This is a prompt from the castlefanficprompts blog that I gave a shot at filling on tumblr yesterday, so I figured I'd post it here as well (with a few minor tweaks).

Prompt: We're both rival YouTubers with the "anything you can do I can do better" rivalry. Whoever uploads a video first, the other one makes a video exactly like it, but better. Our subscribers ship us even though we live far away from each other. We have an encounter at a con one day.

They've never met, but they know each other.

Oh, do they know each other.

Katherine Beckett, known simply as Kate to her loyal legion of subscribers, is in what you would call the "elite circle" of YouTubers. With a staggering number of followers - just over 2.5 million as of recently - she's surpassed only by the higher ranking likes of Jenna Marbles, Tyler Oakley, Zoella, and Grace Helbig.

Richard Rogers, known predominately by his online alias Richard Castle, is also a part of this elite circle of YouTubers. His subscriber count is slightly lower than Kate's, coming in at roughly 2.2 million, but he chocks the difference up to the fact that he didn't start his account until at least six months after she made hers.

In their five or so years since joining the online platform, they've each become increasingly more popular, and continue to do so with each passing day, each new subscriber. It wouldn't be a far stretch to say they are the new generation Tyler and Jenna, both in status and content. Kate seems to have followed in Tyler's footsteps – with somewhat of a twist – by using her new-found voice to promote charitable foundations she's involved with, in one form or another. Her videos have a distinct style to them; each one is different from the last, but there's a Kate Beckett stamp to all of them that makes it impossible to mistake her work for anyone else's. Her early videos were wild, as was she, and she's fairly certain those early days are what gained her a vast majority of her followers. Leather jackets, tight jeans, and white tee shirts were prominent fixtures of her first year's worth of videos. Slowly, with time, she's ditched – or rather, toned down – the wild child phase, and revamped her channel, complete with a new theme and message. No one online knows exactly why the drastic change took place, but she's seen – mostly – nothing but positive responses.

Grace, who was her first friend within the YouTube community and is now an extremely close friend outside of the internet as well, has helped her exponentially. It was with her guidance and suggestion that Kate's new platform emerged as is; each day has a different theme and different topics, such as: Miscellaneous Monday, a day in which Kate can make whatever kind of video she wants, and Testimonial Tuesday, where she talks about something – a product, a charity, a book – that she's passionate about. The other days have themes as well, one of the most popular being the day she responds to comments left on her previous videos or tweets she receives. She does frequent Q&A's as well as videos where she'll give advice to those who are seeking some.

Rick, on the other hand, has opted to take on the video styling's of none other than – well, himself. He adds flares of other YouTubers within his videos, such as the comedic quality of Jenna Marbles and outrageous videos somewhat akin to Shane Dawson. His videos started off as crazy college dorm recordings, ranging anywhere from antics with his roommates and other buddies to rants about particular professors, namely those of the English and Creative Writing variety. They evolved slowly over the years, increasing in quality but still keeping the general feel of the content.

His current videos usually involve pranks. He asks his subscribers what kind of pranks they'd like to see in next week's video – he only uploads once or twice a week since the effort that goes into each video is extensive – and he makes some of their suggestions come to life. As long as they're, for the most part, harmless. He takes pride in his escapades, loves the reactions of those he successfully pranks, but he refuses to do anything malicious or inappropriate.

That's not his style.

Neither knows exactly why the rivalry began, but it's well known in the YouTube world.

It's not a malicious I'd love to see you crash and burn rivalry, but rather a competitive anything you can do I can do better one.

Rick starts it.

He takes a concept from one of Kate's videos and uses it, wildly enhancing it in a way that cockily says, as the rival goes, I did this better.

But she doesn't take notice. Not until the next time.

Kate makes one of her most highly requested videos and turns it into a collab with a visiting Mamrie Hart. It's an adult version of the taste test challenge, played with various alcoholic beverages as opposed to the usual baby food or soda. Each participant picks between five and ten different alcoholic drinks for the other player - who is then blindfolded and handed the small shot glasses - to taste. The one with the most correct guesses wins the challenge. Mamrie wins, besting Kate 9-7, but the younger girl's efforts are highly praised considering the skill her opponent has in this particular area.

Rick takes the video and recreates it with Tyler Oakley, adding high tech effects and music to the background. The video gets millions of views and he wins the challenge 10-8.

He ends the video with, "Your move, Beckett," accompanied by a sly wink.

Her inbox, comments, and tweets are swarmed with messages. They're from both her subscribers and his, mixed emotions filling the spaces. Some – mainly her fans – are furious that he essentially stole her ideas and blatantly called her out. Others are egging her on, telling her to "take him down," and to "show him who's boss!"

She takes the bait.

She recreates one of his most popular videos, a prank video surprisingly enough, and it gets just about as many views, proving that she's – one, hilarious, and two, just as capable of adopting another style as he is.

"Two can play this game," she writes in the description below her video.

And that does it.

With one comment from Rick, the floodgates swing open and a war is started.

"You're on."

They've been going back and forth in recreating each other's videos since then – sometimes they make blatant copies, trying to one up the other, and other times they change the premise, twisting it to make it their own while still keeping the original concept in tact.

The comments are plastered with scores.

Kate 4, Rick 2.

Rick 7, Kate 6.

The current tally is Kate 11, Rick 9.

Fangirls, by nature, are not a discrete group. Their subscribers make it no secret that they ship the two rivals, despite the fact that they have never met, never been in the same room. All of their social media outlets are constantly swimming in opinions, statements, and outright questions.

You guys are so cute pleeeease just date already!

YOU TWO ARE KILLING ME

RickCastle and KateBeckett bye rip me

And Kate's personal favorite:

So are you two gonna admit you're doin' it or not?

Sometimes she's tempted to reply to that, make a sarcastic comment about how they're on opposite sides of the country, but she never does. Instead, she just laughs as she scrolls through her mentions.

She ignores the blush that rises to her cheeks with every incoming comment of the same sentiment, doesn't acknowledge the way her heart beats faster when he leaves a comment on one of her videos or mentions her in one of his.

It's been a few months of these games. She puts on a face, pretends that her involvement in this is purely to indulge him and his childish competition, but there's a smile with each new "installment" they release.

She doesn't dare admit that she's enjoying every second of this.

She will not admit that she's beginning to like Richard Castle.

Rick's ring of followers are far more vocal than Kate's on the topic of their so-called romance.

He scrolls through thousands of comments, almost all of them voicing some kind of opinion - the majority being about how they think he should be dating Kate Beckett, or how they believe the two of them are hiding the relationship they're already in.

It wouldn't be the first secret relationship among fellow YouTubers – couples like Zoe and Alfie and Grace and Chester have done it, after all.

Unfortunately – what? – that's not the case for Rick and Kate.

He finds their friendly back and forth amusing, and he especially loves watching the videos she uploads in response to his. She looks irritated and openly sighs at his antics, but he can see right through that. He knows what it looks like when a person is genuinely having a good time, and Kate Beckett is absolutely showing those signs.

Her smile makes his heart beat a little bit faster, her laugh makes his breathing a little bit more shallow.

But he has a persona to uphold in his videos, so he does.

His demeanor is entirely competitive, cocky, and most of all, flirtatious.

He doesn't admit that he feels something more towards the girl on the other end of this game, doesn't say that he wants to see her smile off screen.

And he absolutely does not admit that he thinks he's falling for Kate Beckett.

VidCon is buzzing with people, excitement and anticipation seeping out of the pores of every fan and YouTuber in sight.

YouTubers from every corner of the web are in attendance – beauty gurus, daily vloggers, gamers, pranksters, the Brits, the Australians. Each person has their own booth and a pre-scheduled time for their meet up, which is when the fans will line up hours beforehand and wait to meet their favorite YouTuber. The length of the queue lines vary depending on the popularity of the person it's for.

Kate, who traveled to Anaheim specifically for this event, strolls through the grand hall of the venue on her way to her designated meet up sight. She has a worker escorting her for protection, which is entirely new for Kate. Though she's been fairly popular and in the public eye for some time now, this is her first VidCon. She's gone to other conventions, sure, but nothing quite compares to the magnitude of this.

She's stopped several times on the way by young fans asking for autographs and photos, to which she happily obliges.

"Are you going to Richard Castle's booth?" one of the girls asks, eyes wide as she eagerly clutches her day pass to her chest.

Kate raises her brows, hiding the small smile that creeps onto her face. "Maybe."

The girl accepts her answer easily and turns to her friend, squealing something about how they're totally dating, and Kate laughs.

She spots his booth out of the corner of her eye as she walks by and can see him looking – he's not as subtle as he thinks he is – but she keeps her eyes trained in front of her.

She won't let him know she notices him.

He's just beginning his meet up when he spots her.

Kate Beckett, alive and in the flesh.

She's talking with a group of fans and he admires how personable she is with them. He can't make out anything being said – he's too far away for that – but he watches as the girls immediately burst into hysterics at something she tells them, and he's instantly curious.

But then she's turning away, walking right past his booth on her way to where he assumes is her own.

She's stunning. All long legs and perfectly curled chestnut hair that frames her face.

He lets out a disappointed sigh when she doesn't even glance in his direction, but he makes a mental note to find her meet up as soon as his ends.

He will meet the girl who's proved to him that he's met his match.

The end of her two hour meet up is closing in and there are only a few fans left in the line. It's been a whirlwind experience so far – especially considering it's still only day one of the convention – but she can't deny that she's loving every second of it.

She finishes up with the sweet girl next to her and turns with a wide smile to greet the next fan.

"Who can I make it out to, sweetheart?" she asks mid spin.

"You can make it out to Rick, honey," the voice next to her says, and she immediately recognizes it.

Her startled eyes are met with the grinning face of none other than Richard Castle. She composes herself quickly, shaking her head and matching the gaze of the man standing in front of her.

This isn't exactly how she pictured meeting him, but she can't say she's surprised that he sought her out.

"Well if it isn't Richard Castle."

He nods. "Indeed it is. And look at you, Katherine Beckett. I must say you're much taller in person."

"You don't say," she rolls her eyes. "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"So she's funny in person, too," he quips playfully, and a grin splits across her face. "But I must admit that I'm a little disappointed."

Her smile falls and her brows scrunch in a veiled hurt. "I'm sorry?"

"Everyone in front of me in line got a hug." He waggles his eyebrows, opening his arms.

Oh.

She can feel her face heat up and prays that he doesn't notice the change beneath the bright lights of the center. Her tongue catches between her teeth as she narrows her eyes, but he doesn't falter.

Instead, he moves an inch closer, his brows rising expectantly. She can hear the hushed whispers of the few fans still in line and the squeals of the audience that they seem to have drawn. There are giggles and fingers pointing, and even a few people chanting, enthusiastically encouraging them further.

"Wouldn't want you to feel left out now, would we?" she jests quickly, a challenging grin on her face.

She steps into his arms, accepting his hug, and the sound of roaring applause around them is deafening. Rushes of people surround the two, asking for autographs and pictures with both of them. Rick and Kate are situated on either side of the fans who come up, each smiling broadly for the camera.

Kate doesn't outwardly react to the sensation of Rick's large hand on her shoulder, not even when he brushes tiny circles over her shirt, movements so small and precise that none of the girls coming up even take notice.

But she does.

They finish after about twenty minutes and everyone's moved on, leaving just the two of them in her meet up area.

"So, Kate," Rick starts, moving to sit down next to her at the table. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise," she agrees. "I was beginning to think you only existed behind a computer screen."

He laughs. "It seems that way sometimes, doesn't it?"

She's thinking of something to say when he speaks again. "You ever think about moving out to LA?"

"I've thought about it," she admits with a nod. LA is the YouTube capital of the world – moving there seems like the logical choice, but she's having trouble with the prospect of leaving New York.

Rick nods understandingly. "It's hard at first. But if I can make the jump from New York to LA, you definitely can." She looks up, coming face to face with expressive, sparkling blue eyes. "If you ever decide to, I'd be happy to help."

She quirks an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound very rival-like of you, now, Rick."

"No," he laughs. "But I think we both know we were never truly rivals."

Her lips curl into a smile because he's right. Deep down, despite the competitive back and forth they've formed, she knows there was never any of the ill intent that often accompanies rivalries.

Before she can voice her agreement, both of their phones start buzzing against the tabletop.

They share similar confused looks as they unlock their phones, each checking to see what the cause of the notifications is.

"It's Twitter," Rick says.

Kate looks at her own phone, having found the same conclusion.

It's clear they're looking at the same thing when they look at each other, both wide eyed.

I'M SCREAMING THEY HAVE TO BE TOGETHER RichardCastle and KateBeckett at VidCon! #CRYING

All of the incoming tweets are different variations of the same message, accompanied with pictures of the two of them hugging, obviously snapped by the near by fans during their first encounter.

"Should we tell them the truth?" Rick asks, eyes glancing between Kate and the app.

She shoots a conspiratorial grin at him. "And ruin the fun? No," she shakes her head. "Let's keep them guessing."

"In that case," he begins, getting up from the table with an outstretched hand. "Care to accompany me for some food, Beckett?"

Kate stands, grabbing the offered hand with a nod.

"I'd like that," she smiles, linking her arm with his as they walk out of the hall.

(For those of you that are reading my other story: I am working on the next chapter of How to Disappear, I promise!)

I intended for this to be a one-shot, but I've been asked for a sequel, so I might add a follow up chapter at some point!