Pairing: Benny/Ray V.

Categories: Drama, Romance.

Rating: NC-17.

This story was in response to the Anonymous Challenge on The Closet. It has been great fun trying to guess authors and pairings and genres. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, Alliance does, more's the pity.

Comments welcome on or off-list. E-mail: jeanniemarie@sprintmail.com.

(c) November 18, 2000/December 27, 2000

The silence was deafening.

Ray sat back with a small sigh. The tribe, more commonly known as the Vecchio family, were scattered hither and yon this night. His mother and Maria and Tony and the kids were away visiting relatives in Michigan for the weekend, and Frannie was out on a date. She had intimated to her big brother not to wait up for her. He'd rolled his eyes and had said, "Yeah, yeah," but had quickly gone through his mental rolodex to review what he knew about her current loser. Not too bad, so he let it slide, not that he could do anything about it, anyway.

He had shut the TV off because there wasn't anything on that he wanted to watch. Dozens of channels and nothing good on, he grumbled to himself, and had picked up a book to read.

He could hear the wind creaking the shutters, one banging loudly enough to make him jump, and the old heaters hissed and whispered. The grandfather clock in the hall ticked loud enough to sound like a bomb, and he could swear that a faucet was dripping in the kitchen.

"Face it, Vecchio, you're not used to a quiet house."

Now he was talking to himself. Great! Well, what did he expect? All alone and feeling blue...well, not that blue, because he still had a refrigerator stuffed with Ma's cooking and a good book, but he knew the reason for his melancholy.

Shrugging it off, he resumed reading, the wind rattling the windowpanes as it blew in late autumn gusts. He concentrated on the novel, getting lost in the swirls of mystery.

He came awake with a start, his emerald eyes wide and a bit fearful, waiting for his heart to stop racing. He sat up, working the kinks out of his shoulders, then put his book on the coffee table. He had fallen asleep reading. Wild Friday night, he thought with a wry smile.

He rubbed his eyes, scanning the dark living room. The lightbulb in the reading lamp on the endtable by the couch must have gone out. Slivers of moonlight showed through the closed blinds of the windows. The silence was eerier than before he had fallen asleep.

He wondered at his startlement. He didn't remember any nightmares or other reason for his heart to be triphammering. He put fingers to his lips. They were tingling. He laughed at himself. He didn't deserve to have the house to himself with all this silliness.

Ray stood and stretched, a yawn cracking his jaw. He shuffled into the kitchen and made a cup of instant coffee, then returned to the living room. He turned on the lamp, blinking as it came on with yellow fierceness. Wait a minute. Hadn't that lampbulb burned out? Otherwise why was the lamp off? He hadn't been reading in the dark.

Shaking his head, he sat down on the couch and picked up the book.

It was a good mystery. The private investigator was tough, smart and a cynic. He was also gay.

Ray sighed. The melancholy, always lurking around the edges of his consciousness, roared back with a vengeance. Sure, he read stories about a gay P.I.. A gay P.I. who was fascinated by a hunky young man in distress, who cracked wise while hiding his feelings for the clueless beauty whose goodness and innocence made him feel like a dirty old man.

And there you had it, in a nutshell.

He thought of Benny. How he wanted to do more than just be his partner in solving crimes. How he wanted to be his partner in crime, or at least the way some states interpreted gay sex. How he wanted to unbutton and unbuckle the stiff red tunic and the Henley underneath, slipping the suspender straps off, bringing the jodhpurs down after unlacing the boots...

He laughed, a slightly mocking sound. Even in his fantasies that damned uniform was giving him trouble.

He closed his eyes and thought of Benny naked before him, like a pale ghost, his perfect body strong and smooth and his perfect lips curving into a perfect smile while he held his arms out and welcomed a hot, passionate Italian...

Ray's eyes snapped open. The room was in darkness again. He saw a flicker of something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head but nothing was there. Just a trick of the moonlight, he thought. Suddenly tired, he rose from the couch and closed the drapes, then brought the coffee cup into the kitchen and threw out the remainder of the coffee, washing and wiping the cup and putting it away. He climbed up the staircase with bent shoulders, one hand gripping the book and the other the balustrade.

Up in his room he laid the book on the bed and started undressing. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and settled into bed with the book. The wind rattled the windowpanes again. With half an ear he listened to the sounds of the old house as he read. His mind registered what he thought was a footstep, but after listening hard, he decided it was a creak from the wind.

The gay P.I. was doing all right for himself. He had just rescued the innocent hunk and was reassuring the frightened young man that everything would be okay.

Ray suddenly shivered. Was the window open a crack? The cold air blew across his silk-clad skin. Maybe he should have worn the cotton pajamas tonight.

He got out of bed and made a check of the house. Maybe he had left a window open and the breeze had come up the stairs and through his open bedroom door.

He paused at the living room window, looking out at the street as he pulled back the drapes. It was quiet, streetlights casting circles of yellow on the leaf-strewn sidewalks. No one was out walking. It was close to midnight. Too early for the kids who were out to be back home, and their families were either asleep or safe in the warmth of home.

Ray let the drape fall. He wondered what Benny was doing in that awful rat-trap of an apartment he called home. Probably asleep as his friend usually turned in early.

Images of Benny sleeping were resolutely pushed out of his mind. If he kept that up, he'd be counting sheep until the sun rose. He finished his check of the house and returned to his room. The book was getting to a good part but he didn't want to rush through it. Time for some sleep and he could finish it tomorrow.

Still feeling a little sad, he turned off the lamp on his bedside table and slipped in under the covers.

The whisper had awakened him. He opened his eyes, instincts honed from years of police work. Someone was in his room.

His gaze went to the corner of the bedroom. His jaw dropped open. "B...Benny?"

His prim, oh-so-proper friend and partner was standing stark naked in the corner, the moonlight from the blinds of his bedroom window tracing long, slim patterns of silver on his body.

"Yes, Ray."

Ray's eyes remained wide as he watched Benny approach like a pale ghost, his perfect body strong and smooth and his perfect lips curving into a perfect smile while he held his arms out...

Except the hot, passionate Italian was too flummoxed to respond. He couldn't process the fact that his best friend was naked in his bedroom, smiling a pure, open, yet seductive smile. Benny looked as if he was made of moonlight, silvery and silent and beautiful Ray remained in bed, unable to move as the moonwoven man approached his bed.

"You look so beautiful, Ray."

That did it. Ray laughed. "Good one, Benny. Ya had me goin' there. Who put you up to this? Huey? I'll admit, it's brilliant. Where is he, downstairs waitin' to hear me scream or something?"

The pale Benny looked hurt. "Ray, this is no joke."

"Sure it is! You gave yourself away by calling me 'beautiful', Benny. Not even my ex-wife ever called me 'beautiful'." Ray relaxed against the pillows. "I admit that this is pretty wild, considering the fact that you blush as red as a tomato at any mention of sex, but you've done some pretty out-there things. This is a good one." He tried to get his heart to stop hammering but decided to wait until Benny put on some clothes.

It was silent in the room and Ray wondered if Benny had left in a huff. He looked up and his heart nearly thudded to a stop this time.

The beautiful man was looming over his bed. His blue eyes were silvery, his face a little sad. "Why won't you believe that you're beautiful, Ray?"

"'Cause I got a mirror, Benny."

A warm hand touched his cheek. "I see beauty. And I want to touch it. All of it."

Ray swallowed. This wasn't some joke? Benny hadn't drunk too much Canadian beer? Or maybe some Inuit booze?

"Benny, I..."

"Shh, Ray. Let me love you. The way I know that you want to be loved. The way that you should be loved."

Ray was frozen as the marble body climbed up on the bed and hands yanked the covers down, then Benny began unbuttoning Ray's pajama top. He pushed down the pants and briefs and laid his body down over Ray's olive one.

Ray couldn't breathe. He couldn't believe that this was happening. He felt that body press down on his and he felt like he was flying. Oh, god.

Lips brushed over his face, whisper-soft but oh-so-warm. And fingers stroked up and down Ray's bare arm, sending tingles up and down his flesh. The kiss grew more intense, Ray responding as he brought his hand up to cup the back of Benny's head. His fingers carded through the thick, chestnut hair. A silky tongue entered his mouth and he knew what it was to be in heaven.

The body on his moved, the sensation of skin against skin making him tingle all over. His hands ran up and down Benny's back, skittering over the scar at the base of the spine, then he felt that solid body slide down. Warm breath tickled his cock and it leapt toward Benny's smiling face. Ray's heart nearly slammed through his chest when Benny's tongue flicked out and began caressing his cockhead. The warm velvet lapped at his weeping slit, shudders coursing through Ray's slender body. Sweat streamed down his body as he watched the incredibly erotic sight of Benny teasing and tasting his cock, framed by Ray's spread thighs. He gasped and threw his head back as Benny suddenly swallowed him whole.

Sensations roiled through him like a rollercoaster as he dipped and soared. His hips bucked as Benny sucked. Strong hands gripped his hips and his eyes flew open. He saw Benny's cheeks puff in and out as he gave exquisite head, blue eyes sparkling like twin sapphires in the moonlight. Ray could swear that Benny was smiling, except that his mouth was rather occupied at the moment, he thought wryly.

That dark bobbing head and the sight of his cock sliding in and out of Benny's perfect mouth caused Ray to erupt. He fountained into his lover's mouth and Benny swallowed him like a man with a hot Italian sausage. Ray whimpered as the lovely sensations swirled around him, then he collapsed like a deflated balloon.

Soft chuckles penetrated his heaving consciousness. The roaring in his ears finally settled down as whisper-soft kisses were bestowed upon his naked body.

"B...Benny," he croaked, blindly reaching for this magician.

"Yes, Ray?"

Ray nearly sobbed at the sound of the beautiful voice. He opened his eyes and saw Benny curled up by his right leg, licking the cream off his lips with a questing tongue. Ray felt his spent cock twitch.

"That was...incredible."

"Was it? I'm so glad."

"Benny, I don't understand. Since when have you become so wanton? Coming into people's houses unannounced stark naked, for cryin' out loud, then giving a guy a blow job to end all blow jobs?"

"Since I knew that I loved you, Ray."

Ray's mouth went dry and his hands started to sweat. "L...Love me?"

"Yes, Ray."

And Benny bequeathed a smile of solar proportions on Ray. He promptly melted.

Ray needed some time to recover, then he realized that Benny was still hard. He began caressing the silken skin and was fascinated by it growing bigger in his hand. Benny flopped back and spread his legs, his groan sending the blood to Ray's cock again. Ray gently manipulated the long, swelling cock and heavy balls, rolling each sac between thumb and forefinger. Benny's groans grew more lustful, his body beginning to move. Ray felt himself grow rock-hard again. How could he not when he was seeing a moonlit god writhing on his bed,

a fine sheen of sweat gleaming over his perfect body?

A hunger that he had never known exploded within him. He wanted...yes, he wanted...

Blue eyes opened. They stared into his soul. A smile spread, then the legs a little wider.

Benny was offering himself. Ray began to shake. His cock was screaming with blooded heat. All he needed to do was bury it right up to the hilt, like a sword piercing sweet flesh. He growled and grabbed Benny's thighs, pushing them away and his cock hungrily sought the promised land. Benny was slick with his own sweat, his opening moist and quivering. Ray's cock poked the sensitive rim, then slid in fast and hard.

Benny screamed, his head going back as he nearly ripped the silk sheets with his grip. Ray howled like Dief as he plunged in, moonlight swirling around them crazily as he thrust in and out, the heat of Benny clenching his cock as it rammed in. Benny cried and gasped and said, "Ray!" over and over again, Ray's hands gripping his pale flesh and leaving dark bruises. The bed moved and creaked as the house's silence shattered under the wave of groaning, cursing, burning sex.

Benny writhed, an impaled victim on a red-hot rod that was searing through him as he begged for mercy. But Ray would never give mercy, not now, not ever. His Benny was born to be taken, savagely and completely. The ferocity was just as much a part of them as the sweetness had been.

Ray felt himself going over the edge and thrust hard one last time, brushing against Benny's prostate. The Canadian screamed again, Ray seeing pinwheels burst in front of his vision, and he collapsed back against his pillows.

He lay there for a long time, trying to control his racing heart, the room spinning beyond his closed eyelids as he fought for breath. He had been ripped apart by that orgasm. Oh, god, it had been wonderful!

He opened his eyes, eager to see a spent Benny still impaled on his cock when his heart constricted painfully.

He was alone.

The room was empty, his body drenched in sweat and his sheets mussed, but no beautiful Benny lay in his bed.

A single tear slid down Ray's cheek as the sounds of silence blanketed him again as silver sparkles dissolved on the beams of moonlight streaming through the slits of his window's blinds.