Last of the 50 1sentence things
Mar. 29th, 2006 06:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dethoratsTitle: 50 Sentences of Shanks and Ben
Rating: G to PG13
Pairing: Shanks/Ben
Word Count: 2,464
1. Air
Excellent eyesight isn’t always a blessing; a lesson Ben learned on that suffocating day when he spied Shanks bringing Luffy back to shore and only moments later managed to catch sight of what else had happened.
2. Apples
Shanks is sitting on the low wall leading into town when he walks by, munching contentedly on a fruit that is is only a few shades brighter than his hair, and Ben can tell by the grin on the captain’s face that he’d swiped it from the orchard behind him and is just waiting for someone else to realize it.
3. Beginning
It all started with a bar fight and that’s a fact that Ben can never forget, especially when he’s found himself catching a certain drunken redhead after he’s taken a sucker punch so many times since then that he’s lost count.
4. Bugs
Fireflies dart through the twilight and Shanks swipes one out of the air, catching it with an ease that belies his handicap, before shoving it under his bemused first mate’s nose.
5. Coffee
They’re a pair of well-known facts on the dragon-prowed ship; don’t separate Shanks from his booze and never, ever get between Ben and his morning caffeine.
6. Dark
There’s a look the captain gets on rare occasions, heavy and fierce and with something lurking behind it that makes even Ben’s stern countenance flinch, and it makes his men grateful that it has never been turned on them.
7. Despair
For one brief moment he flounders, going so far as to thrash weakly on his bed as he claws through the pain at the remains, but then strong, ink-stained fingers catch his hand and twine with his and he hears that familiar voice murmuring everything will be okay and he decides to believe.
8. Doors
There’s a system Ben finally worked out with Roux and Yasopp and the rest of the men involving one of his spare hair ties and doorknobs; it works perfectly except for on those occasions when Shanks takes it into his head to pounce.
9. Drink
The captain throws back another shot of rum and grins, ordering once more a round for the whole bar while Ben thinks of their budget and scowls before indulging as well; at the rate Shanks is burning through their money, he’s going to need it.
10. Duty
It comes unasked and unannounced, heralded only by the arrival of a short-tempered dock worker with a clipboard and a time table, and when he finally figures out what’s going on, Ben isn’t sure whether to curse his captain for the extra bindings or thank him for giving him yet another reason to stay.
11. Earth
Solid ground under his feet was always something of a novelty and without fail he would launch himself at his first mate and grin when the man, used to compensating for the roll of a ship, staggered and sometimes fell beneath him.
12. End
It goes unspoken now, so near to what they’ve been striving for for so long, and they read the headlines with bated breath as they watch Luffy sail closer and closer; everything is coming to a head and, with luck, they’ll all be alive to see it through.
13. Fall
Some time after the temple and before they leave the Grand Line for the first time, it happened; Shanks thinks, through the bleary haze of memory, it had something to do with dry wit and a delectable ass, but no matter what the reason he stopped chasing skirst quite so determinedly and began a more subtle pursuit.
14. Fire
“Ready canons,” Shanks yells and Ben watches with a careful eye as the men spring to obey; his own rifle is loaded and ready and he holds his breath with the rest of them while they wait for the captain’s next command.
15. Flexible
The redhead’s spine twists, as graceful as any feline, and he dodges the last of his opponents easily and moves to lay the man out with a blow to the base of the skull; the captain is grinning when he slinks across the body-strewn floor towards his first mage, pressing firmly against his back, and the older man returns the smile, secure in the knowledge that Shanks isn’t the only one who’s able to bend.
16. Flying
With a brisk wind filling the sails, the ship skims across the waves and the captain stands on the black dragon head and waves, first to the albatross that has trouble keeping up and then to the man who is pointedly NOT watching to make sure the cheerful redhead isn’t about to go toppling into the sea.
17. Food
It didn’t happen often but sometimes they ran short on funds, and Ben had learned long ago not to let Shanks do the shopping when that happened because the captain was the only one who was happy to fill his empty stomach with fermented barley or grape juice instead of more sustaining fare.
18. Foot
His own are tan and rough from constant exposure to the elements and so Shanks is always pleasantly surprised at just how soft the skin of Ben’s feet is when they brush up against his own in the night.
19. Grave
Shanks has decided he will be buried at sea when he dies, with or without his ship depending on the circumstances of his death, and Ben keeps his silence at the pronouncement and secretly vows to go first because otherwise he’ll be forced to go against his captain’s wishes.
20. Green
The new lad gazes at the captain with obvious awe as Shanks feeds him another line of bullshit and Ben listens with one ear as he talks with Yasopp at another table, wanting to know what’s been said should he be asked about it later; the boy will learn soon enough not to trust what the captain says when he’s three sheets to the wind, but no one else is about to clue him in.
21. Head
Shanks is carefree and happy-go-lucky some would say, an idiot with too much luck to die, but the truth is often more than just what’s on the surface; no one knows this better than Ben who has spent many sleepless nights sitting with the captain as he agonizes over his decisions or the loss of one of his crew.
22. Hollow
“It’ll be alright,” he’d said and, though the platitude rang empty and hollow in his ears, it was enough to bring a smile to the pale figure propped up against the pillows.
23. Honor
It’s a pirate’s honor, but’s it’s honor none the less and Ben understands why Shanks cannot recuse them when Luffy brings the wrath of some hill scum down on his young head.
24. Hope
There’s an entire bottle of vintage ’34 on the line and Shanks is murmuring under his breath as he studies his cards and crosses his fingers; Ben decides he’s become far too weak in his old age as he folds what had been a straight flush without a single word.
25. Light
Sunrise is a special time of day, what with the way the first rays break over the waves and the sky is streaked with color, and the first mate is always quietly grateful for the times the captain is able to drag himself out of bed to share it.
26. Lost
In the middle of the night sometimes or when a storm is coming or when it’s very cold he gets a peculiar sort of ache that calls for scotch or brandy and a moment of silent comfort in the first mate’s arms until he can remember that it doesn’t matter in the least.
27. Metal
They have always been much in agreement with one another but the Hawk Eye’s stubborn refusal to test Shanks’ blade against his now that the captain’s arm is gone remains the one thing Ben will invariably fight about, the two having very different views on what will make the redhead they sometimes share happy.
28. New
There are few things that bring a smile of genuine delight to Ben’s face like a new book, and Shanks has learned with some amusement that the smile gets progressively bigger the older the volume is.
29. Old
Shanks had noticed them first, three strands of steely grey in the long black tail that hung down Ben’s back, but he held his tongue and reconciled himself to the idea while he waited for the first mate to say something; the jokes could could come later.
30. Peace
Tranquility and quiet are scarce and valuable commodities on a pirate ship and Ben sought peace in a quiet corner of the storage hold until Shanks caught onto his hiding space and brought noise and energetic fingers with him.
31. Poison
Long ago lessons in biology and chemistry occasionally surface in Ben’s mind when he carries a passed-out Shanks back to the ship and he wishes he’d stayed away from the hard sciences because he knows in colorful unpleasant detail just what all of the captain’s drinking is doing to his liver.
32. Pretty
Shortly after they first met he’d watched as Shanks, unscarred then and whole, slugged a man who called him pretty; he kept his own thoughts on the matter to himself for a long time, voicing them finally when the redhead had most needed to hear it even though he still got himself an elbow in the ribs for the comment.
33. Rain
The height difference annoyed Shanks sometimes but he was glad of it when it rained because he fit quite nicely in the warm, dry space against Ben’s side and he never had to carry the umbrella.
34. Regret
On rare moments the direction his life had taken would hit him, stagger him with the way it had veered from the course he’d imagined as a child and Ben would think about all the books he’d never write, the classes he’d never teach until Shanks popped up and made him glad of the choice he had made.
35. Roses
There were roses on the trellis Shanks climbed down as he left the mayor’s daughter’s room and he made sure to pluck one to take back to the ship; Ben would appreciate the gesture even if he still sulked for another day or two.
36. Secret
Mihawk watches them glance at each other across the fire, sharing something without words that makes Shanks laugh and Ben grin briefly, and he wonders if he wants in on the joke or if he’s better off not knowing.
37. Snakes
The line of dancers winds slowly past the bemused musicians in the corner and Ben, just finished with a card game in the back room, doesn’t bother to look to the head of the shimmying line; there’s no doubt just who would have the gall and the flair to instigate a conga line in a pirate bar.
38. Snow
Flakes fall from the grey sky nearly every day on the winter island but Shanks still sticks his tongue out to catch a few each time, prodding at his first mate until Ben grumpily does the same.
39. Solid
Even though he’s carried the captain back to the ship or to an inn far too many times, Ben occasionally forgets just how heavy Shanks can be until he’s reminded by a sudden weight plopping into his lap or rolling over onto him at night.
40. Spring
Heat and sulfur rise up from the hot spring and Shanks wrinkles his nose at the strong smell and pushes Ben in before the man can change his mind and go back to their room.
41. Stable
After their misadventure on the last island, Ben had hoped Shanks had put his haystack notions aside but that was spoiled when the captain dragged him from his nice comfortable bed in the inn to the stable around back.
42. Strange
The tension between captain and passenger was odd, too intense for Shanks’ usual good nature, and Lucky Roux watched the dark-eyed scholar fume after a fight with considering eyes; the fat man had a feeling the voyage was about to get interesting.
43. Summer
The watermelon splits open and Shanks lets out a yell of triumph before he slips off the blindfold; Ben watches from a safe distance and idly wonders who thought it was a smart custom to let sightless people whack things with sticks.
44. Taboo
Being a pirate meant not having to play by the rules, written or otherwise; if Luffy learned anything from them, Shanks hoped, as he violated another taboo and kissed his first mate soundly while his crew egged him on, it would be that he was free to live as he wished.
45. Ugly
It was hideous, too many bright colors crowded onto a piece of fabric, and stamped in a loud floral design; Ben saw the shirt hanging in the shop window and knew without any doubt it would soon be finding a new home in Shanks’ foot locker.
46. War
Snowballs whizzed through air crackling with cold and Shanks hunkered down behind a packed white wall and shouted that it wasn’t fair of Ben to take advantage of his infirmity to which the first mate replied, calmly and while hurling a few more frozen projectiles, that his captain should keep in mind certain old sayings before he went around issuing challenges he couldn’t meet.
47. Water
His throat feels like a desert and his head is pounding like the sun would beat down on the unforgiving sands so he can only croak and keep his eyes shut against the world, trusting in his companion to fetch him a drink and his usual hangover cure and to keep his mouth closed until it starts to work before he starts scolding.
48. Welcome
Iron has chafed his wrists, left them as raw as his back and his nerves after days spent in the Navy’s clutches, but he doesn’t flinch from the hugs and the hearty slaps and the hand that tugs him free of the crowd, squeezing his fingers too tight in the only sign he gets of just how worried the other was, because he’s finally home.
49. Winter
Ben once let it slip that he’d never learned how to ice skate and he wonders, given how that comment made Shanks light up, if that had any bearing on the captain’s decision to have them hide out on a Winter island for such a long time.
50. Wood
Shanks just laughs when Ben grumbles that he’s too old for such things to happen anymore and grinds his hips against the warm and sleepy first mate.
Rating: G to PG13
Pairing: Shanks/Ben
Word Count: 2,464
1. Air
Excellent eyesight isn’t always a blessing; a lesson Ben learned on that suffocating day when he spied Shanks bringing Luffy back to shore and only moments later managed to catch sight of what else had happened.
2. Apples
Shanks is sitting on the low wall leading into town when he walks by, munching contentedly on a fruit that is is only a few shades brighter than his hair, and Ben can tell by the grin on the captain’s face that he’d swiped it from the orchard behind him and is just waiting for someone else to realize it.
3. Beginning
It all started with a bar fight and that’s a fact that Ben can never forget, especially when he’s found himself catching a certain drunken redhead after he’s taken a sucker punch so many times since then that he’s lost count.
4. Bugs
Fireflies dart through the twilight and Shanks swipes one out of the air, catching it with an ease that belies his handicap, before shoving it under his bemused first mate’s nose.
5. Coffee
They’re a pair of well-known facts on the dragon-prowed ship; don’t separate Shanks from his booze and never, ever get between Ben and his morning caffeine.
6. Dark
There’s a look the captain gets on rare occasions, heavy and fierce and with something lurking behind it that makes even Ben’s stern countenance flinch, and it makes his men grateful that it has never been turned on them.
7. Despair
For one brief moment he flounders, going so far as to thrash weakly on his bed as he claws through the pain at the remains, but then strong, ink-stained fingers catch his hand and twine with his and he hears that familiar voice murmuring everything will be okay and he decides to believe.
8. Doors
There’s a system Ben finally worked out with Roux and Yasopp and the rest of the men involving one of his spare hair ties and doorknobs; it works perfectly except for on those occasions when Shanks takes it into his head to pounce.
9. Drink
The captain throws back another shot of rum and grins, ordering once more a round for the whole bar while Ben thinks of their budget and scowls before indulging as well; at the rate Shanks is burning through their money, he’s going to need it.
10. Duty
It comes unasked and unannounced, heralded only by the arrival of a short-tempered dock worker with a clipboard and a time table, and when he finally figures out what’s going on, Ben isn’t sure whether to curse his captain for the extra bindings or thank him for giving him yet another reason to stay.
11. Earth
Solid ground under his feet was always something of a novelty and without fail he would launch himself at his first mate and grin when the man, used to compensating for the roll of a ship, staggered and sometimes fell beneath him.
12. End
It goes unspoken now, so near to what they’ve been striving for for so long, and they read the headlines with bated breath as they watch Luffy sail closer and closer; everything is coming to a head and, with luck, they’ll all be alive to see it through.
13. Fall
Some time after the temple and before they leave the Grand Line for the first time, it happened; Shanks thinks, through the bleary haze of memory, it had something to do with dry wit and a delectable ass, but no matter what the reason he stopped chasing skirst quite so determinedly and began a more subtle pursuit.
14. Fire
“Ready canons,” Shanks yells and Ben watches with a careful eye as the men spring to obey; his own rifle is loaded and ready and he holds his breath with the rest of them while they wait for the captain’s next command.
15. Flexible
The redhead’s spine twists, as graceful as any feline, and he dodges the last of his opponents easily and moves to lay the man out with a blow to the base of the skull; the captain is grinning when he slinks across the body-strewn floor towards his first mage, pressing firmly against his back, and the older man returns the smile, secure in the knowledge that Shanks isn’t the only one who’s able to bend.
16. Flying
With a brisk wind filling the sails, the ship skims across the waves and the captain stands on the black dragon head and waves, first to the albatross that has trouble keeping up and then to the man who is pointedly NOT watching to make sure the cheerful redhead isn’t about to go toppling into the sea.
17. Food
It didn’t happen often but sometimes they ran short on funds, and Ben had learned long ago not to let Shanks do the shopping when that happened because the captain was the only one who was happy to fill his empty stomach with fermented barley or grape juice instead of more sustaining fare.
18. Foot
His own are tan and rough from constant exposure to the elements and so Shanks is always pleasantly surprised at just how soft the skin of Ben’s feet is when they brush up against his own in the night.
19. Grave
Shanks has decided he will be buried at sea when he dies, with or without his ship depending on the circumstances of his death, and Ben keeps his silence at the pronouncement and secretly vows to go first because otherwise he’ll be forced to go against his captain’s wishes.
20. Green
The new lad gazes at the captain with obvious awe as Shanks feeds him another line of bullshit and Ben listens with one ear as he talks with Yasopp at another table, wanting to know what’s been said should he be asked about it later; the boy will learn soon enough not to trust what the captain says when he’s three sheets to the wind, but no one else is about to clue him in.
21. Head
Shanks is carefree and happy-go-lucky some would say, an idiot with too much luck to die, but the truth is often more than just what’s on the surface; no one knows this better than Ben who has spent many sleepless nights sitting with the captain as he agonizes over his decisions or the loss of one of his crew.
22. Hollow
“It’ll be alright,” he’d said and, though the platitude rang empty and hollow in his ears, it was enough to bring a smile to the pale figure propped up against the pillows.
23. Honor
It’s a pirate’s honor, but’s it’s honor none the less and Ben understands why Shanks cannot recuse them when Luffy brings the wrath of some hill scum down on his young head.
24. Hope
There’s an entire bottle of vintage ’34 on the line and Shanks is murmuring under his breath as he studies his cards and crosses his fingers; Ben decides he’s become far too weak in his old age as he folds what had been a straight flush without a single word.
25. Light
Sunrise is a special time of day, what with the way the first rays break over the waves and the sky is streaked with color, and the first mate is always quietly grateful for the times the captain is able to drag himself out of bed to share it.
26. Lost
In the middle of the night sometimes or when a storm is coming or when it’s very cold he gets a peculiar sort of ache that calls for scotch or brandy and a moment of silent comfort in the first mate’s arms until he can remember that it doesn’t matter in the least.
27. Metal
They have always been much in agreement with one another but the Hawk Eye’s stubborn refusal to test Shanks’ blade against his now that the captain’s arm is gone remains the one thing Ben will invariably fight about, the two having very different views on what will make the redhead they sometimes share happy.
28. New
There are few things that bring a smile of genuine delight to Ben’s face like a new book, and Shanks has learned with some amusement that the smile gets progressively bigger the older the volume is.
29. Old
Shanks had noticed them first, three strands of steely grey in the long black tail that hung down Ben’s back, but he held his tongue and reconciled himself to the idea while he waited for the first mate to say something; the jokes could could come later.
30. Peace
Tranquility and quiet are scarce and valuable commodities on a pirate ship and Ben sought peace in a quiet corner of the storage hold until Shanks caught onto his hiding space and brought noise and energetic fingers with him.
31. Poison
Long ago lessons in biology and chemistry occasionally surface in Ben’s mind when he carries a passed-out Shanks back to the ship and he wishes he’d stayed away from the hard sciences because he knows in colorful unpleasant detail just what all of the captain’s drinking is doing to his liver.
32. Pretty
Shortly after they first met he’d watched as Shanks, unscarred then and whole, slugged a man who called him pretty; he kept his own thoughts on the matter to himself for a long time, voicing them finally when the redhead had most needed to hear it even though he still got himself an elbow in the ribs for the comment.
33. Rain
The height difference annoyed Shanks sometimes but he was glad of it when it rained because he fit quite nicely in the warm, dry space against Ben’s side and he never had to carry the umbrella.
34. Regret
On rare moments the direction his life had taken would hit him, stagger him with the way it had veered from the course he’d imagined as a child and Ben would think about all the books he’d never write, the classes he’d never teach until Shanks popped up and made him glad of the choice he had made.
35. Roses
There were roses on the trellis Shanks climbed down as he left the mayor’s daughter’s room and he made sure to pluck one to take back to the ship; Ben would appreciate the gesture even if he still sulked for another day or two.
36. Secret
Mihawk watches them glance at each other across the fire, sharing something without words that makes Shanks laugh and Ben grin briefly, and he wonders if he wants in on the joke or if he’s better off not knowing.
37. Snakes
The line of dancers winds slowly past the bemused musicians in the corner and Ben, just finished with a card game in the back room, doesn’t bother to look to the head of the shimmying line; there’s no doubt just who would have the gall and the flair to instigate a conga line in a pirate bar.
38. Snow
Flakes fall from the grey sky nearly every day on the winter island but Shanks still sticks his tongue out to catch a few each time, prodding at his first mate until Ben grumpily does the same.
39. Solid
Even though he’s carried the captain back to the ship or to an inn far too many times, Ben occasionally forgets just how heavy Shanks can be until he’s reminded by a sudden weight plopping into his lap or rolling over onto him at night.
40. Spring
Heat and sulfur rise up from the hot spring and Shanks wrinkles his nose at the strong smell and pushes Ben in before the man can change his mind and go back to their room.
41. Stable
After their misadventure on the last island, Ben had hoped Shanks had put his haystack notions aside but that was spoiled when the captain dragged him from his nice comfortable bed in the inn to the stable around back.
42. Strange
The tension between captain and passenger was odd, too intense for Shanks’ usual good nature, and Lucky Roux watched the dark-eyed scholar fume after a fight with considering eyes; the fat man had a feeling the voyage was about to get interesting.
43. Summer
The watermelon splits open and Shanks lets out a yell of triumph before he slips off the blindfold; Ben watches from a safe distance and idly wonders who thought it was a smart custom to let sightless people whack things with sticks.
44. Taboo
Being a pirate meant not having to play by the rules, written or otherwise; if Luffy learned anything from them, Shanks hoped, as he violated another taboo and kissed his first mate soundly while his crew egged him on, it would be that he was free to live as he wished.
45. Ugly
It was hideous, too many bright colors crowded onto a piece of fabric, and stamped in a loud floral design; Ben saw the shirt hanging in the shop window and knew without any doubt it would soon be finding a new home in Shanks’ foot locker.
46. War
Snowballs whizzed through air crackling with cold and Shanks hunkered down behind a packed white wall and shouted that it wasn’t fair of Ben to take advantage of his infirmity to which the first mate replied, calmly and while hurling a few more frozen projectiles, that his captain should keep in mind certain old sayings before he went around issuing challenges he couldn’t meet.
47. Water
His throat feels like a desert and his head is pounding like the sun would beat down on the unforgiving sands so he can only croak and keep his eyes shut against the world, trusting in his companion to fetch him a drink and his usual hangover cure and to keep his mouth closed until it starts to work before he starts scolding.
48. Welcome
Iron has chafed his wrists, left them as raw as his back and his nerves after days spent in the Navy’s clutches, but he doesn’t flinch from the hugs and the hearty slaps and the hand that tugs him free of the crowd, squeezing his fingers too tight in the only sign he gets of just how worried the other was, because he’s finally home.
49. Winter
Ben once let it slip that he’d never learned how to ice skate and he wonders, given how that comment made Shanks light up, if that had any bearing on the captain’s decision to have them hide out on a Winter island for such a long time.
50. Wood
Shanks just laughs when Ben grumbles that he’s too old for such things to happen anymore and grinds his hips against the warm and sleepy first mate.
