ds_flashfiction | Ink Challenge: Color the Lake Blue, by Fabella

Hoo-Boy, first post here in a long time.

Title: Color the Lake Blue
Author: Fabella
Rating: PG
Word Count: 483
Challenge: Ink
Fraser/RayK, post CotW, angst.

Breathe! Now!

Fraser handled the map, uneasily contemplating the adventure he and Ray Kowalski had first set out on. Focusing, despite himself, on the end.

He turned the map over, bending the paper toward the light. Wrinkles created shadows, great craters obstructing the red and black lines. Fraser's hands, on either side, trembled slightly when he studied the blue ink, the frozen lakes one could easily fall through. How beautiful, his home. How terrible.

The map was creased and thin from repeated folding, ink faded nearly illegible. And yet it was as substantial as a photograph. Fraser rubbed his thumb over the path they had taken, stopping abruptly where the journey had come to a halt.

When Fraser looked up, Ray was standing near the bottom of his bed, snappish hair catching the yellows and oranges from the firelight. His smile was wide, rich with promise, and he wore a stretched gray shirt above a pair of dark, baggy jeans.

"You'll get ink on ya," Ray warned, showing his teeth.

The map shuddered within Fraser's grasp, and he nodded, dumbly fixated on that precious face.

Come on, Ray.

"You'll end up with your fingers in your mouth like always, and where will ya be then? With ink poisoning, that's where."

"I'm..." Fraser cleared his throat. "I'm afraid you know me too well." Quiet then, only the fire popping. Fraser swallowed. "Must you really leave?"

Ray dipped his chin, scratching his nape. The floor creaked, snapping with cold, and then his eyebrows rose and fell in a shoulderless shrug, arm flopping to the side.

"Yeah," Ray said, sheepishly. "Kinda chilly out here, you know?"

Fraser squeezed the map, crumpling the paper, smearing ink on his skin.

"But what will I do without you?"

Ray's lips twisted. "Get ink poisoning, probably."

"Don't go." Fraser grimaced, forcing the words out. "Stay, you can, I'll make room. I've done it before." Ray looked at him, and didn't answer. "Ray, please, you can't leave."

"You know I gotta, Fraser," Ray whispered. "We had our adventure. Take care for me, huh?"

Ray reached out to touch Fraser's wrist, but his fingers passed through the blue-veined skin, immaterial. Fraser flinched, ice stabbing his heart, reeling away in a cold haze. But then he was warm, lukewarm, and that was worse. Where the tears were. He dropped the map, lunging forward. His ink stained hands closed around thin air.

Breathe, Ray!

"I'm sorry," Fraser said. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you."

"Hey." Ray shifted awkwardly, appearing alive under his clothes, thin body working to displace an awkward moment. "You loved me good, Fraser. Real good. Nothing more I coulda asked for when I was here. I'll be looking you up when I can."

"Wait. Just one moment--"

Ray tossed his head back, cocked a hip, and waved goodbye. Oddly, there appeared to be ink on his right thumb, as if he'd touched Fraser deep, deepest, where the ice-blue ink had frozen over in its well.

Please?