Author's Notes: Mustn’t forget to thank my splendid beta raisinous fiendling trying to whip my grammar into some sort of shape and for offering loads of helpful little hints.

---

Percy wasn’t stupid. He had understood practically from the beginning what Draco Malfoy was after. The blond was subtle, he gave him that, but he was a bit too eager and efficient with his work – and Percy could hardly believe that he was actually satisfied with his dreary position as Percy’s secretary – and he smiled far too charmingly at Percy. Nobody smiled at Percy like that unless they wanted something from him.


The lunches together did come as a bit of a surprise, although in hindsight they shouldn’t have as they actually made sense in a Slytherin sort of way. It made perfect sense that Draco was ambitious and would use any means to advance himself. Percy didn’t mind; he understood ambition, for he used to have more than enough of his own. In Percy’s opinion, Draco’s ambitions were perfectly legitimate ones and he wasn’t in the least averse to helping him out.


What Draco wasn’t in the least subtle about was his jealousy of Percy’s invitation to the Ministry Yule Ball. The Ball was a prestigious, glamorous affair, the sort of thing he was sure Draco would love. The Ball was also a function where one could find practically all the important and influential Ministry officials in an unofficial and relaxed setting; it was a perfect place for introductions. It was actually a perfectly logical conclusion to decide to bring Draco as his guest. It also did no harm that Percy was fed up with going by himself or taking various women as a cover and that Draco was, in Percy’s opinion, an highly attractive and desirable young man.


That last had been a not totally unforeseeable complication. It was bad enough that Percy found Draco attractive and intelligent and witty; over the course of their pub lunches he had also gotten to know the other man better, and somehow he had been really drawn to what he had seen. However, it wasn’t until the actual Ball that Percy had realised how badly he had fallen for his secretary. The fact that Draco had looked remarkably handsome in his dress robes had helped, as had the poise and finesse with which he had talked and argued with sundry Ministry officials, the sparkle in his eyes that showed he was enjoying himself, and the beautiful smiles he sent Percy’s way.


It had been just Percy’s luck that the twins, whom he had so often devoutly wished he wasn’t related to, had wrecked his otherwise perfect evening by outing him to Draco. Up until that point he had vague hopes and suspicions that Draco might also be gay, but Draco’s unfavourable reaction to his confession at the Ball seemed to prove him wrong. The awkward and slightly distanced way Draco had acted around him for the following weeks had only drove the painful point further home.


That was why it had come as a complete surprise when Draco had come to invite him to dinner.

---

Percy had found Draco a suitable position and had worked hard to get him accepted immediately, not only because he knew that was what Draco wanted, but also because he himself couldn’t stand the stilted atmosphere in the office any longer. At times Percy had thought he saw Draco looking at him with a peculiar expression that resembled interest, but he put it down to wishful thinking and searched for more tangible proof of Draco’s feelings about him. The search invariably resulted only in confusion and disappointment.


But that evening Draco had come to his office and had asked him out; and now they were sitting in the pub round the corner from the Ministry waiting for their meals to arrive.


Percy held his breath in anticipation. It had seemed like Draco was hinting at being interested in more than friendship but Percy – always too cautious – scarcely dared to hope. He looked at the blond man sitting opposite him playing absently with the slightly frayed edge of his sleeve; Draco tried to hide it but Percy could see that he was nervous. Somehow the fact that Draco was also nervous made Percy feel more confident and hopeful.


Draco gave him a smile – half seductive, half shy – and opened his mouth to speak. “How is my replacement? Is she as good as I was?” he asked.


Percy couldn’t hold back a small chuckle. “You know very well she isn’t. I would be hard pressed to find anyone better than you.”


Draco’s face lit up and he smiled his pleasure. “Obviously,” he said cheerfully. “I’m the best you’ll ever have.” The look that Draco gave him after the last announcement was definitely suggestive and Percy felt a tightening in his chest. It looked to Percy like Draco was flirting with him and that thought made his heart rate beat faster and harder.


“You seem awfully sure of yourself,” he answered.


“Why shouldn’t I be?” was Draco cheeky reply.


They shared another look before Percy decided to change the subject. “So tell me about your new job. Any interesting cases?”


Draco’s eyes sparkled and he leaned forward on the table. “The job is remarkably interesting so far. It’s very demanding, too,” he began excitedly. “I am quite satisfied. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am to you! The other day, as a matter of fact, I was called to Anglesey for this very strange case...”


Draco loved being the centre of attention and telling stories, and Percy loved to listen to him. He especially loved the way Draco’s whole face became animated and the way he gesticulated wildly when he got particularly exited. Draco had a way with stories and in Percy’s opinion he could make even the dullest of anecdotes take on life and become engaging and amusing.


The Anglesey case proved very complicated and difficult and Draco was rightfully very smug that he managed to solve it.


The narrative hadn’t been finished by the time their meals arrived, even though Draco hardly paused for breath. “So, you see, it all came down to a very unlikely coincidence of pronouncing Engorgio with a strong Welsh accent on a yew tree while the wind was blowing in a north-western direction,” he concluded while wildly waving his fork around, complete with carrot, for emphasis.


“At first no one believed me, but in the end they could do little else but agree that that was the only logical explanation.” Draco finished his narration and bit into the carrot with a very self-satisfied smirk, which Percy found quite endearing.


“Well, you must admit that it certainly wasn’t the most evident solution,” he replied after swallowing a bite of stew.


“But it wouldn’t be an obscure magical accident if the solution was evident!” Draco countered.


“That’s true. You do have a point there.”


At that the pair exchanged an intense gaze before averting their eyes and falling into silent chewing. The awkward silence seemed to stretch for ages. Even Draco, never one to be at a loss for words, couldn’t seem to find what to say.


Finally he ended up saying, “Tell me all about how bad your new secretary is and how much you miss my marvellous organising abilities,” and looking at Percy expectantly.


Percy carefully laid his knife and fork down and decided to live up to his supposed Gryffindor-ness. He took a controlled breath and looked at Draco before speaking.


“Judy is not a bad secretary really. She’s good at her job. Very prompt. Very organised.” Percy paused. “The problem is that she isn’t you, you see. It’s not your work I miss… it’s you,” he continued.


Draco was now looking at him with bated breath and a bright and hopeful look in his eyes, eagerly urging Percy to go on.


“The thing is, Draco, I like you. A lot. I’m rather attracted to you, actually.” He looked at Draco, feeling a wild swarm of butterflies in his stomach, anxiously waiting for his response. He hoped that he had read Draco correctly, because he didn’t know if he could bear a rejection.


For a couple of moments Draco simply sat there frozen without even breathing, his grey eyes wide and surprised and unblinking. Percy stared back at him expectantly, but the lack of response was beginning to make him worry and he felt the distinct need to fidget. A panicky feeling was beginning to rise in his stomach when Draco suddenly exhaled and blinked slowly.


“You do?” he asked breathlessly. “You’re really... um... attracted to me?”


Percy simply nodded his response. That seemed to be enough for Draco who suddenly regained his poise and sat up straighter.


“I mean, of course you are,” he said glibly. “It makes perfect sense for you to be attracted to me. I am remarkably attractive, after all.”


Percy felt the tension of the moment break and he let a small aborted laugh escape.


“It’s a good thing you saw reason so fast,” Draco continued flippantly. “Otherwise I would have just had to persuade you. Because you see...” Here Draco paused and looked Percy in the eye before continuing seriously, “...I am also attracted to you. Very much so.”


Percy started at the bold statement and couldn’t stop a smile from breaking out.


“And this saves me the trouble of seducing you. Not that seducing you wouldn’t have been fun,” Draco finally concluded.


Percy couldn’t believe his luck. Things didn’t usually turn out so perfectly for him and he was never given anything he truly desired unless he worked hard for it. He wondered what the catch was.


“I’m not adverse to being seduced,” he told Draco, trying his hand at flirting. “Pretend I didn’t say anything earlier and seduce me as planned.” Percy gave Draco a deliberately provocative look.


The blond raised an eyebrow, intrigued, and pushed his half-eaten dinner to the side so he could lean languorously on the table and look at Percy through half-lidded eyes.


“Do you really want that?” he purred.


“Oh, yes,” Percy breathed, mesmerised.


Gone was the nervous man of before as Draco undid the top two buttons of his robe, enjoying Percy’s undivided attention. Percy couldn’t tear his eyes from that small patch of pale skin until Draco shifted slightly and started talking.


“So you like games, do you?” Draco said in a low purr. “I know a lot of games. Most of which I’m sure you’ll enjoy,” he continued, voice becoming lower and breathier. “Some of them are best played in more... private settings.” Draco’s gaze was heavily lidded, and somehow his clear grey eyes had turned into a maelstrom, pulling Percy in.


Somewhere in a corner of his mind Percy knew that Draco was playing it up and would never have been so blatantly obvious in a real seduction; he usually had too much finesse for that. But, as he followed every move and every word of Draco’s with bated breath, Percy knew he didn’t care. He felt himself get hotter and hotter under the collar and slowly lean towards the other man.


Draco slowly slid a hand along the table towards Percy as he spoke. “Percy... what kind of game would you like to play?” He looked up at the redhead with innocent eyes from under pale eyelashes as he finally slid his hand on top of Percy’s.


Percy turned his had over and clasped Draco’s palm in his own. This was far too fast and he felt way in over his head, so unlike the usual order of things for Percy. He should have known it would be different with Draco. When he had playfully asked Draco to seduce him, he had imagined light-hearted flirting and coy looks and for the night to end with a tentative kiss and the promise of another date, soon. He should have known that Draco wouldn’t waste time on what he already had but would immediately make a move for more. Draco played by his own rules; Draco was impatient and determined and... passionate. Percy swallowed as he squeezed Draco’s hand and decided to regain some control of the situation, even if it meant giving in to Draco and taking a step he wasn’t sure he was ready for, but that he knew he wanted.


“Draco...” he said as he stared into his grey eyes intently, “...I know that this is too soon, far too soon, but what if we did go somewhere more private? Draco, how would you like to come back to my place?”


Draco started and his eyes widened in surprise. So he didn’t actually expect me to respond to his advances, Percy thought, slightly taken aback.


Draco swallowed and Percy followed the movement of his Adam’s apple with intent eyes. “Yes...” Draco finally said, slightly breathlessly, “...I would like that very much. Actually, I’m not hungry anymore...” he added with a look at their half-empty plates, “...how about if we left now?”


Draco swallowed again and looked questioningly at him. Percy’s chest swelled with a strange fierce rush; he had regained control of the situation. They might be playing with Draco’s rules and he might be feeling completely out of his element, but he was going to do his best to at least remain in control.


“Yes, let’s,” he said fiercely.


Upon exiting the pub, Draco touched Percy’s elbow, making him stop and turn round to see what he wanted. The shorter man looked at him a second and before Percy knew it had curled a hand around the nape of his neck to pull him down for a kiss. The kiss was brief and questioning, as if Draco were testing the waters, but Percy found himself gasping in surprise, his eyes sliding shut. He opened them again just in time to see Draco’s grey ones sparkle as he was pulled back down for another kiss, this one demanding and sloppy. As Draco slipped his tongue into the taller man’s mouth, Percy realised he had lost control of the situation again.


The world went hazy and as Draco rubbed himself up against him, Percy, hardly knowing what he was doing, backed Draco up until he had him pushed against a rough wall. Percy lost track of time and the world as his whole reality narrowed down to the warm hard body pressed up against his own and the hot mouth under his. The mouth moved purposely over his jaw and down his throat until it found a spot and sucked.


Percy gasped, opening his eyes, and reality intruded. They were outside the pub, in the street, in a dangerously public spot. He tried desperately to regain some control of the situation.


“This spot isn’t... private... enough,” he gasped out.


He put his hand on Draco’s head to hold him still and tried his best to gather his scattered wits together enough to Side-Along-Apparate them to his flat.

---

They landed in graceless heap on his living room floor. Draco gasped and lifted his head to look around. Upon realising where he was he rolled off Percy to lay on the floor next to him. Soon Draco started giggling.


“I can’t believe you just Apparated whilst snogging,” he said in between chuckles. “I can’t believe we haven’t been splinched!”


Percy didn’t know what to say to that so he turned his head to look at Draco’s profile.


“I was trying to turn your brain to mush and prevent all rational thought,” Draco continued and turned his head to lock eyes with Percy. “And yet you managed to Apparate us away!” He lifted a hand and lightly stroked Percy’s cheek with his fingers.


“You did turn my brain to mush and prevent all rational thought. That’s why I had to Apparate us away,” Percy answered, mirroring Draco’s gesture and letting his own knuckles skim Draco’s sharp jaw line.


“Wouldn’t you rather be here? In my flat. Just you and me, no stray passersby,” Percy asked.


Draco chuckled lightly. “Just you and me...” he whispered distractedly, “...on your hard wooden floor.”


But he made no move to get up. Instead he curled his hand behind Percy’s nape again and pulled him close for another kiss.


This kiss was slow and sweet and languid. It felt like they lay there forever just kissing gently, one of Percy’s hands resting gently on Draco’s cheek and the other buried in his silken hair. All the while Draco inched closer and closer, his arms wrapping around Percy until he could hardly breathe. But that was all right, who needed to breathe anyway? Eventually they were forced to break apart, dizzy and faint and gasping for air.


After a while Percy spoke. “Maybe we should move to the bedroom, don’t you think?” he asked almost shyly, irrationally afraid they were going too fast and Draco would turn him down.


“Yes, we best do that,” Draco answered, “your floor is very hard and uncomfortable.”


Slowly Percy rose from the floor, put his hand out to help Draco up, and led him to the bedroom.

---

Once there, Percy closed the door behind them and they both stood silently in the dark, staring at the bed. He felt an awkwardness and shyness creeping over him again and wondered what the best thing to say would be.


He turned to look at Draco only to find the blond had taken off his shoes and was now slowly unbuttoning his robes, his eyes on Percy the whole time. He let the opened robes slowly slide off his shoulders to lie in a pool at his feet and simply stood there in his underwear, looking at Percy, an unspoken challenge in his eyes.


Percy took in the slim figure opposite him, all the taut pale skin gleaming in the bright moonlight that streamed into his room from an open window. He took a step closer and lifted his hand to ghost it over the white chest in front of him to finally rest it over the other man’s heart, his thumb absently rubbing over the pale pink nipple.


He heard Draco gasp and could feel under his palm the warmth emanating from Draco’s body, his rapid shallow breathing and the wild beating of his heart. He lifted his eyes from his spread out hand to look at the other man’s face. His grey eyes were wide and dilated, there was a slight stain of pink on his high cheekbones and his lips were parted as his breath came out in short sharp gasps.


Percy felt strangely calm as the world blurred at the edges. With slow deliberation he stepped even closer to Draco, cradled his face gently in his palms and kissed him softly. Draco responded eagerly, winding his arms around Percy and pulling him closer. It’s strange how much kissing we seem to be doing, Percy mused distractedly, it’s like now having finally started we can’t seem to stop.


Draco didn’t seem to mind, if his soft moans were anything to go by, and Percy certainly didn’t mind, so it was all right. Percy smoothed his hands down Draco’s bare back, contemplating how very all right this all was.


Suddenly Draco pushed Percy away and took a deep breath. “Take your robes off, now!” he said in an unsteady voice.


Percy quickly obeyed, undoing the top buttons before pulling them over his head and haphazardly throwing them into a corner of the room.


Draco eyed him appreciatively and they ended up with their tongues in each others' mouths yet again. It was forceful and passionate, just like it had been outside the pub, their hands roaming over every inch of bare skin they could reach. When Draco moved to suck a spot on Percy’s throat right next to the one of earlier that night, Percy took the opportunity to draw a gasping breath and open his eyes.


The haze in his head cleared enough for him to see the bed and to come to the decision to move the action there. Draco was shorter and lighter than Percy and easily clung to him, letting himself be stumbled backwards til the backs of his legs hit the bed’s edge, and then be pushed down onto it so Percy could climb on top of him on all fours to kiss and mumble in his ear, “Move up.”

Soon they found themselves fully on the bed, Percy half on top of Draco as he slowly stroked his hand down the blond’s neck, shoulders, chest, ribs, and quivering stomach, to curl his fingers finally just under the waistband of his underwear.


Draco lifted his hips slightly and murmured, “Off. Yes, take them off.”


So Percy did, sitting up to kneel over Draco’s now totally naked prone form and admire the view.


Draco looked at him through half-lidded eyes and gave him a cheeky grin. “Like what you see?” he said slightly smugly.


Percy couldn’t help letting out a short soft laugh. “You know very well that I do,” he answered before quickly removing his own underwear too and throwing it distractedly somewhere.


Draco gasped appreciatively. “I see the freckles reach everywhere.” He paused a bit before whispering, “I didn’t used to particularly like freckles, but somehow I find myself reviewing my opinion. I think I rather appreciate them after all. They do add a certain something, don’t they?”


Draco lifted himself to lean on one elbow and then stretched a hand out to lightly trail a finger up Percy’s erection and around it’s head. Percy gasped at the touch, but Draco dropped his hand and said, “Come closer.”


They ended up facing each other, teasing one another with light slow touches: a hip, a bellybutton, a cock, a nipple. It was strange, this slow dance, strange and mesmerising and Percy could feel the tension rising.


It was Draco who broke the trance by growling lowly in his throat and firmly grasping Percy’s cock. Percy reacted by rolling on top of him and grinding down, just so.



After that it was all a blur of heat and need, sharp hipbones, seeking hands and mouths and Draco’s loud moans reverberating in the room. Percy hardly knew how much time passed. All he knew was how near perfect this was; Draco’s slim body moving under his, his hot breath puffing on his face. And then suddenly Draco was screaming hoarsely, the neighbour was beating on the wall demanding they ‘keep it down’ and Draco was coming, pulsing hot liquid over them both. Percy stared down at him, at his face, pink and sweaty, and his hair, damp and wild, and felt a wave of exhilaration.


Draco gasped a couple of times, eyes closed, as he continued to tremble for a few moments more. Then, his face set with determination and his eyes bright and feverish, he whispered almost harshly, “Now it’s your turn.”


He snaked a hand between them and grabbed Percy’s swollen erection and started rubbing it; his movements were hard and fast and smooth and exactly what Percy wanted and needed. He whispered hotly in Percy’s ear disjointed phrases Percy could hardly make out. ‘That’s it. I want to hear you moan,’ and ‘You like that, don’t you?’ and ‘Come for me, Percy. Come all over me, Percy’ and, almost viciously, ‘Come on, Percy, show me that you like what I do to you as much as I like what you do to me.’


And then finally, after teetering on the edge for so long, Percy could hold it back no longer and, smothering a moan by biting on Draco’s shoulder, he came violently all over Draco’s hands and stomach. As he collapsed on the man beneath him, shuddering and gasping, soft hands stroked soothing circles on his back and carded through his hair.


“Yes, that was it. Just perfect,” he heard Draco murmur in a sleepy, satisfied voice.


Percy shifted his weight so as not to crush the smaller man and dozed off, tired and contented.

---

When Percy woke again, the moon was low in the sky and Draco was snuffling in his sleep. Percy rolled off the blond and grimaced at the cold stickiness covering them both. There was nothing else for it; sighing, he got up to hunt for his wand in his hastily discarded robes.


Once he had spelled them both clean again and had freshened his sheets, he crawled up the bed to lay his wand on his night table and to gaze at Draco. He combed his fingers carefully through the fine blond hair to tidy it up and Draco hummed in sleepy satisfaction and leaned into the touch.


As Percy withdrew his hand, Draco opened his eyes to gaze sleepily up at him with a lazy, contented smile on his lips.


“You are staying, aren’t you?” asked Percy, only slightly apprehensive of the answer.


Draco stretched, gracefully like a well-fed sleek cat, and yawned widely before answering, “Of course I am.”


Percy smiled and lay back down. “Good,” was all he said.


Draco immediately rolled over to sprawl on top of him, hid his face in the soft spot between Percy’s neck and shoulder, and fell asleep.


Percy chuckled softly and contentedly in his throat and wrapped his arms around the warm slim form before closing his eyes once again.



fin