middlefletcher

[middlefletcher]

Okay, I'm glad you didn't think that was rude. And I hope you're right cause I really can't think of anything.

Yeah, I've only met him a couple times but he seems nice. And that wasn't an accident, the whole thing is kind of confusing. He was Leo's older brother but then he disappeared into the forest for seven years and came out the same age he was when he disappeared. So now he's younger than Leo. But yeah he's the one Seb is studying with, they've been getting on really well.

To the wrong person perhaps but it's okay. I know I'm old. You kids make me feel both younger and very much my age. And I know you, you are not a rude lad. If you can't think of anything then perhaps there is nothing.

Ah finally getting to meet the famous Henry, I look forward to that. I am confused is he younger or older? You typed both by accident. Is this the lad Seb is studying with? I believe he mentioned a new mate recently that he was studying with.

[middlefletcher]

I guess that's true, you are pretty old. Is that rude to say? I didn't mean it rude. I can't think of anything you shouldn't ask, but I'm not really good at that kind of stuff. You probably know better than I do what to ask or not ask.

They say thanks. Sadie is bringing her friend Henry from school and Seb is bringing Dirk, my mate Leo's younger older brother. The one who disappeared into the forest at Hogwarts seven years ago, have you heard about him yet?

Compared to me all of you, even Cal are youths. But I enjoy your youthful energies. Oh, do you talk of me too? I think it will be cool to meet him as well. Anything I shouldn't ask? Yes? good! then please let them know that I am looking forward to their friends as well. Do we know who they are bringing yet? You're very welcome, Ian.

[middlefletcher]

We aren't that young! The kids are but I'm not that young anymore. Good, I think it'll be cool for Ethan to meet you and everyone. I think he gets confused sometimes when I talk about my family because there's so many of us. Oh, no, I don't mind if they bring their friends. I think it might make Ethan feel less nervous if he's not the only new person there. But thanks for asking.

Ha! Maybe not so little in size but you are all so young. I do like you indeed, each of you. Yes you are and it's such a joy. You're very welcome, I'm so pleased you want to bring him. I can't wait to meet him. Yes good! Though answer me one thing before you tell them yes, please. Is this good with you? I do not want your young friend to be overwhelmed by even more. I can always plan something for Seb and Sadie's friends on another day.

[middlefletcher]

I think you're the first and only person to call our family little, but I'm glad you like us. Yeah, I guess so. We're definitely all different. Anyways, thanks for being okay with Ethan coming. Seb and Sadie are saying they want to bring friends now too since I get to bring one.

You're welcome. Not at all! I rather enjoy your little family. I hope so as well. Good, good, I'm glad to hear it. Good mates are important to have. I want all of you to have plenty of them. Yes, this is true. One thing that I so enjoy about all of you is all the different things each of you are into. Such unique and diverse young people. And all of you such good children.

[middlefletcher]

I know, thanks Al. I wish Cal would let me come stay there sometimes. I'm glad we're not too much for you. Hopefully won't be too much for Ethan either. And thanks, he is a good lad. Probably won't be too hard to keep the other kids busy, they never want to hang out in the library with me anyways.

Considering you've never had much quiet I am not surprised. And as I've offered before my house is always open to you if things are too overwhelming. As for me I've spent a lot of time on my own, not being alone is a treat. Mac is a good judge yes, but so are you. I'm certain if he's someone you want everyone to meet he is good lad, like you. Yes good, anything we can do to put your friend's mind at ease. I'll be happy to keep your other siblings busy or Mac would also I believe.

[middlefletcher]

I dunno Al, I wouldn't mind have a nice quiet house. I guess you're right though, wouldn't wanna be alone in it all the time. Yeah, just Mac. Mac likes him though so everyone else will too. I'm not sure if it would make him more or less worried to meet Cal separately or with everyone else. Except there's no reason to be specifically worried about Cal it's just that there's a lot of us so That might be a good idea. Even if just Cal meets him first that's still better than five new people all at once.

Much appreciated. A house is boring without people to invite into it. I'm pleased you and your siblings enjoy it so much. Ah, just Mac. So the majority left to meet. Perhaps we can help with his worry. You're welcome to introduce him to Cal in one of the rooms, perhaps the library. That way it's little overwhelming instead of big overwhelming. I'm not sure we could do the same with the younger three but maybe.

[middlefletcher]

I know, thanks Al. Your house is amazing though, I can't think of anything else I'd even want. He's met Mac once or twice, when Mac came by the repair shop. That's it though.

You're welcome. You too, if you need anything please let me know. It's the first time you've brought a friend I'd like it to be successful for you. That is understandable. Has he met any of your siblings? Cal surely has met him.

[middlefletcher]

Thanks Al. I guess I can ask but I don’t think he needs anything special. I think he’s mostly just a little bit nervous about meeting everyone since there’s so many of us.

Oh. I don't think so? He doesn't have floo in his flat so I'm just gonna floo with him from our house but I don't think he needs anything else.

[middlefletcher]

Oh. I don't think so? He doesn't have floo in his flat so I'm just gonna floo with him from our house but I don't think he needs anything else.

You're very welcome, Ian. Oh yes, I remember you mentioning his talent for repairs. With an endorsement from you I'm certain I shall. Are there any accommodations I can make to let your friend feel more comfortable?

[middlefletcher]

Cool, thanks Al. I don't think you know him, he's my mate who works at that repair shop. He's really nice, I think you'll like him.

Hi Al

Would it be okay if I bring a friend to your place with us this weekend? It’s okay if I can’t. Just thought I’d ask.

[middlefletcher]

Hi Al

Would it be okay if I bring a friend to your place with us this weekend? It’s okay if I can’t. Just thought I’d ask.

[middlefletcher]

Ian grimaced when he saw the face Ethan was making as he talked at Patricia. It was embarrassing having a mum who people made faces at when you talked about her, especially because she fully deserved the faces. She was awful. The worst person Ian knew, probably, other than Dumbledore. And he was her son. And yet Ethan was still here. Maybe because he just hadn’t met her yet. It was probably hard to really understand just how awful she was without seeing her in action. Which was why he needed Ethan to never, ever meet her. Even after everything Ian had spilled the other night that hadn’t scared Ethan away, Ian was pretty sure Patricia would be too much. He wouldn’t even blame Ethan for that. If he had the option to not have Patricia anywhere near his life he would take it. Well, not if it meant losing out on his siblings. …Or Ethan, he supposed. He thought back to what Ethan had said that night, that if someone really liked him they wouldn’t care if his mum was crazy. But Ethan had said that without having actually met Patricia. He didn’t know just how bad she was, and hopefully he never would. It was much nicer to think about Ethan at the castle, even though Ian wished he could have been there too. Especially knowing he could have met Ethan a whole lot sooner. But it was interesting to hear how his muggle school had been different. A grin pulled at Ian’s lips when Ethan looked sheepish and apologized. “Don’t be sorry, I like listening to you talk,” he answered without thinking about it, because it was true. Plus I learned something, didn’t know muggles use papers with lines on it.” It seemed sort of odd at first, until Ethan started talking about writing in a straight line and he realized that’s what the lines were for. Which sort of sounded nice, now Ian thought about it. 

Ian chuckled when Ethan said just working on vacuums wouldn’t be very fun. He wasn’t surprised to hear that from someone as good at fixing all kinds of things as Ethan. His grin widened when Ethan added that most of his non-vacuum things to fix came from Ian; he liked that he was making Ethan’s job more interesting. What he didn’t like was how stupidly nervous he felt with Ethan here in his bedroom with no one else in the house, on the way to Al’s to meet the rest of his family, at least everyone in his family who Ian ever wanted Ethan to meet. “Cool,” he answered when Ethan said he was excited to meet them. That was so lame. Ian was so lame. Ethan was probably rethinking the fancying him thing. Which was a surprisingly disappointing thought, though less surprising after his talk with Mac. Which he really did not need to be thinking about right now. “Um, right, guess we should, um, get going then.” That was really what they needed to do. Before Ian said something stupid. “Unless…” The addition was past his lips before Ian could stop it. So much for not saying something stupid, fuck! “I—sorry,” he apologized, realizing a second too late he’d just apologized for what he was thinking about saying but hadn’t actually said. “I mean, uh–nevermind.” They should go. Ian was feeling all kinds of weird about how they’d left things the other night, but he’d decided to bring that up after they went to Al’s for a reason. It was already going to be a lot. And they were already running late. And Ian was still standing here in his room like an idiot. “I—” Maybe he should just bring it up. Just mention that he hadn’t forgotten it and wanted to talk to Ethan about it. Only would that really help any awkwardness? Maybe they should just talk now. But what if Ethan really had changed his mind about the fancying thing and then the rest of the day was even more awkward. Ian wasn’t used to feeling like this, so stuck in hesitation. But he also wasn’t used to fancying someone who fancied him back, or at least who had fancied him back a few days ago. He let out a flustered laugh. “Sorry. I’m—I was just—I just feel weird about how I left things the other night,” he finally blurted out. “I was thinking we could talk about it when you came to the bar, but then I had to cancel that, and I didn’t wanna bring it up when we were owling because it felt like it should be a face-to-face conversation, but I also didn’t wanna bring up it before we go to Al’s in case you were already nervous about seeing Dirk again and meeting my family. But then I was feeling weird about just not mentioning it at all, so I just—well now I’m just rambling. Sorry.” Yeah, Ethan probably didn’t fancy him anymore after that. What the hell was wrong with him? “I just, um—well I wasn’t not bringing it up because I don’t wanna talk about it. I was just thinking later might be better. But we can talk about it now if you want. Or later is fine too,” he tacked on, not feeling like that was helping. “Sorry,” he added again, suddenly almost wishing one of the kids was here and could come barreling into his room right that second to save Ian from himself.

Ethan couldn’t help but make a face at all the new information he was getting about Ian’s mum. It was hard to know what was worse in this new wave of awfulness. The possibility that she’d try to foist the blokes who rejected her onto Ian. Her seeing him as competition. Or maybe it was the idea that a university bloke had been interested in a woman who had sons his age. Creepy. “I can’t blame you. I wouldn’t either.” At least this time he had something to reply back about. Because honestly the best thing he could think to say was to agree that Ian should just avoid both of those options and keep having to deal with her trying to push birds on him. Felt like the better of the terrible options facing Ian. He’d never been so glad to have the conversation slip to school work before. Ethan laughed lightly at Ian’s words about the essays. “They were’t. It kind of did suck. So much easier writing essays in my room back home. Especially for muggle school because I used a pencil instead of a quill and ink. Took me forever to get used to writing with a quill. But I dunno why biros just didn’t work on parchment. Those are muggle pens, way easier than quills,” Ethan explained hoping he hadn’t just explained about something Ian knew about. “Not to mention there’s no lines on parchment either. One of the blokes, Dirk actually, showed me a spell when I was a first year to make temporary lines so I could write easier. Still took a long time to master parchment, quill and ink. Anyway got a bit distracted on that rant, sorry.” Ethan looked a little sheepishly over at Ian. “Wasn’t just the writing stuff that made it harder. The environment was a lot to get used to too. I will say that times when everyone was working on homework made it not so bad. Still would have preferred not so many essays.” Ethan could only contribute his going on and on about essays to nerves.

He was nervous about talking about Ian’s mum and saying the wrong thing. He was nervous about being in Ian’s room. Nervous about no one being home but him and Ian. Nervous about meting basically Ian’s whole family and some random broom guy who sounded like a rich, benevolent grandpa. Maybe even a little nervous hearing that Ian had purposefully tried to talk to him and not just brought things inn because he found the fixing cool. Despite the nerves he smiled at Ian’s words. “Working for you would probably be interesting. But a vacuum shop would not have been a big incitement. Sure I fix a lot of vacuums but I also get different things on a decent enough timeline. Admittedly mostly from you but others bring in non-vacuum things too.” The change from vacuums to talking about meeting his family felt more abrupt. Or maybe it was just those nerves again. His hands were sure feeling clammy. Ethan tried not to think too much into being the first friend. Or even the second one. He couldn’t help wondering what Ian had told them about him. Probably nothing beyond his mate from the repair shop. There wasn’t more to tell. “I agree, it will be cool. I’m excited to meet them too.” And he was. Just the excitement was under the nerves.

[middlefletcher]

Ian looked over at Ethan when he said it was uncomfortable when his schoolmates would tease him about birds. Definitely not the same as Ian’s mother trying to set him up with his tutors in very obvious ways, but Ian appreciated Ethan trying to relate it to something that happened to normal people. And he appreciated Ethan sharing about something that hadn’t been fun for him either. Ian gave him a grateful smile and shrugged. “I’ve considered telling her I’m not even into birds, but then I think she’d just start trying to get me to hit on the blokes instead, at least the ones that aren’t interested in her. Which is all of them except this one idiot that Cal fired. Either that or she’d see me as competition, which might actually be worse. Not something I want to test out either way.” Birds was safest, at least there was zero chance of anything happening for him there ever. Though up until a few days ago Ian would have said there was zero chance of anything happening for him with anyone. Now there was a specific someone that maybe he might want to take a chance on. And that specific someone was in his bedroom right now. Thankfully they were talking about homework which was enough to stop Ian from panicking too much. And much better than talking about Patricia. Ian laughed at Ethan’s assessment of Hogwarts schooling. “They did tell me that, but I always sort of wondered if they were just trying to make me feel better. Guess they weren’t kidding. Which sucks for you, being in a fancy magic castle and having to sit and write essays.” Ian made a face; that was so lame. Of course adults found a way to make magic school sort of lame, even if Ian still very much wished he could have gone and written essays in a magic castle like his siblings did. 

Luckily he was once again distracted, laughing at Ethan’s retort to his comment about bringing him vacuums. “Nah, if I had a vacuum shop I would have just hired you after the third vacuum, or at least tried to cut a deal or somethin’,” he answered with a chuckle. This was good. They were joking around, laughing. Normal. Except Ethan was still standing in his bedroom at his house and they were completely alone and thinking about it made Ian’s heart start speeding up again and his hands felt kind of sweaty. “Um.” Probably a cue it was time to just get out of here and go to Al’s. Instead of suggesting that, Ian went a different direction. “Everyone’s excited to meet you. You’re the first friend of mine they’ve ever met, other than Leo. And—well Leo’s great but that was more necessity, you know, ‘cause of Dirk joining Seb for tutoring.” Ian wasn’t sure why that mattered, but it felt like it did matter, and he felt like Ethan should know that. This was special. Ethan was special. “Um. I’m excited too, for you to meet them all,” he added with a bashful smile. “It’ll be cool.”

Inviting Ethan along to Al’s shouldn’t have felt like such a big deal. Al was always telling them to bring their friends along, especially this year now that the kids couldn’t see their friends at school anymore. Granted there had been a lot of reasons they never took Al up on that offer: the fact that Patty often liked to invite herself along, the fact that they didn’t want to impose on Al’s generosity, not to mention it was only the younger kids who even had that many friends they’d invite in the first place. But Cal had invited Wil along a few times so it only felt fair that Ian could invite Ethan this time. He’d tried to be casual about it, but it had been a relief when Sadie and Seb decided to bring friends along as well. It wasn’t just Ian shaking things up now. Ian was a little surprised Seb brought along Dirk instead of one of his other Gryffindor mates from school, but the pair did seem like they’d become fast friends and it had to be good for Dirk to be around people who didn’t remember him as the kid who went missing from Hogwarts. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too weird for Ethan. As if Ian’s whole family situation wasn’t weird enough. That stuff wasn’t Dirk’s fault though, so Ian was glad he was coming along to hang with some kids his own age. Henry coming too would be even better, the kids could all hang out together and no one would pay attention to him and Ethan.

Except Ian was quite certain Mac would be paying attention, and probably Cal because Mac had probably told Cal about their conversation. Probably waited to do it while Ian was at work so he wouldn’t overhear them. But it would be fine. Ethan had sounded like he was curious about meeting Al and his siblings and Ian didn’t see a reason not to bring him ‘round, at least once he knew Patricia wouldn’t be there. Ian just wished he didn’t feel so nervous about seeing Ethan. Which was stupid. There was nothing to be nervous about. Ethan was great and they were mates and it just so happened that Ethan fancied Ian and Ian fancied Ethan back and had no idea how to proceed with that information except that after talking about it with Mac he was pretty sure he wanted to be more than just friends with Ethan. He just wasn’t sure what that looked like or how to get there. Other than talking to Ethan about it, probably. But that felt like a big conversation to have right before introducing Ethan to his whole family. Maybe they could talk after. 

With that settled, Ian felt a little bit less nervous as he biked to the shop, grinning when he saw Ethan waiting there with his own bike. “Hey,” Ian greeted him with a wave as he stopped his bike. For a second he considered getting off and giving Ethan a hug or something, which was weird because he usually didn’t think about what he was doing when he touched Ethan. Or did anything with Ethan. Everything felt a little off-kilter now. Except there was still that warm happy feeling he felt when he saw Ethan. “You all set?” He said with a smile, waiting for Ethan’s confirmation before he nodded and led the way back to his house. This wasn’t the first time he’d had a friend to the house, since Leo had ended up coming over to get Dirk set up to tutor here. But bringing Ethan over—because Ethan was interested in seeing the house—felt a lot different than Leo coming by with his brother. Still, Patricia had been gone already before Ian left, and they’d just be stopping in on the way to Al’s. This was fine. “Here we are,” he said when they got to the house. “Come on, we can leave our bikes in the broom shed.” He hopped off his bike and walked it around to the backyard, pulling open the broom shed for them and showing Ethan where he could park his bike. “This is the best part of the house, really,” he added as they stepped back out into the backyard.

[middlefletcher]

“Oh—no, it’s not that….” Ian hesitated as he tried to think of how best to answer Ethan’s question about his tutors before deciding he’d already told Ethan enough truths, he might as well keep on with it. “It’s Patricia,” he admitted, eyes fixed on the books on his desk. “She, uh, tends to scare most of our tutors away. Cal usually hires students at the university, and Patty tries to hit on all the blokes and she tries to get Cal and Mac and me to hit on all the birds,” he explained, making a face. “Which obviously we don’t do, but it still makes everyone uncomfortable and so all the tutors end up quitting eventually,” he explained, shrugging his shoulders like it wasn’t a big deal that his mother was so disgusting no one wanted to stick around them for too long. He’s pretty much told Ethan as much the other night, anyways. But even homework was a better subject. “Writing essays is the worst. You’d think we’d have done enough of that in the years before we were allowed to have wands anyways, but apparently not.” Ian shrugged again. 

Ian wasn’t sure if Ethan looking at all the pictures and stuff in his room was better or worse than talking about tutoring, but it was definitely better than talking about Patricia so at least there was that. Even when Ethan found the robot, which was also maybe embarrassing that Ian still had it, but Ethan wasn’t acting like it was embarrassing. He grinned when Ethan talked about how he hadn’t been sure he’d be able to fix it either, grinning wider when Ethan said he was glad he proved him wrong. “Me too,” Ian answered, because it was something he’d been very glad to be proven wrong about. Not just because of the fixed robot, but mostly because it had started the back-and-forth that was the foundation of their friendship. Though friendship maybe wasn’t the right word anymore. Ian was pretty sure that was right, after his conversation with Mac. He was just still sort of terrified of exactly what that meant. “Would have gotten pretty boring just having to bring in busted up vacuum cleaners as an excuse to talk to you,” he joked instead of lingering on that, not quite realizing the admission in what he’d said. It was as much an admission to himself as it was to Ethan, that all the stuff to fix had really just been about spending more time with Ethan. Though he’d enjoyed finding new things to challenge Ethan with and watching him fix them all.

Inviting Ethan along to Al’s shouldn’t have felt like such a big deal. Al was always telling them to bring their friends along, especially this year now that the kids couldn’t see their friends at school anymore. Granted there had been a lot of reasons they never took Al up on that offer: the fact that Patty often liked to invite herself along, the fact that they didn’t want to impose on Al’s generosity, not to mention it was only the younger kids who even had that many friends they’d invite in the first place. But Cal had invited Wil along a few times so it only felt fair that Ian could invite Ethan this time. He’d tried to be casual about it, but it had been a relief when Sadie and Seb decided to bring friends along as well. It wasn’t just Ian shaking things up now. Ian was a little surprised Seb brought along Dirk instead of one of his other Gryffindor mates from school, but the pair did seem like they’d become fast friends and it had to be good for Dirk to be around people who didn’t remember him as the kid who went missing from Hogwarts. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too weird for Ethan. As if Ian’s whole family situation wasn’t weird enough. That stuff wasn’t Dirk’s fault though, so Ian was glad he was coming along to hang with some kids his own age. Henry coming too would be even better, the kids could all hang out together and no one would pay attention to him and Ethan.

Except Ian was quite certain Mac would be paying attention, and probably Cal because Mac had probably told Cal about their conversation. Probably waited to do it while Ian was at work so he wouldn’t overhear them. But it would be fine. Ethan had sounded like he was curious about meeting Al and his siblings and Ian didn’t see a reason not to bring him ‘round, at least once he knew Patricia wouldn’t be there. Ian just wished he didn’t feel so nervous about seeing Ethan. Which was stupid. There was nothing to be nervous about. Ethan was great and they were mates and it just so happened that Ethan fancied Ian and Ian fancied Ethan back and had no idea how to proceed with that information except that after talking about it with Mac he was pretty sure he wanted to be more than just friends with Ethan. He just wasn’t sure what that looked like or how to get there. Other than talking to Ethan about it, probably. But that felt like a big conversation to have right before introducing Ethan to his whole family. Maybe they could talk after. 

With that settled, Ian felt a little bit less nervous as he biked to the shop, grinning when he saw Ethan waiting there with his own bike. “Hey,” Ian greeted him with a wave as he stopped his bike. For a second he considered getting off and giving Ethan a hug or something, which was weird because he usually didn’t think about what he was doing when he touched Ethan. Or did anything with Ethan. Everything felt a little off-kilter now. Except there was still that warm happy feeling he felt when he saw Ethan. “You all set?” He said with a smile, waiting for Ethan’s confirmation before he nodded and led the way back to his house. This wasn’t the first time he’d had a friend to the house, since Leo had ended up coming over to get Dirk set up to tutor here. But bringing Ethan over—because Ethan was interested in seeing the house—felt a lot different than Leo coming by with his brother. Still, Patricia had been gone already before Ian left, and they’d just be stopping in on the way to Al’s. This was fine. “Here we are,” he said when they got to the house. “Come on, we can leave our bikes in the broom shed.” He hopped off his bike and walked it around to the backyard, pulling open the broom shed for them and showing Ethan where he could park his bike. “This is the best part of the house, really,” he added as they stepped back out into the backyard.

[middlefletcher]

Ian wasn’t really sure where to look as Ethan looked around his room. He wanted to look at Ethan, to try to gauge his reaction to everything, but he also felt weird just staring at Ethan. It was a relief when Ethan commented on something, even if that something was his homework. Ian let out a chuckle. “Yeah, unfortunately. Not all the tutors give it, but the one I’ve got right now does. Seems sort of unfair, doesn’t it, since technically everything I do is already homework.” The tutoring happened at their house, after all. In Ian’s already limited free time. He’d thought about how he could just not do it, it wasn’t like he was at school getting grades or anything, but the non-spellwork parts of tutoring felt like the only ones he was good at. Plus he didn’t want the tutors telling Cal he wasn’t working hard enough. So he kept his head down and did the work when he had to. 

It still felt odd having Ethan in his room, especially looking at his photos. Once again Ian wondered if they were embarrassing. Hopefully Ethan didn’t think so. He was once again spared thinking too much about that when Ethan spoke, though Ian was confused about why he cut himself off until he saw what had caught Ethan’s attention. “Oh,” a sheepish chuckle fell past Ian’s lips as Ethan picked up the little robot. The first thing he’d ever brought for Ethan to fix up. “Yeah, it’s wild isn’t it?” All of the “toys” Ian had growing up were just bits of trash fashioned together to look like toys, at least until they moved out of Knockturn. Al had gotten them all some toys for their birthdays, and Ian had still been young enough to enjoy some of them.Like this little robot. There had been a small window of time where Patricia brought home toys for the younger kids too. “Al actually got that for me,” he said, even though Ethan hadn’t asked. Ian was pretty sure he’d told Ethan he just found it or something, but that was back when he barely knew the other. “First real toy I ever owned. Eventually ended up in one of Ruby’s dollhouses till she kicked him out ‘cause he was making weird noises. I’m not gonna lie, I was not expecting you to actually be able to fix it. I just thought it’d be a laugh to bring it in to you,” he admitted with a grin. And when Ethan had actually fixed it, well, Ian thought it was neat enough to keep it on his nightstand. Hopefully that wasn’t weird. He thought the strange little robot was cute. And he liked how Ethan had given it a second life. “Sure proved me wrong on that, huh?” He added. After that Ian had to start looking outside his house for things to bring to Ethan, which had been fun. Not as fun as seeing the look on Ethan's face when he brought even weirder things to him.

Inviting Ethan along to Al’s shouldn’t have felt like such a big deal. Al was always telling them to bring their friends along, especially this year now that the kids couldn’t see their friends at school anymore. Granted there had been a lot of reasons they never took Al up on that offer: the fact that Patty often liked to invite herself along, the fact that they didn’t want to impose on Al’s generosity, not to mention it was only the younger kids who even had that many friends they’d invite in the first place. But Cal had invited Wil along a few times so it only felt fair that Ian could invite Ethan this time. He’d tried to be casual about it, but it had been a relief when Sadie and Seb decided to bring friends along as well. It wasn’t just Ian shaking things up now. Ian was a little surprised Seb brought along Dirk instead of one of his other Gryffindor mates from school, but the pair did seem like they’d become fast friends and it had to be good for Dirk to be around people who didn’t remember him as the kid who went missing from Hogwarts. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too weird for Ethan. As if Ian’s whole family situation wasn’t weird enough. That stuff wasn’t Dirk’s fault though, so Ian was glad he was coming along to hang with some kids his own age. Henry coming too would be even better, the kids could all hang out together and no one would pay attention to him and Ethan.

Except Ian was quite certain Mac would be paying attention, and probably Cal because Mac had probably told Cal about their conversation. Probably waited to do it while Ian was at work so he wouldn’t overhear them. But it would be fine. Ethan had sounded like he was curious about meeting Al and his siblings and Ian didn’t see a reason not to bring him ‘round, at least once he knew Patricia wouldn’t be there. Ian just wished he didn’t feel so nervous about seeing Ethan. Which was stupid. There was nothing to be nervous about. Ethan was great and they were mates and it just so happened that Ethan fancied Ian and Ian fancied Ethan back and had no idea how to proceed with that information except that after talking about it with Mac he was pretty sure he wanted to be more than just friends with Ethan. He just wasn’t sure what that looked like or how to get there. Other than talking to Ethan about it, probably. But that felt like a big conversation to have right before introducing Ethan to his whole family. Maybe they could talk after. 

With that settled, Ian felt a little bit less nervous as he biked to the shop, grinning when he saw Ethan waiting there with his own bike. “Hey,” Ian greeted him with a wave as he stopped his bike. For a second he considered getting off and giving Ethan a hug or something, which was weird because he usually didn’t think about what he was doing when he touched Ethan. Or did anything with Ethan. Everything felt a little off-kilter now. Except there was still that warm happy feeling he felt when he saw Ethan. “You all set?” He said with a smile, waiting for Ethan’s confirmation before he nodded and led the way back to his house. This wasn’t the first time he’d had a friend to the house, since Leo had ended up coming over to get Dirk set up to tutor here. But bringing Ethan over—because Ethan was interested in seeing the house—felt a lot different than Leo coming by with his brother. Still, Patricia had been gone already before Ian left, and they’d just be stopping in on the way to Al’s. This was fine. “Here we are,” he said when they got to the house. “Come on, we can leave our bikes in the broom shed.” He hopped off his bike and walked it around to the backyard, pulling open the broom shed for them and showing Ethan where he could park his bike. “This is the best part of the house, really,” he added as they stepped back out into the backyard.

[middlefletcher]

Ian listened to what Ethan had to say about the broom, or maybe more about gifts in general, and considered it. Maybe Ethan was right; he’d know better than Ian would about what gifts were supposed to be. Al probably did too, really. He’d told Ian each Fletcher should have their own Comet when he gave it to him and then hadn’t bothered Ian since about whether or how often he used it. Though Ian had been sure to let Al know how much he liked it when he did use it. He chuckled at Ethan’s comment about flying to work. “Now there’s an idea! Maybe I should start bringing it to work, might could clean the floors faster if I’m on a broom.” More like he’d crash into everything, but the thought amused him. He chuckled again when Ethan said too quiet wasn’t a problem at his flat. “Nope, it’s not that bad though,” he answered without thinking about it, since it had been kind of loud but not the same kind of loud as Knockturn, and then a second later wondered if it was weird that he knew how loud Ethan’s flat was at night. Only it wasn’t, he’d stayed over for very good reasons. Not something Ian wanted to linger on right then, so he was glad for the distraction of showing Ethan around the house. 

He was surprised when Ethan asked about tutoring, if only because he figured it probably wasn’t that interesting. “A little of both. Seb and Sadie are different years at Hogwarts so they’re mostly separate, but some of the stuff they’re learning is stuff I haven’t got to yet so I’ll join their lessons sometimes. Mac and I used to tutor together, back when we first started. That was right after Cal got his first quidditch job, when we moved in here. It was mostly history and theory and how to write and do maths and that sort of stuff. Then a bit of magic theory once we got older. But then when Mac turned 17 and got his wand he started getting practical magic lessons. Been way ahead of me ever since.” Ian shrugged, trying not to sound as bothered as he was by the fact that he hadn’t just failed to catch up to Mac, he’d fallen farther behind because of how absolutely rubbish he was with a wand. Instead he led the way to the kitchen, where his mind went to another place he didn’t want it to. He was grateful for Ethan offering a distraction. “Yeah, it is nice,” he agreed with a small smile. “I know all about being squashed up. Still can’t believe I have my own bedroom sometimes,” he admitted, chuckling softly. “Speaking of…” Ian’s smile turned a bit bashful as he nodded back the way they came. “The rest of us are this way, come on.” He led Ethan back to the living room then down the hallway connected to it. As they walked down the hall past the various doors, Ian told Ethan whose was whose. Cal and Mac closest to the living room, a barrier between Patricia and the younger kids, and Ian all the way at the end where it was quietest. “And here’s me,” he said when they reached his room, feeling nervous again. This shouldn’t be a big deal. It was just a room. But it was his, the only space that had ever been just his, and he’d never had anyone in here that wasn’t one of his siblings (or Patricia, but she was very much uninvited). He bit his lip and glanced at Ethan, willing his heart to slow down to a normal pace. Then he pulled out another key attached to the same keyring as the house key and used it to unlock the door. “Patricia likes to nick our things,” he explained with a grimace. Locking the door didn’t always keep her out when she was determined, but it was a helpful deterrent all the same. “So um…yeah, this is it,” he added as he pushed open his door and stepped aside so Ethan could go in. 

The walls were a soft shade of gray, except for the left wall where the headboard of his bed was, which was painted forest green, a project he and Sadie undertook two summers ago. The bed itself had white sheets and a soft, dark gray blanket along with a few yellow pillows. On the wall to one side of his bed was a tall bookshelf crammed full of with a variety of books: old textbooks handed down from Cal and then Seb and Sadie; a large collection of old tattered paperbacks Ian had picked up at secondhand shops and liked enough to keep;  and a smaller collection of crisp new hardcover books that Al had gifted him for various birthdays and Christmas or ‘because he was done reading it and had no more room in his library and so really Ian was doing him a favor by taking them,’ which Ian knew was not true because Al’s library was massive but he’d taken them anyways because it was clear Al had no intention of actually keeping them for himself. The book he’d been reading in bed last night was on his nightstand, a beat-up secondhand copy of a fantasy novel from a series about a band of time-traveling centaurs. Next to the book were the noise-cancelling ear plugs Al gave him. Opposite his bed was a small desk with a stack of schoolbooks, a half-written essay about shield charms for his latest tutoring session, and a bunch of sticky notes reminding him which jobs he had which days at which times. His leather jacked hung over the back of the chair. There was also a small, framed photo of him at seventeen, Cal and Mac grinning proudly on either side of him as he held up his brand new wand, beaming with excitement that didn’t even fade despite his embarrassment when Al insisted on taking a photo in the first place. On his wrist was the watch Cal had gifted him earlier that day, the same one he wore everyday since. Now Ian wondered if that picture was sort of embarrassing. Maybe Ethan wouldn’t notice it. There were plenty of others on shelves, photos of him with the kids, one of him at 13 with a 16-year old Cal in his Arrows uniform. There were also a couple of crayon drawings Ruby had given him ages ago and a potted plant Seb gave him one birthday that he’d only kept alive because of Seb’s help. “It’s not much,” he said, trying not to pay too much attention to Ethan or think too hard on the fact that Ethan was in his bedroom. “But it’s mine.”  The first and only space he’d ever had like that.

Inviting Ethan along to Al’s shouldn’t have felt like such a big deal. Al was always telling them to bring their friends along, especially this year now that the kids couldn’t see their friends at school anymore. Granted there had been a lot of reasons they never took Al up on that offer: the fact that Patty often liked to invite herself along, the fact that they didn’t want to impose on Al’s generosity, not to mention it was only the younger kids who even had that many friends they’d invite in the first place. But Cal had invited Wil along a few times so it only felt fair that Ian could invite Ethan this time. He’d tried to be casual about it, but it had been a relief when Sadie and Seb decided to bring friends along as well. It wasn’t just Ian shaking things up now. Ian was a little surprised Seb brought along Dirk instead of one of his other Gryffindor mates from school, but the pair did seem like they’d become fast friends and it had to be good for Dirk to be around people who didn’t remember him as the kid who went missing from Hogwarts. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too weird for Ethan. As if Ian’s whole family situation wasn’t weird enough. That stuff wasn’t Dirk’s fault though, so Ian was glad he was coming along to hang with some kids his own age. Henry coming too would be even better, the kids could all hang out together and no one would pay attention to him and Ethan.

Except Ian was quite certain Mac would be paying attention, and probably Cal because Mac had probably told Cal about their conversation. Probably waited to do it while Ian was at work so he wouldn’t overhear them. But it would be fine. Ethan had sounded like he was curious about meeting Al and his siblings and Ian didn’t see a reason not to bring him ‘round, at least once he knew Patricia wouldn’t be there. Ian just wished he didn’t feel so nervous about seeing Ethan. Which was stupid. There was nothing to be nervous about. Ethan was great and they were mates and it just so happened that Ethan fancied Ian and Ian fancied Ethan back and had no idea how to proceed with that information except that after talking about it with Mac he was pretty sure he wanted to be more than just friends with Ethan. He just wasn’t sure what that looked like or how to get there. Other than talking to Ethan about it, probably. But that felt like a big conversation to have right before introducing Ethan to his whole family. Maybe they could talk after. 

With that settled, Ian felt a little bit less nervous as he biked to the shop, grinning when he saw Ethan waiting there with his own bike. “Hey,” Ian greeted him with a wave as he stopped his bike. For a second he considered getting off and giving Ethan a hug or something, which was weird because he usually didn’t think about what he was doing when he touched Ethan. Or did anything with Ethan. Everything felt a little off-kilter now. Except there was still that warm happy feeling he felt when he saw Ethan. “You all set?” He said with a smile, waiting for Ethan’s confirmation before he nodded and led the way back to his house. This wasn’t the first time he’d had a friend to the house, since Leo had ended up coming over to get Dirk set up to tutor here. But bringing Ethan over—because Ethan was interested in seeing the house—felt a lot different than Leo coming by with his brother. Still, Patricia had been gone already before Ian left, and they’d just be stopping in on the way to Al’s. This was fine. “Here we are,” he said when they got to the house. “Come on, we can leave our bikes in the broom shed.” He hopped off his bike and walked it around to the backyard, pulling open the broom shed for them and showing Ethan where he could park his bike. “This is the best part of the house, really,” he added as they stepped back out into the backyard.

[middlefletcher]

“Yeah, I like it,” Ian answered with a grin when Ethan asked about the brooms. He was pretty sure it wasn’t common for people to have brooms that were made just for them. It was undeniably cool, mostly a normal Comet from what Ian could tell but made to fit him perfectly, a little smaller than the ones on the shelves. It was just…Ian hesitated, shifting his weight a little. “It’s just…I sort of feel like it’s wasted on me,” he admitted. “You know, since I don’t fly all that much. No reason I couldn’t just use one of Cal’s old ones. Or even just some old Comet Al had lying around.” Ian wasn’t used to having nice things, especially nice things that weren’t necessities. But Al was also a broommaker, so he’d decided maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal for him to make a few brooms for them. “But it is really cool. I love it, when I do go flying,” he added with another small smile, because he didn’t want to seem ungrateful. He was very grateful. He just felt like Al had already done way more than necessary for them. He grinned at Ethan’s understanding about how different a detached house felt, wondering if Ethan’s house had been detached like this one. Sounded like maybe not. “Right? It’s so quiet. All the noise in the flat always kept me up but then when we first moved in here it was almost too quiet, took me awhile to get used to it,” he said with a chuckle. He laughed at Ethan’s comment about herbology. “I always thought that too, but apparently people who are good at it can get the plants to do their thing way better than I can.” At least that was how Ian figured it. 

Ian tried his best not too look too pleased when Ethan said he wanted to see his room. That was normal, probably, for mates to see each others rooms. Or maybe it wasn’t and maybe that was okay because Ethan wasn’t exactly a normal mate, only that line of thinking as related to taking Ethan into his bedroom was a bit much for Ian right now. “Great,” was all he said, deciding to focus on the rest of the tour first. “So this is the living room, obviously,” he said gesturing to the room they were in. “Mac took most of the pictures. And the stuff mostly belongs to the younger kids. This is supposed to be the dining room, but it’s more of the study room,” he added as he led the way into the next room, which consisted primarily of a big table that was covered in various schoolbooks and bits of parchment. There was even a blackboard that hadn’t been touched since Colin quit showing up. “We do our tutoring in here. Bit crowded ever since Hogwarts closed.” Fortunately Ian’s tutoring was usually at different times than the younger kids’ was thanks to his work schedule. “Here the kitchen,” he led the way into a sunny kitchen with a smaller table that was still large enough to hold all the Fletchers, a few coffee cups left out from breakfast. “Patricia’s room is through there,” he nodded toward a door just off the kitchen, a slight edge in his voice. It led to the master bedroom, which was bullshit that she got it, but he also knew the reason Cal gave it to her was because it was separated from the hallway the rest of their bedrooms and bathrooms were in. Definitely the better choice. Just thinking about Patricia right now, with Ethan in the house, made Ian feel nervous, like just saying her name would make her show up to ruin everything. Or it would make Ian start acting too much like her. But today at least Cal and Mac knew he’d gone to meet Ethan and was going to show him around the house for a bit before they went to Al’s. No one would be wondering where Ian was right now. He’s just ignored the look Cal and Mac had exchanged when he’d said he was bringing Ethan over. Cal had brought a bloke here, surely Ian was allowed.

Inviting Ethan along to Al’s shouldn’t have felt like such a big deal. Al was always telling them to bring their friends along, especially this year now that the kids couldn’t see their friends at school anymore. Granted there had been a lot of reasons they never took Al up on that offer: the fact that Patty often liked to invite herself along, the fact that they didn’t want to impose on Al’s generosity, not to mention it was only the younger kids who even had that many friends they’d invite in the first place. But Cal had invited Wil along a few times so it only felt fair that Ian could invite Ethan this time. He’d tried to be casual about it, but it had been a relief when Sadie and Seb decided to bring friends along as well. It wasn’t just Ian shaking things up now. Ian was a little surprised Seb brought along Dirk instead of one of his other Gryffindor mates from school, but the pair did seem like they’d become fast friends and it had to be good for Dirk to be around people who didn’t remember him as the kid who went missing from Hogwarts. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too weird for Ethan. As if Ian’s whole family situation wasn’t weird enough. That stuff wasn’t Dirk’s fault though, so Ian was glad he was coming along to hang with some kids his own age. Henry coming too would be even better, the kids could all hang out together and no one would pay attention to him and Ethan.

Except Ian was quite certain Mac would be paying attention, and probably Cal because Mac had probably told Cal about their conversation. Probably waited to do it while Ian was at work so he wouldn’t overhear them. But it would be fine. Ethan had sounded like he was curious about meeting Al and his siblings and Ian didn’t see a reason not to bring him ‘round, at least once he knew Patricia wouldn’t be there. Ian just wished he didn’t feel so nervous about seeing Ethan. Which was stupid. There was nothing to be nervous about. Ethan was great and they were mates and it just so happened that Ethan fancied Ian and Ian fancied Ethan back and had no idea how to proceed with that information except that after talking about it with Mac he was pretty sure he wanted to be more than just friends with Ethan. He just wasn’t sure what that looked like or how to get there. Other than talking to Ethan about it, probably. But that felt like a big conversation to have right before introducing Ethan to his whole family. Maybe they could talk after. 

With that settled, Ian felt a little bit less nervous as he biked to the shop, grinning when he saw Ethan waiting there with his own bike. “Hey,” Ian greeted him with a wave as he stopped his bike. For a second he considered getting off and giving Ethan a hug or something, which was weird because he usually didn’t think about what he was doing when he touched Ethan. Or did anything with Ethan. Everything felt a little off-kilter now. Except there was still that warm happy feeling he felt when he saw Ethan. “You all set?” He said with a smile, waiting for Ethan’s confirmation before he nodded and led the way back to his house. This wasn’t the first time he’d had a friend to the house, since Leo had ended up coming over to get Dirk set up to tutor here. But bringing Ethan over—because Ethan was interested in seeing the house—felt a lot different than Leo coming by with his brother. Still, Patricia had been gone already before Ian left, and they’d just be stopping in on the way to Al’s. This was fine. “Here we are,” he said when they got to the house. “Come on, we can leave our bikes in the broom shed.” He hopped off his bike and walked it around to the backyard, pulling open the broom shed for them and showing Ethan where he could park his bike. “This is the best part of the house, really,” he added as they stepped back out into the backyard.