"I'm bored" Fred whined, sitting next to Louis on the couch, who currently had his nose buried in some potions book.

Louis looked up, sparing him a brief glance before he rolled his eyes at the other's pout, fighting down a small smile as he went back to his book, turning a page. "That sounds more like a personal problem to me."

Fred shrugged, "Well, make it a duo problem and solve it."

A pale eyebrow rose in question as Louis regarded his cousin coolly. Fred was a year younger than the sixteen year old, and despite the small gap they had been close friends from a young age, ever since Louis had stopped Victoire from picking on him.

"Please?" Fred tried again, "I'm a guest! It's your job to entertain me."

"You're also a relative"

Fred pouted, "That's all I am to you?" he said as if offended, clutching dramatically at his heart as he fell over onto the blonde's lap. "What about all we've been through, all we've shared? Does that mean nothing to you? I feel so used! Don't you love me?"

Silver eyes rolled, "Oh, yes. I'm madly in love with you. I get a boner just thinking about you . . . Note the sarcasm."

Fred pouted, "No need to be cruel" he said, affecting his best kicked puppy look.

Louis sighed, shutting his book and leaning over to place it on the table, looking down at the brunette in his lap with a slight frown. "Alright, then what do you propose we do?"

Blue eyes lit up as Louis grinned, sitting up before promptly plopping down into the older teen's lap as he grinned, bouncing excitedly. "Let's go exploring!"

The Ravenclaw frowned, wrapping his arms loosely around the younger teen to stop his movements though it did little to deter him. "Stop that" he admonished sternly.

Fred pouted once more before doing as told, "So, can we?"

"Can we what?" Louis asked distractedly, more focused on preventing his body's reaction to the boy in his lap than on his actual words.

"Go exploring! We've been inside all day when there are woods just outside the cottage waiting to be seen!."

"Last time we went exploring we got lost" Louis murmured, "And you got a nasty case of poison ivy."

The Gryffindor blushed but shrugged off the memory nevertheless, "Your mom had a potion for it though! I'll be fine, it's not like I'll go picking plants up this time." He protested.

"Right" Louis drawled, clearly not as certain of Fred's self restraint as he was.

"Please?"

Louis took one look into pleading eyes and knew he was a goner. Resigned to his fate, he nodded, letting a small smile cross his lips as Fred whopped excitedly, standing and tugging the blond with him off of the couch.

"Have you always been this hyper?" Louis mused aloud as Fred dragged him out of the house.

Fred shrugged, "Mum and Dad say I'm just like my namesake. Roxanna just thinks I'm on pixie dust."

Louis frowned, "Are you?"

The brunette paused, turning to abruptly slap the Ravenclaw upside the head with a frown before a large grin crossed his face as he said in a sugary sweet tone, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that? Now, just what were you asking?"

"Nothing" Louis muttered, rubbing the back of his head "Nothing at all."

He'd forgotten that Fred had had a childhood fear of fairies and pixies alike ever since Roxanne had told him that they came into his room at night and pulled out his hair. Louis still remembered when Fred woke him up in the middle of the night crying, holding up a lock of his hair that Roxanne had cut and left on his pillow.

Fred's grin widened as he began leading them once again towards the woods bordering the yard, "That's what I thought."

Fred continued to drag Louis, knowing that it was unnecessary to continue his hold on the older teen but liking the rough feel of Louis' hand in his too much to give it up.

He led him into the woods at a fast pace, the trees getting thicker around them the deeper they ventured in.

Louis followed languidly, letting himself be dragged around by the exuberant boy willingly as he watched the happiness dance in blue eyes.

Fred would occasionally point out something, sometimes getting dangerously close to touching until Louis would exasperatedly pull him back.

After about an hour of wondering Fred pushed Louis tiredly to the ground so that his back rested against a tree before sitting himself down in the Ravenclaw's lap.

"And you're in my lap why?" Louis asked.

Fred shrugged, "These are new pants, I didn't want to get them dirty."

Louis hummed in understanding, "Well, as lovely as this is, we should probably get back, it'll be getting dark soon and we don't want to get lost out here.

The brunette sighed, but stood obligingly as he helped Louis back up, motioning for him to lead the way.

Louis frowned, eyebrows furrowing as he realized he hadn't paid enough attention to know the way back having been too concerned with studying Fred's backside than their surroundings. In fact, he noticed as he looked around slowly, nothing even looked vaguely familiar.

"You're the one who lead us here" the Ravenclaw said with a slight edge to his voice, inwardly telling himself not to panic, "You should be the one to get us back."

Fred paused, chewing on his bottom lip for a second in an unconscious habit that Louis found cute before he nodded. "Alright then, let's go."

Louis gave him a scrutinizing look before he nodded, allowing Fred to take his hand once more and managing to be only mildly concerned as the brunette squeezed it tightly as if seeking reassurance.

Louis squeezed back, feeling the bit of Fred's unease as he began to lead him back through the foliage.

Fred huffed; coming to a stop in the center of the thicket, frowning as he had the vague suspicion that he had seen the bush in front of him before.

Louis sighed, unwilling to believe that this was actually happening as he sighed, "You're lost, aren't you?"

The brunette frowned, "No! I'm just a bit . . . disoriented."

"Merlin Fred" Louis groaned, "This is why I didn't want to go exploring! I knew this would happen!"

Fred sighed, leaning back against a tree as he looked around, "Calm down, how big can these woods be, we're bound to come out somewhere, right?"

Silver eyes narrowed as Louis ran a hand through his hair in frustration, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "It's nearly dark out. I don't know about you but I don't' really fancy spending the night out here until we can find our way back in the morning or until someone, or something, finds us."

Fred stood, walking a few paces to the right and looking around for any sign of a break in the trees before walking back to stand a little in front of a now smirking Louis.

"What?" he asked, slight irritation lacing his tone.

"You've got something on your arse" the blond said simply.

Fred blushed, vigorously brushing at his backside as he murmured "Well, you've torn your shirt."

Louis looked down; frowning as he noticed that there was indeed a small tear in his shirt sleeve.

"Well, you're the one that got us bloody lost."

"Well, you're the one that's being a right prick about it!"

"Well at least I'm not afraid of being out here at night." Louis snapped.

Fred glowered taking a step closer to the blond, so close that Louis could count his freckles if he wanted to, and jabbed him harshly in the chest with a finger, "Keep talking and you're going to be." He said darkly.

Louis smirked, a condescending glint to his eyes as he asked, "Is that a threat?"

"No, it's about to be a promise."

Just then an owl swopped low overhead making Fred jump and crash into the other teen, the two tumbling to the ground with and oof with Fred lying haphazardly across the blond, the length of their bodies touching including, awkwardly enough, their lips.

They lay there motionless for a second, wide blue eyes staring into equally wide silver before Fred pulled away stuttering incoherently. Louis sat up slowly, forcing Fred to slide down until he was straddling the Ravenclaw's waist, face as red as his father's hair as he scrambled to stand up, murmuring apologies as he helped Louis up before dropping his hand as if it burned once he was upright and stepping back.

"It's fine" Louis said, holding up a hand to stop Fred's rambling. "Forget about it." Louis couldn't be certain, but he would've sworn he saw a brief flash of hurt disappointment in the Gryffindor's eyes before he nodded.

"Right" Fred said, "Yeah, just forget about it."

Louis opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as they heard a voice from up ahead.

"Louis! Fred! Are you out here?" Fleur's accented voice called through the trees.

"Yeah! We're coming mum!" Louis called back, following Fred as the brunette began to make his ways toward the sound, regretting that he hadn't grabbed his hand this time.

Five minutes later the two boys found themselves exiting the mass of trees and coming out into the open yard of the cottage.

"Oh, good" Bill said, smiling as he stuck his head out of the house motioning the two tired boys inside. "Fleur's just made dinner.

-x-x-x-

Fred looked up at the soft knock on his door, eyes coming to rest on Louis who cautiously entered, quietly shutting the door behind him as he stood to face Fred with a sheepish grin.

"Was I interrupting?"

Fred shook his head no, unable to quite meet his cousin's eyes as he set aside his book, sitting up cross-legged on the bed as Louis walked over to sit beside him.

"You've been avoiding me since we got back" Louis murmured, trying to meet Fred's eyes as the brunette avidly avoided his.

"I haven't been, I'm just tired" Fred said, offering an exaggerated yawn in example.

Louis frowned as he reached out to place a gentle hand on Fred's shoulder only to have the Gryffindor shy away from the touch, a light dusting of pink crossing his features.

Louis huffed, "Look, it's nothing to get uptight about."

Fred remained silent, still not looking at him.

"You know" Louis began slowly, a sly smirk crossing his features, "For a second there, I could have sworn I felt you press back."

Fred's flush deepened, back stiffening as he murmured, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Louis knew that he was probably about to cross a line, and any Ravenclaw instincts he had screamed for him to just shut up, but he continued, "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. I think you liked it."

"Shut up" Fred hissed.

Louis ignored him, "In fact, it would actually explain a lot."

"I swear if you don't shut your mouth-"

Fred was abruptly cut off as Louis turned him around, smashing their lips together in a fierce kiss. Fred gasped, eyes wide as Louis took the opportunity to tenderly explore the other's mouth, blue eyes fluttering shut and a small whimper escaping the Gryffindor's throat at the contact.

"You'll what?" Louis breathed, breaking the kiss and moving back so that their lips were a mere inch apart, "You'll shut it for me? Personally, I don't think I'd mind all too much."

Fred blinked, then blinked again as he moved sat back, staring at the blond in nothing short of shock.

"Wha-"

Louis smirked, though he was less than sure of himself as he said, "You like me, right? As more than just a cousin? I'm not stupid; I am in Ravenclaw after all. The point is, I like you too. I always have Freddy."

Fred couldn't help smiling a bit at the childhood nickname before he schooled it into a serious expression "Swear, on the awesomeness of Zonko's Joke Shop that this isn't just some cruel joke."

Louis smiled; leaning in to kiss Fred tenderly this time, just a faint brush of lips as his hand gently cradled the brunette's cheek. "Is that promise enough?"

Fred seemed to mull it over for a minute before he grinned, causing Louis to do the same as he leaned in for another kiss, murmuring, "Why yes, I do believe Zonko's would be proud."

AN: Huge thanks to Cheeky Slytherin Lass who gave me the prompt for this pairing. I love these two!

Reviews are Love! =D