Title: One Christmas Eve
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Dee.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Even after so many years, Christmas Eve still brings back memories of the day Ryo lost his parents.
Word Count: 500
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 285: Amnesty, using challenge 144: Memory.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.



Ryo breathed in the crisp, clear night air, for once almost untainted by traffic fumes. He filled his lungs before breathing out clouds of vapour that hung like mist before him, briefly obscuring the view. He’d had to get out of the crowded, stuffy, overheated precinct Christmas party; the loud music and laughter had been giving him a headache. He wasn’t trying to be a grinch and spoil everyone else’s fun, it was just that Christmas, no matter how much he might enjoy the festivities, always brought with it memories of his parents’ tragic and untimely deaths.

He had no shortage of happy Christmas memories, of celebrating as a family, singing carols and opening gifts, but on Christmas Eve they inevitably got overshadowed by memories of that one devastating year when he was eighteen.

“Hey, thought I’d find you up here. You okay?” Dee came to stand beside him, leaning his back against the parapet and staring up at the scattering of stars bright enough to be visible in spite of the city lights.

“I’m fine, the heat and noise were just giving me a headache.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. One time the heating’s actually workin’ right and there’s so many people packed in the squad room it’s like bein’ fully clothed in a sauna.” Dee glanced sidelong at his partner. “Thinkin’ about your mom and dad?”

Ryo sighed; Dee could read him like a book. “Yeah. I miss them; wish they could’ve met you, and Bikky.”

“I think I would’a liked them. Not sure what they’d have made of me though.” Dee’s smile was wry. “Probably would’a thought you could’ve done better.”

“No.” Ryo shook his head. “They’d have liked you too, I’m sure of it.”

“You ever think maybe they’re still around, up there somewhere watchin’ over ya?” Dee tipped his head back, gesturing upwards with his chin. “Maybe that’s what the stars are, holes in heaven so the people we’ve lost can keep an eye on us, make sure we’re doin’ okay.”

“That’s a nice thought.” Ryo cast his eyes towards the heavens, smiling wistfully.

“Just ‘cause they’re gone doesn’t mean you’ll never see them again.” Raised in a Catholic orphanage, Dee had never completely lost his faith, despite the terrible things he’d seen on the job. He had no doubt that Heaven existed, that Jess, and Arnon, and Ryo’s parents, would be there waiting for them when the time came. “I know Jess has gotta be watchin’ over me, the number of scrapes I’ve survived.” He straightened up and turned to Ryo. “Our guardian angels are always with us, no matter where we go or what we do.”

“Perhaps you’re right.” Ryo reached out a gloved hand to touch Dee’s face, the moonlight shining in his dark eyes. “How else would I have found my way to you?”

Smiling, Dee leaned in for a kiss, cold lips meeting tenderly in a warm caress. “Makes sense to me. Always knew someone up there must like me.”


The End