FAKE Fic: At The End Of A Long Night

[badly_knitted]

 

Title: At The End Of A Long Night

Fandom: FAKE

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Ryo, Dee, Ted, mentions Bikky, Carol, Mother Lane

Rating: G

Setting: Somewhere around Vol. 2 or 3.

Summary: Ryo and Dee have been on stakeout half the night, but now the sun’s coming up, even though they can’t see it because of the buildings.

Word Count: 1040

Written For: oneill’s prompt ‘Any, Any, Now the city blacks out the sun / That you know is rising,’ at fic_promptly.

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

At street level in the middle of Manhattan sunrise was hidden by the towering shapes of skyscrapers. Ryo only knew it was dawn because the sky was getting lighter overhead. He figured the sun must already be creeping above the horizon somewhere off to the east.

He rubbed his eyes, gritty from lack of sleep, and stretched carefully to ease the kinks from his back without drawing undue attention to himself. He’d been on a stakeout since midnight; now it was just after five in the morning, and in the previous five hours nothing at all had happened. It had been one of the most boring nights of his life.

Beside him, Dee was slumped in the passenger seat, asleep. He’d been zonked out for the past couple of hours and Ryo probably should’ve woken him, would have if anything had happened, but with the complete lack of any kind of activity whatsoever, there hadn’t been any reason to. At least one of them would be rested if action were required. Dee could wake up and be fully alert in less than a minute, which was more than could be said for Ryo, who took at least five minutes to get his brain back in gear enough to do anything useful.

They only had an hour left before they would be relieved, another team of detectives taking their place to keep watch on the rundown tenement. Ryo doubted anything would happen now that the dark of night was past. Soon ordinary people would be getting up to start their days, but all he wanted was something to eat and a few hours’ sleep. At least he wouldn’t have to get Bikky up and off to school first; the boy was at Carol’s because of Ryo working late shift, so he’d go straight to school from there.

Ryo smiled to himself; he and Dee had the rest of the day off, they didn’t have to be back at work until tomorrow morning. He poured himself the last drop of coffee from the flask he’d brought with him and drank it down, keeping his eyes on the street, which was as still and empty as it has been all night.

“Is that coffee?” Dee was awake at last, sitting up a little straighter and looking vaguely hopeful.

“It was; that was the last of it, not even half a cup. You drank most of it earlier.”

“Huh. Better bring two flasks next time we’re on stakeout.”

“I thought you’d have the sense to bring your own.”

“I don’t own a flask.”

Ryo rolled his eyes. “Guess I know what I’m getting you for Christmas this year then,” he teased.

“Big spender! Careful you don’t put a dent in your savings!”

“At least I have savings. You spend money like water.”

“Hey, I have a big family to support!”

It was true in a way. Any wages Dee didn’t spend on his own living expenses tended to go towards supplies for Mother Lane’s orphanage. He did whatever he could to help out. Ryo, on the other hand, was saving for Bikky’s future. They were both doing the best they could for their respective families.

Silence fell for a few minutes before Dee spoke again.

“What time is it anyway?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t own a wristwatch either.”

“I do, I just can’t be bothered to look at it.”

“Never do for yourself what you can get someone else to do for you, is that it?” They’d been working together for about eight months, but it still surprised Ryo just how lazy his partner could be. Nevertheless, he checked his watch because now that Dee had mentioned it, he wanted to know as well. “It’s just after five thirty. Another half an hour and Ted and Marty will be here to take over.”

“Great! I’m starving, how about we stop somewhere for breakfast on the way home?”

Even though he was looking forward to going home, taking a hot shower, and falling into bed, food he didn’t have to prepare for himself was an appealing thought.

“I’ll even spring for it, coffee too,” Dee added, and that sealed the deal.

“Now who’s the big spender? Okay, sure, sounds good.”

“Great! Hey, anything happen while I was asleep?”

“If it had, I would’ve woken you.”

Just at that moment, the sun started to peep around the edge of a distant tower block, flooding the street they were on with light and making them blink against the unexpected brightness. Almost in unison, they pulled out their sunglasses and put them on. A car pulled up across the street from them and their radio buzzed. Dee reached for the mike and answered it.

“Yo! ‘Bout time you two got here!”

“What’re you talkin’about?” Ted’s voice came through the speaker in a crackle of static. “We’re fifteen minutes early!”

“And we’re starving so we’re off for a well-deserved breakfast. Catch ya later!”

“Hey, wait a minute, aren’t you even gonna fill us in on what’s been happening?”

Dee snorted softly. “If anything had happened, I would’a told ya already.” He winked at Ryo over the tops of his sunglasses, smirking as his long-suffering partner shook his head.

Ryo snatched the mike from Dee’s hand and spoke into it. “Everything’s been quiet, Ted. You’re probably in for a boring six hours. Since you’re here though, would you mind if we took off early?”

“Nah, go ahead. Makes no sense for all of us to sit around here watchin’ nothing happening. See ya tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Ted.” Ryo hung up the mike and fired up the engine of the beat up hunk of rust stakeout car they were using. “So, where to for breakfast?”

“How about Anita’s diner?”There’s a parking lot just down the street from there that’s no charge before eight.”

Ryo slipped the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. He could already practically taste the waffles Anita served and his stomach growled in anticipation, echoed by Dee’s.

“Thinkin’ of waffles?” Dee asked.

“How’d you guess?”

“Because we both know Anita serves the best waffles in the city.”

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day; they were both more than ready for it!

The End