Welcome! Unfortunately, I do not own FAKE. That honor belongs to Sanami Matoh-sama. But I will shamelessly manipulate her characters for the time being.

Dee kept spacing out as he watched his partner in the dim restaurant light. The dancing flame from the candle caught the honey tones in Ryo's hair and the deep brown of his eyes, making him glow more soft and alluring than anything else in the room.

Several other people had noticed Ryo, too. Dee battled both anger and pride and tried to focus on Ryo's words when he saw people casting hungry sideways glances at his lover.

Ryo, however, had a very different idea of why he and Dee were the center of their silent attention. Though he carefully masked his discomfort, which was unnecessary considering how inattentive Dee was being, Ryo had a nagging feeling that he should have just cooked a romantic dinner and invited Dee over to his place instead of suggesting the new restaurant down the street.

But that wouldn't have really solved anything. They were here so Ryo could prove to the man he loved that he was more important to him than everyone else and their opinions.

That's why, through serious personal effort, he didn't flinch or look around to see who'd notice Dee's casual but lingering hand brush across Ryo's from across the table. His smile didn't drop when Dee's legs found his under the table, but after a few minutes he had to excuse himself. Everyone had their limits.

Dee used his absence to try pulling himself together. To anyone else it wouldn't have been obvious, but he was fighting a losing battle against his animal instincts. He could read in Ryo's face that he still needed his bubble of personal space. Dee had never filled the shoes of the in-the-closet gay (bisexual) man, and even if he thought he understood Ryo pretty well, it was hard to place himself in the same circumstances and still follow the same path his partner seemed determined to take.

Ryo didn't respond to Dee at all in public and that hadn't changed over night. It wouldn't. But he didn't know if he was holding on in vain to the dream that someday he'd be able to tell the world how deeply in love with Ryo he was and that Ryo would be okay with that.

And it wasn't just saying he loved him. If it were up to him, Dee would take Ryo right there on top of their spotless white table cloth when he returned, but he had a strong feeling that there would be resistance to that idea. And rushing home to have sex would just be letting Ryo fall right back into his comfort zone that existed only when it was just the two of them.

He didn't want to give in that easily.

When his partner returned, Dee had every intention of engaging him in a casual conversation in an attempt to make him comfortable that he might let him steal a quick kiss for dessert by the time the meal was over. But Ryo was as distracted as Dee had been earlier when he took his seat again, and Dee couldn't get anything out of him to help the discussion along.

Ryo didn't realize his surly silence until he'd ignored him for a full five minutes. But to his good fortune, Dee was no longer thinking about that kiss.

"Why are you so quiet?" His partner's livid expression told him that had been the wrong question. "Oh, okay. Uh, I guess it was my go, wasn't it?" Ryo smiled apologetically and Dee exasperatedly rolled his eyes.

"You think?"

"Okay, I'm sorry. You have my full attention. What were you saying?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"Oh, th-that? Nothing. It was nothing."

"The dim lights don't mean you aren't as transparent as ever, you know." Ryo scratched his head in an embarrassed way. "So what is it?"

"Well, I was thinking about that case a minute ago-"

"While you were using that bathroom?"

"It happened in a bathroom. What better place to get inspired?" He didn't look like his reasoning made complete sense to himself, but he continued on. "Anyway, I was thinking about how they found the unusual bruising on the victim's lower body. I think his murderer was in there with him for a while before he took him out." His meaningful gaze told Dee what he suspected they'd been doing. He was almost disgusted with himself to think that they'd had the right idea up until the killing- almost.

But he didn't understand. "What makes you think that?"

"I'll explain it later. I need to call Diana." He whipped out his cell and signaled for the check. They hadn't even ordered a meal yet. Dee sputtered at him.

"I'm sorry, Dee, but I want to get this guy."

"So do I! But this was supposed to be-"

"Hey, Diana? Yeah, I know it's late. Were you busy? Oh, give the commissioner my best. I wanted to run something by you about the case." He mouthed a silent apology to Dee and whispered I love you. He took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and went to discretely kiss the top of Dee's head, but when his partner, unaware of his plan, brought his head around to watch him leave, he chickened out and just touched his hand in passing.

"No, I don't love you. I was talking to- never mind. The case- I was talking about the case. I think I just..."

Dee watched him go, feeling incredibly cheated and more than a little annoyed. It wasn't like he didn't have enough problems with Ryo, but now he was choosing work and that pain in the ass Diana over dinner with him and dessert back at his apartment. Knowing Ryo, he'd work through the whole night on whatever new idea he'd had and fall asleep just in time to have his alarm clock go off. Was there nothing that would go right for him, even once?

Poor Dee.