Fic: A Little Less Sixteen Candles 1/2

[coffeebuddha]

Title: A Little Less Sixteen Candles 1/2
Author: coffeebuddha
Rating: R/FRM overall
Characters/Pairings: Kevin Ryan/Javier Esposito, Rick Castle/Kate Beckett, Lanie Parish, Jenny
Word Count: 1763
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
Summary: In which Kevin wears sweater vests and Javier hates him on principle. High school AU.
Notes: Written for the anon ficathon at ryanandesposito.



The new kid is quiet and scrawny, his nose constantly stuck in a book, and there's something about him that kind of makes Javier want to punch him in the face. It's not that the kid's done anything. He hasn't, which might be the problem. He just sits there with his stupid gelled hair and his stupid books and his stupid sweater vests. And that's another thing. Who the fuck wears sweater vests? With khakis. Javier would be surprised if he's ever worn jeans. He probably plays golf and has a sister named Muffy.

​Asshole.

It isn't until someone pushes at his shoulder that Javier realizes he's been staring and blocking the doorway, and then Kate's shoving past him with an annoyed, "Move it," all pointy elbows and pursed lips. One more pointed glare at the new kid--Kyle, Kevin, Kurt? What's his name again?--that goes as unnoticed as all the others, and Javier heads for his desk. Kate, who has the desk in front of his, turns around when he sits, resting an elbow on his notebook and propping her chin up with the palm of her hand. She smells like damp, cold air and cigarette smoke, and Javier grins at her, his earlier irritation all but forgotten as she rolls her eyes and jabs a finger at his homework.

"You got number three wrong. The decimal's in the wrong place. It's 34.97, not 3.497."

Javier doesn't even look over the problem, just automatically corrects it, because he learned early on that if Kate says you're wrong, then chances are she's right. The school probably would have expelled her ages ago for all the times she's cut class and been caught smoking on the catwalk over the stage in the auditorium, except that their test scores would plummet without her. And, because the world isn't fair, she's examining him like she would a calculus problem, her pretty face deceptively relaxed except for the way her sharp eyes are just barely narrowed.

"So," she says, her voice far too casual for the look she's giving him. "What's your problem with the new guy?"

Javier shrugs and makes a show of pretending to double check his homework for more mistakes. There's no way it'll fool Kate since they both know she'd have told him if he'd had anything else wrong, but it buys him a few seconds. He glances at the kid again, notes the way his head is bent low over his textbook and how his fingers worry at a small hole near the bottom hem of his damn sweater vest. When he looks back at Kate, she's looking even more intrigued, which is almost always a very scary thing. The last time she'd gotten that look, the school had to send out notices clarifying that their mystery meat was cat free; the jury's still out on whether that's actually true, especially since Mrs. Lovett, who ran the cafeteria, had been quickly and quietly replaced.

He shrugs again, a little more warily this time. "I just don't like him."

"Don't like who," Rick asks as he hops up to sit on top of the desk next to Javier's, his long, skinny legs draped over the back of the chair in front of him. He flashes a smile at Kate, who ignores him, and twists around in a way that shouldn't be physically possible to lean closer to them. "I know you can't be talking about me. Everyone loves me."

"Keep telling yourself that, Castle," Kate says, still not sparing him a glance, though her cheeks look a little flushed, which is odd enough that Javier blinks and files it way for later. "Javier doesn't like the new kid."

"You mean Kevin?" Rick asks, and he really needs to work on the whole 'volume' thing, because the new kid--Kevin, apparently--finally looks up from his text book and ​shoots them a puzzled look. Rick grins and waves at him, and Javier very resolutely does not watch the exchange out of the corner of his eye, because he's too busy triple checking the homework he never bothered to really double check. After Kevin hesitantly waves back, Rick spins back around toward Kate and Javier. "Why don't you like Kevin? He's a pretty cool guy. Apparently his family breeds llamas. Llamas! How can you not like someone who ​has 24/7 access to adorable, cuddly llamas?"

Javier blinks slowly, because llamas? How the fuck is he even supposed to respond to that? Llamas? "Then you be friends with him," Javier says, managing to keep his voice at a normal, appropriate volume, thank you very much. "Something about himjust bugs me."

Rick opens his mouth, always ready to give unwelcome advice, and Kate's just sitting there like she's going to let him, but thankfully the door slams closed just then and Mr. Perlmutter barks out, "Civilized people sit in chairs, Mr. Castle. I know it's a stretch, but do at least make an effort to try and keep up with the rest of your classmates on the evolutionary chain."

Instead of acting offended or chastised, Rick laughs and spreads his hands wide. He slides almost bonelessly down into his chair, a smartass response rolling effortlessly off the tip of his tongue, and Javier stops being very much not distracted by the new kid as class proceeds like normal.

---

The thing with Kevin isn't an issue. Hell, it's not even a thing, really. Or, well, it wouldn't be, except that Kevin apparently has the same Spanish class as Jenny and Lanie, and they appear to have adopted him. Decided to bring him into the fold. Taken him under their wings, as it were. So when he gets to the tree where their group eats lunch, he's sitting cross legged in between them with an apple clenched between his teeth and both hands raised in a futile attempt to keep Jenny from messing with his hair. It's tempting to just change course right then--a few of his teammates from the wrestling team are sitting under the bleachers a few yards away and would be happy enough to talk strategy with him over lunch--but then Rick's suddenly there with an arm slung around his neck like a choke hold and he's being dragged to sit with his friends and that interloper completely against his will.

Fuck. Seriously, how is this his life?

"Hey, Kevin," Rick says, flopping down onto the ground and pulling Javier down with him so that he ends up draped halfway across Rick's lap.

"You're a bony bastard. Lemme up, bro," Javier grouses. He manages to dig his elbow into Rick's thigh when he pushes himself up and takes a little bit of pleasure in the hiss of discomfort that draws from him.

Rick pouts like he really expected Javier to be happy about being on his lap and turns to bat his lashes at Kate, who's just jogging up. "Kate, light of my life," he calls out. "Javier's spurning my manly advances. Only you can heal my bruised and bleeding heart. My lap is sadly empty and your delightful bottom is just of a size to fill it."

"I think you just called my ass big, calling yourself manly is seriously pushing it, and no way in hell," Kate says evenly and drops down between Javier and Lanie. Rick amps his pout up to eleven and turns to Kevin.

"Do you see how they treat me? So cruel."

Kevin, who's been watching the whole exchange with wide, stupidly blue eyes and slightly flushed cheeks, stares at him for a long moment. Javier has a sudden bubble of warm, heady hope burst through him that this will all prove too much for Kevin and his polo playing, llama raising, sweater vest wearing sensibilities.

Not so much, apparently, because the corners of Kevin's lips quiver almost imperceptibly, and then he's laughing loud and genuine and amused.

Javier has the sudden, inexplicable urge to punch the tree and starts planning how to sneak into the library for lunch tomorrow.

---

Javier spends the rest of the week crossing his fingers that things will get better, but they never do. If anything, they get worse. It seems like every time he turns around, Kevin is there. In the bathroom, they end up nodding inanely and intently studying the cracked tiles on the wall when a broken pipe has them standing next to each other at the urinals. At wrestling practice, Coach Montgomery introduces Kevin as their newest recruit in the 120 weight class. Javier's partner is out sick with mono, so Kevin replaces him. During study hall, Javier ends up spending a good half hour hiding in the stacks and glaring at the back of Kevin's head through the cracks of the books, because if he leaves he'll have to walk past the table Kevin's commandeered. And, of course, the fact that Javier's friends are now apparently Kevin's too can't be overlooked, even though Javier totally has the better claim to them because he was there first.

And he knows he's acting like a child and generally being an ass, thank you very much, Lanie. He can see it in the way Kate shakes her head at him in disappointment, Jenny's stopped sharing her homemade cookies, Rick's a little less quick to bring him in on a joke, and Lanie's just flat out saying it at every available opportunity. Even if they weren't there acting as a barometer for his assholery, the way Kevin himself can't seem to meet his eyes and his voice goes nearly inaudible when they're forced to talk would be clear enough indicators. So he knows that if his mama could see the way he was acting, she'd take a spoon to the back of his head, but he can't seem to help it.

There's just something about Kevin that crawls under his skin and makes him itch. He's more keyed up with nervous energy than he was before his last big match, only it's all the freaking time and it's absolutely exhausting.

A week creeps by, then another, and things aren't good, even if this new discomfort is starting to feel almost normal, and Javier's almost feeling up and a little happy at the prospect of a party at Rick's that Friday night while his mom--"Call me Martha, you handsome young thing."--is out of town. It isn't until he gets there and catches sight of Kevin with a red solo cup in hand that it even occurs to him that the other boy would have been invited too.

Thank you for reading! Feedback is always appreciated!

The second part will be posted as soon as it's finished. Because I STILL haven't finished this thing... >.> I'd estimate that it'll be done by the end of the weekend.

Comments

[black_sluggard]

Nifty. Look forward to Pt. 2. :)

Wait, I used to hate school AUs... Damn, I think you broke me.

P.S. Thanks, since this fic finally pushed me to write out the Firefly reincarnation bunny I'd had in my head I don't even know how long...

[coffeebuddha.livejournal.com]

High praise indeed! Thank you! &hearts

P.S. You are more than welcome. :D

[tinlizzie82.livejournal.com]

Mm, yummy. Normally I hate completely AU stuff like high school fics but I just LOVE the way you write the characters. Now if they would just stop trying to nix any slashy overtones from the show and I could go back to the one show where I could enjoy both a slash and a het OTP at the same time.

[coffeebuddha.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

Now if they would just stop trying to nix any slashy overtones from the show and I could go back to the one show where I could enjoy both a slash and a het OTP at the same time.

Oh, if only! I'd also appreciate if they didn't try to force the het relationship so much. I really liked Castle/Beckett before it started to feel like they were trying way too hard to make the audience ship them.

[mywiel.livejournal.com]

Read it, liked it, where's part ? :)

[mywiel.livejournal.com]

part 2 I mean of course ;)

[coffeebuddha.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Part 2 is taking longer than I thought, but it should be up soon. :)

[callajoy.livejournal.com]

Oh goody goody - I don't care for high school AU's as a rule, but you make me beg an exception. This is fantastic. I love how you've retained their personalities so well. Can't wait to see what happens next. And cat meat? Funny stuff :)

[theslashbunny.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD! How did I miss this?! *fails at being your #1 fan*

I'm so looking forward to Part 2! Your characterizations for the teen versions are amazing! Kate and Rick just cracked me up and I love how Jenny brings homemade cookies and Lanie just calls Javier out on being an ass with no hesitation. I can't wait to see what happens next! And poor Kevin... Javier hates him and he has no idea why! I just wanna snuggle him... but then, that's nothing new.

I will be eagerly awaiting the second part! *hugs you*

Once Part 2 is done, will you be that much closer to writing Roman!Esposito/Celt!Ryan? *looks hopeful*

[shira16.livejournal.com]

Wow I really like this. I usually avoid AU like the plague but I really enjoyed it. I think that's because you retained their personalities so well. Just wondering when's part 2 coming out?