Heart

Characters: Bepo, Law, Shachi, Penguin. Rating: K+. Warnings: none

"What the hell are you doing?" Bepo looked up from his maps at Shachi's confused and rather concerned sounding voice. The ginger was wearing a look that clearly showed he was debating the pros and cons of fleeing as far away from Law as possible. The captain, bearing a triumphant grin, merely presented Shachi with a strange cube, a little larger than his fist. Shachi recoiled as if it was poisonous.

"It's still beating," Law gushed, thrusting it at him again, seemingly confused why the ginger was stumbling further and further back. "Look."

"I'm looking, I'm looking!" Shachi protested. "It's creepy! Get it away!"

"Just think of what this means!" Law continued as if he hadn't spoken. Bepo, tired of eavesdropping with no context, abandoned his studies to amble over. "The medical applications are amazing. I can do a heart surgery and they'll probably live!"

Closer now, Bepo could make out what, exactly, had Law so excited and Shachi so creeped out. The cube seemed to be made of some sort of gelatinous substance, inside which something red thrummed and pulsed. Looking at the poor unconscious Marine on the deck, Law's latest experiment subject, and the corresponding square gap in his chest, Bepo assumed it was a heart.

He understood Shachi's apprehension – a heart belonged firmly inside the body – but the joy on Law's face overrode any inclination he had to recoil like Shachi was. Penguin was conspicuously absent. If Bepo remembered correctly he'd gone to 'fix the sail' shortly after Law started playing with his new toy and hadn't returned since, although the sail had been adjusted several minutes ago.

"Are you going to give a Marine heart surgery, Captain?" he asked, not sure why Law would waste his energy on that. His captain shook his head.

"I just wanted to see if I could do it," Law shrugged, eyeing the retreating Shachi with undeniable interest. "I didn't want to kill one of you by accident, but I think I've got the hang of it."

"You're making me sick pushing that thing in and popping it back out again," Shachi groused, half-hiding himself behind Bepo's furry bulk. Law surveyed the cube in his hand for another few moments before inserting it back into the Marine's chest again. The unconscious body twitched.

"Then why don't you come here?" Law asked, a suggestive grin firmly etched on his face. Shachi hid behind Bepo completely.

"So you can take my heart out?" he mumbled, muffled by Bepo's fur. "What do you want to do that for?" Bepo watched the way Law's face fell and stepped forwards, feeling fists tug at his fur as Shachi was forced to let go.

"You can take mine, if you want to, Captain," he offered. He understood Shachi's reluctance, but this was Law. He didn't know why Law thought being able to take hearts out was useful (although he clearly recalled making the suggestion himself back when they first named themselves so perhaps it was something to do with that), but if Law wanted to do it then he would trust his captain.

Law's face froze, startled, before he started to smile again – a smaller smile than his earlier grins and smirks, but more reassuring. The teen's hand came up, resting on the fabric above the mink's chest, and Bepo could feel his warmth even through his own fur and clothes. Unbidden, his own clawed paw moved to cover it as Law paused, and he squeezed his captain's hand lightly.

Golden eyes looked up at him and he nodded once, pulling his lips into a smile, and Law smiled back.

"Mes."

It felt like his heart had been punched out of his chest, but without the pain. Bepo felt his knees quake, and his vision darkened for a moment. He refused to let his legs buckle, and when his vision returned, he could see a larger cube resting on Law's hand. His captain was staring at it in wonder, his other hand gently coming up to caress it.

A breath forced its way past Bepo's lips at the sensation. It felt so wrong – his heart was exposed in a way it shouldn't be, outside of the safety of his body – yet so right. Law's fingers were cool against his heart, feather-light in their touches.

"Amazing," Law breathed, before glancing back at Bepo. "How does it feel?"

Bepo had no words to describe it the sensation, finally surrendering to his body's demands that it sit down. Concern flashed through Law's eyes and he stepped forwards, arresting his momentum at the recollection of the heart in his hands. Behind him he felt Shachi grip at his fur again.

"I'm okay," he told them both, focusing on Law but tilting his head back to nuzzle Shachi. "It's strange, but it doesn't hurt." Law offered him his own heart and in curiosity he took it, instantly feeling the difference in texture between Law's skin and his own pads.

"It's still creepy," Shachi commented, but as Bepo glanced up at him he saw that he'd moved so he wasn't hiding behind him anymore. "But I guess it's also kinda cool?" He flinched as Law reached out his hand and rested it on his chest. Nothing happened, Law's golden eyes searching Shachi's face for permission. Shachi let out a strange laugh, somewhere between despair and amusement, before he mimicked Bepo's gesture and covered Law's hand with his own.

"Shachi?"

"What the hell," he chuckled. "It's creepy, but I trust you." Law nodded and took another step closer before repeating the single word.

"Mes."

Bepo saw Shachi's heart burst out of his back, smaller than his own, and Law quickly summoned it into the safety of his palm. His other arm wrapped around Shachi as the ginger's knees buckled, pulling him towards him until he was slumped against his chest.

Penguin appeared to materialise out of mid-air, suddenly behind Shachi as he relieved Law of his weight. He seemed thoroughly unsurprised, and Bepo realised he must have been watching what was going on from wherever he'd fled to. Law glanced up at him as Shachi was peeled off of him, and gave a thankful smile as he inspected the new heart cradled in his hands.

Shachi didn't stay limp for long, regaining consciousness after only a minute or so, and straightened with Penguin's help even as the older teen tried to convince him to follow Bepo's example in sitting down.

"Are you going to take mine, too?" Penguin asked, just before Shachi poked his own heart curiously and hissed, folding in half. "Oh, sit down, you idiot." A well-aimed shove later and the ginger was sprawled on the ground besides Bepo. The mink nudged him gently and Shachi pulled himself back into a sitting position.

"I'm okay," he muttered, patting his hat. Bepo felt him slump against him, contradicting himself. "That's quite a punch."

"If I'm taking yours out, you're sitting down first," Law told Penguin, who shrugged amicably and positioned himself on Shachi's other side.

"You too," he said as Law crouched in front of him and reached his hand out. Like both Bepo and Shachi before him, he rested his hand over Law's. Before Law could say the command, he picked up Law's other hand from where it had been rested on his knee and pressed it to Law's own chest. Bepo watched the youngest human look down and let out a small noise, not unlike Shachi's earlier strange laugh, before repositioning himself to lean against Bepo. Penguin rested his weight on Shachi, and two Mes in quick succession later saw both humans slumping almost simultaneously.

Penguin was first, Law delaying his own heart's extraction until he'd safely retrieved Penguin's from mid-air, before he pulled his own out. Unlike the other three, his came out of his front, to Bepo's relief as he caught it, admiring the difference in size between his own and his captain's.

The four of them remained in an unmoving pile for several minutes as first Penguin and then Law regained awareness, all too comfortable to want to move even after they were all awake once more.

"This is really creepy," Shachi repeated again as Penguin and Law regained their own hearts to hold.

"I suppose we really are the Heart Pirates," Penguin commented, pushing his own heart forwards to nudge against Shachi's. Both of them gasped, before looking to each other with identical grins crossing their faces.

Bepo didn't realise what it meant until too late, all four of their hearts nudging together gently. Law let out a hiss, but didn't retract his heart from the macabre cluster.

"The Heart Pirates," Bepo said solemnly, and the three humans echoed him, mirroring the day they first called themselves by that name, swearing this time not on their flag, but on their own hearts.

Bepo thought it fit.

Originally I had a more angsty thing lined up for today, then I remembered it was Valentine's Day and thought that as these guys are the Heart Pirates I should probably go with something loosely based on the theme... Very loosely, as it turned out. So have some sort of macabre bonding instead. I'll save the angst for another time.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari