Missing Romania
Charlie had been on leave from the Romanian Reserve for a couple of weeks over the Christmas break. It was the shortest amount of time he could get off that would also keep his mother off his back about visiting more often for around eight months.
It was also long enough that after the first few days he was utterly bored.
That was how he found himself agreeing to help out at the shop when Fred forgot that he needed to collect a shipment from one of their suppliers.
“Please Charlie, it won’t be much, you just need to help George restock the shelves from today’s afternoon rush. It’s too much for just one person and I have to get this supply in and under preservation spells or the shipment will go bad.”
“Can’t you just restock them later tonight? Or in the morning?”
Fred winced. “I promised Angie I’d take her out tonight, and the mornings are when we go over what we need to with the staff.”
“Alright, alright. No worries, Fred. Just give me a few minutes and then I’ll be right over.”
“Thanks, big bro. If you can’t find George on the floor, he’ll probably be in the stock room or the lab, he’ll tell you what to do.” Fred said before he disconnected the floo call.
Charlie pulled away from the fireplace with a frown. There had been something unnervingly delighted about Fred’s expression. But for the life of him, Charlie couldn’t figure out what it was. Putting it out of his mind for now, he set about finding his shoes and let his mother know where he was going.
Fuck he missed Romania.
He flooed to the twins flat and stumbled out the other side. Flooing was just another reason to miss the Reserve, because there they did all their travelling by foot or by broom. And broom was by far Charlie’s most favourite way to travel.
The shop was mostly dark as Charlie made his way down the stairs to the shop. Which he thought was strange, but perhaps they did it that way so they didn’t attract customers. Which did make sense, so Charlie let it be and let the scant light coming from the partially closed door of the stockroom guide him.
There was a rhythmic sort of thumping coming from the stockroom, and Charlie figured George must be working on something, or maybe unpacking something.
He pushed the door open further and stepped inside, making his way around the stacks of merchandise toward the noise. The thumping grew louder and Charlie became aware of a rough grunting noise just as he rounded the corner.
His eyes grew wide and he felt his jaw drop at the sight that greeted him. George was currently pistoning in and out of a bloke who had his legs wrapped around George’s waist and his hands out behind him, supporting himself on the desk they kept back there, chest arching toward the ceiling. George himself had his hands digging firmly into the pale flesh of the man’s arse.
Charlie catalogued all of this within a matter of seconds before he clapped his hand over his eyes.
“Fuck, George!”
There was a crashing sound followed by yelping and cursing.
“Charlie! What are you doing here?!” George cried.
Boisterous laughter came from behind Charlie and he spun to see Fred doubled up and leaning on a stack of decoy detonator cartons. He looked back to see George’s friend was hiding behind George, and George himself was holding what appeared to be a prototype for an invisibility hat.
It kept winking in and out of existence.
Charlie averted his eyes once more, staring at the ceiling seemed to be the safest bet.
“Fred.” He said calmly, glad that working with dragons gave him iron-clad control of his emotions. “Care to explain?”
“Charlie meet Draco. Draco is George’s secret lover. Except―now that you know―it’s not a secret anymore and now they can finally get their heads out their arses and admit they’re in love with one another and I can stop covering for them. Cause it’s exhausting is what it is.”
“Nice to meet you, Draco.” Charlie said, deliberately not looking over at him and George.
His greeting was met with a sort of strangled mewling sound of embarrassment and Charlie sighed to himself.
Fuck he missed Romania.