Problems at the Office
Ryo and Dee are finally a happy couple!--until the rest of the squad catches wind of their courtship. Now, not only does Ryo have second thoughts about being openly "together" with Dee, but both of their jobs are at stake!
DISCLAIMER: I do not have the pleasure of owning FAKE; that honor goes to Sanami Matoh-sama. I do not have Matoh-sama's permission to write this, and it only for the pleasure of those who read it here on For morons who are reading this without knowing what FAKE is, this is yaoi. Rated M for language and sexuality, and explicit convorsations in later chapters.
Chapter 1: Complaints
Ryo MacClean woke around 3:30am. After taking a quick shower, he hurried out of his somewhat lavish apartment and caught a cab down to the 27th precinct of the NYPD—his dream job. As he pushed his way through the swinging doors he smelled the coffee that was constantly brewing and was suddenly aching for a cup. He made his way through crowds of his coworkers toward his small office and saw a little girl run across the room to a woman that stood waiting for her. As he watched them embrace, he remembered why he kept going in such a stressful line of work. He knew that he helped someone everyday, even if only a little, and that got him through his days—even when they were 4-4 shifts, like today.
"Hey, Ryo," he heard behind him as he sat in front of his computer. Ryo turned in his swiveling chair, and saw Dee Laytner standing behind him wearing his usual smirk.
Ryo couldn't help by smile. "Hi Dee. How long have you been here?"
Dee rolled his eyes and grimaced. "Since last night. Damned Badger—he had me here all night working with the commissioner on some kidnapping from 10 years ago or some other long-ass time ago." He pretended to gag at the thought of the commissioner, Berkeley Rose.
Ryo turned back to his computer and flipped the "ON" switch. "You know the chief only wants you two to get along." As the computer came to life, he watched Dee's reflection as he came up behind him. Dee leaned on the back of Ryo's chair and whispered into Ryo's ear:
"How can I get along with the commish when he's wanted you from day one?" Ryo felt Dee's warm breath on his ear and chills ran his spine. He and Dee had been in a relationship for a few months now, but Dee still had so many tricks up his sleeve that no matter what Ryo knew, there was always something more. And, while Ryo experienced everything anew, Dee got to enjoy his partner's naïveté. "Don't think I've forgotten that he likes you just 'coz we're together now. He still looks at you, ya know, and I may be stupid but I'm not blind."
"I didn't mean any of that, Dee, and you know it," Ryo said huffily, falling into his usual role of "irritated bystander". "Now you go sit at your desk, I'll sit at mine, and we can get working. Okay?"
"Fine," Dee grumbled, turning to return to his desk behind Ryo's.
Ryo smiled. No matter how many gay-tricks Dee knew, Ryo always had a "no"-trick to counter it. However, just as Ryo turned around to grab some coffee, Dee pounced, grabbing Ryo by the chin and kissing him passionately. He let Ryo come up for air, which he desperately needed, then murmured "Good morning, partner." He then strode to his desk, satisfied for the moment, and continued clicking away at his old kidnapping case.
Ryo sat breathing heavily by the coffeepot and smiling slightly—Dee's trick had won out today, but, then again, the day wasn't over yet.
Dee scrolled through some old files, hoping to find something out about the kidnapping case the chief had assigned him. Stupid old Badger, he thought bitterly as he halfheartedly skimmed some old suspect files that had turned up dead-ends. He set me with Rose on purpose, he knows I hate him. He looked away from the screen for a moment and saw Ryo leaving the office.
"Hey!" he called, leaping from his seat to follow. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to check in with the chief," Ryo replied matter-of-factly. "I need a new case since my last one just closed, and seeing as we are a police station, I figured he'd have something for me to do."
"You came in at four in the morning without a case?" Dee sneered, flashing his trademark grin. "You must've really wanted to see me, huh?"
"Don't flatter yourself, Neanderthal. I switched with Drake again, so I thought I would do my best here."
"Right." Dee turned back to his desk, grabbed a file, and strode out of the office alongside Ryo. "I guess I'll come along too," he said, as if he was making a huge sacrifice. "It'll give me a chance to ask the chief why the hell he gave me something so random, and I'll be able to keep an eye on Berks for you."
Ryo shrugged and kept walking, and Dee stayed right next to him. Dee unknowingly glared at Ryo, the way he could just walk down the hallways looking so uninterested while Dee couldn't do anything but act out. Dee loved and hated that quality in him, because half the time he couldn't tell whether Ryo still felt anything for him. He could be so damn stony.
That must be what the commish sees in him, Dee thought coldly as they rounded the corner into the chief's office. The way he can turn his emotions off and on like that.
"Hey boys," the chief said through a cigar as they walked up to his desk. "What are we up to now?"
Dee watched as Ryo explained about wanting a new case to work on and made some joke about not having anymore cover-up paperwork of Dee's for once without really listening. Although Dee loved Ryo more than life itself, he had yet to completely figure him out. Ryo always tried to act as though they weren't together at work, but as soon as they were off police territory suddenly they were allowed to be all over each other. Dee couldn't make sense of it, and anytime he'd asked Ryo about it directly the subject magically changed to something else.
If only he'd let me in a little. Then I could prove to him that I'm a hell of a lot more than just a pretty face and a hot piece of ass.
"Dee?" The chief had been talking to Dee but Dee, lost in his thoughts, hadn't heard a word he'd said.
"What?" he said, trying not to sound too stupid.
"I said would you mind letting Ryo in on your kidnapping?" the chief said, obviously irritated.
"Ah, no, of course not," Dee said quickly. "But I thought I was on that with Berk?"
"If you'd rather have the commissioner, that's fine with me," the chief said leaning back on his desk. "I just thought that, under the circumstances, you two might want to work together."
"What circumstances?" Ryo asked politely, but still noticeably intrigued.
"I mean with you being, well…you know." The chief looked flustered, as though he didn't want to say what he was trying to say. Finally he gave up trying to find the right words and just blurted it out. "Since you guys are like a couple now."
Dee frowned. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he demanded, taking a few steps closer to the chief. "Are you saying that you don't like what we've got so you're sticking us together just to keep us outta your hair?"
"No, no, it's nothing like that," the chief said. "It's just…" He walked across his office and closed the door before continuing. "We've gotten some complaints from some of the office staff, and from our citizens, that they don't like you guys working together if you like each other, which is pretty obvious. The Bronx station started getting compliments because they finally got you guys to leave. So it's not that I'm a homophobe or anything, it's just there have been people saying that they don't think you should do any really active cases until they decide whether or not your relationship is affecting your work habits." He shrugged then made his way back to his desk.
"How would people even know!" Dee raged, pacing around the lounge while Ryo sat at the table sifting through his new files around 6:30. "I mean, it's not like we would kiss or anything during bomb threats and shit—"
"I don't know Dee," Ryo sighed, more interested in his age-old files than Dee's ranting. "Maybe word just got out, and people started seeing it every time we walked by, like when we release a photo of some killer, everyone sees him everywhere."
"This is just discrimination though! I mean, how would word even get out? No one knew but our guys in here, and they wouldn't have…" Dee stopped short. "Berkeley. I bet he spread some rumors about us and then everyone went looking for proof!"
"So now you're blaming Berkeley for your flamboyant gayness?" Ryo snickered.
"Will you shut up, this is serious!" Dee yelled.
"What's happening in here?" Ryo and Dee turned to the door in time to see fellow detectives Drake, Ted and JJ walk into the lounge looking weary.
"Where have you guys been?" Dee said angrily, flopping into a seat next to Ryo.
"Huge drug bust, man," Ted said, sliding into a chair across from them. "Turned into this big hostage situation, and we had to call JJ in to snipe…God it was exhausting."
"Hostages!" Dee shouted, standing again. "Ryo, even your pansy ass should be outraged at this! We weren't even called in during a hostage situation!"
"What's your problem?" Drake asked from the coffee counter. "You usually leap at the chance to get out of doing any work, why are you so upset?"
"Because the only reason we weren't called is that we're a gay couple and your hostages would've probably rather stayed with their captors than get saved by two men who share a bed!"
"Dee!" Ryo hissed, turning bright red.
"What?" Dee bellowed back, now rounding on Ryo. "Just because you can't admit it doesn't mean I—"
"Ladies, would you please keep your voices down, I can hear you across the station." Someone else had just entered the lounge—Berkeley Rose, the asshole commissioner.
"What the hell do you want, commissioner?" Dee asked haughtily.
"For you to shut up for 10 minutes," Berkeley shot back. "I also needed to know if you'd come up with anything on that kidnapping."
"No, I haven't, and I wouldn't be reporting it to you anymore anyway because I'm working on it with Ryo now." Dee smirked at Berkeley's obvious annoyance. "Or did the chief forget to mention that to you?"
Berkeley didn't bite. "The chief did tell me that he was putting Ryo on the case, actually. What he didn't say was that he was taking me off it. So, in effect, we're all working together on this one, Dee—and I don't like it any more than you do." He turned on his heel and walked back down the hall in the direction of the chief's office.
"Asshole," Dee grumbled.
"Not that this isn't fun, but I'm going to go look these up on the computer, too," Ryo said, getting up from his chair and walking quickly to the door. "See you there?"
"In a bit." Dee watched his silhouette walked down the hall in the opposite direction from Berkeley. "Why is it I can't figure him out, huh?"
"Why does it matter whether you figure him out?" JJ burst out. It was the first time he'd spoken to Dee in weeks. JJ had known Dee when they were in the police academy together and had fallen in love with him there, but no matter how hard he tried, Dee had always hated him. So ever since he'd heard that Ryo had snagged Dee's heart, he'd been giving Dee the silent treatment—not realizing that Dee was loving not having him around. "You finally got him, so why do you care what he's about?"
"Because contrary to what you may think, I'm not only with him to piss you off!" Dee shouted.
"Well!" JJ said indignantly, standing up and walking huffily out of the lounge.
Dee raised and eyebrow, then turned back to Drake and Ted. "So what do you guys think?"
"I don't really know, man," said Ted, sounding more than half-asleep. "You said that Ryo was straight before right? Well, maybe he's feeling pressure 'cause he's gay now?"
"Actually a good point," Dee said grumpily. He hated being wrong.
"It's possible," Drake yawned. "However, there might be pressure coming from you too, ya know Dee."
"What!" Dee cried, leaping once again from his seat. "I haven't been pressured him into anything!"
"I'm not saying you did!" Drake yelled defensively. "All I'm saying is that you're very open about being gay and he's not yet. I mean come on, he's lived his entire life straight and then out of the blue he meets you and falls head over heels. Maybe he just feels like the switch was too much too fast and he doesn't think anyone else will be able to deal with it?"
"I guess…" Dee leaned against the coffee counter to ponder the thought. Have I been pushing to hard for him to come around? I mean, it has been a couple weeks, but maybe he still doesn't know… "I'll talk to him about it tonight, then. Maybe I can figure out what's bugging him if I ask him directly." He walked out of the lounge and down the hall to his and Ryo's office.
Ryo sat in his bedroom later that night sifting through the files the chief had given him. Every lead they had gotten back then had dried up, and there was so little evidence the case might as well not have existed. He took off his glasses and slumped a little. He hadn't been assigned such a washed up case in ages. He heard the door open and figured it was Bikky, the boy he'd taken in after the boy's father died. He heard him coming his way and called out to him.
"Hey Bikky, I'm in my room. How was school?"
"Bikky's with Carol." Ryo heard Dee's voice float over to him from the living room. He looked up in surprise.
"Dee? I didn't know you were coming over," Ryo said, hoping he didn't sound unhappy to see him. "How do you know where Bikky is?"
"Because I paid him 20 bucks to go," Dee said assuredly, walking into Ryo's room and plopping onto his bed next to him. He looked Ryo straight in the eye. "We need to talk."
Ryo tried to smile, but he knew Dee was serious. "Okay. What about?"
"Why don't you 'fess up to the fact that you are ashamed of being gay?" Dee demanded. "You know what you are, I know, everyone at the station knows, so why do you still feel like you need to hide? I kissed you earlier and it felt like I was kissing a freakin' doorknob! What is it that's making you hold back?"
Ryo hung his head, unable to look at Dee. "You know what the chief said? About the complaints? He told about me that kind of thing awhile ago, before it was specifically about us. He said that he hoped he never ended up having a gay couple in his precinct just so he wouldn't have to deal with it." Ryo finally looked Dee in the eye. "That's another reason it took so long for me to admit I liked you, too. I'm sorry I'm not as outgoing as you are, Dee. I wish I had the guts to admit what I am to the world, but I can't. I'm sorry."
Dee was quiet for a long time. He looked as if he was having trouble processing what Ryo had just said. After awhile he said, "So you knew about this homophobic police shit and didn't tell me?"
"Of course not," Ryo said exasperatedly, amazed that Dee was focusing on that aspect of the story of all things. "If I had you'd have made a huge scene like you did today and I would have never said anything!"
Dee put his head in his hands. Ryo felt guilty for causing something like this, but he didn't know how to act now that he was with Dee. Gay people never bothered him or anything, but now that he was gay himself he was worried about what people would think of him for the first time in his life. And Dee hadn't done anything to deserve his reservations. He happened to fall in love with someone who wasn't aware of his sexuality, let alone comfortable with it, and that wasn't his fault.
Ryo heard Dee mumble something into his hands. "What?" Ryo asked.
Dee lifted his head and, without looking at Ryo, whispered, "Do you want to end this, Ryo?"
Ryo couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "No!" he exclaimed, aghast that Dee of all people would be the one to suggest something so drastic. "I've got some quirks, but I can work them out! We can work it out, Dee! Together!" Dee still wouldn't look at him. "Dee!" Ryo got off his bed and knelt in front of Dee.
Ryo cupped Dee's face in his hands and forced him to look up. He smiled but Dee looked away. He stood and walked to the door, where he stood immobile in the frame.
"Tell me the truth, Ryo," Dee hissed, sounding almost angry. "Do you want to end this?"
Ryo stood and walked up behind Dee—and punched him hard in the shoulder.
"Hey!" Dee cried, rounding on Ryo. "What the hell was that for!"
"At least now you sound like yourself you stupid jerk!" Ryo yelled, angrier now than worried. "I told you my answer! If you want to end this then just tell me but don't try to make me say that I wanted it because I don't!"
"Prove it, Sandra Dee!" Dee yelled right back. "Prove that you give a shit about me or us! Stop cowering in the shadows every time someone passes in fear that someone will see us together! Stop telling me to be quiet when I say something that might indicate we're more than field partners! For God's sake, pretend like you're interested in me somewhere outside your or my apartment!"
"Fine!" Ryo was hardly aware of what he'd just agreed to, he just wanted Dee to be on his side again. "I'll do whatever you want, just please don't make us end something really good just because I'm screwed up!" He held Dee and talked more quietly. "We can get through anything, but we have to stay together if we intend to make this work. I'll work on my quirks, and you just talk to me instead of going Drake and Ted about it first, okay?"
"How'd you know I went to Drake and Ted first?" Dee asked.
JJ came by and started ranting about how could I treat Dee like that when most other people are fawning over him. Then he said that you were in the lounge talking to Drake and Ted about it."
"I'll kill him for that tomorrow," Dee pushed Ryo off him gently. "But until then…" He shoved Ryo down onto his own bed and straddled him there. "Let's make up for real, huh?"
"You sex fiend!" Ryo shouted, trying to push Dee off him. "You have the worst timing possible when you get horny, ya know!"
"It's not something I can help. Now quiet down, and let's make all our troubles melt away…"
At work the next day, Dee spun around and around in his swivel chair at his desk, not caring that his computer was beeping at him with information on his case. He and Ryo had gotten intimate the night before and he was on cloud nine. Ryo had a knack of doing that to him, even when he wasn't trying to. Dee was about to spin another time when he heard someone enter his office.
"Well, someone's talk went well," Ted said as he sidled past a stack of evidence boxes Ryo had offered to hold for the ME.
"You bet your ass it did," Dee sang, spinning his chair so hard he banged into his desk. "Ow! God damn it!"
"We were in here for a reason, people," JJ pushed past Ted and stood directly in front of Dee. "The chief wants to have a talk with you, Dee, so you get your fine ass up and follow me!" He strode out of the office and down the hall.
Dee followed reluctantly, eventually losing Ted in the mass of people crowding the station. When he reached the chief's office he saw that Ryo had already arrived there—and that the chief did not look happy.
"What's up, Badger?" he asked, completely bewildered.
The chief sighed and rubbed his temples. Dee grimaced. This isn't going to be pretty.
"Boys," the chief said in a low, serious voice. "We have things to discuss. I received another anonymous complaint yesterday, which said that you two are all over each other. I don't give a damn what you do in the privacy of your own home, but at work you need to be strictly field partners, nothing else."
"How is this an emergency, we've already talked about this!" Dee said testily.
"Well it obviously didn't sink in, now, did it?" the chief shouted. He sighed, composing himself. "I don't know how else to stop this, but if I get one more complaint I'm suspending you both without pay."
Ryo stepped in now, clearly angry. "What! Chief, you can't suspend us! We haven't done anything wrong! Unless we have committed a crime or something we can't be suspended!"
"Well, then, keep your hands off each other and I won't have to," the chief said simply. "If you give me anymore trouble it's going to be my only option."
"But what about outside work?" Dee said. "Will that count against us?"
"Only if someone says something about it," the chief replied. "Now go back to work—I've got some other people coming and I want to be ready."
Ryo and Dee stomped out of the chief's office and down the hall to their office. "I cannot believe this is happening!" Ryo cried once they were safely inside. "I happen to have a boyfriend and suddenly I'm threatened with losing my job? This is ridiculous!"
"See? Now my ranting from yesterday doesn't seem so stupid, huh?" Dee grumbled, staring straight into his computer without seeming to really see it.
Why is everything so hard all of a sudden? Ryo asked himself. Everything was fine at first, but it's gone so downhill that it's not funny! "Do you think this could be a setup?" He directed his question at Dee, but Dee didn't respond. "Dee?"
"You were right, weren't you?" Dee said, swiveling around to face Ryo. "You said you didn't want to be too public because it could get us in trouble, and you were right. Now we're on the verge of losing our jobs all because I wanted you to come out of the closet."
"It's not your fault everyone's being so dumb about us," Ryo said.
"Yeah, but I'm the one who forced them to see something that freaked them out. Face it, Ryo, I'm a jerk just like you said last night."
"No you're not, I only said that because I was angry. And besides, you're my jerk, and nothing will ever take you away from me." He gave Dee a quick but meaningful kiss, then smiled. Finally, Dee smiled back, and they returned to their case.
Outside Ryo and Dee's office, a man stood with a small digital camera, which he was pointing directly through the tiny square window in the office door. He clicked the button a few times, not wanting to miss anything that would aid him. He turned the camera toward himself and looked into the tiny viewing screen. He smiled.
Perfect.