Work Text:
“And that’s another case solved,” Castle said enthusiastically. “Let’s go to The Old Haunt, the first round’s on me!”
Everyone cheered, but Esposito couldn’t help but see that Ryan was lost in his thoughts.
“Hey, you okay?”
Ryan looked up and forced a smile on his face.
“Yeah, I’m fine, let’s go.”
The thing about Esposito was that he knew Ryan way too well; and he wasn’t fooled by the fake smile on his partner’s face.
“Are you guys coming?” Beckett asked.
Ryan was already walking in Beckett’s direction, but Esposito stopped him by grabbing his arm.
“You guys go, Ryan and I will be there right after.”
Ryan sat down on his chair with a sigh.
“What was that for?”
Esposito took his own chair and put it in front of Ryan.”
“You are upset. Talk to me.”
“Javi…” Ryan tried, but Esposito didn’t botch. Ryan sighed again and looked at his hands.
“It’s the case.”
“What about it? It was pretty clear from the start that it was the brother. We had him in less than 48 hours.” Esposito was confused. The case couldn’t have been more clear. The only difficult thing had been finding the guy.
“Javi, he killed his brother because the brother was gay. That was his only reason. And he was even proud of it.” Ryan looked up, finally looking Esposito in his eyes, and suddenly it clicked.
“Kev, can I ask you a question?” Esposito asked.
Ryan nodded carefully.
“Are you gay?”
Ryan took a deep breath.
“Pansexual, actually.”
Esposito grinned and wanted to say something, but Ryan interrupted him.
“Don’t you dare to ask if I’m into pans. I know I’m smaller than you, but I can kick your ass if I want to.”
They both laughed and the tension was broken.
“It affected me, too, by the way. I’m kind of into guys, too.” Esposito admitted.
“I suspected.” Ryan grinned.
“Do I even want to know?” Esposito asked, poking Ryan’s arm.
“Hey, it takes one to know one.” Ryan winked and they both laughed again.
The guys stood up, ready to enjoy drinks with their friends. This had been enough seriousness for the day. They bumped shoulders as they walked towards the elevator.
The boys couldn’t have imagined in a thousand years a killer being homophobic would be the beginning of something beautiful.