TEAM REALITY: Day 9, "Next July We Collide with Mars"

[sage]

Title: Next July We Collide with Mars
Author: teaphile
Team: Reality
Prompt: It's been a long time since I kayaked through the sewers.
Pairing(s): Vecchio/Kowalski
Rating: R
Word count: 14,700
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: Thanks to llassah and andeincascade for beta help, and the rest of the team for encouragement and suggestions. You guys are the best. Two lines have been lifted from Lewis Carroll and Ian Robb. Title is from Cole Porter.
Summary: It had been a good plan, up until Ray realized he'd committed to spending nine hours in the sole company of Kowalski.

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Next July We Collide with Mars

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Comments

[etcetera-cat.livejournal.com]

Ha! *claps hands together in delight* It's a snarky, Ray-filled roadtrip story! With bonus Fraser and Maggie and all around fabby characterisations!

Immense kudos, mystery writer, immense kudos. ♥

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

Okay, this exchange:

"But you can lay around like a low-rent hooker in public." Ray couldn't look in his direction without getting an eyeful of denim-clad crotch. He was trying not to turn his head at all.

Kowalski kicked his chair again. "Hey, you need an international ticket just to get in here to see me. That makes me pretty damn expensive."

Is made of complete and total win. I love Vecchio/Kowalski with an intensity that borders on stalkerish.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks. I love that bit, too.

[catwalksalone]

Awww, my boys.

This exchange:

"Do you ever get the feeling that the Fraser you know and the Fraser I know aren't the same person?"

"Yeah, and I don't know which one's real."

and that whole section made me nod so hard my head nearly came off, because YES.

\you/

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

I'm torn between relief that it wasn't Victoria and regret that I had Sarah McLachlan in my head for the first half for nothing. I like what you did with Ray and Ray's relationship, and how easy and happy Fraser is, both with and without them. It is, indeed, a swell party.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

regret that I had Sarah McLachlan in my head for the first half for nothing.

Is this good or bad? Because my views of Sarah McLachlan are not like others'.

And you got the title reference!

Glad you liked it.

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

I meant it mostly as a reflection of how much I was buying into the Victoria references. It wasn't bad so much as haunting.

[pdxscaper.livejournal.com]

I'm not really a Vecchio/Kowalski reader, but the Ray/Ray banter in this was good, something I could totally see happening. I'm glad it wasn't Victoria who Fraser was with. I wouldn't have wanted to see him get hurt again. Great voices on all the characters.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[zabira.livejournal.com]

YAY for snarky RAYS! and ROADTRIPS! two great tastes that go great together. &hearts

okay, seriously, there are so many great things in this story. i always LOVE to see maggie. she's such a wonderful character, and doesn't get near enough fic. i ALSO love ray/ray fic where fraser's reaction is: yay! have fun, boys! ummm...not that he would ever express it that way, but you know what i mean? it's refreshing to see him be a good, happy, supportive (if odd) friend to them, about this and everything else.

and YAY again for the banter between ray and ray. i especially loved the conversation in the airport, and vecchio's observations about kowalski in that scene.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I just can't see a jealous, sullen Fraser. Not when it's two people he loves so much.

[mizface.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big Ray/Ray fan, but stories like this make me rethink that position. Love the banter, love the story, love Fraser's total cluelessness about how his note could be misread. And this

**Do you ever get the feeling that the Fraser you know and the Fraser I know aren't the same person?"

"Yeah, and I don't know which one's real."**


was da bomb!

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[mizface.livejournal.com]

one more thing... FINALLY placed the song reference for the title - it's been bugging me since I read this last night! Kudos - it's perfect!

(slinks back off to listen to Cole Porter music)

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

I love it when people get my obscure references.

[mikes-grrl.livejournal.com]

I love love LOVE Ray/Ray stories, and this is good example of why. Snarky boys, case!fic plot, shared experiences and mindset with completely different personalities. I love the easygoing, charming Vecchio who can scare the hell out of Kowalski when he is really pissed; I love the slightly confused yet focused Kowalski ("I'm goin' for this! I want this! Mine!!!...you think that's a good idea, or what?"). Heh. Like others I love Maggie getting a bit of a role and actually I thought the plot was hysterical, because YEAH everyone would go flying off the handle if they thought it was Victoria come back into Fraser's life.

My only whine is that (as a F/V/K shipper) I would love to see a sequel where things develop with Fraser. He's happy for them but I really saw an undertone with him of wanting more, especially with the hand-holding and his veiled innuendo with Vecchio. Or should I just get my prescription checked?

Thank you!

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

It came very close to being a threesome story. Very close. So you're not wrong there. I tried to keep the Fraser-longing to a minimum, because I'm not fond of him pining away; I think if he wants something he goes and gets it.

Besides, he's got a revolving door up on that house of his. *grin*

[slidellra.livejournal.com]

"I hate airports," Kowalski said for the third time since they'd landed.

"You hate everything." Ray tried to concentrate on his book, but Kowalski was sprawled across the four seats to his left, one foot on the floor and the other kicking the back of Ray's chair near his shoulder.

Boys! This is delightful. ♥

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[kyriacarlisle.livejournal.com]

I think that you have written my favorite.

You completely snookered me; I actually shrieked - having been jittering nervously at the thought of Victoria - at the reveal of Mackenzie. Along those lines, I enjoyed the road trip structure and the way it lends itself so well to the Rays getting only half-understood glimpses of what's going on.

Fantastic voices: Ray and Ray in all of their neurotic, posturing, hyperbolic, and ultimately sweet glory (and, of course, Fraser and Maggie and Mackenzie too).

There is too much about this that I liked for me to be able to list it all, so I'll just sum up: I can't stop grinning.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thanks.

[chalcopyrite.livejournal.com]

Great roadtripping banter! And oh man, I was so glad it wasn't Victoria. I loved your timing on the relationship and growing warmth between them -- that it wasn't a sudden, "Hey, I actually really like this guy I thought I wanted to strange!" conversion. Kowalski mooching food was awesome, for no particular reason other than that it was.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think they started out with a deep, if reluctant, respect for each other, at least in this story.

Kowalski mooching food was awesome, for no particular reason other than that it was.

Boy's got no boundaries, that one.

Thanks!

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Yay, banter! Like everyone already said, the line about knowing different Frasers is excellent. And I want to move to Dawson and hang out with your versions of Fraser and Maggie.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

And I want to move to Dawson and hang out with your versions of Fraser and Maggie.

So do I, so do I. I actually ended up with a deep fascination with that town while researching this. Sadly, the fictional people would be the problem.

[snoopypez.livejournal.com]

Buoyed by Fraser's lack of reaction, Kowalski chimed in, "Also, we abandoned a bunch of your stuff."

"It's been a long time since I kayaked through the sewers," Ray said, clapping Fraser on the back. "Only for you, Benny."

"It was a canoe, Ray." Fraser cocked his head to one side, thinking. "Both times."

Kowalski was eyeballing him funny. "Man, I thought you were kidding about the sewer."

"I never kid about smells like that, Junior." He grinned as Kowalski finally broke.

"Why do you keep calling me 'Junior'?" He wasn't angry, just puzzled. "It makes no sense."

"On the contrary," said Fraser, and Ray knew he'd get it. "You were the second Ray Vecchio. Therefore, 'Junior' is, in some small way, appropriate."


<3!!!!

good GOD, this story is hilarious and hot and brilliant and I could drop quotes for like, over half of it here. Because YAY. and YES. The snark, the teasing, the easy wonderful friendships, the meta about Fraser being different for each Ray, Dief being ADORABLE, I just. I love it so so so much.

And this?
"You, me, walls; it's like a holy trinity."
oh, YEAH it is.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[0not-just-me0.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was jsut MARVELOUS!!
Spot-on characterizations, and lovely snark, and a damn fine plot to boot.
Total win.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

Road trip with banter, hurray! I loved the way you showed Kowalski inteh airport, restless and provacative. "Yes, oh dear," Ray nearly shouted. "Now say it with me: I will not leave town with women unless I tell the people who love me who she is and where we're going." Awww, they love him.

Vecchio will make a wonderful trophy wife, and Kowalski a terrific prize.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[simplystars.livejournal.com]

Heh. What a clever story - I was racking my brains trying to figure out who the woman would be if she wasn't Victoria. Mackenzie King FTW! :)

All the little touches here make Fraser and Ray and Ray the characters we know and love - Fraser's survival gear, crammed in a vehicle that's on its last legs; Vecchio's sense of fashion and family (and innate fairness); Kowalski's curiosity and playfulness - I almost expected him to go catch frogs with Dief. Hee!

Snark and banter, yay! \o/

A well thought-out, well-executed plot with just enough simmering under the surface to keep things, er, *cough* interesting. *wink wink, nudge nudge*

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

I had a hard time deciding who the woman was going to be. Mackenzie King played into the identity theme too well to pass up.

Thank you.

[brigantine.livejournal.com]

Dief mesmerized by a daddy longlegs. I don't know why exactly, but I just love that little moment.

<3 Clueless Fraser and his cryptic notes.

*snerk* Vecchio trying to finger Kowalski for Fraser's truck breaking down. Hee!

And y'know, really, sometimes Stanley Raymond Kowalski is a total pain in the ass, and he needs a keeper. Someone who can scare him a little. Oh look, I think we have a candidate. ;D

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

Dief mesmerized by a daddy longlegs. I don't know why exactly, but I just love that little moment.

Hee! So do I.

Thank you!