FAKE Fic: A Small Mission Of Mercy
Title: A Small Mission Of Mercy
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo, Bikky, spider
Rating: G
Setting: After Vol. 7.
Summary: A spider has fallen into Ryo’s shaving water. What’s he going to do about it?
Warnings: Arachnophobes beware!
Word Count: 900
Written For: My own prompt ‘FAKE, Dee/Ryo, Ryo rescues a drowning spider,’ at
fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Dee was in Ryo’s kitchen, getting the coffee started one morning, when Ryo dashed in, face still smeared with foam and only partly shaved. He made straight for the cutlery drawer, nudging Dee out of the way to get at it.
“What’s up?” Dee asked, amused, as Ryo rummaged for a moment before pulling out a large spoon.
“There’s a spider in the water!”
“So just pull the plug out,” Dee suggested. “Problem solved!”
Ryo looked horrified. “I can’t do that! It’s already drowning!”
“But you don’t like spiders!”
“I know that! Doesn’t mean I want to kill them!” Spoon in hand, Ryo dashed back to the bathroom, with Dee following, curious to see what his lover intended to do.
The spider was still there, floating half-submerged in the foamy water, unmoving.
“Looks dead to me,” Dee said, leaning against the wall beside the sink.
“Might not be too late to save it though.” Ryo dipped the spoon into the water, and after several failed attempts, managed to fish the spider out on the back of it. It stuck there, legs clumped together in bunches, a pathetic little black lump. “Poor thing,” Ryo sighed, blowing gently on the spider. It wasn’t a big one, even with its legs spread out properly it would be less than a centimetre across, but despite his dislike of the creatures, Ryo was just too softhearted to leave it to its fate. “Pass me a tissue, please.”
Doing as instructed, Dee plucked one from the box on the bathroom shelf and passed it to Ryo, who used the corners of it to soak up the water from around the spider. “You’re wasting your time, that spider’s history. Might as well just flush it.”
Ryo glared at his partner and returned to his task, alternately blowing on the spider stuck to the spoon, and trying to soak up the water from it. Gradually its legs un-clumped and Ryo transferred the small, black body to the tissue, tilting it so the head end of the spider was angled down. More water leaked out, soaking into the tissue, and after a moment, one spider leg twitched feebly, then another.
Dee’s eyebrows went up. “It’s moving!”
Ryo grinned up at him. “I think it’s going to live.” He blew gently on it a few more times, until it seemed mostly dry and was moving around a bit. It looked rather unsteady on its legs, but the rescue mission was a definite success.
“What’re you two doing in here?” a suspicious voice asked from the doorway.
Ryo and Dee both looked around to where Bikky stood glaring at them, blond hair mussed, still dressed in the t-shirt and shorts he’d slept in.
“Mission of mercy,” Dee told the boy. “A spider fell in Ryo’s shaving water and nearly drowned. Looks like it’ll be okay though.”
“Let me see!” Bikky left the doorway and squeezed between the two men, staring at the wobbly spider on the tissue. “Cool. What’re you gonna do with it now?”
“Set it free somewhere a bit safer, I guess,” Ryo told him.
“Can’t put it outside, it’s too cold and windy. It’d get blown away.” Bikky thought for a minute. “I know! It can live in the plant on my windowsill!” He reached for the tissue the spider was slowly wobbling across.
“Careful you don’t drop it. I didn’t save it just so it could get stepped on,” Ryo cautioned.
“It’s okay, I won’t hurt it,” Bikky reassured his foster father, gathering the tissue carefully and transporting the spider away to its new home.
Dee leant back against the wall again, folding his arms over his chest as Ryo went back to shaving. “Nicely done, babe.”
“I still don’t like them, but at least Bikky will grow up free from my hang-ups.” Ryo gave a wry smile as he wiped the last of the shaving foam from his chin.
“I’ve never met anyone who would go to such lengths to save a creepy crawly they didn’t even like.”
Ryo glanced across to see that Dee was staring intently as him. He shrugged. “I know; it’s kinda dumb I suppose.”
Dee shook his head. “No it’s not. I think it makes you a pretty amazing guy; you care about everything, no matter how small.” He pushed away from the wall and slipped his arms around Ryo, pulling him in for a kiss. “It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with you. Promise me you’ll never change?”
“I’ll do my best.”
An indignant voice abruptly broke the romantic mood. “Hey! Get outta here so I can shower. You’re gonna make me late for school! I wanna tell everyone about the spider!”
“Okay, runt, we’re goin’!” Dee snarked back at the boy, and he grabbed Ryo’s arm, dragging him through the doorway. “We’ll leave ya to your beauty treatment. Not that it’ll do ya any good.”
Ryo shook his head, chuckling at the familiar bickering. Looked like it was time to get back to the usual morning routine of fixing breakfast and getting the three of them off to school and work on time. They’d all got a busy day ahead and the business with the spider meant they were running late. Spiders really weren’t designed for swimming; Ryo hoped it had learned its lesson and wouldn’t try again. Next time it might not be so lucky.
The End