Rating: NC-17 for language and m/m loving.

Disclaimer: Due South and its characters do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them for a little harmless fun. :-)

Scared Stiff
by Sylvie Grenon

"Ray, are you certain you want to watch this?" Benton Fraser skeptically examined the box of the videotape his lover had brought home for the evening's entertainment. The picture on the cover was not very revealing - a man silhouetted by a streetlight - but judging from what Turnbull had been telling him, the film itself was anything but bland.

"Oh yeah," came his lover's ardent response. "I always meant to watch it, and never got around to it. Besides, I'm not gonna give Turnbull the satisfaction of knowin' there's somethin' he can watch that I can't."

Fraser sighed, and inserted the tape in the VCR, ready to play when the pizza arrived. He had never been all that fond of horror movies, although even he had heard of this one, and he was curious to see what all the hype was about.

Finally ensconced on the couch with a couple of cans of coke for Fraser and a beer for Ray, and a large pizza - double pineapple, hold the lichen - set on the coffee table out of wolves' reach, Ray snuggled comfortably against Fraser, took up the remote control, and pressed play.

At first, the room was quiet save for the movie's soundtrack, the intermittent munching of pizza, and the occasional comments like "Cute kid." Fraser found himself getting interested in the movie's exposition and cinematography, while Ray fought off boredom, wondering just when it was going to get interesting.

Half an hour later, all thoughts of boredom - or pizza, for that matter - were completely forgotten. Fraser was frowning at the screen, not particularly frightened, but somewhat disgusted and certainly shocked by some of the scenes he was witnessing; Ray's face had gone deathly pale. Occasional gasps and flinches from the Chicago cop were interspersed with disbelieving comments from the Mountie: "Now, Ray, a bed couldn't possibly shake like that."and "That looks like pea soup.". By the end of the film, Fraser was about to comment that if the girl still showed healing scars on her face from her ordeal then logically her neck should have been broken from her head spinning around like that, when he noticed a sharp pain in his hand. He looked down, then spent the next few minutes trying to extricate his hand from the death grip of Ray's fingers, then examined his quaking lover curiously.

"Ray, you actually found the film frightening?"

Wide blue-grey eyes met his for a moment, then Ray shook his head. "'Course not, Frase," he scoffed, his voice miraculously steady. "I was just gettin' a little... concerned at the end there."

Fraser gazed at Ray a little longer. "Hmm."

"Don't gimme that Hmm thing, Fraser. I'm tellin' ya I was not scared." He cast his eyes around, trying desperately to change the subject. "Hey, where's furface?"

"Ray, I'm not sure Diefenbaker appreciates being called that."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Dief? Where are ya, buddy?"

"He's deaf, Ray, he can't hear you."

"Oh, right."

A thorough search of the apartment - which didn't take long, given the small amount of space in which to hide - uncovered the wolf curled up in the farthest corner of the bathroom, where he had taken himself when the movie had started getting really interesting.

"Looks like he's half wolf, half chicken" Ray scoffed. Dief grumbled indignantly, and trotted off into the living room to scrounge for leftover pizza. Fraser considered admonishing Ray for hurting Diefenbaker's feelings, then decided not to interfere. Let Ray learn on his own about the perils of offending the wolf.

It was three am and all was quiet in the small apartment. The two men were bundled under thick blankets, cuddled together in the chill of the room. Fraser had left the bedroom window open just a crack, as was his custom, but he hadn't counted on the sudden cold spell that had come upon Chicago shortly after midnight, and which had cooled the room down considerably.

Fraser was awakened by a murmured voice beside his ear, followed by light thrashing movements. As he took in the coldness of the room - he could practically see his breath, he ascertained that his lover was in the grip of a nightmare. 'Oh dear,' he thought, 'perhaps the movie affected Ray more than he let on.' He was about to wake his lover when a small growl from the doorway caught his attention, and he slowly turned his head to see a pair of glowing eyes watching them. Before he could react, the dark figure leapt towards the bed.

Ray woke with a start as the bed shook under the weight of the third body. His startled eyes snapped open and he looked into a face right out of his worse nightmares: a ghostly pale face with glowing eyes, and very sharp teeth. The being growled lightly at him, and that was it for the detective.

Fraser winced as his lover's scream of terror filled the room, and he silently thought that if Diefenbaker weren't already deaf, hearing that scream at point blank range would have done the job on his eardrums for sure. He glared at the wolf. Knowing he was in imminent danger of becoming a throw rug, Diefenbaker prudently bolted off the bed and out of the room as Fraser gently took his lover into his arms. After a few seconds of quaking, Ray managed to stutter, "Wh-what the *fuck* w-was that, F-Fraser?"

Fraser decided to give his wolf the benefit of the doubt. "That was Diefenbaker," he sighed. "I believe he sensed you were having a nightmare, and was only trying to comfort you."

"By scaring the shit out of me? Geez, Frase, I just about had a heart attack!"

"Well, Ray, I'm sure he meant well." He wasn't sure, really, but Ray didn't need to know that. He'd have to speak to the wolf privately in the morning. Right now, though, his attentions were needed by the man who had now flopped back down onto the pillows and who was still breathing hard from his previous adrenalin rush.

He got up quickly and shut the window firmly, turning up the thermostat as he passed it, and climbed back into bed, drawing his lover into his arms, knowing just what kind of distraction his man needed.

Ray was trying to decide whether to have a hissy fit or to just get royally pissed off, when the feel of Fraser's lips on his neck made him quickly forget either option. Instead, he moaned softly and tilted his head back, offering more of himself to his lover's magical kisses. The wonderful feeling stopped briefly as Fraser pulled his t-shirt over his head, but was returned with interest when he felt those lips and that tongue move down to a now-bare nipple. His own hands moved to undo Fraser's longjohns, and after quickly disposing of his boxers, the two men pressed their bare bodies together, revelling in the skin-on-skin sensations.

Fraser rolled Ray onto his back to continue his oral ministrations; he left red, wet marks along Ray's torso, paused to lick and tongue the man's navel - drawing another moan from further up the bed, and finally moved down to the centre of Ray's pleasure.

The earlier surge of adrenalin had left Ray rock-hard and aching, and his back arched in ecstasy as the heat of his Mountie's mouth enveloped him. He lost himself in the soft sucking sensation, yelping faintly as his lover paused to nibble and nip slightly, and as his balls started to draw closer to his body he found himself moving towards a climax of nuclear proportions. With a harsh cry, he exploded into Fraser's waiting mouth, whimpering softly as he felt his lover milking the last drops from his waning erection.

Fraser made his way back up to the pillow, gazing contentedly down at his sated lover. "Are you all better now, Ray?" he teased.

Ray smiled, his eyes still shut. "Mmm hmm," he sighed. Then, snuggling against Fraser and pillowing his head on the other man's warm shoulder, he frowned slightly. "What 'bout you?"

Fraser stroked the unruly blond spikes lovingly. "You can take care of me the next time I'm... scared stiff."

Ray lifted his head to stare at his lover's wicked smile, then grinned. This man would never cease to amaze him, though he now had a whole lifetime in which to try. "You got it, Ben. You know, Dewey was tellin' me about this Blair Witch thing..."

Fraser silenced Ray's words with a brief, warm kiss, and cradled the cop's head, moved it back down to his shoulder.

"Good night, Ray." But Ray was already fast asleep, and his contented smile foretold that he would have no more nightmares that night.

Diefenbaker headed back to his place on the couch, turned around until he found a comfortable place on the cushions, and lay down, sighing happily.

Half chicken, indeed! he thought to himself, before dropping off into the deep sleep of the avenged.

The end. :-)