Unfortunately, I own Tony and everyone else is being borrowed. Read on.


The only light in the apartment was the glow from the television screen in the living room. Ryo didn't see the pizza box until he was standing on it. He flipped on a light switch.

"Ryo!" Carol jumped up from the floor, where she'd been sprawled out with Bikky on a blanket.

"I was wondering if you'd be home tonight," Bikky said without so much as looking away from the screen. "Since you skipped out on making up dinner like you said, I took the liberty of ordering a couple of pizzas for me and Carol with the emergency money. Oh, and we ordered the new King Kong off Pay-Per-View. You wanna watch?"

"He doesn't know it's a romance," Carol giggled in Ryo's ear, hugging him and picking up the pizza box with an apologetic smile.

Ryo politely declined to watch, but said they could finish as long as they went to bed right after it was over.

"Hey, what held you up?" Bikky stopped watching momentarily when he sensed a sappy scene coming.

"Oh, just another case," Ryo said. Bikky looked at him hard, but since it wasn't a lie, he could look back. Finally his charge gave a satisfied nod.

"We got the pizzas on special, so I only spent $20. I'll put it back in a few days."

"Don't worry about it," Ryo smiled. "I'm sure it was put to good use. And I'm sorry I wasn't home like I said I'd be. Thank you for taking care of Carol.

Bikky flashed a toothy smile, but his attention was sucked back in by an explosion on screen. Ryo watched them for a few minutes, but eventually walked back to his room and closed the door.

He didn't dream in bed that night. He didn't even sleep. He couldn't. The bed felt too empty and he head felt too full. Ryo just wasn't used to dwelling on so many personal issues. He'd spent years being all about schoolwork, then all about his job, occasionally going on casual dates with women but never getting too involved for one reason or another. He hadn't ever though seriously about marriage or children, though he knew he loved kids, and the idea of having someone he cared deeply about to spend the rest of his life with was nice.

Then he'd got put at the 27th, and Dee and Bikky had fallen into his life. Things had kept moving so naturally that he'd never questioned them. After he'd gotten over a few deep-buried questions that Dee had raised in his life, he'd soon accepted them both as fixtures and began to forget times when he didn't have them around.

Now he wasn't sure where they were. Bikky had Carol, and Ryo was thrilled and understanding of that, but he wasn't sure where he'd lost Dee, and the more information he found out, the further away Dee pulled.

Ryo rubbed his eyes and looked at the bedside clock. 2:07. The alarm would go off in another four hours- even after his late night, he had first shift. But if sleep wasn't coming, it wasn't coming, so he got up to stretch the kinks out of his neck and maybe clean up after Bikky and Carol.

The two had fallen asleep in front of the television and the automatic timer had shut it off. Faint light from the windows gave him enough to see by, though. The two empty pizza boxers were piled with used plates and napkins and set against the couch. Ryo unfurled an second blanket and covered them, then took the boxes into the kitchen.

He heard footsteps padding behind him and turned to see Bikky, rubbing his eyes and trailing Ryo'd just got out.

"It's not very considerate of you to take that from Carol," Ryo said, catching his breath. Man, had Bikky scared him.

"S'okay. I gave her my half of the other one." After a tremendous stretch, he looked wide awake. Ah, youth. he set his newly focused eyes on Ryo.

"Couldn't sleep?" Ryo nodded, tipping the boxes into the trashcan.

"Wanna talk about it? I'll listen, I mean, if you want me to." The offer touched him.

"I'm fine, Bikky, really. It's just stress, is all." he couldn't talk seriously to Bikky about his relationship problems with Dee. He fully trusted that child and knew he could emotionally handle and understand a lot more than most adults because of what he'd been through, but that was just going too far.

"Okay, if you say so. But Ryo?"

"Hmm?" He turned to look at Bikky, who was watching him intently. He made him wonder sometimes.

"I just wanted to let you know- about Dee-" His mouth twitched, like he was deciding if he really wanted to say this. He decided to do it.

"He's a pretty cool guy, I guess," he said in a rush. "And he's crazy for you. And if you really like him as much as I think you do, well, I hope things work out soon and you two get back to being all in love and stuff. cause, I don't know, it's kind of nice, what you've got. It's kind of what I want someday. But definitely not with a guy."

"Maybe with Carol?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah, maybe, but don't tell her that."

"I won't."

"Oh, and Ryo?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Dee I said all that stuff. It's true and all, but I don't want him to think I like him or anything when he starts coming around again. That'd be no fun."

"Definitely not," Ryo laughed. "Okay. And thanks Bikky. Now get some sleep."

"Night." He waved as he trod back to his place on the floor beside Carol.

Ryo thought for a minute about what he'd said. Until a little while ago, he'd have agreed with Bikky on every positive point. He needed to talk to Dee and find out where they'd gone wrong, and if it was too late to fix things. Because the truth was, more than anything Ryo wanted Dee beside him again. He wanted it with every fiber of his being and in every corner of his heart.


Obviously we've proved that wanting isn't enough in this story already, right?