(A/N: They are teenagers in this one)

(Warnings: Underage smoking)

Pathetic wasn't it? Smoking in an empty storage room.

Penguin teased his lungs slowly with nicotine; it burned painfully all the way down.

Who wants to live forever anyway? He certainly didn't.

Penguin simply didn't care in the slightest, inviting the smoke into his lungs and allowing it to fill his chest until he was on the verge of a coughing fit. On days like these when he was having a terrible day, he enjoyed ducking into one of the empty storage rooms to light up a quick cigarette and relax even just for a minute. The small space made him feel more at ease and the nicotine wafting down his throat made every stressor seem insignificant.

Today was one of those days.

It had been a particularly bad day. Law has been so stressed since they managed to hi-jack a marine sub; he demands way more out of his small crew than they can handle and it's been weighing on all of them. Sleep has become non-existent with Law ramming orders down their throats and shifting his own concerns into their supposed failures. They've been on the run to get in the clear for a week now and everyone has been on edge.

He absentmindedly turned to look at the pack of cigarettes laying in his hand - half empty. Clenching them, he growled gently under his breath; he knew if Law ever caught wind of this that he'd shut it down in a heartbeat. Anyone would, really. He didn't want that. This was the only thing keeping him sane down here and he wouldn't let some little kid push him around and take that away from him.

It still baffled him how Law managed to claim the role of captain. He was younger than all of them and he could be such a brat sometimes. Sure, he had a devil fruit power but they could just dunk him in a pot of water and they'd overpower him. As if they would though; none of them had the guts to ever do that.

Despite him being younger than all of them, he still respected their captain at least enough to not flaunt the fact he smokes in his face. Although, that could just be fear. He did NOT want Law to find out about this little habit he's taken such careful steps to hide. It wasn't a good habit he knew, but it was his crutch. Everyone had a crutch and this was his.

"Penguin? The hell?!" Someone hissed in a whisper behind him.

Thinking Law had finally caught him, he tossed the pack of cigarettes behind him, landing on a pile of dirty clothes he has yet to wash.

'Good job, Penguin, he'll never think to look where you just threw it,' he growled in his head.

He only realized too late that he still had a lit cigarette hanging between his lips. By now it was too late to smoothly get rid of it but that didn't stop Penguin from grabbing the half-smoked cigarette, tossing it down, and stomping it out underneath his boot.

Whirling around to pretend as if nothing happened, it turns out it wasn't Law like he had first thought, but rather Shachi. The two shared the same look on their faces; they looked like they were deer caught in headlights. Somehow, Shachi appeared the most frightened of the two even though he was the one who had walked in on him. The short-lived trance locking their eyes together was broken the second Shachi opened his big mouth like all the other times he probably shouldn't.

"Don't try and hide it, dumbass! I saw you smoki-" Penguin slapped a hand over the red-heads mouth, letting silence wash over the two for any sign of movement. The only sound, however, was just the floorboards adjusting to their weight under them; the two boys deflated.

Penguin gasped and jumped away, letting go of the redhead as fast as he could. In fact, the look on his face makes it seem like he couldn't have gotten away fast enough.

"EW! Dude, seriously? Did you just lick my hand?" Shachi shrugged, flipping him off.

He shook his head in disbelief before walking over to wipe his hand on Shachi's sleeve in disgust. Since he wanted to be more careful than his idiot friend, he stepped closer to the other in order to speak more secretly.

"The hell are you trying to do? You'll alert the others. You really want to get Law in here?" At that volume, anyone anywhere on the sub would've been able to hear him.

"No!... No, I don't want him in here. I was just surprised is all." Clearly, Shachi was just as afraid of Law as he was…but why?

Clearing his throat, Shachi fumbled with something that he had been holding unbeknownst to Penguin, shoving it away into his pocket. Since Penguin wasn't blind, he saw him trying and failing to be subtle with something.

"Hey! What are you hiding? I thought we'd been over this Shachi. Not everyone is as blind as you." The two tussled together, testing their strengths in a scrap that ended up with the two of them on the floor. Penguin had been right about Shachi hiding something because whatever it was, Shachi really did not want him to see it.

Their tumble had them rolling over dirty laundry and old dust bunnies riddled along the floor. Penguin overpowers him long enough to dig around in his pocket and pull something out. He didn't know what he was expecting to find in there but he certainly hadn't expected to find a pack of cigarettes.

The two shuffled to their feet, stumbling away from each other and quickly avoiding eye contact. At that point, Shachi wasn't even trying to grab the cigarettes back; instead, he just looked like he was about to cry.

His hand went limp, and feeling that the pack was nearly empty, he dropped it to the floor. Shachi seemed ashamed at his secret being exposed but Penguin was in the same boat. If their situation were so similar, then why was he so distraught at this news?

"Why..." His mouth barely moved, trying to force his brain to catch up.

Suddenly, it clicked. "You were coming in here to smoke too." Shachi's face was the only reply he needed.

He wasn't here to shame Shachi considering he was doing no different than him. Despite being a smoker himself, Penguin felt ill at the idea of his friend ruining his lungs; there was no way that he was going to act like a hypocrite and scold him though. Anxiety radiated off of Shachi and Penguin could feel it. Surely he was afraid of being scolded or even ratted out but despite how much he wanted his friend to stop smoking, tattling on him wouldn't help anyone.

Turning heel, he snagged his pack of cigarettes where he had thrown them and plucked a stick out of the pack. Without a word, he shoved it into Shachi's mouth, whipped out his lighter, and proceeded to light it for him.

The gesture had visibly relaxed Shachi enough that he no longer appeared like he was going to make a run for it. That was a relief at least. There was still the elephant in the room that needed to be addressed though, and based on how quiet the two were, it seemed no one wanted to.

Eventually, sitting down sounded like a more comfortable place to wait out the deafening silence so they pressed their backs against the wall and slid down it together. Penguin lit a new cigarette off of Shachi's flame, too lazy to pull out his lighter again just when he had gotten comfortable. It made the two blush lightly but otherwise, it went unmentioned.

"...So you've been smoking too? Uhm...how long?" Shachi broke the silence, albeit a bit awkwardly after several painstaking minutes of silence. Penguin hadn't ever planned to break the silence himself, knowing Shachi had found awkward pauses more difficult to handle than he did. Now that the redhead had taken the elephant in the room and decimated it, there was literally no worse question to ask.

"Oh, uh...a few months. Maybe 6?" He hadn't been counting because he had assumed he'd never have to tell anyone.

"You?"

It seemed like Shachi was having a harder time answering and based on how panicked he was earlier, he was still labeled a flight risk.

"3 months, 14 days." Penguin snorted, holding his cigarette away from him to double over in laughter. Shachi's face lit up, shoving his friend out of embarrassment.

"You were counting?" Shachi stared gob-smacked and red-faced for several moments until a smirk rose to his face and he snorted as well.

"I guess I have been. What? That's not normal?" The other shook his head, his laughter dying down enough for him to take a particularly long drag of his cigarette.

"No! Of course, it's not!"

He took a chance to rest his head on Penguin's shoulder, taking another puff. What can he say, Penguin was warm. The other shared the sentiment, resting his head against Shachi's; the two of them were simply enjoying the other's company. Another silence fell over them; it was a lighter silence but it made Penguin feel rather sick to the stomach. An unpleasant feeling pooled right in his gut and jabbed at his heart.

"I had always planned to quit, y'know? I just… never got around to it." That elicited a chuckle from Penguin.

"It's always just one more cigarette and I'll quit. Then the next day rolls around and I think how nice it'd be to have another." Penguin just let him talk, humming in acknowledgment to let him know he was listening.

"How much do you smoke?" He hadn't meant to interrupt him but it seemed like he was just going to keep talking and he wanted to know before he lost his opportunity to ask. He closed his eyes, simply enjoying the cigarette he got to have today. Typically he only had 1 a day, technically 2 if his first one got interrupted like it had today.

Shachi paused in his ramblings to consider his answer. "I smoke probably twice a day?"

Penguin rolled his eyes. Shachi had ended that sentence in a question as if he didn't count how many times he smoked each day. He knew his best friend better than Shachi knew himself but since he wasn't in the mood to nitpick, he didn't call him on it.

Not too long after they settled back into a comfortable silence, their time ran out for their break. Law would be questioning where the two of them were soon enough and he'd prefer Law not catch them in here where it reeked of nicotine and guilt. Their cigarettes were burned out anyway so it wasn't like they had anything to do in here anymore.

"Better hurry back before Law skins us alive for being late." Shachi patted his friend on the shoulder, nodding his head in silent agreement. For a short time, this room had become their entire world, all their worries confined inside. Now they had to leave but the idea of going into the real world again felt terrifying.

The two shared a look before leaving the storage room. That look - they both knew was a promise to return again at the same time tomorrow to do this whole song and dance over again. To be honest, it was kind of incredible they hadn't run into each other sooner.

Penguin had never minded breaking the rules before; the breaking of said rule wasn't what scared him, it was Law finding him out.

Although…

Breaking the rules was much more fun when you broke them with someone else.