A/N: This fic is written for dreamichwan (on Tumblr). I hope you like it!
Warning: full of swearing and manga spoilers
Law's a difficult man to understand. In the accounting firm he works at, he is better known as the Manager of Death. When it's peak time, he makes sure the employees in his division work their ass off from dusk till dawn. That's right; no going home or proper meals; all work no play. He is Mr. Workaholic-slash-Sadist, after all. Work is all he cares about, probably for as long as he dies, hence the epithet.
At least, that's what the man himself hears on the grapevine. Personally, Law doesn't give a fuck. His colleagues can go wet themselves in his presence for all he cares. He doesn't bother proving or disproving, or giving an explanation for his supposed actions.
However, there are a few people who can testify against his inhumanity—the members of his division, the victims, being the first on the list. When Shachi and Penguin defend Law to practically everyone, the rest of his colleagues are left gaping like a fish. It makes him want to laugh. Wickedly.
Oh, if only they knew.
His family would be the second and last on the list. His parents are always there for support, and he's positive Lamie will protect him and his honor to the best of her ability. And so would he to her. He has lost her once and doesn't want it to happen again. He would do anything for her—acquiesce to her every request.
And that is why he finds himself trailing behind his sister in the mall, killing time by window fucking shopping on a fucking Saturday afternoon. They have just returned from the car park after depositing their purchases. So much for window shopping. Law indulges his sister, though. It's worth taking a day off from work even if it's just for this.
Lamie stops and turns to Law with a big smile. "Wanna get some ice cream?" She jerks a thumb to her left, and Law sees a quaint ice cream parlor that looks decent.
He shrugs, returning her infectious smile. "Sounds good."
She cheers loudly, very uncharacteristic for a seventeen-year-old kid. Law's parents say he spoils her too much, babies his not-so-baby-anymore sister and lets her depend on him. That is what's he's doing exactly. This time is meant for making it up to the people he failed.
He chooses a table by the window and declines an ice cream when Lamie asked. He crosses his legs and sits back on the comfy chair, watching the people wandering outside.
His gaze focuses on a couple, clinging to each other like a pretzel and looking stupidly in love. Well, thanks for the PDA, fellas. A boy merrily hopping while his mother gives chase. Keep it up, kid. A redhead checking out a shelf on the bookstore from just across. Law's interest piques. That form looks familiar. It's almost as if—
The redhead turns and Law's eyes widen.
Before he can realize what he's doing, he is out of the parlor and towards the bookstore, the ring of the bell as he strides past the door not registering in his ears. He stops when he's a few feet, before calmly picking up a book from the shelf on the right and saying in an equally calm voice, "Long time, no see, Eustass."
He almost bursts out laughing when Kidd jumps out of his skin.
A pair of steel black eyes zeroes in on him the size of dinner plates. Law almost laughs again—okay, he does this time. His mirth snaps Kidd into action.
"What the actual fuck, Trafalgar?" Kidd says loudly, too loudly for a bookstore.
A woman with the same shade of red for hair as Kidd's shows up from a corner behind Kidd. "Eustass!" Kidd pales before whirling around to face her. "Keep it down, will you!"
"I know, Mom, just—" He glances at Law who raises an eyebrow and studies with interest a person he didn't meet in the past. Law wonders what exactly happened that made the woman raise a pirate. Well, he supposes he shouldn't mind other people's business.
Mrs. Kidd is eyeing him with the same amount of interest. "Ohh, who's this fine young man? Your boyfriend, Eustass?"
Law takes it back as he feels like he's about to throw up, while Kidd himself blanches. "God, no! Please, just go find your book."
She's now looking at the two of them with a knowing, understanding expression that makes Law shudder in disgust. It is times like this he wishes he still had his powers so he can teleport himself away, or better, cut up some people and watch with satisfaction as every person regards him with terror. Shit, those nut jobs at work were probably right. He must truly be sadistic.
"Mother!" Kidd says exasperatingly, and Law snorts. Mother.
"All right. I'll go—for now." She winks at Law, whose disgust has long been replaced by amusement at Kidd's expense.
Kidd growls, low in his throat, and glares at Law like he's the main reason behind all this. Which he kind of is, if he thinks about it.
"Is it your personal mission to scare the shit out of strangers?" Kidd asks once his mother is out of sight and, hopefully, out of hearing range, too.
Law grins, because Kidd horribly playing innocent is too amusing. "You're no stranger, Eustass."
Kidd snorts, but sends him a look that would've made people piss in their pants before. But Kidd is harmless now. Heck, everyone is harmless now—in Law's eyes, anyways.
"So you're aware. Who did you first meet?"
"Oh, just your average pirate captain," Law says, shrugging.
"Ah, boring. What's his name? I might've destroyed that fucker's crew—"
"Gold Roger." Law bites the inside of his cheek to stop a smirk at the flabbergasted face Kidd is making.
"You're shitting me!" When a middle-aged man perusing the shelves nearby gives him a menacing look, Kidd sucks his lips to stop a biting comment, no doubt. "Let's get out of here," he finally muttered.
They hurriedly leave the store and hang out at an almost empty restaurant beside it. Law doesn't order anything, but Kidd asks for a large coke. Law thinks he should continue where they left off when the waitress walks away.
"Oh, my bad. It's not Gold Roger."
"Tch."
"It's Gol D. Roger."
Kidd slams a hand down the table, ignoring the look from the passerby. "You fuckers and your Ds," he grumbles, looking sulkily at something over Law's shoulder. "Good to know old man Roger's still alive."
"Why, is he your hero or something?"
"Doesn't matter."
Law grins wickedly at the wandering gaze of his former enemy. Ohh, guilty as charged. But he decides to change the subject. "Sooo, the great Eustass Captain Kidd's hanging out at a bookstore now?"
"I was just accompanying my mother," Kidd hisses, eyes taking on a murderous edge. Though it's more likely a reaction to embarrassment than anger, Law amusedly notes, as he notices Kidd's ears turning red.
"Hmm? And why do you sound so formal when mommy dearest's around, huh?"
"What's your fucking problem?"
Law wants to say nothing, that he just wants to push Kidd's buttons like before. That he is just curious how much Kidd's changed. Instead he finds himself musing, "You still resenting the fact you didn't find One Piece?"
Law expects a scowl or a glare from Kidd. Definitely not a smirk. "Neither did you. I mean, not that you cared. You were chummy with him, eh?"
How strange. Kidd was the least pleased person he knew when news of One Piece being found and claimed reached the world. Law wants to question the reason behind Kidd's strange behavior, but there is a matter he needs to attend to first. "I wasn't friends with Straw Hat. Never had, never will," he says firmly to reassert the fact that everyone continues to ignore.
Law wants to punch the growing smirk on Kidd's face, for some reason. "Oh? You two hit it off with your alliance, right? And don't forget your rampage at Dressro—"
"Anyways," Law cuts him off. "Does it matter? That was all in the past."
Kidd looks at him in an are-you-serious kind of way. "You started it."
"You just seemed too soft. I thought the Eustass Captain Kidd I know is gone," Law finally admits, along with a challenging smirk to conceal the gravity of the statement.
Kidd's face morphs into anger, and suddenly, he looks just like the pirate Law once knew. "Like hell he is! Do you have any idea what I went through? All my life I have memories of the Great Pirate Era and no one believes me! I thought I was going mental! Then I met fucking Apoo who informed me with a shit eating grin that only us captains get to remember the fucking past life!" He pauses to catch his breath and furrows his eyebrows at something. "Shit, it sounds really insane—calling that time the past life."
Law smiles and tries to keep the surprise of hearing that information from showing on his face. "Whoa, calm down, Eustass. I didn't ask for your life story."
"Don't mess with me, Trafalgar," he growls. "And I don't want to admit this, but you didn't look like you went through the same hell as I did."
"Because, idiot, I wasn't foolish enough to tell anyone about my memories." Or maybe because what I have in the present is my only wish in the past, and I won't complain.
"Yeah? Good for you then." Law stares wide-eyed at the sincerity in Kidd's voice. Kidd sighs in defeat. "You're right. I've gone soft. Now I'm a guy who follows his parents, helping with the family business—no trace of the sadistic pirate that killed millions of innocent people."
Law snorts. "If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were starting a pity party."
"Yeah? Well, what do you know?"
It takes Law a minute to respond. "That we all … changed. The truth opened our eyes. I mean, who would've thought the government was keeping that kind of secret for centuries? Thank God for Nico Robin uncovering the lost history. Wouldn't be where we are without her."
Kidd snorts. "The only thing I like about Straw Hat's crew was how they fucked with the government, that's it."
"You don't admire them at all?" Law teases.
"No way. My crew is the most badass group of pirates there is and no one can convince me otherwise."
"You sound like a kid." Law snickers, making Kidd glower at him, further proving the statement.
Kidd did change, didn't he?
A sharp there you are! catches their attention, and Law quickly stands up when he sees Lamie striding over to them, an ice cream cone in hand. He almost forgot about her.
"Did you get what you wanted?" Law asked once Lamie is only a few feet away from them.
She nods, coming over to his side and training a pair of curious eyes at Kidd. "Who is he?"
Law sighs. He doesn't want to share too much of his personal life to someone like Kidd, especially his family who neither his friends nor enemies knew about. But at the same time, he wants to prove to be the better of the two of them—probably just like that battle at Sabaody Archipelago—by having the manners to introduce. He battles with his decisions internally before finding himself saying, albeit reluctantly, "This is Eustass Kidd. An….acquaintance." Saying Kidd was a rival pirate captain with shitty magnet powers sounds tempting, but Lamie is better off in the dark.
Lamie is all smiles. "Hi! I'm Lamie."
Kidd's expression is a mixture of befuddlement and surprise. "She's your…." He trails off suggestively. Law almost snorts, realizing his internal conflict was useless. Seriously, why does he even bother? The guy has no manners, be it in the past or in the present. He's willing to bet in the future, as well, if given the opportunity.
"She's my sister. And no, you can't date her," Law adds, just to see Kidd sputter and look flustered.
Law fails to notice Lamie's gaze shifting between him and Kidd like she's watching a tennis match, so he chokes and coughs and almost has an aneurysm when she says, "He's your boyfriend, isn't he?"
Kidd, who hasn't recovered, goes into another coughing fit, and Law almost feels sorry for him. Almost.
"That's a stupid assumption, Lamie." He glances down at his watch. "Look, if you're still planning to go to that concert, we should get going."
Lamie gasps, grasping Law's arm and looking at his watch before crying out in surprise. "Oh, my God, you're right! There's probably a crowd waiting outside by now. Aw, I was trying to avoid that." She gnaws on her bottom lip.
Law rolls his eyes. "Yet you insisted on wasting time here." He turns to Kidd. "Well, good to know you're alive, I guess," he says with a hint of finality. Not that he enjoys this meeting with Kidd, but Law believes the past should stay in the past.
Kidd snorts and opens his mouth, but the waitress interrupts with his order of Coke in hand. Law nods once in goodbye and Lamie gives a smile before they walk away.
However, he hears the sound of chair scraping the floor and hurried footsteps behind him.
"Hey, wait! Dammit, Trafalgar! This isn't a drama where you just leave me and walk away like that fucking idiot Min Joon."
Law has to say this. There are only two things that can make his sister's liveliness worse—or better, if Law is in an extremely pleasant mood, and that isn't exactly the case at the present; and those things are Korean dramas and Korean music.
So at the mention of the name, Law should've known better when Lamie freezes and slowly turns to Kidd with wide eyes.
"You know You Who Came From the Stars," she whispers, voice soft and reverent.
Law sighs before turning around and whoa, he should've turned around sooner because Kidd is as red as a fucking tomato. He looks like he's been caught reading porn by his mother and has his voice crack in front of millions with the way his face twisted into different emotions, trying not to settle on embarrassment. The Kidd he knows tried to maintain his honor, and well, that is what the Kidd of this era is trying to do—and failing.
In short, it's a Kidd Law's never seen before and he's more than amused.
"I—uh, it's—I don't." Kidd shuts his mouth and takes a deep breath, glaring at Law who isn't even doing anything. Just smirking. "It's my mother who likes the series, not me. I was just….forced to watch….sometimes."
And to think that of all times to appear, his mother chooses now to save his stuttering ass from further humiliation.
"Eustass! Look at the time! We'll be late for the con—oh." Mrs. Kidd stops from her mad dash to study the scene in front of her and tilts her head slightly to the side. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Ah, it's—"
Kidd is cut off by a squeal coming from Law's sister. She is staring at some of the things Mrs. Kidd has poking out of her bags. Law is about to berate her for her apparent lack of manners when Lamie suddenly says, pointing at things she's looking at. "Silver lightsticks and rolled up posters. You're going to the EXO'luXion, am I right?"
Mrs. Kidd is now staring wide-eyed at Lamie, and Law recognizes the expression on her face. Oh, great, looks like Lamie has a fellow fan buddy now. Some kind of thing transpires between them and they begin chatting animatedly about Korean this and that. He shares a look with Kidd, and oh great, for the first time in all their lifetimes, the two of them agree on something.
"This is great!" Kidd's mother gushes. "Since your brother and my son are close, we should go to the concert together!"
"What?" he and Kidd say at the same time. What does him knowing Kidd have anything to do with this? And shit, he and Kidd are definitely not close.
"Okay!" Lamie agrees enthusiastically, and when Law starts to open his mouth to persuade his sister otherwise, she gives him that pleading look like when he experimented on her pet fish without her knowing and she wanted to find the culprit. Justice for Lexy, she said. And, unfortunately, Law is a sucker for that look.
Kidd is looking at him incredulously. "We're seriously going to a concert together?" He shudders. "That sounds weird. I mean, you're going to that concert, too? Tell me you're kidding."
Law doesn't want to humor him, so he simply grins. "Bonding time's not over yet, Eustass."
Kidd makes a face. "Can you stop that?"
They bicker all the way to the place of the concert, which is just across the street from the mall. It seems Lamie is right. There is already a thick crowd of people at the entrance, and shoving people and getting shoved back by said people is definitely not fun. Luckily, both of them have VIP tickets, so they don't have to worry about parting ways.
Law has mixed feelings about this, because seeing this concert with Kidd in a building full of women just feels very odd and uncomfortable. Logically, he should be relieved. At least, there's someone else who can't sing along. But hell, this is his enemy—was his enemy. Law seriously doesn't know what to think or feel, probably because the other pirate captains he met so far are neither his rivals nor his allies. He hasn't even met Straw Hat or even anyone from his crazy crew, and he's not looking forward to that meeting at all—or that's what he tells himself.
Well, he has nothing to worry about. Technically, nothing bad will ever happen if he went on with this concert. His sister is still here, happily chatting with Kidd's mother and looking excited. He can't disappoint her by excusing himself and leaving.
So, what is it? he thinks. It sounds ridiculous but there's a part of him that's afraid. Afraid of what? The only thing he worries about is his family. So what, is he afraid that by letting the people from the past in his life, his family's safety might get compromised? It's so silly, but Law realizes with a jolt that it's true. The past reminds him so much of what he has lost. No matter what he thinks, worry always gnaws his insides.
He wonders when he has gotten so emotional—so weak. Probably because he hasn't seen his savior yet. He's trying his best for years, but Corazon is nowhere to be found. Law hopes the man hasn't set himself on fire already.
"You look like someone killed your puppy, Trafalgar," Kidd says from the seat beside him. When did they sit down? And why the hell is Kidd sitting next to him?
Law scoffs. "Am not. Just not used to this setting." True, the buzz of excited chatter and the dim lighting make him a little nervous. He is so used to the tranquility of his office. Plus he rarely goes out to busy places like the mall and the concert arena. Yes, Law is a boring guy in this time so piss off.
"Same." Kidd sighs.
Just then, the lights go out and sudden loud cheering erupts from the fans, Lamie and Mrs. Kidd included. Then the stage bursts with lights and smoky effects, and a familiar tune—familiar to Law because of Lamie—resounds around the area. No sooner than that, a group of guys emerge from the backstage and started performing, to the delight of the crowd.
Of course, save Law and Kidd.
"Whoa, this is insane," Kidd shouts. "The whole place is shaking."
"Yeah," Law agrees with him for the second freaking time that day. "What's with them anyway?"
The performers, who Law recalls are called EXO—not XO! E-X-O!, he remembers Lamie correcting him—turn out to be a talented bunch of young guys. Law has to admit, he can't pull of those dance moves. He's never danced a single dance in his entire life. And the singing—it seems they sing along with the accompaniment of their upbeat songs. He has to admit they're pretty good.
During one of the songs, Law hears something he thinks he'd never hear until the day he dies.
"Call me baby, call me baby, call me baby, call me baby."
Law stares incredulously at a relaxed-looking Kidd. "Seriously?"
Kidd returns his look. "What? Their song is damn catchy." He hums a bit more. "Plus, it's so awkward to be sitting still like you do."
Law sighs and watches the stage full of dancing guys, cringing at the sudden loud screech of the crowd. And yet, he can't deny the spark of adrenaline and hum of electricity in the air emanating from both fans and performers. "Okay, it's not that bad," he admits. But he definitely won't tell that he's enjoying.
Because Law doesn't expect to enjoy this day-off of his.
Nor does he expect Lamie bursting in his room, grinning knowingly, as she catches him in the act of watching EXO's Growl one week later. When she tells Kidd, the shitty magnet guy never lets him live it down.
A/N: Can I just say how much I'm loving Growl? I have a penchant for Korean dramas, so I decided to put one of my favorites, lol.