Qualm

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

Bepo was getting in some mapwork before breakfast, watched by Ikkaku, when Penguin stumbled into the room. He didn't look well, hat missing and skin ashen, and Bepo abandoned the maps to wrap his nakama in his arms, pulling him into his lap and holding him securely as he squirmed, startled.

"Let me go!" he demanded, but he'd never been able to physically overpower Bepo, and the mink had no intentions of releasing him until he knew what was wrong.

"You don't look well," Ikkaku observed, crouching down in front of them and resting a hand on his forehead. He shook his head to dislodge her. "I'll get Captain."

"No!" The woman froze, halfway to her feet, at Penguins unexpected outburst. "No," he repeated at a more normal volume. "Don't."

"Why not?" Bepo wanted to know, nuzzling against his cheek lightly. "Did you remember something?" While Penguin's memories had returned enough to finally convince him he was one of them, the last few gaps were, to Bepo's knowledge, still filling in.

Penguin nodded, drawing Ikkaku to abandon her silly halfway up stance and settle into a crouch in front of them.

"What did you remember this time?" she asked, and Bepo nudged Penguin again, also interested in the answer. He couldn't think of any reason why that would have the man so against going to see Law.

"I think… everything important," Penguin admitted slowly. "Everything makes sense now, like I've got all the context."

"That's great!" Ikkaku gushed, lunging forwards and hugging him tightly, resulting in an extra body in Bepo's lap. He didn't mind, shifting his hold until he was holding onto both of them.

"So… why won't you see Captain?" he asked, confused. Penguin shook his head again. "If there's something wrong-"

"I called him a freak!" Penguin wailed, burying his face in Bepo's boiler suit. "I called him a freak, and his face. He looked like he was about to cry! How am I supposed to face him now?"

"You didn't remember him," Ikkaku said sensibly, and Bepo was glad she was there because he could do hugs but not words. "It's not your fault."

"But it is," Penguin insisted, inconsolable. "I was awful to all of you, and I made Shachi cry. I didn't stop him hurting himself, even though he did it all for me. And Law. How am I going to look them in the eye ever again?"

Bepo had had enough. There was only one way he could see to fix this, so with an apology he stood up, both humans securely in his arms as he followed Law's familiar scent to find the captain in his room. Shachi's scent was there, too, and as he neared – Penguin squirming wildly and Ikkaku trying to hold him back with minimal success – he heard the ginger talking.

"-just left without a word this morning. What am I supposed to do, Law?"

Hefting Penguin onto his shoulder as the man made an almost successful bid for freedom, Bepo strode over to the door and pushed it open.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he walked in, seeing both Law and Shachi staring at him, or more likely the wriggling mass of Penguin on his shoulder.

"Penguin!" Shachi was the first to speak, heading straight for Bepo and the nakama on his shoulder, who had stopped fighting and was now slumped bonelessly on Bepo's shoulder. "Are you okay? You left so suddenly this morning and I was worried you were sick but you didn't go to the infirmary either."

"He's got the rest of his memories back," Ikkaku told them, and Law was up in an instant, joining Shachi in crowding the older man. Bepo refused to let him retreat.

"That's great!" Shachi beamed, reaching to hug Penguin. The man recoiled and Shachi froze. "Penguin?"

"How can you be so… happy?" Penguin mumbled, and Bepo shifted until he was sitting on Law's bed, pulling the man firmly back into his lap and pinning him there. Without his hat to hide behind, it was easy to see the way he was avoiding looking at anyone in the room. "I was awful to you. How are you just brushing that off?"

This time when Shachi lunged for him the ginger didn't back off at the flinch.

"Oi," the ginger said, mussing his hair. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't remember us."

"Well, yes," Penguin admitted. "But-"

"But nothing," Law interrupted, nestling his way into Bepo's lap until he was shoulder to shoulder with Penguin. "You did nothing wrong, Penguin."

"How can you say that?" Penguin exclaimed. "I called you a freak, I agitated Shachi's snowblindness. I made you both cry, didn't I?" Law's mouth opened, but Penguin kept going. "I hurt you and you're just writing it off as nothing?"

"It wasn't your fault," Law said firmly. "Being unable to help you was what upset me, not what you said and did."

"So stop blaming yourself," Shachi added, and suddenly Bepo had a lap full of nakama as all four of them – Ikkaku included, letting the others speak but still there – managed a group hug, Penguin at the centre.

"But-" Penguin tried one more time, only for three hands to clamp over his mouth.

"No buts," Law repeated.

"And no beating yourself up over it," Shachi added, putting his own hat on Penguin's head.

Penguin made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle, hiding under the hat as his nakama embraced him.

The last thing I had planned for the amnesia lot - Penguin realising just how badly he treated his nakama in Recall and Ordeal.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is probably going to be the last update until June. I may be able to get something out tomorrow, but I'll be going on holiday without internet until the end of the month on Weds and I haven't even started packing yet.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari