marcus x oliver x percy - a punch and three kisses
It'd been a long time since Percy felt so comfortable with people. Granted, his Ministry coworkers weren't the best examples of nice people to be around, so his time there didn't exactly count. Still, he wasn't great around other people, so he was really enjoying his time with Oliver, and Marcus Flint of all people.
Marcus and Oliver had gotten close ever since trying out for the same team, and now the three of them basically lived together, even though officially Oliver and Marcus were the roommates and Percy was just there all the time. Since he quit the Ministry just a few months ago, he had had lots of free time trying to figure out what to do, and going out to Quidditch games and practices really helped distract him from his anxious thoughts. If Ministry life wasn't for him, he really had no idea what was.
“Hey Perce,” Oliver said and brushed Percy's arm. “Isn't that the Mckenzie fellow you used to work with?”
“Where?” Percy asked, as there were a lot of people in Diagon Alley that afternoon.
Marcus reached over and pushed Percy's chin gently to the right with two fingers. “There.”
Percy shivered at the contact and then his insides filled with dread as he looked to where Oliver was pointing. It was indeed Mckenzie and he looked as evil as ever. He had been Percy's supervisor during his final year at the Ministry and he was one of the worst people he had ever met, and strangely it had nothing to do with being a Death Eater or even blood supremacist, he just adored psychologically mistreating others and Percy had been an easy prey; insecure and overly respectful of authority, meaning he never stood up for himself.
“Yeah,” he said in a low voice. “Let's just go this way.” He tried stirring Marcus and Oliver into another street, but before they could even take a step, MacKenzie had spotted him.
Percy's hands involuntarily closed around Oliver and Marcus’s arms, but a second later he let go and took a deep breath.
“Mr. MacKenzie,” he greeted and then cringed. He had spent a long time without hearing his polite Ministry voice.
Mckenzie took a look at Marcus and Oliver and sneered. They had just come from practice and were covered in dirt and sweat.
“Fancy seeing you here. And on a workday?”
“Ah,” MacKenzie interrupted, his yellowish teeth showing as he spoke. “That's right, you no longer work at the Ministry. You quit.”
“Well, it was really a matter of-”
“I shouldn't be surprised, really. Considering how you first turned your back on your family, betraying the Ministry was probably a walk in the park.”
“Excuse me?” Oliver said and stepped forward, but Percy stopped him.
Mckenzie looked at Oliver as if he was the dirt under his shoe, and then proceeded to ignore him and turn back to Percy. He didn't even glance at Marcus.
“Being a traitor is the only thing you've ever been g-”
The rest of Mckenzie’s sentence was cut short when a fist collided straight into his mouth.
Percy watched as in slow motion how Mckenzie’s body fell back, crumbling to the ground unconsciously.
For a split second he thought Oliver had snapped and punched McKenzie, but when he looked at him Oliver was looking over Percy's head. At Marcus.
Marcus was staring daggers at McKenzie’s limp form, as if his anger hadn't subdued in the least after knocking him out. Percy looked down at his hand, which was red and already swelling, and then back up at his face.
Marcus turned to look at Percy and his frown disappeared. He blinked a few times, as if trying to figure out what to say.
Percy hadn't realized how much his chest was swelling with emotion until it felt like bursting out, and in the blink of an eye he found himself dragging Marcus down by the scruff of his shirt and catching his lips.
He barely had enough sense to think about how Marcus felt against him, how he tasted, how uplifting it was when his tongue met Percy's; he was too preoccupied with showing Marcus exactly what he was feeling.
When everything inside him began to settle down, Percy let go of Marcus and stepped back with trepidation, shocked at what he had done. Marcus stood frozen and expressionless, Oliver was looking from him to Percy with his mouth hanging open, and McKenzie remained out of it in the ground.
A crowd was beginning to gather around them, which couldn't be good news considering all of the things they'd just done, but Percy couldn't move.
“Let's go,” Oliver whispered and stepped in between Percy and Marcus, taking their hands in his and disapparating them.
They landed on their flat and the utter silence was perhaps even worse than the murmurs of people in Diagon Alley, and Percy just wanted to run away and never see neither of them again. Marcus must think he was absolutely insane, because only an insane person would think there could be anything romantic between him and Percy. And then Oliver…
Oliver would hate him. He and Marcus were constantly walking the line between love and hate, and Percy was sure they would become an item eventually.
“Let me see your hand,” Oliver said to Marcus and raised his hand closer to his face. It didn't look good, he might have even broken a finger.
“It's fine,” Marcus said with a dismissive shake of the head.
Oliver took out his wand and performed a couple of healing spells he had learnt over the years of playing Quidditch. Percy could do nothing but watch and overthink every little detail of what had just happened.
When Oliver finished, Marcus smiled at him, and then at Percy. Percy felt his whole face flush.
“Who wants pizza?” Marcus asked.
They ate vegetarian pizza (delivered by mistake) and watched a three-part documentary on the Korean War.
No one mentioned anything.
It'd been weeks since the Diagon Alley incident had transpired and Percy was so relieved that no one had said a thing. Pretending nothing had happened was exactly what he had hoped, and Marcus hadn't changed his treatment of Percy at all, which is what Percy had been most worried about.
With Oliver, he thought that they could talk about it if he felt like Percy had crossed a line, but Oliver was awfully quiet these days. Percy kept asking him if things were fine and Oliver promised they were, but still something seemed off.
Percy tried to ignore it, though, he was just glad he could still hang out with them without things being uncomfortable, like in that moment when he was doing a crossword in a corner of the living room while Marcus and Oliver played a video game Percy's father had gifted them.
“You're so bloody bad Wood,” Marcus said, not taking his eyes away from the screen. “Look at that! I'm about to kill you again. We should start betting. If I win next round, I get your room.”
Percy snorted. “I don't know why you don't have that room already. Oliver barely has any clothes to fill that closet.”
“You hear that, Wood?” Marcus snickered. “You suck and I'm getting your closet.”
Oliver paused the game and dropped his controller on the coffee table before getting to his feet. “Okay, I have something to say.”
Percy smiled. Oliver loved giving big speeches about mundane things, like last night when he went into five-minute long pep talk about doing the dishes.
“I know we're all ignoring what happened last month in Diagon Alley…”
Percy choked on his own saliva.
Oliver glanced at him and then at Marcus, whose expression had gone serious. “But I need to get this out before it's too late.”
This was it. Percy knew it. Oliver was going to confess how much he hated the fact that Percy kissed Marcus because he was into him. Everything was going to change.
“If you two want to be together, I don't want to get in the way of that.”
When Oliver looked back at Percy, Percy was frowning deeply and mouthed ‘What?’
Oliver sighed. “Ever since the kiss…”
Percy avoided Marcus’ eyes.
“I've felt like I'm in the way, both metaphorically and physically. Like, if I wasn't here, you two would probably, you know, do it again.”
Marcus wasn't looking at Percy anymore.
“So you know, this is me letting you know that if that's what you want, you don't need to walk on eggshells around me, because I think it's great, actually.” He stopped and smiled. “That's it. I just needed you to know that.”
Percy couldn't even fathom how Oliver arrived at that conclusion, so he wasn't sure how to answer.
Before he could think about it further, Marcus stood up as well, and with one short stride he pushed Oliver against the wall brusquely. Percy's heart sped up at the sign of danger and he jumped up fearing he'll have to intervene.
But then his heart went into right down frenzy when he saw Marcus lean in and crash his lips against Oliver's.
Percy stood frozen, watching and trying to process so much information, but it was hard to concentrate when Oliver and Marcus looked so good together. Marcus had his hands clinging to Oliver's t-shirt and Oliver didn't respond at first, probably too surprised to move, but then his hands came up to Marcus’ arms and he kissed back and Percy could see everything and maybe he shouldn't be enjoying this as much as he was but his whole body had a different opinion.When Marcus stepped back, Oliver was breathless, panting as he reached up to touch his own lips. Percy was breathing just as hard as if he had just been snogged too.
It took a few seconds for the moment to sink in and then Oliver stared at Marcus. “So...”
“I'm sorry!” Percy blurted out before thinking it through. “I'm sorry I kissed Marcus, I wasn't thinking at the moment and it just happened. And now I've screwed everything up because obviously you two want to be together but… You should be together.”
Oliver was looking more and more confused by the second. Percy just wanted to make everything better for him, but he had gone and done exactly the opposite.
Oliver and Percy looked at Marcus. He was rubbing the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “I can't believe I have to spell this out for you two,” he said and then looked at Oliver and Percy as though they were first-years who didn't understand the rules of Quidditch. “I like you,” he said to Percy and then turned to Oliver. “I bloody like you too.” He sighed and dropped his arms to his sides. “Is that so fucking hard to understand?”
Percy wanted to say that, yes it was and he was very much confused, but the timing didn't seem right and Oliver wasn't speaking either.
“And what's more,” Marcus continued in the same fed-up tone. “I'm pretty certain you like each other as well.”
Percy found Oliver’s eyes and he was staring right back, still breathless and perhaps a bit more blushed than before. Percy couldn't feel his face.
“What do you mean?” Oliver asked Marcus and then cleared his throat. “We've been friends forever, if something was going to happen…” He looked at Percy again and Percy knew he was thinking of all those nights alone in the boys dormitories. Percy couldn't say it had never crossed his mind in the past. “Don't you think it would have happened already?”
“No.” Marcus shook his head firmly. “Because I've been fairly obvious for months about liking you both and you knuckleheads still missed it. How is anything going to happen if you don't even realize how you feel?”
Percy began panicking when he got a strange urge to move, to get closer to Oliver, to try and see what Marcus was seeing, but surely that wasn't what he really wanted, was it? Because Oliver was like his brother, right?
The thought instantly repulsed him and a voice inside him told him that absolutely not. Because Percy had five brothers and one sister and he knew exactly what having a sibling felt like, and Oliver wasn't it.
“So what?” Percy asked, finding his voice through his confusion. “You expect us to what? Walk up to each other and…?”
“Kiss?” Oliver completed his sentence and chuckled nervously. Percy's stomach was twisting and turning. “Just because you think we're into each other?”
Marcus smirked, and it was disarming. Because Percy had stopped thinking about his feelings for Marcus until Oliver spoke up, and then he had to confront his feelings about Oliver, and now Marcus was bringing him back with that goddamned smirk and Percy could just explode.
“That’s not what I said at all,” Marcus explained, still looking amused. “But if that’s what you’re thinking about right now…”
Oliver glared at Marcus, looking like he was biting his tongue to keep from insulting him, but when he turned to Percy his face relaxed and he blushed again. Over the years, Oliver and Percy had developed the ability to communicate through looks, as best friends usually do, and one of the greatest joys in Percy’s life had been the moment when he returned for the Battle of Hogwarts and found Oliver there, and even after years of barely seeing each other, they were able to share one look that said, ‘Let’s do this.’
And this instant was no different.
Percy finally gave his legs permission to move and it was like a relief, but it was nothing compared to the way it felt when he saw Oliver walk the rest of the way towards him and see the anticipation building in his body. They stopped inches from one another and Percy felt the doubts kick in, and for once he wished he didn’t feel like such a coward.
And then he remembered Marcus and his broken hand for having defended Percy. And the way Percy kissed him afterwards. He felt so brave then, acting on his impulses without a second thought, celebrating the beating of a bully, taking the first step with Marcus bloody Flint…
He flinched when Oliver grabbed his hands and squeezed them and that was it. That’s all it took.
As soon as their lips touched Percy wondered why they haven't been doing this the whole time. He didn't feel insecure as he usually did, it was just pure comfort and relief that was rapidly escalating into excitement for more. Oliver moved his hands to the small of Percy's back and bunched his hands around the fabric there, and Percy reached up to feel the scruff of Oliver's beard against his fingers. It was difficult now to imagine there was a time when he didn't feel openly and intensely attracted to Oliver because truth was, he was one of the best looking people Percy had personally met.
Suddenly Percy remembered that he and Oliver were not alone, and he broke the kiss without really meaning to. The strangeness of the situation dawned on him, because not only was he kissing Oliver, but they had Marcus as an audience.
Marcus had sat back down on the sofa in front of them, and was staring as though he had never seen anything more interesting. Percy blushed even harder and let his hands drop.
Marcus cleared his throat. “Maybe it's my turn to whine about how you two should be together and I don't want to get in the way. But I won't. Because I definitely want to be involved the next time that happens.”
Oliver chuckled and then there was silence. The kind of silence that's filled with understanding and promise, like the brief seconds before you lean in for a kiss. And Percy certainly knew what that felt like with both of them.
“So, what now?” Oliver asked.
Marcus shrugged. “Pizza?”
