Money Can't Buy Love, But- [Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, pre-Joe/Ahim]
title: Money Can't Buy Love (But it Can Make Your Feelings Obvious To Everyone Except Joe)
characters: Ahim, Sid, Joe, a teeny bit of Luka and Marv (DON I AM SORRY, YOU ARE THERE IN MY HEART <33333)
genre: het, au, Sappy Mc-Sapness.
wordcount: 1664
prompt: Ahim de Famille and Sid Bamick go shopping together. Who spends the most money? Who just likes to browse? What do they do when done?. From the 12 Character Meme.
notes: (Set in a happy Alternate Reality wherein Sid actually escaped the Zangyack not long after Joe, and they met up again, but by then Joe had met Marv, so he says, "I'm so sorry Sid-sempai, I thought you were gone. I thought there was nothing else to live for [and no-one else worth following], so I made a promise to Marvelous to see his dream fulfilled," and then Sid says, "You're a good guy. We'll make sure his dream comes to fruition", and Joe smiles when he realises Sid has said 'we', and Sid lives on board the Galleon too, and eventually along comes everyone else!).
Excuse me as I vomit self-indulgence ALL OVER THIS. HET MAKES ME SO SAPPY.
-
Money Can't Buy Love (But it Can Make Your Feelings Obvious To Everyone Except Joe)
-
"I want to buy something for Joe-san, as a thank you," Ahim says earnestly. "Luka-san lent me some funds, until we can collect some more."
It's sweet the way she says collect when they both know really that pirating is thieving, often under the almost-Robin Hood guise of taking from the rich or corrupt and... using it themselves.
Sid has certainly had to adjust his morals, living on the Galleon. But Joe had suffered incredible things thanks to him and his once idealistic dreams of joining the Zangyack to become fighting heros, and so most days it seems only fair to give back as much as humanly possible. Even if it means this.
There are still ways to do good. Sid always finds them.
"You know, it's almost Joe's birthday," Sid says, knowing full well that Joe hasn't told anyone else on board this information. "If you were to give it to him as a thank you, I think he might turn it down out of modesty. As a birthday present, he can't refuse. I won't let him. Not a gift from a beautiful lady."
Ahim smiles, and Sid hopes that it's real - that as a former princess she isn't too jaded by empty flatteries from countless noblemen to take his words as truth. He approves of Joe's choice, honestly, even if Joe doesn't know it yet.
Joe hasn't even admitted it yet, but Sid knows.
"You will help me choose, won't you, Sid-san?"
"Only if you promise to stop calling me Sid-san," Sid replies. "No-one else around here has asked that of you, have they? Joe too - you should stop being so formal with him."
"Oh, I can't!" Ahim says. "I respect Joe-san too much to-"
"But not me?"
"You know that's not what I meant!" Ahim says indignantly, and starts laughing.
Somewhere in the background, Joe can't actually hear what is being said, but he can see the way Ahim's eyes seem to light up around Sid-sempai.
He would like to be angry, resentful, upset. Mostly he just wishes Ahim and Sid-sempai all the luck in the world. They're the people he loves best, after all.
-
"Would Joe-san wear jewellery?" Ahim asks. She is never afraid to ask, never hesitates over what she wants. Sid is starting to think she's the one who needs nudging, not Joe. Joe will never be confident enough to make a move. Ahim already is. It's just that perhaps she doesn't recognise her feelings as anything other than grateful devotion right now.
"I'm sure he would," Sid replies. He's sure Joe would if he thought it would make Ahim happy. He has no actual idea whether Joe likes jewellery in its own right. He's a simple kind of guy without much vanity. "What are you thinking?"
"Oh, I-" Ahim closes her mouth again quickly, and blushes. Now this is interesting, and highly unusual. Sid will use his charms to ease this information out.
First he pretends he hasn't noticed.
"You may want to tell me, just in case it's something that isn't going to work," he says lightly. "Or something Joe might not like."
Ahim takes that point very seriously. She takes a deep breath.
"On my planet," she says without the slightest hesitation, "there were awards given to great warriors after a battle. Medallions on chains to be worn around the neck, although they were really just for show. I would like to give Joe-san something like that, but perhaps a little more practical, so that it can be worn every day."
Sid's mouth twists trying to keep his smile hidden. Joe, the awkward little kid he'd once known; anti-social and standoffish and only good for fighting, now the great warrior. A hero.
He always had been, in his way. Sid is glad someone else finally sees it.
-
Sid is glad he had been able to help, making suggestions for the design in order to maximize the practicality of it. Ahim does not want it to be kept wrapped in tissue paper in its box, tucked away for safety's sake. She wants to be able to see it when she looks at Joe, she wants a visual reminder of his heroism for everyone who they ever encounter to see, even if she (and Sid, now) are the only ones who truly know what it means.
Valour, courage.
"Joe-san," Ahim says without preamble. "I know it isn't just yet, but I wanted you to have this as soon as possible. Happy birthday."
Joe glances right over Ahim's head at Sid, and Sid just smiles in return. Joe won't cause a scene in front of her.
"This is from you?" Joe asks, looking down at the box tied with a blue bow.
"Sid-," Ahim closes her mouth before she is tempted to tack the -san on the end, and starts again. She's afraid of Joe's disapproval, and perhaps that rather than selflessness is what makes her admit to having a partner in crime. "Sid helped."
Sid, Joe thinks in despair. She's already calling him Sid, just Sid. Joe had always kind of hoped that she would drop the formalities once they'd known one another a little while - after all, it hasn't been that long yet.
He'd been hoping she would say his name just once, so that he would be able to say hers in return. He's shaped the sounds in his mouth so many times before now, but when he actually speaks to her he tends to address her by looking her way and grabbing her attention, not by speaking her name in the sentence.
"Aren't you going to open it?" Ahim presses. The waiting is worse than knowing one way or another would be. She's not really expecting a huge reaction - this is Joe after all - but for him to accept it is the most important part.
He doesn't even have to particularly like the look of it; that's not the point at all.
One day she'll tell him what it means, one day.
"It... reminds me of something," Joe says as he stares down into the box. It does have a distinctly medal-like look to it, only strung onto a thick chain instead of a ribbon.
"But you don't dislike it?" Ahim says.
"No," Joe says. "Why would I?"
It's a gift from Ahim. Perhaps this is to soften the blow, perhaps this is a joint venture and supposed to be the way Sid and Ahim reveal they are a couple, but Joe isn't going to let that taint it. He has to think better of them than that. He does think better of them than that.
"Oh, I'm relieved!" Ahim says with a smile. "Will you wear it?"
She presses the issue so much that Joe nods and puts the necklace on right away. Something about the look on her face when it settles on his chest makes the weight of it suddenly feel much more significant.
"Thank you," he says, the words ghosting over a faint breath he can only just squeeze out of his throat.
"You're welcome," she says, and Joe notices she is biting her lip. It doesn't fully restrain her smile.
Sid knows they've both forgotten he is even there.
-
"Where did you get the necklace, Joe?" Luka asks at dinner. She is always the first to notice something shiny, and this isn't exactly subtle.
Joe finds he doesn't actually want to answer. He looks down at his plate instead.
"I got it for him," Ahim says. She catches the desperate look that Joe conveys - 'don't make a fuss of my birthday' - and realises she can tell the truth here, and let him think it a clever lie. "It's to say thank you. For saving me."
"We all saved you," Marv says between bites, words coming out muffled. "Why does Joe get special treatment?"
Ahim opens her mouth to assure Marvelous that they will all receive a token of her thanks - and she would, too - when Sid decides to interrupt.
"None of us were the one inside the Famille palace when it was attacked," he says from his end of the table. "Joe was."
Marv pulls a face in reply that says he gets the point and was only messing around anyway. Anything to get a free meal. Everyone else goes back to eating, except Joe and Ahim, who seem to be stuck remembering, and Sid who is subtly watching both of them.
-
Joe is on his bed fumbling with the necklace when Sid knocks at his bedroom door. Picking it up, looking at it, touching it - as though any of those things will somehow help Joe unravel the mystery of it.
Sid leans on the door frame. It's telling how Joe refuses to stop even though it could be considered embarrassing, especially if it had been anyone else but Sid coming in.
"I thought you should know, I didn't really have anything to do with the gift," Sid says. "I simply accompanied Ahim to buy it. It was all her idea. And all her design."
"It means something," Joe says in his flat tone that needs no reply.
"It does."
"What?"
"I don't know," Sid says airily, "perhaps it means someone cares about you enough to want to give you something that has meaning to them. Perhaps you should ask. At the very least you should probably keep wearing it, to prove your appreciation."
"I was going to," Joe replies steadily. Then his voice wavers again. "Sid-sempai. You. You and... Are you?"
"No," Sid says. There are things he could add, like 'I'm not interested in her that way', or 'she already has someone else she likes', but the first is irrelevant to the two of them, and the second is not his secret to share. "Go to sleep."
And because Joe has never had any reason to doubt Sid's word, he falls asleep with a hand fisted around the medal, and a smile on his face.
-
This entry was originally posted here on Dreamwidth. Comment there if you'd prefer!
characters: Ahim, Sid, Joe, a teeny bit of Luka and Marv (DON I AM SORRY, YOU ARE THERE IN MY HEART <33333)
genre: het, au, Sappy Mc-Sapness.
wordcount: 1664
prompt: Ahim de Famille and Sid Bamick go shopping together. Who spends the most money? Who just likes to browse? What do they do when done?. From the 12 Character Meme.
notes: (Set in a happy Alternate Reality wherein Sid actually escaped the Zangyack not long after Joe, and they met up again, but by then Joe had met Marv, so he says, "I'm so sorry Sid-sempai, I thought you were gone. I thought there was nothing else to live for [and no-one else worth following], so I made a promise to Marvelous to see his dream fulfilled," and then Sid says, "You're a good guy. We'll make sure his dream comes to fruition", and Joe smiles when he realises Sid has said 'we', and Sid lives on board the Galleon too, and eventually along comes everyone else!).
Excuse me as I vomit self-indulgence ALL OVER THIS. HET MAKES ME SO SAPPY.
-
Money Can't Buy Love (But it Can Make Your Feelings Obvious To Everyone Except Joe)
-
"I want to buy something for Joe-san, as a thank you," Ahim says earnestly. "Luka-san lent me some funds, until we can collect some more."
It's sweet the way she says collect when they both know really that pirating is thieving, often under the almost-Robin Hood guise of taking from the rich or corrupt and... using it themselves.
Sid has certainly had to adjust his morals, living on the Galleon. But Joe had suffered incredible things thanks to him and his once idealistic dreams of joining the Zangyack to become fighting heros, and so most days it seems only fair to give back as much as humanly possible. Even if it means this.
There are still ways to do good. Sid always finds them.
"You know, it's almost Joe's birthday," Sid says, knowing full well that Joe hasn't told anyone else on board this information. "If you were to give it to him as a thank you, I think he might turn it down out of modesty. As a birthday present, he can't refuse. I won't let him. Not a gift from a beautiful lady."
Ahim smiles, and Sid hopes that it's real - that as a former princess she isn't too jaded by empty flatteries from countless noblemen to take his words as truth. He approves of Joe's choice, honestly, even if Joe doesn't know it yet.
Joe hasn't even admitted it yet, but Sid knows.
"You will help me choose, won't you, Sid-san?"
"Only if you promise to stop calling me Sid-san," Sid replies. "No-one else around here has asked that of you, have they? Joe too - you should stop being so formal with him."
"Oh, I can't!" Ahim says. "I respect Joe-san too much to-"
"But not me?"
"You know that's not what I meant!" Ahim says indignantly, and starts laughing.
Somewhere in the background, Joe can't actually hear what is being said, but he can see the way Ahim's eyes seem to light up around Sid-sempai.
He would like to be angry, resentful, upset. Mostly he just wishes Ahim and Sid-sempai all the luck in the world. They're the people he loves best, after all.
-
"Would Joe-san wear jewellery?" Ahim asks. She is never afraid to ask, never hesitates over what she wants. Sid is starting to think she's the one who needs nudging, not Joe. Joe will never be confident enough to make a move. Ahim already is. It's just that perhaps she doesn't recognise her feelings as anything other than grateful devotion right now.
"I'm sure he would," Sid replies. He's sure Joe would if he thought it would make Ahim happy. He has no actual idea whether Joe likes jewellery in its own right. He's a simple kind of guy without much vanity. "What are you thinking?"
"Oh, I-" Ahim closes her mouth again quickly, and blushes. Now this is interesting, and highly unusual. Sid will use his charms to ease this information out.
First he pretends he hasn't noticed.
"You may want to tell me, just in case it's something that isn't going to work," he says lightly. "Or something Joe might not like."
Ahim takes that point very seriously. She takes a deep breath.
"On my planet," she says without the slightest hesitation, "there were awards given to great warriors after a battle. Medallions on chains to be worn around the neck, although they were really just for show. I would like to give Joe-san something like that, but perhaps a little more practical, so that it can be worn every day."
Sid's mouth twists trying to keep his smile hidden. Joe, the awkward little kid he'd once known; anti-social and standoffish and only good for fighting, now the great warrior. A hero.
He always had been, in his way. Sid is glad someone else finally sees it.
-
Sid is glad he had been able to help, making suggestions for the design in order to maximize the practicality of it. Ahim does not want it to be kept wrapped in tissue paper in its box, tucked away for safety's sake. She wants to be able to see it when she looks at Joe, she wants a visual reminder of his heroism for everyone who they ever encounter to see, even if she (and Sid, now) are the only ones who truly know what it means.
Valour, courage.
"Joe-san," Ahim says without preamble. "I know it isn't just yet, but I wanted you to have this as soon as possible. Happy birthday."
Joe glances right over Ahim's head at Sid, and Sid just smiles in return. Joe won't cause a scene in front of her.
"This is from you?" Joe asks, looking down at the box tied with a blue bow.
"Sid-," Ahim closes her mouth before she is tempted to tack the -san on the end, and starts again. She's afraid of Joe's disapproval, and perhaps that rather than selflessness is what makes her admit to having a partner in crime. "Sid helped."
Sid, Joe thinks in despair. She's already calling him Sid, just Sid. Joe had always kind of hoped that she would drop the formalities once they'd known one another a little while - after all, it hasn't been that long yet.
He'd been hoping she would say his name just once, so that he would be able to say hers in return. He's shaped the sounds in his mouth so many times before now, but when he actually speaks to her he tends to address her by looking her way and grabbing her attention, not by speaking her name in the sentence.
"Aren't you going to open it?" Ahim presses. The waiting is worse than knowing one way or another would be. She's not really expecting a huge reaction - this is Joe after all - but for him to accept it is the most important part.
He doesn't even have to particularly like the look of it; that's not the point at all.
One day she'll tell him what it means, one day.
"It... reminds me of something," Joe says as he stares down into the box. It does have a distinctly medal-like look to it, only strung onto a thick chain instead of a ribbon.
"But you don't dislike it?" Ahim says.
"No," Joe says. "Why would I?"
It's a gift from Ahim. Perhaps this is to soften the blow, perhaps this is a joint venture and supposed to be the way Sid and Ahim reveal they are a couple, but Joe isn't going to let that taint it. He has to think better of them than that. He does think better of them than that.
"Oh, I'm relieved!" Ahim says with a smile. "Will you wear it?"
She presses the issue so much that Joe nods and puts the necklace on right away. Something about the look on her face when it settles on his chest makes the weight of it suddenly feel much more significant.
"Thank you," he says, the words ghosting over a faint breath he can only just squeeze out of his throat.
"You're welcome," she says, and Joe notices she is biting her lip. It doesn't fully restrain her smile.
Sid knows they've both forgotten he is even there.
-
"Where did you get the necklace, Joe?" Luka asks at dinner. She is always the first to notice something shiny, and this isn't exactly subtle.
Joe finds he doesn't actually want to answer. He looks down at his plate instead.
"I got it for him," Ahim says. She catches the desperate look that Joe conveys - 'don't make a fuss of my birthday' - and realises she can tell the truth here, and let him think it a clever lie. "It's to say thank you. For saving me."
"We all saved you," Marv says between bites, words coming out muffled. "Why does Joe get special treatment?"
Ahim opens her mouth to assure Marvelous that they will all receive a token of her thanks - and she would, too - when Sid decides to interrupt.
"None of us were the one inside the Famille palace when it was attacked," he says from his end of the table. "Joe was."
Marv pulls a face in reply that says he gets the point and was only messing around anyway. Anything to get a free meal. Everyone else goes back to eating, except Joe and Ahim, who seem to be stuck remembering, and Sid who is subtly watching both of them.
-
Joe is on his bed fumbling with the necklace when Sid knocks at his bedroom door. Picking it up, looking at it, touching it - as though any of those things will somehow help Joe unravel the mystery of it.
Sid leans on the door frame. It's telling how Joe refuses to stop even though it could be considered embarrassing, especially if it had been anyone else but Sid coming in.
"I thought you should know, I didn't really have anything to do with the gift," Sid says. "I simply accompanied Ahim to buy it. It was all her idea. And all her design."
"It means something," Joe says in his flat tone that needs no reply.
"It does."
"What?"
"I don't know," Sid says airily, "perhaps it means someone cares about you enough to want to give you something that has meaning to them. Perhaps you should ask. At the very least you should probably keep wearing it, to prove your appreciation."
"I was going to," Joe replies steadily. Then his voice wavers again. "Sid-sempai. You. You and... Are you?"
"No," Sid says. There are things he could add, like 'I'm not interested in her that way', or 'she already has someone else she likes', but the first is irrelevant to the two of them, and the second is not his secret to share. "Go to sleep."
And because Joe has never had any reason to doubt Sid's word, he falls asleep with a hand fisted around the medal, and a smile on his face.
-
This entry was originally posted here on Dreamwidth. Comment there if you'd prefer!