Title: Heartbroke
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ryo, Dee.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: After a huge fight with his lover, Ryo is heartbroken, believing Dee has just broken up with him.
Written For: My
fffc bingo square ‘Over’.
Word Count: 1539
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: This was supposed to be a drabble…
Ryo had never imagined anything could feel this bad. Sure, he’d heard about people getting their hearts broken but he’d never experienced it himself because he’d never been in love until Dee had broken down all of his defences and shown him who he really was. Now he loved his partner with all his heart, couldn’t begin to picture his life without Dee in it, and just when everything had been perfect, when he’d thought he had it all and nothing could possibly go wrong, before he knew what was happening it was over.
They’d had a fight, one of those stupid arguments that all couples had from time to time. It had started out as a disagreement over something trivial, but had quickly escalated into yelling and name-calling, and the airing of every unimportant little annoyance they could dredge up, from Dee’s casual flirting to the way Ryo counted the stairs up to his apartment when he was tired, Dee’s unhygienic habits of drinking milk straight from the carton and eating cereal from the box, Ryo’s pairing up his socks before he put them away and Dee not bothering to so he always ended up in a frantic search for two that matched…
The list went on and on, the volume rising with each new grievance, until at last Dee had pulled the car over to the side of the road.
“That’s it, this is over, I’m done!” he’d yelled before he’d gotten out leaving the engine running, slammed the door behind him, and stormed off through the pouring rain. He hadn’t even paused long enough to grab his jacket off the back seat.
Ryo had sat there frozen for a minute, wondering if he should call his lover back, or go after him, but he’d been in a no parking zone, and as a detective, it wouldn’t have looked good for him to get a parking ticket, so he’d shifted into the driving seat and done the only thing he could think of doing; he’d driven home.
It hadn’t been until he was in his apartment, nursing a cup of tea that was for once completely failing to soothe him, that he realised he didn’t just have Dee’s jacket, unthinkingly collected along with his own from the back seat, but the car he’d just driven home in was Dee’s.
Now what was he going to do? Dee had just told him they were through, Ryo was probably the last person he wanted to see, and yet he couldn’t keep his partner’s car; that would be theft of a sort, even though Dee had abandoned Ryo and the car together. Maybe he should drive over to Dee’s, park the car in its usual spot, and drop the car keys in Dee’s mailbox. That way they wouldn’t have to see or speak to each other at all.
But what about work, how could they remain partners now their personal relationship, which strictly speaking, according to the department’s rules, they weren’t even supposed to be in, had imploded so spectacularly? Would one of them have to transfer to another precinct? Dee had been at the 27th the longest, but all Ryo’s friends were there. How could he walk away and lose them as well as his lover? Of course Drake and Ted and JJ had been Dee’s friends first as well…
Ryo’s thoughts trailed away to nothing, the ache of his broken heart consuming him. He should never have gotten involved with Dee in the first place, then maybe they’d still be friends and his whole world wouldn’t be crumbling around him. He wiped tears from his face with the back of his hand, setting his barely touched cup of tea aside on the windowsill and huddling in on himself, so sunk in misery he didn’t hear his front door opening, wasn’t aware of anything until the bedroom door opened and Dee stood dripping in the doorway, drying his hair on a towel Ryo recognised as the one from the kitchen.
“One of these days my temper is gonna be the death of me,” Dee said ruefully. “Good thing I had enough loose change in my pants pocket for the bus, otherwise I would’a had to walk all the way here. I’d gotten halfway home before I realised my keys were still in my jacket, in the backseat of my car.”
Ryo looked numbly at his partner; he hadn’t heard a word Dee had just said. “I suppose you’ve come for your things. Your jacket’s on the sofa and your car keys are on the table by the door.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna need those, but I left somethin’ way more important behind.”
Of course, his painstakingly restored Dodge Charger was the most important thing. Dee loved that car; it had always amused Ryo the way Dee lavished attention on it.
“Your car’s out front, you must’ve walked right past it,” he said dully.
“Not the damned car, you dope, what I left IN the car.” When Ryo just stared blankly back at him, Dee rolled his eyes. “YOU, dumbass!”
That just confused Ryo. “But you said we were over.”
“What?”
“You said, ‘This is over, I’m done’, right before you got out of the car and left.” The words were etched indelibly into Ryo’s mind.
“No! That wasn’t… I meant I was done fightin’ with ya, not that I wanted to break up! We’re not, are we? I mean, I know things got kinda heated back there, that’s why I left, I needed to cool off, but…” Dee’s face fell. “D’you wanna break up with me?”
“No! That’s the last thing I want!”
“Even though I’m a loudmouthed, unhygienic pain in the ass who doesn’t deserve you?”
“I’m not sure I deserve you either, not after the things I said, so I guess that makes us even.” Ryo shook his head. “Speaking of unhygienic, you’re using my clean dish towel to dry your hair and you’re dripping all over the floor.”
Dee winced. “Uh…”
Ryo gave a weak chuckle. “Doesn’t matter, I’ve got other dish towels and it’s only water, easy enough to clean up. Go take a shower while I find you some dry clothes. There’s plenty of hot water.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Dee?”
“Yeah?” Dee turned back as Ryo slid off the bed.
“Why didn’t you make me get out of the car? I mean, it’s your car, and you were driving.”
“I know, but you only just got over a bad cold and I didn’t want to risk you gettin’ sick again. You were better off stayin’ in the car, and you know I trust you with her. Besides, a walk in the rain’s a good way to cool off. For the record, I’m sorry. You know, for all the stuff I was yellin’ at ya back there? I didn’t even mean most of it, I guess you gettin’ mad at me for flirtin’ kinda touched a nerve.”
“It’s who you are, Dee. I shouldn’t get angry when you flirt with other people, I know you don’t mean anything by it, and anyway we agreed when we started dating that you shouldn’t change the way you behave because people might notice. It’s just, sometimes I can’t help wondering if you’d rather be with the people you flirt with instead of with me.”
“The answer’s no, so you can get that idea outta your head right now. It’s you I’m with, and you’re the only one I want. Flirting’s become a bad habit, one I need to break, only most of the time I don’t realise I’m doin’ it. I don’t like knowin’ it hurts you when I flirt with some random chick, so I guess I got kinda defensive and because I’m an idiot, I ended up hurtin’ ya even more.”
“You’re not the only one who said things they didn’t mean. I owe you an apology too.”
“No ya don’t; it’s already forgiven and forgotten, washed clean outta my head by all the rain.”
“Just like that?” Ryo wanted to believe Dee, but at the same time he wasn’t sure he deserved to be let off so easily.
“You wanna go another round with the fightin’?”
“No, of course not!” The mere thought sent chills racing down Ryo’s spine; if they started fighting again Dee might change his mind about not dumping him.
“’Course, if you really wanna make it up to me…” Dee trailed off, looking at Ryo expectantly.
“Yes, anything.”
“Join me in the shower?”
The last of Ryo’s worries evaporated; if Dee was angling for make up sex the fight was definitely over. “Start the water running and get out of those wet clothes while I dry the floor. Wouldn’t do for either of us to slip and break something. It won’t take me long.”
“I’ll hold ya to that; if you’re not in there with me in five minutes I’m gonna come lookin’ for ya and drip on your floors some more,” he threatened.
“You would too.”
“Damn straight. Love you, babe.”
“Love you too, Dee. More than anything.”
“Good to know.”
As his lover headed for the bathroom Ryo prayed he’d never have to feel the pain of a broken heart again.
The End