In Bed
by Silvina

"Mmm?" Overly content, Fraser replied.

"You hungry?"

"Mmm." He petted Ray's head gently.

"Fra-ser." Ray grinned, fondly exasperated. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Food, Ray."

Moving up to rest next to Fraser, Ray kissed him. "We've gotta eat sometime."

"Certainly, Ray."

"So? What'd you want?"

"You, Ray."

He gave a rather undignified snort. "What about Fuzzi Eggrolls?"

"That's fine."

Reluctantly Ray pulled away to place their regular order: chicken with snow peas, beef with broccoli, and three fortune cookies.

The eventual forthcoming of a knock at the door prevented them from going another round and when the food arrived, they ate with the cartons delicately balanced between them. Both cartons of food were dispatched quickly. Together they cleaned up the small mess and placed the cartons on the floor. The last things out of the bag were their respective fortune cookies.

"You first, Benny."

Fraser opened the cellophane surrounding his fortune cookie with the precision of a fighter pilot trying to land on an aircraft carrier as Ray fidgeted. "Best friends are good to have around."

He watched, highly amused, as Ray tried not to snicker. "Something amuses you?"

Ray grinned like happy idiot. "I'll tell you later. First we gotta see what mine says. 'Always get your man.'" The rest of what he might have said was smothered against Ben's mouth as he pressed the Mountie backwards onto the bed.

Coming up for air, Fraser managed to get a question half out before he was pounced again. "Ray, what's gotten--"

Those were the last comprehensible words heard from the Mountie for the next half hour.

Ben raised his head from its resting spot on Ray's stomach. "Ray?" Sated, Ray replied, "Hmm?"

"The fortune cookies?"

"Yeah?"

"You said you'd explain . . . . "

Ray grinned at him again and started laughing.

Slightly moffed, Fraser waited until Ray's laughter was subdued.

"Aw, Benny, don't pout. I'm gonna tell you."

"I'm not pouting."

Wisely, Ray chose not to belabor the point. Instead, he opened his arms and said, "Come here?"

Ben moved into his arms easily and they settled into a comfortable half sprawl. "See, Benny, there's this tradition about fortune cookie messages. To really understand your message, you're supposed to add the phrase 'in bed' at the end." Ray peered at him with twinkling green eyes.

"So your fortune cookie really said, 'best friends are good to have around . .. . in bed."

"Ah."

"So, now you see, Benny, I was just following instructions."

Ray started snickering again and Ben smiled, amused.

Dief chose this moment to come back into the room, sniffing pitifully at the empty containers of leftovers.

"Sorry. We ate it all." Ray apologized.

The wolf turned baleful eyes toward Fraser. "Yes, we did get you a fortune cookie."

Fraser pulled the cookie out of the slightly grease stained bag, and opened the cellophane. Breaking the cookie in half, he took out the slip of paper and tossed the cookie to Dief.

"What's his fortune say, Benny?"

With two sets of eyes watching him Fraser turned the message over. "Two's company, three's a crowd... in bed."

I was reading the 'Everything I Need to Know, I Learned From Due South' list (http://home.hiwaay.net/~warydbom/duesouth/knowledg.htm) to my sister. When I came to the line "Best friends are good to have around," I read it out loud as "Best friends are good to have . . . . aroused."