Necking challenge by china_shop

[china_shop]

This is a bit long, so I've put it on my site.

Speculation
3708 words, F/K, PG-13

Many very grateful thanks to Miriam and pearl_o for beta.

Comments

[lynnmonster.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Oooooooh!

Word association, tangled-up-ness, piston!!!, god, I love the whole thing.

[china_shop]

Yay! Thank you so much. :)

[celtiknot.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is so lovely! I can really see Ben being all self-sacrificing and an-ounce-of-prevention-y about this. Very sweet.

[china_shop]

Thanks. *beam*

[lyra-sena.livejournal.com]

Oohhh, this is fantastic! I love your ability to put so much meaning and emotion into dialogue, even when it seems like they're talking around each other. Also, woot for nuzzling Fraser's neck this time! *laughs* Ray's had more than his fill.

[china_shop]

*g* So glad you liked it. Thanks!

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, well done! I had a moment of resentment because I'm working on something along the same lines--but yours is different and unique and really lovely. Talking stick! Stakeouts! Porn! Fraser at the airport with a suitcase!

[china_shop]

So glad you liked it (and that it's different :) - thanks! *beam*

[lalejandra.livejournal.com]

I really really really thought you were going to end it sad, and I was all geared up to burst into tears and run away from the computer, and then they were all upbeat and positive! PISTON!

[china_shop]

I really really really thought you were going to end it sad

So did I, at one stage. They talked themselves into this place where I just didn't see how it could work out... and then it did. Yay, them! :)

[lovessong.livejournal.com]

How could I love a story more than I love this story? Clearly, I couldn't. Word-perfect.

[china_shop]

Yay! Thank you so much! :)

[tex.livejournal.com]

Hmm, where should I begin?

The first line - such hotness packed into just one sentence.

The word association - brilliant.

The last three lines - just wonderful.

Fantastic story!

[china_shop]

Thank you so much. Glad you liked. :)

[brooklinegirl.livejournal.com]

god! wonderful! dear lord, that was a great stake-out story. Just - you managed to do it, have it be all sexual tension and miserable worry and trying SO FUCKING HARD to communicate with each other. I love all the details: Ray slamming into the car, the word-association, piston, that KISS at the end, adn the LEAD-UP to the kiss, and yes. God. I loved this.

[china_shop]

I'm so glad. *beam*

[sam80853.livejournal.com]

Fraser doesn’t shrug him away. He closes his eyes, and somehow Ray knows that Fraser’s expecting the worst, he’s collecting this like a memory. Ray moves real close, rests his own head on Fraser’s elbow so they’re nearly cheek to cheek. “Hey,” he says. “Stop it. Stop saying goodbye to me.”“I don’t know that I can,” says Fraser. He sounds like he’s got laryngitis.

Awww... it's just great! Lovely!

Word association and Ray always coming up with CANADA!

[china_shop]

*g* Thank you so much!

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

This was wonderful. I adore your Ray voice. And it's already been said, but this:

(“Magnets.” “New Brunswick.” “Fraser, that’s stupid. What kind of a link’ve you got from magnets to New Brunswick, huh? What, we don’t have magnets in the US of A? You got a problem with our magnets? Maybe they’re not up to your exacting Canadian standards. Maybe we got the poles around the wrong way or something, huh?” “Actually, Ray, I was thinking of Magnetic Hill, just outside Moncton, New Brunswick, a place where cars reputedly roll uphill under their own steam.” “No shit.” “Shall we proceed?” “Yeah, okay.” “New Brunswick.” “Oh, jeez. I got no associations with New Brunswick.” “Well?” “[sigh] Canada.” “You know, Ray, you seem to have a remarkable number of associations with Canada, for someone who’s never been there.” “Bite me.”)

Most hilarious bit of dialogue I've read in a such a long time. I love how you managed to make this funny and angsty and awww all at once.

[china_shop]

Yay, thank you so much! :)

[aerye.livejournal.com]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Your writing, as usual, is a delight, and you have captured both character and complexity. I celebrate the day you stumbled upon dS!

[china_shop]

*beam* Thank you so very kindly! *more beam*

[lilac-one.livejournal.com]

I feel like I've been sucker-punched. This is an amazing blend of humor and angst and relief. Thank you.

[china_shop]

So glad you liked it. Thanks! :)

[mergatrude.livejournal.com]

Muh! Am feeling all speechless and teary-eyed.

[china_shop]

*pets you*

[silverakira.livejournal.com]

OH MY JESUS GOD.

I am in love. I am so in love. I am also in a rush right now, but just know that you are SO BRILLIANT (piston! [dies]) and this is so lovely and quirky and wonderful, and I shall leave more coherent and in-depth feedback at a later date.

[china_shop]

*grin* Yay! So very glad you liked it! *beam*

[akite.livejournal.com]

“Hey,” he says. “Stop it. Stop saying goodbye to me.”

“I don’t know that I can,” says Fraser. He sounds like he’s got laryngitis.

“You have to,” says Ray. He leans in and presses his face into the side of Fraser’s neck, and stays there, inhaling him, rubbing his nose against the skin under Fraser’s ear, feeling the scratch of stubble on his jaw and the faint smell of wool and sweat. His arm slides lower, circling Fraser’s waist and holding tight, and he pushes into the angle of Fraser’s shoulder. “You have to, because I swear to god, we haven’t even said hello yet.”

Such a thing of beauty. Thanks for sharing it.

[china_shop]

Thank you very kindly much. *beam*

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Man, oh, man -- if only I had won the lottery and could somehow pay you a princely sum to just sit around and write stories just like this one.

:-)

[china_shop]

Thank you very kindly! *beam* (And, hey, that's my dream too! (For you to win the lottery and live in luxury and pay me to write. *grin*))

[estrella30.livejournal.com]

Gah! This is so late (because I *suck*) but oh how I LOVE this!!

Fraser doesn’t shrug him away. He closes his eyes, and somehow Ray knows that Fraser’s expecting the worst, he’s collecting this like a memory. Ray moves real close, rests his own head on Fraser’s elbow so they’re nearly cheek to cheek. “Hey,” he says. “Stop it. Stop saying goodbye to me.”

“I don’t know that I can,” says Fraser. He sounds like he’s got laryngitis

Dude - you slay me.

And that is quite possibly the *best* first line of any fic, ever.

Thank you!!

[china_shop]

*beam* Thanks so ever much kindly!

so, so late to the party

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

Okay, that? *points at story* Is brilliance. Also better than coffee: each one of Ray's heartstopping chaotic emotional U-turns hit me right in the adrenaline; I'm still jazzed. That's quite a feat. The whole talking stick thing rocked -- so totally a Ray-move. And that last bit with the epaulettes? Whoo.

Re: so, so late to the party

[china_shop]

Oh, yay! Thank you so much. So glad you liked it. *happy bounce*

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

I'm even later - forgot I had bookmarked this and never read it. What a wonderful, dizzying ride this is. Your writing is always impressive; this one is a rollercoaster and I willingly paid the E-Ticket rate. Wonderful.

[china_shop]

*beam* So glad it worked for you. Yay! Thanks. :)

[exeterlinden.livejournal.com]

This was great - I love your Ray. I love Ray when he's serious and almost angry and insecure and in love. It all seemed very real and poignant and hot, all at once.

[china_shop]

Yay! Thank you so much. *beam*

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved this. I like the circularity of it, especially coming back to 'piston' (and the tossing in of 'magnetic' in there!) and the implication of, "there's no sense avoiding a relationship because we're already *in* one" and the wackiness that is so canon (Marconi and Mel, the whole word-association stuff at the beginning), and the Ray voice is mmm, and. Yeah.

[china_shop]

Thank you so much! *beam*

[somewhatdeluded.livejournal.com]

I needed some cheering tonight (along with a bit of belly-warming hotness), and boy oh boy, did this ever fit the bill. ♥ ♥ ♥ *clutches fic to bosom*

[china_shop]

Wheeeeee! Comment on old fic! Thank you so much! *beam*

[azamiko.livejournal.com]

Word association is hard...