Fake Fan Fiction ❯ FAKE in Love: Act III, Pistols and Passion ❯ Chapter 5

Warnings and Disclaimers: Boo hoo! I don't own FAKE and I'm not Sanami Matoh. This is Yaoi kids, so watch out for hot boy on boy action. Sexy, sexy, sexy!

 

Dee glared at Rose as they entered his office, Diana glancing over at them over the file she was skimming. Her smile became knowing and she quietly chuckled as she shook her head. Ryo blushed darkly and sat down, trying to ignore the warmth in his face.

 

“Are you glad to be out of the hospital, Ryo?” Diana asked innocently.

 

“Y-yes,” he answered.

 

“I'm sorry to have had to call you here after only being back home for a few hours,” Rose stood up. “But we need to talk.”

 

“We've got some news on Martin,” Diana said, tossing the file onto Rose's desk. “He's getting ready to make a deal. Your cousin has some serious money floating around in the drug world, and he's getting ready to call it all in. Apparently Makkel and Vones weren't the only ones who used his services to launder dirty money. Everyone was, and a lot of people owe him a lot of money.”

 

“When he calls all of his debts in,” Rose leaned against the desk. “He'll have a controlling interest in several mob families, giving him the necessary leverage to take control of a big chunk of New York's drug trafficking.”

 

“He's a drug lord?” Ryo said with shock.

 

“Not yet,” Diana said. “But he's getting ready to be.”

 

“Shit,” Dee said with a little surprise. “I didn't see that one coming.”

 

“Apparently not many people did,” Rose said flatly. “He's about ready to shake things up and a lot of the bosses are anxious about how to stop him. Apparently Alicia Grant has taken to the hills.”

 

“You don't say?” Dee said boredly.

 

“It seems someone tipped her off that there were problems coming,” Rose's eyes pounded into Dee.

 

“Really?”

 

“Detective,” Rose's voice grew cold. “Are you aiding and abetting?”

 

“Of course not, sir. What's all this have to do with Ryo, anyway?”

 

“Ryo's a threat,” Diana shrugged and pulled out a piece of paper. “Have you seen your grandfather's latest will, Ryo?”

 

“No,” Ryo frowned. “Why would I?”

 

“He's leaving controlling stock of the family company to you.”

 

Ryo almost fell out of his chair with surprise.

 

“What?” he croaked finally.

 

“Apparently Franklin isn't happy with how his children are running the company, so he has made arrangements to give the lion's share to you. There are instructions about how to sell the stock and who it should go to and who it shouldn't. Apparently he's just making sure that you'll be taken care of and that the family business won't stay in the family.”

 

Ryo blinked dumbly and stared down at the copied sheet Diana handed him. What in the hell? There was no way this could be happening.

 

“So Martin wants Ryo dead so he can hang onto the business,” Dee said nodding. “Which makes a convenient money laundering front.”

 

“Exactly,” Diana dazzled him with a pleased smile.

 

 

“So what are you going to buy me with all of your millions of dollars?”

 

Ryo glared at him darkly and flipped open the cell phone, the phone beeping a little as he scanned through the names. He finally selected a number and hit send, his mouth narrowing as he raised the phone to his ear.

 

“Hello, MacLean residence.”

 

“This is Ryo MacLean, can I speak Mr. MacLean, please?”

 

“One moment, sir.”

 

Ryo stared down at the photocopy of his grandfather's will, his anger beginning to dissipate into a thick nervousness. How was he going to tell Franklin that he didn't want all this money? What in the hell was he going to do? Ryo sighed and closed his eyes, waiting impatiently and suddenly thinking about hanging up. It wouldn't really do any good though; he had already given them his name.

 

“Randy? Hello!”

 

“Hello Mr. MacLean.”

 

“Please, Randy, call me grandfather, or at least Franklin.”

 

“Okay, uh, Franklin, I'm calling about…well because I…”

 

“You heard about the will didn't you?”

 

Soft chuckling reverberated into his ear and Ryo sighed again.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Don't worry Randy, everything's been set. All you have to do is sign the papers when the time comes and the company will be split up among dozens of loyal and worthy business associates.”

 

“Then why not just leave it to them?”

 

There was a long moment of silence.

 

“Randy, I want to know that you and Bikky will be taken care of. I want to be sure that you won't ever need for anything. You can't tell me that you don't want the money, you need the money. Bikky is going to want to go to college someday, isn't he?”

 

Ryo's mouth thinned. He certainly hoped so, but still…

 

“I just don't think that I can accept something like that,” Ryo said weakly. “It's too much.”

 

“No,” Franklin said firmly. “It's not. Get used to it Randy, you're getting the money. You can do whatever you want with it after it's yours. Right now it's mine, and I'm choosing to leave it to you. I've got to go now, I stepped out of an important meeting to talk to you, but I hope that you'll bring Bikky up to see me again soon. I miss that boy. You know, the last time he was here he taught me an interesting poker trick. I've tried it out, and it's absolutely ingenious.”

 

“That does sound like Bikky,” Ryo said distantly.

 

More of the soft chuckling.

 

“Goodbye Randy.”

 

“Goodbye Mr. M-, er, Franklin.”

 

 

Ryo rested lightly in Dee's arms as they sprawled across the couch, some generic cop movie blaring on the TV in front of them. A bowl of popcorn rested next to them, and Dee was energetically stuffing his face and yelling commentary at the screen. Ryo smiled absently, already bored with the movie, and entertained himself by carefully egging Dee on.

 

“You really don't think something like that could happen?” he said as he frowned.

 

“What? Ryo, wake up! It's bullshit!”

 

“How so?”

 

“What cop do you know that dresses like that or carries a fucking gun that he can't easily reload?”

 

“Just because we don't know anyone like that doesn't mean there isn't someone like that out there.”

 

“What? You've got to be kidding!”

 

The rant continued as Dee pointed out every single plot flaw and unbelievable tactic that the movie's moronic hero had used. Ryo carefully kept his face impassive and continued to bait Dee until his partner was practically screaming insults at the movie. Ryo chuckled quietly as Dee flipped the screen off.

 

“I hate this fucking movie,” Dee snapped. “Why are we watching it?”

 

“Because you're too lazy to pick up the remote and find something else.”

 

Dee scowled and began to channel surf, Ryo now running a hand lightly up and down Dee's encircling arm. Dark brown eyes barely registered what was flickering by on the screen as he began to draw little circles and trace smoothly toned muscles in Dee's arm. He felt Dee shift closer and knew his partner was watching his pale hand now. The news clicked on, but neither was paying enough attention to the TV now to pick up more than the quick headlines. Ryo skated his fingers down across Dee's hand and lightly pressed their palms together. He sighed.

 

Dee grinned and pounced forward, quickly encircling Ryo with his arms as he pressed down, careful not to rest upon his lover's chest or brush against his bruised face. Ryo cried out in surprise and Dee chuckled into their kiss, his arm tickling after Ryo's slow touching. Now Ryo's hands slid to his back and as they leaned into kiss after kiss, his touch moved just as lightly up and down Dee's spine.

 

“When's Bikky going to be back?” Ryo asked breathlessly.

 

“He's got basketball until seven,” Dee whispered.

 

“Good.”

 

They pressed into another kiss, Ryo's hands becoming more confident and carefully slipping under Dee's shirt. Dee grinned at him as the kiss finally broke apart and Ryo smiled back, the warm blush again in place. Dee clamped onto Ryo's neck, loving the taste of the sensitive skin and slowly worked his tongue over it. He loved how red and flushed Ryo still got whenever they touched like this, he loved how hesitant and yet insistent Ryo could be. It was paradise being wrapped up in Ryo.

 

“This just in…”

 

The soft kissing continued, both rubbing lightly together as their hands explored, their mouths caressing over skin.

 

“Police have just announced the creation of a new task force to combat the city's organized crime problem. Recent mob activity had been suspected in two attacks on New York City policemen and in the slaughter at an old army warehouse down on pier fifteen…”

 

Dee blinked, his mind blurrily registering the television's words as Ryo's tongue slid lightly across his jaw. Army. Docks. He was supposed to remember that for some reason…his mind went blank again as Ryo pulled him down for another long kiss.

 

“The task force plans to make mafia crime in New York obsolete, and is largely being backed by private donations from one of the city's most generous donors, Cedric Makkel.”

 

Dee's head snapped up and even Ryo blinked quickly at the name. Both turned and stared at the TV as a few images popped up from a recent ceremony. They watched as Makkel handed New York's mayor an oversized check and shook hands with him.

 

“Hey, wait a minute,” Dee leaned forward and pointed at the screen. “Look right there, look at that guy…”

 

Ryo squinted. “Who is he?”

 

“That's Jerry Tinota.”

 

 

Dee shook his head as he drank his coffee, Ryo clicking quietly away on the computer. Their office door was closed, the blinds shut tightly and the lock in place, the station strangely quiet this late at night. They had waited until most of their fellow officers would be out, either at home or on the street, before they came into work. Now, with the dark early morning stretching out around them Dee's eyes were beginning to sting a little. They had been reading files and computer data for hours and still didn't have anything.

 

“Tommy said dirty cop,” Dee said and sat down. “After seeing that task force thing, I'm inclined to believe him. Jesus, how stupid are these people? They take all that money from a known gangster, do they really think that he's going to support stamping out organized crime?”

 

“Still nothing,” Ryo said and sighed. “We're not getting anywhere. There's nothing in the police database that connects Jerry Tinota to Makkel, Vones, or Martin. If there was a connection, somebody's stripped it.”

 

“Great,” Dee said sarcastically.

 

“Maybe we should call Diana and Rose…”

 

“And tell them what? That we saw Tinota on TV for thirty seconds? We don't have anything for them.”

 

Ryo frowned and fidgeted a little with the computer mouse.

 

“Well, there is one other thing we could try, but it's not exactly legal.”

 

A dark smile stretched across Dee's face.

 

“Oh?”

 

“We could check MacLean company files, but we don't have a warrant, so we couldn't use it as evidence in any court.”

 

“We just need information,” Dee said. “We're just looking.”

 

“Yeah,” Ryo's mouth thinned. “Maybe we should ask Diana if the FBI can get a warrant to do it. Then we won't be invading or breaking the law.”

 

“And Martin will strip their system the same way ours has been stripped,” Dee said, a little coffee sloshing out of his cup as he gestured dramatically. “Let's just look, come on, pull it up on that computer.”

 

“It's not that simple Dee,” Ryo said glancing at his partner. “It's going to take a while, I don't want anyone to know what I'm doing.”

 

Dee blinked and then grinned.

 

“You were a geek, weren't you?”

 

Ryo shrugged. “Maybe.”

 

“A, what do you call it? A hacker, right?”

 

Ryo shrugged again. “Maybe.”

 

“That's so hot.”

 

Ryo stared at him in open shock.

 

“What?”

 

 

Dee kept the coffee coming.

 

He didn't understand half of the things that Ryo was doing on the computer, but he was impressed with the ease and confidence that Ryo exerted as he typed. He was also quite pleased with the steady stream of curses that Ryo rained upon the computer when something went wrong. Dee got the feeling that he was probably a bad influence on his gentle partner; swearing, breaking into a company's computer system…wait…did Ryo just flip the computer the finger? Dee grinned.

 

“Okay,” Ryo said finally. “We're in.”

 

Dee leaned over his shoulder and watched as Ryo began to surf through the files, the dark brown eyes flickering through the thick glasses as he read quickly. He shook his head and opened another one, frowning and closing it before pulling another up.

 

“This is going to take forever,” Ryo said flatly.

 

“Well slow down for a minute and let me look at the file names for a second,” Dee said and began to read through the list. “Acquisitions, Payments Received, Employee Records, Payment Requested…”

 

He frowned and tapped a finger on the screen. “Start with employee records, see if you can find Tinota in MacLean records.”

 

Ryo nodded and Dee lit a cigarette as the file flicked open. They scrolled through the list of employees, two sets of eyes racing over the screen as they looked.

 

“Hold it,” Ryo said, and the arrow clicked open another file. “Jerry Tinota. He worked in `free lance product security,' and shipping.”

 

“Free lance product security?” Dee shook his head. “Sounds like a fancy way of saying he was paid to keep an eye on Martin's drug shipments.”

 

“There's no address here, no bank account, not even a phone number. Just electronic receipts for what Martin paid him.”

 

“Leave it to a business man to keep track of every penny,” Dee chuckled. “What bank did they go through?”

 

“Henderson Financial, it's the same one that does all the MacLean transactions. Looks like Tinota was partial to using the one downtown by Madison Gardens.”

 

“Probably because it's the one closest to home,” Dee said with a grin and Ryo nodded. “Look at this, he got a bonus while he was in jail.”

 

“And another one when he got out, but he hasn't cashed that one yet, it's still pending.”

 

“Hmm, looks like an opportunity to get a real good glimpse of this guy and maybe figure out what the hell is going on. Print that out.”

 

“I can't.”

 

“Ryo, come on, we won't use it in court, we won't show it to anyone.”

 

“Dee, I can't. We're working outside of the precinct's computer system right now, but if I hit print, we'll jump back into it and they'll be a record in the printer file, and I don't have the access I need to erase it. You'll just have to take some notes down about the rest of this information.”

 

“Stupid computers,” Dee grumbled.

 

 

Ryo yawned loudly and Dee glanced over at him.

 

“You want to take a nap?” he asked, a cigarette smoldering between his fingers.

 

Ryo shook his head.

 

“No, I try not to sleep in cars anymore, it hurts my neck too much.”

 

“You know I'd rub it out for you.”

 

Ryo blushed and shook his head again, Dee chuckling a little as both turned back to the bank in front of them. Dee hated stake-outs, especially if they were ones like this where he couldn't leave the car for any reason. It was just sit there, like an idiot, and stare out. He sighed and wished that Tinota would hurry up and show. Ryo rotated his shoulders and Dee watched from the corner of his eye, trying to remind himself that he needed to pay more attention to the bank than to his sexy partner. But damn if it wasn't difficult!

 

Ryo looked so good, so enticing. He had that tired stressed look about him that made Dee want to wrap his arms around the brunette and kiss him until it disappeared. He imagined running his hands through Ryo's hair and then down his back, another massage, like the other night, but this one wasn't interrupted. He sighed and tried to focus back on his cigarette and the bank, but the seed had been planted and he couldn't help but keep glancing over at Ryo.

 

Ryo blinked and looked down at his watch, the open file in his lap showing a picture of Jerry Tinota and containing what little information they had on the criminal. It was amazing how often he had gotten into trouble and how often it had all been swept under the rug. Ryo stared back up at the bank again and waited, wishing that Tinota would just show up so they could tail him to his residence and leave for a few hours of rest. Ryo leaned forward and squinted, his eyes still a little strained after all the time on the computer and then nudged Dee.

 

“Is that him?”

 

“Huh?”

 

Ryo glanced over with a small scowl and Dee shrugged.

 

“Sorry,” he followed Ryo's gaze back out the car and nodded. “Looks like him.”

 

They watched as Tinota entered the bank, a few minutes passing as both stared at the doors. He exited, a slight smile on his face as he turned and walked down the street.

 

“It doesn't look like he has a car nearby,” Dee said. “I think he's just going to walk.”

 

“Damn,” Ryo said and they both got out of the car.

 

 

 

Tinota was surprisingly easy to tail. He seemed to be too busy smoking and humming to ever glance around, of course most New Yorkers didn't waste time staring up at the buildings or at the people around them. Only tourists came to the city and stood around with their jaws hanging open, residents new it was too easy to lose your wallet while you were staring off into space. Everyone just kept moving, fast, and Tinota blended well with the crowd.

 

They followed him quickly, leaving about half a block between them and him, Tinota's cigarette smoke billowing up around him and disappearing as he plodded along. Dee was smoking too, and Ryo soon had a strange thought that maybe he should light up too. He sighed and they kept walking.

 

Finally, Tinota came to a rather upscale apartment building and stepped inside, the doorman bowing politely and holding the door. Dee glanced at Ryo, but his partner just shrugged and they loitered across the street for a few minutes. Tinota didn't come back out.

 

“So this is his place, huh?” Dee took up an almost tourist attitude and began to openly survey the building from top to bottom. “It's nice.”

 

“Yeah, not something that Tinota should be able to afford if he's just working in shipping for one of the MacLean companies,” Ryo said.

 

Dee nodded. “Come on, let's go home for a while. We'll call Diana and Rose and see if they want to stake this place out.”

 

“How are we going to explain how we found him?” Ryo said.

 

Dee grinned. “An anonymous source.”

 

 

Ryo yawned and sat down on Dee's large bed as he kicked his shoes off. He glanced around the room, already filling with clutter again, and blushed a little as he ran his fingers over the smooth comforter. He had lost his virginity in this room.

 

He felt almost childish thinking of it like that, it wasn't as if he had been completely celibate before he met Dee, it was just he had never had anyone touch him with the fire that his partner did. And then, that night…

 

The blush darkened as he began to unbutton his shirt, his memories rising as he blinked a little. Dee had been so gentle, so tender with him, so cautious and careful. It was almost as if he had thought that Ryo would break apart if he held on too tightly. A flushed giddiness raced through the pit of Ryo's stomach and he bit his lip lightly. It had felt so good, so right, so warm to be with Dee. He had known then, he had probably known all along, but he couldn't deny it anymore after that night. He loved Dee, and Dee loved him, and Ryo wanted his love. He toyed with the bottom of his shirt and stared off into space. Did Dee know? Did Dee have any idea how much Ryo really loved him? Ryo sighed and again slid his hands over the smooth comforter, listening as Dee showered.

 

Dee did everything so noisily, and Ryo blushed again, strangely annoyed that his own thoughts were enough to make his face flush red. He had let Dee into his heart, had allowed the dark haired man past all the walls, past all the fears and inhibitions. Dee had patiently made his way through all of Ryo's resistance, had held on and waited for him, despite everything that Ryo had done to push him away. Ryo had never been loved like that before, except…Oh except. Only his parents had ever loved him so unconditionally, so completely. Theirs was the only love that he had never questioned, never doubted, and they had…

 

He pulled his shirt off finally and carefully put it into the laundry hamper, his pants soon following as he pulled on his pajamas. He climbed into the bed and breathed deeply, everything still somehow so strongly scented with Dee. They almost never came here anymore, and had even been making plans for Dee to sell the small space. Dee would probably make a bundle by getting rid of the apartment, it was in an okay neighborhood and any property close to downtown was bound to be worth something. Ryo blinked a little; did he really want Dee to get rid of this place, though?

 

He liked coming here, he liked curling up in Dee's messy bed and being surrounded by everything Dee. Would it be the same if Dee lived with him? Would he feel like this when Dee's stuff merged with his own? He sighed and pressed his face into Dee's pillow, drinking in the warm tobacco tinted scent.

 

The door clicked open but Ryo didn't look up or open his eyes as he listened to Dee's bare feet pad across the floor. There was some light rustling as Dee got ready for bed, and then the mattress shifted a little as he sat down.

 

“I know you're not asleep,” Dee said finally.

 

“No.”

 

“What are you thinking about?”

 

“You,” Ryo answered honestly and he heard Dee chuckle.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes. About how much I love you and about the first time we--,” his voice cut off and he blushed darkly.

 

“Come on Ryo. I had a health teacher in high school who said that if you couldn't talk about sex without being embarrassed you weren't ready to have it,” Dee teased.

 

Ryo buried his face back into Dee's pillow, his eyes still closed and Dee chuckled again.

 

“I love you too,” Dee said softly.

 

Ryo nodded and he felt Dee move a little closer, a soft hand running lightly up and down his back. Ryo frowned into the pillow, he knew what Dee was going to say next.

 

“What's the nightmare about Ryo?”

 

Ryo sighed, his whole body shifting heavily under Dee's hand. Ryo rolled slowly over until he faced Dee, the olive toned hand resting lightly on his hip now. He stared at Dee and blinked slowly, his eyes drifting down the bed space between them. Dee stretched out on the bed, his hand now trailing up and down Ryo's side as he waited, the dark eyes still stubbornly refusing to meet his. At last, Ryo leaned forward and gently kissed him.

 

For a moment Dee almost felt angry. He didn't want Ryo to try and avoid this by tricking him with his own lust, he didn't want Ryo to `solve' this problem the same way he did so many of his others; ignore it and maybe it'll go away. But Ryo's lips were soft, caressing, and seemed only to take strength from Dee as Ryo leaned back and rested his head back against the pillow.

 

“I love you,” Ryo said softly. “And I know you love me. I've had this dream since I was eighteen,” Dee blinked; eighteen, the same year Ryo had lost his parents. “It used to be always about my parents. I would be in the dark, running towards them, trying to get to them, and I would reach out and touch them, and then they would suddenly… they would just be dead. They'd be covered in blood and the more I held on to them, the more blood there was. They'd turn to look at me, but they wouldn't have any faces left and then…”

 

Ryo's mouth thinned and he blinked quickly. He could see the dream so clearly, so vibrantly, watching as his parents died again and again, their blood pooling at his feet. Their bodies would suddenly be riddled with bullets, the flesh dancing and jerking as they suddenly bled, all of it soundless. Everything was so quiet, so dark, and unreal. Ryo always knew it was a dream, but part of him whispered that maybe he was awake, maybe it really was happening. He always felt like his heart was dying, like everything inside of him was breaking. He knew what was going to happen, but it still hurt him every time.

 

“Then they'd leave me,” Ryo said finally. “They'd leave me alone in the dark.”

 

That waa the worst part of the dream, being alone. Over the years he had gotten used to loneliness, had made himself become accustomed to being lonely. Lonely meant safe, lonely meant no more visits to dark quiet hospital rooms with bloody corpses, lonely meant peace and quiet. Even when he was surrounded by a crowd of people, even when he was laughing with his aunt and uncle, he had still been lonely. He had never allowed anyone to get that close to him, had never allowed anyone to love him. Lonely was fine, a way of life, but alone, alone was something completely different. Alone meant forever, alone meant losing everything precious and being left in the dark. He didn't want that, he would rather be lonely than alone.

 

“It got worse after I came to New York,” Ryo continued, his voice still soft. “Bikky was there with them, and they would hold his hands, like they used to hold mine, and they would wait all together, and when I touched them…they would all die, just like before, and they'd take Bikky out into the dark and leave me behind.”

 

He was blinking fast now, forcing the tears not to fall. It felt stupid to be so upset about a dream, he felt weak and dumb, and he scrubbed a hand over his face to push back the crying. He couldn't help himself, he couldn't understand how a dream could hurt him so much, but he couldn't break away from it either.

 

“And then, when we started to get close,” Ryo's voice was almost a whisper now, but he didn't stop. “You were there too, and I…I didn't want to touch you, I didn't want you to die, but my hand always slid out, and you'd…you'd all die. Everyone would always die and walk away into the darkness. I can never do anything differently, all I can do is watch, and then you all leave me. I know it's stupid, I know that there's no reason to be so afraid of it, it's just a dumb dream, but every night, every time, it still gets to me, it still hurts me.”

 

Dee's hand continued to gently run up and down Ryo's body, but as Ryo's voice finally faded he slid closer and pulled the brown haired man into his arms. He lightly buried his face in Ryo's hair and Ryo closed his eyes and listened to the warm beat of Dee's heart.

 

“We won't leave you,” Dee said softly. “Bikky and I will always be with you, I promise. I don't care what happens, we love you, and we're not going to let you be alone ever again. I know you're afraid, but you've already let us close to you, Ryo, the hard part's over, now all you have to do is let us love you. We aren't going anywhere.”

 

His arms tightened and Ryo smiled a little as he felt Dee softly kiss his head.

 

“I promise,” Dee whispered. “I love you.”

 

“I love you.”

 

Dee felt Ryo relax against him, and he gently began to slide his hand back and forth across Ryo's back. He wasn't looking for anything, he just wanted some kind of contact to give Ryo some comfort. His Ryo. No wonder he had been so skittish and nervous, no wonder he had been so afraid. Dee wasn't an expert, but it didn't take any special training to see what Ryo was scared of. The man was afraid to love anyone, to let people into his heart, he was afraid that he would lose them, that he would be alone again. Dee knew he was making promises that he had no control over, that he was pledging something that could be broken by a random shot or a careless bus driver the next day. But he didn't care. He loved Ryo, and he wasn't going to leave him, no matter what. He smiled at the contradictions in his thinking, but didn't fight against them as he felt Ryo sigh against his chest.

 

Now a deft hand was sliding lightly against his thigh, and Dee felt a wicked little grin slip into place. Looks like Sexy was looking for some action.

 

“Ryo?” he said softly.

 

“Yes?”

 

The hand became more insistent and rubbed harder against Dee's thigh, fingers skirting lightly over the tender skin at his leg joint.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Now Ryo's hand roved up his hip and slid down beneath the fabric of his thin sweatpants. Dee's body tensed with expectation as a quick tingle ran through him.

 

“Nothing.”

 

Soft fingers lightly curled in the thick coily hair, and slid roughly back and forth as Ryo reached lower. Dee bit back on a pleased moan, his hand sliding down to knead a little at Ryo's firm round ass.

 

“It doesn't feel like nothing,” Dee whispered.

 

“Really?”

 

He felt Ryo's breathing change a little and then a second hand slipped under his shirt and began to toy with his nipples. Dee bit his lip as he felt a soft stroke run across him, Ryo's hands first feather light then almost painfully firm. He forced back another moan as skilled fingers slid over his firming head and tickled warmly against his skin.

 

“Definitely not nothing,” he said.

 

“Did you want me to stop?”

 

There was a long slow pull now, excruciatingly warm, Ryo's hand tightening firmly as Dee thrust a little into his hold.

 

“No,” Dee moaned. “Don't stop.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

His hand loosened, the other barely brushing against Dee's sensitized nipples.

 

“Ryo,” Dee pleaded.

 

The gentle stroking continued then, Ryo's hands pressing harder and faster as Dee pressed his face down into Ryo's hair. He was panting now, his fingers digging into Ryo's flesh as Ryo pumped him harder, his other hand sliding down Dee's chest to pet lightly over him. Dee moaned again, everything within him tensing, ready…

 

“Ryo!”

 

Bikky's voice was better than a cold shower. Dee found himself going from 600 mph down to park in less than a second. Ryo's hands wrenched out of his pants as he sat up and blinked, staring at the door.

 

“What is it Bikky?”

 

“There's some guy out here to see you!”

 

“Alright,” he called. “I'll be out in a minute.”

 

He gave Dee a disappointed look and got up, heading to the bathroom to wash his hands. Damn. And he'd been so close. Ryo blushed scarlet and shook his head as he stared at himself in the mirror. He really was getting as bad as Dee.

 

 

 

When Ryo came out, he found Dee angrily smoking, his eyes glaring across the room at Berkeley Rose. Ryo stepped back in surprise, suddenly very aware that he was wearing his pajamas and of the pleased glint that flashed in Rose's eyes.

 

“H-hello C-commissioner,” he stuttered finally.

 

“Hello Ryo,” Rose said with a small smile. “I'm very sorry to have to bother you at home like this, but I got your message and I think we need to talk.”

 

Bikky stood in the bathroom doorway, his toothbrush hanging between his lips as his eyes slid back and forth. He vaguely remembered meeting this dude at some point, but he couldn't really remember where. Bikky's eyes narrowed as he watched Rose look Ryo up and down and the boy turned and quickly spat out a mouthful of foam. Rose. Now he remembered, this was the dick that Dee was always complaining about, the one with the hots for Ryo. Maybe he shouldn't have let him in.

 

“G'night Ryo, Super Freak,” Bikky said with a wave. “Give me a yell if you need anything.”

 

He retreated until he was standing behind Rose and quickly made eye contact with Dee as the Commissioner talked with Ryo. Dee frowned slightly and Bikky pointed at Rose and then turned his thumb sharply down. Dee burst out laughing and Ryo and Rose both looked over at him.

 

“Nothing, nothing,” he sputtered. “I was thinking of something else.”

 

He glanced back over Rose's shoulder but Bikky had disappeared. The kid was a good judge of character, most of the time, and Dee knew that he had an ally if Rose pulled any shit with Ryo. It had taken some time, but Bikky understood that Dee loved his surrogate father completely, and he wasn't going anywhere.

 

“As I was saying,” Rose said curtly. “Where exactly did you get the tip-off about Tinota's address?”

 

“Anonymous source,” Dee said without batting an eye.

 

“You seem to have quite a few of those lately,” Rose said and Dee shrugged. “We've got officers watching the place, but unless he does something blatantly illegal, we've got no reason to move on him. This new task force is sucking up a lot of the city's excitement and no one wants to hear about how Makkel might be involved with the wrong people. You can't say a word about Tinota being connected to him.”

 

“We haven't found anything that connects Makkel to Tinota, sir,” Ryo said. “We saw him on TV at the donation ceremony, but half of New York was there too. We think that Tinota is connected to Martin.”

 

“And why do you think that?” Rose's eyes burned into Ryo.

 

“A-anonymous source,” Ryo said with less conviction.

 

Rose's mouth thinned irritably but he let it drop.

 

“What are the two of you planning to do tomorrow?” Rose asked.

 

“We're going to the docks, down to the old Army warehouses,” Dee said and Ryo glanced over with a little surprise. “I've got a tip that we might find some information down that way.”

 

“A tip?” Rose said flatly.

 

“Anonymous source,” Dee answered sweetly.

 

 

Ryo absently rubbed at his cheek a little as they drove through the city. The gunshot scratch was starting to itch some now, and he guessed that was a good sign that it was beginning to heal. Dee had his window down and was exchanging gestures with an angry cab driver as they forced their way out in front of him.

 

“You really should drive more carefully,” Ryo said with a frown. “You're going to get us killed.”

 

“Hey, when they start driving defensively, I'll start driving defensively,” Dee said and then leaned out the window again. “Get over it fatass! We're cops!”

 

“We're going to die,” Ryo sighed quietly.

 

They somehow managed to survive the cross town traffic and pulled up at the Army warehouses down at the docks, Berkeley Rose leaning against his car as he waited for them.

 

“What the hell is he doing here?” Dee grumbled.

 

The Commissioner smiled at them as they got out of the car.

 

“Good morning officers.”

 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dee snapped again.

 

“You don't really think you can search all of this on your own, do you?”

 

Dee frowned irritably but didn't say anything else. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and glared at the Commissioner. Ryo had said once that they were a lot a like. Dee didn't see it. What with that arrogant face and stupid smirk. What a jackass. All Rose cared about was himself, and getting what or whom he wanted. Okay, so maybe Dee had been like that, but that was a long time ago, back before Ryo…he frowned. Maybe they really had been a like back when Ryo first met them both.

 

“Let's get started,” Dee said finally.

 

 

Dee wandered around between the tall warehouses, kicking through the trash and cast off debris as he wondered why in the hell Alicia had sent them here. They had started at the latest drug related crime scene in New York, one of the warehouses the site of a massacre early last week. They hadn't found anything that hadn't been in the reports on the incident and quickly split up to check out the surrounding buildings. Dee glanced down at his watch and frowned. It was late, later than he had thought. He should start working his way back if he was going to meet up with Ryo and Rose on time.

 

He turned and started walking back, smoking quietly as he tried to make sense of the case in his head. Something should have come up by now. They should have caught some kind of break. It pissed him off that weasely Martin had managed to set up a scheme so secretive that he couldn't figure it out. Diana's theory sounded pretty good, but even if Martin took control of the drug trafficking in New York, he'd need to push some product pretty damn fast to prove he could handle it. He'd need to make a name that people would trust and to do that, he'd need the product to back him up.

 

Dee paused abruptly as he thought. That made sense. Martin would need a big stash of some prime shit to prove to people that they shouldn't go back to their normal dealers. He'd also need a network set up to get said shit out to the people. That meant workers, that meant people who knew the streets and could get things organized, that meant Jerry Tinota. No wonder Martin was keeping the little punk clean, he was the MacLean connection to the seedy streets. Dee shook his head and started walking again.

 

So what they really needed to do was lay their hands on whatever dope/crack/smack/shit Martin was selling and nail him to the wall with it. And the best place to hide that much product would be someplace abandoned, where no one would want to go because of a recent crime. Fear of that old `criminals always return to the scene of their crime' bullshit often made people avoid old scenes. Dee chuckled at that. What criminal was really dumb enough to parade around anywhere that he had just committed a crime? Whatever. The Army warehouses were looking better and better. The problem was he hadn't seen shit, and neither Ryo nor Rose had called in anything either. Fuck. Where was it all?

 

His quiet reverie was broken by a strange sound, an echoing crash that reverberated loudly over him. He heard Ryo cry out and started running. There were sounds of a scuffle now and Dee ran into one of the nearby warehouses, his eyes blinking rapidly as they tried to adjust to the sudden shadows.

 

Rose had Ryo pinned to the floor, the smaller man all but completely hidden beneath the Commissioner's body. Dee roared with rage and ran forward, his mouth jerked into an angry snarl. A gunshot pounded out and Rose glared at him angrily.

 

“Get down, dumb ass!”

 

Dee dropped to the ground behind a few boxes and drew his gun, still blinking a little as he peered over them and across the warehouse. Ryo and Rose were scrambling behind cover, both drawing their weapons as a few more shots slipped over their heads.

 

Shit. Dee gritted his teeth and glanced over at the Commissioner and his partner. He should have known. Rose wasn't that stupid. He hadn't been trying to do anything to Ryo other than protect him. Dee suddenly felt grateful and he hated it.

 

“Dispatch, this is Detective MacLean, we have shots fired at the Army warehouses down on pier fifteen. Officers are under fire, back-up requested.”

 

“This is the police!” Rose yelled. “Slide your weapons out on the ground and come out with your hands where we can see them!”

 

“Fuck you, pigs!”

 

“How pleasant,” Rose muttered, and he grimaced as Ryo's fingers dug into his shoulder. “Ouch.”

 

“Just hold still,” Ryo said softly and lightly pressed against the scrape in Rose's arm. “It grazed you, you're lucky.”

 

Rose nodded as Ryo wiped a little of the dirt away and released his arm. The brown haired detective peeked over the top of the boxes in front of them and scanned the long warehouse. He couldn't see much from this angle, but whoever was shooting at them definitely had an advantage. They were blockaded behind some of the old equipment, and Ryo couldn't pin down any of them to make an accurate count. He looked around a little more and his eyes locked on the catwalk that ran above them.

 

“I've got an idea,” Ryo said.

 

 

“Dee.”

 

Dee turned at the sound of Ryo's call and watched, Ryo's hands now doing the talking. He pointed at himself and then up at the catwalk, then made a gun gesture towards their shooters. Then, he pointed at Rose and Dee and made the gun again fire, pausing and then pointing at himself again and finally over to the stairs at the end of the warehouse.

 

Translation, “Lover, I want you to sit there and watch as I take on the suicidal mission of scaling to an undefendable position in order to get myself shot as I attempt to take out a few of the sharp shooting professionally trained assassins that are getting ready to kill us. I want you and your arch enemy to cover me with ineffective fire as I run the distance to an unprotected staircase and climb to my death.”

 

That may have been slightly dramatic, but it was pretty much what Ryo was asking him to do. Dee shook his head. Ryo frowned at him and raised his hands in question.

 

Translation, “What's your bright idea then, dumb ass?”

 

That was probably much more in tune to Ryo's thinking than his first translation had been. Dee sighed and shrugged. He glanced back over the boxes and up at the catwalk and then back over at Ryo. He nodded now, and Ryo winked at him and started to turn.

 

“Ryo.”

 

Ryo spun back around and watched Dee's mouth as he sounded out the words.

 

Don't get shot, I love you.

 

Ryo blushed darkly but nodded and glanced over at Rose.

 

“You ready?”

 

“You sure you can do this?”

 

“It'd be easier with my rifle, but I'll manage.”

 

Rose smirked at Ryo's confidence and nodded.

 

“Get as far as you can, make sure they don't see you. When you run out of boxes to hide behind, we'll start firing.”

 

Ryo nodded and crouched low to the ground, quickly scrambling along behind the long row of boxes.

 

“Listen up!” Rose yelled. “If you don't surrender now we will be forced to open fire on you! I tell you again to slide your weapons out on the ground and come out with your hands where we can see them!”

 

“And I tell you again to fuck off!”

 

More gun fire and Rose glanced down at Ryo. The detective nodded to him and Rose turned and peered up over the box. He began to fire, knowing that he wasn't going to have much luck nailing one of the shooters through the heavy equipment, but he needed to keep them distracted. He paused and glanced over, watching as Laytner took a careful shot, a cigarette still hanging off the man's lip. Rose wondered distantly whether Laytner ever really stopped smoking and then thought about how difficult it must be to ignore your partner as he scaled to what was basically an undefendable open position to attempt a few shots at the criminals across from them.

 

“They shot me in my fucking leg!”

 

Rose was snapped back to reality by the man's screaming and he glanced up to see Ryo crouching just above them, sighting down towards the shooters again. Rose kept firing, and listened as another man cried out in pain.

 

“Fuck,” Rose heard someone yell. “We give up! We give up! We're sliding out our guns, just quit shooting!”

 

Rose heard a few weapons skid across the floor and he glanced up at Ryo again. The sharpshooter looked down at him through the gridded catwalk and nodded.

 

“Get your hands where we can see them and get out here! Don't try anything!”

 

There was some angry grumbling, but the men were cooperative, and became even more so as the sounds of sirens became louder and louder.

 

 

“Well, well, well,” Dee said as they opened up the back end of the warehouse. “What do we have here?”

 

Rose whistled quietly and Ryo glanced around in surprise. The bricks of cocaine that were stacked within the warehouse were glaringly white against the darkness. There was enough there to easily get the attention of any of Martin's new buyers, more than enough to drain business away from the other crime families. Dee chuckled quietly and slung an arm around Ryo.

 

“I think we got him.”