Due South Noticeboard

Title: Niggle
Author: Grey/Grey853
Fandom: Due South
Pairing: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski
Rating: Explicit
Tags: male slash, explicit language, explicit sexual content, casefic, alternate universe-canon divergent
Word Count: 14,773
Summary: Fraser has a tendency to niggle and live in his own world. Ray gets frustrated. Can they find a way to work together without driving one another crazy?

Link:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/75027586

Snippet:

″I think it’s time we talked about what happened earlier today.″

Ray sighed, wishing like hell they could just forget about it. ″Do we have to? We were having such a good time, eating and just talking about last night’s game. You haven’t niggled once since you got here.″

″Niggled?″

″You know, niggle, that thing you do where you question everything I say. It’s where you argue about the stupidest stuff.″

″I have no idea what you’re talking about. We discuss things and often disagree, but that’s not niggling. That’s just having a conversation. I rather enjoy our discussions.″

″I’m not saying I don’t like how we’re able to give and take, but sometimes you go too far. This thing with the littering is a perfect example.″

″How so?″

Ray took a long swallow of his beer and then poured the rest down the sink. He had a feeling if he finished it, he’d be too loose and he didn’t want that. He had to keep control of his temper and his words. He wanted to say what he needed without revealing too much.

″Let’s have a seat and I’ll try to explain.″

″Very well.″

Fraser walked over and sat down all stiff and prissy.

Well hell. Ray knew what that meant. ″I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.″

″You didn’t.″

″Did, too.″

″Well, how do you expect me to feel, Ray? You say that my conversational style is niggling, which by it’s very nature has a negative connotation. I’m at a loss. I had no idea you felt that way.″

″Look, I really don’t want to make you feel bad, but you’ve got to understand what I’m sayin’. You’ve got to rein in this zeal you’ve got to arrest any and everybody for the smallest infraction. That might work in a small town, but here it’ll just fill up the jails and get you blacklisted and me along with you.″

Fraser didn’t answer right away, but eventually said, ″It doesn’t work in small towns, either.″

″Say what?″

″My zeal, as you call it, has gotten me shunned more than once during my earlier assignments. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been reassigned so frequently.″