#sardinecore

🌿 🦭 🌊 ✨ Gallavich Story Incoming! 🌿 🦭 🌊 ✨

Summary: Ian Gallagher arrives on Winslow Island in a thick layer of fog, freshly 25 years old and with everything he owns in an overstuffed suitcase. The itch he’d been trying to ignore for months had won out in the end, he left his family in Chicago to answer a Craigslist ad looking for a groundskeeper to maintain a small private garden across the country. As he falls in love with the creeping mosses and raging tides of the Puget Sound, Ian discovers there are more strange and terrifying creatures hiding under the dark ocean than he imagined. To his horror, Ian can’t manage to react appropriately to one distinctly not human inhabitant who seems determined to get under his skin.

Chapter One Live tomorrow (29 March). A new chapter will be posted every day for the rest of the week, with the final going up this Friday! Hope some people are interested in tuning in, it's a fun story.

Link to Ao3

Sardine final chapter is live on Ao3! 🌿🌊

Light splayed carelessly across the muscled planes of Mickey's back as he stepped out of the treeline and stripped out of his shirt, leaving it behind for Ian to collect. By the time he reached the edge of the river, he was completely bare, his feet submerged in the water as he looked back at Ian expectantly. There was a faint wind blowing down the valley of the trees, knocking his dark hair loose from where he'd been pushing it back and out of his face all day. His pale figure looked small against the vastness of the river, the mountains beyond, and the open sky above, yet wholly harmonious in the order of his surroundings.

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Sardine chapter three is live on Ao3! 🌿🌊

The daily drizzle of rain continued to fall, and Ian grew accustomed to the constant dew that settled on his curls and shoulders. He trimmed and collected and planted in the garden, tinkered in the greenhouse, and worked faithfully at the farmers' market. He made friends and got to know people in the small town on Winslow. He ran daily through the forest trails and along the shoreline roads. Life on the island was becoming familiar, the days were similar, and they ended similarly as well—sitting on the dock, talking to Mickey.

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Sardine chapter four is live on Ao3! 🌿🌊

“What am I going to do with you, Mickey?” He finally sighed. The amusement flickering in Mickey’s calm expression grew less confident the longer the question sat between them.

“You don’t have to do anything with me,” Mickey said, torn between confusion and indignation, his eyes narrowing like they did when he thought Ian was teasing him.

“What if I want to?” Ian challenged with a helpless shrug, leaning back so he could look at Mickey properly. “What then?”

The tight furrow of Mickey’s brow released slowly as his features softened with a kind of understanding, and his mouth opened with a breathless oh. Ian closed his eyes and felt his entire being narrow until he was made entirely of the feeling of cool sea breeze on his cheek and the tilting, swelling love in the cage of his ribs.

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Sardine chapter five is live on Ao3! 🌿🌊

Over the course of that winter, Ian learned that Mickey liked thievery and beer and public urination and sex and horror movies and making Ian laugh. He had an impish sense of humor that bordered on mean. He didn’t love clothes, or niceties, or when dogs barked at him—as they often instinctively did. He liked weed and daytime television. He did not like most vegetables. He was the love of Ian’s life, and against all odds and laws of nature, his other half. He was still entirely and distinctly not human. Ian had learned not to worry about it.

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Sardine chapter two is live on Ao3! 🌿🌊

“I’ve been getting these really weird nightmares,” Ian explained. “Which is total bullshit, because I’ve never had issues like this before—sirens, shootings, you name it, and I’ve slept through it, but something about the total darkness and silence throws me off for some reason.”

Julia watched him contemplatively, nodding her head. “Not that surprising, honestly. Something about the gloomy weather and fresh air can mess with people.”

“Yeah?” Ian asked curiously.

“Oh yeah, it definitely appeals to a particular type of person and fucks with others,” she said earnestly. “I’m not into that woo-woo shit, but energetically there’s some strange stuff going on. Maybe that’s why we’re all so fucking closed off, I don’t know. But there are all kinds of ghost stories and serial killers out there—I suggest you get with it or get out if you’re having issues, because if you think it’s all in your head, you’re probably wrong.”

Link to Ao3

Sardine chapter one is live on Ao3! 🌿🌊

Ian got the distinct feeling that he'd made the right decision, that this was the place he'd been looking for. It was an unusual certainty, so singular that it almost felt hostile. As he turned and started walking back to the cottage, his mind was pleasantly clear and eager to settle in.

Before Ian could step through the doorway, he felt a sudden alertness startle his senses—a prickling along his spine as he faced away from the ocean, like he was being watched. He paused carefully, glancing back for a beat. The wind was still gently blowing through the trees and grasses, the ocean licked at the shore, and Ian’s pulse slowed with the rhythm of the world around him. Shaking his head, Ian stepped back inside.

Read Chapter One on Ao3