"Beckett, Ryan and Espo are here!" Castle calls out happily.
Beckett turns from the kitchen with a wide smile on her face at her husband's excitability. "Hello boys," she greets them.
"Don't they look amazing," Castle prompts.
Beckett manages to refrain from rolling her eyes at Castle's unsubtle nudge. "Irresistible," she replies, watching their reaction carefully. Castle has already turned away, oblivious, busying himself with hanging up their coats, but Beckett sees Esposito give Ryan an assessing once-over and mutter something to his partner under his breath. She even catches the slight shudder of Ryan's body – imperceptible to anyone but a police officer with years of training and experience of watching people for tell-tale signs. Ryan and Esposito are doing a textbook job of giving away those signs.
When Ryan manages to tear his gaze away from his partner, he catches Beckett looking. He quickly gives her a smile and shifts into helpful mode, leaving Esposito's side and asking if there's anything he can help with in the kitchen.
Castle turns round at that, not wanting to waste time to put his plan into action. "No that's alright Ryan," he says, bounding over. "We've got it all under control haven't we Beckett?"
"Well, one of us has," Beckett murmurs, but Castle only smiles, not offended.
"You two sit down," he offers, opening two beers and passing them to Ryan. "Dinner's a little way off yet."
Castle watches, completely unsubtly, as Ryan and Espo settle on the couch. "Look!" he whispers to Beckett.
"I am, for some reason," she remarks. "What am I meant to be seeing?" Of course, she knows exactly what she's seeing, but it's far more enjoyable to watch Castle stumble over it himself.
"Look how close they're sitting," he whispers back excitedly.
"They are partners Castle," Beckett says. "I hardly think they're going to look uncomfortable sat next to other when they spend so much time together."
"It's a sign," is all Castle says in response.
He can barely restrain his squeal of delight when Ryan passes Esposito a beer and their fingers linger a moment too long against the others.
"Showtime," Esposito mutters under his breath.
"Wasn't that part of the show?" Ryan whispers back.
Esposito gives him a cheeky smile in response. "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet," he grins.
Even though they are looking only at each other, they can feel Castle's eyes on them. Due to the open-plan nature of the apartment, he will undoubtedly hear their conversation, so for now they stick to safe territory.
"What are your plans for tomorrow then? Did you say you were going home?" Ryan asks, acting as though he doesn't already know; that they haven't discussed this at length.
"Mamá is looking forwards to seeing me," Esposito says with a nod. "A big family Christmas as always."
"It's just me this year," Ryan admits, and Esposito tries to pretend that this is news to him; that this situation hasn't already been rectified.
"Why?" he says instead.
"Mam's staying with family in Ireland, but I couldn't afford the time-off," Ryan says. "My sister's here, so I'll probably visit her, but she didn't invite me for dinner." He is silent for a few moments, and Esposito can feel his pain over the estrangement from his sister like a physical presence. He almost breaks their charade to put a reassuring hand on Ryan's knee, remind him that is he is not alone – but luckily Castle interrupts.
"Why don't you go with Espo?" he calls out, not even bothering to disguise the fact that he had been listening in. "You could be his plus one!"
Beckett lightly cuffs him on the arm. "Castle!" she hisses. "You can't just invite people to other people's family Christmases."
Castle looks slightly chastened, but doesn't apologise, only looking at Esposito expectantly.
"You wanna come bro?" he asks Ryan, playing it a lot cooler than he did the first time. The first time had been a 'Big Moment', and he'd stuttered awkwardly through the offer with all the due respect owed to such an important moment in a relationship. Luckily though, Ryan hadn't been any less overcome, and had mumbled his acceptance just as bashfully.
"If it's not too much trouble," he responds this time, voice calm and steady.
"Not at all," Esposito smiles. "Mamá will be glad to see you again."
Castle turns away to carve the meat, seemingly happy by this turn of events. Beckett subtly turns away herself.
Taking the opportunity while they aren't being watched, Esposito presses Ryan's knee with his own. They share a smile.
"How long is this going to go on for?" Ryan asks under his breath.
"I would say until it stops being funny," Esposito responds. "But I don't think there's a chance of that happening any time soon, so… End of the night?"
"Can we keep it up that long?" Ryan murmurs. "That was difficult enough."
"Oh that's the tough bit out of the way," Esposito promises. "Trust me, dinner will be much more fun."
He isn't wrong; but then again, Ryan had no idea he was going to start playing footsie under the table.
It starts mid-way into the meal; at first just a brief brush across his foot, so quickly he could have ignored it. But then he feels a distinct rubbing against his ankle. He glances up at Esposito; finds him already looking at him. His eyebrow twitches when Ryan meets his eye, a blush rising on his cheeks as Esposito's foot moves further up his leg, clenching his toes against Ryan's calf. The smug smile on his face at Ryan's small choke is completely unfair.
Castle looks up, whatever he was saying trailing off as he notices the way Ryan is steadfastly looking at his plate, and Esposito blatantly staring at him. He exchanges a look with Beckett, as if to say 'see, I knew it'.
He manages to corner Beckett by the sink for a brief moment, under the guise of clearing the plates, whilst Beckett tops up their wine. "See," he whispers to her. "Did you see the way they were acting? Ryan looks like he can't bear to look at Espo he's that in love he thinks is unrequited, and Espo isn't even bothering to hide it."
Beckett opens her mouth to try and discourage him from meddling further, but Castle is already heading back to the table to stir things up.
"Well, I think it's time we were getting home," Esposito announces, but directed at Ryan in such an intimate way that the penny finally drops.
Castle looks from one to the other, then back again. "What?" he splutters, just managing to avoid choking on his wine. He looks at Beckett, whose expression shows no surprise whatsoever. "You knew?!" he asks incredulously.
She smiles. "Of course I did Castle – and no they haven't already told me," she says quickly before Castle can interrupt. "I figured it out a while back, and tonight only confirmed it."
"But…" Castle manages.
"Castle was under the impression that you two would be perfect for one another, and that you were unrequitedly in love," she explains – even though Ryan and Esposito had figured that much out. "So he thought he could make you realise that tonight… And to be fair, he got the first bit right."
If Castle hears the explanation of his own obliviousness, he is oblivious to it, simply grinning at Ryan and Esposito.
"Well we won't stop you going home in that case," he says, emphasising the word 'home' in something of a question.
"Mine," Ryan confirms. "We've not moved in officially yet, but it's nearer to work and just seems easier."
"But you don't come in together every day," Castle says, and yet again there is a question in his words. Finally he is managing to be subtle, Beckett thinks.
"We didn't want to be too obvious about it," Esposito says; after all, it had been his idea, not Ryan's. To his credit, Ryan had never complained, even though he hadn't seen why they'd had to hide it. Now he deserves everything Esposito can give him. "But from now on we will," he says.
Ryan lets out a small gasp – more of a breath – in surprise and happiness. "Really?" he asks, with a slight quiver in his voice.
"Well why not?" Esposito says cheerily. "Now Castle knows, there's no keeping it a secret anyway."
Although the words are kept intentionally light, Ryan can hear the deeper meaning; hears the unspoken apology.
Castle fetches their coats from the hook by the door. Esposito helps Ryan with his, straightening his collar; Castle swoons.
"Thank you for this evening," Ryan says politely as they get to the door.
Esposito nods in agreement. "And thank you for match-making Castle – I'm sure we'll be very happy together."
Happy Christmas everyone! Hope you enjoyed reading!