"And I thought he was being an idiot because, c'mon, there's no possible way that he could eat 30 scoops of ice cream in less than two hours. And it wasn't even all the same flavor! There were 30 different and most of them were pretty nasty. Like coffee, rum raisin, garlic…" Esposito shook his head with a look of disgust on his face. "Don't even get me started on the toppings."

His date across from him gave a tight lipped smile. "And I bet that he did it."

Esposito swallowed the soda in his mouth before nodding proudly. "'Course he did; got our meal for free because he was able to."

Her smile disappeared when she turned to her plate and began to push her food around. She stabbed a piece of meat with her fork and shoved it into her mouth.

Esposito watched her and for the dozenth time that night, felt like she was mad at him for something. He hadn't done anything wrong. She was fine when she first came in, but after the half hour mark she looked like she'd rather be getting a root canal than be on the date with him.

"So…" Esposito cleared his throat to try and get out of the conversation lull. That had happened often and Espo was the one always to get rid of the silence by telling stories. There were mostly the funniest store he could remember or the ones that meant the most to him.

"What?" She asked with a roll of her eyes. "No more stories about Kevin?"

Esposito didn't like the fact that she used his partner's name in such a bitter way. His eyes narrowed as he said, "I don't know what–"

She scoffed. "Yeah right." She mocked in a lower tone, "'And can you believe Kevin did this? My partner, Kevin is so great, blah, blah.' I just wanted to enjoy a nice dinner out with you, but all you've done is talk about him!"

Esposito bit his tongue, fighting back a snippy retort that she deserved. To her credit, he had been talking a lot about Ryan, but that was only because she wasn't even attempting to strike up conversation. And so what if his partner just seemed to find his way into his conversations each time? "Wait a minute…are you jealous?" He asked incredulously.

She gave a short 'humph' and ignored his question. "Before we went on this date," She actually used her fingers to make quotations when she spoke. "You should have told me you were in love with him."

Esposito felt the blood rush to his cheeks. "I'm on a date you, w-why would I like him?"

"Then why this whole time you've been on a date with me, your attention is on him?"

Esposito couldn't answer that; he hadn't meant to be an asshole, but unintentionally he was. "I know, Sophia–"

She held her hand up, cutting him off. "I like you, okay? You're cute and a funny guy. And if you could handle not talking about your partner every chance you get…"She shrugged her shoulders with a smile. "Then maybe we can start over."

Esposito wasn't blind; he knew she was a beautiful woman. And when he first met her at the bar, they hit it off immediately (which prompted this first official date). But she didn't like his partner. She wouldn't be able to be near him when he was with Ryan because she'd feel threatened. And there was hardly a time when they weren't attached at the hip. He couldn't date any woman, no matter how beautiful or smart or sweet, knowing that she couldn't stand his partner.

No one was more important than Ryan.

That thought hit him like a sack of bricks. He loved Ryan. He loved him more than a brother. He loved him like, 'I wanna spend the rest of my life with you' love.

He looked back to his date and opened his mouth to apologize. To say something, but nothing came out.

Sophia smiled sadly and gathered her clutch purse from the spot on the table. "It's okay. I understand." She stood up and leaned over to kiss the top of his head. "I'm glad you chose him. I wouldn't want to compete with him."

Esposito watched her walk away and exit the restaurant. He sat alone at the table trying to make sense of his epiphany. He knew what we wanted. Hell, he wasn't surprised if everyoneknew what he wanted, seeing as a stranger picked it up in one evening.

He hastily threw more than enough to cover the bill on the table and pushed himself from his seat. He planned on getting exactly what he wanted.

23 minutes. He made it to Ryan's apartment in 23 minutes. Which wasn't bad overall considering the distance and New York traffic.

He pounded on Ryan's door, louder than he probably needed to. He heard his partner say, "Coming, hold on." Before he opened the door.

He looked at Esposito quizzically with his face scrunching up as his head was tilted in that adorable–Pull yourself together, Esposito.

"Javi?" He opened the door wider to allow his partner to walk through, but Esposito didn't move. "You know you could have just used the key I gave you. I was kinda in the middle of aDie Hard marathon." He waved the bottle of beer in his hand slightly.

Esposito looked him down and recognized his 'movie night outfit'; boxers and his favorite Captain America t-shirt. He smiled and wondered how it took him so long to realize he lovedhis partner.

Ryan's voice brought him back to the real world. "Are you coming in or are you gonna keep admiring me from afar?"

Esposito smiled weakly and walked past his partner so he could shut the door. He made himself home on the couch, kicking off his shoes and shucking off his jacket before pulling the bowl of popcorn in his lap. "Do me a favor and get me a beer?"

Ryan was already one step ahead of him and returning from the kitchen with his beer. He laughed and pressed it against Esposito's chest as he sat down. "Here, princess."

Esposito smiled cheekily before turning back to the movie.

It wasn't until halfway through the next one when Ryan cleared his throat. "Thought you had a date tonight?"

Esposito tossed a kernel into his mouth with a shrug of his shoulders. "Eh, it was a bust, bro."

"Oh." Ryan said quietly, but Espo could hear him try and conceal his hopes. "What happened?"

"We just didn't go very well. She thought I talked too much, I thought she talked too little. She didn't agree with what I value the most in my life. She was actually jealous, which would have been kinda hot if she wasn't trying to take him out of my life."

Esposito saw Ryan's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed his sip of beer and said, "Him?"

Esposito turned and saw Ryan's wide blue eyes trained and focused on him. "Yeah, Kev. You." He really hoped he wasn't making a mistake.

Ryan sputtered, "Me? B-but I thought…I mean how could you–?"

Esposito decided it was okay to lean the few inches and close the gap between their lips. Ryan tasted like beer, Chinese take out and oddly something sweet he couldn't place (But that was his favorite part). Ryan's chapped lips came alive underneath his and Espo immediately regretted having onions on his burger. But Ryan didn't mind; he kept moving closer until he was pressed up into Esposito's side.

Esposito brought his hand up to Ryan's cheek. As much as Esposito desired to never let his lips leave Ryan's, he needed to breathe. He pulled his now red and swollen lips away, but let his forehead rest against Ryan's.

"It's you, dork. It's always been you."