Bill Weasley was the last person Teddy expected to see in the Floo while he sat in the living room looking through files, but he smiled and let him in anyways. In the five months since he and Victoire had broken up, he hadn't seen much of the Weasleys, and he expected that the reason for Bill's appearance was to change that. Bill pulled him in for a hug that stayed just on the side of not being too confining, for which Teddy was extremely grateful.
"Hey mate," Bill said jovially. "Haven't heard from you in awhile. Thought I'd make sure you hadn't starved to death, or suffocated under a pile of folders."
Teddy shook his head. "I could never suffocate under a pile of file folders. They're too well-organized." He gestured to the four small stacks on his desk.
Bill chuckled. "True enough. In any case, the wife and I have decided to lure you out of your cave and remind you that you are, in fact, part of the family. Despite whatever impression my daughter might have given you."
Teddy shook his head. "She didn't give me any impression. I just figured I would stay away until things were a bit less awkward between us. Especially since she brought her… her new boyfriend over for Christmas." He felt his neck tighten up. Even after five months, the thought of Victoire with someone else still stung.
Bill scoffed and his eyes went hard. "Patrick. Not too fond of him, to tell you the truth. Boy's got muscles where his brain's supposed to be. Don't know what that girl was thinking, letting you go."
"Could we not talk about her? Or my giant, muscly replacement? Please?" Teddy pleaded.
Bill's eyes softened and turned back to Teddy. "Sure, kid. Anyways, that's not why I came here."
"No?"
"No." He untied the previously unnoticed Bertie Bott's and dumped them all onto the table in front of Teddy. "I need someone to help me sort all these beans."
~o0o0o0o0o~
Teddy and Bill fell into an easy rhythm of sorting all of the beans by colour. As a child, it had been one of Teddy's favorite hobbies, and even in adulthood the simple, repetitive task soothed him and distracted him from his anxieties. Bill was one of the few people who would do something like this with him; the only other being James Potter. While everyone else stayed up-to-date on the newest treatments and made sure he took his potions, Bill and James sat there calmly and let him put his world in order, in whatever way he wanted, when he needed to. When they were nearly done putting the beans in order, Bill spoke again.
"So what about you? Been seeing anyone new?"
Teddy shook his head. "No, too much work to do. Anyways, it's not like there's a line out the door to date someone with… someone like me," he finished.
Bill pushed a green bean in line with the others. "You, er, go for blokes too, right?"
Teddy felt his cheeks go red. "Er, yeah. Occasionally," he added, feeling a bit awkward about having this discussion with his ex-girlfriend's father. "Why?"
"There's a new intern at the bank. Fit, hard-working, probably into blokes. Anyways, he's… he's like you."
Teddy raised his eyebrows slightly. "Like me how?" he asked.
Bill gestured toward the neatly arranged lines of coloured beans. "Like you."