A/N: What's this? Something new? Oh yes, you bet your sweet ass it's something new!
I was laying around in bed about a week and a half ago scrolling through tumblr and looking at a bunch of Papa Cora and Little Law stuff and thought to myself, 'What if I wrote an AU where everything is happy about Corazon adopting Law and just their life?' and so I did. It'll eventually turn out to be LawLu as Law grows and meets Luffy but that's some ways off.
I think it's okay. I didn't want to bug my editor about editing this story for me, she already edits so much, so I tried my best on my own. Forgive my mistakes. Also I'm working on expanding my vocabulary so I used some big words! So if it feels a little weird reading them I'm sorry that the rest of the story isn't on the same level as the words .
Anyway, please enjoy this fic! I hope to post a new chapter bi-weekly. So I'll update this story the same week I update Little Moments. (Speaking of I should have the next two chapters for that up by Wednesday~)
Note: The chapter titles are the names of feelings you can't really describe.
Chapter 1) Sonder
The blonde flipped open the cell phone and punched in a number. Smiling, he careened onto the side of his car and waited for the recipient of the call to pick up.
"Hello, Corazon!" The voice said in a happy time.
"Hello my dear brother." He hummed. "The woman at the orphanage called me today so I'm going to look at the children. Just thought I'd let you know."
"Rocinante you aren't serious, are you? Do you even know how to raise a child? I thought we'd discussed this?" The voice suddenly losing its light hearted timbre.
"Oh, but I am." Rocinante smiled. "It's not as if the child will be living with you, Doflamingo." He pointed out.
"While that is correct, you visit often. I'm sure you'd bring the brat along with you." He sighed. "But whatever. I'm not going to tell you what you can and can't do."
Rocinante grinned and started walking towards the big brick building. Looking up he made sure he was at the right place. North Blue orphanage' yes he was where he needed to be. "Alright I'll bring them by to meet you at some point. Goodbye." He clicked 'end call' and shoved the phone into his pocket.
"Donquixote Rocinante!" A voice called out as he approached the steps. He looked up to see a middle aged woman smiling brightly. "I'm so glad you could come on such short notice!"
"Good afternoon, Ms. Johnson!" He called out with a smile of his own. Walking up the stairs he asked, "how are you?"
"Oh I'm just fine, Rocinante. I'm so excited for you to meet the kids, you're going to love them!" She laughed and ushered him in the building.
"I hope so!" He responded, twirling one of the strings on his hat. "I take it everything's been ran through and finalized?" He inquired.
"Yup! You're all set! Now you just have to choose which child you want." She confirmed. "I have a list of names and information for you but why don't we go observe them first?"
She led him up an elephantine staircase in the main hallway and to a balcony on the second floor. It overlooked the back of the building where the children were all currently playing. He smiled and watched them all. He never really liked children but it was lonely at home and maybe a child would do him some good. Doffy would appreciate him visiting less often.
"They're all so sweet." Ms. Johnson smiled softly. He nodded and continued to scrutinize. His eye caught on one particular boy in a strange spotted hat. The boy sat in the shade under an ancient oak with a big complicated looking book. He seemed to be ignoring the other kids in the yard and vice versa.
"Who's that?" He asked, gesturing to where he sat. "The one under the oak with the giant book."
Ms. Johnson glanced over to where he pointed and frowned. "That's Law."
"Why doesn't he play with the other children?" The man inquired.
"They're afraid of him." She answered artlessly. "He was brought to us a year ago; before that he was at three other orphanages." The woman frowned. "You know where he came from and what the marks on his skin mean. Poor thing. He lost his whole family and town to the Amber Lead Syndrome a few years back."
Rocinante frowned deeply and shook his head, some overlong blonde hair falling into his eyes. "They shouldn't just exclude him like that for marks on his skin." he said quietly. "What happened in Flevance doesn't mean anything. The disease isn't contagious."
The woman nodded. "We've tried explaining that to the other kids but you know how a lot of people still treat the survivors of the Amber Lead..."
"That's terrible." Rocinante looked at him a little longer before deciding. "I want to talk to him."
"Okay, follow me!" Ms. Johnson's smile returned and she clasped her hands together. "It'll do that boy some good to talk to someone new." She lead him into a small conference room a few doors down from the balcony and told him to wait.
He sat in the chair and sighed. 'What are you doing, Rocinante?' he asked himself. 'Are you thinking this through? Do you really have what it takes to raise a child?' he laid his head in his hand and rubbed his temple. "No. You can do this. Screw what Doffy says.' he took a deep breath and straightened up in his chair. A few minutes after his mini-self doubt session the door opened and the woman was back with the boy behind her.
"Okay, Law." She started, pulling out a chair for him across from Rocinante. "You two have a nice talk and I'll be right back. Okay?" She waited patiently for Law to respond back to her but no response came. She looked slightly worried but retreated from the room anyway.
"So," He started, extending a hand to the boy. "I'm Donquixote Rocinante. You can call me Corazon. I'm a marine."
The boy looked at his hand for a long time. "I hate marines." Law said astringently. Rocinante retracted it.
"Heh...So...Do you have a name?" He tried again. This wasn't going the way he'd hoped.
"Trafalgar D. Water Law." He said quietly, sitting down.
"That's a nice name." The marine smiled, hoping to get anything out of the kid. So far nothing.
"How old are you?" Rocinante asked. Maybe if he tried a few more get to know you questions then he'd open up a bit more.
"Ten." Law answered, the black and white hat hiding his eyes from the elder.
"Ten, huh?" The blonde grinned. "I got into a lot of trouble when I was ten." He hoped to spark some sort of conversation.
"Why are you doing this?" Law asked bitterly. "There isn't any point in having this interview. I'm an abomination and you wouldn't want to be seen anywhere with me anyway." Rocinante could see the child's anger and hurt in the way he stared at the floor and wrung his hands. "So why?"
"Mind if I answer your question with one of my own?" he didn't get an answer so he deemed it okay. "Why do you assume there's not a chance I just wanted to talk to you?"
"You..." Law blinked, baffled. "You'd want to talk to me?"
Rocinante smiled at him. "Of course! You looked interesting with that big book out there. What's it about anyway?"
"It's a book about medical procedures." He answered a little more upbeat. "My father was a doctor and I wanted to study with him to become one too...but that was before..." And just like that the slight happiness drained away.
"So you like medicine?" Rocinante inquired. "That's neat!"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Do you…" Rocinante ransacked his brain for another question. "...have a favorite animal?"
"Polar bear." Law responded quickly. "They're cool."
"They are pretty cool arent they?" Law half-smiled a bit and nodded.
"Do you have any friends?" Rocinante asked, trying to get anything out of this boy.
"No." He let out a sharp breath. "They're all scared of me. They think that I'm going to pass on the syndrome. Ms. Johnson and some of the helpers tell them that it's not possible but they don't listen to them."
Rocinante tilted his head a little. "Don't you try to explain too?" He asked.
Law shook his head. "I used to. But now it's just so much easier to pretend the syndrome will spread than failing to get the other kids to understand that it won't." He explained amaroidally.
This ten year old child had been left in such a shitty situation that it turned him so bitter, coffee would be jealous. The marine shook his head. He couldn't let this kid continue to assimilate the drivel he'd been hearing the past three years. For god's sake he liked medicine and polar bears. Those are likeable qualities! He was going to make sure this kid knew what it was like to be loved again. Screw the other kids to be considered; if they didn't feel like giving Law their time then why should he give them his? All because of a sickness they weren't in any danger from.
"I believe we're done here." Rocinante said, standing up and walking past the kid to the door. He heard Law breathe in deep and let it out. "So pack your things."
Law turned sharply to look at him in shock. The marine smiled and walked out the door, tripping and catching himself on the door frame before straightening himself and walking out. Law looked with wide eyes at the space the man who just said he'd adopt him left from.
When Rocinante walked into the hallway he saw Ms. Johnson and a few other people huddled together on a bench waiting. When they spotted him they all shot up. Ms. Johnson stepped forward and gave an apprehensive smile. "Well?" She asked.
"I think he's the human version of an espresso." He told her. He saw her and the others faces fall a little, chagrin evident in their faces. "Which is why I'm choosing him."
Ms. Johnson blinked a few times, looking quite baffled. "You're serious?" she asked, her eyes holding a small amount of hope. He nodded and the helpers behind her started cheering. "I can't believe this. Finally, Law's got someone to choose him." She smiled bigger than Rocinante'd ever seen her smile in the half a year he'd known her. "You don't know how long we've waited to see him have a better opportunity of living a happy life."
"Well, that's exactly what I plan on giving him." He confirmed, glancing back at the do to the room he'd just come from. Law stood there leaning halfway out the door listening. "Well," he said to the boy. "Go get your big book and let's go!" Rocinante laughed, enjoying the light in the bitter boy's eyes. Law nodded and hurried past him and up the wooden stairs.
He turned back to Ms. Johnson and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Okay let's get this all settled."
She nodded and ushered the helpers away, reminding them of things that had to be done in the orphanage. "You just need to sign a few papers and you'll be done. Oh, I'm so excited!" She babbled some more about how happy she was until he'd signed the papers.
"Well you're all done!" She grinned, collecting the papers and organizing them into a file. "If Law is all ready to go I'll walk you both out to the car!" Rocinante nodded, twirling the string from his cap again. "All we have to do is find hi- oh! There he is!" She pointed down at the main level. "I'll be down in a minute I just need to gather a few things." He nodded and moved toward the staircase, looking down at the boy he'd just adopted.
Law sat on a bench in the main hallway. A small suitcase lay on the floor and his giant book perched on the armrest beside him. He was looking down at his feet, swinging them a little, letting the half-way untied shoelaces fly back and forth.
Rocinante was almost to the staircase when he saw a group of kids around Law's age saunter up to him. Going on what Law told him about the kids here, the blonde didn't think they were going to wish him a happy farewell.
"Getting kicked out of this one too, Law?" A dark haired boy sneered, his small arms crossed over his chest. Law ignored him, continuing to watch his shoelace oscillate. The boy apparently did not like this reaction, or lack of, and moved his hands to his hips. "I'm talking to you, Spotty! Or has that sickness taken your hearing too?"
Law's eyes snapped up to look at the boy while the aggressor's posse snickered. Rocinante could tell he wanted to say something, or do something. Instead he chose to keep quiet and shift his eyes back down. 'Good job', the marine grinned. He was proud of how the boy, his boy, was dealing with this group so far. he liked the sound of that. His boy. He smiled a little at the thought. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to happen, so he quickened his pace.
One of the boy's friends, a little brown haired girl, stepped up to Law. "What, you're not going to talk?" She asked condescendingly. She turned her head to the side before snatching up the old book of medical terms.
"Give that back!" He yelled out, moving to grab the book. Rocinante didn't like the look of this at all. He quickened his pace down the grand staircase, praying to god he didn't trip. "Put it down, it isn't yours!" By now, the girl was moving around, clutching the book tightly above her head out of Law's reach. Her friends were cheering her on.
"Why?" She asked. "Why don't you leave it here and go to the new orphanage without it? It'll help you look less weird."
Another child spoke up. "His spots make up for the weird book!" he guffawed, sending the small gang into another fit of laughter. Rocinante was furious at this point. No snotty child was going to treat Law that way. Not on his watch. He walked up to the group and snatched the book out of the girl's hands.
By now the clique had noticed the appearance of the altitudinous blonde and had gone still and quiet. "I don't think it's fair how you're all treating this boy." He said, face set in a disapproved stare.
"Are you here to take him to the new orphanage?" The first boy asked, his arms back in their original crossed formation.
"No." He answered honestly. "I'm here to take him home." He wished he had a picture of their faces. He'd have hung it in the living room.
"You can't be serious, mister!" A little blonde girl exclaimed. "He's a sick kid! He'll get you sick too!" The other children nodded fervently.
Rocinante sighed. "No, he will not. The Amber Lead Syndrome can hurt me no more than it can you. He is not contagious, nor is he sick. He is perfectly healthy." He handed the book back to Law who grabbed ahold of it and clutched it to his chest. "He was cured. And the spots on his skin are a reminder of how much he lost. If you all had listened to the helpers here you would have understood all of this. I don't have time for any of you or your ludicrous words, and neither does my boy. Please leave." They all stood still for a moment, possibly too afraid to move, until they raced away.
Law looked up at him, book still clutched to his chest. "T-thanks…" He muttered.
"Huh?" Rocinante pressed a hand to his ear and cupped it. Leaning down to Law's level he asked, "What was that?"
Law scowled. "You heard me." Rocinante laughed.
"Are you boys ready?" Ms. Johnson called from the stairs.
"Are you?" The blonde asked the dark haired child.
Law sighed. "As I'll ever be."
Rocinante beamed and scooped up Law's small suitcase. "In that case let's go home!"
Law'd never admit it out loud but he'd never been happier to hear those words.
A/N: As always please leave a review so I know if you guys liked it, or didn't like it. Things I could change, things I should keep doing and so forth. Thank you so much for reading!