FAKE Ficlet: Worrying
Title: Worrying
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: G
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: Ryo can’t help worrying about Bikky and Carol.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt # 36: Absently at anythingdrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
When Dee walked into the office he shared with Ryo, he found his partner at his desk, as expected, with paperwork spread out in front of him, but not actually doing anything. Or to be more accurate, he was doing something, because it’s impossible to literally do nothing, even if all you’re doing is existing, Dee had tried, but Ryo wasn’t working; he was just sitting there, staring absently out of the window, although Dee doubted he was seeing much of anything.
“Ryo? You okay, bud?”
To Dee’s surprise, there was no response; Ryo could be a bit of an airhead, but he did usually answer when Dee spoke to him.
“Ryo? Hey, earth to Ryo… You in there?”
Still failing to get any reply, Dee tapped his partner on the shoulder, which got a rather more extreme response than Dee was expecting. Ryo gave a startled yelp, shot to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process, and came perilously close to knocking Dee flat on his ass as well.
“Whoa there!” Dee jumped back, out of range in case Ryo took a swing at him.
“Dee!” Ryo clutched at his chest, heart pounding from the fright. “Don’t sneak up on me like that! You nearly scared the life out of me!”
“I didn’t sneak! I was talkin’ to ya, but you weren’t answerin’, so… What’s with you today? You were just sittin’ there, starin’ into space.”
“Sorry; I was thinking.”
Dee studied his partner’s face. “Worryin’ more like, and don’t even try denyin’ it; I know that look, I’ve seen it often enough. So what is it this time? Or do I even need to ask?”
“How are they going to manage, Dee? California is so far away! It would be one thing if they were staying in New York, where we could help out, but… L.A.? They can’t live on campus so they’ll have to rent somewhere, and neither of them has much in the way of savings. But between Bikky’s classes, schoolwork, and basketball, he doesn’t have time to hold down a job as well, and Carol’s already five months along so by the time they get settled there won’t be much point her looking for work until after the baby’s born. Then when Carol does find a job they’ll have to pay a childminder, because with us at the opposite end of the country, they can’t even rely on family to baby-sit!”
“They’ll figure something out, they’re smart kids, Carol especially; graduated with honours, remember? Maybe she could work from home, tutoring students or something. That way they wouldn’t need a childminder.”
Ryo looked thoughtful. “That’s a great idea, you should run it by them tonight at dinner.”
“You don’t want to?”
“It’s your idea.”
“Yeah, but Bikky might pay more attention if it comes from you.”
“It’s Carol whose opinion matters; she’ll listen to you.”
“Fine. You gonna quit worryin’?”
“No promises, but I’ll try.”
Moving closer, Dee kissed his lover. “Good enough.”
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: G
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: Ryo can’t help worrying about Bikky and Carol.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt # 36: Absently at anythingdrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
When Dee walked into the office he shared with Ryo, he found his partner at his desk, as expected, with paperwork spread out in front of him, but not actually doing anything. Or to be more accurate, he was doing something, because it’s impossible to literally do nothing, even if all you’re doing is existing, Dee had tried, but Ryo wasn’t working; he was just sitting there, staring absently out of the window, although Dee doubted he was seeing much of anything.
“Ryo? You okay, bud?”
To Dee’s surprise, there was no response; Ryo could be a bit of an airhead, but he did usually answer when Dee spoke to him.
“Ryo? Hey, earth to Ryo… You in there?”
Still failing to get any reply, Dee tapped his partner on the shoulder, which got a rather more extreme response than Dee was expecting. Ryo gave a startled yelp, shot to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process, and came perilously close to knocking Dee flat on his ass as well.
“Whoa there!” Dee jumped back, out of range in case Ryo took a swing at him.
“Dee!” Ryo clutched at his chest, heart pounding from the fright. “Don’t sneak up on me like that! You nearly scared the life out of me!”
“I didn’t sneak! I was talkin’ to ya, but you weren’t answerin’, so… What’s with you today? You were just sittin’ there, starin’ into space.”
“Sorry; I was thinking.”
Dee studied his partner’s face. “Worryin’ more like, and don’t even try denyin’ it; I know that look, I’ve seen it often enough. So what is it this time? Or do I even need to ask?”
“How are they going to manage, Dee? California is so far away! It would be one thing if they were staying in New York, where we could help out, but… L.A.? They can’t live on campus so they’ll have to rent somewhere, and neither of them has much in the way of savings. But between Bikky’s classes, schoolwork, and basketball, he doesn’t have time to hold down a job as well, and Carol’s already five months along so by the time they get settled there won’t be much point her looking for work until after the baby’s born. Then when Carol does find a job they’ll have to pay a childminder, because with us at the opposite end of the country, they can’t even rely on family to baby-sit!”
“They’ll figure something out, they’re smart kids, Carol especially; graduated with honours, remember? Maybe she could work from home, tutoring students or something. That way they wouldn’t need a childminder.”
Ryo looked thoughtful. “That’s a great idea, you should run it by them tonight at dinner.”
“You don’t want to?”
“It’s your idea.”
“Yeah, but Bikky might pay more attention if it comes from you.”
“It’s Carol whose opinion matters; she’ll listen to you.”
“Fine. You gonna quit worryin’?”
“No promises, but I’ll try.”
Moving closer, Dee kissed his lover. “Good enough.”
The End