Assignment 11: Arts and Crafts: Task 2: Write about someone putting the pieces of something back together (figuratively or literally)
It's not how Percy and Oliver wanted to meet Cedric's father.
Frankly, it's not really how Oliver wanted to meet anyone.
But here they are, a bruised and broken due that was once three, until the Dark Lord decided to use their third as a plot device and then toss him aside when he was finished.
Cedric is gone.
They loved him, and he is gone, and now a part of them is missing.
And here they are, at Cedric's funeral.
Here they are, and Oliver is saying to Mr. Diggory, "It's nice to meet you, sir. I'm Oliver. This is Percy."
"I've heard… so much about you," he says in reply. "Both of you. And please. Call me Amos."
His voice is weak and thready.
"Good things, I hope," Percy says softly.
Amos tries to smile. "So many beautiful things. He loved you."
Oliver and Percy exchange a look and then Oliver says, "We loved him. I know it doesn't help. But we did."
Amos presses his lips together tightly, and then says, "I'm still glad for it."
And Percy and Oliver move away, letting someone else take their place, pay their respects to Amos.
…
And then the funeral is over and it's just them.
It's just them and all their jagged edges, trying to fit together when there are gaps where Cedric used to be.
He was the newest part of them — once upon a time it was just Percy and Oliver, before they fell in love and had to figure out how that changed things.
And it seems like that would mean that they know how they work together without him.
But it doesn't work out that way.
Instead, it's periods of fighting over the stupidest things, like what to have for dinner, followed by periods where they can't seem to talk to each other about anything.
It's Percy going to work for a man who believes his boyfriend's death was an accident and not outright murder and coming home even more broken inside.
It's Oliver going to practice and feeling the distance between himself and his teammates and not knowing how to fix it, and coming home even more lonely than ever.
And it feels like it should be getting better but it isn't.
It isn't.
…
And then Percy comes home from a shitty day and Oliver won't decide what to make for dinner and Percy doesn't have the fucking effort to decide and suddenly he's screaming.
"You don't do anything around here!"
"I don't? You're always at work!"
"Because it's my job! It's not my fault that I have a real job instead of playing sports all day!"
"Not a real job? Are you serious right now?"
"Yes, I am! You go to practice, and you fly around on a broomstick for a few hours, and then you come home and claim exhaustion and don't do a damn thing. You think I'm not exhausted?"
"From what, following Fudge around all day? Being his bitch?"
Percy goes quiet.
And then he bursts into tears.
They aren't quiet, polite tears.
They are massive sobs, shoulders shaking, breath gasping. He can't breathe. He can't breathe. It felt like righteous anger but now it doesn't and he wonders how it all went so wrong.
Suddenly, Oliver is embracing him, holding him up and guiding him to the couch. And Percy is sitting down and shaking with the force of it and Oliver's hands are trying to soothe him, rubbing his back.
"I'm sorry," Oliver says. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. You know I didn't. That was too far."
"It's not… even that," Percy says between gasps. "It's… I… who are we without him?"
Oliver bites his lip, eyes wide and pained, and then he says, "I don't know."
…
But that breaks some sort of dam between them.
It shatters something, and they're capable of talking again.
They can talk and actually listen to each other. And they're still argumentative and they're still broken but now they can fit the broken pieces back together, one by one.
They have dinner and Oliver cooks and Percy cleans, and something between them mends.
They go and see a Muggle comedy movie and they hold hands in the cinema and they turn to each other and share the joy at the funny parts, and something between them fits back together.
They have dinner with Percy's parents and Molly asks them about getting married and Percy doesn't break down crying, and a bit of their broken puzzle fits back together.
The progress is slow but sure and sometimes they move backward before they can go forward, but it's still progress.
And throughout all of it, at least they aren't alone.
Writing Month: 789
Moresome May: plot point: meeting the parents; wc: 789
Character Appreciation: 21. (era) Trio
Showtime: 4. At the End of the Day - (word) Righteous
Cooking: beef: word: argument
Insane House: Emotion - Frustrated
