Fake Fan Fiction ❯ FAKE in Love: Act XVI, Healing and Memory ❯ Chapter 5

Warnings and Disclaimers: Not Sanami Matoh, not making any money off this, and the story is set at the end of the last Act. Watch out for the lemony goodness kids and stop bitching about the length of time between updates. I have a life—somewhat.

 

 

“It would seem that the bloom is off the rose,” Dee said in a dry impersonation of Mother Maria.

He poked lightly at Ryo's side and the brunette batted his hand away as he curled up tighter beneath the blankets.

“What?” Ryo murmured.

Dee chuckled softly and burrowed back up under the covers, his hands skidding over Ryo's body as he nuzzled close.

“Yesterday you got up early and made me breakfast.”

“That was yesterday,” Ryo said sleepily. “Feed yourself.”

“You're a very strange man Ryo MacLean,” Dee said. “Up at the crack of dawn one day and still laying around till the afternoon the next.”

“It is not the afternoon,” Ryo said with a little annoyance and then squinted up from his pillow. “Is it? What time is it?”

Dee chuckled again and worked his jaw lightly across Ryo's shoulder.

“It's a little after nine and it doesn't matter anyway, we're on vacation.”

Ryo stared at him, completely speechless, and then flopped back down into his pillow.

“Then why in the hell are you waking me up?” he groaned finally.

“I'm bored.”

“God I hate you sometimes.”

“I love you too.”

“Love you,” Ryo muttered back.

They were both silent a moment and then one of Ryo's eyes cracked open.

“Hey, Dee?”

Dee stared up from the smooth patch of skin he was admiring.

“Hmm?”

“Were you serious…last night?” Ryo asked hesitantly. “About spending the rest of our lives together?”

Dee propped his cheek lightly on Ryo's shoulder, his eyes full and sincere.

“Yeah,” he said. “I guess we haven't really talked about it before now, but yeah, I want that. When I think about the future, you're always in it.”

Ryo blushed slightly and Dee smiled.

“Am I in your future?” he asked softly.

“Always,” Ryo answered.

Dee's smile grew.

“Good.”

 

“Aunt Elena's been nagging me to do this,” Ryo said as he flipped up the rug in the living room to reveal a hidden door.

“Nagging?” Dee repeated with a malicious grin. “I can't wait to tell her you said that.”

“Try it, see what it gets you.”

Dee laughed and helped Ryo to flip open the cellar's door. Ryo paused then and pulled out his key ring, quickly unlocking the padlock that secured a second door beneath it. They heaved again and then both stepped back at the dust that filtered out. Dee held out one hand.

“Brrr,” he said. “You can feel the cold pouring out.”

“Yeah,” Ryo agreed. “It's not going to be a pleasant job.”

They stared at each other. Dee's mouth thinned and he held out one fist. Ryo grinned in answer.

“You're so going to lose.”

“Not this time,” Dee said. “Fate's with me here. They're your damn boxes.”

Their hands bounced in the air and Ryo cursed softly. Dee triumphantly cheered himself.

“Have fun,” he said. “Try not to freeze.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ryo said as he shook his head. “Just take these things as I pass them up.”

They hefted out the boxes, the little living room soon half filled and starting to look like a maze. Ryo emerged once more, one last box in his hands as he climbed up. Dee took it and Ryo's arms wrapped around his body, his hands running up and down as he tried to shake off the cold of the cellar.

“Damn,” Ryo said. “Cold.”

“Stand by the fire,” Dee said and wiped a little sweat from his face. “It's been hot working up here.”

Ryo chuckled and moved closer to the flames, his perpetually cold hands stretching out to absorb the heat. Dee pressed his hands over Ryo's and wrinkled his nose a little.

“Your hands are even colder than usual,” Dee said.

“Thanks,” Ryo said dryly.

Dee leaned forward and pressed his nose lightly to Ryo's throat.

“Your neck is even cold.”

Ryo felt a shiver run down his spine that had nothing to do with the chill from climbing around beneath the cabin.

“Yeah,” he agreed softly.

Dee chuckled and his lips strayed to lightly nibble at Ryo's ear.

“Maybe you should think about tonight,” Dee suggested in a sultry voice. “Perhaps we should stay down here, in front of the fire. Nice and warm…hot…”

Dee bit his ear and Ryo's hands clenched lightly into fists. In the next instant he grabbed Dee's collar and pulled him into a long kiss. Dee felt heat pool in his own body and he happily leaned into Ryo's hold. When they finally split apart, Ryo smiled at Dee.

“That warmed me up quite well, thanks,” he said. “Now let's open these boxes.”

Dee stared at him through narrowed eyes.

“You little…”

 

“Aww, look at this one,” Dee said with a grin.

“Shut up,” Ryo laughed and poured another half glass of the peppermint schnapps they had found hiding behind the fridge. “They're baby pictures. All babies look like that.”

“No,” Dee said and shook his head. “All babies do not look like this. I have seen some ugly babies Ryo. Trust me, not all babies are this cuuuuuuuuuuuute.”

Ryo ripped the picture out of Dee's hand and flung it behind them. Dee just laughed and fished another one out.

“I can't wait to tell everyone at work that I have a whole box of naked pictures of you. Oh, wait, wait, you're wearing a cowboy hat in this one.”

“Give me those!”

Ryo pulled the box away and roughly kicked it beneath the couch.

“Damn pictures,” he grumbled lightly.

Dee chuckled and pulled the schnapps out of his hand.

“You're going to let me keep those, right?”

“Dee…”

“I'm serious,” Dee said. “If I don't keep an eye on them, I get the feeling that they'd probably just disappear.”

“And the problem with that?”

Dee's eyes locked with Ryo's, his gaze firm and serious.

“They're important.”

Ryo blinked in surprise and Dee grinned then.

“And adorable.”

Ryo smacked him with a pillow. Dee chuckled and took a long drink.

“We'll give them to Mother Maria,” he said. “She loves scrap booking.”

Ryo's face tensed for a split second and Dee frowned.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Ryo said and smiled again. “Mom was always planning to get them into albums. She kept saying that as soon as she got them organized, as soon as she knew how she wanted to do it, she'd put them all away. They usually came out of the box once every two years, and then they'd sit around somewhere until Dad couldn't take it anymore and quietly packed everything back up. It was one of those projects that never really got up off the ground.”

“We can keep them in the boxes,” Dee said softly.

“No,” Ryo said and laughed. “She would have gotten around to it eventually. At least this way, it'll get done.”

Dee nodded and poked around a little in the box next to him.

“Oh-ho, what have we here? It looks to be a high school yearbook.”

“Oh shit,” Ryo groaned. “Don't…”

“This is turning out to be a lot of fun, Ryo,” Dee said with a grin. “Let's see. Aww, it's your junior year. Look how cute you are!”

“I hate you, I really do, and I'm wondering why in the hell I ever packed this stuff up to save it.”

“Look at that soccer team picture. Sexy, what nice legs you had,” Dee's eyes shifted to his partner and he winked. “Sexy, what nice legs you have.”

Ryo snorted laughter and shook his head. He peered over Dee's arm and pointed.

“That's Mr. Kleps, he was my soccer coach all through high school. You know, looking at the guy, I have no idea how he ever managed to run up and down the field with us, but he did it everyday. Nice kick too, he knew everything about soccer.”

Dee nodded and turned the page, Ryo laughing as his finger again tapped against the book.

“Becca!” Ryo said. “Remember?”

“Oh I remember Becca,” Dee said. “Good God, she's practically drooling over you in this picture.”

“It was a play,” Ryo said. “She was supposed to look at me like that.”

“Yeah, I'll bet she had to act real hard.”

Ryo shook his head and turned the page again.

“I haven't thought about these people in years,” he mused quietly.

“It makes you wonder where they all ended up,” Dee said.

Ryo nodded slightly and glanced up at Dee.

“Where are your yearbooks Detective Laytner?”

Dee grinned. “Hopefully someplace completely inaccessible.”

“That's not fair.”

“All's fair in love and war,” Dee said and his grin actually grew. “And I get the feeling this is going to turn into a war.”

“Definitely,” Ryo agreed and filled their schnapps glass again.

Dee flipped through the yearbook and scanned over the inscriptions before he tossed it back into the box and sighed.

“What else can I torture you with?” he asked boredly.

“I have such a loving partner,” Ryo teased. “I'm so lucky.”

Dee laughed and leaned back on the couch, his eyes straying up to the ceiling.

“I'm glad you're here Ryo,” Dee said softly. “I'm really glad you came.”

 

Dee propped himself up on his elbow as he stared down at Ryo. The brunette was sprawled on his stomach, one hand lightly resting on the pillow next to his head, his hair mussed and soft. Firelight flickered over Ryo's face and across bare shoulders, everything smoothed and warmed beneath the caressing light. Dee smiled and gently fingered one lock of hair.

He had just woken up from the worst nightmare he had ever had. Unfortunately he couldn't remember a damn thing about it, just a mind numbing terror. He had practically leapt out of the bed when he finally pulled free from the dream, but a quiet sound had brought him back to reality. Ryo murmured softly in his sleep sometimes, a soothing little sound that Dee only rarely managed to catch. He slid back under the blankets and gently spooned against Ryo's body.

“I love you,” Dee breathed softly.

He hadn't realized just how lonely he had been without Ryo. It was amazing. In the short time that Ryo had joined him, everything just seemed to have calmed. How could he have ever thought that he needed to be away from Ryo for anything?

“I really do want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Dee whispered.

He smiled; he was acting like a little boy with a secret.

“I knew that a long time ago.”

His eyes slid over Ryo's face and he shifted closer, his head now sharing Ryo's pillow.

“I'll never let anything happen to you, Ryo,” he whispered. “I promise.”

Ryo sighed softly and the hand resting between them moved to tug Dee closer.

“I'll protect you too,” Ryo murmured and sleepily curled up in Dee's arms.

 

“Well,” Dee said with a sigh that was a little too dramatic to be real. “I guess you've got me up here for Valentine's.”

Ryo chuckled and shook his head. “It seems that way.”

Dee's face shifted and he gave Ryo an embarrassed disappointed look.

“I don't have a gift for you,” he confessed softly. “I was going to go shopping, but then…”

His mouth froze and he blinked as thoughts of that dark night filtered across his brain. Dee's jaw clicked shut and he shrugged.

“I didn't get to it,” he finished blankly.

“That's fine,” Ryo said and leaned forward to give him a quick kiss. “I'm sure I'll be too distracted to notice.”

Dee grinned a devilish grin and dropped his partner a conspiratorial wink.

“It's Valentine's, Sexy,” he said happily. “I'm supposed to act like that.”

Ryo smiled and shook his head a little. Since they had officially become a `couple,' Dee had spent every Valentine's making Ryo wonder if the man was going to completely exhaust his hormones by the age of thirty. It was an all out effort on Dee's part to utterly seduce and enjoy his partner's company, and Ryo couldn't help but look forward to it.

He brushed his fingers over the back of Dee's hand and smiled softly. He was doing that a lot lately, just touching Dee, sometimes kissing or leaning against him. It was a lot more physical contact than he was used to, but he knew Dee needed it. Touching was comforting to Dee, he liked to hold and be held and wallow in someone's feel. So Ryo just let his fingers roam, he silenced the little voice in the back of his head that so often told him to stop and look `normal.' He let himself brush back Dee's hair and hold his hand and do all the little things that both knew they couldn't do so often.

Dee lifted his hand and lightly kissed the palm with a knowing smile. Ryo chuckled quietly; Dee knew perfectly well what he was doing.

“So what are we going to do with all this stuff?” Dee said, his chin jutting to one pile of boxes.

“Well, a lot of it can just be thrown out,” Ryo said. “Some of it I want to take home, and I guess we can just pack the rest of it back under the floor.”

“Please tell me the pictures are going home with us,” Dee said with a disarming grin.

Ryo gave Dee his own impression of a dramatic sigh and nodded.

“Yes.”

“Great,” Dee said happily and flung his arms around Ryo.

They both laughed as they toppled back onto the couch, Ryo resting firmly on top of Dee. He lightly nibbled at Dee's jaw and rubbed his nose against the thick stubble.

“You need to shave,” Ryo said.

“I thought you liked it,” Dee said.

“The novelty is wearing off,” Ryo said dryly and a slight blush fanned over his cheeks.

Dee grinned.

“What?” he asked happily.

Ryo shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Ryo, come on. You do that all the time. Just tell me. What?”

The blush darkened and Ryo closed his eyes.

“I have…beard burn.”

Dee couldn't stop laughing.