[ Fraser was amused that Ray was amused. He couldn't help himself; he'd been planning to carve an orca whale or a polarbear or something, but Ray's suggestion had of course come at an opportune moment (and of course he knew what a dong was, he had a dictionary didn't he?). And why shouldn't Fraser do something as off the wall, as inappropriate as this at a friend's wedding? His best friend's wedding? Wasn't that what he was supposed to do?
Ray would get a kick out of it, but it was for the Ray beside him - grinning with delight once he realised what Fraser was working on - that he really did it. He knew Ray Kowalski appreciated it when he was cheeky or a little bit unkind, knew his friend caught on to his smug Canadian humor that let people in on their failings without giving away his own feelings of superiority. Ray saw through him, even played dumb sometimes to set Fraser up for the joke, and that repartee was one of the things he treasured most about his relationship with the man.
Few people, even in Canada, in the life before he really came alive, had ever really understood him. He was the oddball, the outcast. Unsurprisingly, really. His colleagues in Canada had always seen him outmaneuvering them in the field, and considered him an overachiever and a threat. His bosses had considered him to be an expensive pain in the ass, but they'd still known the language well enough to know when Fraser was rubbing their noses in their own ignorance. The thing about Welsh was he didn't care that Fraser was smarter than he was; nor was Fraser his responsibility, per se. And besides which Fraser had very quickly come to respect him--maybe because Welsh's motives weren't in regard to how to get rid of him again as soon as possible. Welsh was a shrewd, intelligent and worldly man; perhaps not the kind of bookish intelligence that people respected, but smart, and Fraser appreciated the way that he played it as though he were anything but: make the enemy underestimate you.
Ray was the same. Cleverer than he admitted; sharp and shrewd and streetsmart. Fraser felt a warm rise of that same love from before swelling inside of him - or maybe it was the booze - but this wedding situation just seemed to be underlining that over and over again: his partner was a fantastic man and he loved him.
Fraser glanced back up at the words, saw them for what they were, and then quickly turned his attention back to the wood, pretending he hadn't looked long enough to really see. His voice took on an absent note, an 'I'm so busy carving wood I'm not really paying attention' note, and he said: ]
Drinking champagne?
[ He knew it was an accident, that it had come out without Ray thinking about it, but it warmed him through. Ray missed this. Missed the long nights by the campfire watching Fraser work, missed them telling stories and just talking and sometimes not talking, and the cold nights cuddled up in the dark to keep the chill out. Missed the misery and the frostbite and the days where the snowdrift was so thick and soft that it took them a whole day just to walk a half mile. Ray missed it too, and Fraser coveted that information while at the same time giving Ray an out if the conversation was too serious a topic to take on right now.
He finished work on the base, carving BF into the corner, and then leaned forward to put it on the countertop beside the ice bucket. Then he picked up his glass of champagne and took little sips, humming thoughtfully. Not bad. ]
no subject
Ray would get a kick out of it, but it was for the Ray beside him - grinning with delight once he realised what Fraser was working on - that he really did it. He knew Ray Kowalski appreciated it when he was cheeky or a little bit unkind, knew his friend caught on to his smug Canadian humor that let people in on their failings without giving away his own feelings of superiority. Ray saw through him, even played dumb sometimes to set Fraser up for the joke, and that repartee was one of the things he treasured most about his relationship with the man.
Few people, even in Canada, in the life before he really came alive, had ever really understood him. He was the oddball, the outcast. Unsurprisingly, really. His colleagues in Canada had always seen him outmaneuvering them in the field, and considered him an overachiever and a threat. His bosses had considered him to be an expensive pain in the ass, but they'd still known the language well enough to know when Fraser was rubbing their noses in their own ignorance. The thing about Welsh was he didn't care that Fraser was smarter than he was; nor was Fraser his responsibility, per se. And besides which Fraser had very quickly come to respect him--maybe because Welsh's motives weren't in regard to how to get rid of him again as soon as possible. Welsh was a shrewd, intelligent and worldly man; perhaps not the kind of bookish intelligence that people respected, but smart, and Fraser appreciated the way that he played it as though he were anything but: make the enemy underestimate you.
Ray was the same. Cleverer than he admitted; sharp and shrewd and streetsmart. Fraser felt a warm rise of that same love from before swelling inside of him - or maybe it was the booze - but this wedding situation just seemed to be underlining that over and over again: his partner was a fantastic man and he loved him.
Fraser glanced back up at the words, saw them for what they were, and then quickly turned his attention back to the wood, pretending he hadn't looked long enough to really see. His voice took on an absent note, an 'I'm so busy carving wood I'm not really paying attention' note, and he said: ]
Drinking champagne?
[ He knew it was an accident, that it had come out without Ray thinking about it, but it warmed him through. Ray missed this. Missed the long nights by the campfire watching Fraser work, missed them telling stories and just talking and sometimes not talking, and the cold nights cuddled up in the dark to keep the chill out. Missed the misery and the frostbite and the days where the snowdrift was so thick and soft that it took them a whole day just to walk a half mile. Ray missed it too, and Fraser coveted that information while at the same time giving Ray an out if the conversation was too serious a topic to take on right now.
He finished work on the base, carving BF into the corner, and then leaned forward to put it on the countertop beside the ice bucket. Then he picked up his glass of champagne and took little sips, humming thoughtfully. Not bad. ]