#francques

[lyeekha]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 9/? Fandom: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Frank Denouement/Jacques Snicket Characters: Frank Denouement, Jacques Snicket Additional Tags: Fanart, Comic Series: Part 6 of That Which Is Essential

[beatricebidelaire]

incredibly short nsfw scene. j/f.

"You're not interchangeable," Jacques says. Hands firmly placed on Frank's shoulders, he maneuvers him towards facing the mirror. "Look. What do you see?"

What do I see? Frank thinks, eyeing himself in the mirror. He doesn't see Ernest, and he doesn't see Dewey, but he doesn't see himself, either. He sees a hotel manager. A role that all three of them are playing, a role that all three of them can play. Same uniform, same fancy font of the word manager printed over the one of the pockets of the coat.

A role.

A job.

A prototype, maybe.

"A hotel manager," he says, truthfully. Flatly.

In the mirror, Jacques frowns.

"I should get back to work," Frank says, briskly, turning around, shoving Jacques away, heading to the door in bold steps, almost as if fleeing the scene.

____

Later, Jacques asks again. Inside the luxurious bathroom of one of the more expensive rooms, bending Frank over the sink, pinning him down, thrusting into him from behind, rhythmically. His grip is steady.

"Open your eyes," J murmurs, quiet, non-forceful, like a suggestion. Yet there's something about it that makes Frank follow the suggestion immediately anyway. He does not quite want to admit that. Ever.

"What do you see? Still just a hotel manager?" He asks, perhaps a little smug, but in an uniquely Jacques Snicket way so it isn't annoying like the average smugness of others, but still annoying in his own way. Sly. Measured.

And the truth is, of course, that he doesn't see a hotel manager now. He sees him shirt halfway unbuttoned. Rumpled and creased. His hair is sweaty and messed up. This is, obviously, no way for a hotel manager to be. A hotel manager, the role they're playing, should be proper. Well-dressed. Fitting a certain image.

Not this.

F does not answer.

J kisses him on the shoulder.

[lyeekha]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 10/? Fandom: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Frank Denouement/Jacques Snicket Characters: Frank Denouement, Jacques Snicket Additional Tags: Fanart, Comic Series: Part 6 of That Which Is Essential

[lyeekha]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Frank Denouement/Jacques Snicket Characters: Frank Denouement, Jacques Snicket Additional Tags: Fanart, Comic Series: Part 6 of That Which Is Essential

[lyeekha]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 6/? Fandom: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Frank Denouement/Jacques Snicket Characters: Frank Denouement, Jacques Snicket Additional Tags: Fanart, Comic Series: Part 6 of That Which Is Essential

[lyeekha]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 7/? Fandom: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Frank Denouement/Jacques Snicket Characters: Frank Denouement, Jacques Snicket Additional Tags: Fanart, Comic Series: Part 6 of That Which Is Essential

[beatricebidelaire]

The hotel lobby is fairly crowded.

Jacques Snicket stands, not at one of the corners hiding and trying to pretend to be invisible (that is more of Lemony Snicket's expertise), but amongst the crowd, blending in completely and not attracting any attention from people who are trying to check out if there's anyone suspicious hiding in the corners. He's only a little above the average height in comparison's to Olaf's signature tall lankiness, and no one seems to notice him.

Hands tucked into the pockets of his trench coat, he has a neutral expression on. Impassive.

To most, he is nearly invisible.

On the other hand, there are very few things and even fewer people in the hotel lobby that can escape Frank's attention if he's here. Least of all Jacques Snicket.

J's tense, Frank realizes, even though technically he can't quite literally see the tension in his shoulders underneath the trench coat, but in some way he sees it regardless. The neutral expression is rather tight, as if worrying about something. Which is of course nothing unusual, because Jacques is always worrying about something or another. But still, it seems like the something today is of more severe matter than usual.

Frank waves over a concierge and instructs her to discreetly slip the keycard of one of the rooms into one of the trench coat on Jacques's pocket.

They meet up in the room on the third floor 30 minutes later.

"J," he says.

"F," Jacques replies, and he sees Jacques exhale, letting out a sigh as some of the tension in his shoulders go out. The neutral, almost blank expression is replaced with a more open frown, which looks bad but is actually a good thing, because that means he isn't hiding anymore.

Even for someone who at this point can so effortlessly hide in plain sight, and who has incorporated that into his life, almost an old habit at this point, there is still a certain relief to emerge from that surface, to let the mask slide away, to appear and to be seen. But, of course, only when he feels safe enough to do so. Only when he feels he's allowed to do so - although, to be fair, most of the time the person who doesn't allow it is Jacques himself, because of the duty he thinks he ought to carry. Frank doesn't blame him. He understands it all too well.

It's perhaps why Jacques thinks he can relax around him.

Jacques closes his eyes, and opens them again. He scowls openly now, and says, "Eleanora is going to be a bigger problem than we anticipated. We'll need a plan B." He grimaces. "But we can talk about that later."

Frank raises an eyebrow. "Okay," he says. "What do you want to talk about now, then?"

"Your tea collection would be good."

Frank gives a faintly amused smile. "Sure." He adds, slyly. "Sugar?"

Jacques says, "Hell, no." But he smiles, too.

[lyeekha]

Ask answers for @beatricebidelaire tysm!

(ask meme- fanfic questions)

Rigged -

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

Frank rebutting 'weak' and 'scrawny' but not 'weasel' makes me laugh every single time. And I tell ya that's a lot of times. I hope I managed to draw convey this right but in my head there is barely any gap between J finishing saying "...so you are a weasel" and "oh for sure." Like he is absolutely expecting J to notice and say that. Then [couple of beats for both of their amusement] "not much point , denying that one." is so warm and relaxed. A tension release back to actual friend banter not 'engaging' banter.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Honestly? This one? Pretty much verbatim from head to page. All the words and actions were typed incoherently into a googledoc on my phone to get it down before I fell asleep, so, right from the source. And then translated after. Little bit of word fiddling to fit better around drawings and make a quicker pace (you can think dialogue in your head far faster than they read in practice...) but there was never any alt actions. I do have some scrapped sketch lines from that time though (very small very nsfw) x