Title : And the Greatest of These is Love
Fandom : due South
Pairing : Fraser/Kowalski
Rating : Mature Audiences
Word Count : 1012

AN # 1 : TYK to my beta, ButterflyGhost bghost , the Roxie Torcoletti to my Joanna Frankel.

AN # 2 : due South is the property of Alliance Atlantis and "Crashed" is the property of songwriter Chris Daughtry. No copyright infringement intended. In accordance with the "Fair Use Doctrine" of the U.S. and "Fair Dealing Doctrine" of Canada, this is a non-commercial and not-for-profit use which has no effect on the potential market for nor value of the copyright-holder's work.

Summary : It's the Quest for the Hand of Franklin, it's adventurer songs and love songs, it's first-time sex.

 

“Sing for me, Frase?”

 

Kowalski and Fraser are waiting out the first severe blizzard to occur on their Quest, protected somewhat inside their tent, shivering as the temperature continues to drop.

 

Fraser begins to sing “Northwest Passage” and Ray can’t help but recall their fall into the ice crevasse, trapped together in the narrow depths…Ray had figured they were good as dead, so maybe it was a weird time to be good and hard, but maybe it was also time to spill his feelings about Fraser, time for “buddy breathing” to go more-than-buddies before breathing itself came to an end. But then Delmar had come along and rescued them, so that wasn’t the time for it after all.

 

And now Fraser has been singing that same song he sang in the crevasse…and, finishing it, he asks Ray to sing a song.

 

“Nuh uh, Fraser. Not a good idea.”

 

“I didn’t realize you were so shy.”

 

“Me? Hey, that’s not it. I’ll try anything. That’s not the point.”

 

Ray doesn’t want to tell Fraser the point is he’s holding in check the urge to sing a song he always associates with Fraser…and either Fraser wouldn’t respond at all, which would lead to Ray’s disappointment and continuing uncertainty…or he would respond in the negative and definitively break Ray’s heart…or he would respond in the positive and that would lead to ---

 

“Ray. RAY. RAY !” Fraser sees that Ray has a faraway look, and he also sees that Ray has stopped shivering – a bad sign, the body no longer generating heat. “Ray, we need to manage body heat more effectively; we should unzip our sleeping bags and then zip them together….”

 

Fraser misreads Ray’s startled look; “body heat” and “unzip” and “together” are in fact too close for comfort to where Ray’s thoughts had just been, but Fraser thinks that Ray is having an aversive reaction.

 

“It’s just standard procedure, Ray….”

 

“Yeah, like ‘buddy breathing’ is just standard procedure,” thinks Ray…and feels himself getting harder.

 

Fraser starts zipping the sleeping bags together, and Ray is thinking that if he and Fraser get all snugged up like that, Ray’s cock will be eloquent in a way his words haven’t been. Then he snorts at the thought that “eloquent” and “cock” are not two words he would have put together before being exposed to Benton Fraser…and then he laughs aloud at that last turn of phrase, because “exposed to Benton Fraser” is literally what’s about to happen.

 

“Oh dear,” murmurs Fraser, thinking that Ray’s laugh is the onset of hypothermia delirium, hastening to strip off his own damp clothing and telling Ray to do the same. Then they are naked in the joined sleeping bags, and both their cocks are speaking the same language that neither of them have put into words.

 

They are face-to-face, and Ray sees that Fraser is blushing; Ray speaks aloud without meaning to do so. “All that smooth whiteness and the blush on it…like an arctic sunrise….”

 

Fraser blushes more deeply, says softly, “Ray, you are a poet on the inside.” The howling blizzard and the chill temperature are still present, but Fraser is experiencing a profound sense of quietude and warmth…and suddenly it seems very important to him to know what was the point of Ray declining to sing a song. “A song is a poem. A poem is a story. What’s the story of that song, my poet?”

 

Ray rolls over, his back to Fraser, thinking that looking into the guy’s eyes when he tells him would be just too girly, and then he pushes back against Fraser because he doesn’t mean to put distance between them.

 

Ray sings:

Well I was moving at the speed of sound.
Head-spinning, couldn't find my way around, and
Didn't know that I was going down.
 
Where I've been, well it's all a blur.
What I was looking for, I'm not sure.
Too late and didn't see it coming.

And then I crashed into you,
And I went up in flames.
Could've been the death of me,
But then you breathed your breath in me.
And I crashed into you,
Like a runaway train.
You will consume me,
But I can't walk away.

Somehow, I couldn't stop myself.
I just wanted to know how it felt.
Too strong, I couldn't hold on.
 
Now I'm just tryin' to make some sense
Out of how and why this happened.
Where we're heading, there's just no knowing.

 From your face, your eyes
Are burning to me.
You saved me, you gave me
Just what I need.
Oh, just what I need.

And then I crashed into you,
And I went up in flames.
Could've been the death of me,
But then you breathed your breath in me.
And I crashed into you,
Like a runaway train.
You will consume me,
But I can't walk away.

 

Fraser’s arms are around Ray now, and he presses against Ray with some confidence while resisting the urge to thrust, still not knowing how far Ray wants to take this or at what speed.  He does give in to the urge to bite the nape of Ray’s neck, as a mating wolf might do…and Ray moans in response…and then Ray puts his hands on Fraser’s hands, moves one to Ray’s chest right over his fast-beating heart and the other to his hard and already-leaking cock.

 

“Ray, have you ever…that is, with a man, have you ever….”

 

“Fooled around with some guys a little in high school…didn’t go far…wasn’t…I wasn’t….”

 

“You weren’t in love with any one of them. You loved Stella.”

 

“Yeah, that.”

 

“And now?”

 

“Now I love you.”

 

“And I you, Ray.”

 

“Just…I do want this…want you…but the stuff I haven’t done before…and that…uh…anxious performer thing?”

 

“Performance anxiety, Ray? The ‘Five P’s’ will take care of that.”

 

And Benton Fraser proceeded to show Ray Kowalski how “Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance”…and the greatest preparation is love.