#because of course he loves buggy. what else has been a constant in his life but buggy?

[introspectivememories]

buggy who turns to shanks one night after they've reunited and says softly, with indecipherable look in his eyes and says, "i'm not in love with you anymore." and shanks, shocked beyond belief, heart aching with a want he didn't even know he had, with a need he hadn't even realized was there, thinks quietly to himself, i didn't know you ever were

[beanghostprincess]

Rayleigh explains to tiny Shanks and Buggy what Valentine's Day is because Roger won't stop running around the ship saying he doesn't know what to get Rouge as a gift (they've been like this for a long time and they've lost count of how many islands they've visited in such a short time already).

So the man, of course, tells them it's a day in which you give presents or just celebrate your love with the people you care about the most... Mostly in a romantic way, but when they were very little and very close, Shanks and Buggy instantly went "We like each other!!" and ever since they've been giving each other presents for Valentine's Day, even if it's meant to be in just a platonic way.

The thing is-- They grow up together, and of course, they develop feelings for each other that are beyond what friendship. And suddenly Valentine's Day has a new entire meaning. Buggy comes to the conclusion, at the age of 13, that they're too old to be doing this with each other when they should be doing it with their crushes. Which they don't have. Because they're quite literally the only ones of their age on that ship. But whatever- Shanks is devastated. He accepts and goes with the typical "Yeah, of course. Pffft. I'll just save all my romantic ideas for a girl--" but he doesn't want any girl. He wants Buggy. And he has known that for a long time.

So fuck it. He's impulsive and it's dumb and he wants to show Buggy how much he means to him as more than just a friend. At 13, he uses the "I had already bought you a gift before you complained about this" excuse, and at 14 Shanks just says he had forgotten about not doing it. Old habits die hard. But then they're 15, and they're alone and the crew disbanded but at least they're alone together. And Shanks has this constant fear of Buggy leaving him too the way the rest of the crew did, so he doesn't give him anything. He had something planned because of course he had. But he keeps it to himself this once.

What he doesn't know is that Buggy is actually waiting for him to give him something. He's proud and stubborn and he would never admit it, but he regrets complaining about Valentine's Day now that Shanks doesn't want to officially celebrate it with him anymore. He tells himself he doesn't care. He doesn't give a fuck if Shanks doesn't want to give him a stupid present. He doesn't care if Shanks has forgotten about it. But the thought of Shanks celebrating this day with somebody else makes him unable to concentrate for the whole week. He wants to throw up.

But it's killing Shanks. It's eating him alive. So he swears he will confess his love and will give him a proper Valentine's Day gift next year. Next year. He only needs to wait. And Buggy promises to himself that if this happens- That if Shanks gives him something. Anything. Any hint from the universe that Shanks wants to be with him. He'll say yes. They've lost too much for them to then separate again.

Soon enough, Roger dies. Before Valentine's Day and before they can say anything. Before Buggy can fix whatever is wrong with him and his jealousy and rage toward Shanks. Before Shanks can act upon the feelings he's been forever keeping to himself. An 'I love you' rests on the tip of Shanks' tongue while he watches Buggy running away from him, and it stays there for years and years, patiently waiting for the next time they see each other again. Because it's the first thing he'll say to the clown.

But he doesn't save it until they see each other again. No. It's much sooner than he expected and a bit too late, too, to hope for an answer. Shanks loses his arm for the future generation and realizes how fragile life is and how little time he could have left if something went south. So he writes Buggy a letter (that nobody but him would understand because he's not writing precisely with his good hand) and attached to him there's this music box. It seems like a silly present. A dumb, childlike thing that no adult would appreciate. But Buggy grew fond of it when they walked through several stores with Gaban one day, and he didn't have enough money for it so he kept whining about it the whole week. Shanks had... All of his money left. He wanted to buy himself more chocolate, but he guessed a music box was alright too. It would be Buggy's, but since they're always together it would be his too, anyway, right?

They're not together anymore and Shanks can't see Buggy's face when he receives the gift. He can't hear the music box, either. But he guesses it had always been just for Buggy, at the end of the day, so he doesn't care. He just wishes Buggy had responded to it somehow because there's never any sound at the end of the line when he tries to call him and Buggy never responds to his letters either.

To this day, though, the music box rests on one of Buggy's most precious treasure chests that not even Alvida or Cross Guild can come close to, next to a bunch of letters he has carefully kept over the years. Shanks never knows if Buggy receives his gifts, but he keeps sending letters anyway. And Buggy refuses to respond to them, hoping Shanks will keep sending them nevertheless.

[captainsourwolf]

I just want 100k words about small town garden shop owner link neal and frou frou lumberjack bakery owner rhett mclaughlin meeting for the first time in home depot

all of link’s water hoses froze over night because someone forgot to shut them off and put them away the day before so not only are the things frozen but his outdoor patio has a solid layer of ice covering it and inside there’s a mini ice rink by the potting soil so he has to go out and buy new hoses and maybe a space heater to speed things along

rhett has a busted exhaust vent over his best oven because it’s old and it gets the most use because it’s bigger and has more space for big batches of his mama’s best peanut butter cookies so he’s gotta buy a new exhaust vent or at least find a solution that will buy some time till the repair man can come

they meet only because link isn’t paying attention pushing his cart. he’s only in there for the hoses and space heater but he got distracted by a bunch of really neat gardening tools and threw them in and is now perusing the new shipment of fancy copper faucets. and because he’s not paying attention he rams his cart into this giant of a man rushing through the aisle and they collide and link’s temper nearly gets the best of him until he sees the wild hair and the beard and the red plaid paired with some stylish jeans and the apron Rhett forgot to take off under his coat.

rhett isn’t expecting to come in contact with someone so ready to fight and get scrappy over a buggy accident that was the other guy’s fault to being with. but he does and he looms a little bit until the guy backs off and they can properly introduce themselves after an apology. but to be honest after seeing the guy’s eyes and the stubble and the grey in his hair and the impressive build under such tight clothes he finds he doesn’t much care about being run over in the local home depot if it’s by someone so attractive.

rhett introduces himself first and then link and they end up finding out that their businesses are only two buildings away from each other. they leave the store with the promise to come check out the other’s shop. and it becomes this thing.

link visits rhett’s place first. rhett gives him a sample of the peanut butter cookies and link threatens to never leave if everything is as good as those cookies. then the next day rhett comes to the garden shop and link jokes he doesn’t have peanut butter cookies to offer but he does have a hot chocolate station set up in the front with his mama’s recipe. after that they’re both intrigued.

every week they find excuses to come visit each other. they find out they’re both from buies creek and both went to nc state a year apart and somehow have ended up in fuquay at the same time. every excuse to visit gets more and more ridiculous. like rhett pretending he needs tips on how to tell the different types of weeds a part because he has these weeds in his yard that never seem to die and ones that are pretty and he hates to kill. or link pretending he’s just there to check on the flowers on rhett’s tables because he thought they looked a little wilted the last time he was in there and he can’t stand to see a wilted flower.

they catch one pretty quick what the other is doing. finally rhett gets uo the nerve to ask link on a date and they meet up one weekend at the local diner and chat for hours over burgers and fries and dessert. turns out they have a lot more connections than they realized. like the fact rhett came to bc elementary in first grade from georgia or the fact link rode his bike to the very same river all the time. and yet somehow their paths never crossed. in a small town like buies creek it seems like they would’ve found each other eventually, but they never did. until now.

over time it’s like they never lived a life without knowing the other. they’re best friends already and one isn’t the same without the other. sometimes they both think they’d be fine never dating or becoming something more because it already feels like they’re half of something, like they’re an old married couple, like they were meant to find each other in any life. they spend as much time as possible together, their dogs jade and barbara meet and love each other instantly, they know each other’s quirks and the sounds they make and the way their eyes light up about something and the way their breathing changes when something is upsetting or exciting.

but link kisses rhett first when winter turns to spring and his garden shop blooms to life with fresh spring flowers and the butterflies and hummingbirds start to show. it’s over a plate of experimental desserts the bakery is trying out and rhett saves the best for last, a batch of chocolate chipless chocolate chip cookies because he remembers link telling him about them one night weeks ago and that despite the weirdness they’re his favorite kind of cookie. the fact rhett remembered and blushed as he told link about it is what makes link grab him by the apron straps and haul him across the table to kiss him square on the mouth.

the only thing that changes is that now they kiss and they do it all the time. in the back room at the garden shop when link is closing the place down and rhett is coming to pick him up and he can’t stand how cute link is in his clear frames and dirt smudged on his cheek and he has to kiss link, chin in his hand and back to the wall. at the corner table in the bakery when rhett has a break and the pie is fresh and he’s got a dollop of apple filling on his mustache so link just leans over and kisses it off and says he can’t believe how delicious the apple pie is at this one bakery he knows. or in link’s car after a movie when rhett is talking animatedly about the awful plot line and the fact the movie wasn’t even that scary and link grabs his hands and then his cheeks and kisses him sweetly until he calms down. or outside rhett’s front door one morning when link is picking him up because they’ve started carpooling and it’s still spring in north carolina so link is cold of course and he grabbed the wrong sweater so upon seeing the shivering man on his doorstep rhett squeezes his biceps and kisses link until he’s hot all over and doesn’t want to leave.

taking things slow isn’t in their wheelhouse. it’s been months since they met and only a couple of weeks since they started kissing every chance they got. but there’s this constant buzz under their skin for more. every time link turns those blue eyes on him rhett feels the tingling start low in his gut and he suddenly wants to know how dark those eyes can get when there’s a cock in link’s mouth. every time rhett lightly touches his fingertips to the nape of link’s neck and causes a shiver link is acutely aware of the thrumming in his veins and is desperate to know what those fingertips feel like on his inner thighs. and it just happens because rhett got his hands under link’s shirt that saturday afternoon and fitted his fingers perfectly in the divots between link’s ribs and then it was happening. clothes off and hands everywhere and mouths leaving burning hot trails, hands burning even hotter in unexplored but not unwelcome territory.

just like the kissing, they do this as much as possible too. it lights a fire in their souls and every chance they get they’re touching, they’re exploring, they’re fucking just as much as they’re making love. times when their off days line up and rhett gets link naked and bent over the kitchen counter and fucks him with his face pressed into the granite and the other hand on link’s waist. times when link gets rhett spread out on the bed and takes his time with his fingers and his tongue to get rhett worked up before sinking in nice and slow and wet and grinds into him till he’s begging. or the times when it’s a slow, sweet build up because they have all day or all night and nowhere else to be so they make it last with their hands clasped tight and sharing the same air because heaven forbid they separate for even two seconds.

everything feels like fate. like some invisible string that’s been tying them together and the universe finally decided to tighten up the slack. it feels like they never went a day not knowing each other, being with each other, and they know in some other life, some other universe maybe they did meet in first grade and time allowed them to slowly but purposefully come together. but in this life they came together in this way, with a garden shop and a bakery separated by two buildings and a random buggy crash in the local home depot and a lifetime of fate finally deciding they were ready to meet.

[better-not-said]

Complete and utter fluff about Niall being a new dad.  Light on dialogue and a bit different in style.  Let me know if you’d like me to do more, whether similar to this style or not.  Thanks to @alrightpetall​ for being my cheerleader all week.  This is for you x

He had been worried.

He'd been worried because this little girl who, when just born, fit in the cradle of his two large hands.  She had been so small.  How could he have this much love for one tiny human?  He had no explanation, just the tears on his cheeks.

She was born 3 weeks early, a surprising arrival into the world.  Niall had gone golfing that morning, on the 16th hole when his phone began ringing. Normally he'd put it on silent but not when his wife was 37 weeks pregnant.  

"You better come home," she had urged. Niall nearly ripped up the green with how quickly he tore off the course in the golf buggy.

The new parents were well prepared in all other senses of the word.  They had packed and re-packed the hospital bags every other day for an entire month prior. The crib was set up and the nursery was finished weeks ago.  All the clothes were washed and ready to wear, the blankets and muslins fresh and clean.

In a sense, they had been prepared for an early arrival but 3 weeks early?  Niall had read all the baby books and was sure his baby girl would be absolutely fine but as he rushed home on the M1, every negative thought he could think of flashed through his mind.

It had taken him close to an hour to reach his wife. There had been no real reason for him to rush, though, because his baby wouldn't even arrive till the early hours of the next day.  His darling wife had wanted him with her, however.  She wanted him beside her every step of the way.

He'd gotten in the bath with her, after having called the midwife who assured them they didn't need to rush to the hospital just yet. His wife's contractions weren't agonizing yet but the warm bath helped her body relax.  Niall washed himself, cleaning the salty residue from his shortened round of golf off his body.  He'd rubbed his wife's belly, feeling his baby's movements.  They spent the time reminiscing about the past nine months.

His sweet girl was early but she took her time coming out, putting his wife through 19 hours of labor.  When he held his baby in his two hands, as if she was made of glass, he wondered how in the world he'd take care of her.  His hands are huge and rough from the guitar and golf.  His voice is loud and his house is as neat as could be.  Bringing a baby into the world was the scariest thing Niall has done thus far but despite his worrying, he knew he would love her more than anything else in this world. He'd take care of her for as long as he'd live.

Three weeks later, just days after her predicted due date had been, Niall couldn't imagine life without her.  What had he done before she arrived?  He couldn't remember.  The sleepless nights, the constant laundry, the crying, the messy diapers; all of it was worth it.  He loved every part of being a father.

He especially loved when his baby girl would lie on his chest, whether asleep or just content to lie there, she absolutely loved it.  He had been worried, though, that the smattering of hair on his chest would irritate her newborn skin.

"'Re ya sure?" he had asked for the third time in the hospital.  The midwife reassured him the hair wouldn't bother his sweet girl and he proceeded to lay the tiny baby on his chest for their first round of skin-to-skin.

Now, Niall is more often shirtless than clothed. His daughter curls up like she's still in the womb and smooshes her face against his chest, unperturbed by the Irish rug.  It is her favorite place to be, only second to being nuzzled against his wife's breast every two hours to feed.  Niall will lie there on the couch or in bed, usually golf on low volume.  Sometimes he'll snooze and be woken up to his baby girl fidgeting or crying for milk.

Her other favorite place to be?  The bath.  Niall and his wife wash her together.  It’s a time the three of them spend together and it helps that their daughter feels completely at home in the warm water.  She seems the smallest when they’re bathing her.  Niall runs the soft cloth over her shoulder and down her arm to her hand.  The miniscule fingers that curl around his finger sometimes seem impossibly small as they rest on the surface of the water.  Her tiny feet kick gently and Niall tickles them, hoping that once she’s a bit older, he’ll get a smile or a laugh from her.  Now, she just coos and stares up at her parents with eyes that are as blue as a pair of jeans.

After bathing her, Niall gets her dried off and snug in a sleep suit before bringing her to his gorgeous wife so she can feed her and send her off to sleep with a full tummy.  He watches with admiration as his baby girl nurses.  There are so many moments throughout the day where his girl cries because she’s upset, whether she is hungry or has a dirty nappy or any other reason.  It’s nice to witness the moments where she is happy and satisfied, tiny hums of content emitting from her as she feeds.  Niall also loves to watch his wife bond with their daughter.  He thinks it’s the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen.  She looks down at her girl the same way she did when she was first born, minus the tears.  Sometimes he gets a little jealous of his girls’ incredible bond but he gets to feed his daughter sometimes too with a bottle of milk his wife had expressed earlier in the day.  He enjoys being able to let his missus get some extra sleep while he feeds their baby girl.  Although she seems to spend more than half her time nursing, she is still on the small side.  She measures small in the charts but the doctor isn’t concerned.  Niall’s been a small guy all his life.  He couldn’t put weight on till his 20s and he expects his daughter might inherit his metabolism.

Niall sings to his little love once she’s done feeding and is drifting to sleep in his wife’s arms.  He sings to her every night that he can.  When he can’t be there, his missus will softly play his music.  She usually doesn’t need it to fall asleep at night, but it had become part of their routine and one of Niall’s favorite parts of the day.

“Want her to stay this small forever,” Niall whispers, stroking the back of her tiny hand that rests on his wife’s chest.

“Me too,” she whispers, staring down at the baby girl. “But I also can’t wait to see who she becomes.”

“Jus’ be easier to protect her if she’s small, ya know?” Niall shrugs and his wife smiles endearingly.

“I love you,” she tells him.

“Love you too,” Niall presses a kiss to her lips before leaning down and giving his tiny sweet girl a kiss as well.

[an-au-blog]

oh fuck i need this carnally i need this injected into my veins...

op, pls give me permission to use this in a fic I'm begging

buggy who turns to shanks one night after they've reunited and says softly, with indecipherable look in his eyes and says, "i'm not in love with you anymore." and shanks, shocked beyond belief, heart aching with a want he didn't even know he had, with a need he hadn't even realized was there, thinks quietly to himself, i didn't know you ever were