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Teddy has almost invisible freckles, that make themselves known during the summer months, a faint dusting right across his nose that you can only see really up close. James likes to wake Teddy up in the morning by kissing each of his freckles then placing a quick kiss on the tip of his nose before going to make coffee.
James has a ton of freckles of course, just like his mom. On his face, on his arms, his back, his chest. And then there are the ones that only Teddy gets to see, the ones right on the inside of James’ hip and trailing down his inner thigh, where he gets to press his lips to each and every one, going as slow as he likes until James gets fed up and swats him on the head with a “get on with it already, then!”. James never really cared one way or another about his freckles, they just were. But the way Teddy loved them, seemed to worship them every chance he got; well James loved that more than he could ever say.
Teddy remembers the first time he got to see all the freckles, slowly revealed as James removed his clothing piece by piece, staring at Teddy with a look that said he was afraid Teddy would run away if he closed his eyes. But Teddy wasn’t going anywhere, not when they had finally arrived at this moment he had wanted for so long. James stood as confidently as ever; only his eyes betrayed his true feelings. Nervous but determined. Teddy had taken James’ face carefully in his trembling hands and placed feather light kisses to the freckles on each cheek. Teddy’s hands cradling his face gave James the courage to let his eyes flutter closed, and Teddy softly kissed the small freckles gracing his eyelids before their lips finally met.
When they lay in bed at night Teddy will trace constellations on James’ bare back with his finger. He’s pretty sure he has them memorized by now, can see a map of them behind his eyelids as he falls asleep. As much as he likes to see James shirtless, which is an awful lot, he doesn’t like when James starts to get so tanned in the summer that the freckles on his neck and shoulders are barely visible. But it was almost worth it to see the way that sun-dappled, freckled skin rippled over his arms and back and stomach when he stretched at quidditch practice. The way sweat glistened over his freckled chest, drawing attention down to the scattering of freckles that disappeared below the joggers slung low in his hips.
Teddy was staring at those freckles on James’ shoulders the first time he said I love you, murmured into his neck as he fell asleep, thinking James couldn’t hear. Until James woke him up the next morning with a kiss on the nose, a cup of coffee and an “of course I love you too, I always have, now join me in the shower”.
And Teddy woke up to that glorious, incandescent, smiling freckled face one morning in particular, as James stroked his arms and whispered in his ear “you better wake up and get dressed, you're going to be late” before striding out of their room. James was squinting into the sunlight an hour later, freckles hiding in the crinkles near the corners of his eyes, when they met at the end of the aisle and promised to keep loving each other until the very end. Teddy saw the freckles peeping out of the opened collar of James’ white shirt as they danced on the night of their wedding, surrounded by their family and friends. He felt so happy and safe and warm, knowing that he would get to grow old with this gorgeously freckled face kissing him awake each and every morning.
Teddy wasn’t sure when he had become so obsessed with freckles. But maybe it wasn’t about the freckles themselves at all.