#omswd raphael

It was a potentially fruitless effort to get him to understand why you were putting up so much mistletoe. He saw you doing it again today as he sat there eating what was supposed to be a sandwich that Solomon had concocted for him.

He watched you nonchalantly, his spear at his side as he’d just come back from some kind of work. This time you stuck a bushel of holly on the corner of the living room wall right before the hallway leading to his room. The next dozen would be placed around his door and if he’d let you in, his room.

“That’s a lot,” he commented after finishing the sandwich and you sighed to yourself. As you took a step down the ladder your ankle twisted slightly and you fell back. Before you could even gasp, Raphael had his arms around you, catching your fall.

You stayed there for a moment shocked at how quickly that’d all happened when you grinned up at Raphael.

“Raphael! Look, we’re under the mistletoe!”

He blinked. “Of course we are…you put it everywhere.” He said as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. You sighed exasperatedly and sat up.

You heard Solomon laughing in the kitchen and glared in the general direction.

“Better luck next time,” Simeon said sweetly though he was glad it hadn’t worked.

Most people were very confused about your affection and general attraction to a stern angel like Raphael with unyielding convictions contrasting many of yours. But you couldn’t help it. He had the cutest smile he rarely showed, a voice that lived up to the description ‘angelic’, he was very protective of you and his loved ones, wanted what was best for everyone, and was very clearly lonely and lacking in enough socialization. One reason he did not seem to understand the human tradition of kissing under the mistletoe.

You began losing hope, wondering if he knew what it meant but avoided partaking in a commercialized aspect of a holiday that meant so much to him.

You nonetheless continued and knocked on the door of Purgatory Hall the next evening again.

Raphael looked out through the peephole and let you in, his slightly reddened face betrayed his efforts to hide anything was wrong.

You placed the mistletoe on the table again and Raphael walked past you to the couch where Hallmark movies were playing. This should have been the second sign something was different from yesterday.

“Hey, Raphael?” You called and he flinched and looked up immediately.

“Yes?”

“Can I put some of these in your room?”

He blushed furiously and looked away, “my room?”

You nodded and it dawned on you he was avoiding your eyes more than usual. You frowned and took off your coat placing it on the back of your chair.

“Raphael…what’s wrong?” You asked sweetly and he turned away to hide his expressions.

“Have you…never mind…” he immediately gave up and you shook your head.

“You can tell me anything, Raphael.” You assured and he was quiet for a long time but when you didn’t budge from your spot he relaxed and nodded.

“Are you…trying to set up Solomon and I?”

You froze. This dumass was more oblivious than you thought.

You heard loud cackling from Solomon’s room and Raphael turned red and clutched his spear ready to throw it at the door.

“What?” You said completely dumbfounded as you stared at him in shock.

He collected himself for a more serious conversation and began to explain himself. “I recently learned of the human tradition to kiss under the mistletoe.”

You nodded wondering how him finally learning the truth had gone so wrong.

“You set it up everywhere in our home and then immediately leave after Solomon begins laughing…This must be a signal for you to leave after prepping the area.” He said determinedly and you planted your face in your hands.

Solomon kept laughing so Raphael grabbed your arm. “Don’t go. Please take the mistletoe down. I’m not sure what Solomon has said to you but I do not have an interest in him, only his cooking.”

This situation was so absurd you finally broke down laughing, clutching your stomach as you fell onto your side, head in his hap.

Raphael let go of you and blushed. He had no idea what to do. He was feeling humiliated as he may have jumped to conclusions. Perhaps you just really liked mistletoe. Now you were in tears on his lap, a situation he’d never found himself in and so he sat there, his embarrassment growing until he had had enough.

“That’s enough. I deserve an answer. You’ve been doing this for weeks now.”

You wiped the tears from your eyes and poured yourself a glass of water asking him to wait as you calmed yourself down.

Finally, you turned around to Raphael, leaning against the counter, pink in the face as you decided the only way he’d get it through his head is if you explained it to him.

“Solomon is laughing because I keep failing.”

“At…hanging mistletoe? You did fall a few times…” he noted, his shoulders instantly relaxed as he now knew he was not part of some hallmark movie plot to set him up with Solomon.

You shook your head. “Raphael, how many times were we under the mistletoe at the same time?” You asked him to recall and he thought about it.

“…every time?” He said but it still didn’t click.

How could someone observant enough to be the best hitman in the celestial realm be so blind to this?

“Raphael…” you sighed and gave him a dumbfounded look. “I’ve been failing to get you to kiss me.”

Having it finally spelled it out, Raphael was very quiet and very still for what felt like minutes but was probably a few moments.

Then Raphael did something you’d never seen the proud angel do before. He hid his face in his hands and remained that way for what was minutes.

Luke and Simeon came into the living room to check up on him and Simeon offered you another glass of water which you drank as you became anxious this was a clear rejection.

Finally, Raphael sat up straight, face as expressionless as usual, and got up from the couch with his spear in hand. He disappeared around the corner and your heart fell. You thought you’d fall over as tears pricked the corners of your eyes when Raphael reappeared with a single leaf of mistletoe he’d ripped off a wall somewhere.

Now he blushed and looked away from you. You blinked in surprise trying not to get your hopes up but you ran up to him and hugged him. He stuck the leaf onto the end of the spear which reached above you both and he looked down at you, pink visible in his cheeks.