FAKE Ficlet: Enduring
Title: Enduring
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: On vacation in England, Dee discovers a previously unknown appreciation for history.
Word Count: 822
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 297: Amnesty at fan_flashworks, using Challenge 71: History.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Dee leaned on the cool stone of the balustrade, gazing out across the formal gardens of the stately home. He hadn’t particularly wanted to stop here, he’d never been big on history, architecture, stuff like that, but Ryo had wanted to see the place, tour the public parts of the massive old house, which to Dee’s eyes was practically a castle, and stroll around the grounds. Dee could hardly refuse, not when Ryo had willingly gone with him to watch some local dirt-bike racing the previous evening, so he’d prepared himself to endure the experience with patience and a smile, determined to let his lover have some fun even if he found it boring himself.
To his surprise far from being bored he’d found the tour unexpectedly fascinating; the rooms were so ornate and lavishly furnished it was hard to imagine people used to live like that. All he could think as he stared up at the tall ceilings was that it must have been hell for the servants to keep clean. He had enough trouble keeping a three-room apartment tidy!
Ryo came to lean beside him, snapping the lens cap back on his camera. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The gardens must take a lot of work though, keeping all the hedges and topiaries trimmed, and I wouldn’t want to be responsible for cleaning inside.”
“Me neither,” Dee laughed. “Imagine tying to reach the cobwebs on the ceiling! But yeah, it is kinda beautiful. This is a little too perfect for my tastes.” He gestured at the regimented precision of the flowerbeds. “But still well worth lookin’ at.” He turned to his lover. “Ryo, d’you ever feel sorta… I don’t know, short-changed?”
“How d’you mean?”
“I know history is one of your interests, and I know some of your ancestors on your dad’s side were from over here, but you grew up in the States and there’s nowhere near as much history back home as there is here. Not this sort of history anyway.”
“My dad’s family were from Scotland; that’s the other end of Britain,” Ryo pointed out, grinning.
“Yeah, but it’s only a few hundred miles away; this country’s so small. ‘Sides, you’re kinda missin’ the point here.”
“You’re right. Okay, seriously… Would I have liked to grow up somewhere that had more history? I don’t know, maybe, but it’s not like I can’t visit other places and see the sights like I am now. I like it over here, and I’d love to visit Scotland someday, but New York is home; I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Besides, if I’d grown up somewhere else I probably never would’ve met you, and no amount of old castles and other historical buildings could ever be worth that.”
Dee draped his arm around Ryo and gazed out across the gardens once more. “I’m glad we came here.”
“To Britain, the Isle of Wight, or Osborne House?”
“All of the above. I mean… I wasn’t too thrilled you wanted to visit here, always thought history was kinda lame, but I’ve really enjoyed it. Think I’ve learned a lot.”
“Does that mean you won’t complain if I want to visit more castles and manor houses?”
“As long as we can still do some of the things I’m interested in too.” Dee pressed a kiss to Ryo’s temple.
“Well of course; it wouldn’t be fair otherwise. This is your vacation too. We should both get to do things we like.”
“I was hopin’ you’d say that. So how ‘bout…” Dee leaned closer to whisper in his lover’s ear, nipping lightly at the tender lobe, describing in intimate detail exactly what he’d like to do later.
Predictably, Ryo blushed furiously. “Dee! You’ll have to wait for anything like that until tonight when we’re back at the hotel.”
“Hmm, well I guess I can live with that. Anything else you wanna see here?”
“I think we already saw everything that’s open to the public. We should probably head out.”
“As long as you’re okay with that, I don’t wanna drag ya away if you wanna look around some more.”
“No, I’m good, I took plenty of photographs.”
“’Kay then; just one last thing before we leave. One more for the road.” Dee turned them both so they were leaning back against the balustrade with the gardens spread out behind them, pulling his phone out, wrapping one arm around Ryo again as he snapped a selfie of them both. This was a moment he always wanted to remember; him and his baby soaking up the atmosphere of a living piece of history. Despite all the other tourists milling around, there was a timelessness to this place, something enduring. It had already stood for hundreds of years and with luck would still be here, mostly unchanged, hundreds of years into the future; he hoped the foundations of his and Ryo’s relationship would weather the test of time as well.
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: On vacation in England, Dee discovers a previously unknown appreciation for history.
Word Count: 822
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 297: Amnesty at fan_flashworks, using Challenge 71: History.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Dee leaned on the cool stone of the balustrade, gazing out across the formal gardens of the stately home. He hadn’t particularly wanted to stop here, he’d never been big on history, architecture, stuff like that, but Ryo had wanted to see the place, tour the public parts of the massive old house, which to Dee’s eyes was practically a castle, and stroll around the grounds. Dee could hardly refuse, not when Ryo had willingly gone with him to watch some local dirt-bike racing the previous evening, so he’d prepared himself to endure the experience with patience and a smile, determined to let his lover have some fun even if he found it boring himself.
To his surprise far from being bored he’d found the tour unexpectedly fascinating; the rooms were so ornate and lavishly furnished it was hard to imagine people used to live like that. All he could think as he stared up at the tall ceilings was that it must have been hell for the servants to keep clean. He had enough trouble keeping a three-room apartment tidy!
Ryo came to lean beside him, snapping the lens cap back on his camera. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The gardens must take a lot of work though, keeping all the hedges and topiaries trimmed, and I wouldn’t want to be responsible for cleaning inside.”
“Me neither,” Dee laughed. “Imagine tying to reach the cobwebs on the ceiling! But yeah, it is kinda beautiful. This is a little too perfect for my tastes.” He gestured at the regimented precision of the flowerbeds. “But still well worth lookin’ at.” He turned to his lover. “Ryo, d’you ever feel sorta… I don’t know, short-changed?”
“How d’you mean?”
“I know history is one of your interests, and I know some of your ancestors on your dad’s side were from over here, but you grew up in the States and there’s nowhere near as much history back home as there is here. Not this sort of history anyway.”
“My dad’s family were from Scotland; that’s the other end of Britain,” Ryo pointed out, grinning.
“Yeah, but it’s only a few hundred miles away; this country’s so small. ‘Sides, you’re kinda missin’ the point here.”
“You’re right. Okay, seriously… Would I have liked to grow up somewhere that had more history? I don’t know, maybe, but it’s not like I can’t visit other places and see the sights like I am now. I like it over here, and I’d love to visit Scotland someday, but New York is home; I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Besides, if I’d grown up somewhere else I probably never would’ve met you, and no amount of old castles and other historical buildings could ever be worth that.”
Dee draped his arm around Ryo and gazed out across the gardens once more. “I’m glad we came here.”
“To Britain, the Isle of Wight, or Osborne House?”
“All of the above. I mean… I wasn’t too thrilled you wanted to visit here, always thought history was kinda lame, but I’ve really enjoyed it. Think I’ve learned a lot.”
“Does that mean you won’t complain if I want to visit more castles and manor houses?”
“As long as we can still do some of the things I’m interested in too.” Dee pressed a kiss to Ryo’s temple.
“Well of course; it wouldn’t be fair otherwise. This is your vacation too. We should both get to do things we like.”
“I was hopin’ you’d say that. So how ‘bout…” Dee leaned closer to whisper in his lover’s ear, nipping lightly at the tender lobe, describing in intimate detail exactly what he’d like to do later.
Predictably, Ryo blushed furiously. “Dee! You’ll have to wait for anything like that until tonight when we’re back at the hotel.”
“Hmm, well I guess I can live with that. Anything else you wanna see here?”
“I think we already saw everything that’s open to the public. We should probably head out.”
“As long as you’re okay with that, I don’t wanna drag ya away if you wanna look around some more.”
“No, I’m good, I took plenty of photographs.”
“’Kay then; just one last thing before we leave. One more for the road.” Dee turned them both so they were leaning back against the balustrade with the gardens spread out behind them, pulling his phone out, wrapping one arm around Ryo again as he snapped a selfie of them both. This was a moment he always wanted to remember; him and his baby soaking up the atmosphere of a living piece of history. Despite all the other tourists milling around, there was a timelessness to this place, something enduring. It had already stood for hundreds of years and with luck would still be here, mostly unchanged, hundreds of years into the future; he hoped the foundations of his and Ryo’s relationship would weather the test of time as well.
The End