Category: Mild Romantic Fluff

Characters: Nami, Trafalgar D. Water Law

Requested By: anubislover (Tumblr)

Alternatum to As Lovers Do

Law's eyes were lidded as he gazed over the edge of the Thousand Sunny, watching the waves crash against the side of the boat with more and more insistency as they became trapped between its broad wooden frame and the rapidly approaching docks. The sea shifted from sapphire blue to a bright blue-green as the sea slope rose, bringing with it the color of the muddy bottom sloshed up by the frothing waves. Over the rolling water and the flapping sails, Law could hear the ringing of bells as fishing boats announced their morning departure; no doubt, the docks were bustling with activity. Just like the Straw Hats to find the busiest island they could to make port.

"Is it really necessary we stop?" he griped to Sanji as the cook came up bearing the mooring rope. The blonde snorted slightly as he took a drag of his cigarette before puffing out the dark fumes, watching as they were snatched away by the coastal breeze.

"Yeah. I would have liked to last a couple more days, but Luffy and his bottomless pit of a gullet make that impossible," he complained. As the ship neared the docks, he hiked a leg up onto the balustrade so he could build up enough momentum to toss the mooring rope down to Zoro, who had hopped over to secure it. "We only need food provisions, so at worst it'll take about half the day. Usopp and Franky have to make repairs to the ship, so you're welcome to go walk around if you want to," he shrugged. He vaulted over the side of the ship before Law could quip that he didn't need Sanji's permission to do anything.

As he contemplated what he wanted to do, the rest of the Straw Hats plus a crew of samurai made their exit. Law's eyebrows quirked as he realized that he had not seen a certain tangerine-haired navigator among them, and he tossed a languid glance at her grove of citrus trees growing on the upper deck. From his position he could easily discern if she was pruning them, as she did every morning, but he was mildly shocked not to see her curvy, bright form trimming off the dark leaves. Is Nami-ya not awake? He thought as he marched to the metal door leading down to the bowels of the ship. It was unlike her, certainly; she wasn't one to sleep into the height of the day. His doctor's instincts were buzzing, thinking she may be ill. He descended the steps, arriving at the hallway where the bedrooms were, and strolled to the room where Robin and Nami resided. He rapped on the door with the back of his hand, calling, "Oi, Nami-ya. We're making port."

His golden eyes narrowed as he heard the unmistakable shuffling of blankets echo from within the small room, followed by a morose call somewhere along the lines of "Not interested." She really was still in bed? His hand fell down to the doorknob to wriggle it experimentally; his eyebrow quirked up when he found it to be locked. That was unusual. If he wanted to, he could easily use his Devil Fruit powers to unlock it, but he wasn't sure he cared enough to. If the woman wanted to be let alone, that was her own business. Still, he wanted to at least make sure she didn't require medical attention.

"Nami-ya, are you unwell?"

"No. I'm fine. I just want to be left alone," came the muffled reply. Her voice sounded strangely thick, which prompted two possibilities in Law's sharp mind- she had been crying, or she was suffering from some sort of head cold. Law didn't think she had much reason to cry, but, then again, he knew next to nothing about women. It wasn't high on his list of academic pursuits. Thus, he decided to proceed with the latter hypothesis.

"Nami-ya, if you don't feel well-"

"I said I'm fine! Go the hell away!" she shrieked, punctuating the order with what sounded to him like a miserable sob. He was about to get concerned until the door rang with a loud thunk of a shoe against the inside, and that just ticked him off. Scowling, he tugged the brim of his hat down and whirled on his heel to stalk stiffly away.

"Fine, you moody bitch! Stay here by yourself then!" he shouted back as he whirled the corner. He instantly felt bad about it, of course, because he was more sure now that Nami was suffering from an emotional ailment rather than a medical one; however, he wasn't known for immaculate bedside manner. His temper just bubbled too close to the surface for him to be calm and gentle with a moody woman. Muttering under his breath both about her stubbornness and his complete lack of tact, he marched back up to the upper deck, deciding a walk through the port was now warranted to blow off the steam that had accumulated within him. It practically blew out of his ears as he stomped across the grassy yard and jumped off the side of the ship to land on the wooden dock below. Damn her… I guess that's what I get for trying to care. It's not like that's something I'm suited for. I let Black Leg-ya deal with her, he groused silently as he stalked into town likely looking the picture of a thunderous executioner as he brooded.

He couldn't help but brood. The sobbing pitch of her voice as she wailed at him… It was ringing hollowly in his mind, and a little voice couldn't help but nag at him that he should have done something more. Absently, he wondered if wrenching out his heart for a little while would dull the pulsing ache throbbing in his sternum at the moment. Damn it. Emotions were annoying.

By a stroke of luck, he managed to catch up to Luffy and the others while aimlessly and grumpily trudging around. Luffy immediately scampered up at him to stare up at him with wide eyes and pursed lips.

"Hey, Trafalguy, you look extra grumpy. Did something happen?" The appearance of the childish straw hat-wearing pirate only added to the peak in Law's blood pressure. With a scowl, he tossed his head to inspect the fruits that Sanji was currently poring over. Fruits. Tangerines. Nami. Nami crying. A blood vessel began to bulge in his forehead.

"Ask your navigator."

"Ah, did you try to talk to her?" Robin asked. The amusement in her regal voice made Law's jugular tense with rage.

"What of it?"

"Nothing. Just don't hold it against her," the woman sighed as she picked up a melon and squeezed it experimentally. "It's a bad day for her." Law wanted to bark that it didn't give her the right to yell and chuck shoes at him, but he wasn't exactly the pinnacle of emotional management either, so he kept quiet. Besides, now he was far more interested in why the normally sunny girl would be curled up in bed sobbing her eyes out. Why he was interested, he wasn't sure, but he couldn't deny that he was.

"What's her deal?"

"That's for Nami to say, not us," Luffy quipped with an oddly firm edge to his voice as he crouched down to poke at a fruit beetle that was absconding with a discarded apple core. Law was actually kind of floored that Luffy would say something so sensitive, and that showed in the way that he gawked stupidly down at him. Luffy played with the beetle a minute before giving him that bright, sunny smile that made Law's eyes ache but that he also found aggravatingly reassuring. "If Nami trusts you, she'll open up."

"She probably trusts me as far as she can throw me," he huffed under his breath, whirling his Nodachi in his hand to prop it on his shoulder as he looked down the busy shop street. His expression stiffened into a contemplative frown as he considered the fact that he may actually want the girl to trust him. Why? He was just in this until his revenge was satisfied, and nothing more. Yet… The idea of her alone, in the dark, miserable and sobbing and sad, sent an undeniable pang of hurt fluttering across his heart. He knew what that was like, all too well. He let himself sit in his feelings for a second before running a hand over his tired face, sending them skittering back into the recesses of his body. They're rubbing off on me… I'm getting emotions and shit… he thought wearily before letting his hand fall to his side. "See you later," he said without fanfare before resuming his stroll down the road.

"Hey, where you goin', Trafalguy?"

"Window-shopping," he answered simply. Thankfully Luffy found that boring and didn't offer to accompany him. Law already had a headache; he didn't need another one following him around. Law honestly didn't know where his feet were carrying him, but his addled mind was just screaming at him to keep walking and see where he ended up. He rubbed his temples with his thumbs as he tried to make sense of his senseless mind. The Straw Hats were a temporary benefit. He didn't need to get close. He had a goal; everything else must come secondary to that.

He kept repeating that in his head like a mantra. But then, her tearful face would flash into his mind, brown eyes watery with her tangerine hair crimped and tangled with unrest, and all his reason would crumble with the insane urge to reach out to that crying phantasm.

At some point he found himself planking against a brick wall, growling and irritated. Was he not getting enough sleep? Had he slipped into delirium? He needed coffee. On instinct, his golden eyes shifted as movement caught his attention. A little girl came skipping out of the door of the shop he was currently loitering against, all smiles as she hugged a fluffy teddy bear to her chest. It was evident in her puffy red eyes that she had been crying over something, but there she was, bright and sunny and overjoyed with the stuffed animal in her grasp. Law's eyes trailed after her, fixated on the brown teddy bear with blank, beady black eyes. Teddy bears cheered women up, right? He didn't even have time to consider the ludicrousness of what he was doing before he was inside the store, poring over the display of stuffed animals.

"Oh, hello, sir. Shopping for your girlfriend?" chirped a much-too-happy voice from beside him. Law's angular eyes flickered over his shoulder to see a plucky shop girl standing next to him.

"No," he responded curtly. Something about the word "girlfriend" made him prickle.

"You don't seem like a man who is into teddy bears." Law thought of Bepo and his impossibly soft fur and his jaw set in embarrassment. The shop girl's smile was getting on his nerves. "A gift for a special lady, then, perhaps? You look too young to have small children," she remarked with a sweeping gaze over his form. His eye twitched as his body burned with a hot flash.

"I just happen to know someone who is in need of something like this."

"Oh, a get-well present, then?"

"Something like that."

"Aren't you a sweetheart?" she trilled while casually slapping him on the shoulder. His hand clenched unconsciously around the hilt of his sword. Didn't this girl have anything better to do than to pester him? She hummed happily as she bent one hand behind her back while the other was held up to her face with her index finger tapping thoughtfully against her lips. "I think you should give her this one!" she beamed before plucking a bear with honey-colored, almost orange, fur from the display and presenting it to him. He took it in one hand, looking at it critically. Its black, shiny eyes reflected his unsure expression.

"Why?"

"It's just a feeling. You should trust a young lady's intuition!" she grinned. Law would do anything to get the annoying young girl away from him, and a teddy bear was a teddy bear in his opinion, so he tucked the bear under his arm and fished out the appropriate amount of money to pay for it. "Thanks, mister! Good luck with your lady~" she chirped before scampering off to pester another customer. Law quickly left the store to put as much distance between himself and the overly friendly girl. Once he was a good distance down the street, he pulled out the teddy bear to looked at it with knitted eyebrows. Around its neck was an orange ribbon, the exact shade of a tangerine. Eyes widening slightly, he tossed a glance back at the shop.

A woman's intuition, huh? Now I'm just creeped out, he thought with a click of his tongue before shoving the bear into his cloak. Like hell he was going to be caught roaming around town with a goddamn teddy bear.

There really was no reason for him to linger in town any longer, so he trekked back to the Thousand Sunny. Usopp and Franky were still hard at work repairing the damaged section of the ship, so they didn't stop him to ask any questions. By how far the sun had traveled across the sky, it had been at least an hour since his first encounter with the despondent navigator. As he tromped down the stairs, he wondered if the girl's mood had improved or worsened. For the sake of his blood pressure, he hoped it was the former.

The hallway rang with the hollow echo of the metal as Law once again rapped his knuckles against it.

"Nami-ya. Open up," he commanded. Screw pleasantries and delicacy, he was here to deliver that stupid teddy bear and get a move on. It felt uncomfortable stuffed under his arm in his coat. A few seconds passed and he could hear the girl shuffling around within the room. It was just long enough for his nerves to begin working at him, wondering about the absurdity of what he was about to do. God, this would be ammo for Nami to hold against him. He was about to abandon the entire effort and pass it off as a present for Chopper before the metal door suddenly cracked open to reveal her pale, sunken face.

"… Hey, Law." The sorrowful tone to her normally cheerful voice made Law's jaw clench as an unfamiliar emotion took hold of him. All he could do was stare, hyper-aware of the sweaty pallor to her skin and the dullness of her brown eyes and the unwashed, unkempt disarray of her tangerine hair that he always absently thought looked nice. Wait a second. Where the hell was his mind traveling. He coughed uncomfortably and rubbed at the back of his neck, unsure how to start the conversation, when her gaze suddenly dropped guiltily to the floor. "I'm sorry I yelled and threw a shoe at you," she apologized in a hoarse, regret-ridden whisper. Law swallowed thickly. He knew he ought to apologize but he didn't exactly throw those around.

"I suppose… Calling you a 'moody bitch' was also not the appropriate reaction," he grumbled uncomfortably, suddenly finding himself unable to look at her. She fell silent, and that silence tugged his gaze back to her like a strong magnet. He swallowed compulsively as he saw tears beginning to brim up in her eyes. What the hell was he thinking? He didn't know how to comfort crying women! I really should've let Black Leg-ya or Straw Hat-ya handle this, he thought while grinding his teeth. Unsure how to proceed, he just wrenched the teddy bear out from under his coat and shoved it into her arms. Nami gasped and stumbled back a little, grabbing onto the bear tightly, and looked up at him in shock. "You don't have to talk. You don't owe me an explanation. Although, it might do not to throw a shoe at the guy who's just trying to help," he told her stiffly and with far more edge in his voice than he meant. He then went slightly pink and rubbed at the back of his neck again, trying to rephrase it with more care. Since when was he so awkward with girls? "I-I mean… Just…"

"Thanks," she interrupted him. He had been looking off to the side again, and his gaze peeked out of the corners of his eyes to see her hugging the teddy bear to her chest, chin pressed into the crown of its fluffy head while she fingered the orange ribbon. She was crying again, which alarmed him at first because he thought he may have upset her, but he relaxed when he realized she was smiling. Not a fake smile, either, but a normal, sweet, happy smile. Cute, he thought blankly before a blush razed across his face again. He definitely needed coffee. He turned back to her as her fingers began lazily stroking patterns into the belly of the teddy bear.

"Well… Um… I guess I'll ge-"

"My mother," she squeaked quickly, stopping him in his motion of turning to walk away. She was still smiling, but it had taken a miserable turn that made even Law's hardened heart break a little. She reached out with a shaking hand to timidly grasp onto the waist of his long coat. "Today… Is the anniversary of my mother's death."

He stared at her for a minute before uttering a simple, soft, "Oh." "Today's a hard day for her," Robin's statement rang dully in his mind. Her fingers continued to clench into the black fabric, anchoring him there. Not that he wanted to leave anymore, anyway. How could he, when she was standing there with that pathetic, pleading look on her face. "Why… By yourself?" he asked her slowly.

"I didn't want to bother anybody. I was alone last year, too." Right. Two years, he recalled dimly. Before he could ask, she continued, "They just wanted to give me some space. Before you came… They all came by. Sanji made me breakfast… Chopper brought me some water so I wouldn't get dehydrated… Luffy came to talk to me about the sunrise this morning…" Her face softened a little recalling the small deeds her crew had performed for her. He then blushed when she laughed lightly, "and you yelled at me."

"You yelled at me first."

"I know," she chuckled as she tucked a crimped strand of her hair behind her ear. "I shut myself up in here… But you all came to see if I was okay anyway." She dropped her gaze again, gulping. "I still… Don't really want to talk, but… I'm also so lonely," she admitted in a small voice. Law gazed at her through lidded eyes. He hated it. He hated seeing her this way. He had an inkling of why and sure as hell didn't want to admit it, but he be damned if he wasn't going to act on it in this moment. He reached down to grab her wrist and pry it off his coat; Nami gasped, her head snapping up in an expression of fear that she had angered him. Law just wordlessly shouldered the door open, forcing her to rapidly back-pedal as he all but used his height and weight on her to manhandle his way into the room. His hand was still holding hers up, using it as leverage to force her back. "Wh-what are you-?"

"You don't have to talk," he repeated again as he kicked the door shut with his foot. He forced her back until her knees hit the mattress and she reflexively sat down against it. "You can sit in here alone all day, if you really want to," he shrugged before giving her a coy smirk and leaning down over her. "But if you'd like, we can sit in here alone together, hah?" He wasn't sure where all that courage and confidence was coming from all of a sudden, but from the expression she was wearing, it was working in his favor.

Her brown eyes were owlish as she gawked up at him. He was still holding her hand up by the side of his head, and he could see her fingers twitching out of his peripheral vision. She held that stare for a minute before her face relaxed into a reassured smile.

"Okay. I'm charging you by the minute, though," she joked lightly as he dropped her hand so she could push herself across the mattress, turning so she was now laying against the headboard right next to the wall. Law snorted in laughter but was relieved to see some sense of the normal Nami returning. He sat down and swung his long legs over the bed before propping his arms up behind his head, tipping the brim of his hat down over his eyes. He might as well catch some sleep before Luffy and his crew of clowns climbed back on board and made a bunch of noise.

Just as he was done settling himself in, he tensed as he felt Nami's head drop down onto his shoulder. He peeked down from underneath his hat to see that she had already slipped right into sleep, head lolling to nestle against the edge of his shoulder while she hugged the teddy bear close. He stared at her a second before gently easing her head into the junction of his neck and shoulder, because he wouldn't want her to strain her neck with such an awkward position. His nerves tingled with every puff of breath she exhaled over his skin.

Alone together, huh? What were you thinking… he chastised himself even despite the tiny smile that was working its way onto his lips watching her sleep peacefully. His eyes dropped down to the honey-orange teddy bear secure in her grasp.

Shoulda thanked the shop girl.