Author's Website: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8741/jmgarden.htm

Disclaimer: These leprechauns named Benny and Ray aren't mine, b'gosh 'n' begorra, but Alliance's. And 'tis a shame it 'tis, too.

Author's Notes: Pairing: Benny/Ray V.
Categories: Fun, A Wee Bit O' Humor, The Wearin' O' The Green Challenge #1
Rating: NC-17

Story Notes: This story is in answer to the Wearin' O' The Green Challenge I posted on Two Axes and The Closet. The elements that had to be mentioned were: shamrock(s), the color green, leprechaun(s), the word 'Celtic', an Irish brogue, and a name that starts with O'. :)
Blame me for this one!
Special Guest Stars: Well, you'll see. ;)

I
KENNEDY COUNTRY

Benny stopped short inside the squadroom's doorway. He looked with wide eyes at the profusion of green in the room: cardboard shamrocks hung from the ceiling or were posted to the walls. Nearly everyone seemed to be wearing green: a shirt, sweater, pants, or a carnation or shamrock in their buttonhole. He saw that Elaine was wearing sparkly green earrings.

He looked down at his brown uniform. At least he wouldn't clash.

His eyes immediately sought out Ray. His lovely Italian was at his desk and his emerald eyes lit up at the sight of his lover. Dief woofed his pleasure at seeing Ray, too. He hustled over and received a pat on the head and a "What's up, furball?"

"Ray, it seems as if the Precinct goes all out for the day," Benny observed as he approached the desk.

"Yeah." Ray was grinning. "Hey, on this day I don't even care if the Boston Celtics beat the Bulls."

"My," Benny said, raising an eyebrow. Ray laughed.

"Actually, Ray, in Massachusetts today is a state holiday. It's Evacuation Day, to commemorate Washington driving the British out of Boston in 1776."

"Aw, Benny, everyone in Massachusetts know it's really about St. Patrick's Day."

"Well, that may be true," Benny conceded, "as the Bay State has the highest concentration of Irish in the country. And it is where the Kennedys hail from, the first family to produce an Irish Catholic President..."

The door to Lieutenaut Welsh's office opened and he emerged in his usual rumpled white shirt but with a bright Kelly-green tie. He smiled and nodded at Benny, who smiled and nodded back.

"Hey, Benny, we gotta get you in the spirit of things." Ray bent over to retrieve a small shopping bag on the floor by the wall. Benny licked his lips at the sight of Ray's peachy derriere presenting itself to him. He hoped that no one saw his blush.

Ray straightened up and turned around, smiling with his usual dazzlement. Benny's heart raced.

Then he noticed what Ray held in his hand.

"Ray?"

"You gotta blend in with the merrymakers, Benny. Though admittedly you don't do 'blend' well," Ray laughed. He affixed the glittering shamrock pin on Benny's collar. Benny fingered it with a touch of awe. He looked up and saw the color reflected in his Ray's eyes.

"Can't leave Diefenbaker out," said a cheerful voice, and Benny snapped out of his spell as Elaine squatted down and put a green silk ribbon around his wolf's neck, a big shamrock attached to it. Dief yelped and waved his tail, happy to be included.

"Thank you kindly, Elaine."

Benny's eyes widened at Ray's words. That was his line. He smiled.

"The parade was last week, Benny. Tonight's time for more partying. C'mon, let's celebrate."

"An Italian celebrating St. Patrick's Day, Ray?" Benny asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Sure, everyone's Irish on this day! I'm O'Vecchio, didn't you know that?" Ray winked.

Benny laughed, Dief whuffing and rubbing up against Ray's leg. He got another pat as reward.

"C'mon, O'Fraser, let's go. The whole squadroom is goin'." Ray's voice softened. "I want you to be a part of it."

Benny swallowed at the look of love in the green eyes. He nodded.

"Great! Let me just drop this off in Welsh's office."

Ray picked up a report and headed for the office. Benny patiently waited by the desk and leaped to help Elaine with her coat.

"Why, thank you kindly, Fraser," she said with a mischievous smile.

He blushed.

"Say, Elaine, you ready to rumble?" asked the rich voice of Jack Huey.

"Sure thing, Jack."

Other officers were getting their coats and heading out of the squadroom in twos and threes as the next shift came on, greetings in affected Irish brogues exchanged.

Ray came back and started getting into his coat. Benny grabbed it and helped him. Smiling quizzically, Ray said, "Thanks, Benny."

Benny nodded, then saw Elaine looking back at them. She winked and Benny blushed bright red. He still couldn't get quite used to being able to be so open and free about his love for Ray. He was a lucky man indeed.

"C'mon, Benny, let's evacuate."

"Yes, Ray."

They rode several blocks in the Riv, its color perfect for the day, Benny mused. He didn't ask where they were going. He was in Ray's hands now.

II
MINT ICE CREAM AND HERSEY CHOCOLATE BARS

Ray parked in front of a restaurant with a sign that said BERGHOFF'S. They went inside and the place was already jumping. A miffed Dief had to stay out on the sidewalk, but he immediately began cadging treats from any easy marks that walked by.

Inside Berghoff's, Benny and Ray took a seat at a big table where most of the squadroom members were already seated. The restaurant was a big, noisy pub with several tables close together and a bar in the other room. The walls were decorated with photos of famous Chicago events from the last several decades and with paper leprechauns and shamrocks for tonight. There was green beer and Benny's mouth watered at the thought of mint ice cream for dessert. Waiters in dark-green jackets served the tables, the hubbub hurting Benny's ears but he could stand it for a few hours.

He sat next to Elaine, Jack on her other side, and Ray was on his other side. There was one empty seat and Benny wondered who would be coming to fill it.

He perused the menu and ordered a chicken lemon pepper linguini dish, Ray deciding on a juicy hamburger with steak fries and salad. He ordered two hamburger patties "for the furball" and joined in the conversation around the table, which reminded Benny of dinner at the Vecchios' with at least six different conversations going on.

While he nibbled on a bun (not Ray's), he noticed a group of women entering the room and being seated at an enormous table in the center. He noticed one woman wearing a Stetson. There was a blond in a black sparkly top and a redhead who looked like an evil pixie. A kindly gray-haired woman was talking to the Stetson woman. Benny quickly counted seventeen of the group.

He returned his attention to his own table, listening to Jack hold court about an arrest he had to make at the parade years ago when he was a beat cop, and then Leftenant Welsh showed up and took the empty seat.

Benny ate greasy buffalo wings and took bites from Ray's salad. He sipped his ginger ale while Ray drank one green beer. He ate another bun (again, not Ray's) and laughed at a joke told by Elaine.

He felt very happy indeed to be included in the 'gang'. He had always felt excluded his entire life: a white child among the Inuit; a strange, by-the-book cadet at Depot; an even more rigid Mountie among the other Mounties; a Canadian among the Americans. And now he belonged: to a loud, scruffy, profane, tough-as-nails-but-heart-of-gold bunch of cops in the States.

"Mmm, two guys together are better than one."

His acute hearing picked up the comment from the next table, which was boisterously laughing over some joke. The redheaded pixie snickered and said to the sparkly blond: "Yeah, I'll take honeybuns any day." The blond laughed and winked. "What about peaches?"

"Oh, definitely peaches. With lots of juice."

The gray-haired woman leaned over and said, "Don't you just love a man in uniform?"

"More like out of uniform," cracked the blond.

"With some Armani tossed to the floor,"said the redhead.

"As long as he's still in the Armani?"

"Or out of it."

More laughter.

Benny quickly looked at Ray. Peaches? Armani? Uniforms?

He shook his head. Nah.

His linguine arrived and he ate with gusto, watching Ray make a point as he waved his hamburger. He picked up one of the two dill pickles from Ray's plate and ate it.

A burst of laughter from the next table unnerved him for a minute. He glanced over at the table and saw a blissfully happy couple eating the food off each other's plates: a bubbly woman with gray curls and a soft voice, and her brown-haired companion with an Australian accent.

A slender brunette suddenly brandished a pair of handcuffs. "And wouldn't our boys go for these?" Benny blushed at the hoots and laughter. He went back to listening to the conversation of his fellow cops, still faintly pink.

Ray looked at him. "Having fun, Benny?" he asked under cover of a round of laughter at their table.

"Yes, Ray."

"Good." Ray winked at him and then dove back into the conversation.

When it came time for dessert, Benny ordered the mint ice cream and Ray added, "Make it with the chocolate bars."

The waiter nodded and Benny protested, "But, Ray..."

"Benny, it's a holiday and you're going to indulge yourself."

And when the dish filled with green ice cream and miniature Hersey bars stuck in it arrived, Benny had to agree with Ray's addition.

He was in bliss.

III
"HE'S THE CANDLE IN MY PUMPKIN"

The party broke up around midnight as several groups decided to switch to other pubs and bars, and Benny and Ray decided to go home. As they passed the table of women, Benny heard the blond say, "He's the candle in his pumpkin" and the gray-haired woman added, "Pumpkin butter." When they got out onto the sidewalk a pouting Dief was quickly mollified by the smell of the hamburgers, and he rested his head next to Ray's all the way home, eyeing the bag on the front seat.

Once in the apartment, Ray gave him the meat and then he turned to Benny with a smile that melted the Canadian's heart.

"You had a good time tonight, Benny?"

"Oh, yes, Ray."

"Good." Ray's eyes where shining. Benny put his hand up to touch Ray's face. "Yes, Benny?" Ray asked softly.

"Mr. O'Vecchio, did anyone ever tell you that your eyes were the color of a bright Irish field?"

"No," Ray breathed, his lashes fluttering.

"Well, they are. They are the like the Emerald Isle itself. And Italian though you may be, you have a wee bit of Irish in ye," Benny answered, his brogue flawless.

"I'd rather have a whole lot of Canadian in me," cracked Ray, and Benny's eyes widened.

"To be sure, then, to be sure." He pressed close to Ray.

"Ahem, is that a shillelagh or are just glad to see me?" asked the American.

Benny growled and grabbed his smart-alecky Yankee and carried him off to the bedroom, like Rhett carrying Scarlett up the staircase, and he tossed that Armani on the floor of his bedroom, but Ray wasn't in it. And he was out of his uniform in less time than it took to toss a shillelagh, and then they were both on the bed and Benny was between Ray's legs, squeezing buns (Ray's this time) and when he took the lube out of the nightstand the words 'pumpkin butter' flashed across his mind and he prepared them both, Ray moaning and tossing his head and digging his fingers into the sheets.

And when he rammed home, he was happy, so happy to see his emerald-eyed Italian leprechaun writhing beneath him. Because didn't leprechauns know magic, and certainly that was what Ray had brought to his life: magic. He felt the hot moistness sheath his cock and he groaned.

Magic.

Green.

Emerald magic.

And he felt himself explode as Ray did, spattering over his belly and thighs, and as he descended into post-coital bliss, he decided that as soon as they could rouse themselves, he would ask Ray to be the candle in his pumpkin this time.