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It had been a long day of both prosecution and defense against the most horrible of crimes and dealing with the accused when Barba suggested going to Forlini's bar, his usual spot, and the lawyers with him, Holmes, Calhoun, Lagan and Stone, all agreed to this suggestion.
It had been a pretty tiring day for everyone involved so a much needed drink or two or three was definitely something everyone wanted. Barba ordered first, the others quickly following him as they found a five chair table to sit at. The lawyers of the round table, Stone had joked, causing a quick snort and chuckle from all sitting. Isaiah Holmes sat down last, shrugging his coat off his shoulders as the conversations started immediately.
At first, the conversations stayed on their last cases, talking about their respective wins and losses of the day, conversations which slowly died down to become small talk about their own lives until Calhoun raised her glass with drunk !aughter.
"How about SVU then? They actually doing their job now?"
Barba shook his head with an annoyed but mostly playful expression.
"They close cases, Rita, they're alright."
Calhoun nodded, playing with the straw in her glass.
"Uh huh, and this has nothing to do with your little flirtations with Benson?"
Lagan snorted some of his drink at her words, causing a spray of gin on his shirt and jeans as he stood up, trying to brush it off but only causing the stain to darken. He sighed.
"I'm going to wash up, but I want to hear more about this romance with Benson later, yeah?" Stone clicked his fingers to Lagan's words, letting him know the information will come from him as Lagan nodded, leaving the table and his now almost empty drink as he made his way to the washroom.
Barba let out a soft grunt. "There's no romance between me and Benson, she still hasn't forgiven me you know."
Calhoun hummed, although it sounded more mocking than true agreement. Her eyes sharply turned away from him, landing on her next prey rather quickly.
Stone.
"What about you, Peter? Anyone at Svu got your eye?"
Stone shrugged, taking a quick sip of his drink before he spoke.
"Not really but you know someone I think is really admirable who used to be part of Svu? A.d.a Carisi, what a lawyer."
Everyone at the table nodded, Calhoun pointing a finger towards Stone with a smile on her face.
"Now that's someone who understands both sides." She let out and a short grin formed upon Holmes' lips and disappeared quickly after. Calhoun cocked her head to the side, her fingers slowly moving to point to Holmes as she swirled her drink with her other hand. She smirked at him as she spoke. "Now, what was that little smile for?"
"What little smile?"
Calhoun shook her head. "Don't bullshit me, Isaiah, I saw that look on your face as soon as Carisi was mentioned. Spill."
Holmes looked around, his mouth open but unable to speak. Barba raised an eyebrow while Stone turned his chair to stare at him at a better angle,
"Holmes?" Barba let out with a question in his throat as Holmes sighed, putting his drink down.
"Okay, maybe I smiled when you talked about Sonny, I, uh-" He coughed, his throat suddenly feeling very dry but still he pushed through the barriers. "I've been having some thoughts about him recently."
Stone's mouth fell open. "Thoughts? What kind of thoughts?"
Holmes sighed. "Are you really going to make me say it?"
"Yes!" They all blurted out a bit too loudly, causing some of the other patrons to turn around slightly as they gave silent apologies before turning their eyes back to Holmes. He sighed.
"Okay, I might have a crush on Sonny."
A laugh of surprise escaped from Calhoun, Stone still staring at him in a stunned appearance that made him live up to his name as Barba patted him quickly on the back. They all took quick sips of their respective drinks just as Lagan was returning to their table. His shirt was mainly dry but his jeans still had a mostly obvious wet patch that Lagan had tried to cover up by untucking his button up.
Lagan looked around the table, seeing the somewhat embarrassed look on Holmes, the shock stunned silence from Stone, the proud glint in Barba's eyes and the laughter still dancing around Calhoun's lips. He slid back into his seat, his eyes still darting around to his colleagues.
"So what did I miss?" He asked and Calhoun was quick to jump in.
"Oh nothing, just Isaiah announcing his undying love for a certain A.d.a Carisi." She told him, a joking tone to her voice as Holmes' cheeks flushed,
"Rita!"
She shrugged.
"What? It's true, isn't it?"
Holmes found himself unable to deny her question as he slumped back into silence. Lagan nodded, staring silently at Holmes before he let out a soft sigh,
"Well alright then, good for you. Would anyone like another round?"
That was one thing they could all agree on,
By the time the next round came, Calhoun was still teasing Holmes as she took her new drink, lifting it up above the table as the other lawyers soon followed her movements.
"A toast, to wins, to losses, to colleagues and to Isaiah Holmes' massive crush on Sonny Carisi, cheers!"
"Cheers!" They all repeated after her as a large gulp of their drinks came and went, chuckles and amusement littering everyone's face as Holmes sighed, placing his drink down and letting his vision wander from his colleagues to where his phone vibrated in his pocket.
Pulling out his phone, he noticed it was a text notification, something which was quite surprising considering how late it was at that moment. As quickly as he could, he opened up the notification, staring down at the light of his phone as a huge smile spread across his face.
Calhoun nudged Barba and quickly pointed to the man engrossed in his phone as she whispered into his ear,
"Must be Carisi if he's smiling that much." Barba nodded to her words,
"Indeed,"
Holmes was far too focused on the message to care what they were saying, his fingers hovering over the keyboard as he continued to stare at the message he had just received from Sonny Carisi.
"Hey, want to meet tomorrow for coffee? I've got a case I need your eyes for,"
And never if it was just coffee for a case, Holmes still smiled wide as he wrote out his response and hit send.
"It's a date, See you then."
He took one last swing of his drink as he waved his colleagues goodbye and left for the night, knowing their eyes were still staring into the back of his head as he hailed a taxi and left for his apartment, still staring down at the message on his phone with a soft smile littering his expression.
Yeah, maybe this was more than just a little crush.
Most definitely.