wildrover | that next morning

Ryan fell asleep quickly after letting Esposito crash in the bed with him, their brief banter wearing him out once again. Like he had admitted to Javier, the day had been long and hard, their current case exacting a toll on Kevin mentally if not quite so much physically. A lot of shifting through useless data and trying to find the useful. At least they'd put this one behind them already, solving it through a fluke of luck and rendering most of Ryan's work obsolete. But it was done and for that Ryan was thankful. Now he just wanted to sleep.

So he did, and heavily too. He didn't shift often in his sleep at least and neither did he snore. And if Esposito did either of those two things then Ryan didn't notice them, not tonight.

Morning came and sun started to peek through the window. One bad thing about having an apartment on the eastern side of the building: the sun always got to the window early in the morning. Ryan shifted slightly but he still wasn't ready to get up just yet. The bed was comfortable, and the body pillow he'd snuggled into was warm and compliant to his needs. He was blissfully content to just stay where he was all morning until the afternoon. Maybe longer.

If only.

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Ryan wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. "...An idiot for what part of it exactly?" He was afraid to ask but he had to know the answer.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Although this entire conversation had the potential of making work extremely awkward for the forseeable future. "For constantly ignoring it."

"For ignoring what?" He needed a real answer, something definitive.

Of course Ryan was gonna make him say it. Weirdly enough, this was scarier than facing gunfire. "For ignoring that I like you. I mean... like like you. And now I sound like I'm in sixth grade."

Kevin exhaled a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding as relief flooded through him. The conversation wasn't so horrific after all.

He laughed softly. "Yeah, you kinda do, bro." But that was all he said. Castle probably would have pointed out some cliche about how actions were stronger than words, and maybe unconsciously that was what Ryan was thinking when he leaned in to kiss Javier chastely along the corner of the lips. An experiment, light and almost nothing but a caress of contact that could be ignored if unwanted, as if all Ryan had done was accidentally brush against his partner while shifting around to get more comfortable with their awkward positioning.

He laughed a little himself as Ryan did, stopping once he felt the soft kiss. He smiled, though, and leaned in to return a kiss, only a bit more solidly.

Okay, that was new, unexpected, and different. But it was also very nice. Stupidly, Ryan felt like a sixth grader now too as his heartbeat quickened and he felt a little like some silly teenager in a bad romance novel kissing for the first time. It was such a frivolous feeling that he laughed again, not unhappily though because the truth was he was ridiculously happy over the unusual situation. It would be complicated. It might even blow up in their face later down the road; but for now, Ryan was glad for what was happening.

Kevin didn't hesitate on the third kiss between them. He matched Esposito for force and squirmed closer to the warm body of his partner, daringly wrapping an arm around Espo's waist and pulling him closer.

It was certainly unusual and complicated, and yes, it could certainly end up causing nothing but problems, but it was also exhilarating, kind of like a roller coaster, or skydiving, or... something like that. When Ryan pulled him closer, he took the opportunity to cup a hand around the back of his neck and deepen the kiss a bit.

Ryan hummed softly into Javier's mouth, enjoying the taste of the other man. There was an unexpected pleasantness to it, the early morning effects aside.

He pulled back after a moment, breaking the kiss. He smiles a little.

"Well. Wow."

Ryan ducked his head into Javier's shoulder and breathed in the scent of his partner. Funny how he'd never really paid it much attention before but now it seemed not only comforting but oddly appealing.

"Yeah," he agreed breathlessly.

Espo offhandedly played with the hair on the back of Ryan's head, just smiling.

"Hell of a thing to wake up to, huh?"

"That's possibly an understatement. But I'm not disappointed, that's for sure." He looked back up and smiled at Javier.

"Of course you aren't. And of course I'm not either."

He smiled right back.

that next morning

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