Author's disclaimer: All characters and concepts are the property of Alliance Communications.

Warmup
By Courser
Rating: NC-17/SLASH
Setting: Post COTW
Pairings: Fraser/RayK
Summary: Kowalski suffers with the cold during their adventure and Fraser remedies the situation.

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It was cold. Beyond cold even. The type of cold that went clear to his bones and made them ache. His partner in this journey seemed untroubled, but Ray Kowalski wasn't designed for this type of weather. While he wasn't in immediate danger of losing any essential body parts, it seemed as if he'd never be warm again. Even sleep seemed to evade him in the face of the discomfort he was enduring. He was truly enjoying their adventure, but this latest cold snap had him rethinking.

Thinking about Fraser. Thinking about Fraser in distinctly, well, sexual ways. Ray wasn't entirely sure when he'd fallen in love with the quirky Canadian, but his feelings had been brought sharply to the fore in this vast, cold wilderness. In fact, up until this trip, he'd always thought of himself as a true-blue, red-blooded American male. God knows he still thought of Stella occasionally when he was horny, but increasingly the decidedly masculine form of Benton Fraser had replaced her. For the last few nights, as he'd huddled in his icy sleeping bag, he'd imagined Fraser keeping him warm. Sure, he'd begun simply enough. Two guys sharing body heat, nothing erotic in that. But soon Ray began to imagine Fraser enfolding him in his strong arms and Ray pressing even closer to the Canadian, surrounded by his musky scent. Ray thought about the silky skin of Ben's neck and imagined what it would taste like, feel like under his tongue. Of course he then had a raging hard-on to contend with as well. No wonder he was freezing! All his blood was in his dick, leaving the rest of his body bereft.

Tonight, however, it was colder than ever and Fraser'd commented over their camp supper that it was unlikely to break for at least another week. Ray's back and leg muscles were stiff and ached from the strain of keeping the cold at bay. He wanted nothing more than to be able to stretch out, but to do so would mean exposing the core of his torso to the cold. A month ago Ray had wrenched his back tumbling off the dogsled and each night Fraser had rubbed some kind of balm into the sore muscles. It had been heaven the way those rough hands had kneaded stiff muscles into relaxing. Of course it had been warmer then. Now, even with the tent, Kowalski couldn't imagine stripping down to his skin even for that luxury.

The wind buffeted the nylon shell, the poles creaking a bit under the strain. Not for the first time, Ray wondered if their sleeping bags could be zipped together. They certainly looked the same. As he was wondering a vicious cramp tore through his leg.

"Oh God," Ray thrashed inside his sleeping bag, "Goddamn it! Jesus!"

He finally fought free and stretched his toes with one hand while massaging his calf with the other.

"Ray? What's wrong?" Fraser asked, his voice a bit muffled.

"Cramp! Cramp, ah...leg cramp. Ow!" Ray moaned.

"Ah. Swing your legs towards me, Ray," came the quiet voice.

Sure, strong hands flexed his foot and kneaded the knotted muscle. Ray wrapped his arms around his middle; shoulders hunched against the chill air as Fraser worked.

Ben quickly found the bunched muscle and loosened it, and while it was heated from the contraction, the rest of Ray's leg seemed quite cool, even through the thermals. Even in the almost complete darkness, he could sense his friend's hunched form, the tension in his body. When the cramp had eased, Fraser lit his candle lantern to take a closer look at his companion.

"Hey Frase, what's up with the light?" Ray blinked as the match flared.

"I want to see you," he answered simply.

Fraser moved closer to his friend and touched Ray's face and neck, his hands blissfully warm against the chilled skin

"You seem cold, Ray."

"Well, that's probably 'cos I am," Ray agreed miserably.

He felt like enough of a burden already and didn't want to add this to his already long list of shortcomings in the wild. In the city, he was in his element, blending into almost any situation, but here he was at a complete loss.

"How long? And why didn't you tell me?" Fraser asked gently.

"Why? It's not like you can do anything about it. I'll be okay, just let me get back in my bag."

Ray shuffled around in the tiny space, positioning himself.

"Have you been sleeping?"

"Uh...well, not a lot. C'mon, it's no big deal, I'll live," Ray's imagination was running wild, especially after that wonderful leg contact.

"No Ray, it's important. We're a team and if one of us isn't at his peak, it can compromise both of us. Lack of sleep can dull the senses and in this environment..."

"Yeah, yeah, Frase, I know. It's a, a...extreme environment." Ray said miserably.

He didn't want to be responsible for the failure of their expedition, but he also didn't see any way to compel himself to sleep in the face of such discomfort.

"I'm sorry, Ray, I should have noticed earlier. While I am acclimated to these conditions, you are not. Not to mention that you can't have more than 3 to 4 percent body fat, making heat retention problematic..."

"Hey! Hey! Enough about my scrawny bod okay? I'll live." Ray made an effort to look comfortable in his sleeping bag.

"No, no, you're not scrawny, Ray. You are very lithe and lean." Fraser seemed to consider something in the silence that fell between them.

"I believe I have a solution. I can share my body heat with you."

"Oh yeah? Kinda like that excess lung capacity thing?" Ray sniped and was immediately sorry. The lack of sleep and discomfort was making him cranky.

"Well it's hardly the same thing, Ray. I'm just suggesting that for the duration of this cold spell we share body heat." Fraser was using his "reasonable" voice.

While one part of Ray rejoiced at Fraser suggesting what he'd fantasized about, another part was terrified. What if he got one of those damn hard-ons while he was lyin' next to his buddy. No way he could do anything about it and it's not like there'd be enough room for him to hide it.

"I don't know Frase, I kinda toss around a lot. Don't wanna keep you awake. I mean we can't both be deprived...."

"Ray, it makes perfect sense. Are you concerned with sharing a sleeping bag with another man? I assure you, it's not uncommon a'tall in conditions such as these."

"NO! I mean, no, 'course not, I just uh... don't wanna, ya know, bug you."

"I will be 'bugged' as you call it, if I know you're uncomfortable."

"You're serious," Ray froze half-zipped into the sleeping bag.

"Quite." Fraser held his gaze for a moment then unzipped his sleeping bag and proceeded to enter Ray's.

"You sure Frase?"

"Yes," Fraser answered quickly, his voice a bit higher and tighter than normal.

Ray thought he saw a look cross his friend's face, but couldn't be sure that it wasn't the play of the candle light over the smooth handsome features.

Ray turned his back to the open side of the bag and lay on his side, trying to quiet his breathing, calm his racing heartbeat. He felt Fraser invade his space, stretching out behind him.

"Ray?" The voice sounded uncertain.

"Yeah?" Ray tipped his head back to see Fraser studiously not meeting his eyes.

"I, uh, well, I think you'll warm up faster if you...face me."

"Oh...okay," trying to keep his voice even and neutral, he turned onto his other side.

Fraser finished getting in and pulled the zipper up to the level of his hip.

"Ray, could you finish zipping us up? I can't get it any further."

The blonde cop said nothing, but took a calming breath and reached over his friend's body to finish the job. When he was done they were face to face, chest to chest, hip to hip. With the candle lantern still burning.

"See? Snug as two bugs in a rug," Fraser said in an uneasy voice.

Leave it to Fraser to come up with some grandmotherly homily at a time like this. The two men simply laid there breathing each other's air for several long moments.

"We just gonna leave the light on?" Ray asked, realizing that it was an inane question.

"Oh, no, I guess not," Fraser said as he worked an arm out the top of the overstuffed sleeping bag, temporarily pressing himself even more tightly against his companion.

He managed to reach it, one advantage of such close quarters, and with a puff of breath, they were plunged into the darkness again. When the arm returned to the warmth of the bag, it draped over Ray's side. Strong fingers splayed across his back drew him to Fraser's solid chest. Kowalski was conscious of every breath he drew and willed himself to relax, but the Mountie's scent enveloped him as completely as the sleeping bag. Sweat, smoke, stove fuel and an underlying musk made a not entirely unpleasant mix and Ray wondered what he smelled like to the Canadian's sensitive nose. Unbidden, his fingers stretched over other man's back, reached up between shoulder blades as Ray let his head drop to the wad of clothing that served as his pillow.

"Thanks...Benton," he said quietly to the furnace that was Benton Fraser.

The work hung in the air between them and Kowalski felt a catch in his partner's breathing.

"Hey, I figured since we're sleepin' together..." Ray chuckled, hoping it hadn't been somehow, the wrong thing to say.

A warm puff of air over his ear signaled Fraser's own amusement, "I suppose that's one way of looking at it. You really are quite chilled, Ray. I wish you would have told me sooner."

Their proximity didn't allow the cop to equivocate.

"I know...Benton, but there's so much stuff that I don't know, can't do, or screw up if I try. Now I can't even keep my own self warm. I don't wanna, ya know, be a burden to ya."

"Ray, you could never be a burden. It took me a lifetime to learn the necessary skills to survive in the north. I don't expect you to learn them in a few short months. You shouldn't either."

The voice was soft and soothing in his ear, and Ray relished the way the Canadian pronounced either, eye-ther, when he felt Fraser shift around a bit then drape his upper leg over his own.

"Hey, watcha doin?" more out of surprise, than displeasure.

"I'm warming you up. The femoral artery runs close to the surface at the inner thigh."

"Oh...ok."

Indeed, Fraser's leg was very warm, as was the hand that slowly stroked up and down his back. While pleasurable, it wasn't especially erotic, putting him more in mind of how his mother used to do the same thing when he'd been sick or hurt. Between his exhaustion, the blessed warmth and the rhythmic stroking, Ray was soon asleep.

It was a great deal longer before his companion slept.

In his dreams, strong arms held him close, kept him warm and safe. He moaned aloud at the pleasure of it, melted into the solid body. His penis swelled and lengthened at the contact, another nice sensation, and Ray wiggled a bit to give it room to grow. Little groans escaped him as he pushed its length against the other body. He was dreaming, he kinda sensed that, but that would mean that...

"Ah!" Ray's eyes popped open and focused on a pair of blue eyes staring right back at him, "Oh God."

Ray began thrashing around in the very restricted space. There was no way Fraser could have missed that, even if the guy seemed clueless. If he turned around right away there might be a chance that Fraser wouldn't mention it. Oh God, please let him just let it go. He did not want to discuss his hard-on, especially with Benton.

"Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray..."

"What!" Christ, the man just couldn't let it drop, could he?

"Please, settle down. What's wrong?"

Ray paused a moment in his struggles, "Gotta turn over"

Apparently the big guy hadn't detected his erection. That thought alone caused him to resume his struggles, soon becoming hopelessly entangled in the lining of the sleeping bag. He froze.

Fraser sighed at his friend's impatience and began working to disengage them from the constricting fabric. The worst of the twisting was around Ray's hips and Fraser began methodically tugging and rearranging the cloth, tuning out the other man's protests.

Ray's hands were pinned at his sides and Benton's movements were moving ever closer to his groin. The hands were at his hips, pulling at the lining, then suddenly a warm hand clasped the shaft of his cock.

"Oh! Stop!" Ray closed his eyes in humiliation, even as his cock jumped at the sudden embrace.

There was no way Fraser'd miss that clue. He felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry about that," the hands went back to work and soon he was free.

Ray now lay mostly on his back with Fraser lying partially on top of him, a rather nice situation, he thought wickedly, but soon sobered.

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it's quite a normal...event, Ray." Benton's breath was warm on his face.

"Right. You call this normal?"

"Very normal. Nocturnal erections are...well, it would be abnormal if they didn't occur." Fraser said, recalling how the hard length felt in his hand.

"I don't see you having a, a..."

"An erection? Well no, not at the moment, but...Ray, I don't mean to be indelicate, but considering your...anxiety, may I assume that...you haven't been...uhm..." Fraser broke off, unsure of how to complete the question.

"What? Haven't been what?" Kowalski snapped.

"Well, um, taking care of..."

"Jerkin' off? You're askin' me if I been jerkin' off? I cannot believe you just asked me that!" Ray was more embarrassed than angry, but this wasn't a discussion he'd ever imagined he'd have with another guy. Especially while the other guy was almost laying on him.

"Well, yes, if you want to put it that way. It's perfectly normal considering there's no other outlet for...that." The Mountie seemed to be getting just a bit uncomfortable.

"When would I have been able to do...that, huh? For such an empty place, there's no privacy for that kinda thing, Frase." Ray's defensiveness had run its course.

A thought occurred to him "Hey, you saying you have?"

"Have what?" Benton started, then, "Oh, that?" he cleared his throat, "Yes."

"How?"

"How? You're asking about..." Fraser was incredulous that Ray was asking him how he masturbated.

"Well, no, not how really, but when? We're always together."

"When you're asleep Ray. I'd assumed you were doing the same." All this talk of masturbation and his friend's apparent privation was beginning to arouse him.

Fraser shifted just a bit to move his burgeoning erection away from Ray's hip. His breadth still allowed him to feel Ray's, though.

"You actually thought about when I might be jerking off? That's, that's...I don't know. Kinda weird, ya know."

"I didn't think about it a lot, Ray, more of an assumption than anything else."

"Yeah well, I guess I assumed you weren't because I wasn't, so ok, yeah, I get it. Problem is, I'm uh, well, I'm kinda...loud," Ray confessed.

"Ah, I see." Fraser's cock became a little stiffer at the thought of his partner giving voice to his pleasure.

"Yeah, and uh, somethin' else's been botherin' me. Maybe it's normal too, only I don't know it." Ray thought it unlikely, but the heat emanating from Fraser's groin suggested that his question wouldn't be immediately disregarded.

"What's that Ray?" He was becoming increasingly aroused at the intimacy of their conversation as well as the woody musk that was Ray's scent.

"Well, uh, I been kinda hopin' this would happen, ya know? That we'd end up together, like this."

"Oh. I'd assumed, well, you were married. I didn't think that this sort of thing would interest you." Fraser kept his voice carefully neutral even as his hopes soared.

"Yeah well, I kinda...experimented, a couple of times before Stella and I got married. And the whole Metcalf thing, I read about that." Ray knew to be careful about the subject.

"Victoria was a bit of an aberration for me, Ray, though I don't have much experience with either sex, I'm sorry to say." He sounded truly regretful.

Ray was sorry to have brought the disastrous episode up and turned his head towards Fraser's neck, pressed his lips to the soft skin under the ear, was rewarded with a soft moan.

"Don't be sorry," Ray whispered as he continued to kiss his partner's neck, occasionally lapping at it with his tongue.

"Ohh, Ray," Fraser turned his head and took Ray's mouth in a kiss that was amazingly intense for all it's gentleness.

Ray licked at Benton's lips and after a moment they parted, passion quickly flaring between the two. Tongues entwined, separated and explored until Fraser broke away and attacked Ray's neck. He quickly brought Ray to a fever pitch and stroked his straining erection again with his hand, this time with full knowledge and intent.

"Oh God, Fraser!" Ray croaked, trying to buck up into the caressing hand, but was hampered by the weight of the body lying on him.

After months without release, he knew how badly Ray needed this, wanted to give him this. Fraser reached his free hand out of the sleeping bag and felt around until he encountered a discarded piece of clothing. It felt like flannel and he dragged it into the bag with them and draped it over Ray's chest. Protests were smothered by a searing kiss as Ben's hand left Ray's cock and stroked over his belly to his chest, unfastening buttons along the way.

Fraser himself was frustrated by the lack of light and maneuvering room as he stroked his thumb across first one hard male nipple, then the other. He'd fantasized for so long about tasting them, nipping at them even, but his hand would have to do for now. He prayed that there would be other times to savor and tarry over the lean hard body beneath him. Fraser shifted again, bringing his own erection in contact with the sharp bone of Ray's hip, pressed into it and couldn't suppress his own gasp of pleasure.

"That you?" Ray broke away from the kiss, somehow surprised at the other man's arousal.

"Mmm, mm," Fraser groaned into Ray's ear, his hand already trailing down the spare torso beneath him.

Encountering the waistband of Ray's shorts, he roughly pulled them down and away from the engorged flesh, then drew the flannel down to Ray's thighs and snuck his hand beneath it. Ray shuddered when Fraser merely brushed the wet glans, then cried out when the shaft was gripped in a broad rough hand.

"Christ! Oh yeah yeah yeah," the smaller man practically sobbed with relief as Fraser began long slow strokes.

While Fraser knew that his companion wouldn't last long with such direct stimulation, he still wanted to prolong the other man's release. When Ray's breath came in short pants, he stopped the strokes and reached down to cup his balls, rolling them across his fingertips.

"Fuck! Fraser please, please let me come," Kowalski pleaded with him.

Fraser ran his index finger up the underside of the shaft, the hot organ straining towards the contact, until he reached the head, fluid seeping from the slit. The finger gathered the slippery juice and methodically massaged it over the silky skin, paying particular attention to the sensitive 'V' on the underside. He knew that even in this highly aroused state, the sensation would be intense, but not quite enough to trigger orgasm.

Ray's moans had reached a fever pitch, his entire body held rigidly on the verge of oblivion, cock incredibly hot and tight under Fraser's hand. The Mountie wanted nothing more than to take the throbbing cockhead into his mouth, stroke it with his tongue and lips until Ray filled his mouth with his essence, but it would be cruel to ask him to wait any longer. Again, Fraser wrapped his hand around Ray's cock and took long, slow strokes. Ray's body tensed even further, his cries coinciding with Fraser's handwork until they culminated in a triumphant shout. Fraser caught the first jet of come on his fingers then jerked Ray's cock rapidly, milking him of every last drop as Ray writhed and shuddered beneath him. He held the softening flesh in his hand until Ray came to his senses.

"Wow," he said when he was finally able to speak coherently.

"You were right, Ray," Fraser said softly.

"'Bout what?"

"You are loud,"

Ray chuckled in the dark.

"Not that loud, usually. Guess you, uh...inspired me."

"I'm glad to have been your inspiration, Ray,"

Fraser swabbed Ray's midsection with the flannel as Ray sought Fraser's cock.

"I wanna hear you yell now, Benton," Ray crooned into Fraser's ear, "but not like this. Do these things zip together? 'Cos I can't do what I wanna do like this."

Fraser froze.

"What is it that you want to do, Ray?" the voice was heavy with suppressed need and longing.

"Can't tell ya, gotta show ya. So how about it? Can we make a little more room here?"

While Fraser managed to pull his sleeping bag over, unzip it, lay it over them and then zip the two together, Kowalski was planning his assault. While his experience with other men was somewhat limited, there was one thing he knew he did well. His mouth was good for something other than talking. It wouldn't be long before he had the big Canuck howling with the wolves.

The first order of business concluded, Ray pushed Fraser over onto his back and kissed him with a fierce intensity before moving onto his neck and shoulders. Fraser's hands stroked over his hair and down his back as he unbuttoned the longjohns in preparation. He soon found Fraser's solid length and explored it with his hands as the bigger man practically hummed with pleasure.

"Mmm, cool Benton," Ray purred when he encountered the foreskin.

"What's cool, Ray?" Fraser moaned back.

"This," Ray slid it over the head, giving it a little tug, "this is cool."

"You don't find it...problematic?"

"Nope, can't wait to taste it, Benton-buddy," Ray quipped as he set about reversing himself in the bag.

"Really? I have to confess that...Ah, Ohhh dear," he finished with a gasp as Ray's warm wet mouth descended on his cock.

Once in position, Ray discovered that it was still far less than ideal. In spite of the erotic musk emanating from Fraser's groin, the air supply was minimal. Not like he would suffocate or anything, but still. And he would have preferred to be below Fraser, able to use his tongue on the underside of his cock, but he'd just have to make do. He was surprised to find his cock stiffening at the thought of kneeling at Fraser's feet as he sucked him off. He almost never got hard this soon after coming.

Ray stopped his musings and concentrated on the task at hand. He placed his lips on the foreskin and moved it back and forth, lapping at the head when it was exposed. He felt Fraser's moans rumbling through his chest as Ray took the cock deeper with each stroke. When he felt Fraser rising to meet him, he backed off, squeezed the head between his covered teeth and lapped precum from the leaking slit. He was rewarded with a choked cry, though the precise words were muffled.

Ray let the heavy cock fall from his mouth and inched his way further down, to the furred sac between Fraser's legs. Dropping his head down as far as he could Ray sucked the balls into his mouth, one at a time, as his lover crooned at him from somewhere around his feet. Ray finished by stroking the sensitive spot behind Fraser's testicles with his tongue, then returned to the cock that was bumping insistently at his ear.

Fraser's hard, hot cock jumped at the contact with Ray's tongue as he licked it thoroughly from base to tip repeatedly. He tried to visualize it in his mind, imagine the color of Fraser's cockhead as it swelled against his tongue. Christ he was getting hard and as if by telepathy, he felt a warm hand grasp him and squeeze. Ray moaned around the cock in his mouth and he felt the surge of blood filling it even more.

"Ah! Ray, Ray...yes...so good," he heard Fraser groan, then the blessed feel of a mouth on his own cock.

Ray sucked harder on Fraser's cock, until they were thrusting into each other's mouths.

"Stop! God, stop!" Ray gasped, unable to concentrate on Fraser's pleasure while receiving such pleasure himself.

"Why?" came the muffled voice as his cock was released.

"'Cos I can't concentrate when your doin' that. Besides, I can't hear you, I wanna hear you," Ray explained.

"All right, Ray, but, ohhh, Ray, God yes," Fraser mumbled loudly as Ray resumed his long sucking strokes.

He stopped his attentions for just a moment and wet an index finger generously. While swabbing the head insistently with his tongue, Ray dropped his hand down behind Fraser's testicles, slid the wet finger up the cleft until he found the hot tight opening. He stroked the pad of his finger across the hard knot and was unprepared for the hard thrust into his mouth.

"Oh... My...God...Ray" Each word punctuated by an upward thrust as Ray circled and stroked the puckered hole.

Ray smiled around the throbbing cock and he brought his friend to completion. Applying more saliva to his finger, he coordinated his mouth and finger strokes, urging Fraser to move against his hand as he probed more insistently at the softened opening.

"Oh...Uh...Mmm...Yes...Likethat...Ahh," his partner gasped and moaned in time with Ray's movements.

The heady taste of precum in his mouth, Ray sucked harder as his finger became more insistent and gained entrance to Fraser's body. Just as his finger contacted the prostate, Fraser literally exploded, semen spurting hard against the roof of Ray's mouth, contracting around his finger. Even as he was busily swallowing the large load of come, he noted that Fraser did indeed howl. Ray also notice that he sure as hell wasn't cold right now, even with his feet hanging out of the top of the sleeping bag.

Just as he was about to right himself, strong arms wrapped around his thighs as Fraser's mouth again took his cock.

"Oh, fuck! Jesus Christ!" Ray moaned as he was fellated in earnest.

Strong hands caressed his balls and ass as Fraser sucked at him mercilessly. Between the lack of oxygen, the intoxicating musk of sex, and the taste in his mouth, not to mention his recent privation, Ray didn't stand a chance. The first time Fraser stroked his finger across his center, Ray came again, almost as hard as he had the first time, his cries muffled by Fraser's thigh.

When he recovered, Ray turned back around and was welcomed into a warm embrace.

"Ray, Ray, thank you," Fraser mumbled into his neck before claiming his mouth in a long deep kiss.

"Hey, I should be the one thankin' you, so let's just leave it at that, K?" Ray said, nuzzling his nose into Fraser's neck, already losing the battle with sleep.

"Understood," was the answer he gave.

As Ray descended into his first untroubled sleep in days, he knew that he'd wouldn't have to worry about going to bed cold for at least the rest of their adventure.

END