THC: Round 7
House: Ravenclaw
Class subject: Herbology
Story Category: standard
Prompt(s): [speech] "I liked my life before you came into it"
Word count: 1288
Notes: I tried to keep this as canon compliant as possible but there may be some slight deviations for the sake of the plot.
Broken Couch Springs
"I liked my life before you came into it," had been the last thing that Percy said to him before the door to their apartment slammed behind the redhead.
Oliver sat in silence as he stared at the door. It stretched on for hours, years, eternity—he didn't know. The words had stung. He assumed that if he were to look at his chest they'd be etched into his skin. Percy had already left marks on him in other ways. It could be seen in the specific way that Oliver folded his laundry or arranged the shoes by the door. Just little indications that Percy had made a home in Oliver's heart.
Oliver knew he didn't fit into the plans that Percy had made. It took years for them both to figure it all out. That they liked each other beyond what was "normal" to everyone else. The entire Penelope situation didn't help either. Oliver didn't know why it hurt so much as he watched it all from the sidelines. He could tell that Percy wasn't happy in the relationship, but Oliver didn't know how to help.
They drifted away from each other during that time. Oliver worked himself to the bone. He threw everything he had into Quidditch and tried to ignore the ugly bubbling in his stomach every time he saw Penelope with Percy.
When Ginny went missing, Oliver had been the one to stay with Percy. He sat with Percy the entire night; his arms wrapped around the other boy as he whispered words of comfort. They waited for news—hopefully, good news—and didn't sleep at all. Percy didn't show it much outwardly, but he loved his family a lot, especially Ginny. He had been beside himself and it took hours for Oliver to calm him down enough so that Percy could sleep a little.
The pain he felt that night wouldn't be anywhere near the pain he felt several years later when Percy walked out of their apartment.
Percy got a job at the Ministry—something that was on his life plan—and Oliver became a professional Quidditch player. His thoughts often wandered to Percy as he traveled around for games. How he would like to see the shock of red hair in the audience. Oliver knew what it meant. He had known for a long time now what it all meant. But he knew that maybe Percy hadn't quite gotten there yet. Maybe he never would.
In his time off from Quidditch, when the season was over, Oliver lived in London. His salary from the team meant he didn't need to work in the off-season, but he didn't like not doing anything. He picked up a job at the Leaky Cauldron helping where he could. It got him out of his dingy apartment and talking to people.
He nearly dropped a tray of glasses when Percy walked in one day after work. The redhead had spent the rest of the night at the bar talking to Oliver. He claimed they needed to "catch up" but Oliver could read him like an open book. No matter how much of a front Percy put up, Oliver would always be the one person who could see past it all. The job at the Ministry—that Percy had wanted for years—sucked. Oliver could see it the second he walked in that Percy hated his job.
It didn't help that Percy's apartment sounded even worse than Oliver's. By the time that Oliver's shift had ended Percy was drunk. He hadn't realized how much of a lightweight Percy was or he wouldn't have served him that third glass of beer. Oliver lived close by to his work and Percy didn't seem inclined to tell Oliver where he lived so he hauled the Weasley back to his apartment.
If it had been anyone else Oliver would have left them on the couch, but it had been Percy, so Oliver cleaned him up and laid him down on the bed. He didn't sleep at all on his creaky broken couch. One of the springs had dug itself into his back and he didn't have an extra pillow.
The morning had been awkward. Percy had tried to leave without waking up Oliver, but the brunet had never fallen asleep. They sat at Oliver's broken table and talked some more over a cup of tea.
It kept happening. The more Oliver didn't want to run into Percy the more the redhead kept popping up places. Oliver's heart raced each time he saw Percy.
Right before the Quidditch season was meant to start again Oliver made what he assumed to be a mistake. It had been another night of bringing Percy back to his apartment and he let his feelings spill out of his mouth because he thought Percy had fallen asleep. He hadn't been asleep. In the morning, they had a long talk about it and left it as—something.
It had still just been something when they moved in together. Their leases were up and they both hated their apartments. But that something meant they only got one bed. Oliver wouldn't say they were dating at that point because they didn't do anything different from what they had always done besides sleep next to each other.
They finally kissed when Oliver's team won their last Quidditch match and Percy ran to meet him by the changing rooms. It had been just like Oliver imagined all those times he had wished Percy was at one of his matches.
Maybe their issue had been that they still hadn't discussed anything. Percy always had everything fit into his plan and maybe Oliver had overstayed his place in it.
The fight had been building for weeks. Tensions rose with Voldemort's return and the attacks. Percy's job demanded more from him and Oliver had to keep leaving for Quidditch matches. It meant that Percy continuously kept coming back to an empty apartment. That when he had needed support Oliver hadn't been there to give it to him. That's what the fight had been about.
Oliver kept pleading with Percy that the season was almost over and that he'd apparate home as much as possible. But he could already see that the damage had been done. Percy had been falling for too long now and Oliver had missed his chance to catch him.
"I liked my life before you came into it."
It stung because Oliver knew it wasn't true. He knew Percy's life like it had been his own. How much pressure had been put on Percy and how he thought he had to compete with his own siblings. How Hogwarts had been somewhat of a reprieve from that until everyone compared him to them again. Their room at Hogwarts had been his only truly safe space. A place where Oliver had been as well. He knew that Percy didn't believe the phrase he had uttered in its entirety. Oliver knew there had been a time when he helped make Percy's life better.
He couldn't say the same for how true the statement was now. Maybe Oliver had made things worse. He wouldn't know because Percy walked out the door and didn't come back. Because Oliver no longer fit into Percy's life the way he wanted to. The way he needed to. And maybe there would never be a place for him again.