Title: Hope is Irresistible

Rating: M

Pairing: Teddy L./James S. P.

Warnings: slash, mature sexual content, swearing

Word Count: 2,184

Summary: The holiday cheer that surrounded the Potter-Weasley Annual Christmas Party had just gotten a thousand times more stifling; James had arrived, with a vapid blonde bitch predictably displayed on his arm.

Notes: Written for the next_genmas fest of LJ. Special thanks to nerak_rose for beta-ing this story!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. This story was created entirely for fun without making any profit. No copyright infringement is intended.

"Happy Christmas!"

The holiday cheer that surrounded the Potter-Weasley Annual Christmas Party had just gotten a thousand times more stifling; James had arrived, with a vapid blonde bitch predictably displayed on his arm. Teddy made a valiant attempt to hide his grimace by taking a sip from his glass of eggnog. It was like this every Yule; James would bring home a new girlfriend and introduce her to the family. He would preach about how he was so in love and intended to propose soon, and by the next family get-together, the girl would have been replaced.

Teddy wasn't saying that James was shallow or the type of man that told women that he loved them and then just threw them aside once he was tired of them. No, it was usually the girl that dumped James, rather than the other way around. See, James was simply a very passionate and loving man, and he fell in and out of love faster than he could accelerate on a broom. Most of the girls only wanted to have the fame of dating a Potter, and would often leave James heartbroken later. The man was just too trusting.

James spotted Teddy from across the room and began to weave around the multitude of redheads toward him. Teddy allowed his eyes to slide down the man's tall frame, taking in his dark wash jeans and white t-shirt. James had discarded his coat upon entering the overly warm house. Teddy resolutely ignored the desire to see how James' arse looked in those jeans.

"Happy Christmas, Teddy!" James exclaimed and clapped Teddy on the back in manly camaraderie. The older man forced himself to smile and gave James' shoulder a squeeze.

"You've grown again, brat," Teddy said by way of greeting. The twenty-years-old man grinned cheekily and slipped an arm around his date's waist. The move didn't go unnoticed, and Teddy raised an eyebrow at its possessiveness.

"Well, I had to be tall enough to match Clara, after all," he murmured with an affectionate glance at the blonde. "Teddy, this is my girlfriend, Clara Reighnald." The woman—Clara—smiled at him and reached out a hand.

"It's very nice to meet you, Clara, I'm Ted Lupin—" Teddy took the offered hand and shook it, faltering slightly at the end of his introduction. He'd wanted to say that he was James' something, but he was really just an acquaintance through the family. He supposed that he could say that he was James' friend, but admitting that he was only a friend would leave him depressed.

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Lupin! James has told me so much about you," Clara said, her smile only growing when James discreetly elbowed her in the side. Teddy smiled as well, shamelessly pleased that James had talked about him to his girlfriend.

"Please, call me Teddy." He hated it when people called him "Mr. Lupin." It felt like he was taking the place of his father. As for "Teddy", everyone always called him that, so it was more familiar to him than "Ted". He glanced at James and caught the man's scowl. Perhaps he was getting too friendly with James' girlfriend…?

Clara smirked and Teddy wondered what was so amusing to her. He was beginning to think that he was missing something. She bent to whisper into James' ear, and Teddy swiftly muttered a "good-bye" and all but ran to the kitchen. He would play the good friend and get introduced to the girlfriend, but he wasn't going to stand there and watch them hang all over each other!

He soon found that the kitchen was just as bad.

"Aren't they just adorable together?" Ginny squealed. She was seated next to Fleur and Mrs. Weasley, gushing over James and Clara. "I mean, they are both just the right height for each other! Her pale skin and blonde hair contrasts perfectly against James' tanned skin and dark brown hair!" Fleur and Molly nodded enthusiastically, while Teddy looked down at the glass in his hand and scowled.

His latest choice of appearance was brown hair, blue eyes, and tan skin. When he was at Hogwarts, he'd changed his appearance almost daily to entertain his friends, but now that he was twenty-five there was no need to fluctuate that much. So, Teddy had picked an appearance that looked good enough and stuck with it. Now, he wondered if it was time for a change…

"Yes, I think that James has finally found the perfect match!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.

Teddy winced and turned away from the gossiping women. He headed for the bathroom, planning to hide in there for a few minutes and attempt to stop his thoughts from continuing on in the depressing circles that revolved around James. Maybe he would experiment with a few different hair colors, as well.

"Mh!"

Someone moaned and Teddy looked up, right into the brown eyes of James. He was snogging Clara at the end of the hallway.

The lewd scene before him caught his attention and snagged his senses. The sensual line of James' body pressed to Clara's; the obscene sounds of desperate, deep kisses; the fire in James' eyes. Teddy fought a blush as he felt his groin tingling; there would be no way to hide his erection.

His light blue eyes followed James' hand as it slid from Clara's waist to grab her arse. They snapped back up to lock with chocolate colored irises and Teddy gasped at the intensity of the stare that James had directed at him. Teddy's exhalation was loud to his own ears and he quickly escaped into the bathroom a few feet away.

With a sigh, Teddy leaned against the door and closed his eyes. He moaned as the picture of James staring heatedly at him appeared in his mind. Why had James been looking at him like that? Those deep brown eyes were blazing with a want, a need, that should have been directed at Clara.

Then why did James look at him like he wanted Teddy to be the one he was ravishing against the wall?

Teddy shivered and inhaled sharply. Merlin, he was so hard!

Unconsciously, his hand slid down his chest and down to his zipper, ghosting over the considerable bulge there. Perhaps a quick wank would be okay. Besides, he wouldn't be able to walk back into the crowded party in such an embarrassing state, and this baby wasn't going away anytime soon.

He swiftly unzipped the fly of his pants and tugged them down his hips. His hand grasped the girth of his unclothed cock—Teddy always went commando—and squeezed lightly, before losing all decorum and pulling the ridged flesh desperately. There was no need to drag this out; Teddy only had time to relieve his erection before his absence from the party would be noticed. Not to mention, someone could walk in on him, because Teddy just remembered that he hadn't locked the door.

Said door suddenly flew open, nearly throwing Teddy, who had been leaning against it, into the wall-length mirror across from him. He looked up, terrified of who had opened the door. It could be anyone; Mrs. Weasley, Harry, or worse—

James. There he stood, reflected in the mirror and looking over Teddy's partially naked body with eyes that could make any girl wet. Or any boy hard as diamonds.

Fuck! Those eyes…

Much to Teddy's horror, a needy whimper escaped his gaping mouth. James' pupils dilated more—if that were possible—at the sound. He reached forward quickly, as if afraid that Teddy might try to escape. Teddy did indeed try to evade him, but was successfully trapped by James' toned arms around his waist. Damn those Seeker reflexes!

"Hmm, this hair color suits you, Teddy; it's cute," James whispered into his ear while running a gentle hand through his hair. Teddy frowned and looked in the mirror to find that his hair had changed to a light pink color without his permission. His cheeks turned a matching shade and he glowered at the younger man behind him.

"I am not cute," he growled. Teddy had intended for it to sound threatening, but apparently James found the growl to be more arousing instead. Well, Teddy supposed that he could settle for that.

"Indeed you are not," James purred and slid his hands down Teddy's strong chest and tight abs. "You are very masculine and sexy." He punctuated the last word with a harsh squeeze to Teddy's cock. The older man tried to think past the powerful onslaught of lust that accompanied such provocative words and actions.

"Wait…what about—oh gods—um…w-what about Clara?" Teddy barely got the question out of his mouth. He was currently distracted by the smirk that was on James' sinful lips and the perverted pleasure of seeing everything in the mirror.

"About that…" James suddenly looked sheepish and he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand—a habit he had picked up from Harry. "Clara and I aren't dating. She's a good friend of mine from work, and has a huge crush on Albus. We decided to come to the party together so that she could meet Al, and, well, to…" he trailed off, looking distinctly embarrassed. Teddy was intrigued. James didn't get flustered often; he was usually outgoing and carefree.

"To what?" Teddy tried to ignore the fact that James was still holding his prick and focus on the conversation instead.

"To make you jealous," James looked back at Teddy through the mirror and grinned, his confidence returning. "And it seems to have worked," he added with a cheeky grin and another squeeze to Teddy's length. Now, if only he would move that hand and create some delicious friction…

James was suddenly standing in front of him and pulling down his own pants. Teddy moaned when he got his first eye-full of James' manhood, standing proudly at attention. Hands trembling, he reached forward, eager to touch the twitching cock, but hesitated and glanced up at James. The slightly shorter man's attention seemed to be riveted by Teddy's hand hovering just above the head of his prick. Teddy took that as permission to continue.

He wrapped a large hand around the leaking cock and James moaned in appreciation. Gods, the sounds that James made could drive him over the edge with no other stimulation! Apparently James was interested in giving him other stimulation, though.

Teddy almost whimpered at the amazing feel of both his and James' calloused hands rubbing their pricks together. It was amazing, to feel the soft skin coupled with the contradictory hardness underneath sliding together between their hands. The fact that this was a combined effort to bring the both of them off only added to Teddy's pleasure. Now, the only thing that would make this better would be if they came together. Sappy, yes, but still one of Teddy's secret desires.

"Ah, Teddy…I can't…anymore…" James murmured between breaths. Merlin, to see his face scrunched up in pleasure from the sensations wracking his body…

Teddy bit into James' shoulder to silence his shout as he came. James followed seconds later and leaned heavily against the taller man's chest. They clung to each other as they basked in the orgasm-induced bliss. Finally, James pushed away from Teddy and looked up at him. His brown eyes shone with love and he smiled slightly.

"One day, I noticed that you were looking at me and glaring," he began to explain without preamble. "At first, I thought that you were jealous because I had a girlfriend and you didn't. But then I realized that you weren't glaring at me, you were glaring at the girl. I started to watch you—watch your reactions to things I did with my girlfriend when you were around—and I sort of became obsessed with your expressions and body language. Sometimes, your hair would even change colors."

Teddy blushed slightly; he hadn't even been aware that he was that obvious. Merlin, did everyone know about his not-so-small crush on James?

"I began to wish that I could see more of your expressions and soon I was completely enamored with you." Now it was James' turn to blush at his confession. No matter his embarrassment, though, he kept eye contact with Teddy the entire time. Teddy felt that he didn't deserve such a strong and honest man, and he said as much to James. The brown-eyed man looked surprised for a moment, before a determined expression took over. He caught Teddy's wrists in a loose grip and then laced their fingers together.

"Hey, don't say that, Teddy. You're a great man yourself. Besides, if you think that you're going to get rid of me that easily, you've got another thing coming," he finished with a mischievous grin. Teddy snorted and pressed his forehead against James' shoulder.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Happy Christmas, Teddy," James whispered to Teddy for the second time that day. This time, Teddy could agree that it was, indeed, a very happy Christmas.

A/N: Thanks for reading! ;)