Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Challenges listed at the bottom.

Word Count - 445

The Only Thing He Wanted

Percy rolled his eyes, sipping his drink as George laughed freely beside him. It was nice to be out with his brothers, to be able to stand among them and feel like one of them. The feeling had been a long time coming, and Percy was grateful for it.

It was the only thing keeping him in the club, when he'd much rather be at home reading a book, or doing paperwork, and not watching Oliver Wood pulling anyone that so much as glanced his way.

"Is he going home with one of them, you think?" Charlie asked, nodding at Oliver talking to a group of very pretty young women.

"Is it a question of if, Charlie, or which one?" George replied with a snort. "Oliver is a… I want to call him a babe magnet, but we both know he's not fussy in the slightest where gender is concerned. He's a people magnet."

Bill shook his head, an amused smile on his face. "I was like that once upon a time… perhaps not as, ah, successful, but just as promiscuous. He just needs to find the right person, is all. His person."

Percy swallowed hard when Bill met his eyes with a knowing look.

Bill was the only one who knew that Percy had a very great desire to climb Oliver Wood like a tree. And quite possibly cling on for dear life so that he wasn't discarded after one night.

Oliver chose that moment to return to them, a wide smile on his face.

"You got yourself a sure thing, there, mate?" George asked, nodding towards the giggling girls that Oliver had just left.

Oliver shrugged, his smile still present. "Probably. I'm not particularly interested though. They're too… female. I'm not feeling it tonight."

"Plenty of men looking your way," Charlie chimed in, glancing around the bar.

Percy cleared his throat. "I, uh, I'm going to the bar. I'll be back."

He left the group abruptly, ignoring the calls of his brothers.

"I hate to see you go, Percy, but I love to watch you leave," Oliver called out, and Percy could hear the teasing in his voice and it broke his heart.

Circling around the bar until his brother's couldn't see him, Percy left the bar and apparated to his flat. Bill would send him a Patronus in a few, and Percy would reply with a lie of a headache coming on suddenly.

Bill would understand and make his excuses.

Percy sat in the dark and wondered why, after so long of trying to right the wrongs he'd made in his youth, he still couldn't have the only thing he wanted.

Oliver.

…

Written for;

Showtime - 9. "Is it a question of if, (name), or which one?"

Hamilton Mania - Act 1, 9. Percy Weasley / Extra; 26. Climb