That finally breaks him from the water, “Something like that.” He sighs, chewing intently on the inside of his cheek, as if there was a secret in there that he wasn’t ready to give out yet. He looks past Pix, up the hill to the lighthouse, “I do think humans are so interesting. You’re all so intrigued by the water that you have to construct these monoliths to protect you from it.”
“It’s beautiful.”
He makes a face, “It’s striped.”
Pix laughs, which to Oli, oddly sounded like a song pulsing through his ears. He wanted to make the man sitting next to him laugh more. Desperately.
(siren!oli, lighthouse keeper!pix au. loosely inspired by lighthouse by the hush sound. currently one chapter, aiming for two or three depending on how long this bit i’ve been writing winds up)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
As a committed and proud aromantic, Pix has never particularly had the desire to settle down with a life partner and collect the prescribed 2.5 kids and white picket fence. Usually, this works extremely well for him - at least, it has for the last decade or so. He enjoys having the house to himself, being able to play whatever music he likes through the speaker without compromising, cook what he will and leave the dishes for later without annoying anyone with it.
Right now, Pix is dosing himself with Lemsip over the sink, feeling all the wrong temperatures all at once, and somewhat pathetically wishing he had somebody who was morally bound by in sickness and in health vows to make him chicken soup.
(or sickness, and doting, and the inherent duality of a Christmas cracker.)
i’ve gotten two amazing gift fics in february and i wanna show them off here!!
first, from the @esmp-gift-exchange: a beautiful pixoli sci-fi robot-y thing and it is GORGEOUS, the prose the flow the setting everything is amazing and lends itself to a truly stunning final fic. i need to sit down and write an entire essay about this fic. please read turn streams into rivers into oceans by sesquidpedalian right now.
and from the au5k exchange, i received this beautifully tense ethubs insomniapocalypse roadtrip. styled after last life and team best, with just IMMACULATE characterization and tension. i was on my toes the whole time. stream dream sweet by anonymous (and join me in guessing the authors identity for the next two weeks until reveals?)
my pinch hit for @platedpixels for the @esmp-gift-exchange !!! this scene absolutely fed us olipix enjoyers ^ ive also included a silly bonus oli meme under the cut :3
Gem is woken up very early one morning by Oli, her neighbor having one request: to help him score a date with Pix. Gem, despite her grievances about being up so early, is determined not to fail him.
My third and final fic fot @mcyt-trick-or-treat!! For once again for Crystal_consumer!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
When Princess Gem wakes up to a loud, banging knock on her door, she is not expecting Oli to be there. Especially since the sun hasn’t risen yet. She’s pretty sure he usually sleeps until noon on a good day. Oh, and also the sun hasn’t risen yet , meaning Gem should be getting some well needed sleep right now; not opening her front door for her stupid bard neighbor. She has no idea what he even needs at four thirty in the morning, or why he’s waking her specifically up. He knows how important skipping the night is to her! Gem personally can’t think of much that would be more important than that.
But, obviously, Oli does think something’s important enough to wake her up and risk her wrath. So she’s gonna get over the fact that it's four in the morning and help him anyways. Because what are neighbors for? (Even if she hates being awake at night because the darkness sucks…… but Oli needs help. And Oli does not suck, unlike the nighttime.)
“What is it?” She grumbles, still in her nightgown and arms crossed. Gem had rushed to the door so quickly, she hadn’t had time to stretch her wings out. So, while Oli is talking, she does just that; stretching each butterfly wing out behind her carefully. Her visitor pays the stretches no mind, too caught up in his mission to care.
“Well, you’re certainly happy to see me.” Oli remarks, looking unusually nervous. There’s a smile on his face, one that does a horrible job of hiding that. So does his body language, with the way he’s fidgeting. And Gem knows from experience a nervous Oli usually means he messed up and needs her help. Or he just died and can’t get his stuff back. That was a more common occurrence than him messing up, and would explain why he banged on her front door so loud. And why Oli is up at this hour.
“It’s four thirty in the morning, Oli.” Gem says, finishing her stretches. Good, that’s better. She can help Oli now that she doesn’t have to worry about her delicate wings not working as they should. If he did die somewhere, flying was probably gonna be the best way to find and get his stuff back. If he died at all. Gem is still kinda banking on her other option being true.
“But I’m your dearest chosen brother! And you’re my dearest chosen sister! Surely you must miss me!?” Oli almost whines the words out, dramatically placing a hand over his heart. Like her wounds had physically wounded him. Gem, well used to his theatrics, only rolls her eyes in amusement. Good to see he’s still got it at four AM.
“I saw you yesterday.” She points out, remembering the honeycomb and wool they had traded. Oli’s spare wool that was still sitting in her house, unused. The wool she’d planned to build with after she’d woken up this morning. A plan that clearly needed to be thrown out the window. “What did you do now?”
“I need help.” Oli admits, and does not elaborate further. Strange. That’s pretty strange. “I need help” is usually followed by some tale of woe, a tale of how Oli is just a poor boy who needs his amazing friends to help him. No tale is definitely weird by Oli standards. Very, very weird and out of character. Enough to get Gem a smidge worried about whatever happened.
“With what?” She prompts, raising an eyebrow. Gem expects to be told there’s somehow a warden at his base, or that his dragon egg actually hatched and that now he has a baby dragon. Maybe he let a wither lose somewhere in the world. Something big and absolutely disastrous that will take up the rest of her night and half of her day.
“....boys.” Oli mutters, quickly glancing away from her. His face is starting to heat up, indicted by the twinge of red starting to appear on his cheeks. Boys catch Gem off guard, and she blinks at him, processing. This is certainly a far cry from the hypothetical stray wither she’d been anticipating, and a lot less likely to kill her, to.
“Boys?” Gem perks up once she’s processed the word, forgetting her earlier grievances about the time. Boys and helping with boys were very important and valid reasons to wake somebody up at four in the morning. So were girls, helping with girls, and romance help with any other gender in between. Especially if it means Oli’s love life is actually real and not just a lie he made up. “Which boy?"
Oli’s looking at the ground now, his face as red as a tomato. It’s very fun seeing him so embarrassed! He never blushes like that over anything, even when the whole server teases him! She can’t believe a boy got him so flustered, and that he’s asking her for romance advice. Gem is so good at love advice— “uh…Pix.”
Gem blinks, surprised. “Really?” She exclaims, caught off guard. She was not expecting him to say Pix , of all people. Not that Pix is a bad guy, personality or looks wise. It’s just….she didn’t know he and Oli were so close. Honestly the archaeologist wasn’t even on her mental list she’d quickly made. She was even half expecting him to say fWhip instead. (Oli would absolutely fall for the guy he’s in debt to and enemies with. The idea being so painfully in character for him, Gem is surprised her loser brother wasn’t down bad already.)
“What’s so bad about Pix!?” Oli nearly yells at, looking her in the eyes again. His far has gotten redder, somehow, blushing all the way to his ears.
“Nothing, nothing!” She says, holding back a laugh. Oli must really be into Pix, if he’s getting that defensive that easily. “I was just expecting you to say Scott, or Sausage."
“They are both handsome.” Oli admits, sighing quite dramatically as he does. “But, neither of them have stolen my heart. Quite a shame for them.”
“If you say so.” Gem nods, wondering if Scott in particular would consider it a shame. Because Sausage definitely would, at least for a little bit. “Also, why do you need my help in talking to boys?”
“Because you have more experience!” Oli says, practically pouting as he talks. And he is right about that, Gem has plenty of experience with boys under her belt. She has plenty of experience with girls as well, if anyone else so desires any help with women. “Plus, according to Scott, Pix wouldn’t know a flirt or innuendo if it slapped him in the face!”
“Well, he’s right about that.” Gem hums, remembering a story Scott had told her once; where Pix had ignored his flirting multiple times, the archeologist thinking of nothing other than retrieving his stolen emeralds. (That Scott had totally not taken, by the way.) That man was not beating the asexual or the rock autism allegations, like at all. He was actually losing to them quite terribly. Gem didn’t know if it was more embarrassing or more impressive.
“Then you can help me!” Oli says, signature smile returning to his face. Good, he seemed to have gotten over his nervousness. Gem didn’t like seeing him so nervous and, for lack of a better term, un-theatrical. It was honestly a little bit unsettling to witness whenever she did. “Now let me inside, please? So we can talk boys?”
“I guess I can let you in.” Gem says, stepping out of the doorway. Oli scurries inside, hurrying like he hates the darkness as much as she does. Gem, amused by him again, closes the door behind them and leads him towards her bedroom. They were gonna have to get comfortable for this. Woo-ing Pix was not going to be an easy task, not in the slightest.
“Okay, how do you want me to help?” She says, sitting down on her bed. Gem crosses hers, getting comfortable like she intended, and pats the spot next to her. After a pause to take his instrument off, Gem having no idea why he felt the need to bring it, he takes the invitation and sits next to her. Good, now they’re both ready for romance talk.
“Do you think you could set us up on a date?” Oli asks, fiddling with the sheets. It seems his nerves are still there, then, just less intense than before. It only makes sense that he’s anxious, really. This is his crush they’re talking about! Most people get nervous when talking about the person they like, Gem included. She hopes Oli is less embarrassed by the nerves than she is when she has a crush.
“That might be hard.” Gem hums thoughtfully, grabbing for a pen and pad on her nightstand. She needs to start writing down date ideas, if this is the route they're going. And she needs to write down every embarrassing thing Oli says, so she can blackmail him with it later! He’s very gone for Pix and never living it down! “Pix barely leaves his empire.”
“We could have a date there.” Oli suggests, his fingers now drumming against the bed. Gem can’t tell if this is the first thought and he’s going with it, or if Oli’s extensively thought out first date ideas. Knowing him, the former option feels a lot more likely. “He could show me all his artifacts or something.”
“Maybe.” Gem thinks it over for a minute, mentally going over everything she knows about Pix and Oli in her head. She also writes down his date idea on her notepad, adding a small question mark next to it. “You wouldn’t be interested in that though, you’d just wanna stare at him. And you don’t wanna give the impression you don’t care.”
“That’s true…” Oli admits, frowning. He seems to be rethinking his one and only date idea, drumming against the sheets even harder. The bard clearly wants this to be a perfect first date, or as perfect as possible, if his nerves are anything to go by. And Gem’s determined to help him make it perfect! No sibling of hers would have a lackluster first date with anybody, not on her watch! Even if Pix being a bit of a recluse made it kinda hard.
“Maybe you could meet him on the Great Bridge for something? Or you could help him build?” Gem throws out two more ideas, writing them down as well. She writes down a few more, like gifting him emerald ore, and then scratches them out. The first date needs to be plausible. Getting a block of emerald ore is kind of a challenge. Plus, Pix probably had most of the nearby, easy to find ones already.
“But what if I mess up his castle or something?” Oli frets, daunted by the idea of helping with Pix’s research and restoration. Okay then, those idea’s won’t work, because if Oli is that nervous he will mess something up.. Gem scratches them out too, and tries to think of some better ones. She starts writing down basic date ideas, some she’s even tried before.
It is in that moment when she does that Oli’s dramatic streak kicks in again, funnily enough.Oli flops down dramatically, burying his face in her pillow.
“This is hopeless, Gem! I’m never gonna get a date!” He wails, words slightly muffled. It seems that, for now, her brother has chosen to wallow. She’ll have to encourage him to try the dating ideas later, then. Maybe they can come up with some better ones after they've rested and had a good breakfast!
“I’ll throw in a good word next time he visits the church, maybe that’ll peak his interest.” Gem says, giving the bard a few comforting pats on the shoulder. She returns her pen and notepad back to the nightstand, leaving it there for later.
“Oh, you're too good for me.” Oli mumbles, lifting his head slightly. He buries his face in the pillow again right after. He must’ve really stressed himself out about this, Gem thinks. Usually it takes like, an hour for him to give up this badly, not two less than great ideas. Oli was someone very used to stupid ideas failing on him, after all.
“I know I am.” Gem says, giving him a final shoulder pat. She wonders if she should start her morning routine, since Oli seems intent on staying for a bit. Gem isn’t quite sure how much time has passed, but the bees and sheep do have a schedule and do have to be attended to at their usual times. Oh, and the cows. Can’t forget about her little cows.
There’s a sudden buzz from a communicator, causing both of them to perk up. Gem looks towards her own, wondering who else is awake and would be messaging her at this time. Sausage maybe. Or Katherine needing a monster slaying buddy. It might be fWhip as well, considering he has no sense of time down in the caves. She has plenty of messages from him at ungodly hours to prove it, too.
“Gem he just messaged me!” Oli squeaks, turning her attention away from her own communicator. The bard has sat up in bed again, excitedly staring down at the device. There’s partially stars in his eyes as he reads over what Pix sent, hands vibrating with excitement. So much so Gem momentarily worries about him dropping the communicator.
“What’d he say!?” She asks, trying to peer over the screen. But Oli jerks the device closer to him as she does, frantically starting to type his response. From what she can see of the screen, Gem counts about five or six typos and accidental key smashes before he hits send, Oli’s face slowly turning beet red once more.
Oli practically squeals in excitement, whipping his head back towards her. He's adorable, acting like a teenager awkwardly talking to their first crush. “He wants to go to the festival with me, just the two of us! And I said yes!”
“Oli! You have a date!” Gem’s wings flare out behind her in glee, moving to tackle and hug him. The Festival of the Rift! Why hadn’t she thought of that! A festival was such a good, and adorable, first date spot! And Oli was hosting it! He couldn’t really mess anything up there! Oh Pix had such brilliant date ideas!
“I have a date!” Oli repeats, hugging her back. He makes sure not to drop the communicator. Hold onto the item like his life depends on it. And in his mind it probably does, since the only evidence of their date being real is in there. Gem won’t be surprised if he uses the messages to brag to a few of their friends, either.
Gem moves away with a smile, returning to her spot on the bed. She’s practically as excited as Oli is, and she doesn’t even have a date! He does! Her brother has a date!
“Wait, why is Pix up at five AM?” She asks, glancing at the clock. It had, somehow, only been about thirty minutes since Oli knocked on her door, and it was no lighter outside. Gem can’t say she’s surprised at Pix being up so early though, just curious. The archaeologist had a lot of weird habits, and doing mysterious things in the night was absolutely one of them.
“Because he sleeps even less than I do.” Oli says, eyes still glued to his communicator. He’s typing again, most likely sending a message to Pix. If the two of them aren’t at least flirting, Gem’s gonna be disappointed. And if they are flirting, she wants to see all their dumb pick up lines. And Oli’s bad, most likely very horrible attempts at being suave and a charmer. She definitely wants to see that.
“You already have two things in common then. Not sleeping and being weird.” Gem says. They really are perfect for each other then, if they’re both up so early. And, hey, maybe if they start dating, Oli will start bothering Pix with his four thirty in the morning problems, and finally let her get some sleep. That would be great.
“We’re a match made in heaven!” Oli giggles, and finally puts the communicator down. It seems the conversation has ended, but Oli’s excitement has not. He swings his legs off the bed, needing somewhere for all that extra energy to go. Gem can’t help but hold back a giggle as she watches him. He must really love Pix, to be so excited about this.
“Yeah, you are.” Gem agrees, and starts a new page in her notepad. One on how to be the best wing-woman the world has ever seen. Oli had wanted her boy advice, after all, and he’s gonna get the whole package.
oli is a wanderer. he’s carefree, on the move, untethered, and he can even mostly pretend he doesn’t miss a home he’s never had. a chance hitchhike introduces him to a strange-but-handsome driver who goes only by pix, and oli buckles up for the latest in a long string of short-term companionship.
pix is like oli: he has no roots and no reason to stay. oli likes that in a man, almost as much as the greying ponytail, wry sense of humour, and air of mystery. but what he intends to be a brief and beautiful summer fling turns into something much deeper when pix’s secrets unravel a thread between oli’s recurring dreams of home and the nightmare haunting them both.
this fic is 10k of roadtrip horror aro4aro love story that can be easily read fandom blind. it’s the best thing i’ve written in a year. if you’re looking for those Hoorayy Fic Vibes™️ you will find them here. happy olipix forever
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
