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really?" Seeing Oliver blush the way he did reminded him of the breakfast when he blushed the same way he was doing now, and Percy realized that maybe that was why Oliver had been behaving so odd.
It was obvious that Oliver was nervous, and while so was Percy, he decided he would need to take the next step. "Do you...urm... want to go on a date, some time?" A stupid question, since they were already living together and hung out many times before, but this time it would be an 'official date' instead of 'best mates'.
***
Oliver rubbed his hands over his face as if to try and get rid of the blush. "Well... I mean... is that weird?" He swallowed and shrugged, then bit his lip. "It's just... It wasn't a thing I thought I could do before? I didn't want to, I guess, but..." He frowned a little and tried to think through the drunk-laziness of his brain. "I dunno. What I mean is... we're kinda dating already, eh?" He wasn't about to give Percy a detailed account of all the things he'd noticed about them that reminded him of his parents. "So... aye, I guess we can go on a date? If you want?" Oli smiled at him. "I'm rubbish at dates though. You can ask any of my last… guys. Boyfriends."
***
"We are, aren't we?" Percy agreed that it was like they were already dating. "And I don't think you're rubbish... I've rather enjoyed the times we've been out together. Maybe it's because we've been friends for so long and know each other so well?" They were already comfortable and used to one another's company.
Now that the main obstacle was out of the way, Percy felt the freedom to look at Oliver, smile a little, and say, "You know, you're adorable when you get flustered this way."
***
"I'm not flustered," Oli protested, a grin taking over his face. "I'm drunk," he admitted. He'd had quite a bit to drink before he had felt ready to have this conversation. All in all it had gone much better than expected.
Oliver rested an elbow on the table and rested his chin in his palm, looking at Percy. "That date... where would you like to go?" How easy that rolled off his tongue was pretty much proved that the step from being best friends to dating wasn't all that big.
***
"You're flustered because you're drunk?" Percy suggested, his mood lightening now that the air had been cleared. After a moment's thought, he said, "I would suggest the masquerade, but you never told me whether or not you wanted to attend. If not then, how about one of those Muggle Movies they're showing every night, with dinner before?"
Yes, this felt very natural.
***
"Aye, probably." Oliver smiled across the table at Percy and thought about it. He had also seen the message Percy sent him through the journals and he'd even started to write a reply before magically removing the ink, hopefully before anyone could see. "I wasn't sure. I mean... I didn't want to decide anything before we talked. He was sure Percy, as the usually more rational one of them, would understand. "But I don't really feel like going there, to be honest. So dinner and a movie would be my choice."
***
Percy had been looking forward to going to the masquerade so he was a little bit sad that Oliver didn't want to attend with him, but he nodded to show he understood and accepted Oliver's decision. "The movie tonight is Young Frankenstein, and I can make reservations at Beau Mangerie... my mum's the chef there, and so naturally the food is outstanding."
***
"Sounds really good." Oli smiled softly at him. "Movie sounds good and I won't ever say no to your mum's food." He'd always enjoyed the time with the Weasley's when he'd visited them at the Burrow. "But I'll need a nap before that," he added. He had to sober up a little. He wasn't very drunk, all things considered, but still. Rest was always good.