Title: Scarlet

Author: badly-knitted

Characters: Ryo, Dee.

Rating: PG-13

Setting: After the manga.

Summary: Ryo gets annoyed that Dee's treating his blushing like a game.

Word Count: 429

Written Using: The tw100 prompt 'Red'.

Disclaimer: I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

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Ryo felt his cheeks heat up, and for what felt like the billionth time, cursed his tendency to blush at the slightest thing. It wasn't surprising that Dee had never believed him whenever Ryo had insisted he wasn't attracted to him. The proof was right there in his red face, if nowhere else.

"Hah!" Dee crowed, delighted. "Made you blush!"

"Like that's something to be proud of," Ryo grumbled, absurdly annoyed. "It's not like it's difficult."

Dee shifted, his laughter cutting off like a switch had been thrown. "Hey, what's the matter, babe?"

Ryo sighed. "It's nothing, it's just… I hate blushing. It's bad enough that I get embarrassed about everything, but the blushing makes it worse because then everyone knows I'm embarrassed. And now you're treating it like a game!" He sounded petulant, and he knew it, but dammit, it just wasn't funny to him, even if everybody else found it amusing.

"Sorry, babe. Guess I never really thought about what it's like for you. I didn't mean to sound like I was makin' fun of you, because I didn't mean it like that. Honest."

"I know you didn't. It's just a bit of a touchy subject with me, especially tonight."

"Why tonight in particular?"

"Let's just say that blushing in court does nothing for my credibility as a witness."

"The undercover gig? The one where the naked prostitute tried to give you a lap dance?"

"Yeah." Ryo's face was flaming again.

"Wish I could'a been there."

"You probably would've enjoyed it a lot more than I did," Ryo grumbled, flopping back on the bed.

"No, I don't mean for the lap dance, I mean in court today. As moral support if nothing else, just so there'd have been someone there who was on your side one hundred percent. You shouldn't have had to go through that alone."

Ryo rolled onto his side, facing Dee. "Thanks, Dee. That's sweet of you."

"Yeah, well, I'm a sweet guy." Dee grinned cheekily and leaned in to kiss Ryo. "And I really am sorry about earlier. Promise I'll never deliberately try to make you blush again, or tease ya about it."

"I'd appreciate that."

"Doesn't mean I won't still be happy if you blush when we're in bed like this though," he added, running his hand down Ryo's bare chest, then further down, beneath the covers.

"What d'you mean?" Ryo sounded puzzled and Dee smirked.

"I always take it as a sign you like what I'm doin'," he said with a wink.

Ryo smiled back. "That's good, because you'd be right."

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The End