FAKE Fic: Off The Charts - Part 3
Title: Off The Charts - Part 3
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1735
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Exploring a strange island in the middle of the night might not be the best idea Dee and Ryo have ever had.
Written For: spook_me 2023.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Set after Like Like Love.
Previous Part
At first they walked in silence, saving their breath for the effort of scrambling over tumbled rocks and decaying tree trunks, and battling their way through tangles of undergrowth, always making sure to keep the creek on their right. Occasionally they were forced to detour around thickets they couldn’t find a way through, losing sight of their only guide, but even then, they could still hear the water burbling its way down to the sea, and each time they followed the sound back to it.
Fungi flourished in the damp conditions, and from the branches of the trees hung thick swathes of Spanish moss, old man’s beard, or something similar. As they continued towards the island’s interior, the ground began to get marshy, and they had to be more careful about where they trod. What could be seen in the moonlight and the brighter illumination of their flashlights was beautiful, in an eerie sort of way, reminding Ryo a bit of the Louisiana Bayou, which he’d visited once long ago with his aunt on one of her photographic assignments. They’d had a local guide who’d taken them by boat into the swamps; it had felt like being in another world, a place people simply didn’t belong, and although he’d enjoyed the trip it had been a relief to return to civilisation.
Ryo was abruptly dragged back to the present by Dee’s voice, breaking the stillness. “So, whaddaya think we’re gonna find?”
Smiling, Ryo replied, “The other side of the island?”
Dee snorted. “Smartass! Be serious!”
“I was. If we keep going in a more or less straight line, stands to reason we’ll reach the other shore eventually. It’s only a mile or two wide.”
“Okay, yeah, but what about before we get there?”
“Rocks, trees, bushes, moss, water, the same things we’re already seeing. I know you’d like to discover something exciting, or at least more interesting, but don’t get your hopes up. It’s an island; what you see is what you get.”
“You can be such a frickin’ pessimist sometimes,” Dee grumbled.
“I prefer to think of myself as a realist. Watch your step, it’s getting a bit swampy underfoot. If this carries on, we might end up having to wade, unless you’re ready to turn back.”
“Nah, not just yet. We’ve come this far, might as well keep goin’ a bit longer; won’t be much of an adventure if we give up the moment the goin’ gets a bit tough. ‘Sides, sky overhead’s still clear.”
Although they were using their flashlights to see where they were putting their feet, it wasn’t completely dark beneath the trees. The moon, a few days past full, was shining down through gaps in the canopy, but its illumination only served to make the areas it didn’t reach darker, the shadows thick and black as treacle.
“Fine with me,” Ryo said. “I don’t mind getting my feet wet if you don’t. Better not take your sneakers off though; there could be anything under the water.”
Dee glared at Ryo’s back. “I’m not a complete idiot, y’know. I do have SOME sense!”
Ahead of him, Ryo snickered.
In his head, Dee quickly went back over what he’d just said. “Okay, that didn’t come out quite the way I meant it.”
“Sure it wasn’t a case of accidental honesty? ‘Cause I was about to agree with you.”
“Asshole.” Dee strode past his lover, taking the lead, treading carefully, testing the sponginess underfoot with every step, trying to find the firmest footing. Swampy ground could be deceptive, and it wouldn’t do either of them any good to blunder into quicksand.
A couple of hundred yards further on, the solid ground had all but vanished, but they kept going, the water ankle deep at first, but soon reaching halfway up their calves. The trunks of the trees were growing directly out of the water now, so they had to be careful not to trip on roots or snag themselves on submerged branches. When Dee suddenly stopped, Ryo was so focused on watching where he was putting his feet instead of paying attention to what was ahead, he almost walked into him.
“Hey! Why’d you stop?”
“Stepped on somethin’ hard.” Dee held out his flashlight. “Hold this for a minute, would ya? I wanna see if I can find whatever it is.”
“Okay, but please be careful.”
“Always am, babe. You should know that by now.”
“I do, but we’re not in New York, or any of the places we usually go hiking. We have no idea what dangers we might run into here.”
“Point taken; promise I’ll be extra careful.”
“Thanks.”
Ryo took the flashlight, shining both his own and Dee’s down towards his partner’s feet, although that didn’t help much; with all the silt they’d stirred up, the light simply reflected off the murky surface. Hitching the coil of rope up higher so it wouldn’t slide off, Dee bent over and fumbled around onehanded beneath the water for a moment before…
“Got somethin’.”
“Probably just a root or a rock.”
“Don’t think so.” Shifting his foot off what he’d been standing on, Dee straightened up, bringing what he’d found into the light. “I’ll be damned!” The object he was holding gleamed faintly in the beams of the two flashlights; it was some kind of sword with a curved blade, perhaps a cutlass, a little tarnished but somehow free from rust. “Looks old, like somethin’ a pirate might carry. Hey, maybe this means there’s a chance of findin’ buried treasure after all!”
“You wish. Maybe it’s part of a Halloween costume, or a prop from a pirate movie. This island would be a good location to film something like that.”
“I dunno, it’s got some weight to it, feels pretty real to me.” Dee swung the blade at an overhanging branch and looked stunned when it effortlessly sliced through the wood. “Sheesh, wasn’t expectin’ it to be that sharp!”
Ryo took a couple of hurried steps backwards. “Just watch where you’re waving that thing, I don’t want you accidentally lopping my head off.”
“Relax, babe, not gonna try that again.” Carefully lowering the blade to his side, Dee reached for his flashlight. “Gonna hold onto it though. We can use it to defend ourselves.”
“From what, the mosquitoes?”
Dee paused, looking thoughtful. “Hadn’t noticed until now, but I haven’t heard anythin’ like that, have you?”
“Now you mention it, no.” Ryo frowned. “Somewhere like this should be swarming with them, but there’s nothing. No insects, no frogs, no birds, no living creatures of any kind.”
“Hah, we’ve most likely scared everything into hidin’. Anything livin’ here probably isn’t used to people blunderin’ around in the dark.” Dee shrugged. “Welp, even if there aren’t any monsters to battle, at least now we can cut our way through the undergrowth if we need to. C’mon, no point standin’ around; let’s get movin’.”
“I’m not the one who stopped,” Ryo pointed out.
“Yeah, but if I hadn’t, I never would’a found this cool blade, would I?” Dee struck a pose.
“Boys and their toys,” Ryo teased.
“You’re laughin’ now, but you won’t be when I heroically save your ass.”
Ryo did laugh then. “Dream on! I’m not some damsel in distress, Dee. I can take care of myself.”
“Never said ya couldn’t, but it never hurts to have back-up, or a willin’ bodyguard, and believe me when I say I’m always willin’ to guard your gorgeous bod.” Dee offered up his best leer.
“Hornball.”
“Oh yeah!” Dee winked at his lover. “But only when it comes to you. I’m strictly a one-man hornball these days.”
“Shut up and get moving. You’re the one who wanted to explore this island, so get with the exploring.”
“Hey, you agreed to this jaunt!”
“You would’ve come whether I agreed or not, so I figured I’d better tag along to keep you out of trouble.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do. I’m just not sure it’s a good idea to trust a mysterious island that shouldn’t even be here.”
Dee considered that, then nodded. “Okay, fair enough. You watch my back and I’ll watch yours, like always. Deal?”
“It’s why I’m here.”
“And I appreciate it. Now, which way were we goin’?”
Ryo pointed, grinning. “That way.”
“Right. Knew I could count on you.” Dee started forward again, cutlass at the ready. Shaking his head, Ryo followed in his wake.
They ploughed onwards in silence once more; walking and talking at the same time took too much effort. The air was thick and muggy, redolent of decaying vegetation, and the water made for heavy going; it was getting steadily deeper the further they went. Both men were sweating by now.
It was strange to remember how cold they’d been not much more than a couple of hours ago. The whole voyage through the fogbank now seemed like nothing more than a bad dream, hazy and unreal. Maybe this trek through the swamp was part of the same dream, Ryo mused; it was so quiet, and their surroundings so still, without even a breath of a breeze. But whether it was a dream or not, the only thing he could do was keep following Dee, because he doubted his lover would willingly abandon this adventure. He probably saw himself as an intrepid explorer, about to make the discovery of a lifetime.
Sometimes Ryo envied Dee’s willingness to believe in things that no one had yet been able to prove the existence of, never mind explain. But he’d always been too practical to indulge in flights of fancy, and maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Someone needed to keep Dee grounded in reality, and perhaps that was why they’d always worked so well together. They could look at both sides of any situation and between them, usually figure out the best way to deal with whatever they were facing.
Ryo kept a closer eye on Dee’s back now, because that was the main reason he was here, on a mystery island in the middle of the night, trudging through knee-deep water. In the highly unlikely event that they ran into trouble of some description, he’d need to be ready to bail his lover out. He’d had plenty of practice at that; Dee could be so impulsive it wasn’t funny, but he made up for it in other ways.
Part 4
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1735
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Exploring a strange island in the middle of the night might not be the best idea Dee and Ryo have ever had.
Written For: spook_me 2023.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Set after Like Like Love.
Previous Part
At first they walked in silence, saving their breath for the effort of scrambling over tumbled rocks and decaying tree trunks, and battling their way through tangles of undergrowth, always making sure to keep the creek on their right. Occasionally they were forced to detour around thickets they couldn’t find a way through, losing sight of their only guide, but even then, they could still hear the water burbling its way down to the sea, and each time they followed the sound back to it.
Fungi flourished in the damp conditions, and from the branches of the trees hung thick swathes of Spanish moss, old man’s beard, or something similar. As they continued towards the island’s interior, the ground began to get marshy, and they had to be more careful about where they trod. What could be seen in the moonlight and the brighter illumination of their flashlights was beautiful, in an eerie sort of way, reminding Ryo a bit of the Louisiana Bayou, which he’d visited once long ago with his aunt on one of her photographic assignments. They’d had a local guide who’d taken them by boat into the swamps; it had felt like being in another world, a place people simply didn’t belong, and although he’d enjoyed the trip it had been a relief to return to civilisation.
Ryo was abruptly dragged back to the present by Dee’s voice, breaking the stillness. “So, whaddaya think we’re gonna find?”
Smiling, Ryo replied, “The other side of the island?”
Dee snorted. “Smartass! Be serious!”
“I was. If we keep going in a more or less straight line, stands to reason we’ll reach the other shore eventually. It’s only a mile or two wide.”
“Okay, yeah, but what about before we get there?”
“Rocks, trees, bushes, moss, water, the same things we’re already seeing. I know you’d like to discover something exciting, or at least more interesting, but don’t get your hopes up. It’s an island; what you see is what you get.”
“You can be such a frickin’ pessimist sometimes,” Dee grumbled.
“I prefer to think of myself as a realist. Watch your step, it’s getting a bit swampy underfoot. If this carries on, we might end up having to wade, unless you’re ready to turn back.”
“Nah, not just yet. We’ve come this far, might as well keep goin’ a bit longer; won’t be much of an adventure if we give up the moment the goin’ gets a bit tough. ‘Sides, sky overhead’s still clear.”
Although they were using their flashlights to see where they were putting their feet, it wasn’t completely dark beneath the trees. The moon, a few days past full, was shining down through gaps in the canopy, but its illumination only served to make the areas it didn’t reach darker, the shadows thick and black as treacle.
“Fine with me,” Ryo said. “I don’t mind getting my feet wet if you don’t. Better not take your sneakers off though; there could be anything under the water.”
Dee glared at Ryo’s back. “I’m not a complete idiot, y’know. I do have SOME sense!”
Ahead of him, Ryo snickered.
In his head, Dee quickly went back over what he’d just said. “Okay, that didn’t come out quite the way I meant it.”
“Sure it wasn’t a case of accidental honesty? ‘Cause I was about to agree with you.”
“Asshole.” Dee strode past his lover, taking the lead, treading carefully, testing the sponginess underfoot with every step, trying to find the firmest footing. Swampy ground could be deceptive, and it wouldn’t do either of them any good to blunder into quicksand.
A couple of hundred yards further on, the solid ground had all but vanished, but they kept going, the water ankle deep at first, but soon reaching halfway up their calves. The trunks of the trees were growing directly out of the water now, so they had to be careful not to trip on roots or snag themselves on submerged branches. When Dee suddenly stopped, Ryo was so focused on watching where he was putting his feet instead of paying attention to what was ahead, he almost walked into him.
“Hey! Why’d you stop?”
“Stepped on somethin’ hard.” Dee held out his flashlight. “Hold this for a minute, would ya? I wanna see if I can find whatever it is.”
“Okay, but please be careful.”
“Always am, babe. You should know that by now.”
“I do, but we’re not in New York, or any of the places we usually go hiking. We have no idea what dangers we might run into here.”
“Point taken; promise I’ll be extra careful.”
“Thanks.”
Ryo took the flashlight, shining both his own and Dee’s down towards his partner’s feet, although that didn’t help much; with all the silt they’d stirred up, the light simply reflected off the murky surface. Hitching the coil of rope up higher so it wouldn’t slide off, Dee bent over and fumbled around onehanded beneath the water for a moment before…
“Got somethin’.”
“Probably just a root or a rock.”
“Don’t think so.” Shifting his foot off what he’d been standing on, Dee straightened up, bringing what he’d found into the light. “I’ll be damned!” The object he was holding gleamed faintly in the beams of the two flashlights; it was some kind of sword with a curved blade, perhaps a cutlass, a little tarnished but somehow free from rust. “Looks old, like somethin’ a pirate might carry. Hey, maybe this means there’s a chance of findin’ buried treasure after all!”
“You wish. Maybe it’s part of a Halloween costume, or a prop from a pirate movie. This island would be a good location to film something like that.”
“I dunno, it’s got some weight to it, feels pretty real to me.” Dee swung the blade at an overhanging branch and looked stunned when it effortlessly sliced through the wood. “Sheesh, wasn’t expectin’ it to be that sharp!”
Ryo took a couple of hurried steps backwards. “Just watch where you’re waving that thing, I don’t want you accidentally lopping my head off.”
“Relax, babe, not gonna try that again.” Carefully lowering the blade to his side, Dee reached for his flashlight. “Gonna hold onto it though. We can use it to defend ourselves.”
“From what, the mosquitoes?”
Dee paused, looking thoughtful. “Hadn’t noticed until now, but I haven’t heard anythin’ like that, have you?”
“Now you mention it, no.” Ryo frowned. “Somewhere like this should be swarming with them, but there’s nothing. No insects, no frogs, no birds, no living creatures of any kind.”
“Hah, we’ve most likely scared everything into hidin’. Anything livin’ here probably isn’t used to people blunderin’ around in the dark.” Dee shrugged. “Welp, even if there aren’t any monsters to battle, at least now we can cut our way through the undergrowth if we need to. C’mon, no point standin’ around; let’s get movin’.”
“I’m not the one who stopped,” Ryo pointed out.
“Yeah, but if I hadn’t, I never would’a found this cool blade, would I?” Dee struck a pose.
“Boys and their toys,” Ryo teased.
“You’re laughin’ now, but you won’t be when I heroically save your ass.”
Ryo did laugh then. “Dream on! I’m not some damsel in distress, Dee. I can take care of myself.”
“Never said ya couldn’t, but it never hurts to have back-up, or a willin’ bodyguard, and believe me when I say I’m always willin’ to guard your gorgeous bod.” Dee offered up his best leer.
“Hornball.”
“Oh yeah!” Dee winked at his lover. “But only when it comes to you. I’m strictly a one-man hornball these days.”
“Shut up and get moving. You’re the one who wanted to explore this island, so get with the exploring.”
“Hey, you agreed to this jaunt!”
“You would’ve come whether I agreed or not, so I figured I’d better tag along to keep you out of trouble.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do. I’m just not sure it’s a good idea to trust a mysterious island that shouldn’t even be here.”
Dee considered that, then nodded. “Okay, fair enough. You watch my back and I’ll watch yours, like always. Deal?”
“It’s why I’m here.”
“And I appreciate it. Now, which way were we goin’?”
Ryo pointed, grinning. “That way.”
“Right. Knew I could count on you.” Dee started forward again, cutlass at the ready. Shaking his head, Ryo followed in his wake.
They ploughed onwards in silence once more; walking and talking at the same time took too much effort. The air was thick and muggy, redolent of decaying vegetation, and the water made for heavy going; it was getting steadily deeper the further they went. Both men were sweating by now.
It was strange to remember how cold they’d been not much more than a couple of hours ago. The whole voyage through the fogbank now seemed like nothing more than a bad dream, hazy and unreal. Maybe this trek through the swamp was part of the same dream, Ryo mused; it was so quiet, and their surroundings so still, without even a breath of a breeze. But whether it was a dream or not, the only thing he could do was keep following Dee, because he doubted his lover would willingly abandon this adventure. He probably saw himself as an intrepid explorer, about to make the discovery of a lifetime.
Sometimes Ryo envied Dee’s willingness to believe in things that no one had yet been able to prove the existence of, never mind explain. But he’d always been too practical to indulge in flights of fancy, and maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Someone needed to keep Dee grounded in reality, and perhaps that was why they’d always worked so well together. They could look at both sides of any situation and between them, usually figure out the best way to deal with whatever they were facing.
Ryo kept a closer eye on Dee’s back now, because that was the main reason he was here, on a mystery island in the middle of the night, trudging through knee-deep water. In the highly unlikely event that they ran into trouble of some description, he’d need to be ready to bail his lover out. He’d had plenty of practice at that; Dee could be so impulsive it wasn’t funny, but he made up for it in other ways.
Part 4