FAKE Ficlet: Watch Your Step

[badly_knitted]

 




Title: Watch Your Step
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Dee, OC.
Rating: G
Setting: Midway through the manga.
Summary: Dee and Ryo are in hot pursuit of a suspect.
Word Count: 705
Written Using: The tw100 prompt ‘Mud’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.




Chasing suspects could be unpredictable; Ryo much preferred it when they came quietly, it was better for everyone concerned, but all too many people seemed to think that running away was the best course of action when the police showed up wanting to talk to them. So here they were, on a dismal, rain-soaked day, chasing some idiot alongside the reservoir in Central Park.


The ground was uneven, with tussocks of grass sticking up ready to trip the unwary, and the rain was making everything slick underfoot. There was a distinct danger that one or all of them might slip and fall into the water, but giving up the chase wasn’t an option, especially since they were rapidly closing the gap between themselves and the man they were after.


Abruptly, their quarry veered to the right, tearing away across the grass. Dee and Ryo swerved to follow, trying to put on an extra spurt of speed despite the lack of traction. Side-by-side, grimly determined not to let their quarry get away, they sped across grass, then a gravel path, and back onto grass again, breathing hard.


Just in time, Ryo spotted the churned up muddy puddle ahead of them and somehow managed dodge around it, even though it took him a bit off course. Dee, facing a longer detour than Ryo had been forced to take, made a split-second decision to try and jump over it instead, and he might even have made it, if his leading foot hadn’t hit the edge of the mud, skidding out from underneath him as he pushed off and pitching him forwards…


Ryo, focussed on the fugitive from justice, didn’t see what happened; he was closing in fast. A few more strides and he was tackling the suspect, the two of them rolling across the wet grass, over and over, until he managed to get the upper hand, a knee in the other man’s back as he slapped on the cuffs. Wet and panting, he hauled the captive back to his feet and looked around for Dee, spotting his partner approaching. His jaw dropped, then he bit his lip to keep from laughing.


Dee was covered in mud from head to foot, looking like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.


“What on earth happened to you?”


“You remember that muddy puddle you managed to avoid?” Dee asked, trying to wipe mud off his face with an equally muddy hand.


Ryo nodded, not daring to speak.


“I didn’t.” Dee shook mud off his hands, a disgusted expression on what little could be seen of his face.


Their suspect burst out laughing, clearly finding Dee’s predicament hilarious, but that didn’t last long. Dee turned an icy glare on the man and asked him calmly, “How would you like to take a mud bath? Because that could be arranged. We’ll just say I was the one who caught you by tacklin’ you into the mud. My partner will back me up.”


Silence descended.


Dee smiled grimly. “That’s what I thought.”


“Come on.” Ryo tugged on the cuffs and shoved his captive ahead of him. “Let’s head back to the car. There should be a roll of trash bags in the trunk; we can cover the seats with those to keep from making a mess of the upholstery.”


Dee wasn’t about to argue with that. The sooner he could get back to the precinct and into clean, dry clothes, the happier he’d be.


As they headed back the way they’d come, the rain started coming down even harder.


“Terrific,” Dee grumbled. “That’s all I need.”


“Look on the bright side,” Ryo said, slicking soaking wet hair back off his forehead and glancing sidelong at his partner. “At least it’s washing the worst of the mud off you.”


Dee looked down at himself; Ryo was right, mud was pouring off him. “Huh, would ya look at that. Guess it’s a blessing in disguise.” He tilted his head back, letting the rain wash his face clean.


They trudged on in silence, around the edge of the reservoir, until Ryo finally asked quietly, “You okay?”


“Yeah,” Dee sighed, “just cold, wet, and I really hate mud. Next time, I’m just gonna take the long way around.”



The End