#i miss empires | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

deityoftherain · 5 months ago

Text

helixes & abalone shells - Flower Husbands & Seablings Empires Fanfic

Rating: Teen

Relationship: M/M, Gen

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Status: Completed Oneshot

Word Count: 2,600

Summary: Jimmy and Scott have been dating for four years and have known each other for much longer than that. Their time together certainly hasn't been smooth sailing, but their love has stayed strong throughout it all. Jimmy was at his happiest when with Scott, and he wanted to express that to his boyfriend by proposing.

Click here to read the whole au, but feel free to read standalone

Full fanfic underneath the cut! Please reblog, leave kudos on the AO3 fic slash notes/likes here on Tumblr, comment either place, and etc if you enjoy the story :D

Note: Jimmy and Lizzie are speaking oceanic when the text is surrounded by |vertical bars| and common when there isn't any extra symbols surrounding their words

Jimmy’s tail swooshed happily as he smiled down at the earrings that he had a Mezalean jeweler craft with his input and opinion included every step of the way. They were a pair of small golden hoops, simple on their own yet still gorgeous and with the sort of shine that only real gold could provide. What made them special, however, was that Jimmy had found the two small pearls himself and instructed the Mezalean jeweler to drill holes through them, allowing the pearls to travel freely on their respective hoops and completing the look, making the earrings that much better.

He knew they weren't as flashy as some of the earrings Scott would often wear, but he hadn’t gone for flashy. Jimmy wanted something that could go with anything that they could both wear. Yes, both wear.

It was custom, in Rivendellian culture, that one proposes with a pair of earrings. If the proposee accepts, the couple goes to get their left helixes pierced together, each using one of the earrings so they would match. Jimmy hadn’t known about it (or maybe he forgot it from his lessons) until he started to do some research, but he thought it was rather lovely, especially since elves tended to decorate themselves with a lot of jewelry. There was something special about reserving a piercing spot for someone and then matching with them, and Jimmy was somewhat honored he had a chance to do it.

Oceanites, on the other hand, proposed with abalone shells. Abalone shells were special because they were iridescent and undeniably beautiful. Shell language was also an important cultural practice to Oceanites, even more so during Bestowal, but that was a story for another day.

While Jimmy had the earrings and wanted to include Scott’s traditions in their engagement, Jimmy also wanted to propose with an abalone shell. It was important to him and it would make him really happy to see it on display in Scott’s room when he stayed over. In fact, Jimmy had already picked out an abalone shell the night after his twenty-fourth birthday.

Let’s just say that Scott made sure he had a very pleasurable birthday, using his mouth more than simply giving compliments…

What could he say? Jimmy was a simple man, but even simple men would be foolish to not see perfection when he was literally sleeping in perfection’s bed.

Jimmy relished in the memory, allowing his blush to cover his whole face and spread down to his neck. He closed the jewelry box and held it to his chest for several moments before slipping it into the deep pockets of his baggy pants.

“|Thinking about your lover, small egg?|” Lizzie teased him, coming out of absolutely nowhere, though her tone was fond.

Jimmy jumped and turned on his heel to face her, startled by her presence. “|Lizzie! When did you get here? What- What did you see?|”

“|Oh, nothing much.|” Lizzie shrugged with a mischievous twinkle in her already shimmering blue eyes. “|Just you staring at your engagement jewelry with such a longing look you could rival a romantic drama protagonist.|” “|I was not!|” Jimmy protested, trying to defend his honor. “|Mhm, sure you weren’t, small egg.|” Lizzie laughed, reaching out to ruffle his blonde hair. He just huffed, though he wasn’t truly annoyed. She pulled her arm away and he started to work his fingers through his hair to try and fix the damage. Lizzie hummed softly, her eyebrows furrowing with concern. “|You aren’t getting cold fins, are you? Are you having doubts?|”

“|What?|” Jimmy blinked at her, baffled at her question. “|No! Of course not. I love Scott. I can’t imagine living my life without him. I just… I would do anything for him.|”

“|Like visiting the king of an empire we were at war with because they have a complicated past and he was making him sad?|” Lizzie referenced an instance in the recent past with way too much ease simply to tease him further. They may not look like it at first glance, but Lizzie was definitely his sister. There was no denying it.

Jimmy’s ear fins flicked back flush against his head as he glanced away and muttered, “|You weren’t supposed to know about that.|”

“|My axolotls heard you talking to your cod friends.|” Lizzie swayed her blue axolotl tail from one side to the other, as if to remind him of the animal species that had blessed her. The spirits of the dead sea creatures who bless an oceanfolk before birth were the reason for their respective traits (Jimmy with cod and Lizzie with axolotls) and their ability to talk to the living creatures of the same species. “|You’re not very great at keeping secrets. Next time you want to keep something secret, maybe don’t immediately go ranting out loud where anyone can hear you.|” “|Yeah, yeah,|” Jimmy dismissed, waving his hand around haphazardly, “|but why are you asking about Scott?|” “|You just seem to be dragging your feet when it comes to ‘popping the question’,|” Lizzie explained her reasoning. “|I just wanted to see if there was an issue and if I could help.|” “|I still plan to soon… I just haven’t found the right time yet.|” Jimmy sighed, sitting down on a rock and putting his head in his hands. “|Scott really wasn’t doing well mentally for a bit there, and then he’s been trying to rebuild a friendship with Sausage, and his lung problems have been acting up, and just… Scott deserves a perfect proposal. I’m figuring it out.|” “|Awww,|” Lizzie cooed, a grin wide on her face. “|I remember when I was this young and in love! Oh, the memories and the sappy sentiments, how I miss thee!|” “|You are only two years older than me!|” Jimmy protested the whole “young” bit. “|And Scott and I have been dating for four years! It’s not like we’re in some sort of superficial honeymoon phase.|”

Lizzie started to jokingly sing a cheesy oceanic love song, barely able to hold back her giggles. Jimmy pushed up his sleeves before pouncing on her, tackling her to the ground. A play fight between the two broke out as they indulged in their childish behavior, the topic of Jimmy’s love life soon slipping from their minds.

𖤣𖥧⊱✿⊰𖥧𖤣

Jimmy had been looking for the perfect opportunity to engage to Scott for a while now and, funnily enough, it was actually Scott who had presented it to him. Scott had set up this whole fancy date in a secluded cave, complete with glow berries, a pond with cod swimming around, and a cake that Scott apparently baked himself. It was a wonderful proposal spot! He just had to, you know, actually propose, or “pop the question”, as Lizzie had phrased it.

“I’m not much of a baker, but some of the castle cooks helped me,” Scott admitted with an airy laugh. “If I had done it without their help, I’m sure the cake wouldn’t taste as good as it does.” “Well, I think you did fantastic,” Jimmy replied honestly with his mouth full of cake. He hadn’t realized he had done so until he spoke, so he quickly chewed the cake and swallowed before speaking again, “It’s so good, flower. Like, so good.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, petal,” Scott claimed, but the way he looked at Jimmy said otherwise.

“It’s gotten me plenty of places before,” Jimmy claimed with a purposefully cocky expression and a wink.

“Is that so?” Scott raised an eyebrow, trying to hold back his snickering.

“It is!” Jimmy claimed, becoming momentarily distracted by his absolutely stunning boyfriend. While he was distracted, Scott scooped up a glob of icing onto his finger and swiped it against Jimmy’s nose. “Hey! What was that for?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jimmy.” Scott licked the frosting off his finger, feigning innocence. “I didn’t do anything.” “Mhm, sure you haven’t.” Jimmy didn’t believe it for a second, though Scott knew that already. Instead of saying anything more, Jimmy gathered some frosting on his own fingers before getting up onto his knees to try and get some on Scott’s face.

It didn’t work, for Scott reacted fast enough to grab Jimmy’s wrist, restricting him from moving. Scott smiled coyly at Jimmy just before he slid Jimmy’s finger in his mouth for only a moment to get the frosting off. “Nice try, petal.”

Jimmy didn’t pull away from Scott’s hold, stunned frozen and very into what was happening right now. Scott, being the clever elf he was, picked up on Jimmy’s arousal at his actions and worked with it. He used his grip on Jimmy to pull him closer, though he underestimated how easy Jimmy’s jelly-like limbs were to tug. Jimmy practically collided into Scott’s chest, but there were worse positions Jimmy could find himself in.

“Hi,” he breathed out, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. His gaze trailed down Scott’s body, taking in the sight of his beautiful boyfriend. Jimmy may be biased, but Scott was the most stunning person in the world. Not only physically, but mentally as well. Jimmy could listen to Scott ramble for hours about everything or nothing at all, and he has countless times.

“Just kiss me, Jimmy,” Scott ordered in a tone barely about a whisper, and who was Jimmy to disobey?

Their lips slotted together on the first try, having plenty of experience to guide their movements. Each kiss shared between them was familiar but never boring or dull. Jimmy may have even indulged himself by nibbling down on Scott’s bottom lip with his pointy teeth, which, based on the noise Scott made, he enjoyed it as well.

When they finally broke, Scott was on top of him with his wings spread out beside him. Scott went limp on top of him, resting his head against Jimmy’s shoulder with a sigh of contentment and adoration. “I love you, Jimmy.”

“I love you too.” Jimmy curled his arms around his boyfriend, resting his hands at the base of his wing roots. With how Scott laid on him, his blue hair was by Jimmy’s nose. He could smell the scent of his shampoo and it was oh so pleasant on his senses. It was unfair how Scott always smelled like flowers or wintergreen when Jimmy smelled like he just left swamp water… which wasn’t exactly wrong, but still!

It was as if time stopped around them, everything calm and peaceful. Jimmy could feel the rise and fall of Scott’s chest against his, and he could hear the cod swim around in the pond, making ripples in the water. Before he even really thought about what he was saying, Jimmy asked, “Marry me?” “What?” Scott jolted at those words, surprise shooting down his veins in all directions. He rolled off of Jimmy so he could sit up on his own accord, eyes wide. “What did you say?”

Jimmy paled as he choked on nothing. He hadn’t meant to propose like that! He scrambled to an upright position, staring right back at Scott. Jimmy bit his inner lip, ear fins twitching at his nervousness. Well, nothing good would come from his hesitance, and the salmon was already out of the bag.

He dug his hand into his pocket, pulling out the jewelry box and abalone shell. Scott’s eyes were trained on him intently and Jimmy tried to keep his cool under it. He sucked in his lips, realizing he wasn’t sure how to propose with both the shell and the earrings at the same time. As a solution, he placed the small box on top of the shell and held them up for Scott to see. “Scott Major, will you marry me?” “Aeor, damnit!” Scott exclaimed, causing Jimmy to flinch. He must have realized what he had done because he covered his mouth and fluffed out his wings. “I mean, yes, of course I will marry you Jimmy, I just… I was going to propose to you. We had the same idea, I suppose.”

Scott dug into the picnic basket that he had brought the cake and such in, retrieving an abalone shell of his own. Now it was Jimmy’s turn to look at him in surprise. “Scott, I… it’s amazing.” “Will you marry me, Jimmy Dweller?” Scott ruffled his feathers, unable to keep amusement and nervousness out of his expression and body language. They both had tried to use this opportunity to propose! They fumbled, of course, but that wasn’t going to stop them.

“You’re incredible.” A baffled laugh managed to escape him just before their lips were on one another again. Their proposals weren’t the most put together, but when have they ever conducted their romantic life together in a picture-esque way?

Pulling away once more, Scott let out a content sigh as he ran his hand against the exposed scales scattered around Jimmy’s body. “You’re so… Jimmy. In the best way, I- Aeor, I can’t believe we’re getting married!”

“About time, huh?” Jimmy chuckled lightheartedly.

Scott rolled his eyes fondly before his attention was given back to the jewelry box. “What’s in there? I thought oceanfolk proposed with shells, not jewelry.” “We don’t. They’re engagement helixes,” he answered before tensing up. “That’s a Rivendellian thing, right? I was sure I had gotten it correct- Scott, are you okay? Why are you tearing up?” “I just… I didn’t think you knew about that.” Scott tried to blink the tears away, but it only worked to let a tear trail down his cheek. “I hadn’t gotten us earrings. I wanted to propose with what would make you happy, so I got the shell, but then you got both, and-” “Shh, Scott, it’s okay, breathe,” Jimmy coached gently, cupping his face and using his thumb to wipe away the tear. Scott didn’t usually unravel this quickly unless he was uncontrollably anxious, and, even then, it only happened when they were alone together. Jimmy was glad Scott felt safe enough to not hide everything he felt behind some sort of persona. “You’re okay. You’re more than okay. I, wow, I can’t wait to display my abalone shell back home and wear one of the earrings to match with you.”

Scott melted into his hand, taking a deep yet shaky breath. He closed his eyes for a heartbeat before opening them back up. “Can I see the earrings?” “Of course.” Jimmy removed his hand from Scott’s cheek to grab the box. He opened it, revealing the gold hoops with a pearl accompanying each. “I found the pearls myself.” “You did?” Scott breathed out, gently removing one of the earrings from its box and holding it up to the glowberries to observe it better. “Jimmy, I… Aeor, Jimmy, I love you. Simple as that.” Scott clamped the earring in his hand to keep it safe as he pulled Jimmy into a hug. He wrapped his arms tightly around Jimmy and curled his wings around the both of them. “I can’t wait to marry you, petal, my fiancé.”

Jimmy returned the hug, squeezing him as an outlet of his joy and affections. He couldn’t keep a dopey grin off his face if he tried, high off his love as his heart fluttered blissfully in his chest. Jimmy was over the moon, overjoyed, and he couldn’t foresee anything being able to bring him back down. How could they? He was going to marry the love of his life (of every life, if that belief was true), he was going to marry Scott. How could it get better than this?

#deity writes #tales of the empires au #flower husbands #seablings #empiresfic #empires au #empires fanfic #empiresshipping #empireshipping #empiresblr #empires s1 #empires scott #empires jimmy #empires lizzie #empires smp fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #i miss empires #empiresshipblr

10 notes · View notes