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Title: Untitled
Fandom: Due South
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: PG
Word count: 919
Summary: Elaine tells Ray that people are starting to talk about him and Fraser.
Notes: This is commentfic for snoopypez inspired by this post and by the picspam by sdwolfpup linked to therein. Unbeta'd.
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine and I'm not making any money off this.

###

"Ray," Elaine said. "This has got to stop. People are starting to talk."

Ray looked up from his typewriter. "About what?"

She raised her eyebrows meaningfully. "About you. And Fraser. If you aren't careful it's gonna get back to that bitch at the consulate, and then she won't let Fraser liaise here anymore."

Ray stood up so fast he almost knocked his chair over. "She won't? What are people saying about me and Fraser?"

Elaine rolled her eyes. "Come on, Ray. The way you stare at each other? The way you stand two inches apart at all times? Did you really think no one would notice?"

Ray blinked. "Are you saying people think me and Fraser are---bent?"

"I can't believe you're a Detective First Class," Elaine said, and wandered away.

Ray tried to keep doing his paperwork, but by the time he had to go pick up Fraser from doorman duty, he'd used up nearly his whole bottle of whiteout.

###

Ray tried. For days. He tried to keep six inches away from Fraser, tried not to maintain eye contact for longer than three seconds, tried not to put his arm around Benny or clap him on the shoulder. It was really hard. No wonder people had been talking.

A week later, they had just arrived back from a nice non-touching, non-staring, non-food-stealing lunch when Fraser pulled him into the supply closet. And yeah, maybe the fact that they hung out in the supply closet should have struck Ray as weird before, but it hadn't. Now, with everything tainted by Elaine's revelations, standing in the dark with Benny seemed dirty. He was painfully aware of how close Fraser was, of how dark it was, of how they were in a fucking closet, for Christ's sake. Okay, he wasn't an English major, but the symbolism here was obvious enough even for him.

"Ray, you have to tell me what I did," Fraser said.

Ray started. "What? What do you mean, what you did?"

He couldn't see Fraser's face in the dark, but he knew just what expression he'd be wearing---determined, vaguely reproachful, his eyes blue and piercing. "Well, I simply assumed I must have done something to irritate you," Fraser said. "You've been treating me as if I had the plague all week."

Shit. Ray sagged against the wall. How the hell did he explain this to Fraser? "It's not you, Fraser," he said. "It's just---look, guys are supposed to treat each other a certain way, right? Not get too close. And you and me---we've been getting too close. Looking at each other---" Touching each other. He couldn't say it. It was too---too---he couldn't talk about touching right now. Was it just him or was it fucking hot in this closet? "People have been talking."

There was a long silence. "Understood," Fraser said at last.

That didn't sound good. "What do you understand exactly, Fraser?"

"My affection is embarrassing you professionally," he said. "I apologize if I've made you uncomfortable. I shall endeavor to be more restrained in the future." He reached for the door handle.

Ray reached out and grabbed his hand. It was the first time he'd touched Fraser in a week, and it was like electricity running up and down his arm. "No!" he said. "Look, you've got it all wrong. I just---I figured you didn't know. I didn't want you to be---Elaine said it was gonna get back to the Dragon Lady. People could get the wrong idea about you---"

Fraser actually laughed, a twisted little sound that broke Ray's heart.

"What is it, Benny?"

"It's not the wrong idea, Ray," Fraser said, gently taking his hand back. "I---" He broke off. Ray could hear him swallowing. "It didn't occur to me that I was making you conspicuous. It was unconscionable of me to put you in such a position."

Ray took a deep breath. "You mean---it's not the wrong idea, about you being maybe bent? Or it's not the wrong idea, about you maybe looking at me and seeing something you like?"

"Both, Ray," Fraser said in a low voice.

The air in the closet had gone hot and thick. "Benny---"

"Yes, Ray?" Fraser sounded like maybe his calmly reasonable tone of voice was the only thing holding him together.

"I been really miserable this week," he admitted quietly.

"I'm sorry---" Fraser began again.

"God, you are the most annoying man on earth, you know that? I mean because I missed you. I know you were right there, but it was like---"

"Like having your knees cut out from under you," Fraser finished softly.

Ray nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, exactly."

Fraser took a step closer. Ray held his breath. Fraser came closer and closer, and then his lips brushed Ray's. Ray had always thought kissing a guy would be really weird, but it wasn't. It felt natural, like it was something he and Fraser had been doing forever---but it wasn't, it was the first time and Fraser was waiting patiently for his reaction and Ray was just fucking standing there.

"I---do that again, Benny," he said, his voice coming out kinda shaky, and Fraser made a little noise in his throat and did. This time Ray ran his hands over Fraser's tunic, stepped into Fraser's personal space, opened his mouth, and it was like he was getting a whole week of touching Fraser all at once, only even better.