FAKE Fic: Winter Trek
Title: Winter Trek
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo, Chief Smith.
Rating: PG
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: There’s been an abrupt change in the weather overnight, leaving Dee and Ryo with a snowy trek to work.
Word Count: 1034
Written For: Challenge 318: Drop at fan_flashworks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
The temperature must have dropped sharply sometime during the night, the light rain that had been falling when they’d gone to bed turning to sleet and then heavy snow so that the sight that greeted them when they crept reluctantly from their cosy bed to face another day at work was a white wilderness instead of another grey and dreary day.
Dee’s jaw dropped in response. “It snowed?”
“Apparently.” Standing beside his lover, pulling his robe more tightly around his body in the morning chill of their bedroom, Ryo stared down at the snowy street with its row of white mounds along the curb that had been parked cars the night before, wondering which one they needed to dig out. “I can’t tell which car is ours.”
Redirecting his gaze, Dee frowned in confusion. “Huh, neither can I. Maybe we’d be better off takin’ the subway; the main roads probably got plowed and gritted but not these side streets. I’m not spendin’ half an hour diggin’ a car out only to get stuck in a drift before we reach the end of the street.”
“Good point. We’d better wrap up warm if we’re walking to the subway.”
“I was planning on it; gumboots and extra socks too, and we should take a change of clothes with us in case we get the legs of our pants wet. No tellin’ how deep that snow is and by the looks of that sky there’s more to come.”
Ryo nodded. “Definitely. Never thought I’d have to pack for a day at work.” He shivered. “Hot shower first though.”
“No argument from me!”
An hour later, showered and shaved, fuelled by a hot breakfast and plenty of coffee, they bundled up in their warmest winter coats, along with hats, scarves, fur lined gloves, and their gumboots, then slung backpacks over their shoulders, ready to venture forth.
“Whatever you do, don’t drop that,” Ryo warned, indicating Dee’s backpack. “There’s a flask of hot coffee in it.”
“If you’re worried about me droppin’ it, how come you put it in my pack? Not that I’m complainin’ or anything.”
“There’s one in my pack too, just in case one gets broken, although I’d prefer to reach the precinct with both intact. It’ll save having to trek out into the snow to get a decent hot drink.”
“Good thinkin’. Okay, you ready to brave the arctic conditions?”
“As I’ll ever be. It’s not the most enticing thought”
“Yeah, I know what ya mean. I’d sooner spend the day tucked up in bed where it’s warm.”
“Don’t think about that; we have to go to work, catch bad guys.”
“If the bad guys have any sense they’re stayin’ home in bed,” Dee muttered, closing and locking the apartment door behind them.
Ryo heard anyway. “Amen to that, then maybe we could stay indoors for our whole shift.”
“I could live with that.”
Trudging through almost knee-deep snow, they headed for the nearest subway station, eight blocks from their apartment. By now the snow had started falling again and a bitter wind gusted around them, sending the fat, white flakes swirling around them.
“I feel like an Arctic explorer,” Ryo mumbled through his scarf. The only part of his face that was visible between hat and scarf was his eyes.
“You sorta look like one too. Look on the bright side; at least with the snow this deep it’s not too slippery.”
That was the only point in the weather’s favour, although it did mean they couldn’t tell where the sidewalks ended. Tripping on an invisible curb, Ryo would have face-planted in the snow if Dee hadn’t grabbed him and hauled him upright again.
“Careful ya don’t drop your backpack,” he teased. “You’ll break your flask.”
“Oh sure; I should‘ve known it’s the coffee you’re worried about, not me.”
“Can’t I be worried about both?”
“You tell me.”
The going got a bit easier once they reached the main road where whole stretches of the sidewalk had been shovelled and gritted, but it was still a relief to make their way down the steps into the subway, where it was a bit warmer among the crowds of people, some on their way to work and others heading home. The subway cars were packed, but for once nobody seemed to mind, squeezing in together like sardines, or Emperor Penguins huddling for warmth. Dee and Ryo clutched their backpacks to their chests protectively, rocking with the rhythm, almost drowsing until they reached their stop and were squeezed out onto to platform.
“Now I know how toothpaste feels,” Dee muttered, readjusting his scarf.
Ryo snorted. “Come on, better get moving; we’re going to be late as it is.”
“If the old badger even tries to complain I’m gonna tell him he should be grateful we bothered showin’ up at all! You can bet some people are gonna take one look at the weather and just stay home. Kinda wishin’ we had.”
“Too late to change our minds now.”
They faced another walk of several blocks from the subway to the precinct and by now the snow was coming down harder, but at least the icy wind had dropped. They forged onwards through the drifting flakes, relieved to finally see the familiar building that house the twenty-seventh precinct looming ahead of them. Stamping the worst of the snow off their boots outside before pushing their way through the doors, they plodded across the foyer, leaving a trail of melting snow in their wake, and up the stairs to the fourth floor.
They were halfway down the corridor to the locker room when the Chief came out of his office.
“What the hell are you two doing here? I sent you both a text a couple hours ago telling you to stay home!”
Dee and Ryo just stared at their boss; they’d never thought to check their phones.
You could have heard a pin drop.
Scowling at his boss, Dee slouched past him. “If that’s the thanks we get for bravin’ arctic conditions, next time we’ll do just that, but don’t even think about tryin’ to send us home. You’re stuck with us now until the end of shift.”
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo, Chief Smith.
Rating: PG
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: There’s been an abrupt change in the weather overnight, leaving Dee and Ryo with a snowy trek to work.
Word Count: 1034
Written For: Challenge 318: Drop at fan_flashworks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
The temperature must have dropped sharply sometime during the night, the light rain that had been falling when they’d gone to bed turning to sleet and then heavy snow so that the sight that greeted them when they crept reluctantly from their cosy bed to face another day at work was a white wilderness instead of another grey and dreary day.
Dee’s jaw dropped in response. “It snowed?”
“Apparently.” Standing beside his lover, pulling his robe more tightly around his body in the morning chill of their bedroom, Ryo stared down at the snowy street with its row of white mounds along the curb that had been parked cars the night before, wondering which one they needed to dig out. “I can’t tell which car is ours.”
Redirecting his gaze, Dee frowned in confusion. “Huh, neither can I. Maybe we’d be better off takin’ the subway; the main roads probably got plowed and gritted but not these side streets. I’m not spendin’ half an hour diggin’ a car out only to get stuck in a drift before we reach the end of the street.”
“Good point. We’d better wrap up warm if we’re walking to the subway.”
“I was planning on it; gumboots and extra socks too, and we should take a change of clothes with us in case we get the legs of our pants wet. No tellin’ how deep that snow is and by the looks of that sky there’s more to come.”
Ryo nodded. “Definitely. Never thought I’d have to pack for a day at work.” He shivered. “Hot shower first though.”
“No argument from me!”
An hour later, showered and shaved, fuelled by a hot breakfast and plenty of coffee, they bundled up in their warmest winter coats, along with hats, scarves, fur lined gloves, and their gumboots, then slung backpacks over their shoulders, ready to venture forth.
“Whatever you do, don’t drop that,” Ryo warned, indicating Dee’s backpack. “There’s a flask of hot coffee in it.”
“If you’re worried about me droppin’ it, how come you put it in my pack? Not that I’m complainin’ or anything.”
“There’s one in my pack too, just in case one gets broken, although I’d prefer to reach the precinct with both intact. It’ll save having to trek out into the snow to get a decent hot drink.”
“Good thinkin’. Okay, you ready to brave the arctic conditions?”
“As I’ll ever be. It’s not the most enticing thought”
“Yeah, I know what ya mean. I’d sooner spend the day tucked up in bed where it’s warm.”
“Don’t think about that; we have to go to work, catch bad guys.”
“If the bad guys have any sense they’re stayin’ home in bed,” Dee muttered, closing and locking the apartment door behind them.
Ryo heard anyway. “Amen to that, then maybe we could stay indoors for our whole shift.”
“I could live with that.”
Trudging through almost knee-deep snow, they headed for the nearest subway station, eight blocks from their apartment. By now the snow had started falling again and a bitter wind gusted around them, sending the fat, white flakes swirling around them.
“I feel like an Arctic explorer,” Ryo mumbled through his scarf. The only part of his face that was visible between hat and scarf was his eyes.
“You sorta look like one too. Look on the bright side; at least with the snow this deep it’s not too slippery.”
That was the only point in the weather’s favour, although it did mean they couldn’t tell where the sidewalks ended. Tripping on an invisible curb, Ryo would have face-planted in the snow if Dee hadn’t grabbed him and hauled him upright again.
“Careful ya don’t drop your backpack,” he teased. “You’ll break your flask.”
“Oh sure; I should‘ve known it’s the coffee you’re worried about, not me.”
“Can’t I be worried about both?”
“You tell me.”
The going got a bit easier once they reached the main road where whole stretches of the sidewalk had been shovelled and gritted, but it was still a relief to make their way down the steps into the subway, where it was a bit warmer among the crowds of people, some on their way to work and others heading home. The subway cars were packed, but for once nobody seemed to mind, squeezing in together like sardines, or Emperor Penguins huddling for warmth. Dee and Ryo clutched their backpacks to their chests protectively, rocking with the rhythm, almost drowsing until they reached their stop and were squeezed out onto to platform.
“Now I know how toothpaste feels,” Dee muttered, readjusting his scarf.
Ryo snorted. “Come on, better get moving; we’re going to be late as it is.”
“If the old badger even tries to complain I’m gonna tell him he should be grateful we bothered showin’ up at all! You can bet some people are gonna take one look at the weather and just stay home. Kinda wishin’ we had.”
“Too late to change our minds now.”
They faced another walk of several blocks from the subway to the precinct and by now the snow was coming down harder, but at least the icy wind had dropped. They forged onwards through the drifting flakes, relieved to finally see the familiar building that house the twenty-seventh precinct looming ahead of them. Stamping the worst of the snow off their boots outside before pushing their way through the doors, they plodded across the foyer, leaving a trail of melting snow in their wake, and up the stairs to the fourth floor.
They were halfway down the corridor to the locker room when the Chief came out of his office.
“What the hell are you two doing here? I sent you both a text a couple hours ago telling you to stay home!”
Dee and Ryo just stared at their boss; they’d never thought to check their phones.
You could have heard a pin drop.
Scowling at his boss, Dee slouched past him. “If that’s the thanks we get for bravin’ arctic conditions, next time we’ll do just that, but don’t even think about tryin’ to send us home. You’re stuck with us now until the end of shift.”
The End