Carry

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

Penguin blearily opened his eyes, blinking twice before the unmistakable ceiling of the Polar Tang's infirmary came into focus. Groaning, he pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing at the back of his head, where he could feel a wonderful lump forming underneath the bandages.

"Damn it," he groused, his hand falling back to his side. Someone had got a lucky hit in and knocked him unconscious during their latest fight, apparently. He vaguely remembered it, the sharp crack of something hard and unyielding colliding with the back of his head. It had happened just after he took a bullet to the leg…

Glancing down, he discovered that he'd been stripped of his boiler suit and instead dressed in shorts and baggy top. His lower right leg was neatly wrapped in white bandages, and experimental movement was cut short by a sudden stab of pain.

"You won't be walking for several days," Law told him. He turned his head, startled. He hadn't even known his captain was in the room.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked, glancing back at the bandaged leg. "I'm not staying here that long!" Law sighed, before proceeding to tell him how much damage, exactly, that single bullet had done to his leg and consequently how it wouldn't even be able to bear his weight for days, let alone walk.

At the end of the tirade, Penguin sorely hoped one of his nakama had given the bastard that shot him absolute hell. Several days of forced bed rest just because of a bullet to the leg was not his idea of a good time. He knew he was being a bad and ungrateful patient, but he let Law know exactly how much he disliked the idea. To his credit, his captain took his complaints in his stride, sitting in silence as his rant derailed from how horrible the idea was to how much of a bastard the man with the gun was and how much he deserved to suffer.

Law did, however, claim he had somewhere else to be, although failing to reveal where, and bid Penguin farewell as soon as his rant was over. Dejected, and alone because apparently none of his other nakama had been in the room, he slumped back to lie down. If he couldn't move, he might as well sleep his life away, or so he mused.

Sleep, as was often the case when he wanted it at a time when the sun was still up, didn't come. Unable to even toss and turn in frustration because of his leg, he gritted his teeth and searched blindly for something to occupy his mind with until he could leave the bed again. Law, rather unusually for when he prescribed bedrest, hadn't provided any entertainment, not even the medical books just out of reach on the side, and Penguin wondered if he'd distracted him with his rant before he'd thought to move them.

"Penguin?" He turned his head to see Bepo cautiously approaching. Hopeful, he glanced at the mink's paws, but they were empty. He hadn't brought any entertainment then.

"Hey," he greeted, sitting up as best he could before his leg sent another loud protest at being shifted.

"Captain says it's dinner time," Bepo told him as he came to a stop by his bed, and Penguin moaned. "Are you hungry?" Honestly, Penguin's stomach had yet to inform him of hunger, but eating was something to do, so he nodded.

"I don't see you holding anything for me to eat," he commented with a frown.

"Should I be?" Bepo asked, looking puzzled. "Captain said to get you."

"Well that's funny," Penguin groused, thoroughly unimpressed with his captain's bedside manner. He was hardly empathetic at the best of times, but this was bordering on neglect and Penguin hadn't signed up for tha- "Woah! What are you doing?"

Bepo shifted his grip, jostling Penguin very slightly as the human found himself no longer on the bed, but rather wrapped up in warm white furry arms.

"Taking you to dinner," Bepo answered. "Stop squirming or I'll drop you." Penguin stopped, looking up at Bepo's friendly face in pleasant surprise. The mink was far bigger than him, meaning that Bepo had no difficulty walking around as if Penguin was little more than a doll in his arms. He was gentle, too. Beyond the initial settling, Penguin wasn't jostled at all, and let himself simply relax into his nakama's arms for the time being.

"Here he is!" Shachi cheered as they entered the mess hall, Penguin by that point very definitely snuggled up in the warm fur surrounding him. He couldn't help but let out a small grumble as he was deposited gently onto the bench between Law and Shachi. The rest of the crew surrounded him, resting hands on his shoulders before they took their own seats and began to devour their food.

"This is hardly bedrest," Penguin felt compelled to point out to Law even as his captain passed him a plate of food. Law raised a single eyebrow elegantly.

"I don't recall placing you on bedrest," he denied. Penguin opened his mouth, a retort ready on his tongue before he realised that Law had never actually said the word 'bedrest'. "I just said you won't be able to walk."

"So let us be your legs for a while," Clione butted in as Penguin gaped.

"It's no fun being stuck in the infirmary with nothing to do all day," Uni agreed.

"Unless, of course, you'd like to be on bedrest?" Law asked him innocently. Penguin scowled and shifted his weight until he was using Shachi as a headrest. The ginger simply chuckled and pulled him tighter.

"It'll be over before you know it," he reassured him. Penguin wasn't convinced, but if his ridiculous nakama were honestly considering carrying him everywhere, it was infinitely preferable to hours starting at the same patch of ceiling.

Besides, now he had an excuse to boss his nakama around. It would be remiss of him to ignore the opportunity.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari