FAKE Ficlet: In At The Deep End
Sep. 18th, 2025 05:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: In At The Deep End
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ryo, Dee.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 742
Setting: Vol. 1, Act 1.
Summary: Ryo’s first day as a detective is not going at all the way he’d been expecting.
Written For:
miss_ingno’s prompt ‘Any, any male character, out of depth,’ at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
threesentenceficathon.Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
This morning, when he’d woken up before the alarm had had a chance to go off, Ryo had practically jumped out of bed, excited at the thought of his first day in his new posting. It had meant a change of precinct, but he’d been fine with that. He’d just considered himself lucky that an opening had come up so soon after he’d passed the exam. Sometimes people had to wait months before moving up, but here he was, ready, willing, and eager to take the next step in his career.
This was what he’d been working towards ever since the day he’d entered the police academy. He’d known since his parents’ deaths that he wanted to be not just a police officer, but a detective, and now it was finally happening! He was no longer Officer Maclean but Detective Maclean, reporting for work on his first day at the twenty-seventh precinct…
Just as when he’d arrived at his first precinct as a newly graduated rookie, he’d been well aware that he’d be assigned a partner, in this case an experienced detective to show him the ropes. That didn’t come as a surprise; there was so much he didn’t know yet, and no one could expect him to pick up everything right away without any kind of instruction. Nevertheless, he’d been expecting to be paired with someone a decade or two older than him, a seasoned investigator, not some guy his own age!
From what he’d walked in on when he’d entered Captain Smith’s office, Laytner was a bit of a troublemaker, a wild card, a lone wolf, the kind to play fast and loose with the rules, and this was who he’d be learning from? It didn’t exactly fill him with confidence. In fact, now that he was here, with his new partner, he was starting to feel more than a little nervous, his earlier excitement having evaporated.
Not only that, but his partner was being over-friendly, getting right up in Ryo’s personal space, leaning close, grinning wolfishly, fully aware that he was making Ryo uncomfortable, and apparently relishing it. Ryo could only stand his ground and hope this was some sort of juvenile hazing ritual, testing his nerve; if it was, it seemed he passed, because then he was more or less dragged into the squad room, shown his desk, and given a quick rundown of the case he and his partner would be working… A drugs-related homicide, linked to organised crime.
Ryo was stunned; this was his first case as a new detective? Shouldn’t someone more experienced be in charge of something so major? He wanted to ask his new partner just how long HE had been a detective, but he was afraid the answer would be something like six months, although… Surely the Chief wouldn’t hand the training of the rookie to someone who barely knew anything himself, so despite his apparent youth, Dee must have the necessary experience. The problem was, Ryo DIDN’T! He was new to this area of policework, and he wasn’t at all sure he was ready to investigate any sort of homicide, never mind one involving drugs.
Was it too late to change his mind, get into uniform, and go back to being a beat cop? Not that he seriously wanted to do that, it was just… he’d expected something relatively simple for his first case, a purse snatching, or some other kind of petty theft. He’d been here less than an hour and he already felt completely out of his depth! What if he screwed up and someone decided he didn’t have what it took to be a detective after all? Then what would he do?
He shook his head. Maybe this was a test too, and he was being thrown in at the deep end to see whether he’d sink or swim. He needed to prove he belonged here, his career was at stake, so he’d just have to make sure he didn’t screw up. He might be out of his depth, but he hadn’t gotten this far by giving up when things got a bit tough; that was the time to knuckle down, focus, and keep pushing through. He’d done that before, he could do it now; as long as he paid attention and followed his partner’s lead, he’d be fine.
At least he hoped so.
If he survived his first case, maybe everything that followed would seem less daunting.
The End
This was what he’d been working towards ever since the day he’d entered the police academy. He’d known since his parents’ deaths that he wanted to be not just a police officer, but a detective, and now it was finally happening! He was no longer Officer Maclean but Detective Maclean, reporting for work on his first day at the twenty-seventh precinct…
Just as when he’d arrived at his first precinct as a newly graduated rookie, he’d been well aware that he’d be assigned a partner, in this case an experienced detective to show him the ropes. That didn’t come as a surprise; there was so much he didn’t know yet, and no one could expect him to pick up everything right away without any kind of instruction. Nevertheless, he’d been expecting to be paired with someone a decade or two older than him, a seasoned investigator, not some guy his own age!
From what he’d walked in on when he’d entered Captain Smith’s office, Laytner was a bit of a troublemaker, a wild card, a lone wolf, the kind to play fast and loose with the rules, and this was who he’d be learning from? It didn’t exactly fill him with confidence. In fact, now that he was here, with his new partner, he was starting to feel more than a little nervous, his earlier excitement having evaporated.
Not only that, but his partner was being over-friendly, getting right up in Ryo’s personal space, leaning close, grinning wolfishly, fully aware that he was making Ryo uncomfortable, and apparently relishing it. Ryo could only stand his ground and hope this was some sort of juvenile hazing ritual, testing his nerve; if it was, it seemed he passed, because then he was more or less dragged into the squad room, shown his desk, and given a quick rundown of the case he and his partner would be working… A drugs-related homicide, linked to organised crime.
Ryo was stunned; this was his first case as a new detective? Shouldn’t someone more experienced be in charge of something so major? He wanted to ask his new partner just how long HE had been a detective, but he was afraid the answer would be something like six months, although… Surely the Chief wouldn’t hand the training of the rookie to someone who barely knew anything himself, so despite his apparent youth, Dee must have the necessary experience. The problem was, Ryo DIDN’T! He was new to this area of policework, and he wasn’t at all sure he was ready to investigate any sort of homicide, never mind one involving drugs.
Was it too late to change his mind, get into uniform, and go back to being a beat cop? Not that he seriously wanted to do that, it was just… he’d expected something relatively simple for his first case, a purse snatching, or some other kind of petty theft. He’d been here less than an hour and he already felt completely out of his depth! What if he screwed up and someone decided he didn’t have what it took to be a detective after all? Then what would he do?
He shook his head. Maybe this was a test too, and he was being thrown in at the deep end to see whether he’d sink or swim. He needed to prove he belonged here, his career was at stake, so he’d just have to make sure he didn’t screw up. He might be out of his depth, but he hadn’t gotten this far by giving up when things got a bit tough; that was the time to knuckle down, focus, and keep pushing through. He’d done that before, he could do it now; as long as he paid attention and followed his partner’s lead, he’d be fine.
At least he hoped so.
If he survived his first case, maybe everything that followed would seem less daunting.
The End
(no subject)
Date: 2025-09-19 10:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-09-19 10:46 pm (UTC)Thank you!