FAKE Fic: No Time To Spare
Feb. 27th, 2026 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: No Time To Spare
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ryo, Dee.
Rating: PG
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: Police work is a high-pressure occupation, especially for detectives working serious crimes. Even more so when there’s an innocent life on the line and no time to spare.
Word Count: 1227
Written For: Theme Prompt: 214 – Pressure at
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fandomweekly.Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Working in law enforcement was high pressure, which was why so many cops wound up suffering from burnout. There were always some who put the bare minimum of effort into their jobs and shrugged off the terrible things they saw on a day-to-day basis, but Ryo Maclean had never been that kind of man.
He’d chosen to join the NYPD because of what had happened to his parents. Unsurprisingly their murder, barely a month after his eighteenth birthday, had come as a dreadful, life-altering shock. But it had been the callousness of the detectives investigating the crime that had cemented Ryo’s desire to become a cop himself. He’d been determined to do the job better, to do it the right way, because no one who’d suffered the kind of loss he had should have been treated the way he was.
The two detectives assigned to the case had automatically assumed that Ryo’s parents had been using their art business as a cover behind which to smuggle drugs, and having made up their minds, on the strength of circumstantial evidence alone, they’d refused to accept any evidence to the contrary. They’d torn Ryo’s home apart, looking for contraband that wasn’t there, further traumatising the bereaved teen, and even treating him like a suspect. He’d never received an apology, and his parents’ murderers had never been found.
So here Ryo was, fourteen years later, a detective himself, working serious crimes and trying his best to do the job in a way that was respectful, fair, and above all, impartial. He didn’t make assumptions, or snap judgements about victims or their families; he followed the evidence, and he didn’t believe anything he couldn’t prove.
He’d long since realised he’d never be able to clear his parents’ names, even though he had finally learned the truth about the events of that fateful day. All the people involved were now dead, and finding out his parents’ deaths had been the result of a mix-up at customs had only served to open old wounds. Even if he could have proved their innocence in a court of law, the truth wasn’t going to bring his mom and dad back. Nothing would.
What was done was done, he couldn’t change the past, and that wasn’t why he’d taken the oath to protect and serve anyway. Since entering the police academy Ryo had dedicated himself to getting justice for the families of crime victims, the kind of justice he’d never been granted himself. He didn’t want anyone else to experience the same sense of helplessness, of not being listened to, and not being believed, as he’d been forced to endure. Almost everyone who’d known his family had turned against him after his parents had died; he wanted to make sure no one else had to go through that on top of losing a loved one to violent crime.
That was why he pushed himself so hard with every case that landed on his and his partner’s desks. It wasn’t simply a desire to see the guilty punished, although that was certainly a large part of his motivation. He also wanted to help the families, give them answers, provide some degree of closure, instead of just leaving them adrift on an ocean of grief. Getting justice for them was important, no doubt about that, but justice wasn’t always enough.
“Y’know if ya keep drivin’ yourself this hard, you’re just gonna burn out, and that’s not gonna help anyone.” Dee perched on the edge of Ryo’s desk, looking down at his lover, concern evident in his green eyes.
Ryo sighed heavily, rubbing his aching eyes, then running his hand through his hair. “I know that! I just feel like I’m missing something important. We don’t have a body, there’s a chance Mercy Brenner could still be alive, and if that’s the case, we need to figure out where she’s been taken. She’s only fifteen, Dee! If she IS still alive, she must be so scared.”
“I know, I get it, and I wanna find her too, but it’s already been three days. You know as well as I do, after that long the odds aren’t good.”
“Then we need to try harder, before she runs out of time, if she hasn’t already!”
“We’re not the only detectives workin’ this case,” Dee reminded his partner. “Plus, our shift was over an hour ago. There’s nothin’ more we can do right now. We should go home, get some rest, come at it fresh in the mornin’. You look about dead on your feet. Keep this up and you’ll be gettin’ bags under your eyes. It’s not a good look.”
“Oh, thanks for that.” Ryo scowled up at the man he loved.
“Thought ya liked my honesty.”
“I do, just sometimes you’re a bit TOO honest.”
“And sometimes you don’t know when to stop. You need to switch that brain of yours off for a few hours, let it cool down before it shorts out on ya. You’ll have a clearer head tomorrow if you take care of your body tonight. Doctor Dee’s prescription is for food and sleep.”
Ryo snorted. “Two of your favourite things in life.”
“Damn straight. I know I can work better, and more effectively, if I take care of myself. You, on the other hand, happen to be a workaholic, and that’s why ya need me. Left to your own devices, you’d work until ya drop from exhaustion, but I’m not gonna let that happen. We’ll crack this case wide open, if someone else doesn’t get there first, ‘cause we won’t give up until we do, but sometimes we both need a time out from work, a few hours to take it easy, unwind, and see to the needs of our bodies, so we can handle the pressures of the job. I’ve let ya work an extra hour as it is, and ya know you’re not gonna get paid for that.”
“I don’t do this job for the money,” Ryo pointed out.
“Good thing too, considerin’ what we get paid,” Dee quipped. “C’mon. Home, dinner, sleep.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Ryo pushed himself wearily out of his seat, wincing as he eased the kinks out of cramped muscles. How long had he been sitting at his desk, poring over the evidence that had been collected, the statements from family and friends? Must have been several hours, and still he was sure he was missing something important.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, Ryo’s train of thought was abruptly derailed by a familiar voice.
“You’re supposed to be takin’ it easy,” Dee reminded him.
“I am.”
“Yeah? And what, exactly, d’you think ‘take it easy’ means?”
“I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep,” Ryo grumbled. “And I’m not doing anything, I’m just sitting here in the dark, letting my mind wander.”
“In other words, thinkin’ about the case. Give that poor, overworked brain of yours a break and come back to bed, babe. You let me, I can make ya forget everything, includin’ your name. You know I can.”
“Fine, whatever.” Ryo started to get up, then stilled, his eyes widening as something clicked inside his head. “Forget about bed! Get dressed! I think I know who took Mercy! And if I’m right, I’ve got a pretty good idea of where she might be!”
The End
He’d chosen to join the NYPD because of what had happened to his parents. Unsurprisingly their murder, barely a month after his eighteenth birthday, had come as a dreadful, life-altering shock. But it had been the callousness of the detectives investigating the crime that had cemented Ryo’s desire to become a cop himself. He’d been determined to do the job better, to do it the right way, because no one who’d suffered the kind of loss he had should have been treated the way he was.
The two detectives assigned to the case had automatically assumed that Ryo’s parents had been using their art business as a cover behind which to smuggle drugs, and having made up their minds, on the strength of circumstantial evidence alone, they’d refused to accept any evidence to the contrary. They’d torn Ryo’s home apart, looking for contraband that wasn’t there, further traumatising the bereaved teen, and even treating him like a suspect. He’d never received an apology, and his parents’ murderers had never been found.
So here Ryo was, fourteen years later, a detective himself, working serious crimes and trying his best to do the job in a way that was respectful, fair, and above all, impartial. He didn’t make assumptions, or snap judgements about victims or their families; he followed the evidence, and he didn’t believe anything he couldn’t prove.
He’d long since realised he’d never be able to clear his parents’ names, even though he had finally learned the truth about the events of that fateful day. All the people involved were now dead, and finding out his parents’ deaths had been the result of a mix-up at customs had only served to open old wounds. Even if he could have proved their innocence in a court of law, the truth wasn’t going to bring his mom and dad back. Nothing would.
What was done was done, he couldn’t change the past, and that wasn’t why he’d taken the oath to protect and serve anyway. Since entering the police academy Ryo had dedicated himself to getting justice for the families of crime victims, the kind of justice he’d never been granted himself. He didn’t want anyone else to experience the same sense of helplessness, of not being listened to, and not being believed, as he’d been forced to endure. Almost everyone who’d known his family had turned against him after his parents had died; he wanted to make sure no one else had to go through that on top of losing a loved one to violent crime.
That was why he pushed himself so hard with every case that landed on his and his partner’s desks. It wasn’t simply a desire to see the guilty punished, although that was certainly a large part of his motivation. He also wanted to help the families, give them answers, provide some degree of closure, instead of just leaving them adrift on an ocean of grief. Getting justice for them was important, no doubt about that, but justice wasn’t always enough.
“Y’know if ya keep drivin’ yourself this hard, you’re just gonna burn out, and that’s not gonna help anyone.” Dee perched on the edge of Ryo’s desk, looking down at his lover, concern evident in his green eyes.
Ryo sighed heavily, rubbing his aching eyes, then running his hand through his hair. “I know that! I just feel like I’m missing something important. We don’t have a body, there’s a chance Mercy Brenner could still be alive, and if that’s the case, we need to figure out where she’s been taken. She’s only fifteen, Dee! If she IS still alive, she must be so scared.”
“I know, I get it, and I wanna find her too, but it’s already been three days. You know as well as I do, after that long the odds aren’t good.”
“Then we need to try harder, before she runs out of time, if she hasn’t already!”
“We’re not the only detectives workin’ this case,” Dee reminded his partner. “Plus, our shift was over an hour ago. There’s nothin’ more we can do right now. We should go home, get some rest, come at it fresh in the mornin’. You look about dead on your feet. Keep this up and you’ll be gettin’ bags under your eyes. It’s not a good look.”
“Oh, thanks for that.” Ryo scowled up at the man he loved.
“Thought ya liked my honesty.”
“I do, just sometimes you’re a bit TOO honest.”
“And sometimes you don’t know when to stop. You need to switch that brain of yours off for a few hours, let it cool down before it shorts out on ya. You’ll have a clearer head tomorrow if you take care of your body tonight. Doctor Dee’s prescription is for food and sleep.”
Ryo snorted. “Two of your favourite things in life.”
“Damn straight. I know I can work better, and more effectively, if I take care of myself. You, on the other hand, happen to be a workaholic, and that’s why ya need me. Left to your own devices, you’d work until ya drop from exhaustion, but I’m not gonna let that happen. We’ll crack this case wide open, if someone else doesn’t get there first, ‘cause we won’t give up until we do, but sometimes we both need a time out from work, a few hours to take it easy, unwind, and see to the needs of our bodies, so we can handle the pressures of the job. I’ve let ya work an extra hour as it is, and ya know you’re not gonna get paid for that.”
“I don’t do this job for the money,” Ryo pointed out.
“Good thing too, considerin’ what we get paid,” Dee quipped. “C’mon. Home, dinner, sleep.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Ryo pushed himself wearily out of his seat, wincing as he eased the kinks out of cramped muscles. How long had he been sitting at his desk, poring over the evidence that had been collected, the statements from family and friends? Must have been several hours, and still he was sure he was missing something important.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, Ryo’s train of thought was abruptly derailed by a familiar voice.
“You’re supposed to be takin’ it easy,” Dee reminded him.
“I am.”
“Yeah? And what, exactly, d’you think ‘take it easy’ means?”
“I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep,” Ryo grumbled. “And I’m not doing anything, I’m just sitting here in the dark, letting my mind wander.”
“In other words, thinkin’ about the case. Give that poor, overworked brain of yours a break and come back to bed, babe. You let me, I can make ya forget everything, includin’ your name. You know I can.”
“Fine, whatever.” Ryo started to get up, then stilled, his eyes widening as something clicked inside his head. “Forget about bed! Get dressed! I think I know who took Mercy! And if I’m right, I’ve got a pretty good idea of where she might be!”
The End
