Redamancy

• Chapter 9 •

Gingerbread houses and blanket forts

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The kiss was stopped just before their lips met by none other than Fred himself.

Immediately, Nicolai quickly withdrew himself completely from Freds arms, face bright red in embarrassment. He mumbled a quiet apology before turning around and rushing inside.

No, wait! Nico? Wait! Fred rushed in front of him, both of them now being out of the rain and uncomfortable in their wet clothes. But Fred pushed those thoughts aside, much more concerned with the boy that he now held in a tight embrace.

Please let me go, Nicolai whispered, pleaded, into the place between Freds neck and shoulder. He was stupid to think that Fred would want to kiss him. Hed gotten ahead of himself in the moment, and now a burning sense of shame left his heart heavy in a way that almost suffocated the young boy.

The air was thin, barely breathable, and Nicolais eyes stung from trying to withhold unshed tears.

A panic attack? Fred quickly realised, before remembering how George used to help him through him own attacks.

Hold your breath!

Nicolai looked up in confusion, still letting out broken sobs that left Freds heart aching.

What? He just managed to ask. However, his question was only met with a purple faced ginger who was clearly trying his best to imitate the actions he had demanded the brunette to complete.

Although it wasnt the original plan, Fred was glad to see Nicolais breaths even out as much as possible considering the loud cackles of delight that the teary-eyed boy tried desperatelyto withhold.

You dork! Snorted Nicolai once Fred joined in on the manic laughter.

If anyone else had entered the kitchen at that moment, they would have seen two young boys, drenched to the bone, laughing like psychos over seemingly nothing.

But to them? To them, this was their own little world where the only thing they needed was one another, and the comfort they provided.

So, is that a yes to the whole date thing, or? The ginger tried again after catching his breath, although this time the question came across a little more desperate.

Nicolai just smiled and nodded his head, English becoming a foreign language to him due to the nerves of what agreeing might entail.

The next morning, after being told by Molly to wake everyone up, Arthur Weasley was greeted with the peculiar sight of both Nicolai and his son cuddled together in Rons old room, Freds arms wrapped around the smaller boy and Nicolais entire body curled into Freds chest.

The older man pointedly looked at the large pile of wet clothes bundled on the floor in front of the bed, silently questioning the reason behind such a thing. However, upon noticing Fred
in only pyjama pants, and Nicolai wrapped up in Freds top, Arthur decided to spare himself the awkwardness and instead opted to just close the door as quietly as possible and return to his wife to inform her of his findings.

A little while later, both boys came downstairs fully clothed and bright red, trying their best to ignore the look they were getting from Molly, Arthur, and George. The last of which had known exactly where his twin was from the second he had woken up to an empty bed beside his own.

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Fred hadnt really planned their date in detail, but the second he mentioned going to the Natural History Museum in London for lunch, the brunette was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

They'd actually spend most of the date chatting about the ins and outs of the muggle world, and considering how Nicolai knew very little about such things, Fred took honest pride in the amazed looks he gained when explaining the simplest of things.

Nicolai's favorite part of the museum as a whole had most definitely been all the different rocks and gemstones; something of which Fred noticed and encouraged.

Although, once they returned to the burrow later that afternoon, the two boys quickly discovered that Molly, Ginny and Hermione had worked together to set up their own small date for them.

Blankets and pillows were piled up in the middle of a cleared out living room, and ingredients sat in a semicircle, surrounded what appeared to be a gingerbread recipe.

"Did they really do all this for us?"

"It seems like we have some supporters, Nico"

"Then we'd better not let their efforts go to waste."

Nicolai and Fred both set to work on baking their gingerbread men, Fred mixing the ingredients, and Nicolai setting up the baking trays and icing.

Just as the brunette finished turning on the oven, the left side of his face paled drastically as Fred threw a handful of poorly aimed flour at him.

Freds laughter echoed throughout the otherwise silent house, however, he quickly found himself chocking in icing sugar in an act of revenge on Nicolais behalf.

Then the battle began.

Flour, icing sugar and various other baking ingredients were thrown desperately at each other, quickly coating the entire kitchen, before Fred decided that it was time to stop.

Just as Fred began to talk, an egg was cracked on top of his head, the gooey substance rubbed even further into his hair and down his face by Nicolai, who was to busy giggling to himself to notice the fond gaze of the taller boy.

Still covering from head to toe, the two boys quickly finish up their gingerbread men, leaving them in the oven whilst they do to clean themselves up and get change into comfortable lounging clothes.

After doing so, Fred used magic to clean the kitchen, whilst Nicolai used his own to build a comfortable sized pillow fort.

Both boys wasted no time in snuggling into said fort, Fred wrapping his arms around Nicolais waist as to draw the insecure boy as far into his lap as possible, both of them trying their best to get comfortable before their attention was drawn away by the television placed just outside the entrance to their little fortress.

"Fred, can I ask you something?" Nicolai whispered softly, his expression slightly disheartened by the thoughts running through his head.

"Of course Nico, anything." Was the only reply Fred could give as an attempt to comfort the smaller boy.

"Why did you pull away from the kiss last night?"

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Thank you for reading the ninth chapter of Redamancy, sorry that its kind of short, but I hoped you enjoyed!

Word count: 1088

EDITED = ?/?/?