Chapter 1 #4
I grab the plate with the little pies. Rava thumps his chest because he swallowed too fast and turns toward me.
"I tried," he says. "They're NOT like my mom's, but I really tried." I bite into one and look at him. "Oh wow, they're terrible, baby."
He bumps his forehead against my shoulder and laughs. We all eat in almost total silence. In the dark. Just the clink of cutlery and random little laughs.
I lift my head. "Noah, did you know that when you came to Rava's place and confessed you wanted Marco... Marco was behind the couch and heard everything?"
"WHAT—" Noah yells.
Marco's eyes blow wide. "brO WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT—" He turns to Rava. "Rava? Did you know your man almost gave his Ducati to someone else forever?"
"EXCUSE ME—?" Rava says. Rava points at Lorenzo. "LORENZO TEXTED ME BEGGING ME TO SET HIM UP WITH DAISY."
Lorenzo shoots up from his chair. "AND RAVA ONLY DID IT ON THE CONDITION THAT I LOCK HIM AND GIO IN AN OFFICE SO THEY COULD GET NAKED."
Noah turns on Lorenzo. "HOW DARE YOU EXPOSE MY BEST FRIEND LIKE THAT. Guys, just so you all know, Lorenzo almost kissed Rava to make Gio jealous—"
"EVERYBODY STOP," Valentina cuts in. "Enough. Do you all feel better now that you vomited your secrets on the table?" Noah turns to Marco with starry eyes. "So you heard me being down bad over you?"
Marco nods. "Yeah. And we sent you out to get cake so I could run back to the hotel. That's why I looked like I sprinted a marathon when you came back."
"That makes sense," Noah says. "I thought you were just extra stressed."
"Well, that too," Marco shrugs. "I still can't believe you came to my graduation," Rava says quietly. "I cried in the bathroom because of you. Yes, you heard right."
I grab him and pull him into a side hug, kissing his temple. He stuffs a piece of bread in his mouth to pretend he's fine. "I still have the banner with my face on it," he adds.
"Did we ever tell you we ran into Sophia while we were buying clothes for graduation?" I say. Rava groans. "Can you not say that name at this table in front of our child? I'll throw up."
"Jesus," Noah says. "But honestly bro, God bless that girl, and me, because thanks to both of us, you two are together now. And you made your little spawn, Antonio."
I watch Rava laughing and eating like he hasn't seen food in ten years, nodding to himself. "Hey, you ungrateful rats," I say. "No one's gonna say anything about our house slave who cooked for you all day?"
Everyone starts talking at once, throwing compliments at Rava about how everything is perfect and he's a genius and he should open a restaurant.
Rava keeps laughing, saying "thank you" over and over, all red in the face.
Half an hour later
We're all destroyed. Food coma level. Noah and Marco are picking up plates, and Rava is in the living room with Lorenzo, trying to light the fireplace because we still don't have power.
Antonio's down for a nap for a bit.
We'll wake him up in an hour to go up to the roof for the fireworks after the countdown. I go back to the breaker box to see what the hell is wrong. I flip one lever up and boom, all the lights come back on.
I stand there staring.
I can't believe Lorenzo is about to become a father. I have so much shit to teach this man. I walk back into the living room, and all the little fairy lights are on again, the whole tree is glowing, and the TV is playing Christmas music again, the same channel Jin put on earlier for Antonio.
"What time is it?" Marco asks.
"11:15," I say, checking my phone.
"Okay, listen to me," Lorenzo says, clapping his hands once.
"At 11:55 we're going up to the roof. Trust me, our skin is gonna freeze off, but there's gonna be a shit ton of fireworks.
You're gonna lose your minds. Antonio is going to think it's the second coming of Christ. Like the end of the world. "
"Start bringing your jackets and scarves over here, slowly," Lorenzo adds. "We're not sprinting last minute like idiots."
I grab Rava's hand and drag him toward our room where Antonio's sleeping, so we can grab our stuff and pull out Antonio's tiny puffer and hat too.
"I'm thinking about asking Noah to tattoo me tomorrow," I say casually. Rava looks at me, shocked. "Just like that?"
"Yeah," I shrug. "Wanna get something matching?" I look at him. "What? I think we're way past the 'mm I don't know, what if we break up?' phase, don't you?"
Rava just stares at me for a second. "Don't swear on it," he says. "Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and feel like filing for divorce. Who's gonna stop me?"
"I am. Please don't leave me," I say immediately.
He bursts out laughing because I didn't even try to pretend I'm chill. Then he steps closer, slides his arms tight around my waist and rests his chin on my chest.
"I don't think I can ever see my name standing alone again," he says quietly. "It's Gio and Rava. That's how it exists in my head now."
I run my fingers through his hair, thumb brushing the back of his neck. "And Antonio," he adds. "And the other one who doesn't even have a name yet," I say, laughing.
"Can you believe this year we're gonna become girl dads?" I ask. "I'm shitting myself a little, not gonna lie." He toys with my wedding ring, tracing the metal. "I'm so excited," he says.
"Same," I admit. "Mostly because I can't stop picturing a tiny girl with your face and your hair acting like a diva, demanding outfits, walking around in princess dresses."
We both laugh at this.
…
"Alright people, it's 11:50," Noah announces. "Grab your coats and bring the spawn."
Rava laughs and nudges him. "Don't call our kid spawn."
"But he is," Noah says. "Now go get him."
We head back to our room together. The second I whisper the word fireworks, Antonio shoots up like he's late for work, completely lost in sleep.
It's hilarious. I think this is the first New Year's he'll actually kind of understand what's happening. We stuff him into his tiny puffer, his little hat, scarf, gloves, and head back to the living room.
Everyone's already bundled up like we're about to cross the Arctic. "Awwww, our baby just woke up," Marco says, squishing Antonio's cheeks. "Antonio, have you ever seen fireworks up close before?" he asks.
Antonio technically has, but he looks straight at him and says, "No." I don't know why he does that. Rava shrugs. "He probably doesn't remember."
Marco ruffles Antonio's hat. "What you're about to see now, you're never gonna forget, man. You ready?"
He nods, all serious. We all head for the staircase to the roof. Everyone walks in a line, like we're evacuating a building. "Are we sure these stairs can handle all of us or...?" Daisy asks.
"Shut up, babe," Lorenzo says. "These stairs have survived way worse." We keep climbing, hands full of blankets, and one half-asleep toddler.
Lorenzo unlocks the door at the top, pushes it open, and the cold hits us straight in the face. We step out onto the rooftop together. Noah starts recording again, face way too close to the camera. "Hello again, ladies and gentlemen," he says, all dramatic.
"We took a short break to destroy some food, but we're back to change the year with this very concerning family."
He spins the camera around, catching the whole rooftop, the snow, the dark sky, the little shelter Lorenzo built with his bare chaotic hands.
We throw the blankets over the low wall of the small rooftop shelter, and everyone squeezes in close together. Noah props his phone up on the ground, screen facing us, and runs back into the group. "Does anyone actually have a watch?" Daisy asks, hugging her belly and shivering.
"Wait—" Rava says, checking his phone. "It's starting..." He lifts his head. "Ten!" he shouts. "Nine!" we all yell back.
Antonio just stares at us, trying to copy our mouths as we shout. Daisy leans closer to him, smiling, counting along.
"Five..." she says slowly.
"Four..." Rava scoops Antonio up in his arms and brings him closer to his chest, warming him up. He gently takes Antonio's little hands and helps him count on his fingers.
"Three... two... one..."
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" everyone screams at once.
I immediately grab Rava by the neck and kiss him. He grabs my jaw, laughs into my mouth, and then we both turn and kiss Antonio's cheeks at the same time.
And then the sky explodes.
Fireworks burst open everywhere, left, right, behind us, over the trees, above the town, painting the whole sky in every color possible. Red, gold, blue, purple, that insane glittery white.
I put my hands gently over Antonio's ears, so the sound doesn't scare him, and he just stares up, completely locked in, like someone just turned on his favorite show in 8K.
Everyone's doing the same thing, heads tilted back, mouths half open. Rava's face is glowing from all the colors, smiling so much it actually hurts to look at him.
The view hits me right in the chest, same way it did the night I proposed to him.
Same sky.
Same man.
That image got carved into my brain back then, and tonight it just digs itself in deeper. I wrap my arms around both of them at once, Rava and Antonio, pulling them in.
They're mine.
"Happy New Year, assholes!!!" The others pile on top of us, yelling over each other.
If we were a book and someone slammed us shut right now, I'd accept it. Solid place to hit pause.
Because in this exact moment, I'm so fucking happy I could stay right here forever, with these exact people, like this.
20) Rava’s Birthday Pt. 1
Rava
It's January 7th. I turn twenty-eight on a Wednesday. Who has a birthday on a Wednesday?!
Birthdays should be legally forced to fall on Saturdays. Or at least Fridays. Wednesday is so random. It feels like the middle of a loading screen. But I'm still weirdly happy, because today is also the first day back at school after Christmas break.
And I've missed my students. All of them. Even the ones who sometimes make my eye twitch when they complain that three homework exercises are "too much" and "Mr Rava, you're literally evil".