in a ray swap au, I think Ray Vecchio would be perfectly happy to meet Fraser's former partner who he's heard so much about.

Meanwhile RayK, returning from two years undercover to see Fraser partnered with someone else, even though he knew this would happen:

Fraser/Ray V 🤝 Hawkeye/Trapper

character is forced to leave without getting a chance to say goodbye, still manages to give the most homoerotic alternative to goodbye possible

mum just played me a voice message she got from her friend saying ‘how do i pronounce your son’s name?’ and i’m a little over the moon right now. I like being a son.

coming back from the patrol ft. our fancharacters sorry

@woowper

A note on my latest fic since I'm already getting shitty comments on it (leading to my first blocking of an account on AO3, whoo-fucking-hoo): I am not the kind of author who treats you like a child and spoils the entire plot and eventual ending of a story in the tags. If there is content I know may be triggering and/or upsetting, I always make a note of it in the end notes and point to it in the beginning notes so that people can choose to jump to the end note if they are concerned about potentially triggering content or can avoid spoilers if they so choose.

Want to know what I don't warn for? Whether a relationship that is the primary focus of the story I wrote ends with them exchanging promise rings and riding off into the sunset forever and ever amen. Do most of my fics end that way? Sure. Do all of them? Nope. If this is going to make you sad, then for Christ's sake, go read an author you know will tag the shit out of the story so you don't need to bother reading it. That isn't me.

I'm not engaging in the Buck/Tommy or Buck/Eddie ship wars. I absolutely refuse. It's fanfic, people. It's speculation, it's horseshit, it's horny, it's meant to be fun. And I'm too old for that shit. I have first hand experience with RayV Anon on due South, y'all wouldn't survive in the asylum where they raised me.

I remember really liking Due South as a teen when it first aired and I even have a paper Fraser/RayK zine from one of the first conventions I went to back in 2001 or 2002. Things have been really tough lately but this blog has brought Due South back to me. I watched the entire series on YouTube over the past couple of weeks and I'm sure I'll watch it again. I'm absolutely obsessed with Ray Vecchio and Fraser/RayV.

Thanks for bringing this little bit of joy back to me when I really needed it

Hi there!

It's wonderful that you reconnected with Due South after so long, and I'm not at all surprised that this kind, hopeful show gives you some joy :) Plus, it's great to see all the Ray Vecchio and Fraser/Vecchio love around here!

I'm incredibly glad to hear this fest could offer you something nice during a hard time. This is more than I could hope for when I first got the idea.

Thank you for sharing your story! Hope things get better for you soon <3

Due South: RayV/Benton

Many years ago I wrote a multi-episode multi-fandom story called The Games, set in someone else's universe without permission (the Keptverse) and discovered halfway through that the creator didn't like what I was doing because she wanted the Keptverse to be RPF and my story was set in Chicago in the Keptverse and all of the characters were borrowed from my favourite series. In my story, Sam Gerard is the commander of an awkward squad of U.S. Marshals - a stray Brit, George Cowley: two seconded from the FBI, Dana Scully and Adam Pierson: the most recent recruits are fleeing something that happened California and the others can't quite figure out why Sam hired them, Rupert Giles and Willow Rosenberg: and: A former Chicago cop and a former Mountie, Ray Vecchio and Benton Fraser.

The only married couple in the team.

In the Keptverse, slavery is the law of the United States of North America, and the story opens when Sam buys Richard Kimble, sentenced to slavery for the murder of his wife, from what was meant to be a death sentence in the arena. Plot ensues.

This is an ensemble story, and while all of Gerard's team have POV chapters, none of them are the main characters - the protagonist/antagonist pair are Sam Gerard and Richard Kimble. But we meet both Benton and Ray in the first chapter of part 1, the opening story "The Games":

The kitchen was a big room with a table large enough for eight: there were files spread over half the surface, and a dark-haired man sitting reading through one of them, a cup of coffee beside him. “Ray,” Benton said, “are you busy?” “Benny!” The man sounded startled. “I thought Sam had a job for you? Who’s this? Hey, Will.” “What do you like to eat?” the young woman – Will? – Willow? – asked. She sounded as if she wanted to know, and Kimble realised after a moment she was asking him. He shrugged. He couldn’t think of an answer that sounded right. He was quite anxious to hear what Benton would say. But all Benton said was “Sam wanted him to have something to eat. Ray, are there any ready meals in the freezer?” “Ready meal?” Ray stood up. “Or something out of a can. I’m sure Sam didn’t mean us to go to any trouble. Besides, we still have thirteen files to read through on the Trenton case.” Benton paused a beat. “Of course, we can always take some of them home.” “Oh hell,” Ray said, “I’ll cook. Sit down. Will, are you hungry? You – what’s your name? – anything you don’t eat?”

Ray Veccho and Benton Fraser work so well as a married couple.

This section is from The Pieces, part 7 of The Games

“Benny, what the hell are you planning?” Ray pulled back, staring him in the face, his hands still on Benton’s shoulders. “What makes you think I’m planning anything?” “Because you just told me you loved me!” “Well, I do.” “I know that. You never say it. You never, ever say it. Not in so many words.” “Well, I’m sorry about that, Ray.” “What the hell are you planning? I love you too.” “I know that.” “Good.”

(The West Wing and M*A*S*H and Cagney and Lacey and House MD show up in The Games too, because of course they do.) I loved watching Ray Vecchio and Benton Fraser find their way into friendship with eahc other. I only ever wrote one other Due South story - Follow the Leader, about Ray kissing Fraser - but they were such a great couple and I'd love having more stories set in Chicago where they just happen to be. Both of them. Thanks to @ds30below for reminding me of how much I loved the two of them and their relationship!

immediately after the intro on heaven and earth, when fraser is trying to confess something to rayv and they're dancing around the point for almost a full minute before fraser eventually manages to get out that francesca dropped by his apartment last saturday in the middle of the night "dressed in what can only be described as less than requisite attire" and rayv tells him to beat it before he realizes what he actually just heard and menacingly advances on fraser to ask if fraser slept with his sister and fraser gets wide-eyed and politely alarmed and goes "did she say that?" so rayv tells him no because he doesn't talk about sex with his sister so suddenly fraser goes "oh, well, very well. forget that i mentioned it" and literally SPRINTS away, and then we get a tiny little moment of the A plot interrupting rayv before he goes after fraser ("hey benny!") and as he walks the hall we (the camera) run into francesca and start following her as she dramatically recounts the saturday night events to elaine, and francesca says in ramona milano's ever perfect and hilarious delivery, "okay, i'm standing at his door, i drop my coat, i look at him - and he looks at me [long pause] … you know how a squirrel looks, just before you hit 'em?" and then she just WALKS AWAY leaving elaine to stare after her in something like slightly horrified disbelief with judgment mixed in, and then we cut to fraser, stopped in his escape by the need to GIVE PEOPLE DIRECTIONS (of course) who is caught by the arm by rayv and then DRAGGED INTO A CLOSET (again. of course), which we see from the outside as it closes, only to cut to the inside and rayv trying to start a sentence but being interrupted by a gentle "uhruwwwr!", so we cut back to the outside of the closet, the door of which opens to expel dief (next fandom discourse: rayv OUTED dief. how DARE he), and then ray says he's upset ("you can tell me exactly what happened with my kid sister in that apartment, or one of us isn't leaving this closet alive.") and so fraser recognizes this ("you're upset." "that would be correct.") and then fraser explains that he had no choice because "the door just opened and she was standing there. and then when she took off her coat there was very much more of her standing there", and then he refuses to tell rayv if he slept with francesca because it woulDN'T BE CHIVALROUS but he also tries to say he would understand if ray felt the need to "call him out" (call-out post for benny: MY ADULT SISTER WANTS TO SLEEP WITH HIM AND I'M FEELING WEIRD ABOUT IT) but before they can hash that out they're interrupted by elaine, knocking on the closet door, who then tells ray that someone wants to see him so ray leaves (the closet) and tells fraser to stay where he is (in the closet) and then elaine (from right outside the closet) is judgmentally looking at fraser (in the closet) and going "can i ask you a personal question? francesca?" and fraser gets his squirrel-about-to-be-hit look and goes "francesca..." and elaine says "vecchio." and fraser says "vecchio." and then he smiles uncomfortably at elaine while he reaches past her to close the door. to the closet. which he is still in. that's when i remember due south is the funniest show on earth, actually.

Episode Fanfic Reference

Here is a link to every fic we've discussed on the pod:

Ep 1 - Stucky: Mistake on the Part of Nature by idiopathicsmile

Ep 2 - FinnPoe: the coat thief by Gretahs

Ep 3 - LOTR: Cabbages and Kings by Mickleditch (Merry/Pippen)

Ep 3 - LOTR: Finding Comfort by scarletjedi (Gimli/Legolas)

Ep 3 - LOTR: On the Cold Hill Side by marycrawford (Gimli/Legolas)

Ep 3 - LOTR: Lords of Misrule by FabulaRasa (Gimli/Legolas)

Ep 4 - Ineffable Husbands: i'd like for you and i to go romancing by dollsome

Ep 5 - Grindeldore: Relationship Counselling by Anonymous

Ep 6 - Hannigram: La Maison Rouge by Randstad

Ep 7 - JohnLock: The Internet Is Not Just For Porn by cyerus

Ep 9 - Cherik: Order Up by ikeracity

Ep 10 - Leverage OT3: your body is a war zone but you are not a ruin by postcardmystery

Ep 10 - Leverage OT3: the warmth of your doorways by gyzym

Ep 10 - Leverage OT3: safe as houses by thecanaryfalls

Ep 10 - Leverage OT3: The Not Your Teaching Tool Job by BlackEyedGirl

Ep 11 - 00Q: Synchronicity by stereobone

Ep 13 - Sterek: Lock All The Doors Behind You by entanglednow

Ep 14 - Comedies: Anniversary by Desdemon (Nick/Schmidt)

Ep 14 - Comedies: My Gay Jungle Fever by typicrobots (JD/Turk)

Ep 15 - McDanno: Love's a Battlefield (and the Navy Did Not Train Steve for This Shit) by cyerus

Ep 16 - Kirk/Spock: Translating Ennoia by WerewolvesAreReal

Ep 17 - Buddie: a leaf falls on loneliness by iimpossible_things

Ep 18 - Nygmobblepot: flowers grow out of my grave (grave, grave) by CallicoKitten

Ep 19 - Starsky/Hutch: Blue by molo (esteefee)

Ep 20 - 80s Action Movies: My Word Is My Bond (But So Are These Handcuffs) by SirRobin126 (Midnight Run)

Ep 20 - 80s Action Movies: Probably Safer Together and Fabulous Face by fakebodies (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot)

Ep 21-24 - Destiel: Dean Doesn't Listen to Eurythmics by Annie D (scaramouche)

Ep 21-24 - Destiel: things happen (they do, they do, and they do) by sobsicles

Ep 21-24 - Destiel: according to all known laws of life by sobsicles

Ep 26 - SamBucky: warm blood (feels good, i can't control it anymore) by notcaycepollard

Ep 26 - SamBucky: just won't do right by glittercake

Ep 27 - Loki/Mobius: Compliments? That's suspicious by Ijustlikereadingcutefics

Ep 28 - Top Gun: people like us. by Skyuni123 (Rooster/Hangman, Iceman/Maverick)

Ep 28 - Top Gun: Men Like Us by DancingDisaster (Rooster/Hangman, Iceman/Maverick)

Ep 29 - Blackbeard/Stede: Close Quarters by FortinbrasFTW

Ep 31 - Cowboys: Northward Drive by Keiko Kirin (sakana17) (Red River)

Ep 31 - Cowboys: Blood and Whiskey by astolat (Tombstone)

Ep 32 - Kirk/Spock Kelvin: The Genetic Soap Opera (or, One of the Less Dignified Royal Weddings) by waketosleep

Ep 32 - Kirk/Spock Kelvin: a sequence that you never learned by annataylor

Ep 33 - Black Sails: Nature's Delight by Fyre (Flint/Thomas)

Ep 33 - Black Sails: Until death it is all life. by Craftnarok (Flint/Silver)

Ep 34 - Captain Marvel/Maria Rambeau: flying homeward down your highway by gdgdbaby

Ep 35 - Leverage ot3: the war outside our door keeps raging on by spinninginfinity

Ep 35 - Loki/Mobius: out of focus/eye to eye by markofalover

Ep 35 - BlackBonnet: Impulsivity and Authenticity by Skrifores

Ep 35 - Ineffable Husbands: Drinking Buddies and Diaries by dove_dove

Ep 36 - Due South: Locked Room Puzzle by Speranza (Fraser/RayK)

Ep 36 - Due South: All We Gotta Do is Be Brave and Be Kind by spuffyduds (Fraser/RayV)

I totally understand! If you do have any suggestions for good current sources or more updated sources, let me know -- like I said, we're not in the fandom so we're limited to what's easily findable online, and if Fanlore doesn't link it, we're limited more or less to Tumblr's search algorithm, which we all know is not the most functional. The follow-up won't be until at least next August since that's when the Religious Wars happened, so no rush or pressure to reply right away, but I am genuinely intrigued by the event and I love watching people love the things they love, so I would totally be down to follow some dS blogs between now and then!

In light of your expected timeline for the follow-up, I think it would be appropriate that the “Corrections Corner” segment you offered to do on the podcast be included in the NEXT episode you publish, NOT a year from now.

Because, as I said in my previous message, the harm done was NOT simply that you made a factual error in stating that the Ray Wars were on-going to this day, but that when you say things like:

“So these negative attitudes just kept intensifying and intensifying and honest-to-god, they really never got to a point where they were like, ‘this is silly, let’s just let bygones be bygones’. For whatever reason, due South,” “-is still like this-” “...despite being a silly cop show about a guy talking to his ghost of a dad with his wolf dog. Like, people refuse to set their differences aside for due South and say, ‘you can like RayV, I’m gonna like RayK and we’re both okay with that.’” “To this day, you have to pick a Ray, or have Benton choose actively to swing both Rays.”

To a live audience at a fan convention, without doing more than cursory research (even fanlore.org lists the Ray Wars as a concluded historical event) to ensure that you’re being accurate, you’re doing a disservice to the current members of the due South fandom, who either lived through the Wars and fought to make the fandom a better space afterwards, or were not participants and yet also continuously put in work to keep our fandom welcoming.

As for your question regarding sources for information on the due South “Religious War of ‘96”, I’m afraid that pre-dates my involvement in the fandom by a good four years, and as much of those events took place over private mailing lists, your best bet is to speak with older members of the fandom with firsthand experience. I’m going to publish your ask so that any fans who might remember those events know to contact you. :)

10 first lines.

Thank you @marley-manson for tagging me!

I chose a few fics at random instead of taking the first lines of my latest fics. I also decided to do a mix of published fics and wips. :)

Of all the ways Ray Vecchio imagined his life ending, freezing to death with an animal carcass draped over his shoulders, wasn’t one of them. - Warm (due South, RayV/Fraser)

Michael was being attacked by a giant octopus. - where you belong (qaf us, Brian/MIchael)

A cloud of steam followed Vince out of the bathroom. - Invincible (qaf uk, Stuart/Vince)

Ray’s shoulders tensed at the sound of stifled laughter and whispers rolling through the bullpen.  - Inside Ray Kowalski (due South, Ray/Ray)

Jesse watches as the ribbons of smoke lazily curl and climb from the tip of his cigarette, eventually dissipating in the breeze coming from the ceiling fan. - Cigarette Daydreams (breaking bad, Walt/Jesse -ish)

WIPs (these are all still in the early/unedited stages, so these lines might change)

The night after his father's funeral, Ray went to a gay bar for the first time. - Untitled (due South, RayV centric)

Trapper glanced up from his drink as a wave of young men, laughing and hanging all over each other, tumbled through the door of the club. - lost in translation (Mash, traphawk reunion fic)

The first thing Trapper did after he got the news he was going home–after he put Radar’s feet back on the ground and stopped twirling him around–was look towards Hawkeye’s bunk, searching for the person he wanted to share his joy with the most. - Untitled (Mash, traphawk)

When he left, Ray knew that life would go on without him, he just hadn’t expected that to include his own life. - afterlife (RayV, due South)

There was a single queen-sized bed in the middle of the room, glaring at Ray like a giant neon sign that read: Dear Stanley Raymond Kowalski, I fucking hate you – Sincerely, The Universe. - Untitled (two rays, one bed) (due South, Ray/Ray)

no pressure tagging some people who I know write fic: @portlandwithyou, @juniperhillpatient, @toutes-les-routes, @superpixie42, @catty-words, and anyone else who wants to do this!

If you don't have ten fic, just post what you do have, and only if you want, of course!

fraser/victoria is fantastic actually and I'll never be over it. like, yes, fraser/thatcher and fraser/rayk are both beloved and venerable ships but it's still, deep down, i'm all about fraser and victoria falling in love surviving a storm together and neither being willing to compromise but loving each other anyway.... if rayv hadn't shot him in VS pt II, i think they could have worked out something in some kinda way. meeting in the middle in some grey area. season 1 fraser definitely had it in him even if later season fraser veered almost into a caricature of his virtues.

it's been almost 30 years and i'm still not over it. it's the kind of enemies to lover tale that people these days dream about but it goes under the radar because due south is still not well known or easy to find.

Dear Santa

Hi!!!! i'm preet! It's good to meet ya, and i hope we have a great time this seekrit santa season!! We've matched together, so i can assume we both love these characters a hell of a whole bunch- I want you to know that i already know ill love whatever you're going to come up with, and i can't wait to see what your creativity brings!!!

my DNW is pretty short, but i always add them just in case! so, no ddlg/scat/sounding/character deaths please. just know that i'm super grateful to be a part of this, and that i'll love any fan-work you bring to the table, especially in a fandom thats well into its third decade, yet welcomes new members like me with open arms.

If you'd like, i have some further details on the requests, so take a look! if you'd prefer to take your own spin on them, feel free!!!

request 1:

Benton fraser/ray kowalski

im a sucker for them being cute together! i'd love something fluffy! it's up to you for whatever scenario you like, but i do confess a fondness for winter/snow shenanigans and cuddling for warmth, and drinking hot cider or hot chocolate together. Regardless, im sure ill love whatever you come up with!!

request 2:

Benton Fraser & Robert "Bob" Fraser & Maggie Mackenzie

i mean, they really should've had one holiday or family dinner together don't you think? any familiy event with lots of ghost shenanigans would be great!

request 3:

Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski/Mark Smithbauer

not gonna lie i love a little jealousy thrown in with my threesomes/throuples XD who's jealous of who in this relationship depends on you! Have fun with it and go nuts! (angst is good as long as its a happy ending!)

request 4:

Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio

the sky's the limit! perhaps post cotw, growing pains and fluff? moving to canada together? or staying in chicago? to be honest id be delighted by anything (angst is a okay! as long as we get a happy ending)

request 5:

Victoria Metcalf & None

i just really love victoria. maybe a fic about her life after victoria's secret? does she ever go back to see Fraser? does she watch through press coverage? does she see his new relationships? or does she just move on and think of him fondly/angrily from time to time, building her own life? (if she does go back- perhaps some background rayk/fraser or rayk/fraser/rayv she can get jealous about). to be fair i'd love anything you come up with!!

Thank you so much for making something for me this christmas Santa! I can't wait, and i hope you'll have as much fun as i will writing this event!

Yours-

preetkiran1016

draw sniff and whimper but with any two wc cats you choose

thanks for the ask!

Hi hello immediately need to know about pining like a forest, what a brilliant title

It's for last year's Due South Big Bang which I didn't manage to write, but maybe one day I'll pick it up again. In which Fraser and RayK are idiots in love, terrible things happen and RayV suffers through his friends' pining and other nonsense:

“Ray?”

“Yes Benny?”

“I - ah - is there, that is to say, it’s not sunny is it?”

“Benny, it’s dark and rainy outside.”

“Ah.” - not outside, in here - he could not say that.

“Are you seeing things again?”

“Nothing to worry about.”

Ray looked at him inquisitively and then his face softened. “If you say so, Benny.”

“Quite so.”

“Vecchio! Frase! Come on! We got something!” Ray Kowalski hollered from the other side of the bullpen, waving a piece of paper around while Francesca looked crossly at him. For a moment the light in the room brightened and Benton was momentarily mesmerized by the way it glinted in Ray’s blond spiky hair.

You know, when it comes to good hurt/comfort to me it isn’t just about the whumpee.  Like, yes, that’s a big part of it, but it’s also very much about the comforter.  

Like, when I read John-Rodney whump from SGA (where Rodney’s the whumpee), to me it’s a lot about how Rodney really doesn’t think he has any real value beyond his intellect...but it’s also about how John just can’t stand to lose one more person after all he’s been through, especially not Rodney.

When I read Benton Fraser from Due South getting whumped, it’s about his abandonment issues, but it’s also about RayV’s need to be the caretaker, the stable adult of his family after years of his father’s abuse and/or it’s about RayK’s codependency issues.

When I read Ted Lasso getting whumped, it’s about Ted’s own abandonment issues and insecurities and it’s also about Rebecca’s trust issues and learning how to trust herself and maybe a little bit about her learning her own power.

I could go on.  But there’s a reason I not only pick certain people to be whumped, but also a reason I pick certain people to be comforters.