Dating Challenge by joandarck

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Thanks to malnpudl for terminology check!
Rating: G, gen
Length: 260 words
Summary: Fraser doesn't get out much.



Moonrise


There was a scratching at the window, and Fraser pushed his chair back. It didn't take two hands to lift the sash, but he used them.

"Forget something?" he said dryly.

Diefenbaker, unabashed, hopped over the sill and trotted to the far side of the bed, returning dragging a battered blue-grey blanket in his teeth.

Pausing by the window, lips curled delicately back, the half-wolf tossed his head a few times until the tail of the blanket flipped up and settled across his shoulders, then leapt out, passing Fraser close enough to hit him - probably accidentally - with his tail. The fire escape shook with metallic protest, rapidly quieted.

"Didja tell him to be home by nine?"

Fraser ignored his guest, watching Dief make his confident way down the alley, the black and puddled pavement like a photographic negative of his native snowfields. The blanket stayed lodged across his back, a few safe inches from the ground.

"Must be the greyhound," he said.

"Come on, it's freezing in here."

It might have been, but it was stuffy with the window closed. Fraser crossed back to where Ray sprawled at the card table, placed directly under the light that buzzed noticeably at the threshold of his hearing and flickered almost to nothing every four minutes and thirty-five seconds.

Ray flicked his cards impatiently. "You in or not?"

There would be time for about two more hours of poker, complaints, and case talk before Ray went home at eleven ("Ma worries.")

Fraser trapped his thighs under the folding table and picked up his cards.
 
 
 

Comments

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

Awwwww!!! *sappy happy grin*

And Dief fic! Much yay! :-D

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Dief fic! OMG I forgot to credit you ("dog consultant.")

[mondschein1.livejournal.com]

PUPPY! PUPPYPUPPYPUPPYPUPPYPUPPY!

...I'm not here. You didn't see me.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

You're thinking about the husky puppies! Dief/greyhound pups would be... odd.

[mondschein1.livejournal.com]

No, DIEF is a puppy. Because he just is.

...still not actually here. Shhhhh.

[tigs.livejournal.com]

Dief! Yay! How totally adorable!

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks.

[hieronymousmosh.livejournal.com]

yay, Dief fic! He's so considerate of his lady friend *g*

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's just the kind of dog he is.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Oh, Fraser, you make me sad.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

His life just seems so *small* and *cramped* here; the stuffy room and the buzz of the light, his thighs against the table, staring outside and just -- so far from the outside, the wild, his *home*.

Oh, FRASER.

[lorem_ipsum]

hee!

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*

[loz]

Am I the only one who's getting bittersweet vibes from this? Because, really, it's depressing me like hell. ... is that just me?

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Loz, I kees you on the leeps!

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Or, to put that another way, I was going for a mixed sort of vibe, yes.

[loz]

I thought you were. I thought maybe I'd missed the undeniable "yay"ness of it or something.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

I think it's more yay-inducing if the idea of Dief dating is cute to you, probably?

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

I got mixed vibes too! (uhm, the fictive type not the ah, other type)

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

*raises eyebrow at you* The other type? M-hm.

Anyway. Glad to hear it!

[china_shop]

Yay!!! Dief!!!

Vecchio!!!

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Icon!!

Gen!

[china_shop]

But still! ♥♥♥

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Anyway, you know I was thinking it! ♥

[eledhwenlin]

Yay Dief! :D

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Aww, what a pretty icon!

[sam80853.livejournal.com]

Dief!!!!!!!!!!!

Cute!

"Didja tell him to be home by nine?"

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Hee!! Icon!! Speaking of cute.

[shihadchick.livejournal.com]

i have two main responses here, the first being "awww, Dief" and general squishy puppylove type noises (and him hitting Fraser with his tail! he totally would, too. oh, Dief), and the second being "oh, Fraser". because, ow. i actually physically winced at the matter-of-fact observation about the lightbulb flickering, and Fraser just being so... constricted (though "Ma worries" is a total dialogue winner) and just... it makes me want to go watch CotW so I can see that look on his face in the ice field. I can't believe this is only two-hundred-some words - you pack a LOT of character in here, Joan. Great piece.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Hee! you liked the tail-hitting! It seemed like the sort of thing he would do.

it makes me want to go watch CotW so I can see that look on his face in the ice field.

Oh, thank you! Thanks for it all, s-chick.

[bertybertle.livejournal.com]

So CUTE! Dief!fic! *loves it muchly*

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_unhurt_/]

dating dief is cute, but poor wistful fraser watching him go.

They would have about two hours of poker, complaints and case talk before Ray went home at eleven

oh, fraser. it's not enough, is it?

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

..And yet, Fraser chooses to stay in Chicago, live in an office, etc. Why? Is interesting. He's not shy or afraid to explore, he simply chooses to live within limits. But his attitude towards hedonistic Dief has this interesting mix of respect, disapproval, and maybe jealousy.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_unhurt_/]

is he really choosing, though? well, i mean, he is in the sense that he has free will, but the whole self-imposed exile thing implies that he feels he has no choice but to live like this for the time being. or, he's chosen to have no choice - which makes no sense but is possibly somewhere you could arrive at via twisty fraser logic.

(i almost said fraser was watching dief jealously, but i wasn't sure if that was too strong a word.)

also, even though you say it's gen, you could read it as fraser wanting more of/from ray. possibly not romantically, but maybe!

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

or, he's chosen to have no choice - which makes no sense but is possibly somewhere you could arrive at via twisty fraser logic.

Well, I think so. I mean, he acted like he could just go back to Canada in MOTB - it seems like he'd stopped taking the exile thing seriously. Actually from something Thatcher said to him (in the prison one?) I got the impression we're to feel that he chooses to stay because he feels he's been helping people who were otherwise getting overlooked by the system. Which is perhaps more convincing than my previous theory that he stayed because he likes having a best friend (in a gen kind of way!!!)

[whitepuppy.livejournal.com]

Dief fic!!! SOOOO CUTE!

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Awwww! I love your icon! And thank you!

[akite.livejournal.com]

Dief! You dog, you! ;) I stand behind my icon, though.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Hey! The blanket was to put over her shoulders if she got cold while they were howling at the moon together!! Dief's a gentleman!

Okay, maybe not.

And I've always loved that icon - so much!

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

The Dief stuff was cute but, man, this was very sad to me. Fraser "trapping" his thighs under the table; feeling stuffy with the windows cloased. And I love your description of the pavement as the negative of the snow.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Thank you (the pavement-snow thing)!

This came out of recent discussions (http://joandarck.livejournal.com/121189.html?thread=3221605#t3221605) of the relationship between Fraser and Dief. In a way, he's less affectionate to Dief than most people expect people to be with their pets, but on the other hand, he gives him more power in the relationship, so to speak - it's interesting.

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

You just...you have this way of painting a scene, laying it all out there for the reader to see and try to understand for him/herself the underpinnings of it, and I love that. It's like...you present it, there it is, and I can see it, and then you step back and allow us to think about it and decide for ourselves. Because while Dief dating is undeniably adorable (he's such an alpha, omg), Fraser's lack of a love life is such a strong contrast to that. I mean...if Fraser didn't care, it'd be one thing, but he clearly does feel lonely and trapped and it just hurts so much. I think I even like thinking of him living in the Consulate better than the old apartment. Because while it's his own apartment, he never really feels at home there. And you showed that so well. He doesn't even care enough to change the light bulb. Oh, Fraser.

And RayV! Ha. That was unexpected. *g*

I can't believe that was only 260 words. ARE YOU SURE?

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

(Hey, it had to be RayV, because it had to be the West Racine apartment! Nothing... er... implied! Much!)

I'm so glad you found it interesting, seeing as how you inspired it (http://joandarck.livejournal.com/121189.html?thread=3228517#t3228517) and all. Basically I was thinking, if you think of Dief as Fraser's id, romping around outdoors with no pants, then... not all of Fraser is here inside, is he? He's living a partial life, and he knows it.

But then at the same time he did choose this, and he does get satisfaction out of it (he likes RayV, he likes his uniform, he likes basketweaving exhibitions at the museum...)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_unhurt_/]

Nothing... er... implied! Much!

aha! *feels justified in suspicions*

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Hey! It is gen! If you're going to read stuff in, I can't stop you. That's all. Well, and I wouldn't particularly discourage you either.

[mergatrude.livejournal.com]

Oh, I adore this! Dief's life is an expanse, no matter where he is, whilst Fraser has hemmed himself in at the behest of others.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Oh, mergatrude, you always do the best summaries! Exactly. Remember how we were talking about Fraser's relationship with Dief? The distance, the emotion, the disapproval... and then there's the 'Fraser's id' theory... So I was just thinking about that, about how Fraser chooses to be one way (leaves own country; job reduces to picking up dry cleaning and sentry duty; ends up living in his office) and Dief chooses another (you'd think a semi-wild animal would have a harder time in Chicago than a person, and yet he's living it up), and Fraser's slightly frustrated attitude about the whole thing, even though he wouldn't change it.