Author's Notes: Hello! *waves* This is my first due South story; I was not ever planning on writing in the fandom much at all, but this challenge was too fun to ignore, so here it is, and OMG, I so did not think I was going to make it in under the wire, at all. My fingers hurt! Anyway, I am, by inclination, a F/K/V shipper, but I could not figure out a good idea for the three of them fast enough, so here you go, Fraser and Vecchio, set sometime pre-Vegas and post-Letting Go. Hope I did not get them too OOC, and I hope you enjoy it.

Marking

Benny was not a girl. This was not news to anyone, but sometimes Ray found himself repeating this fact to himself over a folder, or over coffee, or walking down the hall, or while, you know, fucking Fraser. Because, while Ray was comfortable playing both sides of the fence sexually - a mouth is a mouth when it comes to blowjobs, right? - he had, previously, reserved romance for women. Women were romantic; they liked that sort of thing, flowers and wine and jewelry and stuff. Ray was good at that. Hey, he's Italian, OF COURSE he can do romance. With women.

Men? Sex. Easy. No romance, no flowers, no awkward dating and bringing them home to Ma (the horror, he could not even imagine). Nope, when it came to sex, men were built like...like stealth fighters. In, out, no noise, no fuss, no showing up on the radar.

Benny, though, was all about the fussing. And the noise, for that matter, which was very, very hot (who knew `grunting Mountie' would ever be number two on Ray's list of `hottest things ever known to mankind'? Not Ray), but somewhat at odds with the `under the radar' thing. In fact, everything about it was at odds with `under the radar', which had Ray slightly unbalanced. They had only been at this new part of their relationship for a few weeks, which was nothing compared to the year or so it took to get there, and things were still a bit awkward anyway. Ray had never actually been romantically involved with a guy before, so the rules were different or at least he hoped they were, but he was not positive about that, and habit was hard to break anyway. In Ray's mind, a relationship equaled romance equaled GIRL which, he reminded himself yet again, Benny was NOT.

So Ray did NOT order a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to the Consulate for Benny the day after their first, ah, liaison. No, he did not.

The shop owner suggested, instead, a nice basket of assorted organic teas set off by a handmade stoneware mug in autumnal colors. Benny was impressed.

And Ray did NOT buy him a corsage for their first real `date', which was to a Leafs game anyway (how Ray suffered for love, he did not dare consider) so it would have looked stupid. Instead, he wrapped Benny up in a beautiful, hand woven scarf (which Ray had nearly bled out fighting for at the upscale men's store because it was the only one in hundreds of scarves which was solid stripes as opposed to the popular and grotesque animal prints of the season). Red, green and brown stripes, subtle and tasteful, and beautiful against Benny's perfect skin. Benny nearly gushed with pleasure, and spent half the night rubbing the fine texture and driving Ray insane with lust. Game? What game? Ray was only marginally certain that Fraser did not do that on purpose.

And perfume was OUT, so very OUT, because Benny? Not a girl. However the handmade oatmeal pine scented body soap went over really well. Ray smelled like a tree for days himself, after that shower.

And since flowers were NOT an option, overall, Ray could not very well purchase bouquets suitable for Benny's boudoir, which Benny did not have, because he was a guy. The heavy linen curtains in hunter green, along with the new set of sheets (flannel, plaid, because you don't buy silk sheets for a guy) were all big hits, though.

All this made Ray really feel quite successful in his efforts, because he was most certainly NOT treating Benny like a girl. Still, it was a hard habit to break. Especially in the bedroom (or the room, as Benny's flat was their only refuge, a fact Ray intended to address at some point). Sure, all spread out and creamy looking and gorgeous and naked, Benny definitely looked like a man; but he almost acted like a girl. Soft kissing, lots of necking, petting and stroking and Jesus Christ how much foreplay could a man take? Ray was finding out: a lot. Benny enjoyed the slow mutual stripping thing, the post-coital cuddle thing, the lets-dribble-honey-on-each-other thing, in fact everything that Ray associated with "sex with girls." In fact, Benny was the one who wanted Ray to be on top ("I want to feel you inside me, Ray, if you are amenable." Which, of course, Ray was). Not that Ray was against doing it the other way around, but hey, who was he to say "no" to his lover? He was not a stupid man.

Nonetheless, for all of that, for how hard Ray tried to remind himself not to treat Benny like a girl, Benny himself was not helping him out there, and so Ray spent half his days repeating "Not a girl, not a girl, not a girl" and forcibly removing the memory of Benny in a dress from his active memory. Like, now, at his desk, trying to figure out which purse-snatching case was priority. According to Welsh, all of them. According to Ray, none. The battle continued, with no end in sight, because Benny was having a hellacious day at the Consulate ("The drapes, Ray, the drapes...") and was not only busy, but clearly on his last nerve ("Turnbull, he...Ray, the drapes...") and not about to leave the drapes for a purse snatching or two. Ray was more interested in thinking about how to make Benny feel better that night anyway.

Chocolate? Nope, not a girl. Flowers? Again, no. A nice meal? Okay, that had possibilities. Ray started sketching out ideas, decided on French (tasty AND romantic!). He called in a take out order from Le Coq au Vin, and left early. He picked up the food first, then picked up Fraser.

Who was not talking.

"Soooo...bad day?" Ray tried to drive sedately, comfortingly. Benny shot him a sideways glare.

"Somewhat, yes."

"Turnbull?"

"Among others."

Yep, Benny was pissed. Even Dief was curled up in a tight, silent fur ball in the backseat. Ray thought a nice back massage after the food might help Benny calm down, and he was so glad he stashed the rose-scented massage oil at the flat over the weekend.

Fraser practically stomped up the stairs, Dief at his side pretending to be an obedient dog. Fraser did pause to offer help bring up the bag of food, but it was a formality only, even Ray figured that much out. He waved off the assistance. When he finally got into the flat, he watched Benny while he set down the bag on the table. The Mountie was wound up, his motions tight and controlled, over-controlled, and Ray's nerves starting firing off warning shots.

"Here, babe, sit down, eat some good food. It will make you feel better," Ray said soothingly, not watching as Fraser stripped out of his uniform, because if he watched he would probably end up dropping the food on the floor, which would only make Dief happy.

"Did you just call me `babe'?"

Ray glanced up to see Fraser standing absolutely motionless, his jaw twitching. Ray's only rational thought, was, Oh shit, NOT a girl and he hoped to God he did not say it out loud. "Sit down? Eat?" He waved at the table, channeling his mother, and cringed.

"You called me `babe', Ray."

"Term of endearment, Benny. You don't like it? Never again! Never pass these lips again!" Ray waved his hands some more. "Or how about a massage?"

Fraser tilted his head like a dog, and Ray started shucking his coat and tie just to have something to do with his hands.

"I do not need a massage." Fraser was talking slowly, and his eyes were burning.

"Hey, you had a bad day, I understand. I just want to...help." He ended up waving his hands again and considered sitting on them just to stop.

"I appreciate the gestures, Ray."

Suddenly Ray felt the air pressure in the room drop and he went completely still, thinking, This is what a donut feels like right before Deif attacks because Benny was slowly walking across the room, his eyes blazing and locked on Ray. He was down to his Henley, the suspenders hanging, his pants unbuttoned. Fraser half done, which was not normal. Fraser was an all-the-way kind of guy, all dressed or all naked, never...like this.

"Uh, Benny?" Which Ray meant as are you okay? or should I run for my life? or something but he was frozen, like a deer in the headlights kind of frozen, while Benny stalked him across the room.

"I do appreciate it, Ray. The gifts. The consideration. The food. You are trying to take care of me and your motives are genuinely loving," Benny continued to speak softly as he stepped closer, and Ray thought that only Benny could make a formal speech like that sound dangerous.

"Sure. Yeah. Cause I'm a caring guy. I do that. It's...uh, it's...uh, loving..." He was babbling and he knew it, and so did Benny who did not even bother to reply. He was standing up against Ray now, as in right up against him, and pushing him backwards in small increments.

"And you are so gentle, Ray. So very affectionate."

Ray nodded until he felt his neck pop. "Well, that's what you like, right? Just, uh..."

"Oh yes, I do. Very much so." Benny leaned in and snuffled right below his ear, and Ray sighed in relief. This, he could do. He raised up his hands and stroked Benny's back slowly, lovingly, and tipped his head so Benny could lap at his neck. Benny liked that.

"OW!" Ray shoved him off, rubbing his shoulder where Benny had bit down onto his muscles. "Hey!"

Benny stepped back in hard, slamming him against the wall. Stunned, Ray looked at him, eye to eye, which was long enough of a pause for Benny to grab his wrists and pin them against the wall. Benny shifted his stance and it put one leg in between Ray's thighs, shoving Ray's groin into his hip.

"Benny?" Ray felt himself squeak, which was not very dignified, but it was the best he could do with Benny's hip assaulting his cock. The other man leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"I do appreciate your territoriality, Ray. Your gifts marking me as yours and this flat as yours and our time together as yours." Benny pushed, chest to chest, and the air was forced out of Ray's lungs. "I am yours, of course. You do know that, don't you, Ray?" Benny asked gently, his voice in counterpoint to the solid, imposing wall of his body.

"I do. I do know that," Ray gasped, trying to nod as Benny gnawed on his ear lobe.

"Good. But you see, Ray, today...today was not my day. Today I was at the beck and call of petty people with petty concerns, and I was belittled in front of my peers and complete strangers. Today, Ray, nothing that happened was of my making, or brought me pleasure..." at the word, he licked deeply in Ray's ear and Ray groaned. "Or brought me any sort of feeling of accomplishment."

"Okay, I get that, I really do, Benny, we all have crappy days and..." Ray stalled as Benny attacked his mouth, counting his molars or something with his tongue. The kissed ended when Benny pulled back a little, sucking on Ray's lower lips.

"Do you understand, Ray?" Benny asked, touching their foreheads together, still keeping Ray's arms locked up against the wall.

"I do. I really do..." Ray's mind was hustling, but Benny was already drifting down his neck, nibbling and sucking.

"Exactly."

Exactly what, Ray had no clue, and was going to ask until Benny spun him around and shoved him hard across the room, and then shoved him again, and again, all before Ray could catch his balance, and he ended up falling backwards onto the bed. Then Benny was back to biting him, this time on his chest right above his nipple, and it was going to leave a mark despite the fabric between Benny's teeth and Ray's skin.

"Jesus! Benny! Ow!" Ray put his hands on Benny's head, trying to push him back.

"I'm sorry, but you DO understand, after all."

Which, really, Ray did not, at ALL, but it seemed like a bad idea to admit it now. He looked up to see Benny couched over him, his hair in disarray as he flung off his shirt and reached down, grabbed Ray's arm, and yanked. Ray had not been manhandled in years by anyone, not like this; Benny lifted and pulled and dragged Ray's clothes off, pushing him around as if he was a rag doll. Ray was tossed backwards as the last of the clothing came off, but he did not have time to process what was happening before Benny landed on top of him in a horizontal full body tackle.

"Mine." Fraser was growling, he was growling as he started nipping as Ray's chest again, his teeth snapping.

"Oh, uh, sure..." Ray squeaked again, and hated it because he was not a girl, and men do not squeak. He tried to look calm and shut up.

Benny did not answer, just growled some more as he worked his way down. The bites hurt a bit, not as bad as the first one on his shoulder, and sometimes Benny would stop and nibble and suck, making a perfect hickey someplace really weird like on Ray's bottom rib. Slowly, hoping not to startle the wild animal sitting on him, Ray pulled himself up on his elbows. Benny stopped mid-lick, looked up at him with crazy eyes, and snarled. He sprung off the bed as if ejected and stepped over to the closet, whipped out two scarves and the next thing Ray knew, the nice new scarf he bought Benny was being used to strap him down to the frame of the cot. He did not ask, he was not polite about it, and Ray tried to keep from thinking that this was the hottest, sexiest thing to happen to him since Angie bought that...anyway, since then.

But he still did not know what exactly was going on.

Benny was back at him, chewing on his hip, licking and sucking and finally biting down hard until Ray was reduced to squeaking again, between huffing for air. Suddenly Benny was in his face.

"Don't worry, Ray, none of these marks can be seen unless you take your clothes off."

Which, typical: that was not at ALL what Ray was worried about. He was more concerned with permanent scarring, or perhaps even his neglected and aching dick which was waving excitedly in the air, looking stupid. That he was worried about; visibility? Not so much. But he just nodded, wide eyed, as Benny went back to it.

He bit again, right over Ray's belly button, and Ray gasped loudly in pain. Benny sat back on his haunches and studied the red mark, and rubbed it gently, which was both painful and soothing. Ray tuned in to the fact that Benny was talking while staring at his stomach. "...but then, they will fade. But I promise, when these fade, I will give you new ones...I promise..." He bent down and tongued the mark.

"Jesus, Benny, okay, okay..." Ray was gasping again. "But come on, here, I'm a man in pain..." He thrust his hips to get his point across.

Those blown out, darkened eyes were on him again, and Ray shuddered, all of a sudden worried about what else Benny might want to bite. Instead, Benny reached over him to grab the lube out of the small covered basket he kept by the bed, and that was when Ray got it.

He had been treating Benny like a girl, anyway. Buying him things, staking his claim, asserting his rights to Benny's home and his body. Clearly, Benny did appreciate it - Mounties do not lie, Ray reminded himself -- but he saw it all for what it was while Ray had dithered on about soapfor Christ's sake. Benny let Ray `mark' him, and now Benny was marking him back, in the only way that Benny knew how.

Ray thought he was going to need a whole bottle of ibuprofen before the night was out. Maybe codeine. His thought was interrupted by his legs being slung up into the air.

"WHOA!" He went to grab for the cot, forgetting that his hands were already tied to it, and almost unsettled himself. "Warn a guy, Benny!" He snapped while Benny pushed a knee under his back, holding Ray's ass up in the air, and slung his other leg off the cot to brace against the floor. Ray's calves were up on the front of Benny's shoulders. "You know to, ah, go slow, right? I haven't done this in a while, you know, and..."

Naked and sweating, Benny bit his leg.

"Owwww! Stop it!"

But it was too late, Benny had already stopped and was sucking on the bite mark. Ray opened his mouth again to say something else, but stalled at the look he got from Benny, who opened his mouth around the skin right under Ray's knee and glanced down at Ray with his intentions clear on his face. Ray nodded once, quickly, and Benny let go.

Ray's skin was throbbing with pain and arousal, the blood flowing fast around the dozen or so marks that were already starting to bruise up. Ray tried to focus on where Benny's hands were: one was moving slowly over Ray's chest to one nipple, the one without the bruise over it, and the other hand was moving down under him. He felt Benny's fingers ghost over the cleft of his ass, and his gasped. Benny smiled, a feral little grin and gave Ray shivers, the good kind, the kind that started as a small knot in your stomach and turn hot. Then Ray stopped focusing on anything as Benny slide one lubed finger into him, slowly, twisting, pushing, demanding. Ray huffed and breathed out, trying to relax, and he heard Benny murmur.

"So good, Ray, so beautiful, so long and exquisite, you are so beautiful, I have to...I need to..." Benny's eyes were closed and he rubbed his face against Ray's fuzzy leg while he gently pushed in a second finger, and Ray braced himself for what was next. Benny turned and nipped just a little, then sucked in a small bit of skin and sucked hard on it while pushing in a third finger. Then Ray was torn between trying to differentiate between the hickey Benny was making on his damn leg, and the fingers pushing and probing inside him. It was a draw.

"Oh, God, Ray..." Benny shifted, groaning out the words, and Ray tugged on his hands as Benny fell forward, catching himself with his hands on the frame of the cot, trapping Ray's legs between them. Benny shifted his hips around while breathing heavily, and Ray felt Benny's cock pushing at him, trying to find a way in, until finally they both felt the give that marked the right place, and Benny shoved forward, slowly, glacially (and Ray wondered when, exactly, Benny got a chance to slick it up, but he obviously did). Ray let out a long, guttural groan.

"Oh God! Yeah, yours, Benny, all yours, that's it, mark me, all yours, come on come on comeoncomeon..."

Benny's cock was not without its formidable dimensions, and Ray was reminded of that as it sunk into his ass. Slowly, yes -- he gave Benny credit for patience -- but unstoppable all the same. Benny's head was swinging back and forth a little like a pendulum, trying to make up for the lack of movement in the rest of his body. Ray wanted to reach down and hold him, sooth him, but that was what he wanted, not what Benny needed, although that did not stop Ray from tugging on the scarves again. Anyway, his own cock was waking back up from the system shock and wanted something, anything, and nothing was going on.

Halfway in, Benny stopped completely and looked at Ray. "I need...Ray, you're so strong, so beautiful, let me do this, please, God, please..."

The pleading, and the look, made Ray willing to agree to anything, which given his position was a good plan anyway. He nodded, feeling the sweat drip down his forehead over his face. Benny leaned forward to lick the sweat as it fell, which was the most disgustingly romantic thing Ray had ever experienced. He whined in pleasure.

"Yeah, yeah, Ben. It's for you, okay? For you, whatever you need, whatever...UMPH!" Ray went speechless as Benny drove in, balls deep, slamming his body against Ray's with a gut wrenching moan of pleasure. Ray had time to grab the scarves that bound him before the full weight of the heavier man was pounding against him, sure as hell marking his ass with bruises from Benny's hips. But the angle hit Ray's prostate which had not felt that kind of action in years and Ray started shaking and he felt it - no one was even touching his cock and he was going to go off, he knew it, and he did not even want to remember what kind of noises he was making about it. Benny still had one foot on the floor and thank God, because they both would have toppled off the bed if not for the anchor. Benny's hips thrust madly, his cock slipping in and out of Ray, hot and hard and relentless.

Through slitted, half-focused eyes, Ray saw Benny lift his head and gasp between thrusts. "Yes, Ray...do this...for me...show me..." Ray felt a hand on his cock and it was over before the first full stroke was done. He threw his head back and wailed, his semen coating his chest like a brand, as Benny nearly sobbed with exertion and sped up. Ray was not even aware of the rhythm any more, just the feeling of Benny's solid mass slamming against him until he heard the staccato repeat of "oh" that he already knew. Benny came throwing himself down on Ray, letting Ray's legs go and landing with his elbows by Ray's head, which only Benny could do in the midst of an orgasm and not brain Ray in the process. Ray laughed, wrapping his legs around Benny's still-twitching hips, as Benny sucked in air. Ray felt Benny's cock throbbing, slick now with cum as it slid minutely with Benny's instinctive, post-orgasmic micro-thrusts.

"Benny...Ben...you alright, now?" Ray gasped a little, and Benny nodded, collapsing further until he slid out of Ray's body and was pressed down on top of him. A second later, Ray's hands were free of the scarves, and he wrapped his arms around his lover's back. Benny was not a girl, and neither was Ray, but Ray understood everyone needs the same thing: to know they belong to someone, that the person they love belongs to them. He sighed, content and lazy. "Yours. I get it. I got it. Yours. Mine. Capisce?"

"...yes, Ray. Capisce." Benny licked his neck and bit him.

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