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

Originally, Justin had planned on eating all three hand pies. He had skipped lunch to work on a particularly time-sensitive assignment and now it was dark and he was suppose to meet up with some blokes from work at the Hounded Hare and he was STARVING. So on the way he'd stopped for some real food because his mother had taught him to eat well and although he supposed hand pies weren't the best option, it was a sight better than pub food. He was just passing the alley behind his destination, a pie in each hand and one in his mouth, when he heard a whimpering kind of scuffling sound. He paused, looking into the gloom, and caught sight of a rail-thin dog, female by the looks of it. Probably with pups nearby from the way her tummy was sagging low, like it had been full of something recently and lost it in a right hurry.

He looked towards the door of the pub as it swung open to admit more Friday night revelers. The light was yellow and warm-looking and it was drizzling lightly outside now. The dog had paused, looking toward Justin with big brown eyes set over a long, sad face. He sighed softly to himself and moved very slowly towards the dog. It wavered like it might bolt but Justin knew how to move around skittish animals. He crouched a little to make himself smaller, breaking up one of the pies in his hand. Carefully, he tossed some in front of him, very very slowly, for the animal to eat. She hesitated a moment, unsure.

"Easy," Justin cooed, taking the pie out of his mouth now that he had a hand free. "Easy sweetheart. No one's gonna hurt you." Justin's voice usually had a soothing affect on animals, and it worked tonight as well. He saw the dog's shoulders and haunches relax, and she carefully scooted forward to greedily lick the pie pieces up off the ground. Justin chuckled, breaking up a second pie and tossing it to her as well. "You look like you haven't had a good meal in weeks," he told the dog. The Hufflepuff never felt weird about having conversations with animals. It felt natural, somehow, even though he knew most animals couldn't really understand him. "Pups must be taking a lot out of you." As the dog woofed down the second pie, Justin looked at the last remaining piece of his dinner. Then he looked at the ribs sticking out along the poor thing's sides.

He sighed again, breaking off a small piece of the pie for himself and tossing the rest to the stray. "Well, mother said that we should all look out for those in need," he told the dog as they ate together, her tail wagging ever so slightly. "I suspect she meant people." So busy with seeing to the stray dog and chatting to himself, Justin never noticed the concealed door open behind him, or the person standing there with him in the first moments of the coming rainstorm.

@Ryan Hadditch 

For the most part, Ryan had settled into a pretty good life. He had originally thought that living with Jane was going to be a nightmare. He hadn't particularly ever liked the blonde girl while they were growing up. He thought Jane got in between him and Darren and got in the way. He didn't really respect her as anything but a toy for Darren to play with when he got bored. Once he started living with her, though... everything changed. Jane was really cool to hang around with. She was fun, funny, interesting, and a horrible, despicable influence on him. It was great. What Ryan thought would be awkward staring at each other have become nights of cuddling on the couch and eating takeout, smoking, and having a good time. They had really become best friends.

Ryan had also taken half-custody of her two dogs, Watson and Shakespeare, who now loved him as though he was part of the pack. It wasn't uncommon to find Ryan laying on the couch with both dogs cuddled up next to him. He and Watson even slept together most nights. Ryan had never had a dog before. He always thought they were just for protection or for terrorizing other people. He never realized how much he would really love having one, despite all the fur and the drool and waking up to Watson's ugly mug every morning.

While Ryan's love life was still as drear as ever, he was distracted well between spending time with Jane and spending time at work. He didn't mind his job at the hounded hare. Ryan liked playing bartender. It paid pretty well and he was able to help people sometimes just by listening to their shit and letting them drown it out with plenty of expensive booze. His boss was fair, his coworkers were nice, and he was happy there. He was considering getting a second job just to help around the house now that Jane was leaving her salaried job at the ministry for a job that, strictly speaking, didn't actually pay. He hadn't put much thought into it.

Ryan lugged the bag of trash over his shoulder as he walked it out the back door of the bar, tossing it into the bin before realizing there was someone back there. Someone that sounded familiar. Ryan saw the dog first. She had been around before, and Ryan had fed her some leftover bar food a few times but he couldn't always find her and she was always very skittish. She seemed trusting with the boy, though. Ryan watched for a moment before their eyes locked, and he got a familiar glimpse of hazel eyes. It was like seeing a ghost.

They hadn't spoken since that night. The night that Ryan never talked about, never mentioned, and tried never to think of.  It had been a huge moment of weakness when Ryan had began it all. He hadn't expected Justin to fight back, and he certainly hadn't expected their fight to end with them making out in the hallway, but it did. It ended with a lot more than that. For a night, things felt... natural. When they had touched, he felt electricity jolt through his fingertips. They had come together as one, and it meant so much. He'd been the first person, of his lengthy list of lovers, that made him feel alive. However, all good things must come to an end. In the end, it was Ryan's fault. The other had been so careful and considerate. He had let Ryan ramble and confess and talk, and they had kissed again and again. They had touched again and again and made something that felt very much like love. It was too much for the younger boy to take. He wasn't ready to be out, to admit who he was. He still wasn't. He had almost had someone, then. A part of him wondered if anything lingered behind and, well, of course it didn't. Justin was too good to still feel anything for him. Ryan felt ashamed. He had not faced the other since the cruel day after when he had told Justin that it meant nothing to him, that he meant nothing to him.

“Hey.” He greeted, unsure. He felt a bit like he didn't deserve to speak in Justin's presence, but he couldn't very well ignore him. They likely wouldn't speak of their night--Ryan had made the other promise to never mention it again, but he knew it had not been forgotten by either of them. How could something so profound ever truly disappear?  Instead of saying anything of substance, he carried on talking about nothing of import. He was a coward.

“She eats a lot for someone so skinny, don't you think?”

The movement of something person-sized finally caught Ryan's eye and he looked up, already blushing faintly at being caught talking out loud by himself. He could only hope that whoever had come out would either ignore his little bit of madness or understand it completely. Hazel eyes caught brown ones set in a handsome face. Handsome, he thought, blushing a deeper shade. It wasn't until he looked a little longer that he realized he knew this face. The lines were sharper, and it seemed like he might have gotten a bit taller, but there was no mistaking Ryan Hadditch.

It was so strange to see him, here, when Justin had expected to never see the younger man again. When the Hufflepuff returned for his final year of school, Ryan had been his primary tormentor. He bullied him: tripped him, called him names, taunted him about the fact that he was interested in other guys. Finally it had been to much and they fought in earnest. It had ended in the most unexpected way, with Justin pinned to a wall and kissed hard and well. Then there were more kisses in the hall and then an abandoned classroom. They had kissed and touched and... well, Justin had been swept up in something that felt so much more right than anything he'd ever known. He lost his virginity to Ryan, although he had never told the other boy that. He was glad he hadn't. The next day, when Justin had tried to talk to Ryan, to see where they stood, the other boy had told him that what happened meant nothing and he never wanted to hear Justin mention it again.

Then Justin was graduating and working in the Ministry and going to school and sometimes dating. He remembered, though, and sometimes he wondered about the other boy: what he was doing, if he was okay, if he had found some happiness. And then he called himself ten different kinds of idiot because he was thinking about Ryan Hadditch again and he knew for certain that the other boy wasn't thinking about him.

But here they were, and Ryan had spoken to him, awkward but not cruel. Justin's face was slow to split into his usual wide and cheerful smile, but he got there. "She's eating for five or six, you know," he answered Ryan. "She's got pups somewhere. A good-sized litter, I'd wager." He looked back at the dog, who wagged her tail at him again. "I wish I knew where she had them. The weather's too dreary to let them all sleep in the wet and cold." He stood slowly so as not to frighten her, or Ryan, away. She sat down, scratching her ears, looking like she hoped more food might come her way.

"Hello, Ryan," he said, his smile warm but a little unsure. "It's been a while, yeah?"

Ryan was grateful for the dog, the distraction, because it gave them something to talk about other than each other. Other than himself. Ryan had seen the dog before, but had never been able to get quite as close to her as Justin had. She was feral, skittish. He honestly wondered how the other did it, but he didn't wonder that hard. Justin had this way about him, that smile that lit up the room. People trusted Justin, gravitated towards him. That had always been something Ryan admired about him. That had been a reason that Ryan had targeted him in the first place. Why he had picked on him. Justin was nice, too nice.

He was nice to the point where he didn't know to keep away from Ryan until it was too late. All it had taken was a charming smile for the middle Hadditch to be smitten stupid, and there was no such thing as positive attention from someone like Ryan Hadditch, at least not back then. He had spent years tormenting Justin, but the other never seemed to learn. It was always a smile and another chance. It was always him turning the other cheek and being himself. He knew how to keep Ryan interested, and it soon felt like a game. It felt, to Ryan, that Justin was taunting, tormenting him with those smiles and those bright hazel eyes.

Even now, Ryan felt a little anger rising in his chest, but the anger was directed mostly at himself. He found it hard to hate the other now that he'd hurt him so bad that he could see it. Those hazel eyes were flecked with something that looked very much like regret. Of course he regretted what they had done. He should have, because it was stupid to open his heart to someone like Ryan and it was stupid to trust someone after they beat up on you. He deserved to feel scorned, being that thick... but, Ryan didn't know what else to think or say or do but deflect, deflect, deflect.

“I feed her sometimes.” Ryan admitted. “Usually leftover bar food, but I ain’t never seen no puppies.” He offered. “She usually goes behind the dumpster, but I can't fit back there. Maybe you could.” He offered. Justin was more slender than he was, he might be able to squeeze between the dumpster and the wall and see. “I'll show you.” He rounded the dumpster and showed the other boy the small entrance. “I think that's where she lives. Maybe the puppies are there.”

It took every ounce of restraint Justin had not to ask Ryan more about himself. He wanted to know how long he'd been working at the Hounded Hare, if he lived in London, if he had flatmates, if he had a boyfriend. He didn't really want to know that last one but he felt compelled to torture himself. He figured he probably had found someone he wasn't ashamed to be with, someone he could care about. Thinking of Ryan with another boy mad Justin feel shaky inside so he tried to just focus on the current conversation.

"It's good of you to feed her," he told Ryan with another warm smile. "She looks like she could use a little kindness. The pups are probably well-hidden. She wouldn't want anything happening to them." He followed Ryan around the corner, to the dumpster that he thought might have the puppies hidden behind it. Justin investigated the small opening, and he was about to make an attempt to fit his upper half into the hole when the mama dog came around to block the entrance, growling uncertainly.

Justin carefully backed up, moving slowly. He looked at Ryan, a small smile on his lips. "Well, I think we can safely assume the puppies are there." He gave a little huff, biting his lip as he thought. "I don't want to push. If she feels threatened, she might move the pups and we'll never find her again." The Hufflepuff leaned against the wall, watching as the skinny thing disappeared behind the dumpster. If he strained, he thought he could hear the soft sound of tiny voices yipping.

The silence seemed to stretch a bit, and Justin floundered as he tried to think of something to keep Ryan there just a little longer. It was stupid, stupid, stupid but he didn't want the other boy to leave. He should just let him go but he wanted just a few more moments. Something else to remember besides their last encounter, when Ryan had left Justin feeling used and gutted.

"So," he said, looking at Ryan through long lashes, "you work at the Hare?" It was a stupid question and Justin felt like kicking himself. "Nice gig?"

Ryan had expected them to get the puppies out and... do what with them. He was almost finished with his shift at the Hare. It was one of his early shifts that day, and he had a feeling that he might be able to pop out early if there was enough reason... but it seemed the dog had another plan. If she didn't want to show them her puppies than they could all starve and freeze in there for all Ryan cared. Actually, that was a lie. It made him feel better about being rebuffed to say that he didn't care, but it really did bother him. It was funny the way he was able to admit it to himself when he cared about an animal but never about a person. It was ironic that Justin just happened to be there for that, or was it simply to be expected? The world worked in a mysterious way. There were hidden parallels everywhere for those who were willing to find them.

He let the conversation die between them, having questions of his own but no energy with with to ask them. He wondered if Justin was happy, if he still meant something to him , or if their night had disappeared under a mountain of better lovers. Ryan had slept with plenty of men and women since the night with Justin, but he still hadn't felt anything that rivaled that ache in his chest and that feeling of connectedness. He never got to know the men he slept with. He chose them on how easy they were and how discrete he thought they could be. He never took them back to his place and he never saw them again. They were faceless, almost. He couldn't remember a single name from anyone he'd been with in the past two years.

But Justin's face haunted him. Sometimes he would dream about him, even now. Just a casual, passing dream. Sometimes they were talking, sometimes they were fighting, and sometimes Justin was just there on the side. His face, burned into Ryan's memory.

Ryan wondered why this was the first time they'd come across each other Had Justin recently moved? was he busy? Doing what? He was ignoring the questions and walking back towards the backdoor of the Hare when Justin finally spoke again, and Ryan was surprised. There was no reason for the conversation to continue. There was no reason for them to keep talking, and yet Justin kept on, smiling softly as ever. Did he want to keep the fire alive? Did he want to keep talking? Ryan thought briefly about the rest of his shift, but he pushed it aside and continued to look at the other. He shrugged.

“I like it, yeah. Boss is fair and the coworker's aren't bad.” He confessed. “I haven't seen you around here before. Is this your first time? The entrance is around front.” He explained. “I'm bartender.” He hesitated. “You want me to fix you a drink?”

Ryan was walking away and Justin wasn't sure there was anything he could do or say to hold him here. But just when he thought that this brief encounter was everything he'd have, Ryan turned. Justin's smile lit up his face, nodding. "My first time here, yeah. Some co-workers wanted to hit the pubs since it's Friday. They've been here before and..." Justin paused, face blushing. His friends had teased him, telling him the bartender was hot. He wondered if it was Ryan they had been talking about. He kind of hoped it was. He liked the idea of fate bringing them together, before he remembered that Ryan had made it clear he wasn't interested.

"A drink sounds nice," he replied, pushing off the wall. He was about to trot to catch up with Ryan when loud whimpering caught his attention. He turned in time to see the stray dog deposit a puppy at the edge of the dumpster, look at him with huge, trusting eyes, and turn back around to vanish back in the crevice. Justin bit his lip, looking back at Ryan, wanting to follow but knowing he can't leave now. "Come on," he called to the other man, kneeling down to scoop up a puppy in his hands. Mama came and went five more times, leaving mixed puppies in a little heap, before sitting down herself, panting and looking smug.

The puppy in his hands licked his thumb and Justin just about melted. "It looks like she wants the help," he said, looking up at Ryan. "I... I can't leave them. I don't know how I'm going to get all of them to my place." Justin murmured quietly, more thinking to himself, "Or how I'm going to keep them from eating every scrap of furniture in my place while I'm at work..."

Ryan was surprised to see the puppies be dropped off by Justin one-by-one. It looked like the dog was a good judge of character, keeping away from him but trusting Justin so much that she would bring out her puppies for him. He wasn't bitter about that at all, it was just a observation. Justin was a good person and Ryan knew that. He was trustworthy, and had never really let Ryan down, despite everything Ryan had done to him. He'd never heard even a whisper about their night when he was at Hogwarts, which meant that Justin had truly told no one. Ryan smiled lightly at him.

“We could always take them to my place.” He suggested, after a moment. “I live pretty close to here and either me or my flatmate are home usually...” He suggested. “We can't really take six puppies, but... she'll understand.” Jane was a softie, really. She would love them, and Ryan already loved them. “I'm almost off.” He admitted. “Think you could keep them company for the next ten minutes or so? I'll finish up inside and then we can take them home. We could go to yours, if you'd rather.” He offered.

He didn't really wait for a response before he went back inside. He finished his work quicker than normal, and the nighttime bartender seemed put off by how quickly Ryan passed him the apron. “Byee” Was all he managed, as he walked out the back to greet Justin again, breathing a little hard. “Sorry about that. I'm good to go now.” He walked over the where Justin was holding the puppies. He had brought out a large, empty liquor box. “I figured we could carry them in this.” He suggested, putting the box down and carefully loading the puppies in. “I could probably carry them all if you want to grab mum. She likes you better, anyway.”

Where was he going to even put seven dogs inside his small, two-bedroom apartment. He supposed they could section off a bit of the living room for them. The landlord didn't need to know...

Justin felt his stomach do a little flip at Ryan's smile. He looked away, glad the puppies gave him something to distract himself with. The former Hufflepuff tried to focus on what the other boy was saying, nodding along, suppressing an unreasonable joy at the thought of seeing his flat. "Your place sounds fantastic. I'll stay with them," he told Ryan, looking back up at the other boy with a bright smile just for him. "No need to rush. I'm not going anywhere."

While Ryan was gone, Justin looked the pups over. They were a little thin but not so bad as they could have been. The food the younger boy had been feeding mum was definitely doing them some good. He smiled again to himself as he imagined Ryan feeding her, trying to pretend like it wasn't a big deal. But it was easy to be cruel, and Ryan was, well, he was kind. Somewhere deep inside Justin thought there was a sweetness he didn't want anyone to see.

Of course the puppies and mum both had fleas. Luckily, when he was a boy, Justin had taken in a number of strays and injured animals and once he found out he had magic, he learned how to cast the spell that got rid of fleas and ticks which worked a sight better than the noxious lotions and shampoos you had to use on dogs and couldn't even use on pups for fear of killing them. He was casting the spell on the last of the pups when Ryan rushed back out carrying a large box for the puppies.

"Briliant," Justin told him with a grin as he loaded the pups into the box. It had begun raining in earnest while Ryan had been inside. "I'm glad your place is close," Justin remarked. "We're going to get soaked and I am no good with that rain-shielding charm." Bending down, Justin gathered the mama dog up in his arms, tucking her under his robes and against his chest to keep her warm. He gave Ryan another wide, warm smile. "Lead on, then."

Ryan wasn't very good with a rain shielding charm, either, so instead he just closed the flaps on the box loosely, and hoisted it up to his shoulders, letting the water soak through his clothes. He should've known that it was going to rain, but of course he hadn't prepared for anything. He tried not to steal glances at his companion, but found that impossible. Justin was just as handsome and just as kind-hearted as he remembered him being, and that wasn't a god thing. Ryan was over him! He had been over him for years now, but suddenly the other man popped up out of nowhere and Ryan was already feeling that familiar attraction. He forced his eyes away, his lips turning to a scowl. He wasn't allowed to like him, to like anyone.

Ryan had, reluctantly, began to embrace his homosexuality. If by “embrace” he meant go out for one-night stands and then hate himself for it in the morning. At least he wasn't still trying to sleep with girls anymore. He knew that wouldn't work and had no one around to impress with his number. He lied to his brother and Jane and told them both that his late-nights and walks-of-shame had to do with women, but he hadn't slept with a girl in over a year now. It had only been men.

This said, nothing about Ryan's trysts could be considered healthy. He never exchanged names, numbers, addresses. He never talked to them much. It was all, entirely physical. He never took a man back home, and he often never saw them again. There had been maybe one or two men he'd slept with more than once, catching them at the same club accidentally, but as a rule he didn't like repeat performances... and he certainly would never date anyone.

When it was all physical, Ryan could pretend that it was just sex. He could pretend that it meant nothing and he could push the men from his mind, like a vice. He could tell himself that someday he'd fall in love with a woman, the way Darren had fallen for Jane—though he was being an asshole at the moment, that was a story for another day—but it was all just a lie that he fed himself to keep the charade alive. He had no intention of finding a woman, which meant he had no intention of falling in love, of feeling anything romantic for anyone.

That was part of why he felt so unsure around Justin. During their night, he had felt something stronger than sex between them. It had felt like more, though Ryan couldn't quite put his finger on what it was... or maybe, just maybe, he hadn't wanted to. If it had been more than just sex, Ryan wouldn't have been able to end things as coldly and cruelly as he had. Things would have lingered. Perhaps they had lingered anyway, though Ryan wouldn't dare speak of it. He had still thought of Justin after their last meeting, and had felt guilty for the way he treated him, guilty in a way he never felt for anyone else he'd had since.

The walk to his apartment was short, and the rain kept him silent. He was shivering by the time he pushed his key into the lock, and pushed the door open. “Jane?” He called out, hoping that she wasn't there for some strange reason. She was his best friend. He almost always hoped she would be home, but that day he wanted to be alone with Justin, for some crazy reason he couldn’t fully comprehend. “Fuck, I'm freezing...” He groaned to his partner, setting down the wet box in the middle of his living room and beginning to pull the puppies out one by one. When he was finished, he pulled off his shirt in the middle of the living room.

“I'm gonna change.” He replied. “You need a shirt, or something?” He offered, completely forgetting that, as a wizard, he could dry his clothes with a charm. Ryan probably wasn't skilled enough to do it without setting the flat on fire, anyway.

Justin followed behind Ryan, keeping close so he didn't lose him in the rain. His eyes followed the younger boy's back, and he wondered at the little twists life threw out to turn things on its head. The last times he had any contact with Ryan, they had fought, kissed, talked, and then they had... Well, Justin would never forget the way they had moved together, how it had felt to be connected so intimately to another person. He had fallen asleep listening to Ryan's heartbeat. And he had woken up alone.

He'd waited the next day, lurking in places where he knew Ryan could find him, where they could have a little privacy to talk, just to talk. All he wanted was to talk about what had happened, what it meant. And he'd gotten his wish. He'd finally managed to corner the younger boy. Justin found out then that he was nothing more then a few hours of entertainment for Ryan; he'd said exactly that. Justin wasn't a complete idiot. It was only one night, after all. He hadn't expected forever. But he hadn't thought he would feel so used and empty when he found out that he meant absolutely nothing.

And here he was, following the boy who broke his heart back to his flat to take care of some stray pups and their mum. Life was a strange and maybe beautiful thing.

It was a fairly short walk, all things considered. Both men were soaked and chilled, although the dogs were dry and safe. The sight of Ryan taking care of the pups before seeing to himself warmed Justin better than any spell. "Who's Jane?"he asked casually. "Your girlfriend?" He watched as Ryan pulled off his shirt, looking away with a face flushed, sneaking glances at the other boy like he could be made to put them back. "Shirt? Yeah, I could use one. I'm soaked through."

He set the dog down next to her pups. Straightening up, he pulled off his robe, revealing a pair of slacks and a form-fitting dark brown sweater. His pants were okay, but his top was sopping wet. He pulled it off, hanging it over a chair to dry. He hoped the semi-dark hid a bit of the blush that colored his face. He usually trained in less than this, but being in front of Ryan like this made him feel like squirming. He didn't have anything to be ashamed of. He had always been fit, but two more years of training had toned him up more than the last time Ryan had seen him.

"Thanks for this, by the way," Justin said, smiling warmly. "For taking in the pups and their mum. It's really nice of you. I'll help, if you'll let me. I can bring by more food for them, and watch them once I get off work and finish classes for the day."

Ryan laughed at the thought. Jane? His girlfriend. Even if he wasn't gay, it was comical. He would never touch something that was Darren's. Jane was probably the most something of anything that belonged to Ryan's elder brother. He'd die bloody if he even thought about touching her, let alone actually did anything. Things were funny. He used to resent her for getting in between Darren and him, but after living with her he realized that she was an improvement to the family. He smiled widely, digging in his laundry basket for two clean shirts. He brought them out and tossed one to Justin before putting his own on.

“God, no. The thought of that... just, no. Jane's my brother's girlfriend.” He explained. “We're just flatmates.” Had Justin forgotten that he was gay? If he had, Ryan decided that he was definitely going to run with it. He didn't need another person knowing about his... perversions. Speaking of perversion, didn't it seem like Justin looked even better than Ryan remembered? Justin had always been hot, but he was toned now, better than before. Ryan, who had once licked kissed every one of those muscles, found himself salivating at the thought. He quickly put his shirt back on.

“That's... a nice offer. I might take you up on it.” He admitted. He probably needed the help. “You want that drink now?” He asked. “Actually, I might order a pizza. I'm starved. aWhat do you want on your half?”

Justin was ridiculously relieved to hear that this mysterious Jane was not Ryan's girlfriend. Of course, that didn't mean that Ryan wasn't taken or looking or... Damn, damn, damn! He was doing it again. Ryan wasn't interested in him. He'd had a chance. One night to leave an impression on the other boy and he hadn't been good enough. He was just another notch on Ryan's well-carved belt. The younger boy had probably never given it another thought. Maybe he'd forgotten all about it. It would explain how easily he'd invited Justin home after everything. Well, if Ryan was willing to forget, then maybe Justin should too. Having a new friend would be nice. Friends would be enough.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to pry," he apologized with a small smile, pulling the shirt over his head. The scent was familiar and he had the giddy thought that maybe they used the same detergent and he felt like giggling at the ridiculousness of this whole night. "And a drink would be great! But I don't want to impose or be a bother as far as food goes..." His stomach put the lie to his words as it let out a growl loud enough to startle the stray and her pups. He blushed and wished the floor might swallow him. "Sausage and mushroom for me, thanks," he replied, smiling at his host.

While Ryan took care of the food and drinks, Justin knelt next to mum and the pups. He picked up the little dogs one at a time, checking their sex and looking them over to see how they looked. He had seen them a bit outside the pub but he wanted to take his time and make sure none of them had any injuries or looked sickly. They were good, so he moved on to the mum. She was in worse shape, with raw places on her skin, like she had been kicked or pushed and had been scraped up. He crooned softly at her, using a simple healing spell he had learned during the war, and the patches looked a little less raw and red. He smiled and she licked his face before going back to her pups.

"We've got two girls and three boys," he told Ryan as he stood up, stretching with a little groan. "In pretty good shape. They might have worms, but I can't do anything about that. I'll go to a shop after work and pick something up for them and mum." He moved towards where Ryan was, leaning on a chair, looking at him through his lashes. "So how have you been? Besides work, I mean. It's been two years." He didn't know why he kept trying to see if Ryan was going to mention a significant other. Like it mattered but Justin felt like it was important, somehow. "How's the rest of the Hadditch boys? Darren, and you have another younger brother, right?" He thought that there was a girl in there too but he wasn't sure. He mainly remembered the boys because they had all used him as a punching bag at one point or another.

“You're not prying, just asking.” He shrugged, it didn't feel like an intrusion, especially because there was nothing at all going on between him and Jane, even if Kelly had thought otherwise when she caught them sneaking around. They had been doing something they shouldn't, but that didn't mean they were sleeping together. He grabbed the menu for his favorite pizza place and grabbed the phone, suddenly thinking of sausage and mushroom pizza. That wasn't his usual order, but it sounded good. He went ahead and ordered it on the whole thing.

The ordeal took less than a minute—Jonathan, on the other end, recognized Ryan by his voice—and soon he was back looking at the other, and wondering why he looked so damned good wearing his shirt. It was a possessive sort of feeling, one that was new to him. To be fair, he'd never seen a trick in his clothes before, so maybe it wasn't special to just Justin... but it was probably Justin. He really needed to get over this... whatever this was grating at his inside. He hadn't thought about their night this much in two years. In fact, this was probably the most he thought about it since it happened. He could remember everything. He remembered every kiss, touch, and taste. He wished he could forget.

He went to the kitchen and looked over the alcohol that he had and tried to think about what to make him to drink as Justin spoke again, asking a general question. Things were... pretty good, basically. He lived in his flat with Jane, who was his best friend, and their two dogs.... now nine dogs. Nine dogs. Fuck, Jane was going to have his balls on a stick. The other two dogs were sniffing around Justin and the mother dog eagerly, but they were being good about not barking or causing a scene. Justin was also doing a great job blocking the entrance to the puppies.

“Maybe I should move Watson and Shakespeare into Jane's room.” He began, watching them. He shooed them away and closed the door to Jane's room once they were inside, then he considered Justin's question again. “Things have been good. I mean, basically I work and hang out with Jane. Smoke a little. Sometimes I'll go out to a club or something, but that's pretty much it. Pretty straightforward life. What about you? What have you been doing the past two years?” He asked.

Justin was smitten with the puppies, smiling like an idiot as they squirmed around on the floor, their mum nosing them occasionally to make sure they were all alright. He hadn't had any foster animals in about a year and he missed having animals around, even if it was only for a while. He could hear Ryan talking in the kitchen, but his focus was split between the other man and the dogs. Which, Justin noticed, had increased by two. He crouched down to offer the dogs a hand to sniff, smiling softly at them.

Ryan reappeared and moved the dogs to the other room, and Justin watched his back, biting his lip. He had forgotten how good Ryan looked. Well, no, that was a lie. But he was struck anew by it. How much more muscle the other man had, how nicely his shoulders fit inside his shirt. He looked away, back at the puppies, as he came back and answered his question. Still no mention of a girlfriend or boyfriend, Justin noted while pretending to himself that he didn't notice.

"Me?" he asked, smiling his normal charming smile. "Working at the Ministry, mostly. Muggle liaison. This year I got into law school. I've been saving to pay my own way through, besides a couple of scholarships. School work and the Ministry keep me busy. My co-workers insisted on getting me to the pub tonight." He looked at Ryan again, his mouth curved up at the corners in a shy version of his usual smile. "I'm glad I said yes." His ears turned red and he looked back down at the pups. "I mean, I got to see you again and rescue a mum and pups." He reached out to stroke the mama's head gently, her tail wagging in little bursts. "Should be a week or two until they're ready to be put into foster homes. I know some people who'll take them in, so you won't have to hold onto them too long."