A/N: Um. Vicky Wilson over at ao3 left a comment saying I should do a saphael proposal fic and, well. I delivered. It was fun writing from Raphael's point of view for a change! All Spanish translations are from a random translation site, if they're total bullshit, I'm sorry. (broma del siglo = joke of the century, mis labios están sellados = my lips are sealed, novio = boyfriend)
Title from Holley Maher's song "I Do (feat. Jonathan Lister)".
Hit me up in tumblr at moriartyscupoftea, or my sideblog, saphaelismyjam.
...
Raphael wouldn't say he was romantic, per se (though some people might disagree). He just had a way with words, and he considered some people more important than others and thought that they should know that. He'd been around for a long time, long enough to know that shallow flattery got you to lots of places, but real confessions earned you a place in someone's heart forever. Or, in one case, for a month before he'd earned a slap to the face and was kicked out to the streets. But he'd rather not think about that.
Raphael turned the wedding ring over in his palm, inspecting it from every angle. It was an old relic from his mother's side, passed down in the family until Raphael had gotten his hands on it. It was a simple silver one, with a blood red stone decorating it, some obscure words carved into the inside of the band, too faded to make sense of anymore. He hummed, placing it back into the velvet box it had been in. He'd have to get something new inscripted into it. Perhaps Magnus could help.
To be honest, Raphael had never thought he'd have to do this. Well, not have to - got to, more like. There had been people in his life, lovers who either had died or had abandoned him, people who were now mere memories, chapters in his life.
But now there was Simon. Simon Lewis. He could still remember the first time they'd fleetingly met, some years ago, like it'd been only a few days. Raphael had made many mistakes in his life, but turning Simon and putting his faith in him wasn't one of them. Of course, proposing to Simon was just a formality by now. He hadn't planned anything big. He just liked the thought of Simon being his, officially.
Raphael pocketed the box in his suit coat, standing up from the edge of his bed. He'd have to talk to Magnus. Probably call Clary Fray, to let her know. Inform Simon's sister. And then just ask Simon. He predicted the whole deal would be very simple.
...
The whole deal was not very simple, because Magnus made everything not very simple. Raphael sat on his living room chair, the cup of tea Magnus had practically forced on him balanced on his knee, while Magnus himself was slouched on the sofa, laughing. "You," he wheezed in between hysterical fits of giggles, "are going to propose? To Simon?" Raphael pursed his lips, praying for strenght from anyone. "Yes, I am," he repeated. "And I need your help with the engraving."
Alec appeared from the bedroom with a book, taking one look at the maniacally laughing Magnus and murderous Raphael before rolling his eyes and informing them he was going to make coffee. Magnus sobered up for a second, calling "Make me a cup, too!" after his boyfriend. Alec waved his hand in acknowledgement, before disappearing to the kitchen around the corner.
Magnus sat up, wiping tears from him eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, not sounding the least bit sorry, "but you have to admit this is funny. The great ice queen, Raphael Santiago, proposing." He looked like he was about to burst into laughter again, and Raphael rushed to say what he needed to. "Yes, it's hilarious, broma del siglo, but this is important to me, so I need you to focus for once in your life and take your job seriously." Magnus frowned. "I do take my job seriously. Besides, my job isn't to engrave wedding rings, which I'm sure you're aware of. Not that I can't do it, because there's barely nothing I can't do. Right, Alexander?" He asked from Alec who stepped back into the room, the book now wedged under his arm, with two cups of coffee in his hands. Alec looked unimpressed, giving Magnus the other coffee and sitting down next to him. "Sure," he said. Magnus smiled brightly at him.
Raphael desperately hoped he didn't look as hopelessly smitten when he looked at Simon, but he had a suspiscion that he probably did. "So, what's this about?" Alec asked, and Raphael didn't know when he'd stopped being a Shadowhunter and started being the other half of Magnus' business. He did not say this out loud. "I'm proposing to Simon," he stated. Alec raised his brows, but fortunately didn't start laughing. "That's surprisingly sweet," he said. Magnus looked at him, taken aback. "How come you never say things like that to me?" Raphael started thinking he would've gotten away with less trouble if he'd walked to a jewelry shop in the middle of the day and had burned to crisp.
"Can you engrave the ring or not, Bane?" Raphael asked impatiently. "I can," Magnus confirmed, smiling. "What do you want it to say? Maybe 'one half of the vampire power couple of the decade'?" Alec snorted, and Magnus looked pleased with himself. Raphael had a feeling he'd be here for a long, long time.
...
"Do you realize it's very late and I have things to do tomorrow?" Clary asked, frowning at Raphael. More like someone to do, he thought. He refrained from saying it out loud, because she was Simon's friend, and Simon always got very cross with him when Raphael insulted his friends. "Yes. But this is important." Clary looked at him, mildly intrigued. "What is it?" Raphael took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. "Well," he decided to bite the bullet, "I'm going to propose to Simon." Clary spat her coffee back into the cup. Raphael, who found joy in small things, was glad she had not spat the coffee to his face.
"You're what?" She asked, moving the cup out of her way and leaning forward across the table. "Propose. To Simon," he repeated. An old lady on the table next to them turned to look at him, frowning. He raised and eyebrow. She looked away, mumbling under her breath. Clary, on the other hand, was beaming. "That's great news! I'm so happy for you," she said, her smile radiating. Raphael could see why Simon liked her, now. "Thank you," he said. "Why are you telling me now?" She asked, and Raphael started to wonder the same. "You're Simon's best friend, and he values your opinion a lot. I wanted to make sure you'd be alright with this," he finally explained. Clary smiled at him softly. "You really care about him, don't you?"
When he'd woken up a few hours ago, Raphael had not been expecting to find himself sitting in a café with Clary Fray to talk about his feelings. He let himself think about Simon, probably still curled under a blanket on their bed, snoring. He hated his snoring. Well, to a degree. It was a bit endearing, really. "I do," he said. "I love him." Clary nearly cooed, and Raphael decided enough was enough. "So, now you know," he said, standing up. "Try to keep it a secret from Simon, please?" She smirked. "Mis labios están sellados," she vowed. At Raphael's shocked look, she explained, "I took Spanish for three years. I still know some things."
Raphael very much hoped she'd never overheard him talking to Simon in Spanish.
...
As he knocked on the door and waited, Raphael took notice of the little things around him. This was Simon's home. There was an old football in the corner of the yard, covered in dirt. Somehow, Raphael couldn't picture Simon playing football. The door sign read Lewis, and Raphael briefly remembered his old home, before he was turned. But it did no good to think about that, anymore.
The door swung open, revealing a woman in her early twenties. Rebecca Lewis, Simon's sister. She looked at Raphael, who stared back. "Good evening," he said politely. "We don't buy or sell, and no, I don't want to hear about Jesus," she replied, and was about to close the door when Raphael said, "This is about Simon." The door opened again, slowly. Rebecca looked at him again, but this time with care. She beckoned him to come in.
Raphael walked into what he presumed was the living room, followed by Rebecca. He sat down. She didn't offer coffee or tea, which Raphael was grateful for. He didn't want to stay for too long. "So," she started. "Who are you, and how do you know Simon? And are you..." Rebecca trailed off, but Raphael got the idea. "My name is Raphael Santiago. Yes, I'm a vampire." He looked to see if his name sparked recognition in her, but it didn't. His lips twitched. "Apparently Simon hasn't mentioned me. That's fine. Would've made this easier if he had, but of course Simon has to make my life as difficult as possible." She smirked. "He has a tendency to do that," she agreed. "But, um, really. Who are you? To him."
Good question, he thought. "I can't read Simon's mind, and he is poor with expressing his emotions clearly with words, so I can't answer for him. But I'm his... partner. Novio. Whatever you want to call it." Rebecca's eyes widened comically large. "Simon has a boyfriend?" She whispered. "How come he never told me? How long have you been seeing each other?" "Two years or so," he replied. "Simon kept this from me for two years? That fucker," she breathed out. Raphael smirked. "I'm sure he had his reasons." She shook her head, astonished.
"Is that what you came here to tell me?" She finally asked, after she somewhat recovered from her shock. He looked at the floor, searching for words. "No, I'm here because I'm somewhat old-fashioned. I didn't really want to ask your mother, after what Simon has told me about her, and you're his closest family member." He sighed, lifting his head to look at Rebecca. "I love Simon, and I'm planning on proposing to him soon."
If the news about them dating had left her astonished, now she looked flabbergast. "You're... you... You're proposing? To Simon?" Raphael started to wish he'd just gone straight to ask Simon, without going around telling other people first. "I am." "And... you want my, what, permission?" "That's right." She laughed softly, leaning back on her chair. "Yeah, sure. Go for it, man. Simon's a handful, but I'm sure you can manage him if you've already been dating for two years. Jesus Christ," she broke into quiet, disbelieving laughter again. "I'm gonna skin him for keeping this from me the next time he visits," she said bitterly.
Raphael decided he liked Simon's sister a lot.
...
Raphael didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was nervous. His stomach hurt, and he kept looking at the door, ready to bolt. Simon eventually noticed that something was wrong, and turned to look at him, frowning. "Are you alright?" He asked from where he was lying next to Raphael on their bed. The television was on, playing some new show Simon was into. Raphael hummed. "I, uh. Yeah. I'm fine," he coughed, trying to keep his voice even. It shouldn't be this difficult. Simon still looked concerned. "You sure? I mean, you don't have, like, like vampire cancer or something? You're not dying? More than you already are, I mean. That sounded offenssive. It wasn't meant to be," Simon rambled, steadily looking more and more nervous. Raphael smiled.
"No, I'm not dying. Don't be so fucking dramatic, Simon." He bit his lip, reaching for his pocket, and curled his fingers around the ring box. "It's just. Well." Another hum. "Simon," he tried again. "I've lived a long life. And I've known a lot of people, mundanes and vampires and Shadowhunters, a whole lot. But you, you're... You're different, to me. Even though you're infuriating at times, and really get on my nerves, and have a fascinating habit of almost getting yourself killed frequently, I fell in love with you." Simon opened his mouth. "I don't really-"
"Let me finish, please. I fell in love with you, and I hope I'll never start not loving you. We have a forever, unless you do actually manage to die even under my protection, but even that feels like not enough, sometimes." Raphael took a deep breath, trying to will his want to pass out away. "And Simon, I want to know..." He glanced at the TV, where someone was shooting the trees around him. Raphael wished he'd had something more romantic playing in the background as he proposed, but as it was, beggars can't be choosers. He took the box out of his pocket and opened it, he hoped, smoothly. "Will you marry me, Simon?"
Simon was staring at the ring with a mixture of shock and amazement. "You, you are... That's... That's a-" Simon tore his eyes away to look at Raphael, who tried to smile encouragingly. "Raphael," he managed to get out. "That's my name, yes." This wasn't going according to the plan. Raphael realized he hadn't really had a plan. "It's good that you still remember that." Simon tried his best to form words. "I, I wasn't- I mean, I never expected- you're propos-" he took another break, trying to get his breathing under control. "Hey," Raphael said, "I'm supposed to be the one panicking here." Simon nodded, then shook his head, then looked at the ring again.
"Yes," he said after a good long minute of staying silent, just as Raphael had considered calling Clary to come over to help him. Simon looked at him, laughing. Albeit a bit hysterically, but he was laughing regardless. "Yes," he repeated. Raphael's face broke into a smile. He took the ring out of the box, putting in on Simon's finger. Then he removed it. Simon frowned. "Hey, now, I just agreed to your proposal," he protested. Raphael shushed him. "I forgot to show you the inscripting. I had Magnus do it." Simon looked horrified. "Magnus knows?" Raphael decided it was best not to mention that so did Alec, Clary, by now probably Jace and his sister.
Simon looked at the inside of the ring, reading the text. Then he smiled, turning his head to kiss Raphael, both of them falling down on the bed. Raphael looked up at Simon, grinning. "You like it?" He asked. Simon grinned back at him, pecking him on the lips again. "I love it."
...
la eternidad es nuestro - r.s & s.l
eternity is ours - r.s & s.l
