there's a warm wind blowin' the stars around

is this the end of all the endings?

Flora's eyes widen instantly, dramatically, like he’s just said the most outrageous thing she’s ever heard in her life, her head pulling back just enough to stare at him as a laugh bubbles up and spills out of her before she can stop it. "What???" she demands, the word bright and incredulous, her hand lifting slightly as if she’s about to argue this in a court of law. "You can’t tell me you haven’t seen some kids that just seem weird in a way that’s got nothing to do with their parents."

The look lingers, playful and insistent, before it softens under his next words in a way she doesn’t quite manage to hide, her body reacting before her brain catches up, a small squirm against him as his phrasing lands and sticks. "Ewwww," she says immediately, though it comes out half a laugh, half something else, her nose wrinkling as she tips her head slightly into the kiss he presses to her temple. "That’s such a weird way of putting it." Him making her a mother. Still, she doesn’t pull away.

If anything, she shifts, stretching herself partially over him instead of tucked into his side, her weight settling across him as she props herself up just enough to look down at him properly, her curls falling forward to frame her face. At the mention of a dragon, her expression sharpens again, her fingers tapping in a quick, warning rhythm against his chest. "You’d better get Spice’s approval first," she tells him, narrowing her eyes just slightly in mock seriousness, though the smile tugging at her mouth gives her away entirely, "or you’re going to be in so much trouble."

my broken bones are mending

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

”Yeah,” he reassures swiftly around a smile that lingers long and bright. ”But you don’t say that!” A rare sight indeed for their roles to be reversed, him having more tact than her for once. Or maybe he’s just already learned this lesosn the hard way. ”Definitely never say it to the mother.” Surely she’d know that much, but he’s giving her the sage advice, just in case.

Her apparent disgust feeds him in a way he can’t get enough of. Suddenly, cryptids thriving off fear makes complete sense. ”Oh, sorry, do you prefer to be made a mommy?” Starved for seconds, thirds even, his grin sharpens into a smirk, one side pulling up higher with the dare of it. It’s a glorious snack of happiness, seasoned with just the right amount of absurd and topped with his favorite flavor of tease. ”Perhaps, mama, mm?”

He settles beneath her as she shifts, and he lets the joke fade into the breath that pulls in as his eyes drink her in. Somehow, the steady calm of the morning has spilled back in, nothing more than a ripple fading behind a disturbance, leaving her as stunningly untouched as moments before. Better, even, now that the stone has been thrown. ”How do you keep stealing my breath?” he demands softly, a hand reaching up to her, fingers slipping into the curtain of her hair as his palm slides along her cheek. ”I swear, you’re more stunning every time I see you.” Eventually she might embody the true shape of an angel and he’d lose his vision entirely for how brightly she shines, but for now he squint through it.

A laugh curls free under her acute inspection. ”I would never bring anything into this house without asking the lady that runs it,” he reassures her, and if that’s not clear, he absolutely means Spice. Although, features draw in, a deeper consideration settling. ”Maybe I don’t need one,” he murmurs, because his life feels full and whole in a way he never dreamed possible before. It feels, almost greedy to consider more, and he’s certainly not bored. Just seems maybe caring for something besides rocks and a plant before thinking of a kid seems smart, but maybe there’s other options. ”I’m sure I’ll get plenty of practice anyway, what with the twins, and Charlie’s baby.” Might not be his, but he can’t help but feel a little attached to the chaotic bump now.

I will love you 'til the lights go out

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

is this the end of all the endings?

"Well," she murmurs, the word curling up through a grin that’s already spreading across her face before she can stop it, her eyes bright with mischief as she shifts just enough above him to make the point land, "that’s why I’m saying it to you."

The squeal that escapes her when he doubles down—mommy, mama, gods—comes sharp and immediate, scandalized in the most theatrical way, and she doesn’t even hesitate before retaliating, dipping her head to press her lips into the warm crease of his neck and blowing a raspberry there with deliberate, exaggerated intent, her hands bracing against him as she does it again for good measure, laughing against his skin as she hopes—nay, expects—to feel that reaction ripple through him like a stone skipped across water.

When she pulls back, it’s only just enough to look at him, and for a second everything else softens around the edges, her breath catching somewhere quiet and private as her gaze drags over him in a way that isn’t teasing anymore, or not entirely. There’s something about him like this—rumpled from sleep, hair still falling where it wants, the warmth of him beneath her steady and forever—that makes her chest feel too full, like she’s holding something she can’t quite name but doesn’t want to let go of either, and she lingers there, drinking him in, committing the shape of him to memory even though she already knows it by heart.

Her head tilts, slower now, softer, her lips brushing against the inside of his palm in a small, instinctive press that carries her smile into his skin. "You saved it," she murmurs, voice light but threaded with something fonder, something quieter. "I thought you were calling me fat." No doubt her position on top of him is at least partially responsible for whatever lack of breath he was feeling.

The grin that follows is all warmth and impossible affection, the kind that spills over without asking permission as she leans down again, her mouth finding his in a kiss that isn’t rushed or greedy but lingers anyway, her lips parting just enough to breathe him in, to feel the shape of him there, a soft hum of satisfaction settling deep in her chest like something finally clicking back into place.

When she draws back, it’s only a fraction, her forehead nearly brushing his as her brows lift at his next thought, a soft snicker slipping out of her as her foot nudges against his beneath the sheets. "Oh, for sure," she says, the words lilting with amusement as her eyes roll upward in exaggerated disbelief, her mouth already curving again. "So far my twin brothers do nothing but scream, and we both know Charlie’s baby is going to be born with literal horns and a tail, so have fun with that."

my broken bones are mending

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

The convulsion of his body is immediate as her exhale flutters across his skin, impossibly ticklish and targeting a vulnerable spot. She’s ruthless. His gasp is sharp enough to empty the room of air, about to make them both breathless at this rate, and then it shatters into an uproar of confiscated laughter, the sort that comes out helpless and unwilling. His body kicks beneath her with enough force to deem her a bronc rider, starting to slither off the bed like the floor could be freedom.

The moment she relents, he freezes, a mess of a man, dishelved and openly gasping as if he’s just been hauled ashore for the first time and still acquainting himself with air. His gaze locks with hers, unimpressed in the least heartfelt way possible, even beneath the obvious glow of her regard. ”Fat!?” He scoffs, incredulous. ”You’re many things my love—cruel, terrible, authoritarian—but not fat.” He lists off each one with a drawn out display of ther word, the excess necessary to keep the bite out of it, no truth to any of it other than maybe in this exact moment, still recovering.

”Well, wait. There isssss one thing,” he informs her, spilling entirely off the bed now and landing on his bare feet with a thump, sheets and pillows in utter disarray behind him and still coiling around her. With the flash of a devil’s grin, he reaches out to slap her ass hard. ”You do have a nice fat ass,” he informs, already leaping back as if aware he’s just antagonized a viper and means to get out of striking range. Out of range, maybe, but not out of intent.

Picking up one of the throw pillows from the ground, he lobs it at her to delay any pursuit, laughter already edging in as he starts to side step towards the door. The calm morning, is well and truly, dead.

”You saying our baby won’t scream?” And just like that, it seems less something that they need to figure out, and more like something already awaiting them somewhere on the horizon, whenever that might be. ”Runs in the family Flo-Ro!”

I will love you 'til the lights go out

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

is this the end of all the endings?

The way he unravels beneath her is immediate and glorious, the sharp gasp, the helpless laughter, the full-body betrayal of composure that has her dissolving into laughter of her own, bright and wicked and entirely unrepentant as she clings just enough to keep him there a second longer, revelling in the way something so small—just her breath, her mouth—can undo him completely, can turn him from steady and certain into this flailing, breathless mess beneath her, and gods if that isn’t her favourite thing about him, that softness, that vulnerability he doesn’t even try to hide from her, that he lets her see and touch and toy with like this.

When he stills, gasping, she’s already watching him with a grin that borders on feral, utterly pleased with herself, and the look she gives him as he starts listing off her supposed flaws is sharp enough to cut, though it’s all teeth and laughter underneath, her brows lifting in slow, deliberate warning as if daring him to push it too far. Still, she huffs, rolling her eyes as she tosses her hair back over her shoulder, settling into the mess of sheets he’s left her in. "Oh, well good," she says, voice dry but satisfied, "as long as we’re on the same page." Tyrnnical maybe, but fat never.

Flora barely has time to track the shift in him before she sees it—that glint in his eye, the curve of his mouth—and something in her narrows instantly, suspicion flaring just a second too late as he lunges, the sharp crack of his hand against her making her squeal, bright and startled, her body jolting as she immediately reaches for him, fingers grasping for purchase that isn’t there as he dances just out of reach like he knows exactly what kind of chaos he’s just invited. "Kaisel—" she starts, but it’s already too late. The pillow he lobs at her is hurled back immediately, her aim shifting at the last second as she throws it not at him but at the door, the soft thud of it hitting enough to block his easy escape as she pushes herself upright in the tangled sheets, curls wild, eyes narrowed in delighted vengeance.

"Of course our baby won’t scream," she fires back, breathless but certain, her chin lifting slightly with the confidence of it. "I’ll quest so that it doesn’t." And then her expression shifts, something merciless and playful sliding into place as she raises a brow at him, the smile that follows slow and knowing as she tilts her head just slightly. "Or," she adds, her voice dipping into something softer, more suggestive, "we just keep the baby away from you, since you know..you’re the reason for my screams 99% percent of the time." Her brows bounce once, deliberate and teasing.

my broken bones are mending

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

The crack of his palm on her ass is both satisfaction and alarm, victory and warning, but that double-edged hand is so worth it when her squeal follows behind it like thunder following lightning. Or, it had been worth it, when he thought he’d get away with it.

The sudden barrier of what had been an open door is something he nearly collides with in his haste to retreat from the sharpening of his name, which is never a good sign. His hands fling up, bracing with a thud against the closed door that reverberates up the frame and through his arms. Although he knows better, he dares a glance back over his shoulder, although wilderness training has taught him never to make eye contact with wild animals. It invites a challenge, especially with predators. You should also not turn your back; otherwise, you’re at a disadvantage (which also means you roll twice and take the lower roll) and an easier target to strike a killing blow to.

What he sees when his eyes find her isn’t Flora anymore, but something changed. Gone is the dawnlit temptress and understanding lover, replaced instead with an image of consequence. He flips over, pressing his back to the door instead, one hand fumbling for the door handle. ”What if she needs to scream!?” he demands back, mouth popping open slightly, horrified in multiple fronts. ”How else would you know she’s hungry??” He also screams when he’s been without her tits too long, so he fully empathizes with their unborn child and her set of lungs.

His features warm from aghast to amused, escape momentarily forgotten for the sake of strutting. ”Yeah I am,” he returns, utterly smug. ”The 1% is from before you met me,” and surely the math checks out on that, if only because he’d like it to.

I will love you 'til the lights go out

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

is this the end of all the endings?

Flora watches him the entire time, not even pretending otherwise, her gaze tracking every movement like she’s already decided how this ends and is just letting him play out the illusion of escape for her own entertainment, the smile at her mouth slow and knowing as she shifts, carefully, deliberately, peeling herself out of the sheets with a kind of languid intent that has nothing to do with urgency and everything to do with control. There’s something feline in it, in the way her feet find the floor one after the other, in the subtle gathering of her body as she straightens, shoulders rolling back, head tilting just slightly as though she’s lining him up in her sights.

"She?" she echoes, brows lifting, the word soft but edged with amusement as it curls between them, her smile deepening just a fraction as she takes another step toward him, unhurried, inevitable. "So it’s a girl we’re having now?"

The shift is so fast it’s almost absurd, the two of them tumbling from uncertainty into something playful and imagined without stopping to question it, as though the weight of the conversation from moments ago has been folded up and tucked somewhere out of sight, replaced instead with this easy, ridiculous certainty that of course they’d be like this, of course they’d skip straight past hesitation into teasing plans and hypothetical futures like it’s nothing at all, like this is just another version of them.

She keeps moving, slow and deliberate, closing the distance between them with quiet confidence, her hand already lifting, reaching for him with the intention of dragging him back into bed and seeing what sorts of screams he'd be able to pull from her, thinking it only fair he be allowed ot make her squirm the way she'd done to him, before a flash of red through the curtains stops her prowling. It’s subtle at first, just enough that it catches in the corner of her vision, drawing her gaze past him, past the door, toward the wide stretch of window where dawn has finally lifted enough to paint the harbour in clear, undeniable colour, even if maroon is the only colour Flora is currently capable of seeing.

Everything in her stills. The warmth drains out of the moment so quickly it almost feels like a physical thing, the playful tension snapping cleanly as her hand lowers, her body turning away from Kaisel slightly as she folds her arms across her chest, her gaze fixed out toward the water, toward the ship she knows too well, that she wasn’t expecting, that she—

Her mouth presses into a thin line, something sharper settling into the space where laughter had just been, and after a second she glances back over her shoulder at him, the look different now, quieter, before she jerks her chin toward the window. "Come look."

my broken bones are mending

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

At some point, their maybe-child slipped away from being just a distant idea to him, settling instead like someone he knows he’s just waiting to meet one day. She feels like something out of a dream, too far and too unknown to fully reach, but a presence that lingers on the edge of consciousness, built into part of the slope of his smile for the day. ”Could be a boy,” he considers, shoulders flattening against the door. ”Feels girl coded though,” he muses, gaze tilting up in thought, trying to catch the wisps of it, but they remain out of reach. This he would not rush into or make loud, because this would be more than just them, and maybe it’d never be at all. If the time comes though, he’ll cherish it as surely as all the rest he’s spent with her.

He knows exactly what she’s doing. It’s all a trap, one she’s laying word by word, trying to distract him with images of tea parties and tiny fists on the training mat. She is good at what she does though, and as she slinks closer, more predator than woman, he snaps back to attention from this trip to some future version of their life where the house is fuller. She can nearly reach him now, and he leans so far into the door that the wood complains, heels battering the bottom as he presses flush. He’s certain she won’t be the only screaming if she gets ahold of him.

His hand fumbles for the door handle with more insistence, but as she goes stock still, so does he. Could be a new tactic, some part of him warns, but he sees more than the loss of motion in her. There’s a mild tightening, space that’d just been open and free now filled with rigidity. She braces from within first, and as she turns to look at him, he offers her what slack he can from his own form, like some tether between them could be pushed and pulled into normalcy from one end of the other.

He does look, but first he goes to her. He slides in beside her, a step behind, arms reaching out to hook around her as he presses in. ”The Ark,” he sighs, chin slotting against her shoulder. The picture of the galleon outside is unmistakable, and quietly he wishes he’d closed the blinds when he got up. ”I know…I saw it last night. Was trying to go start some breakfast for you. Thought you might be less likely to puke with something already in your stomach.” There’s a wariness to his tone, because maybe he saw it first, but he doesn’t know what it means, and he’d selfishly hoped to continue living outside of Jack’s outline for as long as he could.

I will love you 'til the lights go out

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

is this the end of all the endings?

For a moment Flora doesn’t lean into him at all. She lets him wrap around her, lets his arms settle, lets his chin find her shoulder, but her body holds there; still, braced, her gaze locked out across the harbour like if she looks away it might vanish and if it doesn’t then at least she won’t have to pretend she didn’t see it. The sails catch the early light in that way they always do, too red for morning, too sharp against the soft gold of dawn, and she knows first-hand how deliberate that colour is, how it was never meant to belong to anything gentle, how it was made to cut against the horizon like something bleeding into the sky.

It sits there like it has every right to. Like it always will, and something in her stomach tightens at that, a small, unwelcome twist that pulls her inward for just a second, makes her feel smaller than she should in her own home, in her own harbour, like something has slipped past her guard without even trying, like he can come and go as he pleases and she’s the one left reacting to it after the fact.

Her breath leaves her slowly, then, and the tension eases; not gone, but loosened enough that she can move again, her head tilting just slightly to nuzzle into the space where Kaisel's neck meets his shoulder, the contact quiet and soft, like she’s reminding herself of where she is, of who she’s with, of what actually matters in this moment and not the ghost of something that keeps showing up uninvited.

A soft groan hums low in her throat, the beginning of a complaint she doesn’t quite let form, her hand sliding up along Kaisel's arm instead, fingers tracing the line of him as she steadies herself, as she keeps her eyes on the ship just a second longer before letting them soften. "Do you think it matters?" she asks quietly, her voice low, almost thoughtful as it slips between them.

my broken bones are mending

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

If he's fearful that he'd lose the whole day with her to those red sails, it seems to be unfounded. It's one he's carried longer than he meant to, a fear, starting first with the quiet gnawing that she would regret her choice. That bone has since been cracked open and drained of all its marrow, the concern thoroughly digested. She's chosen him again and again, and that flower resting on her nightstand, that glimmer along their wrists, that they're here, sheltered behind glass and touch to view this dangerous reminder, it's proof that they'll keep choosing each other forever and then some.

In time, the thing it'd been has changed, this worry, but it still remains. It's less about hearts being stolen now, more about final breaths, ones he doubts would ever be taken cleanly. The deal they'd forged offered a sense of a truce, but the ship staring back at them dares another thought.

She comes back to him quicker than he expects. Not without scraping off against the image a bit first, but she softens enough to let his hold through. Her question isn't one he knows how to answer at first. He'd love to say no, that Jack doesn't matter, as much for himself as her. He doesn't want her finger to blister though. "I think he's testing if it does." Which is to say, Jack can matter more or less depending on if they let him. A pretty thought, a much messier reality.

"Much as I'd rather stay in these sheets until evening, we could get dressed and hit the docks, find out what the word on the street is." It's said with a sort of sigh already resigned to doing what's mere suggestion. There's no sense closing their eyes and hiding under the covers, the monster's out in broad daylight, so all the usual rules are off the table. "Besides, I can't wait to see you wear that ring outside these walls."

I will love you 'til the lights go out

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

is this the end of all the endings?

Flora lets out a quiet little laugh under her breath before pressing back into him, the sound soft and warm where it catches between them, her gaze still on the harbour as she says, "That didn’t answer my question." There’s no real accusation in it, no surprise either, because she knows there probably isn’t a good answer, not one that would make anything about those maroon sails feel tidier than it is.

Then, at his suggestion, the mood shifts just enough for mischief to slip back in. No doubt he’ll feel her grin before he sees it, given the way her cheek is still curled against him, the smile spreading where she’s tucked into his shoulder as she says, bright with teasing, "Did I just hear you willingly volunteer to go for a run with me?"

With a theatrical gasp she twists in his arms to face him, the hand with her engagement ring rising to cup his cheek as she beams mischievously up at him, fully aware that he hadn’t meant anything of the sort and choosing, with all the shamelessness of someone very pleased with herself, to interpret it that way anyway.

my broken bones are mending

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

His smile breaks out despite the tension trying to take over, because he's guilty as charged. He doesn't know, in truth. It matters to some extent, surely—they're talking about it after all. What she means though, if it matters enough to be a real issue, if there's something darker rolling in with that ship, he only knows the answer he wants it to be. "It seemed like the asking was the important part," he offers back with a deeper tilt of his head into hers.

The twitch of her scheming is indeed felt. It gives him enough time to lean away, trying to trace the shape of it as it grows, like that might provide something akin to understanding it sooner. "Whu—" he says, stunned for a moment as he tries to recall if that is, in fact, what he said. His cheeks puff up with held air for a moment, brows furrowing.

She pivots, revealing the face of someone who's won, someone he has no intention of stealing a victory from. "Yeah," he says, features melting into a sort of acceptance that's committed. One of his hands slips from her, having eased as she turned, and it corrals her hair over one shoulder with a gentle affection. "Running, definitely what I said," he huffs, amused as much as he is defeated. His palm departs her hair and claps over her hand, holding for a moment against his cheek before he turns and sets a kiss to the base of her fingers. "C'mon, we're gonna miss all the best gossip if we take too long." The heat would drive people away, set them into work. He rolls suddenly and swiftly off the bed, heels clapping against the floor and popping him upright. He reaches down to grab the pillow again, frisbee-ing it towards her.

I will love you 'til the lights go out

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

is this the end of all the endings?

Flora's smile only widens at the way he falters, that little stunned whu— and the puff of his cheeks landing squarely in the centre of her chest like something she wants to keep, something bright and ridiculous and entirely his, and she watches him through it with a look that softens without her permission, her gaze warming as his fingers slip into her hair and draw it over her shoulder with that easy, absent kind of care that always undoes her a little more than it should.

"Well," she says, lifting her chin just slightly, her tone sliding into something matter-of-fact that barely hides the grin curling at her mouth, "unless we want Jack to think his presence here is changing up my routine, obviously running is what I’d be doing, so if you’re coming with..." Her eyes flick up to his, victory already written there before she even finishes the thought, the expression bright and pleased and entirely unapologetic.

But it softens again as quickly as it comes, her breath catching just a fraction at the kiss pressed to her fingers, something warmer settling into her chest, heavier in the best way, until it spills out of her in an overly affectionate sigh that she doesn’t even try to rein in. "I love you so much," she says, the words easy and full and entirely unguarded as they leave her.

She catches the pillow without looking, laughing as she tosses it back onto the bed, already moving, already slipping out of the moment and into the next with that same effortless momentum that seems to carry her through everything, and as she reaches for the hem of her shirt she yanks it up and off in one smooth motion, immediately flinging it toward his face before he can get more than a glimpse of her bare tits, her laughter bright and ringing as she turns away to change, quick and unbothered, already shifting into her running clothes, ready to drag him out into the morning whether he’s prepared or not.

~FIN

my broken bones are mending

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3