AN: Ok, this might be a long note, just a warning. First things first. To everyone who reviewed: I love you! Meg-chan2, Xixie, willowscribe, SunGoddess1, Wiccan-One, shakespeare's sister. You have yourselves to thank for this chapter existing at all. I was having a lot of trouble with this part, and absolutely no inspiration, but I kept trying because I knew there were at least a few people out there who were looking forward to the next part.
#2- Not much happens in this chapter, and I don't think it's all that good, but I needed something in between the last chapter and the next one. It was the very fact of this chapters absolute necessity that made it so hard, I believe.
#3- Ok, bad news. I wouldn't look for updates much. I'm very erratic about writing anyway, and only tend to do it on the infrequent occasions that inspiration has been running mad in my head for several days. In addition, I'm spending next semester abroad in Wales, and while I will have my computer, and internet access, I highly doubt this will be updated.
#4- Good news! The next chapter will be up, if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow. Inspiration struck me hard core tonight, and I've gone a bit mad. I think you'll be happy with the ending of the next chapter though…
And they still don't belong to me.
Look! A Dinosaur!
Chapter Four: In which Penny finds the boys to be obvious
Oliver came home on Sunday and heard Percy in the kitchen, cooking. After dumping his bags in his bedroom he returned to the kitchen.
"I'm home. Miss me?"
"Of course," Percy laughed, "I was absolutely destitute without you." he pressed the back of his hand to his brow, dramatically, "I couldn't have survived another moment waiting here alone, waiting for your return!"
"Very funny. How was your weekend?"
"Wonderful actually. Congrats on winning the game, by the way."
"Thank you."
"Anyway, I slept obscenely late, read more than I have in months, did some shopping, and spent yesterday with Penny. She says 'hi' by the way. And she's planning to come visit sometime this week, because she wants to see you. I can't imagine why, but that's what she said."
"Hey! I'll have you know that everyone wants to see me, they all love me, I'm magnificent!"
"And not a little bit conceited. Although, you are pretty cute, I'll give you that." Percy smiled at him and Oliver felt his breath catch. God, he hadn't seen that smile in over a year. He wanted to see it again.
"Penny's planning on coming to dinner Wednesday. Is that alright for you? will you be here?"
"Yeah," Oliver was startled out of contemplating Percy. "I'll make sure I'm home in time."
"Good. I'll owl her and let her know it's confirmed."
"Wait a minute!" Oliver froze, staring at Percy, "What are you doing?" Percy laughed.
"It's called cooking, Ol. I know you aren't very familiar with it, but I thought you might at least know what it looked like."
"But…that's real food…"
"Very good, Oliver!" Percy praised him, sarcastically.
"Where did it come from?"
"Well, you see, there's this place called a store, and they have-"
"Oh, hush!" Oliver cut him off, "You went grocery shopping?"
"Well, we established last week all you had in this place was brown sauce and tea, and it may be possible, but that doesn't mean that it's a good idea to live on Ramen noodles and easy mac."
"Wow, the last time I had a real meal was…" Oliver trailed off thinking, "Honestly, I can't remember when. I must have seen my parents sometime in the past couple months, they probably fed me…"
"Ol, that's horrible. You need to eat a proper meal, especially being a quidditch player! You need to keep up your strength and be healthy, and… oh Merlin I sound exactly like my mother!" Percy buried his face in his hands.
"Oh, come on, Perce, it's not that bad." Oliver stepped over to his flatmate and pulled him into a hug, "Your mother is a very nice woman." Perce laughed and relaxed into Oliver's arms. They stood there for a moment before they both realized what they were doing and pulled away from one another quickly.
"I'll just…umm…finish dinner." Percy quickly moved over to the stove while Oliver mentally berated himself for being so stupid. He excused himself on the pretense of going to unpack, hoping things would be less awkward by the time dinner was ready.
Percy called to Oliver when dinner was ready, and he looked up when the other man entered the room. Oliver had opted for a shower over unpacking, his hair was still wet and dripping slightly onto his shirt. He was wearing a scruffy old shirt and pair of jeans, and Percy didn't think twice about them until Oliver turned around to grab some plates out of the cupboard. The shirt was a little tight, but better than some of the things Oliver had worn over the past week, but the jeans… They looked like normal jeans, but when Oliver turned around… they clung deliciously to his bottom and Percy swallowed, audibly. He was jolted back to himself when Oliver turned around, but he couldn't help but follow Oliver with his eyes. Well, one part of Oliver anyway.
What the hell was he thinking! Why had he agreed to live with Oliver? Because you can never say no to Oliver can you? You never have been able to. Especially when he pulls out that pathetic 'mum can I please keep it' face, and this time the face was for you. He didn't want you to leave, he wanted to keep you. He doesn't hate you like you assumed he would, he wanted you to live with him, and you couldn't turn him down, and now look at you. He gives you a friendly hug and you start thinking maybe it's something more, and you're staring at his bottom, and-
"Percy? You alright?" Oliver asked, startling him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just out of it for a moment." Oliver smiled, and pulled Percy into conversation. The awkwardness of earlier was forgotten, and they had a pleasant, comfortable conversation over dinner as Oliver reminded himself what real food tastes like.
Penny left Percy and Oliver's apartment Wednesday night, smiling to herself. Those two were just as in love with each other as they had been in school, and it was painfully obvious, to everyone but them. She wondered how long they would torture themselves before getting back together. She wanted to help, and resolved to try and think of something subtle to push them in the right direction. She knew from experience that if either of them knew what she was doing, they would dig in their heels and refuse based on stubbornness, despite how much they wanted each other.
The two men had spent the whole night casting glances at one another, glances they thought when unnoticed. They had gone unnoticed by each other, but not by her. They blushed when their hands touched by accident, and stared whenever they thought the other wasn't looking. Penny had been trying exceptionally hard not to laugh all night, she hoped they were better at hiding it when other people were around. They'd always done a pretty good job of it at school. Penny had seen it, because she knew what she was looking at, but no one else had noticed, and she didn't think that was simply because they all thought Percy was dating her. Percy and Oliver had rarely been seen together at school, and Percy and Penny were together all the time, people had drawn conclusions. She had been happy to help Percy and Oliver keep their secret, even if she desperately wanted to tell everyone that the head boy and the quidditch captain spent most of their free time shagging like maniacs, she still did as a matter of fact. She'd run into and old classmate just the other day who had asked if she and Percy were still together. She'd assured them that no, they were just good friends, and had wanted to tell they who Percy had really been shagging all those years, but she'd forced herself not to. She smiled again, thinking of the men she had just left in the apartment. She hoped they didn't wait to long before getting their acts together, they deserved to be happy, and she was sure they could ensure that for each other.
Besides, it would be possibly even more fun to tell people that the upwardly mobile ministry official and the professional quidditch player were sleeping together.
TBC… very soon.