You Have a Shadow

After going on a date, Ben and Ryder had made things official. Ben couldn't be happier. Over the summer, he kept in contact with Ryder and spent some time at dance camp. He became one of the new dance instructors for the little kids and was getting paid for it. He intended to go to camp in order to work on his dancing, but was offered the job instead. He gladly took it along with the paychecks. He occasionally sent things to Ryder via owl when he saw something that he thought his boyfriend would like. He found a vintage shirt from a thrift shop he went to with Ricki of a band that Ryder liked. He waited to give this one to Ryder so he could do it face to face.

They decided to meet at the pub before school started. They had some catching up to do and Ben didn't want to waste a moment. He couldn't wait to see Ryder after a summer of not seeing his face. He didn't want to wrap the gift, he just wanted to give it to him. But Mariana insisted that she wrap it and that there just had to be a bow on top. He didn't see the point up Mariana's mind was made up and he let her wrap the gift. He didn't want to argue and it was just easier that way.

"Hey," Ben grinned when Ryder approached the table. "How was your summer?" His gift was set on the table and was ready whenever Ryder decided to open it.

When people heard Ryder Green, they assumed that he identified with the Green family. Of course, he did. He loved his stepfather and his family. But even bigger than his French family, he had his English family. He was Ryder Miller before his mother remarried, which made him directly related to the largest pureblood family in the United Kingdom. His uncles Caleb and Sawyer were no exceptions and they had five children together. And even though they were quite a bit younger and farther away in location, he loved his maternal cousins.

So when his mother asked him to be nice and show Rudy around, he had no problem with it. He felt like he was passing the torch, so-to-speak. As a seventh year, he had a lot of wisdom to offer the first year. He'd told Rudy that if he had questions, he and Ben would be the guys to ask. He had forgotten to mention Rudy to Ben, but he doubted Ben would mind. In fact, he might like the younger boy. He might give better advice than Ryder, too. Head Boys tended to do that.

When they walked into the noisy pub, Ryder spotted his boyfriend immediately. "There he is, Rudy," Ryder said pointing to a table with two seats. He grinned. He'd missed Ben a lot over the summer and letters and weekly phone calls weren't enough.

Ryder smiled and pulled out the second chair for Rudy when they reached the table. "Hi. It was warm and sweaty and I babysat all the time," he answered before pressing his lips to Ben's cheek. "This is my cousin, Rudy. He's a first year."

Ryder pulled an extra chair from the table behind them and set it up between his boyfriend and his cousin. He then noticed the package on the table. "Is that for me?" he asked. Ben had sent him odds and ends over the summer and he kept them all. He hadn't gotten Ben anything, but he had saved his babysitting money to take his boyfriend out more often.

Before Rudy had left for school, he needed a bit of convincing. He was terribly worried about what the other kids would think of him, he just wanted to fit in. He felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb with his thick curly hair and missing teeth. It wasn't that he had baby teeth that had recently gotten knocked out or something, his teeth either hadn't grown in at all or were just delayed. He always disliked that part of him. Until his papa told him had the best smile he had ever seen and he decided to smile more so his papa would be happy. He'd do anything to make his papa happy.

Rudy was thankful that his cousin agreed to show him around. He wanted to grab onto the older boy's hand but decided against it, he didn't want to embarrass his older cousin. But he was terrified. So he hid his body behind Ryder as he walked behind him. He was always eager yet nervous to meet new people and Ben was no exception.

He carefully took a seat in the chair Ryder pulled out for him, he took his heavy backpack off and set it on the floor. Rudy knew he didn't need to carry around a backpack, but he always had it with him. It was never full of school things like you'd expect from a backpack. But instead of full of random objects like rocks he liked and decided to keep, snacks in case, he got hungry, and other things that would be needed in case of an adventure. It didn't matter where he went, he always kept his backpack with him. "Thank you," he said softly. He turned his attention to the boy in front of him. He liked his freckles. "It looks like a freckle monster threw up on your face!" The eleven-year old's imagination was a great one. "I mean, I like your freckles." He grinned to show off his semi-toothless smile.

A smile spread across Ben's face when he saw his boyfriend and he didn't mind the company that came with him. He had never met any of Ryder's family but hoped to soon. He wanted a serious relationship and meeting the parents was mandatory to him. He didn't want to press the subject with Ryder just yet since the relationship was fairly new. He wanted Ryder to be able to get along with all of his family, no matter how big or crazy they were. "Hi, Rudy," he smiled.

His smile only grew when Rudy complimented his freckles and Ryder placed a kiss on his cheek. "Why thank you, Rudy. I like your smile a lot." Rudy seemed like a sweet kid, he couldn't wait to get to know him better. He was the same age as his youngest brother, he wondered if the two would get along if they met. Lucas was a shy kid so he didn't know how he'd react around new people.

He turned his attention back to his boyfriend as he placed a kiss to his cheek. "All yours," he grinned. "Mariana wrapped it, she insisted and I didn't wanna argue." He slid the package over to his boyfriend. "I hope you like it." He turned to Rudy and frowned a bit. "If I would have known I would be meeting you today, I would have brought you something too."

Ryder smiled at Ben's compliment to his cousin. Maybe it was the announcing he did for quidditch that had become a skill, but for whatever reason, Ben always knew what to say. It was one of the many reasons Ryder liked him.

He grinned again at Ben's kiss and the mention of his sister. "I wouldn't want to argue with her either," he agreed. Mariana came up a lot in conversation. Ben competed against her in dance, and they were very close because of it. "Should I wait?" he asked, hesitating with the package.

Ryder looked at Ben, then at his cousin. "It's probably for the best. He's got first-year stuff to get. Cauldrons and a wand and ingredients and all that." Those were supplies you didn't typically need to buy again. "We oughta take him to the candy store." Mabel's cousin Caleb owned a sweets business and Rudy was his little shadow. "I think your dad even worked there when he was young, Rudy."

Ben was the closest to Mariana, the two shared a love for dance and the two planned to try to work together and audition for different tv shows. Ever since he started his relationship with Ryder, Ben worried about their future. He didn't want to ask Ryder to leave France for him and he also didn't want to try to have a long-distance relationship. He knew that he'd miss his boyfriend too much and he couldn't bear to be away with him for too long. The summer had been complete torture for the seventeen-year-old. Letters, text messages, and phone calls were not enough. He loved Ryder's presence, he could change the mood of a room just by stepping foot inside.

"No, go ahead," he grinned. He wanted to see the look on his boyfriend's face. He just knew that he was going to like it. "I'll tell Mariana you liked the wrapping since she was so worried about it." She instructed him to report back about the gift and the wrapping paper. Ricki also wanted to know about the gift as well. He wanted Ryder to enjoy his gift.

Ben could clearly remember his first year and how terrified he was. At least Rudy had Ryder for at least a year. Ben was excited to show Rudy around, he seemed to be a nice kid and he just wanted to ease his worries. He wasn't a fan of candy, he was very picky about the foods he ate. He ate healthy in order to keep his dancer's body.

Ryder loved gifts, so he didn't mind digging right in. He stuck his finger under the corner of the paper. "Definitely tell her that I like it," he told his boyfriend as he tore the wrapping off. Once the gift was free of the paper and cardboard, Ryder could see that it was an artfully worn t-shirt of one of his favorite classic muggle bands. It was a thoughtful gift and Ryder loved it. "This is so cool! Thank you, Ben," he said. He placed another kiss on his cheek. "I like it a lot. I wish I would have thought to get you something."

"I have to get refitted for robes, according to Mabel. I'm just half an inch taller, but it makes them 'tiny on me!'" he told his boyfriend, mocking his mother at the end of his statement. "That might take some time, so if you want to split up, I completely understand."

Rudy felt like a real big kid hanging around with his big cousin. Once he had friends he was going to tell them all about his older cousin and how he was basically in with the older kids. He had been so worried about making friends because of his teeth, but his papa insisted that everyone was going to love him. If his papa said that then he had to be true. Just keep smiling, Rudy. His papa had told him.

Rudy's smile only grew when Ben complimented his smile. Not everyone liked his smile as much as he did. "No need for gifts," Rudy said, patting his backpack. "I got all I need in here. Snacks, things for an adventure." He always enjoyed a good snack and a good adventure. "I'm so excited to get my wand! Papa told me all about it!" He knew it was going to be one of the greatest moments of his life. Genesis talked about getting her wand when she first started going to Hogwarts. Rudy knew that his big sister was having a hard time at Hogwarts and he was trying to get her to ask their parents to let her transfer.

Rudy was always helping his papa with his candy making and wanted to be just like him when he grew up. "Candy store?" Rudy questioned. His father spoke of The Sugar Shack and how he had worked there until he got a shop of his own. "I wanna go there. I wanna see where Papa used to work."

"Split up?" Rudy's eyes went wide and he reached his hand out to grab Ben's, his bottom lip quivering. "We can't split up! I like you too much!"