Advent Calendar Day Fourteen - Castle fic: The Outing
Day One | Avalanche, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, R, 400 words | for pjvilar
Day Two | No Fu Manchu, Hawaii Five-0, Danny, Steve, PG, 803 words | for laceymcbain
Day Three | running away from nothing real, Inception, Eames/Ariadne, R, 1,358 words | for vinylroad
Day Four | they said a hundred times I should have died, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, NC-17, 1,192 words | for pau494
Day Five | try again, die again, die better, Torchwood, Jack, wallpaper | for pierhias
Day Six | monsters are always hungry, darling, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, NC-17, 1,001 words | for lunatics_word
Day Seven | The Nine Lives of Bryce Larkin, Chuck/Chrestomanci series (Diana Wynne Jones), Bryce/Chuck, PG-13, 1,760 words | for misura
Day Eight | Jump, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, PG-13, 2,045 words | for idrilka
Day Nine | It's a White Oahu Christmas, Eureka/Hawaii Five-0/Leverage/Supernatural/White Collar, G, 1,450 words | for vonilyn
Day Ten | The Jackpot, White Collar, Neal/Peter, PG, 644 words | for lazy-daze
Day Eleven | faster than sound, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, John, Cameron, PG-13, 237 words | for nrrrdy_grrrl
Day Twelve | A Golden Age, Merlin (BBC), Merlin, Arthur, Gwen, (Gwaine, Lancelot, Gilli), PG, 780 words | for hypertwink
Day Thirteen | Snug, White Collar, Neal, Peter, G, 308 words | for merkuria
The Outing [Castle, Esposito/Ryan, R, 1,758 words, for aurora_84. Beta thanks to athenejen.]
"You ever think about, you know-?" Ryan asks, motioning between the two of them to identify what it is they might possibly want to think about.
Esposito doesn't answer instantly. "Nah," he says eventually, shaking his head, but he doesn't look Ryan in the eye. That's the first clue Ryan gets.
"No, you're right," Ryan says, because he's not gonna push it.
*
Thing is, there are the jokes. About them bickering worse than a married couple. About the way they read each other's minds or finish each other's sentences or spend so much time together they're practically glued at the hip. Ryan would be willing to bet half the station thought he broke up with his girlfriend to date Esposito. Hell, he bets at least one person thinks they're fucking.
They aren't.
But Ryan does sometimes wonder what it'd be like if they were.
*
They get assigned a new case, Jimmy Chase. A young guy, came out as gay the week before, found last night in the street with his head bashed in. It's ugly. Even Castle doesn't try to make it into anything exotic - it's a fucking vicious hate crime.
For once, they start with one suspect and end up with the same suspect, a homophobic asshole who was best friends with Jimmy in high school and couldn't stand his brothers teasing him about being friends with a pillow-biter. Beckett lets Ryan charge him, as though she thinks he needs to do it. And maybe he does.
*
"Want to grab a bite?" Ryan asks. Today's been nothing but catching up on paperwork - dull, but at least it means they get to keep normal office hours.
"Yeah, sure," Esposito says. "Pizza or Mexican?" he asks. " Qdoba has a two for one special before seven. We'd be in time to catch it for once."
"Actually," Ryan says, refusing to get side-tracked into an argument about where to get the best burritos, "I was thinking that new place Castle was talking about yesterday."
Esposito looks at him as though Ryan's lost his mind. "The one that you have to book three weeks in advance and that costs a week's salary just for an appetizer so small Mateo could eat it in one mouthful?" Mateo is Esposito's little nephew - he's just coming up on two years old.
Ryan coughs. "Yeah, that's the one. Castle said he could get us a table, no problem. And he owes us for not ratting him out to Beckett last week when he sent her those flowers anonymously. So, what do you say?" Ryan's not sure he's sounding as cool and casual as he'd like, but then it's Esposito. He knows Ryan's not really that cool, and he's okay with it. Ryan's still not sure Esposito is going to say yes, though.
Esposito keeps him waiting so long that Ryan's about to say what the hell and suggest Baja Fresh. Then Esposito grins, because the fucker's playing with him and enjoying it. "Sure, why not?" he says. "But you're paying, and I'm not gonna be a cheap date."
*
They don't fuck after the date, even though it's definitely a date and the two of them don't exactly need time to get to know each other. They don't even kiss, because they ended up taking both their cars - a dumb move - and Ryan's not going to kiss Esposito awkwardly on the sidewalk.
They do make a second date though. "So, Carlos said he can get me tickets for the Jets game on Saturday. You up for it?" Esposito asks before he heads off to his car, and Ryan's a decent enough guy that he doesn't keep him waiting that long for an answer. Nowhere near as long as Esposito made him wait.
They don't kiss on their second date either, because it's a football game, and they don't have a death wish. And they don't kiss afterwards, because Beckett calls them in on a new case, a woman found hanging from a lamp post in Central Park, so that's the end of any free time that weekend.
*
Their third date isn't so much a date as Ryan driving Esposito home and going in for a beer. Which turns into takeout and another beer, and then they're on the couch together, and it seems like it should be something more.
Ryan really wants it to be something more.
So he puts down the pizza box - Esposito doesn't believe in using plates if they're not absolutely necessary - and his empty bottle, and tries to work out how to move in on Esposito.
"You're planning your move, aren't you?" Esposito asks, and that's the problem of having a partner who knows you that well. On the other hand, that's the also advantage of having a partner that knows you that well: Ryan can probably get away without actually having to make a move.
"Yeah," Ryan admits.
"About fucking time," Esposito says. "My dick's not gonna suck itself."
"Seriously, bro, you did not just go straight there," Ryan says, half horrified, half-well, not eager, exactly, because he's never sucked dick, and even though he's been puzzling stuff out and thinking about all sorts of things, sucking Javier's dick hadn't come into the equation. But he's curious. Yeah, he's that all right. He can't help wondering if it's anything like as good to suck dick as it is to have his sucked.
Esposito shrugs. "We're guys. I thought we'd be able to skip the talking and get right down to it."
Ryan sees his point - of course he does - but still. A little romance wouldn't hurt. He likes to do things right.
He settles for a compromise. He's not going straight down on his knees and sucking dick, but he's more than happy to cut out the sweet talk and just get on with the making out.
The truth of the matter is, Ryan likes making out. He likes the slow tease of it, the way it makes his belly heat up. He likes feeling Javier's skin under his fingers, learning what makes him smile and what makes him squirm - not there, fuck, man, you know I'm ticklish, and Ryan does, which is why he'd run his fingers just there - and what makes Javier bit his lip and go silent. He really likes rubbing up against Javier, both still fully clothed and there's enough space between them that Ryan can't tell if Javier's getting hard yet or not, but they're close enough for Ryan to see the flush on Javier's face and know it's good for him too.
Ryan's not sure if it counts as fucking on the third date when it's actually the next morning that they get around to it.
They wake up together, stripped to their underwear and in Esposito's bed - that's as far as they'd made it last night, too tired after a long week to get any further - and the thing is, Ryan's slow to come around in the morning, but Javier, he's a morning guy. He wakes up and the second he opens his eyes he's ready to go, when Ryan's still fumbling around in his head trying to work out where he is and what day it is and why there's a warm body next to his. So Javier's got the bedclothes tossed back and Ryan's briefs down over his thighs by the time Ryan's gotten as far as mostly awake.
His dick's ahead of him - fully awake - and by the time Ryan's reached the same stage, he's just gotten the best blow job of his life.
Ryan's feeling pretty smug. Smug enough that he doesn't even think before going down on Esposito in return - and maybe he's a bit sloppier, but Esposito doesn't seem to mind judging by the speed with which he comes - and it isn't until afterwards that he realizes that in less than a day he's gone from curious about sucking dick to been there, done that, gonna do it again.
*
They aren't subtle. They're never subtle. And they work with a bunch of detectives. Plus a crime-writer, who, much as Ryan hates to admit it - and won't out loud - is as observant as any of them. Often more so.
The jokes are still the same. How married the two of them are. Beckett laughs when they finish each other's sentences, and the chief shakes his head at the two of them like they're one person, and Castle calls Ryan Mrs. Esposito just because he fetches Javier a coffee.
And yet, no one seems to realise that they are actually dating. Have been for months now.
Dating and fucking.
Dating and fucking and living together.
"We should fuck on my desk one day," Ryan suggests, dropping his keys in the top drawer. "Right in the middle of the afternoon."
"Not that I'm going to object to a plan that involves fucking, but is there some particular reason I should know about? A spanking kink, maybe? I can see if I have a ruler around here somewhere if that's what does it for you. Or do you have an exhibitionist streak you've managed to keep hidden until now? Which would be hurtful, man - I thought we didn't have secrets."
"Nah. I just thought it'd give the sorry excuses for detectives around here a clue even they couldn't miss." Ryan grins.
"Why your desk? Why not mine?" Esposito asks, as though that's the only important issue.
"Because it was my idea." His idea, his desk. That's logical.
"And I'm calling dibs - if we're gonna fuck, we're using my desk."
"You can't call dibs like that," Ryan protests.
"Just did, bro," Esposito says. "Besides, mine's cleaner. And tidier."
Ryan's shaking his head when Castle appears. "What are you two arguing about now? You know, you're worse than my first wife and me."
"What, when you were going through your divorce?" Esposito asks.
"Oh, no, that was fine. Quite amicable really. No, I'm thinking about when we were first married." Castle sighs and looks like he's remembering the good old times. "We used to fight like crazy, but then when we made up, wow, that would be-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get the picture," Ryan interrupts before Castle starts giving them details.
And then Castle's looking, first at Ryan and then Esposito and back to Ryan. "Yeah," he says, a grin of understanding spreading across his face. "Exactly like Meredith and me in the early days. You two-"
Finally. "Took you long enough," Ryan says.
//
Day Two | No Fu Manchu, Hawaii Five-0, Danny, Steve, PG, 803 words | for laceymcbain
Day Three | running away from nothing real, Inception, Eames/Ariadne, R, 1,358 words | for vinylroad
Day Four | they said a hundred times I should have died, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, NC-17, 1,192 words | for pau494
Day Five | try again, die again, die better, Torchwood, Jack, wallpaper | for pierhias
Day Six | monsters are always hungry, darling, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, NC-17, 1,001 words | for lunatics_word
Day Seven | The Nine Lives of Bryce Larkin, Chuck/Chrestomanci series (Diana Wynne Jones), Bryce/Chuck, PG-13, 1,760 words | for misura
Day Eight | Jump, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, PG-13, 2,045 words | for idrilka
Day Nine | It's a White Oahu Christmas, Eureka/Hawaii Five-0/Leverage/Supernatural/White Collar, G, 1,450 words | for vonilyn
Day Ten | The Jackpot, White Collar, Neal/Peter, PG, 644 words | for lazy-daze
Day Eleven | faster than sound, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, John, Cameron, PG-13, 237 words | for nrrrdy_grrrl
Day Twelve | A Golden Age, Merlin (BBC), Merlin, Arthur, Gwen, (Gwaine, Lancelot, Gilli), PG, 780 words | for hypertwink
Day Thirteen | Snug, White Collar, Neal, Peter, G, 308 words | for merkuria
The Outing [Castle, Esposito/Ryan, R, 1,758 words, for aurora_84. Beta thanks to athenejen.]
"You ever think about, you know-?" Ryan asks, motioning between the two of them to identify what it is they might possibly want to think about.
Esposito doesn't answer instantly. "Nah," he says eventually, shaking his head, but he doesn't look Ryan in the eye. That's the first clue Ryan gets.
"No, you're right," Ryan says, because he's not gonna push it.
*
Thing is, there are the jokes. About them bickering worse than a married couple. About the way they read each other's minds or finish each other's sentences or spend so much time together they're practically glued at the hip. Ryan would be willing to bet half the station thought he broke up with his girlfriend to date Esposito. Hell, he bets at least one person thinks they're fucking.
They aren't.
But Ryan does sometimes wonder what it'd be like if they were.
*
They get assigned a new case, Jimmy Chase. A young guy, came out as gay the week before, found last night in the street with his head bashed in. It's ugly. Even Castle doesn't try to make it into anything exotic - it's a fucking vicious hate crime.
For once, they start with one suspect and end up with the same suspect, a homophobic asshole who was best friends with Jimmy in high school and couldn't stand his brothers teasing him about being friends with a pillow-biter. Beckett lets Ryan charge him, as though she thinks he needs to do it. And maybe he does.
*
"Want to grab a bite?" Ryan asks. Today's been nothing but catching up on paperwork - dull, but at least it means they get to keep normal office hours.
"Yeah, sure," Esposito says. "Pizza or Mexican?" he asks. " Qdoba has a two for one special before seven. We'd be in time to catch it for once."
"Actually," Ryan says, refusing to get side-tracked into an argument about where to get the best burritos, "I was thinking that new place Castle was talking about yesterday."
Esposito looks at him as though Ryan's lost his mind. "The one that you have to book three weeks in advance and that costs a week's salary just for an appetizer so small Mateo could eat it in one mouthful?" Mateo is Esposito's little nephew - he's just coming up on two years old.
Ryan coughs. "Yeah, that's the one. Castle said he could get us a table, no problem. And he owes us for not ratting him out to Beckett last week when he sent her those flowers anonymously. So, what do you say?" Ryan's not sure he's sounding as cool and casual as he'd like, but then it's Esposito. He knows Ryan's not really that cool, and he's okay with it. Ryan's still not sure Esposito is going to say yes, though.
Esposito keeps him waiting so long that Ryan's about to say what the hell and suggest Baja Fresh. Then Esposito grins, because the fucker's playing with him and enjoying it. "Sure, why not?" he says. "But you're paying, and I'm not gonna be a cheap date."
*
They don't fuck after the date, even though it's definitely a date and the two of them don't exactly need time to get to know each other. They don't even kiss, because they ended up taking both their cars - a dumb move - and Ryan's not going to kiss Esposito awkwardly on the sidewalk.
They do make a second date though. "So, Carlos said he can get me tickets for the Jets game on Saturday. You up for it?" Esposito asks before he heads off to his car, and Ryan's a decent enough guy that he doesn't keep him waiting that long for an answer. Nowhere near as long as Esposito made him wait.
They don't kiss on their second date either, because it's a football game, and they don't have a death wish. And they don't kiss afterwards, because Beckett calls them in on a new case, a woman found hanging from a lamp post in Central Park, so that's the end of any free time that weekend.
*
Their third date isn't so much a date as Ryan driving Esposito home and going in for a beer. Which turns into takeout and another beer, and then they're on the couch together, and it seems like it should be something more.
Ryan really wants it to be something more.
So he puts down the pizza box - Esposito doesn't believe in using plates if they're not absolutely necessary - and his empty bottle, and tries to work out how to move in on Esposito.
"You're planning your move, aren't you?" Esposito asks, and that's the problem of having a partner who knows you that well. On the other hand, that's the also advantage of having a partner that knows you that well: Ryan can probably get away without actually having to make a move.
"Yeah," Ryan admits.
"About fucking time," Esposito says. "My dick's not gonna suck itself."
"Seriously, bro, you did not just go straight there," Ryan says, half horrified, half-well, not eager, exactly, because he's never sucked dick, and even though he's been puzzling stuff out and thinking about all sorts of things, sucking Javier's dick hadn't come into the equation. But he's curious. Yeah, he's that all right. He can't help wondering if it's anything like as good to suck dick as it is to have his sucked.
Esposito shrugs. "We're guys. I thought we'd be able to skip the talking and get right down to it."
Ryan sees his point - of course he does - but still. A little romance wouldn't hurt. He likes to do things right.
He settles for a compromise. He's not going straight down on his knees and sucking dick, but he's more than happy to cut out the sweet talk and just get on with the making out.
The truth of the matter is, Ryan likes making out. He likes the slow tease of it, the way it makes his belly heat up. He likes feeling Javier's skin under his fingers, learning what makes him smile and what makes him squirm - not there, fuck, man, you know I'm ticklish, and Ryan does, which is why he'd run his fingers just there - and what makes Javier bit his lip and go silent. He really likes rubbing up against Javier, both still fully clothed and there's enough space between them that Ryan can't tell if Javier's getting hard yet or not, but they're close enough for Ryan to see the flush on Javier's face and know it's good for him too.
Ryan's not sure if it counts as fucking on the third date when it's actually the next morning that they get around to it.
They wake up together, stripped to their underwear and in Esposito's bed - that's as far as they'd made it last night, too tired after a long week to get any further - and the thing is, Ryan's slow to come around in the morning, but Javier, he's a morning guy. He wakes up and the second he opens his eyes he's ready to go, when Ryan's still fumbling around in his head trying to work out where he is and what day it is and why there's a warm body next to his. So Javier's got the bedclothes tossed back and Ryan's briefs down over his thighs by the time Ryan's gotten as far as mostly awake.
His dick's ahead of him - fully awake - and by the time Ryan's reached the same stage, he's just gotten the best blow job of his life.
Ryan's feeling pretty smug. Smug enough that he doesn't even think before going down on Esposito in return - and maybe he's a bit sloppier, but Esposito doesn't seem to mind judging by the speed with which he comes - and it isn't until afterwards that he realizes that in less than a day he's gone from curious about sucking dick to been there, done that, gonna do it again.
*
They aren't subtle. They're never subtle. And they work with a bunch of detectives. Plus a crime-writer, who, much as Ryan hates to admit it - and won't out loud - is as observant as any of them. Often more so.
The jokes are still the same. How married the two of them are. Beckett laughs when they finish each other's sentences, and the chief shakes his head at the two of them like they're one person, and Castle calls Ryan Mrs. Esposito just because he fetches Javier a coffee.
And yet, no one seems to realise that they are actually dating. Have been for months now.
Dating and fucking.
Dating and fucking and living together.
"We should fuck on my desk one day," Ryan suggests, dropping his keys in the top drawer. "Right in the middle of the afternoon."
"Not that I'm going to object to a plan that involves fucking, but is there some particular reason I should know about? A spanking kink, maybe? I can see if I have a ruler around here somewhere if that's what does it for you. Or do you have an exhibitionist streak you've managed to keep hidden until now? Which would be hurtful, man - I thought we didn't have secrets."
"Nah. I just thought it'd give the sorry excuses for detectives around here a clue even they couldn't miss." Ryan grins.
"Why your desk? Why not mine?" Esposito asks, as though that's the only important issue.
"Because it was my idea." His idea, his desk. That's logical.
"And I'm calling dibs - if we're gonna fuck, we're using my desk."
"You can't call dibs like that," Ryan protests.
"Just did, bro," Esposito says. "Besides, mine's cleaner. And tidier."
Ryan's shaking his head when Castle appears. "What are you two arguing about now? You know, you're worse than my first wife and me."
"What, when you were going through your divorce?" Esposito asks.
"Oh, no, that was fine. Quite amicable really. No, I'm thinking about when we were first married." Castle sighs and looks like he's remembering the good old times. "We used to fight like crazy, but then when we made up, wow, that would be-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get the picture," Ryan interrupts before Castle starts giving them details.
And then Castle's looking, first at Ryan and then Esposito and back to Ryan. "Yeah," he says, a grin of understanding spreading across his face. "Exactly like Meredith and me in the early days. You two-"
Finally. "Took you long enough," Ryan says.
//