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Sonny was adamant that the team knew they were together. How could they not? He could put on a great act in the interrogation room, mirroring a suspect so perfectly that they’d walk straight into their own confession after feeling like they were sitting with someone who understood them, someone who was capable of defending or rationalizing their actions with them. He could have been an actor if the cards had been dealt differently; at least, that’s what Rafael said when he got stuck in one of those mindsets. He wasn’t a method actor, he didn’t need to bring the work home, drop it at the door, etcetera etcetera.
(Rafael usually dropped it when Sonny would shoot the sentiments back at him, fingers tugging and toying with his suspenders, with a carefully raised eyebrow. His flair for dramatics was well regarded in the courtroom and apparent by the ostentatious accessories he rarely went without, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t leave the dramatics in their closet at the end of a long day of work.)
The team knew him better than that. At least, that’s what Sonny kept insisting. How could you look at him, practically the poster boy for family-is-everything, Italian Catholic pride, and Staten Island roots going back generations, and not think he’d make sure he had enough time between working with the NYPD and going to night-school to establish his own family?
Even if that family was only him and one other person.
He’d shrugged off enough double-dates when Amaro and Rollins would get an idea in their heads and try to set him up. At first, he’d gone along with it, thinking it was a joke with Amaro to help Amanda put herself out there, but then she kept inviting him even after Nick made it known he and his ex-wife were “trying” again. (Sonny refused to acknowledge the I-told-you-so glower Rafael would send him when he finally made it home after one of the dates in question, choosing to instead rant about how if Amanda was going to try and bust his balls the least she could do was find someone who might have actually been his type).
Their work lives had overlapped, briefly, before Sonny came to Manhattan SVU, and he thought that was well known. If not by the other detectives, then by the people who had access to his personnel files. Dodds and Benson. Tucker and whoever took his place in IAB.
Rafael had made a name for himself in Brooklyn before Manhattan. It wasn’t the only reason Sonny left Staten Island homicide for SVU, but he would be lying if he didn’t say it influenced him at some level. Hell, he’d only questioned the move after he transferred from Staten Island to Brooklyn and had to learn first-hand that the teams were not all that great behind closed doors, like Rafael’s own stories had led him to believe. When the reality of the squad didn’t change with time, Sonny took the recommendation to transfer to Queens without much hesitation.
Then, Queens failed to measure up. He wondered if it was something about him, if his expectations were part of the problem, but Rafael told him to go with his gut. It hadn’t led them astray in all their years, not since the Food Poisoning Incident of 2012. (Which they agreed to never discuss again, in the week of remorse and cleanup that followed).
They had been careful, making sure they didn’t overlap on cases. Limited the risk of defense attorney’s taking any inch they found to try and pull as leverage to turn a case back their way. When Rafael was more strict than Sonny found necessary, going so far as to avoid going out in any borough Sonny had worked (more reason to double down on his efforts to make Manhattan SVU work, he could not continue their lives feeling relegated to Long Island) he’d remind him that there had been more than enough relationships between cops and lawyers over the years in and outside of New York, that they didn’t have to hold themselves to such steep standards.
Except those statistics drastically changed when it came to talking about same-sex relationships. Hell, they’d only met because they’d been at the same bar in the West Village celebrating New York’s legalization of gay marriage. Sonny had taken the news as a sign that he shouldn’t be afraid to live his life proudly, openly bisexual, and decided he wasn’t going to make the same mistakes he had in his twenties. He’d finally come out to his parents just after his thirtieth birthday, accepting it was about damn time he started living his life as authentically as possible; it wasn’t like there were other Italian Catholics stepping up to the plate.
Years later, after Rafael proposed, Sonny was dismayed to learn that they wouldn’t be the first gay wedding to take place at his family’s church on Staten Island. It didn’t stop him from trying to persuade Rafael that a church wedding was still the best venue. Especially one that was so important to his family.
Rafael took that as his cue to remind Sonny he’d also grown up with Catholicism, and if he wanted a church wedding he would have to be the one to explain to Lucia Barba why their church wasn’t good enough for them.
(Sonny dropped the conversation each and every time. He started looking at elopement options after the sixth discussion-turned-argument).
And now that there was legislature that would legalize same-sex marriage for the entire United States, Sonny was adamant that they needed to set a date for their own nuptials. It was only poetic, considering how they’d met and all.
(Rafael called him cheesy with a roll of his eyes when he’d use that to bolster his argument. Sonny called it romantic. He took the bait, every time, pivoting his reasoning to instead show Sonny what romance actually looked like).
In the end, Rafael met him in the middle – they’d set the date and elope, save the big party for later, but he refused to have any part of the celebrations be on the actual date of the Supreme Court’s ruling. He was gay, he was a lawyer, but he would be damned if he let himself lose out on the wedding of their dreams to make a political point.
Which was how they got to their current predicament. Rafael was trying to get them to take a two-week long honeymoon, considering they didn’t get to take anytime back in July when they’d actually tied the knot. They were more than justified to want to get out of New York before winter reared its ugly head, even without the pretense of celebrating. He knew Olivia wouldn’t grant so much time off without reason. He also knew Sonny had used up a lot of his PTO earlier in the year when Bella gave birth and would need the approval whether he took the days with or without pay.
“Come on, Carisi,” Olivia was standing behind her desk, reading glasses in one hand and her phone in the other. “Everyone wants extra time off during the holidays. You know it’s by seniority. Fin put in his request two months ago.”
“First Christmas with the grandkid,” Sonny nodded, despite himself. His eyes were lowered in understanding, but also resignation.
Dissimilarly, Rafael looked like he was bolstered for a fight. Head high with confidence that was usually saved for the courtroom, when the pieces were just about to fall into place to nail a suspect on the witness stand.
“Life’s too short, each celebration is sacred, I get it,” Rafael started. Olivia looked at him, straightening. She pocketed her phone, curiosity getting the better of her, already knowing whatever Barba was about to say would demand her full attention.
“SVU’s a tight knit group,” Olivia nodded her agreement. “It’s been a while since the team has had something new and exciting to celebrate. Everyone’s sentimental when it comes to kids, now.” Rafael’s glance at the framed photo of Noah didn’t go missed. “We know you aren’t biased, when it comes to personal requests.”
“Barba, I don’t know when the vacation plans of our team became relevant to the ADA–”
Olivia started to talk but was cut off by both Rafael and the door to her office opening. Sonny glanced over, saw Amaro pushing the door open and Rollins not far behind him.
“The opposite, actually,” Sonny couldn’t help but look back at Rafael with a warming smile.
“It is my honeymoon, too, after all.”
“You guys are– what?” Amanda’s voice broke the silence. Olivia closed her mouth, seemingly unaware that it had fallen open to begin with.
“Married,” Sonny answered at the same time Rafael shot out, “Husbands,” without turning to glance at the other detectives.
He felt his smile widening. It’d only been six months but Sonny knew he’d never get tired of hearing Rafael call them what they were, especially with such confidence and sincerity. Leaving no room for argument.
He was Rafael Barba, afterall.
“Since when?” Nick had crossed his arms, leaning against the open door.
“Since it was none of your business,” Rafael’s voice was curt whereas Sonny’s was warm, “July.”
“Just because the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage doesn’t mean you have to go out and marry the first gay person you know–” Sonny was used to Amanda’s brand of sarcasm, but he also knew how much it pushed Rafael’s buttons. They were too similar for their own good, some days.
He didn’t need to look at Rafael to know how hard he was rolling his eyes, “This is why I didn’t want to get married in June.”
“If we had it your way, we’d still be arguing over churches.”
“It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision,” Olivia’s level-headed voice cut in, the look she gave Amaro and Rollins stopping them from adding their own commentary.
“The elopement was,” Rafael admitted.
“Lucia is still mad at us for that,” Sonny frowned. “We gotta drop off two batches of ma’s lasagna before we leave.”
“You’re bribing your mother-in-law with your own mother’s cooking?” Nick spoke up.
Sonny and Rafael turned to Nick with mirrored, leveled glances. “Wars aren’t won by boy scouts,” Rafael said in lieu of an explanation.
“I don’t get it,” Amanda straightened. She stepped further into the room, “I thought for sure you and Nico were hitting it off,” stopping short of Rafael, Amanda added, “No offense, counselor.”
“I told you,” Rafael ignored Amanda to shoot Sonny a look. It didn’t look all that much different from the glowers he shot the team when they got mad at him for refusing to arraign a suspect they’d given him fuck-all in evidence but still expected him to work miracles.
“We did elope in secret,” Sonny rationalized.
“Did they check your blood-alcohol levels before letting you sign?” Amaro’s voice was teasing but Sonny saw the way Rafael bristled, standing impossibly straighter.
“You may like to make excuses for all of your failings as a husband, and as a man, but you’d do well to–”
“ Rafi ,” Sonny cut him off. Considering everyone in the room spoke Spanish, any subtlety Rafael was hoping for was completely shot the second he opened his mouth.
“There’s more than enough work to be done, outside of my office,” Olivia spoke up. “Save the arguing for when you’re off the clock.” She waited for Amaro and Rollins to walk back out before turning to Rafael and Sonny. “Submit the request with the disclosure forms before you leave, and I’ll see what I can do about getting coverage.”
Sonny nodded, smiling, “Thanks, lieu.” He made for the door but stopped when Rafael didn’t follow.
“The forms are already in his file,” Barba raised his eyebrows expectantly.
“You haven’t turned anything into me,” She disagreed, “I’d remember something like this.”
“They were there when I transferred,” Sonny elaborated, frowning. He spared at a glance at Rafael, but his eyes were on Benson.
“You’re telling me–”
“Yes,” Rafael cut her off. They didn’t say anything for a moment, until Rafael’s blank face turned into a knowing smirk.
“All this time–”
“Sorry, Lieutenant,” Sonny winced, hand on the doorknob. Olivia shook her head, a small smile forming of her own.
“You owe me a drink,” She told Rafael. “I need to figure out how many of the stories you’ve told me were about Carisi and then drink to forget half of them.”
“You’ve been telling my boss about us–” Rafael nodded his agreement, promising Olivia he’d take her out that night, before turning to push Sonny out the door, hand firm where he gripped his bicep.
“I told you, no one knew,” He laughed, his smile widening. “If they knew, Olivia would have never listened to half of the things I’ve shared.”
“I work here, Rafa!” Sonny stopped short, once the door had closed. He turned, his back to the rest of the room while he kept his eyes on Rafael. He’d brought his hands up, palms upturned as he gestured to make his point. “I like it here. This ain’t like the other boroughs, I thought they were different. You’re telling me I made it all up in my head?”
“Sonny,” Rafeal’s voice quieted, his smirk softening as his eyes turned serious. The hand on Sonny’s bicep lowered, curling around his elbow before drawing forward to cover both of Sonny’s hands with his own. He’d tucked his thumbs under, drawing their hands together to clasp them with a gentle squeeze. Just enough to catch Sonny’s attention before he continued to spiral.
He turned out of Rafael’s grasp to face the rest of the precinct. “Hey, listen up!” Sonny shouted, waiting until all eyes turned to him. “How many of yous guys knew about me and Barba?”
No one moved.
“Carisi,” Amaro sat up in his chair, “Come on, you know it’s not like that.”
“No, it’s exactly like that,” Sonny shook his head. He walked over to his desk opposite Amanda’s just long enough to grab his jacket. “I shouldn’t have expected Manhattan to be any different.”
Rafael waited a minute to follow, sparing the room one last glare before taking his own leave.
Fin walked in just as Rafael was halfway out of the room, sparing a glance at his retreating back, “Carisi was like a bat out of hell. What, he got a hot date or something?”
“Or something,” Rollins muttered.