FAKE Ficlet: Random Question
Title: Random Question
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Word Count: 928
Summary: While tending their rooftop garden, Dee and Ryo have a momentary miscommunication.
Written For: Weekend Challenge: Prompt Grab Bag at 1_million_words. I used ‘Why do things look bigger in water?’ And ‘Pruning and tending a veggie or flower garden’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
“How come things look bigger when they’re in water?” Dee’s voice cut through the peace and quiet of the garden.
Ryo, who’d been drifting in a happy daze as he got on with the watering, the spray from the can’s rose bringing to mind memories of a very enjoyable shared shower earlier that morning, caught his breath badly and started coughing, sloshing water everywhere and almost dropping the can before he managed to set it down. “What?” he managed to squeak out. Was Dee implying something unfavourable about his… attributes.
Dee glanced at his lover across the vegetable beds, from where he was peering into the depths of one of the roof garden’s rainwater barrels. “You okay there, babe?”
“Yes,” Ryo croaked out, waving one hand as he tried to get his breath back. “Swallowed a bug or something.” Better a little white lie than the truth; it would require less explanation.
“Lot of those about up here,” Dee agreed. “Best to keep your mouth closed.”
“I was until you asked me a question. I was gonna answer, but now I don’t remember what the question was.” It was another white lie, and maybe he shouldn’t have voiced it because all he’d done was remind Dee, but it was too late to take it back.
“Question?” Dee frowned himself, looking around for inspiration, his gaze finally falling on the water barrel. “Oh, right, I remember! I wanted to know why things look bigger when they’re under water. I’ve noticed it before, when I’ve been swimmin’, or takin’ a bath. Always makes my feet look huge. I just never thought to mention it. But stuff’s been fallin’ in here since the lid blew off and disappeared in that storm last week. Figured I’d better clean it out before puttin’ the new lid on, and…” He shook his head. “What looked like part of a branch, turns out it’s just a tiny little twig. It’s weird. See?” He held the twig up. “Looked so much bigger in the water. Took me three tries to get hold of it.”
“Oh.” Ryo hid a sigh of relief; apparently Dee wasn’t disappointed in… well, that. He was just having one of his random thoughts. “I think the water’s surface acts like a magnifying lens. Something like that anyway.”
“Cool!” Dee grinned. “Hey, you want a hand with the waterin’ once I’ve finished here?”
“No, it’s fine, I’m almost done. You could dead-head the flowers though. Just the flowering plants, not the flowers on the beans, and tomatoes, and stuff.”
“Hey, I’m not that stupid, I do know those things grow outta the flowers. I’ve been readin’ up on growin’ veggies.”
Gardening was new territory for Dee, having grown up in an inner-city orphanage. Unlike Ryo, he hadn’t been lucky enough to have a garden, or parents to teach him how to grow things.
“You have? I’m impressed.” Ryo smiled approvingly at his partner.
“Can’t leave everything to you, that wouldn’t be fair.” Even though it had been Ryo who’d wanted somewhere to grow a few fresh veggies, Dee had been behind the idea all the way, and had been the one to suggest putting their building’s flat roof to good use. Up here, veggies and flowers alike would get plenty of sunlight, not to mention air and unobstructed rainfall. Sometimes there was a bit too much of the latter, but they’d installed a good drainage system when they’d been setting up the raised beds. “Anything other than the flowers need prunin’?”
Ryo snorted a laugh. “Cutting off dead flowers isn’t pruning, Dee!”
“It’s not? Damn! And here I was thinkin’ I’d get a chance to test out my new prunin’ shears!”
“Boys and their toys,” Ryo teased.
“The right tool for the right job,” Dee corrected. “That’s one thing I DO know about.”
“Yes, it is.”
Ryo could hardly argue with that. Dee was a versatile handyman, able to fix most things around the apartment. He’d planned their garden too, according to Ryo’s specifications, and done most of the construction, with Ryo serving as his apprentice, holding things in place, and passing him tools. Ryo’s area of expertise was the kitchen, and Dee was looking forward to discovering what delicious meals his lover would create from their own homegrown fruits and veggies.
As Ryo picked up the can to finish the watering, Dee spoke again.
“And babe? Just in case you were wonderin’, you’ve got nothin’ to worry about. Some things are already the perfect size.” He winked and Ryo felt his face burn with embarrassment. How had Dee known what he was thinking earlier? Was he really that easy to read, or was Dee just uncannily good at it? Maybe it was a bit of both. After all, he was a detective; being able to read people was part of the job, a necessary skill.
Dee had already turned his attention back to the task of clearing the debris out of the water barrel, leaving Ryo to get over his embarrassment in relative privacy, and really, why did he still get embarrassed anyway? He and Dee had been together for more than six years!
‘It’s just the way I am,’ he thought to himself. ‘But I’m working on it.’ Maybe he’d never be able to change the fact that he blushed whenever something embarrassed him, but if he tried hard enough, maybe eventually he wouldn’t get embarrassed so easily. It was a matter of necessity because otherwise, living with Dee was going to be the death of him, no doubt about it.
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Word Count: 928
Summary: While tending their rooftop garden, Dee and Ryo have a momentary miscommunication.
Written For: Weekend Challenge: Prompt Grab Bag at 1_million_words. I used ‘Why do things look bigger in water?’ And ‘Pruning and tending a veggie or flower garden’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
“How come things look bigger when they’re in water?” Dee’s voice cut through the peace and quiet of the garden.
Ryo, who’d been drifting in a happy daze as he got on with the watering, the spray from the can’s rose bringing to mind memories of a very enjoyable shared shower earlier that morning, caught his breath badly and started coughing, sloshing water everywhere and almost dropping the can before he managed to set it down. “What?” he managed to squeak out. Was Dee implying something unfavourable about his… attributes.
Dee glanced at his lover across the vegetable beds, from where he was peering into the depths of one of the roof garden’s rainwater barrels. “You okay there, babe?”
“Yes,” Ryo croaked out, waving one hand as he tried to get his breath back. “Swallowed a bug or something.” Better a little white lie than the truth; it would require less explanation.
“Lot of those about up here,” Dee agreed. “Best to keep your mouth closed.”
“I was until you asked me a question. I was gonna answer, but now I don’t remember what the question was.” It was another white lie, and maybe he shouldn’t have voiced it because all he’d done was remind Dee, but it was too late to take it back.
“Question?” Dee frowned himself, looking around for inspiration, his gaze finally falling on the water barrel. “Oh, right, I remember! I wanted to know why things look bigger when they’re under water. I’ve noticed it before, when I’ve been swimmin’, or takin’ a bath. Always makes my feet look huge. I just never thought to mention it. But stuff’s been fallin’ in here since the lid blew off and disappeared in that storm last week. Figured I’d better clean it out before puttin’ the new lid on, and…” He shook his head. “What looked like part of a branch, turns out it’s just a tiny little twig. It’s weird. See?” He held the twig up. “Looked so much bigger in the water. Took me three tries to get hold of it.”
“Oh.” Ryo hid a sigh of relief; apparently Dee wasn’t disappointed in… well, that. He was just having one of his random thoughts. “I think the water’s surface acts like a magnifying lens. Something like that anyway.”
“Cool!” Dee grinned. “Hey, you want a hand with the waterin’ once I’ve finished here?”
“No, it’s fine, I’m almost done. You could dead-head the flowers though. Just the flowering plants, not the flowers on the beans, and tomatoes, and stuff.”
“Hey, I’m not that stupid, I do know those things grow outta the flowers. I’ve been readin’ up on growin’ veggies.”
Gardening was new territory for Dee, having grown up in an inner-city orphanage. Unlike Ryo, he hadn’t been lucky enough to have a garden, or parents to teach him how to grow things.
“You have? I’m impressed.” Ryo smiled approvingly at his partner.
“Can’t leave everything to you, that wouldn’t be fair.” Even though it had been Ryo who’d wanted somewhere to grow a few fresh veggies, Dee had been behind the idea all the way, and had been the one to suggest putting their building’s flat roof to good use. Up here, veggies and flowers alike would get plenty of sunlight, not to mention air and unobstructed rainfall. Sometimes there was a bit too much of the latter, but they’d installed a good drainage system when they’d been setting up the raised beds. “Anything other than the flowers need prunin’?”
Ryo snorted a laugh. “Cutting off dead flowers isn’t pruning, Dee!”
“It’s not? Damn! And here I was thinkin’ I’d get a chance to test out my new prunin’ shears!”
“Boys and their toys,” Ryo teased.
“The right tool for the right job,” Dee corrected. “That’s one thing I DO know about.”
“Yes, it is.”
Ryo could hardly argue with that. Dee was a versatile handyman, able to fix most things around the apartment. He’d planned their garden too, according to Ryo’s specifications, and done most of the construction, with Ryo serving as his apprentice, holding things in place, and passing him tools. Ryo’s area of expertise was the kitchen, and Dee was looking forward to discovering what delicious meals his lover would create from their own homegrown fruits and veggies.
As Ryo picked up the can to finish the watering, Dee spoke again.
“And babe? Just in case you were wonderin’, you’ve got nothin’ to worry about. Some things are already the perfect size.” He winked and Ryo felt his face burn with embarrassment. How had Dee known what he was thinking earlier? Was he really that easy to read, or was Dee just uncannily good at it? Maybe it was a bit of both. After all, he was a detective; being able to read people was part of the job, a necessary skill.
Dee had already turned his attention back to the task of clearing the debris out of the water barrel, leaving Ryo to get over his embarrassment in relative privacy, and really, why did he still get embarrassed anyway? He and Dee had been together for more than six years!
‘It’s just the way I am,’ he thought to himself. ‘But I’m working on it.’ Maybe he’d never be able to change the fact that he blushed whenever something embarrassed him, but if he tried hard enough, maybe eventually he wouldn’t get embarrassed so easily. It was a matter of necessity because otherwise, living with Dee was going to be the death of him, no doubt about it.
The End