FAKE Fic: Like Night And Day
Title: Like Night And Day
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: JJ, Drake.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: JJ and Drake are opposites in every way; about the only thing they have in common is that they’re both cops. Maybe that’s why they fit together so well.
Word Count: 1555
Written For: Challenge 182: Together at fan_flashworks and my genprompt_bingo square Rich And Poor.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Opposites attract, or so it’s said, and it would be hard to find two New York cops who had less in common than Drake Parker and Jemmy J Adams; they might as well have come from two different planets. They were moon and sun, chalk and cheese, light and dark, night and day, and yet they were also steadfast, dependable work partners, and firm friends. Perhaps that’s how all the best relationships begin: out of friendship.
Through years of working together, giving each other unflinching support in both work matters and their personal lives, Drake and JJ had gotten to know each other pretty well, and it was safe to say that the only common ground between them was their chosen careers. Even there they’d taken different routes to becoming cops.
JJ had felt the calling from early childhood and had grown up knowing exactly what he was going to be, whereas Drake had more or less fallen into police-work by default. When he’d looked at his options during career week, the year before he’d graduated high school, being a cop had looked like about the only thing he might not completely suck at, so he’d taken the necessary classes, achieved passing grades, and applied to the police academy. It had turned out to be a pretty good choice.
Drake had been assigned several partners over his career, mostly older, veteran cops who’d retired after a couple of years or been transferred to other precincts. It wasn’t until JJ arrived at the 27th Precinct that Drake had met the man destined to become his permanent partner, among other things. They’d got along well right from the start despite their different backgrounds and personalities.
JJ was the youngest child and only son of a wealthy couple who already had four daughters, while Drake was the only child of a cab driver and a hairdresser. His parents had scraped a living from their respective jobs, always getting by through hard work, but never having much money to spare for luxuries. While JJ had grown up a connoisseur of fine food and drink, Drake’s family had been more familiar with meatloaf and beer.
Style conscious JJ assiduously followed fashion trends, buying a whole new wardrobe for every season in order to be right up to date, while Drake just bought whatever was practical, comfortable, and affordable and wore it until such time as it became too shabby and threadbare to be wearable any longer, replacing each worn out garment with something similar. Where JJ gravitated towards bright colors and eye-catching designs, Drake preferred plain, neutral colors, and yet he still usually managed to clash. He had no color sense whatsoever.
Drake was a born pessimist, always looking for the downside of everything, and expecting the worst to happen. He was seldom disappointed. In complete contrast, JJ was a cheerful, happy-go-lucky guy who saw the best in people, and treated each day as an exciting adventure where all kinds of wonderful things could happen.
More than one person had wondered how a detective who investigated horrific murders, kidnappings, assaults, and other violent crimes could be so peppy all the time. It was as if he shone so brightly that the darkness he often saw because of his job couldn’t taint him. Drake envied JJ the ability to rise above the frequently harrowing things they saw; for his part, there were days he felt as if he was wallowing in the aftermath of all the worst aspects of human nature, about to drown, and yet JJ was always there to drag him back to safety and sanity. He quickly came to depend on his partner to save him from his own gloomy moods, and before long he began to wonder how he’d ever coped without him.
They proved to be a great team, Drake’s cautious nature balancing out JJ’s boundless energy and enthusiasm; they worked well together, dogged persistence and flashes of inspiration combining to great effect as they investigated each case they were assigned to. JJ was the intuitive one while Drake’s strength was in painstakingly piecing together the clues, but one trait they shared was their single-minded determination to solve cases and put the bad guys in jail, and side-by-side, they worked hard at it.
As with everything else about them, their home lives were poles apart. Strictly speaking, JJ didn’t really need to work; thanks to his parents, he was independently wealthy and owned a very nice penthouse apartment in one of the better Manhattan neighbourhoods. Drake’s home was rather less palatial, a crummy one-bedroom apartment on the lower East side, which he did his best to keep cockroach-free. Despite its location, rent on the apartment, along with utilities and all the other necessary bills, ate up most of his income and he frequently found himself short of cash by the end of the month. He wasn’t proud about often needing to scrounge off his friends at the Precinct, but he counted himself lucky to have people around him who would spring for lunch, or a couple of beers after work, when he was down to his last couple of bucks.
Of all their differences though, one thing stood out above all; JJ was quite flamboyantly gay, while Drake, as far as anyone could tell, was completely straight, dating, and getting dumped by, any woman he could convince to go out with him in the first place. It didn’t affect their partnership, or their friendship, in the slightest, but neither did it suggest the slightest possibility of them falling in love with each other. The thought never crossed their minds either, and yet it happened anyway. Life could be funny like that; sometimes the thing you least expected was the thing you should have known would happen all along.
Tired of always getting dumped, one day Drake just decided to cut his losses and give up on women completely. At around the same time, JJ came to realise that the feelings he had for Dee Laytner, his long-time crush, were destined never to be returned, and he finally let his dreams of a blissful future with the raven-haired detective fade and die. It was a painful time for both men. Turning to each other for consolation and companionship, they instead discovered that everything they’d been looking for in other people had been right there in front of them the whole time; they’d simply been too busy chasing phantoms to see it.
Everything changed for them after that, and at the same time, many things stayed exactly the same. They were still best friends, they still worked together every day, they still hung out together after work and on days off, although those times were now called dates. JJ helped Drake improve his dress sense, and under Drake’s steadying influence, JJ became more settled, still bouncy and obviously happy, but less prone to startle the life out of people with his over-enthusiastic greetings.
As time passed and their relationship deepened, Drake spent more and more nights at JJ’s place until it reached the point where they were spending more time together than they spent apart. Finally, one night, as they lay together in JJ’s bed, sweaty and spent, JJ spoke up.
“I just realised something; this is really stupid.”
“What’s stupid?” Drake pushed himself up on one elbow, frowning, confused and a bit worried. Was JJ about to dump him?
“Us. You and me. Or mostly you. I mean, when’s the last time you spent the night at your apartment?”
“Um, not sure.” Drake sat up and started looking around for his clothes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to impose.”
Now it was JJ’s turn to be confused. “What? You’re not! Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Well, you just said…”
JJ’s eyes widened as he realised how easily his earlier comment could have been misconstrued. “No! I just meant… Look, you’re still paying rent on that horrible dump when you’re never there, and it’s stupid. Why not move in with me?”
“You mean live together?” Drake’s eyes widened.
“Drakey, we’re practically living together already; it’s about time we made it official, don’t you think?”
Drake was a little taken aback by the suddenness of the proposition. “Are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t.” JJ was sitting up now too, and he took Drake’s hands. “I love you, and I’m pretty sure you love me too…”
“I do, more than I ever believed possible!”
“So how about it? Will you move in with me?”
The wide, delighted smile that spread across Drake’s face left no doubt in JJ’s mind about what Drake’s answer would be, but he still liked hearing it. “Yes, of course I will, there’s nothing that would make me happier!”
“Nothing?” JJ peeped coyly at Drake through his lashes, wriggling seductively, an impish grin on his face, and Drake laughed out loud.
“You’re insatiable!”
“You love it. Besides, you said yes so now we have to celebrate, don’t we?”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Drake tugged JJ into his arms, kissing him deeply. “Moving in together is definitely cause for celebration, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.”
“Together,” JJ murmured happily against Drake’s lips. “You know what, Drakey? I think that might just be my favorite word ever.”
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: JJ, Drake.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: JJ and Drake are opposites in every way; about the only thing they have in common is that they’re both cops. Maybe that’s why they fit together so well.
Word Count: 1555
Written For: Challenge 182: Together at fan_flashworks and my genprompt_bingo square Rich And Poor.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Opposites attract, or so it’s said, and it would be hard to find two New York cops who had less in common than Drake Parker and Jemmy J Adams; they might as well have come from two different planets. They were moon and sun, chalk and cheese, light and dark, night and day, and yet they were also steadfast, dependable work partners, and firm friends. Perhaps that’s how all the best relationships begin: out of friendship.
Through years of working together, giving each other unflinching support in both work matters and their personal lives, Drake and JJ had gotten to know each other pretty well, and it was safe to say that the only common ground between them was their chosen careers. Even there they’d taken different routes to becoming cops.
JJ had felt the calling from early childhood and had grown up knowing exactly what he was going to be, whereas Drake had more or less fallen into police-work by default. When he’d looked at his options during career week, the year before he’d graduated high school, being a cop had looked like about the only thing he might not completely suck at, so he’d taken the necessary classes, achieved passing grades, and applied to the police academy. It had turned out to be a pretty good choice.
Drake had been assigned several partners over his career, mostly older, veteran cops who’d retired after a couple of years or been transferred to other precincts. It wasn’t until JJ arrived at the 27th Precinct that Drake had met the man destined to become his permanent partner, among other things. They’d got along well right from the start despite their different backgrounds and personalities.
JJ was the youngest child and only son of a wealthy couple who already had four daughters, while Drake was the only child of a cab driver and a hairdresser. His parents had scraped a living from their respective jobs, always getting by through hard work, but never having much money to spare for luxuries. While JJ had grown up a connoisseur of fine food and drink, Drake’s family had been more familiar with meatloaf and beer.
Style conscious JJ assiduously followed fashion trends, buying a whole new wardrobe for every season in order to be right up to date, while Drake just bought whatever was practical, comfortable, and affordable and wore it until such time as it became too shabby and threadbare to be wearable any longer, replacing each worn out garment with something similar. Where JJ gravitated towards bright colors and eye-catching designs, Drake preferred plain, neutral colors, and yet he still usually managed to clash. He had no color sense whatsoever.
Drake was a born pessimist, always looking for the downside of everything, and expecting the worst to happen. He was seldom disappointed. In complete contrast, JJ was a cheerful, happy-go-lucky guy who saw the best in people, and treated each day as an exciting adventure where all kinds of wonderful things could happen.
More than one person had wondered how a detective who investigated horrific murders, kidnappings, assaults, and other violent crimes could be so peppy all the time. It was as if he shone so brightly that the darkness he often saw because of his job couldn’t taint him. Drake envied JJ the ability to rise above the frequently harrowing things they saw; for his part, there were days he felt as if he was wallowing in the aftermath of all the worst aspects of human nature, about to drown, and yet JJ was always there to drag him back to safety and sanity. He quickly came to depend on his partner to save him from his own gloomy moods, and before long he began to wonder how he’d ever coped without him.
They proved to be a great team, Drake’s cautious nature balancing out JJ’s boundless energy and enthusiasm; they worked well together, dogged persistence and flashes of inspiration combining to great effect as they investigated each case they were assigned to. JJ was the intuitive one while Drake’s strength was in painstakingly piecing together the clues, but one trait they shared was their single-minded determination to solve cases and put the bad guys in jail, and side-by-side, they worked hard at it.
As with everything else about them, their home lives were poles apart. Strictly speaking, JJ didn’t really need to work; thanks to his parents, he was independently wealthy and owned a very nice penthouse apartment in one of the better Manhattan neighbourhoods. Drake’s home was rather less palatial, a crummy one-bedroom apartment on the lower East side, which he did his best to keep cockroach-free. Despite its location, rent on the apartment, along with utilities and all the other necessary bills, ate up most of his income and he frequently found himself short of cash by the end of the month. He wasn’t proud about often needing to scrounge off his friends at the Precinct, but he counted himself lucky to have people around him who would spring for lunch, or a couple of beers after work, when he was down to his last couple of bucks.
Of all their differences though, one thing stood out above all; JJ was quite flamboyantly gay, while Drake, as far as anyone could tell, was completely straight, dating, and getting dumped by, any woman he could convince to go out with him in the first place. It didn’t affect their partnership, or their friendship, in the slightest, but neither did it suggest the slightest possibility of them falling in love with each other. The thought never crossed their minds either, and yet it happened anyway. Life could be funny like that; sometimes the thing you least expected was the thing you should have known would happen all along.
Tired of always getting dumped, one day Drake just decided to cut his losses and give up on women completely. At around the same time, JJ came to realise that the feelings he had for Dee Laytner, his long-time crush, were destined never to be returned, and he finally let his dreams of a blissful future with the raven-haired detective fade and die. It was a painful time for both men. Turning to each other for consolation and companionship, they instead discovered that everything they’d been looking for in other people had been right there in front of them the whole time; they’d simply been too busy chasing phantoms to see it.
Everything changed for them after that, and at the same time, many things stayed exactly the same. They were still best friends, they still worked together every day, they still hung out together after work and on days off, although those times were now called dates. JJ helped Drake improve his dress sense, and under Drake’s steadying influence, JJ became more settled, still bouncy and obviously happy, but less prone to startle the life out of people with his over-enthusiastic greetings.
As time passed and their relationship deepened, Drake spent more and more nights at JJ’s place until it reached the point where they were spending more time together than they spent apart. Finally, one night, as they lay together in JJ’s bed, sweaty and spent, JJ spoke up.
“I just realised something; this is really stupid.”
“What’s stupid?” Drake pushed himself up on one elbow, frowning, confused and a bit worried. Was JJ about to dump him?
“Us. You and me. Or mostly you. I mean, when’s the last time you spent the night at your apartment?”
“Um, not sure.” Drake sat up and started looking around for his clothes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to impose.”
Now it was JJ’s turn to be confused. “What? You’re not! Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Well, you just said…”
JJ’s eyes widened as he realised how easily his earlier comment could have been misconstrued. “No! I just meant… Look, you’re still paying rent on that horrible dump when you’re never there, and it’s stupid. Why not move in with me?”
“You mean live together?” Drake’s eyes widened.
“Drakey, we’re practically living together already; it’s about time we made it official, don’t you think?”
Drake was a little taken aback by the suddenness of the proposition. “Are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t.” JJ was sitting up now too, and he took Drake’s hands. “I love you, and I’m pretty sure you love me too…”
“I do, more than I ever believed possible!”
“So how about it? Will you move in with me?”
The wide, delighted smile that spread across Drake’s face left no doubt in JJ’s mind about what Drake’s answer would be, but he still liked hearing it. “Yes, of course I will, there’s nothing that would make me happier!”
“Nothing?” JJ peeped coyly at Drake through his lashes, wriggling seductively, an impish grin on his face, and Drake laughed out loud.
“You’re insatiable!”
“You love it. Besides, you said yes so now we have to celebrate, don’t we?”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Drake tugged JJ into his arms, kissing him deeply. “Moving in together is definitely cause for celebration, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.”
“Together,” JJ murmured happily against Drake’s lips. “You know what, Drakey? I think that might just be my favorite word ever.”
The End