Fraser lies on his back, straight as a plumb line, a single lowercase 'l' on the blank white canvas of tangled sheets. Ray lies beside him, a scrawled kanji character, limbs askew, head resting in the center of Fraser's chest. His eyes move slightly, watching his finger trace invisible words across Fraser's bare skin.
"I can hear your heart," Ray says. "It sounds fast. It sounds like a horse."
Fraser shifts slightly, like a small earthquake beneath him. "My heart rate is approximately one hundred and ten beats per minute at this moment, which is, indeed, faster than my normal resting heart rate."
Ray levers himself up and twists his neck to look Fraser in the eye. He almost comments on how he didn't really need to know all that, but Fraser's eyes are wide and blue and so then it seems pointless and maybe cruel. Ray settles down again. He breathes in deep and instead of a rebuke, says, "Love you, Frase."
Fraser answers as promptly as always: "And I you, Ray."
Ray lifts up again, the corners of his mouth tensing. "Do you always gotta say it that way?"
Fraser's slim, dark brows make that 'V' shape that usually means he's going to say something that'll annoy a suspect or Welsh. "What way is that, Ray?"
"You know, that 'I-you' thing."
"You object to the wording?"
Ray's arm and his neck are starting to ache from being all twisted around to look at Fraser. "No, I mean... I mean can't you just say it? Like I say it? That whole 'love' thing?"
"Ah." Fraser's brow smoothes and so Ray drops his head back down on his chest. He feels Fraser's hand come up to rest lightly on his shoulder, a barely-there pressure of fingertips and a hint of the swell of his palm. "I do love you, Ray."
It's silly, maybe, but the words make Ray all tingly. "Yeah. That's it. That's good."
His head sinks down and rises up like a ship on a calm sea as Fraser sighs and relaxes.
"I could say it in Inuktituk, as well, if you'd like," Fraser says. "And Cantonese."
Ray shuts his eyes and smiles. "Yeah. Yeah, do that. I'd like that."
As Fraser begins to speak, Ray presses his palm flat over Fraser's ribs next to his own cheek and feels the words rumble up through Fraser's chest. The vibrations echo through them both.