Title: A Friend In Need
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Arnon.
Rating: G
Setting: Before the manga.
Summary: Dee is worried about his friend.
Word Count: 400
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 351: Amnesty, using Challenge 278: Street.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.



The rain had finally stopped, and the street was wet and glistening, scattered with puddles that reflected the city lights, making it look almost pretty as long as you didn’t look up at the ugly, soot-stained brick buildings that lined both sides. Then it just looked depressing.

It wasn’t an appealing place to live, but too many people had no other choice, earning below minimum wage, often working two or three jobs every day, raising their kids as best they could in poor conditions that were all they could afford.

Arnon was one such kid, he and his mom living in a one-bedroom apartment, eking out a living while she worked two jobs just to pay the rent and put food on the table.

Dee had just come from Arnon’s place, and he kicked at a can as he mooched along the sidewalk, hands jammed in the pockets of his jeans, shoulders hunched against a chilly breeze. He was worried for his friend and wished there was something he could do to help, but it wasn’t like he had any money either. With so many mouths to feed, Mother couldn’t give her kids much in the way of an allowance. Dee did odd jobs in the neighbourhood occasionally for a bit of cash, but no one could afford to pay him much.

Now the slumlord who owned the building where Arnon and his mom lived had told his tenants he was raising the rent by fifty bucks a month. As it was, Arnon’s mom was barely managing to make ends meet. He might have to drop out of school and get a job, which wasn’t fair because he was one of the smartest kids Dee knew, smart enough to go on to college, although he wouldn’t be able to. With food and rent costing more than she earned, there was no way Mrs Dreiser could save for college tuition.

Dee paused and looked back along the street, just in time to see Arnon come out of the crumbling tenement and head off in the opposite direction. He’d told Dee he was going to take whatever work he could find to help his mom with the rent; that was why Dee had stopped by his place this evening, with information on a couple of cafés that needed staff to wash dishes and sweep floors.

“Good luck, Arnon. You’re gonna need it.”


The End