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.
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I'm not anywhere near finished with Dee and Ryo yet. Wanna know what happens when Dee shows up? Read on.


Ryo was able to calm down somewhat during his shower. The hot water relaxed him enough to where a stray thought of Dee didn't make him want to puke or break something- or both.

He dried off and wrapped the towel around his waist for modesty's sake as he exited the bathroom into the adjoining bedroom. But he was no longer tired, and now his stomach was grumbling uncomfortably.

"Bikky, Carol! Are you guys hungry?" He got no reply and went into the living room, never having known those two to turn down a meal. But neither was there to have answered his call.

Instead, Dee was lounging on the couch, his legs spread wide, still wearing work clothes and slowly dragging on a cigarette. His deep green eyes were locked onto Ryo with a mixture of anger, hurt, and something else he couldn't quite place...

He clenched his towel tighter around his waist and backed away.

"Yeah, you look pretty busy Ryo. Sorry I stopped by so unexpectedly."

"Where are Bikky and Carol?"

"Those apes? I told them we needed some alone adult time. We have to talk, Ryo. I-"

"No." He turned around without another word and went back to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

A few seconds later, Dee come in as well. He'd left his cigarette in the other room and was still staring at Ryo with those intense eyes. And now he could tell what else was in them- lust. Men.

"Why not?"

"Because..." Ryo continued to back away. He wasn't ready to have this conversation. And he wished he'd put on some clothes- it was hard to talk at all when he was only wearing a wet towel. If only Bikky were still here, but Dee had undoubtedly bribed him to take Carol out somewhere for the rest of the night. Great.

"Look," His partner was moving towards him now, his tone as serious as Ryo had ever heard it. "If there's something going on, we need to work it out here and now. You've been acting strange all week. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Ryo turned his head away when he couldn't back up any further unless he crawled onto the bed. And that was definitely not how he wanted this to end up. Right?

Dee was only a foot away now. Ryo could smell his light cologne, mixed with something that was distinctively Dee. He was afraid his body might start to react on its own if he didn't put some distance between them.

Stepping to the side, Ryo made a break for the bathroom, where the door locked, at a quick jog. "I'm not feeling well, Dee," He murmured. "You should go home." But suddenly Dee was in front of him. There was more hurt in his eyes than anger now, and Ryo wanted to crawl under a rock because he knew he'd caused it. But he didn't know how else to handle this- he'd never had to deal with this in a relationship. If he asked him about JJ, he'd get defensive and deny it. He'd say he only had eyes for Ryo, and then they'd kiss, and make love and it would go on nagging at the back of his mind every time they were together.

Did he really have such little faith in the man he loved? Dee wanted to know the same thing.

"Ryo, please, don't you trust me?" He touched his hand to Ryo's cheek gently, but he drew away with a sharp jerk before seeming to come back to himself, just as he had the other day.

"Does this have anything to do with your nightmares?"

That's when the tears came, fast and heavy. Ryo raised a trembling hand to his own cheek, a bewildered expression on his face. "I'm sorry. I-I don't know why-" But he knew. He'd always known.

"Shh, it's okay. Ryo, it's all right, I'm here. I love you." He wrapped his arms around his lover comfortingly, but was immediately shoved away.

"Don't touch me! Don't- don't. Liar." He dodged around Dee, slamming the bathroom door closed and locking it with a snap. Then he stared horrified at his own expression in the mirror while Dee pounded on the door, demanding a reason, an explanation for this insane behavior.

Ryo had none. JJ kept running through his mind. JJ at work with Dee, JJ in Ryo's dream with Dee, JJ and Dee in bed, in love. He was losing his mind. Why was he dreaming about them? He wasn't even a naturally jealous person. Why had Tony shown up talking about them? Why was JJ always around?

The ring of a cell phone momentarily stopped the assault on the door. Ryo patted his own pockets instinctively, but heard Dee answer his own cell outside.

"Hello?" His voice was tight with anger, but his next reply was much softer. "Hey, I'm sorry, okay? It's just stress." He moved away and lowered his voice, obviously trying to keep his conversation private. Ryo pressed his ear to the keyhole, straining to hear. "You're free? Yeah, he won't miss me- he's locked in the bathroom." Dee chuckled lightly at the response that received. Ryo's stomach fell.

"Perfect. I'll be right over. See you soon." Dee hung up his phone and the next thing Ryo heard was the slamming of the apartment door. His partner was gone.

Bikky and Carol showed up a few hours later.

"Well, nothing's broken. I guess they made up." Carol smiled. "You owe me $1."

Bikky grumbled and made his way to the kitchen, peering into Ryo's room as he passed by it. "Hey Carol..." He stopped and called to her. She came with a curious expression on her face.

Inside, Ryo was curled up on the floor at the foot of the bed. He tightly clutched the pillow from Dee's side of the bed and whimpered in his sleep. There were tear stains on the pillow case, and on his cheeks.

Bikky and Carol exchanged worried glances.

"I don't think they made up, Carol."


Came so close to ending this in a lemon, but changed it at the last minute. This will work out for later in my story. We all feeling the OOC emotional Ryo? Lack of sleep, lack of Dee, and too much JJ make things so fun! Who was Dee on the phone with? Who knows? See if I put it in chapter 7!