Everything Flows

[kiltslave.livejournal.com]

For the 5 Minutes After challenge. RayK/Stella angst and RayK/Fraser pre-slash. Thanks to _aerye_ for the beta! 535 words, the title is from a Teenage Fanclub song.



It all felt wrong. He wasn't supposed to be lying there alone; there should have been someone pressed up close against him. Their limbs were supposed to be entangled in post coital bliss, while they breathed in the scent of each other and enjoyed the comfort of having another person close.

At least that was how it used to be. Even when he and Stella were on the skids, they still cuddled together afterwards. Brief moments in time when anger, sadness and resentment were forgotten for at least a short while.

Tonight had been different. Stella had come to his apartment. He usually went to her place. Sometimes she welcomed him, but most of the time she turned him away. When she did let him, they fucked great. As always.

Right after the divorce, when they fucked, she let him stay overnight. Those mornings after felt both right and wrong at the same time. Right that he and Stella were together, wrong that he and Stella were now divorced, they shouldn't be fucking still. He usually didn't stay long in the morning.

This had been the first time in over a year that Stella had come to him. She had knocked on his door and when he had answered, kissed him long, deep and hard while grinding against him. The sex that followed had been fantastic, his favorite kind with her on top. He had fucked her long and hard, enjoying how vocal she was, the familiar way her back stiffed as she came. It was like they used to fuck before the divorce.

But it hadn't been the same.

He opened his eyes and stretched, feeling sleep and sexual release settle into his bones. Stella was sitting at the edge of his bed, buttoning up her blouse.

Ray sat up and touched her shoulder, "Stella..."

She pulled her shoulder away from his hand, "No Ray. I have to go." When she stood up, Ray saw that she had already put on her shirt and shoes.

There was something wrong, the furrow in her brow and set of her mouth told Ray that she was holding back tears. "What's wrong Stell?"

"Nothing Ray, nothing." She touched his brow tenderly and looked at him. Like she was saying goodbye or something. "Nothing is wrong Ray. I can see my way out. Just...be happy." With that, she turned and left his bedroom. The front door clicked shut; the locked tumblers turned noisily in the silence.

Ray tried to sleep, but couldn't. His sheets still smelled of the familiar combination of him, Stella and sex. The only way he would be able to sleep tonight would be if he changed the sheets.

As he changed the sheets, it struck him that he and Stella probably wouldn't fuck again. Ever again. And it didn't bother him.

In the morning, as he stumbled for his first cup of coffee, he saw the key that he had given Stella to his apartment lying in front of the door. He picked it up and considered it for a moment. Fraser should probably have a key to his apartment, as long as he promised to not keep it in his hat.