Life is Gourd
A Halloween-themed batch of ficlets
For the 2021 Castle Halloween Bash
Sweet Treats
A Season 5/6 Ficlet
She presses her lips together, trying to keep her amusement in check as he unpacks the cooler bag he'd gleefully tossed over his shoulder after they slid from the car.
"Babe, don't take this the wrong way, but did you pack anything besides cookies for this picnic we're having?"
Castle tilts his head, tapping a finger to his lips. "No, not really. Well, I did pack cupcakes, too."
Beckett snorts, leaning her elbow on her knee and resting her cheek on her hand. "I'm not sure that counts."
He chuckles. "Sure it does. You asked about cookies. Cupcakes are not cookies."
"I hate you."
His smile gets wider. "No you don't," he murmurs, unscrewing the lid from the thermos he'd brought and pouring coffee into two jack o'lantern mugs. "I brought you coffee, too. Really good coffee, no less."
Kate watches him stir cream and sugar into her mug, taking in the care in his movements, the precision. He's methodical about it, careful not to pour too much, careful to keep his spoon moving and mix everything well.
It's endearing and sweet and her heart stumbles as the words threaten to spill forth. It's not that she doesn't want to tell him, but…it always seems to stick in her throat when she does. Or just comes out wrong.
"You're cute, you know that?" she asks, surprising herself.
Castle looks up, color darkening his cheeks. He recovers after a second, though, smirking. "I am, hmm?"
She lifts a shoulder, going for nonchalance. "Of course, I could always take it back if you're going to gloat."
He chuckles, shaking his head. "No, you said I'm cute. I'm going to keep that. That's mine now."
Kate feigns a sigh, but nods. She takes the coffee cup he offers, warming her hands on the ceramic before warming her insides with her first sip. It's delicious; sweet but not overly so, rich and bold, and he seems to relax when she murmurs her approval into the space between them.
"So to get back to the original question," she says after a few sips. "No food?"
He chuckles. "I already ordered take out from Filippelli's. We'll pick it up on our way home to hand out candy."
"Get a lot of trick-or-treaters at the loft, do you?" She knows there are other families who live there, but in general his building doesn't always give off the welcoming children going door to door vibes.
"Barely any," he says without missing a beat, making her laugh. "Most of the time now, I eat the candy myself, turn off the lights, and watch a scary movie until Alexis comes home and wakes me to make me go to bed."
Kate reaches for one of the festive cookies he'd packed, taking in the cheerful Happy Halloween in careful letters. "That sounds nice. We could also pick a movie we don't want to see and make out instead of watching."
He grins. "Oh, I like the way you think. You get to pick tonight, Kate. You definitely get to pick."
So last year I did a Halloween themed Fluffy Friday and posted a ficlet every hour or so. This was originally intended to be the same, but life got away from me and I wasn't able to post on Friday, nor write nearly as many as I wanted to. So instead, I'm posting these on Halloween. Each ficlet is inspired by a picture that I'll post on my tumblr along with a link back here to the chapter, under the tag "Life is Gourd".
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy these short little nibbles of story.