Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot. Thanks for reading.
Permission Granted
Ordinarily he wasn't the type who was remotely self-conscious about putting himself out there when it came to hitting on a guy who'd caught his fancy, but this was Teddy he was after and Louis knew he had to think before he leapt in this case, even if it was frustrating as hell. And it wasn't just because he figured the older man would need to be eased into thinking of him as a potential love interest, there was also Victoire to deal with and Louis wasn't sure which was going to be the more difficult task ahead of him. Convincing Teddy to give him a chance or convincing Victoire to give him permission to chase after the man in the first place.
Not that the rules about dating the ex of a sib slash friend really applied here since his sister had never technically dated Teddy in the first place, but try telling her that. If he succeeded without informing her of his intentions he'd be dead before he ever got the other man into bed with him.
So he would have to go visit her and talk her into giving him the green light.
The best way to do it was to make her think he didn't have a chance in hell where Teddy was concerned. It went without saying that she'd give him permission if she thought he would just be making a fool of himself. Big sisters liked the idea of their little brothers looking like idiots, it was genetically encoded in them to think so from birth.
It would be smart if he brought someone along as a witness too, so that he would have someone to confirm he'd gained permission when she exploded over the fact that he'd succeeded, Louis mused to himself as he waited for Teddy to join him at the breakfast table. Either way she was going to be pissed at both him and Teddy, but he was worth the trouble in his opinion and he was willing to put up with her anger if he got a chance to have the older man shag his brains out in between shouting matches with Victoire. And really, she needed to get over her obsession with Teddy, it wasn't good for her. This would benefit her too in the long run.
"Do I want to know what you're thinking about so hard?"
A shiver going up his spine at the still a little sleepy drawl to Teddy's voice Louis worked up a casual smile as he watched the other man drop into the seat across from him. "Just mentally planning out my day."
Taking a sip of his tea Teddy smiled over how comfortable he was getting, these meals together becoming the norm, before he turned his attention to the fact that some of Louis's plans no doubt revolved around finding out more about his love life. "So what are you all up to?" He'd be an idiot not to keep tabs whenever possible, just in case.
"Just a couple errands, and I have to drop in on Tori for a few minutes. Anything you want me to pass along while I'm there?"
"Tell her I said hi." Was the best he could come up with.
"Will do."
Turning his attention to his breakfast Teddy shook his head before picking up his fork. Talking to Victoire about him was not a good way to start the day, especially when it came to his previous relationships. Louis was definitely not going to start his day on a high note.
)
As luck would have it Louis arrived at his sister's place to find out that her husband had left for work and Domi had arrived just before him to drop off a scarf she'd recently borrowed. Since he could count on their middle sister not to play favorites and mediate Louis asked her to stick around while he explained to Victoire why he'd dropped by in the first place. Due to her Weasley curiosity Domi was more than happy to stay a little longer, especially since her feminine instincts told her that something was definitely up. That gleam in her baby brother's eyes said it all.
"So what's up, little brother?" Victoire asked once they were settled and comfortable in her kitchen.
"It has to do with the no dating the exes of someone close to you without permission rule."
Domi smirked. "Ah, a wise and sacred rule that has both saved and ended lives throughout the centuries. What about it?"
"There's someone I want to make a pass on but you used to have a thing for him, Tori, so I'm here making sure that you aren't going to go postal on me later. You guys never dated or anything but I figured better safe than sorry."
"If I had a thing for him then of course we dated." Confusion was plain in Victoire's voice, though awareness slowly came into her eyes as her brain forced her to recall that there was indeed one man that had always been out of her reach so to speak. One who'd she'd fallen hard for only to be told she didn't interest him romantically in the slightest. "You…you can't possibly mean Teddy." And seeing that that was exactly who her younger brother was referring to Victoire didn't know whether to laugh or smack him upside the head. "Have you gone mental, little brother? You can't really think he'd ever be interested in dating you, he's as straight as a bloody ruler."
"Then you'll have no problem giving me permission, since I don't stand a chance."
Narrowing her eyes at the smooth delivery of his response Victoire was definitely leaning towards the whacking upside the head now. Of course there really was no question that Teddy would reject any advances Louis might make towards him, but still, the idea pissed her off. It reminded her of the fact that at one point, years before, Teddy had tried to tell her in secret that his rejection of her was because he was pretty sure that he was gay and that that was why he couldn't return her feelings. Yeah, like she'd believed that one. She'd met the girls he'd quite happily dated before and after her, now hadn't she? Had listened to them prattle on about how hot a kisser he was and such until she'd wanted to strangle them with their own poorly styled hair. He'd told her he thought of her as a sister at one point too, but if that was the case he wouldn't have let her snog him the way she had in the first place. No, at the end of the day Teddy was a horrible liar and had always just made it worse with him lame excuses.
If she was honest she knew he felt badly about hurting her, which was only fair, but she just couldn't seem to let it go after all these years. Which was why the idea of giving her brother her permission sort of appealed to her, Victoire silently acknowledged as she tried not to think about how that reflected on her. Louis wasn't the type to take no for an answer, he'd drive Teddy crazy until her brother finally got it through his thick skull that he couldn't charm his way into the older man's trousers. He would definitely make Teddy squirm before that realization occurred.
And it would be pretty damn funny to watch it all play out.
"So is that a yes or a no?" Louis asked, not quite sure how to take her expression.
"Well as you said he was never mine so the rule doesn't even technically apply in this case. But I appreciate that you'd ask and I suppose…if you want to be shot down that much then go for it. You can always blame your age when things go to hell in a hand basket."
"Thanks so much for your vote of confidence, Sister Dearest."
Smirking at her brother it suddenly occurred to Victoire that their mutual sister had been very quiet since Louis had dropped his little bomb. Looking over in Domi's direction she couldn't help but laugh at the frozen in shock expression on her little sister's face. It was a very rare thing indeed, to see her talkative, sassy sister stunned speechless.
"Cat got your tongue, Domi?"
Nodding her head automatically in response to her sister's teasing question Domi prayed like mad that none of her thoughts were showing on her face. But seriously, HOLY FUCKING HOGWARTS!
She had to go see Al and Lily, Domi thought frantically while her siblings debated as to what Louis's chances were of getting a date with Teddy. She had to go see her cousins and tell them that very shortly her brother was going to make a play for their big brother and when that happened…oh shit but Teddy would be on Louis so fast that he'd give the both of them whiplash right before he put their backs out doing things she'd really rather not think about. He'd be banging her baby bro like a hammer on a nail for hours on end for days on end given how many years he'd been eyeing Louis like a wolf scenting delicious, off limits prey. Just thinking about it was traumatizing on so many levels, Domi trying desperately to erase her current mental images without a lot of luck. She couldn't help but think that they might literally screw each other to death given how much pent up lust Teddy had to have brewing in him.
And when Victoire found out….
Paling under her makeup Domi's mind whirled with the nightmare inspiring possibilities. She and the others had joked of course, about what would happen if Victoire ever noticed Teddy's interest in Louis, but now that she actually knew it was going to happen it really, REALLY didn't seem funny anymore.
Everyone in the family who knew how Teddy felt about Louis was going to have to band together to keep her sister from doing some serious damage and even then…it was not going to be pretty.
Damn, and she'd just gotten her nails done too.
)
Teddy was in a foul mood when he headed home that night. In fact, he hadn't wanted to kick someone's ass quite this much in quite a while. His Black blood was certainly bubbling to the surface and letting its thoughts on the matter be known, the Gryffindor thought ruefully, taking a calming breath as he tried to settle himself down. He knew he needed to level out, which was why he'd opted to head back to his place instead of staying at his office to continue looking over the paperwork that proved that one of his employees was stealing from his accounts. Most companies in his present situation would simply fire the guy, not wanting to damage their reputation by admitting that they'd been dumb enough to hire the thief in the first place. And if he'd been the head of a very powerful corporation maybe that would be the road he would have taken too, especially since then he would have had the power to insure that the son of a bitch never got a decently paying job again. But his was a small firm, and he wasn't about to just cut the guy loose so that he could go out and do this to someone else. He was the son and godson of Aurors after all. So he'd have to call in the police tomorrow and it was going to be headache after headache in his future as he saw to it that the bastard was punished to the full extent of the law.
If only the bastard hadn't been a Muggle…oh what he'd do to him if he weren't.
Arriving at his destination Teddy let himself in, heading straight for his office to drop off his briefcase and papers. Normally he'd stay and work on the never ending supply of paperwork there was to do, but he was too pissed off to care. It was a pity Louis was working, he'd have been a welcome distraction right about now, Teddy thought as he headed out and towards the stairs, untying his tie as he walked up the steps.
By the time he reached his floor his tie was hanging loosely off his neck and his dress shirt was unbuttoned, a hot bath planned as a way to relax a little.
Those plans flew out the window along with every other thought in Teddy's head when Louis's door opened as he started down the hallway and the blonde stepped out dressed for a night out on the town. Trying desperately not to think about how sexy the other man was looking at the moment Teddy worked up a weak smile as he raised a hand in greeting. "Hey. I thought you had to work today."
Man but I hope I'm not drooling, Louis thought as he forced his gaze to leave the sexiness of the other man's exposed chest so that he could meet Teddy's gaze. "I was, but the restaurant is going to be closed for the next week. We got hit by a swarm of aduros."
And here he'd thought he'd had a crappy day. "How did they get into the restaurant in the first place?"
"Their eggs were in a produce shipment we got in today. The box was accidentally pushed under a shelf when it was delivered and we didn't notice so it didn't get put away properly. And as you'd expect it gets damn hot in the kitchen when the stoves are all on so the damn eggs hatched and that was that. We were just lucky there weren't more of them or we'd have really been screwed."
The firefly looking creatures, which tended to set fire to things it came into contact with when angry, could cause a lot of damage in a short period of time. Obviously the place would have to be fumigated to insure that there would be no eggs hatching at a later date, hence the closing of the place for a week. "Sounds like your day was as bad as mine."
"Could have been worse. At least they didn't set my clothes on fire." Louis's grin quickly faded as the rest of Teddy's statement sunk in. "You had a really bad day? What happened?"
"Nothing I can't handle, no need to worry." Reaching out with the intention of ruffling the boy's hair Teddy's hand froze just above the styled strands, belatedly remembering that he was cutting back on his affectionate gestures and that getting closer to Louis wasn't the best idea, especially when his emotions were so close to the surface. Quickly he let his hand drop back to his side. "Sorry. I mean you're going out so messing up your hair…" Man but he sounded so lame.
Sorry the man hadn't ruffled his hair, even though it would have messed it up, Louis worked up another smile. "No problem. I'm so gorgeous I can totally pull off any hair style, even a ruffled one."
Chuckling, Teddy inclined his head in agreement. "Absolutely."
A gleam coming into his eyes Louis moved just a little closer. "So you agree that I'm gorgeous?"
"You know you're gorgeous. And no one could convince you otherwise anyway." Was Teddy's dry response, doing his best to keep his voice nonchalant and to the point. The last thing he wanted was to get into a discussion about what he thought about Louis's looks. Once he got started it would probably be pretty damn hard to stop, he thought to himself, his mind already coming up with an alarmingly long list of things he loved about the other man's physical appearance.
"True that. You're looking pretty yummy yourself at the moment by the way."
Mouth dropping open a little in shock Teddy stared at the blonde, his brain unable to compute what had just been said about him by the love of his life. Surely he'd heard wrong!
Laughing in delight Louis reached out to fiddle with the lapels of Teddy's jacket, sliding his hands up to finger the loose tie. "You're half-dressed at the moment, Silly." And because his current goal was to make the man his Louis took it a step further and kneading the shoulders that tensed under his hands. "And it looks like your bad day has put rocks in your muscles. You're seriously tense."
I'm seriously tense because you're touching me, Teddy silently corrected even as he flushed a little as he remembered his state of dress. "I…uh…I was on my way to soak in the tub and…I'm still not used to living with someone again after all this time."
"So what, you made it a habit of wandering around your house half naked before I came?" Louis teased, all but squirming in delight as the flush on the other man's cheekbones darkened.
"Of course not!" Teddy blurted out, horrified over the fact that he could feel color heating his cheeks but being powerless to stop the reaction.
"Heh. You really are adorable when you blush, Teddy Lupin."
Crossing his arms in front of him as he shook his head ruefully, Teddy gave Louis a look that was half annoyed, half exasperated. "You're trying to make me blush on purpose, aren't you? Shame on you, picking on an old man."
Looping his arms around Teddy's neck Louis deliberately moved in closer as he smiled knowingly, moving in for the kill so to speak. "I don't see any old men around here. I see a man in his very yummy prime."
So this is what it feels like to have ever brain cell you possess simultaneously combust, Teddy thought as his last brain cells flickered and then died.
"You are too adorable for words sometimes, Teddy bear. Seriously."