Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money of this.
Warning: Male/Male sex, violence, graphic, language
"Say it!" Ryo growled.
There was laughter all around them. Dee, dressed in black sweat pants and a black tank top, felt the sweat of exertion running down his body. He gritted his teeth, face flushed beat red as he strained against the strong arms holding his arms in an unbreakable hold behind his back. The knee in his lower spine dug harder. "Ryo!" he snarled in pain and anger, "You're going to break something!"
"Say it!" Ryo repeated and pulled Dee's arms up tighter.
"Shit!!!" Dee shouted in pain.
"He's got you, Latener!" Dreig called. "You better give him what he wants!"
"Nanase!" Ryo urged, "Be sensible, Dee!" He did have a tinge of worry in his voice even though he didn't relent on his pressure.
"When have I ever-" Dee howled as Ryo kneed him harder. "Okay! Okay! I DON'T wear the pants in our house! I don't! Okay? Now let me the hell up!!"
Ryo released Dee abruptly and Dee collapsed in a heap on the training mat, panting and glaring at Ryo from under his dark, disordered bangs. The laughter increased and bets were paid by the gathered officers waiting their turn to exercise. Ryo looked at them nervously.
"A little late to worry about making a spectacle!" Dee snapped. He tested his arms and felt muscles twinge in protest. "Jeez, Baby! You're so damned sensitive! I was just joking when I told Dreig I wore the pants."
Ryo frowned. "It didn't sound like it to me, Dee. Sometimes, you can be so insensitive!""
"You mean `a jerk', don't you?" Dee replied and then looked uncomfortably contrite. "I WAS being a jerk, sorry. When he asked, I thought it was funny. I guess I wasn't thinking about what my answer was saying about you."
"You're not going to kiss, are you?" Dreig exclaimed in disgust. "This is nauseating. Dee Latener apologizing? I never thought I'd see the day. You don't wear the pants, Latener. Ryo took `em away from you!"
Dee glared as he slowly stood up. "Who had to take the bus this morning because his girlfriend wouldn't let him drive the car, Dreig?" Dee shot back cuttingly.
Dreig glared back and then he turned away with an obscene hand sign. Dee turned to Ryo then, still rubbing at his arms. Ryo was standing close to him, looking tired and breathing a little heavily. Dee hadn't gone down easily. Ryo's white shirt was half off of him, affording Dee a view of a slim waist, flexing muscles under smooth, pale skin, and a brief view of a pink nipple before Ryo pulled it back into order. His loose, white pants were molded to his long legs and the bulge between them was interesting and inviting. Dee swallowed and brought his eyes back up to Ryo's handsome face and the dark eyes regarding him worriedly under a fall of slightly curly, honey colored hair.
Dee raked his sweating bangs out of his face. "If you're through beating me up, let's take a shower and get out of here."
"I WASN'T beating you up!" Ryo protested. "I used simple holds. You wouldn't have suffered any pain if you had just given up and stopped fighting."
"You wouldn't have gotten a hold of me if you hadn't snuck up behind me, while-" Dee began, but Ryo cut him off.
"While you were telling Dreig how much more of a man you are than me?" Ryo finished for him as he took a step back. "Well, then, let's do this again and you can show me that you DO wear the pants, all right?"
Dee held up both hands. "I've had enough. We're pretty evenly matched and I'm not out to prove anything where you're concerned, Ryo."
Ryo suddenly looked pained. "Aren't you?"
Dee felt the air between them suddenly grow thick with implied meanings that he didn't understand. He stared and then he said carefully, "What?"
Ryo looked around them at the milling officers and the few men that were impatiently waiting their turn on the mat. "Let's not talk about this here. I'm sorry I was so rough, Dee, but sometimes I just can't let you get away with some of the things you say."
Dee ran a hand over his face, wiping off sweat and hiding a wince. "I know, I have a big mouth."
"It's not just that," Ryo replied, but then let it drop as he said, "Come on," as he moved past Dee.
Dee found himself unconsciously following Ryo as if they were attached physically somehow. Weren't they? Dee sighed. Ryo glanced back at the sound, concerned, but then looked thoughtful. Something was definitely going on in that beautiful head, Dee thought, and he envisioned a long evening of, not drinking beer and watching his favorite shows on the t.v., but having one of Ryo's patented `tell me what you're feeling' sessions. Well, thought Dee, he had his own bone to pick. Ryo was always so damned sensitive about his masculinity. Putting his partner down on a mat and twisting his arm was definitely over reacting in Dee's book. If they were going to talk, then he would have a few things to say himself!
Dee tried to talk in the car on the way home. Ryo rebuffed him each time. Dee simmered, hands tensing and relaxing angrily on the steering wheel. His handsome partner had arms crossed across his chest and he was staring out of the window. It was a classic position of someone who didn't want to have his space invaded, even by conversation.
Dee sighed gustily and dared to breach that wall. "I hope you don't have much to say. We won't have a lot of time before Bicky comes home. I may not even get in any make up sex."
Ryo spluttered and glared at Dee. "Nani?! Is that all you're thinking about?"
"Well... no," Dee grated back and then exploded, "Look! I'm the one who almost had his arms torn out of their sockets! I should be the one getting pissy!"
"You do realize that you are just making it worse?" Ryo replied coldly.
"Dammit, Ryo!" Dee exploded. "How serious is this?"
"Depends on what you say when we talk," Ryo replied. "Bicky has to go to his tutor tonight and then he's going to stay the night with a friend. We'll have more than enough time." He motioned with his chin. "Just drive, Dee."
Dee sighed darkly and kept quiet until they reached their apartment and went through the front door. As he followed his partner into the bedroom and watched him open the lock box for their guns, he demanded in exasperation, "Okay, tell me, what's going on?"
Ryo unholstered his gun, checked the safety, and then placed it in the box. He held out his hand for Dee's gun and Dee irritably handed it over to him. Ryo didn't reply until he had locked both guns up and but away the box. Sitting on the edge of their bed, he faced Dee.
"More than once," Ryo began, "I have caught you saying things about me to the other officers. Those things usually had to do with my lack of masculinity, my anal retentiveness, and my naive, upper class childhood." Ryo's face was calm, but his clipped words betrayed how upset he really was. "This last episode in the gym was the last straw, Dee. If you have a problem with me, I'd like to hear it, not from someone else, but from you directly."
Dee's mouth opened in surprise and then he replied quickly, "I don't have a problem with you Ryo. I guess..." He scratched his head and then ran a hand through his dark hair distractedly as he began to pace. "It's hard to explain."
"Try," Ryo urged.
Dee suddenly closed up like a clam. He didn't want to talk about how he felt. He could see where Ryo was headed and he wasn't going to go there. It would, he felt, open up a can of worms that he wanted safely tucked away. He searched for something that might satisfy Ryo, maybe a half truth that would allow his motivations to escape closer scrutiny. "I guess I just get tired of people asking me who's top and who's bottom." When Ryo blushed to the roots of his hair, Dee added reassuringly, "They don't come right out and ask, but they are just so damned curious even when they're disgusted by the whole idea. People, like Dreig, can't resist the chance to throw it in my face, like it's some sort of big damned joke to insinuate that I'm running around wearing a dress at home or something. It's stupid, but, I guess I just get tired and mouth back. Sorry I'm stupid and ended up making you look bad."
Ryo was very quiet for a few moments and then he said, "You know that's not all." Dee knew then that there wasn't going to be any escape for him.
Dee fished his cigarette pack out of his pocket, knocked out a cigarette, and lit up. Ryo watched him take several long puffs, not complaining because he knew that Dee needed that crutch just then. He edged a spotless ashtray at Dee and Dee flicked an ash into as he sat down heavily on the bed beside Ryo. Dee hung his hands between his legs and bowed his head, wondering what to say or do next.
"Want some coffee?" Ryo wondered sympathetically.
Dee nodded, grateful. "Yeah... get me some, okay? Let me think about this for a few minutes."
"All right." Ryo stood up. He looked down at Dee and then bent to look into Dee's eyes. Brushing the man's dark hair out of his face, he gave Dee's forehead a gentle kiss and smiled softly. "It's okay, Dee. I love you."
Dee nodded, embarrassed, and hung his head again as Ryo went to make coffee. "Damn," Dee whispered and took another drag of his cigarette, his hand shaking a little. This wasn't going to be easy at all.
Ryo returned with the coffee and a cup of tea for himself. Settling once more on the bed, he handed the coffee to Dee and said unnecessarily, "Careful, it's hot."
Dee avoided saying, `Duh!' He didn't want the situation any tenser than it already was. He put his cigarette in the ashtray and sipped at his coffee, pointedly looking down into the steaming mug instead of at Ryo.
"Dee..," Ryo prompted. "Talk to me. Tell me what's going on in your head when people say things to you and you get so angry that you put me down to make yourself feel better."
"It isn't like THAT!" Dee protested.
"Then how is it?" Ryo wondered, his dark eyes soft and pleading. Dee could never resist them.
Dee grabbed his cigarette and took a very long draw. Blowing out the smoke in a long, anxiety laden exhale, he started from the beginning. "I grew up in an orphanage in the worst part of town, Ryo. You didn't let people put you down there, or get the best of you, or they'd think you were weak and an easy mark. You had to be tough, or at least act tough. Talking back is just part of life there. Somebody puts you down, you better have something to say about it or a good right hook."
Ryo nodded solemnly, "And?"
Dee scowled, "And? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Ryo wrapped his hands around his tea mug and seemed to brace himself. "You know that's not all, Dee. You know it's more than looking tough to people like Dreig. If you tell me-"
Dee exploded, slamming his coffee mug down on the side table and standing up as he exclaimed, "If you know so much about it, why don't you just TELL me? Why make me say it?"
Ryo's face tightened and went a little pale, but he was the kind of man who faced street thugs on a daily basis. He wasn't going to back down from his frustrated and embarrassed lover. "You need to say it," he insisted. "It's something between us, the white elephant in the room, the thing that's eating at you and will keep eating at you until you admit it's there."
Dee tried. He continued to smoke, staring down at the carpet, one hand stuck in his back pocket. In the end though, he knew that he couldn't. It was just too personal, too demeaning, too childish even to admit to. He couldn't help the small voice deep down that was afraid too, afraid that if he did say it, if he did explain to Ryo, then Ryo might start thinking about it... maybe start realizing...
"I gotta go get beer," Dee suddenly growled with a sharp shake of his head. "Let me think about this some more." When he dared to look at Ryo's expression as he passed him on the way to the door, he saw that Ryo looked hurt. "Sorry, Baby," was all he could manage, as lame as it was, before he was out of the door and out of the apartment in a vain attempt to leave the pain behind as well.
It was crisp and cold and Dee was sorry immediately that he didn't have his coat. He walked fast, staring down at the sidewalk passing under his feet as he crossed streets and traveled down paths that led him to the seedier side of town. Without conscious thought, he found himself going to the places he knew best.
He wasn't more comfortable there, Dee decided as he finally looked up and took stock of where he was. It was more that he was used to it, like an old coat full of holes or a well worn baseball cap that didn't look good anymore. You didn't really want them, if you thought hard about it, because they weren't useful, they were just familiar. Habits died hard.
Dee had grown up under Penguin's kind guidance, but it hadn't kept his feet on the straight and narrow. He had been a thief, a street punk, and as ready to run with a bad crowd as any rebellious youth who knew that he had gotten the short end of the stick in life. It had shaped him and made him what he was. The streets went bone deep and Dee knew that it would always be that way for him. It was something that bothered him and it was something that made him feel inferior to a lover who had grown up, an orphan too, but used to the better things; used to the white picket fence and blue collar neighborhood that Dee had dreamed of living in.
How could he tell Ryo? How could he admit to the man he loved, that he, Dee, didn't think that he measured up, that he wasn't in the same class as Ryo? That self doubt was at the heart of the reason why he put Ryo down whenever he felt someone doubting him, doubting his worth and his right to be with Ryo. Since Dee felt that he couldn't be better than he was, then, it followed, that he had to show others that Ryo wasn't as good as they thought he was, that he had flaws that made them two of a kind, a perfect match. Attacking Ryo's masculinity, making it appear that he needed Dee, had been the easiest way to accomplish that.
"Idiot!" Dee growled at himself. "You made yourself the big man, but you were hurting Ryo the whole time!"
A passerby avoided looking at Dee, a lone man talking to himself, and that person hurried by with a street person's wariness. That made Dee think harder about his surroundings, about the fact that street lamps were turning on as darkness began to fall, and that he was unarmed. The slum didn't forgive stupidity.
Dee sought the comforting lights of a bar, entered the smoke filled establishment, and slid onto a stool. In the dim light, he ordered a beer and stared at nothing as he lit up a cigarette and puffed thoughtfully.
Dee wasn't sure how long he was there. He smoked three cigarettes and drank two beers. He became like the fixtures, invisible by virtue of his self imposed isolation, and people around him began to relax and talk. He didn't listen at first, lost in his own thoughts, but then some of the conversations began to filter through his depression.
"And then I said to Juan, we got to cap his ass tonight! We'll make it slow, so he hurts real bad for what he done to Carlos!"
"A whole kilo by next week! Who's he think he's dealing with? I'm not no damned mafia! I just tag along those shitty little high schoolers and make `em steal mommy and daddy's cash for rocks! He wants big time stuff, have him go meet up with Karson. That mother has got the connections to get anything, man!"
"She's fine, but she's stuck up! I'll get that bitch alone. She'll be walking her fine self down my way and I'll get her and show her she can't say no to Mike Smith!"
"Let me join in?"
"You bet."
Dee felt suddenly very cold. He was alone, unarmed, and he had over heard at least a dozen conversations that were crimes in the planning stages. He knew that he needed to make a call.
Sliding out of his seat and paying his bill, Dee began to leave the bar to search for a phone in a safe place. As he passed a man hunched low in the near darkness, the man lifted his chin and Dee recognized him as an officer from his precinct. The man winked broadly and then lowered his chin again, a clear signal that things were being taken care of. Dee felt a wave of relief. It was good to know that those people he had overheard weren't going to go unchallenged.
As Dee turned his steps down the ill lit street again, he began to think about those men he was leaving behind. No matter how bad things had gotten for him when he was younger and living in that place, he had never contemplating doing the things that he had overheard in that bar. Petty theft. Petty vandalism. Stupid, teenage pranks and fights. Those had been his M.O. If he wasn't as good as some people, Dee thought, he was far from the worst. After having lived in the slums, and then worked it on the side of the law, Dee could say that there were definitely evil men in the world. He had personally faced them and defeated them on their own turf. Maybe his upbringing hadn't made him a model citizen, but it had helped him to arrest people that other officers wouldn't have.
"Dee?"
Dee jerked and looked around and down. Almost under his arm was Penguin, the nun who had raised him. She grinned at him brightly in her black and white habit. He had called her `Penguin' as long as he could remember, the habit bringing the bird instantly to mind.
"Jeez, Penguin! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Dee exclaimed. "What are you doing walking around this late?"
"Language, Dee!' Penguin admonished and reached up and twisted his ear.
"Oww!" Dee exclaimed as he was suddenly reduced to a child.
"I might ask what YOU are doing out by yourself," Penguin countered in a hectoring tone. "Up to no good, as usual, I bet! Well, I'll keep you out of trouble, Dee, just like always. Come with me to the orphanage. I'll fill you with some hot soup and you can tell me all about it."
Dee sighed and then he smiled. "Okay, Penguin. You keep me safe until we get there, okay?"
"Always have, always will," she laughed as she began leading the way, her broad, ambling walk making her look even more like a penguin. Dee began to pull a cigarette from his pack, chuckling softly, but Penguin, her back to him, used that sixth sense she had always had concerning him. She snapped, "Put that thing out or no soup!!"
Dee put the cigarette back. "You can skip the soup anyway," he grumbled. Sticking his hands into his pockets, he stalked after his `mother', wondering if it was going to be any easier telling her what was wrong.
They entered the old church. The orphanage was at the back, overseen by some younger nuns. After Penguin faced the alter, with it's image of a suffering Jesus, and crossed herself, she watched Dee do the same with a critical eye, and then motioned him to sit in a pew.
"I'd make tea, but I begin to think that someone is at home waiting for you who probably would like that privilege himself," Penguin said.
Dee sat heavily, stopped an automatic reach for his cigarettes, and sighed as he hung his hands limply between his knees, head bowed dejectedly.
Penguin fiddled with her cross, waiting, and then prompted gruffly, "Out with it, Dee!"
Dee started at her tone, used to an ear pulling and no supper when she talked like that. He couldn't help but answer, surprising himself by cutting straight to the heart of the problem, "I'm just a bad mouthed, rough cut, street kid and he's middle class, white picket fences, and college. I feel like... like I'm not good enough."
"Not good enough...! " Penguin exclaimed and then calmed herself and patted Dee's hand comfortingly as she asked, "He loves you?"
Dee nodded. "I don't know why, but he does."
"Has he ever said anything to make you believe that he doesn't think that you are good enough for him?" Her tone was a little edged, as if she was ready to find Ryo and give him a piece of her mind if that were true.
"No," Dee replied, "but I think other people do. They say things..."
"Things?" Penguin lifted a patient eyebrow.
Dee blushed, not wanting to repeat some of it to a nun. He picked through his memories and then found something appropriate. "They're always saying, `how can a guy like you hook up with someone like him?' Dee paused and then admitted, "I keep putting Ryo down, trying, I guess, to level the playing field, make them see that he's not so far out of my league."
"But you think he is?" Penguin wondered and then didn't wait for the answer when Dee looked dejected. "Dee!" She gave him a sharp tap on the face, a half slap, half caress. Dee started, wide eyed. "I taught you better than this!" she exclaimed in exasperation. "Where you came from doesn't matter, it's who you are now that counts. You're a good boy. You may be loudmouthed, inconsiderate, obnoxious, sneak-"
"Hey!" Dee protested.
"But you have a heart of gold and you know what's right and what's wrong," Penguin continued. "You are a detective; a damned fine one. You go out every day and help people, just like I do, just like Ryo does. Are you trying to tell me that, because he had a yard, some trees, and a nice neighborhood, that he goes out and does his job better than you, lives his life cleaner, breathes better air, or LOVES better? You may not have the best way of talking, refined manners, or a childhood the envy of everyone, but there are some people who rise above that and they are honored. " She jerked a meaningful thumb at the alter and it's occupant. "Are you saying HE isn't as good as everyone because of where HE was born and raised?"
Dee went pale as he glanced guiltily at the alter. "No," he replied simply and understood.
"Ryo is a nice guy," Penguin told him and gripped Dee's chin with a wrinkled hand as she made him look at her. "Don't screw up what you have with him by getting jealous of what he had that you didn't."
Dee felt a chill run over him. Penguin had reached down deep inside of him and told him something about himself that he had refused to recognize. He WAS jealous of Ryo and that had been at the heart of his put downs, not the insulting remarks of other people.
"Shit!" Dee muttered under his breath and sat back in the pew, groaning at his own stupidity.
"Dee!" Penguin barked.
"Sorry!" Dee blushed, covering his mouth with a hand. "I'm just... you're right... I've been so stupid."
Penguin smiled as she stood stiffly and made a shooing motion. "Progress," she said. "That's good. Now, go back home, boy, and tell Ryo that. It doesn't do any good to apologize to an old lady and an empty church."
Dee began to stand, but Penguin leaned on his shoulder. Dee looked up at her questioningly.
"Before you go, twenty Hail Mary's for swearing," Penguin ordered Dee sternly.
Dee's mouth opened and then he closed it and smiled as she dropped her rosary into his hand.
Going back to the apartment afterwards, Dee found only the kitchen light on. The apartment was silent and dark, accusing him with it's emptiness. His heart thudded painfully, fear beginning to rise, as he strode swiftly across the living room and into the bedroom. Once there, he sighed in relief and slumped against the door frame. Ryo was there, asleep in the bed. The man hadn't left him as Dee had feared.
The side table had a book and a small reading light. The light was still on, as if book and light had been carelessly tossed down there. The light illuminated Ryo's face. The handsome, almost angelic face, the tumble of loosely curled, honey brown hair over the pillow, and the creamy, rounded shoulder peeking above the cover was like a magnet to Dee. He tossed off his shoes, and then all of his clothes, before gently lowering himself on the bed and covering Ryo with his body. He kissed Ryo's cheek and whispered in his lover's ear. "I'm home, baby, and I'm sorry."
"How sorry?" Ryo asked in a voice that was wide awake. His dark eyes opened and he turned so that he was face to face with Dee, but still pressed body to body with only the blanket between them.
"Sorry enough to finally explain," Dee replied and then couldn't look at Ryo any longer. He stared at a pulled thread on the blanket, picking at it with nervous fingers as he told Ryo everything. After he was done, he dragged his eyes, unwillingly, up to look at Ryo's face, a part of his mind expecting contempt or ridicule even though the other part knew that Ryo would never act that way.
Ryo caressed Dee's face and kissed his lips, slowly and softly, his eyes large wells of compassion. When he broke the kiss, he said, "Thank you for telling me, Dee. Now I finally understand, even though I did suspect it was something like that."
"Why wouldn't you figure it out?" Dee breathed as he bent to nibble Ryo's neck. "You're one of the best detectives on the force."
"So are you," Ryo replied, "and you are a good man, Dee, and a perfect lover."
"Perfect?" Dee chuckled in disbelief.
"Watch your ego," Ryo admonished with a soft laugh and then his pelvis, pressed against Dee's, rubbed once, twice, and then stopped as Ryo began pulling down the blanket. Dee eagerly crawled underneath and gasped in pleasure as he pressed between Ryo's naked legs and felt that Ryo was more than ready for him.
"Baby...," Dee felt at a loss, suddenly. "How can you love me? I'm- I'm such an idiot, always saying and doing the wrong things... you say I'm perfect, but you know I'm not."
Ryo placed his palm against Dee's bare chest, feeling his lover's heartbeat. "In here," he whispered. "In here, you're perfect, Dee."
Ryo's long legs came up and wrapped around Dee's waist, as if Ryo wanted to pull Dee inside of himself. They held each other very tight, and then the double stiffness pressed between their bodies demanded their attention.
"Dee?" Ryo breathed.
"Ryo," Dee growled back, voice rough with desire, and pushed up on his elbows so that he could reach between them and stroke his lover.
Ryo moaned as Dee's broad hand rubbed over the top and underneath the edges of the mushrooming head of Ryo's erection. "Suki da," Ryo groaned as that hand dipped down lower to cup and caress the tenderest part of him.
"Love you too, baby," Dee replied as he felt Ryo's hands slide down his back and grab his tensed ass. Those strong fingers kneaded him there and Dee trembled in delight at the erotic massage. Looking down, he saw that Ryo had his eyes modestly closed, his cheeks red with a blush.
"Look at me, baby," Dee begged. "Open those beautiful eyes."
Ryo shyly complied, looking up at Dee and stroking the strong, masculine lines of Dee's body with his eyes. He leaned up and nuzzled Dee's chest. Dee felt a tongue lap roughly at his nipple and he twitched and trembled, turned on more by Ryo's sudden boldness than the sensation. It sent him over the edge. He had to have satisfaction. He needed, wanted, Ryo so badly that any more foreplay would have been torture.
Dee leaned over and grabbed the tube of lube from the drawer of the side table. It was awkward. Ryo almost broke the mood by chuckling softly as Dee almost toppled off the edge of the bed. Ryo held him securely and helped pull Dee back into place when Dee had the lube in hand.
Dee squirted the clear gel into one hand, abandoned the tube, and then reached down to coat his erection with just enough to make his entrance painless, but not enough to keep him from the friction that he would need to reach the pinnacle of his pleasure.
They had been passionate lovers for awhile and Ryo didn't need much preparation as Dee slowly eased into his entrance. Ryo angled his body to make it easier and he tossed his chin back and made small, needy sounds as he reached down and stroked his own erection while Dee moved into him, inch by inch until he was seated fully.
"You feel so good!" Dee groaned as he hooked arms under Ryo's knees and brought his lover's body into the right position for a deep penetration.
They began moving in a pounding rhythm, slow at first and then picking up swift momentum. Ryo's small sounds took on a louder, more urgent tone, as Dee growled and grunted, overcome by primal desire. They both came explosively, Dee's hot seed shooting into the tight sheath of Ryo's body and Ryo's splattering across both of their bellies.
Panting and exhausted, they both lay in a tangle together, senses dazed by the power of their love making. Dee's chest was against Ryo's, his fingers tangled in the loose curls of Ryo's hair and his lips making a fiery trail down Ryo's neck. Dee could feel Ryo's heart hammering and it seemed to be in rhythm with his own. Ryo's words came back to Dee and he smiled against Ryo's sweet smelling skin as something inside of him, that had been gnawing away at him for too long, finally went away. He was rough edged and he had grown up on the bad side of town, Dee thought, and in some ways, Ryo WAS better than him, but in their hearts they were equal, the same, and two halves of the same soul. Their love was perfect. Wasn't that what really mattered? In that aspect of their lives, Dee thought, he WAS good enough.