Prompt Fic: The Camping Trip
Feb. 14th, 2015 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catkoCastle and Beckett go camping.
Fandom: Castle; Castle/Beckett
Rating: PG
Words: 609
Prompts: Mask, frame, green, animal, water, childhood hero
“What was that?” Castle jerked, and Beckett could feel him patting the ground around him—and her leg—then a fumbling sound, a click, and an edge of glowing light around the sleeping mask covering her eyes. She sighed, and simultaneously lifted the mask with one hand while pushing away the light source with the other.
“C’mon, Castle, I’m trying to sleep here!” She cracked an eye at the alarmed face looming above her.
“How can you sleep? Can’t you hear the danger lurking just outside the perimeter?” he hissed. He made a sweep with his arm around the inside of the tent.
Beckett closed her eye, sighed, then levered herself up to sit crosslegged inside their double sleeping bag, noting again that the cushioning beneath them was not, indeed, very cushy.
It had been her idea, of course—to celebrate their anniversary by getting away from the city and civilization—no spa, no Spago, nothing fancy. Just the two of them and nature. The Great Outdoors. Of course, by “nothing fancy,” she had been thinking of, say, a tent cabin with cots and a wood fireplace. Or at least the kind of modernish equipment they’d had the last time she camped with her dad and uncle Jack: pop up tent, memory foam bedding, and even a generator to power lamps and electronics.
But, once she’d overcome his initial misgivings, Castle became very engaged in doing all the planning: looking at catalogs, calling rental agencies, and nailing down a really sweet location—more rustic than Kate had intended, but a beautiful spot. He really got into all the preparations, so much so that Kate let him have his way and do it all on his own.
It wasn’t until they arrived at the campsite and unpacked the SUV that she realized that he, for some inexplicable reason, had gone full-on retro. As she stared at the heavy green canvas tent material, bundled together with huge aluminum poles that needed to be winched together to form a frame, and the stove that needed liquid fuel to be pumped up, and the lantern with cotton mantels…she couldn’t help herself. “Castle, what on earth…did you go back in time to get this stuff?”
Castle rubbed his hands together delightedly. “In a manner of speaking. Army Navy Surplus!” He started pulling out the tattered waxed cardboard boxes. “I remembered this as a kid, going to one of these upstate with my buddy Joey Richman — and his dad, Doc Richman, he was kind of my….childhood hero. So much cool stuff! I even had one of these!” He held up a battered canteen in an army green canvas sleeve. “I carried water in this to school every day! Until it got moldy and Mother threw it out.” He was so eager that Kate didn’t have the heart to complain, until later, when they were struggling with hoisting the heavy-ass tent canvas on the dented frame. And even then, she kept it to a loud groan and eye roll.
Which she repeated now, as it occurred to her that a more comfortable bunk would probably have led to a sounder sleep for her companion, instead of this nervous watchfulness. She summoned up her compassion and cupped his face with her hands. “Relax, Castle. It’s probably just some local animal foraging at night. Harmless. Let’s just cuddle ourselves back to sleep.”
Castle’s hyper-alert expression softened as he let her coax him into lying back down. “Mmmm, you’re probably right,” he murmured. “A good night’s sleep, wake up with the sun…”
“A hot cup of coffee to greet the dawn,” she said softly.
“I love camping,” said Castle sleepily.
“Me too, baby, me too.”
Fandom: Castle; Castle/Beckett
Rating: PG
Words: 609
Prompts: Mask, frame, green, animal, water, childhood hero
“What was that?” Castle jerked, and Beckett could feel him patting the ground around him—and her leg—then a fumbling sound, a click, and an edge of glowing light around the sleeping mask covering her eyes. She sighed, and simultaneously lifted the mask with one hand while pushing away the light source with the other.
“C’mon, Castle, I’m trying to sleep here!” She cracked an eye at the alarmed face looming above her.
“How can you sleep? Can’t you hear the danger lurking just outside the perimeter?” he hissed. He made a sweep with his arm around the inside of the tent.
Beckett closed her eye, sighed, then levered herself up to sit crosslegged inside their double sleeping bag, noting again that the cushioning beneath them was not, indeed, very cushy.
It had been her idea, of course—to celebrate their anniversary by getting away from the city and civilization—no spa, no Spago, nothing fancy. Just the two of them and nature. The Great Outdoors. Of course, by “nothing fancy,” she had been thinking of, say, a tent cabin with cots and a wood fireplace. Or at least the kind of modernish equipment they’d had the last time she camped with her dad and uncle Jack: pop up tent, memory foam bedding, and even a generator to power lamps and electronics.
But, once she’d overcome his initial misgivings, Castle became very engaged in doing all the planning: looking at catalogs, calling rental agencies, and nailing down a really sweet location—more rustic than Kate had intended, but a beautiful spot. He really got into all the preparations, so much so that Kate let him have his way and do it all on his own.
It wasn’t until they arrived at the campsite and unpacked the SUV that she realized that he, for some inexplicable reason, had gone full-on retro. As she stared at the heavy green canvas tent material, bundled together with huge aluminum poles that needed to be winched together to form a frame, and the stove that needed liquid fuel to be pumped up, and the lantern with cotton mantels…she couldn’t help herself. “Castle, what on earth…did you go back in time to get this stuff?”
Castle rubbed his hands together delightedly. “In a manner of speaking. Army Navy Surplus!” He started pulling out the tattered waxed cardboard boxes. “I remembered this as a kid, going to one of these upstate with my buddy Joey Richman — and his dad, Doc Richman, he was kind of my….childhood hero. So much cool stuff! I even had one of these!” He held up a battered canteen in an army green canvas sleeve. “I carried water in this to school every day! Until it got moldy and Mother threw it out.” He was so eager that Kate didn’t have the heart to complain, until later, when they were struggling with hoisting the heavy-ass tent canvas on the dented frame. And even then, she kept it to a loud groan and eye roll.
Which she repeated now, as it occurred to her that a more comfortable bunk would probably have led to a sounder sleep for her companion, instead of this nervous watchfulness. She summoned up her compassion and cupped his face with her hands. “Relax, Castle. It’s probably just some local animal foraging at night. Harmless. Let’s just cuddle ourselves back to sleep.”
Castle’s hyper-alert expression softened as he let her coax him into lying back down. “Mmmm, you’re probably right,” he murmured. “A good night’s sleep, wake up with the sun…”
“A hot cup of coffee to greet the dawn,” she said softly.
“I love camping,” said Castle sleepily.
“Me too, baby, me too.”
