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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

wildrover

That was better. Ryan settled back into place and relaxed, more or less heading back towards sleep now that everything was back to stillness. He'd learned to ignore the morning light on his time off so as long as his pillow didn't move anymore he was likely to simply go back to full on slumber.

From:

specialforces

After a bit of time spent snuggling, the light finally got the best of him and he really couldn't even fake sleeping much longer. He opened his eyes with a yawn and looked over at—

Oh.

Right.

And to top it off, apparently Ryan was part squid.

From:

wildrover

He couldn't help it if Esposito made an exceptionally comfortable pillow with his warm and firm but gentle body. He just didn't take too kind to said pillow trying to squirm out of his grasp so he grappled tighter with every tiny movement--like a boa with a juicy bit of meat struggling to get away.

Ryan muttered something under his breath again and shifted closer, his head curled downwards and stopped on Esposito's chest.

He was still out of it.

From:

specialforces

Obviously, he was not going to be able to just squirm free, ever, so he nudged Ryan just a bit. "Hey. Kevin."

From:

wildrover

The Irish detective groaned in protest and squeezed tighter. The pitch of the voice stuck in his mind and disturbed his sleep, forcing him to slowly waken enough to place it.

When it struck him his eyes snapped open. "Javi?" he asked cautiously, frozen awkwardly still as he waited for a reply.

From:

specialforces

"Either that or a body pillow, bro. Can't decide which." His voice was light and amused, though.

From:

wildrover

Well, the tone of the reply came as something of a relief anyway. "Heh. Yeah... sorry about that."

Ryan carefully rolled over onto his back and straightened out so that he was no longer resting on top of his partner. "I guess sleep-deprived me thought you were really comfortable."

Non sleep-deprived him had kinda thought it for a second there, too, but he wasn't going to admit to that just yet.

From:

specialforces

He laughed. It wasn't really all that uncomfortable on his end, to be honest. "You're not the first to think so, but it's nice to have objective confirmation."

From:

wildrover

"Aha," was the sheepish first response. It took him a moment before he could decide on words. "Can we just keep this between the two of us? If Castle finds out... I mean, you know how he is. He'll never stop with the teasing."

Admittedly, Ryan just didn't want Espo teasing him about how he was a sleep-cuddler. But all the more so in front of Castle. He wasn't over-exaggerating how that would go.

From:

specialforces

"My lips are sealed. I know he wouldn't let that go." If anything Ryan was underplaying how it would go. And he wasn't in the mood to deal with it either.

From:

wildrover

Ryan sighed in relief. He closed his eyes and nodded his head in agreement. "Thanks, bro. It'll be easier if this was just shoved into a--"

He stopped and let the sentence hang in the air. Damn the English language sometimes. He didn't complete the thought and instead turned onto his side as if to get away from Esposito before any cheeky remarks were made. He wasn't sure if Javier would keep the teasing out entirely or still comment while they were safely alone.

"It's too early," he said in excuse.

From:

specialforces

He bit his tongue for a moment, but actually managed not to reply to the unfortunate turn of phrase. "No kidding. Your windows face the wrong direction, man."

He sat up and rolled out his neck.

From:

wildrover

He was silently thankful.

"I know. Sometimes I wish there was a high-rise next door just to block out the early morning light." Ryan crawled to the other side of the bed and managed to untangle himself from the sheets. He sat for a while on the edge of the mattress to keep from getting a headrush when he stood up. "But beggars can't be choosers, and cops can't afford to be picky. Not even detectives."

From:

specialforces

"Who knows, man. Maybe urban development will catch up. Or maybe I'll get you some shutters for Christmas."

From:

wildrover

"I got used to it," Ryan said but then went on after a slight pause, "although I wouldn't object to less light when I'm trying to sleep."

He glanced over at his curtains, barely able to keep the view out much less the light. He shook his head and stood up.

"Maybe you could invest early if your block still smells like sewage by the end of the day."

From:

specialforces

"Yeah, we'll see. Although shutters are probably tougher to install, so maybe just thicker curtains."

From:

wildrover

"What? Are you afraid to do a little handyman work? What happens when the plumbing goes out in your apartment, Javi? Do you call for a plumber every time the facet gets a little leaky?" He made a soft sound of teasing amusement and smirked at his partner. "I'll put it up myself if you have such an aversion to a little grunt work."

From:

specialforces

"Oh, fine then. Bring it. Crazy intricate shutters, too. I will own shutter installation, my friend."

From:

wildrover

Ryan smirked in triumph. He began to gather up some clothes to take with him to the bathroom for after a shower when midway through he suddenly stopped. He turned to face Javier.

"Did we just agree to go shopping for shutters? Is that as bad as picking out the curtains?"

From:

specialforces

He shakes his head emphatically. "Don't worry, bro. It's totally cool as long as we also get some power tools to compensate."

From:

wildrover

"...I'm going to be nice and let that one slide, Javi. Only because you're buying."

From:

specialforces

"Yeah, good idea, or I'll bring up shoving things places."

From:

wildrover

"I'll shove you places."

...yeah. He should keep his mouth shut this early in the morning.

From:

specialforces

"Aaaand suddenly I have the upper hand again."

From:

wildrover

Ryan blushed and excused himself from the room before he could make any more bad choices in words. He went to take a shower and, being the considerate guy that he was, got out quickly enough to leave Espo some hot water if he chose to take one, too.

He headed for the kitchen after getting dressed and started up a pot of coffee.