Eureka!
Ryan's Man Crush
A Ryan/Castle story
:-:
Ryan really should have seen it coming. Honestly, there was no excuse. Just he had been so excited when he discovered their current victim actually was an undercover CIA agent that he really couldn't wait to tell Castle one of his conspiracy theories had finally come true.
What he hadn't bargained on, however, that being proved right was the highlight of Castle's life, and once Ryan had bounded over and delivered the news, Castle had responded by grabbing the collar of Ryan's blazer and dragging the Irishman forward to plant a smacker on Ryan's lips.
Letting go just as abruptly, Castle spun around and started gloating to Beckett who just rolled her eyes at the writer as Castle picked up a red pen and began to draw all over the whiteboard.
In all the commotion no-one was paying attention to Detective Ryan and the fact he was still rooted to the spot, lips slightly puckered.
No-one, that is, except Esposito.
"Dude?" The Hispanic Detective prompted, nudging Ryan in the shoulder. Ryan just made a strangled sort of sound and Esposito slowly lowered his partner into the nearest chair.
It was no secret that the young Irishman had harboured quite a man-crush on the writer ever since Castle had shown up at that first crime scene. For the first year he had wandered around the precinct with a Richard Castle novel tucked almost permanently under his arm in the hope the author would notice him. Esposito had really thought the novelty of a famous millionaire had finally worn off but, by the look on Ryan's face, there was no such luck.
"Ryan!"
"Hmm…." The other Detective replied, a little more coherently than before. Esposito waved a hand in front of his partner's face.
"Earth to Ryan?!"
"He kissed me." Ryan was still looking dead-pan ahead, but at least actual words were progress.
"Yeah bro, I noticed – what with being a Detective and everything."
Ryan turned to look up at Esposito, "Do you think it meant, you know? More than just…?"
"No." Esposito replied with conviction, raising his eyebrows to question the Irishman's sanity. This seemed to snap Ryan back to reality.
"No, of course not," he responded, flustering somewhat, "and I wouldn't want it to." He added, standing up and heading back to his desk, pausing only briefly to shoot a wistful glance back in Castle's direction. "Besides, I'm married." This was almost an afterthought.
"You're putting this in your diary, aren't you?" Esposito teased.
"What?" Ryan feigned a look of disbelief before Esposito's stare backed him down, "Yeah, yeah totally." He admitted, "cover for me?" and wandered off a little haphazardly in the direction of the locker room.
Esposito just rolled his eyes and shook his head; Ryan could be such a fangirl sometimes.