#he's trying to help fraser and the guy has the balls to make ray think of his hair in disarray in front of his ex

[allofthebeanz]

I've said my piece in a meta earlier how I read the Fraser/Ray/Stella thing (which you can find here if you're interested), but I really do love the idea of Fraser and Stella just fucking hating each other. Two people who need control who try to make the world a better place by their job which gets in the way of their relationships and the only thing they have in common is Ray and they hate that they have that in common? i wish we had more scenes of them roasting each other while trying to remain professional.

[alwaysalreadyangry]

due south 45 :DDD

45) pretending to hate each other au

Ray puts his glasses on and takes a deep breath. He feels jittery and strange, but he can do this. He checks out of the corner of his eye -- yeah, they’re definitely being watched. It’s now, it’s time.

Fraser taps his nose with his thumb, and there, that’s it, that’s the signal.

“I can’t believe this, Fraser,” Ray yells, and he balls up his fists and makes as if he’s considering punching him. “I thought we were partners. I thought you had my back. I guess it was all just a big joke to you, huh.”

He widens his eyes at Fraser. Come on, your turn. “Ah,” Fraser says, and he rubs at his eyebrow, unhappy. “I apologise if I gave... the wrong impression,” he says. He pauses. 

That’s it? Ray thinks. 

“You have been very difficult to work with,” Fraser says, and nope, here it is, he’s going to try to stick the knife in. Ray has to stop himself from giving him either an encouraging smile or a sarcastic thumbs up. Keep going. “I can’t pretend that I’ve relished our time together, Ray. You’re impulsive and erratic, your paperwork is sloppy, and you blow up at the smallest perceived slight. As both a friend and a colleague, you leave a lot to be desired. I think it’s best for all concerned if we end this partnership now.”

“Seems like you’ve already made your mind up,” Ray says, cutting him off. He’s sure Fraser had more polite insults up his sleeve, but he’s not sure he needs to hear any more.

“I have, yes,” Fraser says, and then he hovers there, nervously, as if he’s waiting for something else. Ray scratches his head. He knew it would sting, but they’ve got to keep going. They’ve got to sell it.

“Then why are you still here,” Ray says. He’s trying for mean, but his voice cracks. Fraser’s eyes widen, and he turns on his heel, and he walks straight out of the precinct.

It’s a good thing Dief’s not there. Fraser talks to him like he’s a regular genius, but Ray feels like the wolf would not have necessarily understood what was going on.

Ray sits down heavily at his desk and puts his head in his hands. It’s a weird thing, this kind of work. No matter how close or remote from you the undercover work or fake scenario is, it can still hurt. And this one feels pretty close.

He stays there for a minute. He knows that the crooked internal affairs guy with a bee in his bonnet against Fraser was watching -- if they’ve pitched it right, he’ll approach Ray himself, and make the whole thing a lot easier.

Just as he starts to uncurl himself and reaches for some paperwork he can finish without Fraser around to distract him, he feels a tap on his shoulder, and he looks up. “Yeah,” he says. “What, you need something?”

“I couldn’t help overhearing...” Leary says. Ray scowls. Good, he’s in.

--

Fraser can’t come over that night, because they have to really sell the split. No Fraser in the precinct, no dinners at the diner down the block or the Chinese restaurant near the consulate, and definitely no take-out pizza for two cops and a wolf at Ray’s apartment.

There’s some boxing on TV that night, and Ray puts it on but he can’t focus. He finds that Fraser’s words are stuck in his head, even though he knows they don’t mean anything, not really. Just, they feel close to what he sometimes thinks, close to what he’s heard before.

He’s half-considering taking a walk around the block to let off some nervous energy when his phone rings. He groans, because at this time of night it’s got to be bad news -- something must be screwy at the precinct, because nobody else really calls him. He really hopes nothing’s gone wrong with their little scene today. By the time he left work, he felt like Leary had bought the whole thing -- hook, line, and sinker.

“Vecchio,” he says.

“Hello Ray,” Fraser says. Ray almost falls off the couch in shock. He’s seen Fraser answer a phone before, but somehow it seems wrong for Fraser to be calling him on one. Like, shouldn’t he be sending a letter by carrier pigeon or something instead?

“Hey Fraser,” Ray says. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Fraser sighs. “I was unhappy about our assignment today.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” Ray says. “He bought it fast, we should be able to get him out of our hair... Welsh’s hoping for tomorrow but I’m thinking maybe Thursday, Friday, tops. Depending on how it goes down. He already thinks I basically hate your guts. Halfway there.”

Fraser is silent. It’s not a comfortable silence. Ray would go as far as to say that it’s a particularly unhappy silence. “Fraser,” he says. “You know it’s not real.”

“I’m quite aware of that, Ray.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just saying. Sometimes it can feel like it’s real even though you know it ain’t. So I’m just saying, there’s nobody I’d rather have as my partner.”

He winces when he says it, because it’s not like it’s something Fraser’s going to necessarily want to say back to him. Fraser already had a partner, and he’s only working with Ray because he left him in the lurch for a bigger gig.

But. “And I you, Ray,” Fraser says. 

“Even though I’m impulsive and -- what was the other thing you said?”

“Ray,” Fraser says. “Those were not my real feelings.” He sounds pissed off. Ray suspects that Fraser’s least favourite part of the whole thing was having to be rude, having to pretend to hurt Ray’s feelings.

“Erratic,” Ray says, and he’s got such an ugly smirk on his face, but luckily Fraser can’t see it. “Nah, come on Fraser, I’m just playing around. Besides, all you’ve got to do is stay away for a few days. Leave the legwork to me.”

Fraser sighs heavily. Like it’s a burden, staying away. “The fact that I’m willing to go along with this scheme of yours should be evidence in itself that I trust your instincts and do not, ah, think that you are merely erratic.”

“I love you too,” Ray says. “Let’s just hope there’s no IA tap on the line, or we’re screwed.”

“Agreed,” Fraser says. He pauses. “That goes for both statements.”

Ray looks heavenwards. There’s something in Fraser’s tone. “I really wish we weren’t talking on my work cell and the consulate line right now.”

But it’s OK. In three days he’ll have what he needs on Leary, and Fraser... can stay at Ray’s for the whole weekend if he so chooses.

And Ray expects that he probably will.