"What?!"
"It's the only way I know."
There was T.F., having to fix Graves' shit. He told the man not to mess with the yordles, but between talking to him and a donkey, it was easier for the donkey to be more flexible than the outlaw, more stubborn than he don't know what. And now here he was, in the humble shop of a sorcerer he'd met by chance, looking for a way to turn his partner from frog to human again.
At first he thought it would be simple, the old man having sprinkled some sort of shimmering powder, surely magical, on top of his transformed partner. T.F. thought that would be enough and that in a while he would have Graves back, but the sorcerer said that he had only given a little push for his return, that for the shooter to become human again, someone who loved him very much would have to kiss him.
Someone who loved Graves. But who the hell loved Graves?
Other than his parents, who the outlaw mentioned were already dead, the crook couldn't think of anyone capable of loving him. The man was simply unbearable, he didn't know the right moment to close his mouth and as if on purpose, he constantly got into trouble, many of which were T.F.'s fault, but that was details. Trying to remember someone who loved Graves, the gambler pulled from his memory the people the shooter had a close relationship with.
"What if I..."
"Right!"
T.F. spoke suddenly, startling the old wizard who almost fell out of his chair. Graves had a rotten finger on men, the ones the crook had the misfortune to meet being would-be assholes at the very least, but surely there must have been one of them who actually fell in love with the outlaw and wouldn't have gotten over the breakup. Since he didn't know who it would be exactly, T.F. thought the best idea would be to start with the last boyfriend the shooter had.
"Who would it be?"
Ah yes, the whale man (or at least, he thought he was a whale).
Leaving the payment at the little old man's counter, the crook left the small shop in search of the last man Graves dated. He didn't have a definite way to find him, but he had the outlaw's memory saying that his ex-companion worked at the fish market, so that's where he'd go.
(...)
It wasn't very difficult to find him actually. As much as the fish market was always very crowded, people moving around all the time, it wasn't a difficult task for the crook to differentiate his burly silhouette from the others, the man he was looking for being in a tent - who T.F. thanked that it wasn't crowded - watching, bored, as the crowd came and went.
However, when their eyes met, T.F. he realized it wouldn't be so easy to get to him, the man practically running to a house, which should probably be his, and making a move to lock himself up before the crook got any closer.
"Hey, you there!" His scream caught the attention of some passersby who looked at him, curious, but soon returned their focus to what they were doing at first.
"No, no, no!" He heard the man answer, almost desperately, the gambler not being able to get there in time to stop him from locking himself in. "I'm not giving all my money to you to gamble and lose again!"
"It was just an accident, Gerard, it won't happen again." T.F. said trying to calm him down, the box Graves was leaning against the wooden door firmly stuck. "Your name is Gerard, right? You're the last guy Graves dated, correct?"
"My name is Garfield and I don't know who you're talking about! In fact, I don't even know who you are!" The man yelled, the cheater knowing he was lying in an attempt to escape the awkward conversation.
YOU ARE READING
Kiss The Frog! (TFGraves)
Short StoryAfter Lulu turns Graves into a frog, T.F. now has to look for a way to get his partner back to his original form, but he might end up discovering things he didn't expect along the way.