"Are you going to George's New Year's Eve party tonight?" asks Percy, adjusting the knot on his tie.
"Of course," Oliver says between two pull-ups on the bar he has attached to the doorframe to their bedroom. It's part of his daily morning workout, which he always does while Percy is getting ready for work. "What about you? Are you going?"
"Of course not," says Percy and examines his tie. It looks quite passable.
"Why not?" Oliver is apparently so taken aback that he forgets that he is not yet through with his pull-up unit and lets go of the bar to take a few steps in Percy's direction.
"You know I don't like parties. And George's parties are always so much. I'd rather stay here at home and look after the flat and finish my book and go to bed early. Very relaxed."
In the mirror he sees Oliver's horrified look.
"I don't expect you to stay here. You can go to the party with a clear conscience. I know you're already looking forward to it and would be annoyed to miss the party. George's parties are legendary, but this is just too much for me," Percy says. He really has no problem spending New Year's Eve alone. After all, Percy likes to be alone, even on the other 364 days of the year, and New Year's Eve is no exception. Besides, 'staying at home' is always preferable to a party. And George has invited about a hundred people, not all of whom will come, of course, although most will, since George's parties are known to be legendary. How are all these people supposed to fit into the small flat and the shop? Percy, in any case, is not particularly keen to find out.
"But then we won't see each other at all!" says Oliver.
Percy shrugs. "I'll see you when I get back from work. And tonight, if you are so loud when you try to be quiet that I wake up.. And tomorrow. One evening won't matter there either."
"But that's New Year's Eve!" says Oliver, sounding even more dismayed than before. Even though Percy wouldn't have thought that was possible.
"We haven't seen each other on New Year's Eve for the last years either," Percy informs him. "It's not like it would break a long-held tradition." Rather, they would if they spent New Year's Eve together. On New Year's Eve, Percy is home (and three years ago he was with his parents) and Oliver is not. Oliver goes to some party and Percy makes himself comfortable on the sofa with a woollen blanket and a book he doesn't want to take into the new year only half read, and then goes to bed by eleven at the latest. It depends on when he finishes reading the book.
"I know," Oliver replies, sounding rather grumpy. "I just think it's a shame."
Percy could say a lot of things now. For example, that he would only slow Oliver down at this party because he is simply not capable of having fun at such events. Or that they wouldn't really spend the evening together either if they were at George's party. After all, Oliver is super popular and knows everyone and talks to everyone and Percy is Percy and will have at least one little mental breakdown in the toilet during the evening and otherwise hope Hermione is there so he doesn't have to talk to anyone else. And he could also say that no one knows about them and so there will be no New Year's kiss and no New Year's kiss will also happen if Percy is in the flat and Oliver is at the party. He doesn't have to go for that.
But Percy doesn't say all that. Instead he says: "I have to go to work. You don't have any training today, do you?"
Oliver sighs. "No, I haven't. I'll be here when you get back. Have fun at work."
Percy pulls on his jacket and takes the briefcase, which as usual is next to the desk, which they still somehow squeezed into their bedroom, which was not so easy with the big bed and the big wardrobe and this one piece of sports equipment that Percy secretly thinks looks like a torture rack.
He wants to give Oliver a kiss, a goodbye kiss, like they do every morning, even if Oliver has exercised before and is a bit sweaty. But today Oliver turns his head away so that Percy's kiss lands on his stubbly cheek instead of on his mouth, as he actually intended.
When Percy came home, dinner was ready. Spaghetti with Bolognese. That made Percy feel better, even though he thinks sauce with tomatoes is quite dangerous (he has told Oliver this several times, but Oliver always just laughed and said he wouldn't mind if Percy sat opposite him without a shirt on) and that in combination with spaghetti, which can constantly slip off your fork, no matter how careful and civilised you are/ate. But it was delicious, really delicious, because Oliver cooks almost as well as Percy's mum and some dishes he can do even better than her. That's good, because Percy doesn't really know how to cook, but he never had to cook himself. Either his mum took care of it or the house elves at school and then he moved in with Oliver. Oliver cooks and Percy does the laundry. And they clean together because it's important to Percy and it's not important to Oliver that it's clean and tidy, but it's important to Oliver that Percy doesn't passive-aggressively clear things around and isn't in a bad mood when it could be avoided so easily.
Percy dabs sauce residue from his lips, then puts the napkin away and says, "I've changed my mind."
"What have you thought about?", Oliver wants to know.
"About the party," Percy says. "I'll come with you. On one condition."
"Really?" A glow spreads across Oliver's face. He doesn't ask about the condition. But Percy knows that Oliver doesn't care about any condition, if only Percy comes to this party with him.
"On one condition," Percy repeats. "We leave at a little after twelve. "
Oliver makes a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Can do." Then he beams at Percy again, and it's worth it that Percy has decided to go to the party. Hopefully. Hopefully it was really worth it and Percy wouldn't regret it, just like almost every party he's ever been to. Percy is not a party person, after all. He's a book-and-sofa-and-cuddle-blanket person. "This is going to be great!"
Percy doesn't believe that, but he nods because he doesn't want to spoil Oliver's joy.
The party is not great. Of course it's not great. But that's not what Percy Oliver says. He hasn't seen his boyfriend for a while either, two hours at least. They arrived here four hours ago (George's parties are not only legendary, they also start early - so you have more time, not so you can leave early, because they end late at the same time), then Oliver disappeared into the crowd and hasn't been seen again. For a moment Percy spotted him two hours ago, but because he only saw the broad-shouldered figure with the short-shaven hair from behind, it could have been another Quidditch player. There are a few of them here.
Percy lets his eyes wander around the living room. This is the quiet part of the party, which means that people can still understand each other when they shout at each other. Right now, though, Percy has no one to shout at each other with. Hermione has disappeared to look for Ron - if Percy understood her correctly. There are no people here for him to talk to. But many of the people don't seem like they can talk very well any more, either, because they are either snogging around very heavily or they seem quite drunk. George's parties are so legendary, among other things, because the firewhisky never seems to run out and because he serves home-made cocktails that pack a punch.
Briefly, Percy feels envious. Not of the drunken people, no. After all, he could have had that if he were able to let himself go and drink more than one glass of champagne, very slowly of course and spread over the evening. But to the people who are making out like crazy. That's Katie Bell back there, isn't it? Percy could have sworn she was wearing more than that light pink lace top earlier when she greeted him and Oliver, well, just Oliver.
And not that Percy wants to make out with Oliver in that way! But he envies Katie and all the others for just being able to do it without having to worry about it. Percy and Oliver don't even let themselves be seen together in public very often. Percy doesn't go to Oliver's games. Oliver doesn't accompany Percy to ministry events, he only goes when he has his own invitation. They live together. Because it's convenient and rents in London are barely affordable. At least that's what they tell each other. And when they have visitors, which doesn't happen very often, Percy puts illusions all over the flat. Then Oliver's sports equipment or Percy's desk in the bedroom disappear, and a false second door appears in the hallway that doesn't exist. They only have these two rooms - the bedroom and the living room, because that's all they need. But flatmates don't share a bedroom. And certainly not one bed. And who would believe that, even after their school days, they would necessarily want to share a bedroom? As grown men who certainly had lady visitors at times. A flat, okay. But not a bedroom! They had been sharing a bedroom ever since Percy had been standing at Oliver's door because he no longer had a home and didn't know where else to go if not to Oliver. Although they had hardly any contact before that either, because Oliver was busy training for Puddlemere and Percy was busy with his oh-so-important career at the Ministry. It was shortly after that that they got together. That was seven years ago this year. But no one knows that. They are good at keeping it a secret. At the same time, Percy realises that Oliver doesn't like it very much, that they're still keeping it a secret (there have been some speculative articles about Oliver's potency in the past, because the Quidditch star has never been seen in the company of a woman). But Oliver doesn't bring it up since Percy had a full-blown panic attack last time. At some point they make it public.
Actually, Percy doesn't even know why he still keeps it known. Ginny has been with Luna for over two years, she's bisexual, and it wasn't a problem for her family when she came out. And he knows his family likes Oliver. His brothers and Harry all think the world of him. So there would be nothing wrong with telling them. At the Ministry and Quidditch, it might be a bit more difficult, but certainly doable. They'd be gossiped about briefly, but then Mrs Miller from the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad would turn into an umbrella stand in a massive marital spat in the heat of the moment, or something else that was clearly more interesting than Percy Weasley and Oliver Wood's liaison. Actually, there would be nothing to it. Actually.
"No more five minutes until midnight!" someone shouts.
Percy gets up from the chair he has been sitting on. He wants to go and find Oliver. If they are going to spend New Year's Eve at this party ('together' - that's right, Oliver), he at least wants to see him at midnight. He's not up here in the living room, and he's not in the kitchen when Percy pokes his head in for a moment. So he's downstairs. In hell. Percy imagines hell, at least, as a place filled with way too loud and way too noisy music (Percy likes to listen to classical music and sometimes, when he's in a good mood, some jazz) and flickering magical lights under the ceiling that change colour every second. And there will be a lot of people dancing like mad in hell too, sure. And Percy would have to search into infinity for Oliver, pushing his way through said dancing people, slaloming through the heaving masses, mindful of elbows and open drinks. No Oliver.
"Perce!" Oliver appears in front of him and beams at him. He says something else, but Percy can't understand it, because it's just far too loud here. Oliver then seems to realise this, because he grabs the sleeve of Percy's shirt and he briefly thinks about whether the shirt can wear out in the process, but then he follows Oliver through the crowd.
"One minute! Does everyone have anything to toast with?"
Oliver guides him through the shop and then they stand in front of it. Silence and cold almost slay Percy.
"Hey," Oliver says.
"Hey," Percy says, which is not so eloquent, but he doesn't know what else to say either. They are standing in Diagon Alley, in front of George's shop, and this is the first New Year's Eve they have spent together, even though they haven't seen each other all evening before. But still, it is the first New Year's Eve where they are in the same place at midnight. He looks nervously at Oliver because he doesn't know whether they are about to kiss or not. Because really, there's nothing to it. And they're the only ones standing outside the shop, and they'll have a moment before everyone else will stream out to watch the fireworks. Just a little kiss.
Inside, the crowd counts down.
"Ten!"
Percy looks at Oliver and now he's not just nervous, he's really nervous.
"Nine!"
Oliver looks at Percy and he can read the question in his eyes.
"Eight!"
Percy nods. It's just a kiss. People kiss at midnight at the turn of the year. Why should they do anything else?
"Seven!"
Oliver takes a step towards Percy and puts his arms around him.
"Six!"
Percy tenses involuntarily.
"Five!"
But actually there's nothing wrong with it and he wants to kiss Oliver and no one sees it, so no need to be tense.
"Four!"
Oliver smiles at him and now he can't be tense at all.
"Three!"
Percy leans forward a little, only a few centimetres are left between them.
"Two!"
Not centimetres. Millimetres.
"One!"
He wants to kiss him.
"Happy New Year!!!!"
Their lips touch.