Shots. Shots were a bad idea. He wasn't even sure who's idea they were... probably his. He had a bad habit of showing off. He had probably challenged someone. Who knows. All he knew right was that they were all drunk. Beyond drunk. They were wasted.
They all ended up at The Old Haunt. It wasn't even planned. He had left earlier in the evening, trying to catch his staff during a lull to have an impromptu meeting. Nothing formal, just a check in. Trying to be a good boss... a present boss, not just the dude who owned the place.
By the time he resurfaced from the hidden basement, Ryan and Espo had arrived and were working on their first round of drinks. After the case they'd just solved, he knew it wasn't a one beer kind of night. He shot Beckett a quick text and joined the boys. She arrived with Lanie not long after.
The place had cleared out about an hour later, and Perry was closing up for the night. He had encouraged the ladies to take control of the new Juke Box Castle had installed, singing along with their song selections and laughing with them as they danced freely in the otherwise empty bar.
The young man approached the guys at their booth, shyly attempting to gain Castle's attention. "I'm all done now, Mr Castle. Are you sure you don't want me to call a cab?"
Castle rested his hand on Perry's shoulder. He was quite fond of the kid - a naïve 23, with that small-town charm that you just know you can trust. "I'm fine Perry. Go home, get some rest. I'll lock up."
He tilted his head in thanks. "Thanks, boss."
And then there were five...
"Boss?" Esposito's eyes lit up. "Boss!"
"You make the poor kid call you Boss?" Ryan teased.
Beckett's laugh echoed between songs as she made her way back to the booth. "He loves being called Boss. Don't ya, Castle." She snaked her hand across his chest, climbing into the booth beside him.
He smiled up at her, wrapping his arm around her waist as she leant into him. "You know... in just a few months, you'll be Mrs Boss."
"Ooh," she purred. "I like that."
"Oh yeah?" He pulled her closer, kissing her tenderly.
"Booo, get a room!" The boys pleaded, but Lanie's cheering only encouraged them.
"You two are like horny teenagers." She added, once they managed to pull themselves away from each other.
"I can't believe you guys are getting married" Espo mused, diffusing the tension and creating a much more sentimental energy in the air. He had watched his friends come so far over the years, and yet it still felt so... crazy.
"Remember when Castle first showed up?" Ryan started laughing at whatever memory he was thinking of. He obviously hadn't received the sentimental memo. "Dude, she hated you."
"She didn't hate me." Castle replied confidently, looking to Beckett for confirmation. She just smiled and shook her head, darting her eyes away from his. Guilty.
"I don't know... she certainly didn't like you." Lanie added. "I mean, I was telling her to get all over that from day one, but she was determined not to."
Castle theatrically shook his head, "Tsk, tsk... imagine if you had just listened to her." He quipped.
"It never would have worked out, Castle." She stated matter of factly, grinning at Lanie who had suffered through many of Beckett's logical, reasoning rants. "You were such a jackass."
She looked him in the eye, expecting to see some sort of defence. Instead, she saw... victory?
"Yeah... drove you wild, right?"
"You say that like it's a good thing."
"Isn't it?" He was cocky.
She attempted her best glare, but in her alcohol-infused haze it was seeming like a good thing. Without his constant irritation, the way he infiltrated her life... her thoughts... her heart.
She gave up on glaring, replacing the look with a warm smile. She reached for the near-empty glass she had been working on earlier and raised it in the air.
"To driving each other wild..." She toasted.
He reached for his glass, "May we continue to do so for the rest of our lives." He added, touching his glass to hers with a clink.
Their friends joined in the toast, touching their glasses together and gleefully cheering, "Cheers!"