Castle and all of its characters, etc belong to their creators, not me. No infringement is intended, and no profit is being made.
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"Bro, that is so not cool." Javier Esposito tossed his controller onto the couch beside him and reached for another chip.
"Well, maybe if you kept your mind on the game instead of the snacks, you wouldn't have lost 42 to 14," Kevin Ryan retorted, smirking.
Esposito rolled his eyes. "You got lucky is all. Besides, Madden's one thing, but I bet I could kick your tail on the real field."
"Oh yeah?" Ryan looked intrigued. "How much?"
"How much what?"
"How much do you bet you could beat me at football?" Ryan asked.
Esposito raised an eyebrow. "You really wanna do this? No one said you had to."
"And miss the chance to show you what's what? No way!" Ryan's expression could almost be described as gleeful. "There's an old lot a few blocks over that we could use."
"Sounds good to me." Esposito gave Ryan his best game face. "Let's go."
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Richard Castle was in the middle of a particularly stubborn paragraph in the newest Nikki Heat novel ... well, all right, it might have been more than just the paragraph. He was also in the middle of one of his favorite coffee shops in New York City. Pausing his work, or lack thereof, he took a sip of his drink and let his gaze wander out the window. Not too many people were out and about that night, as it had been raining for most of the day. The skies had cleared about dusk, but the streets were still relatively deserted in this part of town.
There was an empty lot across the street from the coffee shop, and by the light of several street lights, Castle noticed two men in a pick-up football game. There was something familiar about them, Castle thought, continuing to watch them through the window.
Then he grinned, packed up his laptop, and disposed of his cup. He checked both ways, then jogged across the street to the lot.
Esposito and Ryan paused their game and looked up as he approached. They were both covered in mud up to their knees and spotted with it everywhere else. Ryan's sleeveless shirt was no longer white, and Esposito's bare back had its fair share of mud as well.
"Hey, Castle! What brings you out tonight?" Ryan greeted.
Castle shrugged. "Well, I was doing some work in the coffee shop across the street. Change of scenery and all that, but then I saw two of my favorite nonfictional detectives in the middle of a football game and came to offer my assistance."
Esposito looked him up and down. "You sure you're up to it, Castle?"
Castle raised an eyebrow. "I think the question is more are you sure you're up to it? I have quite the game, you know."
The other two smirked at each other and turned back to the middle of the lot.
"What?" Castle called, following them after depositing his bag near the side of the field. "I do!"
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Beckett had been working out that afternoon, enjoying a rare Saturday out of the station, and decided almost spur-of-the-moment to stop for a cup of coffee on her way home. As she exited her car near the small shop, she heard familiar voices shouting in laughter.
A quick look around and she spotted the three men across the street. They were throwing a football back and forth, and as she neared them, Ryan had just managed to tackle Esposito to the ground, but not before the ball was tossed to Castle, who ran with it to the fence and began jumping around in what appeared to be his version of a victory dance. Beckett smiled slightly at the sight of the writer, who had shed his shirt at some point in the game, then shook her head. "Hey guys," she called in greeting.
"Hey," Ryan nodded from the ground. His chin had a few dirty smears across it, and the mud on the ground appeared to be slowly seeping into his pants, only adding to the caked layers already there.
"Is that Beckett?" Esposito's voice was slightly muffled, and he pushed Ryan off of him. "You really need to start exercising more, bro," he teased, shaking his head in mock disappointment.
"Beckett!" Castle exclaimed, hurrying up to join them. "I didn't expect to see you out tonight."
"Yeah, well, I was in the neighborhood, and I happened to see an interesting ball game going on," she answered. "Figured I'd stop and see what the score was."
"Ah," Castle nodded. "We're totally winning."
"That's only because there's two of you," Ryan protested.
Beckett chuckled, raising her eyebrow at Castle. "Well now, that's not very fair. What do you say I join you, Ryan? Want to teach these two a thing or two about the game?"
"What, you?" Castle laughed. "Really? I didn't take you for a football girl. I would've guessed more of a baseball fan."
"There's that, too," she shrugged. "I've got my tennis shoes; let's do this."
Esposito and Ryan got to their feet, and the four of them headed to the middle of the lot. Beckett and Ryan exchanged looks, then Castle snapped the ball to Esposito and everyone ran in various directions.
Esposito made it partway down the makeshift field, spinning to wait for the pass. The ball headed his way, but Ryan picked it off and darted for the opposite end. A tackle by Castle landed the two in the mud and ended the play. Ignoring the new addition to the mud on their jeans, they jumped up and rejoined the others.
This time, Beckett passed the ball off to Ryan, who took it about halfway down the field before being tackled by Esposito. They lined up for the snap, and Ryan threw it to Beckett. Castle was hot on her heels, but as they neared the fence, he tripped and slid a few feet on his stomach while Beckett made the touchdown.
She turned back to where he was picking himself up, grinning as she extended a hand. "Who's got the game now, Castle?"
"Hmm," he shrugged, running a hand through his now-muddy hair. "I let you win that one."
Beckett laughed aloud at that. "Oh right."
"It's true," he nodded seriously, though the twinkle in his eyes told her otherwise.
"Come on, let's get on with the game!" Esposito called from where the other two were waiting in the center of the field.
They jogged over to join the other two, who had conspiratorial looks on their faces.
"Okay, 20 bucks says Beckett and I come away winners," Ryan informed them when they had all joined up.
"Only 20?" Castle asked, raising an eyebrow. "Let's make it 30, and Esposito and I continue our winning streak."
"What winning streak? We're only down by 7," Ryan rebutted.
Beckett tossed the ball to Ryan. "Hey, if they want to be out 30 each, we shouldn't stop them." She grinned. "Now are we going to stand around talking or get on with this game?"