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"Tea?" Percy was somewhat surprised to find Marcus in his kitchen, cooking. He knew that this was Marcus' home now too, but the fact that they were now husbands hadn't fully sunk in yet. He had sort of expected Marcus to have bolted in the night. Sure, Marcus has explained exactly why he couldn't and wouldn't leave yesterday evening, but Percy hadn't actually expected him to stay the night. Everything about this whole arrangement so far had surprised him.
"Um. Yeah. Please." He said softly as he checked over Marcus' shoulder to see what he was cooking and was surprised (again) to see that he was making scrambled eggs. He shook his head slightly before he moved to sit down on the barstool at the kitchen island. He couldn't quite fathom what was going on, but even if this felt like a dream, he had to push on through.
"You have work today?" Marcus asked, seemingly making conversation, which was strange but not unwelcome.
"No, they've given me a week off." Percy knew that was just because Kingsley felt guilty for the error that had found him matched with Marcus in the first place, but it had just seemed like he was rubbing salt in the wound. Now, not only was he married because of a mistake that his own department had made, he was being forced to spend a week's holiday with the man that he had to marry to save the reputation of the whole Ministry.
"Huh." Marcus hummed as he plated up the scrambled eggs and set them down on the kitchen island. "For our honeymoon?"
Percy snorted. "I didn't even think of it that way, but yeah. For our honeymoon." It was an almost creepy thought, to go on a honeymoon with a man that he didn't know at all, especially when you took into account what people did on their honeymoons. He had no intention of doing any of that with Marcus, and fortunately it wasn't written into the contract that had been drawn up for all the newly married couples.
"We don't actually have to go anywhere." Marcus said quickly, as if to try to reassure Percy, as if he knew the thoughts that had been running through Percy's mind ever since he had brought it up. "But it might be good for us to actually spend some time getting to know each other? You know, as equals and not as people warring in opposing houses."
Percy paused for a moment before he nodded. He didn't really have anything else planned for the week except to maybe spend some time with George, but he supposed that this was more important. To save the face of the Ministry he had to stay in this marriage for at least a year so he supposed that it couldn't hurt to spend some time getting to know his husband.
"Sure." He said with a soft smile. "But I think getting away from here to do so might be a good idea as well." He knew that as long as they were in his home then he was less inclined to think of Marcus as his equal, even though he knew that he was in no way better than Marcus.
While Marcus had been a bully during their school days, he had not been actively involved in the war. His family had, of course, that was why he had been on the list to marry someone of muggle or half-blood descent in the first place. Percy on the other hand had been on the list because of the crimes that he had committed, even if they weren't classed as crimes because of a technicality. Technicalities seemed to rule his life though, and he knew that he couldn't complain about most of them.
"Where would you like to go?" Marcus asked and Percy honestly couldn't believe that they were having this conversation. It all seemed very unreal to him, but it wasn't a bad thing, or at least it didn't feel like a bad thing.
"I've always wanted to go to Italy." Percy admitted. He didn't know why Italy, he just knew that it was somewhere with beautiful scenery and a culture that you could almost completely immerse yourself in. It definitely helped that it was not at all like home and he could almost picture himself enjoying their time over there.
"Italy it is." Marcus said with a smile. "Now eat your eggs before we go pack."
Percy blinked a couple of times before he nodded, a smile of his own making its way onto his lips. It wasn't the strangest thing to ever happen to him, and he was sure that the strangest was still yet to come, but he decided not to let that thought fester. Instead he did as he was told and ate his eggs while trying to think about what he might need for a trip to Italy. It was no secret that he wasn't the spontaneous type so he knew that he'd have to send word to his mother so that she wouldn't think that something bad had happened to him.
There was one thing positive that he could add to that message to his mum and that was that his married life had not been as bad as he'd thought that it would be. He had actually almost enjoyed himself so far, being cooked for was something that he had only enjoyed back at the Burrow before after all.