April 11th, 1891 — Ministry of Magic

Penny hadn't stopped moving since the shipwreck. At first, she blamed her tapping heels and fidgeting hands to her compulsive need to always be doing something, to have an object to tinker with, but as time moved on and they drifted further out to sea Penny recognized her movements as her overwhelming anxiety. Miss Delaney insisted they would be fine in the lifeboats, but such wasn't always true, Penny knew. One loose nail and the boat would fill with water. One person could capsize the entire boat if they tried. There was no guarantee they would be fine again, no promises that they would be rescued.

There was a very real chance she would never see Nemo again.

Nemo and their last conversation — a bizarre wedding exchange where he invited her to the wedding and she had to decline because of the cruise — was all she could think about in the hours between the wreck and her rescue. Penny was likely about to die, and they had allowed the events of Paris to destroy the last few months of their friendship. Merlin, she hadn't even had the opportunity to apologize to Nemo for accidentally forcing him to have an erection around her. She should have listened to him in Paris, she shouldn't have pushed him to sleep in the bed with her. She shouldn't have suggested they stay in an inn at all.

They should have gone home, and everything would be fine now.

Penny moved through the rescue and instructions in Portugal with rigid attention. Her grip on the assigned metal ring like the vices she used on her brooms at home. As always, the portkey journey home left her unsteady and nauseous, and in the flurry of activity Penny quickly lost track of Elsie. To her left, an older gentleman was vomiting on the atrium floor. And, miraculously, to her right (a little ways away from the entry point) was Nemo.

Penny rushed over towards him, not stopping until her arms were tight around his waist and her face buried into his shoulder. Nemo was here. Nemo was here and, somehow, she had made it home.

  

One tense conversation and a declined wedding invitation was all he had as his last memory of Penny before she'd hopped on that Merlin-forsaken boat and missed his sister's wedding. It simply wouldn't do. It couldn't be their last conversation.

Darrow and Kons were on the rescue mission and Nemo could do nothing but wait for news. As news of the shipwreck broke, he'd never felt more useless. For all his department was good for, this was not something he could consciously help with and so he had to leave it up to his brother and Darrow. It was a sad day in his book when he was more useless than Darrow.

Fortunately it seemed that this ship captain's particular niche proved more than useful but pivotal in collecting survivors and as word came in that they'd be trickling in either through portkey on the Voyager itself, Nemo didn't know exactly what to do with himself. He tried to work at his desk, but the schedule of arrivals for the portkeys had come on and he was too antsy to really get much done.

Getting his hopes up that Penny would be among those to arrive at the ministry today was dangerous, but inevitable and so as he found himself checking his pocket watch for the fifth time in ten minutes, he made his way down to where they were set to arrive. The chaos that erupted upon arrival was hard to decipher for a moment and he almost didn't see Penny until her body collided with his. His arms immediately wrapped around her, thankful to have her whole and safe once more. She smelled like seawater and felt uncharacteristically small against him, but at lest she was home. "You're alright, you're alright," He found himself murmuring as he held tight. "I've got you, you're alright."

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Penny clung to him long after what was appropriate, not caring in the least if anyone were to see. He was her best friend, her other half. Her mother was likely dead, her brother aloof in his cabin, Nemo was all she had left. Her grip tightened around his waist — Penny would have fused herseld to him if she could have.

"I'm so sorry about Paris." She quickly said in a hushed tone. None of what happened mattered now, but Nemo had to know all the same. They had to move beyond his erection and the accidental snuggling. They had to be friends again, for nothing else mattered more to Penny. Not even her beloved pets. "I never meant to touch your penis, even with my leg. And I shouldn't have forced you to sleep on the bed with me. I'm just so sorry, Nemo."

  

In the bedlam of the portkey arrival and people looking for their loved ones, nobody was likely to pay them any mind and even if they did Nemo didn't care. The possibility of not seeing her again was too overwhelming for him to give a damn about what anyone said about this now. Propriety could be forgiven in the moment, he was most certain.

Of all the things he expected her to say, an apology for Paris was not one of them. Especially not one so weirdly specific and absolutely mortifying. Nemo felt himself flush just at the words she'd used, never mind the implication behind them if anyone were to overhear. "Merlin, Pen, not the time." He was thankful she'd buried her face in his shoulder so she couldn't see the abject horror on his face.

"It's fine, it was a big misunderstanding." One that had gone on for far too long because he was too much of a coward. Never again.

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No, it had never been the time had it? Not in the weeks and months after, not in their stilted letters. The time would never have come, either, if the cruise hadn't become shipwrecked. Penny would have returned to her workshop with a startling lack of new inventions to investigate and drift even further from Nemo. Even Cook had questioned her on his sudden absence, snarkily commenting upon how she had had to readjust her meal sizes to not account for him anymore. No, there would never be a time for it, and Penny would no longer bite her tongue when it came to him.

At least, not about that.

Loving him was another matter entirely, one she now knew best left unaddressed. He would have made a move as Mr. Kirke had if he were interested. He wouldn't have curled into himself to hide his body's natural reaction and instead would have maybe pushed them towards something new. There were so many opportunities, and she had had so much freedom when it came to him that if he were interested she would know. No, Penny could love him from afar, just so long as they could remain friends.

"I should have apologized sooner, when it happened even." She pressed on, and pulled back enough to look up at him. "You're my best friend. I don't want to live another three months without our dinners and chatting about muggle stuff and whatever else. Three months is enough."

  

She wasn't about to let it go and Nemo had to rearrange his expression as she leaned back to look at him. "You don't have anything to apologize for, it's alright." By now Nemo wasn't even sure what it was stopping him from trying to repair the damage. Maybe he was just too embarrassed. Everything had spiraled beyond his control.

"I don't want to do that again either. I missed you." He admitted slowly. "Come on, I'll take you home." This was a discussion better left for private quarters, so he started toward the atrium and the fireplaces to floo her home.

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"Of course I do," she insisted as he led her through the crowd of emotional people. Touching a man's penis was reserved for his wife, or in Elsie's case, a woman he dearly loved. Although Penny hadn't known what her leg touched or why it existed then, the circumstances surrounding why it existed at all were, in fact, her fault.

Penny looked at their clasped hands and back towards the floo. Suddenly, the thought of having to separate herself from him had the anxiety clawing back up her throat. Her grip tightened around his fingers, nearly crushing them in her panic. "You'll be right behind me?" She managed to get out, though how she didn't know.

  

"We can talk about it later, Pen." He assured her, unsure as to why she was so persistent about it right now. He could see why she was all worked up, the trauma of the disaster catching up with her no doubt, but he just wanted to get her home and resting.

He could hardly feel his fingers for how hard she was holding on, that he could understand; he didn't want to let go either. "Right behind you, promise." One quick trip through the floo and he'd stay as long as she needed him to. He guided her into the fireplace and tossed the floo powder into the hearth. Once she was gone, he stepped in right behind her, a uneasy spin through the system and he stepped out in the kitchen, nearly knocking into her.

"See, right behind." He reassured her quietly, a soft sort of smile on his lips.

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Thirty seconds couldn't have passed between her arrival and Nemo's at home, and they might as well have been the longest seconds of her life. She moved only far enough from the fireplace that they wouldn't immediately crash into one another, but even then he still nearly stumbled on her skirts. Penny wasted no time in hugging him once more, her hands flat against his back. Never again would she consider sailing on a ship that far from Nemo again.

"Thank you for being here." She murmured. "I wasn't sure if you would be and Harley ... Harley wouldn't understand, I don't think." Harley would have just escorted her home and gone back to Irvingly, he wouldn't have thought about Penny alone in their big (for one person) Bartonburg home.

  

"I'll always be there for you Penny," He reassured her in a soothing tone, wrapping his arms around her securely. Absentmindedly he ran a hand up and down her back. He didn't know what happened to her mother, but he did know her brother wasn't in a good place to be here like he was. "I'll stay as long as you want me to." Cook has to be around somewhere, but he would stay for as long as she needed him to.

He'd been a poor excuse for a friend the last couple months and this was far too much of a slap in the face for him. She'd almost been lost at sea and he'd been a coward. He would do all he could to make it up to her somehow.

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"Brannon won't mind?" She questioned while still in his embrace. Nemo's dad was stricter than either of her parents had ever been, though Nemo had the fortunate piece of being born male.

The hug lasted another minute or two longer before she pulled away. Cook would tolerate much when it came to Nemo, but not Penny clinging to him as though he were a piece of driftwood in the sea. An unconventional friendship was alright, just nothing more than that.

"I really am sorry about Paris," she repeated again. The loss of contact from him had her anxiety flaring again, but she knew better than to keep touching him. Arousal could happen just from external stimuli and not because he wanted it to happen, and she refused to put him in that position again. "I didn't — I didn't know what happened to men."

  

Brannon would mind, but Nemo rather thought he was the actual least of his father's worries these days. Well, maybe Ari, who seemed to have life rather well figured out, but of the younger set, Nemo was the one who could somewhat push the limits. Just a little. All he could do was shrug in response. "It'll be fine." Nemo would explain and take the heat for it. There wasn't much his father could do or say that would pull him home right now.

Unsure of what to do with his hands now, Nemo moved to lean against the counter, shoving his hands in his pockets. He could feel the heat in his cheeks as she circled back to Paris. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to make it awkward." He really hated that they had to have this conversation. "It- it's nothing you did," Nemo scratched the back of his head idly, looking anywhere but her face. "Just happens in the morning sometimes..." Merlin this conversation was mortifying already, he could feel the embarrassment clear on his face.

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"You didn't," Penny stated firmly. Nemo's bodily reactions were normal, according to the book. It was her own insistence on sharing a bed that made things uncomfortable. "You didn't make anything awkward at all. I never would have put you in such a situation if I had known." She tried to meet his gaze as she spoke, but his cheeks were so flushed with embarrassment that eye contact felt wrong, somehow.

Leaning against the fireplace bricks, Penny looked down at her fidgeting hands. "Elsie gave me a book on it, well, just on anatomy in general. I just ... I never would have chosen to make you uncomfortable if I had known." (That his erections happened outside of cuddling was interesting to know. Did he seek pleasure in other women, then? Penny wouldn't have blamed him if he did, it seemed like an awfully uncomfortable thing to live with.) "Forgive me?"

  

Nemo thought, rather dramatically, that are was trying to look him right now. He could feel the embarrassment on every inch of his face, surely the blush was creeping down his neck at this point too. He wasn't sure if this was worse that the time Dory had taken him to the brothel or not, but it was close in terms of sheer awkwardness.

Finally he held up his hands in defeat, hoping she would stop there. "There's nothing to forgive Penny, we were drunk, we made a choice, I just didn't want you to think anything untoward was happening. You know I care about you." More than that, which was the real crutch of it.

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"Okay," she finally relented. They were drunk and that was it, but wasn't there truth to be found in drunken actions? If it was a mutally agreed upon decision, had he wanted it too? Penny picked at a cuticle. Obviously, he hadn't otherwise he wouldn't have been concerned about something untoward happening.

"I knew nothing untoward happened. We're friends," she shrugged and looked at his shoulder rather than his face. "If your intentions were something untoward they would have happened years ago, Merlin knows we've had plenty of opportunities." They could have easily locked the workshop door and made something of a love nest down there, not that it would exist, of course. Nemo didn't want that. "I care about you, too. Always."

  

Something in the air had shifted, he could feel it, things weren't fine after all.

Her replies didn't match what he had been going for. Things were going awry already. The relief of seeing one another again after the disaster seemed to dissipate entirely. Did she think him incapable of restraining himself? It wasn't as if he'd never thought about kissing her or getting his hands on her. He was no Gryffindor however, certainly not brave enough to make a move and she had never given him any indication that her feelings went beyond friendship, which is why he'd never ever tried to go past that line with her. The last thing he wanted was to lose her as a friend, no matter how much he loved her beyond that.

"What do you want me to say, sorry for trying to be a gentleman, for trying to avoid the exact awkward situation we found ourselves in?" Merlin, his father would have his hide. Dory's shenanigans aside, Nemo has never so much as looked at a lady without her permission. Not that he wanted to look at anyone anyway. It was easy to rationalize his unwanted trip to the brothel as a right of passage and only because money was changing hands.

His train of thought was getting seriously derailed the longer he stood there, but he was struggling to wrap his head around the turn this conversation was taking. He wasn't usually this straightforward, but this was Penny, if he couldn't say what was on his mind with her, when could he?

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