Dean couldn't help but to chuckle at the comment about feeling younger. He hardly felt the near-thirty that he was, so he couldn't quite get behind the logic, but couldn't fault Pettigrew for it either. "I like that a little harmless trouble is probably the least of anyone's problems tonight." A place like this was easy to visit once and never again if the need arose. There were enough little spots like this that he couldn't get kicked out of or recognized in all of them. Not that Dean liked to cause overt trouble, it was more like the covert kind he got himself into that could be a problem.

"At least it isn't as crowded as the last place," some nights called for the ruckus at the Augurey and he was usually fine with it, enthralled by it even, but other times he was perfectly content with a situation like this; new company, what could be considered a cozy little corner and an open evening.

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The following 1 user Likes Dean Hudson's post:1 user Likes Dean Hudson's post
   Arthur Pettigrew

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Arthur nodded. "No fights on the horizon, either," he commented. "Unless you've noticed something I haven't." Just a normal, muggle dive bar — where Art and his new friend could get into any trouble they wanted to.

  

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set by MJ <3

"Not yet," Dean said as he threw another casual glance around the room. People were his job and he had already scanned the bar for anything of amusement, or any familiar faces. He knew the bloke at the far end of the bar was a wizard, some poor bastard who was down on his luck from the ministry, but they hadn't acknowledged one another beyond a quick meeting of the eyes. The guy would no doubt forget even seeing him, as deep into his cups as he already appeared to be.

Sipping pensively at his whiskey, Dean tried not to make a face. He really had become a snob and this was terrible. Good for getting drunk, which he wasn't sure was the goal yet, but he wouldn't put it out of the question either. "What do you suppose he's in for?" Dean motioned to a different guy, already nearly falling off his stool a couple of tables down.

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Art looked at the rather dour-looking man Hudson had indicated, and hummed as he considered him. The man was alone, and drunk, but had a certain look about him. "Looking like that?" Art asked, "Gotta be troubles with a woman."

(Or a man. But no need to bring that possibility up so publicly.)

  

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set by MJ <3

Dean snorted. It would be a very typical reason for a man to go drinking. He couldn't sympathize, no one had ever sent him into a tizzy like that, but Dean had always guarded his feelings and kept emotions out of the equation. "Wife or mistress?" Or worse, both. If he were a kinder person, he might have paused to consider that the other occupant of the bar was having a real problem, but as long as he didn't get too loud about their little game, it was fine.

"Glad I don't have those kind of problems." Dean grimaced, thinking his lifestyle was not for everyone, but it certainly worked for him.

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The following 1 user Likes Dean Hudson's post:1 user Likes Dean Hudson's post
   Arthur Pettigrew

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"They're often tied together," Art said, as though he had much experience with mistresses. (Sometimes he tooled around with the thought that he was Emrys' mistress, or that Emrys was his — but that seemed desperately far from what they actually were to each other.)

But his companion for the evening was likely more interesting than the stranger. Art asked, "No wife for you, then?"

  

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set by MJ <3

"Fair enough," Dean waved his glass absentmindedly in agreement. He took a sip and shook his head. "No, not specifically interested in that sort of commitment at the moment," or ever. "Having far too much fun traveling and generally left up to my own brand of shenanigans." The comment was innocuous enough, and Pettigrew could take it however he wanted. Dean wasn't exactly picky about his adventures, just more cautious with some than others.

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Arthur half-smiled, crooked, at Hudson. "You've got time, yet," he said, "And there's all sorts of shenanigans that can keep up after marriage, too." Even before he'd started sleeping with Emrys, Art had plenty of time for drugs and alcohol and occasionally gambling. And he actually liked his wife; not everyone even attempted at curbing their adventures.

  

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set by MJ <3

If he got his way, he would have plenty of time. Hopefully his mother wouldn't have any grand delusions of tying him down to a daughter of one of her friends or anything of the sort. As much as Dean enjoyed women, he wasn't so sure he wanted to be shackled to the same one for the rest of his life. Oddly enough, he had some interesting feelings on the sanctity of marriage, at least for someone with generally loose morals to begin with. Mostly he didn't sleep with married people, far too messy, far too many complications and extra ramifications if something got out.

Still, he had to quirk an eyebrow at Pettigrew about his second comment. He was nearly curious enough to ask the other man to elaborate, but instead sipped at his whiskey idly, thinking about getting another after this one was done. "Curious thing for a married man to say." He chuckled, probing gently, but unwilling to ask directly.

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"Oh, not me," Art jested, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. If Hudson didn't read Witch Weekly, then Art certainly wasn't going to educate him. "Except things like this, of course. But I've known a great many married men, and —" he shrugged. Married men were just like bachelors, often because many of them were recovering bachelors.

Art was more settled-down than he'd been in his twenties, and certainly less chaotic — but he was no longer sure that that was because of marriage. He usually thought that maybe he was just older.

  

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set by MJ <3

Dean chuckled at Pettigrew's quick defense. It really was no business of his what people got up to in their private time. He had a pretty strict rule of not fooling around with anyone who was married, mostly because they had people who looked at them a little too closely. It wasn't hard for a spouse to pick up on a pattern in behavior or a faint smell of cologne that didn't belong. This mostly applied to women, but Dean had never dallied with a married man either, to his knowledge anyway.

"All the more reason to stay where I'm at." He raised his glass to that and drained the rest of the amber liquid in one long sip. "Another, or do you have to get home to the little lady?" Dean teased with a raised eyebrow and a hint of a mischievous smirk.

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He could go home to Desdemona; he could see if the floo at Emrys’ home in Bristol was still open; he could stay out and drink with Hudson some more. Art had options, but he liked the way that Hudson smirked at him, and the lift in free other man’s eyebrows.

”Oh, I can take another,” Art said, and raised one hand to summon the bartender. He had to hope that if Hudson was asking, Hudson could, too.

  

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set by MJ <3

"Excellent," Dean nodded in appreciation as Pettigrew ordered another round. He didn't exactly have an idea about where this night was going, but he was open to the possibilities. He waited a beat for the bartender to bring the drinks over, mulling over his next move. There wasn't even one to be had, he supposed, but that had never stopped him before. He raised his glass to Pettigrew and grinned, "Another."

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