Work Text:
Sonny was adamant that the team knew they were together. How could they not? Anytime Rafael came into the precinct, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of him. And not in a strictly-platonic kind of way. Rafael wasn’t much better, when the roles were reversed.
They had to keep reminding each other to be careful, to limit the risk of defense attorneys taking any inch they found to try and use as leverage to turn a case back their way. But then they’d start bantering while working a case and Sonny would catch himself but not until after a stupid-silly grin managed to spread far too wide across his face. Rafael was always chastising him about the looks he’d pull, telling him that he should invest more time in acting classes than at Fordham Law. At least, until they were behind closed doors where Rafael would show him how much he enjoyed Sonny’s silly smiles, thoroughly.
Try as they might to be subtle, Sonny knew it wasn’t their strong suit. He knew he worked with some of New York’s best (and brightest), and had no doubt that they’d read the writing on the wall his first day after seeing him and Rafael in the same room together.
Rafael was rarely wrong, but Sonny knew there had to be a first time for everything.
::
Cake Testing
“Hey, Lieu,” Sonny started. He’d been waiting in the hall leading into the precinct, falling in step with Olivia once she’d turned the corner. She barely blinked at him, very well used to Carisi’s nervous energy and antics. “I gotta step out, Rollins’ agreed to start her shift early. Once she’s in, I’m good to go.”
Olivia heard the question he was walking around. “Do I want to know?”
“A hundred flavors of cake and you gotta narrow it down to one,” He shook his head with a smile. “There’s worse ways to spend your morning.”
Sonny looked over Olivia’s shoulder, catching sight of Amanda, and nodded his head before turning to grab his things from his desk. Olivia heard him thanking her, heading back the way she’d just come. Amanda caught Olivia’s eye when she went to her own locker.
“You’re covering for him so Carisi can go eat cake? At seven in the morning?”
“I stopped questioning him a long time ago,” Amanda shrugged, a cup of coffee half poured by the time she looked up.
::
Initially, Sonny had raised his own questions when Rafael told him that the cake tasting was at eight in the morning. On a weekday, no less.
He later regretted the choice, having been forced to spend more than ten minutes listening to Rafael explain the inner-workings of bakeries– at least, for the most well regarded ones in the city. If they wanted to get their cake somewhere reputable , they had to go by their rules, and their rules included tasting by appointment only. And then, given the nature of their own conflicting work schedules, they had to go with the few and far between times that were remaining.
At least, if they wanted to get married at some point in the next nine months.
(Sonny had watched Gina in the aftermath of three separate cake tastings, and had been dragged to a fourth. He thought he’d have been the expert on the subject, between the two of them. Or at least, been prepared for yet another way Rafael could still surprise him.
Even if it was the tenacity in which he approached wedding planning).
“I’m telling you, we gotta go with the cannoli cream,” Carisi waved his fork in the air, stopping only to lick the last of the cream in question that he’d missed on the first go around.
“I love you,” Rafael started, “but I am not agreeing to a cannoli cream cake right next to the tower of cannolis you are now insisting on.”
Sonny looked at the cardstock images spread out on the table in front of them, grinning at the image of the exact tower the sales person had talked him into while they had been waiting for the cake samples to be brought out.
“You heard the lady, we can do alternating flavors,” This time he used his fork to gesture to another image on the table, featuring a three-tier cake cut in half, each tier featuring a different cake and icing combination.
“The raspberry and dark chocolate were a good combination,” Rafael changed tactics, holding out the half-eaten bite from his own fork for Sonny to finish. He waited until Sonny had the end of the fork fully in his mouth before continuing, when he was savoring the rich berry cream and bitter chocolate cake. “Great balance, not too sweet–”
“Great update to a classic,” Sonny nodded along, looking every bit comfortable in the hard plastic chair he leaned into. “How about this, raspberry for the bottom and top tiers, cannoli for the middle? Means we’ll get to enjoy your pick on our first anniversary, too.”
“People actually eat frost-bitten cake to celebrate a year of marriage?” Rafael’s lip was curled in disgust.
“It’s the best deal you’re going to get, counselor.”
The lack of an objection only made Sonny’s grin widen.
::
Wedding Planning
Turns out, Rafael’s tenacity for wedding planning was not all that helpful when he had two high-profile cases on his desk. And the half-dozen others that were just as important even if they were further off of the DA’s radar. Instead, it led to many sleepless nights and Sonny’s attempts to keep his caffeine intake in-check. Failed attempts, in all actuality, which in turn led to Rafael threatening to re-write the entire wedding proceedings to make sure never, ever, trying to restrict one’s access to vital life sustenances, like caffeine , were included.
Sonny called their priest to make sure any revisions sent over by Rafael would be disregarded.
After the third heated discussion on the topic, Sonny made his first ultimatum in all their years together. Either they elope or they hire a wedding planner.
Rafael made it clear that the cost of a wedding planner would always outweigh the wrath of both their mothers. While it would be easy to get a Judge to sign a marriage certificate in between a small stack of warrants, that didn’t mean it was worth it.
A decision Sonny was especially starting to regret after yet another phone call ended with more frustration than help.
“I’m telling you, you pay an arm and a leg for these people and you expect them to do at least half of their damn job,” Sonny had slammed his phone down, walking the room in two long strides to get to the vending machines.
“What’s got Carisi all twisted up?” Nick caught Amanda’s eye, her phone still raised to her ear.
“Hell if I know,” Her eyes moved past Nick to watch Sonny stride back into the room. “You gonna fill us in?”
“It’s these,” Sonny waved his hand in the air, “these planners. You decide to eat the cost because you sure as hell don’t have the time to do it all yourself, except you spend just as much time vouching for all the choices they make. Or, if your luck is total shit, they may as well be working for someone on the other side of the country with how back-asswords their selections are. Who the hell would want an outdoor event in the middle of February?”
Nick mouthed the words planner with a raised eyebrow at Amanda.
“How big of an event are you trying to plan, here?”
Sonny paused only long enough to shoot Rollins a dry look, practically yelling have you been paying attention at all? . “At least two-hundred people.”
“What, is Bella finally getting married to Tommy? Thought you said they postponed it again after the caterer sent him into anaphylaxis shock at the tasting?”
“No,” Sonny’s brow was furrowed but he had already taken his eyes off of Nick and Amanda, his vibrating phone immediately grabbing his attention. “Carisi– What? No! I already told you, we’re not interested in some powder blue monstrosity–”
Amanda and Nick resumed working on the files that had previously held their attention only after they could no longer see or hear Sonny.
::
Best Men + Suits
“You have to ask someone, some time soon,” The sun was barely up, coffee only half way to done, and Rafael had already started in on him.
“I told you–”
“That you don’t have a single clue about who you want as attendants, much less who you want as your best man,” Rafeal’s tone was dry. Sunny switched out the glass carafe with his mug, deciding fuck it with waiting for the machine to finish brewing. Not if his day was starting out like this.
“It’s not like I’m close with the team. Not in the way Amaro saw Munch as his mentor. Hell, the only person who fills that slot for me is you . Who says we need a bridal party, anyway?” Sonny had shared similar thoughts last night, when Rafael had tried getting him to talk about it for what felt like the upteenth time.
“Alissa, the wedding planner you insisted we get.”
“You didn’t want to elope!”
“You want to take that phone call? Explain to Serafina and Lucia why–”
“I know, I know,” Sonny switched the carafe and mug in one smooth pull, no drops of coffee going to waste or sizzling on the hotplate. He pressed close to Rafael when he moved around him in their kitchen, hip-checking the fridge door shut after he’d poured a splash of creamer. Sonny could very well survive on black coffee with two sugars but that didn’t mean he didn’t like to treat himself every now and again with some extra-sweet factory-engineered flavor.
Especially when faced with the reality of wedding planning. Again.
Sonny leaned back against their counter, “Who’s standing on your side?”
“I used to think, there was no way I could get married someday without both Alex and Eddie standing up for me. In reality, I’ve been thinking that maybe–”
“You don’t know either!” Sonny straightened up, his frown twisting into a sharp smirk. He waved his mug, gesturing when he continued. “What, are you going to ask Benson to be there with you? Or– better yet – Rita Calhoun?” He choked on a laugh, to add, “Please don’t say Buchanan.”
“Rita and I did go to school together,” Rafael reminded, voice tight, ignoring the attempt of a joke without skipping a beat. The quick follow up Sonny had been expecting never came.
“You’re having just as much of a hard time with this as I am,” Sonny shook his head. “If we team up against Alissa she’ll have to agree with us!”
“She’ll make that sad face,” The unspoken again did not go missed.
“We’re paying her! We owe her nothing besides a big, fat, pay check.”
Rafael’s shoulders fell with unfamiliar resignation. Sonny never wanted the way he looked right then and there to become routine; it was the complete opposite of everything Rafael was. He never backed down or gave in; not in the courtroom, at midnight trivia in a hole-in-the-wall bar they too-quickly became regulars at, or any of the times when he had actually been wrong. It was like Rafael’s mind could accept loss, failure , but his body refused. “How many weddings have you been to, that will be as big as ours, that didn’t have at least two attendants?”
“You’re a trendsetter,” Sonny grinned. “The whole suspenders-with-belts look is going to blow up any day now. You’re on the cutting edge, Rafa.”
“Which reminds me,” Rafael had made up his own mug of coffee after the carafe was full. He used the cup to gesture at the notepad on their refrigerator, where the ever-present wedding to-do list remained. “We need to decide on our attire. Which is why–”
“We need to decide on the attendants, so we can decide how we want to source the outfits,” Sonny finished before tilting his mug, draining it of its contents.
“We can go together, you know I have no regard for superstition–”
“You’ve already seen the goods, there’s no going back, now–”
“–but I’ve been told it’s an activity we may regret if we don’t do it up with friends and family.” Rafael’s only sign that he’d heard Sonny’s interjection was by the twitch of his frown.
“Maybe,” Sonny tapped his fingers along the side of his mug. “But only if that’s actually important to us.” Between the two of them, it wasn’t like they had a long list of fatherly figures to include in the show. He’d probably enjoy going with his father and just keeping it the two of them, if he really stopped to think about it.
He said as much to Rafael.
“That’s good,” Rafael wrote on the pad of paper ( Sonny + Dom, Date: ?? ) under suits . “We’re in agreement on tuxedos, correct?”
“Rafa,” Sonny started with what could only be classified as a whine before Rafael held up a hand, stopping him. “Come on, the shoes are going to be a pain no matter what, can we at least be comfortable–”
“You’re going to my guy,” Rafael shook his head, walking out of the kitchen long enough to grab a business card from his dresser only to magnetize it right alongside the wedding notes. “When it’s made to fit you, you will be comfortable.”
“Fine, but I don’t think my dad’s going to go for it,” Sonny knew without a doubt that the second Dominick Carisi Senior saw the price tags, and he would try to pay no matter what Sonny insisted, he would be halfway out the door.
“I’ll call ahead, tell them to put it on my account.”
If they did that, the topic of cost wouldn’t come up at all, and would remove half of the opportunities for Dominick to try and talk Sonny into letting him pay. It was likely the only option that had a chance of working.
“We’ll do dinner, all of us together, after,” Sonny added. He knew his dad would insist on it.
“More than fine by me,” Rafael shot him a grin.
“You should bring Lucia with you,” Sonny thought aloud. He picked up the pen that had the magnet cap, ensuring it was never far from the fridge, to write underneath Rafael’s comment ( Rafa + Lucia, date: be4 sonny+D ).
“Serafina will demand to go with you,” Rafael reminded Sonny. He hadn’t closed the pen, tapping the end against his chin while he thought.
Sonny realized the same thing.
“Fine,” he squeezed in his mother’s name tightly underneath Rafael’s writing.
“We’ll still need to decide on attendants,” Rafael reminded after a beat. He grinned at the exasperated groan that met him.
::
In the end, Sonny and Rafael compromised and Alissa allowed them to get away with only one person standing on either of their sides. Sonny asked Theresa to stand with him, figuring the best way to avoid an argument with his sisters would be to choose the oldest of the bunch. As much of a get out of jail free card as he could create, given the circumstances.
Not that they didn’t still argue with him, demanding to know why he couldn’t have all three stand with him. But then, they would be way too heavy on Sonny’s side of the altar and they might as well have a full wedding party if they did that.
Rafael had asked Rita. Sonny had already received two teasing and one threatening message from Calhoun in the weeks that followed. He was able to put an end to it only after two bottles of Rita’s favorite red blend were finished.
At least, he thought they’d come to an unspoken truce, until it became clear that Rita was representing the suspect in their latest case. They had brought in two witnesses and the victim to identify the man in a lineup, all three of which were successful. Rafael had turned on his heel, pleased smirk comfortably in place, telling the team he’d see them at arraignment. Promised Rita he’d only take a plea if her client pleaded guilty in the first degree.
Rita had no reason to stay back in the precinct, after telling Rafael exactly what she thought of his arrogance. She especially had no reason to catch Sonny’s attention when he’d come over only to walk a witness out. The fact that she waited for him to return was what made Sonny realize that she was actively trying to get his attention.
Some of his fellow detectives had picked up on it, too. And the lieutenant.
“Rita,” Benson had started, “you’re welcome to wait for Barba in my office, but it sounded like he made it pretty clear how he wanted to move forward.”
She waved a hand dismissively, her grin widening to show all of her teeth when Sonny was back in front of her, “I’ll be wearing red.”
“Not trying to take the spotlight?” Sonny let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. For a second he thought she was going to go off on something about the case, and in that split second he tried to remember every part he had a hand in and how he could have unknowingly messed things up.
“I could go with cream, or ivory,” Rita didn’t flinch.
“Wear the blood of your enemies, see if I care,” Sonny rolled his eyes at that. It was fitting. He knew Rafael was including red accessories with his tuxedo, whereas Sonny was accenting with blues. They hadn’t confirmed the exact shade with each other, trusting Rafael’s tailor to make the final selection that remained complimentary, but now Sonny pictured it and he couldn’t feel an ounce of surprise in retrospect. Lawyers, ruthless, never going down without a fight, etcetera.
“I’ll take that under advisement, Detective,” Rita turned on her heel and left. After all, there wasn’t much else she could do for her client until arraignment.
“You are playing with fire,” Amaro was the first to speak up.
“Nah,” Fin shook his head, “Looked like she enjoyed it just as much as he did.”
::
Bachelor Party
“You cannot throw your own bachelor party,” Tommy insisted for what felt like the tenth time. In the last hour. Sonny loved when he had the time to see his niece, getting to catch up with Bella face-to-face and off of their myriad of family group chats. His tolerance for Tommy had even warmed up to some measure of friendship, even.
“I heard you the first time,” Sonny shrugged his jacket on, hand already on the front door. “I’ll make sure you’re looped in, but do not go trying to plan this whole thing yourself. Promise me, Tommy.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Tommy stopped himself from rolling his eyes, taking his daughter out of Bella’s hands when she moved to pull Sonny and Rafael into one last hug.
Sonny considered himself lucky that they’d managed to make it half a block before Rafael brought up Tommy’s original question. “I completely forgot about the bachelor party,” Rafael admitted, much to Sonny’s surprise.
“Really?” Sonny only stopped to shoot Rafael a questioning look when they’d hit the end of the block and had to wait for the line of taxis to make it through the crosswalk, waiting for the traffic to lighten up or the color to change. Whichever came first.
“It wasn’t in the ten-point agenda Alissa made for us. Or in the revisions she sends out every other week.”
“And you just forgot about it?” Sonny didn’t bother trying to hide how bewildered he sounded.
“What, did you think I had plans already?” Rafael smirked, “An itinerary of gogo-boys ready for my viewing pleasure?”
“That,” Sonny agreed, “or plans to be wined and dined on some fancy yacht or dinner cruise over the Hudson. Tastings, personal masseuse, and whatever else people do on private boats.” He paused, “My bets on being knee-deep in jock-straps with stacks of ones flying right out of your hands.”
Rafael only hummed in response. He had enjoyed himself, when he’d attended the bachelor party of a colleague, and ADA from Manhattan’s homicide team. The subsequent wedding was good enough. Sonny was supposed to be his plus one, something that had required way too much discussion between the two of them after Sonny saw his name wasn’t on the invitation to begin with ( We live together, we’ve been dating for over three years, and I don’t get named? ), but had to bail out last minute when Benson called an all-hands-on-deck to track down a serial rapist.
The bachelor party was far more memorable than the wedding. He’d ended up bringing Rita if only because he didn’t want Sonny’s plate going to waste. Or to risk the chance that he’d be forced to have overly-polite, politically-conscious conversations for the entire evening.
No matter how dull he’d expected the wedding to be, given his coworker’s attitude and personality, Rafael had been surprised by how much fun the bachelor party had been. It was exactly what Sonny was describing, with male strippers and VIP rooms and the whole nine-yards.
He’d enjoyed himself, suffice to say.
“Rita will want to get her hands on this,” Rafael said after a minute.
“I don’t even want to know,” Sonny shook his head, his grin belying any real issue he could have had on the matter.
::
“Fin, Amaro, hey,” Sonny had all but ran into the office when he realized for the first time in what felt like a week, just about everyone from their squad was in the precinct. He was mentally patting himself on the back for stopping at the corner bakery that morning; it had been under the guise that he needed something to help get him through the rest of the week now that they’d hit Wednesday. He could feel his body trying to turn into sludge and molasses if he gave himself a second to sit for more than two minutes. And if he was going to the bakery for himself, he might as well fill an entire box of things for the team.
Fin seemed to agree, pushing the lid open to get first pick, all too happy to ignore the way Sonny was trying to balance the box in one hand and figuring out how to drop his own jacket and bag from his other.
He gave up, dropping all three items to his desk within seconds but made sure to reorient the bakery box to face Nick and Amanda, who hadn’t reacted quite as quickly as Fin had.
“What’s the occasion?” Amanda asked.
“Wednesday slump,” The way Sonny slouched in his chair seemed to emphasize his point.
“Good enough for me,” Nick smirked, taking his own pick after Rollins.
“Had a question for you guys,” Sonny started, twisting a pen in his opposite hand. “Anyone free next Saturday?”
“Should be,” Amanda said after a minute. The others shared similar sentiments. “Why?”
“We haven’t all gone out in a while,” Sonny started, “and drinking down the block in a bar filled with a dozen other cops does not count.”
“Where did you have in mind?” Fin was leaning back in his chair, inspecting the pastry in his hand.
“Chelsea, probably,” Sonny wasn’t too worried about inviting his colleagues out to a gay bar. Or, rather, he wasn’t too worried about their reactions; he never hid the fact that he was bisexual. It wasn’t like he was trying to drag them to the kind of places Rita was apparently lining up for Rafael, if her latest email of ideas was anything to go off of.
She’d made a powerpoint. With hyperlinks. To video clips .
Sonny wouldn’t say he was jealous, per se. If anything, he could admit he was a little bit jealous that he wouldn’t be there getting to watch Rafael enjoy it.
“Yeah, okay,” Fin agreed easily enough. Sonny grinned, looking over at Amanda and Nick when they didn’t immediately follow suit. He let himself relax back into his seat only after they’d similarly agreed.
::
“I thought Tommy told you not to plan your own party,” Bella was chastising Sonny from where she stood in the center of their apartment. She was using a hallway mirror to take a second look at her outfit, fixing her hair.
“I didn’t plan anything,” Sonny argued, voice carrying from the bedroom.
“You chose the bars,” Bella reminded him. “That’s planning.”
“I chose the city block,” Sonny corrected. “It’s fine, Bella.”
“You say that now,” She stood back, taking in his entire appearance when Sonny turned the corner to join her. “You should have a sash.”
“No sash.”
“What about a tiara? People are always wearing tiaras or veils–”
“I am fine like this,” They were fully in Fall, Halloween having passed two weeks prior, and Sonny had pulled on an old leather jacket over his henley. Technically, it was Rafael’s, but the sleeves were too long for him and he usually kept it for wearing around their apartment rather than when they went out.
“You don’t look half bad.”
“Gee, thanks, Bella,” Sonny rolled his eyes, but stepped up next to her to take a look at himself in the wide mirror. “Gina and Theresa still in?”
“Since the last time you asked, two minutes ago? Yeah, Sonny, they are,” Bella shook her head, “If I knew any better I’d think you were hoping we’d ditch you.”
“It’s not like that,” Sonny pulled at the sleeves a second time. “I don’t remember if I told the team you’d all be there.”
“They should expect to see us,” Bella reasoned. “Like hell we’re going to miss the bachelor party for our one and only brother. You could be marrying a woman and going to a strip bar and we’d make sure we were there, too.”
“And here I thought we were special,” Rafael’s voice cut in before Sonny could retort. He stepped out of the bedroom, smirking at the face Bella made when she saw him.
“Where are you going, again?”
“Monster,” Rafael’s smirk sharpened.
“Geeze, with a name like that, I can only imagine–” Sonny didn’t listen to the rest of what Bella had to say. He was too busy enjoying the sight of Rafael, who was much more dressed down than Sonny.
“Since when do you own body glitter?” Sonny reached out a hand, fingers brushing over Rafeal’s shoulders and along his collarbone where the light had caught the glitter in question. At closer inspection, he could see it spread much further.
“Since Rita bought it and dropped it off in an unmarked brown bag like she’s my drug runner,” Rafael intoned dully.
“I think I need to spend more time with Rita. I didn’t even think about the stories she has from Harvard–”
“It was much more dull than you’re imagining,” Rafael reasoned. Even still, he hadn’t moved out of Sonny’s reach. Instead, he moved closer to him, tilting his head up to look at Sonny and to give him more room to inspect the line of glitter that reached his jaw.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Sonny grinned, one hand curved around Rafeal’s neck with his thumb brushing along his jaw. He pulled him, pressed a kiss to his lips for a moment, before pulling back. He knew that anything else would get Bella ragging on him all over again.
Rafael hadn’t stepped back yet when his phone rang out, interrupting them. He thumbed a quick message back to what Sonny could only presume was Rita before looking back up.
“Enjoy yourself, for the both of us,” Sonny ignored Bella’s annoyed reaction.
“It won’t be hard,” Rafael grinned.
The door had barely closed behind him when Bella turned back to Sonny, a shot glass of tequila in either hand, “Come on, Gina and Theresa said they’re twenty minutes away. We gotta get a move on.”
::
Despite Bella’s insistence, they ended up beating their sisters. Nick and Amanda found them quickly, and Sonny guessed they’d shared an uber. He welcomed them both with quick, side hugs, grinning to himself when Bella declared she’d be getting the first round. Smart move, considering how much he knew their older sisters could drink. Outwardly, he rolled his eyes when she insisted on more shots.
He laughed at the way Nick tried to stop her.
“Come on, if you don’t want it, one of us will gladly drink it,” Amanda teased. Her smile twisted into a smirk when Bella returned and Nick didn’t say a word.
“That was good, right?” Bella asked, twisting back around after dropping their empty glasses back on the bar. “They’re on special tonight. Pink pussy shots.” She grinned when one of the shot-girls on the floor walked by, a glass bottle in her holster. The girl in question turned towards the back of the bar, where another girl was already bending enough so that the shot could be poured directly from the drink spout. “If you’re nice they’ll pour it straight into your mouth.”
“I can be nice,” Nick grinned.
“I doubt you’re their type,” Amanda patted his arm solemnly. She stopped herself with a laugh when the shot-girl turned to pour a second shot into the mouth of a guy sitting at the bar.
“Not bad,” Fin said, walking over after he’d slipped a cash tip to the shot-girl. Despite being out of earshot when Nick spoke, he smirked like he fully knew what they were talking about. And, Sonny realized, he likely had as best a clue as anyone would have.
Two arms swung around Sonny, Gina and Theresa pulling him into a hug with a loud shout and laugh, keeping Sonny from hearing what Nick said to Fin. The other man was clearly unbothered by it, his content expression not wavering for even a second.
“Sonny,” Gina shouted. The DJ’s set was loud, booming throughout the room, but she was still louder than expected.
“Sonny!” Theresa repeated, voice just as loud. She raised her hand to his face, patting him on the cheek. It was only after the third tap, when Sonny’s tolerance began to waiver, that she pulled back.
“Are we celebrating something?” Amanda asked, eyes watching the trio of Carisi sisters with the careful look she usually saved for when they were on the job.
“Are we–” Gina reacted first.
“Of course we are!” Theresa finished for her.
Sonny wondered how many shots they’d taken while getting ready. And glasses of wine.
“Come on, come on,” He turned, effectively pulling his two older sisters with him. “Let’s go dance.”
::
They’d lasted almost an hour at the bar. Two more rounds of drinks were ordered, with the last one getting everyone a pull from the shot-girl’s holster bottle. Bella was giggling, wiping the back of her hand along her lips, after taking one of the first pours for the group.
“Are there any shot- boys ?” She’d asked and in seconds another bottle was presented and ready for them to drink from. Bella pushed Sonny forward, grinning when his pink cheeks, warmed from their rounds of drinking and dancing, turned an even brighter shade of red.
Sonny wasn’t exactly mad about it. They were close enough to the bar again that he could drag over one of the stools, taking a seat so that he had to lean back and look up. It was a lot less uncomfortable than doing a half-squat to stand below chin-level with the guy, or to look up and have to wait for the other guy to stand on his tip-toes.
Now that he thought about it, the leather-clad man looked to be closer to Rafael’s height. It didn’t feel all that uncomfortable, tilting his head until he was blinking upside down, eyes staring straight into the other man’s chest. Sonny licked his lips, wondering what Rafael would look like if his nipples were also pierced.
He wondered what it would feel like, to have someone lick across those nipples and play with the steel bars.
His sisters’ laugh interrupted his train of thought and Sonny grinned, opening his mouth happily. He blinked up at the man, mouth falling back open, and staying open until another pour was given. This time, he didn’t close his mouth immediately after, eyes crinkling when the shot-boy poured a third shot after his throat made quick work to swallow the second. Sonny pulled himself up in what he hoped was a graceful twist of his limbs, in time to watch Gina and Theresa hand the man cash.
“Okay, Carisi,” Amanda started, clapping him on the shoulder.
“You better be able to hold your liquor,” Fin teased, handing cash to the shot-girl before she made her way further into the room, her male coworker two steps ahead of her.
“Of course I can,” Sonny furrowed his brow but was quick to let the thought go, wiping his hand across his mouth. He didn’t spill anything, but it was still nice to think about how he felt seconds ago with his head tilted back, mouth open and waiting–
“Come on, lover boy,” Bella cooed, giggling around her words. “That other DJ’s set is going to be starting soon.”
Sonny nodded in understanding. He wasn’t sure if he explained it to the others, but there was a second bar he wanted to make sure they hit. It wasn’t often that Sonny and Rafael went out like this, but on one of the rare occasions that they did, they managed to discover a DJ they both immensely enjoyed. They’d gone out to other bars in the area a couple of times when they saw the DJ would be playing and it had become somewhat of a routine of theirs.
If they were out and the DJ had a set scheduled, they made sure to check it out.
Knowing that, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to find Rita and Rafael doing shots of their own at the bar, once they’d walked the couple of blocks and paid the cover charge.
Sober-Sonny would have even expected to see him there.
Drunk-Sonny, on the other hand, was far too giggly to make much sense of his thoughts much less his words.
“No more pink pussies for you,” Amanda teased.
Judging by the looks shot their way, their voices carried easily enough. It helped that Sonny found himself pulled to Rafael whether he consciously made the choice or not.
“Hey, counselor,” Sonny’s eyes were bright as he stumbled.
“Ah, shit,” Fin’s voice cut through, probably ready to pull the trio of junior detectives away before they could do anything incriminating. He stopped when Rafael answered in similar fashion.
Rita ignored the two, catching the bartender’s attention and signaling to get three more of whatever it was that she had. Judging by the looks of it, it was straight bourbon.
“To family,” she intoned sarcastically, passing a glass to each of Carisi’s sisters.
“Wait–” Nick was about to ask her to explain when Gina immediately launched into a conversation about clothes. He thought she was talking about dresses, but he honestly wasn’t sure. Theresa kept interjecting over her, and then Bella. He was surprised Rita kept pace at all.
“Should we be stopping him?” Amanda asked, glancing at Fin and Nick. Sonny was leaning dangerously close into Barba’s space, one hand curled around his shoulder and the other appearing to be playing with the front of his mesh shirt.
“Barba can hold his own,” Fin said decidedly.
“Yeah, but he doesn’t look all that much better off,” Nick made a pointed face, gesturing with his chin.
“I doubt Barba’s been drinking pink pussies all night like Carisi has,” Amanda rolled her eyes.
“Sure, okay,” Nick started, “but that’s definitely not his first drink of the night.”
“We should probably save him before he does something he regrets,” Amanda offered after a beat.
“Looks more like he’ll regret not making a move,” Fin chuckled at the answering looks of alarm from both Amaro and Rollins. “I just call it as I see it.”
Turns out, they would need all of their focus to get the two to separate. Rita initially ignored their attempts to get Sonny to step back, focusing instead on Rafael’s half-finished glass. Amanda asked Sonny if he wanted to go back to dancing now that the DJ set was picking up, which was a great idea in concept.
In reality, it was such a great concept that Rafael insisted on joining Sonny.
With their hands pulling at each other with each step that took closer into the throng of people, Rita finally acquiesced and stood to help, if only to prevent an act of public indecency. It wasn’t until she leaned down and spoke directly into Rafael’s ear that he took a step back, albeit regrettably if the look on his face was anything to go by.
“Come on, Sonny,” Gina tugged on one of his hands. Theresa had her hands clasped around the other.
“I just want to dance with him,” Sonny whined. There was no mistaking it, his voice had gone far too high on its own.
“You’ll get to dance with him later,” Bella reminded him. Sonny only showed he was listening after the third time she repeated herself.
“And look, we won’t even tease you about it come Monday, okay?” Nick thought he was being helpful.
“That’s just mean,” Sonny muttered. “Everyone should get to dance.”
The rest of the night passed fairly quickly, from there. Sonny attempted to enjoy the DJ’s set, venturing into the throng of people to dance two more times before they called it quits. Rita had happily left them to join Rafael on the other end of the room; or wherever they ended up. It hadn’t stopped Sonny, who managed to find Rafael each time someone let go of him.
It was like they had a damn homing beacon for each other. Amanda would have found it endearing if it wasn’t so damn confusing.
Almost as confusing as seeing their ADA half naked and about as drunk as Sonny.