![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
visionshadows
Fandom: due South
Pairing: Fraser/RayK
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kindkit
Author's Website: elysium
Why this must be read: This is a post-CotW story set in Inuvik. Yeah, yeah. That's a tried and true theme in due South fic. But it's a tried and true theme for a good reason. And this little gem of a story by Kindkit is no exception. It was written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ds_flashfiction Sweat challenge and it does feature Ray sweating. But what it's really about is how Ray is trying to find his place in Inuvik. This is a fantastic look at life in Inuvik for Ray and Fraser and a great example of what a little research can do for a story. The Inuvik Kindkit features is based on the real Inuvik (yes, I did send away for the Inuvik tourist guides *g*) and it shows.
It's not a nice, easy, simple life for Ray up in Inuvik and this is about how he is trying to fit in and how he's worried about whether he's the wife and whether he's going to be able to work and that morning's fight over Canadian employment law. And Ray gardens and sweats and fits in how he can.
After Rosemary drives away, Ray goes back to the greenhouse. He spends the rest of the afternoon watering people's plots (funny how all the old ladies come down with lumbago whenever he's around) and picking stuff. Tomatoes, beans, peas, cucumbers, some over-sunned and wilting bok choy for Mrs. Wu, and the latest ton of zucchini for Butch Lascelles, Inuvik's living proof that the name does not make the man. Back in Chicago, Ray would've laughed at a guy like that, which he feels bad about now. Now, it's nice that him and Fraser aren't the only queers in town, even if the locals seem to think Butch is just an eccentric old bachelor who likes silk shirts.
"It's so helpful to have a strong young man around," Butch says, watching Ray wipe his dirty hands on his jeans. "But look at how sweaty you are. Here, you can borrow my handkerchief." Ray mops his face, gives the baby-blue cotton square back, and doesn't think about what Butch might be planning for it later. It can't be much of a life, being Butch, and resenting how he gets his jollies doesn't seem fair.
Butch's clothes are still spotless after an hour of gardening--probably because Ray did all the work--so naturally Ray ends up carrying his veggies out to the parking lot. At least he gets three loaves of zucchini bread for his trouble. "Since your Ben liked the last batch so much," Butch says. "And how is he? Are you two settling in all right?" He asks every time he sees Ray, but he means it every time, too.
"We're good," Ray says. "Great." And then wishes he hadn't added the last part, because Butch is no fool, and he can smell a bent truth the way Dief smells pastry, no matter how well it's hidden. He gives Ray a look that reminds him of Father Pete, the priest at St. Casimir's when Ray was a kid, who always knew when you held something back in confession. "Nah, honest, we really are good."
So check out Perfection in the Work. You'll be glad you did.
Pairing: Fraser/RayK
Author on LJ:
kindkitAuthor's Website: elysium
Why this must be read: This is a post-CotW story set in Inuvik. Yeah, yeah. That's a tried and true theme in due South fic. But it's a tried and true theme for a good reason. And this little gem of a story by Kindkit is no exception. It was written for the
ds_flashfiction Sweat challenge and it does feature Ray sweating. But what it's really about is how Ray is trying to find his place in Inuvik. This is a fantastic look at life in Inuvik for Ray and Fraser and a great example of what a little research can do for a story. The Inuvik Kindkit features is based on the real Inuvik (yes, I did send away for the Inuvik tourist guides *g*) and it shows. It's not a nice, easy, simple life for Ray up in Inuvik and this is about how he is trying to fit in and how he's worried about whether he's the wife and whether he's going to be able to work and that morning's fight over Canadian employment law. And Ray gardens and sweats and fits in how he can.
After Rosemary drives away, Ray goes back to the greenhouse. He spends the rest of the afternoon watering people's plots (funny how all the old ladies come down with lumbago whenever he's around) and picking stuff. Tomatoes, beans, peas, cucumbers, some over-sunned and wilting bok choy for Mrs. Wu, and the latest ton of zucchini for Butch Lascelles, Inuvik's living proof that the name does not make the man. Back in Chicago, Ray would've laughed at a guy like that, which he feels bad about now. Now, it's nice that him and Fraser aren't the only queers in town, even if the locals seem to think Butch is just an eccentric old bachelor who likes silk shirts.
"It's so helpful to have a strong young man around," Butch says, watching Ray wipe his dirty hands on his jeans. "But look at how sweaty you are. Here, you can borrow my handkerchief." Ray mops his face, gives the baby-blue cotton square back, and doesn't think about what Butch might be planning for it later. It can't be much of a life, being Butch, and resenting how he gets his jollies doesn't seem fair.
Butch's clothes are still spotless after an hour of gardening--probably because Ray did all the work--so naturally Ray ends up carrying his veggies out to the parking lot. At least he gets three loaves of zucchini bread for his trouble. "Since your Ben liked the last batch so much," Butch says. "And how is he? Are you two settling in all right?" He asks every time he sees Ray, but he means it every time, too.
"We're good," Ray says. "Great." And then wishes he hadn't added the last part, because Butch is no fool, and he can smell a bent truth the way Dief smells pastry, no matter how well it's hidden. He gives Ray a look that reminds him of Father Pete, the priest at St. Casimir's when Ray was a kid, who always knew when you held something back in confession. "Nah, honest, we really are good."
So check out Perfection in the Work. You'll be glad you did.