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Description

www.youtube.com/watch?v=It1XzD…

Pitter pat. Pitter pat. The morning rain beat softly against the hull of the boat, and rocked it gently from side to side. Marco stirred from under the covers, glancing around the tiny cabin he was curled up in. He’d been away at sea for the past three years, and was finding it difficult to adjust to a still bed for the time being, choosing instead to stay on his ship and slowly wean himself back into land life for another couple of years whilst the spices were still plentiful.

He yawned and stretched, reaching out a hand for the small alarm clock his friend Handy had given him for his birthday last year. 6:45 am. Hm, perfect for a gentle stroll whilst the village was asleep. The rain didn’t bother him; he’d spent nights on the pacific where huge rolling waves had buffeted the side of his HMS Pepper, and lighting had torn across the sky all night.

The sailor grabbed his leggings and medallion, running his fingers along the cold metal grooves. He glanced momentarily at his eye patch, which was lying on the bedside table. He generally wore it in public to avoid stares and questions, but as he knew the village liked to sleep in he decided to simply shove it in his pocket for the time being. Marco had lost his right eye (as well as gained a couple of scars) some years ago, but had yet to tell anyone about the incident. The truth was that it traumatised him a little, for all the sailor acted stoic about it. He hadn’t even told his best friend Dreamy, and he considered the fellow sailor to be amongst his closest friends.

Marco decided to walk under the shaded trees in the forest, to give the most protection – both from rain, and just in case the elder wizard Gargamel was hanging around. The smell of pine filled the air, and his ears flicked at the little forest noises, so different to the sounds of wind in the sails and water lapping against the stern. The forest was full of twigs and leaves snapping under foot, a stream bubbling by in the under growth, larks and sparrows twittering happily high above, and squirrels chasing each other through the thicket. Marco smiled to himself. The sea may call him, but home in the forest was where his heart was.

The Smurf stopped at the base of a young chestnut tree, and climbed a couple of branches up to sit amongst the leaves. He’d learnt a trick from an elf he’d met overseas during his travels, and set about pulling leaves down to make his contraption. He chattered softly through the device, and a couple of moments later a mouse popped out of some ferns, looking quite surprised. Marco chuckled to himself as he sat back, watching raindrops fall in front of him. He might have only had one working eye, but he enjoyed what he could see out of it.

He was absentmindedly playing with some of the young conkers on the tree when one fell onto the ground, just as another Smurf appeared from the opposite direction. Marco lay flat on his branch, not wanting to be spotted. He could only make out the white hat from between the leaves, but as soon as the Smurf spoke he recognised it instantly. The Smurf had thrown down the basket he was carrying and was threatening fisticuffs at the upper branches of the tree.

“Come down from there or I’ll knock ya clean into next week!”

Marco rolled his eye in bemusement; it was Tuffy, the young, brash Smurf that had taken a liking to him on his last two stops. He’d been dubious at first, but Marco had to admit he was rather fond of the bold little guy back. He’d never officially dated any of his fellow Smurfs before, although he’d had encounters with fae on his travels. Something about Tuffy was rather more endearing.

“Come on, come down or I’ll come up!”

“Calm down lad it’s me” Marco sighed, calling down below. He could just about make out Tuffy’s face between the branches.

“Marco? ... What are you doing up there?”

“I was just resting” The sailor called, edging back along the branch and working his way down. He landed nimbly on his feet and dusted himself off. “I was going to head back to boat for a while but I can come to the village if Greedy’s making breakfast”

“I uh, think he’s um, making breakfast, yeah”

Marco noticed Tuffy looking at him in a way that was slightly unusual, and then it hit him. His eye patch was still in his pocket. And as much as the British Smurf liked Tuffy, he was instantly embarrassed.

“V-village it is” Marco stammered, clumsily fumbling around for his cloth which he tied hastily around his face. “S-see you there” and he took off at a speedy walking pace.

“No Marco wait! I didn’t mean to scare you” Tuffy fumbled with picking up his own basket “Marco please, I swear I wasn’t looking, well I mean-”

Tuffy’s words faded away as Marco broke into a jog. He had a hut back in the village as well as his boat, so he headed straight there, closing the door with a sigh of relief and leaning against the back of it. He headed quickly for the mirror in his bedroom, and set about adjusting his eye patch properly. He’d just finished when there was a knock on his front door. He bit his lip, not moving.

“Marco I saw you run in here”

Smurf damn it. It was Tuffy. The sailor reluctantly opened the door. As soon as Tuffy saw him, he embraced him in a fierce hug, right on the doorstep.

“H-heh, o-ok teeny Tuffy, I’m sorry for running off like that-”

“I’m not that teeny” Tuffy pouted, looking up at him from chest height. “Anyway, I was going to say sorry”

“No, no it’s fine” Marco coughed “I shouldn’t have run off like that. Uh, come inside”

The other did, happy to be out of the rain. Marco glanced around, hoping they could move past the elephant in the room, but knowing that it was why Tuffy was there. Tuffy sensed the same and decided it might as well be done with.

“Soooooo about your eyepatch ...”

The sailor looked at the floor, cursing his carelessness. A single tear slid down his cheek, which caught the smaller Smurf off guard – he’d never seen the likes of Marco cry, he was a upbeat, jolly Smurf who was most likely far tougher than he had ever tried to be.

“M-Marco ... can I see?”

The sailor glanced up, noting the almost tender look on Tuffy’s plastered face. Well, he doubted he could keep it hidden forever, so he nodded. Hands shaking, he reached up and slowly undid the knot again, letting it fall from his face. Tuffy gently cupped his face in his hands and brought him to rest on the bed, where the direct sunlight would give him a clear view.

It was a little eerie, Tuffy couldn’t deny that. He obviously didn’t want to ask if the eye was still underneath or ... well, it was best to take it at face value. But even so ... he was a handsome Smurf. He’d always been considered so, at least from what Tuffy could tell. Dreamy had always thought so, although he’d stopped pursing him some years ago. But Tuffy kind of understood what he meant ... Marco was a good looking Smurf, even now. In Tuffy’s mind, scars were pretty badass. It showed that he wasn’t just making up stories, in fact Tuffy wouldn’t have minded the more badass X shaped scars like the one on his left cheek himself.

But the sailor only seemed to care about the worst one, so that’s what Tuffy focused on. He gently ran a thumb along his cheek and rested it on the British Smurf’s eye, lightly stroking the raised skin with the utmost care. Marco’s cheeks were flushed a little from silent embarrassment, and from the gentle side Tuffy was showing. The Smurf was always getting into verbal fights and most of the time threatening physical ones, so Marco wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d teased him. But Tuffy was acting surprisingly mature, and taking it seriously, and that made the older Smurf’s heart flutter, just a little.

“W-well, I think you look great” Tuffy said after a while, and Marco chuckled a little in spite of himself.

“No, genuinely – I think it makes you look tough!”

“Really?”

“I should know, I’m practically an expert in toughness” Tuffy beamed. “But ... if you don’t mind me asking-”

“How I got them?” Marco blew air upwards “I thought I’d never tell any Smurf”

“O-oh well I won’t press” Tuffy murmured, but looked disappointed.

“Well ... perhaps it would help to get it off my chest” Marco said hesitantly. The act of sweetness he’d seen from the other had calmed him down. He settled back on his knees and kept his gaze on the mattress. Tuffy was respectfully silent.

“Well you see lad, the actual story began many blue moons ago when I was captured from my original ship – HMS Paprika was her name – by a band of thieves known as Pepper Pirates. I had just left the harbour of a little fishing village on the coast of France when they surrounded me out of the blue - Captain Peter Pepper was their leader, one of the most notorious spice thieves on the seven seas. They fed me and kept me above deck since they wanted to sell me into the fae labour slave trade. He intended to take me to Port Pepper further south, but I was eventually rescued by some Smurfs from the village. Even so, I knew he’d be out for me if I went sailing again.” Marco took a deep breath, and continued “Years passed and I got a new ship – HMS Saffron – I even traded some more, without hearing so much of a mention of his name. In my good spirits I was careless. Whilst picking up some cinnamon from the overseas traders market, I sat down at a little bar to have a drink and find some company for the evening. I was so busy talking with the merry folks at the counter that I let my guard down – one of the pepper pirates from the ship had caught sight of me. Of course, I was too, uh, tipsy to make the journey that night so I headed back to my ship – but Peter Pepper was there on the deck, lying in wait”

Tuffy gasped, and Marco glanced up momentarily. His eyes were wide, but he was still quiet.

“Unfortunately. They took me in again but this time below deck to avoid others seeing me. To be honest, I thought he was going to kill me. He was older and arguably madder, but I could see resentment had built up over the years for costing him his pepper pot and ruining his ship. I kept waiting for it, the day he’d finally get his revenge. But he didn’t, he dragged it out for what seemed like forever. Each day he’d come down, toss me barely enough food and leave without so much as mentioning a plan. If he didn’t kill me first then the malnutrition and lack of sunlight would I thought. But just as I was giving up ... it changed. I heard multiple footsteps coming down the stairs that morning, and the crew hauled me up top. I hadn’t seen the sun in over 2 months from what I now know, and strangely I remember that hurting more. He cut the ropes” Marco pointed to the scars on his elbow “and tossed me some sort of sword. He said it was time to fight fairly – of course it wasn’t, I was weak, blinded by the sun and totally disorientated to the world around. Even so, I know I got a couple of hits because I remember I watched some blood on his forehead went he leant over to ...” Marco touched his eye and gritted his teeth “That was no accidental swordfight, Tuffy, he set that up as some sort of humiliating torture, I know it. I thought for sure I was going to die. But it wasn’t going to be on his terms. I circled back to wait for an opening, then made it off the side of the ship. The salt water stung, then it went black. Strangley, I woke up later on dry land, a Smurfmaid – one of Gargamel’s Smurfette experiments gone wrong – had pulled me from the water after she saw the scene. Sirene was her name, pretty lass but not my type” He gave a half hearted chuckle “And ... here I am now. I lived” Marco shrugged, as though he had finished telling the story of his trip to the corner store, rather than something that Tuffy could tell was deeply personal.

The sailor looked up, almost deadpan, just in time to see a flurry of blue as Tuffy pulled him close and hugged him tightly, pressing his cheek against the taller Smurf’s chest.

“I-I don’t think ‘sorry’ quite covers it, Marco, but I’m glad you’re safe. You’re one brave Smurf”

“Brave? I think perhaps just lucky, lad”

“Both” Tuffy beamed, leaning up to softly kiss Marco’s scars, which made his blue cheeks flush pink. “I’m not exactly good with uh, feelings and stuff – but for what it’s worth you’re pretty darn cool to me”

“My dear Smurf” Marco smiled, hugging him back gently and pressing his lips to his forehead “Coming from you, that’s poetry”

Kind of wanted to write this, but also wanted to leave it ambiguous so it took a while. I have a tendency to do some cruel things to characters I love in my other fandoms ;w; but I wanted Marco's to have a much happier ending - now he has Tuffy X3

He stills wears his eye patch most of the time, especially in public, but he can be persuaded to take it off when Tuffy wants - his scars are a part of him after all and Tuffy wants him know that he does care and love him. Sure, Tuffy can be a little bratty sometimes but he's now an older, more mature Smurf that genuinely thinks they look kind of cool. When they have a daughter Marco is worried he'll scare his own Smurfling, but Vitriolic think's they're kinda badass too (also Dreamy's son Rover always stands up for Marco because he idolises him)

PS: I know that Smurf plasters would argubaly be blue, but I don't care XD I like the clash of peach on blue instead, it's a thought out decision.

Marco and Tuffy (c) The Smurfs / Peyo / Hanna Barbera Cartoons

Description

www.youtube.com/watch?v=It1XzD…

Pitter pat. Pitter pat. The morning rain beat softly against the hull of the boat, and rocked it gently from side to side. Marco stirred from under the covers, glancing around the tiny cabin he was curled up in. He’d been away at sea for the past three years, and was finding it difficult to adjust to a still bed for the time being, choosing instead to stay on his ship and slowly wean himself back into land life for another couple of years whilst the spices were still plentiful.

He yawned and stretched, reaching out a hand for the small alarm clock his friend Handy had given him for his birthday last year. 6:45 am. Hm, perfect for a gentle stroll whilst the village was asleep. The rain didn’t bother him; he’d spent nights on the pacific where huge rolling waves had buffeted the side of his HMS Pepper, and lighting had torn across the sky all night.

The sailor grabbed his leggings and medallion, running his fingers along the cold metal grooves. He glanced momentarily at his eye patch, which was lying on the bedside table. He generally wore it in public to avoid stares and questions, but as he knew the village liked to sleep in he decided to simply shove it in his pocket for the time being. Marco had lost his right eye (as well as gained a couple of scars) some years ago, but had yet to tell anyone about the incident. The truth was that it traumatised him a little, for all the sailor acted stoic about it. He hadn’t even told his best friend Dreamy, and he considered the fellow sailor to be amongst his closest friends.

Marco decided to walk under the shaded trees in the forest, to give the most protection – both from rain, and just in case the elder wizard Gargamel was hanging around. The smell of pine filled the air, and his ears flicked at the little forest noises, so different to the sounds of wind in the sails and water lapping against the stern. The forest was full of twigs and leaves snapping under foot, a stream bubbling by in the under growth, larks and sparrows twittering happily high above, and squirrels chasing each other through the thicket. Marco smiled to himself. The sea may call him, but home in the forest was where his heart was.

The Smurf stopped at the base of a young chestnut tree, and climbed a couple of branches up to sit amongst the leaves. He’d learnt a trick from an elf he’d met overseas during his travels, and set about pulling leaves down to make his contraption. He chattered softly through the device, and a couple of moments later a mouse popped out of some ferns, looking quite surprised. Marco chuckled to himself as he sat back, watching raindrops fall in front of him. He might have only had one working eye, but he enjoyed what he could see out of it.

He was absentmindedly playing with some of the young conkers on the tree when one fell onto the ground, just as another Smurf appeared from the opposite direction. Marco lay flat on his branch, not wanting to be spotted. He could only make out the white hat from between the leaves, but as soon as the Smurf spoke he recognised it instantly. The Smurf had thrown down the basket he was carrying and was threatening fisticuffs at the upper branches of the tree.

“Come down from there or I’ll knock ya clean into next week!”

Marco rolled his eye in bemusement; it was Tuffy, the young, brash Smurf that had taken a liking to him on his last two stops. He’d been dubious at first, but Marco had to admit he was rather fond of the bold little guy back. He’d never officially dated any of his fellow Smurfs before, although he’d had encounters with fae on his travels. Something about Tuffy was rather more endearing.

“Come on, come down or I’ll come up!”

“Calm down lad it’s me” Marco sighed, calling down below. He could just about make out Tuffy’s face between the branches.

“Marco? ... What are you doing up there?”

“I was just resting” The sailor called, edging back along the branch and working his way down. He landed nimbly on his feet and dusted himself off. “I was going to head back to boat for a while but I can come to the village if Greedy’s making breakfast”

“I uh, think he’s um, making breakfast, yeah”

Marco noticed Tuffy looking at him in a way that was slightly unusual, and then it hit him. His eye patch was still in his pocket. And as much as the British Smurf liked Tuffy, he was instantly embarrassed.

“V-village it is” Marco stammered, clumsily fumbling around for his cloth which he tied hastily around his face. “S-see you there” and he took off at a speedy walking pace.

“No Marco wait! I didn’t mean to scare you” Tuffy fumbled with picking up his own basket “Marco please, I swear I wasn’t looking, well I mean-”

Tuffy’s words faded away as Marco broke into a jog. He had a hut back in the village as well as his boat, so he headed straight there, closing the door with a sigh of relief and leaning against the back of it. He headed quickly for the mirror in his bedroom, and set about adjusting his eye patch properly. He’d just finished when there was a knock on his front door. He bit his lip, not moving.

“Marco I saw you run in here”

Smurf damn it. It was Tuffy. The sailor reluctantly opened the door. As soon as Tuffy saw him, he embraced him in a fierce hug, right on the doorstep.

“H-heh, o-ok teeny Tuffy, I’m sorry for running off like that-”

“I’m not that teeny” Tuffy pouted, looking up at him from chest height. “Anyway, I was going to say sorry”

“No, no it’s fine” Marco coughed “I shouldn’t have run off like that. Uh, come inside”

The other did, happy to be out of the rain. Marco glanced around, hoping they could move past the elephant in the room, but knowing that it was why Tuffy was there. Tuffy sensed the same and decided it might as well be done with.

“Soooooo about your eyepatch ...”

The sailor looked at the floor, cursing his carelessness. A single tear slid down his cheek, which caught the smaller Smurf off guard – he’d never seen the likes of Marco cry, he was a upbeat, jolly Smurf who was most likely far tougher than he had ever tried to be.

“M-Marco ... can I see?”

The sailor glanced up, noting the almost tender look on Tuffy’s plastered face. Well, he doubted he could keep it hidden forever, so he nodded. Hands shaking, he reached up and slowly undid the knot again, letting it fall from his face. Tuffy gently cupped his face in his hands and brought him to rest on the bed, where the direct sunlight would give him a clear view.

It was a little eerie, Tuffy couldn’t deny that. He obviously didn’t want to ask if the eye was still underneath or ... well, it was best to take it at face value. But even so ... he was a handsome Smurf. He’d always been considered so, at least from what Tuffy could tell. Dreamy had always thought so, although he’d stopped pursing him some years ago. But Tuffy kind of understood what he meant ... Marco was a good looking Smurf, even now. In Tuffy’s mind, scars were pretty badass. It showed that he wasn’t just making up stories, in fact Tuffy wouldn’t have minded the more badass X shaped scars like the one on his left cheek himself.

But the sailor only seemed to care about the worst one, so that’s what Tuffy focused on. He gently ran a thumb along his cheek and rested it on the British Smurf’s eye, lightly stroking the raised skin with the utmost care. Marco’s cheeks were flushed a little from silent embarrassment, and from the gentle side Tuffy was showing. The Smurf was always getting into verbal fights and most of the time threatening physical ones, so Marco wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d teased him. But Tuffy was acting surprisingly mature, and taking it seriously, and that made the older Smurf’s heart flutter, just a little.

“W-well, I think you look great” Tuffy said after a while, and Marco chuckled a little in spite of himself.

“No, genuinely – I think it makes you look tough!”

“Really?”

“I should know, I’m practically an expert in toughness” Tuffy beamed. “But ... if you don’t mind me asking-”

“How I got them?” Marco blew air upwards “I thought I’d never tell any Smurf”

“O-oh well I won’t press” Tuffy murmured, but looked disappointed.

“Well ... perhaps it would help to get it off my chest” Marco said hesitantly. The act of sweetness he’d seen from the other had calmed him down. He settled back on his knees and kept his gaze on the mattress. Tuffy was respectfully silent.

“Well you see lad, the actual story began many blue moons ago when I was captured from my original ship – HMS Paprika was her name – by a band of thieves known as Pepper Pirates. I had just left the harbour of a little fishing village on the coast of France when they surrounded me out of the blue - Captain Peter Pepper was their leader, one of the most notorious spice thieves on the seven seas. They fed me and kept me above deck since they wanted to sell me into the fae labour slave trade. He intended to take me to Port Pepper further south, but I was eventually rescued by some Smurfs from the village. Even so, I knew he’d be out for me if I went sailing again.” Marco took a deep breath, and continued “Years passed and I got a new ship – HMS Saffron – I even traded some more, without hearing so much of a mention of his name. In my good spirits I was careless. Whilst picking up some cinnamon from the overseas traders market, I sat down at a little bar to have a drink and find some company for the evening. I was so busy talking with the merry folks at the counter that I let my guard down – one of the pepper pirates from the ship had caught sight of me. Of course, I was too, uh, tipsy to make the journey that night so I headed back to my ship – but Peter Pepper was there on the deck, lying in wait”

Tuffy gasped, and Marco glanced up momentarily. His eyes were wide, but he was still quiet.

“Unfortunately. They took me in again but this time below deck to avoid others seeing me. To be honest, I thought he was going to kill me. He was older and arguably madder, but I could see resentment had built up over the years for costing him his pepper pot and ruining his ship. I kept waiting for it, the day he’d finally get his revenge. But he didn’t, he dragged it out for what seemed like forever. Each day he’d come down, toss me barely enough food and leave without so much as mentioning a plan. If he didn’t kill me first then the malnutrition and lack of sunlight would I thought. But just as I was giving up ... it changed. I heard multiple footsteps coming down the stairs that morning, and the crew hauled me up top. I hadn’t seen the sun in over 2 months from what I now know, and strangely I remember that hurting more. He cut the ropes” Marco pointed to the scars on his elbow “and tossed me some sort of sword. He said it was time to fight fairly – of course it wasn’t, I was weak, blinded by the sun and totally disorientated to the world around. Even so, I know I got a couple of hits because I remember I watched some blood on his forehead went he leant over to ...” Marco touched his eye and gritted his teeth “That was no accidental swordfight, Tuffy, he set that up as some sort of humiliating torture, I know it. I thought for sure I was going to die. But it wasn’t going to be on his terms. I circled back to wait for an opening, then made it off the side of the ship. The salt water stung, then it went black. Strangley, I woke up later on dry land, a Smurfmaid – one of Gargamel’s Smurfette experiments gone wrong – had pulled me from the water after she saw the scene. Sirene was her name, pretty lass but not my type” He gave a half hearted chuckle “And ... here I am now. I lived” Marco shrugged, as though he had finished telling the story of his trip to the corner store, rather than something that Tuffy could tell was deeply personal.

The sailor looked up, almost deadpan, just in time to see a flurry of blue as Tuffy pulled him close and hugged him tightly, pressing his cheek against the taller Smurf’s chest.

“I-I don’t think ‘sorry’ quite covers it, Marco, but I’m glad you’re safe. You’re one brave Smurf”

“Brave? I think perhaps just lucky, lad”

“Both” Tuffy beamed, leaning up to softly kiss Marco’s scars, which made his blue cheeks flush pink. “I’m not exactly good with uh, feelings and stuff – but for what it’s worth you’re pretty darn cool to me”

“My dear Smurf” Marco smiled, hugging him back gently and pressing his lips to his forehead “Coming from you, that’s poetry”

Kind of wanted to write this, but also wanted to leave it ambiguous so it took a while. I have a tendency to do some cruel things to characters I love in my other fandoms ;w; but I wanted Marco's to have a much happier ending - now he has Tuffy X3

He stills wears his eye patch most of the time, especially in public, but he can be persuaded to take it off when Tuffy wants - his scars are a part of him after all and Tuffy wants him know that he does care and love him. Sure, Tuffy can be a little bratty sometimes but he's now an older, more mature Smurf that genuinely thinks they look kind of cool. When they have a daughter Marco is worried he'll scare his own Smurfling, but Vitriolic think's they're kinda badass too (also Dreamy's son Rover always stands up for Marco because he idolises him)

PS: I know that Smurf plasters would argubaly be blue, but I don't care XD I like the clash of peach on blue instead, it's a thought out decision.

Marco and Tuffy (c) The Smurfs / Peyo / Hanna Barbera Cartoons