Untitled Hayato/Ryu no.02 [1/2]
Title: Untitled HayaRyu no.02 (because long, pointless fluff gets no title)
or if you must: Law and Order AU
Author: cease11
Pairing: Hayato/Ryu (Gokusen 2)
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, AU
Beta: pinkeuphoria1
Prompt: #004: More (je_prompts)
Disclaimer: Boys do not belong to me
Summary: Hayato is a detective, Ryu is a lawyer. Features some atrocious table manners and questionable relationship advice.
For: becquinho and matchysock who guessed my fic in the k_x Guess the Author and for prologuesized and reddorozette who guessed it before Guess the Author. You girls ninja? (Isa and Joo gave it away, didn't they? You can tell me.)
Part I
‘Come over for dinner tonight.'
Hayato tried to ignore the weight of fifty pairs of eyes suddenly landing on him. To make matters worse, he was pretty sure it wasn’t a question.
‘My wife has mentioned that she misses the dessert you bring around.’ And with that, Odagiri Shinya turned to walk out of the room, signaling the end of the conference.
Hayato ignored the murmur and finished packing his stuff before hurriedly leaving the room. As soon as he found an empty corridor, he grabbed his phone.
‘Yabuki,’ the voice on the other side of the line was clearly impatient, ‘What part of “Don’t talk to me” do you not understand?’
‘Ryuuuu,’ Hayato whine, drawing out the last syllable of the name in a way he knew made his friend roll his eyes. ‘Please tell me you’re going back to your parents’ home for dinner tonight.’
‘I wasn’t planning to,’ Ryu said.
‘You have to,’ Hayato rushed out, ‘Because your father invited me to dinner and I’ll die without you.’
‘You’ve been over plenty of times and you are clearly still alive.’
‘That’s because you were there too! And don’t say I’m alive like it’s something unfortunate.’
‘Hayato, I’m not speaking to you at the moment remember? I’m hanging up.’
‘What? Hey Ryu-‘ Hayato glared at his phone when the dial tone reached his ears. Sometimes, Ryu really failed the emotional support requirement of being a best friend. Not only that, he was knowingly sending Hayato to his death.
The rest of the morning passed relatively uneventful. He called the cake store to order the cheese cake he knew Odarigi Yuriko was fond of. That way if her husband decided that he didn’t like Hayato after all, she might buy him enough time to call Ryu before bullets or forks started flying. He was staring at the clock, both willing it to move faster so that he could escape the pile of paper work on his desk and at the same time dreading it because it was a countdown to the apocalypse.
‘Yabuki,’ his partner said, shoving a cup of coffee into his hand. ‘Stop spacing out. We’ve got a suspect for that teenage drug overdose case.’
Hayato brightened. His partner was a good man, a bringer of good news; a better friend than his supposed best friend who had just hung up on him.
‘You’re a good man Takagi,’ he says and pats his partner on the back. Takagi ignored him and flipped through the documents on Hayato’s desk.
‘Those were supposed to be filled out last week weren’t they?’
Hayato laughed awkwardly, ‘I’ll have them done, I’ll have them done.’
Takagi didn’t look convinced, but shoved a file at him. ‘It’s a minor. They found him carrying the victim’s mobile phone. I thought you might want a try first.’
Hayato nodded. His own run-ins with the police when he was a teenager meant that he was determined to be fair and not pre-judge when it came to what others labeled as troublesome youths. It helped that he was generally more effective at getting co-operation than his colleagues.
‘Oh,’ Takagi called, just as Hayato was heading towards the hallway, ‘He’s got a guardian with him, his homeroom teacher or something.’
It should have been a clue, but Hayato still sputtered and pointed when he opened the door to the interrogation room to find Yamaguchi Kumiko’s surprised face staring at him.
‘What are you doing here?’ They both shouted in surprise.
There was a lot more pointing and asking questions loudly over one another. It all ended when Yankumi reached up to ruffle Hayato’s hair and he laughed because, did she get shorter? Except he must have asked that out loud because she elbowed him in the stomach. The suspect was a highschool boy in Yankumi’s class with copper hair pulled back into a low pony-tail. Hayato raised an eyebrow. Was that the new rebel style? Even so, he had yet to see anyone pull off that hair colour better than Ryu.
‘You have a problem with my hair?’ the boy narrowed his eyes.
Hayato let out a chuckle. ‘It doesn’t suit you.’
‘Yabuki…’ Yankumi said in an exasperated tone. She pulled her fuming student back into his seat while Hayato settled himself into the seat opposite and opened the file.
‘Explain,’ he said simply.
‘I’m not saying anything until my lawyer comes.’ The brat said.
‘It’s alright, Ogata,’ Yankumi said, ‘Yabuki will believe you if you tell the truth.’
The Ogata brat just waved his hand dismissively in her direction.
‘Start of term?’ Hayato asked.
Yankumi sighed, ‘Two months in.’
Hayato nodded.
‘Brat,’ he said to Ogata, ‘Stop wasting our time and tell me what happened.’
He was ignored.
‘The thing is,’ Yankumi started, looking a little embarrassed. ‘I didn’t know that you would be here. And you know how I feel about police stations, so I called someone who I knew would be on our side…’
‘What do you mean?’ Hayato asked.
Before she could answer the door clicked open and a moment later a briefcase slammed down loudly onto the table a little too close to where Hayato’s hand had been resting.
‘Yabuki,’ a familiar voice drawled, ‘if you’re bullying my client, I’ll tell your dad what you did on the night of your 21st Birthday when you didn’t go home.’
Hayato stared at his friend with a horrified expression. He didn’t actually remember what had happened at night. What he did remember was waking up with a hangover and the smell of cheap perfume on his shirt. The grave expressions on his friends’ faces told him that he was probably better off not knowing what had happened.
‘Are you threatening me, Odagiri-sensei.’
‘Not at all, Keiji-san,’ Ryu smirked at him, ‘I’m simply informing you of the consequences of your actions. You won’t actually bully a minor during interrogation, would you now?’
‘Ogata-kun,’ Ryu turned to the brat while Hayato seriously considered looking for a new best friend, ‘This guy may be an idiot, but he’s not bad. Just leave your statement and you’ll be able to go home.’
‘Use simple words,’ Yankumi chimed in, ‘Yabuki was never very good at Kanji.’
‘He took the phone because it was just lying there and because he thought is was nice.’ Hayato said while reading over the statement, ‘What kind of excuse is that? What’s with kids these days?’
Ryu snorted. Hayato could actually only see the top of Ryu’s head over the stack of files and documents on his desk, but he could hear him clearly enough.
‘You sound like an old man, Hayato.’
‘He’s lucky we’re looking for drug related evidence. We might be able to let this one slide.’
‘You have to let it slide, you have nothing. The kid simply picked up a phone lying in the middle of the street.’
Hayato’s left eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Then he heard movement behind the wall of paper and Ryu’s head loomed into view.
‘I’m off then.’
‘Wait!’ Hayato hurried after Ryu as the man headed towards the doors. ‘Dinner, at your parents. You have to come. Your father will skin me alive if I so much as even breathe in the wrong direction. I’ll die Ryu! I’ll die and then you’ll be at my funeral watching me get buried and you’ll cry tears of regret, knowing that it is all because you refused to come with me.’
Ryu looked unimpressed, but he did stop walking. ‘You’re forgetting our agreement.’
‘I promise I won’t talk about the case, any case. In fact, I won’t talk at all!’ He held out his pinky finger, but Ryu just raised an eyebrow and continued out the door.
‘Don’t worry Yabuki, I’ll have you cremated.’
Hayato’s stomach sank as he watched Ryu leave. He remembered the patrol uniform still in his closet and imagined the end of his short lived careers as a detective. Well, on the bright side, he did always manage to get quite a few numbers when he was still a patrol officer, although that was probably more due to the desperation of trying to get out of speeding fines than Hayato’s inherent charms. Then he remembered that he kind of, sort of, maybe, liked Ryu, so those numbers were useless anyway.
----
At 6.30pm that night, Hayato got out of his car to find Ryu leaning against the wall outside the Odgiri residence, waiting for him. Maybe he liked Ryu after all. Then Ryu looked up and smirked at him and all Hayato could think of was that maybe, maybe he really, really liked him.
‘You look like you’re going to burst into tears,’ Ryu said, ‘It’s disturbing.’
‘Ryu…’ Hayato choked out, ‘You’re here.’
Ryu shrugged, ‘I figured if I didn’t come you were bound to do something stupid, like break a glass from my father’s favourite wine glass collection.’
‘Wine glass?’ Hayato asked in a small voice.
Ryu nodded and they made their way towards the door. Odagiri Yuriko thanked him as she accepted the cake Hayato brought and led then into the dinning room. Hayato stared with horror at the wine glasses set out and then he realised there were four places set out. He felt a little cheated.
Ryu looked like he felt absolutely cheated.
‘I see you were expecting me too tonight.’
‘We thought you might decline if we asked you to come, because you’re so busy …’ Ryu’s mother drifted off awkwardly.
Ryu looked like he was going to argue when his father walked into the room and motioned for them to sit.
Odagiri family dinners were always awkward. Apart from the fear of losing his job, it was another major reason why Hayato didn’t enjoy them. Yuriko-san tried her best to ask after Ryu’s welfare and Ryu answered her questions with: Yes he was eating properly, Yes he was capable of doing laundry, No he didn’t eat instant ramen very often. Hayato sighed, Ryu still didn’t understand that he was supposed to offer more information to put his mother at ease.
It was only a matter of time before the usual questions started. This time, it was while they were waiting for Yuriko-san to cut and divide the cake. He would have offered to help, but Hayato didn’t want to leave Ryu and his father alone with a table full of breakable objects.
‘How is the case preparation going.’
Ryu’s lips thinned. ‘Fine.’
‘I doubt you will have much to argue, I heard the prosecution’s evidence is overwhelming. I’m confident we have done more than enough to put that criminal away for good. Isn’t that right, Yabuki?’
Another reason why Hayato hated Odagiri family dinners was because he felt like the older Odagiri was always forcing him to take the side against Ryu. One was his boss and the other his best friend and he didn’t want to offend either of them. Fortunately on this occasion, father and son were too absorbed in their staring contest to insist on his participation in the conversation.
‘That’s good to hear.’ Ryu replied in a monotone voice.
Hayato watched as the staring contest continued. Odagiri Shinya waited for Ryu to offer any information on the case, Ryu refuse to reveal anything. He swallowed; the tension was making him thirsty. But Ryu’s warning was still at the forefront of his mind, he hadn’t touched the wine glass all night.
‘You’re only assisting the real defence lawyer, aren’t you?’
‘We have a team of lawyers working on the case.’
‘You should come work for the prosecution. You’ll get small cases at the beginning, but they’ll be yours. You’ll learn better while on your feet.’
‘I’m learning where I am.’
This could potentially get violent. Hayato shifted nervously and reached for his glass; he’d just have a little bit to drink. But just as he was lifting the glass, the base caught the edge of his plate and there was a loud clink which caused both father and son to turn in his direction.
It was like having a magnifying glass
Hayato wasn’t sure how it was possible, but he swore he could clearly see the hairline crack in the glass spread, like poison, branching up through the stem of the glass and then there was a distinctive crack and the stem shattered. The wine spilled and the red liquid fanned out across the stark white table cloth. In a furry of movement, Hayato stood up and tried to do something with his napkin and then suddenly Yuriko was beside him telling him that it was fine and that she would take care of it. When he looked at Ryu again, Ryu’s eyes were laughing.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he apologised. ‘I know they were part of your favourite glass set…’
Ryu’s father looked confused. ‘They’re just part of a regular glass set.’
Hayato snapped his head towards Ryu, but the other man was facing away from him. Hayato reached under the table and pinched Ryu’s thigh, hard. The bastard didn’t even flinch.
’The plate on the other hand…’ Odagiri Shinya frowned.
Hayato looked down at his plate and saw with horror the chip on the gold plated rim.
----
‘I’m going back to patrolling, aren’t I? Or maybe he’ll just fire me and be done with it. Do you think it’s too late to start a ramen shop? I’m pretty good at making ramen-’
‘Shut up, Hayato,’ Ryu snapped, ‘You’ve been going on for half an hour already. He’s not going to fire you or demote you so keep your eyes open on the road and keep your mouth shut. I’m taking a nap.’
Ryu shifted in the passenger seat until his head rested against the window of the car. The rest of the drive was in silence and when Hayato shut the engine and leaned over to wake Ryu up, he hesitated with his hands over Ryu’s hair and ended up tucking a strand behind his ear. He then leaned back into the driver’s seat and closed his eyes. Maybe they could just stay like this for a little longer.
When he opened his eyes again, Ryu’s face with hovering over him with an expression of annoyance.
‘Why are we both asleep in the carpark?’
‘You fell asleep and then I fell asleep?’ Hayato tried.
Ryu opened the door and stepped out of the car. Hayato did the same and they made their way to the elevators together. Ryu’s door clicked open while Hayato was still rummaging through his pocket for his own keys. He gave Ryu a two finger salute before the other man disappeared into his apartment. When Hayato finally managed to open his own door and turn on the lights, the first thing he did was cross off the date on the calendar. There were still 8 days until the case Ryu was working on went to trial. Those days were marked with a red pen for what Ryu called: ‘Code Red.’
When Hayato was promoted to detective and Ryu started working as a defence attorney, they worked out ground rules so that their professional responsibilities wouldn’t be prejudiced. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. It seemed like a good idea that when Ryu’s firm had a client whose investigation or arrest Hayato had an involvement in, they would agree to cease communication between them. When they realised how long some investigations could potentially take, Ryu’s Code Red was redefined to the month before trial started.
The crime in the current case happened back when Hayato was still a patrol officer and he happened to be one of first officers at the scene. When Ryu saw Hayato’s name on the report he called Code Red and threatened to block Hayato’s number. But he hadn’t. Ryu still took his calls, even if only to tell Hayato not to call again.
----
When he opened his eyes, there was a scream caught in his throat and the T-shirt he was wearing was soaked with sweat. Hayato pulled it over his head and climbed out of bed to get a clean one. The clock on the bedside table was flashing 1.32am.
He reached to open his drawer, but his hands were still trembling.
The details of the nightmares varied, but they were essentially the same. In the dreams the threat was real and he wouldn’t reach Ryu in time. There was always the sound of tick…tick…tick… but he would fail to find Ryu. The more frantically he searched the faster the ticking became, from all different directions, until all he could hear was white noise. Every time he woke up he would have to remind himself that reality was different, that he did find Ryu in time and that there had been no ticking noise at all. In reality, the bomb had been fake and Ryu was fine, in fact at this very moment Ryu was probably sleeping soundly on the other side of the wall that separated their apartments.
But the sense of dread he had felt the first time he was shown the ransom note, the insane request of: Bring back my son or I will kill yours, was something not easily forgotten. He remembered the growing sense of dread when the stoic face of Odagiri Shinya cracked and Hayato was told that the criminal’s son had committed suicide two years ago while in custody. It was not a ransom, it was revenge on the Police institute. To let the Chief of Police know that it was an eye for an eye. Hayato hadn’t slept, he hardly ate and he abandoned all of his duties as a patrol officer and begged to be part of the investigation and for three days he did nothing but search for Ryu. And when he found Ryu, he didn’t let go. Even when there was a timer attached to Ryu’s body with wires sticking out and only 1 minute left on the clock. Even when Ryu tried to fight and then tried to beg, Hayato held on tightly. And as the clock ticked to zero they closed their eyes.
Only nothing happened.
The culprit had been an elderly man, devastated after the death of his son and who had never recovered. He didn’t have the resources or knowledge to make a real bomb, but he had been reckless enough to drug the younger Odagiri and had hid him well enough for the entire police department to fall into chaos. It was also the first time that Odagiri Shinya ever lowered his head to Hayato in gratitude.
Hayato threw on a robe and grabbed his keys. A minute later he was knocking on Ryu’s door and then facing a beady eyed Ryu when it opened.
‘I couldn’t sleep,’ Hayato offered lamely.
Ryu simply stepped aside and shut the down after Hayato was inside. No explanation was necessary. After the incident they had agreed on getting places near each other and somehow ended up taking two neighbouring apartments. For Hayato, the aftermath was filled with nightmares that made it impossible for him to go back to sleep without checking on Ryu, even though logically, he knew that the other man was safe. He wasn’t sure what Ryu’s reason for the move was, but then again, they rarely touched upon the incident at all.
Ryu turned to face the other wall while Hayato climbed onto the bed after him. They weren’t touching at the moment, but this had happened often enough for Hayato to know that in the morning their limbs would be intertwined and that was also something they didn’t talk about.
He woke up to movement beside him and opened his eyes in time to see Ryu sit up and move towards the end of the bed. His hand shot up in reflex and caught Ryu’s arm. A streak of sunlight was shining directly into his eyes, but Hayato offered a sleepy grin in Ryu’s general direction.
‘It’s Saturday. Stay a little longer.’
There was a sigh and then Ryu allowed himself to be pulled back into bed. When Ryu was close enough, Hayato pinned him again his chest. He let his hand wander under Ryu’s pyjama top and up his chest until he could feel Ryu ecstatic heartbeat clearly under his palm. There was no complaint, but a while later there was a hand on Hayato’s rear and a gripping squeeze that made him jolt embarrassingly. Ryu had always been an impatient bastard.
It happened every time they fell into bed together; and they seemed to fall into bed together quote often these days. The first time it happened was when Hayato brought Ryu home after the false bombing threat. He blamed the adrenaline and fear for overclouding their senses, because he hadn’t been able to leave Ryu sitting there on the bed alone that night and when they climbed under the covers together they had clung to each other desperately and violently without exchanging a word.
----
When Hayato finally made it out of Ryu’s apartment, he was dressed in one of the bathroom robes Ryu’s mother had forced upon him when Ryu first moved in. Apparently some store assistant had insisted that lavender was an especially lovely colour on pale skin and Yuriko-san had been completely taken. The poor store assistant probably never realised the polite middle-aged lady was buying a gift for her son, not her daughter.
It was a little indecent, but the door to his own apartment was only a few feet away. Hayato stepped out in nothing but the robe and was so occupied with rubbing the towel over his damp hair that he ran straight into someone standing outside the door.
‘Sorry,’ Hayato muttered as he picked up the fallen towel off the floor.
‘What are you doing here?’
The boy looked somewhat familiar. Hayato narrowed his eyes.
‘Do you have trouble with your sight, Oji-san?’ the boy was smirking at him. Hayato was going to retort when the copper hair caught his attention.
One of Yankumi’s brats.
‘My eye sight is fine,’ Hayato said dryly, ‘I just don’t take to remembering all the little punks that come for babysitting.’
‘What did you say?’
‘What are you doing here?’ Hayato asked instead.
‘I asked you the same thing.’
‘I live here.’
The boy opened and then shut his mouth.
‘No he doesn’t,’ a voice came from behind Hayato. Ryu stood in the open door way. ‘He lives next door.’
‘Oh,’ the boy said.
There was an awkward silence in which Ryu and the boy stared at each other and Hayato watched droplets of water fall from Ryu’s wet hair onto the thin T-shirt he was wearing and the damp trails they left down his chest.
‘Ogata-kun was it?’ Ryu finally asked, ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I,’ the boy cleared his throat and coloured slightly, ‘I wanted to thank you for helping me out at the police station.’
Ryu nodded. ‘I believe our firm has already been generously reimbursed for the costs. There’s really no need -‘
‘I wanted to thank you personally!’ Ogata blurted out.
‘Then you’re welcome,’ Ryu said and gave a little smile. ‘Stay out of trouble.’
Ogata bowed respectfully. It wasn’t until the boy disappeared into the elevator that Hayato realised something was strange.
‘How did he know where you live?’
Ryu shrugged. ‘Probably because his father and my father pay Mahjong together.’
‘What?’ Hayato gaped at him.
‘His father’s a judge,’ Ryu said simply. ‘I realised when my boss called this morning about the generous payment we received for representing the kid at the station.’
Hayato continued to gape at him. ‘When did this happen?’
‘While you were using up the hot water.’ Ryu was starting to look a little pissed and Hayato decided that now would be a good time to cross those last few step to his own door.
‘And Hayato,’ Ryu called. ‘Give me back my robe.’
‘But it’s fluffy and hideously purple!’
‘My mother gave that to me and if it’s not there the next time she drops by, I might end up with something that makes fluffy and purple look attractive.’
Hayato frowned and knitted his brows in feigned confusion, ‘Who said fluffy and purple weren’t attractive?’
Ryu rolled his eyes, but Hayato grinned at how he couldn’t quite keep the corners of his lips from lifting.
----
On the night before the first day of the trial, Ryu freaked out. By Ryu's standards, freaking out meant showing up at Hayato's front door with dark bags under his eyes and death-panning: 'Do you have food?'
Hayato shut the door behind them with a sleepy smile and made some hot tea because it was 4 am in the morning and what Ryu needed wasn't food.
'Man up Odagiri,' he said from the kitchen. There was nothing competing with his voice except for the dull sound of traffic, muffled through glass and concrete.
'Shut up.'
He could hear movement from the direction of the living room and Hayato could almost see Ryu clearing the mess on his couch and making himself comfortable. The tea was weaker than he would normally have made it, but just as fragrant. Not that that could fool Ryu because the first thing he said after taking a sip was:
'Is the police salary that bad?'
'Ungrateful bastard,' Hayato said and reached to ruffle Ryu's hair. Ryu was only mildly apologetic when half of the hot liquid spilled onto Hayato's pyjama bottom and even less so when Hayato muttered about vanity and unhealthy obsessions with hair.
'Some of us would like to get some sleep,' Hayato said once his thigh stopped feeling like it was a fire.
'It's tea, not coffee.'
Hayato shrugged. 'Still has caffeine.'
He watched Ryu watch his tea in silence and counted to 60 before sighing audibly.
‘There’s going to be a team of lawyers Ryu, and you’re the most junior. The most you’ll have to do is take notes today.’
Ryu was looking at him now. Hayato hoped he wouldn’t screw this up.
‘Besides, you’ve been working on this for months. You have boxes of files tagged and colour coded. Even if you do get asked to do something, I’m sure you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for with your eyes closed. Nobody knows this case like you do.’
Ryu’s expression was one of surprise, before a smirk slowly spread across his lips.
‘Of course.’
Smug bastard.
Too bad Hayato liked him that way.
Ryu didn’t protest when Hayato pulled him into the bedroom, but he did kick Hayato in the stomach when Hayato tried to pin him to onto the bed.
‘We don’t have time!’ Ryu hissed and rolled over, taking more than half of the blanket.
According to his bedside clock, they had to be up in three hours. But in the end they didn’t end up getting any sleep because then Hayato remembered that while Ryu was probably going to spend the day taking notes, he would be in the witness box answering questions on what he had seen at the scene. Hayato had two pillows and a hot water bottle thrown at him before he agreed to shut up and he was sure the hot water bottle had burned his cheek.
----
The first day of the trial passed in a hazy. Hayato vaguely remembered speaking. Ryu assured him that he didn’t screw up; ‘first officers on the scene, no one was ever going to give you a hard time.’ As the days wore on, the girl at the café opposite the court remembered Hayato’s order, Ryu’s lips gradually thinned into a line and it became harder to escape Odagiri Shinya’s smug expression.
‘The sentence wasn’t too unreasonable,’ he finally said one night while watching Hayato cook, ‘I suppose it wasn’t a complete loss after all.’
He looked tired and disappointed and Hayato added extra sauce on Ryu’s plate when he dished the pasta. They both made half-hearted excuses to decline dinner with Ryu’s parents for a while. There was no doubt that Odagiri Shinya would be unbearable and Hayato feared there would be a serious risk that the scowl on Ryu’s face at the mention of his father during the weeks that followed the trial would become a permanent fixture. It was months before the smug aura around Odagiri Shinya dulled enough for Ryu’s appetite to return while in his father’s presence.
[ Part II ]
or if you must: Law and Order AU
Author: cease11
Pairing: Hayato/Ryu (Gokusen 2)
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, AU
Beta: pinkeuphoria1
Prompt: #004: More (je_prompts)
Disclaimer: Boys do not belong to me
Summary: Hayato is a detective, Ryu is a lawyer. Features some atrocious table manners and questionable relationship advice.
For: becquinho and matchysock who guessed my fic in the k_x Guess the Author and for prologuesized and reddorozette who guessed it before Guess the Author. You girls ninja? (Isa and Joo gave it away, didn't they? You can tell me.)
Part I
‘Come over for dinner tonight.'
Hayato tried to ignore the weight of fifty pairs of eyes suddenly landing on him. To make matters worse, he was pretty sure it wasn’t a question.
‘My wife has mentioned that she misses the dessert you bring around.’ And with that, Odagiri Shinya turned to walk out of the room, signaling the end of the conference.
Hayato ignored the murmur and finished packing his stuff before hurriedly leaving the room. As soon as he found an empty corridor, he grabbed his phone.
‘Yabuki,’ the voice on the other side of the line was clearly impatient, ‘What part of “Don’t talk to me” do you not understand?’
‘Ryuuuu,’ Hayato whine, drawing out the last syllable of the name in a way he knew made his friend roll his eyes. ‘Please tell me you’re going back to your parents’ home for dinner tonight.’
‘I wasn’t planning to,’ Ryu said.
‘You have to,’ Hayato rushed out, ‘Because your father invited me to dinner and I’ll die without you.’
‘You’ve been over plenty of times and you are clearly still alive.’
‘That’s because you were there too! And don’t say I’m alive like it’s something unfortunate.’
‘Hayato, I’m not speaking to you at the moment remember? I’m hanging up.’
‘What? Hey Ryu-‘ Hayato glared at his phone when the dial tone reached his ears. Sometimes, Ryu really failed the emotional support requirement of being a best friend. Not only that, he was knowingly sending Hayato to his death.
The rest of the morning passed relatively uneventful. He called the cake store to order the cheese cake he knew Odarigi Yuriko was fond of. That way if her husband decided that he didn’t like Hayato after all, she might buy him enough time to call Ryu before bullets or forks started flying. He was staring at the clock, both willing it to move faster so that he could escape the pile of paper work on his desk and at the same time dreading it because it was a countdown to the apocalypse.
‘Yabuki,’ his partner said, shoving a cup of coffee into his hand. ‘Stop spacing out. We’ve got a suspect for that teenage drug overdose case.’
Hayato brightened. His partner was a good man, a bringer of good news; a better friend than his supposed best friend who had just hung up on him.
‘You’re a good man Takagi,’ he says and pats his partner on the back. Takagi ignored him and flipped through the documents on Hayato’s desk.
‘Those were supposed to be filled out last week weren’t they?’
Hayato laughed awkwardly, ‘I’ll have them done, I’ll have them done.’
Takagi didn’t look convinced, but shoved a file at him. ‘It’s a minor. They found him carrying the victim’s mobile phone. I thought you might want a try first.’
Hayato nodded. His own run-ins with the police when he was a teenager meant that he was determined to be fair and not pre-judge when it came to what others labeled as troublesome youths. It helped that he was generally more effective at getting co-operation than his colleagues.
‘Oh,’ Takagi called, just as Hayato was heading towards the hallway, ‘He’s got a guardian with him, his homeroom teacher or something.’
It should have been a clue, but Hayato still sputtered and pointed when he opened the door to the interrogation room to find Yamaguchi Kumiko’s surprised face staring at him.
‘What are you doing here?’ They both shouted in surprise.
There was a lot more pointing and asking questions loudly over one another. It all ended when Yankumi reached up to ruffle Hayato’s hair and he laughed because, did she get shorter? Except he must have asked that out loud because she elbowed him in the stomach. The suspect was a highschool boy in Yankumi’s class with copper hair pulled back into a low pony-tail. Hayato raised an eyebrow. Was that the new rebel style? Even so, he had yet to see anyone pull off that hair colour better than Ryu.
‘You have a problem with my hair?’ the boy narrowed his eyes.
Hayato let out a chuckle. ‘It doesn’t suit you.’
‘Yabuki…’ Yankumi said in an exasperated tone. She pulled her fuming student back into his seat while Hayato settled himself into the seat opposite and opened the file.
‘Explain,’ he said simply.
‘I’m not saying anything until my lawyer comes.’ The brat said.
‘It’s alright, Ogata,’ Yankumi said, ‘Yabuki will believe you if you tell the truth.’
The Ogata brat just waved his hand dismissively in her direction.
‘Start of term?’ Hayato asked.
Yankumi sighed, ‘Two months in.’
Hayato nodded.
‘Brat,’ he said to Ogata, ‘Stop wasting our time and tell me what happened.’
He was ignored.
‘The thing is,’ Yankumi started, looking a little embarrassed. ‘I didn’t know that you would be here. And you know how I feel about police stations, so I called someone who I knew would be on our side…’
‘What do you mean?’ Hayato asked.
Before she could answer the door clicked open and a moment later a briefcase slammed down loudly onto the table a little too close to where Hayato’s hand had been resting.
‘Yabuki,’ a familiar voice drawled, ‘if you’re bullying my client, I’ll tell your dad what you did on the night of your 21st Birthday when you didn’t go home.’
Hayato stared at his friend with a horrified expression. He didn’t actually remember what had happened at night. What he did remember was waking up with a hangover and the smell of cheap perfume on his shirt. The grave expressions on his friends’ faces told him that he was probably better off not knowing what had happened.
‘Are you threatening me, Odagiri-sensei.’
‘Not at all, Keiji-san,’ Ryu smirked at him, ‘I’m simply informing you of the consequences of your actions. You won’t actually bully a minor during interrogation, would you now?’
‘Ogata-kun,’ Ryu turned to the brat while Hayato seriously considered looking for a new best friend, ‘This guy may be an idiot, but he’s not bad. Just leave your statement and you’ll be able to go home.’
‘Use simple words,’ Yankumi chimed in, ‘Yabuki was never very good at Kanji.’
‘He took the phone because it was just lying there and because he thought is was nice.’ Hayato said while reading over the statement, ‘What kind of excuse is that? What’s with kids these days?’
Ryu snorted. Hayato could actually only see the top of Ryu’s head over the stack of files and documents on his desk, but he could hear him clearly enough.
‘You sound like an old man, Hayato.’
‘He’s lucky we’re looking for drug related evidence. We might be able to let this one slide.’
‘You have to let it slide, you have nothing. The kid simply picked up a phone lying in the middle of the street.’
Hayato’s left eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Then he heard movement behind the wall of paper and Ryu’s head loomed into view.
‘I’m off then.’
‘Wait!’ Hayato hurried after Ryu as the man headed towards the doors. ‘Dinner, at your parents. You have to come. Your father will skin me alive if I so much as even breathe in the wrong direction. I’ll die Ryu! I’ll die and then you’ll be at my funeral watching me get buried and you’ll cry tears of regret, knowing that it is all because you refused to come with me.’
Ryu looked unimpressed, but he did stop walking. ‘You’re forgetting our agreement.’
‘I promise I won’t talk about the case, any case. In fact, I won’t talk at all!’ He held out his pinky finger, but Ryu just raised an eyebrow and continued out the door.
‘Don’t worry Yabuki, I’ll have you cremated.’
Hayato’s stomach sank as he watched Ryu leave. He remembered the patrol uniform still in his closet and imagined the end of his short lived careers as a detective. Well, on the bright side, he did always manage to get quite a few numbers when he was still a patrol officer, although that was probably more due to the desperation of trying to get out of speeding fines than Hayato’s inherent charms. Then he remembered that he kind of, sort of, maybe, liked Ryu, so those numbers were useless anyway.
----
At 6.30pm that night, Hayato got out of his car to find Ryu leaning against the wall outside the Odgiri residence, waiting for him. Maybe he liked Ryu after all. Then Ryu looked up and smirked at him and all Hayato could think of was that maybe, maybe he really, really liked him.
‘You look like you’re going to burst into tears,’ Ryu said, ‘It’s disturbing.’
‘Ryu…’ Hayato choked out, ‘You’re here.’
Ryu shrugged, ‘I figured if I didn’t come you were bound to do something stupid, like break a glass from my father’s favourite wine glass collection.’
‘Wine glass?’ Hayato asked in a small voice.
Ryu nodded and they made their way towards the door. Odagiri Yuriko thanked him as she accepted the cake Hayato brought and led then into the dinning room. Hayato stared with horror at the wine glasses set out and then he realised there were four places set out. He felt a little cheated.
Ryu looked like he felt absolutely cheated.
‘I see you were expecting me too tonight.’
‘We thought you might decline if we asked you to come, because you’re so busy …’ Ryu’s mother drifted off awkwardly.
Ryu looked like he was going to argue when his father walked into the room and motioned for them to sit.
Odagiri family dinners were always awkward. Apart from the fear of losing his job, it was another major reason why Hayato didn’t enjoy them. Yuriko-san tried her best to ask after Ryu’s welfare and Ryu answered her questions with: Yes he was eating properly, Yes he was capable of doing laundry, No he didn’t eat instant ramen very often. Hayato sighed, Ryu still didn’t understand that he was supposed to offer more information to put his mother at ease.
It was only a matter of time before the usual questions started. This time, it was while they were waiting for Yuriko-san to cut and divide the cake. He would have offered to help, but Hayato didn’t want to leave Ryu and his father alone with a table full of breakable objects.
‘How is the case preparation going.’
Ryu’s lips thinned. ‘Fine.’
‘I doubt you will have much to argue, I heard the prosecution’s evidence is overwhelming. I’m confident we have done more than enough to put that criminal away for good. Isn’t that right, Yabuki?’
Another reason why Hayato hated Odagiri family dinners was because he felt like the older Odagiri was always forcing him to take the side against Ryu. One was his boss and the other his best friend and he didn’t want to offend either of them. Fortunately on this occasion, father and son were too absorbed in their staring contest to insist on his participation in the conversation.
‘That’s good to hear.’ Ryu replied in a monotone voice.
Hayato watched as the staring contest continued. Odagiri Shinya waited for Ryu to offer any information on the case, Ryu refuse to reveal anything. He swallowed; the tension was making him thirsty. But Ryu’s warning was still at the forefront of his mind, he hadn’t touched the wine glass all night.
‘You’re only assisting the real defence lawyer, aren’t you?’
‘We have a team of lawyers working on the case.’
‘You should come work for the prosecution. You’ll get small cases at the beginning, but they’ll be yours. You’ll learn better while on your feet.’
‘I’m learning where I am.’
This could potentially get violent. Hayato shifted nervously and reached for his glass; he’d just have a little bit to drink. But just as he was lifting the glass, the base caught the edge of his plate and there was a loud clink which caused both father and son to turn in his direction.
It was like having a magnifying glass
Hayato wasn’t sure how it was possible, but he swore he could clearly see the hairline crack in the glass spread, like poison, branching up through the stem of the glass and then there was a distinctive crack and the stem shattered. The wine spilled and the red liquid fanned out across the stark white table cloth. In a furry of movement, Hayato stood up and tried to do something with his napkin and then suddenly Yuriko was beside him telling him that it was fine and that she would take care of it. When he looked at Ryu again, Ryu’s eyes were laughing.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he apologised. ‘I know they were part of your favourite glass set…’
Ryu’s father looked confused. ‘They’re just part of a regular glass set.’
Hayato snapped his head towards Ryu, but the other man was facing away from him. Hayato reached under the table and pinched Ryu’s thigh, hard. The bastard didn’t even flinch.
’The plate on the other hand…’ Odagiri Shinya frowned.
Hayato looked down at his plate and saw with horror the chip on the gold plated rim.
----
‘I’m going back to patrolling, aren’t I? Or maybe he’ll just fire me and be done with it. Do you think it’s too late to start a ramen shop? I’m pretty good at making ramen-’
‘Shut up, Hayato,’ Ryu snapped, ‘You’ve been going on for half an hour already. He’s not going to fire you or demote you so keep your eyes open on the road and keep your mouth shut. I’m taking a nap.’
Ryu shifted in the passenger seat until his head rested against the window of the car. The rest of the drive was in silence and when Hayato shut the engine and leaned over to wake Ryu up, he hesitated with his hands over Ryu’s hair and ended up tucking a strand behind his ear. He then leaned back into the driver’s seat and closed his eyes. Maybe they could just stay like this for a little longer.
When he opened his eyes again, Ryu’s face with hovering over him with an expression of annoyance.
‘Why are we both asleep in the carpark?’
‘You fell asleep and then I fell asleep?’ Hayato tried.
Ryu opened the door and stepped out of the car. Hayato did the same and they made their way to the elevators together. Ryu’s door clicked open while Hayato was still rummaging through his pocket for his own keys. He gave Ryu a two finger salute before the other man disappeared into his apartment. When Hayato finally managed to open his own door and turn on the lights, the first thing he did was cross off the date on the calendar. There were still 8 days until the case Ryu was working on went to trial. Those days were marked with a red pen for what Ryu called: ‘Code Red.’
When Hayato was promoted to detective and Ryu started working as a defence attorney, they worked out ground rules so that their professional responsibilities wouldn’t be prejudiced. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. It seemed like a good idea that when Ryu’s firm had a client whose investigation or arrest Hayato had an involvement in, they would agree to cease communication between them. When they realised how long some investigations could potentially take, Ryu’s Code Red was redefined to the month before trial started.
The crime in the current case happened back when Hayato was still a patrol officer and he happened to be one of first officers at the scene. When Ryu saw Hayato’s name on the report he called Code Red and threatened to block Hayato’s number. But he hadn’t. Ryu still took his calls, even if only to tell Hayato not to call again.
----
When he opened his eyes, there was a scream caught in his throat and the T-shirt he was wearing was soaked with sweat. Hayato pulled it over his head and climbed out of bed to get a clean one. The clock on the bedside table was flashing 1.32am.
He reached to open his drawer, but his hands were still trembling.
The details of the nightmares varied, but they were essentially the same. In the dreams the threat was real and he wouldn’t reach Ryu in time. There was always the sound of tick…tick…tick… but he would fail to find Ryu. The more frantically he searched the faster the ticking became, from all different directions, until all he could hear was white noise. Every time he woke up he would have to remind himself that reality was different, that he did find Ryu in time and that there had been no ticking noise at all. In reality, the bomb had been fake and Ryu was fine, in fact at this very moment Ryu was probably sleeping soundly on the other side of the wall that separated their apartments.
But the sense of dread he had felt the first time he was shown the ransom note, the insane request of: Bring back my son or I will kill yours, was something not easily forgotten. He remembered the growing sense of dread when the stoic face of Odagiri Shinya cracked and Hayato was told that the criminal’s son had committed suicide two years ago while in custody. It was not a ransom, it was revenge on the Police institute. To let the Chief of Police know that it was an eye for an eye. Hayato hadn’t slept, he hardly ate and he abandoned all of his duties as a patrol officer and begged to be part of the investigation and for three days he did nothing but search for Ryu. And when he found Ryu, he didn’t let go. Even when there was a timer attached to Ryu’s body with wires sticking out and only 1 minute left on the clock. Even when Ryu tried to fight and then tried to beg, Hayato held on tightly. And as the clock ticked to zero they closed their eyes.
Only nothing happened.
The culprit had been an elderly man, devastated after the death of his son and who had never recovered. He didn’t have the resources or knowledge to make a real bomb, but he had been reckless enough to drug the younger Odagiri and had hid him well enough for the entire police department to fall into chaos. It was also the first time that Odagiri Shinya ever lowered his head to Hayato in gratitude.
Hayato threw on a robe and grabbed his keys. A minute later he was knocking on Ryu’s door and then facing a beady eyed Ryu when it opened.
‘I couldn’t sleep,’ Hayato offered lamely.
Ryu simply stepped aside and shut the down after Hayato was inside. No explanation was necessary. After the incident they had agreed on getting places near each other and somehow ended up taking two neighbouring apartments. For Hayato, the aftermath was filled with nightmares that made it impossible for him to go back to sleep without checking on Ryu, even though logically, he knew that the other man was safe. He wasn’t sure what Ryu’s reason for the move was, but then again, they rarely touched upon the incident at all.
Ryu turned to face the other wall while Hayato climbed onto the bed after him. They weren’t touching at the moment, but this had happened often enough for Hayato to know that in the morning their limbs would be intertwined and that was also something they didn’t talk about.
He woke up to movement beside him and opened his eyes in time to see Ryu sit up and move towards the end of the bed. His hand shot up in reflex and caught Ryu’s arm. A streak of sunlight was shining directly into his eyes, but Hayato offered a sleepy grin in Ryu’s general direction.
‘It’s Saturday. Stay a little longer.’
There was a sigh and then Ryu allowed himself to be pulled back into bed. When Ryu was close enough, Hayato pinned him again his chest. He let his hand wander under Ryu’s pyjama top and up his chest until he could feel Ryu ecstatic heartbeat clearly under his palm. There was no complaint, but a while later there was a hand on Hayato’s rear and a gripping squeeze that made him jolt embarrassingly. Ryu had always been an impatient bastard.
It happened every time they fell into bed together; and they seemed to fall into bed together quote often these days. The first time it happened was when Hayato brought Ryu home after the false bombing threat. He blamed the adrenaline and fear for overclouding their senses, because he hadn’t been able to leave Ryu sitting there on the bed alone that night and when they climbed under the covers together they had clung to each other desperately and violently without exchanging a word.
----
When Hayato finally made it out of Ryu’s apartment, he was dressed in one of the bathroom robes Ryu’s mother had forced upon him when Ryu first moved in. Apparently some store assistant had insisted that lavender was an especially lovely colour on pale skin and Yuriko-san had been completely taken. The poor store assistant probably never realised the polite middle-aged lady was buying a gift for her son, not her daughter.
It was a little indecent, but the door to his own apartment was only a few feet away. Hayato stepped out in nothing but the robe and was so occupied with rubbing the towel over his damp hair that he ran straight into someone standing outside the door.
‘Sorry,’ Hayato muttered as he picked up the fallen towel off the floor.
‘What are you doing here?’
The boy looked somewhat familiar. Hayato narrowed his eyes.
‘Do you have trouble with your sight, Oji-san?’ the boy was smirking at him. Hayato was going to retort when the copper hair caught his attention.
One of Yankumi’s brats.
‘My eye sight is fine,’ Hayato said dryly, ‘I just don’t take to remembering all the little punks that come for babysitting.’
‘What did you say?’
‘What are you doing here?’ Hayato asked instead.
‘I asked you the same thing.’
‘I live here.’
The boy opened and then shut his mouth.
‘No he doesn’t,’ a voice came from behind Hayato. Ryu stood in the open door way. ‘He lives next door.’
‘Oh,’ the boy said.
There was an awkward silence in which Ryu and the boy stared at each other and Hayato watched droplets of water fall from Ryu’s wet hair onto the thin T-shirt he was wearing and the damp trails they left down his chest.
‘Ogata-kun was it?’ Ryu finally asked, ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I,’ the boy cleared his throat and coloured slightly, ‘I wanted to thank you for helping me out at the police station.’
Ryu nodded. ‘I believe our firm has already been generously reimbursed for the costs. There’s really no need -‘
‘I wanted to thank you personally!’ Ogata blurted out.
‘Then you’re welcome,’ Ryu said and gave a little smile. ‘Stay out of trouble.’
Ogata bowed respectfully. It wasn’t until the boy disappeared into the elevator that Hayato realised something was strange.
‘How did he know where you live?’
Ryu shrugged. ‘Probably because his father and my father pay Mahjong together.’
‘What?’ Hayato gaped at him.
‘His father’s a judge,’ Ryu said simply. ‘I realised when my boss called this morning about the generous payment we received for representing the kid at the station.’
Hayato continued to gape at him. ‘When did this happen?’
‘While you were using up the hot water.’ Ryu was starting to look a little pissed and Hayato decided that now would be a good time to cross those last few step to his own door.
‘And Hayato,’ Ryu called. ‘Give me back my robe.’
‘But it’s fluffy and hideously purple!’
‘My mother gave that to me and if it’s not there the next time she drops by, I might end up with something that makes fluffy and purple look attractive.’
Hayato frowned and knitted his brows in feigned confusion, ‘Who said fluffy and purple weren’t attractive?’
Ryu rolled his eyes, but Hayato grinned at how he couldn’t quite keep the corners of his lips from lifting.
----
On the night before the first day of the trial, Ryu freaked out. By Ryu's standards, freaking out meant showing up at Hayato's front door with dark bags under his eyes and death-panning: 'Do you have food?'
Hayato shut the door behind them with a sleepy smile and made some hot tea because it was 4 am in the morning and what Ryu needed wasn't food.
'Man up Odagiri,' he said from the kitchen. There was nothing competing with his voice except for the dull sound of traffic, muffled through glass and concrete.
'Shut up.'
He could hear movement from the direction of the living room and Hayato could almost see Ryu clearing the mess on his couch and making himself comfortable. The tea was weaker than he would normally have made it, but just as fragrant. Not that that could fool Ryu because the first thing he said after taking a sip was:
'Is the police salary that bad?'
'Ungrateful bastard,' Hayato said and reached to ruffle Ryu's hair. Ryu was only mildly apologetic when half of the hot liquid spilled onto Hayato's pyjama bottom and even less so when Hayato muttered about vanity and unhealthy obsessions with hair.
'Some of us would like to get some sleep,' Hayato said once his thigh stopped feeling like it was a fire.
'It's tea, not coffee.'
Hayato shrugged. 'Still has caffeine.'
He watched Ryu watch his tea in silence and counted to 60 before sighing audibly.
‘There’s going to be a team of lawyers Ryu, and you’re the most junior. The most you’ll have to do is take notes today.’
Ryu was looking at him now. Hayato hoped he wouldn’t screw this up.
‘Besides, you’ve been working on this for months. You have boxes of files tagged and colour coded. Even if you do get asked to do something, I’m sure you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for with your eyes closed. Nobody knows this case like you do.’
Ryu’s expression was one of surprise, before a smirk slowly spread across his lips.
‘Of course.’
Smug bastard.
Too bad Hayato liked him that way.
Ryu didn’t protest when Hayato pulled him into the bedroom, but he did kick Hayato in the stomach when Hayato tried to pin him to onto the bed.
‘We don’t have time!’ Ryu hissed and rolled over, taking more than half of the blanket.
According to his bedside clock, they had to be up in three hours. But in the end they didn’t end up getting any sleep because then Hayato remembered that while Ryu was probably going to spend the day taking notes, he would be in the witness box answering questions on what he had seen at the scene. Hayato had two pillows and a hot water bottle thrown at him before he agreed to shut up and he was sure the hot water bottle had burned his cheek.
----
The first day of the trial passed in a hazy. Hayato vaguely remembered speaking. Ryu assured him that he didn’t screw up; ‘first officers on the scene, no one was ever going to give you a hard time.’ As the days wore on, the girl at the café opposite the court remembered Hayato’s order, Ryu’s lips gradually thinned into a line and it became harder to escape Odagiri Shinya’s smug expression.
‘The sentence wasn’t too unreasonable,’ he finally said one night while watching Hayato cook, ‘I suppose it wasn’t a complete loss after all.’
He looked tired and disappointed and Hayato added extra sauce on Ryu’s plate when he dished the pasta. They both made half-hearted excuses to decline dinner with Ryu’s parents for a while. There was no doubt that Odagiri Shinya would be unbearable and Hayato feared there would be a serious risk that the scowl on Ryu’s face at the mention of his father during the weeks that followed the trial would become a permanent fixture. It was months before the smug aura around Odagiri Shinya dulled enough for Ryu’s appetite to return while in his father’s presence.
[ Part II ]