Hanged Man by Speranza (explicit)
Title: Hanged Man
Fandom: due South
Pairing: Ray Kowalski/Benton Fraser
Categories: first time, slash, angst
Length: Long, 33,395 words
Warnings: none I can think of. Oh, except that some of the storytelling at the beginning and end is done visually, with line-drawings, and that the download function on AO3 may skip those images if you're planning to read by e-reader, as it did for mine.
Author on Livejournal: cesperanza
Author Website: Speranza on AO3
Summary: "Sh." Ray cups Fraser's chin in his hand and rubs Fraser's lips with his thumb. "No talking." He doesn't know why he's so sure; he only knows that it's key that they don't talk about it.
Review: "...you made a really good go of it, you and him. All in all, you were probably my best team," and Ray doesn't know what shocks him more: the unqualified nature of the compliment or Welsh's use of the past tense. "Not that that's so much to be proud of," Welsh says, reaching for his glass, and okay, here's the backslap, "in that group of freaks and whack-jobs, but there you go. Still, nothing lasts forever," Welsh says and drinks like it's a toast.
Yes, it's a Speranza Due South fic, which to a certain extent makes reccing it somewhat beside the point, but it's one that I'd managed not to read before, until my new reading spree in this fandom a few months back, and it also seems to have been avoided in the back-catalogue of the comm, and I get the feeling it's maybe one of the... less mentioned...? of this author's fics, quite possibly for the very reasons I absolutely liked it the best. It's got a heaviness to it that's perhaps a step removed from the rest, and it isn't based on action or plot or outward events, but the knots that Kowalski and Fraser tie themselves into inside their own heads, when they start having sex together and falling in love and it virtually destroys their partnership.
It's the story of the disintegration of Fraser and Ray the team to make way for Fraser and Ray the romantic item, and that's fascinating. The tale begins with a game of Hangman, but in tarot The Hanged Man is about reversals, and that's a beautifully fitting title for my money. As an examination of the inability to reconcile work|public and non-work|private personas, and of integrating those new roles and possibilities, this fic manages to be something rather different from the usual first-time slash romance fic.
Hanged Man
Fandom: due South
Pairing: Ray Kowalski/Benton Fraser
Categories: first time, slash, angst
Length: Long, 33,395 words
Warnings: none I can think of. Oh, except that some of the storytelling at the beginning and end is done visually, with line-drawings, and that the download function on AO3 may skip those images if you're planning to read by e-reader, as it did for mine.
Author on Livejournal: cesperanza
Author Website: Speranza on AO3
Summary: "Sh." Ray cups Fraser's chin in his hand and rubs Fraser's lips with his thumb. "No talking." He doesn't know why he's so sure; he only knows that it's key that they don't talk about it.
Review: "...you made a really good go of it, you and him. All in all, you were probably my best team," and Ray doesn't know what shocks him more: the unqualified nature of the compliment or Welsh's use of the past tense. "Not that that's so much to be proud of," Welsh says, reaching for his glass, and okay, here's the backslap, "in that group of freaks and whack-jobs, but there you go. Still, nothing lasts forever," Welsh says and drinks like it's a toast.
Yes, it's a Speranza Due South fic, which to a certain extent makes reccing it somewhat beside the point, but it's one that I'd managed not to read before, until my new reading spree in this fandom a few months back, and it also seems to have been avoided in the back-catalogue of the comm, and I get the feeling it's maybe one of the... less mentioned...? of this author's fics, quite possibly for the very reasons I absolutely liked it the best. It's got a heaviness to it that's perhaps a step removed from the rest, and it isn't based on action or plot or outward events, but the knots that Kowalski and Fraser tie themselves into inside their own heads, when they start having sex together and falling in love and it virtually destroys their partnership.
It's the story of the disintegration of Fraser and Ray the team to make way for Fraser and Ray the romantic item, and that's fascinating. The tale begins with a game of Hangman, but in tarot The Hanged Man is about reversals, and that's a beautifully fitting title for my money. As an examination of the inability to reconcile work|public and non-work|private personas, and of integrating those new roles and possibilities, this fic manages to be something rather different from the usual first-time slash romance fic.
Hanged Man