Checks and Balances Checks and Balances by Basingstoke Author's website: http://www.ravenswing.com/bas/ Disclaimer: Author's Notes: Dedicated, as all my F/V, to fuzzicat. Thanks to Cara for the beta. Story Notes: It was around 11:30 when Ray heard the tick of pebbles against his window. He rolled out of bed and went to the window. Benny stood in the yard grinning. Ray waved and Benny started climbing the trellis. Okay, maybe the trellis was a security hazard, Ray thought, but Ray's room was the only one it reached--and sometimes a guy needed an extra access route. Ray opened the window and grabbed Benny's hand to help him in. "What kept you?" Ray whispered. Benny smiled. "There was a slight problem with Mrs. Gamez's sink." Ray climbed into bed as he heard Benny's leather jacket fall to the floor. Ray felt him sit on the bed to take off his boots. "As it turned out, her youngest had dropped a plastic dimetrodon down the drain." Thump of one boot and Benny's weight shifted. His face glowed in the darkness. "What's a dimetrodon?" Ray asked, picturing one of those robot things his own nephews loved. "An ancient reptile often believed, incorrectly, to be a dinosaur. In this case, it was included in a set of educational dinosaur models that I had given the children, so I felt a certain responsibility to retrieve it from the sink." The other boot dropped to the floor and Benny leaned over and kissed Ray. Ray kissed right back. Benny smelled like leaves and wool; Ray just hoped he didn't have too much wolf hair on him. He brought his hands up to cup Benny's head. He couldn't sink his fingers into Benny's buzzed hair, but he could pet Benny like a cat and make him purr. Benny sighed. "It's been far too long." He pushed Ray down on his back and slid on top of him and the covers. Ray tugged Benny's shirt and undershirt out of his pants. "It's only been a week," he said, starting on Benny's buttons. "As I said." Benny grinned. Moonlight glinted off his teeth. Benny mouthed Ray's chin and neck, scraping a little with those sharp, shiny teeth in a way that shouldn't be sexy, but was. Ray tugged harder on the buttons, wondering if Benny would forgive him if he just ripped them off. Benny straightened up and stripped out of his shirts in about two seconds flat. He then lay down on the covers and shimmied out of his jeans, which made Ray's cock wake up and take notice of what was going on. When Benny was naked down to his strangely crispy boxers, he finally dived under the covers. Ray set his hands roaming over Benny's body. Benny groaned and kissed Ray again. "You should be quieter than that," Ray whispered. "The walls aren't all that thick." "Ah. Of course," Benny whispered. He unbuttoned Ray's pajamas quickly. "We used to do this behind the dog barn when we were in training. We had to be terribly quiet so that the dogs wouldn't bark and alert the whole barracks." Ray ran his fingers up into Benny's ticklish armpits, making him squirm, hoping to make him giggle. He loved Benny's giggle. He'd only heard it once, and that was because Benny was making fun of him. "Who's this 'we', Benny? You got some special friend back home?" Benny snorted and pinned Ray. "I had someone, certainly. Another trainee. Although I strongly suspect that others used the space for much the same purpose." "So? A girl Mountie or a guy Mountie?" "Ray!" Benny sounded scandalized even at a whisper. "I would never dream of treating a lady so disrespectfully! No, it was a young man named Bertram. A strong back, a good eye--he could throw a knife like nobody I've ever seen." Benny straddled Ray's hips. Ray reached up and stroked Benny's cock, making him sigh. "I'm getting jealous," Ray whispered. "Don't be. This was thirteen years ago." Benny leaned down, pressing their naked chests together, and whispered into Ray's ear: "He's married now." He squeezed Ray's cock. Ray wrapped his arms around Benny, holding him close. "Married, huh?" Benny kissed Ray's neck. "Happily. He married several years after we parted." Ray cocked his hips and Benny rubbed up against him slowly. "It was an affair between friends, much like we have. As men often have before they marry." If Benny was saying what Ray was pretty sure he was saying, then he was even more nuts than Ray originally figured. "On what planet do straight guys usually sleep with each other rather than just sleeping with the loads of gorgeous women around?" Benny blinked. "This one, Ray. Although I must say that I don't subscribe to the heterosexual/homosexual dichotomy that you appear to, given that I do intend to marry and have children someday, as my father did before me and his father before him." Now Ray was thinking about Angie, which he didn't particularly like to do. The divorce still hurt. Even worse, he was thinking thoughts about Benny's dad--and Buck Frobisher. "Benny, stop talking." "Understood." Benny leaned down and kissed him. "Ray." "Yeah?" "I would very much appreciate it if you penetrated me," Benny breathed into Ray's ear. He bit Ray's earlobe gently. "It would give me something to think about on guard duty other than the gnats." Ray grabbed Benny's head and shoved his tongue into his mouth, light-headed from arousal. "Sure thing, Benny," he said when their mouths parted. Benny smiled, slid off Ray and started rummaging around on the floor. When Benny came back up, he slid a lubricated condom onto Ray and shimmied out of his boxers. He stroked Ray's chest, straddling his hips. "You sure this is enough?" Ray asked. "Quite sure," Benny said, as always. Crazy Canuck. The one time Ray had tried catching instead of pitching, he'd felt like a freaking vat of lube wouldn't be enough, but Benny--it seemed like spit and sandpaper was enough for "Man of Steel" Fraser. Ray didn't try to understand it. He just bit his lip and took advantage of what was presented to him--in other words, he tried not to yell as Benny sank down on his cock. Benny's hand were on his shoulders and Benny's mouth was sucking on his fingers and Ray had his eyes closed, and they were together. They were moving together and he was feeling *fine,* and Benny was breathing in tiny short breaths that caught on every down stroke, and-- "Raymondo!" Ray's eyes flew open as his mother rapped on the door. "Raymondo!" Ma rattled the handle. "Why is your door locked?" Ray swallowed, staring up into Benny's wide eyes. He looked at the door. "I was sleeping, Ma!" Christ, he was talking to his mother and he could feel Benny's heartbeat through his cock--he had better go to Confession after this, drop a fifty in the poorbox, rescue some orphans, something big, or God was going to strike him down with lightning as he sat there in the Riv. "Come and open this door," his mother said. Benny bent down. "I'll wait in the closet," he breathed into Ray's ear. Ray nodded. Benny carefully slid off him and took off the condom. "Just a second, Ma!" Ray called, scrambling for his pajamas. Ray got dressed as quickly as he could manage. Benny set down his slippers and held open his bathrobe, then disappeared into the closet with all his own clothes. Ray took a deep breath and opened the door. "The kids were playing fort with my sheets, Ma, and I've got an early day tomorrow." Ma glared at him. "I don't like locked doors in my house. That's not family." "Sorry, Ma." Ray rubbed his forehead. "Come. I need you to sign the checks." They did this every month. Ma figured out the household budget and made out the checks for the bills, but since Ray was the man of the house everything was in his name. Ma wouldn't have it any other way. Ray signed the checks, kissed Ma on the cheek, and said goodnight. Then he walked back upstairs wondering how he was possibly going to square this with Benny. Every so often, at times like these when Frannie yelled a little too loud or the kids spilled grape juice on his shirt, he thought about getting an apartment. Then he remembered it was his house and he could throw all the rest of them out if he wanted to. Then he reminded himself they were family and therefore his cross to bear, and he opened his bedroom door. He relocked it firmly behind him. He opened the closet door. Benny turned on the light and smiled, naked as the day he was born. "Everything all right, Ray?" "Yeah." Ray shucked his bathrobe and hung it inside the closet. "Sorry about that, Benny." "Oh, don't be. It was really rather humorous." Benny was grinning fit to burst. Ray scowled. "Funny, yeah. You can tell by the big gaping wound on my neck where I laughed my head off." "Oh, Ray." Benny leaned forward and kissed him. He started unbuttoning Ray's pajamas. "Something occurred to me while I was waiting. Would you mind if we tried something a little different?" Oh, what the hell. "I wouldn't mind, Benny." Benny gave him an enormous, happy, crooked-toothed grin. He reached around Ray and pulled a pillow off the bed. "Your bed squeaks." "It does not." "It does, if we get too energetic. But this chair--" Benny gestured to the solid leather-and-wood chair that Ray sat in to put on his shoes-- "--does not." "We can't both fit in that." "I wasn't proposing that we try." Benny had that twinkle in his eye that meant he had something either fantastic or disastrous up his sleeve. Ray watched as Benny pulled the chair out from the wall about a foot, dropped the pillow in front of the chair, and knelt on the pillow, folding his arms on the seat. "Are you with me, Ray?" Ray looked at the curve of Benny's ass in the faint light from the window. "Oh, yeah. All the way." He shucked his pajamas and grabbed another condom from the pocket of Benny's jacket before kneeling on the pillow behind Benny. "You ready?" "Oh, yes." Benny arched his back and pressed close. Ray's hands were shaking when he put the condom on, but he did it. "Gotta be quiet, gotta be quiet," Ray whispered against Benny's broad, smooth shoulders as he pressed into him again. Benny gasped and Ray gave him his hand, quick, so that Benny could suck on his fingers. Sometimes that was the only thing in the world that could keep Benny quiet. Ray loved it. Benny made tiny, muffled squeaks as Ray moved--and he was right, he was completely right, this was a great position. No quacking springs or headboards to bang, nothing but air. Air and Benny. Ray slid his hand down from Benny's hip to his cock and Benny gasped; Ray rubbed Benny's foreskin over his cock and Benny shuddered, bit down, and came. Ray followed a few exquisite moments later. Benny slumped, resting his head on his arms. Ray slumped into him, his arms wrapped around Benny's chest. "You're the best, Benny," he mumbled. "Oh, I'm sure that's not true..." "Shut up, Benny." Ray stroked Benny's back. After a few long moments, Benny stirred. "I should go," he whispered. "I have an early day tomorrow." "What, statue duty? Sleep on your feet." Ray smiled and sat back to let Benny up. "But then I might fall over, Ray." Benny stood and retrieved his jacket from the closet so he could do his magic hankie trick. Benny knelt beside him again, fully dressed, and kissed him. "Dinner tomorrow?" "Lunch," Ray whispered. "I'll pick you up at noon." "Well, don't be early. I have guard duty, as you guessed. Goodnight, Ray." He kissed Ray again and stood up. Ray watched him climb back out the window, smiling. End Checks and Balances by Basingstoke: bas@yosa.com Author and story notes above.