France X Reader - The Princess and the Frog CH.8

Chapter 8 – Swamp Gumbo

“Pa, did you hear that suspicious tide?” Darnell, you learned, asked.

 
“Yeah... I surely did.” The head hunter, or Pa said. He took his hat off to scratch his head, but he didn’t realize that Francis was also on his head. He shushed you, when you opened your mouth and the other two hunters stood there with their jaws dropped. Darnell began to lift up his club and Pa looked at him confused.

 
“What you two cockin' head-?!“ Darnell slammed his club on his head, missing Francis, who hopped up to miss the hit. This happened repeatedly and Francis just kept jumping and smirking.

 
“Just miss it there!”

 
“I will make them dessert legs!” Two Fingers grew bored of watching this and stood up. Francis saw this and mouthed, “Come on, go!” You got out of the cage and watched as Two Fingers raised his gun up to face them.

 
“Stop!” Pa shouted and you saw Francis had nowhere to escape, because the barrel of the gun was straight on him. “No, no, no, you idiot, don't shoot!”

In high panic, you jumped up and forced yourself down on the gun, making it go down and Pa almost had his not-to-be-mentioned area shot off. You grabbed Francis and landed on the bottom of the boat.

 
“Watch this.” Francis said, with a sly smirk on his face. He puffed out his cheeks like a frog would, jump-scaring Darnell. He lifted up his club to smash Francis and you, but you both jumped up onto Darnell’s head causing him to hit Two Fingers foot. You now smirked and shot your tongue at Two Fingers, who yelped and swung his gun down on you and Francis. You both jumped again and repeated the hit routine in many different and creative ways. Finally with Pa and Two Fingers knocked out, you and Francis jumped infront of Darnell’s face and he hit himself with his club.

   
“These two ain't like no frogs I've ever seen. They're smart.” Pa huffed, clearly tired and worn out.

“And we talk, too.” You smirked, as all their eyes widened. They quickly hopped up and began paddling as fast as they could away from the two of you. While you and Francis hopped off and watched them on a rock, chuckling to yourselves.

 
~


Francis laughed his signature laugh that you secretly loved and smiled at you. “And we talk too. I like that! You are secretly funny.”

 
“Not a stick in the mud?” You asked, smirking a bit.


“W-well I was-“

 
“Say it.”


“Co-“


“Say it!”


“All right... You're not exactly...” He tried to say, a bit flustered.

 
“I can't hear you, I'm sorry. What?” You asked grinning.


“...a complete stick, deep in the mud.” He smiled, again. You both heard cries of pain and turning a corner you saw Toni pulling burrs off of Alfred.

 
“Easy, dude! Easy!” He yelped as Toni pulled another one out.

 
“Wow, this one is really in there, isn’t it, now hold on.” Toni pulled another one out and Alfred yelped, again. “Amigo, I know we got to get to Papa Vlad as soon as possible but … This particular extract provocation may take a while.”

 
“Oh, poor Alfred.” You said sympathetically, rubbing his nose.


“You know what would make me feel better? Crawfish snugged in Remoulade Sauce- AGH! Slow down!”


“Got a little more!”

 
“Some banana foster sprinkled with brollie- AGH!”

 
“How about swamp gumbo?” You asked nicely and he smiled.


“That'll do. UGH!”

 
“Sounds delicious! I'll start with free dinner cocktail and something to nibble on, while I wait, thanks.” Francis said, while relaxing. You laughed and pulled him up.

 
“No, no, no, no, Your Royal Highness.” He looked baffled as you tugged him along.


“What's the matter?” He asked as you dragged him over to some mushrooms. You pulled a smaller one up and placed it on the mushroom that you decide to use as a table. You handed the sharp rock to France and pushed him forward.

 
“You are going to mince the mushrooms.” You said, while walking over to the pot (which is made out of a pumpkin) and began to start a fire underneath it.


“To do what?” You heard Francis’s confused voice ask.

 
“Mince the mushrooms! Hop to it!” You heard him mumble something and became clearer the more he talked.

 
“This is ridiculous…” You successfully made a fire and walked back over to him.

“Are you mincing?”

 
“All right! Relax…” You watched as he had a hard time figuring out how to cut the mushroom in the first place, lightly poking it with the rock. He finally sighed and began to cut the mushroom, but worked up a heavy sweat while doing so.

 
“One!” He exclaimed in triumph.

 
“Step aside, Mister. Watch... And learn.” You pushed him aside, grabbing the makeshift knife. With almost lightning speed, you cut up the mushroom not once… not twice… but three times. You handed the knife back to Francis and he almost dropped it in shock.

 
“All r-right!” You pulled up another mushroom and got him into a pace of mincing them. Little did you realize, that you had your arms around him to show him how to do it and he realized with his cheeks taking a light shade of pink and a small smile gracing his face.

 
“There you go.” You smiled at his now good pace.


“You know, I never done anything like this before.” He said, truth laced in his words.

 
“Really?”

 
“Alright. But, when you are living in a castle everything is done for you: all the time they dress you, they feed you, drive you...” He threw up his arms in exaggeration. “Brush your teeth!”

 
“Aw, poor baby.” You said with a bit of a mocking tone, but you said it sincerely.

 
“I admitted it was a charmed life, until the day my parents cut me off, and suddenly I realized...” He paused and you looked to him. His expression was empty. “I don't know how to do anything.”