Title: Getting Toasty
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted 
Characters: Ryo, Dee.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: The snow had been bad enough but now it’s pouring with rain. Ryo and Dee seek out somewhere warm to escape the weather.
Word Count: 590
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 249: Amnesty, using Challenge 28: Warmth.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.



Ryo cursed silently to himself; he’d spent the last week wishing the sludgy mess of old snow would melt and now it was, swept away by the onslaught of torrential rain. The streets were awash with water, even he sidewalks were a maze of puddles, and the water level in the rivers that bracketed Manhattan Island was rising rapidly. Much more and there would be flooding.

“This sucks,” Dee grumbled, stomping his way through puddles at Ryo’s side.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Ryo agreed. “I wanted the snow to melt, but not like this! If it keeps up we’ll all be swimming soon.”

Dee shuddered. “Don’t even joke about it! I’m not swimmin’ in water this cold, that’s just askin’ for hypothermia.”

“If it gets any worse, maybe we could commandeer a canoe or something.” Ryo pointed across the street at a sporting goods store.

That got a snicker from Dee. “Can you imagine, chasin’ some punk, paddlin’ our canoe down the street past all the stalled cars… Y’know, that might be kinda fun.”

“Hard work though, and we’d still be getting wet.” Ryo tugged the hood of his coat further forward, ducking his head as a gust of wind blew rain in his face. “Is a few days of dry weather and a bit of sunshine too much to ask for? My pants legs are getting soaked.” The fabric flapped around his legs, clammy and cold.

“Tell me about it.” Dee plucked at the leg of his jeans, grimacing as he peeled the fabric away from his skin. He nudged Ryo with his shoulder. “Whaddaya say we get out of this for a bit?” He pointed to a café just ahead. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and snag a table by a radiator, dry out a bit, grab a coffee, maybe something to eat.”

Ryo nodded agreement. “I could do with a hot drink and a break from battling this wind.”

A few more strides and Dee was pushing open the door, leading the way into the café’s cosy interior where a bunch of bedraggled people sat hunched over their mugs, tendrils of steam rising from wet coats, hats, and hair.

Ordering cheese toasties and mugs of coffee, they grabbed a newly vacated table by a heating vent, peeling their coats off and draping them over the backs of their chairs before sitting down, gusts of warm air lapping around their wet legs.

“I’m thinkin’ we should stay here until the rain eases up,” Dee said as the waitress set steaming mugs in front of them, telling them their food would be along shortly.

“We’re supposed to be working,” Ryo protested half-heartedly. The idea of staying out of the rain until they were warm and toasty was beyond tempting.

“We can work. We can go over our notes, figure out our next step. We wouldn’t be able to do much out in that anyway; we can hardly see where we’re goin’.”

That was true enough, plus nobody was out on the street right now who didn’t have to be. Everyone with any sense had sought shelter.

“Fine, we’ll stay here, but just until the rain eases off.”

Dee grinned; the way he rain was coming down it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. By the time it did, maybe they’d have dried out and gotten warmed through. Picking his mug up he took a sip, slowly starting to relax; this was way better than traipsing about in the rain. Bad weather did have its good points.


The End