this is gonna sound goofy but could you perhaps write something where reader sort of picks up franks mannerisms over time? i dont know if its a neurodivergent thing but i keep catching myself doing his little agitated jaw tense or squint and i feel like he would find it so endearing :))
anyways i love your work so much have a lovely day :))
what a sweet message, thank you so much for sending it. i hope you're having a lovely day as well!
this is not goofy at all - in fact, it's a very lovely thought, and it's making me very soft indeed.
i'm gonna go ahead and say that frank notices it before you do, and it's just one of those days where nothing is going the right way. maybe it's the full moon; maybe mercury's in retrograde again, who the hell knows. he's settled back against the couch, haphazardly watching a yankees game, but when your phone rings for the umpteenth time that afternoon, he watches you answer it.
he can tell right away that the conversation's not going the way you'd like it to. it's in the set line of your jaw; so familiar to his own traits that it takes his breath away for a moment. he shakes his head, driving the thought from his mind. there was no way you guys had been together so long that you were now starting to adopt his mannerisms...
"no, I spoke to someone earlier about this, and if you're not able to help me, I don't blame you at all, but I'd really like to speak with someone who can."
he glances up from the game just in time to see your eyes narrow to a frustrated squint, and it causes a breathless guffaw to burst from him.
you wait another fifteen minutes on the line, just for the person on the other end to hang up on you. with a frustrated sigh, you drop down onto the vacant spot of couch beside frank, and curl up into his side.
"that good, huh?" he murmurs, his fingertips tracing lazy lines up and down your arm.
staring into the void of space in front of you, you scrunch your nose and shrug. "just one of those days, I guess."
he clears his throat, and asks in a casual manner - "hey, how long we been together now, kid?"
you tilt your head towards the ceiling, flipping through a mental rolodex of the time you've spent with frank. it's been the best two years of your life, but it's also blurred together in some ways. "two years, this May."
a puff of air exits his parted lips in the form of a soft whistle.
"why?" you ask.
he scratches at the back of his head, as if suddenly shy. "you uh... you look like me, when you're pissed off."
you scoff. "i do not."
frank nods his head. "no you do. i watched you on the phone just now. like lookin' in a mirror. you got the whole jaw flex down, and the eye squint," he laughs lightly. "you're a dead ringer for me kid. hate to say it, but i think i've finally rubbed off on you."
you're silent for a while, contemplating his statement when he leans toward you to press a kiss to your temple.
"i think it's cute, kid."
you sigh and curl closer into frank.
"well, i suppose there are worse people to look like, castle."
and the genuine laughter that follows that, feels like pure sunshine.
