hsavinien

Title: The Mountie/Fraser/Ben
Author: H. Savinien
Disclaimer: Due South does not belong to me and I make no profit by this derivative work.
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 350
Author’s note: Ray K.’s view of Benton Fraser. First Due South fic, yay. Diction sloppy, but consistent to the character, I believe…

***

That was the deal with the Mountie. Everybody knew it. The Mountie, Fraser, he didn’t lie. It was one of the first things Ray learned around the precinct (one of those things that didn’t show up in briefings and files, like how to hit the vending machine right to make it spit out your change). Everybody just sorta figured it out, like within fifteen minutes of meeting him, after the shiny-new-car gloss of him had a chance to sink in. Ray didn’t trust the shiny-new-car gloss on anything, cars included, and he figured it was some kinda front, like maybe masking a cracked axle, or something crooked somewhere you wouldn’t notice until it was trouble. Something that wasn’t in the files. He for sure figured out quick that Fraser could pull the straight-man of the comedy duo with an earnest open face and a story about caribou until Chicago fell down around his ears.

Eventually he met Ben, a long time after he hugged Fraser that first time in the bullpen. And the shiny new car wasn’t broke or wrong any place, but it sure had a helluva lot of baggage. That was okay, though, because by that time he’d got a taste of the sharpness and sarcasm under that open face. And the shiny Mountie was a front, but it was to protect Ben from other people, not to set anybody else up for a fall. Ben could actually lie – usually for a good reason or what looked like one. His baggage was okay (even if the Mountie red did remind Ray of blood sometimes, when the Mountie was being Honest at people who wanted to shoot them). It wasn’t like Ray didn’t having a set himself, patched with duct tape around the corners and stained a bit with engine grease. Ben (unlike the Mountie) was a real person and with that came a little bit of clunkiness, like any good car. But he was Ben and that made things in Ray’s head jittery and right, like coffee with M&Ms and dancing and a good day for experimental hair.