Author: Desiree Armfeldt
Title: Half-and-Half
Fandoms: due South
Characters: Benton Fraser, Ray Kowalski (slashy thoughts)
Rating: Gen
Length: 276 words
Angst-to-hope ratio: Low
Disclaimer: I didn't create these characters, I don't own them, I derive no profit from their use.
A/N: This one actually does make the written-in-under-and-hour bar!
Bookkeeping notes: Also fits "Drag" and "Transformation" challenges.  Also fills "drag" prompt at ds_snippets.
Summary: Ray watches Fraser take off his makeup.


Ray perches on the side of the tub, his legs scrootched up to keep them out of the way, and watches while Fraser takes off his disguise.  It’s become a ritual.  All week they’ve been on this case, working undercover, and every night, Ray brings Fraser back to his apartment and watches him transform from a woman back into a man.

Apart from his height, Fraser makes a surprisingly believable. . .lady, is really the only word for female-Fraser with her silk scarves and understated makeup and soft, elegant voice.  Not really Ray’s type—Ray prefers slender, spunky chicks with maybe some rough edges hidden not too far under the prettiness.  And that’s just as well, really: Ray needs to work with lady-Fraser, not be distracted by the urge to hit on her.

What Ray does find weirdly attractive, though—which hot pokers through his eyeballs could not make him admit to Fraser—is this moment, right here, where Fraser’s taken off the dress and the long, red wig and the bra-and-falsies, and is bending over the sink in his starched boxers and tank top, getting ready to take off his makeup.

Something about that contrast, the muscular bare shoulders and the short, tousled dark hair combined with the soft, bright cheeks and lips; the long, dark lashes framing eyes that seem rounder and bluer than usual. . .  Ray can’t look straight at Fraser when he’s half-and-half like this, but fortunately, there’s this handy mirror.  From behind and below, Ray watches Fraser’s weird, beautiful reflection as Fraser leans in almost close enough to kiss himself and smears cold cream delicately, almost lovingly, across his cheek.