I'm honestly relieved that you guys haven't abandoned me for good and are still interested in this little tale. So thank you peeps, for sticking with me here! I'm honestly gonna be good now.
I will try and update twice a week. It very much depends on my schedule and lectures and homework I have to do, so please don't be disappointed if I can't make it in time every now and then. I'll try my best. One Chapter will come at the weekends at least.
Now, of course Penguin won't see Killer's face too soon. Where's the fun in that? ;) But the two of them will eventually get a little closer than they were before. Onto the story then! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and enjoy the next Chapter!
He couldn't help but silently grin to himself. Whenever he turns a page of his ridiculously boring book, he peeks over the pages towards the end of the bed and his grin grows a little wider. Splayed across the end of the bed, the heavy boots firmly on the floor and one large hand on Law's right shin – the sound one, fortunately – lies Kid, fast asleep. He had kept Law company for a few hours, occasionally disappearing to get himself another bottle of beer and it had taken Law three tries to convince the Kid Pirate to finally share a bottle, despite the copious painkillers he had taken in the past hours.
Though they hadn't spoken much, the mere presence of the gruff giant had been somewhat pleasant and the occasional bickering kept Law entertained. Soon the world outside the window had grown dark, they had bickered way into the night and now the room remains lit by the fire from the hearth and a small, flickering lamp on Law's bedside table.
Most amusing however – and the Heart Captain regrets not being able to take a picture – is the little tabby cat that has coiled itself into a furry grey ball and sleeps soundly on Kid's broad chest, rising and dropping with every breath of the Captain. The cat yawns and smacks in its sleep, digging the little claws into Kid's bare skin but the Captain sleeps tight enough, merely groaning quietly.
Kid would – undoubtedly – go into quite a fit should he find the cat sleeping on him and probably chuck it across the room but right now Law is not bothered too much by that. It's way too much fun to watch the pair sleeping soundly and when he nudges the Captain a little with his naked toes, Kid grunts and drops a heavy hand on Law's foot, nearly snapping his toes. Law hisses and pulls his feet underneath the covers. Stupid moron, even in his sleep.
Mumbling something incomprehensible to himself, he puts the book aside and gets comfortable, pulling the blankets a little higher. Sleeping the pain off sounds tempting and since he's been having some good night's rests again, he feels his strength slowly returning. Not long and he drifts off into a light sleep.
"Now Law, what to do? You feel like running, don't you? You're afraid."
Law's features tighten and grow grim.
"Do you remember all those wondrous things that happened? Here, let me help."
Pictures flash up in his mind. Dark and gruesome. Pictures of evil shadows haunting him, clowns in the dark, a memory of searing pain, bruises and cuts and plain, high walls with no door.
He remembers open wounds, a needle and wire in the hands of a nine year old, shaking and shivering badly as he forcibly thrusts the needle through his oversensitive skin and he tries not to cry while he patches himself up. It gets messy and it hurts and he fights hard to hold back the tears that threaten to drip on the infected wound, burning and singing it and making it worse.
"Awww, now look at that! Well done! You will surely make a good doctor one day. Keep practising little one. Keep practising. Here! Have another cut to practise on!"
Don't cry. Don't let him see you're crying.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, eh?"
The ceiling light flickers. Not long until he's here. That smile, that despicable smile.
"Small dark boy in a small dark room with a small dark heart. Come here now, I'll eat up all your despair until you smile again. And no worries, if you can't smile, I will staple the corners of your lips up, hm? Right here. What a beautiful smile!"
The smile of jester.
Law skyrockets from his sleep, his eyes wide and his heart racing in his chest.
He frantically looks around the room but everything lies quiet. The fire in the hearth has nearly burned down and cracks quietly and by the end of the bed, Kid still sleeps soundly, the purring little ball of fluff on his chest.
He claws at the blankets and quickly lets go, rubbing his hands on his shirt as if he had burned himself. It takes a while until he dares to peek at the window, half expecting the grimace to appear in the night. There's nothing there and Law exhales deeply, closing his eyes for a brief moment.
Cold creeps up his spine and he begins to shiver, feeling the pain surge through his leg again. He carefully wraps the blanket around himself, hesitates for a moment and then scoots closer to the redhead at the end of the bed.
Kid stirs when Law cuddles up to his side and when he opens his eyes, he's faced with the raven hair of the Doctor right before his nose and the weight of Law's head on his chest. It distracts him from the cat for a moment.
"What the heck are you doing?" his voice sounds a little sleepy and raspy.
"Mind your own business. Go back to sleep."
The cat stretches on Kid's chest, tapping Law's nose a little and the Doctor smiles. Kid feels like he should protest and throw Law off his chest and the cat with him but something makes him hesitate. Maybe it's the smile, maybe it's Laws shivering frame. No matter what it is really, it confuses the Captain and he thus stays still. To be honest, the cat sleeping on top of him is much worse than Law sleeping on top of him.
"Nightmare?"
"I said mind your own business. Now shush and be a good pillow."
It takes a while to fall asleep again. The smile is haunting and it gives Law a headache. He silently prays that Kid won't notice his body tensing up at the thoughts of the past but he soon realises, that the Captain's breathing is coming steady again and when he glimpses up, he sees that Kid has long fallen asleep again.
'Strange thing', Law ponders. 'How peaceful he looks when he sleeps.'
Maybe a little warmth does help after all. A little closeness from time to time. So warm, so close that it painfully reminds him that days on a ship can grow long and lonely and he has clearly lacked some human company. The right kind of company, of course. Though Kid, he reminds himself, probably was not the right kind of company at all. More of a suicidal tendency shining through, really.
Law blinks irritated when Kid's muscular arm suddenly wraps itself around his waste and pulls him a little closer. 'Right. The clingy thing.' He vaguely remembers the first night they had spent together at the beach. Resting his head on the massive chest again, he listens to Kid's soothing heartbeat and, with the quiet pulsating in the back of his mind, falls into a deep, dreamless sleep again.
The sun hasn't even begun to rise and Killer lies wide-awake already. In the darkness of the hotel room, he has dared to take his mask off and stares up at the ceiling, quite relieved to be able to breathe properly again. It's a hardship he's placed on himself, he knows but it's a necessity.
His gaze wanders to the couch at the other side of the room and in the dim light he can barely make out Penguin's sleeping frame.
Something, possibly the memory of those amber eyes, makes it difficult for him to fall asleep again. He sits up and briefly checks the bandages around his torso. So far he hasn't dared to ask Penguin about the gravity of his injures but he does vividly remember that he had been hit straight on by one of the massive iron masts of their, now sunk, ship. Cuts, bruises and cracked ribs thus didn't surprise him and for a change, he felt quite relieved that he had made it out alive. For a little while longer at least.
He quietly picks up the mask and straps it around his face before he sets his feet on the cold, wooden floor and slowly makes his way over to the couch.
Normally he's not the curious type. Not one single bit really, but he just can't get this sight out of his mind.
Quietly and carefully, he bends over Penguin's sleeping form and reaches out to push the collar of his jacket down a little. The bonnet is still gone, the sand blond hair shimmering in the dim light of the room but his face, up to the tip of his nose, remains covered by the ridiculously high collar. Only an inch or two, no more. Just a little so that he can have one more peek at the pale skin and possibly the tattoo on his neck.
He wonders if it has any meaning to it.
Just as he's about to go another step further, to push the collar down a little more, he suddenly feels strong fingers clenching his wrist like a bench vice and before he can pull his hand free again, his legs are kicked from underneath him and he hits the floor with a loud thud.
Every single wound on his body suddenly hurts again and he growls from pain, trying to ignore the ache and sit up again. Easier said than done.
"No need to get so rough."
"I told you to forget about it."
Penguin sits wide-awake now; he doesn't look particularly angry though. It rather seems like waking up by beating someone into a pulp is quite a daily business for him, which worries Killer, to say the least, a little bit.
"You really don't mince matters, do you?"
Penguin reaches out, offering the Kid Pirate a hand to help him up but Killer doesn't move. He sits still, his face well hidden behind his mask and Penguin wonders what might go through his head right now.
"We're not even anymore."
"Huh?"
Penguin crouches down next to the Kid Pirate and softly knocks against the mask.
"You know my face now but I don't know yours."
"This is not about being even", Killer chunters and tilts his head to get it out of Penguin's reach. "Besides, that I saw your face was a mere coincidence."
"You're making this really easy for you, aren't you?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because it's unfair."
"I don't do fair."
Now that surprises the Heart Pirate. He knows Kid's crew, he knows of their reputation and he had been afraid of Killer at first but though he believed the man before him to be a merciless slayer if he needed to be, he didn't make him out as unfair. Quite the opposite really.
"That's disappointing."
With that, Penguin picks up his bonnet, sitting on the low coffee table and puts it on his head, pulling the visor low over his eyes until nothing but the tip of his nose peeks out again.
Killer watches in silence.
"Is that you making it even again?" his voice sounds hollow as usual but a little disappointed.
"Yep. Simple rules to a simple game. I show you mine, you show me yours."
Killer wonders if the undertone of those rules is supposed to be as ambiguous as it sounds or if Penguin is unaware of what he just said. He watches as the Heart Pirate disappears into the bathroom and this time thoroughly locks the door behind himself.
Clothes rustle on the other side of the door and a mean little image creeps into the back of Killer's head. The image of Penguin undressing only a few feet away from him. Just the mere image of that boiler suit gliding down the pale skin. He imagines a slim frame, not scrawny but slender, toned at the right places and he wonders if that black tribal tattoo extends to other places as well.
He hears the shower going and the image changes a little, now involving a generous amount of soap and the slender body now slick and glistening and he wonders, if that pale skin is as soft as it looks. Scarred maybe? Or flawless? Does a pirate ever have flawless skin?
Killer forbids himself any further thought on that matter, before it gets too hot underneath that mask. He quickly pulls the thing off and takes a deep breath, his eyes closed. Only a minute or two, no more. By the time Penguin leaves the bathroom again, the mask will be back in place and nothing has happened.
As soon as he can't stand the mere thought of the splashing shower anymore, he gets up and moves to the other side of the room. Distraction. Distraction sounds good and he starts to boil some water and prepare coffee. Not his usual job here, but maybe, maybe he can make it up to the Heart Pirate a little, for playing unfair.