Title: Just Another Night
Author/pseudonym: NemKess
Fandom: FAKE
Pairing: Dee/Ryo
Rating: PG-13
Status: One-shot, Complete
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Disclaimers: FAKE belong to me? I could only wish. Nope, not mine. It belongs to teh wonderfully talented Sanami Matoh and her publishers. Probably a few other people on top of that. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is made. This is purely to silence the voices in my head.

Notes: I polled my LJ friends to decide on what fluffy bits of romance fics I'd write and Dee/Ryo won hands down.

Summary: It's just another night of taking care of Dee.
Warnings: Shonen ai.

When the knock came, Ryo had no doubts about who it was.

Even without the drunken lullaby that was being serenaded to his entire apartment building, who besides Dee would show up at 3'o clock in the morning?

"Dumbass drunk," came Bicky's comment from the doorway of his room where the kid stood rubbing his eyes and looking grumpy.

"Watch your language, Bicky. And go back to bed. I'll deal with Dee."

The detective watched his foster son stumble back into the bedroom, mumbling complaints about their drunken visitor the whole way. He sighed and slipped the lock off the front door to let Dee in. It wouldn't do to leave his partner out in the hallways in the condition he was in.

"Ra..Ree... R'o!" Ryo grunted as Dee fell forward into his arms. "Whacha doin?!"

With a sigh, Ryo sort of crab walked backwards trying to get Dee to the couch. The darker haired man seemed content to just hang on him and let him do all the work. Typical, he thought darkly. "Well, I was trying to sleep before you showed up."

"Ahh! Ya got up fer li'l ole me? Whadda sweetie ya are!"

Ryo leaned back to get a better look at his partner's face. "Dee... Just how much did you have to drink tonight, anyways? And please tell me you didn't drive here."

There was a look of extreme drunken concentration before Dee gave up with a cheerful shrug. "No clue!" He then launched into another verse of whatever ditty it'd been that he'd been singing before.

After getting Dee to quiet and settle- and untangling himself from the octopus like arms- the sandy haired man sighed and ventured into the kitchen for a glass of water and some aspirin. He stood there, letting the tap run and wondering just what the hell he was going to do. They didn't have the early shift for the coming day, but they did have to go to work. What could possibly have convinced Dee it was a good idea to get so wasted on a work night?

It took several minutes before he was sure he was calm enough not to launch into a lecture about the sheer irresponsibility of it all. Dee wouldn't have listened even if he was sober and considering how drunk he was, the jerk probably wouldn't even remember.

When he rejoined his partner, the other man had stretched out on the couch so that his feet- with his boots still on, Ryo noticed with a frown- were propped on one arm and his head was tucked against the corner cushion of the other end. Though his arm was across his eyes, it wasn't hard to see that the cheeriness of before had faded somewhat.

"Dee?" Ryo spoke softly, just in case Dee was asleep.

The arm lifted fractionally, just enough to see the glitter of open eyes under it, before dropping again. "When's yer birthday, Ryo?"

Blinking at the unexpected question, Ryo shrugged. "It's still a couple of months away, why?"

"Just curious. Whaddya want? For yer birthday, I mean...."

Ryo was unsure just where Dee was heading with this line of questioning but decided to go with it. It was easier to deal with a drunken Dee passive aggressively than with anything else. Humor him and eventually he'd pass out. The dark haired detective didn't get drunk as often as one would expect given his reputation, but when he did he went all out. And since they'd become partners, he seemed to home in on Ryo's location no matter where he'd originally gotten drunk at so Ryo had become quite adept at dealing with it.

He sat on the edge of the couch in the small space that the other man had left by squishing himself into the back of the cushions. The offered water and aspirin were taken with no more complaint than a grimace and then Dee was covering his face again.

"I don't know, Dee. I'm sure I'll like whatever you get me." He stopped and shrugged again, hoping it hadn't sounded as condescending to Dee as it had to him.

"Cuz you like me, so you'll like anything I get?" The question could have been arrogant and annoying, but somehow, with his voice still slightly slurred and his face hidden by his arm and the cushion, Dee seemed more uncertain than anything. Like he was looking for reassurance rather than being smug.

"Of course," Ryo replied, lifting a hand to stroke the dark hair back. He'd seen Dee in similar moods before, but not often and always when no one else could see. This Dee was his and his alone and he savored that for all that he'd never admit it out loud- especially to Dee himself. "What brought this on?"

Dee's shrug was awkward, half absorbed by the couch as it was. "Was out with the guys... the one's from the old days... for my Found Day an' it just came ta me."

Ryo cocked his head to one side, considering. "Found Day?"

"Dun have a birthday... only have a Found Day."

He wasn't one of the better detectives in their division because he was stupid, but when understanding hit him, Ryo suddenly felt like the dumbest officer on the force. Found Day... how... appropriate.

His partner didn't seem very upset that he hadn't known, but somehow that didn't make Ryo feel much better.

"You didn't tell me." The statement held more surprise and hurt than he was happy about. Enough to penetrate the drunken fog that had settled over Dee's mind, apparently, as the man finally moved his arm out of the way and gave Ryo a startled look.

They stared at one another, enough of the haze fading from Dee's eyes that he almost looked sober. He shrugged, an uncomfortable expression on his face as he reached over and patted Ryo's shoulder. "Hadn't thought about it myself til the guys showed up to take me out. It doesn't matter..."

It felt wrong that Dee should be trying to comfort Ryo when it was Dee who'd been forgotten, as Dee was always forgotten and had been from the day he was born.

He would try very hard not to ever let it happen again, he decided. Dee wasn't alone anymore, he had a partner and partners shouldn't forget things like birthdays and found days.

Leaning forward, Ryo gave Dee a light kiss on the cheek. "You should get some sleep, Dee. Work will come sooner than your head will like."

"Stay with me?" For once Dee's green eyes didn't seem to hold lecherous intent. He honestly seemed like he'd be content not to push for intimacies that Ryo might never be ready for.

Maybe it was naive and too trusting, but Ryo just smiled. "Not on the couch."

He got up and, with a little manhandling, managed to get Dee to his feet as well. For all that his mind might have cleared up some, the younger detective was obviously still feeling the night's indulgence in his body.

It took a little patience and a lot of persistence to get them both settled for what was left of the night. Curled up together in his bed without Bicky and Cal between them was something that Ryo wouldn't normally have allowed, but he figured it'd be all right for one night. Especially since Dee seemed to have passed out even before Ryo'd gotten him fully settled into the bed. He only moved once and that was to settle his head on Ryo's shoulder when the blonde finally crawled in beside him.

Stroking Dee's hair, Ryo sighed and pressed another light kiss against the dark silk. "Happy Found Day, Dee," he whispered, before slipping off to sleep.

The End