Work Text:
A cold, snowy morning on a Saturday usually meant Sonny and Rafael could sleep in. The sun was trying to fight through the clouds, if Sonny got out of bed and looked out the window; he could probably see a patch of light blue sky before it vanished through the snow. But Sonny wasn’t going to get out of bed, not when he was warm and comfortable with Rafael beside him.
Sonny rolled over and felt an empty space next to him.
Sonny sat up, blinking and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Raf?” Sonny swung his legs out from under the sheets and padded over to the bathroom door across the room. Sonny knocked. “Rafi, you in here?”
“Yes!”
Sonny leaned against the door-frame. “What are you doing up? I thought we were going to sleep in till like eight.” There was no reply. “I told you when you drink too much coffee it’ll go right through ya.”
“Are you saying I have no bladder control? That I’m old?”
“What? No.” Sonny stood up straight, reaching for the doorknob. It was locked. Sonny realized what Rafael was doing and let go of the doorknob. “Are you trying to get the grey out of your hair?”
There was a pause, and then a creak as Rafael set the razor back in the basket hanging on wall next to the mirror. Rafael sighed. After another moment, the light was clicked off, and the door unlocked. Rafael opened the door, standing in his striped pajama pants. Rafael met Sonny’s gaze, then moved past him, to go out to the kitchen.
“Raf, wait.” Sonny followed him.
Rafael was at the counter, in Sonny’s wide open kitchen, making coffee.
The sun broke through the clouds again, shining through the set of windows over the sink.
Sonny leaned his elbows on the counter.
Rafael wouldn’t look at him.
“I know you don’t like your grey hair, you hate it.”
Rafael snorted.
“But why? Why cut away the marker of distinguished age?”
“Because that’s the issue, the age.” Rafael was talking to the coffee pot instead of Sonny.
“I still don’t understand.”
Rafael finally turned to look at Sonny. “Because if I have grey hairs, if I can see my age, then I lose my credibility.”
Sonny snorted. “Since when? I find the older you look, the more a jury listens to you and takes you at your word.”
Rafael huffed. “You’re missing the point, Dominick.”
Sonny stood up. Rafael never called him by his first name, unless they were fighting, or they were somewhere formal, and sometimes Rafael would whisper it suggestively, most often at the formal restaurant while grabbing Sonny’s leg under the table.
Sonny couldn’t understand what they were fighting about though. Had he slipped up somewhere and not realized? “You’re angry, but not at me.”
The coffee was done and Rafael poured a cup. He turned, to go sit at the table, but Sonny blocked his way, crossing his arms over his chest. He knew he wasn’t intimidating in just dark blue briefs, but that wasn’t the point. “Why are you afraid to show your age?”
“Because, old age me recuerda lo cerca que estoy de la muerte.”
Sonny blinked. “Ok, I caught something about death in there. You want to know what I think? Old age makes a person revered, respected. You show off your grey and no one’s going to think you’re lyin’. And yeah death does come after old age, but you’re not that old.”
Rafael arched an eyebrow, as if daring Sonny to continue that train of thought.
Sonny smirked. “Besides, I think your grey is proof of how sexy you are, my hot older boyfriend.”
Rafael rolled his eyes and finally moved around Sonny to sit down.
Sonny sat down next to him. “I mean it though Raf.” His eyes were hard, his voice held a serious tone. “Being older means you’re wiser, you’ve seen things, know so much more, even if it’s not all that great. And even if it means you’re one step closer to death, that’s between you and God. Because you and I both know you don’t have to be old to have lived a full life, or to have a life cut short.”
Rafael drank his coffee. After a moment he said, “God took my abuela from me, even though she had lived a long life. I…wanted to be able to give her what she always wanted though before-“ He took another drink, cutting himself off.
“What was it?”
Rafael shook his head; even now this was an old pain. Sonny tried not to talk about the anniversary of her death or mention her name around Rafael.
“Please tell me Raf.” He gently rested his hand on Rafael’s.
Rafael looked at him, tears starting to well in his green eyes. “She wanted to see me get married.”
Sonny blinked, he knew what he wanted to say, but he wasn’t sure how Rafael would handle it. Sonny shifted, the chair gave a slight creak. “Well, I’m sure whenever it happens she’ll be watching from Heaven.”
Rafael smiled and leaned back in his chair, pulling his hand from Sonny’s, taking another drink of coffee.
“And you’ll look quite handsome in a suit with your grey hair.”
Rafael smiled, his eyes twinkled. “If this is your idea of a proposal, it needs some work.”
Sonny’s mouth dropped open and he blushed. “I was tryin’ to make you feel better.”
Rafael set his half empty mug down. “It worked. Why don’t we get some work done and then later you can tell me in detalle extremo what exactly you adore about my aging body.” Before Sonny could say anything, Rafael got up and walked back into the bedroom, to grab his tablet.
Sonny followed. Maybe they could move the work to later and the snuggling in bed to now. Sonny figured he could at least try to convince Rafael to cuddle, despite the coffee running through his system. If it didn’t work out, at least there was the promise of later. Sonny could wait.