Relax

Characters: Uni, Law, Shachi, Penguin. Rating: K. Warnings: None

There were some perks to having their captain also being their doctor. That is, unless you weren't a fan of doctors in which case the compulsory check-ups were a nightmare. Members of the Heart Pirates very quickly got over any reluctance to see their captain, because with his Scan he could tell if they were hiding anything and corner them anyway. It was far simpler to instigate the meetings.

Every so often, the crew were subjected to various forms of massage as part of the check-ups. Many of them relied on their bodies remaining limber and agile for their techniques, and being trapped inside for days at a time with minimal training opportunities left them often tensing up, which Law saw as something that required additional treatment. While never trained as a masseuse, the combination of his medical knowledge and the Ope Ope no Mi meant he quickly picked up on which muscles needed the most attention to suit that particular nakama's fighting style.

It wasn't until Uni joined the crew that anything changed. Health check-ups, occasional massage, then back to whatever they'd been doing prior to the summons.

"Who treats you?" he asked his captain after his first check up with the crew, slowly sitting up to zip his boiler suit closed.

"I'm the doctor," Law pointed out, busying himself with reorganising the infirmary before he summoned the next member of the crew.

"Yes, but you can't massage your own back," Uni pointed out, only to be struck dumb when Law simply cut off his own hands with his fruit and waved them around, tapping his own back to prove a point.

New to the crew, Uni accepted that his captain's abilities were weird and left, not wanting to do anything out of line, only to be collared by Shachi outside the door.

"He won't let anyone else touch him because none of us know what we're doing," the ginger had told him, sending a fondly exasperated look at the infirmary behind them. "Using his own abilities when it's supposed to be relaxing sounds stupid to me but hey, what can we do. Unless we get hold of a masseuse somewhere that he trusts, he's going to keep contradicting himself." The long-suffering tone of voice implied that Shachi had tried to get hold of someone before, to no avail.

"My Mum suffered from tense muscles a lot," Uni confided, seeing a loophole and determined to exploit it if Shachi, one of the senior members of the crew, would be on his side. "I had to learn."

"Seriously?" Shachi squawked, gripping him by the shoulders and invading his personal space. The peak of his hat nudged at Uni's lower jaw as he looked up at him intently. "You mean, you can…"

"I don't know how to convince him," Uni shrugged. "I'm just new."

"You're nakama," Shachi said firmly, pulling away to grab at a passing crewmate. "Oi, Penguin. Apparently Uni here knows massage stuff. Want to help collar the captain?"

"You even have to ask?" Penguin responded, tilting his head back slightly to look at Uni for himself. "He hasn't let himself relax at all in a week, and even that wasn't great when he did. This is way past due." He barged straight into the infirmary, Shachi hot on his heels. Uni trailed along behind, entering the room just in time to hear his name mentioned.

And that was how Uni found himself under heavy scrutiny of his captain's eyes for the second time that day.

"Shachi is under the impression you can do a better massage job than me," Law commented, sounding amused. Uni gave a helpless shrug, not sure if he was allowed to consider himself more competent at something medical than his doctor-captain. "I suppose there's only one way to find out." The words were hesitant but the tone was inviting as the captain shrugged off his hoodie, revealing numerous tattoos Uni hadn't known he had.

"Go on," Shachi encouraged, giving Uni's back a nudge. Law had positioned himself on the bed, lying on his stomach with his cheek resting on his overlapping hands. He was quick to obey, eyeing the straining muscles dubiously before another encouraging gesture from the ginger had him lightly laying his hands on his captain's back, just above the tattoo of their jolly roger. He felt the muscles briefly seize up further at the touch, and faltered. Even with Shachi and Penguin backing him up, and his captain's consent, he felt as if he was crossing a line that shouldn't be touched.

"It's not too late to change your mind," his captain spoke. For all that his body felt like it was about to bolt, Law's tone was open and relaxed.

"It's fine," Shachi added, perching on the edge of the bed with a hand resting gently on his captain's elbow. Penguin mirrored the action on the other side. "Relax." Uni wasn't entirely certain which of them they were talking to; while Law's muscles didn't budge, after several long seconds he let a stream of air escape his lungs before cocking his head to look back over his shoulder, at Uni. Realising that there was no point hesitating, he finally began to apply the pressure.

As he'd thought, Law was totally tense. It took every trick in his repertoire to work out the kinks in the muscles before soothing them into something far healthier. Shachi moved away from the arm he was touching so that Uni could properly work on the muscles there, followed by the other arm as Penguin did the same. Neither returned to their previous positions, content to watch from the side of the bed, and Uni felt a bit like he'd passed a test.

By the time Uni considered himself almost finished, there was silence in the room, the only sound the friction between his hands and his captain's skin. Muffled groans and sighs from his captain had ceased after a while, and as he eventually stood back, finished, he saw why.

Eyes closed and breathing even, Law had fallen asleep. Shachi and Penguin drew Uni into a triumphant (quiet) high five before pulling a blanket up over their captain and removing his hat to reveal his untamed hair.

"Thanks," Penguin said quietly, guiding him out of the infirmary and leaving Shachi behind, not that the ginger seemed to care as he took a seat by the occupied bed and withdrew a magazine from his suit. "Captain needed that. What say you we make this a habit?"

Uni glanced down at his hands, remembering how tough the muscles had been and how much stress had been piled on those shoulders.

"Sounds good to me."

Law is always way too stressed. Why Uni? The one I randomly picked. We'll see if that makes any sense after he's properly introduced in canon. Some people may be aware that I rewrote this; I was pretty tired the first time and didn't realise how off track it got until after I posted the original version.

I know nothing about massages and google/wikipedia just confused me more so I kept that side of it vague.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari