I Never Give In (Percival Graves x Reader)

New arrangements

The first thing you did was checking the whole office out, apparently there was not only the hall and working area, but also two separate rooms on both sides, with simple sofas where either of you could sleep. It was obvious that Picquery had taken in account both of you being workaholics and has equipped the place accordingly. Although you certainly appreciated that, the whole situation had seemed... unusual, to say the least.

The next couple of hours were spent on furnishing and arranging the office. There were many shelves and documents to sort through, as well as establishing the working arrangement. Apart from discussing what goes where, Percival and you barely talked but it was a comfortable silence, one filled with focus and feeling of accomplishment. The work was going quite quickly as you have been used to each others' presence and preferences, discussions weren't really lasting long and soon enough you were done, using no magic at all. It felt right. It felt good to just do mindless physical work and focus on just the task at hand, with no hidden meanings, no clues to be found, nothing to be suspicious of. These couple of hours were refreshing.

After finishing everything and making the office look proper, with shelves standing by the walls as well as creating small walls throughout the place, with your respective tables turned towards the windows and having one more table splitting them from each other by being place sideways in between. You suspected that would be where all the documents would land. There were a few more desks by the window and scattered in between the shelves so that taking out and sorting the papers while working on cases would be easier.

You were finally done. You had not even realised how tiring physical work was till you found yourself out of breath and thirsty, fully ready for the lunch break. Sitting on your desk and slowly sipping on water, you stole a glance at Percival. His shirt was undone, showing more scars. The man beside you seemed just like you have known him before- stoic, collected, unshaken. You caught yourself staring at him for a little bit too long as he was swallowing the water, the moment he furrowed his eyebrows a bit and looked over at you, you quickly turned away as if nothing had happened. What you did not see was a light smirk taking over his features as he faced forward again.

"It feels like yesterday that we've been partners in the obscurial case in Canada." You had initiated the conversation, staring at the city below you. The circumstances were odd but felt right and at that very moment you have decided not to push anything, leave the relations between you as they were- friends. The thought of losing him was scary enough and the awkwardness after you had let your emotions go in the hospital wing has certainly dissuaded you from acting on them further. You were completely fine with that, although it hurt a bit.

"So it does. Do you still remember what I told you then? Right before we went in hot" Graves answered with a short chuckle at the beginning, crossing arms on his chest and following your gaze.

"That if we don't manage to deal with it, no one will?"

"That after all this is over I would love to work with you again." You looked at him immediately as he had said those words, not understanding why he would bring that up now. Percival was still looking forward, very aware of your gaze. Silence lingered in the room for a moment before he spoke again, this time in a much more emotionless tone, cornering on a whisper. "You could have died."

"So could you."

"That's beside the point. Why would you use such dangerous spell?" Now you were sure he was back to his normal self and felt much more comfortable. If he had the strength to nag you, he got better. Your shoulders relaxed, you didn't even realise you were this tense.

"You have read my report so you know the answer." No response from him made you speak further. You knew him well enough to be aware that he did not take such responses for an answer but then again, you really wanted to leave it in the past, not come back to it. Talking about the events from weeks ago always came with pain and inconvenience of remembering every single detail, after the week of not paying a thought to Grindelwald. A sigh escaped your lips as you crossed arms on your chest and stared numbly forward. "Please, Percival, don't push me about it. It's not a comfortable topic. I don't want to remember it all."