Ray Vecchio could tell it was a warm night in Chicago, but not so much so that Benny looked uncomfortable in his dress reds. There was another reason, however, that the Italian should feel a little heated and that was because of the proximity of the man next to him. It was such a feeling of utter decadence! Here he was, walking in the open like this, next to a man he was secretly seeing. It gave him a rush just to think of it!
"So, where are we going to eat tonight?" asked Fraser.
"I don't know. I'm open for just about anything." Vecchio said and turned to the younger blond man keeping stride with the both of them. "What about you, Stan? What do you feel like?"
Kowalski said nothing at the use of the shortened version of the name he despised for there was no malice in the other Detective's words. They had all finally come to the conclusion that two men named Ray in the same precinct lead to confusion and sometimes, although unlikely, serious mistakes. Kowalski had to grin a little at the memory of the Bud Abbott and Lou Costello routine the two Detectives got into one day while working on a case. It was straight out of "Who's on first, What's on Second" and total camp until the both of them were laughing to kill themselves. It broke the ice between them and they reached a compromise: Ray, and everyone else, would drop the "-ley" in "Stanley" and it would suffice.
"It's up to you guys." Stan said, now smiling. "I don't care."
"How about Chinese?" the Mountie suggested.
"Now that's original, Benny." Ray teased and shot Fraser a loving glance. Benny blushed.
"Cut it out you two! Where are we going to eat?"
"Oh, ten seconds ago you didn't care." Vecchio sarcastically reminded him. "Now you're starving?"
"Can it, Vecchio. We goin' some place or not?"
Ray raised his hands in mock surrender and grinned. "Fine, fine. How about Italian?"
The shorter man seemed stupefied for a second, then gave in. "Fine, whatever. That's good."
"Excellent choice, Ray." Fraser chimed in. "Hey, I've always got good taste." Vecchio announced.
"Sure." Stan all but laughed. "Except in clothes and cars."
"At least I have clothes! And I *would* have my car except-"
"Gentleman, please!" the flustered Mountie broke in. "When are you two going to stop going at it with each other?!"
Both men fell silent and red-faced at Fraser's words.
"Now. We shall go to Marinelli's. I hear their cuisine is magnificent." the Canadian determined. "Are we agreed?"
The two investigating cops all but mumbled an ascension at the Mountie's declaration. The conversation after that was much more polite and quiet on the way to the restaurant.
Once they arrived, they could see it wasn't that busy. The radio was playing music from the eighties and it just happened to be a song Ray had come to enjoy lately. Musically, he didn't care for much during that era, but this was one of the less freakish tunes he'd come across, with a real melody and cool words he could actually make out. Plus, these days, he could enjoy it without the radio stations beating him over the head with it every five minutes. He glanced at Kowalski while they were waiting to be seated. He, too, was mouthing the lyrics from Don Henley's "Boys of Summer".
A pretty blond female took them to their seats and Vecchio pushed at Stan's shoulder for glancing once too often at the lady's nice form.
Irritated at having his view interrupted, the younger cop asked, "What was that for!?"
"Oh, I just wanted to see if you noticed you were falling over your own tongue."
"Very funny."
They picked up their huge, brightly colored menus and began to peruse the selections. Ray was sitting across from Stan and could not see Fraser's face at all. The words from the song were still sweetly floating around the dimly lit establishment when Vecchio and Kowalski locked eyes and Ray mouthed lyrics to him:
*...remember how you made me crazy. Remember how I made you scream.*
The blond man gasped, blood and warmth shooting to his groin.
"Stan? Are you all right?" Fraser innocently inquired.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just caught a chill." He threw Vecchio a threatening glance, who was fully smiling by now.
"Well then, I'm off to wash my hands." the fastidious Mountie told the others. "I shall return in a moment."
"Sure." they both said simultaneously, then stared at each other.
Once the man in red serge was a safe distance away, Stan turned to Vecchio with a vengeance.
"*What* the Hell is wrong with you, Vecchio?!" Stan demanded. "What if he saw you?!"
Ray was dismissive. "Calm down, Stan. He didn't notice. And if he did, so what? That's what tonight is all about, right? Us letting him in on our little secret."
Stan shifted nervously. "I know. It's just he may have said he wanted this, wanted us to, you know, get together, but saying it is one thing. Us actually doing it is another! And we've been sneaking around behind his back for a while now. I just don't think that it's going to thrill him, ya' know?"
"We decided not to tell him, if you remember, if this was not going to be a permanent thing between us. We've just taken our time to see if...we were right about it."
At that, Kowalski had to smile. "Oh, you mean the way we turn each other out."
"Exactly." Ray agreed, mirroring the grin. "I'll have you know I've enjoyed conducting this little experiment our ours for a while now."
"Well, so have I, but I'm just worried what Fraser's gonna' do when we tell him."
"Look, Kowalski." Vecchio said, lowering the menu he really wasn't looking at anyway. "He's going to be fine with this. More than fine, actually. He's crazy about you, you know that. And I appreciate you respecting what he and I had while I was undercover. I accepted it when you two finally came to me and said you wanted to hit the sheets. It would be only fair of him to give us that same chance."
"Oh yeah, that's all logical and everything, but this is different."
There was something in Stan's eyes that told Ray there was more than just what was being said.
"What? Tell, me Stan. What are you really worried about?" he gently inquired.
Blue eyes dropped to the table top. "It's...selfish. I just can't..."
"You're allowed to be from time to time when you're in love. Now what's up?"
Kowalski sighed. Damn it all, he could never resist that voice, those eyes... "I'm....afraid he'll want to stop seeing us. No, that's not it. Me. I'm afraid he'll stop wanting me. I think it might make him so angry, that-"
"Hey." the Italian softly interrupted. They stared at one another. Stan's eyes were full of fear, but Vecchio's green gaze was reassuring. Ray placed his hand over Stan's trembling fingers and caressed his cheek. "That's not gonna happen. With either of us."
"Ray?" The voice was utterly bewildered. Sapphire eyes flicked back and forth between the two Detectives, the angelic face flashing a myriad of emotions, too fast to readily discern.
"Sit down, Benny. We've got something to tell you."
END