Snowed In

Standard Disclaimers Apply

::tall man with long white hair sighs and looks at the story he just wrote:: Why is it whenever you have at least five other things you're already working on, you wake up at five am with inspiration for something *new*? ::sigh:: Oh well. This is a fake fic that popped into my head at five something am yesterday morning. If you haven't seen fake, I highly recommend it, it's cute. If you've actually READ the fake manga, forgive any major errors i made, because while i have volumes 1-3, I can't read a word (except the few english words). Side note: In the oav, Carol is called Cal. Don't ask me why, I have no clue. anyway, I will quite happily say I don't own these characters, except Ryo's cousin and his boyfriend, but they don't really count since they're so minor. And what happens immediately AFTER the last line, dear reader, is up to you.

By Kashu Arashi

"Hello?" Ryo asked, trying to ignore his partner's loud complaints that it was colder than the arctic and he though he'd just seen a polar bear walk past outside.

"If that's the chief, tell him there's no way in hell we're coming....."

"It's Carol, now be quiet." Ryo cut off Dee's grumping and turned back to his phone conversation. "Where are you? Mmhm. Is anyone else there?" There was a long period of silence, punctuated occasionally by small affirmative noises. Dee watched intently, trying to judge what was going on by the expression on Ryo's face. He wasn't having much success. Finally the blonde smiled and hung up the phone after saying "All right, we'll see you guys whenever you get home."

"What was that all about?" Dee asked quizzically.

"Carol and Bikky are at the station. She was just calling to let us know they were o.k., and that they were staying there until the snow's gone."

"Who else is down there?" The other man yawned, privately not caring who got stuck at the office, as long as it *wasn't* he and Ryo.

"Nearly everyone. The chief, the commissioner, J.J." Ryo listed off a slew of other names, but Dee had stopped listening. The snow outside was falling so heavily that not even Santa Clause would dream of going out, and he was stuck in the apartment with his gorgeous, fair haired, dark eyed partner. The thought nearly gave him a nose bleed. No Carol. No Chief. No J.J. No Berkely Rose. "And most especially," Dee thought, a broad smile coming to his face. "No Bikky!"

"Um, Dee? Why are you grinning like that?" Ryo blinked at his partner, then looked slightly panicked as his partner's eyes fell on him. He knew that look. That was the look that said he was going to get jumped. Again. "Oh no, Dee, Dee don't." Placing his hands firmly in front of him to ward off any attack, the blonde started inching his way toward the kitchen entry. Still grinning like a maniac, Dee stood up and started to stalk toward him. Dee sprang. Ryo turned heel and ran, followed by a dull thud and a string of curses as Dee missed. By the time his overly amorous partner had gotten to his feet again, Ryo was safely in the bedroom, at which point he shut the door and set a large box of Christmas gifts they'd gotten in front of it. "Of course, that will hold Dee for maybe all of two minutes, if I'm lucky."

"Ryo? Ryo, c'mon, open up!" As if to prove that statement right, his partner's voice was soon followed by the turning of the door handle. Not having time to find a really good hiding place, Ryo dove for the huge mound of cover's on the bed and buried himself under them.

"Oh, this will work." A small voice in the back of his mind drawled sarcastically. "You're really trying hard aren't you?" He didn't have a chance to reply, because about that time the several layers of blankets right in front of his face lifted.

"Gotcha."

"Tasukete." The blonde mentally whimpered as the blankets were shoved aside and he found himself being very thoroughly kissed. When the kiss had lasted for several minutes without Dee tugging on his clothing at all, he began to relax a little. Dee pulled away and looked down at him fondly.

"Ne, you why do you run like that anyway? You know I'm going to catch you." He leaned over and kissed his partner again.

"Why do I run?" Ryo involuntarily turned the question over in his mind. Dee's hand's started to tug at the buttons of his shirt. "Why do I run?" He wriggled in protest, trying vainly to push Dee's hands away, while still locked in the kiss. "What am I running from?"

He gave up on Dee's hands and placed his palms against the other man's chest. "Dee, stop."

"Hmm? Why?" Dee murmured, frowning slightly. "There's no one else here." As if that could be Ryo's only protest, Dee went back to kissing him. Another button gave way to the man's industrious fingers.

Ryo frowned, pushing at his partner's chest with enough force to push him away.

"Dee, stop!" It wasn't a request.

"Ryo?" The blonde didn't look at him, the surprised hurt in Dee's enough to make him feel a little guilty without seeing the expression that undoubtedly accompanied it. Ryo rolled over onto his side, curling in a fetal position. The room was silent for a few moments, Dee having nothing to say, and Ryo having no answer for his partner's question. Finally, Dee stood up and headed for the door. "Fine, I get it. I guess I'll just go watch the news and find out how much *more* snow we're supposed to expect." He slammed the door behind him, then sank against it, biting his lower lip. There were plenty of times Ryo had squirmed and protested under his advances, but never so adamantly. He sighed and wandered over to turn on the TV. With the news blaring away, he lay down on the couch and tried to ignore the tears prinking at the back of his eyes. Why?

The snow swirled past outside the window. Ryo stared out at it, not really seeing anything in the blanket of white. He wanted a cup of tea badly, but going out meant facing Dee, and he really couldn't do that right now. The other man's question kept running through his head.

"Why do I run like that?" Ryo eyed his face, reflected in the cold glass. He had never exactly realized how much resemblance he bore to the American side of his family, out side of his coloring. Yet, if he used his imagination just a little, the reflection in the window looked exactly like someone else. Someone he hadn't consciously thought about in a very long time...

(Flashback)

"Hey Scott, have you ever kissed someone?"

"Huh?" The older boy blinked at his thirteen year old cousin sprawled out on the bed next to him. Ryo sat up and looked him dead in the face.

"I said 'have you ever kissed someone'?" He waggled a finger at the older boy. "And don't say your mom, or Grandma, or anything like that. That doesn't count." Scott shrugged.

"Yeah, I've kissed someone, why?"

"I dunno." It was Ryo's turn to shrug. "Just curious."

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" One blonde eyebrow lifted over his cousin's amused green eyes.

"No way!" Ryo shook his head vigorously. "Although......"

"What?"

"I think I'd like it." Ryo blushed slightly. "I'm not sure though. Was it fun?" He turned his earnest brown eyes back to his cousin's face.

"Of course it was fun!" Scott laughed, then winked. "That's why I've done it more than once."

"Honto?" The younger boy blinked at him, then settled back to digest this new information. Scott smiled at him fondly. The boy was such a thinker, honestly! Finally Ryo nodded decisively. "All right then, I want to be kissed. But who is there to kiss me?" Scott sat back and regarded his younger cousin for a moment, still smiling.

"Ah, what the hell." He thought to himself. "Hey, Ryo, c'mere for a second."

"Hmm?" Ryo leaned closer, then squeaked in surprise as Scott reached forward, cupped his face in his hands, and kissed him soundly.

By the time the boy had gotten over the immediate shock of finding his cousin's tongue in his mouth, the kiss was over and he had the older boy's pointer finger resting against his nose.

"Now, I only did that because you wanted to be kissed," Scott winked. "And I'm *not* going to do it again, so don't go telling anyone else in the family, or I'll wind up in counseling for child molestation, and I don't need that, got it?" Ryo nodded dumbly, blushing slightly.

"Good. Now for the really important question."

"Hmm?"

"Did *you* think it was fun?"

(End Flashback)

Ryo smiled fondly at the memory. He'd always looked up to his cousin. Scott was the one in the family that seemed to understand him the best, the one who always had time for him. He had never suspected that there would be a repeat of that kiss, not even when it happened. And there hadn't been, naturally. Why should Scott kiss him when he had someone of his own to kiss?

(Flashback)

"Scott! Scott, wait up!"

"Jesse?" Scott stopped and looked over his shoulder. Ryo stopped along side him and looked back to see who had called to them.

A small, delicately built boy with rather long, red hair came running up to them. Scott grinned broadly. "Hey, Jess! Fancy meeting you here!"

"What, you weren't wandering around here thinking 'you know, I wonder if Jesse's around today'?" The boy shot Scott a mock injured look, then laughed. "Hey, who's the small fry?" Jesse winked at Ryo to take the sting out of the words. The younger boy was rather surprised to find he had brown eyes. All of the other red heads he'd seen had blue eyes, or green like Scott.

"This is my little cousin Randy." Scott replied, using Ryo's American name. "And he's nearly fourteen, so don't be too surprised if the 'small fry' is taller than you in a couple of months." Jesse laughed.

"Yeah, no problem." He shook his head, red hair fanning about his face slightly in the process. "My younger brother's nearly six feet tall now, can you believe it! I swear, I inherited every short gene in the family!" Scott chuckled.

"You're doomed, koibito."

"Koibito?" Ryo blinked. He was the only person in the family that knew Scott liked boys, and he had no problem with the fact, really, but he hadn't thought he'd be the first to meet his cousin's boyfriend too! "So you're his boyfriend?"

"Yup!" Jesse grinned smugly. "Lucky me, ne?"

"I don't know..." Ryo thought about it. "The few times we've slept in the same bed, he stole all the covers."

"Ah, I see." Jesse fixed a stern yet amused gaze on his bright red boyfriend. "So I'm not the only one he does it to, eh?"

"I...er..." Scott floundered. Jesse laughed.

"Hey, it's pretty hot out, you two want to come back to the apartment and have some lemonade?"

"Sounds good to me," Scott turned to his younger cousin. "How 'bout you Rand?"

"Sure!" Ryo replied with all the enthusiasm of an extremely small child. He might be nearly fourteen, but his love of lemonade hadn't diminished in the least!

"All right then!" Jesse jerked his thumb the direction the two cousins had been going. "Apartment's down this way." As the trio had walked, Jesse had asked Ryo all about himself, and Ryo had returned the favor with a vigor. Both sets of questions had the effect of embarrassing Scott. By the time they reached the apartment, the green eyed boy was beet red. Jesse had a nice, big apartment, with windows looking out over the park. Ryo loved it instantly. After staring out over it for a few moments, he turned back to his cousin and Jesse, only to discover that Jesse had decided to "apologize" for embarrassing Scott, and the two of them were now curled up on the couch, kissing.

(End Flashback)

"They always did look good kissing together." Ryo thought wistfully. "Even then, when I was embarrassed as hell watching them."

He had gotten to see a lot of Jesse in the two years that followed. When Scott's parents had found out, they'd quite firmly kicked him out of the house, and consequently into Jesse's apartment. The pair had still been invited to all of the family functions, even though they were forbidden from so much as flirting with each other, and before long Jesse had won over all but the most conservative members of the family, namely Ryo's Grandparents and Scott's mom and dad. Every one else had loved him. Brown eyes misted over as they watched the snow flakes drift past. "Why do I run?" He didn't want to remember the way it had ended. Didn't want to remember that snow storm...

(Flashback)

"Won't Scott and Jess be surprised?" Ryo's little cousin Kim had asked, giggling. "I still can't believe they gave you the key's to the apartment!"

"I'm here nearly every day." Ryo shrugged. "It just made sense." He paused and looked out one of the hall windows. The ground was still covered in snow, but cars were able to move now, barely, and the idea of going out wasn't as suicidal as it had been for the past two weeks. Ryo frowned. For awhile he had alleviated the boredom of being cooped up inside partially by calling every family member he could and gabbing. Daily. But after a week and a half, Jesse and Scott had stopped answering. The line had been disconnected. His father had said that the snow had taken down phone lines in some places, that probably included their apartment. So the remaining four days had been spent without the comforting sound of the lively pair's voice.

"I hope they're in." Kim giggled in a hushed voice as Ryo dug out his key. "Maybe they were so anxious to get out of the house they went for a walk or something."

"Then we'll wait for them." Ryo grinned, turning the key in the lock. Jesse's birthday had been the week before, and he and Kim had gone out to buy the makings of a make shift birthday celebration. Pop, chips, cake mix, and a poster of one of Jess' favorite bands as a present. They'd even had it gift wrapped. Grinning at the thought of the red head's face when he saw what they'd done, Ryo opened the door. Kim screamed, dropping the bag of party supplies. Ryo just stared. For some reason, his eyes couldn't convince him that the body sprawled across the carpet directly in front of him was Scott. His eyes moved frantically around the room until they found the other two bodies. Then he passed out.

(End Flashback)

Ryo curled up around a pillow and sobbed. It had turned out that the third body belonged to the man down the hall. Apparently he'd had a crush on Jess for awhile, and when cabin fever had been combined with his jealousy of Scott, he'd cracked completely. The attack had been so quick neither of his victims had been able to scream. "I wonder how long they'd have staid there, if we hadn't come by." Ryo thought numbly, through the tears streaming down his face. He'd been in counseling for months, longer than planned since he'd made the mistake of revealing the fact Scott had kissed him and the therapists simply *wouldn't* believe that he hadn't been molested. "Why do I run?" Ryo smiled bitterly. "I don't know, Dee. Maybe it's because I love you."

He had no idea what he would do if Dee was killed. He had no idea what Dee would do if he died. "And maybe, just maybe if we don't have a physical relationship, it won't hurt as badly." He looked back out at the white blanket beyond the window. "Scott, Jesse. I miss you."

For all that the news was blaring decimals louder than his mother would have approved of when he was younger, Dee was having trouble hearing it over the chatter of his teeth. Finally, he stood up, waving a fist in the air. "That does it! If Ryo's going to turn me out, the least he can do is give me one of the blankets so I don't freeze to death!" His face set in a look of determination, he turned and stalked back into the bed room. "Ryo, I demand.....huh?" He froze and blinked at his partner, curled up around a pillow, sobbing his brains out. "Ryo?" A pair of misty brown eyes looked up at him over the pillow. Uneasily, Dee ran a hand through his short, dark hair. "Um, look, I'm sorry about earlier...." Ryo shook his head.

"It's not that." That was all the invitation Dee needed to sit himself down on the bed and wrap his arms tightly around his partner.

"Then what is it?" Dee ran his fingers through Ryo's short, blonde hair in what he hopped was a soothing gesture. Comforting people had never been his strong point, but for some reason it always seemed to work on Ryo.

"I...the storm just made me think of my cousin, that's all."

"The one that was killed?" He felt Ryo nod against his chest.

"Yeah. He died during a snow storm like this."

"Honestly." Dee held his partner at arms length. "Christmas, snow storms, do you have any *happy* memories?" He leaned forward and gently kissed the tears away from the other man's eyes. Ryo thought about it.

"Our vacation in England, the night just before Bikky and Carol showed up." He said finally. Dee's face froze for a moment, then split back into the half manic grin from earlier. "Of course, that's tainted by all the murder.....whoa, Dee? Dee, what are you grinning about?" Ryo squeaked as he found himself being toppled over on his back, Dee's finger's tugging at his buttons again.

"Well, we can reenact that easily enough!" Realization hit Ryo like a ton of bricks.

"I meant *before* that, on the balcony, with the wine and stuff!" He protested, trying to push Dee off of him again. Dee paid no attention.

"And this time, *this time* there will be no Carol and Bikky showing up! No J.J.! No..."

"Dee, would you at least *slow down*?!?" The two partner's sat and glared at each other for a moment, before Dee reached over and defiantly kissed his partner. Ryo returned the kiss. "As you keep saying," Ryo smiled softly as the kiss broke off. "We're the only ones in the house." They kissed again.

"Mmm," Dee purred. "No interruptions." The lights went out. In the other room, the sound of the TV abruptly stopped. The two cops blinked at each other.

"Power outage."

"Well, only one thing to do." Dee nodded firmly.

"Hmm?" Dee grabbed the blankets and pulled them over him and his partner.

"Stay in bed and keep each other warm and toasty." He murmured, nibbling lightly on Ryo's neck, swiftly unbuttoning the blonde's shirt the rest of the way. Ryo moaned lightly, working his fingers up into Dee's dark hair.

"Dee?" He moaned softly, as much to say the name as anything.

The phone rang. Dee collapsed, sweatdropping. Ryo sighed. "I'll get it."

"You do that." Dee grumbled as his partner squirmed out from underneath him.

"And Dee?"

"Hmm?"

"You're right, this place is freezing." Ryo shivered as he walked into the kitchen and picked up the receiver. "Hello? Yes, the power's out." The blonde rubbed his temples for a moment as two young voices, one female and stern, the other loud and male warred for the other end of the line. "No, no Carol, Dee hasn't tried to jump me yet." He lied with the smallest twinge of guilt. "Yes Bikky, if he tries I'll punch his lights out. Don't worry. Yes, you two have a nice night too. At least the station is warmer than the apartment. Good bye." He hung up and rested his head against the wall for a moment before heading back into the bed room.

"Why me, why me, why me?" Dee repeated the mantra, whacking his head against the pillows, apparently unaware that he was being watched.

Ryo smiled slightly. Poor Dee. It seemed that every time he was making actual *progress, something interrupted. After a moment of hesitation, the blonde let his shirt fall to the floor with a shiver.

"Dee, move, I'm freezing." He poked at his partner. Dee stopped banging his head and scooted ever far enough for Ryo to slide under the covers, but he didn't look up. Smiling ever so slightly, he snuggled closer. "Hold me?"

"Sure." Dee sighed, fully expecting an earth quake to hit as soon as they touched. His eyes went wide when his hands met bare back.

"R..Ryo?" His partner kissed him lightly.

"It's only going to get colder." The blonde murmured, burying his head against Dee's neck. "Keep me warm."

~OWARI~
Kashu Arashi


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