Chapter Three
" I'm not afraid of him. What do you think I am?" Ryo said, becoming extremely irritated by a practically harmless conversation. Dee studied the man from head to toe, knowing his partner better than he knew himself (except for anywhere below the waist since he hadn't gotten there yet). Dee smirked and looked up at the sweet blonde man who looked angrily back at him.
" Calm down, Ryo. You're overreacting," Dee spoke casually, leaning back in his chair to watch Ryo cook silently. Ryo said nothing in his defense and instead continued to chop vegetables. "Don't ignore me," Dee muttered, pushing back dark strands of hair and staring out the window as the rain pounded against the double layers of glass. Good ol' New York City apartments. It was thundering outside- rather loudly- as Dee looked out at the now empty New York streets. The dark haired detective never had any siblings other than the other kids at the orphanage, and he hated most of them. He had always admired this one pair of siblings who would always walk down the street together as children, but the older they grew, the farther apart they would walk until they even stopped taking the same route to school. Dee knew they both still went to the same exact private school, but they refused to speak to each other. Now here he was, watching two brothers come closer together after exactly 25 years of separation. He had wondered for a very short time, if his relationship with Ryo would one day be like that of the two brothers. If they did become a couple and live together and bug each other every second of the day, would their love be able to stand strong? Would they be able to remain by each other for all eternity, or would Ryo one day decide to take a different route towards someone else... " Dee, are you okay?" Ryo asked, staring down at the younger detective. " Eh?" Dee shot up, noticing an average height blonde man standing beside Ryo, soaking wet. " Dee, this is my brother, Lev," Ryo introduced Lev although he himself knew nothing about the man.
" Nice to meet you, Dee. Heard nothing about you, but it's a pleasure." Lev said, smiling nervously at the taller man. His brain continued to send signals to his body, cursing himself for being so damn short. Dee smiled back, shaking Lev's hand and staring at Ryo.
The three shared an uncomfortable silence broken only by Bikky and Carol's mocking laughter. " You guys look alike," Cal said, walking up to Lev. " I'm Cal, Ryo's daughter." The short silver haired girl introduced herself. Ryo nudged her gently as Cal teased him with a sweet childish smile. " I'm actually his friend. It's nice to meet you, Lev." Carol said, taking Lev's hand. The young blonde man seemed to exhale sharply. " That saves me money. I thought I was an uncle for a second," He said, smiling down at the girl. " Well, you sort of are," Ryo said, smiling.
He pointed at Bikky who stepped forward with a simple," Yo."
Lev smiled, receiving an explanation from Ryo about Bikky being his adoptive son. Lev nodded, accepting the warm family feeling in the room. He noticed Dee's uninterested glance and smiled. This was definitely a bit of an odd situation. What exactly was Dee to Ryo? " He's my partner," Ryo said adding a knowing glance at Dee who raised an eyebrow seductively. "I'm a detective at the 27th precinct and Dee's my partner." Lev nodded and smiled. " Interesting," He mumbled.
Dinner passed by rather quickly as the group chatted about casual things. Bikky warned Ryo of his upcoming report card. He had upset a teacher who had threatened to fail him and he hadn't handed in any assignments given to him during the school year. Ryo groaned in disapproval but said nothing. The rest of dinner was spent focusing on Lev. They knew absolutely nothing about him. " Do you have a family, Lev?" Dee asked curiously. " No, not really." The blonde smiled politely. " You probably have a girlfriend then?" Carol smiled shyly. Hey, who could blame her. Lev's shoulder length blonde hair was tied neatly in a ponytail resembling Bikky's. Lev's shining blue eyes stared down at her. " Well, no actually. I am, however, looking for a soul mate." Lev chuckled at his reply. It was rather sweet that people actually wanted to know about him. Most times, he preferred to keep himself quiet about everything. He was a rather mysterious person due to his years of isolation. Sarah preferred to keep her son hidden from someone or something or it may have been that she wanted to keep something hidden from him. Lev could never exactly tell which one it was. She always did receive mysterious guests-- one of them being a large man in expensive clothes followed mostly by young men. "It's getting late, I should head home." Lev glanced down at his watch. Ryo smiled and nodded. " Alright, Good night, Lev. Take care." And as the blonde man prepared to take his leave, he wished everyone good night and headed out the door, into the cold Manhattan streets.
" Yep...it's him," A thin man sitting in the passenger side of a double parked car whispered at his ally. " Sure?" The other man asked. " Yeah. McLean lives there so this must be the other one," the thin man spoke, pointing up at Ryo's third story apartment window. " So he's the other McLean. Damn, kid looks just like his father without a mustache." The man sitting in the driver's seat commented. The thin man smirked. " Guess so. Has a bit of Sarah in there too. The eyes mainly."
At this time of night, only a few "lucky" people remained on the New York city subways. Most of these people being homeless men and women dressed in clingy and short leather outfits. The multi-colored chairs on the trains were mostly empty despite the fact New York was rumored to be "the city that never sleeps". Lev chuckled to himself thinking of how ironic it was that practically everyone on the train was asleep. New York was always a city of excitement, lights, anger and fights galore. Clubs were pouring with people at this hour and 42nd street was absolutely alive. People zig zagged and pranced down the streets, shoving into each other without a single "sorry" in the midst. It was a pretty safe bet someone would get robbed by the end of the night. Then again, someone was robbed at least once every hour of the day. The booming sound of gunshots echoed for blocks and nothing could comfort the rapid beating of a person's heart like the sound of a police siren.
Ryo was one of them--a cop. He knew what real adrenaline was because he had been exposed to the actual feeling. He had felt his heart race the day Elena told him his parents had died. Lev never felt that because he only lost one parent. Only one. And to think that he could've been with them. He could have been shot to death if Sarah hadn't told him it was unsafe to travel with Frank and Liz. Lev wanted to go. He felt it was the right thing to do-or at least what he thought was the right thing to do. His mother had always picked the safest scenarios for Lev. He had always been shielded and well taken care of.
Lev smirked, wondering why his father had chosen to live in such a crime ruled city. Then again, there was so much opportunity in New York. A mix of exotic people from China, Japan, Mexico, The Caribbean, Europe and other countries truly gave the city that spark. There were precious landmarks like the empire state building, the George Washington Bridge, Fort Tryon, The Cloisters, the little Red lighthouse, The Statue of Liberty, Broadway and at one point even the Twin Towers. Lev frowned, why had his father left him behind in Europe when he could've grown up around the overly polluted city? "Hey, motherfucker! Some people have to sleep! Turn that shit down!" Someone in the streets screamed loudly. Lev chuckled, listening to the loud Arabic music coming from one of the open windows of an apartment building. Lev sighed contently; he finally met his older brother and even though he didn't know much about Ryo, Lev felt as if they could speak to each other without restraints. Well, hopefully.
" You stayin' over?" Bikky asked, watching Dee clean up the dishes left in the kitchen sink while Ryo showered. " Yup. Got a problem with that, munchkin?" Dee asked Bikky. The boy shrugged. " Whatever. I don't care anyways." Dee stared at the boy, completely dumbfounded.
" What? Did you hit your head on something?" The dark haired man smirked. Bikky glared at him angrily. " No and mind your own business, you gay bum." Bikky snapped.
" Look, monkey brat. Since Ryo's as alert as a grandmother crossing the street when the light is green, I'm going to have to teach you to be a man and men don't say 'mind your business' ." Bikky frowned.
" You might turn me into a perverted gay man. So, no thanks."
" What's eating at you, Bikky? Only one insult tonight. Not getting any?" Dee snickered with his best- I feel sorry for you- look.
" No, I think that's a question for you. And I guess-I don't know."
" Don't know what, Bikkster?"
" I got a bad feeling, that's all," Bikky replied, resting his head on his arms. " Lev isn't the problem. There's just something weird about the whole thing," The boy said. Dee sat across the tanned boy and smirked, lighting a cigarette in the process. Bikky frowned. " Go home, Dee." He said, standing up and heading towards his bedroom. Dee growled; at least the kid knew when trouble was ahead.
In NY, every single window of an apartment is made with three layers of glass for two reasons: Flying bullets and flying people. It's pretty cool though. If one layer has been broken, you can still feel the cold come through the window even though there are two other layers left. Yes, I am horribly sarcastic.
A/N: I liked the Grandmother comment. It sounds like something Dee and this dude from another manga (Gorgeous Carat) Rei would say. Gah! Experimenting with Semi-colons and dashes is NOT fun. Yes, I am experimenting with Semi-colons and dashes. I am trying to improve my writing skills. Anyways, I have and always will be, a pain in the ass. There was that really weird description of New York in this Chapter. I've lived in this damn city all my life (in the bad parts of it) so I pretty much have seen all the bums peeing in public and all the homeless bums dancing on subway poles like strippers and peeing--in the subway. I've also seen the jay walking, the shootouts, and the cops harassing little girls. Yes, this is a crappy city, but awesome in every way possible. What chapter is this?Third? Wow, must get to finishing the fourth chapter. Anyways, please review people. I'm trying my best to stay on track and make this story really good. I love all the reviews I've gotten so far.