FAKE Fic: Too Close For Comfort
Title: Too Close For Comfort
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo, OCs.
Rating: PG
Setting: After Vol. 7.
Summary: Ryo gets injured during an arrest that goes wrong, and Dee blames himself.
Word Count: 1232
Written For: Jae's Monthly Drabble Challenge 204 - Keep You Safe.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Being a cop was far from the safest profession in the world. Criminals, for obvious reasons, had an intense hatred of all law enforcement personnel, and even the general public, the people the police were sworn to protect, seemed to dislike them on principle. Probably they were scared that some petty crime from their pasts would come to light, like stealing a candy bar when they were seven, jaywalking last year, or dropping litter last week, and they’d wind up in trouble. People could be pretty dumb when they tried; most cops were after far bigger fish, and there were plenty of those around.
Still, policework was hazardous to your health, which was why cops worked in pairs, so they could look in two directions at once, cover each other’s back, see trouble approaching in time to do something about it. Cops protected their partners, even if they didn’t get along particularly well, as was sometimes the case. They did it because like it or not, it was part of the job. If you couldn’t rely on your partner, there was a good chance you wouldn’t live long enough to retire.
Dee had been partnered with several more experienced police officers during his career, and he knew Ryo had too, starting with their training officers when they were fresh out of the academy. Some they’d liked, and some they hadn’t. When he’d first gotten his gold shield, Dee had been partnered with a veteran detective who’d shown him the ropes. He’d been a decent guy, and a good teacher; Dee had learned a lot from him, so much so that when Ryo had passed the detectives’ exam, Dee had been the one with all the experience, assigned to teach the new guy despite being a year younger than his partner.
Just as some partnerships were a train wreck waiting to happen, others turned out to be a match made in heaven, and that was the way it had been from the day Dee had met Ryo. They’d become friends, then lovers, and that was both a blessing and a curse, because while it was far more enjoyable to spend every day working alongside the man he loved, it made the job so much scarier. He was responsible for the safety of the most precious person in his life every time they set foot on the mean streets of New York, and yet being Ryo’s backup was way better than placing his lover’s life in someone else’s hands, someone who might not be as trustworthy as they should be.
It was why Dee hated it so much every time they were assigned different shifts, because it meant he wouldn’t be there to keep his lover safe if Ryo found himself in a dangerous situation. It was also why Dee was seething with self-hatred now. He’d been right there, and yet he’d still failed to keep his partner safe.
“God, I’m so sorry. I let you down.” He felt utterly wretched as he stood there watching helplessly while Ryo sat on the tailgate of the ambulance as the paramedics patched him up. Hands shoved in his pants pockets, to keep from launching himself at his lover and desperately clinging to him, he hung his head. Ryo had every reason to be mad at him.
“Don’t you dare blame yourself for this, Dee. It wasn’t your fault. We’re cops, things happen; we don’t have eyes in the back of our heads, can’t look in every direction at once, no matter how much we might sometimes wish we could.”
“But…”
“No.” Ryo glared at his lover, dark eyes shooting sparks. “This is not on you. Where was our backup? They were supposed to already be in position, covering us, but they weren’t. If you hadn’t been there and warned me the gang was making a break for it, I’d probably be dead now; instead, I’m just a bit banged up. They should never have been able to get the drop on us, and the only reason it happened was because the unit despatched as our backup was slow getting here.”
The patrol car had finally shown up a good five minutes after everything had gone down. All but one member of the four-man gang Dee and Ryo had been about to arrest had gotten away, and Ryo had taken a bullet to the chest. Thankfully, it had been stopped by his vest, but the impact had taken him down hard and he’d caught his head on something as he’d fallen. Dee had managed to shoot one gang member in the leg, slowing him down enough that his cohorts had left him behind. He was currently in an ambulance on his way to the ER, under guard and in handcuffs.
“Okay, Detective Maclean, I’m done,” the paramedic told him, sticking a dressing over the stitched cut in his temple and starting to put her gear away.
“Thanks.” Ryo got slowly to his feet, wincing slightly, one hand pressed to his sore ribs where the bullet had hit. He’d be feeling that for a while, at least until the bruising started to fade, but as far as the paramedics could tell without an x-ray, nothing was broken, and as he wasn’t showing any signs of a concussion, they weren’t insisting on driving him to the hospital. He and Dee would be heading to the ER anyway, to talk to the gang member Dee had shot, so there was no point taking up space in an ambulance that might be needed elsewhere.
“I’m your partner,” Dee muttered as they made their way to their unmarked police vehicle.
“I know you are. I haven’t lost my memory.”
“I meant I’m supposed to keep you safe; that’s my job.”
“You did. I’m still in one piece, aren’t I?”
“Only just. Bikky’s gonna kill me when he sees you.”
“No he won’t, because I’ll tell him you weren’t to blame; you did your job, exactly the way you were supposed to. Now stop blaming yourself. When we’re done at the hospital, I intend to find out exactly why our backup didn’t show until a full nine minutes after their ETA. If they’d been on time, we’d have the whole gang in custody instead of just one.” Ryo sounded angry and frustrated, and Dee didn’t blame him one bit. He was mostly just relieved that none of the anger was being directed at him, even though he wasn’t sure he deserved to be let off the hook.
“First things first. We get to the ER, and you get checked out while I talk to our guy. Then we can deal with the other stuff.”
“Fine with me.” Ryo slid carefully into the front passenger seat as Dee held the door for him. “And for the record, there’s no one I trust more to protect me. I know I can always count on you to have my back, even when things don’t exactly go to plan.”
“Likewise, babe.” Dee shut the door and went around to the driver’s side, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, willing his hands to stop shaking, before getting in and firing up the engine. Ryo would be fine, his injuries were relatively minor, but he might not have been so lucky. In future, Dee was determined to do a better job of keeping his lover safe.
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo, OCs.
Rating: PG
Setting: After Vol. 7.
Summary: Ryo gets injured during an arrest that goes wrong, and Dee blames himself.
Word Count: 1232
Written For: Jae's Monthly Drabble Challenge 204 - Keep You Safe.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Being a cop was far from the safest profession in the world. Criminals, for obvious reasons, had an intense hatred of all law enforcement personnel, and even the general public, the people the police were sworn to protect, seemed to dislike them on principle. Probably they were scared that some petty crime from their pasts would come to light, like stealing a candy bar when they were seven, jaywalking last year, or dropping litter last week, and they’d wind up in trouble. People could be pretty dumb when they tried; most cops were after far bigger fish, and there were plenty of those around.
Still, policework was hazardous to your health, which was why cops worked in pairs, so they could look in two directions at once, cover each other’s back, see trouble approaching in time to do something about it. Cops protected their partners, even if they didn’t get along particularly well, as was sometimes the case. They did it because like it or not, it was part of the job. If you couldn’t rely on your partner, there was a good chance you wouldn’t live long enough to retire.
Dee had been partnered with several more experienced police officers during his career, and he knew Ryo had too, starting with their training officers when they were fresh out of the academy. Some they’d liked, and some they hadn’t. When he’d first gotten his gold shield, Dee had been partnered with a veteran detective who’d shown him the ropes. He’d been a decent guy, and a good teacher; Dee had learned a lot from him, so much so that when Ryo had passed the detectives’ exam, Dee had been the one with all the experience, assigned to teach the new guy despite being a year younger than his partner.
Just as some partnerships were a train wreck waiting to happen, others turned out to be a match made in heaven, and that was the way it had been from the day Dee had met Ryo. They’d become friends, then lovers, and that was both a blessing and a curse, because while it was far more enjoyable to spend every day working alongside the man he loved, it made the job so much scarier. He was responsible for the safety of the most precious person in his life every time they set foot on the mean streets of New York, and yet being Ryo’s backup was way better than placing his lover’s life in someone else’s hands, someone who might not be as trustworthy as they should be.
It was why Dee hated it so much every time they were assigned different shifts, because it meant he wouldn’t be there to keep his lover safe if Ryo found himself in a dangerous situation. It was also why Dee was seething with self-hatred now. He’d been right there, and yet he’d still failed to keep his partner safe.
“God, I’m so sorry. I let you down.” He felt utterly wretched as he stood there watching helplessly while Ryo sat on the tailgate of the ambulance as the paramedics patched him up. Hands shoved in his pants pockets, to keep from launching himself at his lover and desperately clinging to him, he hung his head. Ryo had every reason to be mad at him.
“Don’t you dare blame yourself for this, Dee. It wasn’t your fault. We’re cops, things happen; we don’t have eyes in the back of our heads, can’t look in every direction at once, no matter how much we might sometimes wish we could.”
“But…”
“No.” Ryo glared at his lover, dark eyes shooting sparks. “This is not on you. Where was our backup? They were supposed to already be in position, covering us, but they weren’t. If you hadn’t been there and warned me the gang was making a break for it, I’d probably be dead now; instead, I’m just a bit banged up. They should never have been able to get the drop on us, and the only reason it happened was because the unit despatched as our backup was slow getting here.”
The patrol car had finally shown up a good five minutes after everything had gone down. All but one member of the four-man gang Dee and Ryo had been about to arrest had gotten away, and Ryo had taken a bullet to the chest. Thankfully, it had been stopped by his vest, but the impact had taken him down hard and he’d caught his head on something as he’d fallen. Dee had managed to shoot one gang member in the leg, slowing him down enough that his cohorts had left him behind. He was currently in an ambulance on his way to the ER, under guard and in handcuffs.
“Okay, Detective Maclean, I’m done,” the paramedic told him, sticking a dressing over the stitched cut in his temple and starting to put her gear away.
“Thanks.” Ryo got slowly to his feet, wincing slightly, one hand pressed to his sore ribs where the bullet had hit. He’d be feeling that for a while, at least until the bruising started to fade, but as far as the paramedics could tell without an x-ray, nothing was broken, and as he wasn’t showing any signs of a concussion, they weren’t insisting on driving him to the hospital. He and Dee would be heading to the ER anyway, to talk to the gang member Dee had shot, so there was no point taking up space in an ambulance that might be needed elsewhere.
“I’m your partner,” Dee muttered as they made their way to their unmarked police vehicle.
“I know you are. I haven’t lost my memory.”
“I meant I’m supposed to keep you safe; that’s my job.”
“You did. I’m still in one piece, aren’t I?”
“Only just. Bikky’s gonna kill me when he sees you.”
“No he won’t, because I’ll tell him you weren’t to blame; you did your job, exactly the way you were supposed to. Now stop blaming yourself. When we’re done at the hospital, I intend to find out exactly why our backup didn’t show until a full nine minutes after their ETA. If they’d been on time, we’d have the whole gang in custody instead of just one.” Ryo sounded angry and frustrated, and Dee didn’t blame him one bit. He was mostly just relieved that none of the anger was being directed at him, even though he wasn’t sure he deserved to be let off the hook.
“First things first. We get to the ER, and you get checked out while I talk to our guy. Then we can deal with the other stuff.”
“Fine with me.” Ryo slid carefully into the front passenger seat as Dee held the door for him. “And for the record, there’s no one I trust more to protect me. I know I can always count on you to have my back, even when things don’t exactly go to plan.”
“Likewise, babe.” Dee shut the door and went around to the driver’s side, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, willing his hands to stop shaking, before getting in and firing up the engine. Ryo would be fine, his injuries were relatively minor, but he might not have been so lucky. In future, Dee was determined to do a better job of keeping his lover safe.
The End