Title: Meant To Be

Author: badly-knitted

Characters: Dee, mentions Ryo, Chief Smith.

Rating: PG

Setting: Vol. 1. Act 1 onwards.

Summary: Dee never believed in fate until he met his new partner.

Word Count: 741

Written For: My genprompt_bingo square Fate.

Disclaimer: I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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Until he'd met Ryo, Dee had never really believed in fate. He'd always figured that people were in control of their own destinies, though Mother always insisted that God was the one in charge of such things. Dee believed in God, it would be hard not to considering he'd been raised almost from birth by a Catholic nun; he just didn't see why God would take a personal interest in someone as insignificant as one New York street kid turned cop among in a world inhabited by billions of more worthy or deserving people.

Dee also believed in luck, both good and bad, and he'd had his share of both kinds; the bad luck of being abandoned by his birth parents, the good luck of being discovered by Jess and taken in by Mother. On the whole, he considered himself to be a lucky guy because despite some of the bad situations he'd found himself in, especially since joining the force, he'd come through it all with only fairly minor injuries. But luck and fate were two very different things.

Luck was all about random chance; the scales could tip either way depending on hundreds of different variables, but you could never know the outcome of any action until afterwards. Fate implied that everything a person did was set in stone, which in turn implied that people had no free will and no control over what happened to them. That didn't sit well with an independent guy like Dee Laytner; he'd take random chance and free will over fate any day of the week.

Then everything had changed.

It had started out as such an ordinary day; he'd been in the Chief's office, getting a dressing down for something or other. In truth he hadn't really been listening too closely; the old badger liked to yell at him from time to time, so Dee tended to just stand there and take it while thinking about more important things. Sometimes he even thought about work, although more often his mind would wander to sport, his latest fling, or what to have for lunch.

He couldn't remember now exactly what he'd been thinking about that particular day, mostly because after the door to the Chief's office had opened and the new guy had walked in, everything else had gone clear out of his head.

Randy Maclean, newly promoted to detective and assigned to the 27th precinct's Criminal Investigations Unit. Dee vaguely remembered trying to sneak out of the office, because he had better things to do than stand around being subjected to the Chief's ire, but he'd been called back and lumbered with the squad's New Child. Detective Maclean hadn't been too pleased at being referred to as a child, and as Dee explained that it was just the squad's term for a rookie, he got his first good look at his new partner. He was breathtakingly beautiful, and Dee's heart had skipped a few beats in response.

He'd met hundreds of gorgeous chicks and dudes over the years, been attracted to most of them, and dated a lot of them, but somehow none of them had affected him the way this guy did. It was more than just his chestnut hair and almost pitch-black eyes; Dee felt as though he were under some kind of irresistible spell. Although he managed not to let it show, even then he knew deep down that the man before him had stolen his heart, and there wasn't a goddamned thing he could do about it.

Ryo; even his name was like music to Dee's ears, and the more time they spent together, the more Dee wanted to be with this amazing guy; forever if at all possible. Surely they were meant for each other, what other explanation could there be?

Dee isn't so quick to dismiss fate these days. He still believes in random chance and free will, thinks those two things are what most of life is all about, but maybe some things are fated to happen, maybe some people are destined to love one particular person and no one else. That must be how it is, because at last Dee's purpose in life is clear to him; he's completely certain that he was made to love Ryo Maclean, and he intends to devote himself to that endlessly delightful pursuit for the rest of his life, and for eternity after that.

It must be fate.

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The End