Hormones

Characters: Law, Penguin, Shachi. Rating: T. Warnings: mentions of brothels.

They'd started visiting brothels as their teenage years drew to a close, the call of hormones too much to resist. Law, his own hormones markedly absent in that sense, had long since resigned himself to spending the night curled up against Bepo's stomach on the deck, waiting for his two older nakama to come back.

He didn't have to wait up for them, they insisted one night when they came back particularly late to find him struggling to keep his eyes open any longer, Bepo already snoring away. Law had ignored them, remaining up night after night when they were on shore until he knew they were back safely. He refused to admit that he was uneasy the entire time they were away – brothels had the potential to be an all too obvious trap for the unwary pirate, and for as long as Penguin and Shachi were letting their hormones think for them, he couldn't relax. That they had no bounty, no target painted on their backs, was a small blessing, he supposed. The workers had no incentive to stab them in the back (and that was the only reason he allowed the visits at all).

When Law finally went through his growth spurt, stretching out like a gangly beanpole with constantly too-short trousers (and overtaking first an irate Shachi, and then a resigned Penguin in height), he began to notice things himself, when he went ashore. In the past, his small scrawny self had been able to slip reasonably unnoticed wherever he wanted to go, while the taller, fitter two drew the spotlight and appreciative catcalls and whistles that almost always preluded a late night for Law, waiting on the deck for them to come home.

Now, those same calls were aimed at him, as if he'd suddenly become far more desirable as a specimen of the human race just by growing a foot or two. Where before the calls had been for ginger or Penguin-boy, now they were for golden eyes. Law ignored them, no more interested than before.

The other two started to whine, realising that the spotlight had been well and truly stolen by their captain, but Law ignored their petty complaints, too. It still hadn't stopped them from seeking out company some nights; being upstaged had hardly led to a decline in interest no matter what Shachi whined ("why would they look at me when they can look at you. It's like I'm invisible nowadays, captain!")

What did stop them, to Law's surprise, was the issuing of his first bounty poster. Both of them, not to mention the other crewmembers that had slowly been trickling in over the months, were still completely bounty-less and therefore theoretically as safe as a pirate could be in such establishments, so Law hadn't expected any change to the routine at the first island they landed on after his poster was released.

He supposed they must have discussed it, although he'd never caught them in the act, because that night they pointedly headed below deck to find a bed to crash in (they ended up claiming Law's, dragging the captain in with them when he began to complain). Surprised, Law allowed the contact, even as his mind asked the questions – why were they here and not at the brothel less than a five minute walk away.

"Our jolly roger is easily visible," Penguin explained, not waiting for a question. That was probably a good thing, as Law hadn't been planning on asking. "They're not using us to get to you."

"Besides," Shachi added, his face buried in Law's shoulder. "With the Grand Line coming up, we should probably curb that habit anyway." That, Law couldn't argue with, and was secretly relieved that the two had always been aware of the risks – and could bring themselves to stop when they deemed the risks too high.

He chose to turn a blind eye to the subsequent increase in dubious reading material around the ship, considering it a fair trade for their safety. Sometimes they slipped up, bewitched by hormones that by all rights should have died to manageable levels by the time they reached their mid-twenties, but Law watched out for them (Amazon Lily was a particularly memorable example of unwelcome teenage hormones resurfacing). He'd keep his crew safe, even from their own hormones if he had to.

This is as close as I'm getting to addressing sexuality, unless we get something solidly canon, because that's an entire can of worms I'm not interested in opening, even if I have my own ideas on the topic. We know Penguin and Shachi are at the very least visibly enamoured by Hancock (while Law is not).

Thanks for reading!
Tsari