For arzani92, who requested ShakkyRayleigh - drunken confessions!
"Tell me a story," Shakky purred in his ear, and Rayleigh smiled, the alcohol in his bloodstream making the world spin pleasantly. "An embarrassing one."
Rayleigh hummed in thought. "And what's in it for me?"
She looked at him from under her eyelashes and licked her lips. "I'm sure we can think of something that is fair."
Rayleigh sighed, but she looked so excited, so what the hell. He topped off both of their cups first, and bit his lower lip, his mind flipping through possibilities, tossing out some as too embarrassing and others as not up to Shakky's standards. He snorted when he thought of the perfect story, and she raised her brows leaning into him eagerly, warmth flaring at his shoulder where she brushed.
"Very well," he said, "but no laughing."
"It was a year or two before Roger's death, when Shanks and Buggy were first with us. The little scamps used to prank everyone on the ship, me most especially when they'd been scolded." Shakky leaned in, head tilting up encouragingly, and Rayleigh tossed back his drink. "This particular time... you know, I can't remember what I'd yelled at them for? Something ridiculous, surely. It always was with those two."
"Doesn't matter, get to the good part!" she demanded, and Rayleigh chased down his wandering thoughts, catching them and forcing them back to the story.
"Right, so they snuck into my room one night when I was sleeping, after a big party, when I wasn't all with it, and they dyed by beard."
She snorted. "That hardly counts as embarrassing! What color was it?"
Rayleigh shook his head. "Just wait. And they were more ambitious than that. They dyed each stripe a different color!" He gestured to his beard, and Shakky's eyes widened and she burst out laughing. He let a smile cross his face. It had been pretty funny. "I was blond then, and they bleached one to almost white, and then red, brown, and black in order." He rubbed his chin subconsciously as he waited for her to calm down.
"Oh wow, that must has looked ridiculous!" She glanced at him consideringly. " Or..."
"I was furious of course, mostly because they'd pulled one over on me." Alcohol warmed his blood, and made him decide to tell the full story. She'd wanted embarrassing after all. "Roger laughed so hard, but there was no way to fix it. We were... god, I don't remember where, but there was no where to buy hair dye for a good long time. So I had to get used to it, because they'd used everything they had up."
Shakky was pressed up against him thigh to shoulder, her head rolling over to his shoulder for support, and she hummed, urging him to continue as she topped up their glasses. "Roger caught me touching it up after the next island." She spit out her drink, coughing. "What? It looked dashing I thought, and it just looked odd when it started growing out. Served the brats right anyway, thinking they'd pulled one over on me."
Shakky sputtered, finally recovering her breath. "How long?"
"Almost a year," he said and sighed. She didn't stop laughing for a long time, and when she managed to smother her fit of giggles, finally sinking down to the bar to keep from making eye contact with him as she gasped for breath.
"That was a good one." She smiled up at him wickedly, head still pillowed on her arms. "Now about your reward... Perhaps we should settle up?"
"An excellent idea." He grinned down at her, affection welling up in him at her easy acceptance and teasing. Who'd have thought he'd be lucky enough to find love, after all he'd been through?