FAKE Fic: Off The Charts - Part 1
Title: Off The Charts - Part 1
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2406
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Dee and Ryo are just starting out on a much-anticipated vacation afloat, but the weather can change fast as sea…
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.
“We haveta be the luckiest guys on the whole NYPD payroll,” Dee said, lounging on a beach towel spread on the foredeck, enjoying the warmth of the sun, and the contrasting coolness of the occasional breath of breeze that stirred his thick, black hair. He’d been making similar comments ever since they’d set out on their three-week vacation afloat, for which they’d saved up as much of their paid time off as the Chief had been willing to allow.
From where he was sitting at the forward rail, with his legs hanging over the side, Ryo laughed. “That’s only because no one else on our pay grade can afford to run, never mind own, a boat like this. We couldn’t either if Bikky wasn’t paying for it.”
Since being drafted by a major-league basketball team, Ryo’s foster son had been more than generous with his money, wanting to repay the man who’d upended his own life to take in an orphaned ten-year-old.
“Yeah, remind me to do somethin’ nice for the kid when we get back home. I’ll send him a fruit basket, somethin’ like that.”
Ryo grinned over his shoulder at his lover. “That would be a first, you doing something nice for Biks. Aren’t you guys supposed to be sworn enemies?”
Dee smirked. “Maybe I’ve mellowed in my old age.”
“You’re thirty-eight, Dee,” Ryo laughed. “That’s hardly old.”
“Don’t know ‘bout that; you know how fast cops can burn out. Last few weeks, felt like I was about sixty.”
“It was your idea to work our days off for a bit so we could take an extra week for this trip.”
“And I don’t regret it. The overtime pay don’t hurt either. Gives us a little more spendin’ money to play with.” Dee stretched luxuriously, muscles rippling beneath tanned skin, watching Ryo through his lashes, and enjoying the way his lover followed his every move, appreciation evident in Ryo’s dark eyes. “Three weeks at sea; what could be better? Even the long-range forecast’s promisin’ smooth sailin’ ahead. We got it made, babe! There’s richer folks than us don’t have it half so good.”
“Just don’t get overconfident,” Ryo warned. “You know as well as I do how fast the weather can change out here.”
“It’s not overconfidence, just optimism and some wishful thinkin’. I’m entitled, right? We’ve been workin’ our asses off; we deserve this.”
“I never said we didn’t.” Ryo smiled teasingly. “So let’s stop talking about work and enjoy our freedom while we can. Vacations always go by way too fast.”
“Ain’t that the truth, and I’m all for enjoyin’ stuff.” Dee patted the towel spread out beside his. “Care to join me? I can make it worth your while, if ya know what I mean.”
“I could maybe be persuaded.” Swinging his bare feet, damp from sea spray, up onto the deck, Ryo padded across the sun warmed boards and sank down beside his partner, leaning in for a kiss as Dee reached to peel him out of his shorts and t-shirt. Way out at sea, with no other boats in sight and little chance of anyone interrupting them, all Ryo’s inhibitions tended to fall away, and the next couple of hours passed in a haze of pleasure, leaving them both sated and sleepy. After all that activity, an afternoon siesta seemed an excellent idea, and they soon dozed off, still tangled together.
They were three days into their vacation, having headed straight to the marina as soon as they’d finished their final shift, stowing the last of their supplies and immediately setting sail before anything could happen to delay their departure. So far, they were making good time, sailing southward with a light wind behind them, keeping well out from the coast and hoping to make it all the way down to Miami by the end of the first week.
The plan was to spend a few days around the Florida Keys, relaxing and enjoying the scenery, before wending their way northward again. As long as the weather held, they shouldn’t have any trouble getting home in time for their scheduled return to work, but if it became necessary, they knew they could always moor up somewhere, fly home, and retrieve their boat next time they had a few days off, or even hire someone to sail it back for them. They weren’t worried; they figured they had everything covered.
They were somewhere off the coast of North Carolina when they fell asleep, lulled by the gentle rocking of the boat and the warmth of the late afternoon sun. By the time they woke, starting to feel a little chilly, the sun was just dipping below the horizon, twilight setting in and gradually deepening towards night. Scrabbling for their discarded clothing and quickly dressing in the fading light, they got to their feet, gathering their towels to take them below deck, already discussing what to have for dinner. Suddenly Ryo stopped, staring out across their port bow and frowning.
“Looks like you jinxed us with what you said earlier. So much for the good weather lasting.”
“What d’ya mean?” Dee turned, draping his folded towel over his arm. “Damn!” Being longsighted, Ryo could see considerably further than his partner, but even so it didn’t take Dee long to locate what had caught Ryo’s attention. Something pale and nebulous was swirling and eddying in the brisk, surprisingly cold breeze maybe a mile or so to port. “Is that fog? Great, just what we don’t need. Should we drop anchor, try and wait it out, or make a run for shore?”
“Neither. Even at top speed, we’ll never reach shore before the fog reaches us, but there’s no reason to stop. There shouldn’t be anything out here for us to run into, no shallows or reefs, and the nearest land is a good few miles to starboard, so unless we come across another boat, we shouldn’t have any problems. We’ll just turn the fog lights on, keep to the course we set earlier, and with any luck we’ll sail right through it and out the other side. Should probably change into something a bit warmer though; that wind’s got quite a bite to it.”
“Yeah, and it’s gettin’ kinda gusty too; we better watch it doesn’t push us in towards shore.”
Ryo nodded, already moving to turn the lights on, both the regular running lights that made the boat visible at night, and the brighter fog lamps. “I’ll check our position and adjust course if necessary while you change, then you can take the helm while I get into something warmer and put soup on to heat. I think we’re going to need something hot to drink.”
“Gimme your towel, I’ll take it below with me and fetch ya a change of clothes. Can’t leave ya standin’ up here shiverin’ while I’m gettin’ myself nice and cosy. Wouldn’t be fair.”
“Thanks, Dee.” Handing the towel to his lover, Ryo leaned in for a quick kiss, then made his way to the bridge. Thanks to satellite navigation, it was usually easy enough to determine the boat’s exact position, and both men were experienced at reading charts, so by the time Dee arrived with warmer clothing for his partner, including socks and sneakers, Ryo had already verified their position as a little under forty miles almost due east of Cape Hatteras. There should be nothing but clear ocean ahead of them, most of the barrier islands bordering Pamlico Sound already safely astern.
Dee disappeared below again to get himself changed and to make sure all their gear was securely stowed, just in case. The water was getting a bit choppy and the last thing they needed was to have everything sliding about if they hit rough water. When he came back up, he was carrying a flask of soup and two mugs.
“Thought I’d save ya the trouble. I can fix us some sandwiches in a bit, but for now it might be best to have all hands on deck. Want me to batten down the hatches?”
“I don’t think it’ll get that rough, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt, just as a precaution.” Ryo was staring out at the fog, which was a lot closer now, a dense wall of whiteness looming over them, showing more clearly as night fell. Their boat was a decent size, but the fogbank made it seem small, hardly more than a toy, dwarfed by something almost too vast to comprehend. Somehow the ocean never made Ryo feel that way, but there was something vaguely ominous about the fog.
“A bit unsettlin’, isn’t it?” Dee said behind him.
Ryo glanced over his shoulder. “Yes, just a bit.” He’d seen fog at sea before, but never quite as bad as this, like the clouds at the leading edge of a storm, blotting out the sky. He turned his attention to the windows again, the fog now hardly more than a quarter mile away.
“I’d better get the hatches while I can still see what I’m doin’.” Dee slipped quickly out the door and was gone before Ryo could reply.
By the time he returned, slipping inside and closing the door behind him to keep the weather out, the first tendrils of fog were just reaching their bows.
“Everything’s secure, Cap’n.” Dee tossed a couple of blankets onto the bench seat. “Thought we might need those. Didn’t exactly pack for sub-zero temperatures, not like we expected to need our winter woollies in Florida.”
Ryo laughed as he reached for the thermos. “True enough, but with the freaky weather these days maybe we should start keeping a few warmer things on board. Soup? There’s nothing else we can do for now except keep an eye on the instruments, make sure we don’t drift off course.”
“Yeah, I could do with somethin’ hot. It’s not gettin’ any warmer out there.” Dee picked up the mugs, holding them out to be filled.
“Not likely to either until the fog clears,” Ryo said as he poured the soup, capping the thermos and setting it in a holder before taking one of the mugs and wrapping long fingers around it, relishing the heat soaking into his chilled hands. “The prevailing wind’s towards the coast, so with any luck it’ll be past us soon.”
“Funny how there was nothin’ about fog on the weather report earlier.” When they’d checked at lunchtime the forecast had still been for sunshine and a light breeze.
“Fog has a way of sneaking up, it probably didn’t start forming until the sun was going down.” Ryo sipped his soup.
Reaching past his lover, Dee flicked the radio on, but all he got was an occasional tinny snatch of music and a lot of static. “The fog must be interferin’ with reception.” He shrugged. “Don’t know why I even tried. I mean, we already know what the weather’s like, don’t need someone safe and warm in a weather station tellin’ us there’s a chance of fog.” He peered through the glass. “Damn, can’t hardly see the rail! Glad I’m not still out there.”
“So am I. If either of us has to step outside for any reason, we’d better have a safety line. It would be too easy to lose all sense of direction and fall overboard. I can barely make out the foglamps.”
“Better hope we don’t run into another boat, and I mean that literally. If we can’t see our own lamps, what chance does anyone else have?”
They fell silent then, drinking their soup, watching the fog billowing around them, and hoping to see some sign that it was starting to dissipate, but it only seemed to get thicker, closing around them in a cold, clammy embrace.
Finally setting his empty mug aside, Ryo moved to check their position, finding they’d drifted a bit off course, probably due to a combination of the wind, the ocean currents, and the tides. He made the necessary corrections to get them sailing due south again, but he wasn’t worried. As far as he could tell, they’d been driven closer in to shore by a quarter mile at the most, which was insignificant considering how far from the mainland they were. Barring a chance encounter with another vessel, there was nothing out here that could cause them any problems, even in thick fog.
“Is there any of that soup left?” he asked.
Dee shook the flask. “Not much, maybe another half a mug each. You want it now, or should we save it for later?”
“Even the thermos won’t keep it hot forever, not in this, so we might as well finish it.”
Dee poured the rest of the soup, and they went back to staring silently at the fog, with Ryo keeping an eye on the boat’s GPS, ready to correct course if they started to drift again. For the next thirty or forty minutes everything seemed fine, until the screen displaying their heading abruptly went blank.
“What the hell?” Ryo reached for the small device, unhooked it from its housing, and gave it a vigorous shake.
“The tried and tested method for fixin’ faulty equipment,” Dee joked.
“Except it’s not working. I mean, it’s still on, it hasn’t lost power, it’s just not picking anything up.” Glaring at the GPS monitor Ryo slotted it back where it belonged. “First the radio, now this. I suppose even modern electronic equipment has its limits.”
“Let’s hope nothin’ else conks out, or we could find ourselves in real trouble.”
“The fog’s just interfering with reception, that’s all,” Ryo said firmly, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. “We’ll be fine once we get through it.”
“’Course we will. Like you said, even if we go off course again, there’s nothin’ out here to run into.”
“Exactly. We might drift coastwards a bit, now we’ve got no sure way of keeping track of our heading, but even if we do it won’t be enough to put us in any danger.”
“Guess all we can do now is wait.” Dee fetched the blankets. “Here. Might as well do what we can to keep warm; doesn’t look like the damn fog’s gonna be clearin’ anytime soon.”
Ryo smiled, accepting one of the blankets and wrapping it around himself. “Thanks.”
“Not the cosiest we’ve ever been, but it’ll do for now. The fog can’t last forever.”
Part 2
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2406
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Dee and Ryo are just starting out on a much-anticipated vacation afloat, but the weather can change fast as sea…
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.
“We haveta be the luckiest guys on the whole NYPD payroll,” Dee said, lounging on a beach towel spread on the foredeck, enjoying the warmth of the sun, and the contrasting coolness of the occasional breath of breeze that stirred his thick, black hair. He’d been making similar comments ever since they’d set out on their three-week vacation afloat, for which they’d saved up as much of their paid time off as the Chief had been willing to allow.
From where he was sitting at the forward rail, with his legs hanging over the side, Ryo laughed. “That’s only because no one else on our pay grade can afford to run, never mind own, a boat like this. We couldn’t either if Bikky wasn’t paying for it.”
Since being drafted by a major-league basketball team, Ryo’s foster son had been more than generous with his money, wanting to repay the man who’d upended his own life to take in an orphaned ten-year-old.
“Yeah, remind me to do somethin’ nice for the kid when we get back home. I’ll send him a fruit basket, somethin’ like that.”
Ryo grinned over his shoulder at his lover. “That would be a first, you doing something nice for Biks. Aren’t you guys supposed to be sworn enemies?”
Dee smirked. “Maybe I’ve mellowed in my old age.”
“You’re thirty-eight, Dee,” Ryo laughed. “That’s hardly old.”
“Don’t know ‘bout that; you know how fast cops can burn out. Last few weeks, felt like I was about sixty.”
“It was your idea to work our days off for a bit so we could take an extra week for this trip.”
“And I don’t regret it. The overtime pay don’t hurt either. Gives us a little more spendin’ money to play with.” Dee stretched luxuriously, muscles rippling beneath tanned skin, watching Ryo through his lashes, and enjoying the way his lover followed his every move, appreciation evident in Ryo’s dark eyes. “Three weeks at sea; what could be better? Even the long-range forecast’s promisin’ smooth sailin’ ahead. We got it made, babe! There’s richer folks than us don’t have it half so good.”
“Just don’t get overconfident,” Ryo warned. “You know as well as I do how fast the weather can change out here.”
“It’s not overconfidence, just optimism and some wishful thinkin’. I’m entitled, right? We’ve been workin’ our asses off; we deserve this.”
“I never said we didn’t.” Ryo smiled teasingly. “So let’s stop talking about work and enjoy our freedom while we can. Vacations always go by way too fast.”
“Ain’t that the truth, and I’m all for enjoyin’ stuff.” Dee patted the towel spread out beside his. “Care to join me? I can make it worth your while, if ya know what I mean.”
“I could maybe be persuaded.” Swinging his bare feet, damp from sea spray, up onto the deck, Ryo padded across the sun warmed boards and sank down beside his partner, leaning in for a kiss as Dee reached to peel him out of his shorts and t-shirt. Way out at sea, with no other boats in sight and little chance of anyone interrupting them, all Ryo’s inhibitions tended to fall away, and the next couple of hours passed in a haze of pleasure, leaving them both sated and sleepy. After all that activity, an afternoon siesta seemed an excellent idea, and they soon dozed off, still tangled together.
They were three days into their vacation, having headed straight to the marina as soon as they’d finished their final shift, stowing the last of their supplies and immediately setting sail before anything could happen to delay their departure. So far, they were making good time, sailing southward with a light wind behind them, keeping well out from the coast and hoping to make it all the way down to Miami by the end of the first week.
The plan was to spend a few days around the Florida Keys, relaxing and enjoying the scenery, before wending their way northward again. As long as the weather held, they shouldn’t have any trouble getting home in time for their scheduled return to work, but if it became necessary, they knew they could always moor up somewhere, fly home, and retrieve their boat next time they had a few days off, or even hire someone to sail it back for them. They weren’t worried; they figured they had everything covered.
They were somewhere off the coast of North Carolina when they fell asleep, lulled by the gentle rocking of the boat and the warmth of the late afternoon sun. By the time they woke, starting to feel a little chilly, the sun was just dipping below the horizon, twilight setting in and gradually deepening towards night. Scrabbling for their discarded clothing and quickly dressing in the fading light, they got to their feet, gathering their towels to take them below deck, already discussing what to have for dinner. Suddenly Ryo stopped, staring out across their port bow and frowning.
“Looks like you jinxed us with what you said earlier. So much for the good weather lasting.”
“What d’ya mean?” Dee turned, draping his folded towel over his arm. “Damn!” Being longsighted, Ryo could see considerably further than his partner, but even so it didn’t take Dee long to locate what had caught Ryo’s attention. Something pale and nebulous was swirling and eddying in the brisk, surprisingly cold breeze maybe a mile or so to port. “Is that fog? Great, just what we don’t need. Should we drop anchor, try and wait it out, or make a run for shore?”
“Neither. Even at top speed, we’ll never reach shore before the fog reaches us, but there’s no reason to stop. There shouldn’t be anything out here for us to run into, no shallows or reefs, and the nearest land is a good few miles to starboard, so unless we come across another boat, we shouldn’t have any problems. We’ll just turn the fog lights on, keep to the course we set earlier, and with any luck we’ll sail right through it and out the other side. Should probably change into something a bit warmer though; that wind’s got quite a bite to it.”
“Yeah, and it’s gettin’ kinda gusty too; we better watch it doesn’t push us in towards shore.”
Ryo nodded, already moving to turn the lights on, both the regular running lights that made the boat visible at night, and the brighter fog lamps. “I’ll check our position and adjust course if necessary while you change, then you can take the helm while I get into something warmer and put soup on to heat. I think we’re going to need something hot to drink.”
“Gimme your towel, I’ll take it below with me and fetch ya a change of clothes. Can’t leave ya standin’ up here shiverin’ while I’m gettin’ myself nice and cosy. Wouldn’t be fair.”
“Thanks, Dee.” Handing the towel to his lover, Ryo leaned in for a quick kiss, then made his way to the bridge. Thanks to satellite navigation, it was usually easy enough to determine the boat’s exact position, and both men were experienced at reading charts, so by the time Dee arrived with warmer clothing for his partner, including socks and sneakers, Ryo had already verified their position as a little under forty miles almost due east of Cape Hatteras. There should be nothing but clear ocean ahead of them, most of the barrier islands bordering Pamlico Sound already safely astern.
Dee disappeared below again to get himself changed and to make sure all their gear was securely stowed, just in case. The water was getting a bit choppy and the last thing they needed was to have everything sliding about if they hit rough water. When he came back up, he was carrying a flask of soup and two mugs.
“Thought I’d save ya the trouble. I can fix us some sandwiches in a bit, but for now it might be best to have all hands on deck. Want me to batten down the hatches?”
“I don’t think it’ll get that rough, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt, just as a precaution.” Ryo was staring out at the fog, which was a lot closer now, a dense wall of whiteness looming over them, showing more clearly as night fell. Their boat was a decent size, but the fogbank made it seem small, hardly more than a toy, dwarfed by something almost too vast to comprehend. Somehow the ocean never made Ryo feel that way, but there was something vaguely ominous about the fog.
“A bit unsettlin’, isn’t it?” Dee said behind him.
Ryo glanced over his shoulder. “Yes, just a bit.” He’d seen fog at sea before, but never quite as bad as this, like the clouds at the leading edge of a storm, blotting out the sky. He turned his attention to the windows again, the fog now hardly more than a quarter mile away.
“I’d better get the hatches while I can still see what I’m doin’.” Dee slipped quickly out the door and was gone before Ryo could reply.
By the time he returned, slipping inside and closing the door behind him to keep the weather out, the first tendrils of fog were just reaching their bows.
“Everything’s secure, Cap’n.” Dee tossed a couple of blankets onto the bench seat. “Thought we might need those. Didn’t exactly pack for sub-zero temperatures, not like we expected to need our winter woollies in Florida.”
Ryo laughed as he reached for the thermos. “True enough, but with the freaky weather these days maybe we should start keeping a few warmer things on board. Soup? There’s nothing else we can do for now except keep an eye on the instruments, make sure we don’t drift off course.”
“Yeah, I could do with somethin’ hot. It’s not gettin’ any warmer out there.” Dee picked up the mugs, holding them out to be filled.
“Not likely to either until the fog clears,” Ryo said as he poured the soup, capping the thermos and setting it in a holder before taking one of the mugs and wrapping long fingers around it, relishing the heat soaking into his chilled hands. “The prevailing wind’s towards the coast, so with any luck it’ll be past us soon.”
“Funny how there was nothin’ about fog on the weather report earlier.” When they’d checked at lunchtime the forecast had still been for sunshine and a light breeze.
“Fog has a way of sneaking up, it probably didn’t start forming until the sun was going down.” Ryo sipped his soup.
Reaching past his lover, Dee flicked the radio on, but all he got was an occasional tinny snatch of music and a lot of static. “The fog must be interferin’ with reception.” He shrugged. “Don’t know why I even tried. I mean, we already know what the weather’s like, don’t need someone safe and warm in a weather station tellin’ us there’s a chance of fog.” He peered through the glass. “Damn, can’t hardly see the rail! Glad I’m not still out there.”
“So am I. If either of us has to step outside for any reason, we’d better have a safety line. It would be too easy to lose all sense of direction and fall overboard. I can barely make out the foglamps.”
“Better hope we don’t run into another boat, and I mean that literally. If we can’t see our own lamps, what chance does anyone else have?”
They fell silent then, drinking their soup, watching the fog billowing around them, and hoping to see some sign that it was starting to dissipate, but it only seemed to get thicker, closing around them in a cold, clammy embrace.
Finally setting his empty mug aside, Ryo moved to check their position, finding they’d drifted a bit off course, probably due to a combination of the wind, the ocean currents, and the tides. He made the necessary corrections to get them sailing due south again, but he wasn’t worried. As far as he could tell, they’d been driven closer in to shore by a quarter mile at the most, which was insignificant considering how far from the mainland they were. Barring a chance encounter with another vessel, there was nothing out here that could cause them any problems, even in thick fog.
“Is there any of that soup left?” he asked.
Dee shook the flask. “Not much, maybe another half a mug each. You want it now, or should we save it for later?”
“Even the thermos won’t keep it hot forever, not in this, so we might as well finish it.”
Dee poured the rest of the soup, and they went back to staring silently at the fog, with Ryo keeping an eye on the boat’s GPS, ready to correct course if they started to drift again. For the next thirty or forty minutes everything seemed fine, until the screen displaying their heading abruptly went blank.
“What the hell?” Ryo reached for the small device, unhooked it from its housing, and gave it a vigorous shake.
“The tried and tested method for fixin’ faulty equipment,” Dee joked.
“Except it’s not working. I mean, it’s still on, it hasn’t lost power, it’s just not picking anything up.” Glaring at the GPS monitor Ryo slotted it back where it belonged. “First the radio, now this. I suppose even modern electronic equipment has its limits.”
“Let’s hope nothin’ else conks out, or we could find ourselves in real trouble.”
“The fog’s just interfering with reception, that’s all,” Ryo said firmly, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. “We’ll be fine once we get through it.”
“’Course we will. Like you said, even if we go off course again, there’s nothin’ out here to run into.”
“Exactly. We might drift coastwards a bit, now we’ve got no sure way of keeping track of our heading, but even if we do it won’t be enough to put us in any danger.”
“Guess all we can do now is wait.” Dee fetched the blankets. “Here. Might as well do what we can to keep warm; doesn’t look like the damn fog’s gonna be clearin’ anytime soon.”
Ryo smiled, accepting one of the blankets and wrapping it around himself. “Thanks.”
“Not the cosiest we’ve ever been, but it’ll do for now. The fog can’t last forever.”
Part 2