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Rafael wiped his fingers clean from bread crumbs and sipped his coffee merrily. It was still considerably early, and he’d had time to eat the sandwich Sonny had made him while looking through the files for the day’s arraignment. His schedule allowed him the indulgence; while most days he’d scarf down a snack while running from one room to the other, today he got to sit back and enjoy the breakfast his husband had prepared for him.
Truth be told, Rafael would have preferred to eat it at home, while it was still warm, Sonny nuzzling his neck between bites of his own food. But that morning Sonny had left before Rafael could even find the energy to get up from bed, dropping a kiss on his forehead and pressing a cup of coffee into Rafael’s hand.
“Got an early briefing with the squad,” Sonny had told him, hurried. “I made you a breakfast sandwich with that cheese you like.”
Rafael hummed into his cup of coffee, thankful and pleased, still bleary-eyed.
“I love you,” he pressed a kiss to Rafael’s cheek and made his way out of their bedroom. “Have a good day at work!”
Rafael swallowed his coffee. “Love you!,” he yelled back, then heard the front door close a beat later.
Breakfast without Sonny wasn’t great, but it was still good as it was made by him, and Rafael was glad he’d had the chance to savor it.
As if on cue, right when Rafael threw the napkins into his trash can, his phone started ringing. With an annoyed eye-roll, he made sure to check the caller ID before answering. He was actively avoiding Rita’s calls, but grabbed the device when he saw it was Sergeant Dodds’ name that flashed across his screen.
Rafael frowned at it - Dodds hardly ever called him and, if he did, it was only because both Sonny and Olivia were unavailable.
“Sergeant Dodds, what can I do for you?”
“Hey, Barb,” Rafael grimaced at the nickname. “So, don’t freak out, but Sonny has been taken to the hospital.”
“What?,” he barked, checking his watch. Sonny’s shift started just about two hours ago, how had he already landed himself in the hospital? “Why?”
Dodds let out a long, exasperated sigh that clued Rafael in on what was about to come. If it was something serious, Dodds wouldn’t be acting this aloof about it, which could only mean Sonny had gotten himself into something that was just... Sonny’s way of being.
“The Cap brought everyone coffee and a breakfast sandwich because we got in so early, right?,” he started, casual as hell. Rafael almost asked him to hurry up. “So we all went into the break room to eat. You know the old cabinets where we keep condiments and stuff? Sonny managed to hit the top of his head right at the pointed corner, bled everywhere. He’s fine, though. Benson insisted on dragging him to the hospital to check if he needed stitches, but I doubt it.”
As Mike told his tale, Rafael found himself with a hand across his mouth, just to make sure he wouldn’t burst out laughing.
“Jesus Christ,” he breathed, pulling his hand away. “Alright, I’ll go there and relieve Olivia.”
“Much appreciated. Sonny told me not to call you over something so small, but I have to hold down the fort since Liv left and Kat can’t go out on her own, so Fin and Rollins have way too much work on their shoulders.”
Rafael chuckled. “You’re severely understaffed, Sergeant,”
“I‘m well aware, and that’s why I’m asking you to go babysit your husband,” Mike said, once again sounding exasperated.
“Might as well just draft the divorce papers on my way there,” he stood up, stuffing a few files back into his briefcase one-handed.
Dodds let out a mocking laugh. “You wouldn’t dare and I wouldn’t let you.”
Rafael snickered. “Just keeping you on your toes, Sergeant.”
“Right. Tell Sonny not to be mad at me,” Dodds asked, and Rafael’s reply was a non-committal hum. “You’re not helpful at all.”
“Thank you, Sergeant, have a nice day,” he said smugly, then ended the call.
Briefcase in hand, he drained the last of his coffee and made his way out of his office. Carmen looked up, curious.
“If I’m not back in an hour, could you ask one of the juniors from downstairs to take over today’s arraignment?,” he asked. “I’d hate to miss it, but it’s pretty straightforward. I left the file on my desk with all my notes, if needed.”
“Of course,” Carmen started taking quick notes on her computer. “Is everything okay with Detective Carisi?”
“From what Sergeant Dodds said, yes, just a small accident,” Rafael pulled out his phone to shoot Olivia a quick text. “I’m going over to check him out and take him home, but that shouldn’t take long.”
“Alright,” Carmen gave him a small smile. She was well aware of Sonny’s clumsiness, she’d been there for a few instances herself. “I hope he feels better soon.”
Rafael smiled back at her and nodded. “I’ll let him know.”
Rafael got to the hospital and asked for his husband at the front desk. He was directed to the observation rooms and spotted Olivia standing in the hallway, working away on her phone.
“Hey,” Rafael greeted. “How is he?”
Olivia pocketed her phone as he approached her in quick steps. “He’s fine. No stitches, thank God, he’s been whining about not wanting to have to cut his hair since we left the precinct.”
Rafael chuckled. “Not too bad, then?”
“It was ugly,” Olivia winced. “He bled a lot. His shirt is soaked.”
Rafael pulled a face. “Great, I just had breakfast.”
Olivia threw him a sympathetic look. “It was just a bad hit, though. The doctor said it’ll barely leave scar.”
“I’m sure he was happy to hear that,” he reached over and squeezed Olivia’s shoulder. “Thank you for bringing him, Liv. Dodds told me you’re all pulling your weights, so I’ll take it from here.”
“Thanks,” she patted his hand with a soft smile. “Let Carisi know he can take the rest of today off.”
Rafael scoffed. “He’ll want to shower then immediately go back to the precinct.”
“Well, I won’t argue with him on that,” she shook her head. “We are pulling our weight, and then some.”
“Yeah, you should do something about that,” Rafael teased.
“Charming,” Olivia chuckled, waved her goodbyes and left.
Rafael checked the doors in front of him and quickly found Sonny’s, walking in after knocking to make sure it was the right one. When Sonny saw him, he pouted.
“I told Mike not to call you, I’m fine,” he whined, shoulders sagging.
Rafael smiled despite himself, setting his briefcase on the lone chair beside the bed and reaching for Sonny. “Despite what you might think, Olivia is not actually your mother and she’s got a job to do, so Mike asked me to take over for her.”
Sonny tutted, leaning into Rafael’s touch. The sight of him really was horrifying; someone had made a half-assed attempt of cleaning the blood on Sonny’s neck, but it was still smudged red all over. The back of his shirt, his shoulders and his upper arms all had dark, dried stains.
“Well, this shirt is ruined,” Rafael twisted his nose.
Sonny smiled at him, unbothered. “Guess that gives you an excuse to buy me another one.”
“I do like dressing you,” he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Sonny’s lips. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Sonny said, sure of himself. “I barely even felt it. It was Kat who saw the blood.”
“You trying to scare the newbie, Detective?”
Sonny chuckled, shaking his head. “A little blood doesn’t faze her, I can tell you that much.”
“Little?,” Rafael raised an eyebrow, pulling at Sonny’s slaughterhouse of a shirt.
“It was a bad hit,” he shrugged. “But they glued me all back together. And thank God for that! Can you imagine if I had to get stitches? They’d cut my hair, Raf!”
Rafael leaned in to kiss him again, soothing and soft. “God forbid.”
Sonny had a habit of having small accidents here and there. Rafael knew he was clumsy from the day they met; the Detective often banged this or that limb at a wall, a desk, a counter, a cabinet. Rafael thought it was due to the fact that the man was so long and had no spacial awareness, but Sonny showed dexterity and perfect control of his limbs in many occasions since then, so the mystery remained.
Rafael had worried at first. Sonny would show up with bruises on his shins, his back and arms, and Rafael’s mind went through worst-case scenarios every time. But whenever Rafael asked, Sonny would laugh it off and blamed it on his clumsiness.
“I don’t even know where this one came from,” he’d say sometimes, poking at dark purple bruises. “But this one was because I hit the coffee table two days ago.”
Rafael really should not find Sonny’s retelling of how he got his bruises endearing, but he did get married to the man and could no longer lie to himself. So he’d let out an exasperated sigh, shake his head and kiss Sonny’s woes away.
“One of these days I’ll wrap you in some bubble wrap to protect you from yourself,” he’d said, and Sonny beamed at him.
So it didn’t really faze Rafael when, on a Saturday evening, he heard a gasp followed by a loud “ouch!” coming from the kitchen. He’d been looking through some potential vacation spots for Sonny’s birthday, nothing too fancy, and Sonny was making dinner.
“You okay?,” Rafael called out after his husband.
There was silence. Rafael frowned, pushing his computer away and standing up from the couch.
“Sonny?,” he called as he made his way into their kitchen. “What happened?”
“Uh,” Sonny started. “I need your help.”
Rafael found Sonny holding his pointer finger tightly, water running over his hands. His eyes were a little wide.
“Uh,” he blinked. “I cut my finger.”
Rafael winced, stepping up closer to him. “How badly?”
“I think…,” Sonny swallowed, looking down at his hand again. “I think I cut a piece off.”
Rafael’s stomach turned. He wasn’t the strongest of the two when it come to injuries and accidents and blood. He never knew what to do, and he had somewhat of a weak stomach for these things. Sonny knew this, which was why Rafael guessed he was trying to play it down and not panic.
“How?,” Rafael asked, looking around.
He spotted a cutting board with some onions, but despite a tiny smudge of blood on the knife, there was no piece of finger around. Rafael swallowed hard.
“We need to wrap it,” Rafael said, although it sounded like a question in the end.
Sonny let out a steadying breath. “Okay, we need to stop the bleeding. Can you get our first aid-kit?”
Rafael nodded and went into their bathroom quickly, coming back with the small kit and opening it on the kitchen counter.
“There should be some gauze in there,” Sonny said. “Grab me that cloth over there, I’ll dry it really quickly and you wrap it up, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rafael nodded, grabbing some gauze and white tape.
Sonny pulled his finger away from the water and wrapped it. Rafael expected to see it go crimson red from the blood, but it didn’t. When Sonny revealed his finger for the gauze, Rafael took a look at the damage.
It was a superficial but long cut on the side of Sonny’s finger. There was no piece missing.
“Sonny, I’ve had paper cuts worse than that,” Rafael said, still staring at his husband’s finger. It was bleeding, but not enough to even pool.
Sonny spluttered. “But it hurt so bad.”
“Well, it’s quite a sharp knife, and you were cutting onions,” Rafael took his hand and kissed his palm. “I’ll grab a bandaid.”
He took the first aid-kit and left Sonny muttering after himself in the kitchen. Rafael shook his head, half amused and half exasperated. Sonny liked to make fun of him for being dramatic, then pulled a “I cut a piece of my finger off”.
“Not a dull day in the Barba-Carisi household,” Rafael said, more to himself than Sonny, but the other man heard him anyway.
“Raf, it still hurts!,” he whined, and Rafael would bet good money he was pouting.
“No worries, I’ll kiss it better,” Rafael joked, looking over his shoulder to wink at his husband. And yes, he was pouting.
Rafael set his book aside when he heard the front door open, followed by Sonny calling out for him.
“In the bedroom!,” he replied.
A minute later, Sonny walked in, suit jacket already off, a smile on his tired face.
“Honey, I’m home,” Sonny teased, walking around the bed towards him. Rafael reached a hand out to him, grabbing his tie as soon as he could, pulling Sonny in for a welcome home kiss.
“Hi,” he said softly once they parted. Sonny took Rafael’s free hand in his as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “You’re home later than I thought.”
“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just this case…,” Sonny let out a long breath, shaking his head. “But it’s well past 9pm, you know what that means.”
“No shop talk,” Rafael nodded. No talk of cases before 9am or after 9pm, that was their rule. “Unless you need to talk about it.”
“I’m okay,” he leaned in and pressed another kiss to Rafael’s lips, closing his eyes for a moment. “And how was your day?”
Sonny got up and went to his side of the dresser, pulling out his sleeping pants and clean underwear. He laid everything on the end of the bed, then pulled off his tie and started unbuttoning his shirt.
“Uneventful,” Rafael said, watching attentively. “But you won’t believe what Rita told me during lunch.”
Sonny raised an eyebrow at him, now standing there shirtless for Rafael’s appraisal. He went for his belt next.
“She’s been making eyes at Olivia,” Rafael told him. “Apparently she liked working with Liv instead of against her that one time.”
Sonny gaped at him, pants falling to his feet at the same time. “No way. Rita and Olivia?”
Rafael shrugged one shoulder. “It’s still early, she said. But they’re going out for drinks tomorrow.”
Sonny kicked his pants and shoes away, then bent down to pick everything up. Rafael wished he’d turn around.
“Well, last I heard, Liv has a pretty strict ‘not dating lawyers’ rule,” Sonny said, now only in his boxers.
Rafael quite enjoyed watching him fold his used clothes carelessly and throwing everything in their hamper. Who would have thought there was sexiness in domesticity.
“Well, you know Rita, if she finds a closed door she’ll move on to the next one,” Rafael said, not really paying attention to his words, but rather Sonny’s gorgeous ass as he moved around the room.
“Aren’t you glad I didn’t have that rule, Raf?,” Sonny teased with a lopsided grin.
Rafael hummed positively. “And I’m feeling gladder by the second.”
Sonny stalked over to him in feline steps. “Yeah? That why you’re looking at me like that?”
Rafael spread his legs on the bed, and Sonny licked his lips.
“Like what?,” he challenged, smirking.
Sonny came towards him, but before he could reply, he kicked the foot of the bed and his flushed face paled and contorted into a expression of pure pain.
“Ah!,” he yelp. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Rafael sat up, reaching for him to help him sit on the end of the bed. “What? Is it broken?”
Sonny moved his foot slowly, hissing. “I don’t know, I’m afraid to look.”
Well, so was Rafael. “Does it feel broken?”
He hesitated for movement, then let out another yelp, eyes squeezing shut. “It hurts like fucking hell when I move it, I can’t tell if it’s broken.”
Rafael got out of bed, holding Sonny’s shoulders. “Okay, okay, come up here, put your feet up.”
Sonny scooted up the bed slowly, taking Rafael’s place and slowly bringing his hurt foot onto the mattress. He kept his eyes closed, and Rafael noticed he was getting paler.
“Hey, hey,” he took Sonny’s face between his hands. “Look at me, Sonny.”
Sonny opened his eyes and blinked at him. “It’s throbbing.”
“I’ll take a look at it, okay? You don’t have to look.”
Sonny nodded and closed his eyes again when Rafael moved away. With all courage he could muster, Rafael turned and looked past the long expanse of Sonny’s legs at his foot.
His second toe was bright red and swollen, and it was bleeding a little where the skin had been essentially kicked off his toe. It didn’t look broken or out of place thankfully, just hurt.
“I don’t think it’s broken,” Rafael said. “But it’s swollen, so maybe we should ice it a little.”
Sonny nodded. “It hurts less off the floor.”
Rafael grabbed a pillow and pushed it under Sonny’s heel softly. “Is it still throbbing?”
“Not as much as before, but yeah.”
“I’ll go grab some ice.”
“I’m sorry, Raf,” Sonny said before Rafael went to leave the room. “I really wanted us to have some hanky panky time.”
Rafael couldn’t help but laugh lightly, going back to kiss his husband a couple more times, trying to comfort him. “My offer to wrap you in bubble wrap still stands.”
“Yeah, I should take you up on that,” he chuckled.
Rafael pressed another quick kiss to his pouty lips. “Be right back.”
He came back a few minutes later with a bag of ice, a bowl of water and a washcloth. He found Sonny inspecting his toe so closely he was almost bent in half.
“It doesn’t look too bad,” Sonny conceded, then poked at it lightly. “But God, it hurts.”
Rafael rolled his eyes. “Stop that!”
Sonny huffed, then sat back. “What if I can’t walk tomorrow?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Rafael said placatingly. “I’m going to clean a bit of the blood, okay?”
“Be gentle,” he asked with an apprehensive expression.
Rafael tried to give him a sympathetic smile. “Of course.”
He sat down with his back to Sonny, he held him plant his foot on the bed and wrapped his arms around Sonny’s calf so he could hold his heel with one hand and clean with the other. Sonny tensed reflexively at the first touch, but eventually relaxed as Rafael didn’t need any pressure at all to remove the specks of blood around his fingernail.
After his toe was clean, Rafael positioned the bag of ice carefully to cover the abused toe. Sonny hissed, but didn’t complain. He settled back into the bed and sighed, long and dramatic.
“All done,” Rafael announced proudly.
“Thanks, Raf,” he said softly, reaching over to caress his back.
“You have to be more careful, Sonny,” he scolded lightly, turning on the bed to look at him. “You know that any serious physical injury will get you benched by Liv.”
Sonny’s shoulders sagged. “I know, but I apparently can’t help it.”
Rafael smiled softly at him. “Yeah, you’re just 6 foot of clumsiness.”
“Good thing I have you to take care of me,” he beamed, then opened his arms to Rafael. “We can still cuddle though, right?”
Rafael tilted his head at him. “We can, but does a hurt toe prevent you from getting your dick sucked?”
Sonny’s reaction was so instantaneous Rafael almost laughed. His good foot immediately moved so he could spread his legs, careful not to dislodge the ice bag. He scooted down a little more on the bed and looked at Rafael with expectant eyes.
“No, not at all,” Sonny said eagerly. “In fact, that’d be a great distraction from the pain, I think.”
Rafael laughed openly now. “Good thinking.”
He crawled up the bed towards Sonny and kissed him, deep and wet. That night they tested the limitations of a hurt toe in married life and found out that feeling pain was secondary to Sonny when he got Rafael sitting on his lap.
Sonny looked radiant, Rafael thought as he stopped by the kitchen entrance to watch his husband. He was rinsing the dishes, whistling a tune as he went. Their mothers were in the living room, talking and having a cup of coffee with dessert, and they’d been sneakily taking the plates away to wash them.
If this was any other type of get together, they’d leave the dishes for after their guests left, but when it came to Lucia Barba and Tessa Carisi things had to be a little different. Sonny and Rafael learned that early on, when their mothers stayed behind to wash their plates themselves and told them off for not doing it.
Sonny and Rafael would share a look of both amusement and exasperation, and soon enough they had a plan of action for when their parents were around. Attack while they were busy having dessert, sneakily going into the kitchen with a couple plates at a time.
The proud looks they got from their mothers at the end of the night was just a bonus.
And so Rafael walked in with the last of the glasses, putting them beside Sonny as he was rinsing their salad bowl.
“We still in the clear?,” Sonny asked with a lopsided grin.
“Yes, your mother is showing my mother your baby pictures right now,” he chuckled.
Sonny rolled his eyes. “Do they have to do that every time?”
“I tried asking my mother that, and her response was a ten-minute long rant about how I was her only son and she had the right to gush about the perfect baby she made,” Rafael grimaced.
“I mean,” Sonny shrugged one shoulder. “She’s got a point.”
Rafael grunted. “Stop it or I’ll go over and show some pictures as well.”
“You don’t have baby pictures of me,” he frowned, shutting the tap off and grabbing a cloth.
“Not baby pictures, no,” he smirked, then laughed when Sonny’s eyes widened.
“You wouldn’t,” Sonny gaped at him.
“I don’t know,” he hummed, leaning against the counter. “You look really good in leather.”
“Raf--,” he started.
Rafael predicted it just one second before it happened. With his hands still wet, Sonny took their salad bowl to put back into its designated cabinet, and Rafael watched in dismay as the bowl scraped the door of said cabinet and immediately slipped from Sonny’s hold.
In an instinctive and reflexive move that he never imagined he’d be capable of pulling off, Rafael slapped the bowl away in its descend. It exploded as it flew against the kitchen island, and he knew the shards would be a nightmare to clean up, but at least he’d avoided the fall on Sonny’s bare feet.
“Is everything okay in there?,” Tessa called out, and he could hear their hurried steps coming closer.
Rafael raised a hand at them as soon as he saw both women approaching the kitchen.
“Don’t come in here, there’s glass everywhere,” he warned them. “It’s okay, we’re fine. It’s just a bowl that slipped.”
“Oh, Sonny,” Tessa said, very much aware of her son’s clumsiness.
“Give me a broom, I can help,” Lucia said, once again trying to walk into the kitchen.
“Mami, don’t,” Rafael insisted. “It’s okay, go back to the living room, we’ll be right over.”
Lucia didn’t look convinced, but looked between the two of them, gave the expanse of the floor a long look and went back into the living room, taking Tessa with her.
Rafael sighed, annoyed, and turned back to Sonny. He found his husband looking at him with a fire in his eyes that made his stomach clench in recognition.
“God, Raf, that was so sexy,” he whispered, crowding into Rafael. “You were so fast.”
Sonny practically attacked him, his kiss hot and demanding. His hands were everywhere, over Rafael’s chest, down his back, on his ass, pulling and grabbing and squeezing. Rafael let himself be grabbed, arching into his husband, very much enjoying Sonny’s enthusiasm at his show of clear heroism .
“We should clean this up,” he said against Sonny’s lips, panting. “Or they’ll come back and do it for us.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sonny breathed, looking dazed. “Just one more kiss, please?”
Rafael barely had time to say “Okay, just one more,” before Sonny’s head dipped back down to take his mouth with a swipe of his expert tongue and a drag of his plush lips. Rafael sighed, content and satisfied, as Sonny’s hands went under his shirt.
“You’re so hot,” Sonny told him, and the heaviness in his voice made Rafael’s toes curl inside his shoes. “My hero.”
Rafael chuckled, hugging Sonny around the waist. “Remember when I said you needed to be more careful?”
Sonny ducked his head. “I know, I’m sorry.”
“You’re lucky you’re cute,” Rafael smiled, pecking him on the lips softly.
Sonny’s response was a bright, broad grin. “I am lucky,” he said.
“And sappy, too.”
“Can you blame me?,” Sonny shrugged one shoulder.
“Yes,” he said, chuckling. “Now let’s clean this mess.”
Sonny tutted, pulling away from him with a pout to look at the shards of glass on the floor.
“You know, I’m glad you saved me, but that means you won’t have to nurse me back to health,” Sonny joked, cheeky smile and all.
Rafael laughed. “You wanna play doctor?”
“We always roleplay as ourselves,” he considered it. “You know, lawyers and cops. We could branch out.”
Rafael was about to agree when his mother’s voice interrupted him. “We can hear you,” Lucia said, sounding a bit shrill.
“Yes,” Tessa continued, more placantingly. “We’re very happy that you two have such a… great relationship, but we don’t need the details.”
Rafael laughed into his hand, trying to keep himself for laughing out loud as he watched Sonny’s face go pinker by the second. He looked absolutely mortified.
“You know what, it’s getting a little late,” Lucia said, and Rafael continued to laugh into his hand. “Maybe we should go.”
“Good idea,” Tessa said. “Thank you for dinner, boys. It was fantastic.”
Sonny was frozen in the middle of their kitchen, looking at Rafael with wide eyes. Rafael waved his goodbyes to his mother and his mother in law, who bypassed the kitchen without even trying to go inside.
“Goodnight,” Lucia said with a tight smile.
When the door closed with a click behind them, Rafael let himself burst out a loud laugh.
“Raf!,” Sonny screeched. “They heard us talking about roleplay! It’s not funny!”
“It is,” he hissed between laughs.
“This is your fault, you know,” Sonny shook his head, starting to let himself go, small chuckles escaping him.
Rafael raised a finger at him. “You started it.”
“Come here,” he grabbed Rafael by the hips and pulled him closer again. “Mind the glass.”
“We really do have to clean this up.”
“We will,” Sonny tightened his grip. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
Sonny shrugged. “Just thank you.”
“You can thank me properly later,” Rafael said slyly.
“Yeah?,” he raised an eyebrow.
“The doctor will see you at 8,” Rafael whispered.
Sonny immediately perked up. “I’ll grab the broom!”
He pulled away, walking as fast as he could on his tippy toes to avoid the glass. Rafael watched him go, shaking his head at his husband’s foolishness, a happy bubble inflating in his chest when Sonny misstepped and let out a small “whoops” before regaining his balance.
Sonny looked over his shoulder at Rafael, throwing him a sheepish look. Rafael smiled at the sight, and that feeling in his chest grew twice as big.