kindkit | OFMD ficlet: "Pets," Fang & Ivan

I wrote this for

ourflagmeansgay's biweekly prompt fest (the featured characters for this two weeks are Fang & Ivan). It's just a quick ficlet, but I wanted to post it here as well.

Title: Pets
Rating: General
Characters: Fang and Ivan
Word count: 700
Content notes: Canonical sad stuff. Also some funny stuff, I hope. Implied Fang/Lucius . . . something? But it's not the focus.
Summary: It's hard to lose something you love. But sometimes there's no choice.

He hasn't thought about poor Potato in years. And now he can't stop crying, not even when Blackbeard walks away in annoyance. Not even when Izzy says, "Next time, don't fucking help," and goes off to ruin somebody else's afternoon.

Ivan keeps patting him on the back. "Doggy heaven must be really nice," Ivan says. "Sticks that throw themselves. Lots of turds to roll in. Rabbits and rats all over the place, just begging to be hunted."

"But what if he misses me?"

"Maybe they forget," Ivan says, and Fang can recognize the sound of someone trying hard to be nice. "Otherwise how could it be heaven? And maybe we forget too."

"But I don't want to forget. Potato was such a good dog." Fang sniffs and takes a deep breath.

Ivan's back-patting pauses. "Wait, your dog was named Potato?"

"He was brown, okay! And he was really little when I got him, and when he curled up he looked just like a lumpy potato."

"Yeah, all right, man, that makes sense. He must've been really cute."

Fang just nods, which kind of grinds his tears into Ivan's shirt, so he stands up and wipes his eyes. "He was the best. But I needed a ship, fast." He'd had a little too much to drink and decided it would be a great idea to rob a goldsmith's in the middle of the afternoon, and then one thing led to another and pretty soon the whole street was on fire.

"He shouldn't have made you do it. You could've kept him. A dog's no trouble on a ship, so long as you clean up after him."

"That's what I said. Well, now Blackbeard knows how it feels."

"Right."

They're silent for a minute, looking at each other, and then Fang says, "Oh, shit."

"Look, Fangy - "

"We can't make him do it!"

"But maybe Izzy's right. I mean, the captain's not the same."

"Maybe Izzy's right? Izzy? When has that little fucker ever been right? Look, who would you rather have around, Izzy or Captain Bonnet?"

"Depends. Are we being attacked?"

"I don't mean practical stuff. I just mean, who would you rather?"

Ivan rolls his eyes. "No contest."

"And what if it doesn't stop with Captain Bonnet? Izzy hates all of them. He hates Lucius, Ivan. Sweet little Lucius. What kind of person would hate an artist like that?"

"Only a weirdo, Fang," Ivan says with a sigh. "But we already know that."

"Well then. We'll talk to captain. Tell him not to listen to the Spewer."

"You think he'll listen to us?"

Fang stretches his imagination as far as it'll go. It's stiff with disuse, but lately he's started working it again, just a little. "Well, we're telling him what he wants to hear."

"All right. But if he does listen, then what? He doesn't kill Bonnet. He stays here with his pet. You think there's a place on the Revenge for you and me? Or do we end up back on our ship serving under Captain Hands?"

"No, that's - "

"Think about it. Izzy with no Blackbeard to keep him in line. Izzy going even fucking crazier, 'cause you know he would. And able to be as mean as he fucking wants. Captain's the law on a ship."

"But think about what Blackbeard'll be like if he puts Bonnet down."

Ivan shakes his head and sighs. "Yeah. We're fucked either way."

Lucius, Fang thinks. But there's no way to protect him when he can't even protect himself. Fuck. "You know what they say - "

"Worse things happen at sea," Ivan finishes. "And we should know."

One nice thing about Potato was that whenever Fang was feeling low, he'd come and lay his head in Fang's lap to be petted. He'd sigh big long doggy sighs like he was sad too, and after a while it'd start to be kind of funny. And then he'd go and stand at the door until Fang took him for a walk, and by the end of that Fang usually felt at least a little bit better. "I miss my dog," Fang says. It's been years. But he misses him still.