FIC: Right Here (James Sirius/Victoire, NC-17)
Title: Right Here
Author: gracerene
Prompt: #M4 by gracerene
Pairing: James/Victoire, past Teddy/Victoire, implications of James/Teddy
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~3,800
Content/Warnings: comfort sex, pining, cousincest, break-ups
Summary: If James couldn't be with Teddy, then maybe he could be him, just for a while.
Author's Note: Many thanks to my betas for helping me with this one.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling and associates. No copyright infringement intended.
Read on AO3
James knocked on the door to Teddy and Victoire's flat at half eight.
It was a drizzly spring evening, and the slightly uncomfortable mist of rain made the seconds drag. James knocked again, frowning when the door still went unopened. Teddy and Victoire never missed pub nights. He checked his watch. Yes, it was half past eight and it was definitely Tuesday, which meant there was no reason for Teddy and Victoire not to be home. They were always home at half past eight on Tuesdays. James would knock (because Victoire had wanted the modern flat without a messy Floo connection) and then they'd go off to whatever pub Teddy had decided he'd wanted to try that week. It was ritual-tradition-and it had been for almost a year now.
James knocked again, more insistently this time. Maybe they hadn't heard. Maybe they had been...distracted. James stomach twisted unpleasantly at the thought. An unwanted memory from a few months back flashed through his head, Victoire rushing to the door apologetically as she straightened her skirt, a rumpled Teddy grinning too-wide at James in an inside-out jumper. James shook the traitorous remembrance from his head and glared at the door a bit more pointedly, as if that would motivate the door to do its job properly and alert the occupants that James was outside. Surely they would have owled him if they had to cancel. Unless it was an emergency.
James pounded on the door this time. "Teddy? Victoire? Are you guys in?" His anxiety bled through his tone.
The door opened. Victoire stood in front of him, looking tired and worn. She was wearing sleep pants and an oversized Auror shirt that was clearly Teddy's. Her hair hung straight and dull and James was pretty sure there wasn't an ounce of makeup on her face. James stared in shock. In all the years he'd known her, he didn't think he'd ever seen her so dishevelled.
"Are you okay? Is Teddy alright? Did something happen to him?"
Victoire let out a sharp bark of laughter, but opened the door wide in invitation. James slipped inside, his eyes never leaving Victoire's form as she drifted over to the comfortable sofa across the room. The flat was eerily silent. James couldn't place what it was, but something about the room seemed different.
"Victoire? You're freaking me out. What's going on? Where's Teddy?"
"Teddy's gone."
"What!? What do you mean he's gone? What happened?" James could feel panic closing up his throat.
Victoire looked up blankly before wincing at James's expression. "Oh, Salazar, no, James. Teddy is fine. Nothing happened to him. We broke up."
Relief coursed through him as he collapsed at the other end of the sofa. "Oh, thank God."
Victoire smiled bitterly at him and James cringed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I meant-I thought he was injured." Though James wasn't sure he was being entirely truthful. How many times had he wished that Victoire and Teddy would break up? How many times had he sat with them at the pub and wished it was his shoulder Teddy's arm was wrapped around, instead of Victoire's? But this wasn't the first time Teddy and Victoire had had their differences, and Teddy always came back to her in the end. "Give him time, I'm sure he'll-"
"It's for good this time." Victoire’s tone was final. Absolute. "He packed up all of his things and moved out." James looked around the room, and realised what it was that had seemed so off. All of Teddy's things: his signed Snitch from the Falcon's seeker; his collection of rare defensive spell books; his acoustic guitar that always sat by the window, all of it was gone. Teddy had never gone so far as to actually move any of his stuff out before; the most he'd ever left with was an overnight bag while he crashed on James's couch and cooled down.
"When did this happen?"
Victoire pulled her feet up to the sofa and wrapped her arms around her knees. "It's been building up for a while now. I didn't want to see it. But we ended things last Friday. I spent the weekend with Dominique while he cleared his stuff out. I figured you would have helped him move out. I didn't think I'd need to cancel tonight."
James tried to figure out what to say. He knew he should be comforting Victoire-she was his friend too-but all he could think about was the fact that Teddy hadn't told him. It had been four whole days since he and Victoire had split up, and James hadn't heard one word. Teddy was his mate. His best mate. Sure, yeah, James wanted more, but he thought he'd at least had his friendship. He thought he'd earned the right to be the person Teddy turned to when he needed help, when he was upset and heartbroken. He glanced over at Victoire, who was looking bemusedly out at her living room. God, James was a bastard. Making the breakup all about him when it was clear that Victoire was hurting.
James had always felt the five years between him and Victoire. It had been different with Teddy, even though he was older than Victoire. He had a playfulness, a sort of youthful exuberance, that had always felt eminently touchable to James. Too touchable, which was part of the problem, really. But not Victoire. She was cool and elegant, and James couldn't help but feel silly and young and inexperienced in comparison. James would watch enviously whenever she'd swan into the room and kiss Teddy full on the mouth, her blonde hair shimmering around his shoulders. He knew that Teddy would never look twice at him, knew he could never compete with Victoire. But James had never hated her, never resented her. She was funny and kind, and it was obvious that Teddy was crazy about her. James could never hate somebody that Teddy loved. And it wasn't her fault that Teddy didn't love him the way James wanted him to.
Now, curled next to James on the couch, she seemed impossibly young. Her expression was so sad and full of yearning, so different from her usual easy confidence. James knew this expression well. He'd felt it flicker over his own face every time Teddy and Victoire had touched, had known that same bittersweet longing whenever Teddy smiled that brotherly smile at him, knowing that it was all he would ever get. James knew, perhaps better than anybody, what it was to love Teddy and not be able to have him.
"Are you okay?" He murmured, shifting closer to her on the couch and placing his arm comfortingly around her shoulders.
She turned her head to look at him, her eyes surprisingly aware as she gazed into his own. She was so close that James could see each individual eyelash framing her deep blue eyes. He couldn't help but notice that even without the makeup and the hair products and the expensive robes, she was still uncommonly beautiful. She was small and soft in his arms. James had never been particularly interested in small or soft before, but having her look up at him with those big, watery eyes, James thought he could see the appeal.
"Do you think I'm pretty, James?"
"What? Of course you are. You know you're beautiful."
"Do you really think so? I know you prefer men. You don't have to lie."
"I'm not lying. I may prefer men, but I have been with women, you know. And I'm not blind. I know beauty when I see it."
Victoire's eyes flashed with something that James couldn't quite make out, and then her lips pressed softly against his own. He froze in shock, unsure of how to react, and Victoire must have taken that for acquiescence because a second later her hands slid into his hair and she pulled him more firmly against her.
For a moment he gave in, closing his eyes and relishing in the feeling of warm lips sliding together-it had been so very long since he'd been with anybody. But then Victoire's tongue traced the seam of his lips, and James's brain came back online. This was Victoire. The ex-girlfriend of the man he was in love with. They couldn't do this.
"We can't do this," he told Victoire, pulling away.
"Why not?"
"Because-because you're upset. Because you're my best mate's ex-girlfriend. Because we don't even like each other, not like that. Take your pick."
"Who cares about all of that?"
"I care."
Victoire rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm upset, but that doesn't mean I suddenly can't make decisions. We're not going to start dating or anything. It's only sex. Teddy doesn't have to know. I certainly won't tell him."
"I don't like keeping secrets from Teddy." Except for the one, massive secret. The one where James was in love with him, and Teddy had no clue. "And you're still my cousin."
"Oh please. We didn't grow up together. I was way older than the rest of you cousins, and I was never one for family functions anyways. There's a reason why you listed that objection last. It's only weird because you think it should be weird."
"I still don't think-"
Victoire swung herself onto his lap. "Then stop thinking."
This time there was nothing soft about the kiss. It was hard and aggressive, demanding James open up beneath her tongue. James did. This was crazy-madness. James didn't want Victoire, didn't love her, but he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't fascinated by her. He always had been. James had spent hours watching her, studying her, trying to figure out what exactly it was about her that made Teddy fall in love. It was natural for that kind of attention to lead to a mild infatuation. For James to begin to see the appeal of her sharp wit and slender form. He may be in love with Teddy, but Teddy had been in love with Victoire, and that had made her special. If James couldn't be with Teddy, then maybe he could be him, just for a while.
James hadn't been lying when he'd said he'd been with women, but it had been a long damn while. He really did prefer men in general, and Teddy in particular. He'd been going through a bit of a dry spell lately, but James still figured he had the basics down. Besides, this wasn't about making love or some deep emotional connection. This was about sex, about comfort and losing yourself in physical pleasure.
His hands slipped beneath her oversized shirt-Teddy's shirt-and slid up, taking the fabric with them and leaving her in only a lacy black bra. James kissed his way down her sternum, moving to lick at her tits through the fabric. The lace was thin, and it wasn't long before it was soaked with his saliva, her nipples hard beneath his tongue as he laved at the delicate material. Fuck it had been a while. It had been months since James had pulled, since he'd managed anything more than a passing interest in anybody who wasn't Teddy. Teddy, who'd probably sucked this same nipple into his mouth, had probably kissed and bit at it until Victoire dragged her nails down his back.
Small hands slipped to his waistband, undoing his trousers in practised movements and freeing his erection in record time. Her fingers were so soft and smooth as they wrapped around him, wanking his cock slowly. James wondered if this was how Teddy preferred it, if she was jerking him off the same way she'd jerked Teddy off. Had he taught her how he liked it best? Did he like it slow and hard, like this? Had he told her that he loved it when she flicked her wrist like that at the end?
He growled and flipped Victoire onto her back against the cushions. He wasn't sure what was more fucked up, the fact that he was having sex with Victoire, or that her connection to Teddy was what was getting him so hot. He couldn't bring himself to care. Below him, Victoire's eyes blazed as she kicked off her sleep pants, leaving her clad in only her bra and knickers. James tore off his shirt before sliding his palms up Victoire's legs and hooking his fingers in the waistband of the lacy undergarment. She arched, and he slid them off, tossing them on the floor. Deliberately, Victoire spread her legs, hooking a calf over the back of the sofa and opening herself up completely.
"Fuck," James whispered.
"That is the plan."
He pressed his thumb against her opening, sliding up through her slickness to circle at her clit. She arched and gasped with every steady rotation. Her other leg wrapped around his waist and tugged him closer, causing him to almost fall right on top of her.
"Okay, okay," James mumbled, reaching for his wand. Clearly Victoire was impatient.
He cast a protection and contraception charm, and placed his wand on the end table. Grabbing hold of his prick, he rubbed the head through Victoire's folds, coating himself in her slick, before pressing against her and sliding slowly inside.
She felt like heaven, so hot and tight and wet around his cock. She moaned as he slid home, and rotated her hips, trying to take more of him in. Looking down at her, writhing and panting beneath him, all James could think about was Teddy. How many times had he seen this same image? How many times had he felt this same, blissful grip on his cock? Had he fucked her like this, face to face on the sofa? He groaned at the thought and started thrusting.
Victoire reached up and dragged him down, pulling his mouth towards her own for a bruising kiss. She wrapped both her legs around his waist, her hands gripping his arse and kneading his cheeks. "Harder," she growled against his mouth in between savage kisses. "Fuck me harder."
James did, bracing his hands on either side of Victoire's head and thrusting in as hard as he thought she could reasonably take it. That was one of the things he preferred about being with men; he never worried that he would break them with his strength. But Victoire was more durable than she looked, and she gave back as good as she got, pulling at his hair and scratching at his skin as he took her.
James gave himself over to it, to the feeling of Victoire's legs digging bruises into his hips, her teeth scraping against his mouth, her warm cunt around his cock. He could feel his orgasm racing towards him, and he snapped his hips faster, trying to bring about that sweet release. One of Victoire's hands slipped between them, her fingers brushing against his prick as she started working her clit. She gasped into his mouth and grabbed his bottom lip between her teeth as she came. He could feel her clenching around him, her inner muscles milking him until he orgasmed, panting wetly against her lips.
"It was because of you, you know," Victoire said, after. She'd slipped her knickers back on and was lounging back against the sofa in her matching lacy underthings.
"What?"
"Why we broke up, Teddy and me." Her expression was thoughtful, and a bit sad. "It was because of you. He's in love with you."
James heart thrummed uncomfortably fast in his chest, and he paused with his trousers mid way up his thighs. "No, he's not. He can't be," James whispered.
"That's what I told myself, too. But it's always been different between you two, hasn't it? He's always been different when you're around, ever since we were little. It used to make me so jealous, how close you two were. He was always dragging you along to our date nights and dropping everything the moment you called." She grabbed her wand from the tangle of clothes by the sofa. With it, she summoned a sleek pack of cigarettes and a golden lighter.
"I didn't know you smoked," James said. He finished pulling on his trousers and sat back down on the sofa. He longed for Victoire to continue her little story, to tell him why she thought Teddy was in love with him, but he didn't know how to do it without sounding callous.
"I don't, usually. Teddy hated it." She withdrew a slim cigarette and lit the end with a practised flick of the lighter. She held the box out to James, but he shook his head. She shrugged and took a long drag.
"I told myself that I was over-reacting, seeing things that weren't there," she continued. She paused to lean back against the sofa and blow smoke up at the ceiling. "I could see the way you looked at him, you know. I knew that you wanted him, but it was my bed Teddy was in every night." James felt his stomach twist at Victoire's words, both with jealousy and fear. He hadn't realised that she'd known all along how he felt about Teddy. He wondered who else knew his secret, if Teddy knew. "I tried to convince myself that it was only the bonds of brotherhood that I was seeing. I knew that just because you were in love with him, it didn't mean that he felt the same towards you." James smiled tightly. He knew that all too well.
Victoire took another puff of her cigarette, rolling the smoke around in her mouth, before blowing it out in seductive, hazy tendrils. "But he doesn't act that way around Al or Lily, and the more you grew up…" She trailed off and looked at James's bare chest in frank admiration. "Well, I wasn't going to play second fiddle anymore. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?" Her words were bitter, but her eyes were surprisingly soft as they looked at James, who felt like he'd been flayed open.
"I-" He didn't know what to say, torn between guilt and horrified joy.
"It's okay, you know. I don't hate you. It's not your fault." She sighed and took another inhale of her cigarette. "It's nobody's fault."
James stared at her. "So then why did we have sex? If you knew I was in love with Teddy, why would you…seduce me?"
"He's in love with you," Victoire said simply. "Merlin, I don't think he's ever not been in love with you. I wanted to know why. What it was about you that made you-made you so special." Her voice cracked on that last part and guilt flooded out the spark of James's burgeoning anger.
"He loved you, too. I know he did."
She laughed. "Yes, he did. But he never loved me the way he loved you, and I suppose… Well I suppose I had to see how I measured up. I'm-I'm sorry, for not telling you before. That was-"
Shitty. It was shitty, and he wasn't sure whether he should be angry at her for that, for manipulating him into having sex with her when she knew he could be with the person he was actually in love with. Though he supposed he was using her as much as she was using him. James didn't think he had a right to be upset with her for doing the exact same thing he had.
"It's okay," he murmured.
She gave him a grateful smile, and it struck James, once again, how beautiful she truly was. All blonde, flowing hair, and pale, flawless skin in lacy lingerie. She sat there smoking her cigarette, and even in her sadness, she was film-star gorgeous. Any guy would have to be out of his mind not to want her. But all James could think about was Teddy. Teddy, who might want him. He felt like he was vibrating out of his skin. James wanted to do something, anything, wanted to go to Teddy, profess his love, but he was unable to move. He was still paralysed by a lifetime of telling himself that Teddy wasn't for him.
"Andromeda's in Spain for the week," Victoire said, abruptly.
"Hmm?" James hummed absently.
"Teddy went to stay with Andromeda, while he looks for a new place. But Andromeda left this morning for Spain." She enunciated every word, as if he were a child. He looked at her with creased brows. "Teddy's there, in that big house, all alone. One might think it was the perfect opportunity to say, confess one's undying love. If one were so inclined."
James stared at her, gobsmacked. "I-we-we had sex. And now you want me to go tell your ex-boyfriend, who you're still in love with, that I'm madly in love with him?"
"I already told you, I'm not angry at you. I'm trying to be the bigger person here. The sex…" She looked regretful. "Well I hadn't planned on that happening, and it wasn't exactly my proudest moment, was it?" Her eyes were full of guilt as they looked at him. "I'm not happy about it, okay. But you and Teddy have been in love with each other for years. We didn't break up just so you two could continue pining away for each other for no damn reason."
She glared at him, and he stood up. "Okay, okay, I'll go talk to him," James said, as he pulled on his shirt. He felt a little light-headed at the thought, his blood rushing too-fast through his veins.
"Are you-" He turned to look at Victoire, biting his lip before continuing. "Are you sure he really wants me?" James whispered. He didn't think he could bear it this was all some kind of elaborate prank.
Her expression softened. "I'm sure, James. You two were made for each other. I wouldn't lie to you about that."
He nodded, before he bent down and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. She tasted like smoke. "Thank you, Victoire."
"Goodbye, James."
James turned and walked out of the flat. It was drizzling outside and he turned his face up towards the sky for a moment, to appreciate the cool mist on his skin. He smiled, focusing on Andromeda's house, on Teddy, as he closed his eyes and felt the twist of Apparition.
Author: gracerene
Prompt: #M4 by gracerene
Pairing: James/Victoire, past Teddy/Victoire, implications of James/Teddy
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~3,800
Content/Warnings: comfort sex, pining, cousincest, break-ups
Summary: If James couldn't be with Teddy, then maybe he could be him, just for a while.
Author's Note: Many thanks to my betas for helping me with this one.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling and associates. No copyright infringement intended.
Read on AO3
James knocked on the door to Teddy and Victoire's flat at half eight.
It was a drizzly spring evening, and the slightly uncomfortable mist of rain made the seconds drag. James knocked again, frowning when the door still went unopened. Teddy and Victoire never missed pub nights. He checked his watch. Yes, it was half past eight and it was definitely Tuesday, which meant there was no reason for Teddy and Victoire not to be home. They were always home at half past eight on Tuesdays. James would knock (because Victoire had wanted the modern flat without a messy Floo connection) and then they'd go off to whatever pub Teddy had decided he'd wanted to try that week. It was ritual-tradition-and it had been for almost a year now.
James knocked again, more insistently this time. Maybe they hadn't heard. Maybe they had been...distracted. James stomach twisted unpleasantly at the thought. An unwanted memory from a few months back flashed through his head, Victoire rushing to the door apologetically as she straightened her skirt, a rumpled Teddy grinning too-wide at James in an inside-out jumper. James shook the traitorous remembrance from his head and glared at the door a bit more pointedly, as if that would motivate the door to do its job properly and alert the occupants that James was outside. Surely they would have owled him if they had to cancel. Unless it was an emergency.
James pounded on the door this time. "Teddy? Victoire? Are you guys in?" His anxiety bled through his tone.
The door opened. Victoire stood in front of him, looking tired and worn. She was wearing sleep pants and an oversized Auror shirt that was clearly Teddy's. Her hair hung straight and dull and James was pretty sure there wasn't an ounce of makeup on her face. James stared in shock. In all the years he'd known her, he didn't think he'd ever seen her so dishevelled.
"Are you okay? Is Teddy alright? Did something happen to him?"
Victoire let out a sharp bark of laughter, but opened the door wide in invitation. James slipped inside, his eyes never leaving Victoire's form as she drifted over to the comfortable sofa across the room. The flat was eerily silent. James couldn't place what it was, but something about the room seemed different.
"Victoire? You're freaking me out. What's going on? Where's Teddy?"
"Teddy's gone."
"What!? What do you mean he's gone? What happened?" James could feel panic closing up his throat.
Victoire looked up blankly before wincing at James's expression. "Oh, Salazar, no, James. Teddy is fine. Nothing happened to him. We broke up."
Relief coursed through him as he collapsed at the other end of the sofa. "Oh, thank God."
Victoire smiled bitterly at him and James cringed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I meant-I thought he was injured." Though James wasn't sure he was being entirely truthful. How many times had he wished that Victoire and Teddy would break up? How many times had he sat with them at the pub and wished it was his shoulder Teddy's arm was wrapped around, instead of Victoire's? But this wasn't the first time Teddy and Victoire had had their differences, and Teddy always came back to her in the end. "Give him time, I'm sure he'll-"
"It's for good this time." Victoire’s tone was final. Absolute. "He packed up all of his things and moved out." James looked around the room, and realised what it was that had seemed so off. All of Teddy's things: his signed Snitch from the Falcon's seeker; his collection of rare defensive spell books; his acoustic guitar that always sat by the window, all of it was gone. Teddy had never gone so far as to actually move any of his stuff out before; the most he'd ever left with was an overnight bag while he crashed on James's couch and cooled down.
"When did this happen?"
Victoire pulled her feet up to the sofa and wrapped her arms around her knees. "It's been building up for a while now. I didn't want to see it. But we ended things last Friday. I spent the weekend with Dominique while he cleared his stuff out. I figured you would have helped him move out. I didn't think I'd need to cancel tonight."
James tried to figure out what to say. He knew he should be comforting Victoire-she was his friend too-but all he could think about was the fact that Teddy hadn't told him. It had been four whole days since he and Victoire had split up, and James hadn't heard one word. Teddy was his mate. His best mate. Sure, yeah, James wanted more, but he thought he'd at least had his friendship. He thought he'd earned the right to be the person Teddy turned to when he needed help, when he was upset and heartbroken. He glanced over at Victoire, who was looking bemusedly out at her living room. God, James was a bastard. Making the breakup all about him when it was clear that Victoire was hurting.
James had always felt the five years between him and Victoire. It had been different with Teddy, even though he was older than Victoire. He had a playfulness, a sort of youthful exuberance, that had always felt eminently touchable to James. Too touchable, which was part of the problem, really. But not Victoire. She was cool and elegant, and James couldn't help but feel silly and young and inexperienced in comparison. James would watch enviously whenever she'd swan into the room and kiss Teddy full on the mouth, her blonde hair shimmering around his shoulders. He knew that Teddy would never look twice at him, knew he could never compete with Victoire. But James had never hated her, never resented her. She was funny and kind, and it was obvious that Teddy was crazy about her. James could never hate somebody that Teddy loved. And it wasn't her fault that Teddy didn't love him the way James wanted him to.
Now, curled next to James on the couch, she seemed impossibly young. Her expression was so sad and full of yearning, so different from her usual easy confidence. James knew this expression well. He'd felt it flicker over his own face every time Teddy and Victoire had touched, had known that same bittersweet longing whenever Teddy smiled that brotherly smile at him, knowing that it was all he would ever get. James knew, perhaps better than anybody, what it was to love Teddy and not be able to have him.
"Are you okay?" He murmured, shifting closer to her on the couch and placing his arm comfortingly around her shoulders.
She turned her head to look at him, her eyes surprisingly aware as she gazed into his own. She was so close that James could see each individual eyelash framing her deep blue eyes. He couldn't help but notice that even without the makeup and the hair products and the expensive robes, she was still uncommonly beautiful. She was small and soft in his arms. James had never been particularly interested in small or soft before, but having her look up at him with those big, watery eyes, James thought he could see the appeal.
"Do you think I'm pretty, James?"
"What? Of course you are. You know you're beautiful."
"Do you really think so? I know you prefer men. You don't have to lie."
"I'm not lying. I may prefer men, but I have been with women, you know. And I'm not blind. I know beauty when I see it."
Victoire's eyes flashed with something that James couldn't quite make out, and then her lips pressed softly against his own. He froze in shock, unsure of how to react, and Victoire must have taken that for acquiescence because a second later her hands slid into his hair and she pulled him more firmly against her.
For a moment he gave in, closing his eyes and relishing in the feeling of warm lips sliding together-it had been so very long since he'd been with anybody. But then Victoire's tongue traced the seam of his lips, and James's brain came back online. This was Victoire. The ex-girlfriend of the man he was in love with. They couldn't do this.
"We can't do this," he told Victoire, pulling away.
"Why not?"
"Because-because you're upset. Because you're my best mate's ex-girlfriend. Because we don't even like each other, not like that. Take your pick."
"Who cares about all of that?"
"I care."
Victoire rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm upset, but that doesn't mean I suddenly can't make decisions. We're not going to start dating or anything. It's only sex. Teddy doesn't have to know. I certainly won't tell him."
"I don't like keeping secrets from Teddy." Except for the one, massive secret. The one where James was in love with him, and Teddy had no clue. "And you're still my cousin."
"Oh please. We didn't grow up together. I was way older than the rest of you cousins, and I was never one for family functions anyways. There's a reason why you listed that objection last. It's only weird because you think it should be weird."
"I still don't think-"
Victoire swung herself onto his lap. "Then stop thinking."
This time there was nothing soft about the kiss. It was hard and aggressive, demanding James open up beneath her tongue. James did. This was crazy-madness. James didn't want Victoire, didn't love her, but he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't fascinated by her. He always had been. James had spent hours watching her, studying her, trying to figure out what exactly it was about her that made Teddy fall in love. It was natural for that kind of attention to lead to a mild infatuation. For James to begin to see the appeal of her sharp wit and slender form. He may be in love with Teddy, but Teddy had been in love with Victoire, and that had made her special. If James couldn't be with Teddy, then maybe he could be him, just for a while.
James hadn't been lying when he'd said he'd been with women, but it had been a long damn while. He really did prefer men in general, and Teddy in particular. He'd been going through a bit of a dry spell lately, but James still figured he had the basics down. Besides, this wasn't about making love or some deep emotional connection. This was about sex, about comfort and losing yourself in physical pleasure.
His hands slipped beneath her oversized shirt-Teddy's shirt-and slid up, taking the fabric with them and leaving her in only a lacy black bra. James kissed his way down her sternum, moving to lick at her tits through the fabric. The lace was thin, and it wasn't long before it was soaked with his saliva, her nipples hard beneath his tongue as he laved at the delicate material. Fuck it had been a while. It had been months since James had pulled, since he'd managed anything more than a passing interest in anybody who wasn't Teddy. Teddy, who'd probably sucked this same nipple into his mouth, had probably kissed and bit at it until Victoire dragged her nails down his back.
Small hands slipped to his waistband, undoing his trousers in practised movements and freeing his erection in record time. Her fingers were so soft and smooth as they wrapped around him, wanking his cock slowly. James wondered if this was how Teddy preferred it, if she was jerking him off the same way she'd jerked Teddy off. Had he taught her how he liked it best? Did he like it slow and hard, like this? Had he told her that he loved it when she flicked her wrist like that at the end?
He growled and flipped Victoire onto her back against the cushions. He wasn't sure what was more fucked up, the fact that he was having sex with Victoire, or that her connection to Teddy was what was getting him so hot. He couldn't bring himself to care. Below him, Victoire's eyes blazed as she kicked off her sleep pants, leaving her clad in only her bra and knickers. James tore off his shirt before sliding his palms up Victoire's legs and hooking his fingers in the waistband of the lacy undergarment. She arched, and he slid them off, tossing them on the floor. Deliberately, Victoire spread her legs, hooking a calf over the back of the sofa and opening herself up completely.
"Fuck," James whispered.
"That is the plan."
He pressed his thumb against her opening, sliding up through her slickness to circle at her clit. She arched and gasped with every steady rotation. Her other leg wrapped around his waist and tugged him closer, causing him to almost fall right on top of her.
"Okay, okay," James mumbled, reaching for his wand. Clearly Victoire was impatient.
He cast a protection and contraception charm, and placed his wand on the end table. Grabbing hold of his prick, he rubbed the head through Victoire's folds, coating himself in her slick, before pressing against her and sliding slowly inside.
She felt like heaven, so hot and tight and wet around his cock. She moaned as he slid home, and rotated her hips, trying to take more of him in. Looking down at her, writhing and panting beneath him, all James could think about was Teddy. How many times had he seen this same image? How many times had he felt this same, blissful grip on his cock? Had he fucked her like this, face to face on the sofa? He groaned at the thought and started thrusting.
Victoire reached up and dragged him down, pulling his mouth towards her own for a bruising kiss. She wrapped both her legs around his waist, her hands gripping his arse and kneading his cheeks. "Harder," she growled against his mouth in between savage kisses. "Fuck me harder."
James did, bracing his hands on either side of Victoire's head and thrusting in as hard as he thought she could reasonably take it. That was one of the things he preferred about being with men; he never worried that he would break them with his strength. But Victoire was more durable than she looked, and she gave back as good as she got, pulling at his hair and scratching at his skin as he took her.
James gave himself over to it, to the feeling of Victoire's legs digging bruises into his hips, her teeth scraping against his mouth, her warm cunt around his cock. He could feel his orgasm racing towards him, and he snapped his hips faster, trying to bring about that sweet release. One of Victoire's hands slipped between them, her fingers brushing against his prick as she started working her clit. She gasped into his mouth and grabbed his bottom lip between her teeth as she came. He could feel her clenching around him, her inner muscles milking him until he orgasmed, panting wetly against her lips.
"It was because of you, you know," Victoire said, after. She'd slipped her knickers back on and was lounging back against the sofa in her matching lacy underthings.
"What?"
"Why we broke up, Teddy and me." Her expression was thoughtful, and a bit sad. "It was because of you. He's in love with you."
James heart thrummed uncomfortably fast in his chest, and he paused with his trousers mid way up his thighs. "No, he's not. He can't be," James whispered.
"That's what I told myself, too. But it's always been different between you two, hasn't it? He's always been different when you're around, ever since we were little. It used to make me so jealous, how close you two were. He was always dragging you along to our date nights and dropping everything the moment you called." She grabbed her wand from the tangle of clothes by the sofa. With it, she summoned a sleek pack of cigarettes and a golden lighter.
"I didn't know you smoked," James said. He finished pulling on his trousers and sat back down on the sofa. He longed for Victoire to continue her little story, to tell him why she thought Teddy was in love with him, but he didn't know how to do it without sounding callous.
"I don't, usually. Teddy hated it." She withdrew a slim cigarette and lit the end with a practised flick of the lighter. She held the box out to James, but he shook his head. She shrugged and took a long drag.
"I told myself that I was over-reacting, seeing things that weren't there," she continued. She paused to lean back against the sofa and blow smoke up at the ceiling. "I could see the way you looked at him, you know. I knew that you wanted him, but it was my bed Teddy was in every night." James felt his stomach twist at Victoire's words, both with jealousy and fear. He hadn't realised that she'd known all along how he felt about Teddy. He wondered who else knew his secret, if Teddy knew. "I tried to convince myself that it was only the bonds of brotherhood that I was seeing. I knew that just because you were in love with him, it didn't mean that he felt the same towards you." James smiled tightly. He knew that all too well.
Victoire took another puff of her cigarette, rolling the smoke around in her mouth, before blowing it out in seductive, hazy tendrils. "But he doesn't act that way around Al or Lily, and the more you grew up…" She trailed off and looked at James's bare chest in frank admiration. "Well, I wasn't going to play second fiddle anymore. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?" Her words were bitter, but her eyes were surprisingly soft as they looked at James, who felt like he'd been flayed open.
"I-" He didn't know what to say, torn between guilt and horrified joy.
"It's okay, you know. I don't hate you. It's not your fault." She sighed and took another inhale of her cigarette. "It's nobody's fault."
James stared at her. "So then why did we have sex? If you knew I was in love with Teddy, why would you…seduce me?"
"He's in love with you," Victoire said simply. "Merlin, I don't think he's ever not been in love with you. I wanted to know why. What it was about you that made you-made you so special." Her voice cracked on that last part and guilt flooded out the spark of James's burgeoning anger.
"He loved you, too. I know he did."
She laughed. "Yes, he did. But he never loved me the way he loved you, and I suppose… Well I suppose I had to see how I measured up. I'm-I'm sorry, for not telling you before. That was-"
Shitty. It was shitty, and he wasn't sure whether he should be angry at her for that, for manipulating him into having sex with her when she knew he could be with the person he was actually in love with. Though he supposed he was using her as much as she was using him. James didn't think he had a right to be upset with her for doing the exact same thing he had.
"It's okay," he murmured.
She gave him a grateful smile, and it struck James, once again, how beautiful she truly was. All blonde, flowing hair, and pale, flawless skin in lacy lingerie. She sat there smoking her cigarette, and even in her sadness, she was film-star gorgeous. Any guy would have to be out of his mind not to want her. But all James could think about was Teddy. Teddy, who might want him. He felt like he was vibrating out of his skin. James wanted to do something, anything, wanted to go to Teddy, profess his love, but he was unable to move. He was still paralysed by a lifetime of telling himself that Teddy wasn't for him.
"Andromeda's in Spain for the week," Victoire said, abruptly.
"Hmm?" James hummed absently.
"Teddy went to stay with Andromeda, while he looks for a new place. But Andromeda left this morning for Spain." She enunciated every word, as if he were a child. He looked at her with creased brows. "Teddy's there, in that big house, all alone. One might think it was the perfect opportunity to say, confess one's undying love. If one were so inclined."
James stared at her, gobsmacked. "I-we-we had sex. And now you want me to go tell your ex-boyfriend, who you're still in love with, that I'm madly in love with him?"
"I already told you, I'm not angry at you. I'm trying to be the bigger person here. The sex…" She looked regretful. "Well I hadn't planned on that happening, and it wasn't exactly my proudest moment, was it?" Her eyes were full of guilt as they looked at him. "I'm not happy about it, okay. But you and Teddy have been in love with each other for years. We didn't break up just so you two could continue pining away for each other for no damn reason."
She glared at him, and he stood up. "Okay, okay, I'll go talk to him," James said, as he pulled on his shirt. He felt a little light-headed at the thought, his blood rushing too-fast through his veins.
"Are you-" He turned to look at Victoire, biting his lip before continuing. "Are you sure he really wants me?" James whispered. He didn't think he could bear it this was all some kind of elaborate prank.
Her expression softened. "I'm sure, James. You two were made for each other. I wouldn't lie to you about that."
He nodded, before he bent down and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. She tasted like smoke. "Thank you, Victoire."
"Goodbye, James."
James turned and walked out of the flat. It was drizzling outside and he turned his face up towards the sky for a moment, to appreciate the cool mist on his skin. He smiled, focusing on Andromeda's house, on Teddy, as he closed his eyes and felt the twist of Apparition.