Title: Family Ties

Author: Vicious Question Mark

Rating: M

Summary: Dee may have dragged Ryo out of the closet at work, but as far as Ryo's family's concerned, he's still straight as a board. When an unexpected visit from Ryo's Aunt Elena interrupts Dee's Christmas plans, Ryo may find himself in over his head. DLxRM. Yaoi.

Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own FAKE or any of the related characters or their personalities. I just like to manipulate them for my own twisted amusement (with my deepest apologies to Sanami Matoh for brutalizing and mutiliating her beloved characters)

A/N: Ok, so…it's been a really, really, REALLY long time since I've updated this one…Please don't hurt me! covers head to avoid potentially dangerous flying objects

Anywho – you see, what happened is this: I had all my story stuff on a floppy disk (old, I know), and when I put it in my computer the last time…There was nothing on it. I don't know if it got laid down by a magnet or what, but the damn computer was telling me that it wasn't formatted or something…AGH! So I just lost everything that I had for all my stories. o0 But I'm updating now, and I will again soon, I SWEAR this time! Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Dinner With The Family

"Aunt Elena? Could I talk to you for a minute?" Ryo looked around the doorframe of his aunt's room. Rick was in the shower, and Elena was sitting cross-legged on their bed, putting the final touches on some Christmas packages.

"Of course, dear," she said, curling the end of a ribbon with a flourish. "What about?"

"Tonight," said Ryo, entering the room and taking a seat on the end of the bed. "I thought…Dee and I thought that it would be nice for you and Uncle Rick to go out and have a nice Christmas Eve dinner together…you know, just the two of you, very romantic and everything. We thought it'd be a nice end to your vacation."

"Well what about you two?" she scribbled 'Rick' onto a nametag on the gift.

Ryo turned a delicate shade of pink. "O-oh, we'll probably just…go out to this little tiny place we like, it's not too far from here, and then we'll come home and…get things all set up for tomorrow, you know…"

"I see. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with you and Dee wanting to be alone together on Christmas Eve, would it?" Elena glanced up at him, a sly smile on her face. A dark blush began working it's way up Ryo's face as he stammered out,

"I-I don't know…what you me-"

"Oh Ryo, don't pretend," She reached out and put her hand over his, still smiling. "I know all about it. How long have you two been together?"

"A-almost tw-two years, but how…how did you-?"

"Oh, I've had my suspicions for a while now, but your little tirade yesterday confirmed them."

Ryo looked down. "I'm sorry…a-about yesterday, I mean. I didn't mean to flip out like that…"

"Oh don't be," Elena waved her hand dismissively. "Rick deserved it. He's got no right to judge the way that Dee or anybody lives their life, considering the way he's lived his."

"A-aunt Elena!"

"Oh don't get me wrong, Ryo, I love your uncle, but sometimes he just…rubs me the wrong way. His judgmental side gets tiring after a while, doesn't it? But usually a well-placed admonishment will keep him quiet, at least for a day or two. But you already know that." She grinned even wider at Ryo, who looked bewildered.

"S-so you're not…erm…upset…with me?"

"Upset? Why? Because you're gay? Oh Ryo, that doesn't matter. Being gay doesn't change who you are, it just…changes who you sleep with."

"That's exactly what Dee said!" exclaimed Ryo, his eyes widening. Elena laughed.

"Well great minds think alike, don't they?" she reached over and ruffled his hair a little. "Don't worry, Ryo, I'll make sure that Rick and I are out of your way tonight."

At the mention of Rick, Ryo's face sagged a little. "Wh-what….what do you think he'll say?"

Elena turned back to her gift-wrapping, a serious look coming onto her face. "Well, he won't be happy about it, I'm sure you know that." Ryo nodded. "Maybe it's best if we just…wait until after Christmas to tell him. There, what do you think?" she held up the gift for him to see. Ryo smiled a little.

"It looks perfect, Aunt Elena." Leaning over, he kissed her cheek. "Thank you, so much. It means a lot to me…It means a lot to us…to have you know."

Elena patted his cheek gently. "I know. Now get out of here, so I can wrap your present. Go on, shoo!" she flicked a roll of wrapping paper at him as he left, laughing.

XxX

"Dee!" Ryo burst into his room, where Dee was lying on the bed on his stomach, reading a copy of People magazine. He looked up as Ryo bounded onto the bed.

"What?" he asked, jiggling slightly as Ryo bounced up and down on his knees. "What are you so excited for?"

"She knows!" exclaimed Ryo, continuing his motion. "My Aunt Elena knows, about us, and she doesn't care! Well I mean she cares, obviously, but not like I thought she would she knew and she told me that she knew, that she figured it out when I flipped out yesterday on my uncle and that it was great and that we could go-"

"You flipped out on Rick yesterday! Why didn't you tell me that!"

"-out to dinner and that she and my uncle would stay out of our hair for tonight and this feels incredible!" Ryo flopped onto his back next to Dee, sighing contentedly. "I never knew that being out to my family could feel so…good…"

Dee sat up, looking down at his partner. "Are you sure you're feeling ok?"

"Ok? OK! Dee, I feel great!" Ryo sat up and looked at Dee, his dark eyes bright. "I mean, I know that we're not out of the woods yet, because there's still my uncle to think about, but…We get to have our dinner tonight, and then they leave the day after tomorrow, and we'll have the house back to ourselves and everything will be back to normal!" Ryo paused. "We're still on for tonight, right?"

Dee smiled affectionately. "Of course we are, you dolt." He leaned close to the blonde, brushing his lips against Ryo's ear and whispering, "Tonight is going to be…amazing. I promise." He wrapped an arm around Ryo's waist, pulling him a little closer. "You'll never forget tonight."

Ryo turned his head to capture Dee's lips in a kiss. "I know," he whispered, rubbing his thumb over his lover's cheek. "I'll never forget anything we do together."

X x X

"Rick, are you almost ready?" Elena turned from the mirror, adjusting her earring as her husband walked out of the closet, shrugging on a dinner jacket.

"I still don't see why we have to go out," he grumbled.

"Oh hush," she said, going over to him and adjusting his tie. "Don't you think it'll be nice to have a quiet romantic dinner with just the two of us?"

"I told you, I don't like the idea of leaving our Ryo alone with that…that man."

Elena turned back to the mirror, checking her hair one last time. "Rick, they've lived together for over a year, and Ryo hasn't had any complaints. I hardly think that one night will make much of a difference."

"You don't know, Elena," Rick growled, pulling at his tie. "You haven't seen the way this guy looks at Ryo. And last night I caught him lurking outside Ryo's bedroom door! Don't try telling me that's not suspicious."

"Oh Rick, stop acting like you know everything." Elena straightened his tie again. "Because you don't. Just let them be, Ryo will be fine. He's a big boy, he can take care of himself."

"He's too damn kind-hearted," said Rick. "He can't say no to anybody."

"Oh give the boy some credit, at least! Don't you think that if Ryo was ever uncomfortable with something he would put a stop to it? He's not a baby, Rick. He'll be fine. Now come on, aren't you hungry?"

"…Well…yes," said Rick sullenly. He followed Elena out of the apartment, pausing as she turned to lock the door. "Where are we going?"

Elena, still turned towards the door, smiled to herself so that Rick could not see. "Oh, there's this little Italian place close to here that I've been dying to try."

X x X

"You look handsome." Ryo came up behind Dee and slid his arms around the other man's waist.

"Glad you think so," smiled Dee, adjusting his tie in the mirror.

"Oh my God, is that tie actually…all the way on? Oh, it must be the apocalypse, Dee Laytner, fully dressed!" Ryo put one hand up to his forehead, pretending to swoon.

"Shut up, tonight's special," mumbled Dee, still toying with the tie.

"It must be very special, for you to wear your tie on proper," said Ryo, replacing his hands around his partner's waist. It was true, too; even at work Dee never kept his clothes on properly. His ties were always crooked and half undone, and his shirt was never fully buttoned. Privately, Ryo enjoyed this casualness – it allowed him to gaze all day at the triangle of perfect flesh beneath his lover's shirt. "Here, let me…" Ryo reached around Dee's chest and straightened the tie, smoothed out Dee's shirt, and then planted a small kiss on the back of his neck. "You look great."

Dee turned around, placing his own arms around Ryo's waist and pulling them closer together. "So do you," he said, leaning down. He kissed Ryo with nearly a week's worth of unspent passion, sucking gently on the shorter man's lower lip before running his tongue across it, seeking a way in. Ryo gladly obliged, parting his lips and sliding his tongue out to meet Dee's, exploring his partner's mouth as if for the first time. All too soon, Ryo felt Dee's mouth pulling away from him, and he reluctantly let it go.

"We should go," said Dee breathlessly, his hands clutching Ryo's arms.

"Y-yeah, let's," replied Ryo, swallowing hard.

"We'll pick this up later," said Dee, sliding his hands down Ryo's back to give his ass a squeeze. "Promise."

After grabbing their coats, the lovers left the apartment building and started on their way to Ryo's favorite Italian restaurant. It was family owned, and only about three blocks from their apartment. There was a light snow falling, and it was just getting dark outside as they entered the restaurant. Ryo shook himself a little, dislodging the snowflakes that had settled onto his coat.

"We haven't been here in ages," he said, looking around happily. His happiness quickly faded, however, as he saw an all-too-familiar figure sitting across the room. "Dee, l-let's eat somewhere else…Not here."

"What? Why not?" Dee turned from speaking with the waitress to look at him.

"I'll tell you later, let's just go before –"

"Ryo! Hey, what're you doing here?" The great lumbering form of Rick appeared behind Dee, jarring him ever so slightly off to the side. Ryo swallowed hard.

"W-we were g-going to…h-have…dinner…" replied Ryo, attempting to back up.

Rick grinned broadly. "Great! You two can eat with us, then."

Dee's eyes were wide as he looked between Rick and Ryo, and then over at Elena, who was still seated at a table. His night was in danger. His perfect night that he'd been planning for five months was in great and terrible danger.

"O-oh, we couldn't do that," he said quickly. "After all, the whole idea was to give you two a romantic dinner alone, right? So we'll just go somewhere el-"

"Nonsense!" boomed Rick, moving a little closer to Dee. "You can eat with us." He glared down at Dee, as if to say "Or else."

Dee looked helplessly over at Ryo, who looked resigned.

Do something, you idiot! Tell him no! Tell him…I don't know! Something! Anything! Ryo…come on…!

Dee groaned as Ryo nodded his head miserably.

This isn't happening…

A/N: Oh, but it is! Well, what do you think? I don't actually like this one, but I'm sure I'll like the next one, and so will you I promise! And it'll be out sooner than this one was, I promise that too. o0