A/N: A short drabble on Ryan's kind-hearted nature~
Enjoy!
"…I hate it when it's little kids."
Javier resisted a relieved sigh, and the urge to turn around and smother Ryan in a bear hug. Or throttle him, for making Esposito wait the whole day before telling him what's wrong. What Ryan need right now, Javier knew, is a source to mitigate his anger and stress, without letting said source know that he was stressed.
"Yeah?"
Javier knew Ryan nodded without looking. Both pairs of eyes were trained on the football game on TV, but both's attention was elsewhere.
"Mh," Ryan confirmed, reaching for the bowl of popcorn on the table. He set the plastic bowl in his lap, but didn't take any. "…Yeah."
"…Why?" Javier asked, seeing his partner wasn't about to continue. On screen, a team scored a touchdown, and the crowd went wild. Esposito finally turned his head and attention to Ryan. The Irish detective, however, kept his focus on the TV, eyes blank and glazing over along with the changing colors onscreen.
"I just…" he breathed. Almost-transparent eyelashes fluttered as Ryan shut his eyes momentarily, frowning, then opening them, this time watching Esposito. He didn't seem surprised to find worried brown eyes meeting his. "…I just hate to be reminded of how bad, sick the society can be."
"Dude, we're cops," Javier murmured lightly against the mouth of his beer bottle. "We see the bad side of the society with every murder."
"I know!" Ryan exclaimed uneasily, throwing his head back against the couch. "It's just… It's different when it's with kids, you kno-"
"I know."
Ryan seemed surprised when Javier cut through his explanation, and Esposito stubbornly kept his gaze at the TV.
"I know, Ryan," Javier insisted. "I know how it feels."
A moment of tense silence followed his… What? Outburst? Confession? Words-Spoken-Out-Of-General-Pissed Off-ness? Javier was having a hard time not turning his head back around, resisting the gravitational pull of Kevin Ryan's Wide Blue Eyes of Doom.
Then there was a weight and pleasant warmth on his shoulder. Esposito almost jumped, had his instincts as a cop kicked him, making him freeze, then forcibly relax. A pale hand with impossibly long fingers covered the one he had clutching the remote, and short cropped hair brushed against the skin of Javier's neck lightly when Ryan turned his head.
"Thanks."
After a second to digest the whisper, Javier truly relaxed, and turned with a grin, planting a light, but firm kiss on the top of Kevin's head.
"You're welcome."
A/N: Wide Blue Eyes of Doom. Don't tell me you don't want to review to tell me how much you're disgusted by my choice of words. Or completely obsessed with his eyes like I am.