Disclaimer notes and warnings on prologue. This is the edited copy the explicit version is on my fic journal.

Chapter One

Good intentions aside it had taken a few weeks before they got a chance to get together for their first real date. They had both been drafted into the rebuilding effort in different areas so they hadn't had much chance to see each other aside from briefly after Fred's funeral. However, here he was arriving outside Oliver's flat dressed in his best set of robes to actually go out to dinner in public at a nice restaurant.

He felt the familiar twitch of fear at the prospect of anyone finding out and shoved it aside. He knew to any observer they would simply be two friends out having dinner but it was a step in the right direction. His fear of anyone finding out had screwed things up last time so this time he was not going to let it.

"Ready to go," He asked once Oliver opened the door to reveal himself in a similar quality of clothing. Oliver shook his head no and invited him inside. "Something the matter?" He felt a moment of dread that Oliver had decided to call this whole thing off.

"No I just have to finish up some correspondence." Oliver said looking sheepish. "I've left some of it a bit late." He motioned him inside and then headed back to the desk where he had a messy pile of parchment. "Just make yourself comfortable it shouldn't take me more than a few minutes."

He sat on Oliver's messy sofa and gave the pile of parchment a dubious look. He wanted to offer to help but decided it would be best to just let Oliver handle it. "I'm glad we managed to get the time off to finally go out to dinner."

"Me too," Oliver said writing quickly. "Are there any ground rules you want to lay down about how we are going to act tonight?" He was pretty sure he heard a slight edge in Oliver's voice as he asked the question.

"No," he said wanting to assure Oliver. "If anyone asks, we will be honest." He felt slightly sick saying that but he knew it was what needed to be said. "I'm not going to make the same mistakes as last time."

He noticed that Oliver was working a lot faster after that with a slight smile on his face. He felt a bit ashamed that Oliver was finding it so much easier to be brave than he was but he pushed it out of his head. "I'm done," Oliver said after a moment. "Lets go have some dinner." He got up and followed Oliver out the door feeling himself smiling as well. "By the way the league is going to start playing games again next month." Oliver smiled brightly. "It will be good to get back on the pitch."

"I'll try to get time off to come to your first game back," He found himself saying easily. He was glad Oliver was looking forward to Quidditch again. He just wouldn't be Oliver if he didn't obsess over Quidditch. "I'm still a bit unsure if I'm going to stay at the ministry but it is satisfying to actually be doing some good for a change."

"You'll figure out if the ministry is still for you eventually Percy try not to obsess about it." He had to admit Oliver was right and he found himself walking closer to the other man. "I hope there isn't a long wait at the Restaurant I'm staving." Oliver then made an exaggerated gesture of his hitting his head. "Oh wait you've probably already made an appointment."

"Actually I thought we'd just wing it tonight," He said teasingly the truth of course was that he'd made the appointment as soon as it became clear he and Oliver would actually manage to make it tonight.

Oliver just laughed obviously knowing him well enough not to believe it. "We can apparate up ahead," Oliver said after a moment pointing out a small out of the way alley that would allow them to vanish without being seen. Once they ducked in and apparated to Daigon alley things got a great deal more relaxed. "Sorry we couldn't use the floo but I haven't got around to getting a fireplace installed in my flat."

"I don't mind apparating," he said as they headed into the alley and toward the restaurant. "There it is up ahead." He pointed out the facade of the restaurant that he'd chosen for their first date after Oliver had simply said he'd eat anywhere.

Once they were inside it didn't take them long to be seated and have a perky serving witch named Vicky take their orders. "She's certainly a bubbly one," he said slightly irritated at her for no real reason. He had never liked extremely perky overly friendly wait staff. The fact she'd been ogling Oliver from the moment he entered the restaurant didn't improve his opinion of her.

"You're cute when you're jealous," Oliver said with a wink. "Just ignore her and things will go a lot better." He did his best to take Oliver's advice but the extremely bubbly serving witch showed up constantly always asking Oliver if they needed anything else. The fact she kept popping up made having an actual conversation difficult so they ended up eating quickly and leaving without dessert much to Vicky's obvious annoyance. "Let's take a walk so you can cool off," Oliver said once they were out in the alley again.

They began to wander around passing the familiar shops and restaurants that lined Daigon alley. "Do you remember when we first met on the train to Hogwarts express," He asked Oliver as they were walking by a shop selling broomsticks.

"Sure do," Oliver said with a half smile. "I kept bugging you because your brother was Charlie Weasley the best quidditch player at Hogwarts." Oliver then looked over at him and smirked. "And you let me because no one else wanted to sit with you."

"Yes," Percy said with a frown. "Bill and Charlie's know it all younger brother wasn't going to make me very popular with anyone aside from the Quidditch obsessed oddball." He looked up and saw someone heading toward them. "Speaking of Bill here he comes with Fleur."

"Percy, Oliver, what you are two doing out here," Bill asked once he and his wife got close enough. He glanced over at Oliver to see if he was going to take the initiative and say anything but it was clear he wasn't.

"Just coming from our first date at a restaurant." He said feeling Oliver tense beside him. He felt like he was going to hyperventilate but also a bit relieved since Bill wasn't yelling or anything yet.

"Your not joking are you?" Bill asked looking at him and Oliver strangely. He shook his head no waiting to see what Bill would do or say. "Does mom know?" His brother asked sounding really confused.

"Not yet," He said shooting a glare at Oliver who was staring at him in shock. "I'll tell her soon just do me a favor and keep it to yourself until I have a chance to tell her." Bill nodded and then to his shock Fleur hugged him and congratulated him on landing someone so attractive which caused him and Oliver to both blush.

Once they had left Bill and Fleur who it turned out were on their way to the same restaurant they had left. "I can't believe you told your brother so easily." Oliver said staring at him. "I guess you really do mean for things to be different this time."

"It wasn't that easy but it was necessary," Percy said more to himself than Oliver. "The hard part is going to be telling my mom she really wants grand kids from all of us." He glanced over at Oliver. "How do you think your parents are going to take this?"

"They probably won't care," Oliver said calmly. "They stopped asking about girlfriends during my last year in school so I think they've suspected for a while." He turned and grabbed his hand. "Lets apparate back to my flat."

Once hey were back on Oliver street they made their way to his flat quickly and soon enough were inside where Oliver was on him and kissing him deeply. "I thought you wanted to talk some more," He said once Oliver let him up for air.

"No more talking," Oliver said pulling him toward his bedroom doing his best to pull their clothes off as they were going. Somehow Oliver had them both in their pants by the time they reached his room. "Nice yellow pants Percy," He said pointing out Percy's bright yellow boxer briefs.

"They were the only ones in my size," he said indignantly and then pointed down at Oliver's plain white ones. "At least I'm not afraid of color." He blushed as soon as the words were out of his mouth because that was a silly thing to say.

"Less defending your pants more kissing," Oliver said capturing his lips again and he forgot all about the silly argument about pants color. Some time later they were both satisfied and Oliver spoke up again. "Stay the night so I want to wake up with you."

He felt himself blushing as he stammered out, "I haven't got any pajama's here," He said and blushed even harder as Oliver laughed at him. He started laughing himself when he realized what had set Oliver off. He couldn't believe he was worried about not having Pajama's when they had just got threw doing that. "Fine, I'll just sleep in my pants once we get cleaned up."

"Your bright yellow pants," Oliver said laughing. "Seriously Perce do you have pants in every color of the rainbow?" He ignored Oliver as he got up and found his wand using it to clean the sheets caused him to wonder how muggles deal with dirty sheets for a moment.

Later as he lay in bed with Oliver pressed against his back his arm around him he thought that he could definitely get used to this. "Hey Perce," Oliver said sleepily against his back. "Tomorrow night let's sleep at your flat." He mumbled a quick affirmative to Oliver and soon was fast asleep.

"Why don't we have a shower?" He said still after he was awakened by a smiling Oliver. He saw Oliver's grin get even bigger as the other man climbed off the and offered him a hand.

Sharing a shower in Oliver's flat was one of those experiences that was wonderful and terrible at the same time. It was a bit of a tight fit so it was wonderful how there bodies kept brushing against each other even if they were quiet up to having sex again yet. It was terrible though how hard it was to actually get clean while trying to maneuver around each other. "You have a smaller shower than I do but your flat is bigger why is that?" He found himself asking Oliver once they had gotten dressed and were eating breakfast.

"Cause I took this place cause it was close to Puddlemire's home base," He said with a grin. "I didn't really give much thought to anything aside it being a place to stay." He leaned forward with a dirty look in his eyes. "Besides I usually shower at the team showers instead of using my own." He then winked and said, "Maybe I can give you an after hours tour some time."

Percy knew Oliver was only teasing so he decided to play along. "Of course right after you come visit me at the ministry and I take you across my desk." He enjoyed watching Oliver sputter in shock but then to his surprise Oliver just grinned.

"That might be fun," Oliver said smiling widely. "But I think for now we should just focus on breaking in your flat tonight since we did mine last night." He found himself smiling at the thought but all too soon had to go to work. "I guess you have to go get changed to head into the ministry."

"Yes," He said definitely not looking forward to going into work today. "But I'll definitely be leaving as soon as the work day is over." He winked at Oliver as he got up. "I hope you'll be waiting outside my flat when I get there." Oliver assured him that he would be and after a kiss goodbye he was gone heading back to his own flat to change.

His morning was actually going very good and he was thinking about sending Oliver an owl to meet for lunch when his dad dropped by his desk. "Percy, your mother asked me to invite you to lunch today," His father said sounding nervous. "She has something she wants to talk to you about."

He felt his stomach drop and he wondered if Bill had let things slip despite promising not to. "Of course I'll be there," he said with force politeness. He could tell his father caught it but thankfully didn't say anything about it. He had been forgiven by his family but there was still some tenseness that remained at times.

He forced his worries out of his mind and went back to work even though he was unsure if he still belonged at the ministry he was still the type who had to do the best work possible. He was just finishing up a particularly troublesome report when his father arrived to collect him to head to lunch at the burrow.

He was unprepared when he arrived at the burrow to find Penelope was joining them. "Here's Percy now," his mother said to Penelope once they arrived. "You remember Penelope don't you Percy, I ran into her in town yesterday and invited her to lunch."

"It is good to see you again Penelope," He said to her quickly his mind whirling as he realized his mother was trying to set him back up with Penelope so Bill hadn't said anything. Unless this was his mothers attempt to fix him but she had said she ran into Penelope yesterday.

"It's good to see you too Percy," she said smiling slightly. "It was a shame we let how things ended destroy what had been a pretty good friendship before that." He agreed but he just couldn't tell her why they had to break up.

"Yes it was," he said ignoring the look of delight on his mothers face. She was definitely trying to match make and it made him uncomfortable. "Are you seeing anyone now?" He asked hoping that she would say yes so his mother's match making attempts would cease.

"Yeah, he's a muggle so I haven't dropped the witch bombshell yet so far things have been good," He relaxed and noticed that his mother deflated a little. "How about you are you seeing anyone?" He should have known that was coming.

He started to just lie but then he thought about Oliver's face if he found out so he said simply, "yes, I am." He didn't volunteer who and he watched as Penelope seemed to get it but his mother had an obviously curious look on his face. "How is your work at St. Mungo's going?"

"It is going very well," She said brightening and began to tell them all about her new assignment as an apprentice healer. The rest of the meal went well and soon it was time for them to head back to work.

Once Penelope had left his mother of course asked the question he had been dreading all threw the meal. "Percy, why did you tell me you were seeing someone?" She didn't look upset which was good. "I can't wait to meet her when can the two of you come to dinner/"

"We only just started dating and there is something I really need to tell you but there isn't time now," He said grateful for his job to use as an excuse. "I'll take tomorrow morning off and we'll talk."

"You don't have to miss work just bring her to dinner tomorrow night," His mother said cheerfully. "She can meet the entire family at once." He had to suppress a shudder it was going to be hard enough just telling his mother and father without the whole family at once.

"No mother we need to talk," He said stressing the importance as much as he could. "It won't hurt me to take a bit of time off work so we can talk." He could tell she was getting worried. "I'll see you tomorrow morning." He said and left feeling guilty that he was too selfish to give up tonight with Oliver to just go ahead and get it over with.

He made it back to the office and spent the rest of the day in a kind of daze as he worried over how he was ever going to tell his mother about he and Oliver and not have her freak out. He had known it was coming ever since he made the decision to tell Bill but he had hoped for a bit more chance to plan. He hadn't expected a lunch invite with his ex girlfriend to result in him having to tell his mother everything in just one day.

He was grateful when quitting time rolled around and he was able to flee the stuffy confines of the ministry to head to his flat. He felt so relieved when he saw Oliver waiting there for him dressed in muggle clothes. "Hey Perce you do have some muggle attire here right?" Oliver said grinning cheerfully.

"Yes I do," He found himself with an answering grin that he knew wasn't as sincere since he was still thinking about having to tell his mum tomorrow. He opened the door to let him and Oliver into the apartment and they went.

"Good then throw on some and we'll head out to one of those pubs for blokes like us the muggles have," Oliver said grinning. "There's one a few streets over form here that shows matches for that silly muggle game football."

"Maybe another night, Oliver, I'm not really in the celebrating mood," he said feeling guilty as Oliver's face fell but he needed to get his anxiety off his chest. "I have to tell my mother tomorrow and I'm not sure how she's going to take it."

"That's sudden, I thought you were going to plan it out a bit more," Oliver said and then after a moment asked the necessary question. "Did something happen today that made it absolutely necessary you tell her tomorrow?"

"I got invited to lunch at the burrow today, Penelope was there and mum was playing match maker." He said as he settled himself down onto the couch. "It came out that she's dating a muggle and when she asked me if I was dating someone I said yes." He saw Oliver smile and felt better than he had for a while. "So once Penelope left mum started in asking who was she and wanting to arrange a giant get to know the family dinner," he said pausing as he heard Oliver snickering. "So I told her I had to talk to her about things but it had to wait till tomorrow because I had to get back to work."

"You could have done it tonight I would have understood," Oliver said, "If you want we can head over there now and tell her together." He was touched that Oliver was willing to brave the unknown reaction of Molly Weasley but he just couldn't.

"Thank you but I can't do it tonight," he said feeling that twinge of guilt. "I'm too selfish, I want one more night where it's just us that we have to deal with." He looked away. "And now I'm worried that she'll spend all night worrying."

"It is okay to be selfish sometimes Perce," Oliver said going to his desk and grabbing parchment and quill. "I do think though you might want to owl her and ask to drop by tonight to talk about it." He handed him the parchment and quill. "I'll hide out here if you want to go alone but I'd really like to go with you." Oliver set his hand on his knee. "Just go on and do it Percy otherwise you'll worry all night."

He wanted to be selfish and stay with Oliver but he had to admit Oliver was right. "I'll tell here we will drop by after dinner," he said scrawling out a neat note and going to get Hermes. Once the letter was away, he walked straight to the kitchen and began to cut up ingredients. He saw Oliver staring at him and he blushed as he said, "I cook when I'm stressed."

Oliver smiled and leaned back to watch, "This I have to got to see." He ignored Oliver watching him as he began to whip up a quick stir fry to eat. He had learned to cook initially from being the only one willing to help his mother in the kitchen. Of course once they got older Fred and George had teased him for it so he'd gotten out of the habit. After foolishly cutting ties with his family he'd had to start again and learned he actually enjoyed it. Of course during the last year he'd developed the habit of cooking way too much when stressed out and having to give it to his neighbors all thought he was strange.

"Smell good," Oliver said coming up behind him and wrapping his arms around him. "You make a sexy chef." He really wanted to turn around and kiss Oliver but his perfectionist nature refused to allow him to let the food burn.

"It's nearly ready get us some drinks form the fridge," He said to keep Oliver form escalating things. He could tell Oliver was disappointed so he tried to make his voice playful as he said, "We can always have dessert after we eat?"

Oliver walked to the fridge laughing and then turned and said, "I don't know which would be worse facing your mom after we've just had sex or going with blue balls from you teasing." He sputtered and had to take the stir fry off the heat or it would burn. He was staring at Oliver in horror at the comment. "Hey you're the one who is mentioning dessert," Oliver said winking at him.

He was grateful when he realized Oliver was keeping him distracted so he wouldn't dwell on what was coming up after dinner. The meal passed in most companionable silence except Oliver kept slipping his foot over to bump his calf. "Your terrible at footsie Oliver," He said to tease him which got a laugh out of him. "I'm going to change out of my work robes before we go," He said getting up and heading into the bedroom.

He was just done hanging up his dress robes, shirt and trousers when he heard Oliver behind him. "Blue ones this time do you really have every color of the rainbow?" Oliver asked pointing at his blue boxer briefs. "Really Perce I never expected your pants to be so colorful," he said walking into the room.

"Am I going to put up with these jokes every time you see me in my pants," He said feeling a bit insulted that Oliver kept making such a big deal about this. He'd bought what was available in his size it wasn't his fault they were different colors.

"I'm just teasing Perce," Oliver said continuing to advance. "I kind of like them I think I just need to see you in them a lot more to get used to it." Oliver leaned in and kissed him passionately and he felt Oliver's hand find the front of crotch and start rubbing him threw the material. "In fact I think I like them a lot."

"We don't have time for this Oliver," He said between kisses. He finally broke away from Oliver. "We need to prepare to face my mother." They headed out into the street and apparated to the area just up the hill from the burrow.

As they were approaching the house the door opened and George looked out and then turned back inside and said loudly. "Hey Mum, I thought you said Percy was bringing his new girlfriend with him." He felt a moment of dread as he realized George must have been over for dinner and decided to stay for the show. George turned back inside apparently listening to his mother say something when he yelled out again. "Well unless his girlfriend is Oliver Wood there's something wrong."

They finally made it to the door and George stepped aside letting them in. He does know why he did it but for some reason he blurted out to George of all people, "Oliver prefers to be called my boyfriend." He knew Oliver would ask him why eventually and he had no idea why he said it. He supposed it might have been the stress getting to him.

"Yeah right," George said laughing and looking a bit like his old self. "I might believe you were with a guy but no way Oliver's a poof." George said snickering a bit darkly. "That's a good one Percy nice to see you finally getting a sense of humor."

"George, Shut it," Oliver said in the voice he used to use during quidditch practice. Percy shot him a glance. "He isn't kidding; we are seeing each other." George stopped laughing and began doing a pretty good impression of a fish out of way.

He couldn't really enjoy it though because a glance at the other side of the room had revealed that his mother and father had heard Oliver's statement. So much for how to drop the bombshell now he was stuck waiting for the fall out. "I think you boys better sit down," His father said motioning toward the couch.

The awkward silence didn't last long as his mother found her voice quickly enough. "How long has this been going on," She said and he noticed the question was directed at him not Oliver for which he was glad.

"This time since just after the battle at Hogwarts," He admitted deciding to be as honest as possible if she was going to lose it she should have all the fact. He wondered how long it would take her to ask about the this time remark.

"This time?" His mother asked seizing on it very quickly. "Is this why you and Penelope broke up during your last year at school?" He nodded and saw George staring at him and Oliver as if they'd grown two heads. "I need to talk to you alone Percy come into the kitchen with me," she said in the voice he remembered from his childhood that meant you best do as she said.

"Wait here," He said to Oliver and got up and followed her into the kitchen. He could tell Oliver wanted to object but he knew his mother best and he wasn't sure she was angry just confused. "I'll be fine." He said ignoring the look his brother was giving him. His dad at least looked like he was taking it well.

Once he was alone in the kitchen with her his mother sat at the table and waited for him to join her. "Please tell me from the beginning." She said not giving any indication how she was really taking this.

"It all started back in Hogwarts after that time Harry fell off his broom because of the dementers," he said carefully. "I blew Penelope off to hang out with Oliver on the next Hogsmeade weekend and things started to happen." He felt guilty about this part, "I realized as time went by that whatever I felt for Oliver was a lot stronger than what I felt for Penelope." He couldn't read her face. "I had to admit to myself that I preferred the company of men but I wasn't going to let it torpedo my career goals." He felt his face heating with shame. "I couldn't use Penny like that though even though I didn't care for as much as I wanted I still cared about her." He wanted to make absolutely sure his mum understood that. "So I broke up with her."

"And you and Oliver?" His mother asked sounding concerned but not mad for which he was grateful. He closed his eyes and tried to think of how to tell her without mentioning the desperate frottage filled sex.

"We tried briefly but neither one of us was willing to risk our planned careers so we went our separate ways," He said which might be stretching the truth a bit since they didn't really try the first time. "After everything that happened at over the last few years and at Hogwarts being alone with my career didn't seem worth it anymore."

"Oh Percy," His mother said getting up and coming around the table to give him a hug. "Does Oliver feel the same way or is this just another fling for him?" She asked sounding worried.

"I feel the same way," Oliver's voice said from the door behind them. "My team already knows I'm into guys and seeing one they just haven't met Percy yet," Oliver said surprising him. "Your dad wanted to talk to George alone I don't think he's taking it very well." Oliver then smiled weakly, "I think he's freaking a bit that I saw him naked so many times in school."

"Oh for the love of merlin," His mother said getting up and heading off to find George. He watched her go and found himself smiling amazed at how relieved he felt that things had gone so well.

"Have you really told your team your dating a guy?" He found himself asking Oliver as he heard his mother giving George a lecture in the other room. It wasn't as loud as some of her older lectures the fact Fred was gone made that inevitable but it reminded him of the old days.

"Yeah, I have," Oliver said with a smile. "I told them today it was the least I could do after you told your brother about us last night." He leaned toward Percy still smiling. "That was when I knew that you meant what you said and this time it was going to be real."

He pulled Oliver into a kiss figuring that he'd hear his mother's lecture end in time to stop before she got back to the kitchen. She was taking it well but she had never liked seeing any of her kids being romantic. Of course his luck which had been terrible about outing himself to his family held true and Ron and Ginny came in through the kitchen door while he was kissing his boyfriend. He heard Ginny gasp and after he and Oliver broke apart guiltily he just found himself laughing. "Well that solves how to tell you two," He heard Oliver say before his boyfriend joined him in laughing.

The laughter must have been contagious because soon Ginny and Ron were laughing as well which led to his Mother, Father and George coming into the kitchen to see what was going on. Which led to a repeat of events and information as well as letting his mother know that Bill and Fleur knew saving them all from his mother attempting to arrange a family dinner tomorrow night.

However, the thing that made his night was when his father took him aside and assured him that he accepted him and that he would always be his son. He had worried about his mother but he'd always known she would always love him. He hadn't allowed himself to worry too much about his dad but being told he was still his son got to him more than he would have expected.

It was late when he and Oliver finally got back to his flat. He was feeling much better even though George was still a little wary around Oliver but it was a start. He knew Ron and Ginny would inform Harry and Hermione about him before the night was over and he was okay with it. He knew if Ron could accept it then there was no way had to worry about the two of them. "You don't have to stay," He said as he saw Oliver shucking his shirt and trousers.

"I want to stay," Oliver said giving him a lazy smile. "Not up to any nocturnal activities but I want to sleep with you." He found himself smiling and stripped down to his own pants deciding to forget the pajamas as he enjoyed feeling Oliver's skin against his. "I still like that color," Oliver mumbled as they climbed into bed together.

"Now we just have to tell your parents and then deal with the inevitable dinner my mum is going to throw," He said as he pulled himself against Oliver's back giving his neck a light kiss. "Your parents won't be disappointed will they?"

"I told you they gave up on grandkids ages ago," Oliver said with a half smile. "I'm more worried about introducing you to my team they can be kind of jack asses with the teasing," He laughed weakly. "Bit like Fred and George used to be." He got quiet after he said that.

"It's all right to talk about him," He found himself saying. "I miss Fred terribly and I worry about George but it's okay to talk about they used to be like." He found himself smiling. "It's even fun to remember sometimes all the crap they put me through," He left unsaid that he'd have gladly put up with a million times worse than anything they ever did to him to have Fred back. He drifted off to sleep with Oliver's warm back pressed against his chest.

To be continued...