Prompt: "We were the only ones wearing Christmas sweaters on the bus and did you see how everyone was looking at us or was that just me?"
Kate steps off the bus and heads for the park, desperate for fresh air and solitude. The Christmas party was a disaster and she wanted to go home, to change out of this stupid, oversized sweater, but she needed a moment to collect herself first, to allow the biting air of December to seep into her bones and clear her mind before she returns home to the emptiness of her apartment.
The swing set of the park is vacant and she treks through the snow in relief, easing down onto the icy seat and taking a moment to just relax.
She just wasn't ready for Christmas yet, for the memories it brought back, that was all.
"Hey!" Kate startles at the man who trots through the thick layer of snow covering the ground to greet her and is that… Richard Castle? "I saw you on the bus, lost you in the crowd," he explains, shattering all hopes of solitude as he plops down beside her, the chains of his swing rattling. "I'm Rick."
He extends his hand and she takes it without thinking, giving it a soft shake and eliciting a large smile she doesn't understand.
"Kate," she replies, offering up a small smile of her own despite the whirlwind of confusion.
"We were the only ones wearing Christmas sweaters on the bus and did you see how everyone was looking at us? Or was that just me?" he questions, swaying gently on the swing beside her.
"I noticed," she chuckles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Is that the reason you followed me out here?"
Richard Castle shrugs. "Well, I had wanted to talk to you on the bus, but the seat beside you was taken, so I had planned to just wait, but then you disappeared before I could introduce myself."
"You have determination, I'll give you that," she smirks, plucking at the fabric of the vibrant green sweater.
"You weren't too hard to find, Kate. Your reindeer themed sweater was too snazzy to lose sight of."
The laugh bubbles past her lips and she reaches over to pluck at the bright blue fabric of his own atrocious sweater.
"Oh yeah, and your Frosty the snowman getup here is hard to miss?" she quips, earning the rich sound of his chuckle in return.
"It was a present from my daughter," he defends, grinning down at the snowmans dancing across the front of his sweater. "What's your excuse?"
"Ugly Christmas sweater themed party my friend dragged me to," she answers, wincing at the reminder that she needs to call Lanie later tonight, explain why she bolted without so much as a goodbye. "But you haven't answered my question, why exactly did you follow me out here?"
"Because I wanted to use our bonding over ugly holiday sweaters as a way to break the ice so I could ask you out," he explains casually and damn him for making her cheeks flush.
"Don't you have a slew of women with chests to sign already waiting for you?" Kate questions, because he may be her favorite author, but his behavior according to the media is anything but favorable and there is no way in hell she's getting involved with some playboy who will just break her heart and move onto the next without a second glance.
Rick deflates a little under her assumption, but shakes his head. "No, I was kind of hoping you hadn't recognized me."
"Kinda hard not to," she points out.
"Listen, I understand if my image turns you off, but I'm not… I'm not that guy, not in my real life, so," Rick stands from the swings and she's almost sad at the realization that he's leaving her. "If you wouldn't mind getting to know the real me, maybe we can have coffee sometime."
He reaches into the back pocket of his jeans, holding out a folded piece of paper to her that she takes and opens with intrigue, her lips tugging at the messy scrawl of his name and number.
"I wrote it on the bus, I was going to try and make it into a paper airplane to throw at you, but it failed takeoff."
Kate bites her lip to suppress a giggle that would be far too girly and unlike her, and instead folds the note back up, tucking it in to her coat pocket.
"Rick," she calls as he turns to leave, watching in amusement as he pauses in his tracks, turning to look at her with ridiculous hope in his eyes. "Can I have that coffee now?"
"Only if we're both allowed to go home and change first," he throws back without missing a beat and she nods, rising from the swing to catch up with him.
"Deal."