I own nothing not even this computer please remember to read and review. This is a Tom/Sabine one with mentions of Adrien/Marinette in the end. Also based in the past. No idea how far in the past. Please read and review as that is the only thing that keeps me writing these things.
Tom was smiling as he mounted the stairs to the boat. He had just finished his first time abroad, and now he was returning home to lovely France. Of course he had never imagined that at twenty six years old he would be traveling to China, but his family insisted that he go out and experience the world before he took over the bakery.
He had never even been outside of Paris before so every single moment was an adventure in and of itself. The way the the suns et in the country side. People playing music, even traveling upon the massive ship was an adventure. He was enjoying every last minute of it. He thanked his lucky stars that he had decided to go to China. He had learned so much from the people and the culture.
(Admittedly he had chosen China because he had never expected his family to seriously send him out there. But they insisted and before he knew it he had been wrapped up and sent out far to the East.)
Tom took a deep breath of salty air. It had a few tinges of smoke that got caught in his mustache. He was very proud of his mustache and groomed it daily, he felt that he would look a little bit too much like a gorilla if he shaved it.
He paused and sniffed again, attempting to be a bit more discreet. Something besides soot had become caught in his mustache, something distinctly more delicate and fragrant. He hadn't expected to smell something like that. It was a soft smell, but also a local smell.
He followed his nose, attempting to not look like too much of a blood hound. He paused when he found the source and just gazed at her out of the corner of his eye. There she was. The source of the smell. And possibly the most beautiful woman that Tom had ever seen in his life.
She was short and a little plump, almost like a dumpling. Those had quickly become his favorite food when he was traveling across the enormous country. This woman wore no makeup, at least none that he could tell. Her lips very well could be that pink naturally and her eyes shined largely and brightly enough that she did not need to bring anyones attention to them. Tom touched his nose self-consciously and felt it grow red with a blush. He should have grown a beard, no one can see you blush when you wear a beard.
She was standing alone by the railing, she was wearing the traditional attire of a woman who was traveling. Tom felt his heart begin to speed up in his chest and felt his left hand flap a little self-consciously. It was a nervous tick that he had developed when he was a child and it had never gone away.
He adjusted his mustache, pulled his shirt down so that there were no wrinkles and licked his thumbs before running them over his eyebrows to smooth out any creases. He then determinedly strode forward towards where the beautiful mystery woman was standing gazing down at the waves as they pulled out of port.
He then continued on past her when he became too nervous and realized that he did not know what he was going to say to her. He continued walking until he got to the other side of the ship and breathed out a sigh of relief. She was just so gorgeous, what would a beautiful local girl like her want with a large bulky foreign like himself?
He should just hide somewhere on the ship in order to avoid her. Hopefully he would not see her again for the remainder of the voyage.
He saw her again. And again. And Again.
Walking alone the side of the boat she would be strolling down in the other direction. When he changed it so that he would only leave his bunk at night she would be there as well. When he went to get food she would be sitting at another table with multiple other Chinese woman and picking at her food.
Tom tried not to stare as he bit into his piece of bread. It was difficult, she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen, and he doubted that they even spoke the same language. He made a disgusted face at the bread. Too sweet, probably made by Americans. His families bread was significantly better, he could probably show the baker on board a thing or two—
Tom was startled out of his musings when he heard the ship groan. All of the diners stopped what they were doing, eating, reading, chatting, and everyone sat and listened. Tom stood up and walked a few paces towards the door. His curiosity peeked. What could possibly be happening?
The ship dramatically tilted to the left and then just as quickly to the right. There were shouts of surprise and then people were rushing towards the door. It sounded as if a siren was starting. Tom in surprise was swept along by the tide of terrified people. He kept a hand on one wall and attempted to keep his balance.
He felt something slam into him from the side. He looked down to see the mystery woman, her lovely face contorted in fear. She wrapped her arms around him as if to remain anchored. He wrapped one arm around her and steadily began to work his way through the crowd of people. They took off down one hallway. IT was relatively more empty then the others and he quickly made space for them.
Before the two knew it they were up on deck, an empty side of the ship. The boat was leaning. More screams and shouts came from behind them as the boat began to groan. Tom ran to the side and looked downwards. There was a hole in the bow. The entire ship was sinking quickly.
"This way!" The woman shouted beside him and pulled him quickly towards an unmanned lifeboat. Tom was too chocked that they knew the same language to respond. He allowed himself to be dragged along by the significantly smaller woman.
She was struggling with untying the boat. With a few quick movements Tom untangle the rope and lifted her into it. They both lowered the boat into the water and Tom began to row away. They watched as the ship titled to one side and then was engulfed beneath the water.
"What do you think happened?" He said in horror.
"I have no idea." She responded as the two of them watched as the boat slowly sank from sight.
"My name is Tom. I just thought you might like to know."
"I am Sabine." She responded as she sat across from him. Tom took up the oars and began rowing. She looked at him, scrutinized him as he did so. She then looked down towards the flowing water around them.
"Do you even know where you are going?"
"I just thought that I should be doing something. And I certainly don;t think that we should just be left to go adrift in the middle of the ocean." Tom responded softly. Sabine nodded, never once making eye contact with him.
The night wore on. And then the next day wore on. And then the next night and the next day. Sabine was laying in the bottom of the boat sweat beading her brow. She gazed off at nothing. At first the two of them had done nothing except talk. He learned she lived in France and had just been visiting family in China before moving back to her small country home. He had told her how he had lived in Paris his entire life and how he was going to own his own bakery once he returned. She had perked up at that and had excitedly rattled off to him how she always dreamed of owning her own bakery, how she loved the small sweet treats that they made. He had insisted that the breads were always the best part of any bakery.
That had gotten them onto a long debate about the best kind of baked good which lasted an entire day and a half and took their minds off of the fact that they were in the middle of the ocean with no food or water.
Tom was still rowing. He had to keep on rowing. For Sabine. He had to find land, water, shelter, food, he could not just leave her in the bottom of the boat to die. He would do everything within his power to make sure that she was safe.
His heart physically pained him whenever he looked at her in the bottom of the dinghy.
He heard the waves breaking. More then just breaking, they were sucking at something. Tom turned around and quickly increased his fevered rowing. Before he knew it he had landed. He jumped from the boat and pulled it up onto shore, then further up until it was firmly anchored. He dropped to his knees and touched the hot sand with both palms open.
The grains bit at his hands and he relished every moment. The enormous jungle opened up before him. As daunting as something from a novel.
"Sabine! Sabine!" He called into the boat as he ran to her. She sat up and gasped at the jungle before the two of them. He effortlessly picked her up and carried her onto the beach.
"We made it."
"Yes. But to where?" she said nervously. The two looked out at the jungle.
Hours had passed and the two were still walking along the beach. Hand in hand. For their own comfort more then anything else. Tom would try to start a conversation, become flustered and then drop the subject entirely. Sabine seemed to enjoy the silence and his company, just walking beside him and listening to the waves. She would sneak occasional glances at him and then look back at the sand and smile. He never noticed the rosy blush across her face.
"Oh no." Tom said. The boat, they had begun by walking away from it. Now they were walking back towards it. "Oh no. No." He said again as he dropped her hand and ran forward.
"An island. We must be on an island." Tom said dejectedly as he sat in the sand, running his hands through his hair. Sabine walked over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"It is okay. We will get out of this."
"I wanted to make sure that you were safe. Now look at us. Stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere. I'm never going to forgive myself." He spoke softer and softer, a few tears glimmering at the side of his eyes. Sabine leaned down and wiped them away before taking his face in her tiny delicate hands.
"Tom look, you rowed for days, you didn't even know if anything was out there. And now look. We are safe. We are alive. Tom you saved us. You saved me." She smiled at him. He pulled her forward and wrapped his arms around her shoulders pulling him tightly against her.
The two sat there for many minutes just holding onto each other as the sun beat overhead.
Tom raised the next plank and groaned as he shifted it into place.
"Don't throw out your back dear." Sabine called to him from higher up in the tree. Their tree-fort that they were constructing had been a final admittance to each other. They were not getting off of the island. Not a speck of smoke on the horizon, or a sail, nothing in all directions except for the never ending ocean. It simply continued to beat at their shore. They had decided that they would build the house when they were confident that no one was going to find them.
She had started to call him dear at that point. He had wanted to call her something back, but the only thing that came to mind was 'dumpling' and he feared that that would offend her. He had accidentally offended her once. She had not spoken to him for a week, that had been his loneliest time. Being in the same place and the only other human being in it would not talk to you…that was terrifying.
He hadn't even been sure what it was that he had said that had offended her! Woman, he did not understand them. Well he understood this one a little. She was smart, funny, kind, and above all clever as a whip. She had come up with the idea of making an oven out of stone for them to cook on and in. It had been a massive undertaking but ultimately worth it. When they had found that grain plant on the island and he realized that he would be able to make bread all the better.
Tom passed Sabine a hammer and tried not to notice how lovely she looked with her short black hair reflecting the sunlight, or how she seemed to move with sensual ease over the timbers. He would find himself grinning goofily after her, her scent lingering in the air for a few seconds, he would then find himself blushing and felt thankful that he had actually successfully grown a beard to hide it underneath.
Sabine smiled to herself. She would occasionally steal glimpses at Tom. He had taken his shirt off, complaining that it was too hot for him to wear. She did not complain, she liked looking at the massive mans muscles. They were the size of stones and twice as firm. He would move around as carefully as a mouse, picking enormous tree branches and then relocating them with ease. He never seemed to stumble or fall, she on the other hand was almost hyper aware of how if she wasn't cautious she might fall to her doom. She simply needed to be in control.
"Okay." Tom said content once the final timber had been placed. "I believe that our own little island bakery is officially opened for business."
"It is beautiful Tom." Sabine said as she wrapped her arms around his waist. He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. He looked down at her, she stood on tiptoe gazing up fondly at him. They felt something shoot through their chests, as if they had been hit by lightning or a clap of thunder had occurred directly over their heads.
Tom leaned down. Sabine stood upwards on tiptoes. And their lips met tenderly.
Marinette had been born on the island. It was the only home that she knew. IT was the greatest home that she knew. She grew up strong and clever. She learned how to swim to the bottom of the ocean to search for crabs and could hold her breath for longer then her parents combined. She could navigate the dark jungle in even the most ferocious storms and she could practically dance across the tree branches without a second thought.
So when her parents had decided to sleep in she had not complained. After all she enjoyed sleeping in even later then them most days. However they said that today was their 'anniversary' or something like that. Which one she had no idea, they celebrated the time when they had been lost at sea, the day that they had found their new home, the day that they had shared their first kiss and the day that they said that they 'married' each other.
It almost seemed as if the two of them were just making excuses to be extra affectionate towards each other and spend more and more time with just the other. She didn't mind. The two of them were adorable and she always like a romantic story. Sure she had to hear them from her parents and she knew all of their stories line for line, but that didn't mean she ever grew tired of them.
Especially the ones about herself and how they felt so happy once she was born.
Marinette wandered the beach looking for shells, sea glass, pieces of debris washed onto the shore. She could find a lot out on the beaches. She was especially lucky as last night there had been a storm. She expected to find many little knickknacks, maybe an actual sewing needle instead of the shell that she had filed to a point. She wanted to find something thin and sharp to actually use.
She paused when her foot hit something black and shiny. She kicked it experimentally and heard something mumble in the sand. Marinette followed the mumbling upwards until she paused. The boot was connected to fine silk pants, which were connected to a black and white silk shirt that had a boy who was tucked into it all. He had bright blonde hair the color of the sun and skin that rivaled the moon in beauty.
Marinette dropped beside him and cradled his head in her palm.
"Are you alright?" She inquired as his eyes fluttered open. His eyes widened and she felt her heart drop to somewhere in her guts. He was as lovely as an angel, and she had been wrong, he wasn't like the moon, he looked as radiant as the sun.
"I..where am I? Who are you?"
"I-I-I…" she cleared her throat, why was she stuttering? "I'm Marinette. Who are you?"
"My name is Adrien. Where am I?"
"Your home. I bean mine home. I MEAN! my home. But it can be yours too!" Adrien sat up and touched the side of his head. He looked out towards the water and frowning narrowed his eyes. He then turned to her with a beautiful smile that held equal parts bashfulness and charm.
"I think I would like that very much."
The first thing Marinette asked her parents when she showed them Adrien was whether or not they could keep him.
Please remember to read and review. I own nothing not even this computer. Sorry if that was a little on the short side and a little unexplained towards the end. Again this chapter took place in the distant historical past because why not?