Silent

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

Shachi woke suddenly, blearily looking around into the pitch darkness of the room he shared with Penguin as he tried to identify the cause. Below him, Penguin's light breathing could be heard, perfectly even in sleep, and Shachi sighed, closing his eyes (not that it made much difference when there was no light in the room anyway) and focusing on his haki, trying to find the cause of his waking.

Someone was wandering the ship. After lights out, the only one that should be moving around was the unfortunate soul on night watch – Uni, tonight – but the night watch didn't involve ambling around the sleeping quarters, pausing outside every room for up to a minute before moving on to the next. No, there was only one person that ever did that, and Shachi let out another sigh, although this time accompanied by a fond smile.

He tracked Law from where he had been, in front of Ikkaku's room (currently shared with Nico Robin), to the next bedroom along. While Shachi couldn't see exactly what his captain was doing, he didn't need to in order to know that he was standing outside the door, staring at it as he reached in with his haki to check the occupant(s) were fast asleep, breathing normally and generally fine. He could have done the spot checks from his room, using the Scan, and Shachi was sure that sometimes he did, but there were times when Law dragged himself out of his room to perform the checks manually.

It was one of those nights.

Eventually Law began to approach their own door, and Shachi moved, shimmying down from his top bunk and prodding Penguin harshly in the shoulder before flicking the light on, onto the lowest setting, and heading to the door. As Law arrived, he opened it, revealing his captain's dishevelled appearance. The younger man was dressed simply in a baggy top and trousers, embroidered as always with their jolly roger. His hat was absent, leaving his messy bedhead clearly on display, and his feet were bare. The sling that he and Penguin had forced on their captain earlier was still present, cradling the healing arm protectively.

"Law," he said, because right now this wasn't his captain, but a younger man restless and disturbed by nightmares, impulsively checking on his crew to reassure himself that it hadn't been real – whatever it had been. Shachi never asked and Law never told.

Law didn't respond, but Shachi wasn't waiting for anything as he reached out, taking hold of his left arm to guide him into the room. There was no resistance, and Shachi nudged the door shut with a toe before gently directing Law to the lower bunk, where the mostly-asleep Penguin shuffled over to make space and reached out to tug at Law's left arm – not his right, because even half-asleep Penguin was aware of the injury – who climbed in with no complaint.

Shachi slipped in as well, sandwiching Law between the pair of them as they both looped an arm over him, keeping him secure between them. The three of them sharing one bed was not as easy as it had been as teenagers, before they grew tall and bulked out from years of piracy. Penguin was pressed right up against the wall, Law tightly pressed against him. Shachi clung to Law in turn, dimly aware that the edge of the bed was under him, not behind him.

He reached out, a delicate balancing act as he kept himself on the bed while contorting to reach the light to turn it off, plunging the trio back into darkness. One by one, first Penguin, then Law and finally Shachi following several minutes later, they fell asleep, Law on his back while the other two cocooned him from both sides.

Shachi didn't know how often the nightmares hit. Sometimes it was Penguin who woke, prodding Shachi into just enough of a wakefulness for him to shuffle down to the lower bunk. Sometimes neither of them woke, and in the morning they'd find their captain instead curled up with Bepo in the next room over. There were probably nights when none of the three stirred enough to invite him in, but as he tightened his grip on his captain and pressed his face against his shoulder, Shachi hoped it wasn't too often.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari