that next morning

[wildrover]

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.

Comments

[wildrover]

A couple of hours turned into a couple more until it was late afternoon before Ryan realized he had stayed well after the time he said he would take. He hadn't even stopped for lunch, only a small break here and there for an extra coffee from the delightful machine Castle had bought for the precinct. He stretched a bit while still seated in his chair and looked over the papers he had managed to fill out so far. He'd gotten a good portion done, most of it in fact. But it seemed like there was always more.

He decided he'd done enough for today though considering he wasn't even on-duty. He had simply needed to get out of the apartment for a while and waste some time. Clear his head after that awkward morning. He loved Esposito and spending time with him even away from work but that could not have been more awkward if he had tried.

On the other hand, he was looking forward to heading home now and not just because he was hungry. He arranged his paperwork accordingly and straightened his desk before heading for the elevator. Admittedly, he was curious to see what Esposito had spent the day doing. He hurried out to his car and made the trip back home during the pleasant time period right before evening traffic hit the streets hard. Lucky him.

He unlocked the door to his apartment and headed inside. "Espo?" he called out, looking around curiously for his partner. "I'm back. Sorry about the time, I lost track of it."

[specialforces]

Espo was actually a bit grateful it had taken Ryan as long as it did, because his own plans went a bit longer than he was expecting. But he still had a bit of excess time so when Kevin got home, he was sprawled on the couch watching Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout on National Geographic.

"Don't sweat it, man! I know how it gets."

[wildrover]

Ryan took off his jacket and hung it first thing then wandered closer to the couch, looking at the TV as he did so. "Yeah, I got a lot of work done at least. What are you watching?"

[specialforces]

"Oh, the National Geographic channel. You know. For culture."

[wildrover]

"Uh-huh. Please tell me that's not some sort of reality show." Ryan moved to take a seat next to Esposito on the couch.

[specialforces]

He scooted over a bit to give Ryan a bit more room. "Technically, it's more like a game show."

[wildrover]

"I guess I can let that slide then," Ryan said with a small smirk.

[specialforces]

"Cool. Want something to drink?"

[wildrover]

Kevin glanced over at Espo curiously as he recalled their conversation from earlier. "Yeah, sure."

[specialforces]

He grinned, hopping up and heading for the kitchen. "You won't regret it, bro. I came up with the perfect ratio."

[wildrover]

Ryan grinned after Espo uncertainly. "I'm still somewhat dreading what you might have come up with but let's have this 'perfect' drink of yours then."

[specialforces]

After tooling around in the kitchen for a bit, he came out with a couple of glasses, one of which he handed over to Ryan. "Enjoy."

[wildrover]

He took the glass offered to him and sniffed at it curiously before taking a small sip. Amused, he looked up at Esposito with a smile. "How did you know?"

Ryan didn't recall ever having mentioned a fondness for this mixture as it might have granted him more teasing from his fellows. Either Epso knew him better than he realized or it was a lucky guess.

[specialforces]

He shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess. Tried to get the basic nature of the spiked punch. It's just that chocolate milk works better with Bailey's."

[wildrover]

Kevin chuckled a little. "Yeah, it does. I, uh, actually really like it." He settled further into the couch and took a few more sips of the drink. "You mixed it really well. Thanks, Javi."

[specialforces]

"Hey. Don't mention it. Least I could do, right?" He grinned, leaving it at that.

[wildrover]

Ryan glanced at Espo suspiciously but he let the conversation drop as something on the TV caught his attention. By the time the next commercial came on he had already forgotten what he might have thought to ask.

[specialforces]

When that commercial came up, Espo looked over at Ryan. "Mind if I raid your fridge?"

[wildrover]

That reminded Kevin that he was hungry. "Actually I was going to ask you if you wanted to order some pizza or something."

[specialforces]

"See, that sounds even better."

[wildrover]

"Pizza it is then," Ryan confirmed as fished for the phone in his pocket. He made the order based on past experience--he knew what Esposito wanted just as readily as he knew what he wanted--and went back to watching the TV while they waited for the food to come to them.

[specialforces]

He settled back to wait for the pizza. "You know, we would be awesome at this show."

[wildrover]

Ryan blinked and tilted his head thoughtfully. "You mean you'd have fun bossing the rest of us around because you have the most survival training," he eventually replied but with a small smirk.

[specialforces]

He smirked right back. "You mean I'd offer encouragement when needed to help you guys get through? Absolutely."

[wildrover]

"Ha!" Ryan gave Espo a challenging stare. "Beckett and I could handle it even without your encouragement. Might even get a little further without you slowing us down."