FicWad

-I-I-I-

Lacrymae Rerum
The Tears of Everything
...
(Shit Happens)

-I-I-I-

"DEE!"

Growling in irritation, the green-eyed cop dodged the incoming projectile, and winced in unwilling sympathy as JJ ran headfirst into the precinct wall.

"Dammit, Laytner! Couldn't you at least have made sure there was something soft behind you before you moved?!" Drake demanded, kneeling next to his unconscious partner.

"Hey, he's the one who jumped me, pal. I didn't exactly have a lot of choice in the matter," Dee snapped, grabbing the briefcase he'd dropped during his evasion maneuvers. "Tell him to pick better ambush spots if he doesn't want to get hurt. Or better yet, tell him to /leave me the fuck alone/!" he finished hotly, and stalked off down the hallway.

Drake blinked after him, left in the figurative dust. "Geez. What the hell's his problem?"

-I-I-I-

Dee scowled to himself as he strode through the station, running his free hand agitatedly through his dark hair. He knew he shouldn't have been so short with the guys, but... hell, he'd already been in a bad mood when that little creep JJ decided to jump him, /again/. And all that had managed to do was make it worse as it reminded him of why he was so down in the first place.

JJ'd been obsessed with Dee ever since their academy days, and took every opportunity to try and get into his pants. It had gotten to the point at which yells and thuds were not only commonplace, but expected in the 27th Precinct. It wasn't so much that Dee minded someone wanting to have sex with him.

It was just that it was the wrong /person/.

The man sighed, unconsciously quickening his pace and ignoring the hails of the fellow cops he passed. He knew he wasn't really thinking clearly; if Ryo ever acted anything like JJ did, he wouldn't be... well, Ryo. At least, not the Ryo his partner had fallen completely and hopelessly in love with.

But, dammit! Why couldn't the bastard ever show what he felt?

Dee was pretty sure the half-Japanese was attracted to him, no matter how much he protested the issue. There had been a couple of times when he was sure the dude was about to say something incriminating, and only just caught himself. But every single time he thought they were getting somewhere, someone interrupted them, or the phone rang, or Ryo'd go into his Ice Man routine when something caught his eye. Okay, so his ability to spot abnormalities had actually saved their lives a couple of times, but it was fucking annoying, not to mention completely beside the point!

Dee growled mentally, lost in thought. Of course, that isn't really a good thing to be doing while walking through a crowded corridor, so it was only a matter of time before his luck ran out. The hotheaded cop was jarred out of his musing as something abruptly collided with his chest, sending him crashing to the floor with a shrill yelp. Snarling, he sat up, ready to tear a new asshole into whoever'd run into him.

Only to have all his anger drain away, like it usually did when faced with this particular person, when he looked into a pair of deep, midnight eyes.

"Dee?" Ryo murmured, sitting up with a wince. Eyes wide, his partner scrambled up to offer the honey-haired man a hand up.

"You all right, Ryo?" he asked, concerned.

The cop smiled, taking his hand. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

Dee grinned ruefully, pulling him up. "You know me. Head harder than the Chief's heart. Didn't even feel it."

Ryo looked at him doubtfully, but decided not to press the issue. "So where were you going in such a hurry?"

Flushing a bit, Dee bent down and again picked up his dropped briefcase. "Um, well, I was maybe just a little annoyed at JJ, and maybe not really watching where I was going, and..."

Ryo winced. "Never mind. I get the picture." He sighed. "You really should be nicer to JJ, you know."

The dark-haired cop scowled at his partner. "Yeah, sure, you can say that. He ain't always jumping /you/. If you had to endure the little twerp, you'd be congratulating me on my restraint."

Seemingly torn between disapproval and amusement, Ryo settled for shaking his head with another sigh. "Well, if I ever happen to get my own stalker, I'll sympathize with you. As it is... that's a no-go."

Dee snorted in disbelief. "What the hell do you call that creep Rose, then, if not a stalker? Overly affectionate?"

"Your boss, perhaps?"

The cop stiffened at the unexpected voice, turning around slowly. How the hell did he always do that! "Rose. Timing as impeccable as ever, I see," he said, glaring at the hated face.

"Of course. How could it be otherwise?" Berkeley Rose smirked, before deliberately turning away from his rival to nod politely to the man beside him. "Detective Mclean. You're looking well."

Ryo nodded in return, eyes wider than normal with uneasiness. "Er, thank you, Commissioner."

Feeling just the teeniest bit pissed off, Dee broke in with a scowl. "Is there a purpose to this little chat, /Commissioner/?"

Surprisingly, the smug look on Rose's face fled. "As a matter of fact, there is. Illegal Substances is doing a particularly large bust tonight. So large, they've requested more officers."

"And that includes us?" Ryo asked, leaning back against the wall to let another officer pass by.

"With your records, yes." Dee saw a shadow pass through the man's eyes, and realized he wasn't in any way happy with ordering Ryo into the line of fire. He couldn't help but agree with the man on that, but at the same time knew that Rose had no such qualms about doing the same to him. "Detective Adams will be joining you as well."

Dee groaned. "Oh, joy... why don't you just put a noose around my neck for me to kill myself with while you're at it?" Then he brightened as he remembered something. "Of course, that's assuming he isn't still unconscious..."

Ryo sent him a look of alarm, while Rose lifted an eyebrow, and he shrugged. "Hey, can I help it if JJ decided to pounce himself into a wall?"

Rose winced. "Be that as it may, Laytner, you can/not/ go around putting other officers in the hospital. This department is enough of a disgrace as it is. With a few exceptions, of course." He flicked his eyes over to Ryo during that last sentence, who, as usual, took no notice whatsoever.

Hell, even if he hated the fact, at least Dee wasn't alone in his sexual frustrations.

"Yeah, yeah, I know our arrest record sucks. Ya don't have to pound it into our heads," he growled. "When are we supposed to be ready for this thing, anyway?"

"The briefing is in about half an hour. Knowing you, I'd suggest you try to be early, Laytner." Stepping back, the commissioner nodded to them briskly. "I'll see you both later. Good luck, Ryo," he added, before turning and walking away.

-I-I-I-

It took Ryo physically dragging his partner for them to make the briefing on time, and even then it was a close thing. They'd only just settled down in the 27th Precinct's uncomfortable plastic chairs when one of Illegal Substances' plainclothes detectives walked the room. "All right, ladies and gentlemen, settle down," he ordered. "We've got a lot to cover and only a little time, so let's get on with it."

He walked to the projector at the head of the room. "Now, I'm sure some of you have noticed some of our compatriots from Violent Crimes have joined us. Detectives Laytner, Mclean, and-" He stopped, blinking at the two of them. "Where's Adams?"

As though on cue, the door to the briefing room opened, and JJ stepped in, holding an icepack to his head. He flushed uncomfortably as every eye in the room stared at him. The short cop sidled inside, embarrassed, and settled into an empty chair, shooting Dee a pouting glance.

Dee just smirked, and then proceeded to ignore him in favor of the briefing.

"Alright," the detective said dryly. "Now that Detective Adams has seen fit to join us, shall we continue?" He turned on the projector and aimed it towards the room's whiteboard. The first transparency was of a man with a face like a bulldog, distinguished by acne scars and thick, overhanging eyebrows. "This rather ugly fellow is Andrew Riggs. He's a cocaine dealer, not a truly big one, but his business has been growing, and we think he might also act as a middleman for someone further up the food chain."

He replaced the picture with another, one of New York's countless number of generic wharf-side warehouses. "And this is his center of operations..."

The briefing was over what seemed like a long time later, though no more than half an hour could truly have passed. Ryo walked down to the locker room with a yawning Dee to change out of his suit and into something a bit more appropriate for busting a drug house.

"Are those things designed to be as boring as possible?" the green-eyed cop complained, hiding another yawn behind a hand.

His partner rolled dark eyes, spinning open the combination lock on his locker. "Oh, of course," he answered sarcastically. "The bosses know you're not getting enough sleep, so they make sure you have plenty of briefings to catch a few winks in."

Dee sent him a pouting glare. "Nobody loves me..." he muttered sulkily.

Ryo snorted, pulling off his suit jacket. "Damn right."

Dee pouted for a moment more, then snuck up behind the shorter man. "You sure 'bout that?" he murmured into his ear, wrapping his arms around Ryo's waist.

The cop bit back a curse as the half-Japanese tensed almost imperceptibly inside the circle of his arms. "Fairly sure. Hands to yourself, Detective," the man said teasingly, and Dee felt a pang of relief at hearing that note of humor in Ryo's voice.

He smiled, dropping a butterfly kiss onto the temptingly close neck. "/Fairly/, is it? That means there's still a chance..."

Ryo blinked, and instinctively turned in his arms. "I..." He started to speak, but paused as he seemed to see something startling in his partner's face, and his surprised, midnight eyes softened.

Dee stared down into his beloved's face for an endless moment, fighting the urge to lean forward just those few inches between their lips and kiss him senseless.

But he waited too long, struggling between desire and not wanting to upset Ryo, and the moment was lost as a loud bang announced that they were no longer alone in the room. Dee let his arms drop with a quiet sigh as Ryo automatically took a step away.

They finished changing in an awkward silence.

-I-I-I-

Later that night, though, silent was what the world was /not/.

In fact, Dee would almost have preferred that horribly uncomfortable quiet to the raucous din that assaulted his ears now. Yes. Even that silence was infinitely preferable to the sounds of a serious gunfight.

Especially when said guns were mostly aimed at /you/.

He ducked as a ricochet sparked overhead. Damn it, he knew he hadn't paid as much attention to the briefing as he maybe should have, but there sure as hell hadn't been any mention of submachine guns!

Speaking of which... Dee cocked his head to the side as the gun spitting bullets at him and Ryo suddenly stopped. Realizing the gunner must be reloading, the cop took a quick look over the packing crates they'd taken cover behind. A movement drew his attention to where a denim-clad arm hung just the tiniest bit out in the open from behind the bad guy's own crate, and he let loose with a couple of rounds from his police-issue revolver, to be rewarded with a cry of pain and the arm's hasty withdrawal.

"This is seriously fucked up," he growled, and next to him Ryo nodded in agreement, his honeyed hair flopping down into his eyes until he pushed it away with an impatient hand. Fucked up this situation was, indeed. Very fucked up.

The bust had started simply enough. Two undercover cops were escorted into the warehouse as prospective buyers, while the rest of the squad waited in the nearby alleys. That part had seemed to go smoothly, at first. The indication any of them had received that something had gone wrong was when they heard gunshots suddenly ring out from within the warehouse.

The backup immediately deployed; Ryo and Dee broke down a side door to get into the warehouse proper. And it just went downhill from there...

For one thing, the number of large crates inside made it obvious that Riggs was more than just a drug dealer. A fact driven home when over a dozen of his minions broke into the crates and pulled out more weapons than you ever wanted to see outside of an armory, before opening fire.

Dee ducked back down again as the gunfire resumed. "Don't these guys ever quit?" he grouched.

This time Ryo didn't even bother acknowledging him, though Dee didn't really mind. He was really only talking to keep his mind off the bullets that were coming way too close to his precious body.

Knowing they wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon, Dee took the opportunity to replace the two shots he'd fired. Just as he placed the second round in the chamber, a door neither of the cops had noticed banged open behind them. Startled, Dee turned in that direction, and time seemed to stop as he saw the perp standing there, a semiautomatic pistol in his hands, aimed right at the still-turning Ryo.

Something inside him screamed as, before he could even shout a warning, the thug shot the man he loved twice in the chest. Warm blood splattered his arm as bloody flowers blossomed on the older cop's chest in slow motion. Then, as Ryo let out a choked cry of surprise and pain, time sped back up to its normal pace.

A strangely detached fury filling him, Dee slammed the revolving chamber back into place as the thug started to turn towards him. He brought the gun up and cocked it in one smooth motion, training it high on the man's chest and triggering a single round.

Dee didn't notice the muzzle flash as the bastard's gun went off just before his did, and his bullet took the other man in the throat. Through the haze of anger and adrenaline, he almost didn't even feel the sudden impact against his chest, as though someone had taken a hammer and hit him with it, hard.

As the shooter fell to the floor, already well on his way down death's road, Dee crawled close to his friend and partner. Ryo lay very still, his head propped at an odd angle against the crate, the slight rise and fall of his blood-covered chest the only indication that he was even still alive. His usually creamy skin was quickly turning a frightening gray as Dee brushed his cheek with a trembling hand.

"Ryo?" he whispered desperately. "C'mon, buddy, wake up."

In response, the shuttered eyes fluttered open, revealing glazed, dark eyes. After a moment, they focused on his face. "...Dee..."

The green-eyed cop beamed at the thin whisper, unaware of the tears that rolled down his cheeks. "Hey." Ryo's eyes started to slide shut, and Dee panicked. "No, no! C'mon, man, stay with me. Open your eyes!"

To his relief they opened again, though it obviously cost the fallen cop a great amount of effort. "That's right, keep 'em open. Think about Bikky, and Carol, and how sad they'd be if you just gave up. Now just hold on, we'll get you to the hospital and they'll fix you right up..."

Ryo shook his head ever so slightly, watching him sadly. He knew. There wouldn't be a hospital. There wasn't enough time.

Not enough time in all the world.

Dee bent over him, covering the wounds with his hands, desperate to stop the bleeding. "Stop that. You'll be fine, you'll see. You... You've got to be..." He sobbed as Ryo laboriously covered his bloody hands with his own, feeling a burning ache spread through his chest. "You've got to be..."

A tear fell onto their joined hands, and Ryo's lips moved as he tried to speak again. Dee shushed him, covering those lips with shaking fingers. "No, just... save your strength. Don't... don't leave me. Please, I-I love you so much... so much..."

Dee was sobbing now, as he watched Ryo give one last, sad smile. The burning in his chest had become a bonfire, a conflagration of epic proportions, while the light faded from his love's beautiful dark eyes. Helplessly, he gathered the still body into his arms, the chill and hardness of the concrete floor lost in the gray haze that had begun to shroud his senses.

He stared silently at Ryo's slack face, vaguely noticing the gunfire had stopped. Memories passed through him, half-remembered moments of their life together. Ryo laughing at something he'd said; a quiet evening spent with the brats, the only one of its kind he could remember, since putting Bikky and himself in the same room usually resulted in fire and brimstone...

And then he flashed back to the locker room, to when he'd held Ryo, so differently from the way he did now.

"I should've kissed you..." he murmured into Ryo's still enchantingly soft hair, though he was unaware of it.

His chest was numb, now, as he wept, unable to hold back the tears. Numb and cold... everything was numb and so, so cold...

That was how the rest of the force found them, later, lying in each others' arms, the blood from their wounds commingled until you couldn't tell where one left off and the other began.

-I-I-I-

Author's Note: Pairings for this, as stated, are shonen-ai/yaoi. 2x5, 3x4, and DeexRyo. You'll see how it works out.

Disclaimer: I own neither FAKE nor Gundam Wing.