Fic: Cheerios (Rick, Alexis)

[xfirefly9x]

Title: Cheerios
Fandom: Castle
Characters: Rick, Alexis
Prompt: cheerios
Word Count: 539
Rating: G
Summary: The water boils. Castle grins as he grabs the brown package off the counter and takes a few long strides to return to the stove.
Warning: Written for songandsilence. 1/1/10. Note it's the meat type of cheerios rather than the cereal.

The water boils. Castle grins as he grabs the brown package off the counter and takes a few long strides to return to the stove. He rips the package open and one by one, lets the cheerios inside slip down into the pot. Each one causes the water to slosh up against the sides of the container. The third cheerio splashes and he jumps back to avoid the spray.

"What are you doing, dad?"

The corners of his mouth curl upwards even more so as he lets the next cheerio slop in amongst the rest. Added to the sound of the stove humming and the water boiling, is soft footsteps. Alexis.

"What does it look like?" he asks, not bothering to look up. He only flicks his eyes up when he feels her brush up against him; he watches her staring into the pot for a moment.

"Cheerios, dad. Really?"

He nods and smirks when she covers a yawn by putting a sleeved arm up across her face. The silk of her gown flows over her slender arm like water over a stone on the bottom of a lake.

"It's three in the morning," she says pointedly.

"So?"

Rolling her eyes, she moves around the counter and takes a seat on one of the stools there. "So, it's a bit early for cheerios, don't you think?"

"Daughter of mine. It's never too early for cheerios! What have I been teaching you all these years? Clearly I've made some mistakes along the way."

"How many are you putting on?" she asks.

"Is my perfect daughter considering moving over to the darkside?"

"No, dad. I just want to be sure there'll be some left for tomorrow. Beckett is dropping by, remember?"

"Right. Of course." He had not forgotten about his partner's expected arrival in the morning. In fact, it is part of the reason he is still up. When he invited her over, she said something that gave him a completely new idea for Nikki Heat's character and it has been eating at him since.

Castle holds up the brown package to show Alexis there are plenty more cheerios left. "See? I'm a good guy," he says. "I saved some for my girls."

He smiles when Alexis nods sleepily and waves a hand in the direction of her room. "I'm going back to bed. You get some rest too, dad. Okay? For me?"

Some of the humour leaves his expression. He nods. "Sure, honey. I'll get some z's once I'm done here."

She stands and quickly gives him a hug. "Thanks, dad. Night."

"Good night, hon." He plants a kiss on her forehead. "Sweet dreams." He watches her stumble up the stairs towards her room and then turns back to the stove. The water is still bubbling and his cheerios are coming along nicely. The skin at the ends is starting to peel and curl up on itself.

Castle switches the stove off and collects the cheerios in a bowl. He squeezes tomato sauce on them and heads back to his study. "Nikki Heat," he muses, dipping his hand into the bowl and fishing out a cheerio between his index finger and thumb. "Just what will you have me do next?"

Comments

[rainne]

What is a meat cheerio? I've never heard of this.

Aha. After looking this up, I see your problem. 1) In America, Cheerios are cereal only. Those little sausages are just called cocktail sausages. Also, 2) they are eaten with barbecue sauce, not tomato sauce. Most Americans don't eat anything with plain tomato sauce.

Outside of that (which, I am sorry to admit, had me going WTF the entire story) it's a cute scene.

[musicgeekster.livejournal.com]

So cute. I admit, I was really confused as to the Cheerios thing (thanks for the info xdawnfirex !) Now that I got that, it makes more sense now :) Really cute.

[love-kate-walsh.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should've read the warning before reading the fic cos I was kinda confused while reading it lol And I gotta thank xdawnfirex as well. I would've been too lazy to look it up.

Anyway, after getting rid of the confusion here and reading it again that's my reaction:
Naw cute! I could totally picture the whole scene.

[weird-fin.livejournal.com]

I read the "Cheerios is not cereal but meat" thing and so went to look it up! I found out... hotdogs! Frankfurt sausages! (For Americans) Cocktail sausages! Weiners! So then I had a perfect scene set. ;) Even though I've eaten Hans branded sausages (including frankfurts) before.

Hm, I'd have added mustard and if you're wanting to sound American mixed it with ketchup, since I used to only ever see in movies at hotdog stands people being asked "Do you want ketchup and mustard with that?" xD

I thought it was great, the only two points really being Ketchup instead of tomato sauce and cocktail/mini hotdog sausages instead of using a brand name Cheerios.

[lorilann.livejournal.com]

This is a really cute story. I can so imagine Castle working out his idea late into the night, in need of something to eat and in turn waking the house.

[vixen-in-violet.livejournal.com]

Good thing I read that little note. (I'm guessing you added it later..?)

Really cute, though I'm not even a watcher of Castle. (But I was intrigued by the whole cheerios =/= cereal thing.)

LOVE your Psych layout, btw. :-)

(sry, reposted because i fail at leaving comments)

[anna-sg1.livejournal.com]

Very cute. Poor Beckett... what will he do to Nikki Heat next? *g*

[adja999.livejournal.com]

Oo

It took me a while to get that you weren't writing about the cereals. It seemed weird to put them in water instead of milk, and when Alexis didn't comment on it, I figured something was up. So i asked Aussie friends and it suddenly made a lot more sense.

And now I'm hungry.

Wait. Castle's never done this? It's awesome!
I loved that Alexis thought it would do anything to remark on the time. :p