fandomweekly | [#197] Born Lucky (FAKE)

Theme Prompt: #197 – Good Luck
Title: Born Lucky
Fandom: FAKE
Rating/Warnings: PG-13
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 799
Summary: Dee knows there must be someone watching over him, because he’s always been luckier than he deserves to be.

Anyone hearing the story of Dee Laytner’s life might have been justified in thinking he’d been cursed with terrible luck from the moment he was born. There’d even been times he’d thought that way too, envying kids at school for all the things they had that he’d never known, like parents, a home, and toys and clothes that belonged only to them and didn’t have to be shared with everyone else.

He’d been abandoned, naked, among the trashcans in a filthy alley when he was no more than a couple of hours old, then spent his first eighteen years in an orphanage. Other kids had come and gone, finding new homes with loving families, but nobody had ever offered to adopt him.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, one of his best friends had been brutally murdered when they were both fifteen, and shortly after that, the man who was like a father to him was also murdered, dying right in front of him…

Looking back though, he could see just how lucky he’d always been, because Officer Jess Latener had discovered the abandoned baby soon enough to save his life, then taken him to Mother Lane’s orphanage. He’d grown up knowing he was loved, both by Mother and by Jess, who’d visited him every day. They might not have been related to him by blood, but they’d been the best parents he could have asked for, and his luck hadn’t stopped there.

Yes, he’d tragically lost two people he’d cared very deeply about, but their deaths had inspired him to become a cop, and through his job he’d met and fallen in love with an amazing man he probably didn’t deserve. Despite an unfavourable start, his life had turned out pretty great. It didn’t bother him that he’d never be rich; he had everything he needed, and he got to work with a great bunch of people, doing a job he loved. He’d even lucked out with his apartment, which was now twice its original size, and only cost him an extra fifty bucks a month, which was nothing now that Ryo was living with him. Both Dee and his lover were paying less in rent and utilities than when they’d lived separately. He even had money in the bank these days.

Yep, he’d been way luckier over the years than he’d had any right to expect, and against all odds, his luck was still holding. It had to be, because he was still alive, something which, under present circumstances, was nothing short of a miracle. Someone up there really must like him; maybe he had a guardian angel. Just in case, he offered up a prayer of thanks, because it wouldn’t do for whoever or whatever was watching over him to think he wasn’t grateful.

Okay, so his situation wasn’t ideal, but it could sure as hell be a lot worse, so he wasn’t going to complain about a few bruises and scrapes. Hell, he’d gotten worse injuries from fending off JJ’s advances, back when the little guy had still been obsessed with him. Getting shot at practically point-blank range while not wearing a vest didn’t generally turn out so well.

The funny thing was, if his keys hadn’t worn a hole in his righthand pants pocket to match the one in the lefthand pocket, which he kept forgetting to ask Ryo to repair, his wallet with his detective’s shield wouldn’t have been in his inside Jacket pocket to stop the bullet. If that wasn’t good luck, then he didn’t know what was.

The impact had been hard enough to put him flat on his back, and he must have hit his head when he fell, knocking himself out. He couldn’t have been unconscious for more than a few minutes, but the numbskulls who shot him must have assumed he was dead, or at least seriously injured, since they hadn’t bothered disarming him or trying him up. Sometimes the good luck just kept on coming.

Moving carefully, Dee drew his gun, then his phone. He still had his radio, but he didn’t want to make any unnecessary noise, so instead he fired off a quick text to his partner, filling him in. He smiled as he read the reply; backup would be with him in less than five minutes. When they arrived, Dee would be ready and waiting to help take down the lamebrained trio of idiots responsible for a string of robberies that had so far left three people dead, including a retired police officer working as a security guard, and four others in the hospital.

They’d committed their last robbery, and they didn’t even know it yet. Dee could only hope the idiot who’d shot him would give him a reason to return the favor.

The End