Title: Rained On
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Despite the hot summer weather England is turning out to be a rainy place, but is that necessarily a bad thing?
Word Count: 1000
Written For: Challenge 11: Rain at slashficlets.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
When the rain started, Dee immediately bolted for the nearest available shelter, a scrubby stand of trees just beyond the dunes. It took him several seconds to realise that Ryo wasn’t following and he skidded to a halt on the moistening sand, turning to see where his lover was.
Ryo hadn’t moved from where they’d been strolling along not far from the water’s edge. He was standing still, arms hanging loosely by his sides, head tilted back, his eyes closed, and Dee was struck once again by how beautiful his baby was. Part of him wanted to just stand and stare, but another, perhaps more sensible part reminded him they were out in the rain with no umbrella.
“Hey, whaddaya doin’, dumbass? You’re gonna get soaked! C’mon, we’ve gotta get outta this rain!”
“Go if you want, but do you really think you’ll avoid getting wet if you make for the trees?” Ryo glanced Dee’s way, laughing. “You’ll be soaked to the skin before you get halfway, and I doubt you’ll find much in the way of shelter anyway. Might as well accept the inevitability. Besides, it’s warm rain.”
Walking a little further up onto drier sand, Ryo dumped his backpack down, along with the carrier bag containing his shoes and socks, then shucked out of shirt and t-shirt, shoving them in the bag before they could get too wet, before starting to remove his jeans.
“Whoa!” Dee stared, transfixed; only a few days ago, in a secluded cove, he’d had the devil’s own job getting Ryo to agree to go skinny dipping, and now here he was stripping off in the middle of a long stretch of beach? Okay, so it was miles from the nearest town and totally deserted, but still, it was hardly hidden from view if anyone happened by. Not that Dee was complaining; it just seemed a little… out of character for Ryo.
Dee glanced back over his shoulder towards the road, but the dunes were a little too tall to see past. Their rental car was out of view as well, a mile or so back down the beach where they’d parked on a patch of scrubland before starting their walk. He turned back towards his lover to see Ryo shoving damp jeans in the carrier bag with everything else, folding the top of it over to keep the rain out. Now he was only wearing his… trunks, Dee realised as Ryo straightened up. He must have put them on under his jeans this morning before they left the hotel.
“Are you just gonna stand there getting your clothes wet?” Ryo called out. “I thought since I’m wet anyway I might as well take a swim.”
Now it was Dee’s turn to laugh. Practical Ryo, always finding the best way to handle any situation. He jogged over to his lover, dumping his own backpack in the sand and starting to shed his clothes. His swimwear was in his backpack, but being completely unselfconscious he simply stripped his boxers off and replaced them with his trunks, balling up his damp clothes and shoving them in a bag so they wouldn’t get any wetter than they already were.
The rain was starting to come down harder, but Ryo was right; it was pleasantly warm against his skin, not the stinging, icy coldness they’d encountered earlier in their vacation. It felt good, cooling and refreshing him, and for a few moments Dee simply stood there as Ryo had earlier, letting himself get wet. Then his attention turned to his partner again; Ryo was already almost at the water’s edge.
“Are you coming or not?”
“No fair; you got a head start!” Abandoning the backpacks, which fortunately were waterproof since Ryo had foreseen the possibility of them getting rained on during their vacation, Dee followed his lover into the water, which felt several degrees colder than the rain.
“Goddamn, that’s chilly!” He stood there thigh deep, hugging himself, reluctant to go any further.
“Suck it up, Dee! It’s warmer once you get into deeper water!”
Ryo was bobbing about treading water maybe ten yards from the shore so not wanting to seem like a wimp Dee waded out further, starting to swim once the water was around chest deep. Ryo was right; the deeper water was noticeably warmer than where sea met shore.
“Swimmin’ in the rain!” He grinned as he reached Ryo. “Don’t remember ever doin’ this before.” The fact that it was still raining, harder than ever now, no longer seemed to matter.
“Me neither, but I like it!” With long, smooth strokes, Ryo set off along the coast, keeping parallel with the beach before turning and swimming back the other way. Dee was puzzled at first until he realised his lover just didn’t want to drift too far away from where they’d left their clothes. He supposed it was a sensible precaution; even though it was doubtful anyone would come along and steal their stuff it wouldn’t be fun to wind up having to walk back miles along the beach in order to dry off and get dressed again.
Half an hour later the rain had eased off to a drizzle and the clouds were heading inland to rain on someone else. The two men waded ashore and chased each other up and down the sand while the breeze and the warm sunshine dried them off. Ryo insisted on spreading their damp clothes out to dry as well, holding them down with smooth pebbles and some of the things from their backpacks. Dressing in damp things once they’d dried themselves off would be unpleasant enough to kill their relaxed mood.
“So what next?” Dee asked, spreading his towel out beside Ryo’s and flopping down on it.
“Stay here a little longer then head back to the car and find somewhere for lunch?” Ryo suggested.
“Mm, works for me.” Lying back Dee closed his eyes and listened to the sea. This was his idea of heaven.
The End