A/N: I've always wanted a kid Law and Kidd. I already have a few chapters up, and I wanted to post already. Quite impatient, I am. Haha. And by the way, this story was originally published during the Sabaody Archipelago arc so the age of each character is off. Darn.
Summary: Just the time when Law first visits South Blue.
~Vermilion Flycatcher~
Chapter One - Hey, you
"Doffy, I want to go see the real world. I don't like being holed up here in Dressrosa."
It had come abruptly as soon as the flamingo came back from one of his trips away from home in their paradise island. The exotic scent of the sea and wind mixed with the sweet aromas of foreign spices still lingered heavily in his pink coat, and the medical prodigy could distinctly smell it.
Law gave an insinuating pout as he stared at the gigantic man. Although he was young and still had some growing to do, there was no doubt in seeing that the blonde easily towered over the common man.
Doflamingo spread himself relaxingly into his meridian and chuckled slightly as he studied the young boy standing eagerly before him. Behind his tinted glasses, he could see through Law's calm demeanor that he more than wanted to set sail. His determined bright eyes and studious dark rims that harshly cupped his lashes betrayed him entirely.
"Fufufufu," he let his laugh be heard. Perhaps the boy was ready to leave his little cage and see the rest of the sky for himself. It would be more fun to see him grow, and maybe get hurt in the process, so he could finally see Law's full potential rather than keep him safe here like unpolished treasure. He had been waiting for this moment for Law to finally ask after all. It was only a matter of time till the impending question finally came.
He beckoned for the boy to come and Law willingly did so before Doflamingo forced him to. He wrapped his arms around the young boy and pulled him in closer between his lap, his large hands feeling the short strands of soft black hair.
"We're you that lonely without me?" he teased, but it didn't get a rise out of the teen who was used to it. Instead, he buried his face deeper into Doflamingo's pink feathers. "I'll take you on my next trip then, and have Vergo prepare your things. Maybe we'll see how well we can put your medical skills into good use."
His laugh reverberated deep in his chest, and the boy clutched his fingers digging deeper in his coat as there was the foreshadowing of something brutal to come in Law's release into the sea. Would his first time setting out be bloody? Filled with gore? The medical prodigy had those small, exciting thoughts fill up his brain. Though he couldn't see it, he could tell that Doflamingo had lit up into a smile, like he always did, and the blonde's hand began to gently rub against the back of his head. It was a soft touch that Law didn't know what to make of, but he'd always react indifferently. Always.
Maybe he was too young to understand the significance of such affection. Everyone had called him cold or callous, or maybe it was just because he was too inexperienced to fully appreciate such gestures.
Appreciate? Law held in a breath that wanted to come out for actually letting that word cross his mind. Appreciate - there were some things he did, and some things that he didn't. Everything was separated into two different categories, and that included people and their little gestures. Although, that was about to change. Law was oblivious to that happening once he sailed out to sea -
Out to South Blue where he would be more confused than ever. Things weren't that simple, and he'd learn about remorse and the state of tormenting confliction. He'd miss the perks of ever having the feeling of appreciation.
Law wandered the field aimlessly going nowhere just to leave the luxury house that they were staying in on the island. He needed a break, and the colorful grass and open space was a refreshing contrast to the stale air of the room that he been spending hours cooped up in underground. He took a breath of the chilly spring air, the scent of pollen marking the transition of the new season. Winter's last traces were being erased in way for the height of the season of bloom. He let the breath travel and cool his veins. It touched his bones, his heart, and he let it out in neither satisfaction, contentment, or dislike; thoughts of the rather explicit events from mere hours ago occupied his tired mind.
Just like he predicted, his premonitions of blood became fulfilled. Multiple bodies were brought in the basement of the Donquixote luxury home in an island deep in South Blue where no one could hear their victim's screams. Law finally knew why the flamingo chose South Blue as his next destination. It was the best out of the four Blues that provided a good stock of supply of agonized voices, music made by the flamingo's turned toys, as the area was known for being filled with hefty criminals that no one would miss.
It had been two months since they've came to this part of the hemisphere and Law had started mutilating bodies day in and day out. Honestly, he was getting a little worn out. The little experiment was to cure Doflamingo's curiosity of just how far he could push a human just before they passed to the brink of death or before they croaked for information. Though Law would be lying if he were to say that he wasn't intrigued after slicing up a few practice bodies. To learn what substance flowed from where to where first hand, to see how organs and human tissue actually looked like in real flesh compared to the ones he saw in books, to see how long a man could stand before he died and gave up from overwhelming pain, to see how far he could cut without killing, it was all so fascinating. Exhilarating. His thirsty mind for knowledge was sickeningly being quenched. Not like he ever thought about cutting people up this way before though. The bit of humanity he had was repulsed at what the flamingo has been making him do. He had always thought that his medical skills could only help living things get better, to fix what had gone amiss in a functioning body, but he was naive and Doflamingo gave him new interesting ideas about that.
The image of a sinewy body with its veins hanging out from a severed leg made Law shudder. So much blood, so much of the blackened red liquid pooling at the concrete floor just to stain it, so much of the overpowering scent of iron that invaded his nose…. and so much medical knowledge he would have taken years to have learned through a book, or a surgery gone wrong, but he had acquired it all in the matter of a few months. He would have had gone through a war just to see the type of injuries he had inflicted on those men back at the basement, but the luxury of seeing it safely was all here. In the comfort of peace and the absence of any special attachments to those he had hurt, it was wealth Doflamingo gave him.
Under the shade of his white fluffy cap, Law's eyes grew darker. The differently twisted way of thinking Doflamingo had, it was affecting his views and sight of what he wanted to achieve, and it was forthcoming. There was a weight constricting Law's chest as he knew his process of thinking was developing much like Doflamingo's, but he wouldn't let that happen. No. Of course he wouldn't.
But wasn't this what he wanted? To accompany the blonde in his escapades whenever he left Law mysteriously wondering what it would be like to go with him?
Law let out another breath as he hiked up a hill to where more of the trees grew. He unconsciously rubbed his right arm that Doflamingo had almost broken when he refused to use his fruit ability to cut a woman up. Men, he could handle, but women and children were something new. It didn't hurt as much anymore, but he could still feel the tingle of his flesh constricting, his muscles failing to do anything.
His black boot let loose some dirt as he made it up the upslope, and he let his eyes take in the open space of nature. There was no clear trail for him to follow as he had strayed from the main path hours ago, and he continued on deeper into the forest in no clear direction but forward as he tried to get his head clear. He walked in silence, and the only sounds were the quiet leaves rustling in their lush green that grew thickly atop the trees' branches. The sun's bright yellow light that coated every inch of the very ground he walked on seemed to match his mellow walk, and he was able to peacefully make it through the other side of the forest without a single disturbance. But as he got closer to the sea, the smell of salt infiltrating his senses, he heard a high pitched chirping of a bird crying for help.
Law stopped in his tracks turning his head and followed the cries through a thick wall of bushes. He pushed the itchy shrubbery aside cutting through, and found not a lone bird, but a red headed kid sitting on the grass fiddling with the victimized baby chick. Law shifted his eyes and spotted a broken nest by the roots of a nearby tree.
"Son of a-!" the kid hissed snapping his hand back. "How do you even have a strong enough beak to bite me?"
He growled at the nestling cradled at the palm of his left hand making faces and sucked on his cut finger.
Law deafened his footsteps as he stepped out from the bush and quietly crept closer to take a better look taking careful precaution for the redhead to not notice him. Despite the boy's anger, he still held the baby bird gently and resumed to trying to wrap a bandage around the nestling's body. The bird pulled its head up and started to chirp vehemently at its wound being touched and fluffed its premature red feathers. Law craned his neck behind the redhead inspecting the bird's damage, and a blotch of crimson bled through the small roll of white bandage that the kid was using. With unskilled hands, the boy went around the bird trapping one wing under the white roll, and Law's lips pulled down to a frown.
"You shouldn't wrap it like that," he blurted out not impressed with the kid's bandaging skills.
The boy widened his eyes and jumped. He drew away from Law's breath against his ear and scrambled a few feet away to face him, bird encased protectively in the shell of both of his hands.
"Who the hell are you?!" he dogged Law up and down barring his teeth. His body tensed in gaurd, eyes showing a twinkle of scarlet in his golden red eyes as the boy's anger rose from being sneaked up on.
Law looked at him nonplussed as he acted without thinking, but retrieved himself quickly.
"I was just strolling by, and I heard a bird crying. I wanted to come by and help," he explained.
The boy glared at him warily, but his shoulders relaxed down and he opened up his cupped hands encasing the baby bird.
"Here," Law held out his hand. "You're suffocating it. Birds have fragile bones because they're hollow and you're squishing it."
The boy looked at him quizzically not knowing what he was talking about and looked back down at the nestling, its one free wing flapping in pain while its pair was held down. He hesitated to move towards Law, and Law took it upon himself to be the one to come over and crouch down to the ground and gently take the nestling from the boy's hands. Lightly, he began to undo the wrap he made around the baby chick and freed its crippled wing. He redid the bandages expertly around the bird's body to stop the bleeding and inspected around for any other injuries. The wing that was trapped under the bandages turned out to be broken, and it had a few other scratches here and there that needed to be disinfected.
All the while he was doing this, the redheaded boy stared at him awed by how fast and neatly he had tied the bandages.
"How did you do that?" he asked mystified.
"What?" Law cocked a brow.
"Wrap the bandage so neatly," he lifted his golden red eyes up at Law, as if his flaming red hair wasn't an interesting color enough. "Whenever Killer does that for me, it always comes falling off."
"Killer?" Law repeated the unusual name.
"Some guy I know," the boy clarified, a hint of brotherly sentiment laced in his answer.
Law studied the boy over and noticed a few scars scattered across his body, a particularly noticeable one marring his left shoulder that most likely came from getting scratched by a branch. A few bandaids covered other parts of his exposed skin as his arms were bare from a loose white tank top, his legs uncovered by his shorts save for a white roll of bandage tied around his right calf. And just as the boy said, the bandage was improperly tied so it was sagging.
"What happened here?" Law placed the nestling on his lap and reached over to pull the wrap tighter. He undid the horribly made knot and set to re-wrapping the damaged leg. "Your friend?"
"No, I did that one." The kid didn't know whether to let Law touch him, a stranger he just met, but Law wouldn't let him say a single form of protest as he went ahead and firmly remade the knot on the bandage without permission. "I fell from the tree when I was saving that baby bird. There was another jerk bird that wouldn't leave it alone so I climbed up there to make it go away and punched it. Stupid bird." The kid muttered. "If I ever see it again, I'll have it for dinner."
Law let out a noncommittal hum thinking that was a stupid thing to do.
"You should've left it alone," he looked up and saw a trail of blood across the boy's cheek and took out a handkerchief to wipe it away.
The kid winced. "How could I?! Then that shit bird would've eaten the baby bird alive!"
"Let nature have its way. Better dead than living the rest of its life a cripple. Its left wing is broken, and it might not heal properly since the bones are still setting in. If it won't be able to fly, it'll fall prey to other animals unable to flee or protect itself, and starve a slow agonizing death in the process as it won't be able to hunt. It would've been better to die now rather than to shamefully die later."
"The hell would you say that?!" the boy swatted his hand away clearly offended. "And what do you know?! It can still heal! I'll just take care of it!"
The dark haired teen sighed at the kid's profanity. The boy looked younger than him too, but he was able to spit out four letter curse words like it was a normal thing.
"I've studied a bird's anatomy before. I know how their bodies work," his flow of words sounded pessimistic, partly due to the torture he had to witness just a few hours ago. Though he knew the chances of the nestling perfectly recovering, Law didn't want to admonish the type of foolish behavior the kid was sporting in playing hero. There are no real heroes in real life.
A defiant frown framed the redhead's face and he leaned over to grab the nestling from his lap, but Law was quick enough to scoop the baby bird away from his grasp.
"I don't care if you're a bird scientist or whatever, just give me back my bird!" he yelled.
Law looked back at him without expression, a contrast to the boy's expressive face, as he slipped out a monotone, "No."
"The hell?! You're just going to leave it out to die!"
Law remained still refusing to give it back and the redhead dove in after him. He merely rolled to the side to avoid the tackle and the boy's chin met the floor. He slid across the dirt eating a few blades of grass as the older teen ignored his loud fall.
"I never said that I'd let it die," Law got up and patted the dirt away from his pants. "I just said it might grow up to be a cripple. Like I told you, I've studied the anatomy of birds before. I'd know how to take care of it better than you."
The redhead pushed himself up from the grass spitting out the green leaves and looked to him confused. "Huh? But you said-"
"It's wing is bent and I need to fix that. I probably need to take him home," Law interrupted him and squatted down to where the boy still lay. "The nest is already broken," he motioned to the fallen mess of twigs beside the tree they were under, "and even if its parents do come, they'll probably abandon it and let it die. There's no use in letting a crippled nestling live so we have to take care of its wing first before we leave it here by itself."
The kid took a moment to blink as Law just did a total one eighty on him. First, he was telling him to let the bird die, then he was telling him that he'd take care of it? What did he really want to do?
"What? Are you a doctor or something?" he glared up at Law.
The answer to that question came out easily. "Something like that. I'm studying to be one."
Law held out his handkerchief again and wiped the dirt on the smaller boy's face.
"You can keep this," he told him and handed the boy the cloth after all the dirt was gone.
The kid took it hesitantly in his hands as he still didn't know what to say. Law noticed the still bleeding finger that the nestling pecked at as the redhead curled his fingers into the cloth, and he took the boy's hand into his own. He didn't know how the bird was able to do it, but a healthy stream of red ran down the boy's fingers and Law put the finger into his mouth.
"H-hey! What the hell are you doing?!" the boy shouted getting flustered.
A heat built up across the younger's cheeks as Law swirled his tongue around the cut and spat out the blood mixed saliva.
"I don't have anything to clean it with so spit will have to do," he said with a straight face. "Even a small cut like this can be infected."
The boy looked as if he'd just violated him, the heat too noticeable against his pale skin. Law took out a band aid from his pocket and wrapped it around the cut of his finger. Lucky for the boy that he was actually caring one. The redhead pulled his hand back once he was done and rubbed against the adhesive.
"Thanks," he muttered.
Law was about to wave him off when someone shouted as soon as he opened his mouth. Both boys' heads jerked to the call as they heard a person yelling not too far off.
"Kid! Hey, Kid! Where are you?!"
It was timbre of a deep voice, but not old enough to be an adult. It was a voice mature enough to be around Law's age, but definitely somewhere around his teens. Another voice of around the same pitch joined the first calling "kid," and the red headed boy jerked and jumped up to his feet.
"Shit. I forgot," he muttered. The rest of his sentence was lost under his breath. Something about meeting up with someone and going to the main square of the city.
Law looked up at the boy curiously and asked, "Friends of yours?"
"Yeah," his eyes went to Law then back to the direction of voices as they called out again. "I gotta go," he shoved Law's handkerchief in his pockets and shifted up the goggles on his forehead ready to leave, but he hesitated. He looked back at Law frowning. "You'll take care of the bird, right?" He was unsure whether to trust Law or not, but there was hoping.
Law gave him a nod and the boy smirked.
"My name's Kid by the way," he smiled. "Eustass Kid."
"Trafalgar Law," Law said likewise.
"'I'll definitely see you back here then, Trafalgar?"
The dark haired teen gave another nod. Kid gave a grin for his goodbye and went off running into the bushes.
Law watched him go and stayed in his spot long enough to hear Kid yell back to the group that was calling for him.
"I'm right here!" the boy shouted.
There were murmurings that he couldn't quite make out, and the voices slowly got farther and farther. When rustling of footsteps and the echoes of their voices completely disappeared, the dark haired teen got up, nestling in hand and chirping softly, and Law went on his silent way back to the direction he came to the opposite way of the shore.
On his way back, his trek to Doflamingo's mansion somehow seemed too short, the distance from the forest and down the hill too quick. He didn't want to go back yet, but the sun was starting to set, and he knew that if he stayed out too long, Vergo would come looking for him. He gritted his teeth thinking about the abusive man. He should really ease up. It wasn't as if he was running away or anything, the sadistic brute. If only he could get through the man's haki and cut him up, and Law was seriously looking forward to the day when he would be able to, then he'd return the beatings ten times over. And speaking of Vergo…
Law could make out the muscular man's form standing by the entrance as he neared their luxury home. He could be easily identified by his white trench coat, and he was standing stiffly waiting for Law to come back. The dark haired teen grimaced and stuffed his hands in his hoodie pocket trying to hide the baby chick.
"Law," the man said his name as he turned to face him. Vergo was clearly glaring at him beneath those darkened shades. "You're lucky you came back at this time. One more minute, and I would have gone out to look for you."
And by "look," he meant forcibly drag back Law kicking and screaming by his hair. By how many times the man did it, Law figured that Vergo actually liked it that way. The teen gave a crooked smile to purposely piss the man off and walked past him to the door. He wouldn't be doing that today. Law would've added to say something smart back at the muscular man, but he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible to get the baby bird into his room.
Luckily, he was able to evade anyone else in the hallways and headed straight to the second floor.
What was he going to do with the baby bird? Law looked down at the sleeping nestling that he had put in a box stuffed with grass and twigs he managed to garner from outside. He had put a brace to straighten its broken wing and rubbed a salve against its open cuts. It should heal in a few weeks, but how was he going to hide it for that long? Especially from Doflamingo or the cleaning maids that came into his room. And sure, it was quiet now because it was sleeping, but how about when it starts chirping once it wakes up? And what to feed it….
Law lowered his eyes as he sat on his bed staring at the box in front of him. He was beginning to realize just how much of a trouble it was to take care of the little bird, and questioned why he even said that he'd take care of it. Maybe he'll just go back to that spot in the forest again tomorrow so he could give it to that red headed kid. He definitely couldn't take care of it for long.
A slight shiver shook the nestling's feathers, and Law pushed a few more grass around it to keep it warm. Based on the color of its red and grey feathers, Law had deduced that it was a Vermilion Flycatcher, a bird distinct from the South. The shade of red reminded him a lot of the color of Kid's hair, and Law got up to hide the box in his closet. It was nice to see another kid around his age. He hadn't seen one in quite a while. It felt like ages ago, and he began to wonder when was the last time he had.
It had been a few days since he had kept the bird, and its wing was healing up nicely. It had gone from crying in its chirp to happily singing as it became healthy enough to walk around in Law's room and jump around. It would occasionally flap its wings to stimulate flight even though it couldn't yet, but he knew that it would be able to some day. The way the bird was moving, it was heading to a fast recovery.
Law smiled cupping the nestling in his hands as he picked it up from the box, and it tilted its head blinking as it stared at him. He wanted to show Kid how good the bird's injuries were healing, how good its progress was going in just a short amount of time, and hiked to the spot where they met in the forest almost everyday hoping to see him. He wanted to see the boy's smiling face once he saw the healthy bird. It would be able to fly, he wanted to say. To his disappointment though, the boy was never there and it irritated him on the way back home.
The bird flapped its wings noticing Law's mood and the teen drew up a smile again. He always did have a weakness for fluffy things.
A thump of footsteps sounded down Law's hallway, and he quickly placed the nestling back in its box and stuffed it back in his closet again. When the door opened, Law was calmly on his bed reading a book about diseases as if he wasn't just holding a baby bird. Nothing was amiss.
"He wants to see you," Vergo came in going straight to business.
Law closed his book setting it aside and looked up. Through the surface, he looked bored, but underneath his heart was beating scared that he was going to get caught if he hadn't heard the footsteps in time. He better pay close attention next time to save him from another close call. He languidly hopped out of bed and followed Vergo outside to where Doflamingo was waiting for him out in the driveway in front of a black car.
"There you are," the blonde smiled his signature smile. "How about we go shopping? I haven't taken you out in a while, hmn?"
The car door was already open for Law to get in, the question just for manners to make Law feel better when he actually didn't have a choice. The boy nodded and got in, Doflamingo following after. The blonde stretched his arms behind Law's head once they were seated, his body taking up a whole row of one side of the long car due to his tall lanky body.
Law didn't talk much in the car ride as they headed to the markets of the city, and neither did he make much conversation when they walked around the the booths and stands. He walked behind Doflamingo silently following him and noticing all the exotic merchandise hanging at the mini-stores. Nothing in particular caught his eye until he saw a stand filled with jars of small beetles. He immediately thought of the Flycatcher back home and got the urge to buy one. Law had been feeding the baby bird some insects he caught around the vicinity of Doflamingo's estate, but it was weird to be always bringing bugs home. If he asked to buy a jar of beetles though, it would arise even more suspicion of why he would want to take a bottle of insects home. After a second, Law noticed that he had stopped walking and snapped out of his reverie. He quickly hurried to catch up to Doflamingo and forgot about the jar of beetles.
It had been a week now, exactly seven days since he had taken home the baby bird, and Doflamingo had started to notice Law going out for morning walks.
"I need to exercise," was his lame excuse to go up to the knoll where he met Eustass Kid.
Law was getting antsy that Kid kept being a no show and even brought the baby bird with him in his pockets just in case the boy would show up. A smirk played on the blonde's face as he stared at Law, something churning in his dark mind as the boy waited for permission to leave. Before he could go though, the man wrapped a yellow scarf with black spots covering the ends around his neck to protect him from the winter-spring chill.
"Don't catch a cold," Doflamingo smiled. "I don't want you getting sick. But if you do, then maybe you won't leave so much. Fufufu. Maybe I should chain you up so I don't have to worry."
Doflamingo was telling him that he didn't like his continuous disappearance every morning. It was a warning. His long fingers felt like ice against Law's neck as he fixed the scarf on the teen. He was seriously contemplating about getting some sea stone handcuffs, and Law knew that. Whatever the flamingo said he'd do, he'd do. Before their conversation got any further, Law nodded saying that he'd be back soon and left the living room. He passed by Vergo in the hallway who only gave him a stalking look as they crossed each other, and he tried to act calm and ignore him.
He walked briskly out the mansion and into the trail that led to the forest and merged into the invisible forest path that he'd been taking faster than he usually did. He didn't know why he was acting so hastily, but he felt the need to get away from the house; he just needed to. He walked with hands in his pockets and was so concentrated in getting to that one tree in the forest near the sea shore that he almost forgot that the nestling was still in his pockets. He only remembered when he finally got to his destination.
"There you are! I've been waiting for you!"
Law looked up to see Kid finally present and watched him as he jumped down from the tree where the bird had originally fallen. He couldn't tell if the boy's leg was healed as he wore a pair of black pants this time, but he seemed to land fine on his feet.
"Where'd you been? I even had enough time to built back the nest," the boy shook his head to free his hair from leaves. The dark haired teen lifted his head up above to where the boy had fallen from and could see a rebuilt cradle of meshed twigs and grass sitting upon a high branch.
"I should ask you the same thing," Law huffed. "I've been coming here everyday in the morning for the past week, but you were never here."
"Well, I've been coming here every night but you were never here," the kid shot back.
Both of them looked at each other as they realized they never agreed on a set time when they'd meet. Law shook his head and took out the baby bird from his pocket finally letting it breathe and to show Eustass.
"Hey! It finally got better," he smiled seeing the bird he saved for the first time again.
He let the redhead hold the Flycatcher as he transferred the nestling to his hands, and Law smiled watching Kid grin. And Law was right. As the younger teen held the baby bird close to his face, he could see that they shared the same shade of red on the bird's feathers and Kid's hair. The boy noticed the brace the bird had on its left wing, and he held to inspect it gently.
"How long till we can remove this?" he asked.
"Probably about another week. After that, it'll be fine," Law answered.
"So you'll be keeping it for several more days?"
The older teen raised his brows at that.
"Actually, I was hoping you'd be able to take care of it now. I fulfilled my part of repairing its wing, so it's your turn. I've already kept it for an extended amount of days."
Kid looked hesitantly at the creature in his hands, and Law didn't like the look of it. He better not say he couldn't. Law couldn't keep hiding from Vergo who kept barging into his room at any given moment.
"I can't," he turned to Law.
"And why not?"
"Because," the bird hopped on Kid's hands and climbed its way up to his shoulder. "Where I live, if anyone sees that I've brought some type of animal home, we'd roast it for dinner."
The dark haired teen raised both brows at that. The threat he heard Kid make about making the bird who attacked the nestling for dinner was actually real. The redhead looked at the older boy sullenly, and pretty soon, both the bird and Kid were looking at Law for his decision.
He heaved out a sigh giving in. The red duo gaze was definitely formidable.
"Fine," Law caved.
Kid lit up in a smile. "Thanks," he grinned. "Because I actually have a present for you,"
The redhead gave the little bird back and grabbed a drawstring bag that had been lying beside the trunk of the tree he had jumped from. He shoved his hand inside and drew up a small bag filled with worms. The older boy curled his lips in disgust.
"That looks gross," Law moved not wanting to take it, though he already figured out that the present wasn't for him, but for the nestling.
"It's food," Kid extended his arm moving the bag of slimming invertebrates closer to Law's face. "I dug for them all day yesterday for you."
Yes, it was all for him. Like Law really wanted a whole bag of slithering worms to keep.
Kid noticed the unpleasantness in his face as he took the bag from him.
"Thanks," the teen mumbled. At least he wouldn't have to go digging for food anytime soon. He didn't want to put the bag in his pockets so he sat down on the ground beneath the tree and set the worms aside next to a root.
Kid followed suit and sat next to him giving a yawn. He stretched his arms and arched his back unconsciously providing a show so Law was able to grow aware of the amount of dirt on his clothes.
"Did you sleep here?" he asked. It was either that or the kid had decided to roll in the grass before he came.
"Yeah," Kid answered in mid yawn. "I kept waiting for you last night that I fell asleep 'cuz I kept thinking that you would show up."
"Idiot. No one is awake at night," Law frowned.
"Well, no one is awake this early either," the boy yawned again and reached for the nestling that was on his lap.
The bird gave a high chirped and bit his hand.
"Ow!" Kid snapped his arm back. "Why do you keep biting me?!"
He hissed and sucked on the skin between his thumb and forefinger this time, a small stream of blood oozing out. Law couldn't help but laugh and softly grabbed the boy's injured hand.
"I only carry band aids for guys like you," he pulled another adhesive from his pocket and opened it to apply on the small wound.
Kid frowned like a petulant child. A soft chuckle escaped from him when he saw that he still wanted to hold the baby bird, but it only pressed deeper against his stomach to hide away from the glaring redhead.
"You need to ease up your face," Law petted the nestling. He picked it up gently and handed it over to Kid who was trying hard not to frown, but once the baby bird saw Kid's face, it began to fluff its feathers and chirped to get away from him. Law continued to land the nestling in Kid's hands anyway and it quieted.
As long as Law's hands were touching it, the baby bird seemed to be okay and was content in the redhead's palms. It shivered happily and became oblivious to the danger it was in, or thought it was never in.