Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot. Thanks for reading.

Hold Your Hand

Louis watched Teddy stare at the picture, a little unnerved by the man's silence. He couldn't tell from Teddy's expression what he was thinking and while he liked his picture quite a bit he knew that the other man might be a little freaked out because they looked so much like a couple in the photograph. "Uhm…Hugo sent it. Apparently one of those girls must have posted it on this Muggle newspaper's website and Rosie happened to see it. She clued him in and Hugo printed out a copy for the both of us. It's a really nice shot, huh?"

Looking up from the picture Teddy worked up a smile. "It is. I'll have to get it framed."

Oh fuck, Rosie had seen this? That wasn't good. She was way too perceptive and nosey for her own good sometimes. And while Hugo was just as observant and even more intelligent he trusted his male cousin to keep his thoughts on this to himself since the man made it a point to not interfere in the lives of his family unless asked to do so. Rosie would not be so easily dealt with if it came down to pretending the picture was completely misleading on his part.

"I'm going to frame mine too."

Pleased to hear that in spite of his new worries Teddy did his best not to make that too obvious as he returned the photograph to the table before turning his attention back to Louis, finding the man studying him intently with a strange look in his expressive eyes. "Something wrong?"

Mentally cursing himself for being caught staring Louis had to think quickly. "I was just thinking…people getting the wrong idea about the picture…that won't cause problems for you at work, right? On top of the whole investigation thing."

It took Teddy a moment to connect the dots, the Gryffindor immediately shaking his head. "No, it won't be a problem. I'm not well known enough for the paper to pluck it out and use it, and even if they did I don't care if they speculate about my sexuality on top of everything else. Actually, I'd rather they talk about that then the fact that I allowed a criminal to infiltrate my company and steal from my clients."

"Ah, that's good."

And that was that, both men deciding that a change in subject was in order and the two quickly turned their attention to talking about what they should have for supper that night with a great deal more thought then was remotely necessary.

)

Later, having talked Teddy into letting him walk the other man to work since he didn't have anything better to do, Louis took full advantage of the situation. It was a beautiful day after all and walking your special someone somewhere was a couples' thing to do. Plus he deliberately took Teddy's hand in his, teasing the man that they'd always held hands when they went walking because the older man had always been convinced that if he didn't keep a firm grip on him he'd wander off and get kidnapped. That could still happen, Louis pointed out solemnly, his blue eyes twinkling with humor. He was even better looking now than he'd been back then and wouldn't Teddy be ever so sad to lose him?

Hopelessly amused and charmed by the love of his life Teddy had to smile. "I would."

"There you go."

And so Louis was still holding Teddy's hand when they arrived at the man's building, the two saying good bye in front of the main door before Teddy headed in with a promise to eat all his lunch and come home for dinner at the agreed upon time.

Turning around once the door closed Louis froze as he looked into the eyes of the man who'd shown such interest in Teddy the day before. He hadn't even realized the man was there, and now he couldn't help but wonder just how long the Muggle had been watching him and Teddy. He'd say long enough given how coldly the older man was looking at him.

"It's Louis, isn't it?"

"Yes, and you're Ian, right? Your company does business with Teddy."

A flicker of heat was the only indication the man gave that he was peeved. "That's correct. But you know, you really shouldn't refer to him by such a juvenile pet name as Teddy in front of his colleagues. It undermines his authority and now more than ever that is not a good thing."

Okay, who the hell did this prat think he was dealing with, Louis thought as he deliberately curved his lips into the sweetest of smiles. "He doesn't mind when I call him that. It's all I've ever called him. Only people he works with or doesn't know well calls him Ted. And maybe if he were a lesser man it would be a problem, but I happen to know what he's made of and I assure you something like a sweet name isn't nearly enough to bring him down. You should have more faith in his abilities."

Silence descended as the older man turned Louis's words around in his head before he came to a decision.

"Look, I'll be blunt. I can tell that you're interested him but you aren't his type. You're too young and while you might be able to hold his attention with your looks and charms for a while he'll discard you soon enough. Save ruining this long relationship you seem to have with him and break it off now before your hormones ruin his relationship with your family."

Studying the man Louis could see that the man was serious, though he wasn't remotely concerned about possible family strife. He just wanted him out of the way so that he could have Teddy all to himself. And assuming the man wasn't a complete idiot, he was reserving judgment there, the older man believed that Teddy would be interested in the both of them which would suggest he felt there was reason to believe that Teddy might be open to the idea of swinging both ways. Once you reached a certain age you had to accept that people didn't just change their sexuality to suit you after all. The stuffed shirt was too old not to know that, but maybe he'd just misinterpreted things Teddy had said or did?

He'd analyze and think about that later.

"Since we're cutting the bullshit let me be blunt too. Teddy doesn't seem to have ANY interest in you and you aren't dating him so you don't have the right to try and chase me off or tell me what to do. My family is his family too and even if we did go out and then break up it wouldn't hurt either of us because we love each other too much to let that happen."

"You think he loves you?" The tone was full of derision with just a hint of deep pain. "You're deluding yourself. The only person he loves is that stupid, brainless bird he fell for years ago and never got over. Keep thinking he could ever truly love you back and you'll find out that you're even stupider than your hair color would indicate."

And having said more than he'd meant to Ian shouldered Louis to the side and got into the building even as the other man cursed his retreating back for making a dumb blonde joke.

Remaining where he was Louis fumed, wanting oh so much to chase the bastard down and give him what was coming to him but knowing that he shouldn't because Teddy would not appreciate him verbally tearing one of his clients into human confetti at his workplace.

Plus there was the fact that the man had slipped up just long enough to make it obvious that the guy didn't just want a chance to jump Teddy's bones. The man was in love with him. Going on instinct Louis was pretty sure that Teddy was aware of the other man's feelings and had informed the jerk that he couldn't return his feelings which was why there'd been such underlying tension between them yesterday. Ian hadn't struck him as the type not to go after what he wanted either.

So he would cut the guy some slack today and rip him to shreds the next time he shot off his mouth, Louis decided as he started walking again, turning his attention to something that had stuck out for him during the other man's little spiel.

Brainless bird? That had been a deliberate word choice on the man's part. Why?

It went without saying that Teddy wouldn't fall in love with a bird unless the person in question had a bird animagi form, and while there were magical creatures that resembled birds Ian wouldn't know about them as a Muggle. So why had he referred to the girl as a bird? Was that just his way of saying the woman was birdbrained? No, that would be too redundant.

Maybe the woman's name was a bird one? Like Robin or Raven?

Rubbing his hands together Louis grinned, sure he'd just been handed a clue as to how to go about finding out who Teddy's former love was. After all, how hard would it be for his older cousins to remember any girl they knew who had a bird's name?

Talk about narrowing his field of suspects, yay.

)

Louis headed for Domi's shop since she was one of the oldest of their generation and because the poor girl had had to listen to years of Victoire bitching and complaining about EVERY girl who'd ever shown Teddy the least bit of interest. His oldest sister would know the most about Teddy's love life of course but he knew better than to even broach the subject with her. He didn't have hours to spare if she was willing to clue him in, which was debatable since she was just waiting for him to fall on his face where Teddy was concerned.

So he let himself into his other sister's shop, nose immediately assaulted with smells he associated with women which only made sense since his sister's place was a shrine to the beauty products women bought in droves in their doomed to failure attempts to look as gorgeous as the shop's proprietor.

Making his way through the crowded place with frequent stops due to women asking his opinion on something, Louis finally arrived at the counter and was informed that his sister was in the back room with his cousin Lily, who was there dropping off some merchandise.

Thanking her Louis let himself into the back, calling out greetings to the both of them.

Since he wasn't looking at them weird the two women assumed that thank Merlin their voices hadn't carried. The last thing they wanted was to mess things up for Teddy at this critical point in the relationship that could shortly bloom between him and Louis.

"Hey, little brother, what brings you by?"

"I was hoping to talk to you for a couple minutes? The both of you actually, since you're here too, Lily."

"Sure, I'm not scheduled to blow anything up for at least another couple hours. What's up?"

Trying not to think about how many times Lily had blown herself up, he probably didn't even know about half of them for that matter, Louis focused on the reason he'd come by in the first place. "I was wondering if either of you had ever heard Victoire or anyone else mention Teddy seriously fancying a girl with a bird's name?"

Both girls turned to look at each other in confusion and then turned their attention back to the man who was confusing them.

"Why would you think he ever fancied some bird woman?" Domi demanded to know, not wanting him to be discouraged by the possibility that Teddy was still hung up on some imaginary girl.

"Well I spoke to someone who's been interested in Teddy for a while and he said Teddy was hung up on some woman with a bird's name. Or at least that's what I think he was insinuating. I know there was and is someone, but no one seems to know who that someone is." As much as he trusted Lily Louis wasn't about to admit to her that he was interested in Teddy too. Her first loyalty would be to the man she saw as her oldest big brother and he didn't doubt that she'd tip him off if she thought he needed to know.

"Who was this guy interested in my big bro?"

"Some guy he works with sometimes. I met him a couple times at Teddy's office."

That made sense, they'd always assumed that Teddy had to be taking advantage of his Muggle connections to find lovers since no one in either of their extensive social networks had ever even hinted that Teddy was shagging any wizards. Maybe this guy was an ex trying to run Louis off by making up some imaginary girl who-wait a second…

Both girls clued in at the same time, a knowing light dawning in both their eyes. Maybe Teddy HAD mentioned having feelings for someone with a bird's name, not clueing this unknown guy to the fact that this particular name was in fact a nickname. One that only Teddy called this particular person.

'That has to be it' Domi and Lily communicated to each other with their eyes, their female minds understanding each other perfectly while Louis knew that he was missing something but had just enough testosterone in his body that he wasn't sure what that something was.

"Translation, please?"

After silently debating with each other for a moment the women silently agreed to throw Louis a small bone in the hopes that he would run with it and eventually come to the right conclusion without them having to spell it out for him.

"Well we were just thinking that maybe the name could be a nickname, not just a first name."

"Crap." Realizing that they were right Louis pouted, seeing his great clue slip through his fingers. Hell, Teddy called him Hummingbird, maybe he made it a habit of nicknaming people after wildlife and he just hadn't realized it.

He didn't get it.

And while both women sighed over that Domi's assistant came into the back and rushed over to inform her boss that a very large, scarred and wealthy man had just entered the shop. He'd refused to so much as speak with her and had instead handed her a list of things he was apparently hoping to get. They were out of one of the items and she'd come back to see if Lily had brought more.

Intrigued by the description Domi grabbed the product in question and then headed out with her brother and cousin at her heels, all curious about the man.

"Sexy." Was Louis's opinion as he looked the guy at the cash register over, thinking that the man wasn't his type but was definitely worth looking at.

"Dangerous sexy." Lily corrected, her voice appreciative. Scars were hot.

"Mr. Dangerous Sexy is mine." Domi informed them before sashaying over to the counter to deliver the final item and hit on him, her relatives remaining where they were so that they could enjoy the show from a safe distance.

Somehow they just knew this guy wasn't going to react to Domi the way most men did and they couldn't wait.

)

Louis was all but waiting to pounce on Teddy as soon as the man got home, immediately launching into a detailed retelling of what had happened at Domi's shop between his sister and the mysterious man who'd shown up there unexpectedly. The man had spoken not a single word to anyone while he was there, only nodding of shaking his head when appropriate. He had also seemed completely immune to Domi's charms and had shocked them all by writing three words in bold, capital letters on a piece of parchment after paying for his purchases.

"And the three words were 'I'm A Werewolf'. He left before she could say anything and so she wanted me to ask you if you knew where she could find him." Louis explained as he helped Teddy out of his coat, having not given the man time to do so early. "He's about her age, really tall and built, with very short, dark hair, golden eyes, and apparently a lot of money from the size and heft of his money purse. Oh, and totally sexy, dangerous predator vibes coming off him if that helps. Major scarring around the neck and cheek."

Teddy allowed himself a moment to be pissed off at the thought of Louis calling some other guy sexy before answering. "If I was betting money I'd put mine on Christopher Worden given his age, inability to speak, and the fact that he's well off. He comes from an old, extremely rich wizarding family based in Eastern Europe. He must be here on vacation." Sheer jealousy had him adding that the werewolf was straight, even though he didn't know that for sure.

Surprised to hear the faintest hint of jealousy in the other man's voice, Louis was pretty sure he wasn't hearing things, the blonde couldn't have stopped his pleased smile if he'd tried, which he didn't. "No worries, Teddy bear. I leave such men to Domi. He's not at all what I'm looking for."

"He's not, huh?"

"Nope, I'm looking for a man just like you."

Louis's words hitting him like a blow to his stomach Teddy had to clear his throat before he could properly verbalize the questions that were screaming through his mind at top speed. "You're…you're looking for a guy like me? But I'm…I'm NOTHING like the blokes you usually date. Are you joking?" Because if the blonde was he wasn't being remotely funny.

"No joke." Louis assured him with a saucy wink. "I've decided that my previous taste in men sucks and that it's about time I try my hand at getting myself a real man who's good enough for me. Someone just like you."

"Oh."