Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Into the Woods ❯ Chapter 3

Well, this chapter is short, but I wanted to get the second half started soon, so here you go!

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Fake

 

 

"LAYTNER!" the chief screamed, causing Ryo to jump. As he waited for his new partner to appear in the office, his heart raced, and his brow furrowed. It couldn't possibly be, co, could it? The blond man shut his eyes, torn with mixed emotions. Was he wishing that it would be someone else, or did he secretly want it to be the Dee he knew?

 

"Damn it! I told you, that wasn't my fault, Chief-!" Dee began, bursting through the office door. His speech was cut short as he glanced at the man standing next to the Police Chief.

 

Patting Ryo hard on the back, the squat man looked over to Dee and said, "Here's your new partner-"

 

"Ryo."

 

"Dee..."

 

The chief glanced between the two shocked faces. "Looks like you two already know each other! Well," the Chief said, irritating Ryo by slapping him on the back once more, "Welcome aboard!"

 

Dee took in the sight of Ryo after so many years. He was slightly taller, his shoulders were broader, but he still had that boyish vulnerability in his dark eyes. Those eyes that had looked at him with such passion and then left him. Damn it! Dee cursed inwardly at how quickly and easily those eyes could draw him in again. Ever since that morning years ago when he woke up alone, he had wavered between wanting nothing more than to be able to see this man again, convince him to stay this time, and hoping that he never had to lay eyes on him again.

 

Now that he was staring into those depths once more, he found himself at a loss.

 

Ryo had never expected to see Dee again, although it had crossed his mind that someday, maybe, it would happen. Now that he was face-to-face with him, he wondered if he secretly hadn't willed it so. No matter how much he told himself it was a small chapter of his life that he had closed away forever, a part of him had always wanted to pick up right where he'd left off.

 

But they both had to put these thoughts out of their minds as they prepared themselves to be partners now.

 

Dee held out his hand and did his best to try and look unaffected. Plastering a smile on his face, he said, "Well, good to see you! Come on, I'll show you where your desk is."

 

"S-sure, thanks," Ryo replied, shaking the proffered hand, obviously shaken by their reunion no matter how he attempted to hide it. He also saw right through Dee's easy smile. How on earth would they get through the day, let alone every day after with so many things between them unresolved?

 

In silence the blond man followed Dee from the Chief's office and down the hall. He was racking his brain trying to think of some way to open up a conversation, but nothing came to mind. Two minutes in this man's presence and he was an awkward teenager all over again.

 

Suddenly Ryo found himself pulled into one of the storage closets, Dee cornering him inside. "Dee!" Ryo spat out as the door was shut behind them. "What do you think you're do-"

 

"Talk," was all the dark-haired man said.

 

"Wha-?"

 

"Talk, tell me what happened to you because if we don't clear the air, we'll never get along as partners," Dee explained.

 

As loathe as Ryo was to drudge up the past, he had to admit the man was right. "I was just confused after everything that happened, so I left," he finally said, hoping Dee would let him leave it at that. It was hard to collect his thoughts with the man hovering over him so closely. He'd imagined that his attraction to him so many years before was just a fluke of his hormones, but it seemed that even now Dee could make his heart race. Taking in a steadying breath he continued. "I was only 19, Dee, I was young-I didn't know what I wanted then," he stammered, unable to look Dee in the eye.

 

"Young, huh?" the dark-haired man repeated, a bitter edge to his voice as he leaned close, entrapping Ryo with his body. "I was young too, Ryo, but I knew damn well what I wanted...and what I WANT... now..."

 

There was no need to finished the sentence; they both heard the implied 'you' as Dee slowly lowered his face towards Ryo's. The blond man watched Dee's lips dip lower as if he was seeing it all in slow-motion, outside himself... then...

 

"I'm engaged," Ryo said.

 

Dee stopped, silence filling the air between the two old lovers. Ryo watched as the man before him dropped his head, slowly shaking it and mumbling something like, "I should've known..."

 

In the next moment, Dee had stood up and breathed a deep sigh. "Well, I guess I'll just have to leave the past in the past, right?" he said with a casualness that neither of them really believed. "Come on, partner," Dee said, turning to open the door, "We've got work to do."

 

Ryo stepped out and followed Dee to his desk. He shook hands with his new colleagues and received everyone with a smile. But he had lost the enthusiasm for his new job that he had had that morning. Sighing, he decided he was going to have to confront these old demons sooner or later, so it might as well happen now. He could make this situation work. He had to.

 

 

******* Well, am I evil? *snicker* Don't blame me, the story was inspired by the movies 'Before Sunrise' and 'Before Sunset', so you can blame them! If you haven't seen them, b-t-w, they're SO good!