Title: Reasons Why
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: Around Vol. 4 or 5.
Summary: Dee gives some serious thought to why he’s fallen so hard for Ryo.
Word Count: 1075
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 267: Amnesty, using Challenge 5: Five Things.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.



Dee sprawled on his bed, feeling defeated, and not for the first time since he’d gone and fallen for his partner. Of all the dumb things he’d ever done, this might be the dumbest; lusting after Ryo was one thing, but falling in love to the point where he had no desire to sleep with anyone else? Dumb. Why had he even fallen under Ryo’s spell? What was so special about him?

‘Maybe if I try to analyse it, like Mother used to get me to do when I said I didn’t like someone or something…’

Sitting up, he pulled a pad of paper and a pen from his nightstand and flipped to a blank page. He tapped the pen against the paper for a moment, thinking, then started to write, in block capitals:

FIVE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT RYO MACLEAN.

He paused again, chewing the end of the pen like he used to when he was a kid and Mother set him this exercise, then hurriedly pulled the pen out of his mouth because it was making his mind drift to thoughts of sucking on other things when he should be focusing on the task at hand.

1: He’s incredibly hot.

Dee knew what Ryo’s reaction would be to that if he ever saw this list, but it was the truth.

“So sue me,” he muttered to himself. “I’m a red-blooded bisexual guy; ‘course I think he’s hot! Beautiful face, firm and leanly muscled body, long legs, tight ass, and his hands…” Dee drifted off, practically drooling as he imagined Ryo’s long-fingered hands exploring his body… He dragged himself back to the present with difficulty. “There’s nothin’ wrong with bein’ attracted to a gorgeous man; it’s a perfectly natural response to his hotness.”

What else?

2: He cares about everyone.

That was something Dee had noticed right from the start; who else would have taken an orphaned street kid into his home without hardly knowing anything about the boy? A couple of years later and Bikky was flourishing under his care. Dee was flourishing too, just from knowing his partner, working alongside him every day… Ryo was the one who’d taken care of Dee after Mother was badly injured, and he’d fussed over her when she’d been discharged from the hospital too. He hadn’t had to do that, he barely knew her, and yet he’d done all he could for her. He helped everyone in need that he came across, never thinking of himself, because that was the kind of person he was.

Dee wanted to be more like him, but having grown up in an orphanage, he’d seen firsthand how some people took advantage of the kindness of others. It had made him wary and a lot less trusting than Ryo was.

3: He’s smart.

Damn straight he was! He’d done way better in school than Dee had, even though Dee had worked hard and done better than most people had expected he would. Ryo wasn’t a genius, he hadn’t been top of his year at graduation or anything, but he’d been in the top ten percent. Dee himself had come out of high school with well above average grades, but not as high as Ryo’s.

It was more than that though; Ryo had an analytical mind that kept working all the time, piecing together shreds of information and evidence on their cases, until something clicked. He saw things that Dee might otherwise have missed. Being around him made Dee a better detective.

4: He’s natural.

Everything about Ryo, what you saw was what you got; he didn’t try to impress the people around him, he was simply himself. Dee couldn’t imagine Ryo showing off, trying to get attention. He’d been with a lot of people who dyed their hair, or wore lifts in their shoes, or put on airs in one way or another, but he couldn’t imagine Ryo doing anything like that. Sure, he seemed to be confused about his sexuality, but that was different; coming out was a scary business, and a lot of people struggled with it. In every other respect though, Ryo was his own man. He didn’t follow the crowd; he dressed the way he wanted to, he liked what he liked, not what everyone else liked, and he didn’t care if some people thought him dorky. Probably didn’t even notice.

5: He makes me laugh.

Yeah, a lot of the time it was unintentional, Ryo was kind of an airhead, and could be a klutz when he was so deep in thought that he wasn’t paying enough attention to his surroundings, but he also had a quick wit and a sly sense of humor that tickled Dee’s funny bone just right. In their line of work, a good sense of humor was essential, otherwise you’d burn out, crack under the strain and either go off the rails, on the take, or turn to drugs or the bottle to escape. Dee had seen it happen to good cops before, way too many times, but Ryo, although he could be obsessive when working a case, was pretty well grounded.

There was a whole lot more to Ryo Maclean of course, he was a soothing, calming presence when Dee let his temper get the better of him, and a great cook, not to mention a crack shot. He knew how to do all kinds of things that Dee wouldn’t have expected, outdoors stuff like skiing and boating and horseback riding. He knew martial arts too, which had Dee crazy impressed, but the five points he’d listed told Dee all he needed to know; he’d be crazy NOT to have fallen for someone as amazing as Ryo Maclean.

Returning the pad and pen to the drawer, Dee flopped back on his bed again, feeling a little better about his situation. Falling in love with his so far unattainable partner might not have been the smartest thing he’d ever done, but it was only natural, maybe even inevitable, so what was he going to do about it?

Smiling to himself, he reached over to turn off the lamp, plunging his bedroom into darkness. What he wasn’t going to do was give up. Ryo was worth fighting for so Dee would just have to keep trying and hope that eventually his partner might love him back. For once in his life, he was going to be patient even if it killed him.


The End