Damien found himself smiling up at Finn even though the guy still looked like he'd been through a woodchipper. "On it." He moved in quickly and offered Finn a literal shoulder to lean on. "You back to get in your time served?" he inquired. The least he could do was make sure he dropped the guy off in the right place. Finn didn't look like he was up to making it far on his own.

"Yeah... oh, and thanks," Finn said, grateful for the support. "The judge went pretty easy on me. Guess because it was my first offense? I don't know, but I'm pretty lucky." //You can say that again.// Things could have gone a lot worse for him. Of course he was still depressed over Kurt, who continued to plague his thoughts 24/7, but Finn hoped that keeping himself busy at the hospital might help. "Any chance you can show me the ropes?" he asked Damian with a hopeful grin.

"I can do you one better. Think I know who your partner in crime's gonna be on this one." Damien led Finn to the elevator and hit the button for the fourth floor. "Children's ward. It's pretty much all we got except candy striping, and since you're not in any shape to hobble around changing out bed pans..." He smirked and helped Finn out of the elevator when it finally stopped. He spotted the young man he'd been looking for almost at once. "Hey, Ryan!"

A young man with delicate features looked over at the sound of his voice. He wore slim fitting jeans, a somewhat garish green button down shirt that matched his eyes and looked like it had been saved from a thrift store, and a pale blue scarf that brought out some of the blue in the shirt. "Yes?" he asked uncertainly. Damien didn't talk to him much, though they weren't exactly on unfriendly terms, and he'd been hoping to get his tour of duty over for the day and get out.

"Ryan, this's Finn. Finn, Ryan. He's joining you as a brother in servitude," Damien explained.

Understanding dawned on Ryan's features, and he took in the tall boy next to Damien with renewed interest. "You look like you've earned it." He held out one slender hand and offered a hint of a smile. "Good to meet you."

Finn opened and closed his mouth silently, his eyes growing wide as he gazed at the newcomer. The other boy reminded him so much of Kurt that Finn could have easily presumed the pair were long-lost brothers. Realizing he was staring far too long, he felt a rush of warmth rise from his neck as he accepted Ryan's offered hand. "Nice to meet you, too." Even Ryan's touch was the same! //What the hell...?!// Finn struggled for words, his power of speech seemingly ripped away from him. "Erm, what are you in for?"

"You two chat it up," Damien broke in before Ryan could even answer. "I gotta get back to rounds. Hey," he added to Finn with a hint of a smile, "try and grab me before ya head out. I'll buy the cripple a coffee." He gave a little wave and slipped back into the elevator, leaving the two alone.

Ryan rolled his eyes. "I can't decide whether he drives me crazy or if I just hate everything here." The shorter teen tilted his head and explained, "I may have had a drink or two before I went to a friend's place. And I may have grazed a mailbox or two along the way. I think it's a gross exaggeration to assume that I only hit them because of the drinks, though. I'm actually a terrible driver. What about you?"

Finn caught himself staring again. "Oh, erm, sorta the same," he replied, even as the heat flooding his face increased tenfold. "I came home, drank too much then, like an idiot, I decided to go for a drive." Omitting the reason for his drinking - Kurt - Finn simply could not tear his eyes away from Ryan. Everything about the other boy reminded him of Kurt, right down to his very presence. It was staggering. "Sorry," came Finn's nervous chuckle, "I'm not trying to be rude or anything. It's just... you remind me a lot of my stepbrother."

Ryan seemed to consider that, eying Finn skeptically before nodding. "Well, since you keep looking, I'm going to assume that's a compliment." He shrugged one slim shoulder and craned his neck. The coordinator was finally waving them in, and he sighed. "Let's go tell the kiddies why we're terrible, terrible people so we can get the hell out of here." Wrinkling his nose at the thought, Ryan led the charge into a room full of tweens waiting to be educated on the dangers of underage drinking.

It was relatively painless in the end, but Ryan still breathed a sigh of relief when they were free for the afternoon after fielding a lot of uncomfortable questions. "Honestly, sometimes I think I should have just volunteered to pick up trash, but it would be murder on my nails, and no one looks good in reflective vests."

If Finn closed his eyes he would have sworn Kurt was standing next to him talking. It was uncanny! "You were really great in there," he complimented Ryan, glancing back over his shoulder at the room. "Way better than me; all I could do was tell them how stupid I'd been." That was an understatement. Finn had wanted to get across how idiotic his actions had been, and he'd only succeeded in highlighting the thickness of his skull.

"You did just fine. I think you're a bit more... relatable," Ryan allowed with a look of vague annoyance. "Anyway, you did fine. A few more weeks of this and we'll both be done with it, at least. Strangely, after staring at all those tweens for an hour, I feel like I need a drink. Do you think the system's a bit flawed?"

"Maybe a little bit, yeah." The truth was Finn felt exactly the same way. Ever since things had gone sour for him, all he could think about lately - besides Kurt, of course - was losing himself in a drink. For a little while at least it dulled the pain of not having the one person he truly wanted most in the world. Starting to feel depressed all over again, Finn fished around for a change of topic. "You and Damien are friends, right? Did you get an invite to the Halloween party?"

"'Friends' might be a strong word for it, but we both go to Dalton, and... he has his moments." One thing Damien did excel at was finding excellent parties, and Ryan appreciated the skill greatly. "Yes, he mentioned the party. I was thinking of attending, actually. Just need to go get a costume this evening." The young man arched an eyebrow. "What about you?"

"Well, I'm still kinda debating about going or not," Finn answered, his expression uncertain. Maybe it would do him some good to get out and meet people? Otherwise all he'd end up doing at home would be sinking ever deeper into his depression over Kurt. "I might as well, right? I've got a ready made costume: accident victim." Again, Finn felt as if he might be talking to Kurt, not someone entirely different. "How about you? Any ideas?"

Ryan considered that. "I was thinking angel," he finally allowed, shrugging. "I do like a touch of irony, after all, and... well, obviously it's hardly a fitting costume considering. Which is why I like it." The young man glanced at his watch and sighed regretfully. "Sorry, my mom's picking me up... but... maybe I'll see you at the party?"

"Yeah, maybe..." Finn still wasn't exactly sure he'd be attending the party. However, the last thing he wanted to do was sit at home while Kurt was out Trick or Treating with Blaine. "See you later," he called out after Ryan. //An angel, huh?// Funnily enough, that's what he'd suggested to Kurt. Finn caught himself staring at Ryan's retreating back, and found his gaze wandering down to the other teen's shapely backside. //Woah...//

Damien almost stumbled into the other teen as Finn stood immobile in the walkway. "Dude, figured you'd be gone already." As the doors to the elevator closed, he caught a glimpse of what Finn had been staring at and smirked. "He's single. Y'know, if you were wondering." Obviously he had been, but Damien moved the conversation along quickly. "You need some help gettin' back downstairs since I'm here?"

"I wasn't wondering," Finn started to protest, only to blush when he couldn't argue over being caught looking by Damien. "Okay, yes... I could use some help, thanks." It was shocking to think that he could be attracted to a guy who wasn't Kurt, and yet reminded him so much of his stepbrother. "You know, I was thinking I might go to that party after all."

"Yeah? Sweet! That would be awesome," Damien answered with obvious enthusiasm as he helped Finn over to the elevator. "You'll have fun. I give you my personal guarantee. Hey, you wanna ride over together? I won't be doing the designated driver thing since, y'know, party, but we could split the cost of a cab?"

Although Kurt had offered him an open invitation for rides, Finn seriously doubted Blaine would be keen on his boyfriend chauffeuring him to a party, and he sure as hell didn't look forward to seeing Blaine carting Kurt off someplace. "Yeah, that'd be great," he agreed, flashing Damien a grateful smile. "Think I'll just throw on some torn clothes and a little fake blood, cause I've already got the accident victim look down pat."

"Got a point there." Damien deposited Finn on one of the benches in the forward waiting room and offered the other boy a grin before scrawling his number on a piece of paper and passing it over. "Text me your address, and I'll be there to spring you from the joint about seven thirty."

"Okay, will do - thanks," Finn said, pocketing the paper and flashing Damien another warm grin. Getting out and having a little fun on Halloween might be just what he needed. He'd almost convinced himself not to go, but meeting Ryan had somehow changed his mind. Not that he was looking forward to seeing the other boy again... at least that's what Finn told himself.