[ To be perfectly fair it was probably the booze talking by now. Fraser wasn't the kind of person to walk out on anything, but if it hadn't been a genuinely good idea in the first place, it was by the time Ray thoroughly processed the idea and broke into one of those dazzling smiles that he liked so very much. This would be good for him, and what was good for Ray Kowalski was good for their partnership, and therefore good for Benton Fraser. But there was more to it than that.
Like an adventure?
His thoughts managed to wheelspin, expression briefly frozen as several things occurred to him at once:
Ray still wanted to go on adventures with him. Fraser hadn't known; he'd known of course that Ray had enjoyed the rhythm of their trip due north, once they were established in it, but he'd also seen how the man had suffered during the worst of it. Frostbite, misery, getting chased by a polarbear, the bruise he'd gotten on his ass when an enormous bull orca had surfaced in the seal hole he'd been looking into. After two months of sunlight but no warmth, the bitter arctic chill - he thought - had surely taken its toll. Ray would be grateful to put thirty degrees of latitude between himself and the hand of Franklin, should they ever find it.
But they had found it; they'd found it, and they'd come back to Chicago, and Fraser thought that must be the end of adventures, because surely after all that suffering, Ray wouldn't let Fraser talk him into any more. It would be all 'No, thank you, Fraser, I have almost died on vacation too many times already, but nice try. Maybe next time sing me a song first, that tends to do the trick.'
What he found instead was willingness, even eagerness, and that dazzling smile, the one that implied that the rest of the time Fraser was just too damn Canadian to understand what Ray was thinking. Ray missed it. He missed it almost as much as Fraser missed it, missed the adventure with him as much as he missed the adventure itself, and the warmth he felt wasn't just alcohol but the hum of excitement too. Maybe he could get that feeling back; the feeling they'd lost, the emptiness of sleeping in too large a room alone. And who said that the adventure ever had to end? They could go on their adventure and just not come back.
At last his mind caught up, and he smiled back up at Ray too, not holding anything back. ]
Exactly. Exactly like an adventure.
[ There was a bow tie on the bed, black like the suit, and Fraser picked it up and shook it loose as he stood up, coming to stand face to face with Ray. ]
no subject
Like an adventure?
His thoughts managed to wheelspin, expression briefly frozen as several things occurred to him at once:
Ray still wanted to go on adventures with him. Fraser hadn't known; he'd known of course that Ray had enjoyed the rhythm of their trip due north, once they were established in it, but he'd also seen how the man had suffered during the worst of it. Frostbite, misery, getting chased by a polarbear, the bruise he'd gotten on his ass when an enormous bull orca had surfaced in the seal hole he'd been looking into. After two months of sunlight but no warmth, the bitter arctic chill - he thought - had surely taken its toll. Ray would be grateful to put thirty degrees of latitude between himself and the hand of Franklin, should they ever find it.
But they had found it; they'd found it, and they'd come back to Chicago, and Fraser thought that must be the end of adventures, because surely after all that suffering, Ray wouldn't let Fraser talk him into any more. It would be all 'No, thank you, Fraser, I have almost died on vacation too many times already, but nice try. Maybe next time sing me a song first, that tends to do the trick.'
What he found instead was willingness, even eagerness, and that dazzling smile, the one that implied that the rest of the time Fraser was just too damn Canadian to understand what Ray was thinking. Ray missed it. He missed it almost as much as Fraser missed it, missed the adventure with him as much as he missed the adventure itself, and the warmth he felt wasn't just alcohol but the hum of excitement too. Maybe he could get that feeling back; the feeling they'd lost, the emptiness of sleeping in too large a room alone. And who said that the adventure ever had to end? They could go on their adventure and just not come back.
At last his mind caught up, and he smiled back up at Ray too, not holding anything back. ]
Exactly. Exactly like an adventure.
[ There was a bow tie on the bed, black like the suit, and Fraser picked it up and shook it loose as he stood up, coming to stand face to face with Ray. ]
May I?