Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Mistletoe ❯ Grinch/Grouch ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: leejeeg

Mistletoe

by leejeeg

Sanami Matoh owns Fake: I just borrow them a bit

Dee x Ryo

A Dickensian inspired holiday fic.

R for language

Lemon

Happy Holidays

Grinch/Grouch

Ryo rushed down the long hospital corridor. He saw room 304 and paused. Then he pushed open the door. Dee was sitting on the bed, buttoning his shirt. There was a huge dried bloodstain on the left shoulder. He smiled when he saw Ryo. Ryo wasn't smiling. He looked both relieved and mad as hell. “Are you okay,” he said quietly. Oh shit. That meant he was furious. Dee was nodding his head. “'m okay, baby.”

“Not here,” Ryo admonished him for using the endearment. “You didn't call for back up, baka.”

“Didn't think I needed it.” Dee's voice was sluggish, laced with a mild painkiller.

“Can you leave yet?”

“Yep. Just got discharged. Don't be mad, huh?”

Ryo shook his head angrily. “You take too many stupid chances.”

For the next two days Ryo barely spoke to Dee. He was upset that Dee had been wounded, but how it happened in the first place is what really got to him. Dee had been on his way to question a witness on a robbery case they were on. He was somewhere around Hudson Street when he saw a woman being mugged. Of course he just had to charge in, not knowing if the perp was armed. He was and the bullet grazed Dee's shoulder before he was able to subdue him.

Dee was writing out his report when Drake knocked and entered. “Hey Dee, how's the shoulder?”

Dee snorted in response. “It was nothing-just a scratch.”

“All in a day's work, eh caped crusader?”

Dee took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. He took a couple of puffs and sighed with satisfaction. “You know, by the time the back up would have arrived the scuzzball would have been long gone, so I tackled him. The gun went off by accident.”

“Lucky bastard,” Drake said with a hint of admiration. Dee was a good cop, he and Ryo led the precinct with the most arrests. But Dee was a crazy bugger. Although ever since being partnered up with Ryo, he took fewer chances. Ryo's cooler head usually prevailed.

Ryo strode in, going directly to his desk. “Hey, Ryo. Looks like your partner decided to fly solo again.”

Ryo made a dismissive noise. He did not bother to look up at Drake. Drake gave Dee a quizzical look and Dee shrugged. “He thinks I took a stupid risk. Not the president of my fan club today.”

“Whatever.” Drake made a hasty exit, avoiding the sudden tension pervading their office. Those two are so weird together, he mused. It was not unusual for partners to become close. It had to be that way because trust was vital on the job. Frequently partners spent more time with each other than their families. Ryo was probably pissed at Dee for a variety of reasons, but it would be a deficit to their unit for their partnership to be broken. Weird as they were, they worked and extraordinarily well.

“Bragging now?” Ryo's voice was clipped. Dee took one last drag from his cigarette and ground it out in the ashtray Ryo gave him as a gag gift for his birthday two years ago. It read: Park your Butts Here. He exhaled, twin streams of smoke twining from his mouth. “No, I wasn't bragging. Drake came in and asked me about it. Why are you still pissed?”

“Figure it out, genius.”

“Okay.” At least now Ryo appeared to be speaking to him again. Ryo had the newspaper spread out on his desk. He was browsing through the pages when he stopped short. Dee watched his eyes shift side to side rapidly as he read. He dropped the paper on his desk and stared at it blankly. Dee moved behind him and read over his shoulder. Oh fuck. Fucking hell.

Dee was watching Ryo who was staring out at the view of the city. They were on the 27th's rooftop. Snow was swirling lightly, blown by the chill wind from the trees and high surfaces. Dee was smoking, trying to think of something to say that would not sound trite or insensitive. The article in the paper was about a mob hit. A couple from Minnesota, flying in to town for their anniversary was shot to death on the Grand Central Parkway, the road linking Queens to Long Island. It was a case of mistaken identity. Ryo practically went catatonic so Dee forced him to come up to the roof for some air. “Ryo,” he began, “baby, some times bad things happen. Good people suffer. It doesn't seem fair. This is a bad coincidence, and add that with my recent antics I understand why you're upset.” He stopped, unsure of what to say next, unsure of how he was being received. Besides, Penguin always said that sometimes people don't want sympathy, they want understanding. “I know how you feel.”

Ryo whirled around, glaring at him. “You don't know shit!” Then he stormed off, leaving a bewildered Dee amid the swirling snowflakes.

“Oh, man! I can't take this any more,” Bikky was staring at Ryo's bedroom door. The man had come home slammed dinner together and then locked himself in his room without a word. Carol gave Bikky a small, sympathetic smile. “You know how hard Christmas is on him.”

“Yeah, but this is worse than usual. And I can't even blame the perv.”

“No, you can't.” They both knew that Dee was trying extra hard to be nice to Ryo. Bikky sighed audibly. “Let's go for a walk.”

“It's freezing out!” Carol protested. Bikky shrugged. “Well, then let's go to your aunt's. Anything, Cal-I gotta get out of here for a while.”

“Hello?”

“Hey, baby, are you okay?”

“Dee. Please just leave me alone.”

“Okay. Well....if you want to talk about....”

“I don't.” Ice. Dee closed his eyes. He had never gotten such a cold shoulder from him before. “I know you don't. But I'll be here all night if you need me.”

“Goodbye.” Ryo hung up the phone. He hesitated, almost dialed Dee's number. Then he shook his head, frustrated and angry. Vaguely he wondered if he should bolt the door. Dee often did not take the hint. He went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of tea. Restless, he decided to watch tv.

Ryo started awake. He had fallen asleep watching a program. He shut the set off. The lights twinkled on the tree and he stared transfixed for a moment, remembering another Christmas a long time ago.

He was six and it had snowed transforming their yard into a white, glistening heaven. He had played outside all day, he and his mother built a snow fort and a snowman. When his father returned from work they had a snowball fight, laughing and sputtering. They ended the perfect day with an evening of games and hot cocoa and sugar cookies, freshly baked by his mother.

Ryo brushed a tear away. He was gratified that he still could remember the happy times. The clock on the wall chimed. It was midnight. Two more days until Christmas.

It was Christmas Eve. Bikky was on winter break and more than a little excited. Ryo's mood improved marginally, but it was solely for the boy's benefit. That evening he would be at a Christmas party given by Carol's aunt. Ryo and Dee were on the split shift and would not get off work until eleven.

Dee and Ryo sat in Dee's car. They were on stakeout, watching a man suspected of arson. Dee grumbled, complaining that the fire department should be investigating arson related crimes. “We're the police, arson is a crime,” Ryo reminded him. Dee shifted low in his seat. Ryo and he had not been together in two weeks, and except for work talk, there had been nothing between them. He didn't know how much longer he could stand it. He understood the reason behind his partner's sullen mood, but this was getting ridiculous and it was jeopardizing their relationship. Dee cleared his throat, nervous about what he was going to ask. “Ryo, are you.....sorry that you're with me?”

“W-What?” Ryo was taken aback by the question.

“Are you having regrets about us?”

Ryo took a deep breath. “Yes.”

Dee's heart sank. His hands were clammy and tears pricked behind his eyes. Ryo saw and closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I'm sorry, Dee-I didn't mean it that way, I......”

Dee held up his hand. “Don't,” he choked out, “don't say another fucking word.”