#and kimiko probably asking frenchie what he wanted the sign to be because it’s his home

[gwendolynnderolo]

just realized that it’s unlikely that kimiko had a word for marseille in the sign language that her and her brother came up with because they would have had no reason to be talking about marseille, and when kimiko tells frenchie that they should go to marseille it doesn’t look like she’s finger spelling it, which means her and frenchie probably came up with a sign for marseille together and now i’m emotional about this

[cxlxrx]

Pinky Swear

Warnung: canon typical violence, PTSD

WC: 2.275

A/N: thanks again to my beta @whoopsitswhump <3 I guess we're at the turning point of the story now >⁠.⁠<

(still tagging @ginwicche ^^)

Chapter 7

Hughie had never watched this much Scooby Doo in his entire life. Even as a kid he hadn't watched so many episodes. He and Ben had started a Scooby Doo marathon, they watched Scooby Doo 24/7. Even when Ben was asleep Scooby Doo flickered over the TV. Hughie didn't wanna see the electricity bill, but Ben's learning sucsess had doubled in a week. Hughie was extremely proud, he had told Butcher, Annie, Kimiko, Frenchie and even sent a quick SMS to MM (he didn't get a reply). Ben only communicated with words, not sentences, but still. If Hughie asked Ben something Ben would answer him with a word or a sign (mostly a sign).

Ever since Ben started communicating, Butcher had gotten more impatient. He wanted to make Ben ready for the fight. Hughie wasn't fully convinced of the plan, especially because Ben had been doing so well the last two weeks, and Annie was still against Butcher's plan. Actually Hughie and Annie were both against the plan, but for different reasons.

Annie thought Ben was too dangerous in a fight, she was concerned many people would die and thought that Ben was still an uncontrollable force. Hughie on the other hand was concerned that their entire progress they made in (nearly) two months would disappear in a blink of an eye. Butcher still didn't understand Hughie's attachment to Ben.

"Hughie, why the fuck do ya care about him so much? He's a fuckin' Supe and one of the worst, ya know that", Butcher said while sitting with Hughie on their couch in the living room. Ben sat in his corner and watched them (his mistrust against Butcher had lowered over the past weeks, but still he didn't sleep if Butcher was around).

"I know, but he changed,” Hughie answered. He didn't like the topic. Everybody around him was convinced that Ben was a bad person. He was before he got captured, but now he was completely different. Hughie asked himself more often now if Ben could remember anything about his past life. His life before the russians. His time as a real superhero. Probably not. "And he's with me constantly for 24 hours 7 days a week for 2 months now, of course I got attached to him. He's actually really nice if you avoid his triggers."

Butcher made an amused noice, "Yeah about this..., Starlight is right, yar pet -"

"He's not my pet!", Hughie interrupted angrily. Butcher didn’t seems bothered at all and just continued. "Is fuckin' dangerous, and a bit uncontrollable for our operation, so I thought about something to lower his PTSD trigger."

"What?", Hughie asked confused, "What do you mean?" Butcher pulled a pack of weed out of his jacket. "You're kidding right?" Hughie asked in disbelief. Butcher threw the pack at the table.

"No actually not."

"No", Hughie hissed, "you don’t give this to him. How much would he even have to smoke to feel the effects?"

"Much,” Butcher said. “I brought a lot for him. It'll take the edge off of his PTSD, and we fuckin' need this."

Hughie shook his head, "We won't fucking to that!”

"Ehm, did I say we?", Butcher said, and tilted his head, "I meant I."

Hughie was lost in his thoughts when he went into the bathroom with Ben to shower him. Ben had even asked him if he was okay. Hughie assumed Ben didn't even understood the topic of their conversation, or maybe he was still brainwashed to overhear conversations about him. It didn’t matter if Ben couldn't decide for himself, Hughie could decide for him. He couldn't let Butcher handle it, especially when he wanted to force Ben to smoke so much weed his emotions went numb. They had made progress, so much progress over the two months, and Hughie didn’t want to risk losing it. He no longer carried the Geiger counter around with him. Mostly he simply forgot it, but fortunately he didn't really need it anymore.

When Ben finished showering Hughie gave him a towel, some clothes, and rubbed Ben's hair dry. Ben could do more on his own then before, but this didn't mean everything. Ben was extremely bad at taking care of his hygiene. He didn't know when he had to shower, when his hair was greasy, or when he started to reek (this had never happend, Hughie took his job very seriously). He also couldn't choose clothes for himself, but he could get dressed alone. This was something. Baby steps. Ben was free from the Russians for only two months and for those two months he had made progress! Hughie was definitely proud, he tried to say this to Ben as often as he could. As Hughie was finished with rubbing Ben's hair, it stood up in every direction. It always looked kinda funny.

Ben moved his hands, Scooby Doo. Watch. He pointed at himself. Hughie smiled. “Sure you can watch Scooby Doo." Ben shook his right fist, but his facial expression didn’t chance. Ben had never laughed or even smiled once or showed any emotions on his face, and if he did they were strangely distorted and difficult to read. Hughie and Ben stepped out of the bath directly into the living room, and froze.

Shit.

A woman was standing in the middle of the room, she was in her 50’s and had fire red hair.

"I knew it was you,” she said. Hughie recognized her from somewhere, but couldn't put a finger on where. Ben looked at her. His face didn't show any emotions. Slowly he tilted his head. "Do you wanna bullshit me?" The woman asked upset. “I thought you were dead. I thought we-" she interrupted herself, started at Ben, and then her gaze flickered to Hughie. “Who the fuck are you?"

"I-I'm Hughie", Hughie stuttered. Ben moved himself a bit more in front of Hughie. They were standing so close to each other Hughie could feel Ben's body temperature. The shining in his chest was back, and the Geiger counter was in his bedroom. Shit.

"What?" The woman asked in a cutting tone. "You were dead for 40 years, and now you shack up with a twink like that!?"

Ben stared at her, his wet hair was falling over his forehead, tickling his eyes. Hughie had to cut it again.

Don't think about stuff like that!

Hughie slapped himself mentally, everytime he was nervous as fuck he started to think about such stupid things. Stupid brain. "Uhgie", Ben choked out, his voice was rusty, "He", the word rolled heavy over Ben's tongue, "Uhgie."

The woman stared at Ben in shock. "What's... what's wrong with you?" Ben narrowed his eyes, he didn't understand what she meant.

"Who are you?" Hughie asked behind Ben, carefully putting a hand on Ben's right shoulder. The skin under his shirt was literally burning, and his muscles were extremely tense. He was considering this woman as something very dangerous. Ben's gaze quickly flickered to Hughie, then back to the woman, who grinned.

"I'm Crimson Countess,” she said loudly and formed an 'O' shape with her hands. Oh. OH. Right, Crimson Countess was once a hero back in the 80s, she had been Soldier Boy’s girlfriend, and disappeared from the public view when Soldier Boy ‘died.’ It suddenly hit Hughie like a train: he had already saw the woman in the city, she was the one who had bumped into Ben.

“You recognize me right?" Crimson Countess asked as she lowered her arms again. Ben stared at her in concentration. Then he moved his arms across his upper body and made a cross motion then opening his arms up. Crimson Countess stared at Ben. Her gaze was disbelieving, "What... What are you doing?"

"He said he doesn't know", Hughie translated, absolutely glad Ben used sign language.

"You... he can't speak...?" She asked in a confused tone.

“He can speak", Hughie said, "but it's very hard for him to find and articulate words. Signing is easier."

Ben made a fist with his right hand and shook it up and down. "Why... What...?", Crimson Countess took a step back to the balcony, "Why are you like this?"

Ben's brow's twitched, he looked at Hughie. "Did you do this?", she asked, her gaze glued at Hughie, looking furies.

"Do you mean if I taught him sign language...?", Hughie knew the situation was tense. Ben was extremely nervous and on high alert, he could go off figuratively at any second, and probably even literally if Crimson Countess made a threatening move against him or Hughie.

"No, you fucking dumbass,” she said, speaking more loudly now. "He's completely fucking different. Like fucking totally. Only his face is the same. What did you fucking do to him? Did you brainwash him? Did you cut something in his brain?”

"No", Hughie snapped back, and felt Ben flinch a bit under his fingers. “I fucking didn't do anything to him."

"Sure you didn't,” she spit and made a move in his direction. Ben growled in response.

Hughie's heart stuttered. Ben had never done this before, this was bad. Hughie looked at Ben. The glow from his chest slowly crept up his neck, his face started to twitch, and his eyes lost their focus. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Ben was convinced that Crimson Countess was a big threat. Suddenly Hughie got it. Ben probably subconsciously knew who Crimson Countess was, and associated bad memories with her. He didn't know what for sure, but he knew she was a threat. He wanted to protect himself, and at this point his capability for rational thought was gone.

"You fucking did this to him,” Crimson Countess screamed. She made the 'O' motion with her hands again, and a crackling charge of energy shot towards Hughie. Ben roughly grabbed Hughie's arm and threw Hughie behind himself, protecting Hughie with his body. The glow in his chest got bigger, and he growled louder. Fuck.

"BEN!” Hughie shouted, "Please don't." The growling suddenly stopped, and Ben turned his head around. The same light from his chest was now in his eyes. Hughie coughed, "Ben, please don't. Everything will be fine again", Hughie raised his hand with outstretched pinky. "Pinky Swear."

Suddenly Crimson Countess was standing next to Ben, looking up to him and carefully touching his cheek. Fuck. They were fucked.

Ben turned abruptly and grabbed Crimson Countess's arm in an iron grip. She immediately screamed and felt on her knees. Hughie could hear her and break. She screamed and punched Ben's forearm, but might as well have been punching a stone. "Ben,” Hughie shouted, “don't-"

He was thrown against the wall with such force that it cracked, and the air was knocked out of Hughie’s lungs. Suddenly everything got bright, and then incredibly hot. It felt like his skin was burning off. The last thing Hughie heard was Crimson Countess’ painful and hysterical screaming, then everything went dark.

Hughie should have known that it would all go to Hell. He never had any luck. Ever. He should have remembered this after some time with Ben, but he didn't. He thought Ben was doing well, was actually getting better. Hughie forgot over the time they had spent together how dangerous Ben actually was. He should have known better.

His head hurt like hell, and his face felt extremely warm. Slowly, and with more effort than usual, Hughie opened his eyes. He was in a bed, in a too bright room. Hughie groaned and blinked a few times against the light.

"Petit Hughie!” Someone touched his forehead with cool hands, "You're awake!"

Ben. Where was he? Hughie turned his head and looked at Frenchie. He felt dizzy. and everything was blurry. "W...hat?", Hughie asked, his words slurred. and tried to sit up. His arms felt like pudding.

"Don't move so much", Frenchie said hurriedly, and pressed a hand on Hughie's shoulder, "Two of your ribs are broken and you have a concussion!"

"W...hat?", Hughie's thoughts were slow and there was only one thing he could think about, "Ben..?"

Frenchie looked confused for a brief moment, but then understood. "He's with Butcher."

It felt like someone had punched Hughie in the gut, the fog in Hughie's brain vanished immediately, and a cold feeling crept up his spine. He was suddenly fully conscious. "What?", he asked breathlessly. "Where is he?"

Frenchie turned his head and made movements with his hand, probably to communicate with Kimiko. Hughie couldn't see the sign. Frenchie turned back to him. "He's okay, he'll be safe with Butcher." Hughie grabbed Frenchie's sleeve and pulled him down so they were face to face.

"Where the fuck is Ben?"

Frenchie licked his lower lip, "Hughie-"

"Where the fuck is Ben? I swear if anything happens to him-", Hughie felt sick. This was the first time he was seperated from Ben since he had found him. He felt so incredibly sick.

Frenchie sighed and muttered, "Butcher va me tuer,” then continued. “He's with Butcher and MM, they're training him to kill Homelander."

"And where the fuck are they?"

Frenchie lowered his eyelids and shook his head, "They didn't tell me the location, they knew I would tell you."

Hughie released Frenchie of the iron grip on his shirt and tried to stand up as he spoke. "I'll have to find him." Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his rib cage, and every time he breathed in he saw little stars. Shit. He wasn't able to stand up, he couldn't help Ben. Shit, shit, shit. Ben needed his help, now more than ever. Hughie laid back and put his forearm over his eyes.

"Hughie...", Frenchie started.

“Don't,” Hughie interrupted him, suddenly extremely tired. “Just don't."

[pineapplesperhaps]

“You never asked to be saved.”

He’d said that two weeks ago, as if saving her had been a selfish thing.

These past two weeks she’d been teaching him her language. Even though he said he’d ‘leave her alone’ Kimiko had insisted that she teach him. She needed someone to talk to, and it’s not like any of the others would have enough patience or reason to try to listen.

While she was teaching him, every time she looked at his face, she saw that same melancholy and longing from before. That same reluctant resolve to ‘let her go.’ She didn’t want him to let her go. But he wouldn’t understand if she tried to tell him. Not now anyways.

More time went by. She wasn’t sure how much time. Days and nights and weeks were hard to judge when you lived in a sun-less basement full of insomniacs. But she could tell it had been enough time because Frenchie, or Serge as she had started to come to know him, was finally catching on to her way of communicating.

They didn’t talk much - he was always ‘giving her space.’ It was a bit too much space, though. Whenever she saw him outside of their little sign language sessions, he looked... lost. He seemed to try to occupy his time by cleaning and fixing their stash of weapons, but there was only so much work to be done there. A lot of the time she found him just staring off into space, lost in thought.

She felt sort of lost, too. The one person who could understand her, the one person who she wanted to understand her, didn’t seem to want to be around her, so she was forced back into silence. His punishing himself was punishing her, too.

One day, that was just like so many days before it, when they were sitting together and she was showing him how to move his hands in such a way that they would speak, she realized she couldn’t take it anymore. It hurt too much to look in his eyes and only ever see sorrow. He always looked at her like she was a thousand miles away. He looked at her like she was the one person in this world that could make him whole. He looked at her like he had given up all hope of ever feeling whole again.

So all of a sudden, before she hardly knew what she was doing, she stopped and grabbed his hands tightly in her own.

He looked up at her, confused.

“Mon- Kimiko? What-”

She squeezed his hands again, interrupting him.

‘Listen,’ she signed.

He probably wasn’t going to be able to understand everything she was going to say, but she had to say it anyways. He had made plenty of little speeches in the time they’d known each other. Now it was her turn.

‘I know I didn’t ask you to save me,’

She tried to slow the movement of her hands, but all the emotions that had been building up inside her all this time had her feeling frantic. Her hands were shaking.

‘But do you think I would have changed anything? Do you think there’s anywhere I’d rather be than right here, with you?’

The look in her eyes was pleading for him to understand. Pleading for him to come back to her.

‘After you got me out of that cell, and out of those chains, I chose... I chose to come back to you. I chose to stay with you. I chose fight with you. I chose to almost die saving you.’

It was hard to see his face through the haze of her tears but she hoped with all her heart that he knew what she was saying.

‘I choose you,’ she signed each word with a pause in between them. Her hands collided with her chest and each other with such force that she could feel her skin bruising.

‘Serge.’ she grabbed his hand because she didn’t yet have a sign for his name.

‘My Dream.’ she signed. Mon Rêve.

When she had been held captive, she dreamed of escape. When she was a little girl, she dreamed of finding her soulmate. He had made both her dreams come true.

‘Mon Rêve, I’m asking you to come back to me.’

[tippy152]

I Wanna Spend Some Time With You

Where to? Dancing. He held out his hand for her to take and twirled her out of the hole in the ground.

Frenchie and Kimiko spend the following days together, just the two of them.

Takes place after the Season 2 finale.

A Frenchie x Kimiko fic

Butcher called. Their records had been wiped clean. They no longer needed to stay hidden in this basement. They were free. And so, they gathered up what little stuff they had.

“Where to?” he asked.

‘Dancing,’ she signed.

He held out his hand for her to take and twirled her out of the hole in the ground.

Once at ground level and outside they each took in a deep breath of fresh air.

Despite how long now she had been here in New York, this was the first time she was free to truly explore it. And he was going to show her everything.

They packed light, taking only what they needed, the good thoughts and memories of their families and friends and of each other, and leaving all the misery behind.

One pit-stop for him to collect some hidden savings (she wasn’t too familiar with American currency but it was obviously a lot) and then off they went.

They hit some tourist sights during the day, including some hidden gems only someone who’d lived here as long as he had would know about.

Then at night they went to a club. The music was loud and she could feel it pounding through her body, up from the ground. She had never felt anything like it and it was glorious. Until it started too feel too hot and too crowded and she wanted to tell him but it was too dark to sign.

So, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out into the street. She could let go now, but chose not to instead. She liked this feeling of closeness between them as they strolled through the night, their fingers intertwined.

A busker played a sweet tune that most everyone else was ignoring. But he pulled her closer and they danced in the glow of New York’s endless lights.

They would stay at a hotel that night they decided. She asked him for some money, seeing a vendor on their way. When she handed him the rose, he made such a show of taking in its scent with a deep inhale and eyes closed, that he didn’t notice her quickly lean up and in until her lips were on his.

It was light and chaste, ending just as quickly as it started, but electrifying all the same.

In the hotel lobby they went up to the check-in counter hand-in-hand, so it shouldn’t have been any surprise that they were given a room with just one bed.

He asked if she wanted him to request a different room. She just rolled her eyes and threw herself onto the queen-sized bed. Never in her life had she laid on a bed as comfortable as this.

‘Join me,’ she signed, since he was just standing awkwardly in the doorway.

He stretched out beside her, being careful to leave some space between them. However, she rolled over, curled up against him and lay her head on his chest.

When she felt his breath catch, she signed, ‘Is this okay?’

And he signed back, ‘Perfect,’ then wrapped his arm around her and placed a kiss to the top of her head before whispering, “Sweet dreams, mon coeur.”

They both slept peacefully through the night and the next morning, finally freed from all the worries that had been plaguing their nights and chasing away their sleep for the past several months.

When they finally awoke in the early afternoon, they ordered room service and stayed in bed sharing stories of their lives, their families, their childhood dreams, deepest fears and everything in between.

They decided they’d stay at the hotel a few nights more. He had some places they could go to stay, but they wanted for now to remain in their own bubble away from the rest of the world.

They explored the city by day and each other by night. Slowly, gradually—an art exhibit here, a bit of tongue there. Kisses laced down her arm, laughter peppered down busy streets. A wandering hand, a tug on his shirt, discarding her new sundress they bought on 5th Ave.

“Careful, mon coeur,” he said with a laugh. She hadn’t expected his hand between her legs would feel that good, and had forgotten her strength for just a moment. The nail marks on his shoulder would probably scar, but he didn’t mind. She’d already marked his heart forever.

On the fifth day she discovered pay-per-view. He suggested the movie musicals category and they traveled through times and across worlds on verses and dance. She was enthralled and he got an idea.

The following day he insisted they get out of bed. She would have been content to stay put and keep snuggling in his arms until they lost track of the days, but he was brimming with excitement and she found it contagious.

He didn’t share where they were going, just assured her she’d love it. And soon they had tickets for an Off-Broadway matinée. She didn’t know what any of that meant, but it didn’t matter because they were doing it together.

They took their seats among a couple hundred others and the show began. Her face lit up when the first musical number began, her eyes transfixed to the stage. He tried to pay attention, but ultimately gave in to the desire to just watch her joy.

She noticed his misplaced gaze and signed, “You’re missing it.”

“You are newer,” was his signed reply. He meant better, an honest mistake, the signs were similar. Anyway, she understood what he meant and couldn’t stop the blush that crept over her. She would correct him later.

That night, in bed, she also taught him the sign for ‘faster’. And they lost themselves in each other.

[pineapplesperhaps]

I’m thinking of rewatching all the “frenchie and kimiko” episodes... you’ve probably already answered this before, but what’s your favorite moment between them?

I do that sometimes! It’s really fun.,.. except for when they’re fighting :(

oohhh my favorite moment hmm. It’s hard to pick because everything just kind of builds up with them ya know?

The first one that comes to mind is less about Frenchie and Kimiko themselves and more about the writing - it’s that scene where she hold his hand after he says she can stay and help the boys stop Bad Guys™ or he can take her to the airport. The interaction between them alone is magical. The way Frenchie takes in a breath he was holding at the end and the way Kimiko is just so comfortable holding his hand makes my heart flutter.

But I think I thought of that moment first because the writers paired the scene up with the dialogue on the tv that they’re watching - when Frenchie is telling her that he’ll take her to the airport and stuff the narrator on the tv is saying something about a male shark interested in a potential mate. And then right at the very moment that Kimiko takes his hand the guy on the tv says ‘when the Female returns his feelings...’

So that’s how I knew the writers knew they were endgame lol

But man I also adore all the moments in 2x08 when they’re using sign language. That’s just everything I’ve ever wanted for them.

and of c o u r s e the dancing!!!!!!!! I’m still not over the fact that they fulfilled my prediction a whole season earlier than I thought they would.

In short: all of them are my favorite except the ones in the beginning of s2 because I think they made Frenchie OOC just so they could have them fight which would lead to them being closer. I think they could have shown the necessity of him learning her language without basically making him forget how he understood her in the first season. The Frenchie we know from s1 wouldn’t just be like ‘idk what you’re saying babe’ and give up. He would ask her more questions. He would really try to understand and put in the work to help her get her ideas across in a way he would understand.

But things are fine now so I shouldn’t be ranting lol. Thanks for the question 💕💕

[pineapplesperhaps]

(Spoiler alert for if you haven’t seen episode 5 yet) Any theories for what’s going to happen between Kimiko and Frenchie in episode 6? In the teaser from Prime Rewind, we see them both in medical scrubs, seemingly working together. But with their last scene together I’m struggling to see how they’re going to reconcile so quickly. Frenchie’s last words to her were “fuck you” (which he probably regrets), and she actually used her sign language to tell him how she’s been feeling... :(

Ah I guess it’s a bit late to answer this. So I’ll just talk about the episode a bit i guess lol

I do love how they handled the episode. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting - it did still bring the angst just not at all in the way I thought it would. (AND FRENCHIE AND KIMIKO HELD HANDS!!!!)

I have a lot of feelings about all the stuff we learned - like how Frenchie calls Malory “Mother Malory” and he was torn away from his mom at a young age and now his second mother figure pushed him away so he went through that again but this time it was “his fault.” And just everything else with all his emotional self harm (which we been knew) and how he’s always had a bit of softness in him and everything,,,,,, not to mention his interactions with Kimiko.

To actually answer your question a bit - I do love that what basically brought them back together was her finding all that out about his past. My mind keeps screaming “Look! The parallels!!” and I can’t figure out if I think that because 1) they started drifting apart when her past came back at the beginning of the season so now that his past comes up it sort of is the opposite? or 2) it just seems like many of the ‘milestones’ or significant points or whatever in their relationship happens when something comes up about their past - he gained her trust a little bit initially by telling her about his past and when they went to Mesmer and learned about hers was the point when she was more so accepted into the group and became even more of a real person/the person she is in his eyes I guess.

It freaking broke my heart when he apologized to her and said he would leave her alone at the end of this last one. The way she looked at him - she doesn’t want him to leave her alone but there’s still a part of her that isn’t ready to reach back out to him.

Sorry for hijacking your ask lol.