FAKE Ficlet: Dangerous
Title: Dangerous
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Bikky.
Rating: PG
Setting: Early in the manga.
Summary: Ryo catches Bikky playing with something that could easily prove deadly.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt 136: Fake at anythingdrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
There were many things a responsible parent would rather not have to witness on arriving home from work, but entering his apartment Ryo immediately decided that seeing your ten-year-old son running around the living room wielding what appeared to be a hunting knife with a wickedly sharp eight-inch blade was top of the list. The only thing worse would have been if the boy had gotten his hands on a gun of some kind, but even so if Bikky were to trip on something and fall on the blade…
“Bikky, put that knife down this instant!” he snapped out. “You could seriously injure yourself, or someone else; where’d you even get it?”
The boy skidded to a halt a few feet from his foster father. “It’s okay, Ryo, it’s not real, it’s a fake, see? It’s made of rubber.” Bikky demonstrated, bending the blade back and forth. “I wouldn’t play with a real knife. There was a guy near the school selling these. You know, ‘scare your friends’ kind of thing. I thought it would be cool for Halloween; it only cost three-fifty.”
Ryo looked into innocent blue eyes; his legs felt as rubbery as the knife. How many more of these scarily realistic weapons were out there? “It doesn’t look like a fake.” He took the knife, turning it over in his hands.
“I know! That’s what makes it so cool!”
“No, Biks, that’s what makes it so dangerous.”
“Why? It can’t hurt anyone.”
“That’s not the point.” Ryo led the boy over to the sofa and sat down, pulling Bikky down beside him. “I’m a cop, Bikky; I see people every day armed with guns and knives, mostly criminals but sometimes just kids who think carrying a weapon makes them look tough. But what happens if some cop sees a kid armed with something like this, a fake rubber knife or a toy gun that looks like the real thing? What d’you think would happen if the cop told the kid to drop his weapon and for whatever reason the kid didn’t do as he was told?”
“I… don’t know.”
Ryo rubbed one hand wearily over his face. “That’s how kids, some of them younger than you, get themselves killed. It wouldn’t even have to be a cop; maybe the kid walks into a convenience store that’s been held up once too often. The guy behind the counter sees a knife, or a gun, and defends himself, not realising it’s just a toy. I’ve seen it happen way too many times, lives cut short because someone mistook a toy for a real weapon. I don’t want that happening to you.”
“Me neither.” Bikky frowned at the knife. “I don’t want it anymore. Will you get rid of it?”
Ryo wrapped one arm around his boy in a hug. “’Course I will.”
He’d have the seller arrested too, and the fake knives confiscated, hopefully before anyone got killed over them. He’d sleep better knowing they were off the street.
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Bikky.
Rating: PG
Setting: Early in the manga.
Summary: Ryo catches Bikky playing with something that could easily prove deadly.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt 136: Fake at anythingdrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
There were many things a responsible parent would rather not have to witness on arriving home from work, but entering his apartment Ryo immediately decided that seeing your ten-year-old son running around the living room wielding what appeared to be a hunting knife with a wickedly sharp eight-inch blade was top of the list. The only thing worse would have been if the boy had gotten his hands on a gun of some kind, but even so if Bikky were to trip on something and fall on the blade…
“Bikky, put that knife down this instant!” he snapped out. “You could seriously injure yourself, or someone else; where’d you even get it?”
The boy skidded to a halt a few feet from his foster father. “It’s okay, Ryo, it’s not real, it’s a fake, see? It’s made of rubber.” Bikky demonstrated, bending the blade back and forth. “I wouldn’t play with a real knife. There was a guy near the school selling these. You know, ‘scare your friends’ kind of thing. I thought it would be cool for Halloween; it only cost three-fifty.”
Ryo looked into innocent blue eyes; his legs felt as rubbery as the knife. How many more of these scarily realistic weapons were out there? “It doesn’t look like a fake.” He took the knife, turning it over in his hands.
“I know! That’s what makes it so cool!”
“No, Biks, that’s what makes it so dangerous.”
“Why? It can’t hurt anyone.”
“That’s not the point.” Ryo led the boy over to the sofa and sat down, pulling Bikky down beside him. “I’m a cop, Bikky; I see people every day armed with guns and knives, mostly criminals but sometimes just kids who think carrying a weapon makes them look tough. But what happens if some cop sees a kid armed with something like this, a fake rubber knife or a toy gun that looks like the real thing? What d’you think would happen if the cop told the kid to drop his weapon and for whatever reason the kid didn’t do as he was told?”
“I… don’t know.”
Ryo rubbed one hand wearily over his face. “That’s how kids, some of them younger than you, get themselves killed. It wouldn’t even have to be a cop; maybe the kid walks into a convenience store that’s been held up once too often. The guy behind the counter sees a knife, or a gun, and defends himself, not realising it’s just a toy. I’ve seen it happen way too many times, lives cut short because someone mistook a toy for a real weapon. I don’t want that happening to you.”
“Me neither.” Bikky frowned at the knife. “I don’t want it anymore. Will you get rid of it?”
Ryo wrapped one arm around his boy in a hug. “’Course I will.”
He’d have the seller arrested too, and the fake knives confiscated, hopefully before anyone got killed over them. He’d sleep better knowing they were off the street.
The End