FAKE Ficlet: Specialised Skills

[bk_forever]

Title: Specialised Skills

Fandom: FAKE

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: JJ, mentions Dee & Ryo

Rating: G

Setting: During the manga with a nod to Vol. 1, Act 2.

Summary: JJ’s position as squad sharpshooter is important to him.

Word Count: 585

Written For: My own prompt ‘FAKE, JJ, Sharpshooter,’ at fic_promptly.

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

JJ’s not exactly tall, and he’s not the strongest or the smartest guy on the squad either. Some might say he’s quirky, maybe even a little outrageous because of his hair and the brightly coloured clothes he favours. Those things make him stand out in a crowd despite his short stature. For JJ, the worst thing in the world is to be overlooked and unnoticed. That way lays loneliness, and JJ doesn’t much like being alone.

In the academy, he was competent in everything, but there was one thing he excelled at: marksmanship. Because of that, he trained as a sniper. He’s good at police work, but put a sniper rifle in his hands and he’s the best. Not that he isn’t great with a handgun, he’s proved that on the firing range against all his colleagues, both at his old precinct and at his new one, but handguns are for close range. The rifle is a distance tool, and as a sniper, pinpoint accuracy at long range and in all weather conditions is the key. JJ got where he is today because he really is that good.

He’s proud of his skill, being the best at something is a good feeling, even though what he’s good at is shooting people either to disable or to kill, depending on circumstances. It’s great for boosting self-confidence, not that he’s ever been lacking in that area, and yet ever since he joined the 27^th precinct his confidence has slipped a little.

Finding Dee again had been the most wonderful luck, but there were downsides. Dee had always played hard to get, and that hadn’t changed, except that he had a new partner who seemed to have captured his interest. Tall, slim, and good looking, Ryo had proved to be a rival not just in JJ’s pursuit of Dee, but for his place as team sniper. Ryo’s a scarily good shot, both with handgun and rifle, not quite as good as JJ, but not far off either. That discovery has been unsettling. Worse, Ryo has turned out to be such a genuinely nice guy that JJ can’t even really hate him, no matter how much he wants to or how hard he tries.

His status as a sniper is important to JJ, it defines him, sets him above most cops, even those who outrank him, and now he has to share that exalted position with the man the object of his desires is lusting after. Sometimes life just isn’t fair. But JJ has his pride, and his integrity as a police officer; he won’t compromise, he’ll always do the best job he can, even that time when Ryo ended up with all the glory for pulling off a risky shot that he shouldn’t even have attempted.

JJ’s not bitter, really he’s not, Ryo simply got lucky; he had a better angle on the perp that time and it paid off. JJ knows he could have done as well if their positions had been reversed, but it smarts a bit that on Ryo’s first official sniper assignment he not only saved the hostage but had Dee fawning all over him too. What does JJ need to do to get that kind of attention?

Whatever, he’ll just keep doing his job to the best of his abilities, saving lives and taking down the bad guys, because that’s why he became a cop in the first place, not for any kind of glory or acclaim. That’s just a nice extra perk.

The End

Comments

[lil-1337.livejournal.com]

*pets JJ* I really enjoyed this piece. You have captured JJ's voice and motivations so well here. He is principled and ambitious, but also more than a little enthusiastic.

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Thank you! This one turned out better than I thought it would. I always sort of see JJ as the middle child in a big family, always having to try harder and be more noticeable to get his share of the attention.

[lil-1337.livejournal.com]

That is really interesting. I always pictured him as a high achieving only child. I can see how your headcanon would work too.

[bk_forever]

JJ just strikes me as very competitive, like he's grown up competing for everything, including attention. but I can see your point too =)

[lil-1337.livejournal.com]

This is one of the reasons I love canon with lots of room for interpretation. It's fascinating to see the different ways that view them and why.

[bk_forever]

It gives everyone scope to come up with their own ideas about character backgrounds and motivations. Torchwood, my other main fandom, is the same. Best of all, no one is wrong =)

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see things from JJ's perspective.

[bk_forever]

I'm getting more into writing him, he's grown on me =)

Thank you!