Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this
Warning:Male/Male sex, graphic, violence, language
Please check out Kracken's new yaoi book, The Angel Within, on amazon.com . Just go to http://www.bonpublishing.com for a direct link. They take credit cards, money orders, and checks and ship internationally. Thank you to everyone who already bought one. *Huge snugglyhugs* ^_^
Fake:After the Manga Series
Rip Tide
"The beach?" Dee grunted as he cracked open a beer, settled on the couch, and then turned on the football game. His bare feet came to rest on the coffee table.
"We need to get away for awhile and relax," Ryo told him as he put a bowl of chips down on the table and sat on the couch facing Dee. The sound of the game almost drowned out his words. He scowled. "We've been working double shifts. The Chief agreed that we should take off for a week and-"
Dee looked aside at Ryo briefly in surprise and then turned his attention back to the game. "How did you manage that? Did you tie up and hold hostage his next of kin?"
Ryo's scowl deepened. "I think you were the one who convinced him. Standing on your desk, throwing your papers up in the air, and shouting for someone to free you from 'the gulag', certainly convinced the staff psychologist enough to file a report to him."
Dee looked momentarily contemplative as he took a swig of beer. "I wonder what my file looks like? Must be a hell of a lot of reports in it. You'd think they would fire someone like me."
"And hire who else?" Ryo replied sourly. "There are not a lot of people who will risk their life, work all hours, and allow themselves to be quartered in a crumbling old precinct building for what we make."
"True, true." Dee leaned forward expectantly, eyes on the television. The crowd roared. Dee swore and sat back. "Moron! Did the goddam idiot put grease on his fingers before he went on the field?"
"Dee," Ryo dared.
Dee waved him off and Ryo stood and paced angrily. When a commercial interrupted the game, Dee walked over to the window that led to their 'balcony' opened it, sat in the windowsill, and lit up a cigarette. As he blew a puff of smoke outside, he motioned Ryo to approach again.
"Okay, you have two minutes, "Dee said. "Why the beach? You know I hate being away from the city."
Ryo didn't back down. "We went to where you wanted to go the last two times," he argued. "Now It's my turn to call the shots."
Dee made a face. "I don't think I have to say it, do I?"
Ryo retorted angrily. "If you are going to keep bringing up that vacation to England.... I'll- I'll bring up our lovely wedding and honeymoon."
Dee scowled. "None of that was my fault!"
"And the England vacation was mine?" Ryo pointed out.
Dee sighed. "Okay, okay, sorry. I won't say that again. Still... the beach..." The game came on again and he stubbed out his cigarette on the sill, tossed the butt out the window, and strode back to the television. "I'll think about it," he said as he sat down and reached for his beer again.
Ryo went to the kitchen and sat at the small dinette. He pushed around some
pamphlets, and the tickets and hotel reservations underneath, as he muttered,
"You'll do more than think about it, Dee."
_____________________
"Ryo, I always pride myself on having a good memory," Dee said as he leaned against a wooden, salt gray, wall and puffed on his cigarette. "I can't , for the life of me, remember agreeing to this beach vacation."
Ryo gave him a small smile and then turned with their suitcases in hand to survey the wide expanse of white sugar beach, the rolling surf, and the whirling seagulls playing among the whitecaps. A salt breeze ruffled his honey brown hair and his dark eyes glinted with the bright sunshine.
"You did agree... or at least you nodded when I asked," Ryo replied. "If you're trying to tell me that you were completely ignoring me in favor of a football game, and that anything I had to say was less important than a tackle...."
Dee straightened, hearing the warning in Ryo's voice, but he knew it for the distraction technique that it was and he wasn't about to be bullied. "So, next time I want to go to every hockey game of the season, I should ask you when you're attention is on something else, like interrogating a mafia crime boss? Is that how I get what I want?"
Ryo winced and then looked pained. He turned to Dee, looked over the sprawling resort made up of separate beach bungalows, and then sighed. "If you really hate it that much, we can go back home. I'm sure they'll give me some of the deposit back."
Dee draped an arm over Ryo's shoulders. "Look, if I hated it THAT much, we wouldn't be here. I just wanted to stew you over your method of getting us here, okay? Next time, be straight with me. Maybe I don't like the beach, but anywhere you are is preferable to sitting at home and being alone."
Ryo smiled. "Dee... Sometimes, you amaze me. Just when I think you're a complete-"
Dee put a hand, the one holding his cigarette, over Ryo's mouth and then lowered it. "I have my moments. Let's leave it at that and not start arguing again." He looked around them and then turned to unlock their bungalow door. His eyes rolled as he turned on the light. "Jeez! Flowers! Why do they have to put this tropical crap on everything?"
Ryo grimaced, slung their suitcases on the bed, and then sat down beside them. "Because that's what being on the beach is about, Dee. It's tropical."
Dee shut the door, automatically locking it with a city bred paranoia. Turning to Ryo, he gave his lover a knowing smile and began unbuttoning his shirt. "Bed looks comfortable," he said suggestively.
Ryo smiled back. He leaned back on his hands. "Yes, it is."
Dee tossed aside his shirt, flexed his strong shoulders, and slowly paced towards his lover like a panther on the prowl. When he came close enough, Ryo reached for him and took hold of the waist band of Dee's pants. He pulled Dee in close as Dee leaned down and captured a deep, heated kiss from Ryo's soft, devouring lips.
Ryo's hands pressed against the front of Dee's pants feeling the hardness there and then his slim fingers began working at Dee's zipper as Dee's tongue slid inside of his mouth. Their tongues caressed each other.
The doorknob rattled and then it opened. Bicky stood there, key in hand, and he scowled when he saw what they were doing. "Hey! Knock it off. Child present!"
Ryo blushed beat red and dropped his hands as Dee hurriedly zipped up his pants before turning furiously and shouting, "You were supposed to stay in the baby hut with your baby friends until lunch time!" He glared at the key. "How the hell did you get a key to our room anyway?"
Bicky pointed at Ryo. Dee whirled and glared down at him. Ryo said defensively. "What if he needs something... or us? He has to have a key, Dee."
"Says who?" Dee growled. He turned to Bicky again. "Look, squirt! You were told that you could bring your friends so that you would keep busy and out of our hair-"
"Dee!" Ryo snapped and Dee went silent, still simmering. Ryo stood up. "You know you don't mean that, so explain to Bicky what you REALLY mean."
Bicky grinned maliciously. "Yeah, Dee, why don't you explain?"
"You little...!" Dee throttled that and fisted his hands. "I thought that we got past this 'annoy the crap out of Dee' business?" he said more calmly as he decided to take a different tack, "Look, kid, what would you think if I went and hung out with you and your friends all vacation?" Bicky looked suitably horrified. "Yeah, see? We're a family, and all of that," Dee continued, "but even you want some space to do your own thing."
Bicky stared and then made a face. "I just wanted to know if I could order some sub sandwiches from room service for me and my buddies before we headed out to the sand. I didn't think you two would be at it two seconds after we got outta the car!" He made a disgusted noise. "Tell me yes or no, and I'll get outta here! I don't wanna stick around to watch you two make kissy faces at each other."
Ryo straightened his clothes, still embarrassed. "Why don't we all go to lunch and start things out right?" He ignored Dee's obvious displeasure at the idea. "We'll all go out to the beach afterwards, get some sun, and then go our separate ways. We shouldn't come on vacation and then not spend at least a little time together."
Bicky and Dee stared, neither of them looking pleased at being taken away from their plans of being with who they wanted. Grudgingly, they both scowled and muttered at the same time, "Whatever."
Ryo smiled, but was well aware of the tension as he said, "Good. We'll all need to change into better clothes and you can bring your friends, Bicky. We'll meet over at the resort restaurant in twenty minutes."
Bicky left and Dee sighed and looked at Ryo as Ryo locked the door again and put a chair under the knob. "Why do you like torturing me?" Dee asked in a pained voice.
Ryo smiled as he slowly approached Dee, undoing the buttons of his shirt and
walking just as Dee had done, with easy, masculine grace, and obvious intent.
His cheeks were tinged slightly pinked, embarrassed by his own daring, but eager
as he replied, "Torture you? I did say twenty minutes, didn't I? It only
takes two minutes to change clothes."
________________________
"I've seen alley cats with more manners," Dee grumbled.
"Dee..." Ryo admonished. "Just relax. They're having fun. We are on vacation."
Dee eyed the table of teenagers laughing, making rude noises, and flicking food at each other and scowled.
"Eat," Ryo urged.
Dee glowered down at his hamburger and fries. When he felt Ryo's toe caress his ankle, he twitched and blinked at his lover. Ryo was smiling warmly at him. It banished Dee's bad mood instantly as he was suddenly immersed in the memory of how Ryo had felt in his arms not a short time ago. Seeing Ryo in his mind's eye, spread out on white sheets, legs thrown open in abandon, groaning as Dee's talented tongue and lips had teased and stroked him to completion, almost made Dee want to forget lunch, forget the beach, and just drag Ryo back to the bungalow.
A piece of lettuce slapped into the side of Dee's face. Dee wiped it off and turned to glare at Bicky. Bicky glared back. His friends were snickering. "We want shakes," Bicky demanded.
"So get them!" Dee snarled back.
"Bicky!" Ryo warned. "If you are going to act this way during the entire vacation, then I'll call your sitter and have you and your friends taken back home."
"Sitter?" One of Bicky's friends asked in shock. "You have a sitter, Bicky?"
Bicky turned several shades of red and said tightly, "She just takes care of the house. She ain't no sitter!"
Dee smelled blood in the water and he opened his mouth to reaffirm that Bicky did indeed have a babysitter, but the hard kick into his shin turned what he had been about to say into a yelp of pain.
"Yes, a housekeeper," Ryo amended, "But I'm still warning you to behave. If I send you back, I'm also going to ground you. No friends. No video games. No going out."
Bicky glowered and sank down into his chair, arms crossed tightly over his chest. His friends snickered again and their looks promised that he was going to be the butt of some jokes later on.
"Why don't you get your shakes to go and head down to the beach?" Ryo suggested. "We'll join you shortly."
Bicky shot up at once as if he were escaping prison, motioned to his friends, and they headed for the front counter of the restaurant to order. Dee frowned after them and then sighed and began eating again now that the tension was gone.
"Why does he always pick a fight with you?" Ryo sighed as he stared after them. "Why can't he enjoy something as simple as eating together? He always has to-"
"He's at that age," Dee said around a mouthful of hamburger. "He wants to show that he's the man and he sure as hell doesn't want you to treat him like a kid in front of his friends."
Ryo frowned. "I can't let him get away with being rude..."
Dee shrugged. "Yeah, I know, and that's part of being a parent, I guess. You gotta be the bad guy. Accept it. You couldn't let him get away with it and you couldn't let his little friends see him get away with it. So the little shit is embarrassed. He'll get over it in about... twenty years."
"Dee!" Ryo growled and then tightly, "You aren't much better than he is. You're his parent too. You can't keep needling him and making it worse."
Dee swallowed hard, took a sip of his coffee, and then pushed his plate away. "Bicky gets pissed at me because he can't fool me like he can you. He can't pull his acts and get his way. I annoy the hell out of him, because I'm a roadblock in his way and he's going to keep trying to push me out of it." Dee wiped at his mouth with a napkin and then tossed money onto the table. "Let me ask you this. Who's idea was it to let him bring all of his friends. Ours or his?"
Ryo looked as if he were tasting something sour. "His. I thought..."
"What?" Dee wondered with a sigh. "That it would make him happier, make him easier to deal with on this trip? If you wanted a family vacation, you shouldn't have let Bicky turn it into something else."
Ryo looked down at his plate and then he threw his napkin into the middle of his rice and chicken and stood up. "I'm not that much of a pushover," he retorted.
"Then what he wanted went right along with what you had planned?" Dee wondered with a tinge of sarcasm.
Ryo said cryptically, "Actually, it did."
Dee blinked. "Care to elaborate?"
Ryo shook his head. "Not now. We have to get to the beach."
Dee looked pained, "Yeah, before Bicky and his friends get into trouble."
Ryo asked, puzzled, as he followed Dee towards the front of the restaurant. "On a beach? What could happen?"
Dee growled, "With those guys, anything and everything."
They walked out onto the hot sand of the beach, sun glaring and surf crashing in large waves. People were already setting up umbrellas and beach chairs, bare skin slick with suntan oil and children romping with sand toys.
Dee shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably and looked up and down the beach. He was wearing sandals and a bathing suit that looked more like a pair of overlarge shorts. He dropped their bag of towels and beach mats onto the sand and grunted sourly. "Jeez, they've already drowned."
"Dee!" Ryo warned.
"I don't see them," Dee pointed out. "Little monkeys obviously went right into the water and their bodies will never be recovered. Well, best be going. I'll give them a nice eulogy at their funerals."
Ryo glared, aware of people overhearing them and beginning to look alarmed. "I can't take you anywhere, " he grumbled. "Why can't you just enjoy yourself?"
Dee sighed. "If you went where I wanted to go, maybe I would have something to enjoy."
Ryo blinked at the anger and tensed. "I- Dee.... I just thought..."
"It's not like I can enjoy anything anyway when I have to babysit a group of juvenile delinquents," Dee continued. Despite his angry words, his eyes were still searching the beach for the teens. He began walking and Ryo followed him.
"I just wanted....," Ryo tried again and then became angry too. "I don't see why you can't let me make some of the decisions, why you always have to pick where we go, what we do, what we... I wanted..."
Dee looked sideways at Ryo, his anger deflating as he suddenly understood. "You're saying I'm calling all the shots and doing everything I want to do? Are you saying I'm the one who's ignoring what you want? That I'm not fulfilling your needs? That I'm not letting you assert some dominance or allowing you to exercise your inner desire to nurture and have quality family time?"
Ryo stared back and then said bluntly, "I'm saying you're a selfish, moron when it comes to choosing what we should do." He snorted. "What was all that? Have you been reading the women's magazines the police officer's leave in the lounge?"
Dee looked uncomfortable and blushed slightly, "Well, the monster truck and Gun and Ammo magazines were late that week... and the other ones were laying around... and..."
Ryo snorted. "I was joking."
Dee blushed harder. "Yeah, I knew that."
Ryo sighed, "Just go along and try and have a good time, Dee. If you stop fighting with Bicky and stop thinking about what you'd rather be doing, you might enjoy yourself."
Dee's eyes swept the beach again and he growled, "I might be able to do that last bit, but Bicky... Where the hell IS that kid?"
"There as a video game arcade," Ryo suggested, "They might have gone there first."
Dee grunted. "Typical. A whole beach and he goes and does something he could have done at home."
Ryo touched Dee's elbow and Dee stopped walking. "Maybe it's for the best. Why don't we go back, sit down, and relax on the sand? We can get together with Bicky later."
Dee nodded, but he was also still frowning. "Sounds like a plan. I want to see that he's at the arcade first."
Ryo looked amused. "He grew up in the slums, Dee. I think he can handle the beach."
Dee looked sour, "Yeah, but can the beach handle him? I'm more worried about his 'victims'."
That wasn't true and Ryo could sense it. Dee was genuinely worried about Bicky and his friends. It was a switch. Usually Ryo was the one fretting after the teenager and Dee was the one shrugging off his worries. Ryo had once been a profiler, so he knew a bit about psychology. He began to suspect that something was eating at Dee, something with enough bite that he was worrying about a teenager who had grown up among drug dealers, prostitutes, and the worst dregs of society.
"You're out of your element," Ryo surmised at last.
Dee winced. "Stop that shit. I hate it when you try and look inside my head."
"No. Admit it," Ryo urged. "You don't like the beach because you aren't used to it. You know all about the city and you know what to expect. Out here, in the sunshine and surf, you're at a loss and that is making you upset."
Dee scowled, looked long and hard at his toes sunk in the sand, and then shot a look at Ryo. "So what? So I'm not a fricken' beach bum."
Ryo reached out and hooked the back of Dee's neck and pulled him close so that their foreheads touched. He ignored the curious and disgusted looks all around them. "Relax. Let me take care of things. All you have to do is follow along and do what you normally do."
"I'd be drinking a beer, smoking, and watching a football game if I was doing that," Dee growled.
Ryo released him abruptly, fuming," Dee, just TRY! Okay?"
Dee looked him up and down, suddenly suspicious. "You're good at pointing out my problems, but I don't have a detective badge for nothing either, Baby. What's with you? Why is this so important?"
Ryo took a deep breath and throttled down his anger. He replied cryptically, "You'll understand later... I hope."
"Dee! Ryo!" Bicky came pounding down the beach, sand flying. He was alone and he looked wide eyed and frightened. He barreled into both men and clutched at them, panting hard.
"What's wrong?" Ryo demanded.
Dee growled, "What's up? If you tried to steal something and they're chasing after you, I'll turn you over myself!"
Bicky said excitedly even as he punched Dee in the arm hard, " I saw something go down back there!"
Dee yelled in pain and clutched at his wounded arm. "Why you little-"
"This guy murdered someone!" Bicky blurted over Dee's angry words. "I saw him standing over the dead guy with a knife! I left the guys at the arcade to come get money from you for the games, and I took a shortcut through some dunes. That's where they were! Come on! You have to hurry and do your cop shit!"
"Show us!" Dee demanded and Bicky took off down the beach again with Dee beside him. Ryo was only a few feet behind, mind clicking over from vacationer to cop in under a few seconds, but not before he felt a pang at seeing Dee's face flush with excitement, happy to be in his element again. He had been so close, so close to accomplishing his goal, and now he had to start all over again.
They rounded a dune and Bicky slid to a stop. Dee almost fell over him, regained his balance, and then glared. "Well?!" Dee demanded hotly. "If this is some kind of joke, Bicky, I'll-"
"No!" Bicky exclaimed in consternation. He looked all around them frantically. "It was right here! I know it!"
Ryo caught up to them and heard what Bicky said. He looked around carefully and then asked," Are you sure? These dunes all look very much alike."
"Yes, I'm sure!" Bicky yelled back and then hissed in frustration. "I came from there!" He pointed towards the boardwalk that led to the restaurant and the arcade. "Why would I go in any direction besides this one?"
Dee frowned, raking his fall of dark hair out of his eyes. "Why would someone commit murder this close to a very populated area?"
"I don't know!" Bicky snarled back. "You're the freakin' detective! Why don't you start detecting and figure it out?"
"Investigating," Dee corrected sarcastically, "Not detecting."
"What the fuck ever!" Bicky exploded. "Just do it!"
"Bicky," Ryo soothed. "Calm down. There might be another explanation for what you saw. Keep an open mind. Dee? Let's not contaminate the site too much. You look, Bicky and I will stay here."
Dee grunted and nodded. He carefully approached the area and stared down at the sand intently as he slowly took one step after another.
Ryo and Bicky watched, Ryo with understanding at Dee's method and Bicky with
acute impatience because he couldn't understand why Dee was taking so long.
At last, Dee stopped and stared at one spot. He crouched down, but didn't touch.
"Dee?" Ryo asked.
"Someone smoothed the sand over," Dee said and then straightened, eyes squinting against the sunlight as he looked all around them. "Doesn't tell me much, except that someone was here. No blood, no sign of a struggle, and too many footprints from too many people. Dee frowned and then said, "Bicky, there is a bar on the boardwalk. It's is possible that someone had too much to drink and that someone was helping them home or back to their resort."
Bicky replied flatly. "I know dead people when I see 'em, asshole."
Ryo winced. "We should file a report, just in case," he said, trying to placate Bicky. "Then, if something comes up or someone is found to be missing, we can-"
"You're not even gonna look?!" Bicky exploded.
"Of course we'll look," Ryo replied.
Dee grumbled, "A man carrying a dead body shouldn't be hard to spot, so why don't you take that end of the beach?" he said to Bicky and hooked a thumb back the way that they had come. "And me and Ryo will go look that way," He pointed towards the boardwalk.
Ryo scowled. "The boardwalk? How likely is it that he would have gone that way?"
"Not very," Dee agreed, "But we shouldn't rule out any possibilities. Besides," he said as he began walking, "they have a bar there and I need a beer."
"Dee!" Ryo snapped. "Bicky is not looking for a potential murderer alone. He should go with one of us!"
Dee turned and glared. "If I thought for one minute that there really was a murderer-"
"He saw something!" Ryo said sternly, cutting him off. "Until we know for certain what that something was, we should be careful."
Dee glared from under his fall of dark hair and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Pulling out one, he lit it and took a long puff. He ignored Ryo when his lover made an exasperated sound, jerking his chin towards the other end of the beach. "Come on with me Bicky! You want attention? You got it."
Bicky crossed his arms over his chest and glared, his blue eyes furious. "Fuck you! I'm going with Ryo."
Ryo smacked him on the top of the head. "Watch the language!" but then he said, "If you want to come with me, that's okay."
"Make up your damned minds!" Dee exclaimed irritably as he threw up his hands and then began walking towards the boardwalk again.
Ryo's voice caught him in mid stride. "You still need to search the beach, Dee. Get the beer on your way back."
Dee took another long drag on his cigarette and then flicked it away from him as he turned his steps and began walking down the beach.
Ryo stared after him and then turned to walk in the opposite direction. Bicky followed. He looked up at Ryo's closed expression and then said, "Sorry."
Ryo looked down at him. "Why?"
"For messing up things," Bicky growled and then looked away at the rolling surf. "I know you had plans and I was supposed to stay out of the way..."
Ryo draped an arm over Bicky's shoulders and gave him a brief, tight, hug and then released him, knowing that kind of display in public embarrassed Bicky. "You weren't supposed to stay out of the way."
Bicky looked at him again, frowning. "But.... don't my being around cramp your style?"
"This is a family vacation," Ryo told him firmly. "We are a family. I just thought it would be nice to get Dee to..."
"To what?" Bicky prompted, angry. "To have a good time with us? To get him to stop being a selfish a-hole and do stuff together?"
"Bicky!" Ryo snapped in warning.
Bicky didn't say anything more and Ryo sighed darkly. "I suppose," he admitted, "that what I wanted, was for Dee to see that we could have a pleasant time together and still be...." He blushed.
"What?" Bicky prompted suspiciously, and then, when Ryo ducked his head, he growled. "Hey! I'm a child, not your girlfriend! I don't want to hear about any of that stuff you got going with him."
"Sorry," Ryo apologized. "That is for me to deal with, not you, you're right. I just didn't want you to think that I brought you here just to force Dee to..."
"Well, you are!" Bicky snapped back. "You're trying to force this together stuff down both our throats." He simmered for a few moments and then said, "Stop trying so freakin hard, Ryo. We are what we are, okay? He's an asshole who got stuck with me because he wanted you and I got stuck with him because I wanted to be with you too. We've marked our territory and we can live with that. Don't try to keep shoving us together when neither of us want to be."
Ryo stared at him, stunned and then shook his head. "You're both so damned stubborn."
"And you aren't?" Bicky shot back with a roll of his eyes and then said irritably. "Are we looking for a dead guy, or not?"
Ryo sighed heavily. "We are."
"Then look," Bicky said.
They walked down the beach further, seeing nothing but bodies stretched out on the sands that were very much alive. Ryo asked cautiously, " I know we've talked about this before, but, why can't you get along with Dee now that everything is..."
"Legite?" Bicky finished.
Ryo nodded, pushing his honey colored hair out of his eyes as an errant, salt breeze tossed it about. "I know that you thought that he was just playing a game, pretending so that he could get what he wanted and then leave. Now that you know it isn't true, that he's staying..."
"Ryo...," Bicky worked over what he was going to say with a fierce scowl. "Me and Dee grew up in the same neighborhood. We're wise to each other. That ain't going to change."
"I don't understand," Ryo replied in exasperation.
"Because, you can't!" Bicky retorted. "You never will. You ain't never going to get the street out of either one of us."
"Why does it make you fight though?" Ryo wondered. "Why does sharing a similar background make you dislike each other so much?"
"You don't get much, when you get stuck with no good lives like us," Bicky growled, "So when you do get something, you gotta defend it with all you got. Sharing don't come natural. "
"Bicky," Ryo replied, "No matter what either of you say, I'm not going to get rid of either of you. I can love you both. I want you to trust that, okay?"
"Why should I?" Bicky grumbled. "You don't trust me. I know what I saw. Don't treat me like a dumb kid who don't know no better."
Ryo took a deep breath and then let it out. "Okay, you DID see someone murdered... or at least saw a dead body. That's something that you have to consider. Someone may have found that body and taken it to the authorities. If we check, we may find that out." He stopped walking and surveyed the beach, his dark eyes squinting against the bright sun, "because I don't see anything this way, Bicky."
They stopped walking, Bicky hunched in on himself. He said angrily, "I saw it, Ryo." He scanned the line of dunes and the tall grasses there. "If I were trying to hide a dead body, I'd try to put it in the sand. Maybe that's what he was up to when I walked in on him."
"So close to the boardwalk?" Ryo replied skeptically and then chewed on his lip thoughtfully. "Unless he was taking it elsewhere... but.... why in broad daylight? That part doesn't make any sense."
Bicky looked as if he were having bad memories. "Maybe, he just suddenly got mad enough to off whoever it was... I mean... didn't think about it... didn't look around and think to do it in a better place?"
Ryo looked up and down the beach and then began walking back the way they had come, moving purposefully. "Or, maybe," he said, "they didn't expect to find it and had to do something about it right then and there?"
"Huh?" Bicky said, confused.
"What makes more sense?" Ryo asked. "That someone killed in a fit of passion, in broad daylight, within throwing distance of a populated boardwalk, or that they , perhaps, killed the night before, and found, to their surprise, that they hadn't disposed of the body as well as they had thought?" He pointed towards the pounding surf. "The sea always seems like a good hiding place, until it brings back what ever you put into it."
"Shit!" Bicky exclaimed and then, when Ryo gave him a hard look, he muttered, "Sorry... but... Jeez! That sounds right, Ryo!"
Ryo shrugged. "It's a theory, but the first thing you learn about being a detective is to find evidence and then motivation. You saw a man with a body. Circumstantial evidence. Why, is always the next step."
"Arresting the guy isn't?" Bicky wondered, trying to keep up with Ryo's longer strides.
"Can't make a good arrest that will stick without evidence and motivation.," Ryo replied and then stopped. Bicky almost ran into him. "Dee," Ryo said in surprise and then began striding forward again.
Dee was standing along the surf, staring down at the sand. When Bicky and Ryo approached, he warned them off. "Evidence," he said, "Get your camera and make a report."
"What's going on?" Bicky wondered and looked around Ryo's body to see what Dee was looking at. In the sand were clear marks of something having been dragged and a man's footsteps. Those marks were fast being erased by a rising tide.
"Hurry," Dee said and Ryo took off at a run to get his camera from where they had left their things on the beach. Dee looked aside at Bicky then and grudgingly said, "Looks like you might have been right."
Bicky bristled. "Might?"
Dee shrugged. "One piece of evidence does not a murder make. We still
need a body."
___________________
Dee collapsed back onto the bed and flipped his sandals off of his feet. They landed in different directions, thudding softly, one on top of a table and the other in a corner of the room. Ryo frowned, went to pick them up, and then put them by the hotel room door. He locked the door while he was there and then came to stand by Dee, looking down at his lover.
"Nothing like breaking up work with a little work," Dee grumbled.
"You are not fooling me," Ryo told him with a raised eyebrow.
Dee blinked up at him, dark hair tumbled into his eyes, and expression mildly confused. "Then I must be fooling myself," he replied, "Because I don't know what you're talking about."
Ryo sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. He worked off his shoes and left them by the bedside. Leaning sideways on one hand, he contemplated his lover. "You, Dee Latener, were enjoying yourself."
Dee smirked. "That obvious, huh?"
"Yes," Ryo replied. "Once you figured out that Bicky might be telling the truth, I almost couldn't pull you away from the case. If those officers hadn't told you to get the hell out of their jurisdiction, I think you would still be own at the beach collecting evidence."
Dee gave Ryo a knowing look, "And you wouldn't be? You love it as much as I do, Ryo, so don't even try and be holier than thou!"
"I wasn't," Ryo told him. "It's over now, though, and it's being taken care of. We can forget about it."
"You think Bicky's going to forget about it?" Dee wondered acidly. "He's going to be searching up and down the coast the entire rest of the vacation and getting himself into trouble."
Ryo smiled gently, "So, he'll do just what we suspected he would do before we even left home."
Dee glared. "So, why go? Why, when you knew the little shit would screw things up and I would just get pissed?"
Ryo traced the strong line of Dee's jaw. "Because," he replied. "You have to learn to have fun and to find pleasure inbetween the mayhem. You keep waiting. You keep saying, 'Later, Ryo, when Bicky's not around.' He's not going anywhere, Dee, and he's not going to suddenly change into a model citizen. You have to stop waiting and just..."
Ryo blushed. Dee was wide eyed. "This is a switch!' he exclaimed.
Ryo blushed even more.
Dee sat up a little. "So, what you're saying," he clarified as if he could hardly believe it, "Is that we 'do it' even if the little punk is around and making us miserable? I think YOU'RE the one who kept saying, 'No, Bicky will hear us!'.
Ryo made an exasperated sound. "I'm not talking about just sex! I'm talking about enjoying the quiet, happy moments when they happen and not staying miserable, waiting for a time when Bicky won't be pulling yet another stunt."
Dee growled, "So, I was supposed to be enjoying myself on the beach right up until the time Bicky came running and told me he had seen a dead guy? I'm supposed to love almost getting in you and having the little shit interrupt us and give me a case of blue balls?"
"No, you're supposed to stop being such an asshole about everything!" Ryo shouted back loudly. "It takes two to fight and an adult not to let a child get the upper hand!"
Dee sat up all the way, dark, green eyes snapping with temper. "You are not going to make this my fault!"
"I'm not!" Ryo retorted and then stopped himself from getting angry. Suddenly, he grabbed Dee by the back of the neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss. He broke away briefly and said, "This is what I'm talking about, Dee. You're sitting here thinking about how miserable Bicky made you, and how miserable he might make you in the future, and you're not taking advantage of the fact that we are alone and behind a locked hotel room door. Stop revolving your life around what Bicky might do. I brought you on this vacation to knock some sense into that thick head of yours! I'm not leaving here until I do!"
"I hate when you freakin' psycho babble everything!" Dee grumbled, but then he let out a long breath and said, "Okay, maybe," he stressed the word 'maybe', "I've been letting that kid get to me, but he'd make the devil go crazy, Ryo, and you know it."
"I never thought I would say this, Dee," Ryo said, "But you think too much. Stop thinking and just... do it. It means a lot to me that you care enough about Bicky to worry about him, but-"
"I worry about what he's going to do to other people!" Dee retorted. "Them I worry about!"
Ryo smiled. "You aren't fooling me, I told you that already, Dee. You do care or you wouldn't get so worked up."
Dee thought for a long moment and then he asked cautiously, "So, what you're telling me is... that I should be selfish, irresponsible, and a bad cop, and ignore that juvenile delinquent and have some fun?"
"Not all the time," Ryo corrected. "Just in the lulls between his stunts."
"Oh, okay," Dee replied quietly and then stared at Ryo.
"Well?" Ryo wondered. "What are you thinking?"
"What part of you to start on first," Dee replied with relish and then reached to pull Ryo's shirt up over the man's head. He tossed it aside and caressed Ryo's nipples. They hardened instantly. "I think I'll start with these," Dee murmured and his lips and tongue wrapped around one; hot, moist, and tight.
The phone rang.
"Ignore it," Dee said around a succulent nipple.
Ryo groaned in reply, head tilted back, hands buried in Dee's dark hair, and eyes half closed in pleasure.
The phone continued to ring.
"It'll stop... probably nothing," Dee said and turned to Ryo's other nipple. Ryo arched into him, pressing that nipple into the rasping, pleasurable torture of Dee's tongue.
Dee took Ryo's hand and placed it on the prominent bulge in his bathing suit. Ryo closed his hand on it and groaned deep and erotic.
The phone continued to ring.
"Dee," Ryo managed to say. "We should..."
"Not answer it!" Dee snarled softly as his hands began working on the waist band of Ryo's bathing suit.
"It could be..." Ryo stopped what he was going to say as the phone stopped ringing and Dee managed to get his suit down enough to release a swollen erection. When Dee's mouth took Ryo in, sheathing him in a tight heat, Ryo forgot about everything, including the phone call.
On the beach, Bicky scowled and turned off his cell phone. "Rat bastard is probably 'doing' Ryo!" He swore. "It's all that jerk ever thinks about! Well, he and Ryo can give up and forget about it, but I'm not going to. I'm going to find that guy and show 'em."
Bicky trudged up the beach, shivering in the chill evening breeze, eyes on the sand as he tried to find more traces of a murder. Even looking, he almost walked right over the body. Bicky shrieked and then throttled it, slapping a hand over his mouth and darting wild eyes all around him. The street had taught him to worry about the murderer not the dead body.
"It's that damned kid again!" A male voice snarled. "Don't let him get away!"
Bicky saw them then, standing in the growing shadows, two hulking men in beach clothes, who looked as out of place in that setting as penguins in Tahiti. Bicky knew what kind of men wore those kind of cold looks; men who wouldn't think twice about murdering a boy to keep him from talking about what he'd just seen.
Bicky's reaction was instant. He whirled and ran. He was fast. That speed had gotten him out of more than one close call. That was on the hard asphalt of the city though, a surface his feet knew as well as his own skin. This was sand, dragging, slippery sand, and Bicky went down in a heap of flailing limbs.
The men were on him instantly, guns drawn and faces turning dark and deadly. Bicky kicked out and tried to fight his way free, but one man grabbed his thin arm in a vise like grip and began to bring his weapon to bear on his head. The silencer glinted in the reddish light of the sunset. He was going to die, Bicky thought, quiet and quick and no one, especially Dee and Ryo, the wiser.
A foot kicked out and one of Bicky's attackers shouted in pain and fell backwards. Bicky had a glimpse of Dee sailing over him, leg outstretched as he followed through on his kick and landed gracefully on the sand. Ryo was only a second behind, his hands lashing out and taking the much bigger, second man down in a series of karate chops and punches. They were both unarmed, Bicky realized, but not hesitating at all in spite of it. By the time he was able to stand up, intending to offer what ever help he could, the battle was over and the two killers were on the ground with their own guns pointed at them threateningly.
Dee glared at Bicky, "Trust you to run into crap like this on a peaceful beach on our vacation. Looks like you were right, Ryo, sorry for yelling at you earlier."
Bicky looked down at the men and then over at the body. He felt reaction set in and he shivered. Ryo was suddenly there with a supporting arm, but Bicky growled and shook it off. "Told you there was a stinking body, idiot!" he snarled at Dee.
Dee looked down at the body too. "Yeah, looks like it, kid." He scowled at the men. "Messed it up to look like a shark attack, didn't you? You're pretty stupid if you though our forensics wouldn't figure that out."
Bicky turned away, going green now. "You gonna call someone with some brains to take care of this, or what?"
"Of course, Bicky," Ryo said soothingly and pulled out his cell phone. He paused. "That was you who called earlier, wasn't it?" He asked guiltily. "I tried calling you back, but you had turned off your phone."
Bicky bit back, "Lot you cared. You didn't freakin answer!"
"We were kind of busy," Dee retorted, "and you were supposed to be snug in your hotel room with the other juvenile delinquents!"
Ryo looked anguished as he apologized, "I'm sorry, Bicky."
"What are you sorry for?" Dee demanded angrily. "You're the one that stopped everything cold and told me to get my damned clothes on. " He glared at Bicky, "especially after he tried to call you and you didn't answer your phone. Your partners in crime told us you'd gone for a walk. I knew that was damned unlikely, so we both figured you had gone dead body hunting again."
"You gonna do something to us or what?" One of the men shouted. "I don't need to hear this crap!"
"I wanna know who the hell you are thinking you can beat us up," the other man demanded. "When I tell the cops-"
"We are the cops," Dee said and gave the man a sharp jab with his shoe. "So shut up."
"We didn't do nothing!" The first man shouted. "We just found the body."
"Yeah, and that's why you just tried to murder Bicky here," Dee pointed out. "I really think you should shut up and listen to your rights, because I'm going to say them real slow so you can understand and I can make this arrest stick like glue."
Ryo called into the local police station while Dee told the men their rights with a mocking flair. When he was done, he pocketed his phone and regarded Bicky. "You did a good job. I don't like that you put yourself in danger, Bicky, but these men might have gotten away with this murder if you hadn't persisted. I'm proud of you."
Bicky glared at nothing very hard.
"What's wrong?" Ryo asked worriedly.
"You don't mean that," Bicky grumbled.
"Why do you think that?" Ryo wondered in surprise.
"You had big plans," Bicky said in a tight voice. "You wanted this vacation to work real bad. I didn't do this 'cuz it was the right thing. I did it because I wanted to prove to asshole that I was telling the truth. I ruined things... Guess I'm always ruining things for you."
Ryo sighed. "Bicky, I wanted us to go on this vacation to prove to the both of you that we could have a good time despite our differences. We aren't perfect. We all have our problems. Every family does, though. What I'm trying to make you both see, is that you don't have to try and make it ALL perfect. You just have to learn to enjoy the times when it is, instead of staying angry about all the times when it isn't. We can argue, we can have bad moments, but.... like any family, we can still manage to have fun in there somewhere."
"So, when was the fun time that I'm supposed to be happy about?" Bicky retorted, sneering at what he thought was Ryo's naivete. "Have you got one, Ryo? I know Dee doesn't. "
Dee grinned suddenly. "Actually, I think I had a pretty damned good time just now," he said. "Kicking these guys asses was a hell of a lot more fun than walking up and down a beach and getting my brains fried." His grin widened at Bicky's scowl. "And I have you to thank for it, Bicky. Guess miracles DO happen."
"You are such an asshole!" Bicky snarled.
"Watch your mouth, punk!" Dee snarled back, humor evaporating instantly.
Bicky kicked Dee hard in the shin, "Shut your own mouth, pervert!"
Dee shouted, "Why you little shit!" as he grabbed his ankle and tried to keep his gun on the men at his feet at the same time.
Bicky grinned ferally, "Gee, that made me a lot happier!"
Ryo strode up and cuffed both Dee and Bicky on the back of their heads. They flinched and looked at him in shock. "Both of you be quiet!" Ryo exclaimed angrily. "We have suspects and a dead body here and you two can't stop bickering long enough-"
"He started it!" Bicky growled.
"Me?!" Dee retorted angrily.
Ryo cuffed them both again. "I said 'quiet'!"
"You ain't damned cops, you're crazy people!" one of the men exclaimed fearfully.
"Quiet!" Ryo snapped at him and dug a toe into the man's ribs. The man grunted and did as he was told as Ryo glared at them all. They all stared back, dumbfounded.
Dee slowly lost his temper and then he smiled at Ryo's self satisfied expression. "Sorry," he said at last.
Ryo relented and smiled back.
"Is this your happy moment?" Dee wondered with a raised, dark eyebrow.
"Criminals captured. Bicky safe. An apology from you. Everyone quiet....," Ryo listed and then gave a firm nod. "Yes, a very happy moment." Dee started to say something else. Ryo glared and he subsided. Ryo snapped. "I'm going to enjoy my moment to the fullest, all right?!"
Dee rolled eyes at Bicky at the same time that Bicky rolled eyes at him. "I don't think 'normal' families have vacations like this," Bicky said sarcastically.
"Humor him," Dee whispered. "We both want him happy and he's happy for once."
"Yeah, guess you're right about that," Bicky whispered back, relenting.
"Quiet!" Ryo snapped and then sighed and smiled when they complied. "See," he said. "This was great vacation after all."
Dee looked from the men stretched out on the sand, to the half covered dead body, down at the juvenile delinquent at his side, and then back at his pleased partner. He couldn't help laughing and saying under his breath, "Nope, not normal, but Ryo's right, it's all we got, so we better find a way to like it."
The End