Rated PG-13 for m/m content.

Disclaimer : Characters portrayed here belongs to Alliance. I'm only borrowing them for nights of sleeplessness.

This was written during a bout of insomnia one night and though short, hopefully, it's sweet. :)

A Winter's Tale

by Valencia

A sudden chill woke him up, an airy sensation of icy coolness upon bared skin. He started to sneeze, a potentially explosive sound, but managed to stifle it in time, although almost choking himself in the process.

He threw back the covers gently, slowly, and got up, feet moving silently to stride across the darkened room. A room that was only lighted dimly from the pale luminescence that came in from the half-opened window and of which happened also to be the source of the icy chill.

The street below was quiet, still and utterly dark. As he stood by the window, he made no attempt to close it yet, even though the intense cold was making him shiver slightly and he felt the skin of his face grow slightly numb. But in spite of the biting wind, he found the cold rather...stimulating. His nipples were slowly hardening as a response to the sharp air and the tightening sensation in those twin nubs of flesh were not exactly unpleasant but almost sensuous.

He had been standing there for a little while when something light, feathery and freezingly cold suddenly drifted onto his face to brush across his nose. And another and another before he realised that it was starting to snow and what had touched his face was a snowflake.

It was too dark to witness the sudden and unexpected snowfall, but he knew that by tomorrow a brilliant sheet of white would have covered the entire city, hiding the dirt and grime beneath it's all encompassing blanket. It wouldn't washed all the filth away, of course, but at least perhaps, it would hide it for a little while, lending an illusion of beauty and peace to the city that would melt away once the sun shone.

"Benny?" A sleepy voice broke into his silent contemplation and as he swivelled his head round, he saw that the person whom he had been so careful not to wake was awake.

"Benny, what the hell are you doing? It's freezing! Or is this another one of those Inuit rituals I should know about? Stand by an open window at sub-zero temperature and freeze yourself into a popsicle, huh?" Ray's irritated and sleepy tones brought a smile to his face as he listened. There were still times when he couldn't believe that Ray Vecchio, beside being best friend, partner and companion, was also now, lover. "It's snowing, Ray." he merely said as he finally closed the window, shutting away the cold, the snow and for a little while at least, the outside world.

"Great. Wonderful. Perfect. Now get back to bed before *I* freeze to death." Ray commanded and punctuated his words by sneezing at the end.

Fraser did as he was told and got back into bed to snuggle up beside Ray who gasped a little when their skins made contact. "God, Benny, you're cold! How long have you been standing there? What were you thinking off?"

Fraser gave the question serious thought before answering, "I was thinking of you, Ray." And after saying, he suddenly rolled over to pin a startled Ray beneath him.

Lips mere inches apart, Benny could see his lover's eyes glowing green in the near darkness, desire and amusement warring within the depths. "I was thinking of you." Benny breathed as he lowered his mouth to nibble gently on Ray's earlobe.

"Benny! Jeez, even your lips are cold!" Ray gasped and flinched a little.

Fraser drew back in consternation but before he could move away completely, Ray's arms shot out with lightning speed to clasp tightly around the Mountie's neck, pulling him back once more.

"Want me to warm you up?" Ray suggested softly as he drew Fraser down for a kiss.

The End


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