Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Misery ❯ In Too Deep ( Chapter 18 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Kita and Subu-chan 
Anime/Manga: Fake Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Action / Drama / Romance / Police | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 02.17.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 414 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Fake Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Action / Drama / Romance / Police | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 02.17.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 414 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter Eighteen-In Too Deep
A/N- Okay, so here’s the next chapter. No major warnings here except for a bit of bad language and the appearance of yet another character who does not belong to us!!! Let’s go over the disclaimer thing again, folks. All characters from Fake are the exclusive property (that means belongs to-K.) of Sanami Matoh-sama! Akita and I are only borrowing them and generally annoying the hell out of them.
Thanks for all the kind and urhm…enthusiastic reviews. Were you determined to use every single one of those 4000 characters, Foxcat? (I liked it, Subu-chan. It means she likes our work! *giggles and munches on a chocolate bar*) Good point. A lot, by the looks of it. Hey! Where did you get the chocolate? Valentine’s is over, dammit! Hand it over! (NOOOOOoooooooooo!!! Give it back!) Catti-dono!!!
(p.s. Hana Tenshi--we really like your fic too--it's on our favorites list. Really, don't the reviews we leave say that? Drop us a line sometime. Y'know, the e-mail author button up there? *giggles* We reeeeaaally like that button!!) Akita, Get away from the keyboard! I'm warning you!!
JJ staggered into the green-tiled examination room, momentarily off-balance from the force of Dee’s shove. Dee…?
Drake looked up as he came in, a welcoming smile lighting his face in spite of the nurse wrapping his abdomen. “JJ…” His voice was a ravaged croak and JJ flinched from the raw sound of it.
“Shh.” The nurse looked up to caution gently. Drake grimaced down at her. “You should know better than to try and talk right now, Mr. Parker. The doctor told you to take it easy on your throat.”
Drake grinned at her sheepishly. The expression, even marred by a black eye, was enough to make JJ’s heart melt. Drake could look so adorably boyish with an embarrassed expression like that. Oh, yeah, JJ thought ruefully. There was no longer any doubt. I’m in it deep.
And the hell of it was, he didn’t mind. So Dee was off-limits now that he’d made it clear that he and Ryo were an official couple. JJ could live with that. It might hurt like a sonofabitch, but he accepted it. Maybe that could make up for ill-wishing Ryo on occasion. He hoped so.
Drake looked up and smiled at him with a pained shrug, earning a brief reprimand from the nurse as she finished with his bandages. JJ had to physically restrain himself from glomping Drake in sheer joy that he was still alive. He didn’t want to scare him off. Maybe Drake wasn’t gay or even bi, but he was still one of the best things in JJ’s life, and JJ didn’t want to lose that. Maybe he had a chance here that he’d never gotten with Dee. Even if Drake would never return the emotion, JJ dared to hope that they would remain partners and friends.
Maybe because he was too forward, JJ had never had many real male friends. Somehow, sex always got in the way. But Drake was different. He had never rejected JJ out of hand, even when the younger man had been at his most spastic or screamingly gay, chasing Dee down the halls of the precinct.
JJ realized he’d been staring at Drake, caught up in his thoughts when Drake tentatively extended a hand towards him. JJ forced himself to take a step forward and clasp Drake’s hand in honest relief, keeping his other emotions firmly walled away. Was it just his imagination or had there been a flash of disappointment in those gray eyes? A slow curl of pleasure started in his belly and he kept himself from smiling only with a major exercise of willpower. Well, maybe there was hope too.
But he wouldn’t push it. Not yet. Not until he was certain.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, Drake-sempai. I was worried about you.”
Later that evening…
Drake had been checked in and oddly enough, in a vacant room just across the hall from Ryo. Dee and Ted came to check on him as soon as he was settled in, reassuring themselves that he was fine. JJ hadn’t left his side once during the whole evening, and he thought Drake seemed oddly reassured by his presence.
Ignoring doctor’s orders (as usual), the first thing he did was apologize to Dee as soon as the brunette walked into his room.
“Sorry, man.” He rasped over JJ’s attempt to shush him. “I couldn’t get him for you and Ryo. There was no justice in it…”
He broke off as JJ clapped an imperious hand over his mouth. “The doctor told you to stay quiet, remember?” Drake scowled at him, but there was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
Dee chuckled and sat on the side of the bed. “Maybe not in this world, but there is in the next. Sure, I’m pissed that I didn’t get to send him there myself, but there’s zip for you to apologize for, Drake. You did everything you could. Hell, you even tried to save his ass! Me, I would’ve watched him fall.”
Drake and Ted both chuckled. Ted glanced at Dee slyly. “Yeah, well, we all know you’d be a murderer if you weren’t a cop. Right, Drake?”
Drake nodded, laughing weakly though an aching throat.
Dee shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t regret that he’s not behind bars, being turned into another inmate’s little bitch, but I know he’s receiving punishment for what he did. It’s funny, but that’s enough to satisfy me.” As he spoke, he unconsciously fingered the tiny cross that hung from a slender silver chain around his throat.
Drake, one of Dee’s oldest friends in the department, nodded in complete understanding. He knew, that due to Mother Maria Lane, Dee’s faith was absolute and unshakable. Now, Drake was no atheist, but he had trouble believing in thing he couldn’t see or experience for himself. He considered himself a realist. Most cops were after a while. You tended not to have a lot of faith in anything but yourself after so much of seeing the dark side of humanity.
Well, that and maybe your partner. Drake stole a glance at JJ. He had absolute trust in JJ to watch his back, but recent events were throwing his perception of his partner all out of whack. JJ had been stuck to his side like glue all evening, but there had been something odd in his unusually quiet smiles and bouts of non-stop chatter. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was definitely amiss.
And there was still so much left unsaid in all that endless chatter. Drake wasn’t sure he wanted to face what was unspoken. Dee and Ted’s words, the feel of a sobbing JJ in his arms and the small but definitely real doubt sowed by all those things were punching holes in his worldview that he didn’t want to look at too closely.
Ignoring JJ’s glare, he grated a question at Dee. “How’s Ryo?”
Dee’s face broke out in a smile. “Better. It’s still hard on him to breathe too deep, and like you,” He directed a mock glare at Drake. “He’s not supposed to talk, but he’s getting better. It’ll be a while before he’s back on duty.”
“Wonderful. Two detectives out and she…” Chief Warren Smith grumbled unexpectedly from the doorway, cocking a thumb back over his shoulder. “Drops a major serial killer case in our laps.”
Amid variations of ‘Aw, Chief,’ Dee groaned loudly as he caught sight of the energetic figure clad in four shades of eye-searing blue that stood behind the stocky form of the chief. “Not you again, Sea Hag.”
Diana Spacey leaned around Chief smith to offer him a roguish grin. “You’re slacking, Laytner. That’s the same nickname you used last time. Nothing new came to mind?”
Dee scowled but shrugged carelessly. “Hey, I stick with what works.”
Diana’s grin grew and she swooped in to plant a smacking kiss on Dee’s cheek. “Ooh, nice comeback! I see Ryo’s rubbing off on you.”
“Get away from me!”
Still grinning like a Cheshire cat, Diana plopped herself down in Dee’s lap and looked sympathetically at Drake. “Ooh, you got pretty roughed up too, didn’t you, Parker? Berkeley told me what happened to Ryo, but left out the fact that you look like you went five rounds with a pissed off elephant!”
Ted chuckled. “Actually, it was a busted fire escape and a perp who bungee-jumped without a cord.”
“Ted-sempai, you left out that it was the guy who shot Ryo-sempai.” JJ added.
Diana’s smile turned vindictive. “Good. I hope he bounced when he hit the pavement.”
Drake shook his head, but Ted turned slightly green. “He did. And it wasn’t pretty.”
“I say again, good.” Diana said with deadly seriousness as she studied her nails, shimmering with blue-green paint and filed to lethal-looking sharpness. “Otherwise, I would have had to get my hands dirty. Nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it.”
Then her grin returned. “Glad it didn’t come to that. It takes forever to get blood out of a manicure like this.”
Drake breathed a small sigh of relief. Diana Spacey was scary on an epic level when she wanted to be. There was no doubt in his mind that she would have done exactly what she threatened if Rodriguez weren’t already beyond the reach of the living.
“But, anyway,” She continued with blithe cheerfulness. “I have a case that just dumped itself square into your laps, so I need the able-bodies to come with me. Spencer, you ring your partner and tell him to meet us, lessee, in the conference room at the station. This is a joint effort between the Investigations Department and Homicide, so they’ll be joining us there. We’ll be working in two man teams, so Laytner, Adams, looks like you’re stuck with each other until your respective partners are out of here.”
Drake roused. “Wait a minute!” He rasped harshly. “JJ’s on the injured list too! You can’t send him out with Dee!”
“Yes, but he’s not confined to a hospital bed, now is he, Detective Parker? So he’s on a paperwork sentence, then? Fine, there’s plenty of paperwork to be done.”
JJ gently laid a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t mind, Drake-sempai. I’ve been bored and getting back to work will help.”
Drake wanted to protest, but the only one he could think of, he didn’t dare actually give voice to. If he said, ‘I don’t want you working with Dee,’ he would instantly be branded the jealous lover again.
JJ caught the hidden flash of jealous anger in Drake’s gray eyes and his heart swelled.
Unable to resist, he leaned down and put his lips next to Drake’s ear. “Don’t worry, Drake-sempai, you’re still the only partner for me.” Then he winked lewdly and pulled off a supremely effeminate posture.
Drake turned bright red as everyone in the room burst into gales of laughter.
A/N- Only a little left to go, folks. Do you want us to do a sequel? (Sequel! Sequel! Sequel! Sequel! *bounces on the couch, giggling manically* Sequel! Sequel! Sequel!)*sighs* Akita!! Do I have to bring out Prince Valium again???!
A/N- Okay, so here’s the next chapter. No major warnings here except for a bit of bad language and the appearance of yet another character who does not belong to us!!! Let’s go over the disclaimer thing again, folks. All characters from Fake are the exclusive property (that means belongs to-K.) of Sanami Matoh-sama! Akita and I are only borrowing them and generally annoying the hell out of them.
Thanks for all the kind and urhm…enthusiastic reviews. Were you determined to use every single one of those 4000 characters, Foxcat? (I liked it, Subu-chan. It means she likes our work! *giggles and munches on a chocolate bar*) Good point. A lot, by the looks of it. Hey! Where did you get the chocolate? Valentine’s is over, dammit! Hand it over! (NOOOOOoooooooooo!!! Give it back!) Catti-dono!!!
(p.s. Hana Tenshi--we really like your fic too--it's on our favorites list. Really, don't the reviews we leave say that? Drop us a line sometime. Y'know, the e-mail author button up there? *giggles* We reeeeaaally like that button!!) Akita, Get away from the keyboard! I'm warning you!!
JJ staggered into the green-tiled examination room, momentarily off-balance from the force of Dee’s shove. Dee…?
Drake looked up as he came in, a welcoming smile lighting his face in spite of the nurse wrapping his abdomen. “JJ…” His voice was a ravaged croak and JJ flinched from the raw sound of it.
“Shh.” The nurse looked up to caution gently. Drake grimaced down at her. “You should know better than to try and talk right now, Mr. Parker. The doctor told you to take it easy on your throat.”
Drake grinned at her sheepishly. The expression, even marred by a black eye, was enough to make JJ’s heart melt. Drake could look so adorably boyish with an embarrassed expression like that. Oh, yeah, JJ thought ruefully. There was no longer any doubt. I’m in it deep.
And the hell of it was, he didn’t mind. So Dee was off-limits now that he’d made it clear that he and Ryo were an official couple. JJ could live with that. It might hurt like a sonofabitch, but he accepted it. Maybe that could make up for ill-wishing Ryo on occasion. He hoped so.
Drake looked up and smiled at him with a pained shrug, earning a brief reprimand from the nurse as she finished with his bandages. JJ had to physically restrain himself from glomping Drake in sheer joy that he was still alive. He didn’t want to scare him off. Maybe Drake wasn’t gay or even bi, but he was still one of the best things in JJ’s life, and JJ didn’t want to lose that. Maybe he had a chance here that he’d never gotten with Dee. Even if Drake would never return the emotion, JJ dared to hope that they would remain partners and friends.
Maybe because he was too forward, JJ had never had many real male friends. Somehow, sex always got in the way. But Drake was different. He had never rejected JJ out of hand, even when the younger man had been at his most spastic or screamingly gay, chasing Dee down the halls of the precinct.
JJ realized he’d been staring at Drake, caught up in his thoughts when Drake tentatively extended a hand towards him. JJ forced himself to take a step forward and clasp Drake’s hand in honest relief, keeping his other emotions firmly walled away. Was it just his imagination or had there been a flash of disappointment in those gray eyes? A slow curl of pleasure started in his belly and he kept himself from smiling only with a major exercise of willpower. Well, maybe there was hope too.
But he wouldn’t push it. Not yet. Not until he was certain.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, Drake-sempai. I was worried about you.”
Later that evening…
Drake had been checked in and oddly enough, in a vacant room just across the hall from Ryo. Dee and Ted came to check on him as soon as he was settled in, reassuring themselves that he was fine. JJ hadn’t left his side once during the whole evening, and he thought Drake seemed oddly reassured by his presence.
Ignoring doctor’s orders (as usual), the first thing he did was apologize to Dee as soon as the brunette walked into his room.
“Sorry, man.” He rasped over JJ’s attempt to shush him. “I couldn’t get him for you and Ryo. There was no justice in it…”
He broke off as JJ clapped an imperious hand over his mouth. “The doctor told you to stay quiet, remember?” Drake scowled at him, but there was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
Dee chuckled and sat on the side of the bed. “Maybe not in this world, but there is in the next. Sure, I’m pissed that I didn’t get to send him there myself, but there’s zip for you to apologize for, Drake. You did everything you could. Hell, you even tried to save his ass! Me, I would’ve watched him fall.”
Drake and Ted both chuckled. Ted glanced at Dee slyly. “Yeah, well, we all know you’d be a murderer if you weren’t a cop. Right, Drake?”
Drake nodded, laughing weakly though an aching throat.
Dee shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t regret that he’s not behind bars, being turned into another inmate’s little bitch, but I know he’s receiving punishment for what he did. It’s funny, but that’s enough to satisfy me.” As he spoke, he unconsciously fingered the tiny cross that hung from a slender silver chain around his throat.
Drake, one of Dee’s oldest friends in the department, nodded in complete understanding. He knew, that due to Mother Maria Lane, Dee’s faith was absolute and unshakable. Now, Drake was no atheist, but he had trouble believing in thing he couldn’t see or experience for himself. He considered himself a realist. Most cops were after a while. You tended not to have a lot of faith in anything but yourself after so much of seeing the dark side of humanity.
Well, that and maybe your partner. Drake stole a glance at JJ. He had absolute trust in JJ to watch his back, but recent events were throwing his perception of his partner all out of whack. JJ had been stuck to his side like glue all evening, but there had been something odd in his unusually quiet smiles and bouts of non-stop chatter. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was definitely amiss.
And there was still so much left unsaid in all that endless chatter. Drake wasn’t sure he wanted to face what was unspoken. Dee and Ted’s words, the feel of a sobbing JJ in his arms and the small but definitely real doubt sowed by all those things were punching holes in his worldview that he didn’t want to look at too closely.
Ignoring JJ’s glare, he grated a question at Dee. “How’s Ryo?”
Dee’s face broke out in a smile. “Better. It’s still hard on him to breathe too deep, and like you,” He directed a mock glare at Drake. “He’s not supposed to talk, but he’s getting better. It’ll be a while before he’s back on duty.”
“Wonderful. Two detectives out and she…” Chief Warren Smith grumbled unexpectedly from the doorway, cocking a thumb back over his shoulder. “Drops a major serial killer case in our laps.”
Amid variations of ‘Aw, Chief,’ Dee groaned loudly as he caught sight of the energetic figure clad in four shades of eye-searing blue that stood behind the stocky form of the chief. “Not you again, Sea Hag.”
Diana Spacey leaned around Chief smith to offer him a roguish grin. “You’re slacking, Laytner. That’s the same nickname you used last time. Nothing new came to mind?”
Dee scowled but shrugged carelessly. “Hey, I stick with what works.”
Diana’s grin grew and she swooped in to plant a smacking kiss on Dee’s cheek. “Ooh, nice comeback! I see Ryo’s rubbing off on you.”
“Get away from me!”
Still grinning like a Cheshire cat, Diana plopped herself down in Dee’s lap and looked sympathetically at Drake. “Ooh, you got pretty roughed up too, didn’t you, Parker? Berkeley told me what happened to Ryo, but left out the fact that you look like you went five rounds with a pissed off elephant!”
Ted chuckled. “Actually, it was a busted fire escape and a perp who bungee-jumped without a cord.”
“Ted-sempai, you left out that it was the guy who shot Ryo-sempai.” JJ added.
Diana’s smile turned vindictive. “Good. I hope he bounced when he hit the pavement.”
Drake shook his head, but Ted turned slightly green. “He did. And it wasn’t pretty.”
“I say again, good.” Diana said with deadly seriousness as she studied her nails, shimmering with blue-green paint and filed to lethal-looking sharpness. “Otherwise, I would have had to get my hands dirty. Nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it.”
Then her grin returned. “Glad it didn’t come to that. It takes forever to get blood out of a manicure like this.”
Drake breathed a small sigh of relief. Diana Spacey was scary on an epic level when she wanted to be. There was no doubt in his mind that she would have done exactly what she threatened if Rodriguez weren’t already beyond the reach of the living.
“But, anyway,” She continued with blithe cheerfulness. “I have a case that just dumped itself square into your laps, so I need the able-bodies to come with me. Spencer, you ring your partner and tell him to meet us, lessee, in the conference room at the station. This is a joint effort between the Investigations Department and Homicide, so they’ll be joining us there. We’ll be working in two man teams, so Laytner, Adams, looks like you’re stuck with each other until your respective partners are out of here.”
Drake roused. “Wait a minute!” He rasped harshly. “JJ’s on the injured list too! You can’t send him out with Dee!”
“Yes, but he’s not confined to a hospital bed, now is he, Detective Parker? So he’s on a paperwork sentence, then? Fine, there’s plenty of paperwork to be done.”
JJ gently laid a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t mind, Drake-sempai. I’ve been bored and getting back to work will help.”
Drake wanted to protest, but the only one he could think of, he didn’t dare actually give voice to. If he said, ‘I don’t want you working with Dee,’ he would instantly be branded the jealous lover again.
JJ caught the hidden flash of jealous anger in Drake’s gray eyes and his heart swelled.
Unable to resist, he leaned down and put his lips next to Drake’s ear. “Don’t worry, Drake-sempai, you’re still the only partner for me.” Then he winked lewdly and pulled off a supremely effeminate posture.
Drake turned bright red as everyone in the room burst into gales of laughter.
A/N- Only a little left to go, folks. Do you want us to do a sequel? (Sequel! Sequel! Sequel! Sequel! *bounces on the couch, giggling manically* Sequel! Sequel! Sequel!)*sighs* Akita!! Do I have to bring out Prince Valium again???!