❝ 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐀 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑? ❞ she asked, with a sweet smile you could hear in her voice. she had always found medicine interesting, and maybe when she was younger there could of been a time where fate could of taken her down that path. but that would not be how life would go for her, and that was okay! it was just interesting to her how people came to decide on what to be, because she never really felt sure.
ㅤㅤ✦ * @malpractising sent: [hold] your muse holds my muse’s hands. ( v sorry Eden is a hand holder, gotta be able to seeㅤㅤㅤ╲╲ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ accepting ♡
𝐋𝐀𝐖 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃. Not the kind that bit at skin or stiffened fingers—those were familiar enough, and easier to fight. He meant the colder kind. The kind that seeped in when people left, when wounds didn't heal, when silence stretched too long after you’ve asked someone to stay.
But this — This was different. It wasn’t often someone touched the surgeon without warning. Even less often that he allowed it. So when cold fingers slid against his palm , tentative, like a question made flesh—he didn’t pull away right away, but his breath hitched, caught between instinct and reason. how his lashes stilled, how his thumb twitched as if caught between pulling away and not wanting to break the contact just yet.
It wasn’t warm. The skin was cooler than expected That’s what struck him first, and more deeply than he wanted to admit. Eden’s hand was cold——not in the way corpses were cold, exactly. Law had held enough of those to know the difference. No, this was living cold. The kind that somehow pulsed with purpose, as if the chill was tethered to something ancient and unfinished. Not of this world. Like if you're pressing your bare flesh into snow. And yet the touch was deliberate. Eden’s fingers curled into his as though he needed this to see—to anchor himself, was it to perhaps confirm that Law was really there? He noticed it the moment Eden’s fingers closed around his. A touch too deliberate to be accidental, too gentle to be threatening. For a few moments, Law said nothing. He let his gaze drift from Eden’s face—that permanent pallor of someone who had died long before he’d had the chance to live—to their joined hands.
His thumb twitched, not pulling away, but neither gripping back. He felt the difference in temperature. The lack of pulse. The steadiness that wasn’t human. Eden felt like something borrowed from the other side. Something that should not still be here, and yet… here he was.
he noted how eden was quiet, always quiet, as if sound cost him something. And Law, for all his sharpened edges, hadn’t yet figured out if Eden’s silence meant peace or agony. he didn’t say anything. He didn’t pull away. He was a surgeon. He understood touch intimately—the weight of it, the meaning of it, how much it could give away. Eden's hand wasn't desperate. It wasn't trembling. It simply was. A tether. It was… focused. As if his fingers were reading something beneath Law’s skin. Tracing stories in bone and tendon and veins.
Something about that made Law’s chest feel heavier than it should’ve. Not in a bad way. Just… full. With questions. With caution. With the understanding that this kind of stillness didn’t come from the living. That maybe this boy wasn't grasping his hand so much as anchoring himself. Law’s thoughts turned, slow and analytical. He sighed through his nose, tiredness heavy beneath his breath. He’d been running all day. Operating. Thinking. Always thinking. But the cold against his palm was still there.
He spoke eventually, his voice low and even.
“did…you need help..? .” It wasn’t a judgment. Just an observation, like a note scribbled in a patient’s chart. but rather obvious. silence followed not soon after. Law swallowed something unspoken, a quiet knot of discomfort and reluctant understanding. He was used to people reaching for him out of desperation, grief, need. for assistance of any kind.
Still he didn't let go. He would, later. When it felt right. When he’d figured out why he hadn’t pulled away yet. But for now— For now, he allowed the eden to hold his hand.
Send “💖” and my muse will admit something they find cute about yours. ( Eden would never but I the Rabbit want to know. OTL )
Here
The query was unexpected, enough so to scatter his train of thought, cause him to stare blankly for a long moment.
What.
Finally, he shrugged. "He's off-putting. In a familiar way."
: x ( @malpractising - this may be blurry as shit as I did it on mobile but Eden wouldn't have it any other way )
Here
He still had to wonder why people even bothered to fill these out, regardless of how sweet it was that someone would take time out of their day to do so. "... We're just going to keep talking about weird shit, aren't we?"
A night in or dinner out?: night in unless you want to go on an adventure : > ill carry you if you get tired
Ice cream or chocolate covered strawberries?: i cant
What makes you a good Valentine?: i dont know ive never been one but i love you
Would you cook for me?: yes if you promise not to freak out
Would you let me cook for you?: i cant eat but i will hold whatever you make ?
"What if I send you a glossy image of a .jpg for the food... Wait..." Did it make him a bad boyfriend that he occasionally forgot Eden was blind, " ... Maybe candles? They make candles that smell like food. " There had to be a way to make sure Eden could enjoy the food as much as he did...
" If I ate the strawberry and then described it to you... would that be better or worse? " Somewhere, as he had a tendency to do, was getting so caught up in the smaller details, he was missing the larger question being asked.
" Wait! Shit! Yes! Yes the answer is yes! I want you to be my Valentine, " And then because he couldn't hold himself back, " Even if Valentine's Day was made up by Hallmark to sell greeting cards and normalize heteronormative relationships. But yes... I want you to be my Valentine. "
send “🌿🍒” (or "mistletoe") for my muse's reaction to standing under a mistletoe with your muse ♡ ( if you like ! Right back at you - from @malpractising )
Here | and referencing
He had no idea who had put it up- or why they thought it was a good idea to put up in a public space. Strangers generally weren't inclined to kiss each other, regardless of whether or not it was tradition.
And especially less so when they were being goaded into it by a room half-full of drunks. It was more irritating than anything.
The comment about them being parasitic was already known- he was fairly certain that something back in his home made them... Sort of sentient on top of that. It was also entirely possible the thing back home was an entirely different plant, mimicking the appearance of mistletoe. He wasn't really a plants guy.
(And exploring the forests outside the borders was damn near suicidal, regardless.)
"I won't make you," after the quiet explanation of the time of year, his attention flicking back down after casting glares around the room. He would have been content with simply pressing a kiss against the top of the mask, despite whatever mild dismay the room might express at such a conclusion to the awkward standoff-
But the sound of buckles suggested the other was okay with the prospect.
That was certainly an interesting turn of events. "I haven't either." As if that made the situation any better. It might, in all honesty.
He wasn't exactly a people person either.
E.L. raised a brow, remained still a moment. He raised a hand, made to assist in steadying Eden, slowly leaned down to make things easier. The chill was inconsequential, considering how brief the action was. A brush, barely enough to sate the definition of a kiss- he wasn't going to press further. That was enough. He shrugged, offered a hum. "Makes sense. I haven't had time."
there he goes again, obstinately continuing to insist that he wasn't also one with mankind. ❝ i'm presuming you were once, and not some inanimate object given life like the tsukumogami of wano. ❞
when doflamingo's generous offer to buy the ghoul from those pirates was oh so rudely rejected, he barely had a few days to dwell on that frustration before said ghoul all but delivered himself to his throne room anyway.
a bit unceremonious in his execution - not only showing up unannounced and with no stated purpose, but pushing his way through every staff & family member that tried to impede him until he reached his destination - but doflamingo would take it. not to say his ego was that bruised by the rejection (business deals fell through all the time, after all) but the knowledge that, despite his captain's rejection, the object of his interest still couldn't resist the offer, still wanted to be here - well, that certainly was an ego booster, wasn't it?
but then eden started to talk, and that giddiness gave way to an ever creeping urge to give into violent intrusive thoughts. oh, so this is the kind of person he was? sanctimonious & defiant with the stench of sentimentality and respect for 'the resilience of the common man' lacing every word? it was familiar in a way that doflamingo decidedly wasn't a fan of. he fantasized about taking eden by the scruff of his neck and driving his face through one of the stained glass windows opposite of the throne.
❝ spoken like a true, lost soul in need of guidance. ❞ luckily for eden, doflamingo specialized in such cases.
❝ you know, when i first laid eyes on you, although your physical body looks as if it died young, i was curious about how many lifetimes you've lived and what your mental age would be - but i see now that you clearly haven't been roaming the earth as you are for very long if this is how you think the world works. ❞
doflamingo sighed, comically loud, when he realized his increasingly slouched posture & dour expression wasn't enough to convey his boredom, standing and instead walking circles absentmindedly around his guest. not as an intimidation gesture necessarily (his facial injuries seemed to be a promising sign that the intel he gathered about the boy being fully blind was correct, so would such a thing even work?) just that, like any collector, he preferred to examine his things up close.
❝ let me explain something to you - yes, and no. those with strength define their own purpose. the weak are given purpose. this is how it's always been - and you, little ghost, seem to believe you are in one category when you belong to the other.
'helping people' is your purpose? you think that was a decision you made out of strength? that making yourself subservient to others is a strength? your desire to be useful, to derive your worth from what you can do for others - is a weakness in itself. ❞