Disclaimer and notes on prologue. This is the edited for copy.

Chapter four

He managed to keep his mother from finding out for about three days but he realized she knew when his dad turned up by his desk early one morning. "Your mother insists that you join us for lunch today."

"So she has finally found out what I did," He said and his father nodded. "I'll be there then," He knew there was no avoiding this now. He was glad though that he could easily tell her that there hadn't been any problems caused by his coming out at work. Sure a few folks had given him ugly looks and the silent treatment but he had gotten those long before he came out.

At the time he first started working here he'd convinced himself those looks were because he was a Weasley but after the last few months he'd come to realize it was because he was a hopeless know it all and a suck up to people in authority. He actually seemed to be getting less of them in the wake of his coming out than he got before.

He hadn't heard from his superiors on the matter at all so he assumed it was a non issue to them and he was glad for that. He spent the morning wondering how long it would take him getting threw the door for his mother to launch into the worst case scenarios she had inevitably cooked up.

He also knew that by the end of lunch today she would know he and Oliver were planning to move in together as soon as possible. He hoped since she'd spent her time getting worked up about the ministry that she wouldn't freak out as much over that.

When lunch finally rolled around, he made sure to meet his dad in the lobby quickly since it wasn't a good idea to keep his mother waiting when she was worried. "Hello Mother," he said once they arrived at the Burrow and he gave her a quick kiss.

"Percy Weasley, why didn't you tell me that you outed yourself to the entire ministry?" She asked angrily. "What were you thinking you could be fired or this could get you hurt?" He could tell she was worried and he was reminded again why he hadn't wanted her to know for as long as possible.

"Mother, I am in no danger of being fired, " He said pulling her into what he hoped was a comforting hug. "They would have said something before now if it was going to be a problem." She was still sniffling. "Also I am more than capable of taking care of myself plus I know I can always come to you and dad if I need help."

"I just worry about you living all alone in London," She said and he knew what was coming. "You could always move back here we haven't converted your room into a guest bedroom yet." So he finally knew what they planned to do with his room.

"I'm fine living alone but I should probably tell you that I won't be for much longer Oliver and I are planning to get a place together." He watched as she was at first relieved that he wouldn't be alone and then worried that he was moving too fast.

"Don't you think your moving a bit fast dear?" She asked right on schedule. He closed his eyes and tired to think of the best way to explain this so she wouldn't worry. He opened them again after a moment and took his glasses off to rub at his eyes.

"I know it is a bit quicker than usual mother," He said as he replaced his glasses on his nose. "But Oliver and I know what we are doing and it is the right time for us." He hoped she wouldn't push because he didn't think he could explain it any better.

"All right dear but you know you can talk to me or your father if you need to," She said pulling him into a quick hug. He assured her that he did know and offered to help her in the kitchen but she declined. "No need Dear I've got everything under control." She then smiled at him "Why don't you go join your father in the sitting room."

"Father," he said as he joined him in the room. "I have to ask have you heard anything at work because I told mother it would be fine but I still don't know 100 percent for sure." He asked careful to keep his voice low enough his mother wouldn't hear him.

"I've spoken briefly with Minister Shacklebot and he assures me there is no problem," His father said but that left the question about the next minister of magic unanswered. "Officially there is nothing in the rules that would allow them to fire you but the ministry does not always follow it's own guidelines."

That was certainly true the Ministry had bent or outright broken its own rules and laws in the past. He didn't think the ministry would go out of its way to do that to get rid of him but he had been surprised before. "I don't think I will need to worry as long as Minister Shacklebot is in charge but if he is replaced I might need to have other employment lined up."

"I don't think Kingsley will be losing the top spot any time soon," His father said. "He is very popular and has a great deal of public support." His father smiled slightly. "And his opposition is too afraid for now to be associated with Voldemort's policies to make too much trouble." His dad smiled. "By the time Kingsley's career as minister is over you'll probably be so high up in the ministry that they wouldn't dare fire you."

He knew his father was only trying to reassure him but he wasn't sure he wanted to be at the ministry in a few years time. He decided not to say anything about that since it would only make his parents worry since being in the ministry had always been his dream job. "It's time to eat," His mother called form the kitchen and he followed his father in and sat at the table.

"Oh Percy I meant to tell you George has agreed to let Ron work for him," His mother said brightly after she served everyone. "Ron, was very surprised that George finally agreed but I knew he would sooner or later."

"I'm sure Ron will be of help to George," he said and privately he hoped this was a sign that George was beginning to move on. He then busied himself eating so he could avoid any more conversation about him and Oliver moving in together. He knew his mother would probably bring up how fast they were moving at some point.

"Percy, have you and Oliver given any thought to where you are going to move?" His mother asked after a while. "I mean I could check down in the village to see if there are any available places around here?"

"We haven't settled on an area yet," He said privately vowing he would not be moving to the village near his parents. He loved them but he did not want to live within walking distance of them he'd never escape from Sunday dinners then. "We are thinking somewhere equal distance between London and his stadium." He said which he knew would rule out the village.

"Oh that's too bad but I'll still see if there are any listings," She said cheerfully. "Perhaps you'll find something with a good enough price." He sighed and envied Muggles who could use the commute as an excuse but since both he and Oliver had their apparating license he knew it wouldn't work. "After all there is no need to rush into picking a new home you should take your time to get the right one."

"I'll look at anything you come up with," He said to make her happy. He just resolved to just find somewhere better than anything she came up with. "I really should be getting back to the office I do have a lot of work to do." He felt slightly guilty at the blatant lie as his work day has been rather slow but he wanted out of this conversation.

"Of course dear, Did you have enough to eat?" His mother asked and he assured her that he had. He said his goodbyes and headed straight back to the office. He would have felt even more guilty if he hadn't.

He settled back down at his desk and found something to work on it was due until the end of the week and he'd gotten out of the habit of turning his work in early but this one would be a throw back to the old Percy. He didn't like how easy it was to fall back into hold patterns. He had been doing his best to lighten up and change in the wake of things but he still found himself falling into old patterns with his family and his job.

It was something he was going to have to work on, he would ask Oliver for help with it since so far he had avoided falling into old patterns with Oliver. He could still remember how their friendship that had been a pillar of support for both of them had faded in the light of quick fumbles and lots of frottage.

He wondered at moments like this how his life might have turned out if he'd had the guts to have an actual relationship with Oliver the first time around. He didn't like to admit it to himself but he doubted things would have worked out. He was too caught up with making something of himself and Oliver was determined to be a Quidditch star.

Now Oliver would be happy just playing Quidditch for the rest of his life and he well while he still enjoyed the work wasn't sure he belonged at the Ministry. "Hey Percy," Amanda said showing up out of nowhere. "There is something I wanted to ask you if you don't mind," She said cheerfully. "You were a prefect and then Head boy at Hogwarts right?"

"Yes, I was," He said wondering where this was going. Amanda had taken it upon herself to improve his social life and constantly invited him and his boyfriend out. So far he had refused all her invitations but she continued to show up trying to talk him into going.

"I was talking with a friend of mine who was a prefect and they mentioned that sometimes you would walk in on students having romantic moments," She paused briefly. "I was curious if you ever walked in one anyone like you." She blushed slightly. "My friend swears she did but she's been known to lie."

"It wouldn't be right for me to mention what I did or did not see in my duties as a prefect and Head boy," He said simply. "I will say however that I did walk in on some things that surprised me and leave it at that."

"Oh I gotcha," She said and then headed back off to do her own work. He was glad she was gone because he was beginning to find her presence annoying. He knew he should try to be more social but the simple fact was he never really connected well with people. She could also be really annoying like the time she'd asked him if he'd had a crush on Mr. Crouch.

He had been surprised and horrified by the question. He should have expected it he'd been the butt of several jokes about his devotion to the man from his own family. The worse part was he wasn't sure he hadn't had a crush on him at the time. Mr. Crouch was a very handsome man for his age and he did represent everything he'd idolized at the time. He had also put up with being called Weatherby for months and ignored every one of the man's many faults. Of course it had been easy to ignore most of Crouch's faults because they were so similar to his own.

He focused himself back on his work. He didn't need to dwell on a possible crush on his deceased former boss. As he was finishing up the report, he began to think about her other question. The truth was there were a handful of incidents involving two students of the same sex he'd caught in unusual situations. He recalled the two Ravenclaw girls who'd insisted they were just touching up each others make up despite their disarrayed appearance. He knew it would have shocked folks to know he pretended to accept their excuses.

The only time he'd ever considered reporting someone was when he walked in on Flint and another Slytherin. His personal dislike of Flint had warred with his ethics and his ethics had won out barely. The fact Flint and the other student hadn't seen him was another reason as he hadn't wanted to be the target of his potential retribution.

He finally finished his report and walked over to his superior's office to deliver the report he was actually glad that his superior was out as he dropped the report in the in box. He wondered what Oliver would say if he ever mentioned that Flint probably also had an interest in men. As curious as he was, he'd never bring it up as it wasn't his job to out Flint and Oliver had hopefully moved on from hating his Quidditch rival.

He glanced at the nearest Ministry clock and saw it was finally approaching closing time so he began to pack up to leave. "Mr. Weasley, may I speak to you for a moment," His superior said coming over to his desk. "It's about the report you just turned in."

"Yes sir," He said following the other man back to his desk. "Is there a problem with the report sir?" He asked curious why he was being called into the office since he had done the same quality of work he always did on the report.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on getting back to normal," The man said with a smile. "I was beginning to think you had given since you quality of work had slipped so much." His boss said surprising him. "I mean your work was still excellent quality but you were being so slow I was afraid something was wrong." He was smiling even brighter now. "Now that you are back to your old self I was wondering if you could stay late and help me get caught up on a few things?"

"No sorry I have plans," he said watching his boss stare at him in shock. "My work will remain high quality but I will not be running myself ragged any more." He was doing his best to keep his temper under control. "I will see you tomorrow, have a good day."

He turned and left the man's office making a bee line for his desk to pick up his things. He glanced at the clock and was relieved to see it had just reached closing time so he didn't have to linger. He made his way to the lobby and apparated away as soon as he was out the door. He needed to get home, get out of his work robes and then have a drink.

He arrived home and was slightly disappointed that Oliver wasn't there yet but he knew it was mainly because he was in such a bad mood. He headed to the bedroom and stripped off his dress robes, shirt and trousers but instead of putting on anything else he simply headed to the kitchen to get a class of fire whiskey. He normally stuck to lighter drinks like butterbeer but he was irritated and wanted something strong.

He was on his second fire whiskey and just beginning to relax when he heard the door open and Oliver came in wearing the old clothes he wore to and from practice. "Wow, had a really bad day huh?" Oliver said obviously taking in his lack of clothes and the fire whiskey bottle sitting on the bar.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," He said irritated. Oliver just gave him a look so he broke down and told him. "First Mum finally found out about me outing myself to the ministry and I had to go calm her down at lunch." He looked away. "She knows we are moving in together and when she's not trying to talk us out of moving so fast she wants us to move to the village near the burrow."

"We are not living anywhere near your folks," Oliver said throwing his bag on the couch and heading to the bar to join him. "I like your family but being that close would drive me completely round the twist."

"You and me both," He said. "I told her we'd look so whatever mum finds is our baseline we have to find a house or flat far away that is better than anything she comes up with." He said watching Oliver burst out laughing. "To get away I lied about having a lot of work and went back and finished a report not due till the end of the week." He took a long draught of his fire whiskey then. "Then my supervisor stopped by to praise me on getting back to my old self and asked me to stay late to do some extra work." He knew he was scowling again. "After that I told him I couldn't I had plans, left, came home, stripped off, and had a drink."

"Wow poor baby," Oliver said coming up behind him at the bar. "How about a hand job to help you relax," he said leaning down and kissing his shoulder. After which he repayed the favor with a blow job in the living room.

"I'm glad too," He said and then because the moment felt right. "I love you Oliver Wood," He said and saw Oliver smile and soon he was being kissed passionately. He closed his eyes and enjoyed Oliver's tongue moving around his mouth.

"I love you too, Percy," Oliver said with a smile that looked like it was going to split his face. "Let's go have a shower and then we'll see about getting us some dinner." He helped Oliver to his feet and they made their way into the bedroom where they shed the rest of their clothes and then headed into the shower. "I need to do some Laundry soon otherwise I'm going to need to make another run to my flat."

"Just put your stuff in the basket," He said with a smile. "I doubt my mum can tell the difference between your clothes and mine." Oliver gave him a curious look. "Yes my mother still does my laundry but it's not by choice she insist on doing it and will show up if I don't bring it by every week." Oliver just smirked. "I'll get her to stop sooner or later but it might take a while she's been a bit gung ho about it because of everything that happened."

"Relax Perce, I'm not judging you," Oliver said with a smile. "All the same I think I'll do my own laundry your mum might freak out a bit if she's confronted with evidence of us having sex." He had to admit Oliver was probably right his mother probably knew they were having sex but knowing intellectually was different than seeing the evidence. "Scrub my back?" Oliver said once they were in the shower under the spray of water.

"Sure," He said and began to scrub his lovers back. Once he was done he turned around and Oliver did the same job for him. "You know Oliver we should definitely make sure wherever we move to be sure it has a large bath."

"We should check Hogsmeade," Oliver said with a smile. "We can easily make magical alterations to any place we get there without too much trouble with the land lord." He had to admit that was an idea. "Of course a muggle neighborhood might be more accepting if we went to one of those gay districts."

"We will look around and check out our options," he said as they finished up in the shower and pulled on some new pants. "Let's just eat in tonight I can cook something quick." He said and left the room after using a hot hair spell to dry his hair. "I don't feel like bothering with getting dressed to go out, do you?"

"Not really," Oliver said using his own wand to dry himself before following him out into the bedroom. They headed into the kitchen where he sat his wand on the counter and began to gather the necessary ingredients to cook. "You know I can help if you want I'm not hopeless in the kitchen," Oliver said.

"Chop up those vegetables then," He said giving Oliver the stack of vegetables. "I'll start the meat and then we'll get started on something else." He left Oliver to cutting them up while began preparing the meat.

All in all Oliver seemed to be a decent cook in his own right. At the very least he was competent when it came to following directions. "You know next time I might just let you cook everything." He heard Oliver laughing. "I was picturing you mainly survived on take away and frozen meals."

"I did at first but a bloke gets tired of that all the time," Oliver said laughing. "You learn to cook or you shack up with someone who can cook." Oliver then smirked. "I did both." He shook his head ignoring Oliver's terrible sense of humor.

They didn't talk much during the actual meal as it was nice to just sit back and relax. After they eat he quickly used magic to clean up the dishes. "Should we listen to the wireless or are you up to fooling around again?" Oliver asked with a grin.

"I'm always up to fooling around," He said pulling Oliver against him and giving him a kiss. However before things could get too exciting there was a knock at the door. "It figures I guess I'll go get a dressing gown on and see who it is."

"Just open the door in your pants it's your house," Oliver said but he ignored him and head ed into the room to get a dressing gown on. He had just finished cinching it when Oliver came in heading toward his bag of clothes. "I was gonna open the door but I checked first thankfully it's your mum."

He left Oliver scrambling to get dressed and made his way to the front door where he opened it and his mother was standing there holding what looked like a stack of papers. "I thought for moment you weren't home Percy," His mother said cheerfully. "I brought you these flyers of property available in the village and the surrounding area."

"I didn't expect you to bring it by so soon," He said honestly shocked. He wondered if she ran out immediately this afternoon to get listing for him. "Come in you can leave them on the desk and I'll get you a glass of tea."

"Thank you Percy," His mother said. "I can't stay long, though, your father is waiting for me at George's shop." He was nearly to the kitchnen when she spoke up again. "Percy, these trousers are in terrible shape you should throw them away." He remembered then that he'd left Oliver's old trousers he tended to wear two and from practice where he'd change in the locker rooms on the floor.

"Actually those are mine," Oliver said emerging from the bedroom fully dressed and attempting not to look guilty. "I wear them to and from practice since they are comfortable and I always change and shower in the locker room." Of course Oliver still felt the need to over share. A quick glance at his mother showed her drop the trousers in shock and blush a deep scarlet. He shook his head vowing that George must never hear of this.

"Here is your tea mother," He said doing his best not to blush in embarrassment. He wondered why Oliver couldn't have lied and said they fell out of his over night bag it would be embarrassing but not as embarrassing as his mother guessing correctly they'd had sex in the living room earlier. "You said you were meeting father at George's shop?"

"Yes, George asked for your dad's help with something and I told him I'd drop those listings off and then meet him there," His mother said managing to get over her initial embarrassment. After another pause she looked at Oliver. "Are you living here now?"

"Well yes and no," Oliver said after a moment. "I've got a key to Percy's flat and he's got a key to mine we've been over at his mostly cause it's got a bigger shower..." Oliver stopped talking when he saw that his mother was blushing again. "I really need to learn to stop talking sometimes."

"I think I'll be going now, Percy, Oliver," His mother said as she stood up and handed him back the still full tea cup. "Thank you so much for the tea and be sure to look through the listings." He escorted her to the door and then once she was gone he turned to find Oliver shaking his head in horror.

"I'm sorry Percy, I don't know why I can't shut up some times," Oliver said sounding upset. "I'm sorry I embarrassed you and your mother like that." He just walked up to Oliver and pulled him into a hug.

"It's okay we will both get over it," He said a bit surprised that Oliver was taking it worse than he was. "You don't normally get this upset when you say something without thinking?" He asked curious what had brought this on.

"It's just that I don't want to be the cause of any stress between you and your mum," Oliver said. "I know that things are still a little tense between you and your family after the last couple of years." He gave Oliver another hug.

"Relax, Oliver," He said as he pulled back. "My family and I are going to be okay and you won't come between us." He had to smile slightly as he added, "My mum is just going to be a bit weird around us for the next few times we see her." He then really broke into a grin. "Just be glad it was my mum and not George who got details about our sex life."

"If it had been George he'd never speak to either of us again," Oliver said breaking into his own grin. "I mean can you imagine he'd have run out of here as soon as I let slip the trousers were mine." He could picture it and Oliver probably wasn't far off the mark. "By the way one of my team mates is dating this new girl and wants us all to get together at some club after the game this Saturday do you want to go?"

"I suppose," He said. "I'm not very big on going to clubs though and my luck it'll turn out he's dating Amanda from work." He shook his head. "She keeps trying to make me her gay best mate and it's irritating as we don't share any interest in common."

"His new girl's name is Susan," Oliver said shaking his head. "They are both younger than us and I can't remember if you said the crazy woman was or not." Oliver said giving him a curious look. He racked his mind to remember Amanda's age.

"Amanda is the same age as us I think," He said pausing. "She just recently joined the ministry after working somewhere else originally." Which wasn't that unusual since so many folks lost their jobs or freedom after going along with Voldemort that there were massive openings in the ministry.

"Well even if my some chance she's there I'll protect you from the woman who wants to make you her new best mate," Oliver said teasing and then sobered after a moment. "If you really don't want to go I can go alone or make an excuse not to go?"

"I'm fine with going," He said quickly. "I know this team is important to you and we both need to be a bit more social." He looked away. "I'm just not doing it with folks who ask me questions like how many same sex couples I walked in on in Hogwarts as a prefect or head boy."

"She actually asked you that," Oliver said shaking his head. "I mean I know there were some others besides us into the same sex but that's just not something you should ever discuss with anyone besides the people you walked in on."

That was pretty much confirmation that Oliver had walked in on someone else at some point but he was right they shouldn't talk about it. "I think we should quit discussing stuff that we don't need to talk about and instead get back to what we were doing before my mum interrupted us."

"I thought you'd never ask," Oliver said gettin gup and heading into the bedroom. "Sit on the bed while I strip off I'm going to have to wear these again tomorrow," Oliver said and began to strip off this time actually taking the time to fold his shirt and trousers sitting them on Percy's dresser instead of just chucking them on the floor.

"You know watching you fold and properly store you clothes is kind of hot," He said watching as Oliver just raised an eyebrow. "I know it's weird." He go up and took his own robe off and carefully layed it across a near by end table.

"Yeah it's weird but I like your brand of weird," Oliver said walking over in just his pants and kissing Percy. "I thing you should be on top tonight," Oliver said with a grin as he pulled him ont onto the bed.

"Happy to oblige," He said as he kissed Oliver's chest and then got up. "I'll be right back." He headed over to the drawer he kept the lubricant in. "We'll need to buy some more of this before this weekend."

"Oh do we have big plans for when we get back form the club," Oliver said laid out on the bed with a grin. "Or do you wan to get really daring and try our hand at public sex in a club bathroom?"

"Back from the club," He said shaking his head. "Don't even joke about public sex Oliver." He could admit maybe in some small rebellious part of him would love to try it he'd never go threw with it.

"That was great," Oliver said as he caught his breath after everything was done. "Can you take care of the stains with your wand?" He noticed the drops of semen on the bed covers and reached over to pick up his wand. It only took a simple cleaning spell to clear up the stains but they had to actually get up to get a rag to clean themselves up. "It's a shame neither of us know any spells that would clean us up without the rag."

"I know a few but the result would be messy," He said shaking his head. "If not for us that whatever we were on at the time so it's just easier to do it the non magical way." He could just picture the result if he tried summon soapy water to get them clean.

"Yeah I suppose," Oliver said suppressing a yawn. "We should probably get some sleep," the other man said. He nodded his agreement and used magic to switch off the lamps before climbing into bed next to Oliver.

"Wait we forgot to put the lube bottle up," He was about to look around for it when Oliver made a snorting sound. "All right it can wait till tomorrow as long as you put the cap back on it." Oliver mumbled what sounded like an affirmative so he laid down and closed his eyes hoping there wouldn't be a mess in the morning. He felt Oliver snuggling up against his back after a while and finally drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

To be continued.