fic: In Which Ray and Fraser are Hiding in a Storm Drain for Reasons Never Satisfactorily Explored

[rubberbutton]

Title: In Which Ray and Fraser are Hiding in a Storm Drain for Reasons Never Satisfactorily Explored
Words: 2,000
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski, pre-slash(?), PG
Summary: They talk. Then they talk some more. Then Dief gets in on the conversation and there’s even more talking. At the end there’s a rip-roaring gun battle and a gratuitous love scene, oh wait, no—just more talking.
Warning: In no way, shape, or form edited or betaed. It could get ugly.

I finished reading End of the Road, and while it was a phenomenal story (or because it was a phenomenal story), I seriously needed to do some recovery writing.  

“Fraser.” Ray shifted uncomfortably. They’d hunkered down in a storm drain and his back followed the curve of the huge sewer pipe awkwardly. At least it was dry for now, if not the most inviting hideout he’d ever been in. Fraser sat next to him, so close their shoulders almost touched, but it was so dark that Ray could only sort of make out the dark shadow that was Fraser from the dark shadow that was everything else.

“Yes, Ray?” Fraser’s voice was soft in the dark, strangely disembodied.

“Nothin’.”

Time passed, measured in Fraser’s slow, even breaths.

“Fraser?”

“Yes, Ray?”

There was another pause in which Ray shuffled a bit. “Nothin’.”

“I can’t help but think that there is something. Unless this is some kind of impromptu test of my response to auditory stimuli.”

“There’s nothing...It’s just that.” Ray sighed heavily “I’m your friend, right?”

“Indubitably,” Fraser agreed warmly.

“You care about me.”

“Yes, Ray. Have I given you reason to doubt my affection?”

It never failed to floor Ray how easily Fraser lay claim to his emotions. Any other guy, you’d only get it out of them if they were drunk. And even then you’d need a pair of pliers.

“No, Frase. I was just thinking.”

“About us?”

“No. Well, sort of.” Ray sank lower against the curve of the drain pipe. His lower back was absolute murder.

“Ah.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ray snapped.

“I didn’t mean anything in particular, it was merely a neutral exclamation acknowledging that I’d heard you. It reflected no interpretation or analysis on my part.”

Ray scowled, hoping that Fraser’s eyesight was good enough in the dark to catch his displeasure. “Don’t you?”

“What?”

“Ever think about us?”

“In any particular sense?” Fraser asked, a bit bewildered. “I’m not sure what you’re driving at.”

“I’m not driving at anything. I was just asking a simple question.”

“Right.”

Ray could tell from that one word that Fraser thought he’d never asked a simple question ever in his life and was clearly implying something. Or maybe Ray was reading into it a bit.

“Yes, Ray, on occasion I have been known to think about our partnership.” He stopped, satisfied with his answer. Ray was about ready to strangle him.

“And?” His voice came out thin and reedy with the effort it took to keep from beating Fraser about the head.

“Well,” Fraser began thoughtfully. “I think we work well together. It’s an honor to stand with you against the criminal element. I can think of no man I’d want beside me more on a case or in a fight.”

“I didn’t mean workwise—“ Ray started out in exasperation, but then cut himself off. “Never mind.”

“I can—“

“I said never mind!”

They lapsed into silence again.

“Ray.” Fraser shifted and Ray could feel more than see Fraser watching him. Ray tugged up the collar of his jacket. “Ray. Ray. Ray--”

“What, Fraser? I am right here.”

“I love you.”

Ray choked and began coughing desperately as he attempted to get oxygen back into his lungs. Fraser grabbed a hold of him and helpfully pounded on the back, which only exacerbated his condition.

Ray regained his composure and convinced Fraser that whacking him wasn’t helping.

“I’m sorry for startling you. I didn’t think it would come as a surprise. It seemed to me that you were looking for reassurances as to my affection for you.  I sought merely to supply it.” Fraser sounded just the tiniest bit offended.

“Jeez. It’s not what you said. It’s the way you said it.”

“How should I have expressed the sentiment, then?” Fraser was definitely crossing over into testy.

“I dunno, Fraser, it just sounds weird when you say it right out like that. Makes us sound like...you know, lovers.” Ray shrugged, trying to physically dismiss the word.

“I don’t see how that matters. We know we’re not and we don’t have an audience, excepting Diefenbaker. And he formed his opinion about our relationship a long time ago—we don’t have to worry about confirming his theory.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“If it makes you uncomfortable, perhaps you shouldn’t make such inquires about my feelings.”

Ray caught movement from the corner of his eye and instinctively recognized it as ear-tugging. 

“Aw, don’t get pissed. I didn’t mean to piss you off. Fine, I love you, too—there, you happy?”

“Such a genuine declaration. I’m touched.”

“You should be. The only people I say ‘I love you’ to are my mom and, formerly, Stella.” Ray crossed his arms over his chest. Slowly they loosened and fell to his side. “I’m sorry, Fraser. Really, I do...” He trailed off, voice lost to the emptiness of the drain. “I, uh, do...” He swallowed. “You know.”

“Oh for heaven’s sakes, Ray.”

“I love you.” Ray was panting slightly with the exertion.

“Thank you,” Fraser said, mollified. “That means a great deal.”

“Sure.” Suddenly a thought occurred to Ray. “Wait. You said something about Diefenbaker’s theory?”

“Oh, yes, he has his own opinions about the nature of our partnership.” Now it was Fraser who sounded choked.

“...He doesn’t think we’re, like, lovers or something, right?” Ray asked carefully.

“’Mates’ is his term. Or ‘life-bonded’ if he’s feeling flowery.”

“But you’ve told him that we don’t do it.”

Fraser cleared his throat. “He acknowledges that there is no physical aspect to our relationship, but the carnal is of a secondary concern to wolves. Wolf females only enter estrus a couple times a year; partnerships are based on need and affection, not the flimsier demands of the flesh. It doesn’t matter to Dief whether or not we’ve engaged in physical...acts; he insists that whatever we maintain we’re actually mates. His romantic sensibilities get the best of him sometimes, I’m afraid. And they’ve only gotten worse since he saw When Harry Met Sally.”

Dief whined a protest.

“Yes, yes, it’s romantic; it’s just not terribly realistic. I’m not casting aspersions upon its cinematic worth.”

Dief sneezed, unimpressed with Fraser’s argument.

“Come on, Dief,” Ray tried. “We’d have to be mating to be mates.”

Dief barked and Fraser inhaled sharply. “I cannot believe you just said that. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” There was a pause as Dief replied. “Well, I never. It’s really not any of your business or your place to speculate.”

“What’d he say?” Ray demanded.

“It doesn’t bear repeating.”

“What?” Now Ray was really curious.

“Seriously, Ray, you don’t want to know. If a simple declaration of affection is enough to make you uncomfortable, Dief’s suggestion would really make you blush.”

“I don’t blush!” This was a blatant lie—he was blushing now.

“Ray, if you knew the rather obscene suggestion Dief had about certain physical acts I should enact upon your person, you would not be asking about it now.”

“Yeah, cause I would know.” Ray was so hot he wondered if Fraser could feel the change in his body temperature. “Physical acts, huh?”

“Where he learned that much about human sexuality, I’ll never know. He certainly never learned it from me.”

“Yeah, yeah. He probably heard it on the playground.”

Dief growled something, interrupting their conversation.

“I certainly will not!”

“Come on, Dief, we’re just partners,” Ray tried.

“He says ‘bullshit.’ Goodness, I think Chicago has taken an unfortunate toll on his vocabulary.”

“What do you mean, bullshit?” Ray ignored Fraser and addressed Diefenbaker directly. He was arguing with a wolf, which was something he normally avoided since it was hard to know if he’d won, but these were extenuating circumstances. “You know we are—you chaperon his every moment. The guy doesn’t blow his nose without you knowing it.”

“I think that’s an exaggeration, Ray,” Fraser protested, but Dief broke in with a chuffing bark.

“What’s the furball saying now?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good—“

“Translate!”

“He says we smell like we’re mates. I can only assume he means pheromones, since there aren’t any, uh, other scents that would indicate an amorous connection.” Dief shook himself, then sat down to scratch his ears. “He says that we can lie with words and actions, but nothing fools scent. You can try to wash it off, cover it up, but it always tells the truth in the end.”

Dief yowled, ending in a series of short yips. Fraser swallowed, loud enough that Ray’s own throat tightened sympathetically. “He points out that I work with you, eat with you, the majority of my free-time is spent with you.”

“But that’s the nature of the job. Crime doesn’t timeout at five, neither do we.”

“He insists that you’re the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about before falling asleep. He’s challenging me to deny this, and I don’t think I can. Perhaps he’s drawn the wrong conclusion, but his facts are correct.”

“You think about me at night.” Ray’s voice came out in an uncomfortably high pitch.

“Well.” Fraser cleared his throat. “Not in the way it might seem to imply.” Dief barked sharply and Ray felt Fraser flinch. “So anyway, you can probably see why Dief may have come to his opinion. Erroneous as it may be.”

They were quiet and Dief’s wet nose found Ray’s hand, snuffling for pets. Ray scratched under his chin automatically.  “You think about me when you wake up?”

“Usually in conjunction with a case.”

“Right, right,” Ray agreed quickly.

Fraser paused meditatively. “My apologies if these revelations unsettle you.”

“Naw, it’s all right. I’m pretty much the same way, you know. We work together; our lives depend on us being all copacetic. We have to be on the same wavelength.” He wove a hand through the air.
 
Diefenbaker whined low in his throat and mouthed the cuff of Ray’s jacket.

“Dief points out that that’s not—strictly speaking—true. And that both of us endure considerable hardship to maintain the partnership. Most Chicago detectives don’t work with Mounties. In fact, as far as I’m aware, you’re the only one who does. Another detective would be able to make arrests, fire a gun. I’m afraid that my involvement is not always strictly by the book, as it were. The onus of working with a partner who is not an American citizen would be lifted—“

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they wouldn’t be you. You’re better than anyone else on the Force, better than anyone, anywhere.”

“Thank you, Ray,” Fraser said. “And I could be useful back home, with duties far more rewarding than the errands the Consulate sends me on. Where people don’t mistake me for a doorman.”

“Yeah. You could go back,” Ray repeated tonelessly.

“But I don’t. Because I’d rather work with you. Any inconveniences incurred by my situation are more compensated by this partnership. And any benefit gained from a different posting can’t make up for the loss of it.”

Ray reached out, laying a hand on what he really hoped was Fraser’s forearm and squeezed. Fraser’s hand closed warmly over his.
 
“Jeez,” Ray said, his voice a little thick. “No wonder Dief thinks we’re gay.”

Comments

[purridot.livejournal.com]

*mem mem mem mem mem mem mem*

This is such a treat to read on a Sunday night, because that was always Due South night. But I don't miss it if I get to read stories like this, because you have the voices down perfectly: Fraser's precision and Ray's blunt probing and sarcasm. And I loved how effortlessly the boys got more and more comfortable and less vague talking about the theoretical possibility of their being "mates", while still sounding exactly as they would on the show (un-mushy, that is).

And Dief, you have a dirty mind!

[rubberbutton.livejournal.com]

*mem mem mem mem mem mem mem*

Hee. Thanks so much. I had a lot of fun writing this. Part of me (okay, most of me) is immature enough to squee in fangirlish delight whenever refer to each other as partners. This fic was a natural by-product.

And Dief, you have a dirty mind!

Well, he is a wolf, after all.

[ignazwisdom.livejournal.com]

Perfect dialogue, perfect characterization -- of all three of them! -- and absolutely hilarious. There were a ton of great lines in this that had me grinning or laughing out loud.

[rubberbutton.livejournal.com]

Mwah! Thank you, doll.

There were a ton of great lines in this that had me grinning or laughing out loud.

Writing dialogue is my favorite. If you hadn't guessed, or anything. *g*

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Whee!!! I love when Dief gets in on the matchmaking. :-D

[rubberbutton.livejournal.com]

Hee. Me too! He's so nosy...

[j-s-cavalcante.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful! I'm finding it only now because someone recced it recently.

I don't know if you're still writing DS, but you should post notices on ds_noticeboard when you post DS fic. That way more of us will get to see it and enjoy it!

Anyway, I adore the conversation in the pipe. The characterization is spot-on, and the use of Dief is outstanding. Oh, Fraser. Oh, Ray. Queens of de Nile. Hee!

[rubberbutton.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you're still writing DS, but you should post notices on ds_noticeboard when you post DS fic.

I haven't had much time for writing lately, but hopefully I will soon. I do usually post a link on ds_noticeboard, sometimes they're so short and/or stupid that I don't bother. I was just really nervous with this one, since it was my first real effort. The bar is reeeeeeally high in the dS fandom; it's intimidating, y'all.

I'm glad you liked the fic--Dief has to be one of my favourite plot devices. *g*

[snarkyducky.livejournal.com]

this is the cutest most adorable fic i've read this year, but it's not just cute, it's also terribly sweet!
thank you for sharing this gem! ♥