ds_flashfiction | Chicago Lore Challenge: Teen: Love

Title: The Curse
Fandom: Due South
Character: Fraser/RayK, Dief and Turtle
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 994
Summary: Fraser knows a thing or two about curses
An: Written for the ds_flashfiction Prompt: Chicago Folklore- The Cubs curse.

Fraser walked up the path to the cabin he shared with Ray Kowalski. The trees were changing colors and the reds, yellows and oranges always reminded him of Ray Vecchio’s brightly colored shirts. He had to admit that he had truly missed the colors of nature while in Chicago; Chicago had been all brown and gray. The park in Chicago had been a poor substitute.

The sun warmed his face and he was reminded of Ray Kowalski; Ray was so warm and alive.

The air smelled alive and fresh and he took a moment to breath deeply.

He carried a package he had picked up at the local post office that was from Ray’s mother. Ray’s mother sent a package at least once a month and they always enjoyed what she sent. Dief really enjoyed the homemade peanut butter dog biscuits.

He couldn’t wait to see Ray even though they had only been apart a few weeks while Fraser had been on patrol. He missed the little things like Ray’s gentle touches and his laughter as he danced with his turtle.

Speaking of Spike the turtle, he had a special treat for him. As he walked down the dirt path to his cabin, Dief ran ahead and went inside the open door. It seemed that Fraser wasn’t the only one to miss Ray and Spike. Ray might think that Dief and Spike were enemies, but they were the best of friends. Sometimes, Spike would lay on Dief’s back and snuggle into his fur and Dief would give some of the flowers he grew to Spike to eat.

The cabin’s front door was orange and while Fraser thought it was garish, Ray thought it gave the cabin character.

He made his way into the cabin. The light brown wooden floor creaked under his boots and the air was filled with the music coming from Ray’s record player.

Dief went over to Spike’s tank and stood on his hind legs as he pressed his nose to the glass tank.

Fraser went over to Spike’s tank and pulled out a red apple. Apples were not very plentiful, but he often bought them as a gift for Spike.

‘Hello, I have a treat for you,’ Fraser said to Spike as he put the apple in the tank. Spike popped his head out of his shell and made a happy noise. Fraser just smiled, Spike was a species of turtle commonly found in Canada which was probably why he liked to watch curling with Fraser.

He turned around and made his way to the bedroom with the package still under his arms. He stood in the bedroom’s doorway and watched a Ray danced in the sunlight. He was shirtless and his faded blue jeans were low on his hips. His blond hair and tanned skin looked golden in the sunlight and his movements were smooth and fluid.

Dief was watching Ray and Fraser knew the feeling, he could watch Ray dance for hours.

Ray turned around and his eyes went wide as a grin spread across his face.

‘You’re home!’ Ray said as he ran to Fraser and pulled him into a tight embrace. His rough lips brushed against Fraser’s cheek and Fraser could smell Ray scent of sweat and hair gel.

‘It is nice to see you too,’ Fraser said as their lips met.

They kissed gently and Fraser thought (not for the first time) that he would never be able to get enough of Ray’s kisses. He had spent a life receiving very few kisses, but now he was greedy for them.

Ray broke the kiss and stared down at the box under Fraser’s arm. ‘What’s that?’

Fraser held the box out for Ray. ‘Your mother has sent us another package.

Ray took the box. ‘Nice! Let’s open this baby up.’

Ray pulled at the flaps and the box opened. He began to pull out various things. He pulled out a Fraser sized white handmade sweater.

‘Here you go,’ Ray said as he gave the sweater to Fraser.

The knitted fabric was soft and it looked like it was made with love. Before they had told Ray’s parents that they were in a relationship, he had been worried that Barbara and Damien wouldn’t accept him, but they had been more than accepting.

Ray pulled out what looked like a newspaper and his eyes went wide as he read it.

‘Hell yeah! The curse is broken!

‘You’re family was cursed?’ Fraser asked because that was the only thing that made sense.

‘What? Nah. Nah. The curse of the goat was broken. The Cubs won the World Series.’

Fraser’s brow knit in confusion. ‘I’m not sure I follow.’

‘Well have I got a story for you. This is the tale of The Curse Of the Billy Goat. In the long ago time of 1945 a guy named William Sianis took his goat Murphy to The Cubs World Series game. They kicked them both out because the goat really smelled and William cursed The Cubs and the never won another World Series until this year.’

‘Ah, I see. That was a beautiful story.’

Ray dipped his head and grinned. ‘Thanks. Hey, I really stink and need a shower, you wanna join me?’

Fraser smiled. There was nothing more he wanted than a naked, wet Ray.

That night, Ray was asleep in bed on top of Fraser. He was using Fraser’s chest as a pillow and Fraser was running his finger through Ray’s hair thinking about curses. He had often thought that being stuck in the United States was a curse worse than death, but now he realized that if that had never happened he would never had been friends with Ray Vecchio and he never would have met Ray Kowalski and that would have been a true tragedy.

Both Ray’s brought so much joy to his life and being stuck in the United States had been a small price to pay.