The Next Set of L'Arc en Ciel Akagami Ten

[dethorats]

11. Dive to Blue
Shanks had always been mildly appalled by how many pirates and sailors couldn’t actually swim. It seemed the height of idiocy to live in an element and not be able to move through it under one’s own power. His old captain had made sure every last member of his crew could swim; there was only one acceptable excuse. No devil’s fruit users on the Akagami ship, Shanks kept to the same rules. He saved lives that way. And in the heat, clothing abandoned and the ship anchored, they were all free to seek relief in the waves under watchful eyes.

12. Stay Away
Roux winced as glass shattered, broke close to his head but thankfully on the other side of the cabin wall. Reflexively he took another bite, comfort food for his thankless task. Fire and ice, the two of them when they fought, and not as expected. It took Ben time to boil over but when he did, it was volcanic. And Shanks got far too quiet, glacial in his serious rages. The broken bottle was Ben; the captain didn’t waste booze when he was furious. The fat man shooed a gawking crewmember and chewed. At least it would blow over soon.

13. Lover Boy
Mentally Ben ran over his checklist. There was the bare foot against his leg, big toe stroking around the top of his boot. There was the way fingers danced across the table to brush across his own whenever they weren’t clutching a mug or bottle. Hazel eyes that clung to him, brazen and hungry. Cheap innuendo that made him groan and laugh in spite of himself. And when he finally gave in and stood, the hand that lodged possessively inside one of the back pockets of his pants. All signs pointed to his future difficulty being fully comfortable sitting down.

14. Time Goes On
There had been a lot of teasing at first. Shanks couldn’t help himself; Ben was an easy, long-preferred target and he didn’t often get such an obvious chance. The first mate had grumbled and plucked and finally resigned himself to reality. He’d smiled, ribbed him some more to cover his dismay as the long strands, silver thickly intermingled with black, drifted to the deck. There would be no more yanking on ponytails, listening to curses at snarls. Ben looked distinguished but thankfully he still shivered when Shanks’ gentle fingers stroked the back of his newly bare neck. Not everything changed.

15. Revelation
The large gun didn’t fire very often. It was heavy and unwieldy, the oversized bullets it took expensive and best reserved for emergencies and seastone ammunition. Ben preferred to use it as a friendly warning, a not-so-subtle threat, and blunt object all in one. Bones and skulls crumpled under its brutal impact and more than one blade had shattered on its iron barrel. But not the captain’s blade. His gun was too precious to risk in sparring and, though he trusted Shanks’ control, the one time he’d seen him cut cleanly through layers of steel like paper had been enough.

16. Living In Your Eyes
A wide grin and a wave, lone scar beneath bright, laughing eyes. The wanted poster was cheerful and cavalier and all too familiar beneath the straw brim. He’d seen the like years ago, before time and experience had tempered flesh, passed on inspiration. Different scars of course, a trio to the singular smiling arc, and the redhead’s smile held a touch of sardonicism, but the eyes were the same. He looked once more at the boy pirate and then across the grove. Shanks was laughing, slapping Mihawk on the back. Determination, strength, faith; the hat wasn’t all he’d passed on.

17. Spirit Dreams Inside
“What do you want?” Ben didn’t reply that night, rolling away to face the open porthole but not stopping Shanks from running searching hands over his shoulders and down his spine. Time pushed the question away but neither forgot and when he asked again, dawn breaking on the horizon and his breath steaming in the chill, he got his answer. “Ohara,” he’d said finally. “And I’m sure there are others. Knowledge is power and lives aren’t numbers on a page. You want freedom. I want to know why. And I want to help you make sure it never happens again.”

18. All Dead
Scarlet dripped from the edge of his blade, mottled his white shirt and the tan expanse of his chest where he’d neglected the buttons. The gruff retort of an oversize musket echoed somewhere behind him, loud and reassuring over the considerable din. Stupid bastards, they made Shanks sigh and fight for a moment to muster his battle grin as he stepped over more fallen bodies to face the next wave of boarders. Doflamingo’s men, damn nihilists, and he wasn’t fond of killing but they wouldn’t stop coming until either he or they were dead. His dream was better than that.

19. Blame
It was a trade-off, a little unusual perhaps, but it was what worked for them. Shanks got to tease and exasperate his first mate, make him flush and sigh and give up the heavy burden of his dignity. And Ben got to turn his captain into a scapegoat in return. If Ben was always ‘a stuffy old fogy,’ then Shanks was always responsible for everything ridiculous that happened, even when it had absolutely nothing to do with him. The crew would watch, the captain crowing and the first mate declaiming, and then tell them they were both crazy, at-fault bastards.

20. Wind of Gold
Alone for once, the dinghy barely big enough for the both of them, and Shanks had wasted no time scrambling out of his clothes and onto Ben’s lap once they were a mostly appropriate distance from shore. The sun was warm, bright heat made sensually comfortable by the playful breeze that skipped over the tops of the waves. To the ocean’s rhythm they moved, lazy that day and gently rolling; less pirates in that moment than simply sailors at home. The light, in the final surge of pleasure, seemed to catch in the spray, burnished skin and lips and sea.

Comments

[shuraiya.livejournal.com]

You are definitely getting into the groove, Em! I loved each and every one of these, they're making me want to write some Ben and Shanks drabbles, too. I like that you're writing them to L'arc songs, I'll have to try that with some music I have, too~ X33

Anyway, I think my favorites were Stay Away, Revelation, Time Goes On, and Wind of Gold. *__*

[dethorats]

Yay! Write write write! XD Or not, but I'd love to read if you did.

I'm glad you enjoyed these. Wind of Gold made me feel all warm and squishy inside as I wrote it. And Revelation was cool because Shanks is SUCH a badass.

[shuraiya.livejournal.com]

That's because Wind of Gold IS warm and squishy! ♥ X33

And yes, Shanks is a total badass. >:D