"Do you really need all of those?" Kyra giggled at him even as she asked.
Rick tried to go for an indignant tone. "Yes." He failed, he was far too amused at his girlfriend's amusement.
"I'm gonna be a comic book widow," she sighed dramatically before heading off towards the action figures leaving him to flip through old issues of X-Men.
He quickly became engrossed in his perusal, trying to figure out which of these issues he'd yet to read. Maybe he had read all of them that were here? Better look again.
"Excuse me." The voice that cut into his concentration was young. And female. He tore his eyes away to have them settle on a teenage girl. With amazing hazel eyes, he filed away. He shifted to let her pass; she uttered a soft "Thank you" as she did.
"Elektra," he commented, noting the issues clutched to her chest.
"Yep," she answered carefully. Rick could tell that she probably had been bothered by guys in here before, a girl in a comic book shop was something of a rarity.
He decided not to push it. "Those are good issues, enjoy them." He smiled companionably, just one fan to another.
"I will," a smile that barely quirked up her lips shone through her eyes. Her gorgeous eyes, he noted again before tamping out the thought with MINOR. "Enjoy your X-Men." She ducked her head and headed for the register.
He couldn't help but stare after her; he was already trying to figure how to write a character like that into a book. Killer that dresses up like a superhero? No, that would never work, the eyes would give her away.
"Looking to trade me in for a younger model?" Kyra's voice brought him to reality.
"Girl in a comic book store," he muttered as a reply, his eyes still on her.
"What am I?"
"You're here because I drug you here," he watched the girl leave the store before turning to face Kyra. "She's actually here looking through comics. It's just…out of the ordinary."
"Doesn't hurt that she's cute."
"If that girl's a day over 15, I'll never write again."
"Oh, we both know that's not true," Kyra said as she slid her arms around his waist. "You'll never put that notebook down."
He didn't need his notebook to remember today's encounter, however.
A/N: I will never understand what the actual age difference is between Castle and Beckett, my headcanon is that they're 10 years apart but I think of them more like 7 or 8 in this particular story.
