Secret Santa Short Story (and other alliterations)

[strangetomato]

This short story was written as a Secret Santa gift for showercapfrog, and it is unrepentantly Tank/Frances. It takes place in my version of Strangetown, but it would not be considered "canon-compliant" with Strangetown, HWC (I feel like I'm taking myself a tad too seriously even saying that, but you get my meaning). It doesn't have images because I didn't get back to my computer before the deadline, as I thought I would, but it does have Tank and Frances and fluff. I'm posting it here for any other diehard Tank/Frances shippers out there. You know who you are.






Tank heard the door close downstairs, so he went to greet Frances. As usual, Frances was all smiles to see him, in his typically restrained way, and he was carrying a rather large bottle.

"What's that?"

"Oh, nothing. Just some champagne. It's a gift from Edie. She insists on bubbly for New Year's Eve, even if it's just a quiet night at home."

"Do you have any plans?"

"No. I guess I'm doing nothing by default."

"Same here."

"What about Kendall?"

"She's home with her family."

"You didn't go?"

"No. It's complicated. We needed a bit of a break or something."

Frances didn't pry, but he was secretly glad to hear that. Even if he had no chance, his heart still leapt at the thought that Tank might be available. It made little sense, but that's just how it was, and likely always would be.

"Well, we could drink some of the champagne... shoot off some fireworks."

"Do you have fireworks?"

"That was a joke, Tank. I hate fireworks."

"What? How can you hate them? I thought everyone liked fireworks."

"They're so gaudy and tacky. I just don't see the point. It's a bunch of overgrown little boys blowing things up."

"But it's fun to blow things up. You should try it."

"Oh, please. I get a fright when the toast pops up."

"Yeah, you do." Tank smirked. "It's pretty funny too."

"I'm glad I amuse you." He walked towards the kitchen, lifting the bottle over his head, with a flourish and a swing of the hip. "So... yes, no? Are we going to drink some of this, and shoot off no fireworks? It's a lot to drink all by myself. I'm a cheap drunk."

"Well, just look at you." Tank laughed.

"Whatever do you mean? I'm a big guy, aren't I? I'm built like a lumberjack, I'm told." Frances was built more like a librarian. He started to work the cork out, with great effort. "Shall we go all out and use flutes?"

"Yeah, sure." Tank watched as Frances struggled with the cork. "Need a hand there?"

"No, I can do it." Frances continued to sweat it out, unconvincingly.

"Here. Let me see it."

"I have it, I have it."

"No, really -" As Tank reached for the bottle, Frances jerked it out of reach and fell backwards. The cork came loose and shot across the room, barely missing Tank's face. "Shit!" Tank dropped to the floor, as if he was in the middle of a battlefield, and Frances toppled over in fright.

"Fuck, said Tank, "I could have lost an eye."

"Sorry." Frances couldn't help but laugh. Tank was laughing too. As he pulled himself upright again, cradling the bottle, Frances said, "Let the record show that I did open it myself, though."

Soon they were sitting on the coach, with flutes in hand.

Frances picked up the remote. "Let's turn on SBC, just so we can see when the new year is here."

"What's wrong with SBN?"

"SBC is better."

"Yeah... if you're a snob."

"Well, I am a snob, in case you haven't noticed..."

"Okay, then put on your snooty foreign channel. I don't care."

"Great." Frances worked his way through the channels until he found SBC. They both took pause when they found a figure skating championship was on.

"Ummm..." Tank didn't get anything else out before Frances started flicking through the channels again.

"Yeah, sorry... I thought they would be doing something for New Year's."

"Maybe it's too early." Tank shrugged. "Well, just leave it on, if you want. I don't care."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm not exactly a fan, but there's nothing wrong with it."

"Well, I don't follow it either," Frances assured him, "It's all a little over the top, if you ask me." They watched as a particularly flamboyant young man emoted and interpeted a piece of classical music. "I'm not really interested in ballet and all that either. I just don't think the music needs anything else added to it."

"Nice jump, though." Tank gestured at the screen. "It's takes a lot of strength to do that, even if it's all a little... well, you know."

"You can say it. It's no better to trail off like that, you know."

"I'm not sure what I should say."

"How about twee? That's pretty inoffensive. You could say gay, but that's making assumptions. He might be straight."

"Do you think so?" Tank raised an unconvinced eyebrow.

"No. I think he's terribly, terribly gay."

"Terribly?"

"As in, 'terribly, terribly Veronish?'" he waited for a sign of recognition, but none came. "It's a Veronaville thing. I don't know. My sister likes to feign an accent and declare things are terribly, terribly, outrageously, disgustingly Veronish."

"It's new to me." Tank shrugged.

"Well, there you go." Frances did his best Veronaville accent, and Tank could see that he was pretty good at it. "You're terribly, terribly un-Veronish. You're maddeningly so."

"I'm just a lout, aren't I?" Tank asked, really looking for a frank answer. "I'm not witty like you are."

"I'm not that witty. And you're not that bad." Frances stared into the bottom of his empty champagne flute. His fake accent returned. "Well that appears to have evaporated. Would you like another?"

"Sure."

Frances returned with the bottle, to find Tank fairly caught up in the figure skating program. "Here's your glass, sir," Fraces said.

"So, what about him?"

"What? Is he gay, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"God, I don't know, Tank. He might be."

"Can you always tell?"

"Not at all. Well, you should know that."

"Yeah, I guess so." He was thinking something over.

"What?"

"Nothing." Tank was still pondering something, so Frances waited. "So, When did you first know? About that."

"That I liked boys?" Frances was surprised that Tank was continuing this train of thought. Maybe the champagne was going to Tank's head. It was definitely going to his.

"Yeah."

"I don't know, honestly. Maybe I always did, but I wasn't always aware of it. Not completely." Frances began to play with the button on the cuff of his shirt. "I even dated a couple of girls, you know."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I guess I was testing it out, seeing if I could make it work."

Tank huffed out something that resembled a laugh. "Well, I hear it works both ways for some people."

"It doesn't for me." Frances shrugged. "Not at all. It was nice enough, in it's own way, but I was never really attracted to them. There were no fireworks. You know?"

"Yeah?" Tank seemed to be waiting for more, which would have unnerved Frances if he wasn't so light in the head.

"I kissed a couple of them. It was alright, but it wasn't the same."

"A couple of them? You've kissed as many girls as I have, Worthington! That's just wrong."

Frances shrugged. "I think every girl dreams of having a straight gay guy. It's that whole sensitive thing. It's a fine line."

Tank was refilling his glass. "So when did you actually..." he searched for the words.

"Kiss a boy?"

"Yeah."

"At summer camp. It was in a stall in the male showers. It was all very classy." He smirked and nodded.

"The shower... stall?" Frances laughed, when he say where Tank's mind was going.

"Oh no, we had clothes on. It was just somewhere to sneak away to. So nobody was around."

"Oh."

"So that's the story. Just a summer romance. Pretty typical."

"And it was different?"

"Completely different. If I had any doubts, that confirmed it."

"It didn't..." Tank paused.

"What?"

"I don't know... it didn't feel that different to me."

"You mean -"

"Yeah, that night. That was the weird thing about it. It was a shock, and everything, but I don't know... your mouth didn't feel different or anything."

"Oh. Well, yeah... I guess a mouth is a mouth. The difference is in how you'd feel during it. That's what matters."

"Yeah."

Frances furrowed his brow. Tank seemed really weird about it, but he didn't want to get into talking about that again. He assumed that Tank had felt uncomfortable and upset about it, so he was surprised that he'd even said this much. "I'm sorry about that, Tank. I know I've said it before..."

"It's okay." Tank was refilling both of their drinks. "You know, I did something like that once myself... with Ophelia. Remember? You met her at a party once."

"Right... I remember you mentioned something about that. So, it was with her?"

"Yeah, and she thought of me as just a friend, so she wasn't interested. I know how you must have felt."

There it was. Just a friend. Frances knew that, but still he held on to some hope. Why was that? "It's embarrassing." He nodded.

"Yeah." Tank paused. "It's funny."

"What is?"

"Talking about kissing on New Year's Eve."

"Oh, right. Because you're supposed to kiss someone. I guess we're out of luck."

Tank didn't say anything. He was downing his champagne again. "Well, this stuff really goes to your head, doesn't it?"

"Indeed."

"You're handling yourself fairly well, considering I'm feeling pretty tipsy over here."

"I haven't stood up yet. It's just a front."

"So you're feeling it?"

"God yes."

"I don't really drink that much. I guess I should hold my liquor better than this, being a big brute and all, but there you go."

"Are you... tanked?" Frances giggled away at his own joke.

"Why, yes, good sir, I do believe I am."  Tank was serving forth his best impression of Frances.

"Nice one. It's like looking in a mirror."

"Now we just need to get you cursing and belching and stomping around, knocking shit over."

"Well, in that case..." Frances emptied the last of the champagne into their glasses. "Better keep drinking."

That's exactly what they did, and they were so caught up in conversation that the clock was striking twelve before they knew it.

"Well," Frances shrugged, "Happy New Year, Tank."

"Happy New Year, Frances."

Frances watched, seemingly in slow motion, as Tank leaned forward and pressed his lips to Frances's own. He allowed himself to melt into Tank's searching embrace, and didn't question it. They'd done enough talking. Now was the time to just feel, and to recklessly let the moment run its course. They could sift through the details in the morning, for better or worse.

Frances let Tank lead the way, and when he found their clothes disappearing, and his skin against more and more of Tank's body, he began to rethink his opinion of fireworks. In that moment, he was all about the fireworks.

It was looking to be an interesting start to the new year.




 

Comments

[music-simbol.livejournal.com]

WHY CAN'T THIS BE CANON!?!?!?!?!?!??!?! WHY??!!

So good btw, it would be extremely cool to have pics, but this was still really nice to read in text.

Also, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO STOP THERE?!?!?!?!?!?!? XD

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

It was almost canon... but this is neither the time nor the place for such things. It's just what Tank "told" me to do, I'm afraid, so I'm listening to him.

I wish it had pics too, even though it would be a sea of back and forth "convo pics" and I'm so sick of those. Maybe I'll indulge with a couple of pics when I get back home. I could extend the ending into a pics only thing. That'd be sort of classy, right? ;)

Well, I've been sorely tempted to write a completely smutty and pornographic scene, here and there, but this just leaves your imagination to run wild. Isn't that more fun?

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

OMG OMG OMG *FLAIL FLAIL OMG FLAIL DIES AND FLAILS AND DIES*

No. WAY. (I'm supposed to be dead but I think I want to DIE again, this was too much for my poor nerves.)

I LOVE the way Frances talks. Is it just me, or do you also give him that little hint of a British accent? I tend to do it with all Upper Class Snobby Old Money families.

And If this had pictures I think I would have DIED. Like, really.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't mean for you to DIE or anything. :P I guess it's a good thing I couldn't add the pictures. That last scene would have been all hot and topless, most likely.

I've always tried to make Frances sound a little more proper than most of the other characters. For example, he usually says "yes" instead of "yeah." I guess he went to finishing school, or something. It's not exactly the Queen's English, but I'll bet he was taught to speak in a more refined manner.

(And my own accent would be more like a British accent than an American one, so that probably comes through too.)

Oooh. Maybe I will add pics later, in that case. Not that I want to kill you (murder by sim story!), but it would be fun.

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

Okay, uh, confession time - I ASSIGNED THIS TO YOU ON PURPOSE.

I basically went into it with a 'Strange is going to write Tank/Frances whether she likes it or not'. But I really didn't want to give me you or give you me and then Josh got you so I had to give you Cap's. IT WAS ALL A CLEVER PLOT. MUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!

:3

Also, OH GOD THIS IS WONDERFUL. I love their banter (i love all the banter you write) and Tank's surprising interest in what's 'gay' and how Frances knew and the alcohol made it easier, but it's still real.

And I just love how prissy Frances is with his annoyance at fireworks and ice skating and anything showy or juvenile. Also his Veronaville accent thing! So cute! Also it reminds me of Peapod Kid from Hey Arnold! (who would always say 'terribly, terribly ___something____').

And OH GOD THE KISSS! :DDDD Tank started it! And is taking the lead! And wants Franny!

It's so beautiful. ;_;

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Very sneaky of you. ;)

I have no problem with writing Tank/Frances, but there's that whole muddying of canon that can occur, so I guess I needed to be "forced" to go there. It's nice to get it out of my system, really. I had a scene something like this written for the story, before I changed my plans, but without the New Years theme and the champagne (which, on reflection, I think is pretty needed for this to happen at all).

Thanks. Banter is fun to write, and I'm always up for improving on my dialogue skills. I'm sure they still say a bit too much at times, but I think I'm improving. I like how obvious it becomes that Tank is really fixated on that topic, but is trying not to show it. The alcohol, as I said, seemed like a necessary catalyst. I've seen it used (and used it) as a social lubricant so very many times. It's an excuse to do what you wanted to do anyway.

I get a kick out of making Frances like that. I'm something like that myself, so it's fun to write him with all these little opinions. I really like how Frances is more opinionated when he's talking to someone he's comfortable with. He starts dishing out all his critiques of just about everything, and he jokes around with fake accents and stuff.

A Tank/Frances kiss would have to be hot, in my mind, especially with a sort of unsure Tank, who's finally decided to just let go of his hesitation. It think it would have this balance of carefulness and urgency to it, and it would be really something to behold.

Thanks. :)

[naughtydolphin.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhhhhh that was good.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Glad you liked it. :)

[muchluvtoyou.livejournal.com]

That was great!
And now I really want to know what a Veronaville accent sounds like :P

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

Lol, I love your icon. I have a weird affection for Flapjack.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

I'm making a bit of a link between the "Northern" side of the river in Veronaville and England (it's those timber frame houses), and the "Southern" side of Veronaville is sort of like a Mediterranean equivalent for me (the hood as a whole being a sort of "Sim Europe," like I see Riverblossom Hills as a "Sim Canada" hood, and most of the rest are in the "Sim U.S.A." - it's just a loose comparison to our world).

So, based on that, I see their accent as being sort of Simlish version of a British accent, compared to a more North American Simlish accent for the other hoods. It's not the same, but I'm thinking of it as a model.

!

[showercapfrog.livejournal.com]

beyondheroism is evil.
I love how Tank doesn't feel any different between kissing girls and kissing guys and how he's kind of jealous that even though Francis is gay he's kissed multiple girls.

And I still think it's canon whether you like it or not. :P

Longer more in detail comment will come later. Thank you Santa

Re: !

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, definitely canon.... They just don't remember ANY of it by morning and go about their same old business afterwards. :P

Re: !

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

*snicker* Well, I guess that could work. That would have been one hell of a night (and there's no guarantee they managed to even do anything if they were that far gone), or maybe they just completely deny it and go about business as usual in the morning? You could make it work, if you were seriously devoted to the idea. ;)

Re: !

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

She's an evil mastermind, no doubt about it.

Maybe Tank would feel differently if Frances had more stubble, but some have remarked that people are mostly the same from the neck up (I believe I've even made this observation myself on one or more occasions). I think I used this same theory in Ripp's thoughts while he was kissing Frances, now that I think about it, so I'm recycling it here (I feel it's more suited for Ripp's mind than Tank's, but you never know).

Well, if you were Tank, wouldn't you have hoped your gay friend hadn't been with more girls than you had? It's pretty funny. :P

Well, there's nothing I can do about that, right? I'll maintain that this is AU, but you're free to spin off your own interpretations (and do as you will with your own Tank and Frances, of course *wink*). The rest of the story might seem a little odd if you consider this to have "really happened," though.

You're very welcome. :) I'm glad you liked it, even with the sad lack of images.

Re: !

[showercapfrog.livejournal.com]

I'm actually not that much of a Tank/Frances shipper, I just thought it would be nice if it happened once in someone's writing. I was NOT expecting it to be yours, until I figured out earlier that day that you and I were about the only 2 who hadn't posted...

Even I don't think Tank would get with Frances at this point. Not really. It's nice as a fantasy for Frances, but I really think that Frances is more likely to end up with other characters.
And yes! Unless they have stubble, people are pretty much the same. Well, you should probably exclude makeup too.

I liked the last bit, because it seemed as though Frances didn't believe it was happening either. Which is what I really believe too, anyway (obviously, since it's not canon), but it would work as a dream or something. Which, if you're really drunk, is possible too.

And I agree on the hoping that your gay friend hadn't been with more girls than you, but in my experience, my gay friends have all been such sluts when it comes to girls. It's like they got all the women out of their system before announcing that they liked men instead or something. Which is really frustrating for a lot of our mutual straight male friends who are all "I kissed my 5th girl" and the gay one is like "only 5?"
Heh.

[devin11234.livejournal.com]

Aww I wish this was canon. I'm torn between Frances being with Tank and Frances being with Beau.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Well, you never know where things might go, but I've decided against this course of action for Tank right now. Whether he did think about the kiss in this way at all might have to remain Tank's secret for now, but I'm thinking that he's not exactly open to the idea of being with a man. (Though, I've been very tempted to go this way with the story. It was my first intention.)

I'm glad some people seem to warm to the idea of Frances and Beau. If they do become involved, it's not going to end the friendship between Tank and Frances, and I see that continuing into the future.

[ikichi.livejournal.com]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

:D

[sinderellah.livejournal.com]

Very fun to read! Happy New Year! :D

[a-gates.livejournal.com]

WOW... Let me repeat that Wow...I LOVE IT!!! AWESOME! Happy New Year!

[catladymeow.livejournal.com]

What a nice new years gift to us all. I know it's a gift for a specific person, but you shared it with us all. I loved it.

Hope you have a very happy new year and that the year to come is a good one for you.

[nessa-seragon.livejournal.com]

*fangirl squee* That was so hot!

[sims-gone.livejournal.com]

Haha, my cat takes a fright at the toast popping up, too.

[hannahspring.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. Mouth. Is. Wide. Open. LOL! :D

Tank? Tank?! Is is that Tank?! So he's not straight? Or maybe he's not just *totally* straight. :P

I enjoyed this short story a lot, kind of fun. But what's up with Beau? He's a cutie Francis shouldn't forget about.

BTW, hope you're having Happy New Year's celebrations! :)

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

She said it wasn't really part of the story. So yeah, erase this from your memory because it didn't really happen! XD

[hannahspring.livejournal.com]

Ooops, I didn't notice that. xD Anyway, it was fun! :D

[sadieg79.livejournal.com]

That was awesome :D That dialogue about how Francis found out, and Tank showing so much interest but trying not to show it, was all so well done. I could just imagine that happening for real. As for the last scene - whew. Imagination's great, and mine was going nuts with that ;)

I dunno though... I guess I should thank you for giving me yet more ideas when I've already got two stories on the go?! :P At least I can do something with my simfic50 membership now ;)

Happy New Year :D

[themhooligans.livejournal.com]

Currently, my brain can only register the reply of "Fuh-hagawa :D:D". So hey, you did a great job, even if you are a tease.