A/N: Heyo! ZareEraz here! Well, I've gone and written more of this, because Buggy and Shanks have me in a chokehold of inspiration, so I hope you enjoy it! Happy reading! :3
Joking Aside
Chapter One: Anything But Ordinary
The day had started like any other: Shanks woke up next to Buggy and smiled lazily at the wild bedhead billowing around her innocent sleeping face. The woman's blue hair always seemed to want to be the flashiest thing in the morning, so it was always a mess no matter how she slept. Sleeping by herself? Ratted. Sleeping facing him? Poofy. She's the little spoon? Tangled (and in his mouth). He's the little spoon? Snarled beyond belief (but his mouth is safe). Any part of Buggy, it seemed, never half-assed anything. That morning, Buggy's hair was thankfully just poofy.
The bluenette was still sleeping, her mouth slightly open as her cheek and red nose were squished into the pillow. Shanks' smile widened as he gazed at her – she looked so much like the little girl he used to know on Captain Roger's ship when she was like this. She even slept the same way she did decades ago sometimes, with her arms pressed to her chest, hands curled up just below her chin. She looked so innocent right then, but he knew the second that her eyes opened she'd be the spitfire she always was – he liked that part of her too. Overcome with affection, the man sweetly kissed her on the nose before moving to her eyelids and cheeks and ending with her forehead. He would've kissed her more but she'd woken up by the second time he got through her nose and cheek.
The woman pushed his face away like a disgruntled cat. "You've got bedhead," she yawned, pointing out his tangled hair. Shanks got hit with her morning breath but said nothing because she'd yank his ear if he said anything about it (she'd done it before and would do it again).
"You've got worse bedhead," he chuckled, trying to brush out part of her hair with his fingers.
"What were you doing?" she mumbled, little blinking sleepily while she pushed herself into a sitting position. The blunette was actually still dressed in a striped tank top and ruffled short shorts when the covers fell away – they'd been too wasted to do anything but pass out after the party last night. Shanks was wearing a pair of shorts too, but he'd neglected to keep his shirt on. Besides, he knew Buggy liked to ogle his chest when she thought he wasn't looking (and she did ogle him for a few moments, which he did notice).
"I was just kissing the most flashy woman in the world," the redhead said smoothly, a soft smile on his face.
She made a fake gagging noise and gave him a look. "That was too much."
"Whatever you say, love bug." She rolled her eyes but didn't spout her usual line about her nickname (she'd bitch about it sometime later that day). She leaned over and kissed the scars over his left eye softly before pulling back. Shanks then looked at her expectantly.
Buggy stared back at him, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "What?"
"You're not gonna say it?"
She gave him a look. "No."
"Come on!" He gave her puppy dog eyes.
"I thought you didn't like your nickname."
"I think it's fine now," he explained.
"I'm still not going to say it."
"Aw, come on, Buggy!" Shanks whined as he scooped the woman into his arm and gave her a very sloppy cheek kiss.
"Stop it! Shanks! Stop!" He started kissing all over her face while she tried to push him off. His iron arm wouldn't let her go, however, and she eventually shouted, "Alright! Alright!" He stopped smothering her in kisses for a second, thinking that she was going to say his nickname. Instead, she wriggled out of his lax grip, playfully kicking him off the bed for good measure before jumping onto the floor and running away.
"Get back here!" the redhead called, running after her while she cackled. They went around and around his desk and she leaped over several pieces of furniture before disconnecting one of her feet and purposefully tripping him. The man crashed to the ground and she cackled again. Then she stopped suddenly for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed, before dashing for the door. She burst out of the room and, for some reason, announced "Gotta pee!" to everyone on deck.
After picking himself up off of the floor Shanks shouted, "You ruined the cute moment!" before dashing out the door as well.
"You have no room to talk, boss," Lucky Roux said with a smirk as he watched the odd pair run past him one at a time. The redhead skidded to a stop and gave him an I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about look. The large man raised an eyebrow at him. "Yesterday, when you two were making goo-goo eyes at each other-"
Buggy yelled, "I do not make goo-goo eyes!" from the bowls of the ship, surprising both men. They both looked at each other, stunned that she could hear that well. (Shanks suspected that she left her ear floating around somewhere near them, but had no proof.)
When Buggy didn't yell anything else, Lucky Roux quickly finished up his point with, "You drunkenly announced, 'Headin' to the pisser,' before doing so. That's why you have no room to talk."
Shanks shook his head. "I don't remember that," he denied.
"I'm not surprised. You were pretty drunk."
"And Buggy smacked you for it, like a crotchety, old wife," Benn added as he went to go get some breakfast.
Buggy's shrill voice rang out again. "I am NOT a crotchety, old wife!" This time, Shanks was sure that she'd left her ear (or both) hanging around somewhere. "All of you are awful!"
"Don't tease our Great Captain Buggy like that!" a Buggy goon piped up.
"She is beautiful!" another shouted.
Another joined with, "She's our goddess!"
"She's not a day over 29!" called another. Shanks had to slap his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing at that one – Buggy was just as old as he was! She was already many days over 37! As the redhead tried to suppress his chuckles, he felt a firm konk on his head from his lover's floating hand. She came stomping up to him – presumably from the bathroom unless she'd ignored the call of nature just to come back and pound on him (which wouldn't have been out of the question) – and grabbed a handful of his trademark hair.
"Shut up, you asshole!" she barked.
"I didn't say anything!" he protested, still holding back his laughter.
"I know what you were thinking!"
Galdino sighed as he sipped his morning cup of Earl Grey tea from what had been a quiet spot on deck. Unfortunately, because his partner had woken up with her boy toy, now there were no quiet spots on the entire ship. "They're fighting like an old, married couple again," he sighed to no one in particular, taking another sip.
"We are not an old, married couple!" Buggy shrieked. "And all of you can shove it! I'm starving!" The woman let go of Shanks' hair and stomped off towards where Benn had gone.
"We're coming too, Captain Buggy!" All of her underlings on deck followed their leader towards the dining hall.
"Hey, wait for me!" Shanks scrambled after the woman too, moving quick enough to snag a seat next to her before one of her own crew took it first and feeling very proud of himself for it.
After the morning ruckus, the rest of the day proceeded in a much more sedate manner. The Red Force was passing near a summer island and it was too hot for much work to get done – even Shanks' crew was relaxing right alongside Buggy's crew. Unsurprisingly, since it was a nice (but very hot) day, a large chunk of both crews decided to fish for fresh dinner, including the two captains. What was surprising was how many fishing poles were on the Red Force – there were 23 and Shanks didn't even know that they had that many poles! Everything was fine for several hours as the crews enjoyed themselves. The sea was pleasant and they were even catching at a decent rate. The two captains weren't even fighting or teasing each other, which was a miracle. They were just talking about the good old days, making jokes, and regaling their crews with tales of their exciting childhoods with the Roger Pirates, many of which were exaggerated when Buggy told stories of her "greatness." Just to be nice, Shanks didn't refute her versions of their stories but he'd make her pay him back for it later.
However, their fun was cut short when Buggy was dragged into the sea. The bluentte had been sitting and joking with the Shanks and Galdino when she'd felt a tug on her line. She quickly leaped to her feet and started to reel in her catch. It pulled back hard enough for the pole to bend quite a bit and the men around her started cheering and encouraging her to hang on and give it all she had. She pulled and reeled and slipped and pulled and reeled some more, even breaking her torso into pieces to take advantage of her Devil Fruit's ability to bypass gravity while she was floating. This fish was a big one and just as Shanks was about to put his pole down and help her, the woman's foot slipped. She might've been accidentally bumped, the rail might have been a little wet, or Buggy may have just been a klutz, but whatever the reason, her foot slipped and fell into the sea. Then, in Devil Fruit fashion, Buggy was yanked down after it, her whole body flying into the water and disappearing as she sank like a hammer. Shanks' heart dropped into his stomach and nearly stopped beating as he scrambled to his feet.
Her crew tearfully shouted, "Captain Buggy!"
Shanks yelled, "Godammit! Not again!" immediately dropping his pole and jumping into the water after her. The fear that he'd felt the last time Buggy was dragged into the sea resurfaced – his heart alternated between pounding frantically and squeezing up in fear, and even if he could breathe, he was sure that he wouldn't be able to from panic as he recklessly dove deeper in the ocean. He stopped swimming to whirl around in a flurry of bubbles, scouring the ocean for his lover. He couldn't see her anywhere! Buggy! Where did you go?! Was she still with the fish? Had she let go of the fishing pole and sank further down than he could see? He whirled around again, still not seeing anything.
Running out of air and lungs burning after several minutes of searching, Shanks lamented that if he was this bad, Buggy would be worse off. He started to kick towards the surface to get more air but turned around again when he felt a current brush his back. His heart leaped in relief as the fish and Buggy streamed past him. The bluenette was hanging onto her pole for dear life as the monster of a fish she'd caught dragged her around; it was at least three times her size! Shanks saw the fish dart towards the surface and swam in that direction as fast as he could. He burst out of the water and took a great gulp of air just in time to see the fish dive back into the water after leaping out of it, dragging Buggy back down with it.
"Just let go, Buggy!" he growled, getting one more breath before plunging back into the sea.
While this undersea episode was not as harrowing as the last, it took several tries for Shanks to get close enough to the fish to grab onto Buggy, especially when the damn fish kept leaping into the air, forcing the man to follow it up and down into the water. The only good thing about the situation was that both he and Buggy were able to take a few breaths each time the fish surfaced, but the bluenette seemed to be in some sort of shock since she couldn't (or wouldn't) let go of the damn pole! Finally, fed up with the fish, Shanks let out a burst of his haoshoku haki to get the damn thing to stop moving. Overwhelmed, the fish slowed down enough for Shanks to swim over and grab the bluenette's waist. He started to haul them all to the surface again; kicking for all that he was worth since he no longer had an arm to use. It wasn't until they broke the surface that the fish came to and started to struggle again. The pair was yanked back under again while the animal thrashed about. Shanks was about ready to smack the pole out of her hands when the fish suddenly stopped squirming as hard. Taking advantage of the break, the redhead hauled Buggy up again and they both burst out of the water gasping for breath.
"Geez…Buggy…you scared me! Am I always going to have to save you?" Shanks panted out. Buggy was too drained to answer as they bobbed in the sea, and she was thankful that the seawater hid her terrified tears. Letting out a sigh of relief, Shanks was just glad that she was going to be safe again.
As for the fish, when the pair was yanked up this time, the massive monster was found wrapped up in the rest of Buggy's line. Her crew sparkled in admiration, shouting, "Captain Buggy is the greatest fisherwoman ever!" and "She planned to get that fish tangled up more! She's so flashy!" and it took all of Shanks' restraint not to facepalm at their stupidity. However, he did allow himself an eye roll when Buggy tried to look cool while hacking up the water in her lungs.
"I thought…I was…gonna…die…!" she coughed, leaning over her knees on shaky feet.
Shanks rubbed her back comfortingly as she struggled, just grateful that she was conscious this time. "Try to stay on the ship next time, please. I don't want to be that scared ever again."
"You…got it," she wheezed back. She peeked up at the man and found that his face was still etched with worry. She didn't mean to cause trouble, and it hadn't even been her fault this time, but she still felt so bad about it. "Thanks…again…"
One of Buggy's men ran up to them and threw himself into an apology. "I'm so sorry, Captain Buggy! I didn't mean to but I bumped you! Please, forgive me!" The man was trembling, completely distraught that he might've almost killed his captain.
Buggy's face flamed red with anger, but then she just sighed and straightened up. Her color returned to normal and she patted the man on his shoulder. She uncharacteristically said, "Don't worry about it."
Her crew was overjoyed. "Captain Buggy is so benevolent!"
"You're the greatest, Captain Buggy!"
"We love you, Captain!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm the greatest," she repeated, waving her subordinates off. Once they were off to marvel at the huge fish their captain had caught and carry it to the kitchen, Buggy sighed again. She then looked at her wet, salty state and whined, "Ug, I need to rinse off but I don't wanna!"
Shanks just grimaced at her. "I think getting cleaned up should be the least of your worries after almost drowning today. I'm just glad you're safe."
"But bathing is such a chore and I feel all yucky while doing it! We've been over this!" she complained, squeezing water out of her hair. Shanks had to stop himself from laughing at her for sounding like such a child.
"Then I'll come in with you," he offered.
"You'll jump me," she countered.
"I won't!" he argued. "Unless you want to."
"We had this same discussion not too long ago and you promised not to jump me and then you jumped me!"
Shanks made a face and then scooped Buggy up into his arm and hauled her off. "Just come on!"
"Put me down! Shanks! Shaaaaanks!"
And that's how they both ended up in the bathroom with the bluenette trying to take her clothes off herself with her lover's grabby hand trying to do it for her. "Let me do it!" Buggy growled as she tried to squirm away from Shanks.
"Aw, come on! I wanna do it!" he cheerfully replied, trying to grab her waistband again.
The splitting woman then detached her hand and planted her palm on his forehead. She somehow managed to shove the man back several feet and pin his head to the wall while she finished getting out of her wet clothes one-handedly. "I swear, you are so horny! It's like you're a damn teenager!" she grumbled.
"But you're so pretty! I just can't resist you, Buggs!" He gave her his most charming smile.
"Well, try!" she huffed back, covering up how happy that comment made her and slipping into a towel.
"You're just as bad as me, admit it," he teased, reaching up to draw flirty circles on the back of her hand. She made a high-pitched noise and blushed at his touch, yanking her hand back to her wrist and freeing him.
The bluenette barked, "Shut up, you idiot, and get in the bath!" before stomping off to fill up the huge bath and wash up. Shanks stripped out of his wet clothes in a flash and skidded over to Buggy as fast as he could, neglecting to get a towel. The woman had barely sat down on a little stool to wash her hair when he was right there.
"Let me help?" he asked, kneeling behind her. She tipped her head back to look at him for a second before holding up a shampoo bottle. Shanks held out his hand and she floated hers up to squirt some of the soap into it. Due to the massive gap in the hand-to-blue-hair ratio, the woman worked through her locks with Shanks, however, it did not help the process when he childishly tried to style her hair into a Mohawk (she didn't even know how he managed to do it with just one hand). Once her hair was rinsed out, Buggy insisted that Shanks sit in front of her so that she could wash his hair too.
"Mmmm…that feels nice," he sighed, loving the feel of her hands on his scalp. He was sitting cross-legged in front of Buggy's stool and leaned into her touch as she rubbed the soap into his hair. "Remember when we did this back on Captain Roger's ship?"
She nodded. "We had a lot of fun in the bath as kids with everyone else, but you always got bubbles in my eyes."
"Whoops, sorry." The redhead started chuckling but then stopped when he remembered something. "No, I'm not sorry! You constantly used your powers to put a bar of soap under my foot at every opportunity so that I would slip and crash into something!" Buggy let out a hearty laugh as Shanks whipped his soapy head around to glare at her. "It's not funny!"
She couldn't stop laughing at him but managed to get out an "It's kinda funny!" anyway. He pouted until she managed to catch her breath.
"But then you stopped bathing with us men after a while," he commented, letting her rinse his hair out.
"Yeah, because I was starting to get boobs. I was the only girl on the ship most of the time and I was embarrassed," she replied, making sure all the bubbles were out. She ordered him to go wash his body himself because she knew that if he "helped" her with that, things would end up steamy. He pouted but did as he was told.
"But I'm glad that we can bathe together like this again," he commented, getting to work.
Buggy was washing herself off too, the bubbles obscuring the bits that Shanks was trying to peek at. "Yeah, this is kinda nice," she remarked, blatantly ignoring his sidelong stares. "Expect I have to police a pervert like you the whole time." He just laughed in response.
It wasn't long before both of them were done and Shanks stepped into the bath and held out his hand to his lover. She took it and delicately stepped into the warm water after him. They both settled next to each other with Buggy on Shanks' right so that they could hold hands under the water. The warm bath felt heavenly on her skin but she was instantly drained of energy due to her Devil Fruit powers. She went boneless and slipped down into the water until it was up to her chest.
"You okay?" Shanks asked, keeping an eye on her.
"Yeeaaahhh…" she drawled. "Just pull me up…if I get…too low…"
The man smirked. "Now who's policing who?"
"Shut...it…" They both sat in companionable silence for about five minutes before the bluenette had slipped down so far that the water came up to her lips, forcing Shanks to haul her up and into his lap. He helped turn her so that she was straddling his hips, her ass on his thighs, and her torso pressed to his as she collapsed against him. "Thanks…" she murmured, resting her head against his chest.
"You power users are such a handful," he jokingly complained, enjoying the feel of her warm skin against his.
"You're the one…who made me swallow…the damn thing…in the first place!" she argued back, her normal bite missing due to her lethargy.
"You were the one who was trying to make off with it for profit if I remember correctly," he reminded her. She pouted against his chest because he was right, but she wasn't happy to be called out on it. A laugh rumbled through his chest and he kissed her wet hair. "Just what I'd expect of you, Buggy."
"It's just…good business…" she replied, finding herself blushing from the one, little kiss.
"This is good business too," Shanks added, lifting his hand to her chin and pulling her head up to his. He brought their lips together, giving her a gentle kiss. He pulled back to give her another kiss, and then another. His tongue flicked out, running along the seam of her mouth, coaxing her to open. When she did, instead of diving right in, he nibbled at her full bottom lip and pulled on it gently. She moaned softly, losing herself to his gentle play. He pulled on her lip again and her tongue flicked out to play too. He opened his mouth for her and she sensually ran her tongue lightly around the inside of his lips, going from the bottom, up to the top, and back down again. He groaned at that, and again when she reciprocated his nips with her own. Then, without a word, both of them pressed their open mouths together, their tongues tangling together. Shanks started a deep kiss where Buggy almost forgot how to breathe as he ravaged her. She unconsciously moved her legs until they were fully wrapped around his waist and Shanks broke away from their kiss to tease her.
"I thought you weren't interested in getting jumped," the man said with a knowing smile.
Buggy blushed in embarrassment at being called out again, but then her flashiness kicked in. "What can I say?" she said flirtatiously. "I just can't resist you, Shanks."
"Well, try…" he said, parroting her earlier words. The only response he got was her mouth pressing against his again, as eager as it could be considering the woman's weakness in water. This time, she was the one ravaging him, her hot tongue thrusting languidly, but firmly into his mouth. They could both feel the other smiling into the kiss as it continued. Buggy's arms wrapped around his neck and his arm wrapped around her back, his fingers gripping the ribs on her right side as they continued kissing. Several minutes went by without any words passing between the pair; they were content just to feel each other until the kiss evolved into something more. It started with one of Buggy's hands drifting to Shanks' waist, possibly readying to move lower. Then the man's lips moved to kiss her shoulder and neck as his fingernails drew soft, but firm, scratches across the woman's back, making her arch into him. His hand then went up to cup one of her breasts, barely getting in a squeeze when a knock came from the door. They both stiffened and froze, startled by the noise.
"What's going on?" Shanks called, not happy at being interrupted.
"Boss, a lookout spotted a ship on our tail." It was Benn.
"Marine?"
"Doesn't look like it."
"Do they seem hostile?"
"No, they're still pretty far behind us; won't catch up until morning at least. Maybe later. You should come check it out."
"Alright," Shanks sighed, kissing the bluenette's shoulder one last time before he let her go. Being a captain sucked sometimes. "We'll be out in a minute."
Though Benn didn't laugh, Buggy could just sense the man's smirk behind the door. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything," he teased. Now the bastard was chuckling.
"You sure did but I won't hold it against you," the redhead shot back. "At least not much."
"I'll be sure to apologize to Buggy, as well."
"You'd better!" Buggy snapped, finally speaking up. Benn chuckled again and left the pair alone to dress.
"Duty calls," he sighed before kissing the woman's cheek. "But I'll pamper you later, circumstances permitting."
Buggy rolled her eyes. "Now you're being a gentleman."
"I am always a gentleman."
"Wrong – you're always a pervert."
"Says the woman who's currently plastered to my chest." The bluenette pinched and tugged on his ear in retaliation. "Ow!"
Despite her rough treatment, Shanks moved his hand to gently cup the woman's ass, lifting her and standing up easily. She hung on as he stepped out of the bath and let her unwind her legs so that she could stand and then they both went to dry off and get dressed in a spare set of clothes Buggy had hidden in the bathroom (they had forgotten to bring fresh clothes in one time and Buggy vowed never to have to partake in the Walk of Shame again). Once they were dressed and presentable again, the pair headed outside to the stern of the ship.
The sun had set while they were in the bath and long shadows were thrown across the world. They met up with Benn and several other members of the Red Force's crew, all keeping an eye on the sea behind them. Wet hair blowing in the wind, Buggy snatched a spyglass from the first mate and put it up to her eye. It was hard to make out in the darkness, but she could see the black shadow of a ship far in the distance. As she looked closer, someone on the deck was hauling a lantern about and lighting other lanterns with it, illuminating the ship for the crew. That small lantern dimly lit up part of the sail and there it was: Buggy's own Jolly Roger. She could make out the elephant-shaped cannon on the prow now as more lanterns were lit and recognized the tent leading into the ship's interior. Her heart clenched like it wanted to stop beating so that the moment never continued. The bubble of ordinary happiness that had surrounded her all day finally popped and anxiety set in. Her breath came a little quicker as the rest of her body went cold. The spyglass nearly dropped from her fingers as they shook and Shanks instantly placed his hand on one of hers. His warmth seemed to break through her momentary panic and she started breathing normally again.
"What's wrong, love bug?" he asked, his eyes and voice full of concern. She looked at him, her eyes full of realization and sadness.
"It's…it's my ship," she said, her voice small and quiet. Her admission seemed to still the men around them and Shanks' hand tightened its grip on hers. His eyes were suddenly filled with the same anxiety that she was feeling.
Buggy's crew was catching up to her fast and so was reality.
To be Continued...
A/N: And there you go! See you next time!
