Helloo, Ladies and Gents! Sorry for my prolonged absence, I've been grounded up until recently and those of you who have faced the unbearable punishment of being separated from their computer understand how impossible it is to get any work done. So this entire thing was written today, April 3rd 2015 for anybody who reads this rubbish years from now.

Anywhoo, I don't own Harry Potter.

Enjoy!

They appeared moments later at the front steps of a moderately sized house, slightly tangled together and stumbling lightly as they arrived. Marcus still had his arms tightly wound around Percy and the redhead was mentally listing off all the reasons why he should never let go, his face buried in the larger man's chest. They stood there for a moment, Marcus relishing in the feel of his mate and Percy overwhelmed by the warmth and feeling of right, then a breeze whispered by and the redhead shivered.

Then, blinking, he pulled away as much as Marcus would let him. "I thought you were going to let me change first."

"Um… Well," Marcus laughed awkwardly, "I didn't want to give you a chance to change your mind."

"Charming."

The taller man laughed, gently tugging Percy in closer. The redhead 'reluctantly' complied, resting his head on his broad chest for a few moments before opening his eyes. He flushed when he awkwardly made eye contact with an elderly man who had apparently been walking past the gated driveway when they had appeared. The wizard's eyes were wide, jaw dropped and body frozen with shock, as he stared at the two men cuddling before him. Marcus hadn't noticed that the man was staring, either that or he had decided to ignore their audience by stubbornly holding Percy close. The ginger shifted uncomfortably.

"Um… Marcus?"

"Yeah?"

"We're standing in the middle of the yard. And that man is staring."

Marcus blinked, slowing peeking out from where he had buried his face into his mate's auburn curls. "Oh." He waved suddenly, "Hello Mr. Johnston!"

Percy blushed an even deeper red.

Mr. Johnston slowly waved back.

Marcus just grinned.

After shifting uncomfortably for another minute Percy cleared his throat, raising a brow when the man still tightly holding him met his gaze. "Can we go inside now? Please."

Marcus smirked at the smaller man's obvious discomfort with being caught- oh the horror- snuggling. But he released the redhead, trying to keep the hurt he felt from traveling through the bond as Percy instantly backed away. Percy could feel it despite Marcus' efforts and he winced at the guilt that began to needle him, forcing it away in favor of reminding himself of the reality behind their bond. Mock-bond!

"Of course."

And with that the vampire hefted Percy's bag over his shoulder and proceeded to lead his mate towards the front doors of his home. The steps leading towards the double doors were wide and made of a beautiful cobblestone, and the doors themselves were thick and carved from a heavy oak. As Marcus opened the doors Percy allowed himself to quickly observe the front of the house, taking in the apparent age of the building as well as any newer additions to the siding. It wasn't new, he could tell that much, but it also wasn't as old as many pureblood mansions. It wasn't as elaborate or as fancy as he had expected either, the house was rather… welcoming actually, much to Percy's shock.

The inside was much the same, moderately sized and occupied with furnishings and decorations that didn't seem to be trivial and only for the purpose of projecting one's wealth. It reminded him of the Burrow, in that the atmosphere was very much alike. He followed the vampire almost mindlessly as he tried to take everything in with his trademarked scrutiny and meticulous observations. The house wasn't large, but it wasn't small either and Percy could feel the tingling notions of a fearful, hopeful pride coming from Marcus' end of their bond.

"Do you like it?"

"Pardon?" Percy pulled his eyes away from the surrounding rooms and focused on the nervous man before him.

"Do-" Marcus shifted, "Do you like it?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in his reply.

All traces of uncertainty and nervousness were immediately erased from Marcus' face, his body relaxed and he seemed to draw himself up into a proud stance. "Good," He nodded reaching for Percy's hand, intertwining their fingers, before tugging the smaller man towards the stairs. A few pictures were scattered on the wall, the faces of young men who Percy vaguely recognized but was unable to name filled the frames with their devious grins. He was unable to prevent an adoring smile to creep over his features as he noticed the absolute freedom on Marcus' face and in his smile as he laughed with the other men in the pictures.

Marcus noticed him looking. Turning to watch the redhead as he studied the pictures and the people moving within them he quietly stepped in closer. Reaching out a hand to point at each person in turn. "Terence Higgs, Miles Bletchley, Graham Montague, Lucian Bole and," he smirked, "your's truly."

"You all look so close." Percy murmured, a small smile still on his face as he looked at the tiny laughing group.

"They're my family, my brothers. We grew up together." He leaned into Percy for a moment before tugging on their still intertwined fingers, moving towards the second floor. "Come on, I'll show you the room you can have."

A few short moments and a turn to the right later they arrived in front of an aged door, after a second Percy proudly identified the dark wood as walnut. He said nothing as Marcus led him into the room, just ran his fingers along the smooth side as he followed him in. The vampire was speaking softly, his voice a pleasant sound in the background as he rambled somewhat nervously. Percy walked past him, absently brushing his fingers reassuringly against the taller man's shoulder as his eyes greedily roamed the room.

There was a large bed against the far right wall, leaning lengthwise against the soft blue wall to allow for more floor space in the center of the room. It was low to the ground, about knee height, a relief to Percy who had always hated having to climb into the needlessly massive four poster beds at Hogwarts. The dressers, shelves and bedframe were all the same beautiful walnut as the door and they were all arranged along the walls of the room. Percy smiled as he noticed the indented area around the small fireplace, it contained two moderate lounge chairs and a sinfully fluffy rug.

There was a large window adjacent to the bed on the left side. And the redhead gasped, mesmerized by the view, towering oaks and full spruce, along with numerous other tree species made up a glorious and powerful looking forest just about a hundred feet from his window. It was breathtaking, astonishing and perfectly framed by a cosy window seat and two matching honeyed brown curtains.

"Its beautiful."

Percy could feel Marcus's happiness at that statement bubble through the bond- mock-bond- and he could feel the man's dark eyes on his back as he inched closer to the window.

He heard the almost soundless thump of footsteps as Marcus walked towards him, he moved past Percy to sit on the window cushions, reaching for his hand and pulling the redhead down beside him. Percy went without complaint. Allowing himself to be guided down, just touching but not pressed against the larger man.

As he stared out the window the ginger realized with a distant shock that the sun was setting behind the trees, its dying rays bleeding out as it fell behind the massive canopy of the forest. The trunks were far too thick to allow the sunset to be visible once it fell behind their leaves but the sky remained alight with vibrant colors. Oranges, reds and deep purples all lingered as the sky darkened to a gorgeous blue then to an impossible black. A black only broken by a thick scatter of stars.

It happened within a few minutes, and they were silent the entire time.

Both quietly watching the setting sun while feeling the fluctuating emotions of the other. Marcus glanced at Percy out of the corner of his eye but the redhead shied away from his gaze, desperately wanting to prolong the peaceful silence and put off the impending conversation for as long as possible. He knew that the conversation with his brothers would be, for lack of a better term, hell. Mainly because he would be breaking their unspoken agreement to never speak of well, their agreement. He had no idea what the consequences of bringing it up would be, would they take away their forgiveness? Would they be angry? Would they hate him?

He didn't know.

And that terrified him.

He nearly never didn't know something. He hated not knowing too much to not research and find the answers for himself, but with things like this… Things that involved people and their awful and unpredictable emotions, reactions and words. People were so much harder to understand than anything else, hell, they were so much harder to anticipate than anything else too.

But- unfortunately- interacting with people was a necessary aspect of Percy's life. And unfortunately they never tended to appease his silent wishes for certain things to not be brought up.

"Soo…" Marcus started awkwardly, glancing towards Percy once again.

He sighed, "I know."

"I- okay-"

"I will." The redhead cut in, "just… Just not today. It is dark now and while I'm unsure as to what the time is exactly I'm sure that my brothers wouldn't appreciate me randomly owling or flooing them at this hour. Whatever this hour is. And I don't even care if its something as early as eight O'clock! I'm not doing this… I'm not having that conversation with them today. And there is absolutely nothing, nothing Marcus, that you can say or do that will change my mind because I am so done with this right now! And-"

"Okay."

"-I don't care how impatient you get or if you really don't want to wait another day because-"

"Percy, okay."

"-I honestly don't think I could handle it-"

"Okay, Percy. Its okay."

"-right now. This particular moment isn't all that great for me, okay Marcus? I mean, people are bad enough but the twins? Merlin, I love them, I do, but I can't I just can't deal with-"

"Hey! Percy, babe, it's okay."

"-the idea of having this conversation without spending at least a little time thinking of how in all the fucking hells I'm going to even bring this up with them! Keeping those two on track is like trying to tame a hungarian horntail with a stick! Or trying to keep a group of small children quiet! Its near-"

"Percy! Its okay."

"-impossible! And-"

"Percy!"

"Oh, will you stop interrupting me! I am trying to talk to you but you won't let me-!"

And suddenly Percy found himself wrapped in two impossibly strong arms and pulled onto his mate's lap. Marcus maneuvered him quickly, tucking the ginger's head under his chin and pulling him tightly against his chest. "Breathe for me babe," He whispered softly into Percy's ear, sending calming vibes through their bond while snuggling into the redhead. "Its okay Perce, tomorrow's okay."

In an instant all of Percy's tension ebbed away, leaving him slouched bonelessly in his mate's embrace, listening to the soft waves of emotion trickle through the bond.

Once he relaxed Marcus adjusted his grip and stood carefully, ignoring Percy as he grumbled something about "not being a baby" and "can walk perfectly fine, thank you very much". Despite his muttered protests the redhead practically clung to the taller man as he moved forwards. After a few steps the vampire shifted Percy's weight to one arm and threw one corner of the bed's comforter back.

Percy couldn't stop himself from clinging as Marcus set him down and made to pull away, but the other man just smiled brightly and detangled himself from the redhead after pulling him in for another quick hug.

"My room's at the end of the hall if you need anything," he paused while pulling the blanket up, "Goodnight Percy."

"Night Marcus."

The vampire was gone soon after, leaving Percy alone with his thoughts. And once his mate was out of sight the redhead's mind refused to shut up. He couldn't stop himself from dreading the pending discussion he would be having the next day, and for more reasons than one. The twin's reaction to him breaking their unspoken rule was an unpredictable factor that was painful to even think about- let alone come to terms with it being a necessity. After all, it had been going on for far longer than this one prank.

This one joke. Horrible, cruel and so perfectly attuned to everything that Percy so desperately wanted, and didn't have. It was perfect- he could admit that- perfectly planned to make him crave what he had long-ago convinced himself he'd never deserve, although he was confused as to why the twin had chosen Marcus to be the second party involved. Its not like they had any idea that he was gay, that either of them was gay. He had never been stupid enough to give them ammunition that powerful, and potentially painful. And they had never given any inkling of knowing, and they would have- had they known- because they twins were horrible with secrets. Not with keeping them, those two could keep their mouths shut when it really mattered- to them, of course- but it had always been impossible for them to keep everyone from knowing that they were keeping a secret. Their tendency to snicker and shoot knowing glances was far too high for anybody not to know.

Maybe they chose Marcus because they wanted Percy to hate himself for feeling affections for the man who tormented him in school, and maybe for feeling affections for a man. It was something they'd do. After all, to the twins, what could be worse than a man liking another man in that way? Especially if it was Percy liking another man.

That must be it. They want ammunition and me being a homosexual would be perfect in their minds because… because they think it would make me repulsed by myself.

Percy stifled a laugh. They want me to hate myself. More than I already do, that is.

Thanks for reading people! Please drop a review to let me know what's running through your minds. I may forget to respond to comments but I never forget to read them!

Next chapter, Percy has a little chat with his brothers! (Finally, right?)