~Vermilion Flycatcher~

Chapter 2 - Kid-ya

Two days later, the bird kept chirping incessantly in Law's room. Its voice began to sound loudly bright and early in the morning, and the teen had to get up from his bed to open his closet and see what was wrong. Nothing was amiss, the bird still in its box, except that it was singing so energetically. Law tried to hush it as he picked it up, but it wouldn't stop. He put it back in its box and hurried to get himself dressed and wash up in the bathroom before coming back to the bird and stuffing it in his hoodie. He grabbed his yellow scarf and headed out.

It was four A.M. and the light was still cloudy and grey, the morning mist still thickly hovering above the ground, but the nestling seemed to think it was the best time of the day to vocalize its little heart out. Law was able to sneak out the mansion without getting caught. That was all the mist was good over – to be used as a cover. He briskly began his trek through the forest with the bird singing all the way, and tried his best to get as far away from the mansion premises as quickly as possible so no one would hear and wake up.

The bird was probably hungry, but he didn't stop to feed it until he came by the tree from where they found it. Law huffed tiredly and sat on the floor. The spot he settled on looked just like any others with tall grass covering the ground, but even in his hazy, sleep deprived mind, it wasn't. At first glance, it didn't look like anything special. In fact, the "special" tree itself was as brown and tall as the trees surrounding it, but Law had made a way of knowing. There was a ring of violet crocus flowers, the flowers that dawned the coming of spring, which surrounded the tree with a few snippets of striped squills in the mix. The arrangement, not the flowers themselves, made the unique indication. One stem of light blue squill sprouted near the tree's roots to which Law made himself comfortable.

His fingers found their way to the nestling's breakfast.

He had actually taken the bag of worms Kid gave him and he was down to his last one. Although, there hadn't been a lot to begin with. He took it out from his pocket and picked out the remaining worm, the thing squirming between his fingers. The nestling chirped happily upon seeing it, and in a matter of seconds, Law cut it up into tiny palatable pieces with his ability and butterfly knife he carried around.

The Flycatcher gulped each and every piece, and Law watched it contently. Feeling groggy as it was still too early in the morning, he let his head lean back against the bark of the tree. His eyes closed from the heaviness as he breathed in the wet air, the sharpness freshening his lungs. The bird moved in his lap as it fed and he concentrated on its chirping.

The darkness of the forest, the dampness of the grass from the morning dew, Law let it all in and he soon lost hours into seconds.

An intense light disrupted his sleep, and Law woke up to see a brightened scenery of the forest and a picture of Kid sitting in front of him crossed legged as he held up two sticks of meat that he was trying to keep away from the baby bird. He held his arms far apart as the Flycatcher hopped around his legs, the creature peering up at him in want and curiosity of the food. He turned his head when he heard Law stir, a crooked smile forming on his face.

"Hey, sleepy head. Sleep much?"

The older boy cleared his throat in a deep rasp. He rubbed his eyes with the bone of his palms trying to get used to the amount of light infiltrating his senses.

"I told you no one comes this early," he heard Kid say.

Law rubbed his cheeks feeling the forest dirt coating his face, the urge of wanting to wash his face coming up.

"I didn't come here for you," he grumbled a little grumpy from just waking. The stiffness of not moving for hours in a hardened position didn't help any. "The bird woke me up early."

The nestling chirped in response and Kid laughed a little. The older boy wasn't that happy though as he closed his eyes and rubbed his stiff shoulders.

"Here, I have something for you," he told Law to brighten him up.

"What? Another bag of worms?"

"No. This."

Law opened his eyes again and the redheaded boy was holding out one of the sticks towards him.

"What is this?"

Law wasn't in the mood for another present. He looked at the stick not knowing what sort of meat was pierced on it. It was something light brown, the skin a nice dark with some black spots where the fire had hit it strongly when it was being cooked.

"It's the bird I said I'll have for dinner. I told you I'll find that bird who attacked the nest," Kid took a bite out of his own stick.

The Flycatcher chirped energetically and fluffed its wings as if it was happy upon seeing Kid take its revenge in its place.

"I think I'll pass," Law held up his hand. "I'm not very hung- *grraarrr….."

Law's eyes widened in shock, his own stomach growling and interrupting him mid-sentence. Kid stopped midway through his bite of meat, eyes darting up at him, and began laughing. A tint of pink rose up Law's cheeks and he frowned listening to his barking laughter.

Damn his own stomach for betraying him! The teen wrapped his arms around his belly holding it down.

"Just take it," Kid shoved the stick of meat at him.

He still had that evident curl to his lips, and Law meekly took it from his hands. Potential diseases be damned.

He smelled the flame and smoke from the meat, edges of the wood partly burnt, and he could tell it was barbequed or at least held over an open fire. Law held it to his lips and sunk his teeth in ripping out a good chunk. He ate it slowly letting the flavors swirl in his tongue and an odd, interesting seasoning tingled his taste buds. It actually tasted really good, the tang and spice mixing well with the meat.

Kid looked at him as he ate trying to see if he liked it, and Law pouted even more looking away. He heard the boy huff out a laughing breath, and the want of stabbing Kid with the stick he held grew stronger just so he could wipe that grin off his face.

"What time do you usually wake up, Eustass-ya?"

It had been the next day and Law had returned to the area of where they had first met. It was now tacitly acknowledged as their meeting spot, or simply, just their spot. They were sitting under the tree's shade and Kid was now playing with the baby chick. The nestling finally started to take a liking to him after so long. But Law had come early, hours ago in fact, and Kid hadn't showed until now. It was maybe eleven or so judging by how high the sun was in the sky, and he was a little peeved so he asked. Not knowing and just waiting until a person came wasn't a fun or thrilling game. It was really quite the opposite.

Kid didn't really look at him and continued to rub the baby bird with his finger.

"I dunno. I don't really check the time, but I'm awake by the time the shipbuilders are there by the shipyard."

"The shipyard?"

"By the shore," Kid looked at him now. "I live there so I always see them. Sometimes, I come down there and help out when I feel like it. They're usually there by seven, but I don't have a clock to make sure."

Law deepened his crouch and leaned forward to rest against his elbow on his knee. He let out a little throat of a response equivalent to an "okay."

He didn't know that Kid lived close to the shore, but that would explain why he smelled like the sea. The scent of open waters clung to him like a natural cologne. By leaning closer, he could get a stronger whiff of salt and wind.

"Where do you live?" it was Kid's turn to ask.

Law took a moment to answer and pointed to a nonsense direction. "In the hills."

He didn't clarify since he didn't want anyone to know to know where he was living. If he gave any stronger hints, anyone who was native to the island would know that he lived in the highland hills. That was where Doflamingo built his villa like mansion, and any connection to the blonde, he wanted to keep secret. Kid didn't really seem to care though and took it in as a good enough answer.

It was odd. Law seemed to be looking forward for the next few days. Not that he slept very early, but he seemed to wake better this week and left for the forest pretty early in the morning. Not like he needed a lot of sleep anyway. He was just the type of person that didn't need more than five hours of sleep to function. Just give him that, and he'll work just as fine as a normal person who slept for eight.

He made it to their spot at around seven or eight depending on how fast he walked, the air still nice and cool. He sat down at his usual spot next to the lone stalk of striped squill and leaned back comfortably against the tree's trunk. He knew that Kid would come much later when the sun was more visible and high in the sky, but he liked the peace and quiet he was able to get when he waited for him. With the baby bird sleeping snugly on his lap, he opened up a book he had brought along and began to read from the last chapter he left off. It was a book about rare diseases, and he had left off at the "s" chapter, the book being organized in alphabetical order of different cases.

Law sighed when he flipped the page and a picture of a hummingbird showed. A paragraph of brief commentary went below it, and an expanded list of information was written on the side and the next preceding pages. He must've misplaced his other book with this one when he was trying to find out more about Flycatchers. He closed the book and leaned back against the tree. He had nothing to do now, his reading time turning to such a waste. Dispirited, he thought that he might as well sleep. It was a good chance to make up for the hours he lost by listening to last night's screaming in the basement instead.

And maybe the night before that as well. And the night before that.

Law's lips quirked at his own joke.

Kid had come late, and he had come disoriented. They didn't talk much and the redhead looked pretty much too tired to keep a conversation. There was a slight darkness under his eyes and he had come from the bushes a bit lumbering so Law just let him exchange a few gruff words before Kid semi-collapsed beside him.

The redhead tried to pick up the baby chick on Law's lap and accidentally woke it. The nestling began to flap its wings against his touch until it became impossible to take the bird away from Law. The older teen just smirked, a soft chuckle escaping his lips, and found it amusing watching Kid struggle. He opened up his book pretending to read and left the younger boy to wrestle for the baby bird's affection. Once again, Kid became nicked on his hand and Law lost another band aid.

It was a while until Law finally noticed when time had passed and Kid had stopped futilely trying to hold the nestling. He had become so immersed in the book even though it was just filled with random information about Aves that he had impressively blocked everything out, both the loud grumbling and the chirping. Law didn't feel the fondling fight against his thighs anymore either, just numbness running through his legs, so he lifted up his book to look down. There, instead of fighting, was Kid laying down, head on his lap with eyes closed. Lack of energy still on his face, he lay still. His hands were spread to the side, open, no baby bird in his palms. Yellow eyes began scanning around looking for the nestling and almost missed it atop of Kid's head. It's red feathers, the same shade as the Southern boy's fiery locks, camouflaged into the mess of hair.

Law smiled to himself. Finally, the two were peaceful. Even though Kid looked partly dead, it was still a nice picture and easy to his ears. Kid had his goggles around his neck and his unexpectedly long hair was spread everywhere, some covering his face. An easy stream of breath came in and out of the boy's nose making a long strand of hair flutter within every exhale. Law reached forward to draw it aside, and Kid woke. His eyes darted open with a jolt, his arm shooting out instinctively and knocking out Law's book out of his hand. The book fell right on Kid's face and he sat up in pain. With the sudden movements, the baby bird luckily just safely slid deeper into Law's legs and blinked its eyes from sleep.

"Ow!" Kid keeled over pinching his nose where the edge of the book had hit. "What the hell?!" He gritted his teeth and hissed. He turned around to glare at Law who was looking at him wide eyed. He hadn't expected him to wake and react so viciously. The shock on his face made Kid calm down, but he remained moaning. "I thought you were going to attack me!"

"Why would I attack you?" Law frowned.

Kid continued to hiss and didn't answer. "Urgh…" he sniffed and wiped the bottom of his nose to see if there was any blood. His hand came out clean as there wasn't any, and he stopped hissing all together.

He looked around looking for the cursed object that hit him, and Kid found the book laying on the floor spread open. His brows furrowed in contempt and dragged the thing closer. He tilted his head when he saw a picture of a pink bird perching on a branch. It's fluffy pink feathers puffed up at its raised wing. A hint of yellow and white streaked at its head and down to its back. The bird's long neck curved down at a high arc as it looked down, its wide yellow beak open making it look like it was laughing at something down below.

"Hey," Kid picked up the book and showed it to Law. "This was the bird that I roasted the other day."

Law leaned forward to take a closer look and his voice caught. An uncanny familiarity set in his brain down to the piercing laughter that played in his brain. It sounded so real that it almost felt like someone was laughing in his ears. He read the brief commentary at the bottom of the picture.

The Caw Caw bird is a distant relative of the more well-known Flamingo. Unlike its cousin, it travels from South Blue to other seas to lay its eggs, then comes back to live the rest of its life in the South once they have learned how to fly. With its huge size, it is known as a predator and feeds among other birds.

Law took the book from Kid's hands and flipped the page.

"Do you know what type of bird our's is?" he asked changing the subject.

Kid crinkled his nose still trying to ease the pain and scooted over right next to him.

"No. I never thought about it. Isn't it just a bird?"

Law shook his head forcing out a short breath. "It's a Vermilion Flycatcher. Look," he flipped to the page he found days ago.

The younger boy moved his head closer against the teen's shoulder. He read the information briefly, but mostly looked at the picture of the similar red feathered ave they had.

"Hey," he suddenly said. "Ever thought about naming it?"

"What?" Law cocked a brow at him.

"The baby bird."

The teen looked at Kid then back at the drowsy nestling sitting on his lap.

"The shipbuilders I work with told me that if you don't give a ship a name, then it would never sail."

"The bird isn't a ship. It's a bird," Law closed the book and laid it on the ground.

"But what if it never flies?"

Never flies? The older teen stared at Kid for a while. Not every bird was given a name by a human and they still all flew. In an everyday occurrence, there were thousands of birds a person saw each day, and most of them nameless. Not naming a bird didn't mean that it wouldn't fly.

"Think about it," the boy continued. "The parent birds always whisper to their babies before they try attempting to fly. Don't you think that they give them a name? That's why humans have names so that when they do something big, everyone knows who they are. You see parents thinking hard for the perfect name when they have a kid and hope that they do something good with their selves one day when they grow up. It's the same for birds. Flying is like the ultimate thing for birds, and having a name means that everyone will know that they've accomplished something."

"Who told you that?" Law furrowed his brows. "Your parents?"

"My friend," Kid shook his head. "I don't have parents."

"Mhn," Law could only nod to that. He shifted his eyes letting the silence fill in until he let out an almost whisper. "I don't have parents either."

As if naturally, the two didn't look at each other only to accept each other's intimate truth. Not like Law was hiding it, but he would have not told anyone otherwise if Kid never confessed to it first. It was a fact that no one else needed to know. The fact of not having any parents didn't define him in any way, and he didn't care for it. He lost them so there was no reason to miss something he would never again have. There were no parents that fussed and worried about giving him a name as far as he was concerned, though his real parents probably had. There were no memories to hold his heart close, no happiness, no anger, no hate nor longing that was ever given to him to feel about two odd faces that he would never see again. There were never two souls that ever gave him meaning to be created as one.

Law didn't want to reminisce. For the past years, he had done everything to forget. He was so close to believing that the two people who birthed him never existed. The truth for him now was that he had always been an orphan – a child forever alone who was facing the whole world by himself.

He had to face it. If there was a great entity out there, they were cruel and wanted to drive the message deep that he shouldn't get attached. He thought that he had a family, but it was twice taken away from him with murder. He wasn't meant to have a family. He was fated to be alone.

Memories of cold snow infiltrated his mind; the scene of looking up at the azure sky as he stood alone knee deep in a blizzard while a sedated flow of white softness fell softly down to the earth came piercing in his brain. The numbness of his body shook his nerves in fear of death as he thought that he would actually die until a pair of warm arms came wrapping from behind him. The huge, long arms engulfed him completely melting the ice crystals that frosted on his skin, and they trapped him against a warm wall of heat. It was the kind body of a man he didn't know, black feathers of a foreign animal coating him.

"Who named you?" Law asked.

Kid still did not look at him. His focus was elsewhere maybe remembering his own past. It was odd to think that they already had one when they were both still so young.

"My friend did," Kid answered. "He said he found me in a boat with a pirate flag that drifted to shore so he named me after a pirate."

"William Kidd." Even he knew the infamous captain.

"Yeah." Kid looked down to his black painted nails. "I'ma live up to that name one day, you know."

"You're going to become a pirate?"

He turned to grin at Law, his cockiness showing. "Hell yeah. I'm going to leave South Blue one day and find One Piece, then everyone would know the name Eustass Kid. Not William Kidd, Eustass Kid. My name. I'm gonna surpass even Whitebeard out there, and then people will be naming kids after me."

Law let out a small laugh. "Are we going to have little babies named after 'Captain' Kid in the future?"

"The one and only captain of the Kid Pirates."

Law couldn't help but grin wider as he could only picture Kid ordering around a bunch of children haphazardly on a ship. "Kid Pirates" How cute. No matter how childish it sounded though, Law could see the determination. It wasn't a hope or dream the way he meant it. It was a statement and a promise, a future fact that Kid will make come true. Kid picked a blade of grass from the floor and threw it at Law's direction.

"Who namedyou?" he was looking at him now.

Law looked up at the sky, its soft blue shaded lighter with clouds of white. It was funny how the real sky looked fake, while in dreams, it looked real. He had so many dreams of just gazing up at that endless blue that the presently sunny sky just seemed so unreal.

"I don't know," Law picked up the bird on his lap and leaned to his side laying his head on Kid's shoulder. "My name was already written on my birth certificate. I don't know who chose my name."

Kid sat still and didn't make a sound. His body was a little hunched over, and it was hard for Law to lean on him right. The boy was already shorter than him by half a head and he had to adjust himself lower to get comfortable. Kid would grow taller than him when he gets older, Law was sure. He could tell that Kid was younger than him but he was already almost his height. The genetics were just there.

"Kid," Law chose a name without much contemplation.

"Hm?" the boy turned at the mention of his name.

"Eustass-ya" he pointed to the redhead then to the baby bird. "Kid."

Kid blinked a couple of times before he got it. "You're going to name it after me?!"

"Yeah. I think it suits it."

"No! Name it something else!" Kid growled. "It doesn't even like me!"

"But you guys exude the same melanin. Look," Law put the baby bird close to Kid's hair to prove a point. "You're like its parent already."

The boy shook his head to get the nestling away from him.

"If anyone is a parent, it's you. You're the one that's taking care of it at your house, aren't you?"

"But you're the one that asked me to in the first place," he gave a smile. "After you found it."

"We can't have the same name," Kid frowned. "What are you going to call me if you're going to call it 'Kid?'"

"That's why you're Eustass-ya, and this is Kid-ya," he lifted up the nestling for emphasis and the boy let out a grumbling whine.

Law laughed, the feeling he hadn't felt in ages. The rumble coming up his throat felt foreign, the passageway feeling so unused. Even to his own ears, it sounded like he had never heard himself so happy before. A red blush colored the younger boy's cheeks so deep upon hearing him laugh.

"Fine," he gave in. "But the next time we're naming something, it's going to be named Law."

The older teen smiled widely as he brought the Flycatcher to his own face. It might look like he was cooing at the fluffy animal, but he definitely wasn't. Law never cooed. He was just grinning right now.

"You hear that?" he asked and the Flycatcher tilted it's head asking what. "You have a name now. Kid-ya."

The next day when Law forgot his scarf, Kid came even later. Maybe at around three in the afternoon, he came. As usual, Law was waiting for him under the tree, and even the baby bird Kid chirped when he came rustling out of the bushes. Paler than usual, Kid stumbled towards him and dropped on his lap to take a nap. No "hi's" or "hello's," he just fell asleep.

Law looked down at the sleeping boy on his thighs, eyebrows raised. But Kid just looked so tired, and he had gotten a new bruise at the edge of his lip. There was a bit of blood staining his fingers, and Law wanted to reach for his hand. Although, learning from last time at how alert the boy could be if he woke, he refrained from doing so. Law just left it at that and let Kid rest. Perhaps he'd take care of his injuries later. Law picked up his book that he brought along, the correct one this time, and read. But after a few hours of sitting in the same position, he too fell asleep.

They didn't wake up until a chill ran up Law's back making him shiver, and he opened his eyes. It was dark and all he could see were different shades of black. He tilted his head to look up above only to see the moon glow in full radiance. The stars next to it tried to shine as bright, but even in their numbers, they couldn't compare. The teen continued looking up awed. It had been years since he had he seen so many stars as Doflamingo had never allowed him to be out this late. They looked so beautiful, each one twinkling out of sync from each other as if to greet him. A set of arms suddenly tightened around Law's waist and he noticed the warmth that had been on his lap all along. Kid stirred pressing his nose into his belly seeking for his warmth back. And just for a little while, Law decided to let him until he had to inevitably wake him.

He sat there in the moonlight for a good half hour before he looked down at Kid again. He could hardly make out his face, but oddly, Law liked it that way. He lifted his hand to shake the boy by the shoulder. Just before he touched him though, he stopped. The teen's brow twitched not knowing why he couldn't move. A part of him didn't want to go through with it. He didn't want to wake Kid.

He sat there frozen in position inches from touching Kid's skin. His hand shook when he tried to force it to go down and he realized why.

Was it a crime to want to stay like this?

Law took a deep breath and his leg moved by itself to push Kid's head hard enough to wake him.

"Hrmugh?"

He heard Kid's disconcerted moan to know that the trick worked. Well, partly. The boy still held his waist and only hugged tighter. Kid didn't want to let go yet. He wanted to continue sleeping.

"Wake up," Law demanded almost coldly. He didn't want to have to push the boy off of him.

Defiantly and sleepily, Kid didn't move. His only response was another grumble.

"I don't want to."

A/N: My pardon if you have read this before and noticed some changes. This fic was started before Law's history came out, and I wanted it to follow cannon a little more tightly so I made a few refinements. Hopefully, this was okay. Happy readings!