Lean on Me ||perciver

8. Be Mine?

Oliver took a step back to admire his set up. He had draped a dark cloth over the table, along with a matching set of plates and glasses. He had even added the touch of a single candle in the middle, casting flickering light over the darkened room.

Oh yes, this would definitely do. There was no way Percy would be able to mistake this gesture for anything else. This was going to make or break their future relationship.

He heard the lock click as Percy opened the door to their apartment. Oliver quickly checked his dress shirt to make sure that it was tucked in properly and straightened his posture.

"Ollie?"

He spun around to a quizzical Percy standing in the entrance of the dining room, his briefcase and documents tucked loosely under his arm.

"What are you all dressed up for?"

Oliver gave what he hoped to be a charming smile and simply took Percy by the shoulders and lead him to the seat. He took the papers and briefcase from his hold and placed it aside, as they certainly wouldn't be needing them for a while.

"Ollie, what-"

Oliver shushed him. He pushed the plate of pasta forward, and with a flourish, presented a fork. Percy still looked slightly lost, but with time, he would come to understand.

Oliver poured some wine into both of their glasses and took the seat opposite of Percy.

"Nice night, isn't it?" He asked, leisurely swirling the wine in the glass.

Percy owlishly blinked and adjusted his glasses. "Are you wearing a dress shirt? With slacks?"

He internally did a victory dance.

"Why yes," he grinned wolfishly over his glass. "You like it?"

A pink tint appeared over Percy's cheeks as he silently assessed his appearance over the table.

"How was work today?" Diverting the subject would surly relax Percy into conversation.

Percy blinked once before he snapped back into attention. "Work was fine. We didn't seem to be as productive as usual, however. It may have had something to do with your visit to the office," he stared into his pasta for a moment before bringing his eyes back to Oliver. "They seemed to be very curious about you."

"Oh?" His quidditch career was only now starting to kick off, so it was unlikely that the attention was due to fame.

"Yes, it was rather annoying and it set me behind by nearly thirty minutes!" He pulled a disgruntled face. "All they did today was ask me how I happened upon a 'handsome young man that cooks and coddles' as though that isn't the most inappropriate question you could ask your work superior. I didn't know how to answer!"

"You didn't just tell them that you 'happened upon' me at Hogwarts? Sounds like an easy question to me."

Percy spluttered and glared at him. "You know what I mean. I can't answer a question that's worded like that. It's undignified."

"So how did you answer?"

Percy turned his attention back to his plate and quickly changed the subject. "How was your day?"

"Great, since I got to drop in and disturb your work," he grinned at Percy, whose lips had thinned. He was evidently not mad with him, but he was still unamused.

Oliver picked at his pasta and stole a glance at Percy, who was concentrating on eating his own food. Was he aware of what kind of dinner they were having? The gesture he was trying to make?