(no subject)

[axiom_of_stripe]

okay, i'm down to the wire here. let's see....undercover at a gay bar, waking up compromised, hooker, lookalikes, forced to have sex by aliens, disability. ten down, two to go.

*****

930 words: A Clichéd Life Story

The first day of the rest of Ray Vecchio's life

"Vecchio!" bellowed Welsh from the doorway of his office. "Tag. You're it. Come get
your next assignment."

Ray rolled his eyes at Benny, shoved back from watching Benny finish his paperwork,
and sauntered toward Welsh's office. The door closed behind him with an ominous click,
although he would only remember that later.

"Mary's Cocktails," Welsh said firmly, handing Ray a file. "After due consideration, you
seemed the least ill-suited to being our ears inside."

Unfortunately, Ray said, "Thank you, sir."

*****

One month later

"This was entrapment!" Ray yelled, slamming the heel of his hand into the cross bars of
the holding cell. "Entrapment! I demand a union rep immediately! I demand a lawyer!"

Benny leaned against the door, the heel of his own hand pressed against his forehead. He
looked tired and miserable. "I still don't understand, Ray," he said again. "How did you
come to be asleep in that room?"

"I was tired," Ray said. It was even true; drinking too much made him very tired, as did
coming twice in two hours.

"But where were your clothes?"

"I wish I knew," Ray said.

"They were removed from you?"

"No. I took them off."

"But why?"

"You know why."

"Please tell me, Ray."

Ray sighed. "The better to fuck that guy, okay? Okay, Benny? Happy now? I was
upstairs screwing around with the bouncer, who was, yes, a guy. Then the Vice assholes
broke down the door and found me with a dick up my ass on the job. Is that what you
wanted to hear?"

Benny looked down. "No," he said. "I think I should go find your lawyer," he said, and
left.

*****

Thirteen months later

Ray leaned against the bar and smiled charmingly. This "gentleman" was the rudest of
Ray's regular johns, but he had money, and that was what mattered. Ray's family back
in Chicago relied on those checks he sent monthly, and the clothes Ray needed for escort
work were even more expensive that what he'd used to claw his way up to Detective First
Grade, back when he'd enforced the laws instead of breaking them.

Ray's date blew cigarette smoke in his face and laughed. "Ray, darling, I'd like you to
meet my business partner," he said. He'd paid for a threesome tonight.

Ray turned around. "Benny," he said weakly.

The man frowned at him. "Excuse me?" he said through a thick German accent. "I do
not speak English very well yet. What did you say?"

Ray breathed again, and held out one graceful hand for the man to shake. "I apologize,
sir. You reminded me of someone I once knew, but he was far less handsome," he lied.

*****

Fourteen months later

Ray leaned over to Hans. "There are a lot of kooks checking into this motel," he
muttered, nodding toward two men in all white with targets tattooed on their shaved
heads who were carrying their suitcases down the hall.

Hans patted his shoulder and just smiled wordlessly. His habit of never explaining
anything that he did reminded Ray a lot of Benny. Of course, things that reminded Ray
of Benny were never very far away, now that he was sleeping with a man who looked just
like him. A lot of the trouble he'd had working with Benny had been explained in a
hurry the first time Hans had handcuffed him to the bed.

They dropped their suitcases in the room. Ray followed Hans back toward the parking
lot, where they walked past Hans' Mercedes and toward a huge RV parked at the far
enough. Ray, Hans' hand in the small of his back, walked first up the steps into the RV.
One of the kooks from the motel grinned at him and shook his hand, and Ray would have
backed right out again and run off, except that Hans was blocking the door.

"The stars are right, brothers," Hans said, and the five men in the RV bobbed their target
heads in unison. He wrenched Ray's jacket off of his shoulders, twisting his arms
painfully. "And now we have our sacrifice to the lusts of the Skymen."

Ray was perfectly willing to fight dirty, but so, it seemed, was Hans. Ray woke up
halfway through the ceremony, facedown on a nice linen altar cloth spread on a log. His
ears were ringing and the fourth cultist was about to take his turn. All in all, he was just
as glad to faint again.

*****

Fourteen months and two days later

It was a Mountie who found him, stark naked and dragging two broken legs behind him
though the middle of the woods. "Fuck," Ray said. "I thought I was crawling south."

The Mountie smiled as he wrapped Ray in a blanket. "Oh no. You see, the moss --"

*****

Sixteen months later

Benny lifted Ray out of the cab of the pickup truck. "I can walk," Ray muttered. "They
let me out of the damn hospital because I can walk now. Stupid hovering Canadian
nursemaids."

Dief barked reprovingly. Benny just laughed as he carried Ray up the hill toward what
Ray devoutedly hoped was a shed, not Benny's actual cabin. "It's traditional, Ray," he
said. "Besides, I thought you liked the attention."

Ray harrumphed. "Okay, okay," he said. "If it really makes you happier to wait on me
hand and foot--"

"--Except for physical therapy sessions," Benny said.

"--then I suppose I'll allow it," Ray finished. He leaned his head on Benny's shoulder as
they stepped over the threshold.

END