Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks for continuing to read.

Getting Older and Wiser

Despite the fact that he tended to go through men fairly regularly Louis wasn't at all used to waking up to the realization that not only was there someone sleeping beside him, but he had no idea who that someone was. His first fully formed thought was that Teddy was so going to be pissed off at him for not messaging him that he wouldn't be coming home, his second thought the realization that it was Teddy sleeping beside him. That it was Teddy's presence his senses had alerted him to before his mind had sufficiently cleared enough for him to recognize the scent of Teddy on the pillow and sheets, the familiarity he had with the chest his right arm was currently stretched out over.

Fighting back a yawn Louis studied the other man's profile as other facts began to filter through, first and foremost the fact that he'd climbed into Teddy's bed to talk to him and must have passed out once they had their short heart to heart. He had been really tired, and he'd always been able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat provided there wasn't something bothering him.

Apparently Teddy had decided that it was too much trouble to put him back in his own bed and had decided to share his instead.

Or the man had seen the bed sharing as a way of driving home the fact that he really didn't have a problem with the fact that his housemate was gay. Sharing a bed was way more personal than the almost kiss, at least to his way of thinking.

Since both possibilities made sense and he didn't mind sharing a bed with Teddy since the man wasn't a covers hog, Louis shrugged it off and concentrated on studying the older man's profile.

In general people always looked younger and more peaceful when they were asleep and Teddy was no exception. Though there were still lines that spoke of the man's age, as well as some strands of white mixed in with the brown at Teddy's temples. It didn't surprise him that Teddy hadn't bothered to do anything to eradicate that sign of aging either. Though it was sort of unfair that the older man could literally control what age he looked like but had zero interest in using his ability to manipulate his form to appear as attractive as possible. The man could be drop dead gorgeous if he wanted to, but he'd never seen Teddy deliberately enhance his looks for that purpose unless he was doing so at the request of someone else as a demonstration of his natural talent.

Personally he intended to fight the aging process to his dying breath.

But Teddy was definitely not him, Louis thought affectionately. The older man didn't have a vain bone in his body. Or at least not a very big, noticeable one.

Nuzzling his face against his pillow Louis enjoyed the silent closeness, lifting the hand he'd had on the other man's stomach up to trace Teddy's features with his fingertips, noting the difference time had wrought there. Some changes, though inside his Teddy bear remained the same, he was sure of it. There was something incredibly appealing about the stability, the inner strength the older man radiated. Knowing always that he could be leaned and depended upon no matter what the problem was.

He needed to find himself a man more like that.

Maybe while he was looking for someone for Teddy he should ask the other man to recommend someone to him as well. Or at least ask Teddy to look over his next potential boyfriend so that he could get his opinion before he did something stupid like move in with the guy. Fritz had definitely been a mistake and one he did not want to repeat.

Come to think of it he couldn't remember a single guy he'd ever introduced the man to that Teddy had genuinely seemed to like, Louis belatedly realized, wondering why that was. Was his taste in men really that bad? Or had Teddy just been playing the big brother role and decided that no one was good enough? His own sisters had liked his past boyfriends a lot more than Teddy had, and it wasn't like he and the man had ever had a brotherly relationship. Or at least he'd never seen him in that light. He'd just always been his Teddy bear.

According to his maman he'd been very possessive of Teddy when he was a child.

And who could blame him, Louis thought with a smile as he shifted up to a sitting position, giving the man's already tousled hair a loving stroke before pulling off the covers so that he could head out to start breakfast.

Who wouldn't want Teddy bear for their very own?

)

When it was time to wake up Teddy's brain processed that fact and he opened his eyes, automatically stretching his arms out as he thought that he'd slept really well and wasn't that a nice change of pace. Then it came back to him that Louis had been sleeping beside him and his head whipped over to look so fast it was a wonder he didn't give himself whiplash. The blonde wasn't there, Teddy realized with a mixture of disappointment and relief, but there was a clear indent where Louis's head had rested.

Calling himself a complete and total girl Teddy shifted over and laid his head on the pillow, inhaling the linger scent of the other man's hair like a drug addict. How far he fell when it came to Louis Weasley, the Gryffindor thought ruefully when he forced himself to sit up and act like an adult.

But at least he hadn't done or said anything during the night to get himself in trouble or betray his feelings for the other man.

Of course it probably helped that Louis had passed out within three minutes of asking him to explain what he was working on.

Lips twitching in amusement Teddy's eyes moved over to his bedside table, noting the pages he hadn't finished going over. There wouldn't be any problems but maybe Lucy did have a point about him needing a personal assistant. If he did ever find someone who could at least distract him from his feelings for Louis that unknown man would probably be just as bored as Louis with what he did, if not seriously annoyed to not have his sole attention on him.

Thankfully he was still fine with his self-imposed sexual mortatorium and therefore didn't need to go through the horrors and pitfalls of trying to find a man who he could stand to become a fixture in his life for the length of their relationship.

And he prayed desperately that what had happened with Ian never happened again.

Because if nothing else he was never, ever, going to even consider dating someone he worked with again.

He was also going to have to make damn sure that if Louis was serious about wanting to see where he worked, Ian had no reason to be around his office building. That was all he needed, those two meeting. Louis might have no idea how he felt about him, but the blonde would pick up on how Ian felt about him within seconds. Normally his business associate was as cool and calm as he was, but he got very alpha and possessive when they were in the presence of another gay man.

And while he was pretty sure that Louis wouldn't flirt with someone like Ian, his ex had excellent gaydar.

Thankfully he was fairly certain that he hadn't given anything away that would make Ian suspected that Louis was the reason he had never been interested in making their romantic arrangement a permanent one. His ex had known, right from the beginning, that there was someone his heart already belonged to, but unfortunately Ian had convinced himself that he could change his mind.

The man had not taken it well when he'd made it clear that he couldn't.

Rubbing his hands over his face Teddy forced the thoughts away and got out of bed, taking a deep, fortifying breath before heading towards the bathroom.

Time to start another day of pretending not to be hopelessly in love with the man living across the hall.

Wahoo.

)

Pleased when Seth was put on break at the same time as him Louis was happy to enjoy a meal with his friend, especially since he wanted to know who would be working with them on Saturday when Teddy was coming in. His roomie had told him during breakfast that Lucy was going to be coming with him, so he wanted to make sure that he could provide them both with an incredibly delicious and healthy meal whether they liked it or not. Lucy needed fattening up as much as Teddy. According to Teddy she was getting a bit thin, and if he was worried than he was worried too. It really was a shame the two of them didn't work in the same building, he could have made lunch for her too and then sent it with Teddy to give to her. Though maybe he could start dropping stuff off to her before he came into work, Louis mused, storing that thought away for later thought.

"So your landlord is interested in your cousin?"

"What? No. Of course not. There's no way Lucy and Teddy could ever be a couple."

"Why not? Is she a lesbian?"

Louis shook his head, amusement on his face. "Not as far as I know, but she and Teddy would make a horrible couple."

Seth raised a slight eyebrow at the certainty in the other man's voice. "Uhm…she's known him all her life, they work in the same business, they're both work obsessed introverts with similar lifestyles and values. And they're both single. How could they not be a good couple if they're both interested?"

The Gryffindor couldn't roll his eyes fast enough. "It's because they're so much alike that they'd be a horrible couple. Haven't you ever heard the saying, opposites attract?"

"Yes…and then they attack."

Making a mental note to remember that response to the saying Louis shook his head at his friend. "Maybe if they're complete opposites, yes, but as long as they've got some common ground it can work. And he and Lucy would never work, Seth, because they aren't what each other needs in a partner. Teddy needs someone easy going, fun, someone to take him out of his comfort zone for a while. Definitely someone nurturing too, he needs love and affection heaped on him whether he knows it or not. Oh, and someone with style and pizazz cause seriously, someone has to redecorate his house ASAP."

Seth considered this for a moment and then grinned. "So in other words he won't be dating anyone while you're in his house."

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

"Because if that's what he needs in a partner he's got all that with you. The only thing you won't be providing is the sex, and he could just take care of that himself. Once he gets used to you being there he probably won't ever want you to leave."

Images of Teddy wanking off filled his head against his will, Louis turning his head to glare at Seth. "I hate you for putting those images in my head."

"He look that hot?"

Yes, yes he did. Dammit.

Groaning low in his throat Louis desperately tried to think of something else but couldn't quite seem to make his mind let go of the images flashing through his apparently very perverted and confused brain.

At the sound of his friend's chuckle Louis's dark look intensified. "It's not funny. He's FAMILY!"

"No he's not."

If looks could kill Seth knew he'd be dead. "Chill, Dude. I just meant that biologically he's not your family, so it's okay to get a little hot and bothered thinking about how hot he'd look naked and wanking off."

He hadn't been picturing Teddy naked before…now he so totally was.

"Seth…I really think you should shut up now."

Wisely Seth nodded, though he was really looking forward to meeting Teddy Lupin now.

)

The next day Louis was still trying to get the images Seth had planted in perverted mind as he worked on breakfast, knowing he had to manage it by the time Teddy came down to eat. There was no way in hell he was going to be able to face the other man without saying or looking at him inappropriately. Which was why, first chance he got, he was going to cause both Seth and Fritz to fall terribly ill due to food poisoning. He never would have had these thoughts in this head if his assehole ex hadn't planted the seed and Seth hadn't shoved on the perverted fertilizer. He did not think about the men in his family like this. Okay, on some level he knew that at least a couple of his male cousins, particular James and Fred, could be considered hot, but that was on a purely superficial level that had never caused him to think about them sexually in any real detail.

Like he was now doing where Teddy was concerned.

It had to be because of the distance that had formed between them since his mid-teens, Louis decided as he scrambled the eggs. They'd been growing steadily apart since then, and were only now reconnecting. He wasn't as tight with Teddy as he was with his other male cousins, who he saw on a fairly regular basis. It wasn't that he'd stopped thinking of Teddy as his family, it was just that it wasn't reinforced that he was family the way it was with the other male members of his large clan.

So he just had to remind himself over and over again that not only was Teddy straight and not his type, but the man was so his family and incest was frowned upon in most cultures for a reason.

Though technically they weren't related by blood so incest wasn't the right word.

Stupid brain for pointing that out.

But he was right about the fact that Teddy needed someone more like him as opposed to someone like Lucy. Not that his cousin wasn't an absolutely wonderful person who he loved and adored, because he did, but she and Teddy both needed to look outside their comfortable boxes where romance was concerned.

Though obviously Teddy wasn't looking for a female version of him, otherwise he'd have been interested in Domi, Louis decided, oddly offput by the thought. It went without saying that he agreed that his eldest sister was too high maintenance for Teddy, but he'd always felt that he and his middle sister were pretty similar in personality and temperament. And Teddy had never shown interest in her, though that might have partly been because Victoire would have thrown a fit over that.

Hearing footsteps, though they were oddly staggering as opposed to Teddy's usual confident stride, Louis whirled around and stared in shock as the other man stumbled into the room.

Staggering over towards the sink without so much as glancing in Louis's direction Teddy grabbed a glass from the cabinet and quickly filled it with water, guzzling it down like a parched man. As soon as he'd finished that glass he poured another one, making a grateful sound when that was finished as he leaned against the counter for support, shaking his sweat soaked hair. "I don't know where that bastard finds his energy."

"Uhm…Teddy…what happened?" Why are you not wearing a shirt, covered in sweat, and showing me that I was so, so wrong for ever thinking you were skinny, Louis silently added as he bit down on his lip to keep his tongue in his mouth.

Pulling his long sleeve shirt from where he'd tied it around his waist earlier free, Teddy brought the material around to wipe away the sweat dripping into his eyes. "I decided to go running…ran into a neighbor…the man's old enough to be my father for Merlin's sake. Couldn't keep up." Teddy looked over at Louis with a wry smile. "Getting old sucks."

"But you just said that the other guy was older."

"I know. Which makes it worse. I'm going to start running regularly again, maybe you have a point." Patting his stomach Teddy looked down at it ruefully. "I need to get in better shape."

Not from where he was standing. And just barely managing to hold back a wince at that thought Louis cleared his throat loudly. "Go have a shower, then come down for breakfast."

"Yeah, thanks. It smells good."

Watching the man head back out of the room it was Louis's turn to lean back against the cabinets for a moment, catching his breath before turning his attention back to dishing up the breakfast

"Lust, lust, go away, come back when the guy is gay." The blonde murmured under his breath, thinking that if he didn't get himself under control within the next couple of days he was going to have to break his vow not to get another boyfriend any time soon. He needed to be distracted from this sudden realization that Teddy was a single, hot, prime male who he was living with.

Family and straight, family and straight.

Got to remember that.

And he had to find some way of drilling it into his head that lusting after Teddy was a bad idea. Which it so was. Not only because it would never work, but because he'd so lose his place to live if he started drooling over the other man and made Teddy uncomfortable.

Maybe he should arrange a family dinner here, that would maybe help.

He'd have to talk Teddy into it.