speakscanadian | I CH-CH-CHOOSE YOU [for Asher; plot: ILU Day]

Ray had always been a fan of Valentine's Day - it was the best excuse to try and schmooze a woman without losing too much face. This year though, he hadn't really found himself in the schmoozing mood, so he'd just eaten candy hearts and slurped down coffee all day, pouring over the remaining reports he still had to catch up on and avoiding the scary little cherubs embarrassing people left, right and centre. Luckily, when he'd gotten his message, it had been received in the relative privacy if the IPD office. He had a fair idea who mighta sent it, even glanced around to see if he was right. No luck.

The next day didn't start much different, unless you counted the fact it began two hours earlier than normal due to a not-so-peaceful night's sleep. Ray had two things on his mind as he left his hut: coffee and doctors. Cooper wasn't expecting a visit but that was what made Ray hopeful - catch him off-guard and maybe there'd be something to spill. His hunch was still firmly hunched but he was no further forward in knowing what it was he was looking for. There was just something about the Talos siblings that simultaneously fascinated him and made him suspicious as all hell.

Slipping on sunglasses to shield his tired eyes from the bright light, he made his way to the Compound, caffeine-anticipation spurring him on. With one holiday out of the way and the winged Cupid guy having not caused too much trouble on the island, there was at least one thing for Ray to be thankful for today.

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"That works for now," Asher told him quietly, fangs gently pinching his bottom lip. If Ray had never really complimented a guy on their looks, then it wasn't very likely that he'd said The L Word, the one that actually mattered.

Love. Asher knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that's what he felt, but it was so much so soon and he didn't want to risk the chance that he'd scare him away. "I... like you, too." He flashed a pointed smile at him, hoping it said what he hadn't for him.

"Come on," he said, shifting back from the wall. "Any more of this and you'll have to arrest me for lewd and indecent behavior in public." And even though cuffs were an interesting thought, Asher knew he wasn't cut out for jail.

Head over heels didn't even begin to cover it. His own love for Asher was almost too much for Ray to handle but to have it reciprocated had been beyond even his wildest dreams. But that dream had just come true and in that moment, Ray realized something of which he was certain: this was for ever.

"Tempting," he admitted with a gentle smirk but his eyes revealed his honesty for him. "Do you have uh, plans for today?" He couldn't bear the thought of not seeing Asher all day. "I have a couple of patrols to do later but the rest can wait..." he trailed off, hope in his voice.

"Nope. My schedule is wide open." He didn't think Del would mind watching the twins without him for a while, or maybe Joey or Stephen would be willing to. And Danica... well, whatever her Grievance of the Day was, she'd have to give him the CliffsNotes version. He always put her first, but if there was ever a time to put his own wants and needs ahead of hers, this was it.

"We can meet up afterward... if you want," Asher suggested, pulling two mugs down from the cupboard and filling them bote with coffee and returning the pot. "How do you take it?"

"I want," Ray insisted, perhaps a bit too eagerly. When the temptation to just reach out and take Asher back into his arms got to much, he slipped his hands into his pockets, but remained close. "However you wanna give it to me. I trust you," he added, then ducked his head at how that sounded, heat rising in his face again. "Uh, sweet, please."

Before he could make a complete fool of himself, he changed the topic. "So um, we could watch a movie." Together. "Or go for a walk." Together. "And I heard there's a party later, if you, y'know..." He rubbed his thumb over an invisible spot on the table top. "...wanna be my date."

What Ray really wanted to do was spend some time with Asher alone but he didn't really know how alone two people could get on the island and he didn't want to assume that Asher would want the same thing. Even if everything else had worked out so far.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind," he said, leering at Ray once he'd tracked down the sugar and spooned it into one of the mugs. "You're cute when you blush."

Once the sugar was good and dissolved, Asher held the coffee out to Ray before taking a sip of his own and milling over the idea of a party. He was usually miserable at those things, but if he went with Ray he didn't see how that would even be possible. Of course, he wasn't too sure how he felt about have to share him with anybody else. "I don't think it's written anywhere that we can only do one thing... We can check out the party for a while, but then you'll just have to trust me on what comes after that." Which really wasn't asking too much, not after Ray already insisted that he did trust him.

"A surprise?" Ray asked, sipping at his drink and licking his lips. He wasn't usually a fan of surprises, he liked to have more control than that but when he was absolutely guaranteed to love it, he couldn't see the harm.

Excitement started to bubble in his stomach, a shiver making his skin prickle. He looked down into his mug, at the contents swirled together, dissolving into each other, becoming one. It had been a long time since Ray had had someone in his life that he thought he could share it with, make one life together instead of two separate ones.

That was it. What he wished beyond all else: to make sweet, sweet coffee with Asher.

He looked back up with a growing smile. "I think I can live with that."

"Great. It's a... a date then." And that was sort of a terrifying thought. It wasn't like Asher had been on many of those in the last few hundred years, not proper kind with some one he actually had genuine feeling for, at least. The gears in his head were already in motion and he knew he had a lot to do, but it would all be worth it in the end. Ray was worth it, and he wanted everything to be perfect.

... Holy shit he had a date.

What the fuck was he going to wear?

I CH-CH-CHOOSE YOU [for Asher; plot: ILU Day]

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