A/N: Song credits to THe 1975. This is a prompt fill from CastleFanFicPrompts on tumblr, the prompt will be listed at the end of the story. All mistakes are mine. Rating may change.

Disclaimer:I wish...

Prologue

And this is how it starts…

Richard Rodgers, now Richard Castle, had spent almost half of his life next door to Katherine Beckett. The pair had met when his mother had bought the house next to the Beckett's in hopes of giving her son a permanent home with more stability than he'd had in the past. At age 8, Rick had just been kicked out of his third boarding school and Martha Rodgers decided it was time to give her son the structure he was so clearly lacking. Rick was never a particularly bad child; he had a propensity to pull pranks that other boys were too afraid to partake in – for fear of school faculty – simply because he assumed it'd only be a matter of time before his mother's job forced him to change schools yet again. Martha relished the idea of giving her boy a chance to start fresh and to build friendships he could cherish rather than the passing relationships he'd been accustomed to.

Enter Katherine Beckett. Rick had met his next door neighbor one afternoon when he'd come home to find her swinging upside-down from the tree in his backyard. The tree wasn't truly his; the base of it being in the yard next door, but if he jumped, he found he could latch onto the lowest branch. On the afternoon in question, Rick found himself instantly intrigued by the young girl who had climbed even higher than he'd ever mustered the courage to.

Walking to stand beneath her, Rick greeted the girl with a shy "Hello", to which she promptly fell from the bough landing directly onto him.

"Are you crazy?" the girl had asked him "You could've killed me. Don't you know not to sneak up on people?" she yelled as she stood and brushed herself off.

Scrambling to his feet Rick apologized profusely as the girl cast a scrutinizing look at him.

"I'm sorry – I didn't mean to – are you okay?" he stuttered.

"Hey, you're the new boy. You just moved here, right?" she said, ignoring his rambling.

"Um, yeah… I'm Ricky. Ricky Rodgers. Me and my mom just moved here on Saturday."

"I'm Katie. I live next door." She stuck out her hand, which he shook like his mother had been teaching him.

"Uh, why were you climbing my- uh that tree?" he said looking around for someone who could have perhaps dared her to attempt the feat.

"'Cause I was bored," she shrugged "not many kids live in this neighborhood. There are lotsa little ones, but no big ones like us to play with."

"Well," Rick shuffled his feet, kicking at the dirt and shoving his hands into his pockets, "maybe we can be friends."

"Maybe" Katie shrugged. "So Ricky," she said sitting on the grass and looking up at him expectantly "know any good games?"

Feeling the need to prove himself to his new neighbor, Ricky racked his brain for ideas before finally settling on the grass next to Katie.

"Yeah, lay back and look up" he instructed. Noticing the wary look on the girl"s face, Ricky encouraged her. "C'mon, you can trust me."

Still unsure, Katie settled back, arms pillowing her head and stared at the clouds above them.

"Now, Katie. What do you see?"

"What do you mean?" she inquired. "There's just a bunch of clouds."

"No, Katie. There's all the shapes. Look," he pointed "that one there looks like a turtle and over there's an alien. He's probably scouting Earth for rare creatures to add to his collection. The alien, um... Allen the Alien, found the turtle and wants to take it home to show all of his friends since they don't have turtles on Mars."

Ricky grinned as he heard Katie laughing at the ridiculous tale he'd begun to weave. Thrilled by his ability to make her laugh with nothing more than his imaginative words, Ricky continued telling her the stories of the clouds until the skies began to fade to lavender and burnt orange tones. The spell was broken when a voice called out from the other side of the fence.

"Katie, time for dinner" the soft tones of Johanna Beckett's voice rang across the yard.

At this, Katie stood to leave, sliding between the loose boards on the fence separating the two houses. Just before the board swung back into place, Katie stuck her hand back through to wave and smiled "Bye Ricky". And with that she disappeared.

That night at dinner, Ricky regaled his mother with tales of the fearless girl next door with the big green eyes who "seemed like she was practically made of adventure, Mom. I swear."

Unbeknownst to him, Katie too was telling her parents of the strange boy next door.

"And then he knocked me head over heels, Mom!" Katie said with a huff causing Johanna to smile across the table at her husband.

"Head over heels, Katie? Hmmm?" Johanna asked attempting to hide her smile behind her glass as she brought it to her mouth.

"Of course Mom, it means he surprised me and I fell over," Katie rolled her eyes at her mother's absurd question. "He's nice though, even if he does make up silly stories."

It would have been impossible for Rick, Kate, or either of their parents to know on the day of their meeting, the friendship that would bloom between the two. After that afternoon, Katie slipped through the fence everyday when she returned from school. And every afternoon, Rick was there waiting with another story to tell her. When winter came they moved their ritual indoors, in front of Katie's fireplace with mugs of Johanna's hot cocoa. Later, when school let out for the summer, Rick would be invited to the Beckett cabin to spend his summer whispering ghost stories to Katie over s'mores. Years would continue to pass in this fashion, the two growing, learning from and sharing experiences alongside one another. And as in any relationship, their bond would be tested, but it was in these times that Rick would pull Kate close and tell her that the magic of their friendship could overcome any obstacle thrown at them. Kate, of course, responded by informing Rick that besides the fact that he said the corniest things she'd ever heard, there was no such thing as magic. Kate never believed in magic, but over the years she grew to believe in Rick and for the two of them, that was enough.

A/N: Posting the first two/three chapters today after I finish editing. This story will be about 10 chapters. Please Review :)