Chapter 3: No ordinary love

Ray's breathing was laboured and his movements were sluggish as he attempted to grab the front of his sweater. Fraser watched him miss twice before he eventually caught it and then the effort of pulling it up almost proved too much for him.

'Let me,' Fraser said and he gently pulled the sweater over Ray's head, also tenderly pulling his arms out of the sleeves. Ray went back to balancing on his elbows. Fraser put the sweater next to the sleeping bag and took off Ray's wife beater. Even in the dark, or perhaps more so in the dark, Ray's skin was so pale and white.

'Lay down, Ray,' Fraser said and he ducked his head inside the sleeping bag to tug off Ray's thick socks. Next were Ray's sweatpants and boxers; Fraser removed them in one go. Quickly he surfaced again and put them on the rest of the stack of clothes. Now Ray was completely naked, only covered by the dark and the sleeping bag Fraser was also in. Fraser was extremely alert to this. Ray's breathing was slowing down and his shivering was increasing in violence. This was not good.

His fingers moved gracefully to unbutton his underwear and within seconds he was naked too. Without even thinking about it he embraced Ray again and manoeuvred them in the same position as before. Only without clothes this time. Ray was not very responsive, which was worrying. On the other hand, Fraser's body was responding in unexpected ways to this new contact with his friend's body and perhaps it was better that Ray was not aware of this. Now all he could do was wait for Ray to warm up. He lay very still, focusing on Ray's breathing, which was slowing down, but in a good way this time. It took, how long for Ray to stop shivering? Fraser didn't know. It felt like forever, but it also felt like only a couple of seconds.

The worst part was when he thought about Victoria. He did not want to, but there the memory was nonetheless. In the same situation with someone he loved, except of course, that went horribly wrong afterwards. He could not imagine Ray ever hurting him like that. Ray was different. And the thing with Victoria was – and he realised this was idle retrospective talk, but still – their love was not...good. He had loved her, despite the fact that she was a criminal and, eventually, a murderer. And she had loved him, despite the fact that he was a Mountie. It had taken him a long time to see that you should not love someone despite who they are, but because of who they are. Sure, you could have a few despites, but they had to be minor. Like loving someone, despite the fact that they leave toothpaste in the sink after brushing.

Ray moaned and Fraser's body reacted instinctively. Awkwardly, Fraser softly cursed. Perhaps he should think about Victoria some more. That seemed to do the trick. But Ray didn't give him the chance.

'Thank you, Fraser,' he hoarsely whispered and his breath against Fraser's bare chest was almost too much for Fraser to bear. Silently suffering Fraser responded unguarded.

'My pleasure, Ray.'

Fraser's flinched and squeezed his eyes shut, but Ray's body remained relaxed. Apparently, he has not realised that Fraser's response was not entirely appropriate considering the situation. However, if Ray moved even one inch to the right then he would find out just how much of a pleasure it was to Fraser.

'I'm serious. I don't think I could have made it without you.'

Fraser thought Ray was being a bit premature, because nobody had made anything yet, but the words pleased him regardless. He replied earnestly.

'Well, I need you to, Ray.'

This appeared to stir something within Ray, because he moved. Fraser could feel his skin and his muscles and his little hairs everywhere. He bit his lip as Ray pulled away from him.

'You don't need me at all. You're used to these temperatures. You're in no danger of freezing your ass off and dying of hype-something,' Ray nearly yelled, while he pulled his arm from under Fraser. They were not touching now and again Fraser was very aware of this.

'Well, that might have something to do with it, but survival rate in these temperatures also depends on your body fat and I simply have more body fat than you do,' Fraser calmly explained, while his heart was racing and down below something was throbbing. Thank God it was pitch black. Ray's breathing was agitated.

'So, I'm some sort of needy, skinny ridiculous person. Is that what you're saying?'

This time Ray was definitely yelling. His arm flailed and grazed the tip of Fraser's cock. Which was really hard. And Ray could hardly have missed that. An agonizing pause followed.

'Fraser?'

'Yes.'

'Was that?'

'I'm afraid so.'

Instead of the sound of disgust or the sound of Ray exiting the sleeping bag, sounds Fraser expected to hear, Ray surprised him again by heaving a sigh of relief.

'So, I'm not the only one.'

At first Fraser thought he must have misunderstood Ray, but as the silence continued he realised he hadn't. Then, shocking himself to the core, he had to fight the urge to stretch out a hand and feel whether Ray was telling the truth.

'Aren't you going to tell me this is a perfectly normal reaction under the circumstances?' Ray asked with a laugh in his voice and Fraser smiled. Here they were. Two best friends, in the same sleeping bag, naked, aroused.

'Well, the whole situation is slightly unusual.'

Ray snorted at that and they both started laughing. After a while the laughing subsided and they were still in the same place.