"He was always a meanie," JJ is complaining, reloading his pistol with deft, controlled movements. "I bet he kicked puppies in his free time. He was definitely the type. Those eyebrows."

Ryo nods patiently. "And so, you… dated him. Even though he was mean?" He doesn't get it.

"Oh, but he was a real hunk." JJ takes aim in a manner more reckless than usual, although only a fellow sharpshooter like Ryo would've been able to tell. He pulls off two shots. They hit their target and leave two neat holes behind, as opposed to the usual one. Ryo can see the heat of JJ's glare even through the goggles. "Long legs, strong hands. A redhead. A real one, if you get my drift."

"Oh." Ryo goes bright red, even though years of withstanding Dee have strengthened him against blushing. "I, uh, see."

"What a jerk! Who the hell does he think he is?" demands JJ, shooting off the rest of his round. His voice is loud enough that Ryo doesn't have to strain to hear him, even over the deafening blows. "I have control issues? He's the one always calling, demanding to know where I am! I have work, doesn't he get that? If I have to hear one more time how I'm out screwing half the police force—"

"Wow," says Ryo.

"Argh! It makes me so mad, Ryo-senpai!"

"Well, I definitely think you did the right thing," Ryo tells him with no small degree of sympathy. "He sounds like bad news."

"He had the nerve to ask me who I was breaking up with him for," growls JJ, yanking the clip out of his gun. "Who? Try peace and quiet, man."

"Mm-hmm."

"Dennis Harper can bite me," JJ grumbles, "and not in the good way. What do you think, Ryo?"

"I think," Ryo says, trying to be delicate, "that you should stay away from dating people with names that start in D. You have to admit, you've got a bad track record with that. Maybe you should move onto… F."

JJ considers this. "Frank from Forensics is gay."

"Yes. With his eight year boyfriend."

"Nuts."

"Really, JJ, maybe you should just take a break altogether. It's only been a few months." Ryo smiles, trying to impart his support in a way that doesn't seem overbearing. He may have only come to practice shooting, but finding JJ in such a snit, he can't bring himself to leave an unlikely but true friend without a empathetic ear. Besides, Dee would scold him. For some reason, while Ryo hadn't been looking, Dee had become JJ's newest champion of sorts. If he hadn't had Dee's heart, Ryo might be jealous. "You can't expect things to work out so quickly," he adds. "These things take time."

JJ sighs, his shoulders slumping. His perfect stance loses its potential immediately. When he turns to face Ryo, he props a hand on his hip. "Ryo-senpai, I've been on break pretty much for years. With the exception of Drake, of course."

"There was Dee."

"Do you really want him to count?"

Ryo concedes that without a fight. "I just think you've been so wired on finding someone to, er, date, that you might be burning yourself out too fast. Maybe you should just take it easy. See what happens."

JJ frowns and goes to sit by him. He studies his gun with a familiar eye as it rests in his lap. "I didn't think I was searching," he finally tells Ryo, his voice forlorn. "I really did like Dennis. I met him at a bar. He actually won against me in pool. And he liked Frank Sinatra and really awful Western flicks, and I liked the way he threw his head back when he laughed."

Ryo can't think of a single thing to say. Instead, he puts his hand on JJ's shoulder, squeezing it with untrained awkwardness. He's used to comforting children, not grown men, even if JJ sometimes wears the mentality of the former.

JJ weakly lifts a corner of his mouth for Ryo, then shakes his head. "No. You're right. I probably saw what I wanted to. If I hadn't, I would have noticed he was a complete jerk beforehand."

"It's okay. We all make mistakes." Ryo hesitates, and then gestures towards the target area. JJ's array of shots had been wild in the end, clustering but hardly focused. JJ follows the line of sight and grimaces at the poor reminder, and Ryo has to shake him lightly to capture his attention again. "It's a little like shooting, JJ," he says earnestly.

"Huh?"

"If you focus too long on one point, don't your eyes get tired? Don't you lose sight of your target in the first place?" Ryo tilts his head, warm to the confusion so obvious in JJ's expression. "Sometimes you have to step back and look elsewhere for a while, so that next time you're looking around, you see what was right in front of you."

JJ blinks at him.

"Oh," he finally says. "That was… really well said, Ryo-senpai. Like Cleo or something."

Ryo snorts. "Oh no, not me. I could never compare to the likes of Cleo," he says dryly. "You flatter me too much, JJ."

That's about the time JJ hugs him.

After the world tips back on its axis properly, and Ryo's ribs have stopped prickling, and JJ's goggles aren't wedged painfully in Ryo's collarbone, they scoot away from each other and avoid looking each other in the eye. "You gave me good advice," JJ says, light-hearted. "I guess I owe you lunch."

"Put it on the tab," Ryo mumbles, his ears and neck still pink. "I'm gonna go. Do you want me to—?"

"Aw, no. I'm fine. Pissed off, but fine." JJ flashes him a smile that's all teeth. "Thanks, Ryo."

"No problem," Ryo tells him, because it's the truth.

He leaves JJ sitting there on the bench, staring pensively at the targets and tapping his revolver against his chin as if to an unheard melody.

"What happened with that guy?" Dee demands later, cornering Ryo in the hallway. Not even a hey-how-are-you, but then again, they're beyond that now. They're also beyond asking how in the hell Dee knows, of all things, about Ryo's private chat with JJ this afternoon. In the dim lighting, Dee's eyes are still vivid green and bright, and Ryo feels his heart thump in a manner he's resigned himself to never losing. He's a lucky man. More than ever, he knows this.

Ryo studies him for a second and makes up his mind.

"Oh, JJ broke up with him. Apparently he was just mean," he informs Dee, calm and cool. "He kept yelling at him, and accusing him of sleeping around, and crowding into his personal space when it wasn't wanted. Honestly, it's a good thing JJ was smart enough to get out of the relationship. I don't fancy him running around the station, complaining about his newest black eye and how excitable his boyfriend Dennis Harper is—do you?"

Dee's face goes dark and tight, and Ryo watches him stomp off with a feeling of satisfaction. His job here is done. A little name dropping will only hurt one person, after all.

(This is all he can do for JJ, really, especially when it's not enough, especially considering Ryo's already stolen his first chance at happiness—and Ryo doesn't regret that, of course, but he also cares enough that he wants JJ to find someone else to pester, and compliment, and breathe all that love into every morning and night and in between. Luck is, as it's said, meant to be spread.)