Chapter 5
"Stop hovering," Percy snapped as he pulled on his robes, "I'm not an invalid."
Bill raised his hands in an "alright, I hear you" gesture and took a few steps backward but continued to be within arms reach of his younger brother. At least Percy couldn't smell his breath anymore. The amount of coffee Bill had been drinking had obviously had an effect on his dental hygiene. "Are you sure you're ready?" Bill nagged for the fiftieth time that morning, "If you're not it's perfectly alright-"
"I'm fine," Percy snarled, "How many times do I have to fucking tell you?"
"Okay," Bill muttered, clasping his hands together to mask his anxious energy.
Percy trudged over to the fireplace, trying very hard to ignore Bill's hovering at his shoulder. He reached a hand unceremoniously into the floo pot and dug out a handful of the green-colored powder. He felt a few grains inch their way under his fingernails from the aggressiveness of the action and controlled his wince only to stop Bill from going off on another tangent. He felt something clasp his shoulder and, this time, didn't manage to hide his flinch.
Turning 180 degrees, he was met by the pressing gaze of Bill's sympathetic chocolate eyes. Mercifully, he said nothing about the recoil and quickly removed his hand. Percy raised his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly forward in a clear "what?" gesture. The floo channel that Dumbledore had opened would, for security's sake, only work for a small window of time. "Just…" Bill started, then shook his head. He reached forward to futz with Percy's hair, then moved his hands down to Percy's shoulders to smooth out a few nonexistent wrinkles. Percy didn't know why he bothered, considering all his hard work would be undone in the chaos of the floo network. Bill's hands rested irritatingly on Percy's shoulders as he summoned a feeble smile. It twitched and clearly didn't reach his eyes. Percy couldn't decide if he was embarrassed with his brother's efforts or comforted by the attempt.
Similarly, he was still having difficulty deciding whether or not he should acknowledge his brother at all. After he'd listed his demands about Percy's return, Percy had largely given him the silent treatment. Occasionally, when Bill had gotten on his nerves enough, he'd lashed out, but for the most part, Percy hadn't acknowledged his brother. Even as he'd nervously flitted through the hospital room, trying to collect all of Percy's things, Percy had kept his gaze stubbornly fixed on his sheets, ignoring all of Bill's half-hearted conversation starters.
Bill nervously fiddled with Percy's hair again but sheepishly withdrew his hand when Percy opted to glower at him. Bill cleared his throat and put his hands together again, swaying slightly as he spoke, "Remember to go straight to Madam Pompfrey."
"I'm flooing into the Hospital Wing," Percy reminded him rather resentfully.
Bill swallowed, "She'll give you your calming draught and Oliver will walk you back to the dormitory."
Percy scoffed and looked to the side. From the corner of his eye, he saw Bill open his mouth and then close it again twice before finally saying, "If you need anything, I'm just an owl away."
Percy continued to look to the side. Merlin, he was sick of staring at walls and ceilings and blankets.
"Okay," Bill said, seemingly more to himself than Percy.
"Can I go now?" Percy asked, still looking away.
A sigh. A shuffle. Then-
"Oh," Percy let out involuntarily. Bill's arms had wrapped themselves around him and loathed as he was to admit it… it was comforting. Forgetting himself for a minute, Percy relaxed into the hold, letting his head rest against his brother's chest. He kept his hands at his side to keep up his illusion of being thoroughly pissed off. Not illusion. He was thoroughly pissed off. A hand gently rubbed circles into his back. He listened to the slightly fast lubdublubdub of Bill's heart.
Okay, maybe not that pissed off.
Too soon, or maybe not soon enough, Bill disengaged from the hug. He patted Percy's shoulder once, then backed away, seemingly to give Percy space to floo. A considerable amount of floo powder had slithered through his fingers onto the hospital floor. Percy didn't have the energy to put his hand back in the floo pot. He wondered rather detachedly what the side effects of not-enough-floo-powder could be.
"I love you." Bill said, something weepy in his expression.
Fuck you .
"I love you too," Percy muttered, barely audible.
A watery smile, less strained than before, crept into Bill's expression. "Be safe," he said, and Percy was done with this. He threw the floo powder roughly into the fireplace and said, voice cracking, "Hogwarts!"