For sansets - 'It's So Easy'
For: sansets
Title: It's So Easy When You Know the Rules
Author: Loz/lozenger8
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Warnings: I like writing fluff?
Disclaimer: I don't own Ray Vecchio, nor his sexy green eyes. Benton Fraser is also not mine. Neither is the Riv. I do, however, own DVDs containing these wonderful elements.
Author's Notes: 2020 words long. The title is a line from the Queen song "Play The Game". Thank you to my good friend Jane, who doesn't have an LJ, but who beta-read this for me. Any remaining errors are mine.
Summary: Stakeouts can be monumentally boring. That's why Ray lets his mind wander for a while.
Being on a stakeout with Benny wasn’t always fun. He loved Benny, he did, but there were only so many Inuit stories he could take in one sitting, and when they were on the job like this it wasn’t like he could just reach over and get Fraser to concentrate on something a little more Ray and a lot less boring. So he wasn’t exactly what you might call in a happy mood. Don’t misunderstand. Being with Benny anywhere, even with him yapping on constantly and having the Wolf, not his partner, nuzzle his ear was better than not being with Benny at all. It was just that he wanted to be at home, in the warmth of the Vecchio household, with everyone else out and good wine and great food and eventual nakedness. Not stuck in a car on Wacker Street, waiting for two on-the-run burglars and attempting to tune out on the grand narrative of Tutoyukyuk or whatever it was Benny was describing.
He rocked back in his seat and started to play a little game he liked to call ‘imagine The Mountie naked’. Okay, so not too many points for the title, but the game itself more than made up for it. The task was to concentrate on the cadences of Benny’s voice, all low and smooth and Canadian, completely ignore the actual content and slowly but purposefully picture taking off every item of clothing adorning the man sitting next to him. It wasn’t a difficult game to play. In fact, it was one of the easiest. He had a lot of prior knowledge to draw on. Sure, it took some time. There was a lot of material to get through. There was leather and wool and cotton and layers and layers of it.
But Ray had a technique. First of all, he imagined that Benny was helping, because four hands are better than two, and two of those four were deft and precise and knew every fold and crease of fabric and button twist. Benny would undo the Sam Browne belt because Ray still hadn’t figured that thing out, and Fraser was bound to get snippy if uniform malfunctions were to occur. They’d both divest Benny of the Red Serge tunic, Ray starting at the bottom, Benny starting at the top. And the suspenders would go, but not before Ray would step back and admire the expanse of chest soon to be uncovered. He had a not-so-secret love of Benny’s chest. Once the shirt came off, he’d allow his fingers to travel up and down from the shoulders. He’d carefully lick and gently bite Benny’s nipples. He’d hold him close and listen to his heart beating against his ribcage.
Ray was halfway through playing ‘imagine The Mountie naked’ when Benny started doing that thing he did to attract his undivided attention. Not the best one, not the one that made him smile and arch back in pleasure, just the one he usually resorted to.
“Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray.”
“Yeah, Benny?”
“Have you been listening to a word I’ve been saying?”
“Sure. Anklet is a wolf-whale hybrid type thing and I should be mindful of the tracks it leaves because bad things can happen.”
Benny brushed his thumb over his eyebrow and shook his head.
“Not quite, Ray. For one thing, the spirit is Akhlut, not Anklet. For another, it’s not a hybrid, it takes the form of either a wolf or a whale at any one time. And lastly, I was actually referring to what I’d been saying about the men entering the house we’re supposed to be watching.”
Ray rubbed his hand over his head and opened the car door. He started stalking towards the house, aware that Benny was behind him.
“You should probably have stayed in the car, Benny, you’re not all that inconspicuous.”
“Well, neither are you, Ray.”
He skulked around the opposite side of the street from the house and tried to determine what was going on, but the curtains were drawn. So what, this was it? They’d escape? And he hadn’t even taken any pictures or anything. He’d been too busy thinking about running his fingers over pale, soft skin and licking and kissing and sucking and blowing and damn it, Welsh was going to have his head on a plate. Welsh was going to decapitate him, put his head on a big silver platter, and use his tongue to wet the back of stamps to send off in the mail.
Fraser started speaking out of nowhere, like he was answering Ray, but Ray hadn’t asked him anything, hadn’t even been thinking of asking him anything. He sounded annoyed, really annoyed, and what did he have to be annoyed about anyway? It wasn’t like Welsh was going to kill him. Fraser didn’t work for Welsh, Fraser worked for the Dragon Lady, and he wasn’t on duty, wasn’t even working the case for her, so it made absolutely no sense. Somehow, Benny still had that tight, cold tone in his voice which meant he was politely but firmly hoping a bear would spring up and gnaw someone’s arm off.
“No. It wasn’t as if I knew they were coming to this house, they could have been going into any house along the street. There is more than one venue in close proximity that two men might have been interested in entering.”
Ray let his hands flop down by his sides. “If you say so, Benny.”
It was then that the door across the way opened suddenly and two men came flying out at top speed. They were followed shortly after by a broad burly woman wielding a frying pan. Ray’s eyebrows shot up. You didn’t see something like this everyday. Well, with Fraser, you got to see something similar about twice a week, but this exact instance was new. Ray took it upon himself to presume that the household owner wasn’t quite as friendly with their wanted criminals as they had suspected.
Dief seemed to think it was his mission in life to make things more difficult, so he sprinted after the procession, white fur rippling in the wind. Ray took a deep intake of breath and slammed his right foot down onto the sidewalk, then his left, pumping his legs and gaining speed. In the corner of his eye he saw a streak of red and knew Benny’d already overtaken him.
This was his life. Chasing after criminals with a crazy Canadian and his wolf. And somehow, he loved it. Somehow, this is what made him feel complete, like a whole man - a productive member of society - someone to be valued and respected. He could go around doing this because he could depend on Benny. He knew every muscle of his arm, every scar on his body, every vocal intonation. He knew that when Benny loved someone, it wasn’t a love of half-measures, and even though most of the time, he didn’t say the words over and over, “I love you, Ray. I want you, Ray,” Ray knew that they were always there lurking in the back of Benny’s mind - because he’d given Ray everything he had.
It wasn’t easy for Fraser to love. He was sheltered. He’d been betrayed. He’d been driven to betrayal himself. Ray knew that Fraser was the kind of person who found the whole concept of emotion difficult to adjust to. Feelings? They were things to be kept under lock and key, and Benny almost never let anyone see that he had them. So now, Ray felt bad about not listening to his story earlier, because Benny was probably upset and disappointed but too reticent and polite to admit it. Ray didn’t want that divide between them. Didn’t want to think that the person who compelled him to be a better man was under-appreciated.
One of the guys fell over. Ray watched as he smacked into the sidewalk. The guy grunted and pounded his fist into the cement and was about to get up, but Ray pushed his knee into his back and wrenched his arms up so he could cuff him. He read his rights and pulled him up onto his feet so they could walk back to the Riv. That’s when Fraser jogged by, his own catch propelled before him. Dief wandered alongside fry-pan lady, possibly smelling cooked fat on her instrument of torture. Another hard day’s work, then.
“I was thinking,” Ray started, once they’d escorted their criminals into their cells and were heady from the congratulations of the 27th precinct, “maybe we could go back to my place for a while?”
“I’d like that very much, Ray.”
Diefenbaker stayed outside, running from plant border to plant border in the front yard, and Ray and Fraser went immediately indoors.
Ray was glad to see that he’d been right in thinking that his home would be empty. Frannie was probably off having her hair done, and he remembered that Ma had said she’d be at a friend’s house, trying out a new recipe. That would normally leave Maria and Tony, but they’d taken to staying in motels, trying to spice up their love life. He knew that none of them would really mind if he and Benny retired upstairs for a while, it was just not something he especially liked to do when other people were in the house. He was like that with lots of things. The Vecchio household was one without barriers, and the thought of Frannie walking in on what he was planning to do with Benny wasn’t exactly comfort-making imagery.
Ray opened the refrigerator door and inspected the contents.
“Would you like anything to drink?”
“No thank you, Ray.”
Ray turned around to see that Fraser had already taken off his belt and lanyard and was undoing his top button. He smiled softly, the corners of his mouth deepening the lines on either side of his lips. He stepped forward and brought his hands around Fraser’s back, pulling him closer.
“I’m sorry,” Ray said quietly.
There was a note of confusion in Fraser’s response. “What are you sorry for?”
“Not listening to you earlier, in the Riv. I know how annoying that can be.”
“Oh. That. I’m perfectly used to it, Ray. I know I have the tendency to discuss matters which are of little interest to others…”
“That doesn’t stop me from being sorry. Anyway, it was plenty interesting, I was just more interested in other things at the time.” Ray moved even closer, lacing the fingers of his left hand with Fraser’s right. Fraser licked his lower lip and tilted his head to one side.
“Such as?”
“I was playing this game I know.”
“What sort of game?”
“A game that involves using my recall and imagination,” Ray replied, now gently brushing his fingers down the red wool of Benny’s tunic.
“I’m not sure I know of such a game, Ray.”
“That’s because I made it up.”
“Ah.”
“Want to hear what happens in the game?”
“I don’t see why not, Ray,” Benny replied. He started undoing Ray’s shirt, left hand nimble and accurate. He brushed his cheek against Ray’s before lowering his head and licking Ray’s collarbone.
“It starts off with you. Then there’s some me. Then there’s a whole lot of naked.”
Benny’s voice was low and full of humour. “It sounds like the kind of game we could both enjoy.”
Ray nodded before he caught Fraser’s bottom lip with his own and smoothed his hand down his back. He allowed his hand to travel to the top of Benny’s waistband and further down to brush very lightly over the area which was already getting hard. Benny moaned. A similar reaction coursed through Ray, one which involved grinding closer into Benny and eagerly pushing his suspenders off. They continued kissing and touching for a long time before Ray decided his patience was wearing thin and it was time to play ‘see The Mountie naked’, a new variation on his favourite game, and one that he could lovingly think about on future stakeouts.
Title: It's So Easy When You Know the Rules
Author: Loz/lozenger8
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Warnings: I like writing fluff?
Disclaimer: I don't own Ray Vecchio, nor his sexy green eyes. Benton Fraser is also not mine. Neither is the Riv. I do, however, own DVDs containing these wonderful elements.
Author's Notes: 2020 words long. The title is a line from the Queen song "Play The Game". Thank you to my good friend Jane, who doesn't have an LJ, but who beta-read this for me. Any remaining errors are mine.
Summary: Stakeouts can be monumentally boring. That's why Ray lets his mind wander for a while.
Being on a stakeout with Benny wasn’t always fun. He loved Benny, he did, but there were only so many Inuit stories he could take in one sitting, and when they were on the job like this it wasn’t like he could just reach over and get Fraser to concentrate on something a little more Ray and a lot less boring. So he wasn’t exactly what you might call in a happy mood. Don’t misunderstand. Being with Benny anywhere, even with him yapping on constantly and having the Wolf, not his partner, nuzzle his ear was better than not being with Benny at all. It was just that he wanted to be at home, in the warmth of the Vecchio household, with everyone else out and good wine and great food and eventual nakedness. Not stuck in a car on Wacker Street, waiting for two on-the-run burglars and attempting to tune out on the grand narrative of Tutoyukyuk or whatever it was Benny was describing.
He rocked back in his seat and started to play a little game he liked to call ‘imagine The Mountie naked’. Okay, so not too many points for the title, but the game itself more than made up for it. The task was to concentrate on the cadences of Benny’s voice, all low and smooth and Canadian, completely ignore the actual content and slowly but purposefully picture taking off every item of clothing adorning the man sitting next to him. It wasn’t a difficult game to play. In fact, it was one of the easiest. He had a lot of prior knowledge to draw on. Sure, it took some time. There was a lot of material to get through. There was leather and wool and cotton and layers and layers of it.
But Ray had a technique. First of all, he imagined that Benny was helping, because four hands are better than two, and two of those four were deft and precise and knew every fold and crease of fabric and button twist. Benny would undo the Sam Browne belt because Ray still hadn’t figured that thing out, and Fraser was bound to get snippy if uniform malfunctions were to occur. They’d both divest Benny of the Red Serge tunic, Ray starting at the bottom, Benny starting at the top. And the suspenders would go, but not before Ray would step back and admire the expanse of chest soon to be uncovered. He had a not-so-secret love of Benny’s chest. Once the shirt came off, he’d allow his fingers to travel up and down from the shoulders. He’d carefully lick and gently bite Benny’s nipples. He’d hold him close and listen to his heart beating against his ribcage.
Ray was halfway through playing ‘imagine The Mountie naked’ when Benny started doing that thing he did to attract his undivided attention. Not the best one, not the one that made him smile and arch back in pleasure, just the one he usually resorted to.
“Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray.”
“Yeah, Benny?”
“Have you been listening to a word I’ve been saying?”
“Sure. Anklet is a wolf-whale hybrid type thing and I should be mindful of the tracks it leaves because bad things can happen.”
Benny brushed his thumb over his eyebrow and shook his head.
“Not quite, Ray. For one thing, the spirit is Akhlut, not Anklet. For another, it’s not a hybrid, it takes the form of either a wolf or a whale at any one time. And lastly, I was actually referring to what I’d been saying about the men entering the house we’re supposed to be watching.”
Ray rubbed his hand over his head and opened the car door. He started stalking towards the house, aware that Benny was behind him.
“You should probably have stayed in the car, Benny, you’re not all that inconspicuous.”
“Well, neither are you, Ray.”
He skulked around the opposite side of the street from the house and tried to determine what was going on, but the curtains were drawn. So what, this was it? They’d escape? And he hadn’t even taken any pictures or anything. He’d been too busy thinking about running his fingers over pale, soft skin and licking and kissing and sucking and blowing and damn it, Welsh was going to have his head on a plate. Welsh was going to decapitate him, put his head on a big silver platter, and use his tongue to wet the back of stamps to send off in the mail.
Fraser started speaking out of nowhere, like he was answering Ray, but Ray hadn’t asked him anything, hadn’t even been thinking of asking him anything. He sounded annoyed, really annoyed, and what did he have to be annoyed about anyway? It wasn’t like Welsh was going to kill him. Fraser didn’t work for Welsh, Fraser worked for the Dragon Lady, and he wasn’t on duty, wasn’t even working the case for her, so it made absolutely no sense. Somehow, Benny still had that tight, cold tone in his voice which meant he was politely but firmly hoping a bear would spring up and gnaw someone’s arm off.
“No. It wasn’t as if I knew they were coming to this house, they could have been going into any house along the street. There is more than one venue in close proximity that two men might have been interested in entering.”
Ray let his hands flop down by his sides. “If you say so, Benny.”
It was then that the door across the way opened suddenly and two men came flying out at top speed. They were followed shortly after by a broad burly woman wielding a frying pan. Ray’s eyebrows shot up. You didn’t see something like this everyday. Well, with Fraser, you got to see something similar about twice a week, but this exact instance was new. Ray took it upon himself to presume that the household owner wasn’t quite as friendly with their wanted criminals as they had suspected.
Dief seemed to think it was his mission in life to make things more difficult, so he sprinted after the procession, white fur rippling in the wind. Ray took a deep intake of breath and slammed his right foot down onto the sidewalk, then his left, pumping his legs and gaining speed. In the corner of his eye he saw a streak of red and knew Benny’d already overtaken him.
This was his life. Chasing after criminals with a crazy Canadian and his wolf. And somehow, he loved it. Somehow, this is what made him feel complete, like a whole man - a productive member of society - someone to be valued and respected. He could go around doing this because he could depend on Benny. He knew every muscle of his arm, every scar on his body, every vocal intonation. He knew that when Benny loved someone, it wasn’t a love of half-measures, and even though most of the time, he didn’t say the words over and over, “I love you, Ray. I want you, Ray,” Ray knew that they were always there lurking in the back of Benny’s mind - because he’d given Ray everything he had.
It wasn’t easy for Fraser to love. He was sheltered. He’d been betrayed. He’d been driven to betrayal himself. Ray knew that Fraser was the kind of person who found the whole concept of emotion difficult to adjust to. Feelings? They were things to be kept under lock and key, and Benny almost never let anyone see that he had them. So now, Ray felt bad about not listening to his story earlier, because Benny was probably upset and disappointed but too reticent and polite to admit it. Ray didn’t want that divide between them. Didn’t want to think that the person who compelled him to be a better man was under-appreciated.
One of the guys fell over. Ray watched as he smacked into the sidewalk. The guy grunted and pounded his fist into the cement and was about to get up, but Ray pushed his knee into his back and wrenched his arms up so he could cuff him. He read his rights and pulled him up onto his feet so they could walk back to the Riv. That’s when Fraser jogged by, his own catch propelled before him. Dief wandered alongside fry-pan lady, possibly smelling cooked fat on her instrument of torture. Another hard day’s work, then.
“I was thinking,” Ray started, once they’d escorted their criminals into their cells and were heady from the congratulations of the 27th precinct, “maybe we could go back to my place for a while?”
“I’d like that very much, Ray.”
Diefenbaker stayed outside, running from plant border to plant border in the front yard, and Ray and Fraser went immediately indoors.
Ray was glad to see that he’d been right in thinking that his home would be empty. Frannie was probably off having her hair done, and he remembered that Ma had said she’d be at a friend’s house, trying out a new recipe. That would normally leave Maria and Tony, but they’d taken to staying in motels, trying to spice up their love life. He knew that none of them would really mind if he and Benny retired upstairs for a while, it was just not something he especially liked to do when other people were in the house. He was like that with lots of things. The Vecchio household was one without barriers, and the thought of Frannie walking in on what he was planning to do with Benny wasn’t exactly comfort-making imagery.
Ray opened the refrigerator door and inspected the contents.
“Would you like anything to drink?”
“No thank you, Ray.”
Ray turned around to see that Fraser had already taken off his belt and lanyard and was undoing his top button. He smiled softly, the corners of his mouth deepening the lines on either side of his lips. He stepped forward and brought his hands around Fraser’s back, pulling him closer.
“I’m sorry,” Ray said quietly.
There was a note of confusion in Fraser’s response. “What are you sorry for?”
“Not listening to you earlier, in the Riv. I know how annoying that can be.”
“Oh. That. I’m perfectly used to it, Ray. I know I have the tendency to discuss matters which are of little interest to others…”
“That doesn’t stop me from being sorry. Anyway, it was plenty interesting, I was just more interested in other things at the time.” Ray moved even closer, lacing the fingers of his left hand with Fraser’s right. Fraser licked his lower lip and tilted his head to one side.
“Such as?”
“I was playing this game I know.”
“What sort of game?”
“A game that involves using my recall and imagination,” Ray replied, now gently brushing his fingers down the red wool of Benny’s tunic.
“I’m not sure I know of such a game, Ray.”
“That’s because I made it up.”
“Ah.”
“Want to hear what happens in the game?”
“I don’t see why not, Ray,” Benny replied. He started undoing Ray’s shirt, left hand nimble and accurate. He brushed his cheek against Ray’s before lowering his head and licking Ray’s collarbone.
“It starts off with you. Then there’s some me. Then there’s a whole lot of naked.”
Benny’s voice was low and full of humour. “It sounds like the kind of game we could both enjoy.”
Ray nodded before he caught Fraser’s bottom lip with his own and smoothed his hand down his back. He allowed his hand to travel to the top of Benny’s waistband and further down to brush very lightly over the area which was already getting hard. Benny moaned. A similar reaction coursed through Ray, one which involved grinding closer into Benny and eagerly pushing his suspenders off. They continued kissing and touching for a long time before Ray decided his patience was wearing thin and it was time to play ‘see The Mountie naked’, a new variation on his favourite game, and one that he could lovingly think about on future stakeouts.