Date Written: 10/22/05
Rating: T, I think
Word Count: 476
Characters/Pairings: Dee/Ryo
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Up through book 7
Disclaimer: Not mine
Notes: A random scene from my ongoing piece Southern Charm. It'll probably end up being a side piece. Written for Maddie.
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By the time Dee emerged from his shower to the hotel bedroom he was sharing with his lover, Ryo was already sound asleep.
Grinning to himself as he toweled off his hair, he really couldn't blame the blonde. There had been two fights with Bikky on the way to the Penguin's--both about being left behind, when he had been invited the whole damn time. Then the ordeal of having to pry the little ones off so they could make their flight--which included much crying from the little ones when they realized that Dee wasn't staying. That was followed by airport traffic and the TSA agent from HELL (who might have been related to Emiry, the nurse from hell) who nearly gave Dee a strip search before deciding he wasn't a terrorist. Thanks to that lovely little pit stop, they had barely made their flight, only to sit on the runway for three hours. Getting a taxi in New Orleans and making it to their hotel had been child's play compared to that whole ordeal.
Dinner had been okay, a little French-style deli across the street called La Madelain's. He had been intending to hit Bourbon Street after dinner with Ryo, but the blonde had seemed so tired that he put those plans on hold.
Dee slung his damp towel over the bathroom door, the warm steam leftover from his shower caressing his skin. He noticed Ryo's on the floor, next to a chair he had tried to hang the rectangle of cloth on, and shook his head. He really was tired... Too tired to even heed the call of his obsessive neat streak.
The jade-eyed man picked it up and hung it on the back of the chair, knowing that it would bug Ryo if he found it on the floor in the morning. The air conditioner blew cold air on his shower-damp skin, and he shivered, moving over to slide under the sheets with Ryo.
Ryo was snoring softly, cuddling his pristine white pillow like a big teddy bear. His skin was bare from the waist up, the bottom half covered in the white hotel sheet (hopefully, by nothing else, too). The dark-haired detective couldn't help but reach out and run his hand down the pale back, his fingers tracing the line of his spine. Under his touch, Ryo moved in his sleep, snuggling his pillow. Dee carefully pulled Ryo's arms from around the pillow, placing them around himself and pulling the sleeping form close to him.
Ryo seemed to melt against him, bonelessly snuggling against the other warm body in bed. He moaned low in his throat, content in his dreams, and Dee ran a calming hand down the half-Japanese man's smooth back.
And with Ryo's slow, even breathing beside him, Dee was lulled to sleep.
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