Brat

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

It didn't matter who had asked the question, in the end, because most of them had wondered it at some point or other.

"Hey," it'd started, in the crew's downtime between a round of cards. "What was Captain like as a kid?" It was clearly aimed at Penguin and Shachi, who simultaneously tilted their heads up to look at Law from where they were sat on the floor. For his part, Law raised an eyebrow at the room in general, something between an inquiry and a challenge.

"Captain was Captain," Bepo said faithfully from his position as the pair's backrest and got a light swat from both of them. "Sorry…"

"Not helpful, Bepo!" they scolded, grins never leaving their faces. "So," Shachi added, turning back to the attentive crowd of nakama. "That was vague. Anything in particular?"

"Every story you tell will equate a story about you," Law cut in, but it was a promise, not a threat. There was no annoyance in his countenance, just amusement, and that seemed to be enough permission for Penguin and Shachi, who laughed.

"That's fair," Penguin accepted, reaching behind him to ruffle Bepo's fur. "What about you? Joining in on this?" The mink stretched, shifting enough that his nakama lost their balance and collapsed into heaps on the floor. "Hey!"

"Sorry," Bepo mumbled, before looking up at Law. "I remember a few things," he added, manoeuvring himself until he was positioned at his captain's feet. The only one now sat on a chair, as the rest of the crew gathered around as if it was story time, Law too vacated his seat, electing to make himself comfortable on Bepo's lap instead. The mink wrapped his arms around him and rested his chin on the fluffy hat.

"How about the beginning?" someone suggested, and the four shared amused looks. Bits and pieces of the story behind the Heart Pirate's origins had been mentioned over the years, so most knew of the fighting, and how they'd got the Tang, but it was still as good a place as ever.

"Oh, back then?" Shachi asked, with the air of someone trying not to laugh. His lips quirked into a grin regardless. "You know, I don't think I've ever met such a brat." That startles the crew, looking between a smirking Penguin and Shachi to an equally amused Law.

"Clearly you've never looked in a mirror," their captain muttered, and they all burst out laughing.

"Brat?" one of the crew asked. They could sort of see it in the way Law intentionally winds up people he doesn't like, but the idea that he'd ever turned that on his own nakama was startling.

"Completely," Penguin agreed, attempting to pull a solemn tone that was ruined by Shachi's sniggering and the glint in his own eyes. "He threw us overboard, into freezing cold water, the first time we got in a boat together."

"I don't recall ever inviting you onto the boat," Law supplemented dryly. "In fact, I distinctly telling two stubborn idiots not to." There was no bite to the accusation, not years later when they were nakama and Law would rather die than lose any of them.

"You let Bepo on," Shachi pointed out, and Law gave that grin, the one that meant someone was about to get verbally ruined.

"I liked Bepo."

True to form, both reacted exactly as expected, dramatically clutching their clothes over their hearts and collapsing backwards with noises of pain.

"That hurts," Shachi moaned dramatically, flailing with the hand not bunching up fabric. "After everything we'd done together… so cold, Law!"

"All you'd done was fight each other," Bepo interjected, and both bolted back upright, their apparent emotional torment vanishing in the blink of an eye.

"That's not the point!" they chorused, and he shrunk back a little, burying his face in Law's hat.

"Sorry…"

"You haven't changed at all," Shachi sighed, but it was fond and the way he reached out to ruffle Bepo's fur was met with a large mink grin and a white paw crashing down on his own head, dislodging his hat and mussing his hair.

"He got bigger," Penguin interjected, and even Law agreed at that, his own tattooed fingers sinking into the fur of the paw holding him in place.

"So did Law," added Shachi, suddenly looking sulky. "Did you know Captain used to be tiny?" he asked the rest of their crew, all of whom shook their heads in surprise.

"That's hard to imagine," one of them admited, and Law sent them a fondly exasperated look.

"He was smaller than Shachi," Penguin emphasised, and the ginger's hand flailed out, landing on the older man's face with fingers splayed. Penguin spluttered and licked the fingers closest to his mouth until Shachi retreated with a disgruntled look. "His face when Law finally outgrew him was hilarious!"

"It was," Law agreed, before Shachi could even start to defend his corner. "He didn't take it well."

"Poor Shachi," Bepo added in quietly, and the ginger wailed.

"Why are you ganging up on me?" he demanded, not pacified by the paw still on his head and Penguin poking his cheek.

"You were content to poke fun at me," Law commented casually, leaning back against Bepo and watching with a smirk twisting at his mouth. "Who were you calling a brat?"

"I take that back," Shachi admitted, a glower visible even through his shades. "You're still a brat."

Law swatted him.

"I'm still your captain," he admonished, except he had graduated from a smirk to a smile and the rest of the crew took that as reassurance it was okay to laugh. Shachi pouted for a moment before snapping at Penguin's finger, still prodding at his cheek. The ginger then wrestled an arm between Bepo and Law's bodies, hooking it around his captain's shoulders and tugging him closer, into a one-armed hug. Law didn't fight, and after another moment Penguin joined in.

That was a cue for the others to join in, scrambling forwards from their position as an attentive audience to mob the four already intertwined nakama.

As far as their early days had gone, that had been barely the tip of the iceburg. They could also have talked about Law's well-hidden desire to protect them, his hunger for knowledge and the hours he put into the Tang to make her the perfect home she'd become. Or Penguin and Shachi's journey from short-tempered children to experienced pirates, via mishaps, mistakes and lessons. Even Bepo, for all that he was still apologetic, still easily overpowered by a stronger will, had changed from a scared and lost cub to a central force bonding three headstrong humans, spending years training himself to use a pen and learning to harness his innate navigation abilities into something that he could consciously use to help his nakama.

Thirteen years was a long time to spend together, the changes so subtle that they were missed at the time and only visible in hindsight. Law was still a brat, yes, but rarely to his own crew now and never to the magnitude Penguin and Shachi had once felt the full force of. Penguin and Shachi were still immature, but they knew how the world worked and when that immaturity just didn't cut it anymore. Bepo was still apologetic, but he wasn't lost and afraid now.

Most importantly, they had more nakama to laugh and cry with now, nakama that they could share those old stories with because their pasts had painful moments, but they were also littered with happy ones that deserved to be heard time and time again.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari