Author's Note: Don't own the boys, just letting them out to play!

Detective Javier Esposito had never really given much thought to the fact that he'd never seen his partner, Kevin Ryan, shirtless. It wasn't like they spent much time together half naked, but they did occasionally work out at the police gym and clean up after. By the time Javi was out of the shower, Kevin was always at least half dressed already, usually in a gleaming white T-shirt and shorts.

The god awful heat wave that struck this summer had put an end to the T-shirts apparently. During the time while Kevin had been dating Jenny the young woman had convinced him to give up some of his more hideous polyester shirts in favor of lightweight, breathable cotton numbers. Javi's eyes and sense of style thanked her greatly for that.

After their work out, Kevin was still first out of the shower, but by the time Javi emerged, the Irish detective had only had the chance to pull on a pair of black boxer briefs. Javi paused for a moment, noting the fact that his partner's skin looks like it'd never seen the sun. There were a smattering of freckles across his shoulders and back and Javi made note to push food at his wiry partner a little more often.

But what struck you most was the large, intricately detailed etching in black ink that curved around his partner's right side. Taking as few steps forward, he got a better look, taking in the beautifully rendered Griffin and sword, the surrounding Celtic knots and symbols and the words on a banners just above his hip and winding onto his lower belly and back, Malo mori quam foedari.

He didn't know why, but the contrast of the dark ink, standing out so starkly against Kevin milk white skin made something in Javi's stomach clench. "Didn't know you had any ink," he commented, forcing his tone to remain even and light.

Kevin looked surprised, one hand splaying over the tattoo as he said, "Oh, yeah, got it when I was just out of high school."

Nodding, Javi let his eyes fall to the inscription and asked, "What do the words mean?"

"Death before dishonor," Kevin replied easily, a finger tracing slowly along the delicate script. "It's the Ryan family motto. The rest of it's taken from our heraldry too."

Esposito grinned. "Heraldry? Bro, your family has a heraldry?"

"Yes," the Irish detective said with a shrug.

"That's… kinda cool." Javi was somewhat impressed. Not particularly by the heraldry, but by the fact that a tattoo of that size and detail must have taken a hell of a long time to have applied. A hell of a lot of time and a hell of a lot of pain.

Not to mention the fact that the stark contrast of the black ink against the smooth white expanse of Kevin's skin was… intriguing, to say the least. Javi's fingers twitched, itching to reach out and touch, wanting to know if he could feel any textual differences between the bare skin and the inked areas.

Kevin seemed oblivious to his fascination and tugged on a light weight white button down. "Hey, feel up for some HALO Friday?" he asked, nimble fingers securing the buttons quickly.

"Yeah," Javi agreed, turning his attention to his own clothes, but finding his gaze wandering back to his partner. The shirt Ryan had chosen was so thin that he could see the lines of the tattoo whenever the fabric touched his skin.

That was going to be fucking distracting.

Somewhere, a higher power was having a good laugh at his expense. Javi was sure that could be the only explanation for the week he'd had.

The heat wave had yet to let up, so the city was still wrapped in a steamy, hot veil. Anyone who could get away with it was running around as scantily clad as possible. Every day, people at the station seemed to be wearing less and less, attempting to hold on to some sense of propriety, but giving in in the face of nasty heatstroke.

Even the captain had been wearing a short sleeved polo shirts for the last few days.

Castle, the bastard, hadn't even bothered with the polo, and going straight for a threadbare T-shirt and cargo shorts. Beckett had chosen some sort of a sleeveless shell top and linen pants, both cool and professional. Javi envied her.

Both he and Kevin and followed the captain's example and favored polos or short sleeve dress shirts with their chinos. Javi found himself hoping that Kevin wore the slightly thicker polos, as they offered a little more coverage, shielding the distracting tattoo.

It was the heat. Really. That had to explain why Javi suddenly found themselves watching his partner way too often. It wasn't like he was kidding himself and saying he'd never given Kevin, with his blue eyes and sunny smile, a considering look or two. No, Javi had always been honest with himself about such things.

But dammit, if he was being obvious enough that Castle and Beckett were gently mocking him, then it was getting a little out of hand. And he certainly didn't want that to happen, at lease not before he figured out how Kevin felt.

They had finally wrapped up the case they've been working on for the majority of the week, and it had been one freaky, messed up murder. During the course of the past few days, they've been shot at, waded through dumpsters, been screamed at by numerous people they tried to interview and, notably, Kevin had wound up in a wading pool of chocolate pudding.

Yeah, it had been that kinda week.

A night of pizza, beer and HALO with exactly what they needed.

After polishing off a pair of pizzas, Javi had heaved himself up off of the couch (after some persuading, Kevin had tossed a blanket over the battered red upholstery) and wandered off to the kitchen to grab another beer from the fridge. He was a bit startled when he basically walked right into Kevin on his return to the living room.

His partner was standing there with a serious and somewhat hopeful look in his eyes. He reached out, snagging the bottle from Javi's hand and set it on a nearby table with his own. Javi could have pulled away, or taken a step back, reasserting his own personal space, but he didn't. He really didn't even considered that as an option.

Time seemed to slow as Kevin leaned in and kissed him. Without thinking, Javi opened his mouth under his partner's and tried not to shudder, even gave into the temptation to touch, hands lighting on Kevin's chest, arms, one going to his side, touching fabric over the tattoo with a gentle kissed like he did everything - enthusiastic and attentive . His mouth was hot, lips soft, and he tasted faintly of beer and pizza. Normally, that might have been a little off putting, but Javi knew he must have the same lingering aftertaste in his own mouth and, as such, it didn't seem bad at all. He finally broke the kiss, tilting Kevin's chin so he could look him in the eye. Kevin grinned, stunning baby blues sparkling at him.

"Well, one of us had to take the initiative," the Irish detective teased, still close enough that Javi could smell his shampoo, some concoction with grapefruit that had earned lots of comments in the locker room. "This strange, quasi-platonic dating thing we've been doing for the last few months has been driving me nuts!"

Javi's mouth fell open at he tried to process the fact that, while he had been driving himself crazy trying to figure out exactly where their relationship was going (personally, cause their professional partnership was kick-ass, as always), Kevin was doing the same thing. Talk about being in synch with your partner. "We're both idiots, aren't we," he chuckled, closing his eyes for a moment.

Taking advantage of the moment, Kevin kissed him again, harder, more urgently. Javi's head swam lightly, the relief almost narcotic. Every touch magnified a hundredfold, movement taking on more intensity than normal. It was a little overwhelming and more than a little addictive. Kissing Kevin was unlike anything Javi had experienced before, which was understandable considering he'd never wandered to another part of the Kinsey scale before. Sure, he'd looked, but it had always seemed easier to just conform to the role society expected him to play.

Every thought bouncing around Javi's mind was almost too much to take all at once, and as the kiss finally broke, he whispered, "Oh, that's different. Good different."Kevin leaned his forehead against his, mischief in his eyes and lips flushed and a little kiss-swollen. He kissed him again, just once, and it was sweet and soft and playful. It was very Kevin, if that made any sense. Javi suspected it wouldn't, so he kept that thought to himself.

It was surprisingly comfortable to have his arms around Kevin and despite the desire, heat and want he felt, he had no real idea where to go from there. Kevin clearly saw something in his eyes and tilted his head to the side with a smile, before asking, "So, Madden or HALO?"

Javi grinned. Somehow, he knew this was gonna work.

A week later and they hadn't yet made it beyond the hot make out phase and their dates had consisted of nothing more than their usual activities. Pizza, Chinese food, beer, video games…Javi found it all very comforting. The one 'special' thing they had done was gone to a Yankee's home game, but they already did that a few times a year.

That was all well and good.

He knew nothing had changed at work. They hadn't said anything and they weren't acting all…love struck and dopey. It simply wasn't their style.

But somehow, Beckett and Castle knew. He couldn't figure out what had tipped them off, but Castle had cornered him by the cappuccino machine, grinning and asking, "What's this?" with a wave of a finger that Javi somehow interpreted correctly.

"What's what?" he asked, hoping the writer would drop it. Not that he wasn't happy, but so not the place for this talk. He'd rather just avoid the talk until he knew what to say other than to babble that he was happy.

Castle raised a clearly disbelieving brow and slapped him on the arm. "Happy for you to," he said before wandering off to bug Beckett. Not that she minded.

Sometimes, working in an environment that was full of detectives really cut into ones privacy.

He made his way back to his desk and, moments later was hit with a wadded up paper. Ryan was on the phone, grinning and pointing at a receiver. Clearly, he'd gotten a lead on their latest case.

Excellent.

Javi returned Kevin's smile and rose to his feet as his partner hung up the phone. "Weebo, spotted down by the Knickerbocker hotel."

Weebo was another one of Kevin's interesting snitches. Javi had no idea where his clean cut partner met the interesting array of people, but it was a constant source of amusement.

As they headed out, Beckett and Castle gave them a wave and, when they got in the car, Javi said, "When those two finally cave and get together…."

"Oh, yeah, so much mocking," Kevin agreed. "I'm thinking we buy one of those little bride and groom cake toppers and glue a toy gun to the bride and a book to the groom."

"Stick it to the dashboard of her car," Javi joked, glancing at his partner for a moment. They worked well together. Always had…which was reassuring in so many ways.

Despite the fact that being with Kevin was comfortable in a way Javi had rarely known, he was a little nervous about the…logistics of being with another man. Of course, he had some idea of how things worked but, honestly, trying to find out some more info from Google was a bad, bad idea.

Upon reflection, perhaps Goggling gay sex had not been the wisest way to go about things. The number and variety of hits had been staggering and a lot of the content had been truly terrifying.

In the end, that turned out to be a wasted effort, as it had been far easier and less terrifying to just let things progress naturally…and follow Kevin's lead.

A night of TV, during which Kevin introduced Javi to the True Blood, which was awesome in an incredibly fucked up way, had led to some playful kissing on the couch. That in itself had become familiar ground, but after a while Kevin had stood, pulling Javi up with him and led him the short distance into the bedroom.

The room was only small, a bit neater than one would expect, only a few things scattered on the dresser. A queen sized bed sat against the wall, soft, navy blue comforter folded down to show white sheets with thin slate blue stripes. The nightstand held a small lamp that Kevin turned on, flicking off the overhead to allow for the softer lighting.

Javi stood there, at a slight loss as Kevin turned back to him to steal another kiss. His hands found Javi's, linking their fingers before finding their way to his hips, then walking his fingers in to brush over the buttons of Javi's shirt. The older detective glanced down, watching as Kevin's nimble fingers dipped into the opening between the buttons, ghosting across his abdomen before slowly opening them, one by one.

His brain had, for the most part, decided to shut down and go with the flow, but he managed to mumble, "Just so you know, I have no idea what…I mean how…."

Kevin grinned as his hands went to Javi's belt. "I do," he murmured, "Trust me, Javi?"

That was a given.

"You know I do," he replied simply, causing Kevin to lean in for another kiss.

In short order, Javi found himself half undressed, shirt off and belt lose. Kevin's head was bent as he kissed Javi's chest, occasionally nipping at the skin and then soothing the offended flesh with his tongue. He was certain the rapid beat of his heart was quite clear to his partner and he couldn't care less.

They fell onto the bed in a graceless tumble, Kevin landing half on top of him and laughing a little. "What are you thinking?" he breathed, making Javi try to sort his muddle thoughts and feelings into some semblance of order.

He was nearly shaking, every time they shifted, the friction made him shudder hand push his hips up, looking for more contact. And, in truth, he was still a little nervous, but that was fading by the minute.

"I'm thinking you need to take that shirt off," he replied, tugging at the fabric in question and peeling it off of Kevin with only a little assistance. The Irish detective was smiling again and Javi pulled him down for a kiss before rolling them so he could have better access to the newly bared flesh.

His fingers, chased by his lips, moved over the graceful arc of ink on Kevin's pectoral and down to his side. Since he'd seen it, Javi had wanted to touch, to trace the lines of ink and, now that he had free reign to do so, he did. Kevin seemed content to let him indulge, laughing as Javi touched a sensitive point on his side and shuddering as he rolled to allow his partner access to the great wings that fanned out onto his back.

After a while, the little sounds Kevin kept making became too much to bear and Javi pulled him back for a renewed kiss. Using that momentum, Kevin rolled on top of him, his body pressing Javi's down into the bed. His hand wormed between them and Javi gasped into his mouth when he felt his partner trace the outline of his cock through his jeans before attacking the button.

Suddenly, being naked seemed like a really, really good idea. Javi kicked off his sneakers and lifted his hips, making his intentions clear. Looking far more wicked than his choir boy looks usually allowed for, Kevin slid down the bed, peeling Javi's jeans and shorts off, catching the socks as well and dropping the pile to the floor.

For a moment, Javi thought Kevin was going to peel off his own jeans, but he simply leaned forwards again and started peppering Javi's chest with little nips and kisses again. When those soft lips hit his belly, Javi gasped, drawing in a deep breath and basically seeing stars.

But it didn't nearly prepare him for when Kevin reached his goal and, after a grin and a lick from root to tip, took him in his mouth. In any other circumstance, Javi probably would have been embarrassed by the choked gasp/moan that escaped his lips, but at the moment he wasn't feeling any shame. The sounds Kevin was making were better than any porno and - Fuck! Yup, he was humming.

Javi twisted his hands in the sheets, trying to hold on to some sense of self control, but everything seemed to be too much. The wet heat of Kevin's mouth, the brush of his finger on his thighs, slipping underneath to stroke sensitive skin.

Then suddenly, the contact was gone. Javi panted for breath, regaining some of his composer, and cracked open his eyes to see that Kevin had climbed off the bed and was grinning down at him.

As Javi watched, Kevin shucked off his pants and shorts, making quick work of his own shoes and socks as well. A fetching blush rose up on Kevin's cheeks and ears, but his movements remained confident, if a little slow. Javi just enjoyed watching as each new bit of skin was revealed for his perusal, milky white, dusted with freckles and the occasional little scar.

Javi had only a moment to stare at Kevin before he crawled back up onto the bed. His heart pounded as Kevin pressed against Javi and kissed him deeply, their bodies entwining, and if kissing him before was wonderful, this was even better, skin against skin. It was intense, the heat of Kevin's body against his own, each kiss a little fiercer, a little more intense, even as Javi tasted the faint hint of himself on Kevin's tongue. He clutched at Kevin's shoulders, running his hands down his back, enjoying the play of hard muscle under soft skin. Feeling the rush of need flood his system again and knowing his control wasn't going to hold out for long, he pulled back to gasp, "Kev, I don't think…."

"Me neither," Kevin gasped and, though Javi wasn't one for sappy, overly romantic thoughts, in that moment Kevin was truly beautiful. His dark hair was tousled, skin lightly slicked with sweat, cheeks flushed, eyes dark with passion. Just fucking gorgeous.

Aligning their hips, Kevin thrust their cocks together and Javi choked again as his partner wrapped one of his hands around them, stroking in time with their thrusts. Javi felt his own need build as Kevin's thrusts grew faster, more urgent He groaned in Javi's ear and his hand tightened around them as he whispered, "Do it, Javi. Come for me."How could he do anything but obey that request? Javi came undone his head dropping back, moaning out his pleasure, thrusting his hips up at into Kevin as came over Kevin's hand, their stomachs and thighs. Moments later, with a gasp, Kevin followed suit, crying out himself as he came, his open mouth against Javi's neck.

As they lay there, unmoving and trying to catch their breaths, Javi could feel the thump of Kevin's heart against his chest as his partner sprawled atop him, seemingly reluctant to roll away. After several minutes, Kevin eased away to slide onto the bed beside him.

The room air caused the wetness on his skin to rapidly cool. Later, they'd have to clean up, or the stickiness would be annoying, but at the moment he was too sated to care.

With some judicious wiggling, Kevin snagged a corner of the comforter and tugged it over them, settling himself down against Javi's side. Then he spoke, mouth close enough to Javi's ear that he could feel his hot breath. "Take a nap. Then we can shower and…" The things that came out of Kevin's mouth were enticingly wicked and arousing and he let out a soft groan, turning to grab a kiss.

Kevin smirked against his mouth before curling against him for to catch some sleep.

Javi definitely counted this as a successful new experience.