a/n: Thanks to all who reviewed last time, I really appreciate it. Keep reviewing please! Helpful suggestions & comments are always valued.
SOUR GRAPES
Two:
Ryo emerged from his room the next morning with dark rings around his eyes. It was painfully obvious he hadn't been sleeping when he poured juice instead of milk into his bowl of cereal. Carol gently corrected his mistake, as she had spent the night in the guest room.
"You look like a train wreck! Are you sure you're alright to go to work today?" She asked as she prevented him from spreading powdered coffee on his toast.
"Yeah." He mumbled between mouthfuls, "Have to have money to live, don't I?" Idly, he glanced at the large clock ticking on the kitchen wall and gagged suddenly, thumping his chest to make the food go down his throat properly. "Is that the time?! Sorry Carol, but I have to go. Can you lock the door if you want to leave?" The girl smiled and waved goodbye.
"No problem. Have a nice day, Ryo. I'll tell Bikky you said hello." The air was cold and crisp as the newly employed constable stepped out on to the busy street outside his apartment block. Instinctively, he buttoned his heavy overcoat up to the neck and pulled his gloves on a little tighter. Everywhere, people were scurrying to work, their hands buried deep inside their pockets, and their cheeks and noses flushed pink from the biting chill. On street corners, vendors advertised their wares in crude voices; selling everything from newspapers and magazines, hot coffee at a $1.50 a cup, as well as warm donuts and paper bags of hot roasted chestnuts. Anything that the working population might need could be found on the streets of New York City, between the hours of eight in the morning, and four in the afternoon. Any earlier or later, and you're bound to find the vendors themselves fortified in the nearest warm diner, discussing profits, how the city was being taken over by pigeons, and how much they thought that the current president was a joke. It was a wonderful morning. The pavements were glittering with frost and the trees lining the streets hung thick with icicles. Ryo unfortunately, was blind to everything. Running across the pedestrian crossing, his mind was flashing similar thoughts over and over again; get to work, apologize to the chief, ask to leave early, avoid the stupid person, get to work… Indeed, Ryo had become so momentarily blind that he forgot to look where he was going, and ran with a reverberating clang in to the lamppost outside the precinct station. Luckily, none of his colleagues were present to witness his humiliation. Though it would be pretty damn hard to miss spotting the rising red welt in the middle of his forehead. Things just couldn't get any worse, could they? Ryo asked the question to himself sarcastically, taking the front stairs three at a time and springing through the main doors. Life as a funny way of being cruel to certain people when they're already down, like kicking someone in the ribs while they're on the floor. So it was for poor, morning-hating Ryo. Sitting in the middle of his desk, was Dee. Smugly, the other man smirked and sipped his coffee slowly. His attention-seeking ploy was working!
"Good morning, Ryo. You look-" As Dee's eyes rose to meet Ryo's, his face became genuinely surprised. "What happened to you? Were you hit by a truck or something?" Ryo glared frostily and turned on his heel. Dee caught his arm firmly. "If you're done parading around on your high horse, your majesty, you'd realize that I was actually concerned for your wellbeing." Ryo wrenched himself free from his grasp
"I have things to do. I'm paid to work Dee, not discuss idle pleasantries. Now, kindly move out of my way? I need to see the chief."
"What the hell has gotten into you?"
Ryo was stubborn, "I don't know, why don't you tell me?"
"How should I know? You're the one who won't tell me anything!" Dee shouted, and all the bustle of the office stopped and looked quizzically at the arguing pair. Embarrassed, sleep depraved and disheveled, Ryo pushed his partner out of the way. Muttering under his breath, he vanished into the inner regions of the station, once again leaving Dee perplexed and annoyed.
* * *
The atmosphere in the chief's office was hazy with cigarette smoke. The man himself sat in a swivel chair that was in dire need of repair or replacement, grumbling to himself from behind his desk. Worry lines all over his face had made him look older than he actually was, and his hair had begun to grey prematurely from stress. Irately, he motioned for Ryo to enter and sit as the younger man timidly opened the frosted glass door a crack.
"You're late." He observed moodily.
Ryo peeled off his gloves and stared at them. "Sorry sir, I-"
"Save it. I don't want excuses, just don't let it happen again, or next time, you won't find me nearly as pleasant as I am now!" Ryo gulped. The chief could currently be classified in his mind as purely venomous. He trembled to think that this was only the tip of the iceberg. The chief had turned away to rifle through some papers, but he spied Ryo from the corner of his eye. "You still sitting here? The city doesn't pay you minimum wage to bum around in my office and collect dust. Move it! Go fight crime! Or something…"
"Erm, I was hoping I could ask a favor of you, sir."
The chief's eyes narrowed, "What kind of favor?"
"May I please leave work early today?" Ryo clapped his hands together as if in prayer, "I need to visit someone in hospital." Despite rumors circulating the precinct, the chief was not entirely inhumane. Grunting, he shoved a folder stuffed with paperwork in his desk drawer. "Fine. But you better be here tomorrow for the dawn shift, plus your regular one. I won't have slackers on my force. Got that?" Ryo smiled gratefully. Finally, something in this lousy day went right. Just as he was turning into the corridor, he heard his name called out from inside the office. "But Ryo?…"
"Hmmm?"
"Drag a comb through your hair, will 'ya? You look like crap." Ryo's happy feeling was shot down with what felt like a machine gun. The chief, he thought- sensitive and caring as always.
* * *
Dee staked out the staff room, hovering above the coffee pot, and creeping out any person who dared to come near him to get a beverage.
"Drake, do you know why Ryo's mad at me?"
"Huh?" Dee's co-worker blinked, "How the heck would I know that? You're his partner. Ask him yourself."
"I tried- but he gave me the cold shoulder."
"Really? That doesn't seem like him…"
"Trust me, dude. I swear, he's turning into a penguin." Drake stifled a yawn and shrugged.
"Pff. It's not like you two are married, or anything- so what are you all worked up about? Dee? DEE?" He waved a hand in front of Dee's glazed over eyes. To no avail. Dee was in his own private fantasy land, where Ryo was kept on a short leash with a minimal amount of clothing. Drake tapped his head, gaining no response. Bored, and slightly disturbed at the manner in which Dee was drooling all over the carpet, he glanced at the doorway, and the corridor leading to it.
"Oh, hi JJ. You're here early, aren't you?" The short and young constable smiled brightly. His stylish brown hair complemented his eyes.
"Yeah, I guess I am, but I was looking for-" In a short moment, he had scanned the staff room and stopped short of himself. "DEE!" Like a crazed maniac, he crash tackled the other man (who was still salivating at his perverted daydream). Instantly, Dee came to his senses, as he lay twisted on the floor, with JJ snuggled lovingly beside him. Drake looked at the pair. Then at his wristwatch, then at the spectacle on the floor again. Coughing, he gathered his mug and the few papers he had been carrying. "Ah, is that the time? Better run. Sorry to interrupt!" Making a hasty exit, he left Dee to fend for himself.
"NOOO!" Don't leave me, man!" To JJ he added, "Get off me, you sick freak!"
The other sniffed loudly, "Aww, don't you love me any more?"
"I never loved you to begin with, bonehead. Now move. Don't make me use my gun on you."
"We both know you'd never-" His sentiment was cut short as Dee gagged and rolled out from beneath his affectionate embrace.
"Ryo! It's not what it looks like, I promise! Wait!" Ryo had disappeared, coffee mug in hand before Dee had time to even get up and cross the room. "Damn! Lost him again! This is all your fault, you moron."
"Why is it always my fault?"
"Because you can't keep your damn monkey paws off me, that's why. Stop that!" He slapped JJ's hand away, which had slowly been tracing a line down his back, to his belt.
"Waaaah! You never let me have any fun!"
"You want fun?" Dee snatched up a donut and grabbed his holster, "Inhale a cylinder full of Helium gas and join the circus."
* * *
A formidable mountain of paperwork was stacked on Ryo's desk. It had built up over the past couple of days that he'd spent at the hospital. Groaning, he slumped in his chair and pulled the nearest sheet towards him, pen in hand. He really wasn't in the mood for this right now, but it had to be done. Where the sheet of paper asked: NAME OF PARTNER?, Ryo paused. With a slight twitch of his eye, he scrawled, 'AMORAL JERK.' He felt satisfied by that. That page done, he reached for another from the stack. He was just about to write about how much an incompetent dolt Dee was when a hand squarely smacked the desk, making it rock.
"Enough is enough. Either you tell me why you're avoiding me, or I'll…I'll"
"You'll what?" Ryo's gaze was hard. "Laugh at me?"
"What the hell are you talking about? Why would I laugh at you?"
"Oh, I don't know…maybe because you seem to enjoy doing that- especially to sick children on the floor." His voice was a dangerous growl.
"Is that what this is about?" Dee matched Ryo's stare. "Ryo, you must believe me- if I had known Bikky was seriously ill that night, I would have been the first to help him." Ryo was about to rebuke when Dee clamped a hand over his mouth firmly. "I've said all I have to say. But do not, ever presume to think that I would purposely let harm befall that kid." Ryo was stunned as Dee took his hand away, and licked it. "You got that, tasty?" Ryo recollected his wits enough for him to violently shove Dee off the desk, his face a deep shade of crimson.
"Go eat your lunch like a normal person, you maniac. I'm leaving."
"Kay! I'll be waiting for you, right here in this spot!"
"Great…" Ryo muttered under his breath as he stood and picked up his backpack.
"As long as you're waiting right there, in that spot," The chief materialized out of nowhere, freaking Dee out, "You can finish the paperwork that Ryo didn't get around to doing. Have fun!" Laughing huskily, he strode away.
"HEY! This is slave labor! I'll report you to the worker's union!" Dee's eyes slid down the page that Ryo had been scribbling on. "WHAT? JERK? HOW DARE HE!! RYO!!" Outside the building, Ryo Maclean's face was smug.