(A/n)
Did this one about 4 years ago. It's acrylic paint on a 2x3in paper, so it's super tiny. It made for a fun challenge.
You felt like a love struck school girl. He'd told you he loved you. You hadn't heard someone say that to you in years. It left you feeling like you were on cloud nine. It must have showed on your face, he started telling you it all the time just to see you light up. Any time you'd pout or get moody, he'd say it to turn your attitude around. And it worked every time.
"Love?" Cracker was looking at his phone, laying with you in bed at his place. It had been a lazy morning.
<Yeah?>
"It looks like momma wants me to join her for a lunch date. I'm going to have to head out for a bit."
<She doesn't like me, does she?>
He sighed and rubbed his face. "She's.... particular about our partners sometimes. It's not you, I promise."
<If you say so.> You rolled your eyes and smiled.
He chuckled. "I'll only be gone for a few hours, tops." The sheets fell away as he got up and kissed you.
He faced away from you as dressed himself in jeans and one of his nicer shirts. Your eyes roamed his body, drinking in the sight of well shaped ass disappear into the pants and his muscles rolling as he pulled the shirt over his head. It sucked that he had to get dressed but it made for a good show.
He slipped into his shoes and grabbed his wallet. "Okay, I'll see you later, behave yourself while I'm gone." You laughed silently as he bent down to kiss you again. "I love you."
<I love you too.>
The original plan for the day was to spend it in bed together doing either nothing or each other as both of you had no work to do today. You were bummed that those plans were ruined but from what you knew, his mom's word was final in just about everything. If she wanted lunch with one of her kids that was exactly what she got.
Might as well get up if Cracker isn't going to be here. You found one of his shirts to wear along with a pair of panties you kept here for occasions like this. It felt a little silly but you two kept some spare clothes at each other's places and spent the night together at one or the other every night. It'd be easier to move in together but that would be too simple.
You didn't plan on leaving his place today. That'd mean putting on pants and that wasn't going to happen. Luckily, past you was looking out for present you and brought some paints and paper over the other day. Among the different papers was a few smaller scraps, one of them would be great for practice.
You spent some time deciding what to paint and went with a peacock feather. You were feeling something colorful and that'd be perfect. After a rough sketch, you started on the actual painting, taking your time to get decent detail on it despite being small scale. After about an hour and a half you finished. It shouldn't take so long to paint something so small but you managed it somehow (it literally took me about that long to do it.). It killed time at least.
There was still plenty of time until Cracker got home and there wasn't really anything to do. TV sounded like the next best option. You could put on something and maybe go back to sleep for a bit. It's a lazy day, it's never too early for a nap. You flopped onto the couch and put your favorite show on. You'd seen it more times than you could count, it'd be easy to pass out to.
----
A finger poked at your cheek until you started shifting around, shoving your face into the couch cushions. There was a snicker as you settled and felt something warm envelop you, followed by more jabs to your face. Why couldn't you sleep in peace?
You twisted around until your back was to the assailant, never opening your eyes once. Cracker wasn't giving up easy though. He wrapped an arm around you and kissed your jaw.
"Aren't you going to say welcome home?" He cooed.
You turned your head, staring at him through bleary eyes.
"There's my sleepyhead."
You yawned, giving up on sleep now that he'd woke you up. Cracker knew you'd want your phone, already having it in his hand. You faced him once again, curling into him as you accepted the phone
<How'd it go?>
He shrugged. "It went."
You frowned. He usually wasn't this vague and there was something about the way he stared at you that felt off.
<Did she want anything?>
"Nah, I guess she just needed to spend some time with one of us. Maybe got tired of the younger kiddos."
She didn't go places with her kids without wanting something, whether it was business talk or asking them to do something for her personally. You learned that rather fast when you and Cracker started dating. But you could be wrong. Maybe this time was different.
"Looks like you held down the fort pretty well." He joked, the old familiar smile gracing his face.
<Oh yeah, you never know when Eleanor is going to come by and take it over.>
"I swear I have never had such a nosey neighbor before. She's got some weird thing for you (Y/n)."
<Maybe she wants to relive her younger days through me.>
"Ew I hope not." Cracker's face wrinkled up.
Your phone buzzed as you received a text from Nami.
🍊<Dinner with a couple of the girls, you in? You haven't met them yet but I think you'll like them.>
"Did you really make your friend an orange emoji for their contact?" Cracker giggled.
<She's a red head and her mom owns an orange tree orchard. It was meant to be.>
"If you say so, wait, don't tell me I'm some cracker emoji."
You showed him that he indeed was and he burst into laughter.
"Of course you'd do that." His laughter subsided to chuckles as he waited for you to text Nami back. You stared at her message, thinking about turning her down.
"Don't you want to go? I haven't seen you ever go to a girls night."
<That's because I don't have a lot of female friends.>
"All the more reason to go."
<What about our plans to do nothing together today?>
"We can always do it another time. Who knows when they'll all be going out again."
<It does sound fun.>
"Go on then, I think I can fend for myself tonight." He nuzzled into you.
You texted Nami back. <Sounds good! When and where?>
Cracker let you get up without the usual teasing fuss. He really was acting a bit off. You shrugged it off and got dressed in more appropriate clothes, jeans and a (f/c) tank top with a light cover up.
Nami had texted back saying to meet up at her place whenever you got to it. She liked spending time with you and was always happy to have you hang out earlier than planned events.
Cracker was sitting back in the couch, having not left it since he'd woken you up, watching what you'd had put on the TV. You leaned over the back to kiss him on the cheek.
<I'm heading out now.>
"Okay, drive safe and have fun." He offered you a smile that felt a bit forced.
<Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself?>
"Why wouldn't I be? I'm a grown man, I got this." He gave you a quick peck on the lips. "Now go have some fun."
<Alright, I love you.> He always said it first when you went somewhere without him. It felt weird that he didn't this time.
He paused, noticing the same thing. "Love you too."
----
"(Y/n), this is Robin and Vivi." Nami introduced the two woman.
Robin looked closer to your age, maybe a bit older. But she was beautiful, with long slicked back, black hair and curves that could kill. Vivi was obviously younger and just as good looking as Robin and Nami with long, wavy blue hair. She had an innocent look about her that her two friends did not.
You were all sat down at a local restaurant that Vivi was wanting to try. The place was clean, quaint, and smelled amazing. Part of it may be because you decided it was a good idea to skip lunch for some reason.
<Nice to meet you guys!>
Nami had informed you earlier that she'd filled them in about your inability to speak so they didn't bat an eye at the phone messaging.
"I'm so glad to finally meet you. Nami speaks highly about you." Robin said.
<Does she?> You side eyed Nami as she blushed, embarrassed about it.
"All the time. If she didn't have a boyfriend I'd say she had a thing for you." Vivi giggled. Nami had started dating Sanji not long after you met them.
"I just think it's cool that you run your own business from home and you're successful." Nami rolled her eyes.
<Ohhhhh I get it. I make enough to get by but I'm not making bank girlie.>
Nami's face fell. "Seriously? I thought you were rolling it in!" She thought you were well off with your job.
<No, Cracker makes the big bucks.>
"Who's Cracker?" Vivi chirped.
"(Y/n)'s hot older boyfriend who is apparently also rich." Nami said.
"Oh my. He sounds fun." Robin watched you with a mischievous glint in her eye.
You showed them a picture you took of him not too long ago, shoving his face full of pie. He hated it but you adored the picture. The girls sided with you on this one, giggling over it.
"Speaking of boyfriends, I heard you got one Vivi." Robin said.
"O-oh yeah. Koza and I have gone out on a few dates." The blue haired girl blushed madly.
"At least you guys have good boyfriends." Nami pouted. "Sanji can never behave himself."
"Franky has his bad days." Robin said. You assumed that Franky was her other half.
"He just gets on your nerves sometimes though. Sanji can't stop fawning over every girl he sees."
"Every guy has his faults Nami." Vivi pointed out. "Kozu can have a bit of a temper sometimes."
The girls looked at you, waiting to hear about Cracker's faults apparently.
<Cracker's good to me. He likes to tease though.>
"That doesn't sound bad though." Nami crossed her arms. "He sounds perfect."
You thought about how off he had been after seeing his mom for lunch. <He's not perfect. He was acting a little funny today actually.>
Robin perked up. "Acting funny how?"
You pursed your lips and tried to word it carefully. <He felt different I guess? He went to lunch with his mom and came back acting a little different from his usual self.> You didn't know how to explain it without delving into how things were for you and him on a personal level.
"Is this the first time he's been odd?" Nami asked. Her and Robin were getting more and more interested while Vivi was with you, unsure of how this should be so interesting.
<Yeah. He's always been fine before. I could be imagining it.>
"I don't know." Robin tapped her chin with a finger. "I dated a guy once. He was great, everything went smoothly until small things started to change. He didn't want to touch as much, he looked at me differently, even stopped with pet names. And he loved using pet names. I checked through his phone one day out of curiosity, terrible I know, but I had to figure out what was going on. Turned out he was cheating on me with another woman."
Your heart sank. Would Cracker do that? He always tells you he loves you. And it was just a lunch date with his mom.
<I don't think Cracker would do that.> You weren't offended that she suggested it as a possiblity. Cheating was common in this day and age.
"I bet it's something silly." Vivi added, trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe his mom had some news he didn't like. It could be anything really."
<Now that I can believe. The woman is a mess.>
The table erupted into giggles and everyone relaxed into more fun topics. By the end of the night, you had two more contacts added to your phone. Two more friends to add to your recently ever growing list. Even with Cracker's behavior tugging at the corner of your mind, you felt good.