Timmy

Benjy chuckled when Timmy denied being a liar but it soon turned a little sheepish with Timmy’s explanation. “That’s you,” he said. Timmy definitely always looked amazing. He still wasn’t used to the fact that he got to come home to Timmy looking amazing for him instead of just his usual amazing. Before Benjy could question, or more likely point out how much he liked that grin on Timmy’s face, timmy was explaining himself. “What? Really,” he asked shocked. They hadn’t been alone since that weekend away Rich had given them. Not for a whole night. Leftover pizza didn’t seem like a big enough thank you for that. “How’d you manage that?” Not that their roommates were unreasonable but it still felt like a huge thing. It didn’t clear up why all of this was happening but them being alone for the night did make all of Timmy’s preparations seem better planned. The blokes coming home in the middle of their romantic meal wouldn’t be that romantic. Still the why felt like an even toss up between anniversary or celebrating. Bendy was glad he’d gotten it right. Especially because he knew timmy had been stressing over the job. “Babe that’s fantastic,” he told Timmy before giving him a quick kiss. He listened as Timely answered what would have been his next question. “A bookshop? that’s even better!” A bookshop felt perfect. Knowing it was the new one seemed much better than one directly on Diagon. Less likely his dad would show up. “I’d love to go and check it out, of course!” He’d been wanting to so this was even better. His smile was already as broad as it could be so it didn’t change until Timmy said they were celebrating him too. It softened at Timmy’s words. “Me? We should be celebrating you, you’re the one that’s had so much happening. I’ve just been holding your hand through it,” he added, leaning in for another quick kiss since he wasn’t holding Timmy’s hand right now. “I’m just glad I could be there for you.” He wouldn’t have wanted timmy to go through any of that alone. His smile got wide again as Timmy got emotional. “You are the best boyfriend and best mate a bloke could have. I really won the jackpot with you. I love you so much too. I’m so proud of you for everything.” Timmy had a lot of things thrown at him but he’d come out of it wonderfully in Benjy’s opinion. He was just glad that something other than them dating was turning out good for Timmy. Timmy deserved all the good things in his opinion. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me. To celebrate you getting a job. You’re so amazing, Timmy.” Benjy leaned in for a lingering kiss with his amazing, job having boyfriend.

He and Timmy had always been touchy, another thing that should have clued him in to the fact that there was more than best friends happening. But now that they were dating Benjy was enjoying all the additional touching an the kisses that were happening. He’d always been an affectionate person and that was something he’d wanted in a boyfriend, someone who’d match his energy there. Timmy did. He matched Benjy in all the ways Benjy thought were important. But he wasn’t thinking about those things just how good kissing Timmy felt. Like he could just leave all the stress of the world outside. It was a nice feeling on nights when order missions were horrible but it made even long days at work better too. Benjy let his free hand settle on Timmy’s hip as they kissed. His own grin matching Timmy’s after the kiss because how could he not smile after a kiss like that, after any kiss with Timmy. Benjy chuckled lightly at Timmy’s words. “Liar,” he teased softly. He was sure he was no where near as nice looking as Timmy  was, especially not after a  full day of work. It was just like Timmy to  decide the pizza would work. “Nah, it’s okay, we can just give it to the blokes. Maybe they’ll eat it in their rooms or something,” he added. If they weren’t already home they’d likely be home soon. Maybe they could bribe the blokes with pizza so he and Timmy could enjoy the nice set up Timmy had done. He was very happy to not think about their roommates when Timmy came back over to him. Once more he was mirroring Timmy’s pose, wrapping his arms around Timmy in the same way. He chuckled softly again at Timmy’s words. “I kind of suspected that.” It certainly felt like more than the normal meal together. Benjy just hoped he guessed right or he might upset Timmy. Which was something he did not want to do ever. Only he wasn’t sure what it could be. It didn’t seem likely that the Minister had declared a truce. That felt like it only left two things.  Some anniversary that he was gonna be upset at himself over not remembering or Timmy got a job. Odds were fifty-fifty so Benjy picked one and hoped he got lucky. “Did you get a job?”

Things had been a roller coaster. All the moving. Timmy finding out about the order. Benjy deciding not to worry about his NEWTs. Finding out about how fucked they all really were in the Order. Another reason to be happy timmy was not directly involved. While also being happy Timmy knew so that if anything happened to him, Timmy would know why. But there had been  the good parts too. Moving in with all the blokes. Dating Timmy. That was of course the highest of the highs. He still couldn’t believe how dumb he’d been. Always ready to bet it all, take a chance, see if he came out on top all to meet the one. Except Timmy had been right there in front of his face the whole time. When he had a bad day at work or an even worse one for the Order, knowing he was coming home to Timmy made it a little easier to be in a decent mood by the time he walked through the door. Timmy had always done that it was just now it was more. The ultimate mood booster. Yet he still didn’t expect the mood booster that was waiting for him after a busy but not horrible day. Benjy stepped in the door with a pizza and the evening edition of the paper, though he doubted there were any new jobs listed.  But  he knew Timmy really wanted to find something. It was a surprise to hear slow music playing and see the living room furniture all moved. Timmy’s voice drew his gaze into the kitchen. Where more surprises waited, candles and flowers, and a nicer looking dinner than the pizza he had in his hands. Italian, from his favorite place it looked like. “Timmy, what’s all this,” he asked with a large grin on his face. He shut and locked the door before walking into the kitchen. They hadn’t been dating long enough for an anniversary. Had it been a month, were they doing months? Not that Benjy would object just he hadn’t expected anything and fuck if he forgot an anniversary —month-versary?— he was gonna be upset at himself. He gave Timmy a quick kiss. “Here I thought I was doing something bringing home dinner,” he said with a smile. “this is amazing. And you look amazing,” he added giving Timmy another kiss. Because he could, because they were dating.

“It’s much better, you’ll see,” he replied when Timmy said they’d have to give his pizza suggestion a try. As someone who didn’t even have a kitchen Rotty knew where to get good food, and not just other people’s kitchens. Though this particular suggestion had come about because he’d poked around a fridge while helping rob some house. Most of his regular joints were in Knockturn, both because of price and because most other places didn’t seem to want Knockturn gang customers. They didn’t always not pay their bill. But he wouldn’t feel right suggesting any of those places to Bertie or his mates. Knockturn was getting darker these days, probably best they stayed away. Besides their leftovers,  other than the pizza,  showed they’d already found some good places to eat. Rotty smiled when Timmy said Bertie kept taking the biscuits since he figured they were all being sent his way.  But it was a shame they didn’t have anything else. He raised an eyebrow at the cream and sugar suggestion. “You put cream and sugar in your coffee?  Sounds like something Nina would do.” The latter was said more to himself than to Timmy as he stared dubiously at the sugar bowl sitting on the counter. It wasn’t so much that Rotty liked black coffee as that was just how he’d gotten used to it. Rotty wasn’t even sure he liked coffee, it was more something warm when Knockturn was almost always cold. And helped keep him awake on nights he needed it better than any tea would. He poured himself a cup in the mug he figured must be Bertie’s on account of it looking like something that came out of his room and peeked into the sugar bowl. He was pleased to see they had sugar cubes and helped himself to the majority of the bowl, he shoved some in a pocket for later and started snacking on the rest. After deciding there wasn’t anything else of interest in the kitchen Rotty pulled out a chair at the table, turned it around backwards and sat in it,  placing the mug on the table in front of him. “Bertie said you were roommates in school. That make you one of those smart Ravens too?  That’s how it works innit?  You all stick to your own, like the gangs.” Rotty really should be leaving, but he had plenty of time before Bertie got home and nothing really to do right then. Bertie’s place was warm and dry. He doubted Timmy was gonna leave him alone so  he could hang out in Bertie’s room, might as well chat.  

Rotty nodded at Timmy’s answer to his offer, not at all upset to have all of it to himself. Once he swallowed down the noodles he paused eating long enough to give Timmy a smile, “Will do,”  he replied as if he wasn’t already helping himself plenty. He’d just started working on another piece of chicken when Timmy told him about the silverware. Rotty didn’t slow down just nodded. He ate like a bloke who hadn’t eaten in a week. While it had been a long time since he’d been that hungry, food was never a sure thing in Rotty’s life. Not that anything was ever really a sure thing. So a chance at some really choice leftovers was like a feast. Rotty shoved half the chicken in one of his pockets for later. One of the sodas went into another pocket. All the while he ate. When he came across some mashed potatoes he did open up the drawer and got out a spoon even if he was tempted to use some of the chicken to scoop it out. He wanted to save that for dinner. It was only after he’d made his way through a good chunk of the leftovers that he spoke again. “Should definitely buy more of that chicken it was choice,” he told Timmy. “Pizza was kind of shit though.  There’s a much better place, ‘Just Dough It.’ Dumb name but great pizza.” Hopefully Timmy would get them to start ordering from the good place so that next time he raided the fridge there would be better pizza. Rotty started poking around in the other drawers and cabinets, after all the bloke had said help yourself. “Got anything for dessert,” he asked as he stared at a bunch of mugs and wondered which might be Bertie’s. Rotty picked out the one he thought was and went to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“Should be,” Rotty replied. It was really rude to just assume people weren’t nice just because they did a little thieving and light assault. You had to survive. But people like Bertie and his mates probably would never really understand that. Which just seemed a point in Kaz’s favor with his whole thing about how anything between him and Bertie couldn’t work. Rotty was a little too happy to put that out of his mind when he found out that Bertie was definitely into him. Sure it could be all some elaborate scheme but Bertie didn’t seem like that much of a schemer. And this bloke definitely didn’t look like one at all. He grinned at the fact that both he and Bertie knew that it was a date. Rotty wondered if that meant they were dating. Which might mean they were boyfriends. He hadn’t thought things out that far along but he didn’t think he minded if that was the case.

He smiled again when he got which one of the roomies this one was. This bloke was a toff, clearly so he could have been the Drew bloke but he wasn’t. Which made Rotty wonder just what the other bloke was like. “You too,” he replied back, feeling a little fancy with the whole nice to meet yous. Didn’t get that when he broke into places. Rotty nodded, prepared to defend himself against the skepticism he heard in Timmy’s voice. Not his fault Bertie’s bed was damn comfy. A bloke could want to eat in comfort. Nothing against that. Instead he was surprised by what else this Timmy had to say. “Yeah? That’s damn nice of ya.” Rotty wasted no time in springing up from the bed and stalking off to the kitchen. It probably would be better if he was gone before Bertie got back. Mostly because Rotty wasn’t sure what to do with all that yet. He’d never been in this situation before. Betrayal in the alley got you hurt, ostracized….or worse. There wasn’t a lot of room for forgiveness when you lived in Knockturn. But he’d also never heard of anyone sending recorded messages trying to get someone else to forgive them either. Not to mention he was a little mixed up about just what he was upset over, the fact that Kaz was probably right about Bertie or the other shit. Rotty wasn’t really used to feeling like….well like any of the ways Bertie had him feeling so he was having some trouble with it all.

For now though he was happy to help himself to more of that chicken. He popped a piece into his mouth before he started pulling out more things. The remains of their last few meals got pulled out onto the counter, Rotty mumbling things around the piece of chicken in his mouth every time he discovered some other interesting thing. By the time he’d located something to drink,  a couple of sodas, he’d finished off the chicken in his mouth. The fridge was left hanging open as he propped himself against the counter. Rotty shoved the rest of the noodles in his mouth using just his fingers before he looked over at Timmy. “You want some,” he offered Timmy around a mouth full of noodles, as if the food was his and not Timmys

He should be? Well that was rude. Now Timmy sort of regretted apologizing at all, since he really did think his assumption hadn’t been off base and he’d tried to be nice about it. But he knew better than to say anything more on that subject to a bloke who didn’t think assaulting and robbing people was mean. And that Bertie fancied for some reason. He seemed nice enough, Timmy supposed, if not a bit -- or a lot -- rough around the edges. 

Rotty already knew that. Or at least he knew that’s what Bertie said. It was easier to believe when he was hearing Bertie say it then when he heard some bloke he didn’t know say it. At least that wasn’t all this bloke had to say. “Oi! Plenty of us are nice, being in a gang’s got nothin’ to do with that,” he was a little offended on his mates’s accounts. Sure there were plenty that weren’t nice. Rotty liked Kaz well enough but he wouldn’t call the bloke nice by any stretch. But Jes was. Nina. The Wraith was damn scary but she was also nice. Just cause they did things like steal and hurt people didn’t mean they weren’t nice. He raised an eyebrow, waiting to hear what else Bertie had said about him. Rotty wasn’t ready for what came. The smile came on it’s own. Growing when this bloke said how he was how Bertie found out he was into blokes. And the confirmation that they were flirting was great too. “Ha! I knew it was a date,” he told Timmy. Because flirting and being into blokes that all pointed to the ice cream being a date. Rotty had been right.

Maybe he hadn’t been completely wrong about Bertie either. Though that part was still pretty confusing. “So which one are you? You don’t really look posh enough to be that Drew bloke. Which means you’re the one Benjy’s with, Timmy, yeah?” Probably wasn’t too surprising that he dated a bloke like Timmy. Kind of a down grade from Jes if you asked Rotty but Benjy was probably just having a whole go at a bad boy along with his hanging out in Knockturn for a few weeks. Good thing really that he wasn’t into Jes. Rotty couldn’t see the other bloke dating. He flirted with anything with a pulse, kind of like Nina. Though pulses didn’t seem to bother her if you went by the way she looked at food. “I was just here to get some food. Didn’t figure you blokes would want your leftovers. Chicken’s tasty,” he added a little wistfully because he would’t mind more. It wasn’t the whole truth but he had been interested in getting some food along with just looking at Bertie’s stuff. Rotty didn’t really know why he wanted to look at Bertie’s stuff other than it was easier than facing Bertie when he was still a little confused. “Didn’t think anyone was home. Didn’t meant to scare ya.”

“Right, sorry,” Timmy mumbled quickly, though he wasn’t so sure he agreed with the other bloke that being in a gang had nothing to do with being nice. This bloke hadn’t hurt him but he had broken into their flat and taken their food. Not that Timmy would have minded sharing with Bertie’s...whatever, but he could have just knocked and asked for some. He decided to keep those thoughts to himself, though, lest this bloke prove those thoughts correct should Timmy decide to voice them. The smile when he told the bloke probably a little too much about what Bertie said about him was sort of a surprise. Seemed Bertie really did still have a chance after all, which was good. Hopefully. Timmy still wasn’t so sure about this bloke, but he supposed he did trust Bertie’s judgment of people, even if he didn’t necessarily understand Bertie’s taste. It was sort of surprising to hear that Rotty also seemed not to know they’d gone out on a date. Timmy quirked an eyebrow but grinned and said, “Yeah, that’s what we told Bertie.” 

His small grin widened when Rotty guessed who he was, mostly because Rotty identified him as the one Benjy’s with, though it was also sort of amusing to think about how Bertie had probably described Drew to give Rotty that impression. “Yeah, that’s me. Uh. Nice to meet you.” Timmy mostly meant that, it was just that the situation was really weird and he’d have rather met the bloke because Bertie invited him to their flat and he’d come in through the front door. Or even through the window but with some advanced notice first.  “...You’re here for food?” He couldn’t help voicing his skepticism. Maybe he just thought they’d be easy targets with good food since he clearly had broken into Bertie’s old place plenty of times before. But the fact he was currently on Bertie’s bed suggested there was more to it than that. “Well uh, you can help yourself to anything else in the fridge,” he felt compelled to add, since Bertie clearly cared about the bloke and Timmy figured if he gave him permission it wasn’t stealing anymore. “Bertie won’t be back from work for a couple more hours.”

Bertie’s bed was way more comfortable than his, cozy, and smelled like Bertie. He could have napped if he wasn’t currently sucking on the remains of the chicken leg. Rotty was trying to decide if he had enough time to get up and grab the rest of the chicken when the door across the hall swung open. He stilled as he saw that other bloke, shit, was he gonna scream? At least he didn’t have his wand in his hand so Rotty wasn’t gonna have to dodge anything. Though he’d learned pretty quick that most people didn’t know a lot of spells that hurt. Mostly it was just them flinging their things at him. Usually you could tell the houses of people that knew painful shit. Rotty leaned up, surprised and happy to know Bertie’s roommate knew his name. He pulled the chicken bone out of his mouth with a grin. “So Bertie talks about me, huh?”

Nice. Or it was till he remembered that didn’t mean it was a good thing. The voice in his head reminding him of that sounded a lot like Kaz’s but Rotty didn’t wanna examine that too close. “What’s he say about me,” he asked, more questioning, less happy than his first question. It was already too late to pretend not to be himself. Which meant it was also probably too late to tell this bloke not to tell Bertie he was here. Though he hadn’t really thought that would work anyway. Not with how freaked out the bloke was. Some people were so sensitive about finding someone rummaging around in their fridge. It wasn’t like there wasn’t plenty to eat in there. He leaned back, one elbow propped on Bertie’s pillow and waited to find out what sort of stuff Bertie had been saying about him.

Huh. So this was Rotty. And from the bloke’s response to hearing Timmy knew about him, something told Timmy that he and the other blokes had been right in reassuring Bertie he still had a shot with the bloke. Not to mention the fact he was here in the first place. Though a second later and he didn’t look quite so happy. “Er…” Timmy hesitated; he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to say here. On the one hand, he didn’t want to betray Bertie’s trust by telling this bloke anything Bertie had said about him. Not that Bertie had said anything bad, but it still felt sort of weird to tell the bloke Bertie fancied what Bertie had told his mates about him. But on the other hand, this was Bertie’s first crush that Timmy was aware of, and Bertie was still not quite back to his usual self after that awful night. Timmy had a feeling a lot of that was also due to the fact Bertie had been abandoned in that collapsing building, but plenty of it also had to do with the bloke now sitting on his bed. It felt wrong not to try to help Bertie win him back now. Timmy could at least be honest. 

“Now he mostly says he misses you,” he said, feeling sort of awkward about it. “Uh -- but he’s also said how you’re in a gang but you’re nice,” which Timmy really hoped was true given the current circumstances. “And, uh,” Bertie had said several times that Rotty was hot, but Timmy felt awkward about sharing that one. The last thing he wanted was this gang bloke thinking that Timmy shared that opinion with Bertie. Not that he thought Bertie had bad taste, he supposed. The bloke was clearly fit, though Drew really had a point about the clothes. Definitely not Timmy’s type. He was sort of surprised this bloke was Bertie’s type. Or maybe he wasn’t surprised; Bertie was an odd one. “That he really likes you,” Timmy said instead. “Which is actually how found out he’s into blokes. And how Bertie found out he’s into blokes, ‘cause Benjy had to explain to him that you two were flirting,” he added on, realizing a second too late that he’d definitely just crossed the line from helping Bertie to probably embarrassing him. Oops. 

Rotty had perched in Bertie’s window and listened but he hadn’t heard anything so he was pretty certain the place was empty. Normally he had pretty good luck about that. Bertie’s room was pretty much the same as it had been last time Rotty had been in it. He nearly left immediately, a pang of missing Bertie hit him. Instead he decided to check out his fridge, see if he had any good eats. The place was like a takeaway heaven. Rotty helped himself, shoving a mouthful of noodles into his mouth with the help of a chicken leg he’d found. He was just about to find something to drink when he realized someone else was there. Rotty tried to place which one of Bertie’s mates this was. He’d only ever seen Benjy. His guess was Timmy because he didn’t look as snooty as they impression of Drew he’d gotten from Bertie.  Rotty chewed and watched in surprise as the bloke just ran back to what he assumed was the bloke’s room. Huh. Rotty had expected to have to explain what he was doing. Probably time to leave. With that reaction he assumed the bloke was summoning the aurors. Rotty put back the nearly empty container of noodles, thought about putting the chicken leg back but decided he’d keep it and took another bite instead. He made his way to Bertie’s room.  Rotty finished the chicken leg while taking another look around Bertie’s room, he figured he could out run the aurors. Probably take ‘em a while to even get there. So Rotty laid down on Bertie’s bed to finish the chicken leg, and because he liked how Bertie’s pillow smelled like him. He really missed the bloke. Maybe he should have stopped by Timmy’s door and asked him not to tell Bertie he’d come by, that he’d only come for food. Or maybe they’d just think it was a random gang member, this was pretty close to a few. He could probably steal something on his way out. Make it look legit. He wondered if he had time to steal the rest of that chicken too, it was tasty.

Timmy’s heart was racing. He’d always figured if Death Eaters or people from the Ministry were going to come for him, one of his Death Eater-fighting friends would be around. That had been stupid. Maybe it had also been stupid not to have gang members on the list of people he needed to be worried about. What if this bloke had been hired by someone who had it out for the Minister and didn’t know that the Minister probably wouldn’t pay any sort of ransom to get Timmy back? What if this bloke was just some murderer who had no idea who Timmy was but was going to kill him anyways? He grabbed his chair from the desk and moved it in front of the door, pausing when he heard footsteps walking down the hall. Shit! The bloke was coming for him. Maybe he could climb out the window. Or -- wait. Was the bloke not coming for him? Timmy hesitated, then pressed his ear to his door. He didn’t hear anything, but what if it was a trap? Or maybe the bloke was just a robber who ran when he realized Timmy saw him. That would make sense, and it was a lot less terrifying possibility than any of the others he’d dreamed up. Still Timmy waited a few minutes before he dared to push his door open. “Oh!” He startled at the sight of the same bloke right across the hall from him...eating chicken on Bertie’s bed? That was...not the sort of thing Timmy would expect from a robber or a kidnapper or a murderer. If it was a trap, it was an awfully weird one, especially since he probably could have just stopped Timmy in the kitchen if he’d wanted to. Timmy’s brows pulled together as he looked at the bloke from the doorway to his and Benjy’s room. His eyes flickered to Bertie’s window. Open. Hang on… Timmy looked back at the bloke. “Are you...Rotty?” 

He was distracted from that depressing thought when he heard a noise in the hallway. Timmy glanced up from the desk in his and Benjy’s room and listened, surprised to hear footsteps moving from Bertie’s room toward the kitchen. That was weird. Timmy was sure Bertie was at the radio station for at least a few more hours. He got up and carefully peered out into the hallway, hearing the fridge open. Huh. So Bertie was home, then. “Hey, Bert!” Timmy called as he walked toward the kitchen. “Everything okay at the radio stat--” Timmy stopped in his tracks as he came to the end of the hallway from their bedrooms and saw that it was not Bertie, but a very large stranger in the kitchen. Timmy froze, eyes wide as his mind instantly went to the worst possibility -- but this bloke didn’t look like a Death Eater. Would a Death Eater have a mouthful of noodles? Or pants that brightly colored? A second later and Timmy realized what that meant. This was a gang member. In his kitchen. And Timmy had just announced himself to the bloke. Shit! He let out a scared yelp turned around and ran back down the hall toward his room, slamming the door closed behind him and locking it as he panicked, mind racing as to how he could get out of this. What if this bloke was here for the Minister? What if he was here for people who wanted something from the Minister? Timmy should have asked more questions about the protective enchantments Benjy said were on the flat.

fenwickb​:

Benjy had no idea what was going on and if Reg wasn’t here, or they knew Reg better, he’d just come right out with it. But he wasn’t sure if he should or not. Clearly Timmy was feeling the same. Obviously not his type was an understatement since they were standing here looking at his type but everything was too awkward for Benjy to even need to worry about smiling at that. But he did smile when Timmy turned it back to them. “I think you’ve got that backwards, lucky for me your standards aren’t that high,” he teased, happy to just focus on his boyfriend. Despite the awkwardness and the fact that it was probably going to get worse he leaned over and kissed Timmy. “Being able to do that whenever I feel never gets old.” That part was both true and spoke to point out to the other two how much better things were out in the open. Though it didn’t look it did much good judging from Drew’s face.

Reg still hadn’t said anything and Drew wanted to die. There was no way he could look and see what Reg looked like even though he wanted so baldy to know what Reg was thinking of all of this. Only he didn’t want to know. Reg was straight. What they were doing didn’t change that. Drew knew that. What he didn’t know is why Timmy and Benjy decided to not just rub it in everyone’s faces that they were a couple but insinuate in front of Reg that Drew’s type was not a bird. His type was no one’s business. Why Benjy and Timmy couldn’t not only mind their own business but also stop tossing their own business in his face Drew didn’t know. It was only the fact that he considered both to be his friends that kept him from saying anything mean despite being upset at both of them for doing this in front of Reg. This was the last thing Drew needed. He’d never welcomed questions about his type or his love life, as Timmy so terribly put it, but getting those types of questions from Reg would be his version of hell he was certain. The longer that things continued to happen between him and Reg the harder it was to pretend he could avoid those conversations all together. But Drew wasn’t ready to just spill everything. And he refused to do so in front of an audience so really fuck Benjy and Timmy for trying to make him.

Nothing they’d said was worthy of a reply in his opinion nor did he know what kind of reply he could make. Or what to say to change the subject. He codlin’t even just leave in disgust as the pair of them snogged in front of his food.  Drew was well and truly trapped. “Not everyone is concerned with dating,” he answered cooly. It was a bit of a barb directed at Benjy but not malicious. “Were we going to eat?” Drew wasn’t hungry at all but he was desperate for this conversation to be over.

fenwickb​:

andrewabbott​:

Drew had heard blokes saying that to other blokes enough to know that Reg didn’t really think it’d be her loss he was just being polite. Probably because Drew was being weird. “Thanks,”  he replied because that felt like the thing to say. He wished he’d have told them he had to take a shower first. Wondered if it was too late to just say that so he could leave the room. Except that’d be rude. Sure Reg and clearly been getting along with Benjy and Timmy but that didn’t mean Drew could just abandon him to them right now. He was stuck. And it was only going to get worse. Fuck. Why was Timmy trying to get him to fess up to anything right now? In front of Reg? Because this felt very much pointed in his direction. Reg wasn’t pretending about anything. If gang members were going to knock them over the heads and rob them all blind, or whatever they did, now would be a fantastic time for that. If it wasn’t for everything Reg had been through he might have even been okay with Death Eaters busting in bringing the fight to them. Anything to escape this moment. His eyes were wide and all the color was drained from his face. He couldn’t even look at Reg. Drew felt betrayed. Which was probably not fair because he got himself into this situation but at the same time what the hell was wrong with Timmy? Safe space h is arse. If this was really some touchy feely safe space bullshit Timmy wouldn’t be cornering him like this. It looked like Benjy was about to say something and it was only sheer panic over what that might be that had Drew talking first. “She wasn’t flirting with me. And if she was who would want to date some one who wears brown socks with black shoes for Rowena’s sake? That’s tacky.” Maybe if he just didn’t address Timmy’s nonsense about safe spaces and pretending Reg would ignore it. Think Timmy was just weird. Because there was no way he could say anything about any of that in the kitchen with everyone like he was just talking about bloody coffee. He’d much rather have Reg stop being his friend in private like last time. Drew had no idea if it was working because he absolutely couldn’t look at Reg.

Benjy was at a loss for what to do or say. This was beyond awkward. It went into potential to die from second hand embarrassment stage now. He was surprised when Timmy went the you can be honest with us route but relieved to have it out in the open because all this tip toeing around was driving him nuts. Except apparently it was not out in the open because Drew just slammed the closed door shut and locked it. Did he really think they did’t know? Reg certainly looked like he thought they didn’t. Bloody hell. Benjy looked at Timmy just as lost as Timmy was. Leaving felt like the right thing to do but how? “Yeah, that sounds fair,” he replied to Drew sounding as confused as he felt. Benjy had no idea how to reset the conversation. Or if he should just back Timmy up and double down on the fact that they could be honest. There didn’t seem a way to reset but doubling down felt mean. Maybe he could back Timmy up with a softer touch? “Timmy and I are just so happy, we want the same for everyone else.” That was true. Maybe a little doubling down wouldn’t hurt and so Benjy put his arm around Timmy again. He resisted the urge to point out to Drew, and Reg to be honest, that they were only teasing him about birds flirting with him because they knew she was hitting on the wrong bloke. And not because of some weird shoe sock thing that he still didn’t get the point of.

What the hell was Timmy talking about? Drew looked like he’d been cornered and Reg felt oddly similarly even as he tried to rationalize himself out of the feeling. There was nothing to hide. No one was pretending anything. Timmy was obviously just projecting, only there was nothing to project. Before Reg could say as much Drew was speaking up again. Her socks didn’t match her shoes. Right. Of course that was the reason Drew wasn’t interested. It was a good reason. He sure didn’t need any more of a reason to not be interested in some bird. And he’d have been happy to leave it at that if not for Benjy’s added comment. They wanted the same for everyone else? What the hell was that supposed to mean? And why did he have to put his arm back around Timmy while he said it? 

andrewabbott​:

It was like suddenly the cold from outside had seeped into the room. Almost like Reg was mad at him. Maybe he was. Drew probably should have mentioned their crazy theory about the bird to Reg. Except Drew did not want to think about it. He certainly didn’t want to talk about it when he was with Reg. Talking about birds was about the last thing he wanted to do with Reg. But it was Reg’s comment about going out with her that had Drew’s heart sinking. He didn’t want to go out with her. He also didn’t want the reminder that Reg was straight and thought he was straight. That whatever it was they were doing was just nothing. Because it wasn’t just nothing to Drew. Which was the problem. Not Reg but him. He should have told Reg instead of letting it just keep happening. Only it was hard to tell someone something when you didn’t even let yourself think about it. On top of the heartbreaking reminder that Reg would rather be with a bird was the feeling of being trapped. He had no idea what to say to Reg’s words. He knew Timmy and Benjy wouldn’t care if he wasn’t into birds. But he didn’t want to tell Reg that in front of them. Or at all but that was clearly a thing he needed to do. Just not now in front of Timmy and Benjy. “I don’t think that’s something that’s going to happen,” Drew managed to get out, even more embarrassed by this whole thing. He was glad that Timmy and Benjy had already turned their backs. But he wasn’t sure how he was going to eat anything. All he was going to be thinking about now was how he had no choice but to tell Reg. How he should have told him at the start because he was sure Reg was going to be pissed off about it. Standing there feeling useless Drew tried to figure something to distract himself and everyone else from himself. “I’m going to have a soda, anyone else want one?” Yep,  nothing to see here. He wasn’t dying inside at all.

Fuck. Why did Reg say that? It had obviously been the wrong thing to say, that much was clear from Drew’s expression. Only Reg wasn’t sure why it was the wrong thing to say. Shouldn’t he be supporting Drew if there was some bird who was into him who wanted to go out with him? Maybe Drew just didn’t like this bird and so he wasn’t interested. Clearly he didn’t want Reg’s opinion. And why should he, there was no reason for him to want Reg’s opinion on his love life. Right. “Well - that’d be her loss,” he said, something he’d heard plenty of blokes say to their mates when birds didn’t want to date them, so surely it was perfectly okay for him to say it to Drew too. Or maybe it wasn’t, because apparently Reg didn’t know what was or wasn’t okay to say to Drew anymore and he was sort of wishing he had a good reason to leave now. 

andrewabbott​:

Benjy managed not to add anything about Davey having terrible tastes for such a great bloke but he definitely thought it. It was easy not to dwell on Richie when Regulus was looking all awkward again about the fact that Timmy mentioned his fake brother dating a bloke. It was hard not to look over at Timmy in amusement now that he had someone else there witnessing it. At least when he talked it over with Timmy later his boyfriend will have seen it first hand so laughing about it together wouldn’t take much explanation. But he absolutely couldn’t resist looking over at Timmy with unhidden amusement at how awkward both Regulus and Drew were being when Drew came in. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop from laughing out loud and was surprised that he managed to talk without sounding amused. For two blokes that seemed determined to pretend to not be dating they were doing a shit job of it. Especially with the way they were talking to each other. Thankfully he managed not to laugh but he had to bite the inside of his cheek again to stop from looking amused at it.

The flat felt far too warm when Drew got into the kitchen and met Reg’s eyes again. It had been really cold outside so that felt like a reasonable excuse …er reason. Drew worried despite his rationalizing about it not being weird that maybe he should’t have said he was glad Reg stayed until Reg replied back and eased his worries. Instead he was smiling again, and surprised once more. It had looked like they were having a conversation but Drew hadn’t realized that they’d been hanging out not just Reg getting caught in the kitchen as Timmy and Benjy got handsy. “Yeah? That’s great. They’re pretty decent blokes,” he added his voice teasing as he smiled over at Timmy and Benjy. They were great despite the fact that they kept throwing the whole dating thing into everyone’s faces. Drew could do with a little less of that. But he was glad to hear that Reg was getting along with them. He’d always thought Reg would get along, for the most part, with his mates but that hadn’t been possible even when they were still hanging out together at Hogwarts. Now it felt like Reg was getting a second chance at a lot of things. Which was a thought that made him feel a little weird for a reason he was definitely not going to try and figure out.

“Thanks for the praise there mate, you’re okay too I guess,” Benjy teased back. “Reg has inspired me to start a pool for the Order on when the coffee maker might brew it’s final cup. And we were trying to figure out what we could bet on at the flat.” Drew looked even more surprised and pleased to hear that they’d actually been talking or maybe that was the fact Benjy had used Regulus’s nickname. Benjy was just trying to steer the conversation into non-awkward territory even if it might have been funny to see how the both of them reacted to talking about blokes dating blokes in front of each other. “I’m open to suggestions,” he added.

Drew couldn’t help looking over at Reg when Benjy called him Reg. Was he okay with that? Not that he thought Benjy would say it without Reg being okay with it, he just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. Huh, that was cool. Maybe it was just him that struggled being comfortable around Timmy and Benjy when they were being all handsy. Another thought he didn’t want to dwell on. Thankfully he had Benjy’s betting pools to think about. He wasn’t sure about the truth behind Reg inspiring it, he’d been a little surprised Benjy hadn’t started one already honestly. Plus Reg didn’t bet, he didn’t think. Maybe he did. They hadn’t been friends for a while, there was probably plenty he didn’t know about Reg now. “If you’re gonna do a pool on the coffee maker you should hurry, it sounded like it was in it’s death throes when I left. As for here, we can always take bets on how long it’s going to take that gang member to rob us all blind.”  Drew regretted the suggestion as soon as he said it. Not because he felt bad saying it, he was pretty certain they were going to be robbed, he just hoped it happened when they were all out so no one got hurt. And that they didn’t steal his clothes because he’d be pretty upset if some color blind gang member was walking around wearing one of his sweaters. He just would have rather not pointed out how all his mates were gay in front of Reg. Sure Reg knew but that didn’t mean Drew had to wave the knowledge around like a flashing sign. Or toss it in his face the way Timmy and Benjy flaunted the whole boyfriends thing.

As much at Timmy wanted to meet Benjy’s gaze when he felt it on him, he bit the inside of his cheek and kept his own eyes resolutely on his coffee cop, certain there was no way he’d be able to keep himself from laughing out loud if he glanced at Benjy and saw his own amusement reflected back at him. They would have to laugh about this one together later. For now he was sure Benjy would be able to feel him shaking slightly with contained laughter where his arm was around Timmy. It was just hard not to want to laugh at how clearly taken Drew and Reg were with each other, especially for two blokes who were trying so hard to pretend not to be dating. Was that what Timmy used to be like around Benjy? Even if he’d stared a little too long, he definitely hadn’t been giving Benjy hickies. Which was Timmy’s own loss, but if he had been doing that he would have also acknowledged they were dating. Like they were doing now. And wow, was it nice; Drew and Reg were missing out. Timmy laughed along with Benjy at Drew’s teasing comment, maybe a little too enthusiastically as some of the laughter he’d been holding in from earlier found an escape. He bit his lip again and looked between Drew and Benjy and Reg with a grin. 

As weird as he felt watching Timmy and Benjy be all coupley in front of them, it was sort of nice how Benjy talked about their conversation so casually, like Reg was just a normal person hanging out in their kitchen. Maybe he was. He met Drew’s surprised gaze with a grin. Did Drew think it was weird he’d told them to call him Reg? He hoped not; Reg sort of liked not being Regulus Black. He chuckled at Drew’s remark about the coffee maker, and let out a surprised laugh at Drew’s next comment about that gang bloke.

Timmy let out a laugh of his own. “Hopefully we don’t have anything a gang member wants. Well, except for Bertie,” he couldn’t help adding, looking over at Benjy with a mischievous grin before noticing that Reg was staring resolutely into his coffee cup again and rubbing the back of his neck that was noticeably red. Oh right. Timmy bit his lip and looked at Benjy again, biting back another laugh; what else were they supposed to do here, really, when they were all gay but Drew and Reg were so weird about it? “Erm -- we could bet on how long it’ll take that bird who lives upstairs to ask Drew out,” he suggested in a quick and not well thought out attempt to change the subject, quickly glancing back at Benjy with a look that clearly said shit, I fucked up. As funny as the situation is, Timmy had not meant to make it worse.