Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a cool summer evening with a pumpkin orange sky. A teenage girl by the name of Brianna Stone was closing and locking her flower shop for the night. She sighed as she turned the key; as much as she loved the cozy environment of Adventure Bay, where she could grow flowers and pick berries as she pleased, she was starting to long for something a little more. Maybe she needed a vacation. Some time to get away and experience something amazing to shake up her life a little bit. But just for a short time; if she went away for too long, she would begin to miss her home and feel sad.

As she was carrying her backpack back to her house for the night, she looked out into the bay, and spotted a boat in the distance. Curious, she crossed the street away from her home and approached the beach, where she saw the boat coming towards the shore. Brianna stared, impressed at what she saw before her. She had never seen such a boat like this before.

Over the edge of the boat, a little puppy hopped up to look down at the beach. He borked to his owner. "Arf! Cap'n boss, Mr. Sid sir, we've got company!" 

Brianna was surprised to see a boy her age come to peer over the edge of the boat. Likewise, this Sid character wasn't expecting anyone to be around the beach, much less a teenager like him. Brianna gently waved to this new friend. Sid, surprised at the kind gesture, awkwardly waved back. Arrby wagged his tail. "Well? Aren't we going to go find some treasure?"

"Treasure?" Brianna tilted her head.

"Of course!" Arrby announced. "We're pirates! We plunder and loot the land for cool stuff!"

"Oh! Here, take this." Brianna slipped out one of the flowers woven into the hair and held it up to the boat.

"Huh?" Sid's eyes widened. Of all the things he could have had happen to him on this Adventure Bay treasure run, this was not expected at all! He picked up the flower, a chrysanthemum with pink petals that were slightly bruised, and held it with both hands. "Wha... thank you?"

Brianna signed out some numbers with her hands; three fives, zero, one hundred. "Can I call you when I get home?"

Sid jumped and made his best attempt to mimic numbers to her. "Yeah." He nodded.

Brianna smiled, then turned to return home and make some dinner. Arrby was simply stunned by the whole interaction. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know, I'm bad at talking to girls!" Sid fiddled with the flower in his hands. "I didn't even leave the boat, and still found treasure."

"I think we're in the beginning of a love story," said Arrby.

Chapter Text

At her home, Brianna had set down a bowl of salad with apple slices and a cup of water for her dinner. As she sat down to eat, her phone began to vibrate and play a pop song, indicating someone on the other end wanted to talk to her. She picked up. "Hello?"

"Hello?" It was Arrby talking to her. "Are you the flower girl from the beach?"

"Oh, hello!" Brianna chirped, happy to see the little puppy. "Yes, that's me."

"We put your flower in some water!" Arrby told her. "Cap'n boss Mr. Sid sir hasn't stopped staring at it since we went inside. He-"

"Whoa, slow your roll, Arrby!" Sid scooped his doggo up and took the phone. "You're that land lass, right?"

"Yes." Brianna just laughed at all the chaos aboard the boat.

Sid sat down on his bed to talk. "So, you live in Adventure Bay? Yeah, I've been there a couple times, it's nice, they have a lot of...buildings there." He had never talked to a girl his age before; he had no idea what to say.

"Yeah, I guess we do." Brianna stabbed into her salad.

"What are you eating?" Arrby watched the phone over his owner's shoulders.

"Salad." Brianna showed them her meal. 

"That's a lot of leafy stuff," mused Sid.

"Yeah, I'm a vegetarian," continued Brianna. "But salad and apple slices have a lot of vitamins in them."

"Sometimes we get apples from land, and then we cut them up and put peanut butter on them." Arrby wagged his tail.

"That sounds delicious," smiled Brianna. "So, do you want to, maybe, come over to my place sometime? We can play Mario Kart or something."

"Your cabin?" Sid asked. "You're sure that's a good idea? That blasted PAW Patrol doesn't exactly like me."

"Why not?" Brianna cocked her head.

"We're pirates!" Arrby yelped. "We take things!"

Of course. Brianna suspected something about these two might have been off. But then again, giving them that flower seemed to stave off their need to plunder, at least for a little bit. Besides, we all need to break at least one rule in our lives, don't we? "They don't have to know about it."

"You mean, like a stealth mission?" Sid pushed his hat out of his eyes. "Ooh, I like the way you think, lass?"

"Tomorrow's a weekend, so I don't work," said Brianna. "How about lunchtime?"

"That sounds great!" Arrby barked. "We'll have a lot of fun together!"

After hanging up the phone, the two teens sat in quiet thought about the upcoming date. To meet in secret, hiding from the town authorities, was both exciting and scary. They could be like secret outlaws; this couldn't end badly, could it?

Chapter Text

"Okay, do I look normal? If I go out on the street, are people going to recognize me and send the PAW Patrol after us?"

On Saturday morning, Sid had scoured below deck for different clothing to avoid drawing suspicion. He modeled, for his doggo, a navy-blue jacket, a white shirt with sky-blue stripes, jeans, black Converse, and a royal-blue beanie over his head. 

"Yeah, you look just like anyone else on the street!" Arrby, who had wiggled into a funky little dog sweater, barked. "We'll pass for sure!"

"Okay. Okay," mumbled Sid, wandering around on the floor. Ever since getting that little flower from the girl, which had since wilted and been floated out to sea, his entire brain had been entirely flipped upside down. He had spent so long plundering and hunting for treasure, but this girl just gifted something to him, out of the goodness of her heart. No one had ever been generous to him before, and the whole situation was turning his entire worldview around. "Alright, are we ready to go?"

"Yes, we are!" Arrby wagged his tail.

Brianna waited patiently at her house for her new friends to arrive. She had a game of Mario Kart booted up, and a plate of berries, cheese cubes, and sliced cucumber on the table. She bounced her leg as she sat on the couch, eager for the date to start. 

There was a knock at the door, signalling that her friends were here. "There you are," she said when she opened up. "And you didn't get caught."

"Not with these disguises! We're masters of stealth!" Arrby chirped. "Arr!"

"Aye, that we are." Sid let Arrby down to circle around Brianna's ankles. "So, uh..." He presented her with a wild daisy. "I found this on the way here. Y'know, since you're into flowers and such." This was weird; he'd never been the type to return favours, but this was different. This was part of a new reality.

"Oh, that's so nice, thank you!" Brianna tucked the daisy behind her ear and brought the boys into the living room. "Come on, let's play our game."

Brianna started a three player game, picking up Wiimotes for the humans and a Paw Pad Wiimote for Arrby. Selecting a VS match, Brianna played as Princess Daisy, Sid played as Funky Kong, and Arrby played as Yoshi. 

The first course, randomly selected, was Coconut Mall. "Quick, the escalator!" Brianna turned to the right, going up the proper escalator. 

"Look, you can go through this store." Arrby turned around and drove through an open "shortcut", inadvertedly landing himself four places back.

"Come on, we gotta double trick!" Neck and neck, Sid and Brianna shook their remotes in unison, making their racers do flips at the same time.

After the race, the three friends picked at the snack plate. "I didn't think you ate cheese," mused Sid, "didn't you say you were a vegetarian?"

"That's a vegan", said Brianna. "Vegetarians only avoid meat, not all animal products."

"That's good," said Arrby. "I don't think I could live without cheese."

After eating, Brianna fiddled with her hair. "Come on...my braid's falling out." She quickly tightened the twists and fixed it back up.

"Wow, you do those twists really fast," said Arrby, watching her.

"It's not really hard. I'll show you. Take your hat off." With Sid's beanie out of the way, she demonstrated. "Just split the hair into three parts, and twist the sides into the middle, over and over."

Now the two humans had braids together. Sid held his up and stroked it. "Wow..." This land lass was something else. He'd never met anybody like her.

Chapter Text

"Am I losing my mind? I've gotta be losing my mind." Sid paced in a circle around the cabin. "I just don't feel like myself anymore. I feel weird. I feel like I've turned into a upstanding citizen overnight!"

"You know what they say," cooed Arrby, "love can change a person!"

"I'm not in love with that land lass!" Sid insisted, his face feeling hot. "I just met her! We need more time to...y'know...get to know each other."

"But you like spending time with her, right?" Arrby asked. "That's the first step."

"Okay, slow down." Sid sat down on the bed. "I appreciate the flower she gave me, and I had a good time playing games with her the other day, but I'm not in love with her. That takes time. And why are you so into the idea of me falling in love, anyway?"

"Well," said Arrby, "sometimes I think you get lonely with only me around. I just thought that if you had a partner, you'd be a lot happier."

"Really?" Sid paused for a minute. "I mean...yeah, it would be nice to have a third crewmate around the ship." 

"Exactly." Arrby nuzzled up to his owner. "You'll come around to each other. Just watch."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm losing my mind." Brianna was on the phone to her mother. "I mean, he's a pirate living in a boat, who probably steals things and has to hide from the PAW Patrol. What am I doing?"

"Well, honey," said Mrs. Stone, "how does he act around you?"

"With me?" Brianna thought. "He's nice to me. He has manners."

"Then you're doing something right." Brianna couldn't say for sure, but she swore that her mother was smiling at her through the phone. "A positive influence can melt even the toughest of hearts, you know."

"Sheesh, Mom, you're so sappy," chuckled Brianna. "Okay, yeah, we get along, but then there's the PAW Patrol. Why is he hiding from them?"

"Why should he have to?" Mrs. Stone asked. "If he's around you, he can change. Then he won't have to hide from them."

Brianna mulled on that. She didn't exactly want her new friend to completely change who he was just for her, but it would be nice to not have to hide from the authorities. "Maybe..."

Chapter Text

The following is a Discord message sent between users "swagbuckle7" and "bumblebri321", recorded for archival purposes.

swagbuckle7: yo (2:19 am)

swagbuckle7: u up? (2:20 am)

bumblebri321: I am now that you made my phone buzz at 2 in the friggin morning (2:20 am)

swagbuckle7: lol (2:21 am)

swagbuckle7: what are u doing (2:21 am)

bumblebri321: Sleeping? What else would I be doing at this hour (2:22 am)

swagbuckle7: idk probably counting stars in the night sky (2:22 am)

bumblebri321: Okay Mr. Romance Novel lol (2:23 am)

swagbuckle7: what can i say there pretty (2:23 am)

bumblebri321: *they're (2:23 am)

swagbuckle7: frigs sake Brianna its 2 am dont judge me (2:24 am)

bumblebri321: Why did you capitalize my name but not fix any other grammar (2:24 am)

swagbuckle7: idk (2:24 am)

swagbuckle7: autocorrect (2:25 am)

bumblebri321: Go to sleep (2:25 am)

swagbuckle7: u first (2:25 am)

bumblebri321: Bro you were the one who woke me up (2:26 am)

swagbuckle7: oh yeah lol (2:26 am)

(bumblebri321 is now offline)

Chapter Text

In the foggy evening, after the sun had set and the town was dark, Brianna stepped out of her house with an overnight bag strapped to her back, dressed in a black cloak to conceal her face. She wove in between streets down to the beach, avoiding streetlights on her way to her secret overnight stay on the pirate ship.

On the shores by the rocky cliffs, Sid and Arrby waited with the drawbridge down for the mysterious flower girl. Once she finally arrived and stepped onto the boat, the bridge was pulled in and the three entered the cabin below, which had been straightened out and tidied for the event. Blankets and pillows were laid across the floor for a fun, cozy time hanging around on the ground. Arrby nosed his way underneath a fuzzy black blanket with a wolf on it. "This blanket is my favourite!"

"Yeah?" Brianna sat down on the pillow next to him. "I think my dad has one just like it." 

"Settle in, mateys!" Sid placed a tablet in front of the group.  "Jungle Dragons is live tonight!" He turned the video on, and a trio of orange dragons started to swing across the screen on vines.

Arrby scooted closer to the tablet. "Are they going to find the key to the mystery temple?"

"Only one way to find out." Brianna settled in to watch the show.

After a fun episode of chasing monkeys, the second Jungle Dragons story began with one of the dragons receiving a letter from Mama Dragon in the savannah. The pirates took pause for a moment. Sid turned to Brianna. "So...what's your family like?"

"My family?" Brianna pushed one of her tawny braids behind her back. "Well, it's just me and my parents. They live in the next town over, in Puppington Heights." 

"Are they nice?" Arrby nudged his way under Brianna's arm.

"Oh, of course," said Brianna. "They're veterinarians, y'know. They love animals. And they've always believed in me, no matter what happens."

"Wow..." Arrby wagged his tail. "We don't have any parents. Just us."

"You don't?" Brianna asked.

"Arrby was a stray," explained Sid. "I found him on an island far away, and brought him with me."

"And you?" Brianna titled her head.

"Well..." Sid paused the show. "I knew my parents were there when I was just a small fry. But I don't remember much about them..."