Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Settling In

Louis was shocked the next morning to find that Teddy had apparently gotten up before him. He was always the first up wherever he was living because unless shagging was on the menu he'd never seen the appeal of lying around in bed when there was far more interesting things he could be doing with his time. Apparently Teddy felt the same, the blonde thought as he left the bathroom, the very nice shower having shown signs of having already been used. Which was a good thing, Louis decided as he stretched his arms above his head, since it would make it easier on him if Teddy was awake to be made to eat a proper breakfast every day. It was the most important meal of the day after all.

Since he didn't have to head into work for a few more hours Louis quickly got dressed in casual clothes, stashed his towel and nightwear in the hamper thoughtfully provided and then headed down the stairs to search out his roommate and landlord. He could only hope for the other man's sake that Teddy wasn't already at his desk, because that was just wrong on a number of levels.

He'd rather not live with a crazy person. Spending his formative years surrounded by females had been bad enough.

But no, the man he was looking for was sitting at the table like a normal person Louis discovered as he walked into the room to find Teddy eating what looked like a sandwich. For breakfast.

Rolling his eyes Louis shook his head ruefully when the other man looked up from the paper to meet his gaze. "Good morning, Teddy."

Forcing himself not to choke as he took in the blonde's freshly scrubbed, just woken up appearance, Teddy carefully swallowed before returning the greeting, hoping the huskiness of his voice would be attributed to still being sleepy instead of the fact that he wanted to sink his teeth into the blonde instead of his breakfast.

"You know sandwiches aren't a breakfast food."

Glancing down at what he was eating Teddy wasn't surprised that the object of his affection didn't view it as a proper way to start the day. Most didn't. "Toast is a breakfast food." He pointed out calmly, holding his sandwich up to prove that the bread was toasted.

Now that he thought about he remembered that Teddy's favorite breakfast food had always been peanut butter on toast. Apparently that hadn't changed, Louis thought as he watched the other man go back to eating his sandwich. In fact, now that he thought about it, peanut butter was the older man's favorite food, oddly enough. It had been the one thing you could put in front of Teddy and have him actually seem to be aware of what he was consuming to fuel his body.

He'd have to keep that in mind.

But for now, there were more important things to deal with and consider. "Not that you have a whole lot in your pantry, but I think between what you had and I brought I could make us some French toast if you're interested."

Trying to remember the last time he'd had that particular treat Teddy couldn't remember. He liked French toast, but he had a feeling that too much domesticity between them too soon would short circuit his brain, especially since it hadn't gotten a lot of downtime recently. So it would probably be better for him if he finished his sandwich and left the blonde to his own devices.

"You don't need to trouble yourself where I'm concerned, I'm good with just this."

Walking over Louis neatly whacked the obviously surprised Gryffindor upside the head. "Stupid. We agreed I'd do the cooking as part of our deal, remember? And if I'm making some for me then I'm making some for you and you're going to eat it because I said so. I refuse to live with a skinny person."

Insult came and went across Teddy's face so fast that the other man almost missed it. "I'm not skinny."

"Hmmm…stand up."

Confused as hell Teddy pushed back his chair and did so, turning to face Louis fully with a questioning look in his eyes as he crossed his arms in a gesture that made it clear that if any more disparaging remarks were made about his body he was not going to be pleased. He wasn't a morning person by nature but by habit. Big difference.

And then he couldn't help but gap in shock when the blonde reached out and…and yanked up his shirt, Louis leaning down to get a good look at his bare chest, poking it with a finger testingly.

"Okay, not quite skinny, but you're borderline, Teddy Bear. And that ends now." Letting the shirt drop Louis couldn't help but grin at the look on the other man's face. "You can sit down again. Read the paper, the toast won't take long. You're eating at least two pieces, FYI."

Pleased with himself Louis headed for the kitchen, completely unaware of the fact that as soon as he was gone Teddy felt the need to once again rhythmically beat his head against a wooden surface as he bemoaned his gross stupidity in allowing the other man to come and live with him.

)

Arriving at his workplace later that morning Louis headed straight for his boss, handing over a piece of paper where he'd written out his new, temporary address for the overly organized man's records. That done he headed into the back to change and then headed to his station to start his prep work, losing himself in the familiar repetition that allowed his mind the option of wandering a little, though not too much given the size and sharpness of the blade he was using. If he were a Muggle Louis didn't even want to think of how many scars would be marring his undeniably lovely skin.

Looking up and over when he sensed another presence Louis smiled in greeting. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much, you? Find a new place to stay?" Seth asked, giving his friend a questioning look. His date the night before had not gone well so he was hoping for a distraction of the Louis sort. The blonde always had the best stories.

"Yeah, I'm staying with Teddy Lupin, my honorary cousin. James, Al and Lily's godbrother." Louis added, since Teddy had graduated before they'd arrived at Hogwarts. The older man had never met Seth as far as he knew and he had a feeling that Teddy would probably prefer it that way. Seth could be an acquired taste, the Gryffindor thought with a small smile.

"Ah, never had the pleasure, though he looks pretty sexy from a distance. He was involved with your sister for a while, wasn't he? Victoire?"

Laughing, Louis shook his head. "No, that was a complete misunderstanding that grew to epically inaccurate proportions. Tori did have a huge crush on him, and she threw herself at him at the start of her seventh year. James walked in on her snogging him and reported to everyone who would listen that the two were a couple. Teddy tried to clear up the misunderstanding right away but everyone thought he was just being shy or didn't want us all interfering with things. Eventually we had to accept though that she wasn't his type and boy was she ever sore about it. She still gets this feral look in her eye whenever anyone dares to remind her that Teddy was the man who broke her never been rejected record."

"So what is his type?"

"I have no idea. Hopefully I'll figure that out while I'm living with him since I sort of promised my maman that I would try to find someone for him among my truly wonderful and numerous female friends."

Volunteering his help since he did love to match-make, Seth asked when he was going to get the chance to meet one of the last of the infamous Black bloodline.

"Next Saturday if all goes according to plan. I talked him into coming by for dinner. Apparently the last time he came here he wasn't impressed to say the least. I assured him we're under new management and that I wouldn't be working here if the place wasn't good enough to deserve me which he got a chuckle over. I'm gonna wow his socks off here and that will hopefully convince him to at least come home when I'm not working here so that he has a proper dinner."

"Having eaten your stuff plenty I can attest to the fact that he'd be nuts not to eat everything and anything you put in front of him. Or is he a picky eater?"

"Food isn't high on his list of priorities." Louis drawled out with a roll of his eyes. "And since you know just how high it is on my list…well you can imagine how soon it's going to rank right up there for him too whether he likes it or not."

Laughing, Seth had to agree that it would take one hell of a man to resist Louis when the man wanted something.

The two caught up some more and then things kicked into high gear as they prepared for the lunch crowd, both going their separate ways as they dealt with the tasks assigned to them. There wasn't much time to talk with the other members of their crew, or think about anything that didn't have to do with figuring out how to stretch the chicken since apparently someone had failed to order enough or how to stop their pastry chef from killing one of the bus boys who'd gotten in the other man's way.

A typical day in any restaurant.

When his first break finally rolled around Louis took a grateful seat and leaning back in his chair nibbled on his own lunch as he wondered if Teddy had remembered to eat the lunch he'd made for the other man before he'd left for work. It wouldn't surprise him at this point. As soon as breakfast had been over the man had gone straight to his home office and had made it pretty clear that he intended to stay there until it was time for him to head to his grandmother's.

Who would feed him well, which was a small comfort. Teddy so needed a keeper if this weekend was anything to go by, Louis thought with a sigh and shake of his head. The man seemed to live and breathe his work, and if something wasn't done soon he could really see some of the horrible things everyone in the family imagined come to pass.

Because while Teddy probably wasn't likely to keel over dead he was certainly going to make himself sick if he kept this up.

So he'd work on the other man his own way and if that didn't work…well then he'd use Andromeda against him. Everyone knew that the only reason the formidable woman had kept on living after the murders of the rest of her family was Teddy. She'd lived for him so Teddy could and potentially would be emotionally blackmailed into taking care of himself for her sake of nothing else.

It was low, and Teddy would be pissed at him, but he loved the man too much to just stand by and let the poor guy self destruct while under his watch.

Teddy was his Teddy Bear after all.

Grinning Louis wondered if the other man hadn't mentioned coming in to check on him the night before because he'd been too embarrassed. Probably. The man had never liked owning up to his softer side and it was good to see that it was still there even though Teddy never seemed to really enjoy interacting with other human beings unless they were family. The man had always been the type who could get along with just about everyone, but never let any of them get too close to him.

A people person Teddy was not.

But they'd work on that too.

)

Walking up the short path that would take him to his childhood home Teddy knew it was too much to ask that his grandmother wouldn't clue in to the fact that he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before. Oh he'd taken care of the physical signs of that before Louis had joined him at the breakfast table that morning but he didn't hold any hope that his grandmother would be so easily fooled. Nothing much got by Andromeda Tonks, especially when it came to him. Teddy was willing to bet there wasn't a person alive who knew him better, with his godfather being a fairly close second. So he was going to have to deal with her pointed, unspoken questions, and blaming the book he'd brought back to return to her wouldn't cut it.

She also knew when he was lying. Always had, always would.

That had been extremely inconvenient more than once.

The front door opened as he approached, his grandmother had wards set up all over the place so she always knew when someone was on her property. Smiling at her Teddy took the necessary steps to join her on the front stoop, drawing her into his embrace for a brief but loving hug before letting her go, working up a smile since he was genuinely happy, as always, to see her. "Grandmother."

"Teddy." Reaching up Andromeda cupped his cheek for a moment and then motioned him to come inside, the touch her way of making him aware that she knew something was troubling him but would wait for him to explain as opposed to asking.

Basic small talk followed, the two heading for the front parlor to sit down and catch up a little before it was time to eat.

And knowing better then to draw it out Teddy took a seat and told her his biggest news of the week.

Raising one expressive eyebrow Andromeda stared at her grandson, having no doubt that the man was seriously regretting his decision to let Louis live with him for a while. Of course the youngest of Bill Weasley's family had always been very good at wrapping her grandson around his little finger without any real effort. She'd always considered it a small blessing that the boy had that affect on most people so that no one had looked closely at why someone as strong willed and tough as Teddy would be unable to withstand the blonde's undeniable charisma.

She and her grandson didn't discuss the fact that he was gay or that he'd been in love with Louis Weasley for years. It had taken her years to become comfortable enough in the company of her late husband's Muggle family and friends thanks to her upbringing; accepting her grandson's lifestyle was in the same vein to her way of thinking. Her upbringing indicated that homosexuality was an abomination and those suffering from it were deviants who ought to be locked up or sent to St Mungos to get help before it was too late. When she'd finally figured out that her own grandson was a homosexual she'd silently fought the idea tooth and nail before coming to the conclusion that just as she'd had to learn to accept her love for her husband, she would have to accept Teddy's nature as well. Her peers had been mostly wrong about Muggleborns and they'd been wrong about homosexuals.

Or at least two of them, since Teddy and Louis were the only ones she knew personally.

She had a fully grown grandson who didn't live off her, willingly paid her regular visits, was respected by their community and never forgot her birthday.

How many women could say that about their offspring these days?

As was their way she'd silently let Teddy know that he had her support and he'd let her know without words that he recognized both her support and the fact that she'd rather not know the details.

It worked well for them.

Wanting to hunch his shoulders since he didn't have to be a mind reader to know she thought his decision a foolish one, Teddy hastened to reassure her that he hadn't completely lost his mind when he'd agreed to let the other man stay with him. "He'll probably be gone within the month, I can't imagine he'll have a problem finding a new place to stay that's more to his…liking."

That was true, Andromeda acknowledged with a small nod. And though it had been a while since she'd spoken with her grandson's true love she doubted Louis's basic nature had changed much since then. A social butterfly was Louis, with a good enough heart and a tendency to not always look as deeply into people as he should. The boy had never seen what a gift he would have in Teddy, and probably never would since her grandson was so determined to keep his feelings a secret from the blonde and everyone else too.

Not that she could blame him, who knew better than her the pain that came with having your heart crushed to bits?

She suspected that Harry suspected Teddy's feelings for Louis, but other than the man who'd helped her raise her grandson from an infant Andromeda was pretty sure no one had a clue.

Truth be told, even after all these years, she still couldn't decide whether or not it would be better for her grandson to admit to his feelings, to get it off his chest so to speak. Was the boy really it for her Teddy, or would finally being rejected free her grandson to accept the hand fate had dealt him and move on to at least try to find someone else.

Was he doomed like her, to love once and eternally?

Merlin help him if that were so.