Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was your average winter day in the town of Rose Meadow, and students were busy all around, preparing for exams, the holidays, and more importantly, Winter break.

All but one.

Andrew Williams, more commonly known as Drew, the son of the Local Celebrity, Felix Williams, the lawyer most people in Rose Meadow went to during Lawsuits, was not doing well. 

To clarify, he wasn’t failing school, just the opposite, he had the highest grades throughout his grade, except for the student Daisy Eden.

Drew was not doing well mentally, though most people didn’t notice.

That was, except for his two best friends, Henry Beaulieu, and Liam Earl.

They knew something was wrong ever since Drew’s argument with his old best friend, Jake Sterling.

Drew’s mental health went on a decline after it, and for several days afterwards, he hadn’t shown up to school. 

And when he finally came back, he looked like a mess. His hair was messy, his magenta curls tangled together. His Cocoa colored eyes had bags that showed he hadn’t slept for a while, and that he’d been crying.

And Henry and Liam knew why. 

Drew had been in love with Jake. 

He always had been.

But now, after their argument, their break-up, or “The Drake-Up” as Henry and Liam called it, Drew had fallen into a depressive state, unable to find hope once again.

“What should we do?” Henry asked his boyfriend in a hushed tone as he and Liam took off their winter gear they wore and shoved it into their shared locker. “I mean, it’s been two months since the drake-up, and Drew’s still like this.”

Liam grunted, as he pulled off his winter boot, and shoved it into the bottom of the locker, carefully making sure he didn’t step into the gross brown snow that had plagued the boots, causing the hallway floor to become slippery.

“Hen, I don’t know, I really don’t. Heartbreak is a hard thing to deal with, and as you obviously can see, Drew’s taking it hard. Harder than he took it during that short period when he found out Zoey was cheating on him.”

Just then, the hallway chatter stopped. 

The two looked at each other, and instantly they knew what had happened.

Drew had arrived.

The raspberry made his way to the locker next to the deku knockoff, and the vampire, and began to unzip his winter jacket.

“Hey Drew, how are you?” Henry tried asking, hoping he might be doing better than the day before.

Drew turned towards the green haired boy, and snorted, surprising the two.

“Same as always Henry. I fucking want to die, and never have to deal with this place again.” He laughed, and then continued, “But I can’t have that can I? And if I kill myself, then people are gonna start asking questions on whatever the fuck happened. And my dad’s going to have to deal with my shit again, and I don’t want him to have to deal with it again. Not after mom’s death.”

The magenta haired boy’s voice wavered, and obviously seemed like he was on the verge of tears, but he continued again.

“So I’m just going to stay here, and pretend that what happened with him never happened, and try to remain sane. Sounds good to you?” 

Henry and Liam glanced at each other, concerned about their friend. 

Drew finished putting his stuff in his locker, and walked away from the two.

“Well that happe-“ Henry started, before Liam grabbed the shorter boy’s wrist, and cut him off.

“Henry, we don’t have time to joke about this. Drew needs help.”

 Henry ripped his arm away from the taller boy.

“I know, I know. But first, we need Jake.”

Chapter Text

Ocean.

Everywhere he looked there was ocean. 

And he loved it. He really did.

It reminded him of the good days. The days where he and his granddad, Calico Jack, sailed the ocean, looking for pirate treasure.

The ocean held good memories for him. But it held nightmares for him too.

When he and his granddad had been sailing, and then the waves came. 

It was stormy, and the waves were hitting the ship rapidly. Kwazii was atop the crow’s nest on the ship, and he couldn’t see much. That was when they hit a rock formation.

The ship tore apart, and Kwazii was then in the water, holding onto a broken plank for his dear life. The ship crew were in similar states, all calling out to one another.

Kwazii looked around, but nowhere he looked he saw his kin, his granddad.

He felt his eyes grow heavy, and soon all he saw was black.

He woke again, on a life raft, alone.

All that he had was an oar to steer it, some dried kelp, and a note. 

It read,

“ My dear grandson Kwazii,

   I know this will anger you, but I’ve left to go find the treasure of the Amazon. I was going to tell you tonight, but alas, the ship crashed, and I knew I couldn’t take you. 

  I’m deeply sorry for leaving you like this, but with all of the crew dead, I had to. You and I are the sole survivors. Parrot Pete and I have headed off in search of the Amazon.

  I’ve left you this raft, and a small supply of food and water to last you a week or two. I know you can do this.

I hope we meet again Kwazii, on better terms.

I love you,                        

Calico Jack”

Kwazii stared at the note in disbelief. 

His granddad, his only living family, had left him. (Well his mother was still alive, but she refused to accept him for who he was.)

He was only 13. 

He sat on  the raft for a few moments in silence before grabbing the first aid kit every life raft was equipped with. 

He bandaged the cuts that had opened up when he dropped into the water, and then bandaged his eye that had been hurting for the past 10 minutes since he’d woke up.

He knew it wasn’t done well, but it was good enough for the moment.

And that was how it was for about a week.

He ate a small meal of the dry kelp daily, trying to make it last. 

He only drank the water he had only when his throat was dry, and lips and nose were chapped.

He changed his bandages every other day, only to find that he still couldn’t see well out of his injured eye.

He grabbed the eyepatch that was left in the raft and put it on.

Now he had a reason to wear an eyepatch, like a true pirate.

But it got lonely, as he drifted aimlessly in the ocean, alone and having no idea where he was.

But then he found out when he started seeing icebergs.

At first, he only saw small ice chunks, and then started seeing more and more. 

Kwazii had a feeling he knew where he was. 

The arctic.

The ginger cat shivered, curled up into a ball as the raft floated closer and closer into the Arctic.

He saw walrus, and while they were cool, and he wanted to talk to them, he was too weak.

Slowly, his eyes closed, and he tried to fight it.

He couldn’t sleep now. He hadn't slept in a week, and he couldn’t start now. If he did, he’d drift further into the Arctic and freeze.

But still, slowly all he saw was black.

~~~

He woke in a den, feeling warmth spread across his body.

He heard voices talking, saying something like, “BARNACLES! BARNACLES SHE’S AWAKE! COME QUICK FEATHER PAW!!”

“He.” He tried to say, attempting to correct whoever said that.

“What?” The voice came closer, and Kwazii tried again. 

“I said matey, He. I’m a boy.”

“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to assume I-“

Kwazii opened his eyes, and finally saw who was talking to.

They were white, and seemed a lot bigger than him.

“It’s fine mate. Who are you though? And where am I?”

The cat tried to stand up, but failed.

“No, no, please rest. I’m Bianca, and you’re in my family’s den. My brother Barnacles found you, and if he would just hurry up , you could meet him.” 

“Wha-What are you?” Kwazii asked, as he looked at “Bianca” again.

“Oh, I’m a polar bear. I mean, You’re in the arctic.”

“WHAT?!”

“Please, save your voice. You must’ve been at sea for days, you need rest.”

Just then another polar bear rushed into the room, and yelled, “I’m here! I’m here!”

The new person looked at Kwazii curiously, and walked over.

“Hello. My name’s Barnacles. Are you ok?”

“I uh, I think so.” Kwazii responded from the bed he was in.

“Good. Who are you?” Barnacles asked, tilting his head as he surveyed Kwazii.

“Well, my name’s Kwazii. Kwazii Kitten. Grandson of the greatest pirate of all time, Calico Jack!”

Barnacles smiled, “Well then Kwazii, nice to meet you.” 

The Ocean always brought Kwazii memories, good and bad.

And that was why he loved it.

Even when he lost his granddad, the ocean still helped him find his way to a new family, from the Arctic to the Octopod.

Chapter Text

Christmas.

It came every year, and Zoey hated it.

Why make a holiday just to celebrate a stupid kid’s birthday and give gifts.

She hated the huge family gatherings that her family, the Sterlings, always had. 

Her grandparents always bugged her about the fact that she was trans-femme, especially her grandfather on her mom’s side, who always said, “You were a perfectly good boy, why change that.” Or some shit like that.

The only good part was that she got gifts.

Not that they were good gifts anyway. The only good stuff she got was from her cousins, Jake and Milo.

It wasn’t like she really liked them either. Jake was an asshole who was always the family favorite, and Milo was a little punk who would never shut the fuck up.

But it was better than nothing. Jake and Milo always had her back when their grandparents made the transphobic comments about her. And she stuck with them when their other cousins, the Storks, (though she called them the Dorks) made fun of Jake for getting bullied in middle school.

But this year was different. It was going to be for a number of reasons.

For one thing, there were like three new members of the Sterlings, as for some reason, her aunts, uncles, and cousins had gotten busy if you know what she means.

Then, her grandmother died, and now she stuck with her transphobic grandpa.

And then there was Jake.

She’d turned him against her, from blackmailing him, releasing audio of him talking shit about his friends for the entirety of Rose Meadow to hear and see, and cheating on her ex, his, at the time best friend. 

Oh yeah, and Jake and her Ex were dating now. And Jake was bringing him to their Christmas this year. 

Yeah, she was fucked. 

But at least they got to go somewhere new for a change. 

Her mom’s brother, who was apparently swimming in cash, offered to pay for a trip to a tropical area, called Cosmos Grove. (She still wondered why the guy didn’t just give people cash for Christmas, instead of getting them cheesy gifts)

When the day finally came, and she got on the airplane to get there, she found out who she was sitting with. 

Her ex, Drew.

“Zoey?! What the fuck are you doing here!?” Drew yelped, trying to move away from the girl as quickly as possible.

“Wow, it’s like you forgot your own ex’s last name Drewy.” She replied, rolling her eyes.

Yep, it was gonna be a long, fucked Christmas.

Chapter Text

Oh, how C. J. Hated flying.

Being raised a fisherman, he’d always preferred boats, but obviously it wasn’t like he could take a boat to get to the islands for when streamed, letting those island representatives do his Sea Sports challenges.

Ferries were to big to fit in ports, not that there were ones on most islands he visited. And despite how many times he tried to bribe that stupid fox Redd to take him to the islands, the fox refused saying that he didn’t know the way, unless he too was getting payed, which wasn’t apart of the deal him, Redd, his boyfriend Flick, and others like the rug-seller Sahara, his friend Kicks, the shoe selling skunk, the sloth that sold weed or something, and sometimes two of the Able Sisters, Mabel and Sable, though mainly Sable, had agreed to with Tom Nook the islands’ owner where only one of them could go to an island daily to sell or do their thing, but not on weekends because other events happened then.

And it wasn’t like the dinky boat he had back home would work anyway, there wasn’t even a dock for him to leave it at.

So C. J. was stuck with riding the Sea Planes. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the DoDo brothers that flew him and Flick to islands(They’d gotten a great deal with the two so they didn’t have to pay much for their daily flying they did). 

Orville was a pretty cool guy(though some of techniques were, to say the least, questionable) and his brother Wilbur who flew the plane was a great pilot(not to mention kinda hot).

But he didn’t like planes. Being in the sky was out of his element of being in the water, were all the fish were.

And that was why he was surprised when Flick asked him to go on a (fire)flight with him to a “special” island.

At first he thought it was going to be fine, because At least he and Flick were on the plane together, but no, when he asked for the details on it, Flick told him that he was going to meet him there.

And that was why C. J. Found himself on an hour long plane ride, on his way to some mystery island where he was supposedly going to his boyfriend.

Finally though, the plane landed, and a island with a huge lake, where Flick met he out on the dock.

”Hello honeybee.” The chameleon said, his tail’s scales turning a slight pink color, signifying he was blushing. (Trust C.J. here, apparently it’s hard to tell if a chameleon blushes.) 

The beaver pressed his blue and brown paws in into his boyfriend’s claw, and replied, “Hey Angelfish.” With a smile.

“I wanna show you something.” Flick said, pulling C.J. Into the direction of the lake, before turning to a path. “After you, honeybee.”

“No, no, after you Angel. I don’t know where we’re going, remember?”

The chameleon’s face flushed redder than normal, before leading his beaver boyfriend on the path. 

After walking for awhile, Flick said, “We’re here.”

C. J. Looked around, at where he was. It was a little area, just between two hills, looking out at the lake. Considering the timing, there were fireflies out and about, lighting up the sky.

“Well?” The chameleon asked, “Do you like it?”

”Like it? Angelfish, I love it! This place is Fin-tastic!”

Flick smiled, “I’m glad you do. My friend Bob told me about this place, and that he took his boyfriend Punchy here last summer. He told he fireflies were beautiful. And, he’s right. The fireflies lighting up this sky, this beautiful June sky, allow me to see all the beautiful things in the world. The bugs that help our ecosystems, along with the fish, allowing our world to go through those metamorphosis of the seasons. It allows me to see my friends, and more importantly, you.”

C. J. Let out a giggle. 

“Babe, your forgetting something?”

The punk red chameleon looked at him, a look of confusion on his face.

”What?” He asked.

”You!”

C. J. Pulled Flick into a kiss, smiling about how wonderful the night was. 

Maybe flying wasn’t so bad, I mean, it let him have this.

Chapter Text

Wowie.

Wow.

Look at you now! 

Evolving,

Solving,

Crying,

Dying.

Look at you now Jax.

Look at you now.

You found a way,

To make people hate.

Hate you, as much as you hate yourself.

Really Jax, 

I’m proud!

You should have never left the farm.

Never become a city boy.

Never bought that VR headset.

Never entered the Digital World.

But now, 

Now you have a chance.

Now you can come back.

Come home Jax.

Back to the farm. 

We’re all ears to hear.

To hear you beg, beg for forgiveness.

To hear you say why. 

Why you’re sorry,

Sorry that you ventured out on your own.

”To find yourself” you said.

Back you come.

To your corny, corny home :)

Chapter Text

Lost in the Ocean,

Nowhere to go, no one has

to see Kwazii now.

Chapter Text

The sun was rising upon the horizon of the island that Tom Nook called home, and he sighed to himself, looking at all the Island Representative had done. 

It really was great, considering how it has been only a week since they’d bought the ticket for the Deserted Island Getaway Package. 

It was nice that they’d managed to get the Plaza Upgraded as well, and he didn’t have to do the Island Announcements daily anymore.

But then as he watched the sun rise, as he turned to stand and head back to his office(He had just finished decorating his area, and was rather proud) when he noticed smoke coming from the Northern beach that was in the back of the island. 

That’s strange, He thought,  I didn’t permit anyone to park their boat there…

But that's when he heard who owned the boat.

“Hell, you’re practically family!”

And he knew who it was.

His ex.

He ran down to where the beach was where he caught his island rep. getting scammed by him .

“Redd.” He said, Fuming.

“Oh! Hello there Tommy!” The fox replied, a smug look on his face. Nook hated how Redd always knew what buttons to press to make himself fume.

Nook took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down, before saying, “Redd, I don’t believe you're permitted to be here.”

“Oh really?” The fox went in his apron (An obvious copy of the uniform he had Timmy and Tommy wear in the old stage of the Nook Shop) and whipped out a sheet of paper that said in a scribbled writing, 

“ Mr. Redd can park hid his ship here. 

— Ankle Uncle Tom”

“Ah yes Redd, because I sign all of my paperwork with ‘Uncle Tom.’”

Redd looked at the paper and muttered to himself, saying “Those little shits…”

“Redd, you should go.” Said the Tanukichi, grinning at the Fox’s fail.

“FINE.” He replied, fuming as he got back on his boat, “BUT I’LL BE BACK.”