Percy shifts his stance. He knows he's fidgeting. He knows it's stupid.

But he's never brought a date home before.

And this is especially nerve wracking because his date is best friends with two of his little brothers.

Percy fidgets again, and he hates how evident his lack of confidence is.

He never meant for this to happen.

He never expected this to happen.

Lee was just… he was always over in the summers, visiting the twins, and he always stopped to smile at Percy and chat for a bit, and Fred and George gave him shit for it which just made Lee do it more.

And Percy found himself entranced.

Lee was different than he'd expected. Frankly, he'd expected Lee to be like Fred and George: clever, but never taking anything seriously.

But Lee was different. Just as clever as the twins, and just as inclined to mischief at times, but also capable of settling down into one position and thinking things over. He spoke as thoughts occurred to him, entirely unlike Percy's measured words, but Percy found that he wasn't bothered by this; quite the contrary. He found Lee's thought processes fascinating. At one point, they'd started on a conversation about an article in the Prophet on declining Wizarding births and Lee had rambled himself through a discussion on Wizarding versus Muggle health care and somehow ended up on comparative Ancient Runes. Percy still had no idea how he'd made that leap, yet it had made perfect sense at the time.

He had no idea what kept drawing Lee back over the summers. At first, he knows, it was just to spite the twins. But at some point, it stopped being about that and started just being for the sheer joy in it.

When they'd started talking, Lee had been fourteen and Percy had just turned 16.

The first time Lee had kissed him, Lee was fifteen. Percy was nearly 17, going into his last year of Hogwarts, and he'd never kissed anyone.

Lee had leaned in, slow enough to give Percy plenty of time to move away, before kissing him with a gentleness that surprised Percy. He'd pulled back and grinned, wide and bright.

"I really like you," Lee had said.

"I… uh," Percy had stuttered in reply.

And somehow, that was the beginning of everything.

But now? Now they have four years and a war in between them and that moment.

They have a breakup and a makeup and too many funerals to count between them.

Percy counts himself grateful. He'd survived the war, and despite his best efforts to stupidly alienate himself for a while there, he'd come back. He'd come back just in time to save Fred's life from a falling wall of bricks (nearly sacrificing his own life in the process), just in time to fight with his family at his side, just in time to apologize to Lee over and over again to earn his forgiveness.

And all that has led him here, fidgeting in Lee's apartment as Lee gets dressed to meet his family as his boyfriend.

Percy never meant to keep him a secret. The timing had never been right to mention it. Not until now, when it's all over and he has no excuses left.

It's time to face his brothers and tell them he's fallen in love with their best friend.

He can only hope they'll understand.

And if they don't? Well. Fred owes him a life debt, and that's got to count for something, right?

Lee comes out into the living room, knotting his own tie easily after years of practice. He grins at Percy.

"You're nervous," he says.

Percy shrugs slightly, not wanting to admit the truth of the statement.

Lee comes forward, takes both of Percy's hands in his.

"It's going to be fine," Lee says. "Your family already loves me."

"Exactly. They might kill me," Percy says. It's a joke. Mostly.

Lee tugs him in for a hug.

"They're not going to kill you," he says into the fabric of Percy's shoulder. "They love you."

Percy sighs, resting his cheek on Lee's mass of hair. "I hope that's enough, because it's time."

Lee pulls back and smiles at him again. "It's going to be fine," he says, and takes Percy's hand as they leave his flat.

They Apparate from the alley by Lee's flat to the outside of the Burrow's wards. They both cross the wards easily, walking up the Burrow's winding driveway.

Percy doesn't knock, because he never has, but he's trying to stop himself from fidgeting, pushing his glasses up his nose as they walk into the living room, hands still clasped.

Fred is the first one to notice.

He looks at their hands, and then between them, and then back at their hands. It seems to be taking him a moment to digest what he's seeing.

"Are you…" he starts, but then he trails off. It doesn't matter. Lee is smiling and nodding and George has noticed as well by now, and is gaping at them.

Percy grips Lee's hand a little tighter, and says, "Hi, everyone. You know my… erm, partner, Lee." Percy doesn't love the word, but he hates boyfriend even more, because it sounds so juvenile. It's more than that — more than some teen with a crush.

His mum puts her hand over her mouth, eyes bright with mirth. Bill just nods at them with a grin and then turns back to his pregnant wife. Ron waves lazily.

Ginny just yells, "Yeah, get it Percy!" with an easy grin. Percy flushes bright red, all the way down his neck. Little sisters are the worst.

Fred and George are still staring, and still not saying anything.

Percy fidgets.

Lee stares right back. "You gonna say something?" he asks, tone challenging, and Percy hates this, hates putting him in any position that might make him choose between loyalty to his best friends and loyalty to Percy.

"Congrats," says George, but it's overlaid by Fred.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Fred asks, and his tone is… almost hurt.

Percy winces.

"I didn't… erm." Percy flounders, but Lee takes over easily.

"Maybe because we needed time to figure it out ourselves first?" he says, and it's not really a question. Lee shrugs one shoulder, and then says, "Look, can we talk about this in the kitchen?"

Fred stands up, and Percy watches the two of them go. This is not helping his fidgeting issue.

…

Fred stares at his best friend, who has suddenly turned into someone he doesn't recognize.

"Percy?" he asks. "Really?"

And Lee whirls on his with a spark of anger in his eyes. "Look, I know you don't get him, exactly, and he'll never be your favorite sibling, but like… Can you maybe respect that I love him?"

Fred stares at him. Lee is excitable, but he's usually very even-keeled. He doesn't get angry often.

And that's when Fred realizes exactly what this means to Lee. It isn't something casual. It isn't… it's real. It's serious.

And that's terrifying, because Lee is his best friend and Fred doesn't want to lose him.

Lee sighs. "I'm sorry. Look. We… I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't have kept it from you, but we were still figuring out how it worked with just us, let alone with everyone else. And we're still figuring it out. But… He gives me fucking butterflies, Freddie. I'm happy. We're happy. And I thought you'd be happy for us."

Fred feels chastised, because Lee is right. It's true that Percy… Percy runs on a different track than he and George do. And they're brothers, and they love each other, and Fred owes Percy his damn life, but Lee is right — they don't get each other.

But that shouldn't stand in the way of anyone's happiness.

"I'm sorry," he says, genuine. Lee smiles softly.

"I know you are. And, look. You two are my best friends, have been since we were eleven. That's not changing, okay? I can be his partner and your best friend at the same time."

And Fred feels something inside of himself unknot, and he realises that Lee has found the heart of the problem. He hadn't even realised he was worried about that.

Fred smiles. "You better," he says with a grin. "We made a friends forever promise at age eleven — and you know I take that very seriously."

Lee grins back, and Fred knows in that moment that everything is going to be just fine.

"I do, too, Freddie," he says.

Fred slings an arm around Lee's shoulder and says easily, "How much do you want to bet Percy is a fidgety mess by now, wondering what we're saying?"

Lee laughs, loud and bright. "Oh, you couldn't pay me enough in the world to take that bet."

They walk into the living room, and both of them laugh, because Percy has all his weight shifted to one foot and is picking at his fingernail — both of his obvious fidgets.

Percy raises an eyebrow at Lee in question, and Lee just smiles back.

Yeah, Fred thinks. It's all going to be just fine.

World Cup: Fred, Belgium

Writing Month: 1532

Seasonal: Days of the Year: International Joke Day: Write about a joker. / Summer Prompts: (theme) Summer Romance / Birthstones: Topaz - (dialogue) "He/she gives me butterflies." / Shay's Musical Challenge: Grease - write about a group of friends sticking together through thick and thin / Gryffindor Themed Prompts: Lee, Percy, Fred

Disney Challenge:C7: Doc - Write about someone getting their words muddled. Alt, about being the boss. / Showtime: 28. The Room Where It Happens - (emotion) Jealousy / Count Your Buttons: O4: glasses / Lyric Alley: 9. My sister made her way across the room to you / Sophie's Shelf: 11. Word: sacrifice / Emy's Emporium: S1: (event) family dinner (or dinner with close friends)

Pinata: Percy

Funfair: North: Balloon Wall: the burrow; East: PercyLee, Hook a ship pirate ship

Hamilton Mania: Act 1, 16. Expecting a child - (setting) The Burrow; optional: confidence

Insane House: Object: eyeglasses