Quirks

Characters: Law. Rating: T. Warnings: Background character death, Flevance massacre

The whispers never fully quietened. He was a good son, and a good big brother, but while his parents were well-respected, and everyone thought Lami was adorable, the looks he got were never quite… right.

They didn't like the way he was always just a little standoffish. More interested in his studies than his peers. He had, nominally, 'friend's, but they were really just classmates, other children he was forced to spend time with and who found him plain creepy.

"He's spoiled rotten," he overheard another mother muttering to the Sister after class one day. "His parents are very busy, and of course I respect that, but he always holds himself as though he thinks he's better than the other children!"

"He's just shy," the Sister defended him, but Law didn't wait to hear more. He'd heard enough. He wasn't shy, he just preferred to study. If he studied, he could learn faster and become a doctor sooner. He could help Mother and Father out at the hospital, make sure Lami never had anything to worry about.

They didn't let him do dissections in class, but he knew the theory. He just had to practice it, so he found dead and dying creatures, pretended they were human and carefully slit them open with his borrowed scalpel.

"Doctor Trafalgar," he heard a woman hiss to his father once. It was a familiar voice. Another classmate's mother. "Law is getting quite out of control! He was cutting frogs up behind the school!"

"I'll talk to him about it," and Father had, all smiles and reassurance even as he made sure Law was only doing it with naturally-dead animals. "Be careful, Law, and don't cut your fingers," he'd stressed. "Fingers to a surgeon are like wings to a bird. Birds can't fly without wings, and a surgeon can't work without his fingers."

Law nicked his fingers several times, but they were only ever nicks. Small things, fussed over by his parents and carefully cleaned and wrapped.

His parents' tolerance did nothing to stop the accusations. Spoilt. Only son, eldest child of the Trafalgars. No matter the parents, some things just couldn't be helped, the rumours said.

But then the sickness came, and no-one was around to call him spoilt anymore. No-one was around to say anything, even that couple who'd always argued in the streets, yelling "I don't know why I married you" at the top of their lungs yet kissing and making up moments later. The man who always sold Lami's favourite ice cream but had more flavours every time they visited (he'd liked puns; Law had heard him laugh particularly loudly to his co-worker, who'd one day said "We started with one, and now we have seven. You have no chill!"; Law still never knew what they'd been counting).

There was just dead bodies, the stench of death that couldn't be avoided no matter how much Law tried. His little quirks, the things that had labelled him spoilt and a creep helped him survive. No longer overachievements but the bare minimum to drag himself through the blood-run streets and plan his revenge. He might die young, but he'd avenge his home using whatever he could - even if it was the things they'd hated.

Another tumblr prompt, or group of them this time: "I don't know why I married you.", "Birds can't fly without wings.", "He's spoiled rotten." and "We started with one and now we have seven. You have no chill." Pre-Hearts!Law this time but I'm still sticking it in here because I have nowhere better to post it. It's only little, after all.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari