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To anyone walking in, it would look like Esposito and Ryan were doing paperwork at their desks. Anyone paying attention might notice that they were occasionally, and rather too casually, looking at the doors. Almost as if they were waiting.
Esposito heard the foot falls and looked up as the door swung open. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ryan tense up. Beckett walked in. With Castle. Very with Castle.
That's new.
Beckett looked surprised to see them. "Oh. You're both here already."
"Catching up on paperwork, never know when this lull will end." He finally looked over to Ryan who seemed to find the custody report he was reading completely absorbing.
"Uh-huh." Beckett looked suspicious. That was his cue.
"Hey, Ryan, go get us all some coffee, yeah?
Ryan sat up, glared at him and pushed himself up from the desk.
"I'll have a cappuccino, make sure you get the chocolate on the top; oh, and see if there are any of those bear-claws left." Esposito knew he was pushing it but he was enjoying himself too much to stop.
"Fine," Ryan ground out.
"Woah, woah, woah," Castle looked completely confused, while Beckett just smiled.
Damn, did she catch on already?
"What exactly is going on here?" Castle continued.
Esposito leaned back on his chair. "Ryan's gonna be helping me out a lot today."
"And this would be because?" Castle prompted. Esposito just grinned at Ryan.
"This is about the Yankees, isn't it?" Beckett asked, although it was more a statement than a question.
She had caught on.
"We just beat the Angels two weeks ago! I mean, c'mon, you don't bet against the Yankees." Ryan sounded desperate, like he was trying to plead for mercy from a judge.
Unfortunately neither of the judges here seemed to be swayed. Castle looked like he might explode from holding back his laughter, and Beckett just looked more amused.
"So what did you lose?" she asked.
"My dignity," Ryan said, dejectedly.
"He didn't lose anything. Ryan, here,” Esposito slapped him on the back, “won the opportunity to be my slave-"
"Assistant" Ryan interrupted
Esposito turned to him "You said slave when you bet me the Yankees would spank the Angels. You’re exact words were 'When I win, you're my slave for a day,'” Ryan pulled a face as he recited their conversation “and I agreed."
Esposito turned back. "All day today, whatever I want." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.
"Nice." Castle looked impressed, and a little like he was committing this to memory. Esposito would have to ask Ryan if it turned up in the new book.
"And you're both in so early because you," Castle pointed at Esposito, proudly, "wanted to get a full day of it."
And now Castle had caught on. "Yup," Esposito said, feeling about as pleased with himself as he ever had.
"Even though we've got no new case?" Beckett checked.
"There's always paperwork, isn't there Ryan?"
"Dude, you know I can't type."
"You just need the practice.” Esposito nodded towards a pile of files. Castle made a choked but very amused noise while Beckett shook her head and went to her desk. “Which you can get a lot of after you come back with my coffee."
Ryan looked like he wanted to say something murderous but just stalked off to the kitchen.
"Hold on," Castle looked like something had just occurred to him "I thought you said you'd given up on bets since the Dress-and-Shaved-Head debacle."
"No," Esposito replied. "That's just when we stopped making bets with you.”
**********************************
Ryan was shaking cocoa powder on the cappuccino when Esposito walked in, closing the door behind him.
"You're enjoying this way too much." Ryan said, quietly.
"Hey, I wasn't the one wishing we didn't have to sneak around. You wanted public; I gave you public." Esposito felt he had every right to be smug about that. The bet idea was a stroke of genius.
He scanned the doors and window quickly. Beckett and Castle were at her desk, focused on something else. No-one else was around.
He moved to murmur in Ryan's ear.
"Gonna lie to me and tell me you aren't loving every minute?"
Ryan shook his head, that dopey-but-satisfied grin he wore sometimes plastered all over his face.
"You're going to be unbearable about this, aren't you?" Ryan said, mock annoyance slightly tempered by the fact that he was still smiling.
Esposito thought long and hard about the question, smirking all the while.
"Wanna bet?"