in a restless world like this is (11039 words) by orphan_account
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Law & Order: SVU
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Characters: Rafael Barba, Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Additional Tags: Undercover as a Couple, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Pining, Some Humor, Canon-Typical References to Sexual Abuse, Non-Graphic Violence, Case Fic
Summary:

Carisi and Barba fake a relationship to catch a blackmailer. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

Around Barba there wasn’t much Sonny could keep under control. Not his mouth or his eyes or his stupid heartbeat - singular. It had taken years but they’d managed to come from grudging coworkers to amiable ones, and then that still grew into a sexually charged mentorship. Well, for him anyway. It wasn’t for another couple of months after he passed the bar that Sonny picked up on a little something… extra in Barba’s gaze. And now here they were, circling. Waiting for the other. Sonny was working on it, he really was, but the thought of being wrong and Barba mocking him into the ground kept his lips tightly shut.
For now, at least.
And that was fine. Sonny loved the sarcastic sniping and implied insults to his intelligence. They were fun for him, got his blood moving. Especially considering that Barba would never have bothered if he’d actually believed the things he was saying. Sonny would get curt one-word responses or dismissals, Barba never would have agreed to let Sonny shadow, and that would have been that. So as far as he was concerned every one of those little jabs was a reminder that Barba liked him, that he thought he was worth the effort of messing with.
Barba had even been particularly prickly for the last month or so. Sonny noticed immediately, because there wasn’t a whole lot about Barba that he wasn’t keeping a close eye on these days. At first he’d thought he’d screwed up in some way but now he wasn’t sure, just because Barba kept agreeing with him when the whole team was together. He had his back, whether or not he actually ended up going with Sonny’s direction. That alone was reason enough to make Sonny think about what was really going on in Barba’s head. He was pretty sure he knew.
Barba was catching feelings.
Barba, king of snark and bored disapproval, had stumbled upon some emotions other than anger and stunned irritation. Being attracted to Sonny was one thing - the guy had eyes, and Sonny wasn’t a bad looking guy. But liking Sonny? Oh, that was another ballgame entirely.
It was fucking great.
It was even better that Sonny knew.
It was even better that Barba knew that Sonny knew.
Now they were just dancing around each other, seeing who would cave first. Sonny might not have much of a competitive streak but Barba did. Sonny was fine losing - and that’s how Barba would see it - but he was fine to drag it out a little longer too. Make Barba think it was a real hardship for him to give in and come knocking on his office door late one night with an offer of drinks or dinner. It would satisfy Barba’s ego and still get Sonny what he really wanted, which was Barba.