Author's website: http://www.slashcity.org/~rushlight

Disclaimer: No harm, no foul.

Author's Notes: for Beth, because she asked so nicely :)

Story Notes:

Body Heat
by, Rushlight

Ray clenched both hands hard in the sheets to either side of him and buried his face in the pillow, groaning as Ben's fingers moved inside him.

He felt sweat-slick and hot with it, flayed open and raw like his skin had been peeled away to reveal the very heart of him, sensitized and aching. He groaned low in his throat when Ben's hand spread over the small of his back, pressing his hips down against the dampened sheet as his fingers twisted, reaching in toward Ray's center as if he sought to make it his own.

"Ben," Ray whispered, closing his eyes, and he was dizzy now, he was shaking, but still Ben didn't say anything, didn't stop. The slow burn of it was beginning to edge past the line of pleasure and into something else now, something slow and achy and blissfully sweet that threatened to swallow him whole.

A slow kiss against the back of his shoulder, and Ray moaned for it, feeling Ben's hair brush hard across the back of his neck. Ben's breath was shaky, and Ray pressed back against him, wanting him to know it was okay, he could do this, that Ben could do whatever he wanted with him, and it would be okay.

"Ray," Ben said, and it was barely audible on the breath that expelled it. Ray spread his thighs and pushed up onto his elbows, urging him in, as far as he wanted to go, and Ben gave a shaky laugh as his other hand groped for Ray's hip, pressing him down again.

"Wait for it."

Simple command, breathed out on a whisper, and Ray buried his face in his arms, feeling the strain in the arch of his shoulders, his thighs, his toes as they curled against the sheets. His whole body was stretched thin with the need to come, the sheer want of it something that would echo in him for days, weeks, but this was Ben's show, Ben's ritual cleansing, and he would suffer for as long as Ben needed him to.

The suffering was part of it, he knew -- and that was okay, that was cool, because he got this, he understood what Ben needed right now. And so he panted, and twisted, and cursed, and suffered, and it was good, all of it, because it was Ben.

"Ray." Another wet kiss to the back of his shoulder, tongue flickering with the heat of a brand against the sweat that coated his skin, and then the fingers were gone. Ray groaned aloud, feeling stunned at the sudden emptiness of it, but then Ben's body was pressing heavy against his back, knees pushing his thighs further apart, and Ray almost sobbed with relief at the first rough thrust as Ben's cock slid into him.

Bliss. Ray pressed his face against the pillow, gasping through the first hard pain of it, but it was a good pain, and it didn't last near long enough for his liking. Then there was nothing but the slick slide of Ben's body inside him, above him, around him, and there wasn't enough air in the room, he didn't think there could be enough air in the entire world.

Ben's grip on him was hard, possessive, and Ray arched under it, moaning when Ben's hands slid under his arms and up around his shoulders, holding him back tight against his chest as he rode him. Ray spread his thighs as far as he could, tightening his hands in the pillow under his head, and Ben sank his teeth into the side of his neck, breathing out hard against his skin.

And it was hard and fast and hot and messy and everything they both needed right then, and Ray couldn't hold back the tears that unexpectedly sprang into his eyes as the pleasure of it burned through him, crackling under his skin like an itch he couldn't scratch. And then finally -- finally -- he plunged over the edge with a hoarse cry that seemed to rip the very heart out of him, and there was nothing but Ben's arms to hold his trembling body together.

Afterwards, Ben lay panting hard on top of him, a hard and sweaty lump of body that enveloped him completely, refusing to let him go. He mouthed blindly at the side of Ray's neck in a lazy, satiated rhythm that made Ray smile, even though he knew it was going to leave a hell of a mark in the morning.

"It's okay," he said quietly, reaching up behind him to cup a hand over the back of Ben's neck. The skin under his palm felt hot and sticky with sex sweat, and he smoothed his thumb over it absently. "I'm okay, Ben."

Ben sighed, relaxing for the first time since they'd gone into the bank that morning, and Ray had thrown himself in front of the gunman to shield one of the young girls who'd been taken hostage. The bullet had ripped through the edge of his coat, missing him -- missing him -- but apparently Ben had needed added reassurance that he was still alive.

"Love you." Ben whispered the words against his skin, and Ray slithered sideways until he could fold Ben into his arms. Ben went willingly, curling in against him, and Ray held him tightly, telling him with his body that he wasn't ever going to let him go.

"Love you, too," he murmured, and his voice was thick with all the things he couldn't say, the promises he couldn't make. Promises neither of them could make, given the line of work they were in.

But it was enough, for this moment, to lie here in their bed with Ben in his arms, and know that it was real. For this moment, right here, they were together and untouched and alive, and everything was good.

Tomorrow would have to take care of itself.

The End
7/17/02

End Body Heat by Rushlight: n_sanity75@hotmail.com

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