V, VII, and XIX for the Apprentice Lore asks- please and thank you~
25 Arcana OC & LI Lore Asks
V.) What would your MC do for their LI after they come home from a long/bad/hard day? What would their LI do for them?
Ho boy, you better believe that Tyrael will prepare a whole spa day.
Seeing you in a bad mood due to a day gone everything but as planned will cause her to go into an instant mom mode. She would ask how you feel and suggest to take the rest of the day off together. Sharing your favorite meal, a warm scented bath and a loving massage are only a selection of things she’d offer you. She’d like to listen to your thoughts as you chat, eventually managing to ease the mood by mocking whatever made you feel down in the first place. She’s not that good at doing impressions but she’s good at throwing hands in a theatrical sense.
When it comes to her having a bad day, she tends to try and hide herself away somewhere. Doesn’t talk much and appears tired for days. Julian has managed to find quite the interesting way to counter that gloomy state of hers... by taking her by the hand and dragging her out of her hiding corner and walking wherever their feet will guide them. It keeps amazing her how soothing it can be to share a walk through town together. While she doesn’t say much, she sure enjoys listening to his stories and made up adventures. The way he acts and talks works like magic, leaving her with the gentlest of smiles all while the tension eases from her soulders.
VII.) What is your MC’s favoured element to cast with?
While Tyrael is most proficient in illusion (link) and transmutation magic, her favorite element to cast with would be water. Its motion, the possibilities of the shape it could take, the ability to sooth or cause damage. Something about it all is so soothing to her. It’s also quite handy to use while gardening.
XIX.) Does your MC have a familiar? How did they meet? How do they communicate?
Her familiars are Duriel and Isual (first introduction & colored piece)
Noone really knows what they are aside from being strange snake like creatures who correspond directly to Tyrael’s state of mind. Their way of communication is rather simple. They express their emotions with gestures, facial expression or touch such as wiggles, that creppy smile or brushing along your side to get your attention. They are able to speak very few words for everyone to hear, occasionally mimicing the voices of people they met once before.
As for how they met, Tyrael doesn’t quite believe it was their first encounter.
It was a rather dark moment for Ty when they showed themselves. Her and Asra had a nasty fight moments before. She tried to talk him out of his grief yet the situation changed to anger and aggression. Overtaken by emotions he said things she dreaded to hear.
It wasn’t until she had run from the shop into the lazaret that she felt the pain within her chest. Blood staining the fabric of her clothes as that old wound acted up yet again. As if summoned by her blood and tears, these strange beasts manifested. They didn’t exchange many words, simply wrapping themselves around her cowering shape in an attempt to soothe the hurt. The few words they did say still linger in Tyrael’s memory to this day.
“No. Now go to your corner.”
“But Shachi took it!”
“Go to another corner.”
“But it was my corner first and-!” A knife barely missed his ear as it flew by, hilt hitting the wall across the room with an angry thud. “-I am more than willing to find another corner.”
Sometimes Penguin and Shachi can be as mature as children, but if it stopped the fighting, why criticize the method?
For the American things you posted. A friend of mine went to Paris and said that everyone there eats and then stays for a while to digest the food. Eating and leaving shortly after you are done is considered rude. Our restaurants give us the stink eye if we don't pack up shortly after we are full. They see you are done, leave your cheque, and you get a look if it's not prepped for when they come back. It's sad, but we always seem to be rearing to go somewhere and have no time to enjoy a moment.
It’s the same here! We call the period right after lunch or dinner “sobretaula” (Catalan) / “sobremesa” (Spanish). Unless the restaurant is packed and customers are waiting to be seated (lingering would be considered bad form then), you can stay there for a while, having dessert and, usually, having a coffee afterwards. Sometimes restaurants also serve liquor shots free of charge with certain desserts or with the coffee. I wouldn’t say it’s considered rude per se to leave if everybody’s all right with it or if you need to go somewhere, and restaurant staff certainly don’t mind, but if you aren’t in a rush, it’s expected to sit down and talk for a while before asking for the cheque. Since going to a restaurant is usually a treat, people use the chance to relax and catch up.Oh, and since we’re talking about restaurants, something I’ve seen a few foreigners get confused by, since they work differently everywhere: tips. We don’t tip nearly as much as the US because servers have a full salary, and the tip is only a courtesy. You can skip it if you are tight on money, but the nicer the restaurant is, the more tips are expected. You leave some spare change after paying, and usually not more than 1 or 2 euros, unless you’re somewhere upscale. You can just tell the server to keep the change, too. Getting a 20 € tip, for instance, is not unheard of, but the customer has to really have money to spare and taken a liking to the server.
So I wrote this as a joke between BloodyMarryMe and I, but its too great not to share~.
So, in order to keep things straight and share notes, the different shifts of the mechanics on Polar Tang have this chalkboard they write notes on they are supposed to write notes on. It gets out of hand a lot more often than not.
Colors symbolize people. Shachi and Penguin get white because they are shift leads. Jeanette, the Head Mechanic, gets orange. Law always has yellow. Pink is outside sources. Odessa usually uses red because she’s not always working as a mechanic. Day shift gets bright blue; Swing, green; Graveyard/Night, purple. Dark Blue is just one of day shift not able to find the light blue cause Vin keeps it because he actually uses the board correctly.
So I like thinking about the character that will eventually come into play for No Gilded Cage to Hold Ye and I really like developing them. They pop up in my other stories often, so I figured why not let the few people who enjoy reading about OC Heart Pirates read about the ones that I designed for his crew. I have put years into this but I always get writers block when it comes to writing it all in a properly written story. So, as I try to progress in NGCtHY, I will also be writing one shots of various characters that may find its way into the actual story or may just forever be a one-shot of the plot.
So, first, Aurelia. She’s been in my head for a while, so I would like to introduce her with this little featurette. To those who have never read my main story, no, there is very limited, if any, romance in it. Aurelia will eventually find the love of her life, but its not Law. And she even surprised me, to be honest, with who she chose. I tend to create them, but as their character develops, they sorta become their own person in my head and she chose a very unique relationship.
Anyways, that might show up later. For now, enjoy Val Oliola Aurelia.
Title: Aurelia the Nurturing Lionheart
Characters: Trafalgar Law and a shit ton of OCs from No Gilded Cage to Hold Ye
Genre: Humor/ Nakamaship/ Friendship
Rating: T
Word Count: 3,832
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda. Also, this is some nonsense my brain cooks up.
She noticed that he had begun to limp a day or two ago. He would silently grimace at times he thought no one was looking, but, with him being her captain and lead doctor on the sub, she watched out for him more than the others. Leon didn’t always seem to catch him going untreated, after all, seeing as the man was almost always prepping for meals or serving them when they weren’t on shore leave, and even then, Law hid what he could.
It was his leg that were troubling him, that much she could figure out. So, of course, being the loyal member of the crew that she, she went to Leon about it shortly after Law had disappeared after dinner. All that was left was for Leon to do was keep swing shift dinner warm and clean up- things Basil could do easily.
Leon easily gave her the attention she was hoping for as she approached the serving counter. Leon’s eyes already looking at her with intrigue. It wasn’t like her to linger after dinner with all she had to get done before tomorrow unless she was interested in picking his brain.
“I um…” She felt silly for getting nervous, but at the same time, she was basically tattling on their captain. It was pretty close to mutiny, wasn’t it?
“Miss Aurelia, are you alright?” He was already discarding his apron and making ready to leave the kitchen.
“I’m fine.” Her voice was weak and she played a bit with her finger. “But can I talk to you about Captain?”
Leon blinked a moment before looking at Basil and giving him reign over the kitchen. Tossing his apron on the counter, he quickly made his way through the door leading form the kitchen to the cafeteria and motioning Aurelia to follow as he started to make his way out and to where Law no doubt was. She felt like she did a remarkable job keeping up with his longer, faster gait.
“What about Law?” Leon was never one to beat around the bush when it came to his surrogate younger brother.
“He’s been… limping a bit. Not so much in the morning, but he seems in a great deal of pain after his sessions. A-and I know he hasn’t been sparring as of late either- no mends for me to do to his workout clothes as of lately-, so I don’t think its the regular soreness we all get after sessions.” Even when she felt like she had been hit with a runaway carriage after her first training session with Akiko did she ever really limp like Captain.
Leon looked down at her with a impressed look. “Good observations. Now, help me get his ass on an exam table so I can take a look at him. It’s been long overdue for me to give him a once over anyways. He would rather suffer silently with a quick fix than actually properly treat himself. Typical damn doctor mentality.”
Aurelia didn’t mean to look so timid, but she was still quite new to the crew and wasn’t sure how over the line she had already gone in Captain’s books. “O-okay.” She could add one more thing to the list before he probably kicked her out.
“Miss Aurelia.” Leon paused his gait and she nearly blew right past him as a result. His eyes were gentle as gentle as his voice. He placed a hand on the top of her head. Why were all the kind men in this submarine so damn tall? She felt like a child with the way his hand endearingly rubbed the top of her head. But at the same time. It felt so comforting. To know that he meant it all in kindness and meant nothing lewd or demeaning with his actions.
“Law isn’t going to kick you out or do anything bad to you for this. He knows better than to do this to himself and, to an extension, his crew. I want you to know that he cares for all of us in his own way, even if he gets grumpy or is short with his words. He’s not going to punish you at all for telling me. You’re a part of our family now and that means your are stuck with us, okay, Little Lionheart?”
She used her sleeve to rub away the tears that came unbidden from her eyes. She wasn’t use to such kindness; such comforts. Even though everyone was always so nice, she still felt deeply touched by how gently they handled her spirit. Training sessions were brutal, but outside that, no one dared to touch her in any way that wasn’t needed gentle reassurance or without her verbal consent.
“Feeling better about all this now?” She could see why Law left Leon in charge of the whole ‘feelings’ thing. He was so good at it. He was caring and nurturing and philanthropic. She could see why the men teased him and called him Mama Bird. It was because he took such good care of all of them in anyway he could. She wanted to be just like that. She wanted to take care of the crew too.
“Alright. This sounds like either a leg problem or a foot problem, so I’m probably going to have to strip him down a bit. I don’t know how far that will be out of your comfort zone. He should be wearing undergarments, but with Law….”
“Please recall that I do the laundry now. I have seen plenty of the mechanics and Akiko’s squad half naked due to the fact that they sometimes want the very clothes they are occupying cleaned.” Even Akiko would saunter out of the room in nothing but her undergarments sometimes.
Leon let out a long suffering sigh at that knowledge, muttering “Of course they do.”
“I don’t mind it.” Aurelia blushed a bit at that acknowledgement. She knew Leon would never repeat her secret admissions to anyone and it always felt so good to get it off her chest. “It’s not harassment or anything like that to me. They genuinely don’t realize their faux pa until afterwards. I think I’ve received more honest apologies in the last few weeks than I ever been a recipient of in my whole life.” She bit her lip as she blushed a bit more. “Besides, I have always admired well developed muscles. A little striptease from any them will never be horrible.” They were all harmless in their cajoling. The most they did was flex for her much to her initial relief and now enjoyment.
“Well, at least there’s that. They’d be happy to know they’ve managed to service you somehow.” Confident that Aurelia was not being harassed by any of the men, Leon continued on. “Now, there are two ways this will go. Law will either allow me to check him or he will put up a fight. Peia is done for the night so she won’t be in there to help me, but Orpheus should be in there to help. However, if you want to help, as soon as I or Orpheus manage to strip him of his shoes, pants, and socks, I want you to start massaging his feet.”
“His feet?” She blinked at him owlishly. That was the last thing she expected him to say.
“Law has this thing about his feet. Practically goes limp almost immediately when the right amount of pressure to the bottom of his foot is applied.” Leon explained. “Now all you need to do is use your thumbs and press them hard and rub circles up and down one of his feet. That should give me the time to make sure he’s alright and see what this limp might be about. Law isn’t flat footed, so if he doesn’t have an arch, let me know or if one of his ankles is swollen, avoid that foot and rub the other one. Do you think you can do that comfortably?”
She looked rather hesitant. “I won’t hurt him, right?”
“No. He might make some noise, but I promise you, it’s a good thing. He’s such a big ball of stress and nerves that the moment anyone starts to attempt relax him via a massage, specifically a foot massage, his body pretty much shuts down as a result. I try to rub his feet when I can, but with the growing number of crew members to feed and with only Basil to help- I haven’t had the time.”
Aurelia quietly absorbed this information as she stared up at Leon. “Okay.”
Now having a decent plan, Leon lead Aurelia to the infirmary, where, just as Leon had assumed, Law was hunched over a book with Orpheus next to him as he explained something that the medical assistant was trying to learn. Now that Leon was observing him, he could tell the man was in some pain. He was babying his left leg as discreetly as he could.
The sounds of the two entering piqued the heart captain’s interest and he looked slightly worried at the presence of Aurelia, quite unaware of why they were really there.
“Aurelia-ya, is something the matter?” He had just seen her at dinner and she seemed fine then. Orpheus also looked their direction.
“She’s fine, but you’re not, apparently. Been limping when no one’s been looking, or so I’ve been told.” Leon cut his concern short as he motioned for a bed. “Lay down or I force you down.”
Law tensed. His jaw setting stubbornly as he held his position. He wasn’t going to budge. “I’m fine. I have taken care of it.”
“Bullshit. You know the rules. You’re not allowed to treat your own damn injuries.” Leon countered, equally stubborn. “On. The. Bed.” Why was it like pulling teeth with him? He always pulled this shit when he had to be treated and not on his terms.
Law was readying a Room when Orpheus grabbed onto his arms and broke his concentration. He had forgotten that the young medic-in-training was a turncoat when Leon started barking ridiculous orders at him. He managed to break away without harming the younger man and was already readying his defense for Leon who was quickly approaching. What he didn’t expect was that the person coming at him was actually Aurelia and it threw him for a moment, knowing how meek and nervous she was in his presence, that she had been the one to charge him. Even more of a blindside was how strong her grip was.
She practically threw him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, shocking all three men in the room, before depositing him as kindly as she could onto the nearest examination table. Leon had recovered from his shock quickly enough to start pinning Law against the table the moment his back hit the padded surface and Orpheus was already working on his belt and fastenings as Aurelia was tugging off his boots. He managed to knee Orpheus at least once in the solar plexus and managed slam his knuckles between two of Leon’s ribs hard. His pants were stripped as were his socks. He had almost hit Aurelia, but she had managed to dodge the foot to the face with surprising ease.
Just as he was ready to really bite into Leon’s arm, an overwhelming sensation ran up his spine and practically overloaded his brain, causing him to go limp. He could feel small, strong digits on his right foot and couldn’t do more that toss an arm over his eyes as he moaned. Shit. Shit it felt so damn good.
“You are an ass.” Leon coughed as he slammed a fist into Law’s nearest shoulder. Law grunted, but not even the pain could sober him up enough to move. His body was completely limp from her ministrations. “I can’t believe you are such a bastard about this!”
“Sh-shut u-ah.” Aurelia had managed to his one of his more tender nerves and he shivered. “You told her- ah ah- a-about-”
“Of course I did.” Leon looked at his own arm. “You almost drew blood, you abusive asshole. It’s going to bruise.”
“Makeherstop.” There was a reason he only let Leon near his feet. They were pretty much the biggest sensitive spot he had. His one true Achilles’s Heel. It was typically one that he could calm down and enjoy when Leon did it, but those tiny fingers just sent a wrack of nearly ticklish pleasure up and down his spine and his overly stressed, abused body didn’t know how to properly function to such treatment. It would take him a while to properly adjust to how strong and talented Aurelia was at massaging- even if she was only repetitively going up and down his foot in circles in a completely untrained manner.
“After I take a look at your leg.” Leon had figured it was the left one, seeing as Law had been keeping wait off it the best he could.
“You might have to check me next.” Orpheus wheezed a bit as he tried to recover himself. He was fetching basic first aid items, rubbing his assaulted area with a grimace. Leon gave a short grunt that he had heard the younger man as he kept his focus on Law.
Sometimes being the responsible medical assistant sucked, Orpheus internally lamented. Especially when Law was the damn patient. Though the youngest male was pretty damn impressed by Aurelia’s initiative. He had not expected her to be able to toss someone Law’s weight and size over her small shoulder as if he was nothing more than a sack of laundry for her to transport. Maybe doing the laundry was more hard work than any of them realized.
Aurelia, on the other hand, was focusing all her attention on her captain’s foot. Not trying to be weird about it in any way, but, because this whole situation was excessively so, it was best to ignore everything but her task. Something she could do rather well. She had always had the ability to hyper-focus on her task. Single-mindedness had saved her countless times back when she had been with her family. It had helped keep her sanity. So as she ran through the monotonous motions of rubbing her thumbs in a circular motion up and down his foot with as much pressure that she felt would be comfortable, she noted how skinny his foot was. All of the other men in the submarine had much wider feet, even the ones with smaller foot sizes, but the captain had long, narrow feet and skinny ankles. Not to mention how cold his feet were in her warm hands. She had been warned by him that he had cold hands before her first check up (which he definitely did have, despite how he had visibly tried to warm them up to make the whole thing less uncomfortable), but she had never imagined his feet would be so cold too.
She was jolted from her ministrations and observations when Leon gently placed an open palm on the small of her back. “I think he has had enough. Thank you for helping.”
The blonde haired woman glanced up at Law’s face, completely able to ignore his state of undress (she washed his undergarments so she wasn’t really affected by it) and was surprised at how languid his normally rigid form was. He was also breathing a bit deeper and slower than he normally did. Dare she say this was the most relaxed she had ever seen him? She glanced back down at his feet and noticed his ankle on his other foot was now wrapped securely.
“He has a grade two gastrocnemius strain and has a light sprain. No doubt rolled his ankle when he strained his calf muscle during a training session. He will be off his leg for a week. Orpheus is finding him a crutch and some ice as we speak.” Leon informed her, as if reading her mind. “Thank you for spotting it.”
Law recovered enough to begin pulling himself up, readying to get up off the exam table despite his injury. Leon’s hands grabbed onto Law’s good foot and the other man hissed a curse as Leon’s deft fingers began to properly massage the tendons in his foot and the man when limp against the table again.
“Stay put you shit head. You’re off your foot until it’s better. Don’t fight it or I will go dig up some seastone handcuffs and cuff you to the infirmary bed.”
Though his words were stern, Aurelia observed that Leon’s eyes were soft and she could tell that he cared deeply for Law despite all the trouble the other man gave him for simple things like this. Her attention quickly went back to his fingers, watching how a pro did it.
“Stop.” Law complained, but Leon ignored him. Digging his fingers in deeper and getting Law’s body to jolt a bit and electing a pleased moan from Law’s throat.
Leon chuckled. “Stop pretending you hate it.”
Seeing how relaxed Law was becoming the more Leon rubbed his foot made Aurelia yearn for something she had never expected to feel. Something she herself had been denied all her young life. Altruism. She wanted to care for others. She wanted to tend to her new family.
She had been brought up to be a perfect lady of society with no skills other than what was seen as desirable in a lady of the house. She couldn’t cook, she didn’t even know how to do laundry or how to properly clean before getting on this ship, or anything. Her only transferable skills she had used from her previous life thus far on this ship was embroidery, dressing and maintaining herself, her single-mindedness, and her observational skills. Everything else she was forced to learn as she went. She had been raised to believe her only redeemable feature was her ability to have children. Boys who’d become strong Marine men and, if any girls, raised them just as coldly and sternly as she was so that they could married off to horrible yet strong men to breed future Marines. It was a vicious cycle that her family wanted to force her into and one she had escaped thanks to so many wonderful souls, most of whom were a part of the Heart Pirates.
But, if she was to admit at least to herself, this wasn’t the first time this feeling washed over her. The young blonde had the urge to nurture and care for all of the members on this ship, especially her captain. He worked so hard for all of them and, if she could find things to make his life just a little easier, she wanted to. She already knew she didn’t have a head for medicine and the submarine already had people for that- Captain Law, Orpheus, Cassiopeia, and Leon. They didn’t need more people in that regard, but instead she wanted to pick up where she viewed there was visible slack.
“Mister Grimmhart…” Aurelia whispered as she tugged at the hem of her sleeves. He cast her a look, hands still working their magic on Law.
“Leon, please, Miss Aurelia.” He corrected her.
“Then simply Aurelia will do for me, Mist- errr- Leon.” She wasn’t going to indulge him if he was not going to live by the same standards.
“Very well, Aurelia.” Her name came more easily off his tongue than his on hers. “What is it?”
Orpheus was finally coming back into the room and she feared that if she didn’t ask now, all her courage would dissipate. “Could you teach me how to properly apply a massage? I- I mean, a foot massage- or, even, you know, how to massage in general because you are often to busy and I have down time once my training sessions are over and I’ve changed the laundry loads. So if anyone might need it, I could, um, help…” The last word were so small, but it seemed to echo so loudly in the room.
Leon stopped rubbing Law’s foot and Orpheus stared too at the fidgeting mess of a young woman who had summoned all of her courage to ask something that was so bold for her. Even Law was peering at her from under his arm, just as much shocked at how this young lady he had allowed on his ship merely as a favor to a deadman kept surprising them all. Rhoam had said her kindness was as deep and as vast as the ocean, but, to be honest, he had doubted the love-struck thief’s words, seeing as she was born a high ranking noble. Well, color him surprised, the thief hadn’t been exaggerating.
Law was the first to break the strange spell they all seemed to be on as he sat up and swung his feet off the table until he was sitting upright, ignoring Leon’s angry words of ‘keep your damn foot elevated’. He had tolerated Leon’s mothering and manhandling enough for one evening. Besides the man wouldn’t be complaining much longer. He turned to his medical assistant, trying not to be a grump, but, as always, failing.
“Orpheus-ya, go get the damn masseuse table from the back and help Leon set it up.” Law ordered. Orpheus nodded and quickly went the fetch the underused object as Law grabbed the hem of his sweatshirt and tugged it off. Aurelia had to admit, their captain had some very fine muscles accessorizing his skinny form.
“What are you doing?” Leon was genuinely unsure. Law hadn’t stripped in front of a woman since he was cruelly antagonizing their first female mechanic.
“You were going to tell her yes, ja?” Law raised an eyebrow. While Leon’s favorite word usually seemed to be ‘no’, but not in cases like this. There was no doubt in Law’s mind about that.
Aurelia peeked up at the chef shyly. She was so worried that he might still say no.
“Of course I was.” Leon said without the slightest hesitate. “But why are you stripping even further?”
Law wouldn’t look at either of them. “I have a few knots I need you to work out, ja. Might as well start her first lesson now and work them out while teaching her. She has some damn strong fingers, by the way.”
Orpheus had found the masseuse table and was setting it up as Law hopped off the exam table and made sure to keep off his injured leg- again, done being bitched at. Leon was slightly vexed, but other than his grumbled of ‘fight him tooth and nail over something so easy and then he roll over so easily for something more complex’ as he started going through a few cabinets for the items he’d need.
Aurelia was on cloud nine as she beamed at all of them. Law actively avoided looking at her, Leon was too busy finding the needed items to teach her the trade to witness her expression, but Orpheus would forever remember that smile on her face. The first big smile of many as she continued to grow and learn.
“Okay,” Leon was depositing items as Law managed to lay on his belly. He laid there resting as loosely as he could with the knowledge that he was about to be touched more intimately than normal, only flinching when Orpheus callously deposited the ice bag on his marginally swollen calf. “So this is how we start- you are okay with learning now, right?”
“Yes!” Aurelia took a step closer, eager to learn.
She wanted to learn; she wanted to be of use; and, for once in her life, she was happily given the opportunity to change herself positively. She wasn’t going to stop here. She vowed it to herself. No, this was only the start.
So, I haven’t written for this series in a while, but I haven’t forgotten it. I have been writing another one that has a lot of nonsense in it too that I’d love some feed back for called Cordiform Desiderium. It is LawNa as well, but with a unusual twist, but most, if not all, the same side characters as in Mischievous Individuals.
I actually started writing this one out a year ago, but the ending eluded me until today. Enjoy it~!
Title: Of Love and Overly Fluffy Nonsense
Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Nami
Genre: Humor/ Romance/ Friendship
Rating: T
Word Count: 3,825
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Law was seriously considering dragging Nami to the infirmary and giving her a check up. He barely kept himself from groaning in dread when he felt her arms wrap around him as he sat on a cafeteria table practically inhaling his lunch to avoid the cat thief. But he was Trafalgar Law and he did not groan in dread. He made others groan in dread, not the other way around. He also did not cower or recoil. He was the Dark Doctor. The Surgeon of Death. One of those that held the name ‘D’. He. Did. Not. Tremble. At all.
Especially the at thought of his girlfriend (though he was slightly hesitant whenever she looked pissed at him, but even her nakama took a few steps back when she was like she was about to go into a rage). However, he was getting slightly concerned for her recent behavior. It wasn’t that she was all over the place in a rage of hormones or even looking nauseas or in pain or even the least bit ill, but she definitely wasn’t acting like herself.
For a brief moment as she released her hold of him so she could wriggle her way onto his lap (which was his favorite place for her to sit, if he were to be honest with himself at least), Law thought that perhaps she had come to her senses. Whatever had afflicted her earlier that morning had finally passed and he could stop avoiding her like the plague to stop hearing those ridiculous-
“What are you eating, Snookums?” She cooed up at him just as he had put a spoonful of lunch in his mouth.
-pet names…
He nearly flinched- more like gagged on his food- at the horrendous name. But again, Trafalgar Law and the whole ‘doesn’t do those sort of things’ spiel. He wasn't about re-monologue that.
Yes. She had been giving him pet names since this morning when he had woken up with her pinned underneath his weight and his other half was running her fingers down his spine in a pleasant but shiver inducing manner. It wasn’t an unusual way to be woken by her, but only when he actually managed to sleep in later than her. Nami still teases him quite often, especially now that she been sailing with them consistently, that he’s a cuddle-slut, which he still frowns darkly at her for every time she says it because he’s not (he was simply a very tactile individual within the parameters of the right circumstances).
Anyways, he had been in a rather pleasant mood, being woken up like that and was about to share his pleasure with her when she opened her mouth and called him Hunny Bunny. Any and all arousal he had felt up to that point died instantly. It had taken him a few moments to even give her more than a look of disgust at such a revolting name. And by then, she was calling him another one, ‘Sweetie Bear’, with this innocent look upon her face.
Law hated pet names. Nicknames in general outside his ominous monikers, i.e. why he didn’t like that damn nickname Mugiwara had dubbed in due to his inability to properly pronounce his name. Nami knew that. She knew he hated that damnable nickname and only used it when she wished to irk him- but now suddenly she was going beyond that horrid, disgusting name and using pet names for no damn reason. And with the look of pure ignorance/innocence upon her face! He almost wondered if she was unaware at how much he detested silly things as pet names. He only called her by her moniker or her name along with his usual suffix behind it. He never once called her something silly like kitten or petite tangerine or- or anything!!! He was serious about such things as so should she be.
But she had been calling him by these names all day long. Not only that, but she had yet to use the same name twice and, though he was grateful he’d not hear her say a few of those to him ever again, he was almost fearful of the next one she would deign upon him.
She peered up at him under her lashes, lifting her head and resting it on his shoulder so she could get a better view without having to turn about. She blinked those pretty eyes at him as her face slowly morphed into on of concern. He was still trying not to choke on his spoonful of food, swallowing thickly instead of coughing agitatedly at the sensation of doing something so stupid while attempting to eat. His girlfriend reach back to place the backside of her palm on his forehead as she addressed him with a concerned tone.
“Are you feeling alright, Boo Bear?” Nami rolled herself over in his lap so she was straddling his waist, focusing further on checking his temperature as if he was the one acting strange.
Law was too shocked by her words to give his men present a warning glare about the sniggers that suddenly overtook the white noise of the cafeteria. His other half actually had the audacity to ask him that question while tacking on another hideous pet name. He shook off her hand and took it in his own as he guided it back down to her side, trying to figure a discreet way of escaping her without being obvious- especially with the entirety of his crew watching from the corner of their eyes.
“I’m completely fine, Nami-ya.” He told her calmly, quickly releasing her hand so he could press his the back of his hand against her forehead, sweeping aside her fringes as he did so. “You, however, feel a bit warm to me. Perhaps you should come with me to the infirmary so I can make sure you are not coming down with something.”
The Dark Doctor couldn’t help the streak of pride that ran through him at his quick thinking. Peia wasn’t going to be in the office for another hour and his staff was in between shifts, since he still enjoyed having the area to himself at times to think and to experiment. He could avoid others seeing these embarrassing moments with his ginger haired partner at least for a little while. He was hoping to have it resolved by the time Peia returned from her afternoon sex break with her boyfriend (she denied that’s what she did on her break, but she was always in such a damn better mood that he didn’t bother looking the gift horse in the mouth. Anything to spare his ears from being yanked all the damn time when she was not up to enduring his shit).
Now she was shaking off his hand. “I feel completely fine, Snugglebug. I don’t have a temperature.”
He could not lose this argument. She could not stay in here while calling him these foolish pet names! “I think we should consult a thermometer to see who is correct in their statement.”
“Alright,” Nami conceded with another concerned look on her face. Her hand reaching up once more to try to test the temperature of his skin. “But afterwards, how about I take your temperature, Snuggle-wuggle Bear.”
He was so damn glad he had a good grip of his expressions today, because that last name utterly mortified him. He couldn’t do a damn thing about the guffawing that was slowly overtaking his men in the background. He just stared into those doe brown eyes of his lover and forced himself to keep his composure. “If you don’t have a temperature, then you may check mine, Nami-ya.”
Anything at this point to get her to leave with him. It wouldn’t be as hard to endure once they were away from his nosy crew. He could already feel their regard of him slowly changing as Nami continued her strange verbal courtship. It was going to take weeks to get the fear of his wrath back into their systems and, even then, a few would never have that same healthy fear of him ever again (not that those individuals really did in the first place, but these were the few that would never let him live it down).
She pursed her lips a bit, thinking about his deal before giving him a sugary sweet smile and nodding her agreement to his criteria. He didn’t even bother finishing his lunch, making a bee line to him infirmary with Nami’s hand in his to make sure she didn’t wander away before he could get her away from earshot of his crew. He managed to send the chef a nasty look as the other man grinned at him like the cat who got the cream. He was never going to let him forget those words and was likely going to share this moment in great detail to his redheaded lover. Damn it.
It felt like his luck was finally changing when he managed to get her into the infirmary without her calling him another one of those harrowing names she’d been coming up with. He only let go of her hand when he had her sitting on one of the sterile white sheets of one of his several medical cots and only let her out of his sight for the short time it took to get a thermometer.
“Googliy Boo, I am completely fine. It’s sweet you are concerned for me, but I have no idea why your in such a tissy about.” Nami told him as he had been about to ask her to open her mouth.
“Humor me, ja.” He snapped as he felt his ears go red at that last name. That last one had to be the worst and he couldn’t believe she kept aiming all these embarrassing names at him.
She gave him a stare with those pretty brown eyes of hers, the look that practically said ‘I’m worried about you’, but she opened her mouth for him to place the electric thermometer under her tongue.
Needless to say, when the small piece of tech beeped and her temperature read out normal, Law was not a happy man at all. He had been hoping that there was something wrong. Anything to explain this sudden obsession she had with calling him pet names. She had never done so prior to this morning, so he didn’t understand her obsession with it now. Perhaps a hormonal imbalance or-
“My turn, Hunny Pot,” Nami quickly pulled the thermometer out of his hands and was now standing behind him, nudging him where she had been sitting as if this were a game. He opened his mouth to argue, but she quickly interrupted him while giving him a hard push to sit on the cot, snatching his hat off his head in the same motion and tossing it elsewhere. “You agreed to it, Pawsy Lawsy.”
He felt his whole face flared up feverishly with that one. It was the worst one in his opinion, but perhaps it was because it butchered his name in the process. His mouth dropped at her audacity to even think up such a ridiculously embarrassing pet name. The dark doctor definitely could feel as his temperature spiked, like steam was literally blowing from his ears. Whatever it was, it was just as he felt his temperature spike, Nami had her hand on his forehead again, tsking at him.
“Hunny Bun, I don’t think I need a thermometer to tell me that your burning up!” She gave him a look of such concern.
He felt himself gag at that one. Literally gag- which gave Nami enough ammunition to use against him.
“See? You aren’t alright, my Buttery Croissant!” She petted his hair while trying to look him in the eyes as he tried to keep himself from reacting so violently yet again. “You look as if you’re about to vomit! You didn’t come down with some sort of stomach bug or food poisoning, did you my Cinnamon Roll?”
That last one broke had him pushing back on his usual reservations about manhandling his ginger haired partner and his unwillingness to breech the topic had all been dissolved. He latched his hand around her wrist, pulling her back to him roughly as he pinned her back onto the cot. His forehead nearly banged into hers as he brought his eyes to meet hers in a very intimate closeness. Nami’s eyes were wide with surprise and perhaps a bit of wonder and Law fought himself on at least keeping a hold of his temper while attempting to verbalize his dissatisfaction.
“Please. Please, please, please. Nami-ya, you need to stop with these horrid names, please.” He managed to muster through clenched teeth. “I don’t like being called such things, ja. Especially those last few.”
Nami blinked those chocolate colored eyes of hers in confusion, her brows pushing together and creating a cute crinkle in her forehead. “That’s it? You don’t like pet names? Law, if you had just told me from the start, I wouldn’t have continued. All you had to do was communicate that to me instead of avoid me at every damn opportunity that you could.”
Now Law was staring at her in surprise. “What?”
“You only needed to ask, Law.” Nami said in a firmer tone, evidently a little frustrated with him. “Geez, even Luffy knows how to properly verbally communicate his dislikes. I’m not a mind-reader, Law, and even if I was, I like to be directly verbally told things now and again, like if something I am doing bothers you or if something I do delights you or even that you maybe love me?”
It didn’t take Law long to figure out what her real point was. “You did all that just to teach me to tell you how much I love you?”
Of all the reasons to do something this had to be-
“I love you too, Law.” Nami smiled shyly before closing the gap between them and giving him a pleasant, soft kiss.
It was then that he suddenly understood. He had never once told her how he felt about her. He never openly told her because it was just an obvious fact that he did. Everyone on the ship could see he adored her, everyone on her crew could see it too. He adored her- no, loved her. He had been in relationship a few times and never before had he quite felt like this towards the other women. Odessa had a special spot in his heart, but nothing he felt towards his ex even compared to what he felt towards Nami. He really, truly did love her and it was only now that he realized he had never told her- had never said it aloud.
He had always assumed that she understood that. It was hard for him to say it. He swallowed thickly as he thought about all the people he had loved and how quickly they had been ripped away from him as soon as he had made his feelings to them known. But Nami had known for a long time, though the words had never been spoken, and yet, she was here with him, safe on his submarine, and very much in love with him too. Still here and still well. And because he had misered away those three little words, Nami gone to utterly ridiculous means to get him to speak up and speak out those words she badly wanted to hear.
“Nami-ya,” Law rested his forehead against hers as he took a heavy breath and released it, letting out all the residual tension and frustration he may have felt about earlier. “I. Love. You.”
“I know.” There were tears forming in her eyes, one spilling over her cheek as she smiled happily. “I love you too, but I-” She smiled as she buried her face in his shoulder and let out a gentle sob. “It’s so nice to hear you say it. It’s nice to hear you tell me things, especially those words.”
“I’m sorry.” He whispered as he slowly lowered himself on top of her, his nerves finally relaxing after such an exhausting morning of confusion and avoidance. He wanted nothing more than to cuddle for a while and let her soothe his frayed nerves. “I’ll try to remember to tell you my thoughts and opinions more often.”
“And I’ll keep the pet names to a minimum of two.” Nami murmured in his ear now that he had relaxed his entire weight on top of her. She rubbed circles on his back and allowed him to bury his face within her ample bosom. He deserved it, she figured.
He rested his chin in the valley of her breasts and he peered at her with sharp golden eyes. “No pet names, Nami-ya.”
“Just two. And you already are use to one.” She promised. “The other one I’ll only use privately if you like it.”
So Tora-o and something else, he quickly surmised. “Fine. Let’s hear it, ja.” He readjusted his head so he could hear her heart beating, nipping a bit at any available flesh, even though he wasn’t in the mood to do much more than give a quick love bite or two.
“I’ve always secretly fancied calling you...” She blushed as she squirmed a bit, evidently embarrassed at the admission. Even her heart beat had begun to up its tempo. “Because of how much you just- I can’t help but think that- ummm.”
“Nami-ya,” he lifted his head to look at how flushed her face was. It mystified him a bit that after keep a straight face calling him all those horrific, embarrassing names, this one name that he hadn’t even heard yet sent her into such a fluster. “Say it or drop it.”
At this point, he desperately wanted to hear what this name was, even if it was abhorrent. Just to know. Because this one meant something to her. Really, really meant something to her.
She finally spoke it. It was in a small voice that he nearly missed and she couldn’t even look at him as she finally admitted the name. “P-papa Bear...”
He blinked his golden colored eyes at her as she peeked her chocolate brown ones at him, trying to gage his reaction to hearing such a name. Her cheeks was dusted pink as she watched him carefully and the more the name echoed through his head, the warmer his face felt, even his ears.
“I’m sorry!” Nami blurted out. “You can forget I even asked. I know its a silly name and I know you don’t like pet names- LAW!” She squeaked in surprise when her other half suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around her and burrowed his face deep between her breasts. She almost didn’t know what to think about such an action, but the tip of his ears were bright red, signifying she had managed to thoroughly embarrass him- a feat of which only Luffy could actually boast, until now.
“I wouldn’t mind it.” She heard his muffled reply as he squeezed her even tighter. “I wouldn’t mind it if you called me that in private.”
Nami smiled brightly as her embarrassment dissolved into nothing. She ran her fingers through her other half’s hair, scratching pleasantly at his scalp as she managed to lean her head closer to his ear. “Alright then. In private only.”
She managed to kiss the crown of his head. “I love you, Papa Bear.”
He squirmed a bit, his ears still red and his face completely hidden as he managed out his muffled reply, his lips ghosting her skin as he spoke. “I love you too... m-my t-tangerina dulce...”
Needless to say, Nami was entirely thrilled and happily showed her more introverted other half how much his pet name pleased her.
Nami hummed as she walked down the hallway towards the observation room. She was in a very pleasant mood and, even though she should have been over it by now, was still extremely giddy with how well things had turned out. She had known that Law spoke a few other languages, she herself having slowly been mastering Sign Language while upon the Polar Tang, but to hear him speak a pet name in a language usually reserved solely for conversations with Leon, his chef and surrogate brother, made her utterly giddy with delight.
“Have a good day~?” Nami didn’t even jump at the sudden voice whispering right in her ear. She instinctively rubbed her shoulder against her ear, seeing as the breathy whispers had tickled her, but otherwise made no jolt to signify surprise.
“Very much.” She agreed, wanted to skip like a small child, but instead linked her arm with her companion and continued to hum. She loved the pretty chuckle that escaped the slightly taller individual’s lips. Canary yellow eyes peering down at her orange colored locks of hair.
“So I take it he confessed?” The other leaned in a bit, grinning wider as Nami’s face lit up.
“Took half the day, but it was well worth the effort.” Nami admitted, she turned to look at the other woman, taking in her appearance. She had clean cream colored pixie cut hair that was teased up into a wispy manner, well maintained eyebrows, brilliant canary yellow eyes not too dissimilar to Law’s golden ones, and had a completely conniving expression on her face. It was a complete turnaround from when Nami had met her as an exhausted, sleep deprived, dirty mechanic. Nami leaned up to peck her on the cheek. “Thank you for the suggestion, Odessa.”
“If it got you what you wanted, it was well worth it, Kitten.” The woman laughed, removing her arm from their link to hold the ginger’s hand. Nami was already use to how tactile the other woman was with people she was comfortable with, not even flinching when the other touched or teased Law. Her level of confidence in her own relationship with both individuals allowed her to see it for what it truly was. Platonic adoration. “Now how about you tell me about what happened in the cafeteria? Leon won’t stop laughing about it and neither I nor Jeanette can coax it out of him because he starts laughing too damn hard about it. And you know it’s bad when Jeanette can’t get anything out of him.”
Nami winced as she bit her lip playfully. “I may have called him a few names you suggested?”
With that, Odessa’s head was thrown back as a pleasant sounding laugh came from her mouth. “Oh! Oh please tell me you use Snugglebug.”
“And Hunny bunny and Snuggle-wuggle Bear.” Nami admitted and proceeded to tell the off duty Heart pirate all the names she had ended up using as they made their way to the observatory room to watch the underwater scenery.
Except Papa Bear.
Because that one was her special private name that only he would know and hear.
