Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the general plot. Sorry this chapter is so text heavy, btw. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!

Blurting It Out

Louis was debating whether to hang around and wait for Lucy to come back when the doorbell sounded again. Oh crap, Victoire had finally arrived to unleash her wrath upon them all. And Lucy was in the house, he thought with an even bigger wince, knowing that that would only make it that much worse since his sister would hate having an audience even though Lucy wasn't a gossip like her older sister. But he had to get the door now, Louis reminded himself sternly, if for no other reason than Victoire hated to be kept waiting and would be that much more inclined to rip them to shreds if he made her wait on the stoop.

So he hurried to the door and opened it, bracing for impact.

"Hey, Cous."

Blinking in surprise, Louis stared at James with a truly dumbfounded expression on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Wow, nice welcome. It's nice to see you too." Reaching out James deliberately gave the younger man a noogie to wipe the deer in headlights look off the kid's face. "So you gonna let me in? I did drag my fine ass out of bed a lot earlier than I had to just to come here and help back you and Teddy up you know. Al and Lily would have been here too but we decided that Lily would get into a cat fight of epic proportions with Tori and the other one…well he's never really awake at this hour anyway, the sleep-aholic, and even if he was he would hesitate to take your sister out while I won't." Giving his little cousin a sunny smile, not surprised that Louis had turned his attention to trying to finger comb his hair back into place, James moved in to slug an arm over the other man's shoulder. "So I take it she hasn't been here yet, right? You wouldn't look so strung out if she had."

"How do you even know…did your parents ask you to come by?"

"Oh no. I wouldn't know that they even knew about you two if Domi hadn't mentioned that in the message she sent to Lily, Al and I. She got an owl from your mum by the by. So yeah, the three of us got together and I was nominated to be here when the shit hit the fan. Lucky me, huh? But we figured too many people would just make things worse and that this would be a better course of action. You guys have got loads of support though, so you don't have to worry about that if you have been. Where is Teddy anyway? Shouldn't he be answering the door with you just in case?"

"He's in his office talking with Lucy." Louis answered automatically, trying to wrap his mind around everything as James came inside the house, closing and locking the door behind the man automatically. "And by loads of support…how could we have loads already? I mean even if Domi messaged everyone last night you all should still be in the stunned stage, shouldn't you?"

Hell, he still had moments where he couldn't believe he and Teddy had hooked up.

"Oh no, most of us have known for years now." James grinned as he shrugged out of his jacket and hung it off one of the pegs before turning his attention back to Louis. "I mean it was bloody obvious what was going on once we knew to pay attention to the two of you. Personally I hadn't a clue until I overheard Lily and Hugo talking about it one day, she'll tell you that herself when you see her next. She likes to lord it over me that I'd still be in the dark if I hadn't eavesdropped. I think I'd have figured it out eventually, but she's convinced I'm as thickheaded as Uncle Ron when it comes to these things. My response was that no one is that thickheaded, but she disagreed."

"If you all knew he was gay then why the hell didn't you tell him that you knew? You all could have talked him into coming out sooner!" The fact that his cousins had all known before him made Louis really want to start bashing their heads together. And why hadn't they clued him in at the very least? Where was the family solidarity?

Surprise coming into his eyes, James cocked his head to the side in puzzlement. "Well we couldn't tell him, now could we? Not when he was working so bloody hard to keep you in the dark about him being in love with you. If we'd told him that we'd noticed he might have started to second guess himself even more than he already was and stopped coming to family stuff all together. We didn't want that, obviously."

Not recognizing the stunned silence for what it was James continued commenting about how tough it had been for them all to keep from interfering, especially when they'd all come up with some really excellent plans to get the two together. "Took you two long enough, but better late than never. Because boy are we all fucking glad he finally confessed that he's been head over heels for you for years and that you two are a couple now. I mean damn, watching him suffer in silence while you were totally oblivious was painful and I don't know how long we could have kept our mouths shut about it. Uhm….Louis…why are you looking at me like that? Louis?"

Moving to stand in front of the younger man James experimentally waved a hand in front of Louis's face, a little concerned about the man's lack of reaction. Had fear of his sister's wrath put the poor bloke in some sort of protective coma?

Enough time had passed that James was just about to go get help when Louis yelled Teddy's full name so loud that James literally jumped over a foot in the air in surprise. And then the blonde was shoving James out of his way and storming in the direction of Teddy's office, his cousin scrambling to catch up.

They met up with Teddy and Lucy in the hallway, the two coming at a run in reaction to Louis's roared summoning.

Marching over to Teddy Louis all but skewered the man's chest with his pointer finger. "I'M THE REASON YOU WERE IN THE CLOSET?! WHAT THE HELL?!"

Stunned silence was his answer.

"Oh shit. You didn't tell him that part."

"Oh, James." Shaking her head in the man's direction Lucy would have whacked him upside the head if he were closer. "Now you've done it."

"Teddy."

Reacting instinctively to the blonde's tone of voice, Teddy hunched his shoulders even as he forced himself to meet Louis's penetrating stare. "What exactly did James say to you?" He didn't look at his godbrother, though boy did he want to.

Two more solid finger pokes for emphasis followed as Louis repeated what James had said nearly word for word, the younger man's anger and confusion coloring every spoken syllable.

"Ah. I'm surprised you figured all that-wait…how many of you all are in the know here?" Teddy demanded to know, since Lucy hadn't known for sure. He was genuinely curious after all, plus it would give him a little more time to figure out how to explain this last secret to Louis without blowing it.

Wanting to help Teddy out Lucy admitted that she was curious too.

Seeing a chance to save himself a little James began to tick the people off on his fingers. "Well starting from the top we're pretty sure that Granddad suspects you're gay and Gran is in the dark so far as we know. Before you clued them in Louis's mum and Victoire were completely in the dark, we think Uncle Bill suspected the gay part, and Domi knew everything. Uncle Charlie, who can say really? Even if he does know he'd probably think it was none of his business. Everyone but Lucy in her family is in the dark as far as we know, we didn't include you in our club thing, Lucy, because you're closest to him after me and my sibs and we didn't know how you'd react. After that we think Aunt Angelina is the only one of her bunch that knows, and everyone in Uncle Ron's family knows that you're gay, though he and Aunt Hermione don't know the love thing since we figured they'd have told mum and dad if they knew. Naturally Uncle Ron wouldn't have even known about the gay thing if he hadn't been clued in by Aunt Hermione and Dad. And we all know in our family of course, though we don't know if the parents knew about the love thing before last night. That everyone?"

"AND WHY THE HELL WAS I NOT CLUED IN?!"

)

Reading the situation correctly, or at least hoping she was, Lucy slid past the two lovers and got a firm grip on James's upper arm. "James and I are going to go sit on the stairs and guard the house so to speak until Victoire either comes or you guys give the okay for us to leave. While we're doing that you two should go back to Teddy's office and discuss this in private like calm, rational, not screaming adults." And not waiting for confirmation Lucy started herding James back the way they'd come, the man not putting up much of a fight since he knew better than to try.

Both knowing that Lucy was right too Louis and Teddy wordlessly headed for the latter's office, Teddy closing the door firmly behind them once they'd arrived at their destination. And reading the situation correctly Teddy held up his hands as soon as he'd turned around to face Louis in a weary, pacifying manner that cut off the blonde's next rant. "Will you let me explain first, or would you prefer to get your yelling out of the way?" Louis hadn't cut and run, Teddy kept reminding himself as the other man thought that one over. The man cared enough to stay, so maybe there was still a chance if he was upfront and honest about his motives. Please Merlin let him be allowed to explain.

"Talk."

"Thank you." Taking a steadying breath Teddy sent out a mental prayer and then began. "Do you remember how Victoire and I got along before things went bad?"

Surprised at the question Louis answered automatically, having thought about the past enough not to have to think about it too hard. "I was still pretty young, but I remember you guys getting along really well. Being close."

"Like siblings, cousins, close friends. And we were. I loved her in that way. That that was all I could feel for Victoire destroyed that. Destroyed what we had. We're like a divorced couple who drifted apart now, with just enough memories of the good times not to hate each other. But we're so strained and unhappy in the other's company that we don't only hurt each other, but everyone around us who loves us too. And we did, hurt everyone, making them feel they needed to pick sides or place blame, or just feel caught in the middle. There wasn't anyone to blame really, she no more chose to love me than I could choose whether to return that love or not. I couldn't love her the way she wanted me to love her. The way everyone wanted me to love her."

"What's this got to do with anything?" Louis interrupted, his hands fisted at his side.

"Everything." Was Teddy's simple response. "I didn't choose to fall in love with you. In fact, had my heart asked my brain what I thought of the idea it would have screamed 'HELL NO' as loud as it could. But that's not how it works. It's the situation between Tori and me all over again, only I'm the one in love and you're the one…you're the one in my shoes. That's why, even after I came to terms with my sexuality, I kept quiet about it and how I felt about you. Because I knew that as the only two gay men in our family…if nothing else the possibility of us as a couple would intrigue them enough that they'd pay attention…pay attention and realize that you're the love of my life. That you're the only one for me and they'd try to bring us together and…I can't lose you too. I can't survive that."

Louis was moving before he realized his brain had ordered his legs to do so, catching himself just as he came within a foot of Teddy. This close he could see the pain and sadness that had drenched the man's words written all over his face, the tenseness of the other man's body and the strain mercilessly carving itself into Teddy's face. And while his every instinct screamed for him to enfold Teddy into his arms and hold on Louis reined himself in, knowing he had to know all of it before he did anything else. There could be no more secrets and he said so.

Aching to reach out, Louis was so close, Teddy forced himself to continue. "I'm not your type, not the dream man you would describe to people or the sort you'd bring around to family things. I accepted that I'm just too old for you, physically, and even more so emotionally. That I'm not what…I can no more change who I am than I can how I feel about you. If you knew you would have tried for me, you would have let them talk you into going out with me and doing the dance and…and I couldn't have borne that. It would have wrecked, or at least damaged things between us, and better I was your friend, your cousin and old babysitter than the guy you were forced to go out with out of pity and family pressure."

"Then why sleep with me now? Why let me know you were gay?"

"You didn't give me a choice. I knew I'd dug my grave as soon as I agreed to let you stay here…but I've never been good at denying you anything. Especially when the thought of having you all to myself for a little while…I'm only human, and a selfish one where you're concerned. I mean I tell myself everything is to protect you from ending up hurt like me…but it's mostly about me. Me wanting to protect myself and that's…I'm sorry, so sorry, Louis."

"You're stupid. Unbelievably stupid. An idiot to a degree that would make a troll look intelligent, Teddy Remus Lupin!"

And saying so Louis took the step necessary and wrapped his arms around Teddy's waist, feeling the shudder that ran up the length of the other man's body before Teddy's arms closed around him like banded steel. Rocking their bodies slightly Louis ran his hands up and down his lover's back, feeling the muscles twitch and jerk under his fingers at his touch. He didn't say anything though, waiting until most of the tension had left Teddy's body before he spoke again.

"Dumb as a post, you are. But that's only fair I guess, seeing as I am too apparently. For not seeing either. I can't believe everyone knew before I did. But you're dumber, let's get that straight."

"I'm not going to argue." His voice was rough with emotion, Teddy unable to move his face from the side of Louis's neck because he needed the familiar scents of the man's hair and skin.

Keeping one arm where it was Louis lifted the other so that he could stroke Teddy's hair while he scowled the man. "Good. And you know I'm going to make you suffer for making me think I had competition when I didn't. Sending me on some wild goose chase. Oh yes, you are going to pay for that."

Teddy's lips twitched in amusement for a moment before he sighed. "I thought you'd figure it out on your own when Ian gave you that bird hint. That it was you I was talking about."

"Wait…what….that was ME you and Lucy were talking about? The flighty, boy-toy loving, immature…YOU MEANT ME?" Insult was ripe in Louis's voice, though confusion quickly followed since his name wasn't remotely bird related. "My name means 'famous warrior'. There are no Louis birds. Or are there?" He'd never heard of one, but birds weren't exactly his thing.

Pulling away slightly Teddy nuzzled their cheeks together while he murmured softly that Louis was forgetting that he had a personal name for him that only he used.

"Hummingbird."

"Hummingbird." Teddy agreed softly, lifting his head so that he could press his lips against Louis's in a gesture that conveyed without words all the feelings he had for the man he held so tightly in his arms. Loved so much. "My hummingbird."