#banshee-cheekbones

It’s so casual he wonders if maybe she hadn’t even realised it was his: she’s just curled up against the arm-rest, checking her phone, looking impossibly small in the grey crewneck he must have left here when they left for work together on Thursday morning.

“Hi,” he croaks, and she looks up to greet him with the impish smile on her face that she usually reserves for teasing Shane. She knows, Ryan thinks. Faintly, he’s aware that that probably means he’s doomed.

“Hey, Ry!” She reaches out to take his hand, her fingers only just peeking out from the sleeve, and tugs him closer. He flops onto the couch beside her, apparently unable to handle higher functions like balance right now. “How was your day?”

Ryan makes a noise that’s supposed to be non-committal but comes out closer to wanting, leans in and slips his arms around her waist. Under the sweater, her bare skin is spark-hot. The wanting noise turns into a groan, and he buries his face in her neck.

Sara laughs, drops a kiss to his temple. “That good, huh?”

Ryan nips at her throat and pulls away. “Shane! Your girlfriend is trying to kill me!”

Shane appears in the doorway, three beers in his hands. “She does that sometimes,” he shrugs. “What is it this time?”

Ryan makes a wordless, helpless gesture. Sara looks up at Shane from Ryan’s arms: the sweater pools in her lap, almost to her mid-thighs. She’s wearing a black skirt and thigh-high socks. It’s probably the cutest thing Ryan’s seen this year.

“Oh. Yeah, that,” he says, crossing to sit on Ryan’s other side and handing him a beer to pass to Sara, then another for himself. “That’s a thing.”

His face has gone studiedly blank. It reminds Ryan of when they were trying their hardest to be best platonic buds and Ryan used to try to get a rise out of him by showing off his P90X gains. Shane likes to think he’s smooth, but he’s terrible at hiding it when he’s flustered.

Ryan hands Sara her beer with a raised eyebrow. She raises one back. Smirks. Ryan thinks, oh.

On Monday, Shane is still half-asleep when he gets into the office, trailing after Sara with his eyes on his travel mug. Ryan’s already at his desk. He leans back in his chair, waits for Shane to drop into the seat next to him and look up.

When he does, Ryan gets to watch the same dumbstruck look cross his boyfriend’s face that he’d worn on Saturday night. It’s incredibly satisfying.

So is the heat that curls in his abdomen when, just before lunch, Shane crowds him into a bathroom stall and kisses his lips red and swollen.

“You two are gonna be the death of me,” Shane murmurs, his hands balled up in Ryan’s - his - shirt. “And you know I’m going to have to retaliate.”

Ryan just grins, pulls Shane closer.

Elaine made the two of them change before thrusting a cup of hot chocolate in both of their hands. “Go sit on the couch and warm yourselves up before you end up sick,” she said before going back into the kitchen to finish up dinner with Rebecca.

They snuggled up together on the couch and Simon grabbed the quilt on the back, tossing it over their laps. He leaned against Raphael, giving a content sigh. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For coming here tonight,” Simon replied. “I know Hanukkah isn’t your thing, but-”

“It means something to you, Simon,” Raphael said. “And that’s enough of a reason for me.” He smiled at Simon before pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. “I’m more than happy to spend time with you during this time.”

Simon returned the smile and rested his head on Raphael’s shoulder. “I still want to say thank you.”

Helen sat down in the armchair next to the couch and watched the couple fondly. Simon caught sight of her watching and blushed as he pulled away from Raphael. The old woman smiled at him. “Don’t stop on my account,” she said. “You two are very cute together.”

“I’m just glad you’re accepting of this.”

“After everything I’ve seen in my life, you being happy is more important than the gender or religion of the person you’re with.”

Simon smiled. “Thank you, Bubbe.”

Once the menorah was lit and they ate dinner, everyone came back to the front room to eat dessert. Helen and Rebecca had made doughnuts earlier that day filled with different kinds of jam, which everyone happily ate.

“Shall we open presents?” Helen asked. “Simon, will you grab the gift bags off the dresser in my room?”

Simon nodded and walked into the front room a minute later with his arms full. He carefully set them down on the coffee table. “Would you like me to hand them out?”

Helen nodded. “Please, there are names on all of them.”

Simon picked one up and looked at the name before smiling softly and turning towards his boyfriend. “This one is for you.”

Raphael looked at it in surprise. “Me?”

“Yes you,” Helen said. “You are dating my grandson and in my eyes that makes you a member of this family.”

Raphael hesitated for a moment before accepting the gift bag. “I didn’t bring anything for anyone, I-“

“It’s quite alright, Raphael,” Helen said, a soft smile on her face. “You didn’t have to, but I wanted to get you something so I did.”

“I-I-thank you,” Raphael said before pulling out the tissue paper and taking out a book that contained several short stories involving vampires and other creatures. “Oh wow. Thank you.”

“Simon told me about your fascination with vampires, so when I saw that I thought of you.”

Raphael smiled and looked up at Helen. “Thank you. I really appreciate this, and for letting me spend Hanukkah with you.”

Helen returned the smile. “You’re welcome, Raphael, and you always have a spot at the table for future holidays.”

“Well, I plan on being with Simon for a very long time, so I think I will gladly be around for more holidays.”

The family continued to open gifts, Elaine having given Simon and Raphael a combined gift of matching Star Wars mugs and hot chocolate mix to go with it.

Afterwards, Simon stood up and grabbed his and Raphael’s gifts. “I’ll go put these in our room. Be right back,” he said before pressing a kiss to Raphael’s cheek and heading down the hall. Raphael watched him for a moment with a smile on his face before turning back around to see Helen looking at him.

The woman stood up and grabbed the wrapping paper scattered about. “Raphael? Would you help me?”

Raphael nodded and stood up, grabbing the rest of the wrapping paper before following Helen into the kitchen.

“You really love my grandson, don’t you?”

Raphael nodded. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I rarely feel attraction to anyone, but Simon…” He paused for a moment and smiled. “He means alot to me.”

“I have known people like that, everyone else thought them to be broken but I thought they were just fine,” she said, laying her hands on his shoulders. “I’m glad you and Simon met. I can tell you love each other very much.”

“Thank you,” he said. “Can I ask you something?” Helen nodded and Raphael opened his mouth to say something before shaking his head and looking down at the ground. “I don’t know how to say it actually.”

“Just say it, Raphael.”

Raphael looked back up at her. “Simon asked me to marry him.”

“Oh!”

“But I didn’t say yes.”

Helen looked at him in surprise. “Why not?”

“I don’t know. I know I want to spend as long as I can with Simon, but even as a child I never saw myself getting married.” Sighing, he turned away from Helen and leaned against the island, watching as the snow fell outside. “He doesn’t show it, but I know that not giving him an answer upset him, and I hate doing that. We had enough of a rocky start. We didn’t get along at all when we first met, but now I can’t picture myself without him.”

Helen stood beside him and placed a comforting hand on his back. “And I’m sure he feels the same way.”

“Then I should say yes?”

“I think you should do whatever your heart tells you to do, Raphael,” Helen replied. “You’re a good man, and regardless of if you get married or not, I think Simon will love you and be happy with you.” She smiled softly at him before giving him a hug. “And whatever you decide, this family will still love you.”

Raphael returned the embrace. “Thank you.”

She pulled back after a moment and smiled again. “Will you grab some wine glasses and bring them out into the front room? I need to find that bottle of wine I bought.”

As it grew closer to midnight, everyone decided to retire for the night. Raphael dragged an intoxicated Simon to their shared room, Simon stumbling and giggling the whole way.

Once they reached the bedroom, Simon jumped on the bed and immediately rolled himself up like a burrito with the covers. Raphael chuckled and closed the door. “You don’t want pajamas?”

Simon shook his head before hiding it under the covers, his reply slightly muffled. “No, I want snuggles with my boyfriend.”

“Well this boyfriend isn’t going to snuggle you unless you change,” Raphael said, unbuttoning his shirt. “And your sister was kind enough to get us matching pajamas.” Simon unrolled himself from the covers as Raphael picked up the Stormtrooper pajamas. “These look pretty comfy, don’t they?”

Simon nodded. “They do.”

He got off the bed and grabbed the other set of pajamas, his being Chewbacca. Once they were dressed, they got under the covers and Raphael pulled Simon close, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “I’m glad you invited me.”

“I’m glad you came.”

“Simon?”

“Hm?”

“I think you deserve an answer.”

Simon opened his eyes, looking suddenly sober. “Raph, do we have to do this now?”

“I wanted to say yes.”

Simon blinked a few times, trying to process Raphael’s words. “I-I thought you didn’t want to get married.”

“I said I never pictured myself getting married,” Raphael said. “And I’m still unsure of how I feel about it, but I do know that I care about you immensely, and I want to spend whatever time I can with you.”

Simon continued to stare at Raphael for a long moment before he was cupping Raphael’s face and kissing him. “I love you.”

Raphael smiled. “I know.”

“I should go get the ring,” Simon said. “I brought it with me, I don’t know why but-“

“Just go to sleep, Simon,” Raphael lauged. “You can find it in the morning.” He wrapped his arms tighter around Simon and sighed contentedly. “Your grandmother is going to be very happy.”

“How do you know?”

“I might have let it slip that you asked me.”

“You did what?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Raphael replied with a yawn. “I needed someone to talk to, and I didn’t want to call Magnus.”

“He’s practically your father, he’s going to be upset you didn’t talk to him.”

“He’ll get over it. Now go to sleep, you’re already going to have a nasty hangover when you get up.”

“Yeah, I did drink a little much tonight, didn’t I?”

“Not as bad as Magnus’ New Year’s party last year.”

Simon let out a giggle. “I barely remember that.”

“It’s okay. I still have videos.” He pressed a kiss to Simon’s cheek. “Good night, Simon.”

“Night, Raphael.”