Disclaimer: I don't own Fake.
Straightening his tie, Ryo wondered for the hundredth time how Dee had managed to talk him into this. He stood uncomfortably in a semi-circle of young women—each intent on dancing with him. Anyone else probably would’ve been thrilled at the prospect of being the center of attention at the St. Mary’s Turnabout Dance. This was not just anyone though, it was Ryo. The boy who had worked so hard to blend in order to avoid scrutiny from others now found himself hemmed in by a group of strangers—ok, beautiful strangers—but strangers nonetheless. He avoided the girls’ eager gazes and shifted from one foot to the other, looking around for Dee. The handsome boy’s shy reluctance only made him more attractive and the girls more determined.
“Excuse me,” he said politely to the young women and somehow managed to get away from them and squirm through the packed gymnasium. He was going to kill Dee once he found him. The dark-haired boy had assured him that he would have a great time, that the dances were one of the few times you could actually let your hair down and enjoy yourself. Ryo scowled at the thought. A huge gym stuffed with people he didn’t know (and therefore couldn’t trust) with loud music blasting away was just not his idea of fun. He’d much rather be alone in his room with Dee… or even with a good book for that matter.
Dee…where are you? He thought, scanning the crowd. He caught sight of Aaron swinging around a blond-haired girl and he knew Ted and Drake were around somewhere, though that hardly mattered to him right now. The dark-haired boy was the only reason he’d come to the stupid dance and now he’d disappeared. The blonde’s memory drifted back to earlier that evening, when he sat in his room wondering how he was going to tell Dee that he wouldn’t be going to the event that Dee and his friends were so thrilled about. The green-eyed boy had popped into Ryo’s room enthusiastically, asking, “Ya ready to go?” He’d frowned when he saw that the other boy wasn’t even dressed.
Dee had spread his hands. “What’s the deal? You sick or somethin’?” he asked, sitting down next to Ryo on the edge of the mattress.
Immediately Ryo stood and crossed the room, folding his arms defensively over his chest. “I just don’t want to go, ok?” he said.
Dee sighed. “Ryo, I know it’s hard for you to get to know people, but you have to try,” he told him, standing up and stepping over to the moody blonde. “Besides, it’s gonna be great! Come on,” he prodded. “I want to see you in your suit.”
As the dark-haired boy leaned against the windowsill, Ryo noticed his clothes for the first time. The boy was wearing snug black pants that hugged him in all the right places. A fitted black jacket hung from his shoulders, and over his white shirt lay a thin black tie in a loose and careless knot. Ryo felt his heartbeat quicken at the mere sight of him.
Dee noted the gleam in Ryo’s eye as the boy openly surveyed his figure, and a little thrill ran up his spine knowing that his appearance had such an immediate affect on him.
“So,” Dee said, taking the blonde’s hand in his own, “Shall we go?”
And now here he was, only Dee was nowhere to be found.
“Oh, excuse me!” Ryo cried as he accidentally bumped into someone. It seemed impossible to get through the crowd without jostling someone.
“That’s quite alright,” he heard a sweet, silky voice say from above him.
“Rose!” Ryo said in surprise. He had forgotten that the overbearing senior would probably be at the dance as well. The tall, flaxen blonde was surrounded by admiring, giggling girls and other handsome, rich senior boys.
“S-sorry,” Ryo sputtered, trying to turn around and go back the way he came, but the area was already hopelessly clogged with people. He felt a hand guide him back around, and Ryo prayed for patience as he faced Rose again.
“I said it was fine, Randy,” he told him in that slick voice. “You haven’t danced yet. Why not?” he asked him.
The honey blonde felt irritated that Rose had obviously been keeping an eye on him all evening. However, he looked away to the dance floor and shrugged. “I don’t know… you’re not dancing either,” he replied.
Rose smiled, “Point taken.” Ryo had to suppress a grimace as the taller boy’s eyes raked him over. “You look good tonight, Randy,” he said.
Ryo bristled at Rose’s repeated use of his name. Even if it was only a pseudonym, Ryo didn’t like hearing it from the haughty young man’s lips.
“Who are you looking for?” Rose asked, observing the other blonde’s constant perusal of the area.
Ryo looked surprised. He hadn’t thought he was being that obvious. “No one… just looking around…” he said, wincing inwardly at how lame his words sounded.
“Dee perhaps?” Rose asked. Ryo didn’t answer and he pressed on. “I was disappointed to see you taken in by him, Randy. I hoped you had more sense than that.”
Unable to hide his scowl, Ryo debated his response. Rose never failed to piss him off and he would’ve loved to say something scathing, but they were in mixed company after all, and the honey blonde didn’t wish to draw unwanted attention to himself.
When Ryo hesitated, Rose asserted himself. “Here,” he said, taking Ryo’s elbow and steering him toward his crowd of admirers, “Let me introduce you around.”
The last thing in the world Ryo wanted was to have to endure Rose’s simpering crowd of followers. He opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off as a high-pitched voice careened over the noise of the gym.
“Berkely Rose!” it called. Both boys turned toward the voice, and Ryo saw a blonde girl tearing through the throng of people. Her dress was rather flashy and she carried herself with an assertiveness that most of the females at the dance avoided, preferring to play the docile, coy schoolgirl. It was obvious this girl had no such inhibitions.
“So here you are!” the girl said loudly, stepping up to Rose with authority and yanking on his tie to bring his face down to meet her eyes.
“Good to see you too, Diana,” Rose said politely, as if the girl didn’t look about ready to punch him in the gut. Ryo secretly hoped she would. He’d like to see that.
But Diana’s expression softened. “I missed you,” she said in a lower voice. Then she added angrily, “And then I finally get to see you and find you here in a corner surrounded by other girls!”
Rose sighed and lifted a finger to caress her cheek, then smiled down at her apologetically. “I’m sorry. You know I was just passing time until you arrived.” Diana tried to hold back her smile, but failed miserably and Rose kissed her cheek.
Suddenly Ryo felt as if he were witnessing something he shouldn’t, a personal moment between the two, and he averted his eyes. The surrounding crowd didn’t feel such restraint.
“Woohooo!”the other boys jeered, “you two are makin’ it hot in here!” Everyone burst into laughter and Rose put his arm around Diana’s shoulders. He introduced her to the few people she didn’t already know, but when he turned to Ryo, the boy was gone.
Ryo burst through the side door that led to one of the school’s hallways and let out a deep breath. He thought he’d never get out of there. As soon as he’d realized Rose was distracted, he’d taken the opportunity to slip through the dense crowd. Mercifully he emerged near a door and thanked the heavens for the cooler air that greeted his lungs.
The hallway was dark and no one else was around, another thing Ryo was immensely grateful for. He sat down on a few discarded mats from the gym and rested his head in his hands.
He’d known this would happen. Why had he come?
Just before he stepped through the doors, he had glanced back and finally caught sight of Dee out on the dance floor. The handsome dark-haired boy was bopping across the floor, swinging a pretty brunette around in his arms. His face wore a grin and Ryo knew he was in his element: the rock n’ roll music, the loud, jostling crowd. He knew Dee must love it compared to the stuffy boarding school.
His brow furrowed. He didn’t want to ruin Dee’s night. Pembery wasn’t that far away. Maybe he could walk there so that he wouldn’t have to wait around for the school’s bus to take them back. His heart sank.
Dee and him, they really didn’t fit. They had completely different personalities. Maybe it would’ve been different if Ryo’s past hadn’t caused him to crawl so deep within his shell. But he was always afraid of someone finding out about his background and exposing him to the ridicule he’d endured at the schools he’d attended right after the War.
Lately he’d thought that he’d grown more comfortable in his own skin, more at ease and outgoing. Tonight had dashed all those illusions.
Even so, it wasn’t just that. Dee would never be able to go out and dance with him the way he was now with that petite brunette. They’d never be able to do the same things that Dee would if he went steady with a girl. It had been a fear lurking in the back of Ryo’s mind for a while now: that maybe Dee was only with him because at an all-boys school he didn’t have the option of dating a girl. Maybe Ryo was just a convenient substitution.
Shaking his head, he told himself not to think such things. He knew Dee cared for him. He just didn’t know if he cared for him in the same way.
Ryo sighed under the weight of his gloomy thoughts and leaned back against the wall.
* * *
Dee glanced around as he danced, trying to find Ryo in the crowd. He’d left him to go have one quick dance, which was turning out to be several dances, actually. He kept telling himself it wasn’t his fault. After all, it was called a /dance/. He hadn’t known Ryo would just stand around like a wallflower. He figured the blonde just needed a little nudge in the right direction. When he saw how many girls were making their way over to him, Dee thought for sure that he’d be out on the dance floor at any moment. The dark-haired boy felt a twinge of jealousy toward the fawning girls, but it was just dancing after all. And Dee was not short of admirers himself.
So he accepted one of the girl’s invitations to dance and told Ryo he’d be right back. That had been several songs ago. After each one Dee had told himself he was going to go back, but then the music started up again and he couldn’t help himself. There was just nothing like rock n’ roll! And how often did he actually have the freedom to dance to it?
So maybe he could be forgiven for letting the time slip away and forgetting himself. When he finally made his way back to where they had been standing, Ryo was gone. He asked the girls who had been nearby where he’d gone, but they shrugged.
Dee sighed in frustration and looked around. The blonde was nowhere to be seen. Well, Ryo wasn’t a child. He could take care of himself. What was the harm in a few more dances?
The night went on, and Dee danced until his feet began to hurt. It was great. The only thing marring his perfect evening was that he wasn’t sharing it with Ryo. As it got later and Ryo still didn’t appear, Dee began to worry. To his partner’s distress, Dee excused himself and made his way around the gym. He frowned. The place was packed and it was hard to see anyone in the crowd.
Finally he stopped to think. Wandering around was getting him nowhere. Scanning the area he thought, ‘If I were Ryo, where would I go?’ Immediately he looked toward the exit signs and made his way to the nearest set of doors. Stepping through them he found himself in an empty hallway. Looking around, he spotted Ryo seated on a few rolled-up gym mats against the lockers. His heart plummeted as he saw that the boy's shoulders were slumped forward, his head in his hands. The blonde's entire body spoke of dejection.
“Hey! What are ya doin’ out here?” Dee called in as cheerful a voice as he could muster.
Ryo looked up at him in surprise. He'd hoped the dark-haired boy would come looking for him, but when he'd left Dee seemed to be having too much fun to worry about where he might've wandered off to.
“I'm just...” The blonde searched for a decent excuse. “Taking a break,” he finished lamely.
Dee's jade eyes narrowed. “You're avoiding the whole dance!” he told him. “Why? Don't you like to dance?” Dee asked, sitting down beside him.
The other boy's face flushed pink, as he mumbled, “I don't know how...”
Dee stifled an inappropriate laugh. “Oh, come on! It’s not like it’s hard!” Standing, he took Ryo's hand and tried to pull him up, but Ryo sat planted where he was. “Come on already” he pressed, “you're missing all the fun! Ryo,” he added softly, hoping to persuade him. Dee usually got what he wanted when he addressed the boy by his real name, but this time the blonde remained planted in his seat.
It was hard to turn down those entreating emerald eyes and that husky voice, but the image of Dee dancing with a circle of female admirers around him was still too fresh in Ryo's mind. “Just go back without me,” he told him. “I'm sure I'd just spoil the party,” he added bitterly.
For a moment Dee stood in confusion, wondering why Ryo would be so stubborn. He knew he was shy, but even so... then it dawned on him.
Kneeling down to look the boy in the eye, he said with a wide grin, “Ryo, are you jealous?”
The blonde stared at him with wide eyes, “N-no!” he sputtered in protest. “I just...” He paused and continued in a hushed voice, “well… maybe… after all, you could have any girl you wanted out there, Dee.”
Still smiling, the warmth of knowing Ryo's feelings coursing through him, he said, “If you knew how gorgeous you were, you'd realize that /you/ could probably do the same!”
Ryo blinked back at him, saying, “Be serious!”
“I am!” Dee retorted. “You're beautiful, Ryo. Everyone can see that but you.” As he spoke, Dee brought a gentle hand up to cup the other boy's chin.
“But,” Ryo continued, “wouldn't you rather have one of those girls... than me?”
Dee's face darkened. “Don't even think that, Ryo!” he said in a serious tone.
To show the blonde just how wrong he was, he pulled him up into his arms. “You're the only one for me,” he told him, green eyes sparkling with intensity.
“Dee…” Ryo whispered, letting his lips fall together with the other boy’s in a sweet, lingering kiss.
When Dee pulled back, he smiled and asked, “May I have this dance?”
Ryo laughed softly, “Don't be silly!”
But Dee persisted. “I mean it,” he replied. Letting one arm slip around the blonde's slim waist, he used his other hand to take Ryo's hand firmly in his. “Just follow my lead,” he whispered seductively, causing Ryo's body to shiver. Under Dee's guidance, the two boys swayed to the music streaming in from the auditorium, the dark-haired boy drawing Ryo close to add to the delicious friction between their bodies.
Having Ryo so close to him, and possibly the thrill of being caught, heated the blood in Dee's veins, and he began moving his hips against Ryo's suggestively. If he expected the other boy to protest, he was proven wrong when he felt a warm sigh escape from between the blonde's lips and found Ryo's arms slipping about his neck to pull Dee more fully against him.
Instinctively, Dee's hands slid down along the other boy's narrow hips, guiding him with purposeful intent against his pelvis. When he felt Ryo's hips willingly grind against him in an innocent and intoxicatingly seductive movement, Dee’s remaining restraint began to give. He nudged his thigh between the blonde’s legs and pulled the boy’s hips hard against him, pressing his now apparent arousal into his hip. The other boy’s ensuing gasp spurred Dee on, and he bent to claim the blonde’s sensitive throat with his lips.
Ryo was clinging to him helplessly, his body eager to feel evidence of Dee’s need for him. His hands gripped the dark-haired boy’s jacket to steady himself. The music changed to a faster beat, but neither boy noticed. They were no longer moving to the melody of the music, but to the rhythm of their own bodies.
“Dee!” Ryo moaned when the other boy continued to nip and suck along his neck. The blonde didn’t want to stop, but this wasn’t the place. Oh… but that felt so good!
“Hey guys!” someone called, throwing open the gym doors.
“Oops!” said Drake, as he saw his two friends locked together.
“What is it Drake? Did you find Dee?” they heard Aaron call from inside.
“Yeah, go tell Ted to stop lookin’” he told him.
Reluctantly, Ryo disentangled himself and Dee asked, “What is it, Drake?”
“Well, the bus is leavin’, so you’d better get your butts out there!” he told them. “Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds!” he said with a playful wink as he left them.
Dee turned back to the blonde boy behind him and leaned in to kiss him deeply.
“I wish we didn’t have to stop,” Ryo whispered, much to the other boy’s surprise—and delight.
“I’ll come to your room after lights out,” Dee said in a voice laced with desire.
They walked out together to the waiting bus.
The dance was over, but the night was young.
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