All that and a bag of chips (by starfishchick)
Hello, fellow Due South lovers! My name is Steph a.k.a. starfishchick. My thing is fic. More specifically, my thing is Fraser/RayK fic. (Positive comments re: F/K/V or Ray/Ray not withstanding, Tracey! Heh.) If it's well-written I'll read just about anything, but Fraser/RayK is my first, my last, my everything in between.)
I've recced fic in this comm before, from the fics that got me hooked to fics about Ray's tattoo to case fics to quest fics (and beyond). (I also covered my ass with a reccing free for all of fics that don't really fit in the above categories but which I wanted to rec recs.)
All the recs I made previously still stand as fics that I consider very readable and re-readable, and now I would like to take a moment to mention a few fics I've discovered (or that have been written) since I made those original posts. (All Fraser/RayK.)
* * * * *
Three Ways Fraser Didn't Tell Him, and Two More by joandarck. This is a story of courtship and frustration and realization - with quest scenes! - and it's lovely: So close, as they'd stood so many times, two bodies trying to touch without clearance from a higher authority, but now that slim safety barrier was removed and nothing would prevent them from falling into each other, towards mutual annihilation or something greater he could barely imagine.
Ray's body understood before his mind did, the fight or flight reaction changing to a different kind of alertness, as their physical awareness mingled into one charged field.
Tacit by malnpudl. This story is set on the quest, and has Fraser and Ray physically involved from the get-go, but with avoidance and deflection between the moments of physical intimacy. I selfishly wish this story was longer! (Not that there's anything wrong with it as it is, I just want to spend more time with these two in this situation. The first time Ray said "Fraser, about last night-" Fraser said, "Wouldn't you like another cup of coffee, Ray?" and "I'll go pack the sled while you finish up," and then he was gone. The second time he tried to bring it up, Fraser suddenly had to point out a supposedly interesting pile of turds: "Snowshoe hare scat, Ray; it's important for you to learn to read the signs." By the third time Fraser changed the subject, with hard eyes and a remark on the weather delivered in a voice sharp enough to cut glass, Ray got the message.
With the Grain by marginalia. A double-drabble about Fraser, with all the restrained punch that Jaci's writing bring. Packing for Chicago doesn't take long. Possessions weigh you down, in the body and the mind, and Fraser prefers to avoid attachment.
The Elevator Diaries by china_shop. A series of interconnected moments in elevators, on the way to a very important moment. And New Leaves, a brand-new fic of discovery and first-time kissing. "How-" Fraser cracked his neck, and veered a little closer so their arms were brushing against each other while they walked. "How long have you known that I, ah, about this?"
Ray shrugged and his knuckles brushed the back of Fraser’s hand. "Didn’t know for sure. Had a hunch."
And my most recent most re-read story, Hanged Man by cesperanza. The usual wonderful Speranza fare - great dialogue, wonderful details, good plot, hot sex, humour, angst - in a bit of a backwards way. The wall is striped with pink, then blue, then pink, as the Junior's Liquor sign flashes on and off and changes color. Ray lies there, massaging Fraser's neck and shoulders, and wonders how the hell this all happened, what the hell it all means. Him and Fraser, the way this went down--it seems, what did Welsh call it? Freakishly improbable--it's freakishly improbable that he and Fraser should have ended up like this, fucking in a cheap men's hotel. And yet here they are, and maybe it's just the neon light, but the air around them seems magical. It's like they've found a secret door into a room that doesn't exist; it's just a weird, safe space where they can fuck, a place that isn't shadowed by Fraser's portraits of the queen or Ray's framed pictures of Stella.
It's like a dream, and Ray's suddenly afraid that to question it is to break it, that this beautiful, iridescent moment will burst like a bubble. Pop.
* * * * *
(You can find many more recs - mostly Fraser/RayK but also threesome, Ray/Ray and others - in my del.icio.us links!)
Thanks to the mods for creating and running this community so well - it's been a joy to participate as both a reader and a reccer!
I've recced fic in this comm before, from the fics that got me hooked to fics about Ray's tattoo to case fics to quest fics (and beyond). (I also covered my ass with a reccing free for all of fics that don't really fit in the above categories but which I wanted to rec recs.)
All the recs I made previously still stand as fics that I consider very readable and re-readable, and now I would like to take a moment to mention a few fics I've discovered (or that have been written) since I made those original posts. (All Fraser/RayK.)
* * * * *
Three Ways Fraser Didn't Tell Him, and Two More by joandarck. This is a story of courtship and frustration and realization - with quest scenes! - and it's lovely: So close, as they'd stood so many times, two bodies trying to touch without clearance from a higher authority, but now that slim safety barrier was removed and nothing would prevent them from falling into each other, towards mutual annihilation or something greater he could barely imagine.
Ray's body understood before his mind did, the fight or flight reaction changing to a different kind of alertness, as their physical awareness mingled into one charged field.
Tacit by malnpudl. This story is set on the quest, and has Fraser and Ray physically involved from the get-go, but with avoidance and deflection between the moments of physical intimacy. I selfishly wish this story was longer! (Not that there's anything wrong with it as it is, I just want to spend more time with these two in this situation. The first time Ray said "Fraser, about last night-" Fraser said, "Wouldn't you like another cup of coffee, Ray?" and "I'll go pack the sled while you finish up," and then he was gone. The second time he tried to bring it up, Fraser suddenly had to point out a supposedly interesting pile of turds: "Snowshoe hare scat, Ray; it's important for you to learn to read the signs." By the third time Fraser changed the subject, with hard eyes and a remark on the weather delivered in a voice sharp enough to cut glass, Ray got the message.
With the Grain by marginalia. A double-drabble about Fraser, with all the restrained punch that Jaci's writing bring. Packing for Chicago doesn't take long. Possessions weigh you down, in the body and the mind, and Fraser prefers to avoid attachment.
The Elevator Diaries by china_shop. A series of interconnected moments in elevators, on the way to a very important moment. And New Leaves, a brand-new fic of discovery and first-time kissing. "How-" Fraser cracked his neck, and veered a little closer so their arms were brushing against each other while they walked. "How long have you known that I, ah, about this?"
Ray shrugged and his knuckles brushed the back of Fraser’s hand. "Didn’t know for sure. Had a hunch."
And my most recent most re-read story, Hanged Man by cesperanza. The usual wonderful Speranza fare - great dialogue, wonderful details, good plot, hot sex, humour, angst - in a bit of a backwards way. The wall is striped with pink, then blue, then pink, as the Junior's Liquor sign flashes on and off and changes color. Ray lies there, massaging Fraser's neck and shoulders, and wonders how the hell this all happened, what the hell it all means. Him and Fraser, the way this went down--it seems, what did Welsh call it? Freakishly improbable--it's freakishly improbable that he and Fraser should have ended up like this, fucking in a cheap men's hotel. And yet here they are, and maybe it's just the neon light, but the air around them seems magical. It's like they've found a secret door into a room that doesn't exist; it's just a weird, safe space where they can fuck, a place that isn't shadowed by Fraser's portraits of the queen or Ray's framed pictures of Stella.
It's like a dream, and Ray's suddenly afraid that to question it is to break it, that this beautiful, iridescent moment will burst like a bubble. Pop.
* * * * *
(You can find many more recs - mostly Fraser/RayK but also threesome, Ray/Ray and others - in my del.icio.us links!)
Thanks to the mods for creating and running this community so well - it's been a joy to participate as both a reader and a reccer!