The first discussion
Chapter 6
Percys brows were furrowed, and Marcus couldn’t tell if he was irritated about Marcus speaking to him in front of the Clearwater girl or if it was about Marcus talking to him at all.
Marcus stood there feeling like an idiot, he was certain he looked like one too.
Of course, Percy didn’t want to talk to him,
they had spent a few hours together. Why would he want to talk to Marcus again now that they weren’t dizzy from the lights and the alcohol
now that Marcus and everything about him that would undoubtedly not fit into Percy Weasley’s life wasn’t unobstructed by the same shadows.
The rough texture of the Rock wall he was leaned against dug uncomfortably into his back. He though about moving, wondering if shifting his position would ease the tension in his back and between himself and Percy, but before he could decide, Percy started to talk.
“So, you wanted to talk?”
Marcus had to physically restrain himself from flinching, yeah, he had wanted to talk, but now everything he wanted to say had fled his brain, replaced by whatever dumb shit Terence had been rambling about this morning at breakfast, something about catching one Adrian’s various flings leave the dorms.
It took a few annoyed eye movements from Percy for Marcus to realise that He probably shouldn’t be staring at the ceiling right now.
Realising that made his eyes snap back down to meet Percy’s, hopping his voice wasn’t shaking he stared to talk “I just thought that …” He faltered, did his brain start rejecting oxygen? “… maybe we should talk about what happened”
He had at some point started to avoid Percy’s eyes again and looking back now felt like homework not the bad king, the worse kind.
It was worse than he had expected Percy’s eyebrows were pinched together even harder, like his irritation had curdled together even tighter, it looked almost painful.
Percys stood up straighter before asking him flatly “Why?”.
Marcus blinked; his confusion must have shown on his face because Percy elaborated
“I mean I’m not gonna tell anyone, so you don’t have to worry about that”
now Marcus was probably the one who looked in pain, confusion turning into dismay, but Percy continued before he could respond.
“and if you just want to-“ he couldn’t help but interrupt the frantic redhead “I just wanted you to know-” but Percy didn’t stop, he only stated to wave his hands around while pushing himself of the wall, this marked his departure from this conversation and the moment his tone started turning dismissive.
“Yeah, yeah I know” the eye roll that Marcus was here to witness was truly phenomenal.
The way Percy droned on without even looking at him made it seam like he’d said this a hundred times before.
“I know your not gay.” He waved his hands in through the air before continuing “you’re not into guys. I get it.”
“Wait, that’s not what i-“ Marcus tried to grab Percy’s arm, the redhead only evaded his hands, before looking at him exasperatedly and continuing “what, is this where you say “this is just a one time thing” or is it gonna be “I was just drunk, it didn’t mean anything”.
His brain must have short circuited. For a few seconds he could only stare at Percys now red face, he didn’t know if that was due to anger or embarrassment.
“Are that things people tell you a lot?” The words slipped ou before he could think better of them.
Percys eyes narrowed “What do you think?” he looked more confused than angry now, but his irritation had not disappeared.
Marcus couldn’t help but say “I didn’t know you got around that much” the words had slipped out, he hadn’t meant to be offensive,
but the moment the words hit the air he knew they had been a mistake.
“You-“ Percy spluttered, gasping for air like a fish out of water, his voice reaching an almost comical pitch. He had turned as red as his hair and Marcus could see him physically trying to reign himself in.
The last time Marcus had seen Percys this furious was when the annoying griffindoor twins accidentally set one of the redhead's books on fire in the Great Hall.
It had been a true spectacle then, Marcus never would have thought that that type of ire could be directed toward himself, or at lest he didn’t expect to end up in the crossfire of Percy’s rage for such a personal reason.
“You are so!” Percys voice broke, and his face did a complicated shift that he couldn’t understand, and Marcus just now realised how far he’d gone out of his depth “I didn’t mean-“
“You didn’t mean what?” Percy snapped, cutting him off. Marcus was sure he sounded dumber than rocks as he stumbled over his words, Percy had turned back around fully facing Marcus now.
Marcus started to feel like he should restrain Percy again because no matter how much he didn’t think Percy could throw a solid punch; he usually didn’t walk around giving people the incentive like he had just done.
Percy was in Marcus's space now, almost as close as he had been last night on his bed, this time their proximity wasn’t in a way that he would have liked, and although he usually didn’t waiver before retaliating physically when someone came too close to him. Percy had crept onto the short list of people he wouldn’t want to hit in the face.
Marcus’ gaze flicked to Percy’s brows, which were still furrowed in anger. His hand twitched, an automatic impulse to smooth them out, but he caught himself before he reached Percy face.
His hand now hovering in the air was swiftly swatted away by Percy, his glare sharper than ever. “I can’t believe I ever thought being around you was pleasant,” he snapped.
With that, he turned on his heel and stormed off, presumably heading for the library—and Clearwater.
If Marcus was being honest, he would have loved to sink and disappear into the ground right here and now. Sadly, that was not an option.
Instead he had to deal with the mortifying realisation that he just fucked over, what had probably been his only chance with the guy he had a-, the guy he wouldn’t have minded being around, maybe kissing again could have been nice but now he was pretty sure that train had left the station, and he’d ruined it by basically slut shaming Percy, his mother would have hit him if she knew and then she would have laughter at his social ineptitude.
With a resigned sigh, Marcus pushed away from the wall that had held him up for the last five minutes and trudged off in the same direction Percy had gone. He wasn’t sure if he should resign to his fate or if maybe catching up to Percy and trying to fix this would be worth it.