[love_bingo FIC] "Putting the Breaks on it." ("Castle" -- PG-13)
This is one of those wheels-within-wheels fics: sometimes it seems as though the fourth wall in the Castle-verse is as thin as tissue-paper (Books by the fictional author who's the main character? IC Twitter account? Actor Allusions that loop around like a Penrose Staircase??). But that's what makes it so much fun for the fans.
Prompt: We were on a break!
Pairing: Nikki Heat/Jameson Rook, Castle + Beckett (unrequited)
Word count: 569
Lunch break at the Precinct, and Nikki Heat pushed away the stacks of hate mail which she, Rook, Raley and Ochoa had been poring over the course of the morning, looking for anything that could lead them to the killer. "Rook, you wanna step out and grab something to eat?" she asks.
Rook dropped a sheet of paper onto the stack in front of him and leaned back in his chair, kneading his forehead with the heels of both hands. "Long as you aren't suggesting sashimi: just been reading some creative threats directed at our dead foodie," he said, giving the letter a squicked-out look.
"I think we can find a nice, quiet, cruelty-free crunchy granola place," Heat replied, only half teasing, as she got up. She had been reading her own share of threats involving kitchen tools that she had never even heard of till now, much less known they could be used on a human being.
Once they both out in the hallway, Rook's eyes caught Heat's. "We don't have to eat, this time," he offered, his voice husky with a different kind of hunger, the kind that a pastrami on rye would not satisfy. "We could find some place a little more private."
"I know a quiet little place close by that we could slip into," she suggested. Her own appetite for a hot ham and asiago panini had started to veer toward something right at hand. The amount of food they'd had to look at during this case had put her off things that required chewing or involved calories, unless it meant burning them up.
She took Rook by the hand and hustled him down a different hallway, toward the interrogation rooms. Finding one unoccupied, she pushed the door open and hurried Rook inside before pulling the door shut behind them both and pushing his back against it. The slightly startled look in his steely blue eyes quickly changed to interest and arousal. "Ooh, this is gonna be much more satisfying than a meal," he crooned, slipping his hands around his waist and slipping his fingers under the hem of her blouse --
-- "Castle?" Beckett's voice cut through his typing and the haze of inspiration.
"You found that piece of smut -- err, hate mail?" he asked, coming back to reality.
"Yes, it was revenge pornography that the killer had delivered to the victim's apartment," Beckett said, snipping just a bit. "What did I say about writing in the bullpen when we're on a break?"
"You got something you wanna share with the rest of the class, Castle?" Ryan asked, rolling his chair closer to the desk, leaning over one corner.
Esposito leaned in over the other corner. "Uh oh, Mom just found Dad's old porn stash from back in the day?"
Castle quickly shut the top of his laptop, which caused the two interlopers to roll their chairs away disappointed. Beckett still looked daggers from across the desk. "That you thought it shows how passionate and committed I am to my craft?" he asked, with that kind of smirky innocence he reserved for times when he had put his foot where it did not need to go.
"No. I said it was a distraction: I can hear what you're writing even before it goes on the screen," Beckett replied, coolly.
"Better not think too loud, bro," Esposito put in.
"But we're on a break, and I gotta strike when the inspiration burns," Castle replied, defending his turf.
Prompt: We were on a break!
Pairing: Nikki Heat/Jameson Rook, Castle + Beckett (unrequited)
Word count: 569
Lunch break at the Precinct, and Nikki Heat pushed away the stacks of hate mail which she, Rook, Raley and Ochoa had been poring over the course of the morning, looking for anything that could lead them to the killer. "Rook, you wanna step out and grab something to eat?" she asks.
Rook dropped a sheet of paper onto the stack in front of him and leaned back in his chair, kneading his forehead with the heels of both hands. "Long as you aren't suggesting sashimi: just been reading some creative threats directed at our dead foodie," he said, giving the letter a squicked-out look.
"I think we can find a nice, quiet, cruelty-free crunchy granola place," Heat replied, only half teasing, as she got up. She had been reading her own share of threats involving kitchen tools that she had never even heard of till now, much less known they could be used on a human being.
Once they both out in the hallway, Rook's eyes caught Heat's. "We don't have to eat, this time," he offered, his voice husky with a different kind of hunger, the kind that a pastrami on rye would not satisfy. "We could find some place a little more private."
"I know a quiet little place close by that we could slip into," she suggested. Her own appetite for a hot ham and asiago panini had started to veer toward something right at hand. The amount of food they'd had to look at during this case had put her off things that required chewing or involved calories, unless it meant burning them up.
She took Rook by the hand and hustled him down a different hallway, toward the interrogation rooms. Finding one unoccupied, she pushed the door open and hurried Rook inside before pulling the door shut behind them both and pushing his back against it. The slightly startled look in his steely blue eyes quickly changed to interest and arousal. "Ooh, this is gonna be much more satisfying than a meal," he crooned, slipping his hands around his waist and slipping his fingers under the hem of her blouse --
-- "Castle?" Beckett's voice cut through his typing and the haze of inspiration.
"You found that piece of smut -- err, hate mail?" he asked, coming back to reality.
"Yes, it was revenge pornography that the killer had delivered to the victim's apartment," Beckett said, snipping just a bit. "What did I say about writing in the bullpen when we're on a break?"
"You got something you wanna share with the rest of the class, Castle?" Ryan asked, rolling his chair closer to the desk, leaning over one corner.
Esposito leaned in over the other corner. "Uh oh, Mom just found Dad's old porn stash from back in the day?"
Castle quickly shut the top of his laptop, which caused the two interlopers to roll their chairs away disappointed. Beckett still looked daggers from across the desk. "That you thought it shows how passionate and committed I am to my craft?" he asked, with that kind of smirky innocence he reserved for times when he had put his foot where it did not need to go.
"No. I said it was a distraction: I can hear what you're writing even before it goes on the screen," Beckett replied, coolly.
"Better not think too loud, bro," Esposito put in.
"But we're on a break, and I gotta strike when the inspiration burns," Castle replied, defending his turf.