It smelled like rain.
The steady beat of a heart is all he can hear, warm flesh pressed against flesh is all he can feel.
The arm that is wrapped around him is tense, in what Trafalgar knows as protective fury by now.
One would not think the hazel eyes would be staring at him in understanding. Anger has undeniably sparked and so has reluctance, but the understanding is clear in those bright, familiar eyes.
Trafalgar will miss those eyes. As will he miss and long for subtle almost nervous touches and the not so subtle ones that leave fire in his bones. He'll miss the way lips press upon his, surprisingly soft as they kiss his tattooed skin. He would miss the playful and even not so playful fights they exchanged. The way his partner would apologize once his temper receded; his name whispered with the emotions seeping through his words.
It was odd.
Odd that Trafalgar would miss a man like him. Odd that Trafalgar had even gotten with him in the first place.
Completely and utterly insane that Trafalgar Law had allowed himself to fall in love with a man like him.
He almost regrets it.
"There are things in life you will never understand." A voice had said long, long ago. The face was long gone from his memory, but the words and the smell of rain and mud still fresh in his memory even after all these years.
And that was true.
Trafalgar had learned that first hand, being thrown in a situation that he still didn't completely understand only weeks after hearing those words roll off of the tip of a tongue.
Life had thrown this at him.
He brushes away a strand of bright red hair, cupping the man's face in his tattooed tan hands, and pressing his forehead to the others.
"Sorry," he whispers and he means it.
He really, really does.
His partner doesn't say a thing, crashing their lips together in a kiss that leaves Trafalgar breathless.
It conveys everything that he could not say with his words. Things that even Trafalgar would never consciously admit to another soul.
Their lips part. The strong arm drops from his waist.
"I still love you."
It's silent, but the words do not need to be said to be heard.
One last time he whispers the other's name, the familiar syllables rolling off of his tongue in a way that would never be used again.
"Eustass-ya."
He walks away and his partner doesn't follow.
Trafalgar closes his eyes after he shuts the door behind him, the sound of the outside world deaf to him.
Leaning his head against the door, he inhales deeply.
It smelled like rain.
Notes: Tried something a little different with a quick drabble. Feedback is appreciated.