[the hounded hare] you echo through my veins - Ryan

As much as Justin would have loved to fall asleep in Ryan Hadditch's lap, he figured the other boy would not appreciate having to drag his drunk self to the couch. Most likely Ryan would just leave him to sleep it off under the table, which sounded less than ideal. Ideal would be... Justin rolled off of the very comfortable lap and up onto his knees, taking Ryan's hand in his and tugging him along as he crawled out from under the table. He stood up, stretching with a groan, the shirt slipping up and exposing his belly button and Adonis Belt; that v-shaped set of muscles that disappeared down into his pants. His arms flopped back down as he yawned and blinked sleepily. He managed to grab a trailing end of the blanket they had been sharing from under the table, dragging it out. Justin walked to the couch, laying out the blanket like a sheet.

Looking back at Ryan, just felt a sudden surge of, well, something. He was still well-intoxicated and standing before him was the star of every fantasy he'd ever had in the last two years. He felt himself blush again, but he didn't look away. They didn't call it liquid courage for nothing. He took in the new Ryan, older and a little scruffier and twice as sexy. He wanted to have a properly updated image for his hopeless imaginings. If the universe was fair, Ryan would have gone down-hill in the looks department but he was more appealing than Justin remembered, damn him. Justin felt he looked the same; perpetually boyish, with a big smile and easy-to-read face. He wished he had developed into something more than Ryan remembered from their time at Hogwarts but he was still just Justin.

He hadn't really noticed, but as he stared, he stepped closer to Ryan with each passing second. It was like a magnet was tugging at his navel, drawing him towards the other boy. Ryan was the moon and Justin was the sea and he couldn't hope to fight this. He didn't want to. He wanted to let Ryan sink into him again, he wanted to be swept away and forget everything but body heat and mouths and the way they moved like one. He wanted Ryan. He'd never really stopped wanting him.

Tentative hands reached out to rest on hips, squeezing gently as Justin brought their bodies flush against one another. He looked at Ryan, the hazel of his eyes a thin ring around pupils blown wide with wanting. He let their noses brush, but he stopped millimeters short of a kiss. He waited. Justin wanted, needed, Ryan to close the gap, to reach across that final distance. Tell me you want me, he begged silently as he drowned in dark brown eyes. Lie to me and let me believe it.

Justin let his eyes fall shut, and breathed a single word into the silence:

"Ryan..."

For the past week, Jane Lennon and Ashley Morigan had been in Colombia in South America on a case about a Hinkypunk that had been luring travelers away near the Amazon River. While being away was nice at times, she couldn't imagine living anywhere else but London. Still, the nightlife in Colombia was pretty great. And Ashley was pretty great too. Well, when he wasn't being an obnoxious ass.

Smiling, Jane stepped out of the alley that she'd apparated to. She was glad to be home. There was something about the city. The smell; the atmosphere. Shoving one of her hands into the pocket of her coat while the other held her travel bag of belongings, she did have to admit that Britain was significantly more chilled than the places they'd been, lately. No matter. She'd be home in a matter of moments, and then she could climb into her warm bed.

Climbing the steps to get to their flat above the pizza parlor, Jane found that their protective wards were down. Ryan must be home from work, too. And he was. Swinging the door open and stepping inside as she dropped her bag to the floor, the blonde stood in the doorway for a moment as her brain tried to process what her eyes were seeing. She recognized both of the boys on her couch, but none of this seemed to add up. Didn't Ryan use to try to cave the side of Justin's face in on a daily basis, back in school?

After a moment of stunned silence, she managed words, "Uh, sorry to interrupt. I'll just-- I'll just be in my room." With that, she closed the door behind her and quickly picked her bag up again. Awkwaaard...

Ryan had expected things to end here. He expected for Justin to fall asleep on him under the table for him to have to haul the other's heavy ass up to the couch before enjoying the rest of the pizza alone. He'd already planned on it, but plans change as fast as people do. Before Ryan really knew what was hitting him, Justin was pulling him off off the ground and stretching in such a casually sexy way that Ryan went half mast just watching that thin ring of skin below the hem of his shirt. Fuck, why was Justin still so gorgeous? Why was he, after everything, still so innocent and trusting of others? Hell, Ryan got him drunk tonight just to fuck with him, and Justin let it happen because he didn't know better than to not trust a stranger when they gave you a drink...

When the mood changed, it was sudden and intense. Ryan seemed to instinctively know what the other was doing as Justin came closer and put his hands on his waist. Regardless of how sudden it was, and how just a few moments ago the other seemed to be finished flirting with him, nothing felt rushed. It was as though time stood still. He could see the other's eyes, all pupil, and was certain that his eyes were likewise dilated. So, Justin wanted him after all. This was a neon sign that Ryan couldn't deny, and he really didn't want to.

Ryan's name fell from the other's lips as a whisper, but a plea. It said, ”kiss me.” Ryan closed his eyes as he began to lean in, but stopped just short when the door suddenly burst open. He shoved Justin away with a force so strong and so quick, that he thought Justin might topple over. Ryan was immediately flushed, bright red. “Jane!” He called out, stammering a little and still lost in the haze of his feelings. Jane didn't know he was gay. Jane didn't know, couldn't know. This was awful, horrifying, and humiliating. “It's not what it looks like.” He blurted, realizing afterwards that it always was what it looks like if someone ever used that phrase. It had been exactly what it looked like, and he had the bulge in his jeans to prove it. He'd been ready to take the other to bed.

“I didn't know you were coming back tonight....” He explained, as though that made things better. He realized she didn't say anything about the puppies, which was a small blessing. She was going to be pissed as hell about that.

In the morning, a sober Justin would cringe at what he'd just tried to do. He didn't see Ryan's eyes dilated and hungry, didn't see him lean in to close the distance between their mouths. With his eyes closed, all he knew was he practically begged Ryan Hadditch to kiss him and was very firmly and thoroughly denied. He would feel so stupid and ashamed that he would pray that the ground would have just opened up and swallowed him whole.

But tonight, Justin is drunk. Justin is very, very drunk. He wasn't prepared for the sudden shove away from the sweet solid warmth that was Ryan's body. He toppled over easily, landing on his butt with a loud thump. The Hufflepuff let out a yelp which quickly turned into giggles as the mama dog and two of the pups came over to climb on him and lick his face. He looked up at Jane with a huge smile. "Jane!"

Justin carefully pushed the mama and the pups off of him before staggering to his feet with that kind of boneless grace drunk people had. He wrapped his old friend up in a great big hug, just as glad to see her now as he would have been if he was sober. "Jane, I didn't know you were Jane but I should have!" Justin was not quite coherent. "I met Ryan at a pub. An' there were puppies an' then he said I could come back with him to here and he made me drinks. They were yummy. And we had pizza. Do you like pizza? You can have some of my slices if you're hungry!"

The exuberant boy finally let go, pulling back to give her another bright smile. "You look good! I'm glad to see you!" He turned to Ryan, gesturing at Jane excitedly. "Ryan, this is Jane! We were in Dumbledore's Army together! I was terrible but Jane helped me a lot. She's amazing, did you know that?" The nice thing about a drunk Justin was that he was pretty much just himself turned up to eleven. Of course, the bad thing about drunk Justin was that he was himself turned up to eleven.

Jane stopped short of the hallway that led to their bedrooms and looked at Ryan once more. Her eyes avoided the obvious bulge in his jeans as her cheeks turned a rather intriguing shade of scarlet. She was embarrassed and confused. What else could it possibly be, if it wasn't what it looked like? I mean, sure, Ryan had never actually come out and told her that he was attracted to men. She just wondered from time to time-- not that it mattered! She'd love him no matter what. After all, she, herself, was attracted to both men and women. Who was she to judge?

Regardless, that was a conversation best left for when the two of them were alone. She didn't want to put him on the spot. He was obviously uncomfortable. "I didn't know I'd be back tonight, either, but Ashley and I wrapped the job up earlier than we'd thought." At least Justin seemed happy to see her. Honestly, she'd have rather reunited with him in a different scenario. But, there he was. And... did he bring his dogs with him? ...How odd.

"Justin, hi! Uhm, hey.. what? Puppies? Why were there puppies? Are you drunk?" Well, he had said that he'd met Ryan at the pub. She flashed her roommate an angry look for just a second before returning Justin's smile as she wriggled out of his embrace. "Thank you, I'm really glad to see you too. I just... why are there puppies in my flat?" Pizza did sound good, and both the gentleman in her company and the rumble of her stomach told her that she'd have to wait at least a little while longer for sleep.

She offered another smile and a nod. "Pizza sounds great, thanks." Her cheeks colored again as Justin continued to go on and on. Oh, she'd forgotten just how... upbeat he was. He was a very nice man, but honestly he was a bit much sometimes. "Thank you, Justin."

Well, at least Justin wasn't upset about the kiss that never happened. Ryan tried his best to quickly forget it, feeling completely ridiculous. It was as if there were two different people in Justin's body, and Ryan couldn't keep up with how quickly the drunk boy was changing his tune. He was a little surprised to see that Jane and Justin knew each other more than just in passing, but when Justin mentioned the DA, things made sense. Ryan had never joined that group. He didn't know much about it at all, and had tried to lay low and protect Kelly during the battle of Hogwarts. He didn't fight or care to fight. He cared about protecting his loved ones.

Of course, Justin had to mention the puppies. He had hoped Jane would leave without noticing them and that he would have a little longer to prepare. Instead, well, he bit his lip and sighed. “We found them behind the pub.” He confessed to her. “It's freezing and raining outside, so we brought them in. Justin says he's going to come over and help me take care of them. I figure we could find them new homes?” That sounded.... reasonable, right? Okay?

He decided to soften the blow by getting Jane some of the pizza. “You want a beer?” He asked her, rummaging through the fridge for one without waiting for an answer. Of course she wanted a beer. He even popped the top off of it. If she said no, he'd definitely drink it. He peeked over at Justin, looking carefree and happy. He wanted to remember him this way, because once he sobered up Ryan had the feeling Justin would be singing another tune, especially if he remembered what nearly happened between them. Ryan wondered if things would go back there, or if they should. He really shouldn't take advantage of him in this state, no matter how much the other seemed to want it.

"Iss my fault," Justin told Jane, leaning down to scoop up a puppy and hand it to her. He was slurring a little bit, due to the drunkness. "See, mum brought the pups out to me. An' I live alone. They need people to watch them for a few more weeks." He motioned to the other dogs sitting on the floor. "It'll only be for a few weeks, promise!" Picking up another puppy, Justin staggered back towards the couch, laying down with the little dog on his chest, smiling. "I'll come by an' make sure they have food. An' I'll be over every day to help. Promise."

Now that he was laying down, Justin was not entirely sure if he could get back up. Laying down was so nice. Almost as nice as Ryan's solid body had been when he was pressed against him. He looked up at the other boy, biting his lip, wondering if it would be too much to ask if Ryan would come and lay down with him. He scrunched up his face, thinking hard. Jane was here now. Justin liked Jane. Ryan liked Jane. But if Ryan and Justin were laying on the couch together, then Jane should get to lay with them, because they both liked her and she shouldn't be left out of laying on such a comfy couch. But the couch was definitely not large enough for three people. I would be barely large enough for two. So Justin decided to let it go.

By the time this train of thought had passed through the station, Justin's head was resting on the arm of the couch, his eyes were closed, and both he and the puppy on his chest had drifted off into sleep, leaving Ryan and Jane to deal with things, at least until morning.

[[out]]