Prompt: a game of truth or dare reveals a secret.
Takes place early season 5.
The six of them - Castle, Beckett, Esposito, Lanie and the Ryan's - got together quite regularly. Usually at Castle's loft, where he would graciously provide a praiseworthy meal and enough booze to keep them all relatively free of inhibition. Initially, these nights would only happen once - maybe twice - a year... after a particularly hard case, when tempers had flared, patience had been tested and the team just needed to spend time together... without the negativity of what usually brought them together. But over time, these nights had become a semi-regular event - something they had all begun to look forward to.
Tonight was different, however. As they all gathered in his loft, Castle's stomach began to grow tight with tension. He and Beckett had been together for three months... three wonderfully surprising months... and as ready as he was to shout his love for her from the rooftop, they had agreed to keep it between them and he wasn't going to push her if she wasn't comfortable. She had been understanding when he told Alexis - thanks, Mother - but he understood that the more people who knew, the bigger risk there was of Gates finding out. And the fact that she didn't want to stop working with him... well, how could he be disheartened by that? But the current mix of factors - the comfort of being in his space, the slight buzz of alcohol pulsing through his veins, the laughter and music that filled the air, and the increasing frequency of longing looks and gentle touches coming from Beckett - well, this was a slip up just waiting to happen. He had told himself not to get too comfortable tonight... but he feared he was already one whiskey too far in. But Beckett didn't seem to have the same concerns he did. Either that or she just hid them better than he was able to... Lanie had dragged her into the open space by the piano, forcing her to dance along to the song playing. She was hesitant at first, but with Lanie's encouragement, she relaxed and allowed herself to enjoy the moment with her friend. He loved these rare moments when she was completely, 100% carefree.
"You good, bro?" Espo bumped his shoulder with his closed fist - only gently, but it was enough to break him from his thoughts. "You're leering... it's creepy."
"I'm not leering... I'm observing..." he countered. "Maybe Nikki needs a night out on the town." he mused.
"Right," Espo laughed. "Observing... for your books. We're still going with that?" he teased. Castle knew no one actually bought that excuse... but for the most part, people were gracious enough to just go along with it. Very rarely did anyone actually call him out on the absurdity of four years worth of 'research'.
"She hasn't booted me out yet - so, yeah. We're still going with that." Castle knew there was no point in trying to argue... he was pretty sure that everyone in this room knew that he had feelings for Beckett. He was never really someone that was hard to read. But as far as everyone knew, she was keeping him at an arms length. She was the one keeping them platonic. There was a sense of relief in knowing that any potential slip up on his behalf could be brushed off as pining Castle.
The ladies stopped dancing when the song changed - Beckett using the momentary pause between songs to excuse herself for another drink. Joining Castle and Esposito in the kitchen, she couldn't help but feel nervous when their casual conversation lulled in response to her presence. Eyeing them both, suspiciously, she grabbed a can of premixed drink and settled against the counter next to them, cracking it open.
"What's going on?" She asked Espo, but searched Castle's face for reassurance. He smiled, and she instantly felt safe again.
"We we're just talking about the next Heat book." He said truthfully, before turning to Castle. "Castle was just agreeing that maybe certain other Characters needed more big hero moments." He teased, walking away to avoid any sort of rebuttals.
Finding themselves alone in the kitchen, Beckett slid the short distance across the counter, taking Esposito's now vacant spot. She nudged into his arm with her shoulder, giving him a bright smile.
"You can relax, you know."
He stiffened more. "I am relaxed." Blatant lie.
"I admit, I was worried about tonight, too. But we've done this a million times before. We drink, we flirt, we have fun with our friends." She was speaking low, not wanting to risk anyone overhearing the conversation - not that she thought there was much risk, between the music playing and the joyous sounds of their friends mingling. "This is where your incessant need to push that line is actually going to work in our favour."
He couldn't help but smirk at that. Since day one, his constant needling at that professional boundary she had set had driven her insane. Hearing her praising his behaviour, instead of the usual scolding he received was a pleasant surprise. It was sweet... and arousing.
"One small problem..." he twisted his body, leaving in so his face was close to hers. He could smell her shampoo - the cherry scent he had grown so fond of. "I think you are severely underestimating how much of an effect that outfit has on me."
She wasn't wearing anything special - these nights were very casual. Although, she would admit that these were her favourite jeans... she loved how they hugged her in all the right places.
She took in a sharp breath. "Oh," her voice trembled for just a moment, before she gathered herself. "This is going to be fun." She chuckled before pushing herself away from the counter, strutting away from him. He noted the little extra sway in her hips. Just for him.
"Gather around, everyone!" Lanie called out, bringing the small group around the table. "I have a game for us to play." She said excitedly once everyone was gathered. They would usually play poker - occasionally indulging in a crude drinking games such as Cards Against Humanity, or the likes. But they were all open to trying new games. Anything that would keep the pace of the night flowing - not that they had any problems with casual conversation.
Castle brought out his iPad, having already discussed tonight's plan with Lanie. He had downloaded an app called confessions. He opened the app and placed the iPad in the centre of the table, then began filling small plastic shooters with vodka.
"Okay... so this is pretty much truth or dare. However, you don't get the choice of truth or dare. The app asks a question to the whole group - you either answer the question or you take the number of shots shown on the screen. You following?" Lanie explained. She was met with a round of nods, confirming that - so far - everyone was keeping up with her instructions. "You get a shot for each round - so ten rounds, is ten shots - but if you choose not to answer a question worth two shots, that means there's at least two questions that you will have to answer, because once you're out of shots you can't skip."
"Okay, I'm a notorious over-sharer. This is easy peasy!"
"Okay, Castle's feeling confident!" Jenny laughed, a quiet confidence oozing from her as she challenged him without a single word. She, too, was known to be quite an open person. There was nothing a she was too shy to share during a silly drinking game - making her husband a little nervous. Espo and Lanie oohed and cheered playfully as Castle and Jenny maintained a competitive stare.
"I've got nothing to hide." He rolled up his sleeves, game on. But he did - and he was well aware of the types of questions these games usually asked. He was going to have to put on his best poker face.
"Okay - let's start then!" Lanie tapped on the iPad screen, starting the game. The screen in front of them shuffled through icons, much like a poker machine, before landing on a black card with the number 1 on it. The card flipped, showing the question.
What's your most shallow reason for not going on a second date?
1 shot.
"Oh, easy. Her pictures online were all of her with blonde hair and when I showed up for the date her hair was green."
"That's so shallow!" Jenny laughed at her competitors admission.
"Yeah... not my proudest moment." He shot a quick glance to Beckett, hoping she wasn't judging him too hard for his confession. She had known he had been shallow in the past, so he didn't think this would come as a total shock to her. Judging from her face, she didn't seem to mind.
"I turned down a second date once because..." Beckett stopped to stifle a laugh. "It's stupid. It's so stupid. He wore an FBI shirt... but under 'FBI' it said 'female body inspector'. I just... couldn't." The group didn't hold back their laughter - and she knew this would become a running joke from now on.
"I think that's totally fair!" Lanie reassured her... once she had stopped laughing. "I backed out of a date because the guy had bad breath." She shrugged her answer, knowing it was fairly tame.
Jenny took her turn next. "I said no to a second date because he had a kid. It wasn't so much the fact that he had a kid... more the fact that he spent the whole first date complaining about the kid. I wasn't about to sign up for that drama."
Ryan and Espo looked at each other, knowing each other's answers to this question.
"I cancelled a date because I found out she used to date Ryan." Espo surrendered his answer.
"He says that as if it were out of respect for me... but his exact words at the time were 'obviously something is wrong with her'."
"Javi!" Lanie scolded.
"I meant because she dumped him!" He tried to excuse, but the grin on his face was anything but apologetic.
"But it's okay - because after that I went out with Melissa that used to work down in evidence." Ryan's smile trumped Esposito's - he was obviously proud of his 'revenge'. Esposito scowled as Beckett laughed, remembering how determined Espo had been to ask Melissa out all those years ago.
Determined to move on, Espo leant forward and pressed the screen of the iPad, shuffling the questions again. The selected card flipped to show the next question.
You have to take back an ex. Who is it?
1 shot.
Beckett and Ryan didn't hesitate, each grabbing one of the full shot glasses from the centre of the table and shooting it back with ease.
Lanie and Esposito looked at one another. "I mean...?"
"Yeah." Espo confirmed her unspoken thoughts. Not surprising anyone there... they were already back and forth.
"I'm going to have to go out in solidarity on this one." Jenny smiled at her husband after taking the shot. Castle didn't say a word, simply grabbing one of the shots and gulping it down.
Beckett knew it was out of respect for their newfound relationship - but she couldn't help but tease. "What? No deep fried Twinkie?" She smirked - so did Ryan and Espo.
"Nope... I think I'm done with Twinkies." He smiled, not acknowledging the teasing undertones of her voice. Just a genuine sentiment. Beckett forced herself to look away before the flush of her cheeks drew too much attention - but, of course, her best friend noticed and gave her a knowing smirk that caused her stomach to flip.
"Next question." She said, tapping on the screen, eager to keep this moving along.
If you could have sex with one person in this room, who would it be?
3 shots.
"You've got to be kidding me." She uttered under her breath. This was not the 'moving along' she had hoped for.
"I mean... we know our answers..." Espo circled his finger in the air, motioning to his partner, his partner's wife, his on-again-off-again lover and himself.
Castle slid the two remaining shots toward Beckett, reaching for the bottle and the empty cups to begin the refill process. She shot them back, one after the other, the full effects hitting her suddenly.
"You're gonna make me lose to Jenny." Castle teased.
She waved her hand lazily toward him, "Answer away, it's no secret you're into me." She smirked, her eyes hazy from the alcohol coursing through her.
"Touché." He said, sliding the shot back to the centre of the table. "100%... have been trying since day one." He rose from his seat, heading to the kitchen.
"Where are you going?" Her eyes followed him as he manoeuvred his way around the counter.
"If you're going to keep avoiding answering these questions, you're going to need water." He said, returning to the table with a full glass. "You're a lightweight."
The brush of his hand along her back as he passed her the glass of water didn't go unnoticed by the group.
"I've had four shots in the span of, like, three minutes! Give me a break!" She was defensive, but gratefully accepted the offering, sipping carefully as the game went on.
Slowly her friends caught up with her intoxicated state of mind, each having their own questions they would rather drink than answer. With each round that passed and each shot inhaled, the group lost their inhibitions - more and more salacious details of each past revealed. They would laugh, talk and share stories in between each round.
Lanie tapped on the iPad screen, initiating their final round. Beckett was all out of shots and her stomach was flipping with anticipation knowing that - according to the rules of the game - she had to answer this next question. Of course, she could lie, if need be. It's not like she was strapped to the polygraph test or anything.
She studied the iPad as the images on the screen spun around - her groggy eyes barely able to keep up until the tiles began to slow and one flipped over, revealing the last question.
What is the most childish thing you still do?
1 shot.
Castle read the question aloud - pondering if it were written specifically for him... man-child of the group.
Beckett laughed, the question echoing in her head, mingling with the heavy cloud of haze that fogged her senses. "You." She spat out, only to be met with wide eyes from the writer.
The silence only lasted a second, but to the writer it felt like a lifetime. Had she meant to say that? The smile on her face certainly made it seem like she had.
"I knew something was different here!" Lanie exclaimed, excited that her friend had finally taken that leap of faith they talked about many months ago.
"Wait... what?" Espo seemed dumbfounded. Mostly surprised that Castle had managed to keep their secret... he wasn't one to hold back the details of his love life in the past.
Castle continued to stare at his partner - taking in every detail of her expression. She wasn't scared... not even a little bit. She had told their friends, not at all by accident.
"You can relax now." She smiled, placing her hand over his.
"But... Gates?" He wanted to be sure that she was sure.
"I'm not going to tell her. Are you going to tell her?" She looked around to her friends, "are any of you going to tell her?"
They all shook their heads, no. Of course not. Their friends were on their side, always.
"If she kicks you out of the precinct, we will deal with that. But I don't want to hide anymore... and I shouldn't have asked you to lie for me."
Castle turned in his chair, facing his body toward her and taking her hand in his. "Thank you."
"For what?" She wondered aloud.
"For... everything." He smiled so genuinely it sent little flutters through her heart. "I love you."
She ignored the small part of her brain that cringed at the idea of showing so much affection with so many eyes focussed on them. She placed her palm flat against his cheek, leaning forward to kiss him tenderly. "I love you too."