Busted and Tapestry by anonymous co (NC-17)

[justacat.livejournal.com]

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Ray Kowalski/Benton Fraser
Author: anonymous co
Why this must be read:

For my first post I've decided to rec my favorite due South story of all (and its sequel). This is a long, engrossing post-Call of the Wild story. Fraser's gone back to Canada and Ray to Chicago, but a serious injury in the line of duty inspires Ray to head to Canada to seek Fraser out and tell him how he really feels.

Busted is a "first time" story but the "first time" happens early on, and there's lots of wonderful relationship development. It's incredibly romantic without ever becoming sappy. The Ray K voice (it's written from his first person POV) is superb, and I adore this vulnerable-but-not-wimpy Ray. For me the story has the absolute perfect balance of sweetness, a bit of angst, smut, and hurt/comfort. Some find it heavy on the h/c, but I think it's just right - enough to bring the guys together but not so much that the hurt one comes across as weak or wimpy.

The sequel, Tapestry, is equally wonderful, if slightly less compelling. True, the appearance of Ray Vecchio in Canada is a bit far-fetched, but I had no trouble suspending disbelief, and it's nice to see a Ray K fic that portrays Ray V so nicely.

These fics never fail to remind me why I fell in love with slash in general, and due South in particular.

Busted and Tapestry

Comments

[stopawhile.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. I love that story too. :) *scuttles off to reread*

[justacat.livejournal.com]

I've re-read them myself so many times I can't count. Enjoy!

[weird-one.livejournal.com]

Those are two of my favourites as well! I'll be quite gratefull if you decide to rec similar stories this month.

[justacat.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked. I'll see what I can do :-)

[kamadu.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the rec on these! I had read Busted, but had no clue there was a sequel :)

*scuttles off to read*

[justacat.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear what you think of Tapestry! I only wish there was even more ...

[dossier.livejournal.com]

thank you--I'd read and loved Busted but I had no idea there was a follow up story!

[justacat.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, glad I could help! I hope you like Tapestry - feel free to comment and let me know after you've read it.

[dossier.livejournal.com]

thank you for the rec on this. I had no idea there was a prologue, either! Tapestry was a very satisfying story, and I enjoyed finishing the series. Busted, by itself was a complete story, but Tapestry is a fine example of a sequel that's as good as the first, if not better.

[kifty.livejournal.com]

I realise that I am looking back at the recs from last year, but I am saddened to find that many of the links don't work. www.squidge.org appears to have vanished, at some point on Friday afternoon. Does anyone know what happened to it? Is it likely to resurface? And if not, are there links to the stories that are there? (I found Bone's stories on a separate website)

I am very sad that you are writing about a story that sounds wonderful, and now I can't read it!

[justacat.livejournal.com]

Squidge is down for a few days while the owner changes servers. Don't worry, it'll be back!

[kifty.livejournal.com]

Yaaaay! I was hoping it was something like that. On Friday, I was reading "How Ray Got His Groove Back", and when I clicked on the link for the epilogue, it didn't work. I was most frustrated. But this is great news!