This was previously posted as part of my oneshot collection As the Story Goes, but since a single prompt has spawned a series of its own, I'm going to be posting all Reference Material-verse ficlets separately. If you've read these stories already, thank you, and I hope you like them this time around. If you're reading for the first time, thank you as well. I hope you enjoy!
Prompt from Anonymous: Any chance on you continuing reference material?
Thank you so much, Anon! Hopefully this lives up to the original.
And yay! I'm posting this for #CastleThemeDay. Fluffy/Happy fic all around!
TGIF
"She's driving me insane, Rick."
It's not the most gracious greeting she could give him, especially after a long week of barely seeing each other, but her boyfriend doesn't seem to mind.
"Hi, honey, how was your day?" he teases, stepping aside to allow her entry into his apartment. She'd been a little annoyed when he'd simply buzzed her up instead of coming downstairs to meet her, but judging by the smells in his place, he'd been in the middle of cooking the dinner he'd promised her. He's forgiven.
Sheepish, Kate stretches onto her toes to kiss his cheek. "Sorry. I'm just, ugh, the end of the year can't come fast enough. Hell, spring break can't come fast enough."
"That bad, huh?" Rick slips his hand down her arm, lacing their fingers together in solidarity. "You gonna last another two weeks?"
"You joke, but at this point I'm really not sure. She complained for four hours last night about how much work she has, then proceeded to kill her light as I was studying, and bitched when I turned on my desk lamp."
He nods, tilting his head. "And today?" His thumb swipes her knuckles, coaxing the rest of the story out of her. He always does this, nudges her toward letting it out and talking things through.
"She left a passive-aggressive note on the hall bulletin board about how we need to be conscientious that our study habits don't negatively impact the sleep of others."
"What a bitch," Rick murmurs, squeezing her hand.
"Yeah," she sighs. "It's like freshman year all over again. But the upside is she's not here, and I brought a bottle of wine to help me get through another night of your terrible movies."
He laughs, pulling her closer. "My terrible movies are what got you to kiss me for the first time, Beckett. You love them."
"Sure, pal. That's exactly it." She bumps him, offering her lips for another kiss. His movies aren't bad, but they're definitely not what made her kiss him for the first time back in the fall. "How'd your meeting go?"
He'd been nervous, she knows. She'd heard it in his voice when he called before going into Black Pawn, the worry that his manuscript wasn't going to live up to expectations, the worry that the next one he wanted to pitch wouldn't even get off the ground.
Now he beams, practically vibrating with excitement.
"They loved it. All of it. They signed me on for another four books, Kate. Four."
She can't stop herself from tossing her arms around his neck and smearing her mouth over his. His joy is her joy in that moment, and he spins her in slow circles, chuckling against her lips.
"They love it?" she repeats, palming the back of his head.
Rick smiles bashfully, rubbing his noise against hers. "Yeah. They said it was twisty and exciting, everything they wanted to measure up to the first two."
Kate grins again, whispering another kiss over his mouth. "I'm so proud of you."
He seems to stand even taller at that. At her pride in him. "Thanks. Gina, my publisher, was impressed I got it done while taking a full course load, too."
"Well, it's amazing what you get done when you stop reciting trivia long enough to work."
"Hey now. We both know I never stop spouting trivia."
"Mmm, that's fair. Not even when you're asleep. The other night you threw your arm around me and asked how many minutes of dialogue there were in 2001: A Space Odyssey."
"I did not."
"Sorry, babe. You did."
"Well," he starts, hands making lazy paths along her back. "Did I at least answer the question?"
"Around forty."
"I said that?" His eyebrows lift. "Usually I'm much more precise than that. Huh."
Pecking his mouth, Kate steps away to close his apartment door. "No, I knew that from freshman English. You just snuggled closer, put your hand on my boob, and told me I smelled good before passing out again."
Rick laughs, snaking her bag off her shoulder and carrying it to his bedroom while she flops in the middle of his plush couch. He returns a moment later with the bottle of wine, already peeling the wrapper from the neck and going for the corkscrew.
"So what else has been going on this week?"
Sitting up, Kate leans her cheek on her arm. He's sweet. They don't have class together this semester, but every morning (save for when she sleeps here), he meets her outside her dorm and walks her to her first class before they go their separate ways for the day. If they've spent more time apart than together – like they have these last few days – at the end of the week, he asks for the post-mortem. It helps somehow, getting the chance to vent and let go of the shit once and for all.
"Besides contemplating roommate-icide?"
He brings her a full glass, swooping in to kiss her before she even has the chance to taste it. Not that she minds; she'd rather have his taste on her lips than wine.
"Yeah, besides that. Plus, I'm not sure that's really a word anyway."
He squirms onto the couch with her, resting his chin on her shoulder. She has a love-hate relationship with the move; keeping him close is nice, but his chin is so damn hard, she can't help but mewl and shrug him off.
"Shut up. It is now. But no, nothing else, really. Just working through that massive homework I told you about the other night. I wanted to start studying for my Econ test, but she who wants to be a pain has made that impossible."
Kate sips her wine, trying to release the last of her disgust before she takes it out on her boyfriend. Rick can doesn't deserve to face her ire at someone else's misdeeds. He's annoying enough on his own.
"Sorry, honey. You wanna study here this weekend? I have homework and edits to do; we could just bum around and work."
The prospect of doing that sounds amazing, except –
"Can't, at least not all weekend. I'm having lunch with my parents tomorrow."
His palm smooths over her knee. "Well, I could give you a key and that way you can come and go as you please…"
It's tentative, the offer, and he doesn't look her in the eye while she processes what he's saying.
"Rick… are you giving me a key?"
"I'm… offering to give you a key. So you can come back after lunch with your parents, if you want, and we can work the rest of the weekend. And then you can keep it… after that."
Dragging her teeth over her lower lip, Kate nods. "I want. I do. But there's something else happening this weekend."
He slumps a little bit, looking both relieved and disappointed. "There is?"
Scooting closer, she kisses the curve of his shoulder. "My RA suckered us all into saying we're coming to stupid dorm event on Sunday so she'll get brownie points with housing."
"Fun."
"But," she continues, slipping her hand down his chest. "You can come with me. We were encouraged to bring guests. I thought you might think it was stupid, so I didn't mention it sooner."
Rick grins. "I would be delighted to attend your mandatory fun event."
They both kind of hate the goofy social events school housing puts on, but maybe it won't be as annoying if they're there together.
"Kay. It's called BJs in Your PJs," she drawls, tracing the logo on his chest. "And we could go over there after spending most of the weekend here?"
Rick sputters around the lip of his wine glass. "What now?"
Giggling, she turns her face into his arm. "Ice cream night, Rick. Ben and Jerry's and pajamas."
"Oh."
"Did you really think the housing department would sponsor that?"
"Well, no. But Kate –"
She laughs harder, pressing her lips to the corner of his mouth. "Well I'm not saying it's off the table for after. I was already planning to let you get to second or third base in my bed…"
"Wouldn't that be more of a home run?"
"For you, maybe."
They dissolve into harder giggles, their wine sloshing precariously in their glasses.
"Seriously, I'd love to," he pants finally. "And not just because you enticed me with the idea of getting lucky in your bed. Though, I will admit that has been a fantasy of mine since we started dating."
She smacks his chest lightly, even as she snickers.
"Hey! You started it with your innuendo laced dorm event."
"Yeah, yeah. I think there's a reason it's held in the women's dorms instead of the men's."
"Yeah, probably," he chuckles.
Setting their wine glasses aside, Rick's arm falls around her waist, tugging her in for a kiss she's happy to paint across his lips.
He hums. "I am so glad this week is over."
"You and me both," she agrees, giving his lip a teasing nip. Rick growls her name, stealing her breath with another hard kiss.
Her fingers curl in his t-shirt collar when she breaks away, keeping him close even as she supplies her lungs with much-needed air. He doesn't seem to be complaining, though. Instead, her boyfriend hums, trailing his mouth over her jaw and along her neck until she shudders, arching into him.
Shit, he knows her so well. He has since their first night together, if not before. He knows what she likes, what she doesn't; what drives her insane in the good ways and the bad. He makes her think, he makes her feel, he makes her look into herself to be better. He makes being with someone feel like something other than a chore.
"Hey," she breathes, cupping the back of his neck. He responds by grazing his teeth against her throat – somewhere she can cover tomorrow at lunch if he knows what's good for him – and nuzzling closer, but she knows he's listening.
"Mmm?"
"I love you."
Rick sucks in a breath, fingers slipping out from under her shirt as his eyes lift to hers.
Warning bells sound in her head. Shit, she shouldn't have said that. He isn't ready for that – hell, she shouldn't be either. She doesn't do this; she doesn't tell anyone but her parents that she loves them.
"Listen, you don't… you don't have to say it back. You don't even have to feel it back," she adds quickly, trying to make up for her blunder all the while mentally calculating how quickly she can get into his bedroom for her stuff and get out. "I just, shit. I just wanted to get in and out of school, get a job, and find the son of a bitch who hurt my mom. But then I met you, and you made it fun to be doing this again."
"And yeah, it's only been a few months, but I just… it's your stupid movie trivia, and the fact that coffee doesn't even taste good anymore if you don't make it, and the way you stretch in the mornings like some kind of a lazy bear, and … fuck, I'm stopping now, I'm sto –"
His mouth seals over hers, halting her pathetic excuse for a declaration of love mid-word. She sinks into him, happy to show him her feelings instead of trying to find stupid words for them. Actions are louder anyway, right?
"Kate," he breathes between kisses, pushing her hair away from her face. "I love you, too. I, ah, give me a minute and I can come up with, well, something better than just that. Because it's so much more than just that."
She inhales, thumbing circles on his ear. "You don't need to. I know it all."
"Kate –"
Resting her forehead against his, she grins. He loves her. "You gonna ask me to go steady, Ricky?"
He sticks his tongue out at her, delight making his eyes so damn blue. "You asked me to feel you up in your bed to piss off your roommate; I think we've been going steady for a while."
Yeah, he has her there. On both accounts. Giggling – and oh, he's the only one who manages to make her do this, too – she pulls him in again, flicking her tongue along his lip.
"But I didn't get your letter jacket."
His eyes widen. "You got to see the rough draft of a book only three other people on the planet have read. I think that counts."
"That counts, it does," she promises, smoothing her lips over his chin. "And I loved the book."
"I know you did," he hums, catching her mouth in another kiss. "I love you."
Her breath catches. "I love you, too."
Their next kiss is aborted by a harsh groan. Belatedly, she realizes it's her stomach.
Her boyfriend drops his head to her shoulder, shaking with the force of his laughter. "From 'I love you's to 'feed me's. I see how it is."
The curve of his lips against her shirt tells her that, for all his grousing, he's not upset in the least.
"Should be ready in ten," he adds, shifting so they're stretched out on their sides. His ass has to be hanging off the couch, but he doesn't complain.
"Kay," she murmurs, dipping her head to quell the rise of another giddy smile. Shit, she's one of those dopey people now. "Thank you, by the way."
Rick's fingers slip along her back, keeping her close without confining her. "For what?"
Her lips lift. "For not using a movie quote to tell me you love me."
"And just for that, I am cancelling my plan to stand outside your lunch with my boom box."
Kate snickers, turning her face against his arm. "Oh, damn. When will you ever get another opportunity to embarrass me?"
"Mmm, well, since we're going to BJs in Your PJs together, maybe over spring break when you're at home with your parents. I'll make it nice and loud, too."
She protests, but they both know it's mostly for show.
Other stories in this universe (in chronological order):
Late Night Study Break
Reference Material
TGIF
A Persuasive Argument
Make it So Easy
summa cum laude
Always Right
and more tagfics and drabbles, which can be found on my tumblr at bunysliper dot tumblr slash reference - material!