Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Father and Son ❯ Part 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Author's Notes: Here's chapter 2 for everyone! It was pointed out that Bikky should probably be ten in this, but nine can still work. He was nine when the manga began (In Volume 1 we know that he is three years younger than Carol/Cal, and in Volume 2 we learn that Carol/Cal is twelve; you can do the math). So for those who like to nitpick, we'll just say that he will turn ten really soon. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy this new chapter. As always, reviews are welcome.

 

Ryo was in the middle of making dinner when the phone rang. He could hear Bikky spring from the couch, cartoons completely forgotten, and dive for it. Ryo had to chuckle at the boy's behavior. Bikky loved answering the phone, mostly because he never had one growing up in the slums with his father. For a brief moment, Ryo forgot about the box and the lies and simply enjoyed Bikky's youthful outburst. Ryo set the stove to a simmering heat and waited to hear what always happened next. If the call was for Ryo, Bikky would yell at the top of his lungs for him. If the call was from Carol, the only person who ever called Bikky, then the boy would start talking animatedly. However, Ryo could only hear silence. Sensing something was amiss, Ryo's detective instincts took over.

 

Taking great care not to be seen, Ryo pressed himself against the kitchen wall and leaned his head toward the doorway in order to hear what was going on in the hall. He could hear Bikky talking to whoever was on the phone in a whispered frenzy.

 

“Dude, I told you not to call me here. What if my guardian picked up? I'd be busted!” Bikky hissed.

 

Frowning, Ryo leaned closer to the doorway. There was a long pause as the caller responded before Bikky spoke again.

 

“Sorry, I…Yeah…Yeah…You know what I mean…No, I can't talk to anyone else about this. They wouldn't understand…Hey, listen to Boss, man, I've got it covered…OK, I`ll be there tomorrow night at your place; same time as usual. We still going to Mac's tonight?...OK…OK I've got it. I'll talk to you later, Tank.”

 

Ryo paled. Tank and Mac? And Bikky was calling himself “Boss”? What the hell was going on here? Was Bikky the head of some street gang? Was he joining some pre-teen mafia that was selling drugs and robbing old ladies before escaping to the safety of the school playground? Images of Bikky standing in a back alley with a cigarette in one hand, a whored up prostitute in the other, and piles of dead pizza delivery boys with bullet wounds to the head around him, flooded the detective's mind.

 

As the phone clicked off, Ryo stepped into the hall. It took all of his police skills to appear nonchalant when he really wanted to hold the kid upside down by his ankles and shake a confession out. Damn, he spent too much time around Dee.

 

“Who was on the phone?” Ryo silently praised himself for keeping any suspicion out of his voice.

 

Bikky shrugged indifferently. “No one, just a wrong number.”

 

Ryo couldn't keep the frown from appearing on his face. “You were on for a long time for a wrong number.”

 

“They wouldn't shut up. This guy kept trying to convince me that this was the number of Betty's House Keepers,” Bikky chuckled as he spoke, but Ryo's trained eyes caught the nervous edge to his voice and the slight shift of his feet. “I couldn't get a word in edgewise, and you always get pissy if I just hang up on people.”

 

Ryo's frown deepened at the obvious lie. Schooling his features again, the detective decided to try a different approach. “Listen Bikky, I have some free time later and I was wondering if you wanted to go to a movie. It seems like the two of us never do anything together. We live together, yet I feel like I don't really know you well at all.”

 

The boy's face immediately lit up before promptly falling. “Sorry, but I promised some people that I'd get together with them tonight. I can't back out now. Maybe another time?”

 

“Who are you meeting?” Ryo's eyes narrowed in obvious suspicion, making the boy wince. “Anyone I know?”

 

Bikky shifted from one foot to the other nervously. “Not really. They're just some people from school.”

 

“What will you be doing?”

 

The boy's head immediately jerked up. The blatant fear in his eyes made him look like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Ryo held his breath. Was the boy actually going to tell him the truth?

 

“N-nothing,” Bikky stammered, forcing down his panicked expression.

 

“Well you have to be doing something,” Ryo commented, but immediately regretted his words as Bikky narrowed his eyes.

 

“We won't be doing anything you need to know about, so stop playing twenty questions. I can look after myself,” the boy growled.

 

Something inside Ryo snapped at that moment and he could not stop himself from shouting. “Bikky, you're nine years old. You are not old enough to look after yourself, which is why I'm here. As long as you're under my roof, you will follow my rules; and my rules right now are that you're not going anywhere tonight until you stop lying to my face and give me a damn good answer!”

 

“You're not my father, so stop trying to act like it!” Bikky yelled before running to his room and slamming the door.

 

Ryo stared at the closed door for a minute before numbly walking to the living room and slumping bonelessly onto the couch. With a shaky sigh, he put his head in his hands and stayed that way for the next two hours. By the time he stumbled back to the kitchen, dinner was a lost cause.

 

* * *

 

Dee would have laughed if the situation had not been so serious. Ryo, his perfect partner who worked continuously and efficiently from the beginning to the end of his shift, was a complete wreck. He was draped over his desk with his face pillowed by his arms. His shirt was wrinkled and untucked, his tie undone. Dark rings were under his eyes, a sure sign that he hadn't slept all night. Work that was normally organized and stacked was scattered across his usually immaculate desk, innocent victims of sudden arm waving and fist pounding. Still, Dee could not help but mentally smirk at the amusing change.

 

“…And then he snuck out the window and didn't come back till three in the morning. I was going to talk to him at breakfast, but he left for school before I could say anything. I have no idea what to do anymore. I'm at my wits end, Dee,” Ryo moaned pitifully, the sound muffled by his arms.

 

The raven haired detective had to smile sympathetically at his partner. “You're too nice to the kid, Ryo. You say you're going to do something, but you always hesitate because you hope he'll come around on his own. Bikky knows this, and knows that he can keep his little secrets because you'll never actually do anything. Maybe someone else should talk to him. I'd be more than happy to smack some sense into the brat.”

 

“I'd like to avoid bloodshed at all costs, thank you,” Ryo rolled his eyes before turning serious again, a look of grim determination on his face. “But you're right. He'll keep hiding these things from me if I don't do something soon. And I will. If I can't talk to him, then I'll have to act. I'm going to sit him down and force him to talk the minute he gets home tonight, no matter how late it is.”

 

“Maybe I should stay with you tonight. You could use the support,” Dee raised an eyebrow suggestively. “And I can think of ways to keep both of us up all night.”

 

Ryo shoved his partner's leering face away. “I know all too well what those `ways' are, so forget it. This is something that Bikky and I need to do alone. One way or another, tonight he will tell me what's going on.”

 

 

Author's Notes: I know it's short, but this was the perfect place to end. The final chapter is coming soon!