![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: Evidence to the Contrary
Fandom: Castle
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Romance, Angst
Characters/Pairing: Javier Esposito/Kevin Ryan, Richard Castle, Kate Beckett, Roy Montgomery.
Warnings: Slash, adult content, genre!crack (mild horror), themes touching on mental illness and consent issues, unbetad.
Word Count: 3,044
Summary: "Ah, Kev, I expect this crap from Castle, like when he got bit by our 'vampire'," Esposito favored him with full air quotes, "Or when he was convinced he got cursed by a mummy, but c'mon, you're smarter than that."
Details: Written for this prompt on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
castlekink.
Chapter One/Chapter Two/Chapter Three/Chapter Four/Chapter Five/Epilogue
If there was a graceful way of handling a partner who believed he'd been turned into some kind of shapeshifting monster, Javier would have loved to know about it. It turns out that werewolves are one of those things you just do not try and research online due to a frightening degree of over-saturation.
It took a lot of doing for him to find anything remotely helpful, which really wasn't helpful in the least. Because the more he read, the more this sounded like something serious. He found out that imagining oneself turning into some kind of animal was a rare but not unheard of delusion, appearing occasionally as an idiosyncratic symptom of schizophrenia, which coupled with the mood swings and aggression made for a terrifying possibility. Hallucinations and personality changes could also be caused by a brain tumor. He reached a paragraph about disinhibition in subjects with lesions on the frontal lobe when it hit him like a fist to the gut.
Whatever this eventually turned out to be, it was the reason Kevin had slept with him.
The realization left Javier hunched over his kitchen sink for a minute and a half before he managed to wrestle some control over the sharp nausea coiled in his stomach. It was even longer before he could manage to move, feet rooted by horror, guilt weighing heavy across his shoulders. He downed a glass of water, rinsed his mouth, there was nothing that could wash away that sick feeling that knowledge left with him.
Rationally, rationally he knew there was no way he could have known what was happening to his partner, that there had been nothing to spot that would have indicated...this. But a small, hateful part of his mind insisted that he should have known, should have looked closer, should have pushed more and found out what was happening before the horrible mistake he had made.
Mistake. As though the word was anywhere near adequate for what he'd done.
He knew rationally that possessed of a full knowledge of the situation he would have done right by his partner that night. That he would never—could never—intentionally hurt Kevin. But intentional or not the damning, unalterable fact kept screaming through his brain that he had. That he'd hurt him, failed him, violated and betrayed their partnership, their friendship, their trust.
From any angle he tried to examine, one thing Javier saw clearly was that attempting to diagnose Kevin on his own wouldn't help anyone. He was honest enough with himself to accept that neither would his guilt or his shame. He would have to shove those things in a box and answer for them later, because right now they weren't what Kevin needed. He needed something stable, familiar, safe, something to keep him grounded. Javier was so far away from being any of that, but at the moment he was all Kevin had. He had to focus, put his own damage aside and focus on his partner. Later, after the full moon was past, when Kevin was willing to see sense and accept help, only then could he afford the selfish hope that some few pieces of their friendship could be salvaged from the wreckage.
The two days leading up to the full moon were the longest Javier could remember passing in his life. They stretched out with an unreality heightened by exhaustion as anxiety stole any hope of sleep. As drawn out as the hours were, the ticking-clock nightmare urgency of the looming event left his stomach pinched with anticipation. Because he was eager to clear that hurdle, oh Christ did he ever want to get that over with, but at the same time he dreaded the consequences. Kevin had been surprisingly cooperative with the plan so far, but Javier knew that it could change in an instant once his partner's delusions were challenged directly.
That he might react violently was a terrifying but very real possibility. As difficult as the thought was, Javier had to accept that and try to be ready for whatever came his way.
He and Kevin hardly spoke during those two days except for work. If things between them hadn't already been so strained and bizarre the silence would have raised red flags with just about anyone who knew them at all, but the simple fact was that words weren't needed. The sick irony of that didn't escape him. Tearing the scab off the wound that festered at the root of Kevin's strange behavior had put him back into step with his partner. It shouldn't have been possible after the revelation of something so horrible, but it happened. They weren't back to routine, the topic crowding both of their minds near-constantly cut their normal banter down to an almost nonexistent minimum, but he and Kevin had other ways to communicate. Those ties seemed as strong as ever.
It crossed his mind more than once that, given the tragic...misunderstanding that had taken place, he should probably keep his distance, but he only had to look at Kevin for every nerve in his body to tell him that was wrong, wrong, so wrong. Now that he knew the reason for the change, or some small part of it, now that he was looking Javier could see what he'd missed before. It wasn't Kevin's temper that had started driving them away, not entirely, and definitely not after that first month when he'd managed to keep it in check.
His partner had been making a deliberate effort to isolate himself, drawing away from everyone by inches.
It made Javier angry. Angry at himself for not seeing it, angry at Kevin for writing himself off, cutting himself off from them like they wouldn't notice he was gone. That was not okay. Javier was so not okay with that and he had to let Kevin know it. He had to know that he was not alone. Not in this. Not any more. Never was. So whenever he caught Kevin brooding, dwelling or worrying, even though they couldn't talk about it he found some other way to prove that.
It was simple enough to catch Kevin's attention with his eyes, a nod, a soft sound, but often he said what was needed bodily. Spoke by being there, spoke with a touch to the arm or shoulder, spoke with a press of their shoulders or a prolonged brush of their arms as he passed. The first such contact had been made nervously, afraid of how Kevin would respond, but he'd felt the tension bleed out through his touch, seen the surprised and grateful smile twitch briefly across his partner's face. The exchanges never drew any unusual attention, or if they did no one said anything, though he caught Beckett watching them once with an expression that seemed vaguely relieved.
And if each conversation of presence, expression and touch ignited a flicker of hope, he shoved that too into the box with everything else he couldn't afford to think about.
That they would pull a high profile case the night of the full moon was pretty much typical of the kind of luck Javier had come to expect since Castle joined their team. If he'd had a few more days to prepare or less on his mind in the time he'd had, he might have anticipated something like that and made adjustments. But he didn't, and he hadn't, and they were half screwed for it.
Kevin, God bless him, had a doctor's appointment on the books that he'd set up the week before. He had a vague excuse lined up about a personal-sounding low-grade infection, cleanly designed to discourage prying. He'd also been twitchy for most of the afternoon, and the spots of color in his cheeks helped sell his point, making Kevin's exit fairly bulletproof.
Javier would have been impressed if he'd had the luxury.
Frowning into the day-old Chinese he and Kevin had sniped from the breakroom fridge, he briefly contemplated faking food poisoning. But, even with legitimately sketchy take-out on his side, he knew Beckett would see right through him. His hail mary was an offer to drive Kevin to the hospital since they'd shared a ride to the station, but Kate wasn't having any of that either.
"One of you can grab a taxi. I can't spare you both tonight."
That splash was the sound of his plans being rocketed right the fuck out of the water.
"Plan B." He told Kevin quickly as the elevator doors were closing. "Call me when you get home."
He hadn't actually had a Plan B—there had barely been a Plan A beyond "Be there for Kevin"—but Kevin didn't have to know that, because Javier had figured one out by the time he called. He moved his papers and his laptop to one of the side offices to work, something he and his partner often did to try and focus, so Beckett wouldn't think anything of it.
Kevin's breathing sounded ragged over the line. Javier waited as his partner hooked up his webcam, a twist of nervousness worming in his gut until the other man appeared on the screen. From the way he sprawled listless and heavy in the desk chair, the keyed-up energy from earlier appeared to have left him. His eyes showed the brightness of fever even on the monitor. Kevin seemed more flushed than he had before leaving the station, a stain of pink running as far down his exposed chest as Javier could see.
The less he thought about his partner's state of undress or his reason for it the better.
"How you doing?"
The words came to his lips thoughtlessly, and Javier totally deserved the eloquent look of "are-you-stupid " he got for it. After a moment, though, Kevin let out a soft huff of breath, palm laid awkwardly against the back of his neck as he answered the question more seriously.
"I feel overheated and kind of...buzzed, I guess. If it happens like last time, that'll build until I, it—" He broke off, forehead creasing fretfully. Javier saw his fingers twitch minutely where they rested on the keys. He wet his lips before he continued, hesitantly. "Moonrise. As far I as could piece it together nothing— It didn't happen until moonrise."
It was the most Kevin had said on the subject in two days, and the first time he'd spoken of "it" at all. Javier listened, trying not to let his skepticism show. Not that Javier doubted for a minute that something really had happened that night. Some seizure, episode, something that been terrifying and confusing. Something Kevin hadn't been able to cope with directly, and his detective's mind had put details together and somehow come up with this in an attempt to make sense of it. Even if it didn't make any sense at all.
Javier held onto the plan in his head: Watch, make sure he doesn't hurt himself, give him proof that what he thinks is happening isn't, and then get him to a doctor who could uncover the actual cause of his partner's...situation. One which hopefully, hopefully would prove to be something physical, fixable, so that they could both forget this ever happened.
Or at least let Kevin forget. Javier would have to forgive himself, first. The jury was still out on that ever happening.
His partner's present symptoms were probably stress induced, Javier decided. Allowing for what Kevin believed was going to happen, he felt that much was was understandable. That, and suggestion could have a pretty powerful effect on the body. Then again, Javier figured, the symptoms of fever could have another cause entirely. Maybe there had been something wrong with that Chinese, because he was feeling rather warm himself. Javier snuck a finger under the collar of his shirt to loosen it. Kevin must have noticed.
"Are you okay?"
"Huh? Me, bro? I'm fine."
From the heavy blink he got in response, it didn't seem Kevin was buying it.
"Shit. Javi. Wait..." His words came out rough, panted unevenly between breaths. His eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to focus. "Did I—"
Kevin's eyelids fluttered closed, words cut off with a dry swallow that clicked loudly enough to be heard over the line. Javier watched the phone fall from lax fingers, heard in his ear the soft clatter as it hit the floor somewhere out of sight. A few soft noises carried over through the speaker, but they were frustratingly distant and indistinct, too muffled to identify in source or nature. If they came from Kevin there was no visible indication, he was utterly still. The video feed itself had no sound on either end, and the seconds drew out painfully as Javier was left watching his partner in silence.
Javier's heart lurched as he ended the call, a stab of distress shooting through him as the connection severed. Except the barely visible shuddering of his limbs, Kevin still wasn't moving, and if he was having some kind of stroke or fit then Javier couldn't afford to wait. He had to send help. He intended to send help, only—
Only his thumb froze on the first "1", because he simply could not be seeing what he was seeing.
"Que carajo?"
It wasn't like the movies. There was no thrashing or growling, no sprouting hair or snapping bones. Just a soft, smooth...stretch, and his partner was gone, leaving the wolf behind as if it had always been there. Gold eyes opened, staring at him from the monitor, a flash of white teeth and panting tongue, fur a rusty mix of light gray and mid-brown. And big. Bigger than any dog breed Javier could hope to name offhand. Javier sat, helpless with shock until everything went sideways, leaving him staring dumbly at the ceiling of Kevin's apartment.
Jesus Christ. He didn't care what Kate said. He had to get to his partner. He wasn't sure what exactly he could possibly do when he got there, he just had to get there.
The blow which had upset his reality was too fresh for Javier to hide his panic as he bolted out of the office he'd been using. Castle and Beckett both noticed. Had perhaps noticed long ago that something strange was going on. He should definitely have known they'd follow, but at this point it was hard to bring himself to care.
"Something— I have to pick up Ryan." He told Beckett, not waiting for her to ask. It was as much of the truth as his brain could manage to give them right now. "Something's up and I gotta make sure he's okay."
When they followed him into elevator, a semi-hysterical part of him wanted to cry. He was already painfully close to shorting out mentally, and if he tried to field any questions right now he'd probably wind up a drooling mess. The close confines of the car felt cramped and hot. Javier undid the buttons on his polo, bracing his hands against the wall for support. He tried to even out his breathing, and while it didn't help to cool the panic fluttering in his chest, it managed to calm his stomach just a little.
He flinched as he felt something cool brush his forehead. Opening his eyes he swatted Castle's hand away.
"Dude."
"Ah, man, you're burning up. You coming down with whatever he's got?"
"I don't like the idea of you getting behind the wheel with a fever." Beckett said, talking over Castle. "Let me know where Ryan is and I can pick him up."
And that was such a bad idea. Javier shook his head.
"Nah, I got this. You stay on the case, and I'll call when—" His thoughts ground to a halt and left him blinking stupidly for several seconds as his brain finished processing Castle's words.
You coming down with what he's got?
"Shit... Oh shit."
He leaned heavily against the wall as his knees threatened to give, frantically squashing buttons on the panel in front of him. The small, suffering bit of his brain that was still clinging painfully to rational thought knew that it wouldn't make the elevator stop any faster, but the whole situation was so far beyond rational that part was obsolete anyway. The surge of adrenaline cleared some of the fog from his head, helped him focus past the warm, heavy ache that he felt pooling in his bones. Helped him isolate the sharp plane of heat and pressure cutting through his chest, straining like a seam that was trying to split.
"Get me out of here now!"
Beckett was trying her best to get him to calm down, but it was difficult for him to listen. He wished her good luck with that, though. Because he wasn't sure there was actually a good place to turn into a freaking monster, but he knew the elevator wasn't it, and he was positive Castle's obituary should bear the headline Mystery Writer Strangled by 'Muse' and not Mystery Writer Murdered by Werewolf. And as fates worse than death went, Javier ranked the thought of answering to that one to Alexis Castle's scary blue eyes all shiny with tears somewhere between explaining to her father exactly how he'd been bitten by his partner and castration on barbed wire.
And finally the doors slid open.
Javier pushed himself away from the wall, stumbling out into the hallway. He managed only a few steps before he fell to his knees. That burning line running through the center of him was starting to give, he could feel whatever was behind it trying to break him open. The floor seemed ice-cold against his cheek as he bent forward, curled up with a hand clutched to his chest as if that could stop it. But he just...couldn't...hold on. The voices of Castle and Beckett were distant and distorted as they caught up with him, drowned out by the blood rushing noisily in his head. And the last thing he was aware of was Kate rolling him over, of looking up at her as he tried to speak, only he couldn't get his mouth to form the words.
Which sucked, because he was trying to tell her to run.
Chapter Four
Author's Note: I started this story the working concept of "Ryan gets bitten by a werewolf" expecting lulz and Abbott and Costello references. Should have been easy, but Jeez. Who starts writing with the idea "werewolf in an elevator" and winds up with this? What is wrong with me?
Fandom: Castle
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Romance, Angst
Characters/Pairing: Javier Esposito/Kevin Ryan, Richard Castle, Kate Beckett, Roy Montgomery.
Warnings: Slash, adult content, genre!crack (mild horror), themes touching on mental illness and consent issues, unbetad.
Word Count: 3,044
Summary: "Ah, Kev, I expect this crap from Castle, like when he got bit by our 'vampire'," Esposito favored him with full air quotes, "Or when he was convinced he got cursed by a mummy, but c'mon, you're smarter than that."
Details: Written for this prompt on
castlekink.Chapter One/Chapter Two/Chapter Three/Chapter Four/Chapter Five/Epilogue
If there was a graceful way of handling a partner who believed he'd been turned into some kind of shapeshifting monster, Javier would have loved to know about it. It turns out that werewolves are one of those things you just do not try and research online due to a frightening degree of over-saturation.
It took a lot of doing for him to find anything remotely helpful, which really wasn't helpful in the least. Because the more he read, the more this sounded like something serious. He found out that imagining oneself turning into some kind of animal was a rare but not unheard of delusion, appearing occasionally as an idiosyncratic symptom of schizophrenia, which coupled with the mood swings and aggression made for a terrifying possibility. Hallucinations and personality changes could also be caused by a brain tumor. He reached a paragraph about disinhibition in subjects with lesions on the frontal lobe when it hit him like a fist to the gut.
Whatever this eventually turned out to be, it was the reason Kevin had slept with him.
The realization left Javier hunched over his kitchen sink for a minute and a half before he managed to wrestle some control over the sharp nausea coiled in his stomach. It was even longer before he could manage to move, feet rooted by horror, guilt weighing heavy across his shoulders. He downed a glass of water, rinsed his mouth, there was nothing that could wash away that sick feeling that knowledge left with him.
Rationally, rationally he knew there was no way he could have known what was happening to his partner, that there had been nothing to spot that would have indicated...this. But a small, hateful part of his mind insisted that he should have known, should have looked closer, should have pushed more and found out what was happening before the horrible mistake he had made.
Mistake. As though the word was anywhere near adequate for what he'd done.
He knew rationally that possessed of a full knowledge of the situation he would have done right by his partner that night. That he would never—could never—intentionally hurt Kevin. But intentional or not the damning, unalterable fact kept screaming through his brain that he had. That he'd hurt him, failed him, violated and betrayed their partnership, their friendship, their trust.
From any angle he tried to examine, one thing Javier saw clearly was that attempting to diagnose Kevin on his own wouldn't help anyone. He was honest enough with himself to accept that neither would his guilt or his shame. He would have to shove those things in a box and answer for them later, because right now they weren't what Kevin needed. He needed something stable, familiar, safe, something to keep him grounded. Javier was so far away from being any of that, but at the moment he was all Kevin had. He had to focus, put his own damage aside and focus on his partner. Later, after the full moon was past, when Kevin was willing to see sense and accept help, only then could he afford the selfish hope that some few pieces of their friendship could be salvaged from the wreckage.
The two days leading up to the full moon were the longest Javier could remember passing in his life. They stretched out with an unreality heightened by exhaustion as anxiety stole any hope of sleep. As drawn out as the hours were, the ticking-clock nightmare urgency of the looming event left his stomach pinched with anticipation. Because he was eager to clear that hurdle, oh Christ did he ever want to get that over with, but at the same time he dreaded the consequences. Kevin had been surprisingly cooperative with the plan so far, but Javier knew that it could change in an instant once his partner's delusions were challenged directly.
That he might react violently was a terrifying but very real possibility. As difficult as the thought was, Javier had to accept that and try to be ready for whatever came his way.
He and Kevin hardly spoke during those two days except for work. If things between them hadn't already been so strained and bizarre the silence would have raised red flags with just about anyone who knew them at all, but the simple fact was that words weren't needed. The sick irony of that didn't escape him. Tearing the scab off the wound that festered at the root of Kevin's strange behavior had put him back into step with his partner. It shouldn't have been possible after the revelation of something so horrible, but it happened. They weren't back to routine, the topic crowding both of their minds near-constantly cut their normal banter down to an almost nonexistent minimum, but he and Kevin had other ways to communicate. Those ties seemed as strong as ever.
It crossed his mind more than once that, given the tragic...misunderstanding that had taken place, he should probably keep his distance, but he only had to look at Kevin for every nerve in his body to tell him that was wrong, wrong, so wrong. Now that he knew the reason for the change, or some small part of it, now that he was looking Javier could see what he'd missed before. It wasn't Kevin's temper that had started driving them away, not entirely, and definitely not after that first month when he'd managed to keep it in check.
His partner had been making a deliberate effort to isolate himself, drawing away from everyone by inches.
It made Javier angry. Angry at himself for not seeing it, angry at Kevin for writing himself off, cutting himself off from them like they wouldn't notice he was gone. That was not okay. Javier was so not okay with that and he had to let Kevin know it. He had to know that he was not alone. Not in this. Not any more. Never was. So whenever he caught Kevin brooding, dwelling or worrying, even though they couldn't talk about it he found some other way to prove that.
It was simple enough to catch Kevin's attention with his eyes, a nod, a soft sound, but often he said what was needed bodily. Spoke by being there, spoke with a touch to the arm or shoulder, spoke with a press of their shoulders or a prolonged brush of their arms as he passed. The first such contact had been made nervously, afraid of how Kevin would respond, but he'd felt the tension bleed out through his touch, seen the surprised and grateful smile twitch briefly across his partner's face. The exchanges never drew any unusual attention, or if they did no one said anything, though he caught Beckett watching them once with an expression that seemed vaguely relieved.
And if each conversation of presence, expression and touch ignited a flicker of hope, he shoved that too into the box with everything else he couldn't afford to think about.
That they would pull a high profile case the night of the full moon was pretty much typical of the kind of luck Javier had come to expect since Castle joined their team. If he'd had a few more days to prepare or less on his mind in the time he'd had, he might have anticipated something like that and made adjustments. But he didn't, and he hadn't, and they were half screwed for it.
Kevin, God bless him, had a doctor's appointment on the books that he'd set up the week before. He had a vague excuse lined up about a personal-sounding low-grade infection, cleanly designed to discourage prying. He'd also been twitchy for most of the afternoon, and the spots of color in his cheeks helped sell his point, making Kevin's exit fairly bulletproof.
Javier would have been impressed if he'd had the luxury.
Frowning into the day-old Chinese he and Kevin had sniped from the breakroom fridge, he briefly contemplated faking food poisoning. But, even with legitimately sketchy take-out on his side, he knew Beckett would see right through him. His hail mary was an offer to drive Kevin to the hospital since they'd shared a ride to the station, but Kate wasn't having any of that either.
"One of you can grab a taxi. I can't spare you both tonight."
That splash was the sound of his plans being rocketed right the fuck out of the water.
"Plan B." He told Kevin quickly as the elevator doors were closing. "Call me when you get home."
He hadn't actually had a Plan B—there had barely been a Plan A beyond "Be there for Kevin"—but Kevin didn't have to know that, because Javier had figured one out by the time he called. He moved his papers and his laptop to one of the side offices to work, something he and his partner often did to try and focus, so Beckett wouldn't think anything of it.
Kevin's breathing sounded ragged over the line. Javier waited as his partner hooked up his webcam, a twist of nervousness worming in his gut until the other man appeared on the screen. From the way he sprawled listless and heavy in the desk chair, the keyed-up energy from earlier appeared to have left him. His eyes showed the brightness of fever even on the monitor. Kevin seemed more flushed than he had before leaving the station, a stain of pink running as far down his exposed chest as Javier could see.
The less he thought about his partner's state of undress or his reason for it the better.
"How you doing?"
The words came to his lips thoughtlessly, and Javier totally deserved the eloquent look of "are-you-stupid " he got for it. After a moment, though, Kevin let out a soft huff of breath, palm laid awkwardly against the back of his neck as he answered the question more seriously.
"I feel overheated and kind of...buzzed, I guess. If it happens like last time, that'll build until I, it—" He broke off, forehead creasing fretfully. Javier saw his fingers twitch minutely where they rested on the keys. He wet his lips before he continued, hesitantly. "Moonrise. As far I as could piece it together nothing— It didn't happen until moonrise."
It was the most Kevin had said on the subject in two days, and the first time he'd spoken of "it" at all. Javier listened, trying not to let his skepticism show. Not that Javier doubted for a minute that something really had happened that night. Some seizure, episode, something that been terrifying and confusing. Something Kevin hadn't been able to cope with directly, and his detective's mind had put details together and somehow come up with this in an attempt to make sense of it. Even if it didn't make any sense at all.
Javier held onto the plan in his head: Watch, make sure he doesn't hurt himself, give him proof that what he thinks is happening isn't, and then get him to a doctor who could uncover the actual cause of his partner's...situation. One which hopefully, hopefully would prove to be something physical, fixable, so that they could both forget this ever happened.
Or at least let Kevin forget. Javier would have to forgive himself, first. The jury was still out on that ever happening.
His partner's present symptoms were probably stress induced, Javier decided. Allowing for what Kevin believed was going to happen, he felt that much was was understandable. That, and suggestion could have a pretty powerful effect on the body. Then again, Javier figured, the symptoms of fever could have another cause entirely. Maybe there had been something wrong with that Chinese, because he was feeling rather warm himself. Javier snuck a finger under the collar of his shirt to loosen it. Kevin must have noticed.
"Are you okay?"
"Huh? Me, bro? I'm fine."
From the heavy blink he got in response, it didn't seem Kevin was buying it.
"Shit. Javi. Wait..." His words came out rough, panted unevenly between breaths. His eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to focus. "Did I—"
Kevin's eyelids fluttered closed, words cut off with a dry swallow that clicked loudly enough to be heard over the line. Javier watched the phone fall from lax fingers, heard in his ear the soft clatter as it hit the floor somewhere out of sight. A few soft noises carried over through the speaker, but they were frustratingly distant and indistinct, too muffled to identify in source or nature. If they came from Kevin there was no visible indication, he was utterly still. The video feed itself had no sound on either end, and the seconds drew out painfully as Javier was left watching his partner in silence.
Javier's heart lurched as he ended the call, a stab of distress shooting through him as the connection severed. Except the barely visible shuddering of his limbs, Kevin still wasn't moving, and if he was having some kind of stroke or fit then Javier couldn't afford to wait. He had to send help. He intended to send help, only—
Only his thumb froze on the first "1", because he simply could not be seeing what he was seeing.
"Que carajo?"
It wasn't like the movies. There was no thrashing or growling, no sprouting hair or snapping bones. Just a soft, smooth...stretch, and his partner was gone, leaving the wolf behind as if it had always been there. Gold eyes opened, staring at him from the monitor, a flash of white teeth and panting tongue, fur a rusty mix of light gray and mid-brown. And big. Bigger than any dog breed Javier could hope to name offhand. Javier sat, helpless with shock until everything went sideways, leaving him staring dumbly at the ceiling of Kevin's apartment.
Jesus Christ. He didn't care what Kate said. He had to get to his partner. He wasn't sure what exactly he could possibly do when he got there, he just had to get there.
The blow which had upset his reality was too fresh for Javier to hide his panic as he bolted out of the office he'd been using. Castle and Beckett both noticed. Had perhaps noticed long ago that something strange was going on. He should definitely have known they'd follow, but at this point it was hard to bring himself to care.
"Something— I have to pick up Ryan." He told Beckett, not waiting for her to ask. It was as much of the truth as his brain could manage to give them right now. "Something's up and I gotta make sure he's okay."
When they followed him into elevator, a semi-hysterical part of him wanted to cry. He was already painfully close to shorting out mentally, and if he tried to field any questions right now he'd probably wind up a drooling mess. The close confines of the car felt cramped and hot. Javier undid the buttons on his polo, bracing his hands against the wall for support. He tried to even out his breathing, and while it didn't help to cool the panic fluttering in his chest, it managed to calm his stomach just a little.
He flinched as he felt something cool brush his forehead. Opening his eyes he swatted Castle's hand away.
"Dude."
"Ah, man, you're burning up. You coming down with whatever he's got?"
"I don't like the idea of you getting behind the wheel with a fever." Beckett said, talking over Castle. "Let me know where Ryan is and I can pick him up."
And that was such a bad idea. Javier shook his head.
"Nah, I got this. You stay on the case, and I'll call when—" His thoughts ground to a halt and left him blinking stupidly for several seconds as his brain finished processing Castle's words.
You coming down with what he's got?
"Shit... Oh shit."
He leaned heavily against the wall as his knees threatened to give, frantically squashing buttons on the panel in front of him. The small, suffering bit of his brain that was still clinging painfully to rational thought knew that it wouldn't make the elevator stop any faster, but the whole situation was so far beyond rational that part was obsolete anyway. The surge of adrenaline cleared some of the fog from his head, helped him focus past the warm, heavy ache that he felt pooling in his bones. Helped him isolate the sharp plane of heat and pressure cutting through his chest, straining like a seam that was trying to split.
"Get me out of here now!"
Beckett was trying her best to get him to calm down, but it was difficult for him to listen. He wished her good luck with that, though. Because he wasn't sure there was actually a good place to turn into a freaking monster, but he knew the elevator wasn't it, and he was positive Castle's obituary should bear the headline Mystery Writer Strangled by 'Muse' and not Mystery Writer Murdered by Werewolf. And as fates worse than death went, Javier ranked the thought of answering to that one to Alexis Castle's scary blue eyes all shiny with tears somewhere between explaining to her father exactly how he'd been bitten by his partner and castration on barbed wire.
And finally the doors slid open.
Javier pushed himself away from the wall, stumbling out into the hallway. He managed only a few steps before he fell to his knees. That burning line running through the center of him was starting to give, he could feel whatever was behind it trying to break him open. The floor seemed ice-cold against his cheek as he bent forward, curled up with a hand clutched to his chest as if that could stop it. But he just...couldn't...hold on. The voices of Castle and Beckett were distant and distorted as they caught up with him, drowned out by the blood rushing noisily in his head. And the last thing he was aware of was Kate rolling him over, of looking up at her as he tried to speak, only he couldn't get his mouth to form the words.
Which sucked, because he was trying to tell her to run.
Chapter Four
Author's Note: I started this story the working concept of "Ryan gets bitten by a werewolf" expecting lulz and Abbott and Costello references. Should have been easy, but Jeez. Who starts writing with the idea "werewolf in an elevator" and winds up with this? What is wrong with me?
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no subject
Date: Monday, 13 June 2011 07:41 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Monday, 13 June 2011 07:52 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Monday, 13 June 2011 08:10 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Monday, 13 June 2011 09:59 pm (UTC)From:I think it's hot that Kevin bit him :P
no subject
Date: Monday, 13 June 2011 11:51 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Tuesday, 14 June 2011 05:31 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Tuesday, 14 June 2011 06:25 pm (UTC)From:I feel it's mostly crack by dint of containing werewolves. I figure if there isn't magic in the source material, adding magic instantly makes it kind of cracky. I usually use the phrase "genre!crack" to distinguish serious stories with cracky plot elements from outright crack.
no subject
Date: Tuesday, 23 August 2011 03:43 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Tuesday, 13 September 2011 07:10 am (UTC)From:On to the next chapter!
no subject
Date: Monday, 6 February 2012 06:20 pm (UTC)From:Which is weird.
Anyway. I'm loving this.