Dreamwritten: Hey there! This is my first attempt at a FAKE fic. It's going to be a multi-chaptered story, so if you like this first chapter, sit tight and check back for updates! I'm really excited about this work; I read through the entire manga again and even took notes on it so I would have my facts straight. I shouldn't take too long to update, either, unless I have a lot of school stuff in the way.

Oh, and I'll just say this (I'm trying to keep the author's notes as short as possible; the rest of the chapters should have shorter ones, if any at all): I don't think a disclaimer is necessary, considering the word fanfic kind of implies that you aren't the original author/creator/whatever, so I'm only putting the disclaimer in this first chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own FAKE or any of its characters, settings, or any other unique features from the manga that might be used in this story.

And finally, if you read anything in this author's note, PLEASE READ THIS!!!!!: I'm trying to really make the characters realistic here, so I'm making the dialogue as similar to that in the manga as I can. However, I feel that when used in prose, Matoh's dialogue style seems a bit cheesy. Maybe I'm not executing it right, or maybe her dialogue is a bit extravagant/exaggerated for everyday conversation. I'm not sure. I'd like some feedback on this so I can fix it ASAP! I haven't been on FF for a while, so I'm not sure if it alerts you when chapters are replaced, but this prologue will be edited as soon as I figure out what to do.

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It was finally happening.

Carol grinned proudly to herself as Bikky rattled on about something Lai did to piss him off that day. It took her a long time—a week of planning, to be exact—but she finally had Bikky right where she wanted him. He'd been fairly unreliable in the past (except for when she was in trouble, of course), but today she wasn't letting him slip away as easily as she had before. She'd played her part all too well.

"So I told him to screw off," Bikky said enthusiastically, holding his middle finger up for effect, "and that Chinese freak tried to jump me! But oh, man." He chuckled, curled his raised hand into a fist, and drove it into his other palm with a crisp clap. "You should have seen the black eye I gave him for that one."

Carol rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, you'd think after five years you two would learn to just give it up already."

Bikky's face fell as Carol slipped her spare key into the doorknob of the small apartment. She always swore that one day Ryo would get robbed; he gave out more keys than the local locksmith.

"What?!" he whimpered, a look of practiced hurt on his face. "Haven't you been listening to a thing I said? That freak had the nerve to—"

"SURPRISE!"

Bikky fell back in shock, landing in the open doorway. Everyone was collected in Ryo's living room: Ryo, Dee, Lass, Lai (who had not a scratch on him, Carol was unsurprised to find), some of Bikky's old street friends, and a couple of Bikky and Carol's mutual friends from school. The lot laughed collectively at Bikky's reaction; he was on his bottom, leaning all of his weight on one arm behind him, the other hand pointed at them to further emphasize the shock on his face.

"What the hell is this?!"

"It's your birthday, you ungrateful little snot," Dee growled. Ryo chuckled nervously and put a hand on his partner's shoulder to calm him.

"It's your birthday party, Bikky."

"Oh, crap!" Bikky exclaimed. The fifteen year old boy pulled himself up off the floor and shook the remaining shock from his bones, cringing slightly. "I knew it was my birthday until you scared the living shit out of me. Then I forgot."

"How stupid you can be to not be able to put two and two together, I'll never know," Dee muttered. He leaned against the far wall of the room, watching as Bikky made his rounds to thank everyone. When the teen reached him, he merely nodded and ruffled the boy's platinum blonde hair: the most affection he'd shown him in the five years they'd known each other. Bikky grunted, but grinned none the less, and returned to Carol's side to give her a hug.

Dee knew he should have been happy. Thrilled, even. This was the day he was looking forward to ever since Ryo finally realized his feelings those few years ago.

But there was something about Ryo lately that made that impossible. Something that made him uneasy. That, coupled with the increasing pile of stress the Chief had been laying on him at work, tainted the otherwise glorious occasion.

Ryo interrupted his thoughts as he made his way over to him. Dee watched as he moved closer with every step; he was captivated, just as he was five years ago, by everything Ryo did and the way he did it. His eyes moved from the man's chestnut brown hair to his nearly pitch-black eyes, to his clean-shaven chin and strong chest. He'd been working out more lately, keeping up with his age and the disadvantages it brought so he could perform well at work. It was something Dee admired, even though he could never bring himself to care about his job as much as Ryo did. Life was too short to be so devoted to a job.

He was going to have to step it up at the gym, he thought amusedly. If he didn't stay one step ahead of Ryo, the otherwise slightly feminine man would catch up to him and he would wind up on the bottom.

Ryo didn't need it, though. He was only in his early thirties. Thirty-three, to be exact, and he hadn't changed at all since Dee first met him at the ripe age of twenty-eight.

"I'm glad this turned out so well," Ryo said, settling against the wall on Dee's right. Dee met his partner's eyes, looking for any trace of whatever it was that had been bothering him recently. Nothing. Just like the old Ryo, he was cheerful and loving one minute, then cold and slightly ominous the next. He was ridiculously hard to read.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Dee asked, raising his beer to his lips. There were two coolers on the opposite side of the room; the red one held beer and other alcoholic beverages for the adults, and the blue one held sodas and bottles of water for the kids. Just as he'd expected, Bikky was busying himself digging through the red one.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"If I knew what you were talking about, why would I ask?"

God. Just as stubborn and clueless as ever.

"His present…" Dee offered, raising his eyebrows as he waited for Ryo's recognition.

"Oh, that!" Ryo scratched the back of his head and chuckled adorably, reminding Dee just why and how much he loved him.

"Yes, I think it's a good idea."

"He's going to get into trouble. I thought you of all people would know that."

"He won't. Plus, you've been begging me to move in with you, and this is the only way I'll be comfortable with it without Bikky moving in with us as well."

And there it was again. The side of Ryo that was very much a part of him, though Dee wished it didn't exist.

"Gee, thanks. I'm glad you're so excited about it." Dee returned his attention to his drink, hastily swallowing the rest of it in hopes of drowning the sharp stab in his gut. Ryo really knew how to hit home sometimes.

"Oh…" Ryo's cheerful disposition faltered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"Whatever." He was almost used to it by now, anyway. "Point is, you sure the kid can handle this?"

"Dee, he'll be fine. I'm going to check on him every day to be sure."

Dee watched the boy as Ryo tried to assure him, unable to shake the fact that he actually cared about the brat. Five years made the little bastard grow on him, especially since Ryo cared for him so much. In a way, Bikky was like his own son, as well.

"Fuck you, Lai! I know I can chug more beers than you."

But he still hated him.

Dee gritted his teeth as Bikky, once again, managed to successfully pull Ryo's attention away from him as the man scurried over to remove the bottles from the two boys' hands.

"BIKKY!" Ryo roared. Dee couldn't help but grin. He was so sexy—and surprisingly scary, for that matter—when he got angry.

"Everyone!" Carol chirped, quieting the slightly chaotic room as she shut the lights. She stepped in from the kitchen, her face glowing, a candle-lit cake in hand. A moment later the room erupted into a loud bastardization of the Happy Birthday song, complete with howls, giggles, and slightly drunken babbling that sounded nothing like singing as she moved to the center and placed the flickering dessert on the coffee table.

When everything was quiet again, Bikky muttered a wish under his breath, opened his eyes, and blew the candles out.

"Last chance," Dee muttered, at Ryo's side once again. The older man sighed in slight frustration.

"It's done, Dee. It's already in his name. Whether I give it to him or not now won't make a difference."

"All right, bitches!" Bikky called out. "Hand over the presents!"

Ugh, this was going to be a disaster.

Carol knelt next to him first, handing him a neatly wrapped box. He tore into it quickly and pulled out a new pair of skates. Grinning, he pecked her on the cheek and muttered, "thanks, babe."

Lai stepped forward next, but Bikky put up a hand to stop him.

"Wait, I want Ryo's first."

"What?! Why?" Ryo and Lai sputtered simultaneously.

"Because, you're awful at hiding things and I could tell from your face the moment I walked in that it would be a good one. So cough it up!"

Ryo glanced at Dee. Shrugging his shoulders, the younger man nodded.

"Why not. May as well get it over with."

It took all of Ryo's strength to not scowl. He could have at least acted excited, he thought. Then again, Dee was never one to fake anything.

But wouldn't Dee, of all people, want this so they could finally be together?

"Bikky, sit down."

The room hushed further as Bikky met Dee's eyes. Much to everyone's surprise, he complied without question or comment.

"This is going to be good," he muttered.

Ryo returned his attention to the boy sitting in front of him. He'd deal with Dee later, though he knew he'd never admit to caring about Bikky.

"Bikky, this gift is from both me and Dee. It comes with a lot of responsibility, but we'll discuss that later. Carol?" Ryo motioned for the silver-haired girl to sit beside Bikky and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "This gift is for you as well, which explains why we weren't very extravagant with your eighteenth birthday gifts."

Ryo handed the paper to Bikky, who unfolded it hastily. Carol looked on over his shoulder and clapped her hand to her mouth in shock before Bikky could understand what it meant.

"Ryo!"

The party guests looked back and forth from Ryo to Bikky to Carol, unsure of what was going on. Those closer to the two tried to peek over their shoulders. Carol squealed with glee and tore the paper from Bikky's hands; he still hadn't understood what it was for.

"He's giving us the apartment!" she cried, wrapping her arms around Ryo's neck. Everyone clapped and cheered and chattered excitedly, save Dee, who was busy wondering why nobody gave him credit for anything.

Bikky's mouth dropped open. " But wait. Where will you be living?"

"At Dee's. I'm leaving the furniture here for you guys, and the apartment is in Carol's name so you don't have to pay rent. It's yours."

Bikky snatched the paper back from Carol and stared at it incredulously.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. And thank Dee, too. He contributed majorly to the cost of the apartment."

Bikky glanced from Dee to Ryo and back again before throwing himself into Ryo's arms. Carol had moved from Ryo to Dee, giving him a tight hug that made him smile ever so slightly. When she removed herself from his hold, even Bikky hugged him, though it came with a complimentary warning glare.

"Keep your hands off Ryo," he growled.

Ryo smiled as he watched the two bicker. He was used to it and learned long ago that it was best to just let them argue. But he had to admit, despite the long road of mental maturity ahead of him, his son had come a long way.

"Bikky?"

"Yeah?"

The chestnut-haired man glanced from the boy to his girlfriend. "Behave."

Bikky grinned boyishly, earning a blush and a light smack on the arm from Carol. "Don't worry, Ryo. I took care of the misbehaving a few months ago."

Ryo's face fell as he mentally ticked away the months since Carol's eighteenth birthday. Dee stopped in his tracks on his way to get another beer and held his hand out behind his back, earning a loud clap from Bikky's.

"'Atta boy," he muttered.