Gentlemen, Place Your Bets!

^_^ Hi! This ch. took a few days to get out b/c I was busy reading all the new manga that came out this week! (Fake #7!) I know I\'ve been stingy with the citrus so far (this ter ter too!), but be patient, it will come soon and it will be worth it- promise!


Disclaimer: I don\'t own fake, I just play with the characters and who can blame me??


Dee worried a little when JJ simply walked into his office the next day and dejectedly handed him the $20 bill. The silver-haired man seemed so deflated that Dee actually began to feel sympathy for him. Geez, he thought, I must be getting soft!

\"Hey, you ok?\' he asked.

The other man nodded absentmindedly. \"It\'s just... I keep chasing after things I can never have. Will I ever actually get it right one of these days?\"

Dee opened his mouth to speak, but JJ waved him off. \"Don\'t worry, it\'s not like I really fell for Ryo or anything, but it would\'ve been nice to be accepted by someone. I can understand why you love him,\" as he spoke, all Dee could do was sit and stare. JJ had never talked to him so seriously before and it was unnerving to him to hear him now.

\"I\'m really not the person to talk to about love advice,\" the raven-haired man said at last with a bitter smile, \"I\'m all too familiar with unrequited love myself.\"

To his surprise, JJ looked back at Dee with a warm, soft smile. \"I have a feeling you won\'t be for too much longer,\" he said cryptically. \"And if that happens, I guess I\'ll really have to give up on you,\" he added and stepped toward the door.

Dee was on his heels in seconds. \"What do you mean? Did Ryo tell you something? Come on! Spill it!\" he begged, groveling, but JJ only continued to smile and stepped from the room.

Despite his attempts to hide it throughout the day, Drake noticed that JJ was not is usually, buoyant self. And JJ didn\'t have to vocalize his pain for his partner to make a good guess as to just where that melancholy stemmed from. Without him knowing it, Drake had seen from the corner of his eye how many times the silver-haired man\'s eyes flickered over to where Dee and Ryo sat sorting out their paperwork.

The one thing he couldn\'t understand was the fact that JJ\'s eyes seemed to rest upon Ryo just as much as they did on Dee. He ran a hand threw his tussled hair and sighed as he watched his partner rise and head for the stairway that lead to the roof.

Shaking his head in resignation, Drake followed, knowing they\'d never get any work done the rest of the day if he kept moping like this. He found his partner leaning against the short outer-wall of the buig, lg, looking out over the street with a thoughtful, sad expression. For a moment Drake only stood there, watching him. The other man\'s expression was so naked, so vulnerable, and a sympathetic squeeze clamped down over his chest. Ever since he\'d known him, JJ had seemed to have a bright, unbreakable spirit. And now that spirit seemed to be cracking under some heavy weight.

But as badly as he wanted to help his partner, Drake felt oddly inadequate to do so; he\'d never been great at discussing anything emotional. So he continued to stare at and study the other officer: JJ\'s distinctive silver hair caught in the slight breeze and tangled before his down-cast eyes; his body formed an unconscious, graceful line as he rested his frame against the wall. Suddenly, his mournful gaze swept over to where Drake stood silently, some instinct making him aware that another\'s eyes were upon him.

\"Drake!\" said JJ with surprise, trying to regain his composure.

The other officer walked up next to him and turned to ask, \"So what is it that\'s troubling you kno know it\'s something- or, more precisely- someONE.\" His voice took on a tone of irritation he hadn\'t meant for it to and Drake wondered why it should bother him so much to see JJ sullen over his unreturned love. Wasn\'t like it was anything new- though, he had never seen the man quite so... broken before.

\"It-It\'s nothing Drake. I didn\'t mean to make you worry, I just came up here for some fresh air,\" JJ said evasively.

Drake felt his stomach twist as his partner turned to walk back downstairs, shrugging off his melancholy rather than staying to confide in him. Determined not to be brushed off, Drake sidled up next to the silver-haired man and draped an arm over his shoulders. \"I got an idea, how about we go get a few beers after work, huh? Give ourselves a break?\" he asked, trying to sound cheerful.

JJ paused before asking in return, \"You got dumped again, didn\'t you?\"

\"Ehh?\" choked Drake. Damn, JJ knew him too well! But he wouldn\'t let HIM know that. \"Maybe I did the dumping this time!\" he snorted.

His partner did not look cncednced. \"Yeah, right. What happened this time?\" asked JJ, crossing his arms. Was it him, or did Drake\'s cheeks give the slightest hint of a flush at his words.

\"Um... n-nothing. We\'d better get back downstairs...\" Drake stammered, his turn now to become evasive.

\"Drake...!\" JJ whined behind him, but his partner was already half-way down the steps and there was no way Drake was going to get into a discussion at that moment about his recent break-up.

Later that evening, as they sat in a near-by pub, JJ was still trying to pry the truth of the break-up out of his partner, to little avail. The sharp-shooter eyed the shaggy-haired man closely as he ordered another round of beer. It was unusual for Drake to be so tight-lipped around him. After being pers ers for over a year now, they\'d grown pretty close. JJ\'d even have to say Drake was the closest friend he had. It was frustrating to see him unhappy but unable to discuss it with him. Then again, thought JJ ruefully, he wasn\'t exactly forthcoming with information about his own troubles himself.

What a pair they made.

A similar thought was currently running through Drake\'s mind as he popped open a fresh beer in hopes of lightening the mood. He wanted to confide in JJ, he really did. But the whole affair was just too... embarrassing. Even now, he could hear his ex-girlfriend\'s voice in his head:

\"Why can\'t you talk to me the way you talk to your partner?\" she whined the day before.
\"What are you talking about?\" he grumbled. He\'d heard this particular line before. Just what did these ladies think he talked to his partner about anyway?

\"You\'re so open with him. I never feel like we have that level of intimacy!\" she argued.

\'Intimacy\'? he thought. \"I\'m not intimate with JJ!\" he yelled.

\"You know what I mean,\" she retorted, \"You\'re just so close with him...\"

\"Well, the man has my life in his hands almost everyday, what do you expect?\" Drake said a little sharper than he meant to, illiciting a glare from his lover.

\"I don\'t expect anything,\" she said bitterly, \"not anymore.\" And with that she stepped out of the car and out of Drake\'s life, like so many other women before her.

The Drake sighed as the memory passed. Why did it always end like that, ever since he was partnered with this silver-haired man? It\'s not like they had the same dynamic that Dee and Ryo had going on. He liked women! Heaven knows he\'d been with enough of them. Not like Ryo, who was constantly getting hit on by women and then turning them down. And he wasn\'t jealous of JJ when he went after Dee all the time. And he sure as hell wasn\'t jealous of JJ now going so suddenly after Ryo. Nope, it didn\'t gall him at all that the twerp seemed to glom onto everyone and anyone but him. What did he care what kind of spectacle the man made of himself? He didn\'t...

\"Drake?\"

\"Uhh?\" the inebriated officer said looking up at JJ.

\"I think you\'ve had enough,\" his partner suggested, reaching for his beer. But Drake waved him aside and clutched the beer to his chest.

\"Hey! This one\'s MINE! If ya want more, ya just havta ask!\" he said with a slur as he waved the waitress over and proceeded to shove another beer under JJ\'s nose. \"Come on! Livf a little!\" he cried with a sharp slap to JJ\'s back.

\"Why don\'t you just talk to me about what happened instead of drowning your sorrows!\" JJ said crossly.

\"OUR sorrows, friend! Ours! Right? You were the one sulking about today! What was going on, huh?\" Drake said, leaning toward JJ and nearly knocking him over now that his motor-skills were swiftly failing. \"Looked to me lick you were moonin\' over Ryo ov all people! Wanna tell me wha THAT was about?\" said Drake, thinking that turn-about is fair play after all.

JJ paused, wondered for a moment if he really wanted to discuss this, then picked up the drink before him.

\"Adda boy!\" yelled Drake, illiciting a few glares from neighboring tables.

It didn\'t take long for JJ\'s head to start spinning. He never did have much of a tolerance for alcohol, a misfortune he often lamented when Dee would go out with the guys drinking. Always the odd man out, he mused to himself with self-pity.

However, Drake was becoming down-right giddy from drunkenness and it was hard for the silver-haired man to stay depressed for long in his jovial company.

\"Ya know\" he said later, recalling Drake\'s words, \"I was NOT \'mooning\' over Ryo! If ya have to know, the reason this whole mess started was because of- DEE!\" squeaked JJ, seeing the tall, handsome man wander up to their table. Ryo was close behind.

Just GREAT, JJ thought, I really have the best luck, don\'t I?

\"Whadar you two doin here?\" cracked Drake. \"Shn\'tn\'t ya be off snugglin in some corner somewhere?\" he snickered. To the man\'s amusement Ryo turned a deep shade of scarlet at the jibe.

\"I see you\'re way ahead of us, Drake-y boy!\" Dee said, slapping the other man on the back. His words were light, but there was a warning tone in his voice that the detective better keep his comments to himself. Nevertheless, the dark-haired man seated himself at the same table.

Not wanting to suggest that they get a separate table somewhere quieter after Drake\'s joke, Ryo sat down wordlessly. He\'d really hoped to talk to Dee alone that night, he still wanted to try and ask him how he felt about JJ. After being avoided all week he was unbelievably hathatthat his partner had agreed to see him after work. Although he was less than thrilled when he pushed Ryo to go out to the bar rather than accept his invitation to talk at his apartment. He\'d even hinted at the fact that they\'d be alone. But here they were, in a noisy, smoke-filled room- sitting with Drake and JJ no less!

Next to the sandy-blond man Dee was silently cursing himself. Ryo had practically pushed him into his empty apartment and he had diverted him. And why? Because he was still screwing up his courage to explain the whole \'bet\' fiasco to the man. And he knew he wouldn\'t get far if he was left totally alone with his attractive partner. Plus, a few drinks never hurt when you had to deliver bad news.

The last thing he\'d expected was to find JJ and Drake sitting around getting smashed at the very same bar! But when he saw the condition they were in, he decided it was better to look after them for a while.

Leaning over to Ryo, Dee whispered to him, \"We better stay with them for now to make sure they get home alrig"
"

Ryo nodded in return and chided himself for thinking of his own feelings over the well-being of his co-workers. But although he thought it was kind of Dee to be concerned, he wondered if part of the reason he sat with them was still to avoid any intimacy with him. Not to mention that JJ was involved and this only added to the growing suspicion that Dee did indeed have feelings for the man now. It wasn\'t as if the raven-haired man was so selfless all the time, now was it?

With these black thoughts swimming through his mind, Ryo sat for the next hour nursing his drink. Dee seemed equally ill-at-ease as Drake and JJ refused to leave and continued to grow more wild and unruly as the evening drew on. After receiving numerous glares of warning from the bartender, Dee finally took charge.

\"And then she said...heHEhe... she said-\" Drake said between laughing fits as he tried to deliver the punch-line to his drunken joke.

\"Ok boys!\" interrupted Dee, \"It\'s time to head home!\"

\"Awww! Come on! You\'re no fun!\" whined JJ, pulling at the dark-haired man\'s sleeve when Dee stepped beside him to pull him up.

\"I think you\'re having enough fun for both of us! Now hand over your keys and tell me where you guys parked,\" Dee demanded.

Instead of answering, JJ merely broke into a fit of giggles. \"I didn\'t drive!\" he said in a tone that indicated he thought Dee about as dense as a tree for somehow not knowing this already.

Glancing over at Drake, Dee saw him dangle his keys in front of his face. \"Looking for these?\" he teased.

Before he could react, Ryo had snatched the jingling keys away and looked up at Dee. \"What should we do? Send for a cab?\" he asked.

Dee shook his head. \"You take Drake in your car and I\'ll drive JJ in Drake\'s car, kay?\" he said.

Ryo nodded, secretly wandering about the fact that Dee offered to take JJ with him. \"But what about your car, Dee?\" Ryo asked as he helped haul Drake out of his chair, \"You drove here separately.\"

Shrugging, his partner simply replied, \"We can come back for it after we drop them off.\"

Since Ryo didn\'t know the way to Drake place, he followed Dee, careful to not loose sight of him. As usual, it was hard keeping up since Dee had a lead-foot, but mercifully, they didn\'t have to drive very far. It took much longer to gee twe two inebriated men up the stairs and into Drake\'s apartment. Everything made them burst out laughing and JJ seemed to stumble over his own feet every other step- inevitably clinging to Dee for support.

Ryo hoped the sound of his grinding teeth was inaudible.

But eventually the mission was accomplished and Ryo and Dee made their way back down to Ryo\'s car. As the blond man opened the passenger-side door, he noticed this partner had a sly little grin on his face.

\"What did you do?\" Ryo asked with disapproval.

Giggling to himself, Dee shrugged. \"Nothing,\" he replied with mock innocence. When Ryo continued to stare him down, Dee finally said, \"I made them \'comfortable\' ok? It\'s going to be a chilly night, you wouldn\'t want them to get cold now would ya?\"

Shaking his head, Ryo wondered if Dee would ever grow up. He had a good idea of what the raven-haired man had done, but he wouldn\'t press further for details. \"On second thought,\" he said, \"I don\'t want to know.\"

\"Suit yourself,\" replied his partner, still laughing to himself.

As reproachful as Ryo wanted to feel, a part of him secretly grinned. If Dee was playing jokes like this on JJ, then maybe he wasn\'t jealous of him after all. Maybe there was another explanation for his behavior...


******* Well, this \'bar scene\' turned out longer than I expected, but, have no fear, the next chapter will be up soon!