It was totally cliché, but Javier Esposito couldn't care less.
Hours earlier, his world had tipped on it's axis when he'd seen his partner, Kevin Ryan, fall, blood spilling down his face. He hadn't responded when Javi called to him, as the blood pooled around his head.
Javi and Kate Beckett quickly took down the drug dealer who had shot Kevin. Rick Castle dove for Ryan, pressing his jacket to the fallen man's head. As Beckett slapped the cuffs on the dealer, Javi fell to his knees, trying to rouse his partner.
It hadn't worked.
The ride to the hospital had been terrifying and Javi nearly collapsed with relief when the doctor told him the bullet had actually ricocheted off of Kevin's skull and he was unconscious due to the resultant concussion.
A few hours later, Javi was sitting beside Kevin's hospital bed when he saw those blue eyes flutter open and regard him blearily.
"Hey," Kevin murmured and raised a sluggish hand towards his head. "What happened?"
"You got shot, Bro," Javi replied, voice thick with relief.
Blinking, Kevin considered this. "In the head?"
"Doctor said it bounced off your skull," he replied, squeezing the hand he hadn't really been aware he was clinging to. That Kevin was alright, awake and talking, filled him with such a rush of… something he couldn't even put into words.
Smiling that adorable little smile, Kevin managed to chuckle and say, "Mum always told me I had a thick head."
The smile. The bad jokes. The bruise peeking out from under the bandage on Kevin's brow… it was all too much.
Leaning forward, Javi placed his free hand on Kevin's cheek and leaned over him, pressing a soft but firm kiss to Kevin's lips.
The moment he acted, he mentally slapped himself, as this was clearly crossing the partner line, but then he felt Kevin respond, felt a hand wrap gently around his shoulder.
When they broke apart, they stared at each other for a moment before Kevin tentatively asked, "Uh, what was…I mean, I just got shot in the head, so I'm a little…Did you….?"
"Yeah," Javi said, knowing it was best to just get things out in the open. "Yeah, I did. You okay with that?"
Kevin blinked those pretty blue eyes at him and said, "Yeah…as long as it's gonna happen again when I'm not seeing two of you. Not that that's a bad thing."
Javi laughed and squeezed Kevin's hand. "Count on it, Bro. Count on it."
So yeah, the whole near-death-revelation-of-feelings-bedside-vigil thing was a total cliché…but there was a reason clichés were clichés.
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