Serendipity
Title: Serendipity
Author: exbex
Pairing: Ray/Ray
Rating: G
Length: 474 words
Summary: Kowalski gets a Christmas surprise.
Notes: So the challenge word is tacked on like cheap Christmas decorations, but it's there.
There had once been a time when Ray would have been depressed to come home on Christmas Day to his empty apartment with nothing but the pathetic, half burned out Christmas lights strung haphazardly around to greet him.
Those days were long over, however, because Ray had stopped expecting life be anything besides disappointing. So he could almost whistle cheerfully as he tossed his keys on the coffee table, kicked off his shoes, and prepared to order some Chinese food.
The knock on the door was a surprise, as his parents had taken off for Arizona shortly after Thanksgiving. When Ray opened it, his body went through what he liked to call The Vecchio Response (rapid heart rate with a nice twist of the stomach). It wasn’t as if he had fallen for his current partner, who was also his former partner/lover’s former partner/lover and Ray’s ex-wife’s second ex-husband. That would just be masochistic. It was just that Vecchio smelled good, and his eyes were a really intense, interesting shade of green, and he had a nice smile that Ray couldn’t help but look for, seeing as it wasn’t there every day, (and Ray liked a challenge, so maybe he’d try to do things to get it to come out more often, to make Vecchio laugh. Nothing wrong with that. And if Ray found himself grinning back like an idiot every single time, well, that didn’t necessarily mean anything).
Vecchio brushed past him with a small mountain of Tupperware. “You didn’t come to Mass, or dinner.”
“I had to work today,” Ray responded, conveniently leaving out the part where sitting in Mass near Vecchio would ratchet up the Catholic guilt because he’d be pre-occupied with fantasies, thinking of inventive ways to get Vecchio to smile that smile, and sitting at the dinner table with Vecchio and his family would give him those weird chest pains, because as crazy as they were, the Vecchios were a painful reminder of everything he didn‘t have.
“Ma sent some leftovers,” Vecchio was putting the containers in the refrigerator.
“Tell her thanks for me.”
“You can tell her yourself.” Vecchio, looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something small and oddly shaped. “You could use a few more decorations.” He was hanging it over Ray’s head, in the entry-way to the kitchen. Ray just managed to glimpse that it was mistletoe before Vecchio grabbed his arms and pulled him closer, kissing him like the world was ending tomorrow. Vecchio pulled away after a moment, looking intently at Ray, then smiling that smile that did all kinds of mischief to Ray’s body. “Merry Christmas, Kowalski.”
Ray blinked, stared back at Vecchio, and then grabbed his tie and pulled him in for another kiss. Maybe life wasn’t so disappointing after all.
Author: exbex
Pairing: Ray/Ray
Rating: G
Length: 474 words
Summary: Kowalski gets a Christmas surprise.
Notes: So the challenge word is tacked on like cheap Christmas decorations, but it's there.
There had once been a time when Ray would have been depressed to come home on Christmas Day to his empty apartment with nothing but the pathetic, half burned out Christmas lights strung haphazardly around to greet him.
Those days were long over, however, because Ray had stopped expecting life be anything besides disappointing. So he could almost whistle cheerfully as he tossed his keys on the coffee table, kicked off his shoes, and prepared to order some Chinese food.
The knock on the door was a surprise, as his parents had taken off for Arizona shortly after Thanksgiving. When Ray opened it, his body went through what he liked to call The Vecchio Response (rapid heart rate with a nice twist of the stomach). It wasn’t as if he had fallen for his current partner, who was also his former partner/lover’s former partner/lover and Ray’s ex-wife’s second ex-husband. That would just be masochistic. It was just that Vecchio smelled good, and his eyes were a really intense, interesting shade of green, and he had a nice smile that Ray couldn’t help but look for, seeing as it wasn’t there every day, (and Ray liked a challenge, so maybe he’d try to do things to get it to come out more often, to make Vecchio laugh. Nothing wrong with that. And if Ray found himself grinning back like an idiot every single time, well, that didn’t necessarily mean anything).
Vecchio brushed past him with a small mountain of Tupperware. “You didn’t come to Mass, or dinner.”
“I had to work today,” Ray responded, conveniently leaving out the part where sitting in Mass near Vecchio would ratchet up the Catholic guilt because he’d be pre-occupied with fantasies, thinking of inventive ways to get Vecchio to smile that smile, and sitting at the dinner table with Vecchio and his family would give him those weird chest pains, because as crazy as they were, the Vecchios were a painful reminder of everything he didn‘t have.
“Ma sent some leftovers,” Vecchio was putting the containers in the refrigerator.
“Tell her thanks for me.”
“You can tell her yourself.” Vecchio, looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something small and oddly shaped. “You could use a few more decorations.” He was hanging it over Ray’s head, in the entry-way to the kitchen. Ray just managed to glimpse that it was mistletoe before Vecchio grabbed his arms and pulled him closer, kissing him like the world was ending tomorrow. Vecchio pulled away after a moment, looking intently at Ray, then smiling that smile that did all kinds of mischief to Ray’s body. “Merry Christmas, Kowalski.”
Ray blinked, stared back at Vecchio, and then grabbed his tie and pulled him in for another kiss. Maybe life wasn’t so disappointing after all.