Oliver stared at Percy in utter disbelief. The other man was painfully thin, covered in bruises, with a layer of dirt and dried blood on top of that. Absolutely nothing like the Percy Weasley he'd been before this ordeal in Voldemort's camp. And clearly, he'd lost his mind after the last torture session.

"Let me get this straight," Oliver stated, trying to straighten up after too long slumped on the cold floor. "We’ve been captured. We've been tortured and starved, and they're probably going to kill us, intentionally or otherwise, sometime fairly soon. And you want to DANCE?"

Percy's mouth quirked into the expression that passed for a smile on him. "Yes, that's pretty much it, Oliver."

Oliver stared at him a moment before bursting into laughter. Watching him, Percy gave into one of his rare full smiles as well.

"You're crazy, you know that? Very well, I'd be honoured to dance with you Mr. Weasley." Oliver attempted a courtly bow, but gave up as a stab of pain from his broken ribs made him reconsider it.

Despite their injuries, they managed to get themselves more or less arranged after a moment, and began to sway to imaginary music. Oliver held Percy close, knowing his friend would not last much longer in this place. And that once he was gone, Oliver would shortly follow. The only reason he kept fighting any more was so Percy wouldn't be left here alone. He'd lost all hope of ever seeing his family again.

When he could hear Percy's breath beginning to rasp from even this small exertion, he pulled him down to sit on the floor, leaning against the wall with him.

"So why the dancing, Percy?" he asked, feeling oddly at peace now.

"Well, I've wanted to dance with you since I was about 15. We've done everything we can to get out of this place, and we've failed. If no one's found us so far, I think we can assume they won't find us in time. At least not in time for me. So I thought, can't hurt to ask, under the circumstances."

Oliver was so stunned he couldn't answer for a few minutes. Percy didn't seem bothered by the silence though, as Oliver rearranged his mental image of everything he knew about Percy.

"You wanted to dance with me?"

"I wouldn't have ever told you, under normal circumstances. I assumed that at this point, you wouldn't mind very much" Percy's voice was faint, and Oliver could see that he looked even paler then before. His lips had a blue tinge. He looked at Oliver and his expression grew gentle as he reached out and brushed the tears from his cheeks. Oliver hadn't even realized he'd been crying.

"Your timing sucks Percy." he rasped out.

When Percy merely looked at him with a startled expression, Oliver continued, "You could have mentioned that back then you know.... I figured you were straight." He heaved a sigh.

Percy looked thunderstruck. "You - you mean - "

"Percy, if you'd asked me to dance with you or do just about anything with you I'd have probably fainted from happiness. I had a crush on you since I was old enough to HAVE a crush.

Struggling to adjust his position, he managed to get an arm around Percy's shoulders, and kissed him gently on the forehead. "Well, we're going to die here. Whatever comes after that, at least we'll be together."

Percy had tears running down his face now too, and the smile on his face had a bitter tinge.
They didn't bother to speak any further, having said all that needed to be said. They fell asleep on the floor of their cell that way, and that was how they were found.